Oh Touma, you poor thing. You -can’t- be a Hero.
Cavalier only promotes to Paladin or Great Knight.
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come to toubo dept.
and get a pic with
me! #livingthedream
[quote]
hey, Itsuki, there was something I just wanted to go over with you about Ellie.
like we covered before, she’s a mirage master too.
we plan on having her fight under your command as well. when we have time, I’ll formally introduce you to her mirage.[/quote]
And what an introduction it will be. But first, we’ve got a few niggling sidequests to clean up before we close out the intermission.
Like this one! Aya’s got another case of stolen Performa for us.
Itsuki accepted the request “Writer’s Block”.
Thank you, Itsuki. Have you heard of the drama “Love-Hate Cliche”? It’s an intense romance about a love-hate triangle that takes place at the Toyosu branch of the hardware store “Edomae”.
This time it’s Raita Torama, the writer of the show, who’s having problems. He’s famous for writing quickly, but he hasn’t been able to make any progress with his script. I hope it’s just writer’s block…
I hear that he always writes at a cafe in Shibuya. Can you go check on him?
Oh no! Not Love-Hate Cliche! That’s my favorite show, and it’s right before the season finale! We’d better head for Shibuya, now!
Wasn’t SIV-LIVE simply marvelous? Especially Kiria’s production! Ah, meteors falling in Shibuya, and Kiria skybound! I wanted rain, you see, so I projection-mapped raindrops onto a screen, and into the sky. It hid the wires for the stage, too!
Now then… How should I produce the next event?
Say what you will, but the SIV-LIVE event was pretty slickly produced. Seems like the rumors about Hatanaka have at least some basis in reality.
And there’s this guy. He’s tucked back in the far corner of Shibuya, way past Carabia and the exchange that heads to the 106. I dunno why they put him so far back there, but I guess we might as well see what he wants.
Hey, you! Give my luck back at once! I can’t win on these new machines without it…!
Oh, he’s a pachinko player. He probably deserves whatever happened, but I guess we should see what the hell he’s talking about.
Hey, don’t you pretend you don’t know what I’m talkin’ about! That item is super rare! When’d you steal it from me!? Was it when I stopped at the convience store? Or when I was eatin’ ramen? Maybe when I was smokin’ by the station!?
That’s my good luck charm! Give it back, damn you!
(Fine, I guess I’ll search the area…)
Man, it sure was nice of him to detail exactly where he’s been.
Sure enough, a handful of shinies have appeared around the area. They’re all cheap, consumable items like an umbrella (minor lance damage) or a flashlight (item version of Lightoma), and none of them seem like they’re quite what he’s looking for, so maybe we’ll come back to him in a bit.
A production team is hanging out in front of the cafe, lamenting about how they’ll have to cancel the series. Sounds like we found our man.
Polygamy suddenly becomes legalized…and Koichiro, Nanami, and Makiko get married…and live happily ever after…
You expect me to believe this man is the head writer for a show called Love-Hate Cliche? This is some weak shit, game.
Anyway, Aya tells us to hit up the 106 building to find our wayward demon friend. Sounds like a plan!
Just before the Hee-Ho Mart, there’s an inconspicuous rack that has the magazine we need for the kid at the department store. But which one could it possibly be???
Mama Toujours… A parenting magazine with toy reviews, family recipes, articles on kids’ fashion and activities… Hey, it even comes with a section of coloring pages!
After all, there’s no need to get a copy of Food Informer. Itsuki already subscribes to that one, and what else could he possibly need?
(Eh? There’s something at the man’s feet… You think that might be…?)
Huh? …Wh-Whoa! It must’ve fallen out! How dumb! It’s always where you least expect, right? Sorry 'bout that, man. Hahaha!
Say, what’s with the look? Let’s jus’ let bygones be bygones, right? Look, I’m sorry for accusin’ ya. Tell ya what, I’ll win big and make it up to you! Here I come, all you new machines!
Request complete! Obtained Glass Cateye as thanks!
The Glass Cateye is actually a really solid accessory for the moment, granting both Strength and Magic +2, along with a slight armor boost. It works best on someone like Itsuki who frequently mixes magic and physicals, but Tsubasa could also get some decent mileage out of it.
Now, back to the department store to give that girl her magazine.
Oh, that’s the magazine I was talking about! Thank you, mister! Now I have something to color!
Request complete! Obtained Colored Pencil as thanks.
The colored pencil is a lot less useful, granting Skill +10 and not a whole lot else. I suppose Touma might find it mildly useful if you feel that he’s not accurate enough for you, but this is almost certainly going to be a downgrade on everyone else.
This guy is a little harder to find, but that’s more due to the fact that Illusory 106 has a lot of nooks and crannies to search, on top of having 7 floors.
This time around, we have a pair of Skellingtons and a Bacillus, all L30. It’s a significantly easier fight than the last one for several reasons, but really, most of it comes down to “We’ve got a better selection of skills and there’s a lot less of them”.
It does let me show a combo breaker, though. The Skellingtons null ice, so there’s a red frowny face next to Kiria’s attack in the session lineup, as well as her portrait going all red and glitchy in the background.
Really, the only serious threat here is the Bacillus getting too lucky with Marin Karin and charming the team. Even using a Tier 2 spell, these guys do less than half of Tsubasa’s health per hit.
Dancer’s Gift just gives Tsubasa Endless Song, which functions identically to Kiria’s version.
And Kiria herself picks up Bufula. It’s not a massive power increase, but it’s nice to have all the same.
Shortly thereafter, Itsuki picks up this, which unlocks Great Director Itsuki. It does exactly what you think it does.
I thought she might falter, but when she thought only of meeting with her fans, she moved past it… Hah. How very Tsubasa.
Perhaps the ends justified the means, but talking to all of those women… Bah, I’m still uneasy. What if this happens again?
Well, that worked out. Maiko’s safe and sound, and no casualties involved… So, how was it? Nice to have some hexes on your side?
Since we’re hanging around in the Bloom Garden anyway, I figured it was a good opportunity to catch up with the mirages.
With the demon in I-106 taken care of, our writer friend is back to normal. Let’s see what he’s come up with for the season finale.
Nanami wavers amidst Sojiro’s love! The cash register clerk is hurt and betrayed! Koichiro wrestles with his dilemma! This’ll really spice up the final episode! Heheheh! More love! More hate!
Tch, it would be a waste to let it end here! A sequel! Yeah, I’ll write Love-Hate Cliche 2!
(It looks like everything will be okay now. Let’s head back to the office.)
Good work, Itsuki. I’m really looking forward to the finale of Cliche, so this is a huge relief.
Itsuki, make sure you don’t date more than one girl at a time, okay? Because that only leads to drama.
giggle Just kidding. If I hear any other suspicious rumors, I’ll let you know.
Aya, please. You’re assuming that Itsuki could date one girl, let alone multiple. He doesn’t even realize your sister’s feelings, I don’t think we have to worry about him on that front.
Anyway, that’s it for Intermission 2. Time to head for Chapter 3!
U-Understood!
Okay, why don’t we take a little break before we go on. Next is showing off your wardrobe and accessories!
Tsubasa managed to take a big step forward with all her modeling work… So now it’s your turn, Itsuki. Didn’t this whole experience get you thinking at all?
I had no idea so much detail went into this… You and Mr. Horinozawa are so passionate about these photo shoots.
Hm… If you can feel our passion, then you might be on the right track to becoming a true professional. Amateurs usually don’t recognize the emotion that goes into making those photos… Looks as though you’re improving as a member of the industry, too.
Hey, hey! Break time’s over! Back to training! Move, move, move!
Itsuki Aoi has grown as an entertainer and has become “New Talent”! Itsuki has acquired the special peformance Strike a Pose!
Strike a Pose is another incredibly situational, but extremely powerful skill. For 2 SP, it just literally gives the rest of your party a free turn. Its effectiveness really depends on what kind of situation you’re in and what your current status is, because 2 SP is pretty pricey to use for healing up from a rough spot when that would give you two Debut Smiles.
Next time, we’re headed to Chapter 3 and the return of Barry. See you then!
I think Strike a Pose also gives Itsuki a free turn, but of course the first turn is consumed by using Strike a Pose.
Apparently Skill is useful for certain moves that mention that Skill improves them in their descriptions, though I don’t know how useful +10 Skill is for that sort of thing.
I would say I want to see Itsuki doing a Jojo pose, but honestly the closest he can get is probably a nearly-enthused thumbs up.
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I love this game, but damn Itsuki’s a wet piece of cardboard.
Oh, yes, I have everything… but I hope you remembered to bring your phone charger this time, Uncle Barry.
Ohhh nooo! Gah, I’m so dumb! Guess I forgot to bring it today too!
Sigh Not again. I don’t need mine for the rest of the day… Here, you can borrow it.
Oh, thank you, Mamori! You truly are a real live 3D angel from the heavens!
An angel? I don’t know about that.
Mamori, isn’t it time for you to head back to the studio? Ayaha’s waiting for you.
Oh, I almost forgot!
Come on, Itsuki, send her off with a good word.
Good luck with the recording. I’ll see you later.
Thank you. I’ll do my best! Goodbye then.
You don’t have to say it like that!
Can you believe him, Itsuki? Barry keeps “forgetting” his charger on purpose so he can borrow Mamori’s.
Wh-What’s wrong about that!? I’m the founding member of the Mamori Minamoto unofficial fan club!
I’m pretty sure a fan club doesn’t really have anything to do with this…
That pure innocence, that heartwarming smile, and that cuteness that just makes you want to protect her…! Mamori is too good - too pure - for this world, and her unofficial fan club will shield her from the world’s corruption!
…
Oh, I just heard about that recently. It’s the show that Mamori’s on, right?
Mhm. It’s really doing fantastic in the ratings.
It’s all thanks to Mamori. She’s the most popular child star on the air!
As you can see, she’s getting a lot of fans like…this. What I’d LIKE to do is use her popularity to give her a chance to sing, but…
Now that you mention it… I remember Mamori saying that she wanted to work jobs in which she can sing.
She’s a good girl and a hard worker. She does like the job she has…but I’d like to get her some singing gigs.
Mamori makes a great hostess, but she really loves to sing… I can’t wait to see her shine onstage as a singer! Which is why, as the head of the unofficial fan club, I swear I’ll find something I can do to help her!
Yeah, I noticed…
You’d never believe he used to be that incredible guitarist… You know, he even used to be a Mirage Master.
Wh- Really!?
Yes. But during a battle with a powerful Mirage, he ended up sacrificing all the power he had, and he lost his Mirage…
Barry felt responsible, and he fell into an awful depression… That was about when he quit the band. And then… Well, a lot happened in between, but now he’s ended up our instructor.
I never knew Barry had a past like that… So… Since Mamori works with this company, does that mean she’s a Mirage Master too?
Mamori’s not a Master. She has the potential to be one, however.
Potential? Then does she also know about the Mirages?
No. I haven’t told her anything yet.
She does have the aptitude… but I don’t know if I want someone that young mixed into this fight. So, Itsuki… if the worst happens, I want you to be there for her. Okay?
Understood.
Oh… it’s about time I head out, too. See you later, Itsuki.
Given everything else so far, Barry being a former master isn’t much of a surprise. The obsession over Mamori is a little creepy though.
A few days later…
O-Oh no… Now I’m getting all nervous thinking about how many people actually saw me in it…
What’re you so anxious for…? You’re in show business. The whole point is to get everyone’s eyes on you.
Wha-!?
Mamori?
What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?
L-Live on TV! Special feature! I’ve been chosen to be on “Serenade”! It’s been my dream to get to perform on it!
Uh… “Serenade”?
“Soulful Serenade”! Um, most people just call it “Serenade.” It’s an hour-long show on Daitou TV for traditional Japanese ballads, but they want to do a special two-hour show.
Oh, “Serenade” is so amazing! All my favorite artists are going to be performing!
So…you’re saying you’ll get to perform in this show you really like?
…Barry did?
He said he was friends with someone on the show. Apparently his friend watches “Microwavin’ with Mamorin,” too!
That’s great that you get to be on such a big show… Congratulations, Mamori.
Thank you! Oh, I’m so excited! I have to go to rehearsal now. I’ll do my best!
Mamori left the office…
Huh. So Barry does have some connections that are worth a damn. I guess being the president of the Mamori fanclub isn’t entirely showboating.
Barry’s with her, so she should be fine. I’m sure she’s relaxed and enjoying being on the show.
Putting that aside… Itsuki.
Yes?
There’s… actually something that we were able to find out during that whole Horinozawa incident. Apparently he started acting differently when he took a job from Daiba TV to shoot some promotional photos.
Daiba TV… That’s where I had my audition…
So that network was involved in both cases: Tsubasa’s audition, and the incident with Mr. Horinozawa… That’s a little suspicious. Do you think Daiba TV is involved in some way…?
Seems plausible. I think there’s a good chance the one behind all this is someone within the company.
You think so too, huh? I don’t want to jump to conclusions… but we don’t exactly have any other leads.
Why would it be a bad thing?
People go in and out of those stations all the time.
Oh, right… That is true…
Then again, we may have our winning ticket here. I’ll just have to make sure all our numbers line up first.
[quote] Currently working hard!
I should be able to make it back before Mamori’s part starts… but just in case could you record it for me?[/quote]
So that’s our setup for Chapter 3. If “The Next Generation” wasn’t subtle enough for you, it’s mostly about Barry and his relationship to Mamori, so we’ll see how that ends up unfolding.
Anyway, we’re given control back here, but it lasts for literally five steps before the next cutscene starts. At least there’s a good reason for it this time.
Explaining Myself to the Incompetent
Well, look who decided to make a house call.
So… this is it.
Huh? Y-Yashiro!?
What exactly are you doing here…?
Hm. No sign of her.
Tiki!?
Ah - you mean…the Uta-loid Tiki…?
You know Itsuki, call me crazy but I don’t think playing dumb is going to work here.
No. Not the Uta-loid Tiki - the Mirage Tiki. I know Fortuna is hiding her here somewhere.
…What do you want with her?
It’s not your concern, and I doubt you’d understand. Explaining myself to the incompetent is a luxury I do not have.
I’m not going to take someone to see my friend if they won’t tell me their intentions.
“Friend,” is it…? Ludicrous. Hand over Tiki - that is my one demand.
Sorry, but I can’t do that.
I see… Then I hardly need waste any more time on you.
There…
I can’t believe hiding our secret spirit garden in the closet wasn’t a fool-proof plan. How did he see through our cunning security measures?
…What do you plan on doing to Tiki!?
I warn you: do not try to stop me. I can’t afford to waste any more of my time on your delusions. If you mean to stand in my way, you shall suffer the consequences!
Wait, what?
Oh. Well then. We could be here for hours dissecting this Nomura-ass outfit, but that’s kind of secondary to “Oh yeah, we have to fight Yashiro now.”
Yashiro’s a Mirage Master too!?
…You will stand down.
No… I refuse to!
So Yashiro is L35 and is a boss in all but name, including getting multiple turns and whatnot.
His primary method of attack is to toss out a pair of Cleaves. He doesn’t hit particularly hard, so this is what you want to see whenever possible. After all, he has far more damaging attacks up his sleeve.
Like this one.
Yeah, he’s an event boss you’re supposed to lose to. I don’t know what the exact trigger is, but it’s either a couple turns or knocking off about a third of his health.
Do you simply not understand the difference in our strength? Hand Tiki over. Immediately.
Guh… Everyone all right…?
S-Somehow…
H-He’s tough…
Hm. Insufficient, even with Kurono.
Guh…
Who… Who are you? How do you know who I am?
It’s me - Yashiro Tsurugi. …You don’t recognize me? We met that day… Five years ago!
I-I’m sorry… I… don’t remember… anything.
Nngh…
Big brother!
So… Tiki truly has lost all her memories?
Y-Yeah…
…I see. Then…I suppose it was all for nothing.
For nothing? What do you mean?
…
And with that, he just walks out. It’s not entirely clear what this was about or what Yashiro wants, but one thing has been made abundantly clear: Yashiro is not our friend.
How did Yashiro know about Tiki…?
He was involved in the disappearance five years ago as well. Although I’m not too clear on the details…
What?
His father, Chikaomi Tsurugi, disappeared onstage. That trauma might be why he only fights alone…
Are our strengths…really that far apart? How humiliating… I thought I’d be evenly matched against Yashiro…but I didn’t stand a chance. If I only were stronger…
We just have to do it our way. We’ll get stronger together, Kiria, and we’ll win next time.
Yeah… Guess you’re right. There’s no point getting depressed over it.
Suddenly, Ellie runs in. Sure would have been nice to have you here five minutes ago!
I finally found you guys! Something awful’s happened! The “Serenade” studio is being attacked by Mirages!
Surprise, we’re already at the Chapter 3 dungeon.
What the hell!? Itsuki, what do we do?
…Let’s head back to the office.
Is that who I think it is? 
The recording studio for “Serenade” was Daitou TV…
So a Mirage incident occurred somewhere other than Daiba TV…
Yeah. Looks like we probably shouldn’t focus on them after all.
It sure is, Tsubasa. It sure is.
Yeah. There’s no mistaking it…
Barry’s not a Master anymore…so he must have not been able to stop the Mirage, and it took him over.
This isn’t good… Wait, that means that Mamori’s also-
She’s in danger… She’s still at the “Serenade” studio.
I’m worried about them. Let’s head to the TV station!
Sounds like a plan!
You too, Ellie?
I’m a Master as well. Or did you forget?
Oh, right… You are…
Wha- Don’t tell me you ACTUALLY forgot!?
Anyway, if our friend’s in danger, we save them, even if it means punching out the president - THAT’s Hollywood! And who knows? Maybe Virion and I will get to show you some flashy sharpshooting archery, too.
I’ll be counting on it.
All right, onward to Daitou TV. We’re rescuing Mamori!
That pure innocence, that heartwarming smile, and that cuteness that just makes you want to protect her…! Mamori is too good - too pure - for this world, and her unofficial fan club will shield her from the world’s corruption!
By robbing her under self-righteous pretenses…?
Also: Barf. I scored a double-bogey on prediction. At least I -did- call that Virion would be the archer.
Honestly I feel Barry just comes off as creepy, like I get what they were going for its just weird. Also as someone whose played this game seeing people’s predictions is 
Please, please look forward to his appearance. That’s all I ask.
Who would have thought that the bright blue door marked with the Fire Emblem would be a dead giveaway to Tiki’s location. Yashiro must be a master detective to have figured that one out.
I didn’t think Eleonora would be using Virion, but at least you’ll be getting a bow user soon. I should have figured Yashiro, the anime rival, would be Navarre. And I’m guessing that Barry is either being possessed by a generic barbarian, or Vaike reclassed.
So you might notice that things have been uh…quiet. Work’s been kicking my ass and I haven’t had any real time to put together any updates. I have been doing work (I just recorded like 4 hours of the game this morning) but I don’t know when I’ll be able to put it all together, maybe later this week? We’ll see.
[quote] I feel something really bad…and heavy… Yeah, it feels really heavy.
I think this is all coming from that place you were all looking at on TV. I think it’s called Daitou TV Station?
It’s going to be your first time going there, right? Make sure to be careful.[/quote]
So, last time Daitou TV was under attack by a possessed Barry. That sure went south fast!
…
…Oh, and I guess we got a new party member or something? I’m sure it wasn’t that important.
[quote] All right, contact saved! This is Itsuki, right? Anyway…
Why did this have to happen now!? My first message was supposed to sound more like a Hollywood star…
[/quote]
Ellie is our resident archer, and like all pre-Fates archers, is fairly fast and accurate, passable on offense, and garbage otherwise. She doubles up on electricity (since we can’t remove Itsuki from the party), but she does get some fire skills to help with coverage and we’ve been wanting for bow damage since the first dungeon. Otherwise, there isn’t much to say about her other than the fact that she starts at Stage Rank 1. After all, she just got back from an overseas trip and stars in a TV show that gets really poor ratings. Why would anyone know who she is?
On an aesthetic note, Ellie probably has the best design of anyone in the party. The rose arrows are a great touch, and Virion is far and away the best party mirage. Look at that fucking rose pauldron. Look at it!
And here’s the man himself, just chilling in the Bloom Palace. Let’s get acquainted, shall we?
Aha! Itsuki, I presume?
Yeah, that’s me… And you are…?
I am the noble Mirage partnered with Ellie… My name is Virion, good sir, and it is my distinct pleasure to make your acquaintance.
Oh, so you’re Ellie’s Mirage. It’s a pleasure to meet you too.
As you have doubtless observed, dear Ellie is somewhat… rambunctious. As nobles, it is our duty to refine her into a lady of class!
Um, I’m not really a noble or anything…
Is that so? Strange… I could have sworn I felt a kinship! An aura of elegance, style, and fated grandeur! But no matter! Those of regal bearing and great nobility must act with all the magnanimity due of their station!
If the mood ever strikes you, please, come by again for a chat! Conversation, advice, or witticism - all I shall happily supply.
[quote]
Virion is a side character in the first generation of Awakening. He’s a deposed noble from Valm (the continent in Awakening’s second act, which you probably know better as Valentia these days) who finds himself assisting Chrom’s army after a surprise Risen attack. His main character trait is being a massive flirt, but he doesn’t fall into the same trap that someone like Sain does, where it’s his only character trait of note. Rather, each of his supports builds on that in interesting ways, such as how he teases Lissa about being a spy when he’s simply writing home to his parents, his assorted conquests give him all kinds of connections to finance the army, and he’s quite adept at reading and manipulating people (which he dresses up as “fortune telling”), just to name a few of his exploits.
Of course, all of this is undermined by being a pre-Fates archer, so uh…yeah. Maybe next game, buddy![/quote]
Ellie’s only available radiant skill slows down enemies on the field, which isn’t much to write home about considering we’re already faster than them.
Anyway, now that we’re done with all our errands, let’s get rolling. Onward to Daitou TV!
Yep, this sure is a mirage attack.
Oh, Itsuki…
Thank goodness… You’re all right.
There was a big…shadowy monster that attacked me, but Uncle Barry shielded me and-
Where is he now?
Over there…
You’re going to go save him, right…? Can I come with you…?
Wait for us back at the office. Don’t worry, we’ll get Barry back safe.
Okay…
[quote] no doubt about it, ms. maiko. looks like the station was just attacked
we found mamori! can you send someone to pick her up? we’re heading into illusory daitou tv station
[/quote]
Sounds like Touma’s got his head in the game, so we’d better follow suit. To the idolasphere!
It’s a…giant Japanese garden? Yeah, sure, let’s go with that.
I’ll be counting on you, partner! Now let’s show them how it’s done in Hollywood.
Illusory DTV is divided into two halves, with each one having the same basic structure. There’s a large central building with four exits in the cardinal directions, and a sprawling set of paths that go around to each of the doors. This time around, there’s a handful of tasks we need to do in order to set the stage and move on, but we’ll see more about that once we get inside.
New enemies! The Blackwing Knights are the big ones, because now that Ellie’s here, we finally have a good answer to enemy fliers. They’re packing the usual assortment of lance skills and are weak to bows and wind, so we can clown on them pretty effortlessly. The Phantom, aside from being dapper as fuck, is just another enemy in the ghost family - weak to electricity and bows.
This, incidentally, is the big reason we got Bow-Thunder on Itsuki. Ellie’s starting skills leave a lot to be desired, with only Lance-Snipe and Sword-Plasma as session skills, and absolutely no one can pick up from her bow skills without Itsuki as a bridge. Itsuki/Tsubasa/Ellie is probably the best possible party for getting her going, which is pretty unfortunate because that’s not a great damage-dealing party.
On our way to the west entrance, we come across an unlit lantern. Just keep it in mind for now, it’ll be important in a bit.
And if we poke around on the decks a bit, we’ll find another lantern and a new Performa (Garden Artistry) by the west door.
Red Mages crumble to basically any physical attack, but they are packing some Tier 2 spells so don’t underestimate them in large numbers. Fortunately, they mostly spawn with Phantoms, which are far less threatening.
And our last new enemy for the moment, Infernos are basically just big buckets of HP. As you can probably guess, they’re fire-elemental and hit like a truck if you let them, but they’re weak to most other elements, especially ice - Kiria especially just chews through these poor guys. Just be careful if Touma is hanging around, because I’m pretty sure this is the first instance of an enemy absorbing an element.
Inside the building, the door to the south is blocked off by an orange barrier…
…And there’s a demon just standing around here. Let’s see what he wants from us.
First job: Get the stage nice and ready! Turn on all four of the lanterns outside! Report to me when you finish, then we’ll go to the set inside and I’ll give you your next assignment.
I-I understand!
All riiiiiight. Good answer, good answer. I’m expecting good things!
(I guess he’ll lead us inside if we finish our tasks… It seems simple enough. We might as well humor him.)
As Itsuki says, it’s simple enough. Light the four lanterns, and you can move on to the second floor.
Now that we’ve spoken to the director, this menu option pops up. From here, we’ll head back into the main building and go out the north door.
Past that, there’s the instructions for all the assorted tasks we’ll be doing in the dungeon. It’s…nice, I guess? But ultimately not very useful, because you can always just talk to the director if you need a refresher.
Der Freischütz increases Ellie’s crit rate with Bow skills. She’s already fairly critty because of her high skill, and this just makes her moreso.
And Kiria trades out Lullaby Song for Zan. Really, I should have dumped Flux, but either way this gives Kiria more or less complete elemental coverage and lets her sub in for both Tsubasa and Touma as needed.
The north area is fairly small and there isn’t much to it other than the lantern. However, we can sneak down a small side path to grab a pair of Mazan stones.
The area to the east is incredibly small, literally a single path that leads out to the lantern, but it makes up for that by going down and around to connect with the southern part of the docks. That one-way wall is the other side of the one you can see from the entrance.
Ellie picks up Skill Boost and Itsuki takes a pass on Wyrmslayer. Wyvern Riders are flyers and half of them are weak to electricity anyway, so it’s not nearly as imperative as some other skills are.
Wicked Lips is a fun one, slightly cutting the cost of all offensive magic. In practice, it’s largely useless simply because Kiria already has the closest thing to a bottomless EP pool, so this just makes it even more bottomless.
Tucked away in a corner is a pair of smoke machines. They’re nice, but smoke machines are incredibly cheap to buy and they’re so useful that there’s no reason to not be walking around with 20 of them at all times.
And in the farthest corner of the first set, we find a treasure key and a Bead Chain. This one’s fairly easy to miss, and it’s probably the best treasure on the entire floor!
With that, all four lanterns are lit. We could go see what the director wants next, but we could use an EP top-off before doing another dive, so back to the office.
You know what? Sure, lay it on us Aya.
Do you know the late-night gourmet TV show “Food Heaven”? Despite being on so late, the show is very popular and usually earns a rating of 15% thanks to its charismatic host Himemaro.
Recently, however, the ratings have been falling. From what I hear, it’s due to Himemaro’s poor performance…
They’re taping Food Heaven in Shibuya right now, could you got to the Gourmet House to check on her? If something’s wrong, please let me know.
A food critic? Now this is something near and dear to Itsuki’s heart. Don’t you worry, Aya. If there was ever a time you had the right man on the case, this is it.
This is also the first point at which we have a serious prestige crunch. Between Tsubasa and Ellie, six of our ten 3-star prestiges get eaten up in Radiant Skills, and that’s before we even start talking about the six or so new weapons we could forge (each of which requires 3-5 3-stars a piece).
Ultimately, I settle on making the Lilith Rod. Not because it’s particularly better than any of the other options, just that Kiria is going to be the first one to need a new weapon, so we might as well have it ready.
Anyway, next time we’ll finish up the first set and see what’s going on with our wayward food critic. See you all then!
Ellie being Stage Rank 1 is one of my favorite little touches in the game.
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Virion is probably the most stand-like design in this game thus far, though it would probably be more so if he had a rose brooch instead of a heart. Gotta have that consistent thematic design.
It just occurred to me that we’ll probably be getting Aya as a Peg Knight later and Mamori even later as an Est Archetype, probably with Est herself for that matter making her Peg number three. Though since Itsuki can’t be pulled from the line-up, I’m not certain how they’d squeeze in a Triangle-Attack.
I’m afraid to say that Aya is not a playable character
What? Laaaaaame.
Last time we learned of an ailing food critic, and that’s one thing Itsuki simply will not stand for. But first, let’s check up on some of the other residents of Shibuya.
This guy looks like he’s in a good spot. I’m sure he’s having a great day.
sigh …Hey, what’re you staring at?
Don’t play dumb… You were staring at the weird gate, weren’t ya? I’ve been looking for a guy like you. Think you could do me a favor?
Itsuki accepted the request “Iori in Love”.
Hoo boy, I think I can see where this one is going.
When I first saw it, I stuck my foot in and that was that: I found myself in a strange world. Next thing I knew, all these monsters were chasing me! I ran like hell, but… They still caught up, and I thought I was gonna wind up some monster’s lunch. But a girl came outta nowhere and saved me!
I’ve never seen anyone like her… That cutie was out of this world. Ahhh… She stole my heart. It was love at first sight…
…
Uh… Cat got yer tongue?
So, I need you to go through the gate and tell that girl how I feel about her. My name’s Souji Iori. She’s somewhere near the ticket gates in that strange world. Thanks, man! I’m countin’ on ya!
What is it with people and falling in love with demons? I feel like it’s in every single SMT game and they always go the exact same way.
Before we head into Illusory Shibuya, we might as well check in with the food critic since that’s where Aya’s going to send us anyway.
Ugh! I don’t have the words to communicate how delicious it tastes… I can’t be a food show host if I can’t describe the food… Ugh, I’m such a failure… sigh
Yep, off to the idolasphere.
Of course it’s a bunny cleric. Why would it not be?
What, you have something to say to me?
(A girl by the ticket gates… She must be the mirage Iori was talking about.)
Ahh, I remember him. He was clinging to me, yelling “Get me outta here!” He was so revolting, so I told him the way out and got rid of him. Just thinking about him makes my hair stand on end!
Hey, you! Tell that Io-whatever-his-name-is this… If I ever see him again, I’ll rip that jiggly pompadour of his to shreds!
(That’s pretty harsh, but I guess I should tell Iori…)
Well that went about as well as it always does. Let’s go kill some demons.
This guy is a little harder to find, he’s hiding underneath the middle ledge at the big three-path split towards the end.
It’s also the first time we’re on even footing with these guys, probably a little underlevelled. This has some…notable consequences, shall we say.
For starters, if they proc a weakness, that character is probably dead, even before the sessions start. This situation is not helped by me leading with Ellie and Kiria as my party.
Take two: Kiria is weak to swords, so this is still a bit of a gamble, but the myrmidons are weak to ice so we need her for damage. Touma resists fire and swords, in addition to giving us lance damage, so he’s in for Ellie.
Plus, he gives us much better session combos for dealing with the Leviathan. Ellie’s Sword-Plasma would have ended it immediately after Itsuki’s initial attack, which is unfortunate to say the least.
That said, we have a much more important job for Itsuki right now. With the possibility of eating 450 damage a turn, we need a defense buff up immediately.
Now that we can handle. 200 damage a turn isn’t too bad, as long as we get a little lucky with avoiding weaknesses.
That said, this is a problem. Hamstring is admittedly a Tier 1 lance skill, but even with Touma’s huge strength and hitting a weakness, it still barely scratched his health bar, and there are two of these fuckers to deal with.
Leave it Kiria to bail us out.
Doubly so when this attack doesn’t cause an enemy session because Labyrinth confused all the enemies.
With the incoming damage knocked down a bit, we have some breathing room to get on the attack. The Levianthan is probably the least dangerous of the three enemies here, but he can drop Poison Mist on us, and one less enemy is still one less enemy.
And there’s the money shot. Like I said, bringing Kiria is a bit of a risk, but damn if it doesn’t have a sweet payoff.
Touma picks up the Tier 2 Fire skill, as well as part of the Blockbuster skill (increases the crit rate of attacks in a session), and Itsuki trades Def Boost for Yasha Soul, which increases his crit rate with sword attacks. These fights are definitely getting trickier, but that’s what makes them satisfying to clear.
The batter is crispy yet thick! The texture is absolutely amazing. Such a refined taste!
This cream! It’s so rich! The meat and vegetables burst out of the cream… And a spiciness adds to the explosion of flavor! This combination of crispy and creamy pushes the flavor to a whole new level!
Wooooo! It’s like the flavors are dancing on my tongue! Zoyo! …I think I’m back. All right, let’s do this! Zoyo!
All that work for this amateur shit? Itsuki could have done that in his sleep. :colbert:
Itsuki delivered the mirage’s message to Iori…
She didn’t have to be so heartless! What, is it the pompadour? Is that it? Maybe it’s outta fashion where she’s from.
sigh I guess it was a lost cause from the start. I mean, we literally live in different worlds. I mean, it sucks, but I guess I’ll just hafta look for a new love.
…Anyways, thanks for the help. You and me are gonna be buddies, I can tell.
Request complete! Received Magic Incense x2!
Are we? Are we really, Iori? Well, at least we got a pair of stat ups for it.
Man, where do you people even come from? What do you want?
Do you have a part-time job!? I really want one! Something classy! In the big city!
Senpai, please tell me you know a fancier job here in Shibuya…? It’s such a trendy part of the city!
Man, it’s one thing to be like “Do my homework” or “Find 5 bear asses”, it’s quite another to literally ask “Find me a job!” Do it yourself, you lazy shitlord. :colbert:
Okay, fine. Go be a waiter and stop wasting my time.
That! Is! IT! Shibuya’s Cafe Seiren is THE hottest, flashiest place in town! Thank you, thank you! I need to hurry! I’m going to go now, bye!
Good, go get to work and thanks for the Melmarks. Now, back to the office and finally turn in this food critic quest.
…
cough …Okay, I’ll work on that. Thank you for all your hard work, and I’ll let you know if I hear any more suspicious rumors.
Anyway, another request, another Clap Track. Next, it’s back to the dungeon, for real this time!
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So last time we did a bunch of random shit, but we’re not going to get sidetracked right now, we’ve got to go save-
No! Bad Aya! Bad! I just said-
Have you heard of the comedy duo Ota-Yan Union? The funny man tells a silly joke, and then the straight man flips out. That’s basically their entire act.
But rumor has it that Aniki, the straight man, has lost his timing. And now he’s a shell of his former self on stage…
Otakura, the funny man, wrote on his blog that they’re training in Harajuku for the Manzai Grand Prix, a comedy contest. Itsuki, please go and check it out for me. A mere shell… That worries me.
Yep, that’s great Aya, we’ll get right on it. You said Illusory DTV right? On my way.
(The real answer, of course, is that we barely scraped by in Illusory Shibuya and we would get destroyed by the Illusory DTV enemies.)
And hey, speaking of Illusory DTV enemies, the Red Barbarian is newest axe enemy in town. He’s actually kind of a pain, because he resists both electricity and ice, which is the cornerstone of the Itsuki/Ellie/Kiria party.
Ellie’s stage rank being so low to start isn’t nearly as big of a deal as it seems, since she gets a lot of stuff really early. Her first sidequest is at Rank 3, and she gets an incredibly important skill at Rank 6 when everyone else gets it around Rank 8 or 9.
And while it’s always nice to pick up more session skills, Elec-Snipe is about as useless of one as you can get. It pretty much exists solely to let her combo off of Itsuki since she’s the only other party member with Electric skills, and no one else can pick up from Bow skills.
Anyway, since we lit all the lanterns, the director removes the barrier and we can head upstairs. On to 2F!
New floor, new enemies. Yomotsu Shikome can fuck your day up with wind spells if you let them, but they’re weak to electricity. Itsuki and Ellie should make short work of them, no matter how little you’ve used her.
There are a pair of beads just hanging out immediately to our right on 2F. It’s kind of absurd how easy it is to get high-end healing items in this game, and combined with the fact that you have multiple items that do the same thing (see Fresh Spicy Curry and Revival Beads), it’s really hard to actually die unless you get way in over your head.
The center of 2F has a locked chest, our teleporter, and the director with another task for us. We’ll start with the director.
The AD’s waiting close to the small room to the north, so go get your next instructions!
He rules with an iron fist…
…You say something, guy?
N-No! Nothing!
The ol’ delegation move, what a classic. Well, before we head north, let’s crack that chest open.
That…was probably not the best use of a chest key. But sure, whatever, I’ll take it.
The director asked us to come help the AD… Is that you?
Oh, much obliged! I need you to adjust the lighting in the cast members’ waiting room. I was in a rush and got them wrong…
Find out what each cast member wants to figure out how many paper lanterns they want on, and fix them accordingly. After you adjust the lightning, make sure you confirm with each cast member before you come back.
You can turn the paper lanterns on with these, so good luck!
I actually kind of like this one, since it requires a little thought. More than “Press the four buttons” did, anyway.
There’s a lantern room immediatly to the AD’s left, so let’s pop in real quick and see how it works.
So right now, one of the three lanterns are lit, which we know is wrong. If we talk to the demon…
Alright, easy enough. We have two spare light sources, so we’ll use one of them to light a second lantern and try again.
And that’s one down. Note that lighting the lantern did consume one of our light sources, but if we need more we can always go back and talk to the director again.
On our way to the west door, we meet these fuckers. Knights have a massive pile of HP and defense, and resist bows, wind and lances. However, outside of Itsuki’s Zio skills, we have no way of inflicting magical fire or electric damage, so they might as well resist that too. But like the Infernos, they have a massive Kiria-sized problem in that they’re weak to ice and have non-existent resistance.
Mind you, the HP is still a problem. It would go marginally faster if we swapped Ellie out for Tsubasa, but a 200+ damage hit doesn’t even knock them below half health. Hell, Itsuki’s Fatal Sword, despite being a Tier 2 Sword skill, barely cracks 130 damage.
Ellie picks up Tarunda as we work our way around the west deck. An attack debuff is probably the least useful thing she can be doing, but I guess it’s better than nothing.
That said, now that she’s maxed out her current weapon and unlocked her first sidequest, there’s no real need to keep her in the party either. Tsubasa and Kiria are both one rank away from their next sidequests, so we’ll be rolling with them for the time being.
The western lantern room starts with all three lit, and he wants it a little darker. Two lanterns will do the trick here.
Stage Rank 7 simply nets Itsuki Endless Act, the physical get-out-of-jail-free card.
That person likes his room bright, but I don’t need it to be THAT bright.
The southern room, while not particularly difficult on its own (he wants it dropped to one lantern), mostly exists to set up the final one. That one is not completable without taking the flame essences from this room (or backtracking all the way to the director to get an extra one).
Because the east room requires you to have three banked flame essences. If this is the last one that you do, you should have the three that you need ready to go, but if not, you’re going to be doing some backtracking.
Anyway, with all four dressing rooms taken care of, let’s head back to the director.
Along the way, Tsubasa picks up Healing Expertise, which increases the amount of HP her spells restore. Passive skills aren’t as useful as you’d think in this game, but there are definitely clear winners and losers, and a heal boost is a hell of a lot more useful than Res +2.
You probably won’t get lost…but don’t stop and smell the roses, or you’ll be late!
And with that, we are now completely done with the first half of the dungeon. Coming up next is the miniboss, so let’s go cash in our radiant skills and make some new weapons.
Itsuki has a trio of new toys, but we’re going to be paying special attention to the Matador. Not only does it come with intrinsic Auto-Sukukaja, it teaches Itsuki the skill Dual Dispatch, which rolls Horseslayer and Armorslayer into one skill for just 10 MP. As far as utility skills go, it’s about as good as you’re going to get on Itsuki.
For Tsubasa, the Stingray and Hayakaze are largely identical, it just depends on whether you want to upgrade her lance skills or wind magic first. As nice as Assault Dive is, it’s not that much of an upgrade for her, so we definitely want the Hayakaze here.
Kiria is in a similar position. Lorelei increases her magic evasion and the Vajra blocks confusion, but otherwise this is a pretty blatant “DO YOU WANT FIRE, ICE OR WIND MAGIC?” choice.
And finally, Ellie picks up this…interesting weapon. On the surface, it doesn’t look very good since it makes her weak to every flavor of physical attacks, but the skills that it has make it worth it. Flame Strike (Tier 2 fire attack), Fire Boost, and a very early Arrow Rain (Tier 2 arrow damage to all enemies) makes it worth putting up with the weaknesses, especially early on in the dungeon.
But we’re not going to be doing any of that nonsense next time. Next time, we’re going on a date. See you then!
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