I am hoping that Maiko will become a party-mate when we reach her and not just a D.I.D.
What!? Maiko was kidnapped!? Well, she’s your president, ain’t she!? You gotta go rescue her!
You do so have a way with words, Barry. 
Well, you heard the man, Itsuki. Let’s get a move on.
Music: Illusory Shibuya
Illusory Shibuya is a little different from the other idolaspheres since it’s not really “attached” to a building or anything. Instead, the gimmick is more closely tied to Horinozawa himself. It’s kind of weird because outside of the final dungeon, I think it’s the only one in the game to do this.
Heh heh… Heh heh heh… I could get used to this kind of Idolasphere.
Save the jokes. We need to find Maiko.
These photos… Are these the models that have gone missing? So they were taken by the photographer, just like Ms. Maiko was earlier…
I’m worried about these people, too. We have to find them, and quickly.
Anyway, I really hope you like those photos because they’re the main decor for the dungeon. Right away we’ve got the entrance teleporter and a split path, the latter being half of the dungeon’s gimmick. Each of the three rooms spans three floors, and the path criss-crosses its way up and down, back and forth as you work your way forward. Backtracking for items is thankfully pretty easy, but it does get irritating to have to remember the specific path to get back to where you were.
If we head up the stairs, we see the other half of the gimmick. Scattered throughout the room are these giant cameras, and stepping in front of one will send you back to that pile of red photos right in front of the teleporter. So it’s not just a maze, it’s a teleporter maze!
Now, to be fair, most of them are avoidable as long as you’re paying attention. There’s a couple of them placed in really dickish locations, but they’re mostly used to block off item rooms or make sure you’re not totally asleep at the wheel (see the one pictured above, which just requires you to hug the left wall). You could probably also use Lightoma to show the trap tiles, but to be honest, I’ve never tried.
New dungeon, new enemies! The blue fellow on the right is an Apparition, the first of many palette swaps to come. They melt to pretty much any magical attack, but they’re specifically weak to Fire, Wind, Light, and Dark and resist everything else except Bows.
Also just showing off Horseslayer. Note that they’re neutral to lances, but are taking the hit like it’s a weakness.
This is a new mechanic that I’m just gonna let speak for itself.
Oh, Touma.
So yeah, Ad Lib attacks are the main reward you get from sidequests. Each one is “typed” to a specific kind of attack, and whenever you use an attack that matches it, there’s a small chance of getting the ad lib performance instead. Ad lib attacks inherit whatever the base effect of the skill was (assuming it has one), slap a modest power boost and status effect on it, hit every enemy, ignore nulls/drains, and always trigger sessions.
If that sounds hilariously broken, well, it is! The main reason they’re so ridiculous is because you have to be using specific attacks to cause them, and even if you’re using the right skill, they’re still fairly uncommon. Like, I don’t think Raging Stampede triggers again in this entire dungeon, even though Touma sees fairly regular use.
We’re not done with the Rapier yet, but Itsuki took a brief detour into the Deathbringer to grab Ice-Slash. Normally I like to finish one weapon before moving on to the next, but this is literally the only skill the party has to combo off of Kiria.
This is really the main use of the cameras. If we had jumped off that ledge at the start of the dungeon, we would have gotten an item but been blocked off here. Expect to see that a lot - routes that look like progress or shortcuts, but get blocked off by a camera right before they join up with the correct path.
On the right, we have the Dark Shaman. These guys are the first enemies to start throwing ma- spells at us, specifically Maragi and Mabufu. That said, they’re not that strong (Itsuki is weak to fire and only took like, 90 damage from a Maragi) and they have a ton of easily exploitable weaknesses including Ice and Swords.
The Savage version, on the other hand, is a lot scarier. We’re not sticking around to find out how much this one would fuck us up.
Worms are annoying because they have a good set of resistances, hit fairly hard, and inflict poison. Taking a 130 damage hit on the chin, and then immediately eating another ~100 when your turn comes around is pretty rough, and they actually managed to drop Itsuki the first time I ran into one.
Smash Hit increases the rate at which the SP Gauge goes up if a session has at least 2 links. It’s handy, but decidedly a filler skill.
Oh for fuck’s sake-
So let’s do something a little cheeky. We’ve got two weaknesses lined up in this session, and Touma goes next to bail us out in case things go horribly wrong. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?
We managed to take out a quarter of a savage encounter without things going horrifically wrong! 
See ya later, shitlords.
The door marks the end of the first section. The miniboss is after part 2, and the boss after part 3, so we’re maybe a quarter of the way done. The next teleporter is immediately on the other side, so we’ll grab that then go back and scour for items in the first bit.
Immediately to the left of the entrance, we can jump down to grab these. I think they’re just an item version of Kiria’s Lightoma, but I legitimately have no idea what they do.
Past the first camera, we can find this staircase if we hang a right instead of a left.
Fuck 'em up, Itsuki! We’ve got goodies to grab.
Haha nooooooope. Surprise, motherfucker, gonna have to find another way down here.
The final new enemy for now is the Bacillus, a pretty substantial upgrade over the Slimes from Illusory Daitama. They’re fairly beefy on physical attacks and resist Lightning and Lances, which makes most of our session options mediocre at best. However, they’re weak to Ice, Wind, Light, and Dark, so magic tears them up pretty well.
Offensively, they don’t do much damage, but they can and will throw out Poison Breath and Marin Karin. Like pretty much every SMT game ever, Charm is far and away the worst status ailment in the game, and TMS throws one more reason on the pile by making it so that you can’t participate in sessions while charmed, and that includes your passive abilities! If Itsuki is charmed, that means you can’t change targets after killing an enemy!
If we’re being honest, this is what I was really hanging around for. The items are nice, but now that we’ve unlocked Kiria’s first sidequest, we can sub Tsubasa back in and get her caught up.
And since we’re here, we might as well grab a two-fer. This is just HP Fitness, so nothing too special.
Anyway, there’s an extremely hard to see staircase hiding in the far-left corner of this room that leads down to our wayward item box, as well as a few Patra stones.
A neat touch is that sometimes weapons with unique qualities will pass them on as their final skill. The Steel Feather made Tsubasa immune to poison, and now that she’s maxed it out, she gets the Null Poison skill.
And that’s another one for Tsubasa. This one is-
You wouldn’t think First on the Scene is such a big deal, all it does is make her act sooner in the turn queue. But alas, we’re going to need to find another Performa before we can unlock this one.
Last thing for today, a few new toys for Touma and Tsubasa. The Poison Spear is exactly what it sounds like, and adds a small chance of inflicting poison to basically everything Touma does. It’s quite handy, assuming it actually lands on anything.
Next time, we’re going to take a break from the dungeon to see what Kiria’s up to. See you then!
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If I recall correctly Lightoma does in fact show you the detection radius of the cameras both on the mini map and in the dungeon.
I just realized that you can see Kiria’s underwear (thong?) on her level up screen. Pull up your pants, girl!
It’s been, well, ‘there’ the whole way through. Lady has a style she sticks to and I can respect that.
Hey speaking of Kiria :v
As I said in the first Intermission update, there’s really nothing stopping you from abandoning the plot to go do sidequests. So uh…yeah, let’s go do that.
[quote] hey. mind if I ask you to help me with something?
you can find me…let’s see…along Central City Street.[/quote]
Sounds like a plan. Off to Shibuya!
Hey…are you good at keeping secrets? If so, then I have something to ask of you.
What’s going on?
It won’t do to stand around and discuss it. Let’s go somewhere else.
I can’t believe Kiria doesn’t want to stand around in the mirage attack zone. There’s such a lovely sky today!
I’m not asking for your opinion. :colbert:
…Sorry. I want you to find Sir Gen- er…this plushy for me. Seems like I lost it when I was filming at Daitama the other day. Can I ask you to do this for me?
I understand. I’ll look for it.
…I owe you one. I’ll send the image to you. Let me know when you find it, and thanks again.
Well that seems pretty straightforward. Note that there’s no recommended level, so this should be pretty simple.
In fact, we don’t even have to enter the dungeon. It’s just sitting right out here in the lobby.
Itsuki finds what appears to be Kiria’s plushy on the ground…
Oh dear, that’s uh…not good.
Oh man… I wonder if Tsubasa could patch up something like this.
[quote] Hey Tsubasa, do you happen to be good at sewing? There’s something I need fixed.
Sewing?
Itsuki?
Oh… This is something different.
…
I see.
???
it’s nothing. i’m sorry for bothering you.
Hmm… Sewing, huh? I may not look it, but I’m pretty clumsy with handiwork…
Oh, I can see that.
You meanie!
Oh! But my sister is great at things like that! 
She used to sew up holes in my clothes all the time when I was younger!
Why are you acting so proud about that…?
Try talking to Aya!
Got it, thanks.
[/quote]
I’m kind of surprised he didn’t go straight to Aya to begin with, honestly. Given how clumsy Tsubasa is at uh…basically everything. Back to the office!
This is… Itsuki, wouldn’t it be better if you fixed this yourself?
Huh?
It’s just a hunch, but I think that would be better.
I can’t believe Aya is going to sabotage her own sister like this. Incredibly fucked up.
Okay…
Don’t worry! I’ll take responsibility and teach you how to do it. Let me go get some tools.
Itsuki sewed up the plushy while Aya taught him how to do so…
That’s…technically an improvement? 
I think it gives it great character. Now, why don’t you hurry along and return it?
Wait, return it? How did you know this wasn’t mine?
Hmm… Call it a woman’s intuition.
Uh-huh… Anyway, I should get going. Thanks for your help.
Well, that went suspiciously well. I suppose we ought to let her know we found it now.
[quote] Are you still there, Kiria?
did you find it?
Well… more or less.
thank goodness.
I’ll be waiting by Central City Street again, so come talk to me.[/quote]
And one last trip to finish this one up.
Don’t thank me yet.
…? What’s wrong?
Actually…it was in a pretty bad state when I found it…
Sir Gen!
…
Did you…fix him, Itsuki?
…I’m sorry. I took the liberty of fixing it…
Hey, Itsuki…
I was in a slump because the new song for my next concert wasn’t going well. I was worried about Sir Gen too… But you found him, and even patched him up. When I’m holding this, a mysterious sensation rises within me… If I pour this feeling into my song, I’m sure that-
Kiria Kurono’s soul as an entertainer has achieved a new awakening… Kiria’s inspiration has taken form as a new Performa: Hidden Strength!
Okay…! Itsuki, make sure you come see my next concert. I’ll show you a performance that’s different from before.
That sounds like a promise to me. Back to the Bloom Garden!
Like Touma’s first sidequest, this one doesn’t actually do anything. Our reward for this sidequest is a new Ad Lib attack.
Heh heh heh… That doll… Is it my imagination, or are you doting on that thing even more than before?
It’s your imagination.
Well look at you, giddy as a schoolgirl. Who knew the cool, frosty Kiria had an adorable side like this?
Can it.
Labyrinth ~ Kiria Kurono (Full Song)
[quote=Lyrics]I just looked ahead, and never turned back,
I didn’t need the hesitation.
Ignore all my doubts, close off my mind,
Out from the congregation.
But the more I protect who I am inside,
Or who I believed I was,
I feel them drift farther away, lost in loneliness.
Never falter, and don’t be weak.
And in my head, that was all I could be.
Oh what is happening?
I just don’t understand.
I’m all alone and lost inside this maze that feels so wrong.
Accept me please, someone, for who I really am.
Maybe that’s the only thing I wanted all along.
And now, finally I can begin to realize,
Because I just want to share that smile I see in their eyes,
Nothing else.[/quote]
Most people would probably agree that this is Kiria’s best song in the game. I personally like her second sidequest’s song better, but Labyrinth is still really, really good!
True, today’s concert was amazing! She seemed more energetic than normal… Think she has a boyfriend now?
A cute little thing about this scene, you see how Itsuki has his eyes closed up there? On this line, and this line alone, you can see him glaring out at the hallway.
Nah, I doubt that! There’s never been any rumors like that about her at all. She does seem pretty standoffish…
But I’d totally be okay with Kiria toda-aaaaaah! W-Welcome back, ma’am!
…Thank you?
Welcome back.
Hey, so what did you think about today’s concert?
It was even better than the last one. You were right when you said that’s how it would be.
Hehe… I suppose I was.
…Today’s concert went well because you fixed Sir Gen - that plushy, I mean.
I’m glad I could help.
…
Carrying something like that doesn’t really fit my persona, right? Like… Doesn’t it feel…gross?
I was a little relieved, actually. I had built up this image of you just being cool and intimidating, but now I know you like that kind of thing too.
Huh?
Plus, that plushy… The clumsy feeling it has kind of reminds me of you too.
…Aaaaand there it is. The ol’ Ice Queen Tsundere routine.
I-I’m sorry?
…It’s not like i enjoy these things in particular. It’s more like…a memento.
A memento?
…It’s nothing important. Well, I have a meeting to attend, so I’l be going. See you around!
Kiria Kurono has grown as an entertainer and has become “A New Charisma”!
Our reward is The Labyrinth, an ice-based Ad Lib skill. Like all the others, it’s nifty and solid when it goes off, but it’s not nearly frequently enough to be counted on for anything.
And before we go, one last thing. Back in the Bloom Garden…
So, about the plushy you just repaired? I think you might have made it even more precious to her…
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The thing about this game that I’m not a huge fan of is that it’s low-key a harem anime. Can’t we just be friends with the idols? Must they fall for Itsuki’s incredible bland personality and complete lack of pop-culture knowledge?
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Dang, that whole quest was just 
I do have to wonder how they had the time for an entire concert in the middle of a crisis. Sir Gen definitely takes precedence over our boss, though.
3 Likes
There’s always time for a song.
Speaking of songs, I just finished Persona 5 last night and uh, wow was it’s credits song awful. On fact, most of its music was pretty bad and that’s kind of a shame because the game itself was real good up until the endgame.
So with you having finished both, I’ve rumblings that some are of the mind that TMS is better than P5. Your thoughts?
I would count myself among that group. I posted some thoughts on Twitter last night, but the short version is that I think it absolutely falls apart towards the end of the game, and the quality of life stuff throughout felt like one step forward, one step back, and a side step here and there. The only huge, glaring problem P5 really has is Mementos, but it’s got a bunch of little niggling things that really annoyed me while i was playing, especially later on when you get told to go to bed for the 50th fucking time yes I know morgana maybe I should get some fucking sleep we have a big day tomorrow
E: Oh I guess I should note there are some incredibly vague spoilers in those thoughts but you know, whatever. Nothing too explicit but I do talk a bit about the late and endgame.
E2: Now that I’m not on the bus and can sit down for a bit, my biggest criticism of P5 is that at the end of the day, it wants to be a real SMT game and a Persona game it ends up doing neither as well as it could. The actual mechanics feel like lazily shoehorning SMT IV into the Persona engine, and the Persona bits are riddled with a bunch of annoyances like constant stat locks and making you go do dungeon crawling to continue S-Links. Hell, there’s one link that requires Guts 4 to start, Guts 5 to finish, and then continues giving you Guts for doing the link even though you have to have Guts maxed to get to that point in the first place. There’s so many little things like that, and it feels like they didn’t think it through at all.
putting the pieces
together. found my
way out of the maze.
Kiria’s status has updated now that we’ve finished her first sidequest, and…
[quote] hrrgh… I made friends with a girl from the photo shoot, but I haven’t been able to reach her… ‘^’;
and I saw some of her pictures on the wall in the Idolasphere. guess that means she’s in there, huh…?[/quote]
Well, that just means we have to get her out, doesn’t it? Back to Illusory Shibuya.
The second room starts off pretty straightforward. Up the stairs, we immediately run into a one-way wall, so down the ledge it is.
There was an encounter here, it’s gone now.
On the lower floor, we hang a right and hit another one-way wall. The locked chest has a Chakra Pot if you’ve got a key handy.
New enemies! The Abyss is an upgraded Man O’ War from Illusory 106, complete with its focus on causing status ailments. However, as you can see, they’re weak to literally everything, so dealing with them is far more trivial than their jellyfish cousins.
Heading the other direction, we pass an incredibly obvious camera and work our way back up to 3F, grabbing a pair of Dis-Charms along the way.
And there’s our first shortcut for the area.
Moving on, we head down the stairs and hit another ledge.
That drops us down to here. The far chest has a pair of Beads, to the right is progress.
The girl on the left is our first Cleric enemy. As the name implies, they can heal up enemies if you give them a chance, but they’re mostly content to cast low-level magic like Flux or try and whack you with their mace. Weak to Swords, Fire, and Light, resist Ice, Electric, and Dark.
For a second, I thought I was actually stuck here because of how that camera is positioned, but their view is actually very narrow and we can easily slip behind it. Hell, there’s one later on that you basically walk right up to in order to grab an item; you essentially have to walk directly in front of it to get caught.
Itsuki finally picks up Mazio, and we drop Rakukaja for it. Admittedly it’s not as clear cut as a traditional SMT game because you get skills from weapons, but L20 feels really late to be picking up the Tier 1 multi-targets. I think Ryuji is the only person to have a similar time on that, and his excuse is that he’s literally Kanji and should be punching people instead.
Another camera that’ll get you if you’re not paying attention. This one is guarding Nightlife Flicker, a Performa that we need to get one of Tsubasa’s Radiant Skills.
And there’s Wall #2. Up the stairs we go!
But not too quickly! There’s a locked chest tucked away immediately to the left, and it’s incredibly easy to miss. The Roaring Ear Plugs are a real interesting accessory, trading 3 points of Def/Res for 12 Speed, plus being marginally better than our current stuff in armor value. I still don’t use it because I’m boring, but at least this one is actually worth the tradeoff. 12 speed is plenty to more or less guarantee that whoever you give it to will go first in the turn queue.
At the top of the stairs, the path splits into three options. There’s really no way to tell which one is correct, so we might as well just pick one and see where it leads. The left one seems like as good of a place to start as any.
This one drops us all the way down to 1F, with a camera blocking us off to the right and a large open area to our left.
I’ve always been a firm believer that the Suku (de-)buffs are the most important of the lot. Taru and Raku are nice (and certainly have their place, to be sure) but they’re reliant on hitting in the first place, whereas the Sukus help you avoid that situation altogether. Although that said, Kiria is pretty slow and needs all the help she can get for dodging.
And speaking of dodging, Hamstring is Touma’s equivalent of Fang Breaker, but for Hit/Evade. Like Fang Breaker, it is never leaving his skill slots for as long as I can feasibly hold on to it.
Anyway, if we bear right in that large open area, we’ll eventually work our way over to a Res Incense.
And if we go up the stairs from there, we’ll reach the end of this area past another camera hallway.
…Huh, well that wasn’t supposed to happen. Guess we should go back and check out those other ledges.
The center ledge drops us on the other side of that pesky camera. Up the stairs?
Nothing! Pick again, fucker.
Stage Rank 4 nets us Unyielding Lord, raising his evade against Lances. Again, it’s kinda filler-y, but getting a free Evade skill against one of your weaknesses (that doesn’t take up a skill slot!) is pretty solid.
As you can probably guess, the right ledge drops us behind that camera and lets us grab a cool ten grand in cold, hard cash. And hey, we’re about to fight a miniboss, so why not put that money to use and stock up on supplies?
The Obelisk is one of those “weird weapons” I mentioned when we were discussing skills and weapon inheritance, and a quick look at its resistance set should be enough to show why. It’s one of Tsubasa’s only weapons to resist fire, tosses in a Null Light because it can, and if I was so inclined, I could use it to teach Tsubasa Agilao (among other things). This is important because this literally allows her to make Touma obsolete, assuming you’re happy with her session skills.
Of course, Touma can do the same thing. The Yomotsu Hirasaka would allow Touma to pick up Wind Strike, letting him pull double duty on Tsubasa’s elemental coverage. This isn’t as viable long-term because Agilao is a Tier 2 spell (whereas Wind Strike is a Tier 1 physical attack), and Touma will still be lacking Tsubasa’s healing prowess, but you could absolutely do it if you’re feeling saucy.
Kiria, meanwhile, just has a couple standard upgrades. The Silver Rod blocks Sleep, but otherwise neither of her new weapons are particularly notable.
Anyway, let’s go rescue some models.
.
Ah… I remember those people! They were at the photo shoot!
We have to save them!
And standing in our way is…a sentient camera. Well at least it’s on-brand.
We’ll have to take this thing down first if we want to save them.
Yeah. Let’s do this, Chrom!
Like most of the minibosses, Tarnished Myrmidon mostly coasts on his support crew to really do damage. That said, he’s got a couple fun surprises in store for us.
First of all, we should deal with these guys. This is our first taste of archers, and we really don’t want Tsubasa on the receiving end of that.
Kiria isn’t particularly useful either, but she’s better for clearing out these mooks. The shaman is kind of a joke, and I’m not sure why he got to tag along here.
TM gets two moves a turn, and starts his cycle by casting Tarukaja and Sukukaja. This is your freebie turn before shit hits the fan.
Fortunately the archers are weak to Electric and Lances, so cleaning them out is pretty trivial. If you get Itsuki and Touma lined up right in the turn queue, you might even wipe them out before they get a shot off.
Here’s where things start getting ugly. On his second turn, TM will cast Order Snipers, which gives all the enemies an elemental flavor, and causes them to attack the same target. He’ll also throw out a Media to top off any of the archers that are still alive.
Now, because you’re a smart cookie who knows what all your weaknesses are, this is the point where you switch out whoever the game decided to target. This has the benefit of breaking the lock-on, but you’re still going to get everyone hit by the new elemental arrows. It’s a minor damage boost, but nothing you shouldn’t be able to shrug off.
Alternatively, you can be like me and kill them all before they get to do anything at all. I recommend that one.
TM himself is weak to Ice and Lances. The ice weakness is incredibly tempting, especially considering Kiria’s sky-high magic stat, but he gets two turns and you really don’t want him repeatedly smacking her with Cleave. Touma and Tsubasa are more than enough to tear him apart safely.
That said, he’s perfectly capable of fucking up Tsubasa’s day too. Granted, this is with a Tarukaja active, but Wind Strike does respectable enough damage that two of them will easily kill her in one turn.
That’s all he has in his bag of tricks, though. Once he’s alone, he goes down real quick.
And a round of new skills for everyone. Tsubasa, Touma, and Kiria get Sukukaja, Speed Boost, and Mabufu respectively.
Looks like they’re all back to normal. What a relief…
Itsuki and the others rescued the kidnapped models…
Before we check out for today, let’s see what everyone has to say at the halfway point.
It seems like he was taking the girls’ Peforma through their pictures.
Let’s keep this up and rescue Ms. Maiko!
If things had been even a little different, Tsubasa might have gotten taken too, right? Maybe it’s good the photo shoot got stopped!
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I promise, this is the last update for the actual dungeon, then we can move on to way more interesting things.
On to the final part of the dungeon!
Look!
So yeah, you might notice that the decor has changed. Horinozawa really was not kidding about the muse thing.
H-Hey… Is this…?
Mmm. Let’s go.
Area 3 introduces the final new obstacle, these big roll-up photographs. They’ll be our shortcuts later on, but we’ll have to find a way to unroll them first.
And hey, look who we have here.
Ugh…Huh? Hey, I’m busy, can’t you see that? Geez, quit botherin’ me and scram. What is it about my Performa? Is it THAT amazing? I’ve been attractin’ nothing but losers…
And what do YOU want- Hey, I know you! You’re the human fella! Look at that, still alive are ya? Great! There’s more nitwits that just won’t leave me alone. Go make yourself useful and take care of 'em, will ya?
Itsuki accepted the quest Pummel the Pests.
Right, I need you to track down that dreary-as-heck Shaman and his friend the hideous, spooky Skellington. Oh! And I forget his name, but the last one in the trio is the worst. The worst! Get that pompous punk in the hat!
Alrighty! Go get 'em, tiger!
And just like before, we’re actually mostly done with this already. Shamans are all over the second room, and the pompous punk is an archer, which we got from the miniboss. We’ll just have to keep an eye out for the Skellingtons.
And immediately to her left, we have a big blue switch.
This causes the blue photograph to unroll. Mystery solved?
Before we cross it though, we can jump off a ledge to find a Clap Track. They immediately fill a full bar of SP, which sounds really good but in practice it’s either really situtational or too little too late. If you’re in the position where you need to bust out an SP Attack but don’t have enough charge for it, you’re probably in bad enough shape that it wouldn’t have helped anyway.
Across the blue photo, we have a one-way door and a handful of cameras.
There’s also a very sneaky light wall hidden around the right corner. This one is incredibly easy to miss, and we’re going to want to remember where all of these guys are about 30 hours from now!
There’s our Skellington friend. Like their clown cousins, swords will tear them up pretty quickly, and they’ve traded an electric weakness for a fire one. He’s got a pretty nasty Bufula on him, but that’s about all he can do to fuck you up.
Heading up the stairs by the one-way door takes us to a red photo and another camera/item. Sleeping Sand is exactly what it sounds like, and can be used to inflict sleep on an enemy. Just use Dormina, or better yet don’t use ailments at all.
Past the Sleeping Sands, the path just kinda meanders for a bit. Along the way, Touma picks up Ice-Lunge, making Itsuki/Kiria/Touma a pretty viable party if we were so inclined.
Maybe if I could shine brightly enough, it’d throw off their focus. I think there was a skill like that, wasn’t there?
Another red photo, and an extremely forced tutorial on Lightoma. It certainly has its uses later on, but it’s extremely easy to see the cameras and where they’re guarding. Maybe next time, buddy! :buddy:
Just down the stairs from our tutorial friend, there’s a Performa hidden in plain sight. You can see how narrow the camera’s field of view actually is, given that we’re in no danger here.
New enemies! The Regal Myrmidon is packing Fire Strike (and subsequently is weak to Ice) but otherwise is exactly what you’d expect out of a sword enemy.
Immediately to the right of the performa, we can head up the stairs to break that one-way wall. And hey, this gives us a straight shot back to that cleric. Might as well go turn that quest in now.
Itsuki showed her the Skellington Force!
Ah! So you found that no-good hideous, spooky Skellington, huh? That’s all of 'em! Good work there.
Say, you’re pretty useful! Maybe you’ll come in handy again sometime. Later, stud!
>Obtained Treasure Key!
A brief diversion back to the office to fuse some new weapons. The main standouts are Tsubasa’s new weapons, as the Killer Lance has a higher crit rate and the Blood Lance teaches her Life Drain. We also have those weird weapons still available, which I’ll probably make after the chapter is over. Which one would you guys rather see?
And hey, speaking of diversions!
You know, working here as a clerk, I tend to hear a lot of rumors about the entertainment industry. Most of it is just nonsense and heresay, but…there are a few things that worry me. Itsuki, can you do me a favor and check out a rumor for me?
Itsuki accepted the request The Voiceless Voice Actress!
Thank you. Have you heard about a voice actress named Nanane Anigoe? She voiced Grippon on “The People of Diatama Village.” She’s a rising star in the voice-over industry.
It seem like she recently fell into a bit of a depression, which isn’t like her at all. I think a mirage might have done something to her, and if that’s the case we can’t ignore it.
She’s currently performing in an event at Daitama Observatory. Could you go check up on her?
Seems straightforward enough, and we’re already blowing off the plot as-is, so why not? To Daitama!
Anyway, the hunched over girl might be Anigoe. You know, just a thought.
But…my voice…it’s no good… I can’t go on like this… Why!? Why did this…!?
Itsuki, there is no doubt that her performa has been stolen.
So it IS a mirage’s doing… We should return to Ayaha and report this.
So we go back to the office and have a deep and meaningful conversation where she tells us to go kill a demon in Illusory Daitama. Please contain your surprise.
And sure enough, a new orange enemy has spawned. Approaching him triggers the fight, so saving beforehand is…highly recommended, shall we say.
So, on one hand, these are still the regular Illusory Daitama enemies, just jacked up 20 levels. We already know their weaknesses and more or less what they can do. On the other hand, this means they have an extra 20 levels of stats and moves, on top of being a five man fight. What does that mean for us?
Well, all things considered, not much. Those are some rather large numbers (especially on Touma), but it’s really not that bad once they’re doing it once a turn instead of five times. That said, having Tsubasa around for healing duty is highly recommended if you’re not horrendously overlevelled.
All in all, a nice bundle of experience. I like that these little challenge fights are just scattered around, since the main game itself is pretty easy.
And this… Oh, Fangbreaker. My sweet, precious baby Fangbreaker. This is going on Itsuki and literally never leaving, because it’s a combination sword attack and Tarunda. There is nothing in the game that is immune to it (barring the obvious “things that reflect swords”), it costs basically nothing, and it guarantees that Itsuki always has something he can be doing in a fight, no matter how useless he would otherwise be. Touma has Hamstring, which is the Sukunda equivalent of this skill and is equally amazing.
Anyway, with that done, let’s go back and check up with Anigoe.
I can touch people’s hearts with my voice, so I need to have confidence in myself and work hard!
(It looks like she’ll be okay now. I should go report to Ayaha.)
There may be similar cases involving Mirages that aren’t apparent on the surface, I’ll let you know if I hear anything suspicious. And when that time comes, I’ll be counting on you, Itsuki.
Request complete! Obtained Clap Track!
Back to the dungeon, picking up from the one-way wall. It’s kind of a pain to navigate with all the cameras and blocked passages, but progress from here is a left, followed by a right up the stairs.
And that will bring us to the red lock. If we continue up the stairs past the red lock, we’ll find a pair of smoke machines and a ledge to drop off that brings us back to the one-way.
Elusive Distance is the same as Itsuki’s Unyielding Lord, and gives Kiria a free Evade Physical.
With the red lock open, we can backtrack a little bit and find a pair of treasure keys(!!).
And on the way back, we find another one of these guys. We could play its game and try to chip away its 8 or so HP, or we could just nuke it with Kiria.
Straight ahead and to the left from the one-way sends us up to the last leg of our journey.
Along the way, we grab a pair of Revival Beads and Itsuki upgrades to the Tier 2 Sword skill.
And that’s the end of the dungeon. Before we charge in though, we can find a few more goodies by scouring the area, including a pair of Soma Droplets and four Amrita Sodas.
Next time, we throw down with Horinozawa! See you then!
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Time to wrap this dungeon up. What do you have for us, Horinozawa?
Large, dramatic staircase? Check. Giant mural of Maiko in the background? Check. Gentlemen, we have a boss arena.
It’s kind of hard to show in screenshots, but like before, Horinozawa is doing the whole teleporty thing. He snaps a picture, moves, takes another one, etc.
Isn’t it obvious? It’s a photo shoot…
Just as I thought. You, Maiko… You alone are worthy of my art… Heh… ahaha…! Haaahahaha!
This photo shoot’s over… Now, let go of Ms. Maiko!
Hm…? You… Tsubasa Oribe!
Oh yeah, we mentioned he can seal our mirages, right? That’s kind of an important thing with Horinozawa.
…Chrom!? Chrom! What’s wrong!?
Caeda? Caeda!? No… she’s not responding…
We have to fall back! We can’t fight without our Carnage Forms!
Y-Yeah!
I’m talking to you… Tsubasa Oribe!
Y-Yes, sir!?
You know, when I heard you were from Maiko’s agency, I had such high hopes for you. I thought if ANYONE truly understood what it takes to be a model, unlike the amateurs, it would be someone from Maiko’s office!
…
But look at you! You’re no different from those frauds in the end! You have no respect or desire for art… I don’t need these talentless idols! Has Maiko gone blind!?
You’re right… I’m just an amateur… and maybe I can’t get anything right. I understand you’re angry… but…! It’s my fault alone! Not Ms. Maiko’s!
What?
Ms. Maiko isn’t blind…! And I’m poing to groove it to you!
…
I-I mean… I’ll show you what I can really do!
Ugh! Damn amateurs… You talk the talk, but if you want to impress me, you’ll have to walk the walk!
Once again, Tsubasa comes through with a thoroughly well thought-out plan. Excellent work, team.
Ugh. Now THAT was a waste of my time.
Ahaha… I told you before. You’re the only one who can be my muse, Maiko!
So yeah, we can’t touch him yet and have to do something in the real world before we can continue. Thanks for stealing this mechanic, by the way, Persona 5. It’s even better when you’re on a time limit and each dive counts as a day!
I guess that means we aren’t ready… Wait, where’s Chrom!?
…Don’t worry, we’re all right. It looks like that man’s camera has the power to seal away a Mirage’s power temporarily.
…That’s going to be an issue.
Itsuki, look!
What is it?
Yashiro Tsurugi’s live concert…? Oh, right. I totally forgot it was today, after all that other stuff.
Wait…that’s weird. The city’s under the effect of the Mirages, but this place seems so lively. Why is that?
You’ll know once you see it.
Huh…? But we shouldn’t be going to see a concert at a time like this…
It’s because it’s a “time like this” that we should. Remember? You’re Mirage Masters now. There’s definitely something you can learn from a first-class artist.
I-I see!
You have your tickets, right? Come on.
Yashiro Tsurugi ~ Black Rain Full Song
[quote=Lyrics]I break though any limit keeping me from my goal,
Till the dawn of an awakened new world under my control!
I could never forget the ice-cold memory,
Yet I’ll forge on with a fire burning in me.
Beyond the darkness, what awaits?
No matter what, it must be fate.
I’ll walk my path, blindly,
Shining illusions, deceive my heart,
And try to lead me astray.
But with this power absolute, unleash it all…
And tear through the pain!
I break though any limit keeping me from my goal,
I can feel the flames burning ever higher in my soul!
Hide the pain, hide the bloody shame of your wounded love,
In the end, only those with power are the ones who rise above![/quote]
I…really don’t have anything to say about Black Rain. I’m not particularly fond of it as a song, and it feels like it’s just kinda there (although admittedly it does seem to be one of the more popular songs in the game, based on some incredibly unscientific Gamefaqs polling). It does, however, tell you everything you need to know about Yashiro’s aesthetic, for good or ill.
Wow… Yashiro Tsurugi’s concert was amazing…
He’s the real deal. You could say he’s one of the few true artists in the field.
…Take a look around.
Yashirooooo!
Ah… I feel like my weathered soul has been healed… The world’s never looked so bright…!
…Wow. Shibuya’s still dark, but all his fans seem fine…
Yashiro catches sight of Itsuki, and then wanders off. Real friendly fellow, if you haven’t noticed yet.
…A truly incredible performance can enthrall an audience, no matter the situation. This is the same thing Horinozawa was talking about. You understand, Tsubasa?
Huh…? Oh.
Performing live or posing as a model… They’re different, but they both demand the same thing: captivating your audience.
Captivating my audience through performing…and photos…?
What you need is an idea of how you want to present yourself. A clear vision of what you want to do.
Vision…?
I think she means you need to know what you want your pictures - your work - to express.
What I want to express… What kind of pictures I want…
Well, it’s a start, I guess, but it doesn’t really help us get past Horinozawa’s magic camera. Maybe Tiki or Aya has an idea.
[quote]
Um, big brother? Are you guys back in the real Shibuya now? Could you come back to the office?
There’s someone here… I wonder who it is…? I don’t think I’ve ever met this person before.
[/quote]
A surprise visitor, you say? What a coincidence! Let’s head back now.
Why, it’s Mr. Hatanaka! I guess we should uh, probably give him the bad news about Maiko.
Hm? Oh, you’re… Ah, I see. You were a member of Fortuna Entertainment.
Uh… I’d say I’m still in training. What brings you to our office, Mr. Hatanaka?
Your president called me over to discuss something. She said she wanted to discuss a new marketing strategy for…let’s see…Tsubasa Oribe, was it?
F-For me?
Yep, that’s right. So, any idea when Ms. Shimazaki will be back in the office?
…She’s busy at the moment. She might not be back for a while.
Really? I opened up my schedule just for this… Well, that’s a downer. I guess another of her meetings must be dragging on long or something.
She’s in a meeting with Nobu Horinozawa…
Ah, a rendezvous with Mr. Horinozawa. Wow… I didn’t expect the two of them to still be in contact. I was convinced that after she retired from her career, their relationship was over too. I mean, considering everything…
What do you mean?
The two of them used to be a pretty famous duo in the modeling world.
Really?
Oh, well… I guess you might be too young to know about it. Wow, I feel a lot older all of a sudden…
“My Complex”?
It’s a photo book featuring Ms. Shimazaki. It was released right after she started branching out from modeling work into other parts of the entertainment business.
Her smile, her pose…all of it was filled with this charm, this coquettish ennui! She enthralled the men of Japan… Why, that photo book ended up having a huge impact on the fashion industry! At the time, anyway.
…And her photographer was none other than Mr. Horinozawa.
I’ll skip the gory details… They were a great duo. But there were rumors that their relationship was…more than professional. That caused some problems for both of them, and their reputation in the industry suffered for it.
I had no idea…
I’ll see you around.
Most of this really isn’t much of a surprise. Maiko herself told us she used to be a model and that she knew Horinozawa before he was a big shot photographer. And on the other side, Horinozawa’s obsession with Maiko as his “muse” certainly lends credence to the idea that they had done extensive work together, if not something more. But hey, good to have confirmation, I guess.
Why don’t we try looking for some photos of Maiko from when she was a model?
Her photos?
The only person Nobu Horinozawa considers worthy of his photography is Maiko. So if we take a look at Maiko’s old photos, maybe we’ll find some kind of clue.
You’re right. Something Ms. Maiko has, but Tsubasa doesn’t… There must be some kind of hint in those pictures.
Exactly. Let’s split up and look for that photo book Hatanaka mentioned.
We have free reign to look around the office at this point, but really it’s gotta be somewhere in this mess. Clean your shit up, Maiko! How is anyone supposed to find something on these shelves?
My Complex (You should really watch this video)
Alright, come on guys, it’s just a photo book. How good could it really-
This is…a real professional’s work. Both model and photographer are expressing themselves, and they won’t settle for less.
…
Oh, Touma’s getting some inspiration all right, but somehow I don’t think that’s what you meant, Itsuki.
I did notice something. In every single one of these photos, Ms. Maiko looks so…relaxed.
Touma, can I take a closer look at “My Complex”?
Huh…? Wh- Oh! Oh, yeah. Sure.
Hey, come on! I can’t help it! No guy could resist this! Especially- look, right there!
It’s like I’m getting a glimpse into her private life! Like the kinda intimate look she’d only show her boyfriend! Oh, man… This is the weirdest thing. I understand that it’s Ms. Maiko on these pages, but I- I mean, I…
…I’m…getting a little too excited, huh.
…Yeah.
…Ahaha… ha…
Yeah, okay, I know what that laugh means…
That’s our Touma.
That’s why Ms. Maiko trusted him so completely…and how he took pictures that were so breathtaking.
And me… I was just so embarrassed about the whole thing. I just did what I was told, hoping it’d be over quicker. No wonder he was angry with me… What I did was disrespectful to the staff at the shoot, and everyone who sees my photos.
That’s what I learned from “My Complex”… I’m not going to run away from having my picture taken anymore. I have to face my camera…and my audience, head on!
I see… Yeah, I think that’s more like you, Tsubasa.
So… Itsuki, I have a little favor to ask. I have some poses I was kind of thinking about…and I want a guy’s opinion.
Sure. As long as you’re okay with my input.
fade to black
Suddenly, Itsuki is a master of photography and posing. Seriously, go watch the video if only for this part. Touma and Kiria’s reactions to what’s going on are incredible.
Got it, Itsuki!
Maybe a little more… If you had a hint of nervousness and shyness in your facial expression…?
L-Like this?
Perfect. That’s great. But I think you can do better. Try a little more cheerfulness and anticipation in your pose…
Okay, I’ll try it!
A little more cuteness… but still passionate…!
Yeah… I think this is it!
And there’s our plot token. Now we’re ready to fight Horinozawa, for real this time.
Ah… A Performa…
You did it, Tsubasa.
Well done. I think with that, you can finally prove yourself to Horinozawa.
Feel My Soul is a very…interesting skill for Tsubasa. And by “interesting” I mean “bad” because she literally only has a single skill that inflicts Charm, and it requires 5-star Prestiges to make, putting it about three dungeons down the road. But hey, it’s a plot skill so shrug
Yes, I believe you can. You did your utmost to reach this point, Tsubasa. I know you can succeed.
Yeah! I’m… I’m going to do it! With this pose that Itsuki and I came up with, I’m going to save Ms. Maiko!
That’s the spirit, Tsubasa!
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Itsuki’s two character traits are apparently being a good advisor and passionately describing food, huh
That last video there is a really great sequence, though I think the single best part is the look that Itsuki’s giving Touma.
I am liking how the framework of the game is that while Itsuki’s the Player Character, the whole thing is ultimately about Tsubasa and her lessons and struggles with what it means to have her dream job.
The Man With The Demon Camera, take two.
Yes…I understand! Tsubasa Oribe’s taking the stage!
Well. That uh, certainly is an outfit.
Of course, this scene means it’s time to dive back into the world of localization and “censorship”. In the JP version, this gig was for gravure modelling, complete with a far more provocative outfit. Whether the change was warranted or not is not the point (insert your own “puritan westerners” argument here), but it’s something to bear in mind about what this scene was “supposed” to be.
Both Itsuki and I worked to come up with this pose… It’s going to work! This…is the best performance I can give!
I can see it… She’s going on a first date with the boy of her dreams, and she wants to go all out for him…
Street chic, full of energy and joy… And her smile, with that hint of bashfulness! It’s the perfect harmony!
Seductive, without being direct or explicit! That perfect balance, that genuine feel of teen romance! This is…Tsubasa Oribe!
That’s right!
Yes! Yes! These are the greatest shots EVERRR!
Well, someone did an awful quick 180. I mean, he’s still possessed by a demon of some sort, but it certainly seems like we got through to the real Horinozawa.
I can’t believe TMS is going to use its best mirage design in Chapter 2. It’s all downhill from here, folks.
[quote]
Gangrel is the primary antagonist of the first act of Awakening. He’s known as the “Mad King of Plegia”, and harbors a special hatred of Ylisse because of the war started by Chrom’s father. He responds in kind by starting one of his own, and the climax of the first act comes when he kills Chrom’s sister, Emmeryn. He can be recruited toward the end of the game, and while he doesn’t have a whole lot to say, most of his characterization is along of the lines of “Wow, I was a little too into the whole tyrant thing, huh?”[/quote]
No! I’m not embarrassed! Because…I want to show everyone the best me I possibly can!
She’s right… And you don’t have a single ounce of artistic taste in you. So be quiet!
Pardon me while I vomit! Is that all it takes to win you over, Horinozawa? Some vapid, doe-eyed strumpet? Is that all you wanted!?
Hm… True, her technique is still lacking… But her poses have heart! She has spirit! And that’s all that matters in the beginning!
Well, I’m heartbroken. Truly. Is that all you’re good for? You’re a pathetic excuse for a man!
And YOU are a philistine! You have no appreciation for the art of photography! I won’t let an artless creature like you hide inside me anymore! Get the hell out of me!
Horinozawa rejecting Gangrel causes their bond to weaken and reveal the orb that binds them. The fact that that’s even a thing that can happen raises several more questions, but they can wait until after we murder this magnificent, JoJo’s-ass demon.
Itsuki! This might be our chance! I think we can separate that Mirage from the photographer!
Way ahead of you, Chrom. Let’s rock and roll!
You… MAGGOTS! Get out of my way…you TRASH!
Gangrel isn’t significantly harder than Aversa, but he’s the first real-deal boss that gets multiple attacks per turn, and he does significantly more damage than she did. If Goujin is the tutorial and Aversa is the “You understand sessions” check, Gangrel is the “This is still an SMT game” boss.
Our first order of business is to buff up, since his first turn isn’t spent on direct attacks. Itsuki will be making liberal use of Fang Breaker throughout the fight, but he does have Tarukaja available as necessary, and Tsubasa has a Sukukaja ready to go at any time.
Ugh… Pathetic! All of you!
His first trick is Reversal of Fortunes, which summons three barbarians and a myrmidon to the field. This is immediately followed up by…
Hurry it up! If you can’t take a hit, you’re WORTHLESS!
…Shield me!, which is exactly what it sounds like. Anything specifically targeted at Gangrel (including attacks in the middle of a session) will be transferred to one of his minions instead.
So, herein lies the main problem with the Gangrel fight. You’ve got three goons who are going to tear up Touma and Tsubasa, with another one (and the boss!) who are going to ruin Kiria’s day. Unlike Aversa, who was very explicit about who she was going to fuck up, you are always carrying a liability in this fight, and enemy sessions are as real of a threat as ever.
And these are not fodder enemies. The barbarians aren’t quite as hardy, but a full session’s worth of attacks didn’t even drop the myrmidon to half health.
Once you mop up the myrmidon, Kiria needs to come out ASAP. Not only are the barbarians weak to ice, Mabufu gets past Protect Me! to hit Gangrel as well.
Gangrel has two offensive patterns as long as his lackeys are still alive. The first and more likely one involves him detaching his head and swiping at you for moderate sword damage, which is still a lot of damage! With Tarunda active and hitting Tsubasa (who resists swords), he still did almost 100 damage a pop. If he decides to focus on Kiria (or maybe even Itsuki, depending on condition), you can absolutely lose them in a single turn.
His second pattern starts with Strobe Pulse, which has a chance of inflicting silence seal on the entire party. As you might expect, this prevents you from using any skills with the affected party member, as well as blocks them from participating in sessions. This will be followed up by one of his physical attacks, usually Dire Slice unless he’s really low on health.
Now that we’ve cleaned house, the question of party composition becomes a lot more interesting. As previously mentioned, Gangrel is weak to Ice, and Kiria can pump out way more damage than Tsubasa, even before you consider that she’s hitting weaknesses with every single session. However, she’s weak to swords and is completely crippled by getting hit with Strobe Pulse. Personally, I consider that too much liability for a marginal damage increase, but if you’re feeling lucky, you can easily shave a turn or two off the fight by being aggressive and just shoving her full of Revival Beads as necessary.
That said, I have him down in the red before the first set of reinforcements appear. Itsuki/Tsubasa/Touma might be the “safe” and slower party, but it is by no means less capable of fucking him up.
After a couple turns of beating up on him, he’ll call in more reinforcements and reactivate Protect Me! If Kiria dodged Strobe Pulse (or has since been cured), you’re golden! Repeat steps 1-3 and Gangrel will be done in no time.
…Oh.
Now, a smarter man than I would look at this situation and say “Yeah, Full Throttle is perfect here.” Sure, it would only kill one of the barbarians, but it’s way better than pulling out a defenseless caster immediately before three barbarians in a row get turns.
Unfortunately, that man was not the one holding the controller.
To past-me’s credit, I did use Aerial Dance to try and mitigate the damage. In addition to heavy lance damage to all enemies, that gives the entire party regen for three turns afterwards. See if you can spot the problem with this strategy.
No, go on, I insist.
Can’t heal when you’re already dead!
“That’s what all our Spicy Curries and Revival Beads are for!” I hear you saying.
Unfortunately, the damage is done. There’s too many barbarians up to safely revive Kiria or Tsubasa, and Itsuki can’t take all three hits on his own.
But hey, maybe you get lucky and Itsuki somehow pulls through. You’re finally at a safe point to start picking people up and put an end to this fight. You’ve still got this, right?
Well, my friend, say hello to Dire Slice Ultra. This is “Dire Slice, but to everyone” and it will absolutely fuck you up if you aren’t ready for it. It’s not that the damage is particularly high - rather, it’s that he hits everyone and will continue to use it once a turn until you kill him or wipe. It is very, very easy to get caught in a loop of someone dying, getting revived, and then getting killed again before they actually get a turn to act.
Incidentally, there is no game over screen in this game. In the event of a TPK, the game just fades to black and boots you back to the title screen where you can load a save file.
This time, there will be no such mistakes.
Good night, sweet prince.
A healthy round of experience for everyone, and a handful of new skills for the crew.
Itsuki picks up Safety Leader, which makes enemies less likely to get an ambush on us, as well as learning Res Boost and upgrading Fire-Slash.
Touma unlocks his second sidequest, along with Tarukaja.
Tsubasa collects a full set of new skills, with Mazan and Null Sleep being the standouts.
And poor Kiria just gets Flux +1. At least she’s most of the way to picking up Agi?
Next time, it’s the end of Chapter 2 and the promised photo shoot!
Dang, that’s a good-ass Gangrel. Not my first guess as the mirage behind a photography-related incident, but his design and demeanor are absolutely fantastic.