I see Great Lord gives Chrom a distinct leap of Res. Personally I’d opt for it on that fact alone but that might just be PTSD from Cormag speaking.
If Great Lord is selected, are we going to have a Breath of Fire 3 situation where the main character becomes the primary healer and is never able to emit mega-damage like they’re intended 'cause they’re always on support duty?
I’m pretty sure Tsubasa keeps picking up healing skills as well, and should be competitive if not ahead of Itsuki in most cases. She’s sort of the designated healer in this game.
And so we come to another intermission. Let’s get the compulsory stuff out of the way first.
Itsuki! You’ve been doing great lately… And that’s why I’ve prepared your third mission today!
I’m Mamori Minamoto!
I hope you enjoy
“Microwavin’ with Mamorin”!
Hello! This is Mamori. I heard you had a Topic account from Tsubasa, and she gave me your contact.
Well that’s sweet. I’m sure we can find the time to-
ITSUKI!!! You got SOME guts to start messaging Mamori without my permission!
Why yes, he does literally message you in the middle of this conversation with Mamori. Barry’s nothing if not consistent.
If it wasn’t obvious with her mirage being Draug, Mamori is the tank of the party. She has a ton of HP (about 150 more than Itsuki right now, despite being three levels lower), a ton of defense, and…well, not a whole lot else. Her strength isn’t particularly notable (it’s about as good as Ellie or Itsuki, for reference), both of her magic stats are garbage, and she’s pretty slow. She’s also the only source of axe damage in the game, so regardless of how you feel about those things, you’re stuck with her. :shrug:
Anyway, before we move on to sidequests we have a little business in the Bloom Garden. Draug’s hanging out here, but he’s not feeling too talkative right now. Kind of understandable, really.
For starters, we need to grab Mamori’s radiant skills. Riberama is the opposite of Touma’s Estoma, in that it jacks up the encounter rate for a while. Great for grinding, largely useless otherwise.
There’s also this little nugget that’s available to us. If you were paying attention to the Draug fight, you might have noticed that he dropped a Master Seal, and it does exactly what you think it does.
For the cost of one Master Seal a pop, we can promote any of our mirages to one of two advanced classes. This carries several benefits, including substantial stat boosts, access to unique weapons (and by extension, skills), and most importantly, a snazzy new dialogue portrait. We’re going to be using Chrom as our example here, but the fundamentals apply to everyone.
Great Lord is the “standard” promotion, and the one that emphasizes Itsuki’s Jack of all Trades nature. Stat-wise, it swings him from a slight physical bias to a slight magical bias, and this change is reflected in its unique skills. Several of Itsuki’s [X]-Elthunder session skills are locked behind Great Lord weapons, as well as Maziodyne (which is otherwise only available on Itsuki’s absolute final weapon), Mediarama/Diarahan and Healing Expertise. The crown jewel for Great Lord is the passive skill Aether, which makes it so that your attacks have a chance of decreasing enemy defense by 50% and healing you for 50% of your damage inflicted.
Conqueror, meanwhile goes all-in on making Itsuki a physical monster on par with Touma. It actually cuts your available EP by about 10%, but in exchange you get an extra ~15% HP and a full 10 points of strength and defense. Like Great Lord, Conqueror’s unique skills play up this specialization, with the [X]-Slash EX skills, Thunder Strike (heavy physical electric damage), and Strength Amp being the main draws. And as a side benefit you get to turn Chrom into Walhart. I guess it’s something?
Anyway, there are 14 Master Seals in the game, which is just enough to take every mirage through both paths exactly once. That said, I do not promise that we’re going to get every single Master Seal, nor that we’re going to double promote every single mirage. In fact, I’m going to say right now that we will promote everyone once before we start doing any class changing. So don’t pull any nonsense like promoting Caeda to Wyvern Knight to grab some skills before we actually put her in Falcon Knight unless you’re damn sure you can guarantee her that second Master Seal.
Seeing as we only have one Master Seal right now, it seems appropriate to start with Itsuki. I’m going to open this poll now, and do the actual promotion at the end of the intermission. As a result of what you, the people, have decided, he’s going Great Lord - for now. We’ll see where that takes us in the future.
While we’re out and about, we also run into the guys Aya told us about. Let’s see how their rehearsal is going.
: Meow! Meow! Meeeooowww! Hiss! Oh, sorry… I was speaking in dog!
: You were?
: …Er, uh, yeah, you know the children’s story “Urashima Taro”? About that guy who carried an axe and had a dog…
: Huh? I don’t know of any story like that…
: …Of course you don’t because I made it up! C’mon Aniki! You’re supposed to yell at me! I’m the funny man, not the straight man!
Odagura and Aniki are supposed to be a Manzai comedy routine, which when it’s actually working, has the funny man and the straight man trading jokes back and forth, usually based on puns and other wordplay. Aniki is clearly out of it though, so I guess we’ll be taking another trip to Illusory Shibuya soon.
But first, we have something much more important to take care of.
Why, Barry’s in need! To the lesson studio at once!
Alright Barry, lay it on us. What kind of awful things is Tsubasa doing to you?
If I don’t get this one, I wont have them all! I can’t concentrate on your lesson like this! You gotta lemme go! Please lemme gooooooooo!
Hrgh… Like I keep telling you, that would be a problem… Oh, Itsuki! Um, B-Barry is being unreasonable!
Oh. She wants you to do your job. That, uh…changes things.
What in the world’s going on here? And, what’s a Mamorin charm?
A Mamorin charm’s a charm of Mamorin! Do you not even get that!? But the L.E.'s already sold out… Retail stores are barren wastelands too… This Goodman’s a Sadman…
I can’t just stand around here! …Barry Goodman is off to Shibuya!
He’s been like this the whole lesson too… He says he can’t concentrate unless I let him go buy this charm…
I see…
This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance! Please let me go! Pleeeaaase!
I think we all know the correct choice here.
Please do your job.
Then… Then…! You go get it for me, Itsuki! If you do that, I’ll continue with Tsubasa’s lesson!
Itsuki…
I suppose I can…
Planned?
N-Nothing! Ahem, really!? You’ll seriously do that for me!? I thought you were a kid with no hope of getting ahead, but you’re surprisingly considerate!
Okay! This negotiation is complete!
Negotiation?
C’mon, Itsuki! Hurry up and get going! That charm is going to sell out if you keep wastin’ your time here!
I’m sorry that you have to do this because of me, Itsuki…
Don’t worry about it. This is all Barry’s fault anyway.
So yeah, Barry is holding Tsubasa’s lesson hostage until we get him a charm of Mamori. You didn’t think they were going to drop that little bit now that his big plot moment was done, did you?
Yeah, yeah, we heard you the first time. Thankfully the Hee-Ho Mart is right across the street.
The game will occasionally send you to specific places to buy something or get an item from a shop, and in those cases it’ll add a specific menu option just for that quest.
So sorry… That item’s been flying off the shelves. We’re all out…
Is there any other way that I can get it?
It IS a limited-edition item… That may be a bit difficult…
That’s a bummer…
Hmm… Well, since you’re a regular, I could let you in on some insider info.
Hm?
I can tell you about the person who bought the last one, but the rest is up to you. Oh, and keep this between us.
Yes, of course.
All right. It’ll be easier to explain this over Topic. I can send the details there, so could I get your ID?
Itsuki exchanged Topic IDs with the employee…
Well then, please continue your patronage with Hee Ho Mart!
This, uh…seems highly unprofessional. But hey, not gonna argue!
Glasses and casually bought alcohol during the middle of a work day? Well, we could go back to the office, but we’re going to briefly dive into some cut content. This particular quest chain (at some point in development) had some other ways to get a Mamorin charm, so let’s have a quick peek behind the curtain.
Welcome.
>I’ll take the challenge.
>I don’t know…
Itsuki downed the bizarre drink in one gulp…
Itsuki, no, don’t drink the raw liver latte.
Anyway, the second one is far less interesting and I’m only really including it for the sake of completion.
…Hrm? What’s wrong?
Good job random staffer, and thanks for your shit. Now, back to the office.
Ms. Maiko, did you recently buy a limited-edition Mamorin charm?
Yes, I did. What about it?
I have a favor to ask. Would you please let me have it?
Ah, about that… Actually, it’s not for me. I bought it for Mamori because she asked me to.
She did?
Yep. I don’t have the charm anymore because I’ve already given it to her.
I see… Do you happen to know where she is now?
No idea… But it may be a bit difficult to convince her to part with it. She was reeeally happy about it, after all.
Well, I’ll try asking anyway.
Well, that uh…makes things a little awkward. Although, Mamori is a good girl, I’m sure she’ll understand.
Guess we should go give Barry the bad news, huh?
Well, I was going to try and hunt one down from Mamori herself but if that’s how you’re gonna be… :colbert:
sigh I’m so sorry that you’re doing this for my sake…
Hey, Itsuki! The goods, man! Where are the goods!?
Yeah, about that…
But… I can’t ask her if I can have it…
Uuuncle! Oh, Itsuki and Tsubasa are here too.
Ah, Mamori!
Just my luck. I was looking for you, Itsuki.
Hm?
Here you go! I wanted to give you this.
That’s…
That’s…!
Well, isn’t that poetic. The whole time we were trying to find a charm for Barry, Mamori was trying to find one for us.
Thanks, Mamori. I’ll take good care of it.
Mm-hm!
After all this nonsense, I don’t think we’ll be giving this up.
Sorry, but you can’t have this…
Of course not! There’s no way I can accept it!
Thank you for everything, Uncle! Sorry to interrupt, I’ll be going now.
Um… shall we continue my lesson…?
Mamoriiiiiiiiiiii!
Mamoriiiiiiiiiiii!
Barry seems happy, so I guess things worked out in the end.
Um… My lesson…?
Mamoriiiiiiiiiiii!
I don’t the exact increase in how much money you get, but frankly, does it really matter? The game hands out money like candy and seriously someone got paid to write the phrase “You were taught the art of finding joy in a shabby, undeserving 3D world.” I hope that person has a long and productive career.
Say, has that girl who woul have made you try that bad latte always been there? I never noticed her in my playthrough, but she’s definitely Ilyana from Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn.
Her defining personality trait is… uh… being perpetually hungry.
Yeah she’s always there, she’s the waitress in Seiren Cafe.
So the Youtube preview for speaking to boss lady is "Yep, I don’t have the charm anymore"
I mean it is exactly what I expected to be the case, but I found it amusing anyway. 
Got the Mamorin charm!
Thank you, Mamorin
fans everywhere!
Now that we’re done with Barry, we have business in the Bloom Garden. Our most adorable and perfect little sister has a request for us!
That’s right, it’s time to buy donuts.
Eh?
Big sister- I mean, Tsubasa told me about this donut that’s sold at the Hee Ho Mart… It’s called a honey-caramel-banana-chocolate donut, and I want to eat it!
I… I’m sorry? You want to run that by me again, Tiki?
A honey… what now?
A honey-caramel-banana-chocolate donut!
She told me it’s a popular item that can only be bought in Shibuya! Even if they get shipments in, they sell out really fast, and people even sell it on online auctions for insane prices!
U-Uh-huh…
I wonder what it tastes like…
Itsuki, no! You know how those auctions go. Don’t feed the scalpers, they were never interested in the donuts to begin with.
Really!?
You help us out all the time.
Yay! Thanks, big brother!
You said Hee Ho Mart, right? I’ll go check it out.
I have a sneaking suspicion this is going to about as well as our last trip to the Hee Ho Mart, but who can resist the siren call of donuts?
Well, here goes nothing.
Ahh, I’m so sorry. We just sold out a moment ago.
Oh…
A high-school girl came by and bought every last one of them.
It is a popular item right now. I don’t know when the next shipment is either… You’ll just have to keep checking in with us.
(Oh well. I guess I should look for this high-school girl and see if I can negotiate with her for some…)
Well, that went about as well as expected. At this point, we’re tasked with finding the girl who bought all the donuts, and a bunch of NPCs have updated dialogue that basically just goes “Donuts? They’re impossible to get, even when my boyfriend lined up super early.” Ask around enough, though, and you’ll find this girl:
: No way, nuh-uh, not happening! There’s no chance I’ll let you have one. Not even if you gave me 1 million yen! I finally got my hands on one, you know? A girl with headphones was buying them all, so I begged her to let me have one!
That’s not much to go off of, but we do know of one specific girl with headphones who likes to hang out in Shibuya… Time to pay a visit to the cafe.
And you’re… Tiki=Waifu, as I recall.
Yes, I am.
…
…S-So, how’ve you been since then? Nothing wrong physically?
No problems at all.
Wait, is that-
Donuts. What about them? Sugar is a must when composing songs. These looked so delicious, I bought all that was in stock.
So you’re the one who bought them.
…Do you want some?
Would you be so kind as to let me have one? I’ll pay for it, of course.
…Well, as thanks for last time, I don’t mind giving a bag to such a kind person. It’s not like I’m running low…
Itsuki received donuts from Tiki=Waifu…
Thanks. I really owe you one.
That won’t be necessary. Please enjoy it with your family.
That’s…a little less impressive than I was expecting, given how hyped up this donut was. Alas, poor Wii U, unable to handle the undoubtedly staggering rendering demands that such a donut would surely come with.
I should tell Tiki the good news…
Wait? There is no time to wait, Itsuki. These donuts are of the highest priority. To the Bloom Palace!
okay maybe not that important, calm yourself girl
Tiki=Waifu shared some of her haul with us, in thanks for helping her last time.
I see. That’s so nice of her…
…Tiki?
Huh?
I have no physical form… It’s so inconvenient.
…
Because I can’t, I want you to eat the donut, big brother. If I watch you eat it and you tell me what it tastes like…maybe that’ll count as me eating it.
That’s…not quite how that works, but we’re already this far in indulging a little girl. What’s one more leap?
Let’s try that. …Okay, here goes.
Gulp
This is nerve-racking… …Well, here goes.
If we, Food Critic Itsuki, are gonna eat a goddamn honey-banana-caramel-chocolate donut, we are going to ham it up as hard as we possibly can. The situation demands nothing less!
I’ll try to add some drama to it. I’m sure that’ll be more fun for you.
Okay.
…
Itsuki took a bite of the donut.
…Huh?
The honey, caramel, banana, and chocolate are planets interwoven in a vast planetary system. The impression that this one donut creates is a masterful ode - a space opera of pastry!
Ooh…!
I… I can’t stop eating it…! My consciousness… unconsciousness… Both are sucked into a flavorful black hole - no, a donut hole!
…
B-Big brother!?
…
H-How was it!?
…It was amazingly delicious.
I see… Amazingly delicious, huh…? Ehehe, I’m glad to hear that.
…Just like I thought, the world you live in is wonderful! There are tons of fun things like the performing arts… delicious foods like donuts… different people… and, umm…
…Anyway, it’s filled with tons of wonders!
But you’re not alone, Tiki.
Yup!
There were times I felt lonely before, especially when I was waiting for everyone to come back. I felt like I was all alone in this world.
But ever since you came and said that I’m a companion too, I stopped feeling lonely. This world might not accept me, but you and your friends did.
Tiki…
That’s why I love the world that you all live in, big brother! …So let’s protect it, no matter what!
Yeah. I’ll continue to count on you, Tiki.
Yup!
Tiki has become a “Virtual Empath” thanks to Itsuki’s influence! She acquired the backup skill Performa_Finder.exe!
There’s not a whole lot to this one, it just makes it so that you can get two Performas as session bonuses instead of one. It makes grinding performas marginally less terrible if you feel the need to do so, but otherwise it’s not much to write home about.
Anyway, there’s one other important thing we should mention, since it never shows up in the game otherwise.
Beastie Game is, in-universe, a song written by Tiki=Waifu that caused both Tiki=Waifu and the TIKi software itself to explode in popularity. The game uses an instrumental version of the song to serve as Tiki’s theme, but the full song never plays anywhere, which is kind of a shame? I’m not entirely sure if it’s a normal song with an insane amount of autotuning or if it’s actually produced with some kind of vocaloid software, but the performer credit implies the former.
Anyway, it’s nifty, it’s a good song, and it’s here for your listening pleasure. Next time, we murder our ~feels~ with Kiria!
I’m glad this game has a sidequest in which you must buy a donut for a vocaloid dragon idol and then eat it in front of her. If the game ever tops this I’ll be amazed.
Eat the donut, Itsuki.
