Lights, Camera, Action! Let's Debut in Tokyo Mirage Sessions

[ArashiKurobara]

Since last week… I found out I’m not the only one here who plays I-Chu?! But more importantly, Tsubasa found her sister! … and then lost her again. But it’s relevant, since this time I bring you Tsubasa and Caeda!

Tsubasa Oribe, voiced by Inori Minase

She’s a relative newcomer, it doesn’t seem like she’s been in a whole lot yet. A couple of those roles have been at least briefly pretty popular though from what I’ve seen.

Major roles:

• Hestia (Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?)
• Ruruka Ando (Dangan Ronpa 3)
• Rem (Re:Zero)

Idol roles:

• Lico of Magic-User Twins Lico and Gli (Tsukino Productions)

No I’m not making up the fact that the Tsukiuta-verse has a Glico Pocky tie-in unit/single. It’s kind of cute though?

Caeda, voiced by Saori Hayami

She’s in a lot, I am really fond of some of her stuff, I don’t really have much else to say though? Caeda and Cain hadn’t been voiced in anything prior to TMS#FE, and they definitely went with solid names to go alongside Sugita as Chrom.

(EDIT: Actually, I forgot there was a Mystery of the Emblem OVA back in the day, and both Caeda’s and Cain’s actors from that are still at least somewhat active, so huh. They do retain their TMS actors in Heroes though, for what it’s worth.)

Major roles:

• Chiriko Tsurumi (Anohana)
• Aila Jyrkiainen (Gundam Build Fighters)
• Miyuki Shiba (The Irregular at Magic High School)
• Shinoa Hiiragi (Seraph of the End)
• Kotoha Hanami/Cure Felice (Maho Girls Precure)

Idol roles:

• Kaede Takagaki (Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls)
• A of Tsurezurenaru Ayatsuri Mugenan (Show By Rock)

[Bearpigman]

part of me is upset that Inori Minase didn’t voice Iori Minase from idolmaster

[ArashiKurobara]

That would in fact have been extremely amazing and I’m now sad that she was all of… *checks* …ten years old when the original Idolmaster came out.

[Artix]

Onward to the second half of the dungeon!

First up, we have the cavalier enemies. They’re sturdy, but they’re weak to basically everything (axes, wind, ice, and thunder) so they’re not very difficult to deal with. That said, the Man o’ War is already a recurring common enemy and they still have all their combo-related skills, so they’ll usually be our first priority.

Oh, I’m sorry, did I forget to mention that they can poison your entire party if the cavalier hits a weakness? Yeah, they can do that, no big deal.

Get a Freebie is exactly what it sounds like - there’s a chance that using an item means it won’t get used up.

Anyway, Floors 5-7F are more less identical to the lower floors, just with slightly more complex layouts. You have to fiddle with the dress positions a bit more, and there’s a bit more back and forth between the two dresses, but the fundamentals are the same.

We also have these little fuckers. Barbarians are extremely weak and fold to pretty much anything, but they hit with axe damage and we’re running 2 lance users. They also have a couple -Split skills, including Axe-Split and Sword-Split, and they’ll be mixed in with a lot of different enemy groups.

Before we go through the dress, we can hang a right and find our first locked chest. I’m sure I was just missing something incredibly obvious, but I found that there are way less keys than locked boxes on my first playthrough. I guess we’ll see!

This one, incidentally, has a Bracelet of Eternity. It gives marginally better defense than a Power/Magic Bangle and reduces your Strength and Magic by 2 in exchange for 30 EP. By the time that stat tradeoff is worth it, we’ll have far better accessories available, so it’s going straight in the vendor trash pile.

We also have a quest!

What is it about my Performa? Is it THAT amazing? I’ve been attractin’ nothing but losers, it seems…

She blows us off, but if we talk to her again we’ll get the actual quest.

…And here’s another one! groan Kid, you’re gettin’ on my nerves, could ya just do me a favor and buzz off?

Oh! Wait! I just thought of something! Yep, I think I’ll let you live… And in return, I want you to go and “take care of” some pesky losers! Those nitwits think they can just come up and start talking to me…? Ha! The nerve!

Right, I need you to track down that noisy Myrmidon and his friend, the hairy, snout-nosed Cavalier. Oh! And I forget his name, but the last one in the trio is the worst. The worst! Get that shrimpy, potty-mouthed guy! Now, as proof… I’d like you to bring back their Force. Sound good? Now off you go!

This is a pretty straightforward quest: go kill the dudes, get their drop, come back. Hell, we already have the myrmidon and barbarian forces, we just need to go hunt down a cavalier.

And we find one immediately on the other side of the dress. Well, it was nice knowing you, champ.

The troll is a little more obnoxious. He’s very resistant to physical damage of all stripes, but is weak to every element. Itsuki and Tsubasa can tear him up, but Touma is pretty useless because even his fire attack is physical. That said, all he does is spam a basic physical attack that isn’t even very accurate, so it’s really just that he’s kind of annoying to kill.

I guess that about does it for this place, don’t ya think? I’m outta here!

Obtained Treasure Key!

:confuoot:

The left side of the dress is blocked off by a one-way gate, so our only option is to use the purple controls.

Next stop, 6F.

On our way over to the orange dress, we have the next checkpoint, a pair of first aid kits, and a revival bead. I’m not sure I understand why this particular checkpoint is here since it’s so close to the start of the area (and there’ll be another one at the end for the boss), but you do you game!

That said, no reason to look a gift horse in the mouth, and since Touma finally has some new weapons available, let’s put it to use. Back to the Bloom Garden!

Checking In

Hello, Itsuki.

Hey. What were you two talking about?

I was asking Caeda if she’s getting along okay with Tsubasa. How are you and Chrom getting along?

We get along fine.

True. There’s really nothing to complain about.

Good. I’m really glad to hear you’re all friends.

Thanks for being concerned for us, Tiki.

What is it?

How does this world look to you?

In our eyes, huh… I suppose when it comes to the literal sense, it’s not different than yours.

We actually experience this world through our masters’ senses.

Our senses?

Yes, and everything I’ve seen and heard of this world through you intrigues me quite a lot. This singing and dancing you and the others are so involved in… All this “performing arts” business… It’s strangely fascinating.

Yes, I agree. When Tsubasa sings with so much joy, I feel like it even reaches my heart.

I see. Well, it makes me feel a little better to hear you two so optimistic about the situation.

Thank you for your concern. You don’t have to worry though - there is at least one thing we can do to reclaim our memories.

These incidents caused by mirages… If we can solve the mysteries behind them, it could lead us to some clue about who we are. So we’ll keep lending you our strength.

Thanks, you two.

I’ll be counting on you too, Tiki!

Really, I just wanted an excuse to have Tiki on screen. She’s the best. :buddy:

Anyway, for as short of a dungeon dive as that was, we have a ton of new stuff to grab. First we’re gonna grab Touma’s radiant skill - it’s cheap and while I don’t know the exact chance of saving an item, it happens often enough that it’s worth getting ASAP.

We also have multiple new weapons for everyone. The Rapier and Steel Feather are the real standouts, making Itsuki more likely to dodge physical attacks and Tsubasa immune to poison, respectively. Also, note that some of these are starting to swap around a few of our resistances - the Rapier will switch Itsuki to resist Wind instead of Thunder.

And while we’re stocking up on some other goodies, I win the grand prize in the melmark drawing. This one goes to Itsuki, and I toss the Speed Incense we got earlier to Tsubasa.

Back in the dungeon, this demon helpfully informs us that Aya did come this way. That would be a thing, wouldn’t it? Just leave and it turns out that Aya’s been hanging out on the first floor this whole time, watching us climb this whole thing like idiots.

We’ll take the orange dress back down to 5F, only to be met with another barrier. If we hang a right though, we’ll find the backside of that first barrier, plus the controls for the orange dress.

Now, things get a little trickier. First thing we need to do is open up 5F completely, so we’ll start by flipping to the left switch.

That gives us access to a Bead Chain(!!) and let us break the other barrier, so now we can reach both hands of both dresses on 5F.

Tsubasa also picks up her Rank 3 skill. EP Fitness is exactly the same as HP Fitness, but for our mana instead.

Next, we’re going to flip orange to the middle.

That lets us break a wall on 6F near where the demon saw Aya.

It also gives us access to another set of orange switches. The right one will take us to our final destination, but we’re going to pick the middle one to grab some goodies first.

Unfortunately, there’s nothing up here but another light wall. However, we got quite lucky and a very special enemy spawned.

The Sixth Element is the first of the “rare enemies”, a set of gimmick enemies who drop a ton of cash and rare materials if you can actually manage to kill them. For starters, their gimmick almost always involves being immune to the vast majority of your damage sources - this one can only be hurt by elemental skills and spells.

They’re also slippery motherfuckers. Both Itsuki and Tsubasa have Surefire (which increases your chance of hitting an enemy), and neither of them can land a hit.

Fortunately, if you do manage to hit them, it usually only takes one good hit to get the job done. This will change later, and it makes them a royal pain in the ass in the later dungeons.

For actually managing to kill one, we get two grand in cold hard cash and a rare force for weapon creation. We’ll talk more about them once we can actually make one, but generally speaking these things are used to make…weird weapons, for lack of a better term. The kind of weapons that do things like teach Tsubasa fire spells instead of wind.

Anyway, with our business on 7F done for now, we’ll flip this over to the right and make our way to the end of the dungeon.

Along the way, we pick up our first slayer skill. Horseslayer is a standard lance attack, but it will trigger a weakness if you use it on…well, horses. Specifically, cavaliers and their ilk only - you’d think pegasi would count as a horse, but that’s a holdover from Fire Emblem itself.

To get to this little alcove, you need the purple dress to have both hands on 6F, and we get 4500 yen and 10x Detritus for our trouble. Curiously, the latter is a key item, but hell if we have any idea what it’ll be used for right now.

Up on 7F, we run into this lovely situation. When this happens, you want to run right into that red enemy - stopping to whack him and get a preemptive strike just means that you’ll get hit by the savage enemy during the animation.

At the end of the hallway, we get a few more Chakra Drops for our efforts. I guess it was worth it?

And at the end of a much longer hallway, we find our final teleporter. We’re in pretty reasonable shape right now, but there’s no reason to go into a boss fight at less than full strength, so let’s go cash in our last couple goodies and top off before we fight Aya for real.

Tsubasa gets an extra 10% EP, as if it wasn’t obvious enough that her future lies in casting instead of stabbing.

We’re also going to grab a couple Darts before heading in. This is our only way of inflicting bow damage right now, and while we don’t have any combo skills for bows yet (because the game doesn’t expect you to be using it, for obvious reasons), it’s still better than nothing for someone like Itsuki, who will be comparatively neutered against the boss.

That’s gonna do it for now though. Next time, we’re headed to the roof!

[WordOnTheWind]

Somehow I hadn’t noticed that this thread had updated since the initial post. Whoops.

Incidentally, could we functionally think of Maiko as our Tactician?

[Artix]

Do you think…?

Yes. It’s that mirage.

All right… Let’s go!

Aversa

I have to say, I’m impressed you came all this way just for her… A shame it was all for nothing, in the end.

What have you done to her!?

All I did was close her ears. Sweet nothings are much better than painful truths, right…? chuckle And now she doesn’t have to hear them.

Isn’t that right, Ayaha?

…

No… She can’t hear anyone…?

Tsubasa!

Now, Tsubasa! Sing!

Yeah… I want Aya to remember how singing was fun - how it felt…

I want her to smile again… like we did when we sang together!

I’ll make sure she hears me…! I’ll make her understand!

There’s a short little cutscene here where Tsubasa does her song. If, for whatever reason, you never got her plot skill, you would get kicked out here and have to get it now.

Please… you have to wake up!

Ts-Tsubasa…?

Aya!

Tsubasa, I-

How did that break my curse…? Ugh, what an irritating little tune! But this is far from over… She is mine. And I will not allow you to take what’s mine…!

Aah!

[quote]

Aversa is one of the major antagonists in Fire Emblem: Awakening. She is a powerful mage and serves as King Gangrel’s (and later Validar’s) second-in-command, but in a postgame sidequest, it’s revealed that she was secretly brainwashed the whole time. Nevertheless, she considers herself a proud Plegian and even (jokingly?) calls herself Robin’s adopted sister.

…Not that it stops you from being able to marry her.[/quote]

No more anguish, regret, anxiety… You’ll have nothing at all to worry about anymore.

I’ll…have nothing…

Yes…nothing. Just leave everything to me, and I’ll take care of you…

Stop! You can’t listen to someone like her… Please, Aya!

Ah… aah…

Oh, but you don’t need to pay attention to a sniveling little girl like her.

N-No… Tsubasa is my little sister… M-My…

Aya…

K…K-Kill…

Now. Kill her.

K-K-Kill… Kill… Ts-Tsubasa…!

Aaaaaaaaaaaahhh! Tsubasa… I…

Well? Be a good little girl, and kill.

I…would never hurt Tsubasa! If you dare hurt my little sister, at all… I will never forgive you…

Aya’s rejection of Aversa causes their bond to break, and reveal the all-important orb. And we know what to do with that.

Right!

Gyaaaaaaggghh!

With her bond severed, Aversa jumps off the 106 to try and escape. Turns out that having wings opens a lot of doors for you, in terms of movement.

…It’s okay. I won’t let her escape! I’ll never forgive her for what she did to Aya!

…Aaaaaand then Tsubasa follows her right off. But it’s okay, I’m sure she has a plan.

…

…She does have a plan, right?

Aversa makes her way down to the stage…

And there’s Tsubasa, hurling toward the ground at terminal velocity.

Ah, but of course, she gets caught by a pegasus that just happened to be in the neighborhood and-

Yeah, sure, rocket powered pegasus. Why the fuck not? I’m down with this.

Here comes the cavalry, and…

Let’s rock and roll.

Boss Fight: Aversa

Aversa herself isn’t really that dangerous, but she comes with backup and she hits like a truck if you aren’t careful about debuffs. The peg knights have all the relevant combo skills, so as usual, reducing numbers is our first priority.

Why do YOU get to have everything I want!? You’ll DIE here!

On offense, Aversa is pretty predictable. She’ll start by casting Dark Envy on someone, which is a combo Sukunda/Rakunda. On her next turn, she’ll use whatever skill is appropriate to ruin that person’s day. She has all the elemental spells plus a lance attack (so she’ll always hit a weakness), and does about 130-160 damage on her own. Rough, but survivable - especially if it’s just her. If the peg knights are still hanging around, though? That person is probably dead.

Defensively, she’s basically identical to the peg knights, trading a fire weakness for an electric one. Itsuki and Tsubasa will be your heavy hitters here, while Touma will spend most of his time taking out the peg knights.

If you’re diligent about killing the peg knights, the first set of reinforcements should show up right around the time she does her second Dark Envy. This is an obvious problem, because while Touma is tough, he’s not going to survive a Bufu and two follow-ups.

Time to bust out our SP skills. These are your panic button skills - they’re almost universally very strong, they usually give one (or more) party members buffs, and they always trigger a session, regardless of whether or not they hit a weakness. Aerial Dance specifically hits all enemies with heavy lance damage and gives the whole party HP regen for 3 turns for 2 SP, which should set up Touma to survive even if we don’t wipe out both of the pegs before Aversa’s turn.

The damage isn’t that impressive on its face, but the resulting session knocks out one of the pegs and Touma kills the other on his turn. Crisis averted!

But frankly, I’ve had enough of this fight and I want to end it before another wave of reinforcements complicates things. Sure, she resists fire, but SP Skills don’t give a shit about petty things like resistances, and it means every attack in the session will be a guaranteed crit.

Why yes, that is Cain riding in on his motorcycle with a flaming bull. Touma does many things, but half-assing his attacks is not one of them.

And that is a boss fight.

More and more of my kind…will come to invade your world… The battle has only just begun…and when the dust finally settles…victory will be OURS!

A nice round of levels for everyone. Weapon experience can be a bit of a slog to get, so it’s nice that bosses are more or less a guaranteed 1-2 skills for everyone.

We also unlock Touma’s first sidequest, but as the text suggests, we haven’t actually advanced far enough in the story to do it yet. We’ll have to check up on that later.

Next time, it’s the conclusion to Chapter 1. See you then!

[BellaDante]

the cutscene with the Rocket Pegasus is the point where I was 100% sold on this game

[XainZero]

I feel like Aversa is one of the harder bosses in the game. Those special attacks can really save you and they’re all hella flashy.

[Fefnir]

It’s too bad for Itsuki that Chrom doesn’t have a cool vehicle mount. Poor bastard probably just has a Sedan, or something.

[Noelor]

He just has a metro pass, but Robin always needs to help him work out what route to take.

Those special moves were real cool - more games should have rocket-powered horse-bikes.

[ArashiKurobara]

This week in voice actor info: we’ve got a couple dudes who do have a few solidly popular anime roles under their belts, but are way more prolific in otome games, especially the idol and similar properties!

Touma Akagi, played by Yuki Ono

Somehow I didn’t really appreciate him until I took up Yumeiro Cast as somewhat of a secondary mobile game for me after they did a collab with I-Chu? Which is a shame because he’s a really dang good singer, and I’ve looked up his song here in TMS and it doesn’t really do him justice either.

Major roles:

• Taiga Kagami (Kuroko’s Basketball)
• Masayuki Hori (Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun)
• Josuke Higashikata (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (Diamond is Unbreakable anime))

Idol roles:

• Asuma Mayuzumi of Galaxy Standard (Prince of Stride)
• Morihito Arihara of Soara (Tsukino Productions)
• Tsubaki Rindo of Tenjo Tenge (I-Chu)
• Koga Ookami of Undead (Ensemble Stars)
• Jin Amamiya (Yumeiro Cast)

Cain, voiced by Toshiki Masuda

Fun fact: I almost went out of order because last week I-Chu was literally in the middle of an event for his character! But that seemed a bit unfair to Tsubasa even without that big Ayaha scene. But anyway he’s the main reason I decided yeah, the Mirages are getting covered too - so many idol roles.

Major roles:

• Reginald “Shark” Kastle (Yu-gi-oh Zexal)
• Masayoshi Hazama (Samurai Flamenco)
• Ryuu Zaou (Cute High Earth Defense Club Love!)
• Hallelujah (Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse)

Idol roles:

• Koi Kisaragi of Six Gravity (Tsukiuta)
• Atom Kirihara of Marginal #4 (Marginal #4)
• Leon of I♥B (I-Chu)
• Iori Izumi of Idolish7 (Idolish7)
• Rei Sakuma of Undead (Ensemble Stars)
• Mikado Sekimura of MooNs (B-Project)
• Sena Tachibana (Zenryoku Shounen-tachi)
• Re-o-do of Lumiere (Dear Vocalist)

[Artix]

We’re gonna be taking a short break before starting Chapter 2, so no Thursday update this week. I have several hours of footage I need to sift through for updates, plus I still need to play through most of Nier Automata.

A Family Reunion

And just like that, everything’s back to normal. That wasn’t so hard.

Invade our world…?

Tsubasa…

Aya!

I… I heard your song. I think that’s why I didn’t give in… I heard my sister - my sweet sister - singing for me. Thank you.

A-Aya… Sob

I’ll live. I’m fine now, thanks to your help. More importantly, Itsuki… Thanks. For saving Ayaha.

I think Tsubasa probably deserves to hear that more than me.

chuckle Yeah, guess so.

This scene is a little weird because it jumps from Aya/Tsubasa to Itsuki/Kiria and then back to Aya and Tsubasa. Neither group is actually talking to each other here, but it’s still clearly one scene and it’s kind of awkward. Oh well.

Tsubasa, when did you get so tall…? And your singing was so beautiful…

Welcome, Kiria

Itsuki, Touma, Tsubasa… I knew you could do it. I shouldn’t expect any less from my favorite rookies! Ahhh, drinks tonight will taste even better than usual! Oooh, maybe I’ll even crack open that vintage…

Oh, but first… there’s something we’ve learned about Mirages from this whole incident.

They’re working together - that’s what you mean, right?

Yes. It appears as though the enemy is some kind of organization from another world, intent on invading ours.

I’ve had my suspicions before… All the attacks so far have been small in scale, but I believe these Mirages are organizing… and may have a leader.

I’ve been thinking about fighting with Itsuki and the others from now on.

Yes, I think that’d be a good idea, too. Make sure you look after them, Kiria, all right?

Specifically, I was thinking Itsuki should continue to command us for combat.

Hmm… I see.

Um… Are you sure you want me being the leader?

Seems like the practical thing to do. I’m sure you’re aware of just how much you already accomplished back there.

You’re so indirect, Kiria… Why don’t you just tell him how impressed you are with his abilities?

Anyway, that’s all.

D-Does that mean… from now on… we’ll be working together with Kiria more often!?

That’s how it is. Looking forward to working with you, Tsubasa.

L-L-Likewise…! I-I may still be new, b-but I hope we get along, what with the nice weather we’re having…!

Tsubasa… I think this is where you just say, “I’m looking forward to working with you too.”

I-I’m wooking forward to lorking with you too!

chuckle You’re pretty funny.

Man, Kiria joining forces with Touma and Itsuki, the dynamic duo… We’ll be unstoppable!

I think we’re pretty good already.

You’re pretty confident, huh? I guess we’ll see if you’re all talk.

Kiria joined the team.

We’ll have a look at Kiria in the next update, but suffice to say that she’s pretty good and will probably be replacing Tsubasa for a while.

I’d like you all to welcome a new friend to our little office!

H-Huh? Aya?

I hadn’t told you, Tsubasa… but I’ve decided to work at this office, as part of the staff.

Wh-Whaaaaaaat!?

I want her back in the entertainment business eventually, so this is essentially some light rehab first. Better not slack off, Tsubasa, 'cause now I can get her to kick your butt if you do.

Auugh…

Huh? Me?

I was wondering if you’d be interested in a… private lesson? It’d be fabulous. Scandalous. Delicious.

Wh-Wh-What are you-

Ahaha, your face! Just a joke…! Then again, if you’re interested… I certainly wouldn’t say no…

This is the face of a man considering his next words very carefully.

I-Itsuki!?

You- You scumbag, you slimeball, y-you sleaze…! Ugh! Why do all guys only want the same thing…?

Huh? What’s wrong? Ms. Maiko’s a veteran in the entertainment industry. Her advice would be really helpful. After all, I still don’t even have any idea if I should focus on singing, acting, or something else entirely…

Oh. Well, that’s… not exactly how I meant it. Seems like my jokes went right over your head.

Huh?

sigh Geez…now I feel like I’m the one with a dirty mind…

Ah, one last thing… Well done, you three. You did a fine job. Thank you…for saving Ayaha.

All in a day’s work, boss. All in a day’s work.

The next scene happens regardless of your response to Maiko’s question, but it feels like it belongs a bit better if you act like an idiot in front of Tsubasa. I indulged the game on that particular choice, but we won’t be doing that a whole lot for reasons that will make sense in like…30 hours.

Just wanted to confirm something. Is there any field in particular that appeals to you? Singing, acting, anything…?

Well… I never really planned on getting in the entertainment business in the first place, so I’m not sure…

Just relax. You can say whatever’s on your mind. You don’t have to think too hard about it.

Let’s see… This time around, I had you join Tsubasa for her voice training. How was it? Did it make you feel like you’d enjoy being a professional singer?

To be honest… I’d prefer to support others than actually become a singer.

Support?

I want to help Tsubasa out. I’d like to see her become an idol and sing in front of an audience, rather than end up one myself.

I’m sorry I’m so directionless right now.

Huh?

It would’ve been best if you had a preference…but if you don’t, there are always other ways to handle it.

Uh, Ms. Maiko? It kind of sounds as though you’ve already decided what I’ll be doing…

I guess you could say it just came to me. We don’t have the luxury of letting our talent just sit around, so… I’ll just train you in everything!

E-Everything…!? Th-That’s crazy! You’re asking the impossible!

To do the impossible, sometimes you have to get a little crazy! Oooh…now how am I going to market you…?

…

Wait, me!?

With this many teenagers around the place, I’m sure everyone’s got their own problems to deal with. So I’d like you to be there for everyone if they need it. You could call it…emotional maintenance.

That’s right, Itsuki, you’re the in-house therapist. Strap in, motherfucker.

Uh-huh…

I think you’d be pretty good at this kind of thing, Itsuki. Just look at all you’ve done for others already! Plus, helping those in the industry through their problems is bound to be a good learning experience for you!

So I want you to do your best, Itsuki! Let’s climb these steps to stardom together!

[DrFetus]

There are a couple of broken SA emoticons that don’t have an equivalent here in your update. Might want to replace them with something else.

[WordOnTheWind]

Alternatively, provide the image and request them here. Custom emojis 🐍

[Fefnir]

Itsuki will now be known by his job title: Sidequest Boy.

[Bearpigman]

To be honest… I’d prefer to support others than actually become a singer.

Itsuki, you better grab a bass and provide the foundation for this funky troupe ASAP

[Artix]

[quote] Hey Itsuki! I’ve got your first line of missions to help you on your rise to Stardom! First is a dance lesson with Barry… and the other’s going to be a secret <3
It’ll be at Uzume Lesson Studio. You know, the place where you and Tusbasa had your first lesson. Barry says you can come by any time![/quote]

So welcome to the first intermission! After you complete each dungeon, the game gives you a breather period where you can just kinda fuck around, do sidequests, and catch up with everyone without the pressure of the plot. You don’t have to do this, mind you. As Maiko said, you can head to Barry’s studio to hop back into the plot, and you can abandon the plot at any time to go do sidequests. But since the game was so kind to offer it, let’s use the time to catch up with some friends.

First though, Kiria has officially joined the party, so let’s see what she brings to the-

…Oh. Oh dear. Is that…is that a pirate Miku outfit? Really? Sweetie, we need to have a talk, and it begins with changing back into your street clothes yesterday.

If it wasn’t obvious from the stat spread, Kiria is our dedicated black mage. She starts with Ice and Dark magic, but she’ll eventually pick up everything except electric spells, including the almighty family. Much like Teddie in Persona 4, her problem tends to be that she has too many tools to work with - you just don’t have enough skill slots to properly kit her out in Fire/Ice/Wind and Concentrate for maximum damage potential and give her Megidolaon for emergencies and keep her up to date with status ailments.

Anyway, let’s go do some sidequests. We unlocked Touma’s first one in the last dungeon, so let’s start there.

[quote] hey itsuki. they’re gonna hold auditions for a new charcter in raiga.
so for preparation, i need to get hyped up. so… wanna go watch the show with me? i’ll be at central street in shibuya![/quote]

Well that’s just right across the street! Let’s go see the show.

This is uh…kind of a joke. You can tell which quests require you to fight things because they’ll have a recommended level, and 7 is about six levels too high for this one.

That’s the spirit! All right, let’s head there right away! It’s gonna be at the Toubo Department Store in Ikebukoro.

And sure enough, we have a new location on the world map.

There’s a nice little cafe here and a handful of folks to talk to, but nothing really worth showing off.

Masqueraider Raiga, Part 1

It’s a bit late to ask this now, but what’s Raiga?

I told you so much about it and you don’t remember?! He’s a hero, man! A live-action hero that I can’t love enough!

Uh-huh.

There’s gonna be an audition for the TV series soon, not just one of these live shows. I gotta watch this to get hyped!

You seem pumped up.

Of course I am! The whole reason why I got into this industry is to become a hero!

Clad with lightning’s might, the fangs of justice shall crush the nefarious Valhalla Pharmaceuticals! I am-

Oh, looks like it’s starting.

…R-Right.

Yaaaaaaaaay!

Lightning Systems, all green!

Gwaaaaaaaargh!

All right!

It was good. No wonder you’re so into it.

Right? Right!? Wasn’t it worth coming to see!? It was all… Masqueraider Raiga!

…Excuse me. You’re in the way.

The hell’d you say!? …Wait. Who’re you?

Does that really matter? Don’t you feel dumb for getting all into this fake show?

Then why’d you come see it? Didn’t you like the show too?

Not one bit. I’m just here to kill time.

Besides, all that stuff about friendship and justice and victory is irritating. Those things are fake and only exist in made-up stories.

Oh good, we found a nihilist child. I can’t wait to see what kind of sick burns he drops on Touma for liking a children’s show that he’s way too cool and mature for.

Wha-

There’s no way heroes even exist. Isn’t it time you grew up?

…

…Hey, why’re you so gloomy? I’d be happy to listen if you waan talk about-

Do I look like I care? It doesn’t involve you anyway. …I’m going now.

…Whatever. leaves

…

Why the lie? Auditions haven’t even started yet, right?

I just couldn’t leave him be when I saw that loneliness on his face… Making children smile…that’s what real heroes do.

Still… I can’t believe I blurted out something so ridiculous.

Then you just need to get that part, no matter what.

Yeah! I’ll make it happen! Will you come train with me? I still dunno about the sharpness of my moves for action scenes. I wanna brush up on them before the audition.

I suppose I should. I can’t let you become a liar, after all.

I owe you one, Itsuki! I’ll be sure to think of a training regimen.

Well that sounds like a plan to me. As we try to leave the rooftop, Touma gets a little more specific about his “training”.

[quote] now about my training plan… i’m thinking we should hit up the idolasphere in daitama
Okay.
remember those monsters called blobs? i feel like my action skills will get better if I fight a ton of those
Feel like?
c’mon, don’t sweat the details! what’s important is how we approach this!
[/quote]

So yeah, the game wants us to be L7 to fight five blobs. A real vote of confidence there, game. Anyway, the way this quest (and similar ones later on) works, is that Touma or a session that Touma is part of has to kill the blobs or they don’t count. Against blobs, this really isn’t a big deal, but later on the enemies will get a bit trickier and it’ll be harder to work certain party members in.

And you know what, let’s take Kiria for a spin. It’s not like we’re going to need Tsubasa’s combo potential to deal with L2 enemies.

Training Begins

I still cannot grasp the reason behind this fixation on becoming a “hero”. Is a hero not defined by their action? Simply striving to become one seems…odd.

Just watch me. I’ll show you what a true hero’s passion is like!

Well, if you wish to train, I suppose I have no reason to object.

Good! Let’s do this, Cain!

There’s really nothing interesting about killing five blobs, especially since even a basic attack would one-shot them several times over. However, it does give me the opportunity to talk about an interesting quirk of weapons.

Namely, the first skill for any given weapon takes…if not literally 0 EXP, then certainly very close. The best I can tell is that there’s a very very low threshold, and as long as you clear it, you’ll instantly get the first skill no matter how weak the fight was. And when I say a low threshold, we’re talking “two blobs didn’t do it, but two blobs and a dark mage or two did” levels. These are L2 and 3 enemies with appopriate experience drops, and Kiria is L15.

Yeah! I think I’ve figured it out! Sharp moves in an action scene involve fast footwork… timing… proper breathing! And going all in!

Touma Akagi’s soul as an entertainer has achieved a new awakening… Touma’s inspiration has taken form as a new Performa: Mind of a Hero!

gasp This radiance…!

Heh, I 've got this down now! Thanks, guys!

And that’s a wrap for Touma’s quest. Let’s head back to the bloom palace and finish up.

Meeting Tharja

Huh?

I did not realize one could actually vocalize staring, but I suppose Tharja would be the one to make it happen.

[quote]

Tharja is one of the more…questionable side characters in Awakening. She’s a Plegian dark mage who defects out of boredom, and then spends the vast majority of her time stalking Robin, cursing Robin to be bound to her, cursing a whole bunch of other people for daring to hurt Robin, and bonding with (potentially marrying!) other folks based on their mutual love of Robin. Remember how I said Chrom was the straight man to a bunch of weirdos? Well, here’s exhibit A. TMS mercifully strips out a lot of the stalky bits and writes her as more of a socially awkward weirdo instead, but either way Kiria deserves better.[/quote]

And what’s wrong with just staring from a distance?

It’s much more fun to talk to someone face to face!

Do you…think so too?

If it’s okay…yeah, I’d prefer to talk a little more directly.

…Fine.

Tharja’s a Dark Mage mirage. She’s a little…weird, but when it comes to magic, she’s unbeatable.

Yes.

Uh, I’m Itsuki Aoi. Nice to meet you.

Charmed.

…

Um…? Is there something on my face?

Just curious. Kiria talks about you sometimes. I have high hopes for you…

I’d appreciate it if you help Kiria out. She can be a little…reckless, sometimes.

Hmm… I know I get a lot of help from Kiria, but I really don’t think she needs much help from me…

I’m counting on you… leaves

Really?

Mhm! I think she thinks you’re interesting. So you should come visit and talk to her from time time.

Well that was…interesting. Despite her weirdness, Tharja is still probably the least interesting of the mirages. Anyway, let’s do the thing we actually came here to do.

Chrom has a new sword we can grab, and Kiria has a whole bunch of Radiant Skills to pick up. We’ve seen EP Fitness before, but Lightoma (reveals traps in dungeons), Bewitching Desire (increases EP recovery from items and spells), and Endless Song (Survives a lethal blow once per battle) are all new.

And of course, the man of the hour. Unlike most Radiant Skills, the sidequest Performas don’t directly unlock anything (like how EP Fitness gives you an immediate MP boost), but they do have some nifty rewards that we’ll see soon.

Oh man, I’m getting nervous…

If you succeed, you shall be able to take your place on this…television business as a hero.

Yeah! Just watch me! I’ll teach you what a hero’s passion is!

I look forward to it. Now, Touma - go and show them the fruits of your training in full!

Right! Make sure you cheer me on!

Masqueraider Raiga, Part 2

…Somehow, I don’t think this is quite what Touma had in mind for the audition.

Too slow!

Whaaaaaat!? He dodged my Raging Stampede!?

Lightning Systems, all green!

Full boost! Raiga Kiiiiiiiick!

Graaaaaaaagh!

gasp Uh, oh no! Ack!

Goddammit Touma, you had one job. One job!

Right!? Wasn’t it awesome? Did you catch it? I sure hope you did! The way that I reeled back when I got hit with the Raiga Kick! If there was a national reeling-back competition, that one I did today would’ve been in the top four! Easy!

Your headpiece came off though.

sigh I didn’t get the part for the show and got this gig instead… But to think it’d be the villain… Ahaha…

Didn’t that director introduce you to this job though? He said he wanted you to get more experience. I don’t think you should be so bummed out about it.

But even so… Even so!

Is it about that kid?

Urk! That’s…well… The next time I see that kid, I’ll just have to honestly apologize to him…

Life rarely happens the way we desire. You must use this experience as impetus to push yourself to greater heights.

Y-You’re right! Yeah! My legend as a hero is just beginning!

That’s the spirit, Touma. And one day, show me what a true “hero’s passion” is like.

Touma Akagi has grown as an entertainer and has become “In the Kaiju Suit”!

[XainZero]

Touma’s sidequests are some of my favorites because I enjoy Kamen Rider quite a bit. I never really got why you’d want to give almighty type spells to Kiria because of how good sessions are.

[blahmoomoo]

Endless Song (Survives a lethal blow once per battle)

I think Endless Song specifically only applies to lethal magic blows in Kiria’s case, not any kind of blow. Other characters get the physical version.

I find that having an almighty skill around can be useful in a pinch against enemies with a lot of resistances/nulls/drains, where you simply can’t pull off a decent session and SP skills are not a good or possible option. It also feels like almighty skills (also dark damaging skills like Flux, but I didn’t bother keeping that around for very long since heavy resistances aren’t a thing early game) do a bit more damage than using an elemental hitting a weakness on the same level to compensate for the lack of session potential.

[Pyroi]

I can only assume that as you complete Touma’s sidequests he eventually just becomes a full-fledged Rider in battle too.

Who needs a spear when you can just Rider Kick?