Black Cat
Magister
KalosKagathos said:
No, I'm sorry. It was my fault, as I was talking to someone while reading the last couple of updates and did not notice that paragraph at all.
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Apocalypse: so fun it's worth repeating - Let's play SMT III
- Thread starter KalosKagathos
- Start date
No, I'm sorry. It was my fault, as I was talking to someone while reading the last couple of updates and did not notice that paragraph at all.
KalosKagathos
Learned
It's OK, sorry I snapped at you there a little.
No fear! 
Reject_666_6
Arcane
uona said:
KalosKagathos
Learned
So we have 4 votes for no fear and 1 vote for fear. We also have 2 votes for the true demon ending and 1 vote for any ending that isn't neutral, even though neither the true demon ending, nor any of the Reason endings can be blocked by this particular choice, so those votes are disregarded.
No fear wins 4-1. Expect an update this day.
No fear wins 4-1. Expect an update this day.
Cool.
KalosKagathos
Learned
Update 21: In which everyone loses it
Because of your name, you will live a life of betrayal, rejection, and defeat. Do you fear the deceit, the torment?
No, I don't.
There are forces vying for creation. Without judging their Reasons, your world will not come to be. Side with them, or side against them. Only then will your world be born. Remember that you... Lo! A new force is about to emerge in Ikebukuro! I, too, will become a force, with this woman. ...Remember that you are what is right. That is my truth.
You still won't give me the Reason...? What am I missing...?
I should see for myself what kind of world others are trying to create.
One ending just got ruled out. We still have 5 other possibilities. As Aradia said, whoever it is that is stirring the remains of Gozu-Tennoh is about to be done with it, so Ikebukuro is the next logical destination.
Demon: ...Heard she looks nice from behind, if you catch my drift!
However, we meet this Koppa on our way to the terminal. I don't know about you, but this is relevant to my interests and calls for further investigation.
The lady can be found near the western entrance. Teleporting to Shibuya, then doing a bit of traveling on foot is the quickest way to get here.
Soul: I've only seen her from behind, but what I saw looks good! If you wanna meet her, try looking for her.
Soul: ...I prefer the cute little Pixies, though.
Demon: The hot one's always been the Lady of the Fount...
Opinions are split on just how hot she is. Guess we'll have to see for ourselves.
There's a boner killer if I've ever seen one.
Will you stay here?
Yes.
Are you sure?
Yes.
Scanning the area for dat ass.
Target acquired.
Nice legs.
The bum isn't bad, but it would benefit from tighter clothes.
I guess it's understandable, since your heart is set on chaos rather than creation... But, there's one obstacle you've yet to overcome...
No matter how many times I see, I just can't get over the stoned expression on the beast's faces.
Beast: DO YOU WISH FOR A DEMON'S HEART, EVEN IF YOU WILL BE BOUND TO DESPAIR IN IMPENETRABLE DARKNESS?
Yes.
...By sacrificing your soul to me...
It's totally the same skull the other Fiend models use, isn't it? The skull of a dude! Now I just can't stop imagining Nicolas Cage wearing this get-up.
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”
Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. The name written on her forehead was a mystery:
BABYLON THE GREAT
THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
The Whore of Babylon is the next Fiend we fight. This fight mostly plays out the same way as the Girimehkala one: she repels physical damage and can remove all of your debuffs at will. What makes her a little more difficult is her ability to drain all Electricity damage and a wider array of offensive skills.
Let's get this one out of the way first. This is Beast Roar. It deals heavy Almighty damage to all enemies and recovers her health by 500 HP. She doesn't use it very often, but protecting yourself from it with Rukukaja and Sukukaja should take priority at the start of this fight.
Another highlight is Death Lust. Mind damage to everyone and modest chances of Charm. Again, it isn't used often, but make sure you have the means of removing Charm before you get into this.
What she does use often is Electricity attacks, of which she has two: Mazionga and Bolt Storm. Electricity resistance is absolutely essential in this fight, as it will lead to her losing a lot of turns.
Her final attack option is Focusing and doing a basic attack, but it's used so rare that it doesn't even merit a screenshot.
Finally, she has Dragon Eye, but she doesn't use it every turn, not even close to it, which is very unusual for bosses with this skill.
After our evasion rate and defense are boosted, we Makakaja and start using offensive magic. Electricity is a no go, but all else works.
She gets excited near the end of the fight, but I don't think it changes her AI in any way. I think she may be using Dragon Eye more often, but it's still not a guaranteed turn starter.
Pretty fun fight, I think, due to the breadth of the Harlot's arsenal. You have to be able to handle everything: physical damage, magic, ailments.
Reggie's mastery of another Light-aligned Magatama promotes him to a Saint. Pretty surreal, given his reply to the beast.
The Pisaca's Watchful skill finally makes itself useful and nets us an Incense when it levels up.
Only one left.
The last Fiend won't be appearing for quite some time, so let's check out what's going on in Ikebukuro.
The entrance is open again.
If something important is to take place here, it will probably happen in the former throne room of Gozu-Tennoh.
Told you so.
Will you enter?
Yes.
One thing you could have failed to notice because of the camera angle: Chiaki is missing her right arm. Good old Sakahagi.
Why do you bear such anger?
So, you weren't dead after all...
But, not for one minute have I forgotten the rage that I felt on that day.
...my Reason will not change.
Is that a euphemism?
However, what we should have done instead was build a kingdom ruled by strength.
If I was a human... If I could have had a Reason of my own, then the outcome may have been different.
Woman, accept my spirit! Be the strength that guides all demons!!
That didn't work well in the screenshot form, did that? If you had trouble following, Chiaki got herself a new arm, courtesy of Gozu-Tennoh, with which she struggled for a while.
Chiaki shows Isamu how it's done. Also, guys (and nekos), call it a hunch, but I think she may be a wee bit evil.
Now, I have the power to shape my own destiny... Ah, I can see! I can see those who seek Yosuga flocking to this land.
My ideal world...!!
There's no voice acting in this game, but you can tell just from the animation that it starts out as a giggle of a schoolgirl and then grows into laughter of an overlord. Gods, I love this scene.
The very first random encounter outside the throne room shows us what demons Yosuga attracted. Flocks of Badb Catha, usual for this place, are replaced with Dominions.
Dominions hold the fourth rank in the divine hierarchy, which puts them at the top of the Second Sphere, which, in turn, makes them the highest ranked among angels who retain some degree of materiality. As such, they command and coordinate all the lower ranks.
Other demons of the Divine race spawn here, too, all the way down to basic Angels.
Demon: ...What a splendid idea!
The building has changed after the new mistress moved in, and the walls glow with blue, rather than red, now.
Demon: I like your attitude. You can have this.
You obtained 1000 Macca.
Sucker.
Demon: Do not stray away from your belief...
Demon: Hmph... Yosuga needs no jails! Why, you ask? ...Because the weak will die.
Two angels can give us some leads.
Demon: I hear there are two men struggling for Magatsuhi, using the terminals. They must be fond of terminals, I reckon... Quite amusing, if I do say so myself. After all, the world will soon be Yosuga's.
Demon: There's a demon at Kabukicho claiming to be an Emperor... That's what I hear. The world only needs demons of Yosuga... Quite annoying.
The second tip sounds less relevant to the plot, so we'll investigate it first. But before that, let's look around Ikebukuro one last time.
No idea how I missed this the first time we were here, but I didn't check several doors, including this one.
Another voice: Let's take everything he gots.
It's an ambush by two Oni thugs.
The room they were guarding has this Mystical Chest and 2 Cache Cubes, one trapped, one with 2 Beads.
Demon: She's inherited Gozu-Tennoh's power. ...It's time to rock!
The former Mantra have no problem joining the new power.
Now let's see if that rumor was true.
Something is definitely wrong.
Soul: ...This is all the Emperor's doing.
Soul: He's in Mizuchi's room acting all big. Is he an ex-Mantra?
Demon: ...Wait up! I'm not dumb enough to go against you. I'll tell you something useful, so don't make that face, okay?
Yes.
Demon: ...Have you ever seen a Jack Frost named Heeho? I hear he has something to do with the Emperor...
No bloody way.
Three Jack Frosts are praising the Emperor near the warden's room.
Will you enter?
Yes.
Black Frost: I've become hee ho evil! I'm Black Frost, heeeeee hoooooo! I'm so evil, they call me the "Emperor of Kabukicho"! The demon within you drives me hee ho crazy!! The world belongs to the mighty Emperor!! How's that? Are you impressed, hee ho?
I'm so scared...
Black Frost: But, an Emperor needs to be cold! No mercy! You're all gonna freeze in hell! ...Uh, "freeze in hell"...? Ah, who cares! Heeeeee hoooooo!!
The fight doesn't start in our favor, since Barong is immediately insta-killed with Mamudoon. No worries, the boss is easy enough to beat him with 3 characters.
Specifically, Black Frost has no buffs, no debuffs, no Dekunda and no Dekaja, making him an easy victim of Rakukaja, Makakaja, Sukukaja and Debilitate. In addition to Mamudoon, he can do Mabufudyne (nulled by the Black Rider) and Berserk (doesn't do any real damage at this point). The only thing that stands out about him is his resistances: Fire and Ice don't work, physical damage is reduced by something like 90%, limiting us to Force and Electricity. No biggie, we've just been through two very similar bosses.
He starts using Diarama after we piss him off enough, but it just can't catch up to Makakaja'd Wind Cutters.
The XP is meh, but the Macca reward is pretty good for a boss like this.
Black Frost: Why are you interfering with my plans to become evil? All I wanted was to be like the legendary King! Scary, yet cute... That's all I ever wanted, hee ho! Hee ho, crap!! Hee... I'm melting......Ho......
The shopkeeper from Shibuya meets his sad end.
You obtained the Magatama Satan.
We get a Magatama out of this. Satan has immunity to Death, weakness to Expel, teaches one of the best physical AoEs in the game.
We should check out the other rumor now.
The return of Gozu-Tennoh... I hope it won't create even bigger problems.
I can learn anything with the power of Amala, just by using this terminal... For example, here's what's going on right now in the Vortex World:
You see, no one knows more about the Vortex World than I do.
...Not Hikawa, or your teacher, or even you! I could truly change the world! ...Me, and me alone! Everything in existence!
Damn it, you should be dead... I won't let you have the power of Amala!!
Will you use the terminal to go after Hijiri?
The plot thickens.
That's not a question for a poll, by the way, we'll definitely be pursuing him through the terminal in the next update.
One ending just got ruled out. We still have 5 other possibilities. As Aradia said, whoever it is that is stirring the remains of Gozu-Tennoh is about to be done with it, so Ikebukuro is the next logical destination.
Demon: ...Heard she looks nice from behind, if you catch my drift!
However, we meet this Koppa on our way to the terminal. I don't know about you, but this is relevant to my interests and calls for further investigation.
The lady can be found near the western entrance. Teleporting to Shibuya, then doing a bit of traveling on foot is the quickest way to get here.
Soul: I've only seen her from behind, but what I saw looks good! If you wanna meet her, try looking for her.
Soul: ...I prefer the cute little Pixies, though.
Demon: The hot one's always been the Lady of the Fount...
Opinions are split on just how hot she is. Guess we'll have to see for ourselves.
There's a boner killer if I've ever seen one.
Will you stay here?
Are you sure?
Scanning the area for dat ass.
Target acquired.
Nice legs.
The bum isn't bad, but it would benefit from tighter clothes.
No matter how many times I see, I just can't get over the stoned expression on the beast's faces.
Beast: DO YOU WISH FOR A DEMON'S HEART, EVEN IF YOU WILL BE BOUND TO DESPAIR IN IMPENETRABLE DARKNESS?
It's totally the same skull the other Fiend models use, isn't it? The skull of a dude! Now I just can't stop imagining Nicolas Cage wearing this get-up.
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”
Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. The name written on her forehead was a mystery:
BABYLON THE GREAT
THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
The Whore of Babylon is the next Fiend we fight. This fight mostly plays out the same way as the Girimehkala one: she repels physical damage and can remove all of your debuffs at will. What makes her a little more difficult is her ability to drain all Electricity damage and a wider array of offensive skills.
Let's get this one out of the way first. This is Beast Roar. It deals heavy Almighty damage to all enemies and recovers her health by 500 HP. She doesn't use it very often, but protecting yourself from it with Rukukaja and Sukukaja should take priority at the start of this fight.
Another highlight is Death Lust. Mind damage to everyone and modest chances of Charm. Again, it isn't used often, but make sure you have the means of removing Charm before you get into this.
What she does use often is Electricity attacks, of which she has two: Mazionga and Bolt Storm. Electricity resistance is absolutely essential in this fight, as it will lead to her losing a lot of turns.
Her final attack option is Focusing and doing a basic attack, but it's used so rare that it doesn't even merit a screenshot.
Finally, she has Dragon Eye, but she doesn't use it every turn, not even close to it, which is very unusual for bosses with this skill.
After our evasion rate and defense are boosted, we Makakaja and start using offensive magic. Electricity is a no go, but all else works.
She gets excited near the end of the fight, but I don't think it changes her AI in any way. I think she may be using Dragon Eye more often, but it's still not a guaranteed turn starter.
Pretty fun fight, I think, due to the breadth of the Harlot's arsenal. You have to be able to handle everything: physical damage, magic, ailments.
Reggie's mastery of another Light-aligned Magatama promotes him to a Saint. Pretty surreal, given his reply to the beast.
The Pisaca's Watchful skill finally makes itself useful and nets us an Incense when it levels up.
Only one left.
The last Fiend won't be appearing for quite some time, so let's check out what's going on in Ikebukuro.
The entrance is open again.
If something important is to take place here, it will probably happen in the former throne room of Gozu-Tennoh.
Told you so.
Will you enter?
One thing you could have failed to notice because of the camera angle: Chiaki is missing her right arm. Good old Sakahagi.
Is that a euphemism?
That didn't work well in the screenshot form, did that? If you had trouble following, Chiaki got herself a new arm, courtesy of Gozu-Tennoh, with which she struggled for a while.
Chiaki shows Isamu how it's done. Also, guys (and nekos), call it a hunch, but I think she may be a wee bit evil.
There's no voice acting in this game, but you can tell just from the animation that it starts out as a giggle of a schoolgirl and then grows into laughter of an overlord. Gods, I love this scene.
The very first random encounter outside the throne room shows us what demons Yosuga attracted. Flocks of Badb Catha, usual for this place, are replaced with Dominions.
Dominions hold the fourth rank in the divine hierarchy, which puts them at the top of the Second Sphere, which, in turn, makes them the highest ranked among angels who retain some degree of materiality. As such, they command and coordinate all the lower ranks.
Other demons of the Divine race spawn here, too, all the way down to basic Angels.
Demon: ...What a splendid idea!
The building has changed after the new mistress moved in, and the walls glow with blue, rather than red, now.
Demon: I like your attitude. You can have this.
You obtained 1000 Macca.
Sucker.
Demon: Do not stray away from your belief...
Demon: Hmph... Yosuga needs no jails! Why, you ask? ...Because the weak will die.
Two angels can give us some leads.
Demon: I hear there are two men struggling for Magatsuhi, using the terminals. They must be fond of terminals, I reckon... Quite amusing, if I do say so myself. After all, the world will soon be Yosuga's.
Demon: There's a demon at Kabukicho claiming to be an Emperor... That's what I hear. The world only needs demons of Yosuga... Quite annoying.
The second tip sounds less relevant to the plot, so we'll investigate it first. But before that, let's look around Ikebukuro one last time.
No idea how I missed this the first time we were here, but I didn't check several doors, including this one.
Another voice: Let's take everything he gots.
It's an ambush by two Oni thugs.
The room they were guarding has this Mystical Chest and 2 Cache Cubes, one trapped, one with 2 Beads.
Demon: She's inherited Gozu-Tennoh's power. ...It's time to rock!
The former Mantra have no problem joining the new power.
Now let's see if that rumor was true.
Something is definitely wrong.
Soul: ...This is all the Emperor's doing.
Soul: He's in Mizuchi's room acting all big. Is he an ex-Mantra?
Demon: ...Wait up! I'm not dumb enough to go against you. I'll tell you something useful, so don't make that face, okay?
Demon: ...Have you ever seen a Jack Frost named Heeho? I hear he has something to do with the Emperor...
No bloody way.
Three Jack Frosts are praising the Emperor near the warden's room.
Will you enter?
Black Frost: I've become hee ho evil! I'm Black Frost, heeeeee hoooooo! I'm so evil, they call me the "Emperor of Kabukicho"! The demon within you drives me hee ho crazy!! The world belongs to the mighty Emperor!! How's that? Are you impressed, hee ho?
Black Frost: But, an Emperor needs to be cold! No mercy! You're all gonna freeze in hell! ...Uh, "freeze in hell"...? Ah, who cares! Heeeeee hoooooo!!
The fight doesn't start in our favor, since Barong is immediately insta-killed with Mamudoon. No worries, the boss is easy enough to beat him with 3 characters.
Specifically, Black Frost has no buffs, no debuffs, no Dekunda and no Dekaja, making him an easy victim of Rakukaja, Makakaja, Sukukaja and Debilitate. In addition to Mamudoon, he can do Mabufudyne (nulled by the Black Rider) and Berserk (doesn't do any real damage at this point). The only thing that stands out about him is his resistances: Fire and Ice don't work, physical damage is reduced by something like 90%, limiting us to Force and Electricity. No biggie, we've just been through two very similar bosses.
He starts using Diarama after we piss him off enough, but it just can't catch up to Makakaja'd Wind Cutters.
The XP is meh, but the Macca reward is pretty good for a boss like this.
Black Frost: Why are you interfering with my plans to become evil? All I wanted was to be like the legendary King! Scary, yet cute... That's all I ever wanted, hee ho! Hee ho, crap!! Hee... I'm melting......Ho......
The shopkeeper from Shibuya meets his sad end.
You obtained the Magatama Satan.
We get a Magatama out of this. Satan has immunity to Death, weakness to Expel, teaches one of the best physical AoEs in the game.
We should check out the other rumor now.
Will you use the terminal to go after Hijiri?
The plot thickens.
That's not a question for a poll, by the way, we'll definitely be pursuing him through the terminal in the next update.
Black Cat
Magister
Chiaki is so totally cool. That's how someone who has been demon fused should look, indeed.
Also, was it possible to fuse the Black Frosty once you defeat him in this game?
Keep the awesome flowing, MiniKalos.
Also, was it possible to fuse the Black Frosty once you defeat him in this game?
Keep the awesome flowing, MiniKalos.
Fucking Babylon.
Es sind auch Teufel, doch verkappt.
KK said:
Es sind auch Teufel, doch verkappt.
lightbane
Arcane
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2008
- Messages
- 10,200
Damn, why are the last humans on this god-forsaken world so crazy and eager to throw away their humanity so easily while pursuing their beliefs/obsessions/delusions? Was Hijiri evil and/or was he manipulating you all the time? In any case,
For some reason I thought of Blobert when "hearing" this demon. What happens if you disagree with his question? I assume he attacks you anyways.
For some reason I thought of Blobert when "hearing" this demon. What happens if you disagree with his question? I assume he attacks you anyways.
KalosKagathos
Learned
Yeah, he's a level 66 Night.Black Cat said:
He also joins you for free in the Third Kalpa.
The first two we'll fight no matter what. Fighting the latter one depends on how the thread votes at the end of the Fifth Kalpa.CrimHead said:
Never tried it, but yeah, it's probably a cosmetic choice. Just to give the player an idea of where the candelabra subplot is going.lightbane said:
That pic actually reminds of Max as turned into a giant monster in one of the recent Sam & Max games by Telltale.
KalosKagathos
Learned
Update 22: Amala Temple
Yeah, another boring name.
You used the terminal.
What are you doing here?
Or... Were you worried about that guy?
Do I detect hints of a mancrush and jealousy?
I wanted to see how you're doing.
Thanks... I really appreciate it. I'm just about ready to perform the ceremony to summon the god of Musubi. If you wanna help out, come to Amala Temple with me. It's just down this passageway.
...Don't keep me waiting, alright Reginald?
Amala Temple is one of the more memorable dungeons in Nocturne, so there's no reason not to hurry.
It's not like we have much of a choice, either. We can't go back the way we came, and the nearest terminal is in the Temple.
This is the shortest trip to the Network in the game: random encounters are disabled, and the exit is just outside the Anomaly.
We only have to finally settle one grudge.
Some people just don't know when to stop.
Specter: I FIgUreD iT oUT. KiLL aLL wHO geT IN mY wAy... YoU aRe LikE mE.
Specter: DIeEEeeee...!!
As usual, he starts by casting Gathering and summoning five copies of himself.
On turn number 2 he demonstrates his new trick: Last Resort.
He's not kidding: the Specter will use Gathering to make sure there are always four of him around. Remember I said the same thing about the previous fight? Yeah, that was a mistake, these two fights had just kinda merged in my memories of the first playthrough.
Here's how the AI of these Specters works. If there are less than 4 Specters, Gathering is used. If a Specter is injured, he blows himself up, otherwise he does a basic attack.
We start by Debilitating them and boosting our offense with Tarukaja. Then it's just a matter of taking them out one by one with Focused attacks.
All magic is repelled by them, but good physical AoEs, like Terrorblade, work wonders here.
Reggie reaches level 64. This means we can take our first baby step on the long road to the fusion of one of the three level 95 demons in the game.
Nothing stands between Reggie and the exit anymore.
Using the exit dumps us in the middle of nowhere.
To the south is a Cache Cube with a bit of Macca in it.
To the north-east is the Temple.
Nice place, this.
Well, it doesn't matter to me anymore what you're thinking. But, if you're for Musubi, I've got the perfect job for you.
Thanks for the offer, but I like the look of this door quite a bit more. There's one demon I'd very much like to fuse before we go dungeon crawling.
We return to Yoyogi Park to recruit Oberon, downgrade him with an Aeros to Setanta, then fuse him with Barong.
Thrones hold the third rank in the angelic hierarchy and are called so because His seat of power is literally made of them.
We deliberately drop Debilitate in this fusion, as the Throne will learn it on his own.
We also take this opportunity to purchase the Vimana Magatama, which provides immunity to the Nerve damage type.
Having prepared ourselves a bit, we return to Amala Temple.
There's a crapload of Magatsuhi stored here. But, it's being closely guarded by three demons.
Why not help an old friend? Because there's no option to refuse.
Ahem. Isamu's inside the upside down pyramid hovering in mid-air. Each of the other three pyramids has a boss in it. We have to defeat all three to progress. The pyramids can be done in any order. We'll be doing them based on the levels of the bosses: start with the lowest and work our way up from there. Judging by the lettering on small terminals, this is the opposite order from the one intended by the developers, but that's just how we roll.
Soul: Well, guess what? I can care less! All the Magatsuhi from the Amala Network comes from here. This is probably the only place with this much Magatsuhi.
Soul: This place has got lots of Magatsuhi. Plus, no one else knows about it. That makes it the perfect place for Isamu to summon his god. But first, we have to defeat the three demons in our way, so we can get our hands on the Magatsuhi. This is for the sake of Musubi. Good luck!
In the area between the pyramids you can encounter Sparnas, Virtues, Dominions, Trolls and Oberons.
The Black Rider learns Mamudoon, which should make those pesky angels even easier to deal with.
The first pyramid we're going to explore is the northern one, which houses the White Temple.
Here's a shot of the interior.
And here's a map of the first floor, with my notes added to it. The White Temple is the most elaborate and the least user-friendly teleporter maze yet. No exclamation marks to help you out, and even if they were there, they would only help you with the locations of teleporters, not their destinations. Here's how to read my map: numbers mark teleporters, letters mark destinations. They correspond to each other, so all teleporters marked with number 2 lead to the location marked with letter B.
Soul: There's plenty of Magatsuhi here. It's just a matter of time! Shijima and Yosuga are too busy looking for Magatsuhi. ...Well, I've been busy here, though.
The loot here is decent. In addition to Soma, there's a trapped Cache Cube with 3 Legions in it. Defeating them nets a Great Chakra. Two Life Stones, a Revival Bead, a Medicine and a Bead are lying around as well.
A new demon type makes an appearance.
This is Gogmagog, one of the giants native to Britain. Defeated by Corineus, the founder of Cornwall.
Their immunity to physical and Ice attacks can make them tedious to kill, but they also have an easily exploitable weakness to Fire.
Other demons living in the temple include Titans, Titanias, earth elementals, Saki Mitama and Phantoms. Defeating them gives good XP rewards, so Reginald hits level 65 in no time and finally increases his Magic stat to 20. The Third Kalpa is calling for us again.
Will you try to open it?
Yes.
Voice of the door: Your magic is worthy of praise! You may pass.
We manage to open another door in the eastern part of the Kalpa. Behind it is a ladder.
Down here is an alignment checking door that only lets in Light-aligned demons. That's us.
Inside we find a Deathstone we were after.
There's also a Shady Broker here.
Shady Broker: ...I'll sell you something special. Interested? Here's what I'm selling... a demon with a body of steel. It'll be useful in battle. Nothing can harm this demon! It can't even be scratched! I'm asking 70000 Macca. I know it's kind high, but it's well worth the price... So, you want it?
No thanks.
Shady Broker: That's fine. If you change your mind, feel free to come back anytime.
It's not worth the price. What he's offering is Arahabaki with defensive spells like Tetrakarn, Makarakarn, Tetraja and some buffs, as well as Dekaja and Dekunda. His level is too low to use him in combat and too high to employ him as reusable fusion fodder summoned from the Compendium. All of his skills are also easily obtainable through fusion if you know your fusion tables.
Now we should make use of the Deathstone we found and fuse the Pale Rider. To get him, you have to fuse a Tyrant on new Kagutsuchi. As I mentioned before, there's really only one recipe for Tyrant fusion and that's combining a Vile and a Fury.
First, we fuse Forneus from a Will o' Wisp and a Naga, then fuse him with the Red Rider. The result is Dionysus.
Originally a Thracian totemic god of hunting, Dionysus was borrowed by the Greeks and mutated into a god of fertility, virility, primal forces of nature, ritualistic madness and, of course, wine.
As the next step, we recruit a Kelpie and upgrade it to a Troll with an Erthys summoned from the Compendium. The Troll is fused with a Shikome into a Legion. Then Tao Tie is fused from a Titan and the Legion. Finally, the fusion of Dionysus with Tao Tie results in the Pale Rider.
I am the Fiend Pale Rider. I shall be witness to your death.
The Rider knows most of his best skills right out of the box. The only worthwhile one he's going to learn is Blight (Eternal Rest takes too long to set up and costs 2 action points to cast, unless it kills everyone; the other two skills are Dark Might and Bright Might, which don't work with physical specials, only the basic attack). Thus, it's best to customize his skill set with Mitama ASAP, before the precious slots are occupied with crap that is impossible to get rid of. We summon an Aeros, another Erthys, fuse them into a Nigi Mitama, then use it to boost the Pale Rider. The only change we'll make to him in the future is replace Rakunda with Blight.
Back to the White Temple. Before us is a teleporter leading to the next floor.
And hey, look, the next elevator is right down the corridor!
Turns out it's a bit more complicated than that.
The Blessed Fan can be found on this floor. Like the Spyglass, it's an infinitely reusable item. This one is used to cast Mahama at no cost. There's also a Mystical Chest on this floor with another Chakra Pot in it.
The Throne sees his first level up and learns Mediarahan, a spell that brings the entire party back to full health. Doesn't cure status effects, unlike Prayer, buts costs 15 MP less to cast, making it far more spammable.
Famine continues being awesome and learns Megidola. Heavy Almighty damage to all enemies.
Now it is time to face the first guarding of Amala Temple.
Albion: BOTHER ME AND YOU'LL BE ALL-I-CAN-BEAT!! B-B-BOOOOOM!!!
Sometimes I really wish the Codex had the WhattheChrist smiley from SA.
Albion is another weird one. Based on the works of William Blake, where he was portrayed as a primordial giant who got split into four parts, called Zoas. Zoas are the smaller copies of himself he just summoned. From left to right they are: Tharmas (represents sensation), Luvah (represents passion), Urizen (represents reason) and Urthona (represents imagination).
The fight itself is more or less a retread of the last Specter fight. If you kill Albion, Zoas will resurrect him; if you kill all Zoas, he will resurrect them. The solution is to use buffs and debuffs to boost yourself and weaken them, kill 3 of the Zoas, further weaken Albion with a couple of Focused attacks, then finish him and the last Zoa off in a single turn.
The only real difference is that the variety of attacks flying your way is much greater: each Zoa uses offensive magic of a particular element, Albion himself is a physical specialist. Each Zoa has an elemental weakness you can exploit, but physical works well against all of them.
Just to emphasize how much of a difference Debilitate and Rakukaja can make: this is Hades Blast, one of the most powerful physical AoEs in the game. Probably the most powerful one, provided you don't count skills exclusive to the Demi-fiend and certain bosses. As you can see, even its critical hits fail to break the 50 HP barrier after sufficient buffing and debuffing.
Teaches Electricity-related skills, repels Electricity, is weak to Force.
The atmosphere around you changed.
The obelisks in the room stop glowing.
That was quick. You already beat one!? So, this is the power of the so-called 'Demi-fiend'... Pretty impressive.
A teleporter appears, allowing quick exit.
Next we're going to explore the eastern pyramid, the Red Temple.
Why is this place called Red Temple, you ask?
Soul: She sucks the blood of intruders in her World of Shadows. Beware the shadows...
Cowards. Reggie's a big kid and afraid of no shadows.
And this is why it's called Red Temple. Stepping on a shadow places damage tiles all over the place. If you have Liftoma you can explore the floor more or less freely while in the World of Shadows, but there's one limit: the elevator leading up is disabled.
On the plus side, this Mystical Chest can not be reached without entering the World of Shadows. There are also two Cache Cubes on this floor, each of which has a Bead in it, but they can be reached both in and out of the World of Shadows.
No new demons are encountered here. Yaksini, Dakini, Legions and Efreets inhabit the Red Temple.
To leave the World of Shadows, you have to step on a pillar of light.
Another curious property of this temple is that almost all doors are one-sided. As a result, it's possible to put yourself in a situation where it's impossible not to step on a shadow.
Still, with simple trial and error you will eventually find the safe route to the elevator.
Here's the second floor.
Soul: I passed by here already. I dodged all the shadows. How come I can't make it upstairs?
What makes it a little different is that it's impossible to reach the next elevator without entering the World of Shadows at some point, crossing the northern part of the floor from west to east while there, then using a pillar of light to come out of it. Other than that, the floor is meh. The enemies are the same, and the loot is limited to 3 Life Stones.
Skadi, an ice giantess in the Norse mythology and a patron of winter, skiing, hunting and archery. Why she is drawn the way she is, I am clueless.
Skadi: I am tired of Magatsuhi. I'll quench my thirst with your blood, so come here.
Skadi is probably the most dangerous opponent Amala Temple has to offer, although it's not saying much. She spends most of the time attempting to mute your party with Makajamon, boosting her defense with Rakukaja and dropping an occasional Thunderclap (an Expel-based attack that halves one target's HP). There's one thing you should watch out for: sometimes she'll spend both of her action points casting Tarukaja. Immediately Dekaja her on the following turn.
It's a clue that an Earthquake is coming next, a physical AoE that deals simply jaw-dropping amounts of damage. It's very tempting to try reflecting it back at her with Tetrakarn, but it won't work as well as you'd like it to. Your party won't take any damage, but as Skadi absorbs physical attacks, the Earthquake will heal her. Instead focus on boosting your defense and magical offense, as well as Debilitating her, then nuking her with the best spells you have. Near the end of the fight she removes all our buffs and debuffs and starts using Dragon Eye (thankfully, she never uses Earthquake on the same turn, as far as I can tell). We don't bother setting them up again and just concentrate on dealing damage and keeping the party alive with Mediarahan.
About 2 or 3 turns later Skadi drops dead.
Alright, keep it up. I'll just kick back.
Best Reason ever.
All that remains is the western pyramid, home to the Black Temple.
It's the most straightforward one out of the three. The only real gimmick it has is that it's a bit dark, and you can counter that with Lightoma.
We face Quetzalcoatl for the first time.
Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent, is a Mesoamerican god of the boundary between earth and skies, and the creator of mankind.
Other demons of the Black Temple include Pazuzu, Loki, fire elementals, Phantoms and Kusi Mitama.
Loot-wise, this is the first floor has to offer: a Luck Incense, a Megido Rock and a Light Ball.
Let's have a look at the layout. As you can see, this temple has a basement. Note the six rooms near the middle of the floor.
Taking the elevator down puts us in a completely isolated room. Curious.
The second floor is even more interesting and has 8 doors on it.
All are locked.
On the third floor, we have a traditional altar room, but no boss. Instead we have a weird sphere.
Will you put it out?
Yes.
This unlocks the doors on the floor below.
Most of them have a hole leading back to the first floor in them. Jumping through two of them does something interesting. Here's the north-eastern one.
Two rooms on the first floor have cracked floors. Landing there causes the floor to break, leading to otherwise inaccessible sections of the basement floor.
One section has a Mystical Chest with Soma inside.
The other one leads to what looks like an altar room. And a Bead, but nobody cares about those anymore.
The Throne sees his second level up and learns Mute Gaze.
And this is why we fused him in the first place. It'll still take him several levels and a boss fight to evolve.
Where were we? Oh yeah, the altar.
Aciel: I do not care who you are. I will sink my teeth into that body of yours!
Aciel, also known as Alciel. Couldn't really find anything about him, but he seems to share the name with a layer of Hell, same deal as with Abaddon.
As a boss, Aciel is bizarre. I say it because without Tetrakarn (or a small supply of Attack Mirrors) the fight is impossible to win consistently, as the main character will always be a turn away of death. But with it the fight is impossible to lose, unless you run out of MP and items to recharge it with.
Here's how it works: the overwhelming majority of time Aciel uses either his basic physical attack, or a physical AoE called Tempest. They can be safely reflected back at him, as he doesn't resist physical damage. Moreover, physical damage is the preferred way of damaging him because he resists magic.
Sometimes Aciel will cast Dragon Eye and spend all his actions on draining MP of your party.
This is a sign that Sol Niger will be used on the following turn. It's an Almighty attack that reduces your entire party's HP to 1. Then he follows it with a basic physical attack that normally finishes off one of your demons (potentially the main character). But if you have Tetrakarn, it gets reflected, preventing him from killing anyone. You don't even have to bother with healing, as Sol Niger automatically misses the targets who already are at 1 HP. That's another way of countering Sol Niger, coincidentally: bring a demon with 1 HP with you for this fight and summon it right before Sol Niger is used. A miss costs 2 action points, so Aciel won't be able to use his basic attack. Then have the demon retreat and summon it when Aciel starts draining MP again.
Easier than Mara.
Nice work! Looks like the seals have been broken. While I'm at it, I'll show you the moment my Reason is conceived. Come outside.
Outside? How can you concei... Oh, I see what you mean, sorry.
The tip is getting closer to the hole.
All done.
You can rest as long as you want after you're done.
Now where did I put it... Just a moment, please... Oh, there it is!
Let's just get this over with. I need my beauty sleep.
It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it, right?
The Magatsuhi those powerful demons were hoarding is now mine. It's enough to bring my Reason, Musubi, into being.
What are you doing?
I'm preparing for the ritual of Reason. See that? The Magatsuhi he's gathering will give power to my Reason. To be honest with you, Reginald, I'm not the one who came up with this brilliant idea. He did. Of course, he planned to use the Magatsuhi himself... and it would have been you or me hanging up there!!
"In a world like this, one life doesn't amount to much..." You said that, remember?
Most things that are worthwhile require some sort of sacrifice. I've made many sacrifices in my lifetime. But, I've always followed the path that I believe in.
You've been such a good friend. To show my gratitude... I'd like you to perform the ritual to summon the god of Musubi. We have plenty of Magatsuhi. The only thing left to do is cast him into the depths of Amala... Will you do it, for the sake of Musubi?
Time for another vote. Isamu asks us to prove our devotion to the ideals of Musubi by sacrificing Hijiri. Agreeing qualifies us for the Musubi ending, disagreeing obviously locks us out of it. Note that Hijiri is dead either way, it's just a matter of who does the honors.
Oh, and I'm not sure what happens if you align with multiple Reasons. Some sources you get the neutral ending you qualify for by answering Aradia's question, others say that you always get the "I'm afraid" ending, yet others claim you get one of the Reason endings. To prevent unpleasant surprises, if you agree to help Isamu, I'll decline the propositions of Chiaki and Hikawa in the future without asking you. I'll still give you an opportunity to jump ship for the true demon ending when the time comes, though.
Yeah, another boring name.
You used the terminal.
Do I detect hints of a mancrush and jealousy?
Amala Temple is one of the more memorable dungeons in Nocturne, so there's no reason not to hurry.
It's not like we have much of a choice, either. We can't go back the way we came, and the nearest terminal is in the Temple.
This is the shortest trip to the Network in the game: random encounters are disabled, and the exit is just outside the Anomaly.
We only have to finally settle one grudge.
Some people just don't know when to stop.
Specter: I FIgUreD iT oUT. KiLL aLL wHO geT IN mY wAy... YoU aRe LikE mE.
Specter: DIeEEeeee...!!
As usual, he starts by casting Gathering and summoning five copies of himself.
On turn number 2 he demonstrates his new trick: Last Resort.
He's not kidding: the Specter will use Gathering to make sure there are always four of him around. Remember I said the same thing about the previous fight? Yeah, that was a mistake, these two fights had just kinda merged in my memories of the first playthrough.
Here's how the AI of these Specters works. If there are less than 4 Specters, Gathering is used. If a Specter is injured, he blows himself up, otherwise he does a basic attack.
We start by Debilitating them and boosting our offense with Tarukaja. Then it's just a matter of taking them out one by one with Focused attacks.
All magic is repelled by them, but good physical AoEs, like Terrorblade, work wonders here.
Reggie reaches level 64. This means we can take our first baby step on the long road to the fusion of one of the three level 95 demons in the game.
Nothing stands between Reggie and the exit anymore.
Using the exit dumps us in the middle of nowhere.
To the south is a Cache Cube with a bit of Macca in it.
To the north-east is the Temple.
Nice place, this.
Thanks for the offer, but I like the look of this door quite a bit more. There's one demon I'd very much like to fuse before we go dungeon crawling.
We return to Yoyogi Park to recruit Oberon, downgrade him with an Aeros to Setanta, then fuse him with Barong.
Thrones hold the third rank in the angelic hierarchy and are called so because His seat of power is literally made of them.
We deliberately drop Debilitate in this fusion, as the Throne will learn it on his own.
We also take this opportunity to purchase the Vimana Magatama, which provides immunity to the Nerve damage type.
Having prepared ourselves a bit, we return to Amala Temple.
Why not help an old friend? Because there's no option to refuse.
Ahem. Isamu's inside the upside down pyramid hovering in mid-air. Each of the other three pyramids has a boss in it. We have to defeat all three to progress. The pyramids can be done in any order. We'll be doing them based on the levels of the bosses: start with the lowest and work our way up from there. Judging by the lettering on small terminals, this is the opposite order from the one intended by the developers, but that's just how we roll.
Soul: Well, guess what? I can care less! All the Magatsuhi from the Amala Network comes from here. This is probably the only place with this much Magatsuhi.
Soul: This place has got lots of Magatsuhi. Plus, no one else knows about it. That makes it the perfect place for Isamu to summon his god. But first, we have to defeat the three demons in our way, so we can get our hands on the Magatsuhi. This is for the sake of Musubi. Good luck!
In the area between the pyramids you can encounter Sparnas, Virtues, Dominions, Trolls and Oberons.
The Black Rider learns Mamudoon, which should make those pesky angels even easier to deal with.
The first pyramid we're going to explore is the northern one, which houses the White Temple.
Here's a shot of the interior.
And here's a map of the first floor, with my notes added to it. The White Temple is the most elaborate and the least user-friendly teleporter maze yet. No exclamation marks to help you out, and even if they were there, they would only help you with the locations of teleporters, not their destinations. Here's how to read my map: numbers mark teleporters, letters mark destinations. They correspond to each other, so all teleporters marked with number 2 lead to the location marked with letter B.
Soul: There's plenty of Magatsuhi here. It's just a matter of time! Shijima and Yosuga are too busy looking for Magatsuhi. ...Well, I've been busy here, though.
The loot here is decent. In addition to Soma, there's a trapped Cache Cube with 3 Legions in it. Defeating them nets a Great Chakra. Two Life Stones, a Revival Bead, a Medicine and a Bead are lying around as well.
A new demon type makes an appearance.
This is Gogmagog, one of the giants native to Britain. Defeated by Corineus, the founder of Cornwall.
Their immunity to physical and Ice attacks can make them tedious to kill, but they also have an easily exploitable weakness to Fire.
Other demons living in the temple include Titans, Titanias, earth elementals, Saki Mitama and Phantoms. Defeating them gives good XP rewards, so Reginald hits level 65 in no time and finally increases his Magic stat to 20. The Third Kalpa is calling for us again.
Will you try to open it?
Voice of the door: Your magic is worthy of praise! You may pass.
We manage to open another door in the eastern part of the Kalpa. Behind it is a ladder.
Down here is an alignment checking door that only lets in Light-aligned demons. That's us.
Inside we find a Deathstone we were after.
There's also a Shady Broker here.
Shady Broker: ...I'll sell you something special. Interested? Here's what I'm selling... a demon with a body of steel. It'll be useful in battle. Nothing can harm this demon! It can't even be scratched! I'm asking 70000 Macca. I know it's kind high, but it's well worth the price... So, you want it?
Shady Broker: That's fine. If you change your mind, feel free to come back anytime.
It's not worth the price. What he's offering is Arahabaki with defensive spells like Tetrakarn, Makarakarn, Tetraja and some buffs, as well as Dekaja and Dekunda. His level is too low to use him in combat and too high to employ him as reusable fusion fodder summoned from the Compendium. All of his skills are also easily obtainable through fusion if you know your fusion tables.
Now we should make use of the Deathstone we found and fuse the Pale Rider. To get him, you have to fuse a Tyrant on new Kagutsuchi. As I mentioned before, there's really only one recipe for Tyrant fusion and that's combining a Vile and a Fury.
First, we fuse Forneus from a Will o' Wisp and a Naga, then fuse him with the Red Rider. The result is Dionysus.
Originally a Thracian totemic god of hunting, Dionysus was borrowed by the Greeks and mutated into a god of fertility, virility, primal forces of nature, ritualistic madness and, of course, wine.
As the next step, we recruit a Kelpie and upgrade it to a Troll with an Erthys summoned from the Compendium. The Troll is fused with a Shikome into a Legion. Then Tao Tie is fused from a Titan and the Legion. Finally, the fusion of Dionysus with Tao Tie results in the Pale Rider.
The Rider knows most of his best skills right out of the box. The only worthwhile one he's going to learn is Blight (Eternal Rest takes too long to set up and costs 2 action points to cast, unless it kills everyone; the other two skills are Dark Might and Bright Might, which don't work with physical specials, only the basic attack). Thus, it's best to customize his skill set with Mitama ASAP, before the precious slots are occupied with crap that is impossible to get rid of. We summon an Aeros, another Erthys, fuse them into a Nigi Mitama, then use it to boost the Pale Rider. The only change we'll make to him in the future is replace Rakunda with Blight.
Back to the White Temple. Before us is a teleporter leading to the next floor.
And hey, look, the next elevator is right down the corridor!
Turns out it's a bit more complicated than that.
The Blessed Fan can be found on this floor. Like the Spyglass, it's an infinitely reusable item. This one is used to cast Mahama at no cost. There's also a Mystical Chest on this floor with another Chakra Pot in it.
The Throne sees his first level up and learns Mediarahan, a spell that brings the entire party back to full health. Doesn't cure status effects, unlike Prayer, buts costs 15 MP less to cast, making it far more spammable.
Famine continues being awesome and learns Megidola. Heavy Almighty damage to all enemies.
Now it is time to face the first guarding of Amala Temple.
Albion: BOTHER ME AND YOU'LL BE ALL-I-CAN-BEAT!! B-B-BOOOOOM!!!
Sometimes I really wish the Codex had the WhattheChrist smiley from SA.
Albion is another weird one. Based on the works of William Blake, where he was portrayed as a primordial giant who got split into four parts, called Zoas. Zoas are the smaller copies of himself he just summoned. From left to right they are: Tharmas (represents sensation), Luvah (represents passion), Urizen (represents reason) and Urthona (represents imagination).
The fight itself is more or less a retread of the last Specter fight. If you kill Albion, Zoas will resurrect him; if you kill all Zoas, he will resurrect them. The solution is to use buffs and debuffs to boost yourself and weaken them, kill 3 of the Zoas, further weaken Albion with a couple of Focused attacks, then finish him and the last Zoa off in a single turn.
The only real difference is that the variety of attacks flying your way is much greater: each Zoa uses offensive magic of a particular element, Albion himself is a physical specialist. Each Zoa has an elemental weakness you can exploit, but physical works well against all of them.
Just to emphasize how much of a difference Debilitate and Rakukaja can make: this is Hades Blast, one of the most powerful physical AoEs in the game. Probably the most powerful one, provided you don't count skills exclusive to the Demi-fiend and certain bosses. As you can see, even its critical hits fail to break the 50 HP barrier after sufficient buffing and debuffing.
Teaches Electricity-related skills, repels Electricity, is weak to Force.
The atmosphere around you changed.
The obelisks in the room stop glowing.
A teleporter appears, allowing quick exit.
Next we're going to explore the eastern pyramid, the Red Temple.
Why is this place called Red Temple, you ask?
Soul: She sucks the blood of intruders in her World of Shadows. Beware the shadows...
Cowards. Reggie's a big kid and afraid of no shadows.
And this is why it's called Red Temple. Stepping on a shadow places damage tiles all over the place. If you have Liftoma you can explore the floor more or less freely while in the World of Shadows, but there's one limit: the elevator leading up is disabled.
On the plus side, this Mystical Chest can not be reached without entering the World of Shadows. There are also two Cache Cubes on this floor, each of which has a Bead in it, but they can be reached both in and out of the World of Shadows.
No new demons are encountered here. Yaksini, Dakini, Legions and Efreets inhabit the Red Temple.
To leave the World of Shadows, you have to step on a pillar of light.
Another curious property of this temple is that almost all doors are one-sided. As a result, it's possible to put yourself in a situation where it's impossible not to step on a shadow.
Still, with simple trial and error you will eventually find the safe route to the elevator.
Here's the second floor.
Soul: I passed by here already. I dodged all the shadows. How come I can't make it upstairs?
What makes it a little different is that it's impossible to reach the next elevator without entering the World of Shadows at some point, crossing the northern part of the floor from west to east while there, then using a pillar of light to come out of it. Other than that, the floor is meh. The enemies are the same, and the loot is limited to 3 Life Stones.
Skadi, an ice giantess in the Norse mythology and a patron of winter, skiing, hunting and archery. Why she is drawn the way she is, I am clueless.
Skadi: I am tired of Magatsuhi. I'll quench my thirst with your blood, so come here.
Skadi is probably the most dangerous opponent Amala Temple has to offer, although it's not saying much. She spends most of the time attempting to mute your party with Makajamon, boosting her defense with Rakukaja and dropping an occasional Thunderclap (an Expel-based attack that halves one target's HP). There's one thing you should watch out for: sometimes she'll spend both of her action points casting Tarukaja. Immediately Dekaja her on the following turn.
It's a clue that an Earthquake is coming next, a physical AoE that deals simply jaw-dropping amounts of damage. It's very tempting to try reflecting it back at her with Tetrakarn, but it won't work as well as you'd like it to. Your party won't take any damage, but as Skadi absorbs physical attacks, the Earthquake will heal her. Instead focus on boosting your defense and magical offense, as well as Debilitating her, then nuking her with the best spells you have. Near the end of the fight she removes all our buffs and debuffs and starts using Dragon Eye (thankfully, she never uses Earthquake on the same turn, as far as I can tell). We don't bother setting them up again and just concentrate on dealing damage and keeping the party alive with Mediarahan.
About 2 or 3 turns later Skadi drops dead.
Best Reason ever.
All that remains is the western pyramid, home to the Black Temple.
It's the most straightforward one out of the three. The only real gimmick it has is that it's a bit dark, and you can counter that with Lightoma.
We face Quetzalcoatl for the first time.
Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent, is a Mesoamerican god of the boundary between earth and skies, and the creator of mankind.
Other demons of the Black Temple include Pazuzu, Loki, fire elementals, Phantoms and Kusi Mitama.
Loot-wise, this is the first floor has to offer: a Luck Incense, a Megido Rock and a Light Ball.
Let's have a look at the layout. As you can see, this temple has a basement. Note the six rooms near the middle of the floor.
Taking the elevator down puts us in a completely isolated room. Curious.
The second floor is even more interesting and has 8 doors on it.
All are locked.
On the third floor, we have a traditional altar room, but no boss. Instead we have a weird sphere.
Will you put it out?
This unlocks the doors on the floor below.
Most of them have a hole leading back to the first floor in them. Jumping through two of them does something interesting. Here's the north-eastern one.
Two rooms on the first floor have cracked floors. Landing there causes the floor to break, leading to otherwise inaccessible sections of the basement floor.
One section has a Mystical Chest with Soma inside.
The other one leads to what looks like an altar room. And a Bead, but nobody cares about those anymore.
The Throne sees his second level up and learns Mute Gaze.
And this is why we fused him in the first place. It'll still take him several levels and a boss fight to evolve.
Where were we? Oh yeah, the altar.
Aciel: I do not care who you are. I will sink my teeth into that body of yours!
Aciel, also known as Alciel. Couldn't really find anything about him, but he seems to share the name with a layer of Hell, same deal as with Abaddon.
As a boss, Aciel is bizarre. I say it because without Tetrakarn (or a small supply of Attack Mirrors) the fight is impossible to win consistently, as the main character will always be a turn away of death. But with it the fight is impossible to lose, unless you run out of MP and items to recharge it with.
Here's how it works: the overwhelming majority of time Aciel uses either his basic physical attack, or a physical AoE called Tempest. They can be safely reflected back at him, as he doesn't resist physical damage. Moreover, physical damage is the preferred way of damaging him because he resists magic.
Sometimes Aciel will cast Dragon Eye and spend all his actions on draining MP of your party.
This is a sign that Sol Niger will be used on the following turn. It's an Almighty attack that reduces your entire party's HP to 1. Then he follows it with a basic physical attack that normally finishes off one of your demons (potentially the main character). But if you have Tetrakarn, it gets reflected, preventing him from killing anyone. You don't even have to bother with healing, as Sol Niger automatically misses the targets who already are at 1 HP. That's another way of countering Sol Niger, coincidentally: bring a demon with 1 HP with you for this fight and summon it right before Sol Niger is used. A miss costs 2 action points, so Aciel won't be able to use his basic attack. Then have the demon retreat and summon it when Aciel starts draining MP again.
Easier than Mara.
Outside? How can you concei... Oh, I see what you mean, sorry.
The tip is getting closer to the hole.
All done.
Now where did I put it... Just a moment, please... Oh, there it is!
Time for another vote. Isamu asks us to prove our devotion to the ideals of Musubi by sacrificing Hijiri. Agreeing qualifies us for the Musubi ending, disagreeing obviously locks us out of it. Note that Hijiri is dead either way, it's just a matter of who does the honors.
Oh, and I'm not sure what happens if you align with multiple Reasons. Some sources you get the neutral ending you qualify for by answering Aradia's question, others say that you always get the "I'm afraid" ending, yet others claim you get one of the Reason endings. To prevent unpleasant surprises, if you agree to help Isamu, I'll decline the propositions of Chiaki and Hikawa in the future without asking you. I'll still give you an opportunity to jump ship for the true demon ending when the time comes, though.
What, help Isamu? No way!
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