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That thing Cleve was talking about - Let's Play SMT!

Black Cat

Magister
Joined
Jun 1, 2009
Messages
1,997
Location
Skyrim .///.
shinmegamitensei.png


Tokyo. Capital of Japan. Within Kichijoji, a district within the city, a young man lived together with his mother. Kindhearted and thoughtful toward his mother, the young man had been living in peace and tranquility.

One night, the boy had a strange dream.

A maze within another dimension. A talking gate. A young man hung on a cross. Another young man being tormented by a demon. A mysterious woman. And a strange ceremony--

When the young man awoke, he found that the area around him was in a state of confusion; a murder had occured within the nearby Inogashira park. The park was closed off by the police, and the entire district was cut off from the rest of the city, the citizens forbidden to travel with the culprit on the loose. Furthermore, as he woke, the boy was sent an unintelligible message via email. When he downloaded the program attached to it, he discovered that it was a "demon summoning program," designed to make demons into "minions," and give the user the ability to summon them at will...

Long before Magical Dolly, the Demi-Fiend, or Kuzunoha Raidou got started in this business of sumoning demons, destroying Tokyo, and reshaping the world, in the very beginings of the universe known as MegaTen among the Faithful and those weird japanese games about demons and faeries kicking divine behind among the infidel, three nameless guys and a nameless girl where chosen to become the very first batch of dungeon crawling Devil Summoners. The story of their adventures in present day Tokyo and beyond became the steping stone for one of the greatest, coolest things ever: A very weird game setting full of occult references, mythological coolness, gnostic winks, cyberpunk weirdness, rampaging goetic daemons, singing snowmen, super-mega-huge dungeons, and plain old crazy. And since i love most of it i decided doing a Let's Play would be a cool excuse to replay some of my favorites, begining by Shin Megami Tensei.

For those of you who do not know about it, think, for now, about this game as the game Hellgate London tried, but utterly failed, to be: Modern-Day Tokyo caught in the middle of an epic battle between Heaven and Hell for the fate of mankind and creation while boys and girls with the power to understand and summon Daemons engage in lots of gunfights, swordfights, magic duels, and dungeon crawling for a chance to, like, have a say about how all this turns up and stuff. And, like, regardless of how much you hate Japan and tentacles and stuff, if you have any taste in games you know the old Shin Megami Tensei games are some of the best Dungeon Crawlers ever: They are pretty hard and have lots and lots and lots of options, some pretty amusing plots full of crazy stuff, a quite complex set of under-the-hood mechanics, a whole lot of character and personality, etc. And some huge, unforgiving, tiresome dungeons you will be glad it is not you who has to run through them thrice while getting a high level random encounter every other step.

And they are great fun once you manage to understand how they work. Most of the bad myths about the Megami Tensei universe are born of people not really understanding how the games work, as you will see during this thingie. Grinding, for example, i will not be doing any outside of a little bit here and there to get the Daemons i like to play with and equalize my levels with that of the dungeon i'm in at a given moment, since having already won the game several times there is a lot of Exp from wandering around Tokyo looking for dungeons to explore that i will not be getting, and stuff.

Also, i will be using the English patch since playing with a printed script translation is made of awful and angry and evil thingies. The patch has a couple of bugs but i remember where most of them are and will be playing those bits in japanese, maybe adding parts of the translated script if i remember where i put the bloody thingie. And then there are a couple of bugs in the patch that can really mess your late game, and another near the begining that can really make the early game unfairly dificult for certain builds. I will point at those as we go, too.

Finally, as we go i will be explaining the mechanics and things about the setting in general and its evolution over time and, like, thingis. Also some edutainment stuff like i did with The Legacy: Background on the beasties i like and know, that kind of thing. I may ask fair Codexia what side to, like, side in the end if i feel like it.

So for now show little Kuroi Neko your appreciation, etc. Next update the adventure begins and all that stuffy stuff. You can go and watch the intro on jewtube while you wait. The first link is for the SNES intro, the one we will be playing, with awfuly recorded audio. The second link is for the SEGACD version, way too cool but never translated as far as i know. The third link is for the PCE version, almost identical to the SNES one but with best audio and worse colors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auk0Gmt8Y64
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P092sp8KwJY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9jLEFGHyHs

Have fun!
 

SCO

Arcane
In My Safe Space
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
Messages
16,320
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Hope you like grinding.

Never did get the better demons.
 

Black Cat

Magister
Joined
Jun 1, 2009
Messages
1,997
Location
Skyrim .///.
Chapter the first, A very slow start to the end of the world.
On which our heroine discovers she is now a hero with a really feminine name, meets some other guys and girls in a maze, and receives a so-called Demon Summoning Program by electronic mail. Later the police barricades Kichijoji under pretense of finding some murderer while weird shit starts happening and faeries, zombies, ghosts and, like, evil mannequins begin to freely wander the streets.



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As said above our adventure begins in a strange, surreal maze. Everything is, like, wavy and stuff. We are pulled forward and come face to face, literally, with a door that then proceeds to ask our name. "Koneko," i answer by means of the traditional character panel of JRPG-ness. Later it asks for confirmation, because being made of stone and all it must have bad hearing and stuff.

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Identify thyself!

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Thou sayest that thou art Koneko?

Yes

The one named Koneko has dormant power.

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I now get to define my character. There are six attributes, but most of them are totally useless for the Main Character, given how i play. The first one, STRenght, affects the damage our hand-to-hand attacks do, so i would take away those five initial points to do something useful with but five is the bare minimun. The second one, INTelligence, is the most important skill for the Main Character and one of the most important for the others, since for them it affects spellcasting abilities. The main character can't use magic, but Inteligence is the main thingie controling both befriending and recruiting Demons. The Main Character's function in this game is basicly to be a walking universal translator, so i put most points in this.

Next come MAGic, STaMina, SPeeD, and LUcK. Since the main character can't do magic the first one is useless, even if it also affects Magic Resistance. The second one affects physical resistance and Hit Points, but who cares. The third one affects order of battle in a given round, but the main character usually does his thingie before battle begins. But the last one, Luck, is also important on this one: It affects many random variables through the game, from what items are left by slain monsters to escape from battles and special battle conditions. I put the rest in here.

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Koneko...

Beyond this door, both those chosen by God that follow the path of Law and Order, and those that rely on their own power that follow the path of competition and Chaos await you. Take care not to tip the balance between the two as you proceed...

The door tells me before opening for me. I continue my path down the wavy maze and finally come to a long corridor. A cross flies towards me and lands a few feet away, a ghostly silhouette crucified on it. A hooded figure appears next to it and talks to me, asking for me to say the name of the man. I call him by the name of Bardon.

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Again i must distribute 18 points, now on INT and MAG. The way i build the characters makes the begining of the game a bit slow since your characters have a hard time killing anything but once they get a good couple of tanks and some levels they start shining. Later i will also put some levels on Speed for all the party to give them first turn rights, which combined with the right kind of ammo and both the Zio and Bufu lines of spells can turn some though encounters and a couple Boss Battles into one sided battles. Once i have awakened this guy's powers both cross and hooded figure disappear, leaving him confused.

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I was trying to accomplish something, but i forgot what...

You saved me, didn't you?

I sense that if i go with you, i'll remember what it was i was supposed to do...

Please take me with you.

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Along with Bardon i continue down the corridor and into this dungeon-like place. Not much deeper another strange scene we find: Another ghostly figure lies on the floor, a demon guarding him. The creature tells us: "This is the soul of a weak one who seeks power." Then it ask for us to call his name and wake him up. I call the fallen one by the name of Aquino.

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Rats, and i was having such a good dream...

Damn.

Oh well, let's get out of here.

Once this guy's 18 points are taken care of the demon goes away and he awakes none too happy about this whole ordeal. Aquino has some real trouble with his attitude and, like, stuff, but whatever. Let's get the bloody hell out of wherever we are: We continue into the maze and soon afterwards we find a girl bathing in some kind of underground spring.

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My name is Yuriko.

I have been waiting for you...

... as your eternal partner...

After this encounter we keep going until we find a dead end. A voice from nowhere welcomes us there: "Koneko, how long are you going to sleep? Just because you have today off doesn't mean you can oversleep! Come on, get up!" As this i hear the maze and my companions are gone and i am back in my room. With the old hag still going on and on about the same things i check my computer and discover i have received an email with some strange files.

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DDS-NET

Date: 199x-10-xx

Name: Steven

To: Everyone accessing this network

Humanity is currently in grave danger! Demons of legend from ages past have awakened from their long slumber. Soon, they will overrun the Earth! In order to compete with the demons and fight for our survival, we will need to utilize their power. Use this program correctly, and you should be able to! I pray those with the courage to use it will accept it...

To fight the demons that would destroy us, and to preserve humanity...

:roll: Yeah, like, sure thing! I will download those very suspicious files from some random guy on my next-gen, costly Arm Terminal so you can kill it with some virus thingie or, like, stuff. Do you think i was born yesterd...

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:facepalm: Yeah, whatever. Let's suspend disbelief while i explain a bit: In the MegaTen universe there are thingies by the name of COMP that change their nature depending on how old the game is. In the old times they were clunky-looking Arm Terminals with lots of cables comming out of them and stuff, later i will post some artwork once we start rounding up the gang. Later, with Nocturne and others, COMPs were abandoned and the characters dealt directly with the demons. Now they seem to be going back to the COMP and the weird pseudo-cyberpunk elements with the new games. In Devil Survivor, for example, the COMPs are no longer Arm-Terminals but NDS-like thingies, and it is really amusing to see all those great devil summoners, commando soldiers, gang members, fanatical cultists, and the like running around with magical Nintendo DS that summon demons and throw fireball and nuclear explosions on demand. Megami Tensei knows how silly it can get every now and then and chooses to just runs with it all the way when it happens.

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Now, since we do not have peace the witch continues banging our door and telling us to, like, wake up and stuff. Like good japanese hikikomori we are we proceed to ignore the hag and get browsing 2chan, download torrents from last Reitasai, and other japanese nerd-like stuff. Not a long time goes by before we receive another email from Steven.

DDS-NET

Accessing...

Date: 199x-10-xx

Name: Steven

To: The person that accepted my Demon Summoning Program

I haven't finished my next program. Please wait a little while longer. I'm sending the manual to the Demon Summoning Program, please look it over.

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This program can:

-Translate demon speech
-Accept and store demonic minions
-Summon demons that have become your minions

Directions:

1. When you encounter a demon, select -TALK-, the program will translate the demon's speech.

2. Next, you should pick a general attitude to take.

*Friendly
*Threatening

The reaction you want to take to the demon will be summed up in these two commands, and an initial generic communication will be broadcast to the demon. From there, the program will translate any exchange between you and the demon.

Regardless of how stupid all this initial stuff with Steven is it is actually pretty important to keep in mind. One of the main elements of almost all games on the Megami Tensei multiverse is that you can just go and start talking with any Demon you come across, be it to try and recruit it into your party or ask it to let you go on your way, etc, and depending on the your Atributes (mainly Inteligence but also, in particular cases, others), the options you pick, the Phase of the Moon, your alignment, and how good or bad your relationship is with that particular kind of Demon, and the individual Demon's attitude the results may vary.

This is also what makes Shin Megami Tensei hard to play: Usually demons on your level range you want as either fusion fodder (i'll explain that later), minions, or as a fountain of rewards and gifts that are greater than what you get by killing them. And usually at least a third of the demons in your level range can get pretty though in the right conditions, so most of the time you are trying to pass by diplomacy and charm... But that doesn't give you any experience, and thus you can't level up nor recruit or fuse more powerful demons. What do most people do?

They either grind their asses to boredom in lower level areas or try to force their way through current-level ones and become frustrated when some thingie with insta-kill spells gets the jump on them and sends those three hours of dungeon crawling since the last save point into oblivion. Instead, we are going to do things the right way: We are going to befriend the right demons in every dungeon, customize our party to Auto-Battle all the others, and only grind enough to get Kuroi Neko's favourite guys and those her Metagaming Spirit Guide points to.

But let's leave that for later. Right now Koneko decides to save the game and, then, gets out of his room. First things he finds is his mother, and nothing else. Japanese houses sure are emptier than bloody limbo.

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Even though the police sirens were blaring at all hours, you slept right through them. I barely got any sleep at all! For that many polie to be involved, it must be a huge case.

Ah, that's right. Here's your allowance for this month.

That's all for this month, don't waste it all too quickly!

Could you go down to the cafe in the mall and buy some coffee? Be sure to pay them in advance!

She gives me ten thousand yen, the lousiest allowance ever-ever... And then she wants me to go buy coffee? The old hag sucks, man. I'm out of here. Fuck the system and all that.

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Yeah, whatever. On the way out i start messing around with this Demon Summoning Program i just downloaded but i can't do anything with it. I say hello to Pascal the killer, magical, fire breathing dog and go outside, to big wide Tokyo.

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That is the world map, where we will be spend all the time we are not dungeon crawling. Since we are in a bit of a prologue right now there is not a lot to do, nor a lot happening. We go to visit the doctor next door, who contrary to Koneko's family had enought money to buy a desk and stuff.

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Then he asks how are we doing and tell us his daughter is not at home, so back to the streets we go. Before going to the mall, though, we get to one of those barricade thingies that can be seen in the screenshot i took of the map. The police is here, and it looks like we are not going to be getting out of kichijoji anytime soon.

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We ask for your cooperation in not attempting to leave the area.

All barricades give us the same result, so we finally get into the mall, a big yellow building in front of what looks like a train station or something. Once inside the first thing we do is getting in trouble with some local gang that looks like only a bunch of fashionable japanese kids cosplaying black gangsters can manage to look. Oh, and remember that Ozawa guy since he gets around a lot.

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We then start wandering around the place. In a corner i came across some awfuly dressed old guy having a fit. He waves a knife at me, screams a lot, and then dies horribly. The murderer does not looks human in the least.

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The creature takes four of my hitpoints and then runs away. Maybe that guy on 2chan or wherever it was wasn't all that crazy: The creature i recognized as a Gaki or Preta, a supernatural being usually related to hunger, thirst, and other material appetites took to unquenchable reachs... And one of the pretty existences those damned to budhist hell can look forward to. Since it seemed quite solid i prefer not to trust in prayer and sutras too much and arm myself with the combat knife the dead guy is no longer going to need. Then i resume my explorations of the mall: I find someone whining about how the guy from the antique shop will not sell his good stuff, whatever that is, to him, and then i go back to the main corridor and into the first store, a survival shop.

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I use my meager allowance to buy a complete set of survival clothes: Headgear, Survival Vest, Leather Gloves and Boots. Now i must look like i imagined Cleve The Crazy Hermit to look until i saw a photograph and my fantasies were destroyed by a round stomach, an almost bald head, and some normal, boring clothes. Meh, etc. I then go into the drugstore nextdoor and buy three ointments, low level medicine, at four hundred yens each. Next is the cafe.

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Inside we finally get up to speed with current events. A girl tells us some rumors about the local hospital...

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Rumor has it the director of the hospital has been acting really weird lately. Someone even said he's been performing weird experiments late at night, but that's probably just made up.

... the barman tells me he'll deliver the coffee to my house and will not accept any money until then, and then tells me more about the police sirens last night...

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... a young girl that at last explains to us what is going on with all the police and stuff...

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... Yuriko, the girl of our dreams, making fun of us and then disapearing in a blink...

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... some woman that tells me more details about what went down in Inogashira Park last night...

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They say that her murderer dismembered her too. Nasty!

... and some guy concerned with me not knowing how to find the trigger that ends the prologue and starts the game.

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Before going back outside i came across this guy who also received the Demon Summoning Program but, being a normal and sane person, actually deleted the email without opening it. Hint: He is not going to survive for long. I also pass by the knife shop and the antique shop, but my dirty allowance puts everything in them outside my reach. I almost sell my knife on the first shop but choose to keep it for a while even if i can't do much with it. The antique shop owner, later, turned out to be a quite the good talker.

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It was suspicious though, so i deleted it immediately.

These days you never know what kind of stuff the lunatics out there will send you... Seems everyone wants to send you unknown files these days. Have you checked your computer lately?

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Before going back home, though, i do some more snooping around. The station is closed and the trains will not be running until further notice, the hospital is sealed shut, a big office building nearby requires an ID card, and the police does not want anyone around Inogashira Park. I go back home and am received by the stingy hag who is trying to turn me into one of those Gaki thingies.

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Try not to get home too late, it makes me worry. But i suppose it's good for a boy your age to be active.

Hey, Koneko, have you heard?

A girl from the local school was killed in Inogashira Park. It sure has become a lot less safe recently. I don't feel safe walking the streets at night any more... Oh, that's right! Be sure to take Pascal out on a walk occasionally!

For ten thousand yen a month she should just be happy i am not bartering the bloody dog for some hand-rolled fags, a month-old newspaper, and a diet coke. I go to sleep happy my status as silent protagonist frees me of getting kicked out and having to camp under a bridge or something.

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Good night, hag.

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Then i am back at the dream maze. The two guys from last night are waiting for me there, and again we go into the wavy dungeon. Some time later we find Yuriko, who wants to tell me some creepy thingies before we venture forth into wherever we are. At least this is the first stalker i get that follows me into mazes made out of dreams and nightmares, dissapears in the blink of an eye from crowded cafes, and, like, does totally not scary stuff like that.

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Don't forget that i will always be by your side...

And further on into the maze the party finds a room where...

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Aquino: What's this weird ceremony?

Bardon:Do you think they're trying to summon some sort of demon?

Priest: ... Take this young soul, our sleeping dark master!

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Koneko decides to jump forward and be a hero, but before he can take a single step he is interrumpted by Aquino. This triggers both the evil dudes and the soon to given unto cthulhu girl discovering their presence.

Aquino: Take a good look, the guy in the back has one bigass sword, and we're unarmed! We don't stand a chance!

Priest: Who dares interfere with our ceremony!

Girl: Koneko! You've come to rescue me! Quickly, call my name!

And call he did.

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Oh my god! If that's true, then... Aaaargh!

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If i had gotten sacrificed, a terrible Demon Lord would have been summoned... Ah, i can feel the power that had been drained from me returning!

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We will not meet until later in the future. And then it is our destiny to be separated again...

Come see me some time...

With those words in his ears our hero returns to the waking world. The first impression he receives is that his mother is again banging at the door and calling for him to wake up, and for a moment he must fight to keep those funny ideas about the knife he got the day before in check. He goes to check his mail instead.

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DDS-NET

Date: 199X-10-XY

Name: Steven

I have completed my auto-mapping program and have attached it to this message.

We download it into our COMP and as soon as we are finished the old hag resumes her banging of my door. I go outside just to keep her silent and docile. The voices in my head tell me i am not going to suffer this for much longer. The auto-mapping will come useful once we find ourselves some dungeons around the next update thingie, so until them i will leave it sleeping on my Arm Terminal.

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Good morning, stingy hag.

What happened to you last night? You were calling out to someone in your sleep. I think it was a woman's name... The girl next door, Helena, was it?

Eh? Why are you turning all red all of a sudden? It can't be...

I close the door behind me and leave for the street, saying hello to Pascal the dog that clears buildings full of demons all by himself in the way out. My target is, obviously, the house next door, since the last thing Helena said before the old witch began kicking the door was to go visit her. We do not manage to reach her house before getting muged by an evil, angry ghost. Yeah, Tokyo has gone to the dogs and all that.

Some retro anime Engrish song that will have to make-do as an improvised opening.

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Now i will explain some things about the Demons in Shin Megami Tensei. To begin with all Demons have a Family and a Race, in this case the former being Gedou and the later being Moryo. Each family is a linear progression of Demons with similar themes: Tenshi, to show the easiest example, is the family starting with the generic Angel and going up in Angelic Orders with things like Powers, Principalities, Virtues, etc. When you fuse two demons of the same family but diferent species the result is a special kind of elemental Demon, that can be used to raise demons of that one family and similar ones one or two stages in the familiar hierarchy. When you fuse a demon with another one who isn't a pure elemental the result is a Demon from a third family, not a direct evolution of any of the involved creatures. But there still a bit before we start fusing.

Also, all Families have an alignment based on two diferent axis, one being for Order-Neutral-Chaos and the other being for Dark-Neutral-Light. Their position on the first Axis represents where they stand on the philosophical schizm that is about to trigger the final war between heaven and hell. Their position on the second axis indicates wether the entity is loved or feared by those who follow the system to which it belongs. If an entity is both feared by some and loved by others two aspects of the entity exist at the same time, the example in the manual being Baal, loved by the Babylonians but hated by the Christians under the name of Beelzebub. Both are the very same entity, but at the same time are two diferents entities, one Light and one Dark. Another example would be Astaroth, a dark demon, being a demonization of Astarte, a light goddess also known as Ishtar: All three are the very same entity and, at the same time, three diferent creatures. In Shin Megami Tensei II there is also a pretty cool sidequest about returning Astaroth to its previous form, but there is a looooooong way to go before that.

All humans are neutral on the second axis, since only supernatural creatures can be of Darkness and of Light. Demons of Light and Darkness can't be recruited: The Dark ones can be bartered with but will never join to serve a human while most Light ones do not even notice human except to kill them or order them around. To get those Demons you need to recruit lots and lots and lots of Neutral ones and then fuse them in many ways.

But Humans are able to side with either Chaos, representing the wild and primal forces of nature as well as freedom and passion, or Law, representing civilization and absolute morality. Your individual position on this axis depends on two things: The choices you make through the game and the demons you have with you at a given moment since their alignments reflect on your own. And while you can own Demons of any alignment you can't summon Demons away more than one step from you: If at any one moment you are aligned with Law you can't use Chaos Demons and vice-versa, but Demons who have thrown their lots with the same side you are aligned with will be more receptive and helpful. The entire storyline goes around every single pantheon in the multiverse siding with either Heaven and absolute Law or Hell and absolute Chaos and duking it out over Tokyo while humans and faeries and other neutral things just try not to be noticed.

We will return to this later. Right now let's talk to this Moryo thingie: When prompted to choose an attitude i pick Threatening since Moryo is a pretty unfriendly demon, and in response he attacks me outright, bloody sigh.

Around twenty turns of missing and one ointment later i am 4 yen, 6 magnetite, and 12 experience points richer, and that means one entire level since i am still wet behind the ears and all that. I will not give a complete explanation of the combat system until the next update because until i get the rest of the gang and some demons all i can do is try to hit them with my knife in my turn and pray they do not hit me with their teeth in their turn. Next update i will go in detail during the first boss battle and all that.

So for now i put the point on INT, raising it to 19. I will explain what magnetite is once we get some demons of our own. Feeling valiant and heroic i get into the house next door and am received by the doctor and the girl next door, Helena.

The doctor next door: Oh, if it isn't Koneko! My daughter's in her room at the moment. Hey, Helena! Koneko's here to see you!

Helena's voice: Okay, I hear you!

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Eh? A dream? I didn't have any strange dreams like that.

Argh... I was going to go on a date today, but with those stupid police i can't go anywhere. This sucks!

Eh? Who am i going out with? That's none of your business. I can go out with whomever i please, yeah?

After this development back into the streets i go, by her attitude convinced she must be dating Aquino or, like, that angry ghost whose butt we sent back to hell just a moment ago. I try my luck at the closest barricade, but the police seems to have become less friendly since last time.

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Then i go back to the mall. Just wandering around and being nosy i enter the first shop from the door... supposedly an empty, unused one. Inside i come across a zombie lady of the Shiki family, the dark neutral group of all mindless undead, that tries to rip my throat. Since i got a lot of points on Luck i can easily run away from her with all my hitpoints intact.

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Carefully i start exploring the mall to see if anything changed since the day before. On the corridors some guy tells me a strange old man was looking for me, but that does not help me a whole lot. I go back to the Cafe to hunt more rumors and information on the creatures and murders.

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Whatever it was, it was serious enough to shut it off from the rest of the city. All the trains have been stopped until further notice! So we can't go anywhere... What a drag!

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They closed the whole place down because of it, but i hear they're going to reopen it. Even after it was closed, there was some strange old man that was hanging around the entrance. Maybe he's a homeless guy?

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It's in a nice spot. There're a million things they could do with it.

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Now we have a lead to follow on the old man asking around about us and several bits of foreshadowing on things that will become more important later. I try to leave the cafe, but a bunch of Pixies appear before me. Again i try to talk with them, and choose to be Friendly since the Yousei (a fully neutral demon family composed of faeries and the like) are a bunch of cute, happy, and fun loving demons. They are my favorite family, too. I wanted to use this encounter to show the negotiation system but some of the screenshots came out bad, so i will use one of the next ones.

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The conversation does not goes well and the Faeries go away, angry because i did not want to get closer when asked to. I am trying to leave the mall when a third encounter happens, this time a Machine Kugutsu! The creatures of the Machine family are at times possesed items and at times just robots and things like that, but they can't get talked to so i just run away. Outside the mall i find a Yakuza of the Gedou demon family, aligned with Darkness and Chaos and including all creatures hard to fit in other categories as well as posessed humans like this moron. Since he likes to prey on the weak we are threatening to him and he runs after paying us 172 yens to leave him go, and this should be evidence on what i said before about diplomacy shielding much better rewards than killing thingies. Way to go, me!

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Then on the streets i come across a bunch of Chirei Brownies. Chirei are earth spirits and gods aligned with Law but indiferent to the axis of Light and Dark. I act friendly with them. They ask me a pretty weird question but do not like my answer and they go hostile.

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Before they can attack, though, i hail them again. They stop their attack to talk but soon it all goes to hell once again, sigh. I then do what i do best.

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A bit later i find me another Gedou Yakuza and try to talk him. There is no way to get to them this time, though, since each and every Demon, regardless of it being Law or Chaos or Dark or Light, goes berserk when the moon is full. I try to fight, then think it over and run away.

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I go back home to sleep and recover what little HP i lost before going to the park and look for the old guy. There are no dreams and first thing in the morning i go back outside, but not before getting more weird comments from the old hag.

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I'm glad you're a boy. I have to worry a lot less.

Be careful, Koneko. Don't come home too late!

Once outside i walk for a bit and come across a bunch of Pixies. Again i pick to be Friendly and this time things go better... At least until my poverty becomes the conversation's main topic. Then things go downhill.

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First she asks for a pearl, but i do not have one. Then for 49 units of magnetite and, later, for an Onyx. Each time i am unable to give she what she wants she calls me a skinflint and starts kicking a fuss, so i need to calm her to have another go at recruiting her. After she finds i lack the Onyx, though, blood must flow.

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We exchange attacks for a bit and then i try talking to her again.

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And then she ask 81 yens from me, which I give her. She then starts screaming "More! More!" and asks an Emerald! She goes wacko because i do not give her one and when i try to calm her we again end fighting in the middle of the street, fuck yeah. A bit later i try once more, again being friendly.

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And then she asks for 57mag, and since i do not have enough she attacks! This is so bloody unfair! :cry:

This time i manage to kill one and then try to talk with the other. Again all the blah-blah, again i ask her to be my minion, and now she asks for an Orb, a healing item we are a long way to start getting in big numbers. Then she attacks, we fight, and do all the thingie again, but this time she asks for a magic stone, a healing item of less power than the Orb. I have none, so we fight and i kill her and call it a day. I leave this stupid situation with one more level (the point going to inteligence) and 8 more yens for my effort, yay! I need some big resources before i can begin my life as a profesional Demon Summoner.

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Next chapter we will meet an old wise guy, find a treasure chest full of Magnetite in the park and thus manage to recruit a bunch of Demons, get thrown in jail along with Bardon and Steven, rescue Aquino from the mall's Fashion Police, kill the old hag, walk Pascal the killer dog, and get invaded by the U.S Army! Stay tuned!



@ SCO
I do not mind grinding when i am having fun and am doing it a little bit at a time instead of grinding ten levels or so all of a sudden because i am underleveled, but i have already won SMT once without grinding almost anything, to the point where in the Cathedral i had to chat all Demons away and use items to null the full moon because i was not high level enough as to get them to join me and stop being bothersome. It is not that hard in SMT, where the Zio and Bufu lines are way too IMBA. In SMT2 it becomes way harder to win without grinding, and in the new ones like Devil Survivor it is straight out imposible without abusing New Game+, but manageable if you grind a bit every now and then and create groups of demons that work well together. First time doing Devil Survivor i managed to get to the last battle of Amane's route without ever grinding, just by playing smart and improvising, and then i couldn't win because the enemy demons were between eight and twelve levels above mine and all using unblockable Almighty attacks that cleared my parties on first turn. I believe i could have win it without grinding if i had not been totally oblivious to half the mechanics for two thirds of the game, so i didn't had any almighty attacks of my own and all my demons higher than level 38 were underleveled and had been fused very hit-and-miss in a desperate push to kill Barbelith with such disaster of a party (i though Barbelith would be the last boss of that path and made an All-Or-Nothing gamble, and in the end i lost :cry:). Maybe when i finish SMT i will do a DS one if people like the Megami Tensei universe and all that stuff.

@ Ghostdog
That will be fun. I always go Messian so it will be a novelty for me to play the neutral path, and from what i heard the Cathedral will be epic enought as to satisfy fair Codexia's endless bloodlust since you need to, like, kill everyone but the old guy, so you got yourself a deal.
 

Jasede

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
24,793
Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Codex Year of the Donut I'm very into cock and ball torture
JRPG what the fuck, you and your shitty grindan story game with spikey-hair heroes. Quit playing this shit.

Edit: I get it, Kuroi means Black and Neko means Cat! :shock:
 

Black Cat

Magister
Joined
Jun 1, 2009
Messages
1,997
Location
Skyrim .///.
@ Emotional Vampire
Yeah, Koneko is Kitten. Since by the end of SMT we will be killing gods, archangels, and infernal princes in an hourly basis i though the most cutesy, most childish, most girly name possible was the right one for the character, and Koneko fit the bill since it is also a female japanese name and is related to Cat. It is also a cross reference to a little detail most people missed about the headset of Devil Survivor's main character's MP3 player looking somewhat like cat ears.
Also, the friends of mine who originaly recomended me the Shin Megami Tensei games always use all serious business sounding names, and since they believe Yousei is a mostly girly demon family and it is my favorite one all my Shin Megami Tensei characters get cutesy, childish names so no one can laught at them because they go around sporting names like Leviathan The Dark Prince Of Hellish Retribution while cuddling their Jack Frost.

@ Jasede
You don't like the Shin Megami Tensei games? I though you would like them since you always seem to like old-school, technology light, gameplay and mechanical heavy games. In any case Shin Megami Tensei isn't really a JRPG, and there is no pointy hair nor Emo Drama nor bishounen villains trying to take over the world. It is more or less a very old school dungeon crawler with a huge variety of enemies and allies to mix and match in diferent strategies, huge dungeons, fun references to catch, and a lot of weird and crazy. The new ones are a bit more JRPG-like, but not enought to be called really so. I did not like Nocturne a whole lot because of that, since there is only one real Dungeon on it and is a bloody extra, or maybe it is that i do not like my dungeon crawling to be in third person.

Edit: And yes, Kuroi Neko does mean Black Cat in japanese. :wink: That's an easy one.
 
Joined
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Messages
6,927
Black Cat said:
@ Emotional Vampire
Yeah, Koneko is Kitten. Since by the end of SMT we will be killing gods, archangels, and infernal princes in an hourly basis i though the most cutesy, most childish, most girly name possible was the right one for the character

Well, technically speaking, japs have an excuse for that kind of thinking: Their culture is so oppressive that you could comfortably say they're not being brought up, just indoctrinated and brainwashed.

As for you, a westerner, to adapt that kind of mentality, well I don't know what can be done. Even if you were just to lay down and die, the oxygen you'd use up decomposing is worth more than your existence. Congratulations, you're such a fucking waste of a human you essentially created a Faggotry Paradox.
 

Jasede

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
24,793
Insert Title Here RPG Wokedex Codex Year of the Donut I'm very into cock and ball torture
I pretty much stopped making serious posts in 2009, Black Cat.
 

ghostdog

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Dec 31, 2007
Messages
11,079
That will be fun. I always go Messian so it will be a novelty for me to play the neutral path, and from what i heard the Cathedral will be epic enought as to satisfy fair Codexia's endless bloodlust since you need to, like, kill everyone but the old guy, so you got yourself a deal.

Once you'll take a taste of the neutral path you'll stick to it forevar. ;)
 

spekkio

Arcane
Joined
Sep 16, 2009
Messages
8,278
Please, do continue Black Cat.
I'm currently playing SMT 3 Nocturne on pcdx2 so I'm really interested in older Megaten games from SNES era.

I've started a playthrough of SMT1 once but gave up probably due to 'not enough bloom'.
 

Black Cat

Magister
Joined
Jun 1, 2009
Messages
1,997
Location
Skyrim .///.
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(just because random Shin Megami Tensei art is amazing like that)


Chapter the second, Oriax the hospitalier.
In which our heroine meets Lao Tse, finds a Magnetite cache, recruits some demons, gets thrown in jail, meets Stephen Hawking, squees at an Infernal Marquis before defeating him, and is joined by Kichijoji's Dream Team, never better said. But she lied, so it will be next update that she kills the old hag, the U.S army invades Tokyo, and stuff.






Welcome back to Let's Play Shin Megami Tensei, citizens of Fair Codexia! Last time we met Koneko was about to walk all the way to Inogashira Park to meet with an old guy who had been asking about him. This second chapter begins as he reaches the entrance to the park and, lo and behold, finds an old guy waiting for him. Wikipedia tells me he is supossed to be Lao Tse, of Daodejing fame, and since it is a cool little theory i will go with it.

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Yes, yes, i see. Yes, you are quite special indeed.

Maybe you don't see it now, but it is quite possible that one day you will wield power beyond your wildest imagination. Light and Darkness, Law and Chaos... The delicate balance that this world rides on is beginning to tip. While the the forces of Law and Chaos that are in motion now are still weak there will come a time soon where they shall gain power and momentum, vying for supremacy over each other. However, it matters not on which side the weight falls. Either way the result will be the same, a scale unbalanced.

If you were in charge, which, if either, would you choose? Be mindful! No matter which path you take, there is no turning back once the decision has been made. Why don't you show me what you're capable of for the time being?

A blink later i am in some strange building. The first thing i notice is that both Bardon and Aquino are also there, waiting for me and none the wiser about what is all of this supossed to mean. We wander around for a while, always going up. We finally find a long corridor with a door in the opposite side, but before we can get there the old hag appears and interrupts us.

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It's dangerous ahead! Don't any of you go a step further!

... I know i can't stop you. But if you die, what will i do?

Whatever. We press forward and come to a strange room that looks like it cannot decide if it belongs to Sci Fi or Shinto mysticism. Some mad scientist guy is conducting a ceremony, while two shrine maidens of some sort pray at the sides. He is calling forth something, but before he can finish the working we are noticed.

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As you have seen our ceremony, i cannot allow you to leave this place alive!!

He pushes us back to the corridor and there we meet him in battle, but not before he turns into... Something, big and nasty and angry. I took a screenshot but imageshack eat it, so i will screenshot him again next time we face it, in the next Update. The battle is short and brutal: Koneko slashes at it with his knife while Bardon and Aquino throw magic at him, Zan (the basic force spell) and Agi (the basic fire spell) respectively. He answers with Maha-Agi, an Agi version that targets all characters in the opposite party, my own in this case. Then Lao Tse decides he has seen enought about our mad warlock skills and i am back at the park.

Old Man
Indeed. It would seem that you are not ready as of yet. If fate so decrees, you shall meet that one again. Ready yourself before you rush ahead...

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And the he is gone, leaving me to explore Inogashira Park. The first thing i notice is a strange mannor in the distancy, and there i go. Inside there is a small dungeon with a couple of special rooms, the first of which is a Jakyo Mannor, also known as the Mannor of Shadows in modern Megami Tensei games. Those serve the important purpose of letting you fuse your Demons, but since i have none yet there is not a lot for me to do on it.

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I also find a cardboard box with a magnetite stash on it. With this now i may be able to recruit something, since Magnetite and Money are two of the most common things for Demons to ask. The others are Magical Stones and Orbs, magical healing items of which i have not in any important numbers as of yet. At times they also ask for gems, but it is better to just send them packing when they do.

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The room before last is a Kaifuku, a Healer's Dojo aligned with neutrality. Those are pretty important since they will never turn you away, regardless of how you are aligned. Chaos Temples will ask for a big bribe if you are aligned with Law, and Law Temples will send you away if you are aligned with Chaos.

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The last room contained another cardboard box, this time with an oinment on it. I leave back to Inogashira Park, and as soon as i take a step i come to a bunch of Pixies. I choose to be friendly, and again we discuss important matters of philosophy and, like, stuff.

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Will you love me even though I'm a demon?

Yes

Even if you don't mean it, I'm happy to hear you say that! What is it you want?

(become my minion)

Give me ¥55!

Yes

More! More!

Give me 49mag.

Yes

This is good... Be gentle with me!

Hurray! Let's see this little girl's character sheet: She has Hapilma, Dia, and Zionga. Hapilma is a spell that makes monsters happy, a Status where each time they take an action they run the risk of losing their turn by being engulfed by bliss. Dia is the basic healing spell, and Zionga is the second tier of single target Zio (lighting) spells. It does a lot of damage for this level, but as we can see she only has enought MP to cast it once a day. Zio spells also have a very high chance of shocking their targets and make them lose one or more turns. Finally, the CP Stat is related to how much Magnetite the Demon consumes every step we take in a Dungeon: The higher the number is the more Magnetite it needs to remain in the material world. Demons do not take Magnetite while on the World Map, though, so we will be doing our grinding and recruiting there. Finally, the higher the Demon's level is the more money it needs to be summoned, so if you go poor you are not summoning nothing. This game is harsher than most with money, too.

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Once back in the streets Koneko meets a group of Brownies. He was Friendly to them, and negotiations started.

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I'm gonna send you all to hell! Hya ha ha ha!

Battle-stance

Hya hya! You wanna fight? Don't even try it! I know a bluff when i see it!

Persuade

You want me to be your minion?

Yes

No way!

I'm tired of being like this... I'll become your minion, so will you fuse me with a really cute chick?

Yes

Ok then, I'd like to see a token of your sincerity first!

¥81... You know, I'd really like that. Give it to me and I'll be your minion.

Yes

Heh heh heh... You've still got more, don't you?

Now i just want, hmm... ¥113. That's OK, right?

Yes

Heh heh heh... You've still got more, don't you?

Now i just want, hmm... ¥81. That's OK, right?

Yes

Hee-ho! Ok, I'll be your minion!

Let's see this little guy's character sheet: He has Suku-Kaja, Suku-Nda, and Happy Dance. The two spells are Accuracy Up (party) and Accuracy Down (enemy party). The special skill is a dance that makes enemies happy, like the Pixie's spell, and doesn't consume any mana.

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Now i return to my house. The old hag isn't there, so i go straight to sleep and save. The next day she still hasn't returned, and before i leave i summon both my minions to the world, paying ¥64 twice for it. Koneko goes vigilante: With two demons of his own he can begin doing rounds around the mall to find more demons to ask for Magnetite. Also, any Pixie and Brownie we find from now on will be friendly as long as it is not Full Moon and every now and then they will give us gifts of Magnetite, Money or Healing Items. While doing the rounds we also find our first Akuryou Ghost. This family, aligned with Dark and Chaos, is the family of undead who are not powerful enought to become Yuki nor have become zombie-like as the Shiki. The Akuryo Ghosts are easy to negotiate with and either run or give good Magnetite for this level. I always choose Threatening to them.

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The demon is ignoring you.

Approach it

Ack! S, Stop!

And run he did. Soon afterwards i find another one and again am threatening to him.

Ho ho! So, you dare challenge me? You shall regret that decision!

Accept the challenge

You dare to defy the great Ghost!?

Laugh

Well, you have more courage than i would have expected!

Tell me what it is you want!

I ask Magnetite from him, since he is a Dark demon and would never contract with a human, so he gives me 160mag and goes away. One of the Yakuza i talk with later also gives me a Beretta 92F, but without bullets there is not a lot i can use it to. I do some more rounds, encounter some more Ghosts and then am interrupted by a group of soldiers in riot uniforms.

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You're under arrest for murder! We found your bloody fingerprints at the scene! You sick little puppy, tearing out that guy's throat like that! Restrain and handcuff him, boys!

Yeah, we are being accused of killing that man at the mall. Soon afterwards we are thrown in a cell.

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I mess with the bars a bit but they do not want to budge. Looking around the cell for something useful, though, i found i am not alone! There is a young man in the corner, wearing blue jeans and a red jacket. As i get closer to him he tries to make conversation, but then stops as if he recognized me from somewhere!

Meet the Law Hero, Bardon:

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That wasn't just a dream then! I'm Bardon! Do you remember me?

Koneko, you won't believe what happened to me. My girlfriend just sort of disappeared. While looking for her, I was attacked by demons and when i killed them the police arrested me!

I need to find her... I'm worried about her! Will you help me look for her?

Yes

Really!? Thank you!! My girlfriend's name is Helena.

Eh? You live next door to her? Wow, that's a coincidence... Anyhow, let's try and think of a way to bust out of here.

While exploring the cell we hear some strange sounds coming from a room somewhere to the east, but nothing that would help us escape. Some minutes later a hospital employee comes to the cell, looking for us. His words are not something to look forward to when you are in jail and without escape.

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So as soon as he opens the cell Bardon rushes to him and kicks his ass without pity.

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Once outside we go through a small corridor to the east. Beyond we found three smaller cells sharing a wall with the one we were into. We start looking for the origin of those strange sounds. While doing so another Ghost we came across, and he gave us some more Magnetite. In the first cell we found a guy getting suspicious about being carried to a hospital instead of a police station upon being arrested. Around now i remember i did not take yet a screenshot of Bardon's sheet, so here it is.

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As you can see he also has a Beretta, but his has bullets! He also has a Machete and a whole set of survival gear, and he know two spells: Zan, the first tier of single target Force Spells, and Dia, the first tier of single target Healing Spell. In the next cell we enter we found another aqcuaintance of us: Stephen Hawking!

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A long time ago, i was working on a teleportation device... A network of Terminal Systems that would allow the user to instantly transport him or herself from terminal to terminal. But in the middle of one of my experiments I accidentally opened a portal to the Abyss and summoned a demon. The demon seemed like it was trying to communicate with me, but i couldn't understand it and it eventually became hostile and attacked me.

I managed to defeat it, but not without sustaining terrible wounds first. The experience motivated me to develop a computer program that would allow people to speak with and befriend demons, making them into minions... Thus, I wrote the Demon Summoning Program.

After learning that terminals were connected with the Abyss, a mnan named Gotou began to summon and attempt to control them. Knowing that the demons would be coming in large numbers, I sent my Demon Summoning Program to as many people as I could. By increasing the number of people that have the ability to control demons, I was hoping to balance things out and keep any potential demonic revolts from getting totally out of control.

Unfortunately, the program itself is harder to master than I had hoped and very few people were able to become full-fledged summoners. Do you understand me?

Yes

Very well. Then i shall give you this program to assist you. It is designed to capture and analyze data. It will scan and analyze any demons that you should meet and record their data into your computer's memory so that you can refer to it whenever you need to.

If there is anything i can do to help you, please come back here and see me. Just in case, do you wish to record your progress here?

Yes

Now, go to the director's office on the second floor. I've unlocked the door for you. There should be another switch inside. If you hit it, it should open the gate outside so you can get out of here.

So basically Stephen Haw... Sorry, Steven took as his life mission to remake Doom without Super Marines and on one of the most populous cities on Earth instead of some lonely base on Mars? It sure sounds like that, but no: It is much worse, as you will soon see. In any case we enter the third cell, finding there another Employee, this one a prisoner. He tells us the hospital director is conducting experiments to try and create invincible super-soldiers, or something. We continue exploring the first floor: We cannot leave, since the outside door is locked just as Steven told us. Another Ghost contributes to the party's Magnetite stores... and we also find our first Knocker! Memories of The Dreaming flash in my mind as we start negotiating with him, friendly.

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Hya hya hya hya!

Laugh back

Hya ha ha ha! Boy, do you ever look stupid!

Calm it down

Heh! Whaddaya want, human! Whaddya whaddaya whaddaya want!

(become my minion)

118mag... You know, I'd really like that. Give it to me and I'll be your minion.

Yes

Heh heh heh... You've still got more, don't you?

Now i just want, hmm... ¥225. That's OK, right?

Yes

Heh heh heh... You've still got more, don't you?

Now i just want, hmm... ¥193. That's OK, right?

Yes

Heh heh heh... You've still got more, don't you?

Now i just want, hmm... Opal. That's OK, right?

(i do not have an Opal)

Give me Opal, or no deal!

Calm it down

Too late for regrets now... kill'em!

It is frustrating when negotiations are going well and they ask for a Gem that you do not even have. Even if you can calm the demon down the negotiations must begin again from the begining, so you can end paying a whole lot to some of the greater demons that way. In this case we fight a round and then start negotiating again. Again i choose a Friendly stance.

Hya hya hya! You wanna fight, then come on!

Smile

Hya hya hya! Go on home to your mommy's teat, kiddo!

And left he did, with the magnetite and the money i had already given to him. Lucky me, two steps and another Knocker appears. This time things go my way, yay! Also: He does indeed shows some evidence those Knockers are indeed related to The Dreaming's Nockers, yessir.

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Hya hya hya hya!

Laugh back

Hya ha ha ha! Boy, do you ever look stupid!

Calm it down

Hya ha ha ha! I'll kick your ass! I'll kick your ass! I'll kick your ass to the next county!

Calm it down

Heh! Whaddaya want, human! Whaddya whaddaya whaddaya want!

(become my minion)

194mag... You know, I'd really like that. Give it to me and I'll be your minion.

Yes

Heh heh heh... You've still got more, don't you?

Now i just want, hmm... ¥161. That's OK, right?

Yes

Heh heh heh... You've still got more, don't you?

Now i just want, hmm... ¥225. That's OK, right?

Yes

Hee-Ho! Ok, I'll be your minion!

Let's see this guy's sheet: He has Zan, Sibabu, and Taru-Kaj. Zan we already know what does. Sibabu is a new one: A binding spell. Taru-kaja raises the party's attack power. And since the Chirei are all Lawful this one also is, etc.

shinmegamitensei204b.png


Some time later we also find our first Juujin Weredog. We try to negotiate with him but things go south twice and we finally have to put him out of his misery, bah. Demons, though, do not die as Humans do: They go back to the Abyss when they are killed and after some time get reincarnated, so if you kill thousands of Brownies, for example, Brownies will dislike you, because the Brownie you are trying to recruit is either one you killed before or a friend of one you killed before. Those little details both in Mechanics and in Lore make for a lot of the Shin Megami Tensei experience. Later there is another encounter with a Juujin Weredog i manage to recruit, so i will post his screenshot then.

shinmegamitensei232b.png


So now with Knocker, Brownie, and Pixie summoned Koneko and Bardon go to the upper floor. They kill some zombies on the way there, get a Magic Stone as a gift from a Knocker party they come across, and finally get to the stairs. On the second floor a bunch of Pixies give them money and in another cell they come across some random guy telling nothing of interest. We also find a Yuuki Gaki whom i tried to scare accepting its challenge, to which he reacted by trying to tear out our entrails. Nice guy, so we kill him and get a Tonfa. He has the same damage potential than the Combat Knife but a slightly higher accuracy... And two attacks instead of just one. The number of attacks, though, is a hidden stat in this Megami Tensei game, so i actually found out it had two attacks a turn instead of just one the next time we fought something. Also, in a cardboard box nearby i found a Strenght Incense: It heals all your hitpoints and give you a permanent strenght point. I keep it safe until i can benefit from both things instead of just the permanent point.

And then we finally get to the director's office...

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Oh, i see. Then that means you're still evil humans who won't listen to my commands yet. Very well then, if you refuse to play along... I'll have to alter your bodies myself, until you're nothing but mindless drones that follow my every whim!

And then he turns into...

shinmegamitensei260b.png


And such is the signal that marks the begining of another one of our infamous, popular, and utterly amazing Kuroi Neko teaches darke magicks, Nya! segments! Aren't you happy? Yay, of course you are! And today you will be super-double-happy since what we have before us made me go all *SQUEEEEEE* the first time i got to this part and recognized the name: He is no other than Oriax, infernal Marquis and fifty-ninth spirit catalogued in the Ars Goetia, first book of the Lemegeton! He likes the moon, his favorite metal is silver, and his tarot card is the six of cups. He is also related to the second decane of Scorpio during the night and thus his favorite days (or, like, nights) are those between the second and twelft days of november. He rules thirty legions of spirits and has the office of teaching astrology, transforming the bodies of men, and some other thingies i forgot, oops. I like a whole lot how they actually went and respected his office when doing this little encounter, way too cool. And I really, really hope he actually likes little, cute Kuroi Neko spreading his popularity around and does not considers it, like, offensive or anything because i really suck at banishing, sigh.

This is an illustration made of Oriax by David P. Wilson under Lon Milo DuQuette guidance:

oriax.jpg


And this is Oriax's sigil:

oriaxsigil.jpg


In Megami Tensei's multiverse the Datenshi, meaning Fallen Angel, family includes all the demons from the Ars Goetia. Their relative power levels, descriptions, and offices are under liberties at times small and at times, like, huge, but at the very least they have their families set and since they are some of the fan's favorites you can always bet at least some guys from the Goetia will be making an appearance in every single Megami Tensei game or, like, thingie.

Okay, so i hope you found that little segment both entertaining and educative. Now we have to defeat him and send him back to hell, and do not take it personally since this is only a game and, like, stuff. You know you have a fan in me, etc, but in the words of the best Megami Tensei character, like, ever...

MAGICAL PUNISHMENT TIME!

So let's get this party started!

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I give everyone their orders and then they all act in order of initiative modified by Speed and the very action i took for them: First Mr.Knocker casts Zan for 12 points of damage, then Brownie casts Suku-Kaja because i messed up and Codex Warriors do not use Savestates other than when some emergency happens, Pixie casts Zionga doing an amazing 36 damage and sending Datenshi Orias into shock, Koneko does 4 damage with his knife :)cry:), and Bardon's gun blazes for 8 damage because i am stupid and forgot he had Zan. Thanks to Pixie's shocking shock the Bossy Boss does nothing in the first turn, yay!

Then second turn comes around: Knocker and Bardon open by both casting Zan, the little angry guy for 12 damage and the big Law Hero for 27 damage, yay! Brownie casts Suku-nda and lowers our enemy's accuracy, Orias attacks and does 18 damage to Bardon, and then both Pixie and Koneko do their epic melee thingie, the former for 2 damage and the later for 4 damage... And the diference is only here because Pixie is in the back row, yay.

The third turn begins with Pixie casting Dia to heal Bardon. Orias then casts Dolminer (a go-to-sleep spell) on my guys but does nothing, Knocker goes again with Zan for 12 damage and we won because justice and goodness and love never lose, yay! We are cool, etc. Bardon gets some levels and learns a new spell, Maha-Zan, that is a party-wide Zan. Koneko also does the level thingie, and we also get ¥480, 200MAG, and press the switch that cuts the auto-lock on the cells and the main gates. On the way down we kill a ghost and Bardon gets another level, also going to speed, and find the Juujin Weredog i promised. Things go hard at first but then i get the option to sing to him and that win him over to us. We then pay a total of ¥363 and we have the next recruit in our army. He has two spells, Raku-Kaja and Diarama. He also can bite the enemy as many times as he wants.

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I sent Brownie back to the COMP and summoned him, since for a long while i will only be able to have three demons out at the same time. Then we go back to the streets, and then straight to the mall. We stop only to have a nice Pixie donate ¥171 to the cause. We are now back at Ozawa's, and we have a date with fate. Meet The Chaos Hero, Aquino:

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Demons my ass! What the hell have you been smoking, you little punk! Rough'im up a little bit more, boys!

While Pixie, Knocker, Brownie, and Weredog raise their eyebrows to that comment, Bardon stands up for the little guy and all that.

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Hey you! What do you think you're doing!? Stop that!!

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Eh, no big deal. Don't try and fuck with us again, you little pissant, or you'll just get of the same. Come on, boys!

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Bardon: Hey, are you all right?

Youth: Shut up! Don't mock me... If only I was tougher, I'd kick your asses...

Bardon: So now what, Koneko? He's in a daze--he doesn't seem to know what's going on, talking like that.

Youth: ... H-hey... What did you jut say? Koneko... You said... Koneko, right? That name... Ah! You're Koneko? Now i remember! I knew I recognized you from somewhere. Then that really wasn't just your everyday dream! And so you if you're Koneko... Then you must be Bardon, right?

Bardon: ... So you must Aquino.

Aquino: Now i get it! You guys really saved my butt back there. Ahh... Shit! Damn it all! It only i was stronger... I'm so weak, i can't even handle a bunch of lowlifes like them by myself. How am I going to beat the demons invading Tokyo when i can't even stand up to a buch of thugs like Ozawa's gang? Guys! Please, let me come with you! Together we might be able to do something!

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:roll: Typical.

At least we are almost all there, right? Right! He also is much better equiped than Koneko's gang: Spike rod, MPS Machine Gun (with bullets!), full helmet, kevlar vest, rivet knucles, Combat boots. And he knows two spells: Agi and Patora, the basic evil status heal spell. Together we kill another Kagutsu and go the antique shop.

But that will have to wait until next update, where they will face two powerful demons, go to the cafe, do some vigilante thingie, buy some bullets, travel to some other Tokyo prefecture, face zombie soldies, go to church, and much more! Stay tuned!

Oh, and this is our Hero's art. You can see the COMP on it. I have all the artbooks scaned, so if you want me posting more art on the updates, when we meet monsters and stuff, just say and i will. I tried to use just a little this time because i didn't know if you liked it.

hero2.jpg


'til next time!
 

KurtH

Liturgist
Joined
Oct 10, 2008
Messages
183
Zio spells are almost an exploit int this game. If the enemy isn't immuned to electricity, he will almost certainly be shocked and lose his turn. Random encounters are still a bitch, but this does make most boss fights a whole lot easier.
 

ecliptic

Liturgist
Joined
Feb 11, 2003
Messages
915
Good stuff, I lack the fortitude to play this myself, so this is the next best thing.
 

lightbane

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,156
Ugh... the main character art isn't very nice precisely... also, these demons are a bunch of greedy thieves, real men tore these to pieces and eat them (what happens in digital devil saga)!!!

BTW, speaking of changeling (again), I consider that the Lost can be still as good as the old one, a good gm can manage to mix certain elements for a massive mindfuck, and the fun of the True Fae is that their vague origins can be good for a plot (specially if you had read the endgame's book), and lastly, a old wod changeling can be harmed by just looking to a concrete wall, so dropping him into a construction zone is an instakill for these...
 

Black Cat

Magister
Joined
Jun 1, 2009
Messages
1,997
Location
Skyrim .///.
@ lightbane
Greedy thieves do not even begins to describe them: In Devil Survivor the thingies even get an amazon-like website for summoners to buy contracts and bid for contracts straight from their COMPs instead of having to try and recruit them in the field of battle, they are amazingly weird creeps just like that. The bids for the really good demons, having extra spells or better stats than is normal for their species, get really high and tense. :D
And while the art usually is amazing for the monsters and some creatures still use the old drawings scaned, the human characters have developed a very unique style through the ages. Next update you will see more of the late Shin Megami Tensei art for Yuriko, Ozawa, and Heroine. Steven, in the last update, was also done in that posterior style of main human character's art.
On the other topic, Old Changeling's Changelings can be harmed by shaking hands with a bureaucrat or visiting a lawyer, or just being said hello by the accountant living next door. I have nothing personally against New Changeling, is just that i prefer more the storyline and setting of the old one, it was more magical and weird and less grimdark. The new one seems to have too many elements along the lines of vicious circle of abuse and all that. It is an interesting symbology, but with that kind of things the new world of darkness lost most of the ideas i liked of the old one, especially from Mage and Changeling.

@ Kron
I do not think i can take seriously that comment since its coming from someone whose username and location are so clear references to LARPers anonymous' official metal band that even I can notice them. :D
But back on topic, the Megami Tensei setting is one of the last original, cool settings in today's market, mixing a constant stream of weird occult references, modern day Tokyo, supernatural post-apocaliptic weirdness, and several alternate timelines that somehow manage to remain coherent while having wildly different storylines, gameplay styles, and mechanical elements. You should give it a try, or just keep reading the LPs i will be doing of Megami Tensei games to see how cool and unique it all gets once you start getting into it. There is something about fighting an old testament character at the top of Roppongi's Mori Tower while Odin and Astaroth guard your flank, God prepares to pass judgement on humanity, Loki decides to get involved for the lulz, and everyone is throwing around biblical references while a bunch of demons lead by a raging Ganesha assault your rearguard forces and the SDF is preparing to erradicate all life on the city that the usual fantasy and sci fi settings do not have, nor can have regardless of how much they try to.

@ KurtH
Yes, both Zio and Bufu spells are very unfair, and Nerve Bullets get the third place without even trying since you can even put robots to sleep with them. But just thinking about how hard the cathedral was before i learned all those thingies makes me sad, the main reason i focus on Luck as secondary skill is to just run from everything there, it takes forever and everything you come across packs a whole bloody lot of solid pain. In SMT2 they fixed those thingies but made the last two dungeons much more manageable by a living being. (edit: Barely, i still have nightmares of Kether Castle.)

@ Clockwork Knight
He is the same one who did the art i posted before, but his style evolved a whole lot since the begining. He no longer draws SMT stuff now: He did until Persona 3 came around. Persona 3 and Persona 4 had someone else who i do not like, and Devil Survivor had some other new guy doing the main characters design. They still work with Kaneko's art for the demons (and in Devil Survivor the demon's sprites in battle and the sheets are just slightly modified scans of the original art). I have some more of the remake art on my Imageshack thingie:

Chaos Hero
Present day Hero
Law Hero

The Law Hero one i do not like, but the Chaos Hero one is amazing. I was going to use those for the update but they are way too big even after editing them, and i had to remove the spoiler transformations by dividing them in two. Next update i will be using Heroine, Yuriko, and Ozawa from that set for those characters, since all other Yuriko images are spoilerific and Ozawa receives no love.



@ All
Next update will be comming tomorrow. I already wrote it but there are a lot of images to resize and rename, sob sob.
 

Black Cat

Magister
Joined
Jun 1, 2009
Messages
1,997
Location
Skyrim .///.
Chapter the third, Shinjuku's Blues (part1).
In which our heroine is left an orphan, turns her dog into a demon of mass destruction, invades by accident a government laboratory where everything went very wrong, finally discovers what the hell is going on, joins the resistance, and saves Helena from being publicly executed. She also kills lots of zombies, recruits more demons and faeries, and meets the two factions that will soon become the main power players in Tokyo.






Welcome back! Last time we met our daring heroes they had just rescued Aquino from Ozawa's gang. Let's rejoin them in Kichijoji's mall as they enter the cafe in their quest for information about the demons and Bardon's girlfriend, Helena. The barman tells them the old Echo building, located south of the station and just west of the hospital our heroes just escaped from, is rumored to have been taken over by monsters. Then a schoolgirl tells them the very same Ozawa they just scared into leaving Aquino alone was asking around about Helena! He is no longer around, though, so no chance of going back to him and shooting a confession out of him. While we leave the cafe we hear some guy talking about all the ways out of the district being blocked, but we already knew that so we pay no attention.

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Just outside the cafe they meet yet another Machine Kagutsu. Having caught it off-guard they just riddle it full of holes and go on with their business. They go into the antique shop and face an enemy much worse than demons and devils: Bugs in the translation patch! As you can see in the first image, the guy from the store only gives us the same three useless options from before: We can try to buy antiques, try to sell things, or leave... And the first two options are just there so he can invite us to leave.

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I create a savestate, quit the emulator, and add a random character to the end of the translation patch filename. Now i return to the game and find there is some untranslated dialogue followed by a much longer list of options.

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I fool around with the options a bit and finally find what i was looking for: The list of firearms! The antique shop is just a cover for a black market operation buying and selling firearms, so now i can get me some bullets for my pistol. In this game once you equip your gun with bullets they are endless, but diferent kinds have diferent damage ranges and effects, like sleep or bind or extra damage against certain alignments or families.

Guns also come in three diferent kinds. Those categories do not have distinct names, but my friends call them Single, Semi Auto, and Full Auto, and thus i will do the same. The pistols Koneko and Bardon are now sporting are of the first category: They hit the first enemy and nothing more. Some very high damage guns we will be getting later are like this, like a Sniper Rifle we can get in Ginza. Aquino's MPS is Full Auto, it sprays the entire enemy party but only hits each enemy once. The last variety, the Semi Auto ones, have an amount of shots every turn: If for example it has three shots a turn and there are four enemies it hits the first three once and stops. If there are two enemies it hits the first one twice and the second once, and if there is just one enemy it hits him thrice. Those are the ones i prefer the most.

But right now i do not have money to do anything more than buy a pack of the basic, boring bullets.

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That i do, and once you buy something once you can exit, make a savestate, and rename the translation patch back to its original name. The bug only fails to register the script change, but once the script is changed it is changed for ever. So i take this chance to sell all my junk. Then i leave and as a parting gift i receive some life advice from a weapon smugler...

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Once outside i equip my bullets. Now life is good: Character on the second row do little damage when they use melee attacks, but full damage when they use Magic or Guns. Koneko will be hugging the second row for the rest of the game. I leave the mall and since Bardon asked us to look for Helena we stop by the doctor's house to ask him about that. He just tells us she went to Shinjuku and never came back, and ask us to tell him if we discover anything. Then we get back home and the old hag receives the party by trying to embarrass me before my friends and my bloody demons.

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Old Hag
I'm always so worried about you. I'm glad you came home all right in one piece! I'm so happy! Please, come over here to me... What's wrong? Come here! I love you, always! Come on! Hurry!

Bardon
I don't like it. Something's strange here.

Aquino
I second that thought. There's something fishy here... It doesn't smell right!

Old Hag
Damn... You kids are sharp. I'm sure you're all wondering, so I'll let you know that I've taken your mother. Aw, what's with that face! Come on, there's no reason to be sad. You'll see her soon enough... in my stomach! Until then, why don't you entertain me for a bit!! I hope you taste as good as she did!

And then she turns into Jaki Ama-No-Sakugami. The Jaki family is aligned with Darkness and Law, and is full of angry, evil demons full of hate against everything and without enought power to do much about it. So the old hag got herself eaten by some random internet troll, more or less. And that means i will need to look for a job now, so its payback time: Only one party is going to leave this house alive, etc.

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As you can see in the screenshot above i picked the EXTRA command Weredog. Extra chooses randomly one of the free special skills the Demon has and uses it. In this case it means he will use the Bite attack, since he has no other special skills, but when Demons having two or three specials is somewhat of a gamble and actually can balance pretty well the fact you can use them without limit. From the next Shin Megami Tensei game this rule will change: You can choose the special skill you want but they consume HP instead of MP.

The battle is opened by Knocker casting Zan against the thingie, for 11 damage. Then the same does Bardon, for 25 damage. Aquino casts Agi for 30 damage and then Ama-No-Sakugami attacks Knocker for 14 damage and Pixie for 32 damage, killing her outright since her max is of only 15HP. He also dodges Weredog bite attack, meh. Finally Koneko shoots him for 7 damage.

Second turn is opened by Bardon casting Zan for 25 damage. Ama-No-Sakugami lowers our physical attack power with Taru-Nda, Knocker casts Zan again for 11 damage and Aquino casts Agi but the beastie dodged it. Wheredog goes melee and Koneko shoots his gun, doing 5 damage each.

The third turn is opened by Ama-No-Sakugami raising his own physical defense with Raku-Kaja, but it is late for that and in any case most of my damage is magic based. Weredog heals Knocker with Diarama and the little angry guy casts more Zan at the nasty, again for 11 damage. The battle is finished when Bardon does the same, for 25 damage. Yay, that was easy. We all get levels that go to speed, and Aquino and Bardon both get new spells. We also get ¥576, 240MAG, and an ID Card to open the Echo Building entrance. And we get to see the Law Hero is an imbecile every now and then, but with good intentions:

Bardon
Koneko... I don't think there's anything that i could say that could provide much comfort, but try not to feel too bad...

Aquino
"Try not to feel too bad!?" Damn, that was insensitive, Bardon! For God's sake man, his mother just got killed! I know you mean well, but don't try to console him... Just give him a moment to himself!

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The exchange is interrupted by the dog, who starts barking and jumping around like if he was trying to get the party to take him with them. I accept, and thus Pascal joins the team! All around Kichijoji's streets and even on the highest floor of the Echo Building demons tremble, for they know their time has come! Since we used quite a bit of MP we go to sleep for now: Demons who have a contract return to the COMP instead of the Abyss. They remain "dying" until dismised, moment they die and return to the Abyss, or until taken to a healer that can help them. Sleeping does not help with that, but tomorrow we will take Pixie to a healer. Once we get to Shinjuku we will even need to pay to recover our MP and HP after battles, no more free rides for a while.

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The next day we Save and go back outside. We notice the barricades have changed: Now they are kept by SDF's soldiers instead of the police. One of the soldiers informs us that a state of martial law has been declared, so things are really going south in Tokyo. In the spot where they arrested us the day before we also find a man telling us about it, sigh.

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It makes me feel better to know that a lunatic like that is off the streets!

Whatever. We go back to the mysterious mannor in Inogashira Park and visit the Dojo here. The evil capitalist healer saves Pixie for ¥300, and then we go to the Jakyo Mannor to begin fusing demons since now we have enough to start trying combinations. You can choose to fuse two or three demons, and then the guy tells you what Demon is going to result. You then can accept it or pick another combination, etc. In the later Megami Tensei games the process is much more involved with fusion accidents and all that, but even in this one the system has a fair bit of complexity as you will be seeing.

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The symbols that appear next to the Demons indicate the general information of the result: A circle is a normal fusion, resulting in a Demon from a third (or fourth, in the case of triple fusions) family. An asterisk is an Elemental fusion: In that screenshot you can see that since both Knocker and Brownie are from the Chirei Family fusing them would result in an Elemental Demon instead of a normal one. There are other symbols we will be seeing later: Right now i will fuse Brownie with Pascal, of the Dog family. The result of this fusion is scripted: No matter which Demon you fuse with your Dog the result is always the same.

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After seeing what the result would be and accepting we are taken to the fusion chamber. Both demons are put in big glass tubes, connected to some kind of, like, thingie with a Seal of Salomon on it. Then the glass tubes fill with some liquid that absorbs the Demons, and then the process takes place with lights and stuff.

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Pascal the Dog is now Majuu Kerberos, a level 43 demon that can kill all Demons in Kichijoji's area by giving them a bad look. He is not cheap to summon and eats a lot of Magnetite but he will only accompany us until the end of Echo Building, so we are going to make the best use of him we can. I also want to get me a Youki Azumi, a Demon having Zio and enought mana to cast it non-stop through entire Boss Battles. But Kerberos is the only Demon that you can control while having less level than him: Youki Azumi is level 10, Koneko is level 8, Kerberos can kill Kichijoji's demons in just one strike and always get first go... Get my drift? It's let's grind the world map time, yay! But first let's look at Kerberos sheet and art.

majuukerberos.jpg

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He has two special skills: Bite and Fire Breath. He also has one high level spell called Samaricarm, that revives a dead party member with full HP. He has a whole lot of HP and for this stage in the game he is totally IMBA with an attack power of 103. He is of the Majuu family, a fully neutral family comprised of animal demons, supernatural beasts, and magical monsters.

We leave the park and go vigilante, patrolling the streets of Kichijoji and killing any bad demons we find. Or, more like it, Kerberos goes vigilante and the party goes with him carrying big, pink Pom-Poms and singing his name and glory, etc. Since this was a two level grind on the starting area with a mid-game Demon i will make it short: Lots and lots and lots of Yakuza, Thugs, Moryo, Zombies, and Ghosts died horrible deaths. We also got some gifts from Pixies and recruited a new Brownie.

Then Koneko reached level 10, and those are the sheets of the three main characters at that time. As you can see Bardon and Aquino will be leveling up anytime, too.

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We run back to the Jakyo Mannor. Pixie and the new Brownie become fusion fodder, and the result is the Youki Azumi i wanted.

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As you can see in his sheet he has Zio, the basic shocking spell and the whole reason for him to be in my party. He also has Me-Dia, a party wide Dia, and a special skill called Wall of Water. It is pretty useful but i will not be using for now, since i want to Zio the bad guys each and every turn of battle. I also fuse Knocker and Weredog to get a Yousei Goblin.

youseigoblin.jpg

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He has three Kaja spells: Taru, Suku, and Maka. Those, in order, raise the party physical attack power, raise the party accuracy, and raise the party magic power. That last one is pretty amazing for this party i am building. Now we are ready to go visit the Echo Building.

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First thing we notice upon entering is that we have already been here! This is the building we visited in the last dream we had, the one triggered by meeting the old man at the park. There is an elevator to go up to any floor, but we prefer to explore, loot, recruit, and kill thingies. So we explore each floor entirely and then go up using the stairs.

First thing we notice is that there are new kinds of Demon in this building. We first meet a Chirei Kobold, and after some failed attemps manage to recruit him. He has two Kaja spells, Raku and Suku: Suku we already know what it does, and Raku raises the party physical defense. He also has Patora, that heals status ailments.

chireikobold.jpg

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Later we find Goblins, and some of those give us gifts and all that. We also find a treasure box from which we take an Amethyst. Treasure boxes like that are usually empty: What you find inside depends on your Luck and the fase of the moon.

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On a cardboard box i also get an Intelligence Incense, and when leaving that room...

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It's Kuroi Neko teaches darke magicks, nya! time, yay! This guy is Andras, an infernal Great Marquis and Sixthy-third spirit listed on the Ars Goetia. He likes the moon and his favorite metal is silver, just like Oriax. His tarot card is the Ten of Wands and he is related to the nights of the third decane of Sagittarius, and the dates between December thirteen and December twenty. He governs thirty legions of spirits and has the office of sowing discord and enmity. He is one of the few goetic demons that will turn against the summoner if given chance. They took some liberties with him, though: His head is of a black raven, not an owl. Having Plinpa (the confusion & panic spell) and Hapilma (the distracted by bliss spell) does somewhat rhyme with his office, but he will never turn on you in the game. Shame.

andras.jpg

andrassigil.jpg


Since he is not a Boss i will recruit him. I open with a Friendly greeting.

Gya ha ha ha ha!

Laugh back

Hmph... You'are one sick bastard!

Calm it down

Hey hey, if you don't please me quick I'm gonna blow up on you!!

Calm it down

Tell me what you want from me.

(Become my minion)

Give me ¥898 and I'll think about it.

Yes

This just doesn't cut it.

Now i want Magic Stone. You've got it, don't you?

Yes

That should do it-- contract fulfilled!

*SQUEEEEEE*

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He has the two spells i wrote above and also Agi, the basic fireball. In the room next to this one i found a stash of ¥4800, making me way too happy. Then i met my first Jaki Gremlin: Those guys i never understood, so i am just Threatening to them and ask for Magnetite (they give 200) if given chance. If not i kill them and move on.

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There are also Gaki around here, but we already met them. I find two incenses: A speed one and a luck one, and then come to the long corridor we saw in the dream. This time, though, the old hag does not appear to pester us. Instead we get Yuriko raising our egos.

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With your power, you'll be able to do anything you put your mind to, so you should be OK.

Then we heal the wounds we got ascending the building and enter the last room. We find the same scene we saw on the dream, and the mad scientist guy even recognizes us! The game gives us a chance to try and escape, but we do not take it. It's magical punishment time!

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This is the place where my brethren in the Abyss are to be summoned. I cannot allow it to be defiled by your blood!! Get out!

We are sent back to the corridor. There he tell us: "You won't get away this time! Those who stand in my way will be crushed!" and turns into Choujin Doman, just like in the dream.

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The first turn is opened by Aquino casting Agi for 31 damage. Then Doman cast Maha-Agi on us: Kerberos reflect the attack back to him for 10 damage while Azumi takes 9, Goblin takes 18, Bardon takes 8, Koneko 16, and Aquino 8. In that you can see how the Magic attribute also affects magic defense and not only attack. Bardon casts Zan on him and does 24 damage. Azumi casts Zio, hurting the monster for 8 damage and shocking him, but it is useless now he already took his action. Goblin casts Maka-Kaja, raising the party Magic Power. Then Doman dodges Kerbero's bite attack and Koneko shoots him for 4 damage.

The second turn is opened by Azumi casting Me-Dia to heal the damage Doman did with his Maha-Agi. Doman then casts Sibabu, binding Kerberos while Azumi manages to avoid the spell. This time, and thanks to the Goblin buff, Aquino's Agi does 46 damage and Bardon's Zan does 36. Now the Goblin casts another Maka-Kaja and Koneko does 4 more damage with his gun. Kerberos does nothing since he is bound, and so he will be for the rest of the battle. Yay.

With the two Magic Buffs going on Bardon opens the third turn casting a Zan for 49 damage, Aquino an Agi for 63, and Azumi a Zio for 16 damage and shock, so Doman loses this turn. Goblin casts another Maka-Kaja and Koneko does 4 more damage with his gun, feeling kind of useless.

Fourth turn is opened by Azumi casting Zio for 18 damage and shock, so evil guy is defenseless! Bardon and Aquino cast again the same spells, this time for 54 and 70 damage. Evil goes RIP and we get 480EXP each plus ¥780 and 300MAG. That means we all go up one level, yay. Then we return to the weird room, where we find a machine whose function we do not understand. Kerberos seems to know something, since he starts acting up.

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So unfair! :cry: It will be a long, long time before we meet again with little cute dog, sob. We mess around with the machine and discovers it needs to be interfaced with a COMP to be used, and it can both SAVE and TRANSMIT. We do both, in that order. Transmit presents us with a menu where only one option exist, for now: Lab. We pick it, and...

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Those must be the machines Steven told us about. We leave the room and begin exploring this new place, finding a Zombie in the room just next to the Terminal. This Zombie, though, has managed to keep his wits and actually tells us thingies about what happened here, so i will honor him with the Zombie Artwork.

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Wow, I'm surprised you were able to make it in here... So... What on earth is going on in the outside world? I've been here working on our secret Terminal System project. I've had to transmit all the data from my experiments over the computer to the main center from here.

Three or four days ago, we were attacked by a mob of demons. Everyone was either killed or turned into zombies...

Hurry...

Get out of here...

We return to the corridor, summon Andras in the place left by Kerberos and keep going on for a little bit. Then we are interrupted by some fat, confused demon.

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Take it easy for a while. Get used to your new home. I'm sure you must be tired from your long trip from the Abyss. I see you've successfully changed into humans... Wait a minute, you ARE humans!!

And he dies before getting a turn. I raid some storage rooms with cardboard boxes and get a total of 560MAG and two incenses: Stamina and Luck. Then we find Steven again, who really gets around for being on a weelchair.

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However, Gotou's influence has spread to here as well, and it is now under his control.

So... Has my Demon Summoning Program been useful to you?

Yes

Are you satisfied with the number of demons you can make your minions?

No

Very well then! Give me that computer, and I'll increase its memory for you!

...

Done!

You should be able to store two more minions than you could before. With this adjustment my Demon Summoning Program should be even more useful.

I return to the corridor and then decide with all the Incenses i have been getting and how little we have been hurt so far is foolish to be lugging them around, so instead i use them to raise Koneko's attributes. You can also use them on you companions, but... No, you will later see why.

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We then resume our explorations and come to another Orc who ask us "How the hell did you manage to get in here!?" before being shocked by Azumi and abused by the party. He left a San-Setsu-Something, a very powerful melee weapon for this stage of the game. With it Koneko, not precisely known for his great strenght and power, does some good damage from the second row, and has up to three strikes a turn. Is pretty cool so i exchange it with the Tonfa he was carrying. Soon afterwards we find the exit and take it, finding we are now in Sendagaya, an area in the Shibuya ward.

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Exploring around we find this area is also barricaded by the SDF. Then we meet our first Yousei Dryad. Things do not go well, she takes advantage of my good will to Entrhall Koneko and then we end fighting, but since i do not want to mess with the Yousei i just retreat and leave her be, taking the path north through Yoyogi park and into bustling Shinjuku.

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There we come across a big screen were we can see an speech given by the man himself, Gotou. I love his gestures so i will just post the screenshots. :P

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Later we enter Shinjuku's underground malls and the first person we meet is a girl from the Mesian Church, and while now they are just a bunch of boys and girls with good intentions and a lot of faith on the second act they will become one of the main power players and will have their own fanatical crusader army among other thingies. They take inspiration of several western faiths as you will be seeing, but with enough diferences as to not be any one in particular. For example they seem to be tolerant of ceremonial magicians and include a number of those in their fighting forces, something i highly doubt catholics or christians would be happy with. They are intolerant of most other thingies, though, and the only reason i usually prefered them over the competence is because the Gaian Church, who we will be meeting soon, is far, far worse.

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That's a good thing. You are an ally of our Mesia Church then. If everyone prays to God, he will surely send us a savior to rescue humanity! in these dark times, God is humanity's only hope... there is none other to whom we can turn to!

Next to her is the entrance to the local Mesian Temple. A priest welcomes us as we enter.

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Little lost sheep, pray to God...

What business do you have at the Mesia Church?

He does the usual temple stuff for a donation: Heals the DYING state, restores HP and MP, removes status effects, lifts curses, and sells items with a lot of character... Things like Holy Water, that works like a one-shot Hanma (think Turn Undead) spell, Rosaries, that automatically resurrect with Half HP the Law Aligned human characters when their HP goes null, and Segaki Rice, that also works like a Hanma spell but against groups of enemies of lower level than the Main Character. He also sells Charms and Indulgences, but i do not remember what those do, sob sob.

For now we do not want anything in particular, so we go back to the mall and keep exploring. We find another Terminal close to the church and we use it to save. When leaving a mighty, powerful *SQUEEEEEE* could be heard, for the party had met no other than Yousei Jack O'Lantern, the cutest flying pumpkin ever!

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He has three fire based spells: Agi, Agirao, and Maha-Agi. He is also one of the best known, iconic demons of the Megami Tensei setting, being on the same level of fan recognition that Jack Frost, Nekomata, Lucifer, o Astaroth. Those are some big shoes to fill for the little pumpkin and he does it pretty well. I try to recruit him but Full Moon it is, so we get to fight one of my most favorite faeries, like, ever. He burns Goblin to a crisp in the first turn, and in a couple more turns we defeat the bunch. While retracing my steps to the Mesian Temple i come across another new demon, Yuuki Oshichi, and since it still is Full Moon we kill her and keep going. Those are immune to bullets, though, and have some fire spells they like to use in the first turn, so they can get bothersome. The sword i got from the Orc is useful, since to her it does 10 damage thrice even when Koneko wields it from the back row.

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We revive Goblin on the church and restore both HP and MP of the party, then we go back exploring and find a staircase leading to a dark basement. There we first come across a big war party of Youki Bogle that we just charm and forget all about since five of those things are not to be making experiments, they pack quite a punch for this level.

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A bit deeper we came about some strange guy guarding a corridor.

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Just to fool around i tell him Yes.

Like hell you do! You can't pull the wool over my eyes! I'm not letting you go one inch past me, so get out of here! You ain't one of Gotou's spies, are you?

He really talks too much, but for now we go back to the mall and keep exploring. We find our first Gedou Slimes, a small bother that resist a lot of damage and recovers some life each time it reaches out and connects a hit. They are very weak to fire, though, so Maha-Agi is all we need.

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Soon afterwards another powerful, screeching *SQUEEEEEE* is heard, as our heroes finally come across their first Yousei Jack Frost, Atlus mascot extraordinaire and, like, cutest magical snowman ever. I cuddle him until he joins the party, yay! It costs me a Magic Stone, 225MAG, and ¥257, and he is worth every single bit of that.

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Besides being super-duper-mega-cute he has Bufu, Bufula, and Maha-Bufu. Just like the Zio line of spells, the Bufu (cold) one is completely broken, and enemies that aren't outright immune to the effects will become frozen and lose any actions they had qeued. Now look at this little guy's MP, and notice that each cast of Bufu takes only 3 of those. So, like, Jack Frost's name is spelled A B U S E in the right conditions. The original Jack Frost, though, is more of a fae or elvish creature related to winter and deep cold than a cute singing snowman.

But for now we will continue exploring the mall and meeting people, defeating demons, and getting gifts from the ones we are friendly with. Thus we came across a schoolgirl that had some interesting information...

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Once i said no, he went to a girl standing nearby, and asked her the same question. I wonder who he was?

... some random guy doing all the wrong questions...

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... visited the local healing dojo and jakyo mannor, meet a delirious woman...

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I hear many people crying in pain... But the shadows don't disappear... No! Aaah! My head... it hurts so much...

... and another woman worrying about not being able to go home while she should be worried about not being able to live much longer...

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There's no way i can get home like this. What should i do...

... And yet another woman showing us there are thousands of morons behind each and every coup d'etat...

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Why don't they just let the coup d'etat continue? Deposing the coup d'etat forces is not only stupid, but dangerous! It only makes things worse for the general populace!

... meet our first Shiki Bodyconian, a kind of demon that can get very bothersome in big numbers...

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... sell lots of crap at the local survival shop, meet a man that explains the current situation to us...

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... and the forces of the American Army that Ambassador Thorman ordered into the country are assembled en masse in Shinjuku. While obviously they're at odds with one another, so far there hasn't been any sort of direct conflict between the two of them. If something like that happens, it's really going to be a mess!

... and finally get my own Jack O'Lantern for an Orb and 253MAG, Hee-Ho!

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While i still lack any good tanks this guy packs quite a punch. This leaves me close to the other temple in Shinjuku's underground malls, the one belonging to the Gaian Church. Their ideals are the kind of ideals no civilized world can rest upon, and the group is based around some of the most extreme neopagan faiths and some forms of modern theistic satanism. To keep it simple they are the red in tooth and claw, survival of the fittest, etc etc, infantile bunch. Their preacher looks a lot like Anton LaVey, too.

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... and that is Lord Lucifer!

In ages past, Lord Lucifer was the most powerful, most beautiful angel in Heaven. In order to bestow upon us the gift of wisdom, Lucifer sacrificed his position in heaven and descended to Earth. Furious at him for opening our eyes, God turned Lucifer into a demon and stripped him of his power.

Even still, against overwhelming odds, Lord Lucifer continued to fight God and his army in order to save us from the fate of becoming his mindless minions. Lucifer sacrificed everything he had for us! Therefore we worship him for his courage...

:facepalm: Whatever. I have heard enought of this kind of blah blah blah back in school and believe me when i say not even in games i want this kind of people near me, thanks. They go getting some weirder troops as the game goes on but those are not the Mesian: They already are going psycho with fanatical armies on this first act, even if there is still a functioning society in place, and their suicide squads can get pretty annoying when big enough. If you manage to recruit one of those gaian fanatics, though, they can be useful as fusion fodder since any demon fused with a human results in random fusions of a very variable power level that you can accept or refuse before the last step is taken: You can initiate the fusion, see what the random demon is going to be, and then refuse if you do not like and initiate it again to get a diferent one, and repeat until you get what you want, moment in which you accept. If you are patient and have enough money to keep recruiting them (and other Gaian and Mesian troops later on) you can get lots of demons that way.

But for now we will enter the temple just so you can see it.

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That which has form will eventually crumble. You who bring Chaos to this world... What business have you in this Temple of Gaia?

They have the same services the Mesian Temples offer with the option to still use them by bribing the Priest even if your alignment has gone into Law. They also have a diferent variety of items on sale: Pentagrams that i do not remember what they do, Kodokuzara that works like a one-shot Mudo (instant death, very hard to hit with) spell, Hell-Souls that work like a one-shot Maha-Agion (a more powerful version of Maha-Agi), Amulets that negate traps for a while but are harder to time than the Neutral equivalent, and Talismans that protect against Curse attacks but i never understood how to activate so meh. Most of them also have a terrible fashion sense, etc.

Now we can get back to explore the mall, yay! We find some yaoi fanboy...

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At least that frees me from suspicion... if it was me, I'd be kidnapping men! Not that I'd do something like that in the first place, of course.

... and then we go explore the offices in the upper floor. The first demon we met there is a fallen evil horsie! Here i would do an Andyman reference but he became an unicorn so no. Also, here comes another Kuroi Neko teachs Darke Magicks, Nya! segment, yay!

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The most important lesson here, though, will not be my shameless fangirling of an (in)famous fallen angel but that Japanese people can't fucking write: This is suposed to be Samigina, fourth spirit as listed on the Ars Goetia and a Great Infernal Marquis. Gamigin is an accepted alternate name for him just as Oriax can also be spelled Orias, but really... Was it necesary to make it Gamygyn? It is hard enough to get all the references without they making the names weirder just for show, for (it wouldn't really be right to say God's but i don't either they or him really mind) sake, and as we well later see there are far worse cases.

But back to Samigina he also happens to like the Moon and silver most, just as the two previous ones did. His tarot card is the Five of Pentacles, following the same pattern that we already saw on the previous two with the relationship between astrological significance and elemental alignment of his card: Samigina is related to the first decane of Taurus during the day, thus his stronger period is from April 21 to April 30. He governs 30 legions of spirits, teaches all liberal sciences and knows of those who died on sin. And yes, he takes the shape of a horsie until the summoner asks of him to take human form.

Just like with the other two this is an illustration taken from a modern edition of the Ars Goetia:

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And this his sigil thingie:

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I'll ask myself if this is of the horsies who like people playing with their ears or the ones who kick people doing so but, like, as i said i suck at banishing, sob sob. In the game he has Zan, Makajama, and Mudo: The basic force attack spell, a spell that seals the enemy's magic, and a save-or-die spell that only sparingly connects, making it useless for the party but vewy vewy bothersome when enemies have it. I neither do know what those three powers have to do with teaching liberal sciences and knowing of those who died having sined, but lets keep going: My first try at diplomacy with him fails a whole lot. He does the are you humans are hopeless question many demons like to do and that i never understood what the yes and no options are supossed to mean since the wording in the translation is weird to me.

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I'm thirsty for blood today! You better be ready for me!!

Battle-stance

Oh, you wanna fight, do you? Come on then! Entertain me a bit!

Persuade

Yeah, right, you wish!

You humans are hopeless, right? There's no hope for you...

No

I'll see whether or not there's any hope for you.

I'll send you all to your graves!!

We run and since i am lucky cat manage to escape. What i was saying of that line about humans being hopeless is, more or less, what the bloody hell do my answers mean? Yes, we are hopeless? Yes, there is hope? No, we are hopeless? No, there is hope for us? Sob sob. A lot of demons like to do that kind of questions and like diferent kinds of answers, so you are better just throwing a coin up in the air and doing a head is yes, tails is no kind of thing. We also find our first Yama Imp while running, but he asks for an Emerald and when i do the No thingie he decides to get killed by the party, so i will post more on those later, when i recruit one. The next Gamygyn we find is a though nut to crack but finally accepts to contract with me, yay! It is a shame i will not be able to use it for long, sigh.

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I keep going and come across the local Jakuza big guy, a lot less stern and tattooed than i would have hoped. Also, a lot more bald. Keep killing my dreams, SMT!

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If that weren't bad enough, now we've got demons popping up all over the place! They're all doing whatever they damn well please on MY turf! They're all deviants without the least bit of respect or honor! What's going to happen to Tokyo if we just let them continue on like this...?

And don't forget about the teens armed to the teeth and with a singing snowman and a flying pumpking walking into your office out of nowhere, too. While going back to the mall i come across another Yama Imp, and this time things go my way, so let's celebrate the moment showing you the little guy. I forgot to take a screenshot of his sheet, though.

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Once we have returned to the mall we start exploring Shinjuku's bars. The first one is a small, cozy place where we yet again find Yuriko. There is little art of her that is not spoilerific to the max, so i'll post the next image as a link only and you can go see it on your own free will. This image, like the one of Steven before, is of later in the artistic evolution of this guy, when he had already found his own style and stuff. Is very cool, and I end liking Yuriko a lot just by looking at it.

Spoilerific Yuriko's Image

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She really likes doing that, i guess. Then we go talk with the bartender:

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Do you have a demon summoning program?

Yes

Do you think it's OK to just let the demons continue to run around unrestrained?

No

Do you think it's wrong to call on a greater level of power in order to restore peace?

Yes

I've got something i want to give you.

Take this. You'll be able to find the person you're looking for.

Then he gives me a matchbox and send me on my way. Now we could go back to the basement and beyond that guy blocking our way, but before let's finish exploring and let's get some more powerful demons. The next bar we enter is big and more fashionable, and the favorite of the U.S Forces currently occupying parts of Tokyo under Embassador Thorman. The american soldiers speak very broken english in the translation patch because they talked what i believe was a form of Eihongo in the original. We are welcomed, and then began talking with the regulars.

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Gotou say he make ideal country summoning demons. We move out to protect against that!

Yes, it is that painful. I never could take Thorman seriously because of that bloody speech pattern. Let's be quick: First, the bartender...

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Though they don't seem to be working for Gotou...

... then another american soldier...

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... then a scientist who managed to escape from the very same installation we stormed by mistake when using the terminal.

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I only just made it out of there with my life! There was a man in a weelchair there too... Poor guy, there's no way he could've gotten out of there safely. I wonder what happened to him?

Hint: He is going to survive much longer than you.

Now we go to the last bar here, this being the favorite of the SDF Forces aligned with Gotou. Another Hostess welcomes us, then we begin talking with people.

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I don't know why Gotou would want help from a no-good punk like him. If you're looking for him, he's in the building that's right northwest of Shinjuku.

So there was more to Ozawa than we first believed and he has been experiencing a lot of upwards mobility as of late. Maybe this is also related to he looking for Helena back in Kichijoji and all the abductions of young girls that have been happening as of late? We will be sure to pay him a visit soon. For now we go to the next soldier...

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Without even hearing him out, he just called in the American army from square one.

... the bartender...

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There's this group that calls themselves the Resistance, and they are led by some woman named Helena.

... that guy who always talk about the decline of western civilization on the Codex...

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it will only lead to the eventual destruction of humanity. That worried Commander Gotou, and is why he started the coup d'etat.

... and some random guy that decides to be helpful.

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You should talk to J.B. then, he should know where she is. He hangs out at the disco a lot, you might be able to find him there.

The disco is close by, so we go there hoping for some information on Bardon's girlfriend. A men in a suit welcomes us but informs us the place is pretty full up at the moment and no seats remain, and that he would be able to squeeze a couple of people in but not my entire party. Understanding this as discrimination and bigotry directed to my Demons i unsummon them, and then am able to enter the disco.

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What will come next? Diferent bathrooms for humans and demons? Hooded guys burning crosses and getting dismembered by innocent tentacled abominations? Bigots, all of them! Etc. Once inside the first guy we meet is having a nervous breakdown.

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Ah, we're all doomed! Someone help me!

And the second one is this J.B guy we came to meet:

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... has been pulling out all the stops searching for Helena, the leader of the Resistance. But since nobody knows what she looks like, they're just using the shotgun approach and arresting every single person named Helena that they can find.

While i was already informed of the obsession some japanese guys and girls have with western occultism (just like many westerners have an unhealty obsession with eastern mysticism, to be fair) i never thought it would be so widespread as to have lots and lots of japanese girls going by the named in honour to our favorite vodka drinking, cigar smoking, controversial Russian Theosophist. :roll: I should have gone with naming all the characters japanese thingies for it to make any sense, sorry.

We also meet a woman who tells us about the nearby bar where all the american soldiers go but we already visited so there is no need to care. There is also a guy fearing nuclear bombs will be dropped in Tokyo if things get out of hand between Commander Gotou's and Embassador Thorman's troops. Those people sure get hysterical and start spinning conspiracy theories at the first chance they get, using nuclear weapons so caresly would surely spiral out of control and end civilization as we know it, reducing the world to a devastated wasteland. Who would want to do something like that? :roll:

Afterwards we find a staircase leading to the Disco's basement. There we find another Yousei Dryad wanting to have some fun with our entrails.

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I'm scared...

(i lower my weapon)

Ahh! Come here, come quickly!

Approach it

What an idiot! Ha ha ha ha ha!

Yeah!

Then she attacks. We defend for a turn and we start negotiating again, always friendly. Thing go pretty well.

(the demon is ignoring you)

Flatter it

Aah! I'm so happy!

Flatter it

Ha ha ha ha! This is great!

(become my minion)

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:cry:

Sobing a whole lot we continue exploring the basement. Hidden in the deepest reachs is an American Soldier whom we talk to.

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I go awol when i heard that. That is too far!

Then we return to the disco, meet a girl whining about civil liberties, and leave. Once outside i decide to once more summon my friends, but an unplaned development is going to change our plans for the time being...

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I have lost the power to summon half my demons because somewhere down the road i did something that turned my character to Law, i suposse answering Yes to the question about me believing in God or always using the Mesian Temple for healing and resurrection because i dislike those Gaians to a fault. This does not change our plans, however: The only way to become forced to an alignment is to leave Fate decide it for you. You can be of Law and still ally yourself with Neutrality when it comes down to it, and i'll be damned if i enter Tokyo Destiny Land's alignment maze again. Once was enough. So the true effect is that now i can't use Chaos Demons, and getting them through plain old recruitment is going to be a lot harder. My favoritism towards the Yousei, though, makes it hurt a lot less than it could: Having Jack Frost i do not really miss Azumi's Zio.

Having already finished all there is to do in Shinjuku's mall for now, i go to the nearest exit, come across some guy who says nothing of value, and leave. I travel to the building were they told me Ozawa's gang was based, but only find a stash with 1360MAG and the fat gangster holding the fort while his friends are gone, so we will have to come back later.

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Now we should go to meet with the resistance, but i note i am only exactly one level away of fifteen so i start grinding the area around Shinjuku's mall for a while. At first i mess up since i had forgotten how to do the grinding game before getting Nerve Bullets, so i take several journeys to the Church to revive fallen demons and heal. Then i start abusing my spells since recharging MP is cheaper than reviving characters. Around this area we can find Shiki Lady Zombies...

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... Shiki Obatarions...

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... I-did-not-write-the-family Fukeis...

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... Shiki Zombie Soldiers...

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... Shiki Zombie Cops...

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... and I-did-not-write-the-family Sankis.

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All the zombies are weak against fire so Aquino and Jack O'Lantern get to have a whole lot of fun. Some, like the Zombie Soldiers, can do a lot of hurt and like to come in big groups of four or five so opening with a Maha-Agi while the rest of the group defends is priceless. I also get enough money to buy both Koneko and Bardon a set of Full Helmet, Kevlar Vest, Rivet Knuckles, and Rider Boots so they are better protected. Lots and lots of crispy zombies later Koneko reaches level 15 and runs to the Jakyo Mannor, puts Goblin and Andras in the big glass tubes, and gets...

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... a Tenshi Angel with Me-Dia, Hanma, and Penpatora. Hanma is a spell that destroys undead on a hit but misses a whole lot. Penpatora is a party wide version of Patora, healing status ailments. Me-Dia we already know is the party wide version of Dia, the basic healing spell. Also, given its level and strenght most Demons in the current area die when she slaps them though she lacks the mass destruction of Jack O'Lantern and the enemy party control of Jack Frost. Finally, 70HP turn her into my frontliner and 60MP turn her into my main healer.

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The Tenshi Family includes all of the celestial hierarchy that are not named characters (like Gabriel, Michael, etc) nor are direct aspects of YHVH (like Sabaoth or Adonai). Tenshi are all very good and useful Demons, strong and with a good selection of spells. Having a bunch of them around is always cool, and is one of the few families whose demons do not lose their utility once you go to higher level areas than those were you found them. They also lack a definite weakness. They are my second favorite family, though the Datenshi are more characterful because the fallen angels of the Ars Goetia have a lot of flavour and individual quirks. To get a Tenshi you fuse a Yousei with a Datenshi, the resulting demon being based on the levels of the fusion fodder.

Tenshi Angel is your run of the mill, generic Angel. Later on we will be getting some members of the Angelic Orders of our own, too: Archangels, Virtues, Powers, etc. For now, though, we have our first one and are ready to go into the basement and meet with the resistance. The guy allows us to pass this time, since the item we needed was the Bar's Matchbox. Beyond we meet a very, very greedy Dryad.

Will you love me even though I'm a demon?

Yes

I want to see a sign of your sincerity!

Give me ¥962!

Yes

More! More!

Give me Onyx.

No

Eh? Well, then...

¥673, how's that? No good?

Yes

This is good... Be gentle with me!

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She uses a modified version of the Elf sprite, so i will be posting the character art once we get ourselves some elves. Dryad has Happy Song as a skill, and both Marin-Karin and Me-Dia as spells: She's more of a control caster, since her skill causes Bliss and her first spell Charms the enemy. She also is a good healer to have around, but since we already got the Angel for that role Dryad goes to rest in the COMP. Later we find our first Yuki Ghoul.

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We kill them with fire and get to the Resistance's secret base, where we are received by some nameless guy.

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Bardon
So, you must be the Resistance leader?

Resistance Man
Whoa, whoa, hold on there just a minute, chief! I'm not the leader, just a member. We can't just let outsiders meet our leader, It's not safe. Don't take it personally, we jut have to be really careful about who we trust.

Girl's Voice
There's no need to worry, they are safe and mean no harm to us. I will be willing to meet with them myself.

Resistance Man
Are you sure? All right then. You heard the lady, she'll meet with you. She's right beyond the room here.

Meet the Heroine:

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(end of first part)
 

Black Cat

Magister
Joined
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Messages
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Location
Skyrim .///.
Chapter the third, Shinjuku's Blues (part2).
In which our heroine is left an orphan, turns her dog into a demon of mass destruction, invades by accident a government laboratory where everything went very wrong, finally discovers what the hell is going on, joins the resistance, and saves Helena from being publicly executed. She also kills lots of zombies, recruits more demons and faeries, and meets the two factions that will soon become the main power players in Tokyo.






By the end of the game she will be, like, the most powerful caster in the known universe or something, able to summon demons without needing a COMP and shocking generals both Celestial and Infernal in nature first thing each turn like she isn't even trying. Right now, though, she's just the leader of a ragtag band of improvised revolutionaries rallying against the forces of both Heaven and Hell and their earthly ministers and hiding in some random basement on Shinjuku. That's some pretty impressive upward mobility, i'll say.

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Koneko... Bardon... Aquino... I've been waiting for you, I knew you would come. I am the resistance leader. My name is Helena.

Bardon
Your name is Helena too?

Helena
Don't you remember me? This isn't the first time we've met... Though it is the first time we have all been in the same place together. I remember you at least... from my dream. I was going to be made into a sacrifice, when you came along and rescued me. And i have been waiting for you. I knew that eventually you would come find me for real, to help me again...

There are some matters I wish to discuss with you...

As you may have heard already, the current regent in Tokyo, a man named Gotou, is summoning demons and using their power to try to create a world molded after his own personal ideals. Thinking that, if left alone, Gotou would become a threat the American embassador Thorman convinced the American government to send their troops into Japan to surpress Gotou's coup d'etat and impose their will instead.

I cannot stop Gotou, nor can i halt the advance of the American army. All we can do is carry out minor ats of sabotage that pose little more than an irritation. The situation is coming to a head. If Gotou's forces meet head-on with the American army, the carnage would be overwhelming and Tokyo would likely be reduced to rubble in the conflict.

Please, lend us your aid!

The first thing we need to do is rescue all those poor girls who were kidnapped because they had the same name as i do...

Bardon
You know where Helena is then!?

Helena
And also, while we cannot stop the coup d'etat forces entirely we can destroy the gang of thugs led by a man named Ozawa, who recently struck a deal with Gotou and have been working with him to gather information and do his dirty work.

Aquino
Whoa, whoa! What did you say!? Did you say that Ozawa's gang is mixed up in this!?

Helena
Please, help us...

Bardon
I'd be happy to help do what i can. Especially if means finding Helena!

Aquino
Any enemy of Ozawa's is a friend of mine! Count me in too!

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Helena
Thank you! i don't know how I could ever repay you!

Woman's voice
Hee hee hee hee... So THIS is where you were all this time! I would never have guessed!

A light bursts into the room. A second later Yuriko is there, holding Helena prisoner!

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I'll just be taking Helena with me to Ozawa...

And they both disappear. The resistance guy we met before comes into the room.

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... My God, this is awful! No time to waste! We've got to get out of there and rescue her!

Then he leaves, and so we do. On the way out the guy keeping watch on the entrance tells me once they know were Helena has been taken all of the resistance is going to meet at the usual place, the Bar in Shinjuku where they gave the Matchbox. But didn't say Yuriko she was going to take Helena to Ozawa? And we already know his hiding place, so there we go... And this time we find him here!

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Aquino
Ozawa! Some day I'm going to pay you back for that shit you pulled!

Ozawa
Well well, if it isn't the little wuss we beat the crap out of back in Kichijoji. You still running around playing your little demon hunter game?

Bardon
Why are you trying to kidnap Helena!? What have you done with my Helena!?

Ozawa
Look, I don't give a rat's ass about Gotou or Helena. But Gotou's got a lot of political and military power, and I want some of that!! Eventually I plan to overthrow Gotou and take over myself. After all, I've finally gained the ability to summon demons myself! And i don't have time to waste on a bunch of snot-nosed lowlifes like you!

Play with this for a while!!

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He summons a Yuuki Baykok. This is not an unique boss demon, but a common one as his fighting power will show: The fight begins with Bardon casting Zan for 52 damage, and then Baykok casts Sibabu to no effect. Angel casts Hanma but misses, Jack O'Lantern casts Agirao for 87 damage and Baykok dies screaming. But Ozawa managed to get away while we were abusing the thingie, so we will have to go to the Bar and meet with the Resistance. To make matters short the bearded guy tells us Helena is going to be publicly executed in the plaza right in front of the Tokyo Government Office, and there we go to have our Big Damn Heroes moment.

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Bardon
It's Helena! Hurry, let's rescue her! There's not much time!

Aquino
Hold it, Bardon! Calm down! Don't be foolish, if we run out into that plaza now we'll be shot down before we get within 200 feet of Helena!

Yuriko
The resistance group, in its arrogance, has been continually opposing the plans of our great leader, Gotou! And after a long and arduous search, we have finally capture their leader, Helena! Gotou is a kind man, and has forgiven this woman for the many acts of sabotage and terrorism that she has organized against our great country! However, that does not erase her crime of opposing him in the first place!

Therefore, I sentence this woman, Helena... To death!

Wait... I see we have some uninvited guests hiding over there! Come on out, little weasels! I've arranged special, front-row seats to this even just for you!

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Poor Koneko, don't you see? If only you had chosen me instead, this wouldn't have had to happen to her...

All right then! Do it! Kill them!

And then enemies start pouring in. The first group is of eight Shiki Zombie Cops, and Aquino anihilates them with a Maha-Agi.

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The second wave are eight Shiki Zombie Soldiers, and again Aquino does his thingie.

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Third wave are four Zombie Soldiers and Four Lemures, a new kind of Demon. Those can't be frozen, use Zan and Suku-Nda, and are resistant against Zan. After the first round only two Lemures stand, one badly hurt. We kill them without problem at the begining of the second one.

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Next wave are four Lemures and two Ghouls. Easy: After the first turn only two very hurt Lemures stand. Both die first thing in the second round.

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Yuriko proceeds to concede the victory since we pretty much totally overwhelmed her punny personal army without breaking a sweat. She leaves and we are free to rescue Helena, yay!

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You should get out of here as soon as you can, too... Good luck!

While returning to Shinjuku we kill some more Zombie Soldiers and get a MPS for Koneko. When passing by the Terminal we save, then go straight to the bar. Before talking with Helena, though, let's see for the last time today our character sheets, since a lot has happend since the last time we did and we will not see Bardon and Aquino for a while, now.

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We came across the resistance guy as we entered the local. He thanks us for rescuing Helena while the entire resistance was hiding in a cheap bar, then he goes away and leaves us to meet with Helena.

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Not only did you save my life, but you saved our last hope of saving Tokyo from destruction. In thanks, I'll tell you everything that i learned. I hope it will prove helpful to you.

Bardon, the Helena that you are searching for is apparently in Ichigaya. The coup d'etat forces have been bringing all the people that they captured named Helena to their headquarters there.

Bardon
So that's where she is...

Helena
Aquino, we have also gotten some information that has lead us to discover the location of Ozawa and his gang. In fact, we are right in the middle of setting down a plan to attack his base of operations and capture him.

Bardon
Koneko, I'm going to Ichigaya to rescue Helena. I need to hurry, otherwise who knows what they'll do to her!

Aquino
Koneko, sorry, but I'm going to join the Resistance in their plan to attack Ozawa's hideout. I can't just sit by and let him get away with what he's doing.

Helena
Well, Koneko, I guess it's just you and me now. Please... Let me go with you. I need your help! We need to meet with Gotou in Ichigaya, and the American ambassador as well. In order to save Tokyo from destruction, we either have to convince one of them to stop what they're doing, or get them to reach some sort of comprimise. If they continue on their present course and end up in a war, Tokyo is as good as finished.

The headquarters for the coup d'etat forces is located in Ichigaya, to the east of Shinjuku. The american embassy is in Roppongi, but with public transportation shut down, we'll probably have to use the underground tunnels south of here in Yotsuya to get there. Both installations are closed to the public, but to get in, we've readied this Fake ID Card. If we show it to the guards, they should let us inside.

Let's go! I'll let you decide which we'll go to first.

And thus this chapter ends. Next time we meet Koneko and Helena will be storming both installations and killing everything in there, Matrix style. Rivers of blood will flood the streets, cities will burn, thousands will die screaming, and the world will end as worlds are suposed to: A very big bang, a flash of light, lots and lots of smoke, and a big crater. So stay tuned for some apocaliptic fun, coming soon!
 

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