I said total dicks. All kids are dicks, it’s just a sliding scale.
Anyway! With the huge boom in fictional idols, I’m here to cover the voices behind our characters though especially other idol stuff. (And… let’s call it “idol-adjacent”; I can think of a couple other things focused on things like rock bands or stage musicals that kind of end up with a similar feel to idol media, especially the smartphone games feel a lot like idol ones.)
I’ll try to hit like 3-5 titles they’ve had a major role in, and a fairly comprehensive list of idol and similar stuff. Though not exhaustive, I’m only human and I’ll probably miss stuff! I’ll even cover the party Mirages too, there’s enough that’ve done a solid base of stuff even if a couple later ones I’ll just have to go “uhhhhh this is an actor that exists and was in a Fire Emblem once”.
Today, we have our protagonist and his Mirage!
Itsuki Aoi, voiced by Ryohei Kimura
I’ve been growing increasingly fond of Kimura lately, he’s got a good acting range! I’m not too big on his singing voice, but I think that kind of works here since Itsuki’s just kind of “okay if I’ve gotta be an idol to support Tsubasa here, sure”?
Major roles:
- Shoma Takakura (Mawaru Penguindrum)
- Ryota Kise (Kuroko’s Basketball)
- Sorey (Tales of Zestiria)
- Hirotaka Wakamatsu (Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun)
- Kirito Kamui (Psycho-Pass)
Idol roles:
- Shun Shimotsuki of Procellarum (Tsukiuta)
- Tsumugi Momose of reve parfait (Dynamic Chord)
- Mikado Kiryu of Rexx (Root Rexx)
- Aoi Kakitsubata of Tenjo Tenge (I-Chu)
- Yamato Hyuga of Heavens (Uta no Prince-sama (anime-only))
Chrom, voiced by Tomokazu Sugita
So it turns out Sugita’s been active and having major roles for even longer than I realized? Dude’s been getting cast as the lead in stuff since at least 2002, I’d figured Suzumiya Haruhi was his big break. He’s been kind of a lot of protagonists, though I think he’s at his best when he gets to chew the scenery instead.
Major roles:
- Hideki Motosuwa (Chobits)
- Yuichi Aizawa (Kanon (the 2006 anime))
- Kyon (The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi)
- Gintoki Sakata (Gintama)
- Joseph Joestar (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (EDIT: specifically young Joseph))
- Ragna the Bloodedge (Blazblue)
- Yusuke Kitagawa (Persona 5)
Idol roles:
- Raging Otori, manager of Heavens (Uta no Prince-sama (anime-only))
- … that’s it. That’s not even an actual idol. But he does get to have scenery-chewing contests with Norio Wakamoto in it sooooooo. Enjoy a longer list of major roles instead.
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Which Joseph Joestar was he, young or old?
Young. Old Joseph is voiced by Unsho Ishizuka, who voices Professor Oak and Ivan from Devil’s Third.
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Ah yeah shoot thanks, I have not Jojo’s-ed nearly sufficiently (I should fix that I know) so I’d forgotten Joseph is in Stardust Crusaders too and older (with a different actor) there.
The ol’ pause screen is starting to fill up a bit, and we haven’t even done the first proper dungeon! So let’s do that.
Ah yes, the demonic department store. A classic.
Aya… where are you…?
Itsuki, make sure you keep an eye on Tsubasa.
Got it. Chrom, I need your strength again.
And you will have it.
All right, Cain! Let’s get this show on the road!
Well said! Let us storm the field with speed beyond speed!
So welcome to the first actual dungeon. TMS isn’t afraid to throw you in the deep end right away, so let’s just hit a couple quick things. As the info bar helpfully tell us, Tiki will occasionally send us topics while we’re out dungeoneering to let us know we can forge new weapons or unlock new skills the next time we come back. It’s not as handy as it sounds, especially for skills since it’s usually very obvious when you can make new ones. You’ll see how much I ignore her by the “Tiki: 8” in the top left corner at all times while we’re dungeon crawling. 
Additionally, the circle thing off to our left is a warp point. The game is very good about giving you regular checkpoints in dungeons, and always puts one right before a boss or miniboss. It’s just a real nice quality of life thing.
Immediately to our right is another one of those light walls. Again, nothing we can do here so let’s get started.
Our first new enemy is this disembodied clown head. Nickelwise is weak to a whole host of stuff, including swords, axes, ice, light, and dark magic, almost none of which we can do anything with. Their sole resistance is fire, which means Itsuki is the only one who can deal with them in a timely manner. Thankfully, he’s mostly content to chomp on someone for a low amount of physical damage.
And after the battle, we get introduced to another core part of the system. Each party member has a Stage Rank that increases as they take part in combat and sessions. Each stage rank unlocks a new skill (the vast majority of which are incredibly broken), and you need to have them at certain levels to unlock the party members’ personal sidequests.
Just as an example? The skill that Itsuki just unlocked allows him to change targets if an enemy dies during a session. That his Rank 1 skill.
Tsubasa’s is much less interesting, but no less handy. This unlocks the Traport skill, letting you leave the dungeon at any time for just 10 MP.
Oh, and I guess Touma picked up Sword-Blaze, but that’s not really as important.
Now, you might be thinking “Okay, that sounds good but not like, holy shit broken good” and you’d be right! But there’s another wrinkle to this system, and we’ll use our myrmidon friend here to demonstrate. Like all sword users, he’s weak to lances (and thunder but that’s not really important here), and between Itsuki and Tsubasa, we can build quite a combo off of lances.
And sure enough, after a turn or two the myrmidon bites it. However, we still have part of a session to go. When an enemy is killed as part of a session (including as the opening attack!), you achieve an “Overkill”, which causes every remaining attack in the session to ignore enemy resistances, including Nulls, Repels, and Drains. So if you know that an enemy absorbs fire but Touma is up next in your combo, as long as you can kill something before his turn comes up, it doesn’t matter. His attack will hit them just like they were neutral.
This is the power of Itsuki’s skill, and why it’s so broken. And while we can only change targets once per session right now, you had better believe that he’s got upgrades later on that let him change multiple times.
The main gimmick of Illusory 106 is these big dresses. You go in one side…
…And you come out the other.
On the far side we find a set of switches, and it should be pretty obvious what they do. Considering that we’re on the doll’s right side, the only one that’s of any use to us is the right switch.
This gives us access to the third floor. This room is basically shaped like a sideways “8”, with a dress on either side to let us go up and down as necessary.
On the third floor, we get introduced to what is probably my least favorite mechanic in the entire game. The purple enemies are called Savage Enemies, and they are motherfuckers of the highest caliber. For starters, you can’t stun them with your sword, so unless you can get to some kind of environmental trigger (or another enemy), you’re almost certainly going to get stuck fighting them. And that’s really bad, as we will see later.
For now, we’ll flip this to the middle switch and head down to 2F.
Along the way, Touma unlock his first skill. Estoma prevents enemies that are lower-levelled than Itsuki from spawning for a while, and I’m pretty sure I have literally never used it across multiple playthroughs.
On 2F, I spend a comical amount of time trying to get around this asshole, but unfortunately we have to fight this one. Let’s…just get this over with.
So yeah, not only do Savage Enemies usually get a surprise attack on you, they hit like a freight train. They are always somewhere between 2 and 5 levels above your party, with skills and attacks that you usually won’t see until the next dungeon (or at least much later in the current one). Running away is a crapshoot that wastes your turn more often than not, but standing your ground usually requires burning your good healing items and in some cases your SP to use super attacks to even the playing field.
That’s not to say that you can’t (or even shouldn’t) fight them - you will get a ton of experience and rare drops if you prove victorious. But if you’re actively fighting them, you’re probably going in to specifically hunt down savage enemies. For the most part, encounters with them end after a character or two fails to run away, everyone’s hurting, and at least one person is dead.
Good thing we bought those curries!
Anyway, before we were interrupted by our purple friend, we meet our first one-way wall. If you approach from the other side, it’s just a big slab of iron, but hitting the back of it will destroy the barrier.
On the other side of 2F there’s another wall, but the red dress is already in place for us to go behind it and break it. Really, I don’t even know why this one is here.
Huh? Who’s that…?
Ah! Over there!
Anybody…! Please…! Stop these monsters!
We have to help him!
Oh, it’s just three myrmidons. The way he was screaming, you’d think we might have an actual challenge. :colbert: Touma picks up Strength Boost after the fight, so at least it wasn’t a total waste of our time.
Th-Thank you so much, you three!
You know this guy, Touma?
This is Yatsufusa Hatanaka… Everyone in the industry knows him. He’s one of the best producers around. He’s the one that set up the live concert today, too… I-It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Hatanaka!
Ahaha, well, rumors always blow my reputation out of proportion… I don’t know if I’m THAT great. But… just what is going on? There was some commotion in the 106, and suddenly I was running for my life…
Um… how should we explain…?
You tell him where the exit is…
You’ll be able to get out of this place if you follow those directions.
A-All right… I understand.
You would think that finding someone who’s such a big shot here would call for a bit more caution, like escorting him out, but you do you game.
Anyway, shortly thereafter we get an update from Maiko and Kiria.
[quote]
Hey, is everyone okay? I’m at the hospital now with Kiria. Don’t worry, she’s going to be fine.
The wounds aren’t anything life threatening but she might be out of it for a while. I’ll contact you again soon.[/quote]
Well that’s good to hear. With Hatanaka out of trouble, if we raid the room he was hiding out in, we can grab a Chakra Drop and a Traport stone. Neither of which are great but it’s hardly worth complaining over.
And one last treasure for the road. We’re pretty close to the next teleporter, but Itsuki is out of MP so we might as well put that Traport stone to use and regroup.
Back in the Bloom Garden, we can turn in those Stage Rank performas to unlock our new skills. Note that they require prestige stars as well, so sometimes we’ll have to choose between new skills and new weapons.
We’ll also take the opportunity to grab a new lance for Tsubasa. Still nothing new for Touma yet, but that’ll change soon. For now, we’re gonna call it here and next time we’ll be taking on the miniboss of Illusory 106.
Oh man, didn’t expect to see Kimura here. I haven’t had that much time to play games outside of tablet ones so I’ve sunk a TON of time into I-chu specifically; Aoi is one of my favorite voices in the game. I looked up the vocal album after this and was disappointed by the lack of Itsuki songs, but such is life. 
Overall I’m still not sure how I feel about this game. I’m definitely one of those people who was super embittered by the reveal of an idol game after they used Main Series SMT art for the first promo, but it seems like a serviceable enough Persona-like? Either way I’m really glad to be able to read an LP of it.
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It’s worth noting that you will always have EP for Tsubasa to cast Traport. Dungeon crawling is very dependent on how much EP everyone has and since Tsubasa has so much it’s very likely that someone else will run out before her.
Okay, I’m starting to see how sessions are pretty broken… already. Are there any skills as/more broken than Leader’s Gaze, at least when it comes to sessions?
There’s two more minor additions to the system and one more major one. The major one is about on par with Director Itsuki, but it gets a lot of its utility from how broken switching targets is in the first place. On its own, it’s just “really good” instead of “holy fuckballs”.
I’d argue that the major one (assuming I know what you’re talking about) is actually more important than switching targets for reasons other than combat once you hit that point in the game, but I’ll refrain from spoiling what it is until we get there.
Last time we left off back in the Bloom Garden, so we have a little backtracking to do. Fortunately we weren’t particularly far in, so it’s a pretty short trip.
Really, the only notable thing that happened on the way was Tsubasa picking up her Rank 2 skill. This gives her Gentle Embrace, which increases the amount of HP she heals. She also picks up Zan, so she can start pulling her weight on offense.
You can also find a Speed Incense on 3F if you play around with the blue doll’s state a little bit. We’re going to hold on to this for now, but it’ll probably get dumped on either Itsuki or Tsubasa before the end of the dungeon.
Back where we found Mr. Hatanaka, we have the controls for the red dress. The left option lets you grab a treasure or two down on 1F, but we need to head upstairs, so right it is.
Ah, there she is. This rescue mission stuff isn’t so hard.
…Aaaaaaand then she walks off. Good effort, team. Really went hard on the pursuit.
Aya!
Wait! Tsubasa! You can’t just go after her alone!
But, Itsuki, she’s-
Oh… Sorry. When I see her like that, I just remember what happened to Kiria… and it gets hard for me to think straight.
I see…
Hey, Itsuki. You remember back in elementary school? How I used to be kind of clumsy?
…Used to be?
Yeah. Is…something wrong?
Uh, no. Nothing. What about it?
Well, whenever I made a mistake and got all sad… my sister would always ask me to sing with her. And when I did… I’d forget all about being sad, and I’d just laugh and sing with her.
So…if some Mirage is controlling Aya and making her do all this awful stuff… I won’t let it hurt her anymore!
If that’s the case, then I guess I don’t have anything to worry about.
Worry?
Well, if I can avoid it… I really don’t want to end up fighting her… But both Kiria and Ms. Maiko trust me to do what I have to.
So I want to save her with my own hands. This time, I’ll be the one that helps her smile again!
I’m sure you can do it, Tsubasa. I’ll do everything I can to help you.
Okay!
Plus, we’ve got one more teammate we can rely on. We’ve got this - right, Touma?
Damn right. C’mon, Tsubasa, we’ve got a rescue mission to take care of!
Itsuki, Touma… thank you!
And with that little inspirational speech, let’s head upstairs.
On the way, Itsuki picks up his Rank 2 skill, HP Fitness. It’s good for an extra 10% HP, once we get back to base.
And right around the corner, we have our first checkpoint. We could turn back, but we just started this run, so we’ll press on for now.
As we step outside, we find ourselves on the stair access. And at the top…
It’s showtime.
Jackpot. Right over there.
Hey, look at that. Didn’t even run away from us this time.
Aya…! I finally caught up!
Oh? If I’d known we’d be entertaining such adorable little guests, I’d have dressed for the occasion…
Something about seeing Tsubasa sets off Aya again. Turns out this whole mind control thing might not be as absolute as it seemed.
Aya… It’s really you, isn’t it!? It’s me, Tsubasa - your little sister!
Who are you…? I don’t know anyone like you…
…No, that isn’t right. Those eyes - I know those eyes… That unwavering gaze…almost like… Tsubasa!
Yes! It’s me, Aya. I’ve come to take you back… so let’s go home together!
No… it can’t be her… Tsubasa was so small… an adorable little girl…
Heh heh heh… Overslept, have we? Perhaps I can shed some light. I’d say, you’ve spent, oh… five years in slumber?
Five… years…
Oh, but Ayaha, that must mean… that girl there truly is your dear sister.
Aah… aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!
Aya…?
I’m trying too… I’m trying so hard… But I just can’t do it anymore! I can’t go on like this…!
Aya! What’s wrong!?
It must be because of the Mirage that’s controlling her…
So quick to shift the blame… You know, darling, no girl likes a man who’s so quick to point fingers. Me, controlling Ayaha…? Why, I’m insulted! After all, we’re partners.
You mean… these are Ayaha’s true feelings…?
No- No, that can’t be right! My sister would never say things like that. I saw her practicing so hard, every day. She practiced so late into the night… She was always working so hard!
Poor, naïve little girl… You think hard work is the same as success? All it’s good for is false comfort. Just a way to relieve some of the pressure - nothing more. Just ask her yourself.
Better-looking girls dropping out… Better singers cut one after another… It didn’t take long for me to realize, I was a joke. There was no way I could become an idol.
But I couldn’t let everyone down… It was just too much! I couldn’t take it all! Please, just stop telling me I’m someone I’m not… I never had any talent to begin with!
That’s not true! When you were an idol, you shone like a beautiful star! I heard you sing… I could feel the emotion in it! I felt your passion for your music!
You can talk all you like, girl, but I’m afraid Ayaha’s not interested in listening to your little tantrum.
That’s not true! I don’t believe that!
The effect is much more obvious in the video, but she believes in her sister so hard it makes a pink aura in the room. It’s impressive, in a “okay kid, turn it down a notch” kind of way.
Ngh… Ah…
It’s not about talent. You’re a star - you’re my idol. You were pretty, and cool, and I loved everything you did… and I’ll always be your biggest fan!
I can…hear something… Is that… Tsubasa…?
Well. That’s problematic…
She hears something…? What does she mean by that…?
I won’t let you little wretches hold me back… There’s too much I still need to do!
Well, whatever Tsubasa did, it’s working enough that our mysterious villain decided to throw an enemy at us. I guess that’s progress?
Aya and the mirage slip out, leaving us with a really angry girl and a flying pony. I’m sure this will end swimmingly.
Get out of my way! I don’t care what you throw at me… I’m going to save my sister!
Before we deal with our flying friend, we should turn our attention to her companions. Killing these Men o’ War should be your first priority for several reasons, not the least of which is because they have an annoying set of resistances that only Itsuki can really exploit (Weak - Sword, Wind; Resist - Lance, Thunder).
Far more important, however, is that these guys are your introduction to the idea that enemies can combo you. These guys are packing Wind-Thunder, Lance-Thunder, and Elec-Thunder, which means that if Tsubasa or Itsuki is on the receiving end of an attack, there’s a good chance they’re about to go to town on you. The faster these guys go down, the quicker this damage race becomes manageable.
And as if that wasn’t enough reason to hunt them down immediately, they also have Poisma up their sleeve, and you do not fuck with poison in this game. Every turn that you’re poisoned, you take damage equal to 25% of your max HP, and it persists after battle, inflicting damage with every step you take until it’s cured.
With her backup taken care of, the peg knight herself really isn’t that much of a threat. Without the Men o’ War, all she can really do is hit you with either Skewer or Zan, and she’s weak to both wind and fire so it’s pretty easy to work her over with sessions. If we had bows, that would work too, but we’re not gonna see them for another few chapters.
At any rate, it doesn’t take long to mop her up. Everyone gets a couple levels, Tsubasa gets Fire-Lunge, and we all get to go home happy.
Hold on, Tsubasa. We’re going after her, but it might be better for you to take a moment and calm down first. …And not just that. Something’s bothering me with how Ayaha was behaving.
What do you mean…?
It was almost like… she couldn’t hear you, Tsubasa.
Huh?
Maybe it’d be more accurate to say it was like your voice just wasn’t reaching her. Think about it. She was following that Mirage’s orders, but she wasn’t really responding to Tsubasa, right?
Now that you mention it… you might be right… But then, how can I get Aya to understand how I feel?
Caeda?
Tsubasa, I can sense your love for your sister… and I can feel your wish to save her from peril. I believe your best chance to truly express these feelings to her could be through the power of your singing.
Through a song…
After Kiria’s performance, I’m starting to see how song can give words a certain kind of power. A power that’s different indeed from the forces we wield in battle.
Like Kiria’s concert… Okay. I’ll do it! I’m going to save Aya with my song. I know I can!
Itsuki… If I’m remembering right, Tiki said she could use Unity to awaken new abilities.
Maybe with this Performa and Tiki’s help, she could sing a song that could break that Mirage’s control…
Yeah! Let’s go try it!
That sounds like a plan to me. Back to the Bloom Palace!
Before we do that though, some general upgrades. First, a new sword for Itsuki; Touma’s been maxed out for a few levels now, but he still doesn’t have any new weapons available.
We’ll also pick up new radiant skills for both Itsuki and Tsubasa before we grab Feel My Voice. It’s nice that it does have a mechanical benefit (faster ailment recovery in battle), even if the skill itself is purely a plot token.
Do you think I can reach her now…?
You must believe in yourself, Tsubasa. I know you can save her.
…You’re right! No matter what, I’m taking my sister back!
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I am a Shadow, the true self.
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Since last week… I found out I’m not the only one here who plays I-Chu?! But more importantly, Tsubasa found her sister! … and then lost her again. But it’s relevant, since this time I bring you Tsubasa and Caeda!
Tsubasa Oribe, voiced by Inori Minase
She’s a relative newcomer, it doesn’t seem like she’s been in a whole lot yet. A couple of those roles have been at least briefly pretty popular though from what I’ve seen.
Major roles:
- Hestia (Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?)
- Ruruka Ando (Dangan Ronpa 3)
- Rem (Re:Zero)
Idol roles:
- Lico of Magic-User Twins Lico and Gli (Tsukino Productions)
No I’m not making up the fact that the Tsukiuta-verse has a Glico Pocky tie-in unit/single. It’s kind of cute though?
Caeda, voiced by Saori Hayami
She’s in a lot, I am really fond of some of her stuff, I don’t really have much else to say though? Caeda and Cain hadn’t been voiced in anything prior to TMS#FE, and they definitely went with solid names to go alongside Sugita as Chrom.
(EDIT: Actually, I forgot there was a Mystery of the Emblem OVA back in the day, and both Caeda’s and Cain’s actors from that are still at least somewhat active, so huh. They do retain their TMS actors in Heroes though, for what it’s worth.)
Major roles:
- Chiriko Tsurumi (Anohana)
- Aila Jyrkiainen (Gundam Build Fighters)
- Miyuki Shiba (The Irregular at Magic High School)
- Shinoa Hiiragi (Seraph of the End)
- Kotoha Hanami/Cure Felice (Maho Girls Precure)
Idol roles:
- Kaede Takagaki (Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls)
- A of Tsurezurenaru Ayatsuri Mugenan (Show By Rock)
part of me is upset that Inori Minase didn’t voice Iori Minase from idolmaster
That would in fact have been extremely amazing and I’m now sad that she was all of… *checks* …ten years old when the original Idolmaster came out.
Onward to the second half of the dungeon!
First up, we have the cavalier enemies. They’re sturdy, but they’re weak to basically everything (axes, wind, ice, and thunder) so they’re not very difficult to deal with. That said, the Man o’ War is already a recurring common enemy and they still have all their combo-related skills, so they’ll usually be our first priority.
Oh, I’m sorry, did I forget to mention that they can poison your entire party if the cavalier hits a weakness? Yeah, they can do that, no big deal.
Get a Freebie is exactly what it sounds like - there’s a chance that using an item means it won’t get used up.
Anyway, Floors 5-7F are more less identical to the lower floors, just with slightly more complex layouts. You have to fiddle with the dress positions a bit more, and there’s a bit more back and forth between the two dresses, but the fundamentals are the same.
We also have these little fuckers. Barbarians are extremely weak and fold to pretty much anything, but they hit with axe damage and we’re running 2 lance users. They also have a couple -Split skills, including Axe-Split and Sword-Split, and they’ll be mixed in with a lot of different enemy groups.
Before we go through the dress, we can hang a right and find our first locked chest. I’m sure I was just missing something incredibly obvious, but I found that there are way less keys than locked boxes on my first playthrough. I guess we’ll see!
This one, incidentally, has a Bracelet of Eternity. It gives marginally better defense than a Power/Magic Bangle and reduces your Strength and Magic by 2 in exchange for 30 EP. By the time that stat tradeoff is worth it, we’ll have far better accessories available, so it’s going straight in the vendor trash pile.
We also have a quest!
What is it about my Performa? Is it THAT amazing? I’ve been attractin’ nothing but losers, it seems…
She blows us off, but if we talk to her again we’ll get the actual quest.
…And here’s another one! groan Kid, you’re gettin’ on my nerves, could ya just do me a favor and buzz off?
Oh! Wait! I just thought of something! Yep, I think I’ll let you live… And in return, I want you to go and “take care of” some pesky losers! Those nitwits think they can just come up and start talking to me…? Ha! The nerve!
Right, I need you to track down that noisy Myrmidon and his friend, the hairy, snout-nosed Cavalier. Oh! And I forget his name, but the last one in the trio is the worst. The worst! Get that shrimpy, potty-mouthed guy! Now, as proof… I’d like you to bring back their Force. Sound good? Now off you go!
This is a pretty straightforward quest: go kill the dudes, get their drop, come back. Hell, we already have the myrmidon and barbarian forces, we just need to go hunt down a cavalier.
And we find one immediately on the other side of the dress. Well, it was nice knowing you, champ.
The troll is a little more obnoxious. He’s very resistant to physical damage of all stripes, but is weak to every element. Itsuki and Tsubasa can tear him up, but Touma is pretty useless because even his fire attack is physical. That said, all he does is spam a basic physical attack that isn’t even very accurate, so it’s really just that he’s kind of annoying to kill.
I guess that about does it for this place, don’t ya think? I’m outta here!
Obtained Treasure Key!
:confuoot:
The left side of the dress is blocked off by a one-way gate, so our only option is to use the purple controls.
Next stop, 6F.
On our way over to the orange dress, we have the next checkpoint, a pair of first aid kits, and a revival bead. I’m not sure I understand why this particular checkpoint is here since it’s so close to the start of the area (and there’ll be another one at the end for the boss), but you do you game!
That said, no reason to look a gift horse in the mouth, and since Touma finally has some new weapons available, let’s put it to use. Back to the Bloom Garden!
Hello, Itsuki.
Hey. What were you two talking about?
I was asking Caeda if she’s getting along okay with Tsubasa. How are you and Chrom getting along?
We get along fine.
True. There’s really nothing to complain about.
Good. I’m really glad to hear you’re all friends.
Thanks for being concerned for us, Tiki.
What is it?
How does this world look to you?
In our eyes, huh… I suppose when it comes to the literal sense, it’s not different than yours.
We actually experience this world through our masters’ senses.
Our senses?
Yes, and everything I’ve seen and heard of this world through you intrigues me quite a lot. This singing and dancing you and the others are so involved in… All this “performing arts” business… It’s strangely fascinating.
Yes, I agree. When Tsubasa sings with so much joy, I feel like it even reaches my heart.
I see. Well, it makes me feel a little better to hear you two so optimistic about the situation.
Thank you for your concern. You don’t have to worry though - there is at least one thing we can do to reclaim our memories.
These incidents caused by mirages… If we can solve the mysteries behind them, it could lead us to some clue about who we are. So we’ll keep lending you our strength.
Thanks, you two.
I’ll be counting on you too, Tiki!
Really, I just wanted an excuse to have Tiki on screen. She’s the best. :buddy:
Anyway, for as short of a dungeon dive as that was, we have a ton of new stuff to grab. First we’re gonna grab Touma’s radiant skill - it’s cheap and while I don’t know the exact chance of saving an item, it happens often enough that it’s worth getting ASAP.
We also have multiple new weapons for everyone. The Rapier and Steel Feather are the real standouts, making Itsuki more likely to dodge physical attacks and Tsubasa immune to poison, respectively. Also, note that some of these are starting to swap around a few of our resistances - the Rapier will switch Itsuki to resist Wind instead of Thunder.
And while we’re stocking up on some other goodies, I win the grand prize in the melmark drawing. 
This one goes to Itsuki, and I toss the Speed Incense we got earlier to Tsubasa.
Back in the dungeon, this demon helpfully informs us that Aya did come this way. That would be a thing, wouldn’t it? Just leave and it turns out that Aya’s been hanging out on the first floor this whole time, watching us climb this whole thing like idiots.
We’ll take the orange dress back down to 5F, only to be met with another barrier. If we hang a right though, we’ll find the backside of that first barrier, plus the controls for the orange dress.
Now, things get a little trickier. First thing we need to do is open up 5F completely, so we’ll start by flipping to the left switch.
That gives us access to a Bead Chain(!!) and let us break the other barrier, so now we can reach both hands of both dresses on 5F.
Tsubasa also picks up her Rank 3 skill. EP Fitness is exactly the same as HP Fitness, but for our mana instead.
Next, we’re going to flip orange to the middle.
That lets us break a wall on 6F near where the demon saw Aya.
It also gives us access to another set of orange switches. The right one will take us to our final destination, but we’re going to pick the middle one to grab some goodies first.
Unfortunately, there’s nothing up here but another light wall. However, we got quite lucky and a very special enemy spawned.
The Sixth Element is the first of the “rare enemies”, a set of gimmick enemies who drop a ton of cash and rare materials if you can actually manage to kill them. For starters, their gimmick almost always involves being immune to the vast majority of your damage sources - this one can only be hurt by elemental skills and spells.
They’re also slippery motherfuckers. Both Itsuki and Tsubasa have Surefire (which increases your chance of hitting an enemy), and neither of them can land a hit.
Fortunately, if you do manage to hit them, it usually only takes one good hit to get the job done. This will change later, and it makes them a royal pain in the ass in the later dungeons.
For actually managing to kill one, we get two grand in cold hard cash and a rare force for weapon creation. We’ll talk more about them once we can actually make one, but generally speaking these things are used to make…weird weapons, for lack of a better term. The kind of weapons that do things like teach Tsubasa fire spells instead of wind.
Anyway, with our business on 7F done for now, we’ll flip this over to the right and make our way to the end of the dungeon.
Along the way, we pick up our first slayer skill. Horseslayer is a standard lance attack, but it will trigger a weakness if you use it on…well, horses. Specifically, cavaliers and their ilk only - you’d think pegasi would count as a horse, but that’s a holdover from Fire Emblem itself.
To get to this little alcove, you need the purple dress to have both hands on 6F, and we get 4500 yen and 10x Detritus for our trouble. Curiously, the latter is a key item, but hell if we have any idea what it’ll be used for right now.
Up on 7F, we run into this lovely situation. When this happens, you want to run right into that red enemy - stopping to whack him and get a preemptive strike just means that you’ll get hit by the savage enemy during the animation.
At the end of the hallway, we get a few more Chakra Drops for our efforts. I guess it was worth it?
And at the end of a much longer hallway, we find our final teleporter. We’re in pretty reasonable shape right now, but there’s no reason to go into a boss fight at less than full strength, so let’s go cash in our last couple goodies and top off before we fight Aya for real.
Tsubasa gets an extra 10% EP, as if it wasn’t obvious enough that her future lies in casting instead of stabbing.
We’re also going to grab a couple Darts before heading in. This is our only way of inflicting bow damage right now, and while we don’t have any combo skills for bows yet (because the game doesn’t expect you to be using it, for obvious reasons), it’s still better than nothing for someone like Itsuki, who will be comparatively neutered against the boss.
That’s gonna do it for now though. Next time, we’re headed to the roof!
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Somehow I hadn’t noticed that this thread had updated since the initial post. Whoops.
Incidentally, could we functionally think of Maiko as our Tactician?
Do you think…?
Yes. It’s that mirage.
All right… Let’s go!
I have to say, I’m impressed you came all this way just for her… A shame it was all for nothing, in the end.
What have you done to her!?
All I did was close her ears. Sweet nothings are much better than painful truths, right…? chuckle And now she doesn’t have to hear them.
Isn’t that right, Ayaha?
…
No… She can’t hear anyone…?
Tsubasa!
Now, Tsubasa! Sing!
Yeah… I want Aya to remember how singing was fun - how it felt…
I want her to smile again… like we did when we sang together!
I’ll make sure she hears me…! I’ll make her understand!
There’s a short little cutscene here where Tsubasa does her song. If, for whatever reason, you never got her plot skill, you would get kicked out here and have to get it now.
Please… you have to wake up!
Ts-Tsubasa…?
Aya!
Tsubasa, I-
How did that break my curse…? Ugh, what an irritating little tune! But this is far from over… She is mine. And I will not allow you to take what’s mine…!
Aah!
[quote]
Aversa is one of the major antagonists in Fire Emblem: Awakening. She is a powerful mage and serves as King Gangrel’s (and later Validar’s) second-in-command, but in a postgame sidequest, it’s revealed that she was secretly brainwashed the whole time. Nevertheless, she considers herself a proud Plegian and even (jokingly?) calls herself Robin’s adopted sister.
…Not that it stops you from being able to marry her.[/quote]
No more anguish, regret, anxiety… You’ll have nothing at all to worry about anymore.
I’ll…have nothing…
Yes…nothing. Just leave everything to me, and I’ll take care of you…
Stop! You can’t listen to someone like her… Please, Aya!
Ah… aah…
Oh, but you don’t need to pay attention to a sniveling little girl like her.
N-No… Tsubasa is my little sister… M-My…
Aya…
K…K-Kill…
Now. Kill her.
K-K-Kill… Kill… Ts-Tsubasa…!
Aaaaaaaaaaaahhh! Tsubasa… I…
Well? Be a good little girl, and kill.
I…would never hurt Tsubasa! If you dare hurt my little sister, at all… I will never forgive you…
Aya’s rejection of Aversa causes their bond to break, and reveal the all-important orb. And we know what to do with that.
Right!
Gyaaaaaaggghh!
With her bond severed, Aversa jumps off the 106 to try and escape. Turns out that having wings opens a lot of doors for you, in terms of movement.
…It’s okay. I won’t let her escape! I’ll never forgive her for what she did to Aya!
…Aaaaaand then Tsubasa follows her right off. But it’s okay, I’m sure she has a plan.
…
…She does have a plan, right?
Aversa makes her way down to the stage…
And there’s Tsubasa, hurling toward the ground at terminal velocity.
Ah, but of course, she gets caught by a pegasus that just happened to be in the neighborhood and-
Yeah, sure, rocket powered pegasus. Why the fuck not? I’m down with this.
Here comes the cavalry, and…
Let’s rock and roll.
Aversa herself isn’t really that dangerous, but she comes with backup and she hits like a truck if you aren’t careful about debuffs. The peg knights have all the relevant combo skills, so as usual, reducing numbers is our first priority.
Why do YOU get to have everything I want!? You’ll DIE here!
On offense, Aversa is pretty predictable. She’ll start by casting Dark Envy on someone, which is a combo Sukunda/Rakunda. On her next turn, she’ll use whatever skill is appropriate to ruin that person’s day. She has all the elemental spells plus a lance attack (so she’ll always hit a weakness), and does about 130-160 damage on her own. Rough, but survivable - especially if it’s just her. If the peg knights are still hanging around, though? That person is probably dead.
Defensively, she’s basically identical to the peg knights, trading a fire weakness for an electric one. Itsuki and Tsubasa will be your heavy hitters here, while Touma will spend most of his time taking out the peg knights.
If you’re diligent about killing the peg knights, the first set of reinforcements should show up right around the time she does her second Dark Envy. This is an obvious problem, because while Touma is tough, he’s not going to survive a Bufu and two follow-ups.
Time to bust out our SP skills. These are your panic button skills - they’re almost universally very strong, they usually give one (or more) party members buffs, and they always trigger a session, regardless of whether or not they hit a weakness. Aerial Dance specifically hits all enemies with heavy lance damage and gives the whole party HP regen for 3 turns for 2 SP, which should set up Touma to survive even if we don’t wipe out both of the pegs before Aversa’s turn.
The damage isn’t that impressive on its face, but the resulting session knocks out one of the pegs and Touma kills the other on his turn. Crisis averted!
But frankly, I’ve had enough of this fight and I want to end it before another wave of reinforcements complicates things. Sure, she resists fire, but SP Skills don’t give a shit about petty things like resistances, and it means every attack in the session will be a guaranteed crit.
Why yes, that is Cain riding in on his motorcycle with a flaming bull. Touma does many things, but half-assing his attacks is not one of them.
And that is a boss fight.
More and more of my kind…will come to invade your world… The battle has only just begun…and when the dust finally settles…victory will be OURS!
A nice round of levels for everyone. Weapon experience can be a bit of a slog to get, so it’s nice that bosses are more or less a guaranteed 1-2 skills for everyone.
We also unlock Touma’s first sidequest, but as the text suggests, we haven’t actually advanced far enough in the story to do it yet. We’ll have to check up on that later.
Next time, it’s the conclusion to Chapter 1. See you then!
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the cutscene with the Rocket Pegasus is the point where I was 100% sold on this game