Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner Part #5

Part 5: Devil Woman

After being thoroughly rejected by Marie, I make my way back to the detective agency.

REI'S VOICE: Kyouji, you there?

: Did you take care of that demon extermination case? That old hag sure is overworking you already. Jeez, she really is a slave driver.

: How are you feeling? Get some rest? Oh yeah, after that job at the Yahigashi Building, I ran into Professor Azuma. You're supposed to be working as his bodyguard, right?

: I think his house is in the Asahi district. If you're heading over there, I'll tag along. But you really don't look at top of your game. Maybe we should bring somebody with.

: ...This may be none of my business, and I don't know for sure, but don't you think this might be more dangerous than usual? It might be better if I could use magic.

: Maybe I should go to the shrine and call up a deity? That place on Mt. Kasagi... right, to the north of the university. Let's head over there and perform the ceremony.

Rei joins us as our only human companion throughout the game. While we rely solely on weapons, Rei can use both weapons and, soon, magic.

She's only at level 8, but already has a 9 in her magic stat. We'll have to fix up her vitality a bit, but other than that she has some nice stats.

Right, to Mt. Kasagi. We've been here already, when we came with Kumiko to the university, but our target this time is the large mountain to the north.

And here we are at the titular Mt. Kasagi. We head further in.

BGM: Heal Spot

: ...We're here. You can always feel the flow of the Dragon Stream up here.

: Let's get started. As the ritual says, we need to choose which deity to go with. Think about it and make a decision.

There's three deities to choose from - Amaterasu, Gabriel, and Ishtar. Each will gift different abilities to Rei, so let's check them out. I'll start with Amaterasu.

: By using attack spells, I can battle the enemy directly.

Sounds good, but let's look at Gabriel.

: By using support spells, I can improve your abilities.

And lastly, Ishtar.

: By using recovery spells, I can heal damage and remove bad status ailments.

So, those are our three options. I've used all three before, and I've personally always had the best time with having Rei deal out some nasty damage with her magic attacks, so I'm going to go with Amaterasu. Both Garbiel and Amaterasu are good choices, but Ishtar is sorta garbage because everything she can do can be done with items. Here's a list of what each deity gives us:

Onto the ritual.

: ...Phew. It's been awhile since I've done that, so it was a bit rough. You seemed like you were in trouble, so I did this for you. Try to be a bit grateful.

: Old lady Marie will pay you well for your work, and probably rave at you along the way. We'll be fighting together from now on, with this power given to me...You already know how it works. So, shall we go to Professor Azuma's place?

Off to Azuma's place. Like she said, he lives in the Asahi district, just like us. Speaking of us...

We're gonna take a small detour and head to the hospital where my body is currently resting.

At least it's a pretty nice place. I head up to my room on the second floor.

: ...Naoto...

: Naoto, why won't you wake up...Doctor, isn't there anything we can do?
DOCTOR: I'm sorry, we still don't know why he lost consciousness. We're doing everything we can...

My dad turns to face me.

: Who are you?

>Naoto
Kyouji Kuzunoha

No point in lying.

: That's my son's name! Right now he's on the brink of death. That's too much, even for some sick joke!!

That's not getting us anywhere. Time to embrace this body-switching situation.

Naoto
>Kyouji Kuzunoha

: That private detective...? If you're a detective, then what do you want?

>Explain that you're Naoto
Ask about the incident involving Naoto

C'mon, dad, it's me.

: ...? You're...? What are you talking about?

Alright, alright, I'm a private detective and blah blah blah.

Explain that you're Naoto
>Ask about the incident involving Naoto

: I was told that my son collapsed at the construction site in Seaside Park. I don't know anything else.
DOCTOR: Naoto Shibata's condition remains unclear. Right now I cannot tell if he is dead or alive. Unfortunately, there's nothing else we can do...

: ...Naoto...Please, open your eyes...

And because I can, I go back to my house to bother my dad some more.

>The front door is locked.
Ring the doorbell?

Ding dong.

: ...Who is it?

>Naoto Shibata
Kyouji Kuzunoha
Leave without speaking

: What!? Naoto!? My son's in the hospital! You and your sick joke can leave!

Oof. Truth hurts, doesn't it, pops. Let's see what happens if we say otherwise.

Naoto Shibata
>Kyouji Kuzunoha
Leave without speaking

: That private detective? I've got nothing to say to shady guys like you! Get out of here!!

Rejected either way. Guess we'll leave, and make one last stop in Yarai Ginza. Gotta check on my boy Redman.

: Magnum. There's rumors about demons again. This time they're about demons that appeared at the Hirasaki Central Library in Seaside Park.

: There were quite a number of books there, and I visited from time to time, but I guess it'd be better to stay away now (LOL).

: Well, I'll message you again later. That's all for today.

After logging out, I head over to the Goumaden to finally use it for its actual purpose: fusing demons. In this game, and other early MegaTen games, demons do not level up like Rei and I do, so to get stronger demons you must fuse two or three demons together.

After greeting Victor, his staircase whips around and reveals a hidden floor.

There's quite a number of options here, but for now I'll only be using two. First up is 2-demon fusion.

All I need to do is simply choose which demons to fuse...

And then verify that I wish to fuse them.

Voilà! Demon. This time it's a fellow named Yamawaro.

Next up is a process known as "Mystic Change." It appears in Soul Hackers, and again in Persona 1 and 2. In this game, I have to get a Greed-type demon to 10 Loyalty (ugh) and bring them in to change into either a weapon or piece of armor. I'll be getting an awesome early-game weapon called Shadow Jack from my furry friend Hairy Jack. Not only is it stronger than my current weapon, it also gives me the nice bonus of some stat changes.

Here's a before-and-after to show off the Shadow Jack's power. We won't need to replace our weapon for awhile.

Alright, even dilly-dallying, time to go to Azuma's place.

...Or not.

: This is... a spirit world! Somebody pretty tough must've set this up, there's no way a small-timer could set up a barrier around this kind of area.
Like I thought, it was a good idea to go visit that shrine before coming here.

DUNGEON 2 - NEAR PROFESSOR'S HOUSE
New demons:
Kijimuna Hooligan Koropokkuru Stolas
Waira Quicksilver Agathion Jubokko
Hairy Jack Waxwork Kikimora

BGM: Otherworld Dungeon 1

This dungeon has four entrance/exits, depending where in town you entered it from. It's also the first appearance of damage floors - one that damages us and one that poisons us. The demons in the area are also getting tougher, and many can inflict some potentially deadly status ailments.

First is Poison, as we've already seen. Like in most RPGs, poison will sap a little of your health each turn. Even worse, poison significantly reduces physical damage (not magical damage, luckily). When out of battle, poison will damage you every four steps. I accidentally forgot to buy some Dis-Poisons beforehand, so I had to quickly run out of the dungeon and back to Yarai Ginza.

Sleep is the next one. Being put to sleep basically just means that you can't act at all. It's especially bad if both of our party members fall asleep. In addition, sleep persists even after battle, though it will eventually wear off on its own (it is amusing to think of Rei dragging a sleeping Naoto around, and vice-versa).

Similar is Bind, which makes it so you can't move.

A bit less deadly is the Happy ailment. Anybody inflicted with Happiness has the potential to not listen to commands, but I've only rarely had it mess up a battle.

Paralysis is like Sleep in that it prevents you from acting. Unlike Sleep, you will take damage outside of battle every two steps. There's no way to get any Dis-Paralyze at this point, so Rei managed to die before I got back to Yarai Ginza. Whoops.

Charm can very easily screw you over. When charmed, you or your party members will attack either themselves or another party member. They cannot use magic, only attack, but it can be devastating if you have a hard-hitter charmed.

While wandering around, I managed to get this cute lil fellow, Stolas, to join me. He's a Level Difference type, which is why he was already at Control Level 2 when I got him.

Alright, made it to Azuma's house. Time to get to the root of the problem.

BGM: Conversation

: This is Professor Azuma's house.
MAN'S VOICE: Shit! Fucking old man! Where'd you hide the book!?

We venture further in.

: Dammit, and Master Sid said putting up this spirit world would let me search without anyone getting in the way. Hm? Who're you?

: Ah! It-It's you, you bastard! Didn't Master Sid already get rid of you? You're still alive!? You tenacious sonuvva bitch! The Great Takashi will give you your final requiem!

: Yakou! Tenaga! Ashinaga! Get going!

BOSS #3 - YAKOU

BGM: Boss Battle

VS Haunt Yakou, Jaki Tenaga, and Jaki Ashinaga
This boss (er, bosses) isn't too hard to figure out, and easy to get through...unless you're going for a victory. If you don't beat Takashi's demons within eight turns, you simply stop the battle without any post-battle goodies like experience or MAG.

Now, these guys can be pretty tough to beat within the turn limit, and it's extremely likely you won't do it your first time playing. I personally grinded for a bit to get to level 21, but the key here was my weapon. Shadow Jack is a bit overpowered for this early in the game: it can hit anywhere from 3 to 5 times per turn for a nice amount of damage. Rei helps with her magic, and my demon Yamawaro gets a few hits in (including the winning hit), but this battle is basically all Naoto.

As for the demons themselves, all of them use physical attacks, and they aren't much of a threat.

Whoo, managed to beat them within the turn limit. Gotcha, Takashi.

BGM: Sid Davis