Part 7: Sunday's Melancholy (V)
Sunday's Melancholy (V)
Before we do anything else, let's go take a look at that Auction. We could do with a couple more demons before we continue with the main game.
[Music: Demon Auction]
The auction itself is pretty simple. It shows a few demons, usually 1 of each kind you have "unlocked", and you pick the one you want. The cost and actual worth varies depending on the demon itself and how many stars it has.
3 stars is absolutely average and is basically the base version of the demon. Any less is absolutely worthless... most of the time.
When picking a demon to bid on, you can instead opt to buy it immediately. If you really, really want it without hassle you can do that I guess but I wouldn't this early. Actually bidding lets you get it for usually about half the "buy now" price, if not even less, after all.
The other bidders are references to other SMT games in general, mostly Soul Hackers as is the case with all 3 here.
It's not really all that hard to outbid your opponents and save way more than you would spend buying outright. One thing that helps here, though, is knowing exactly how much the top bidder will spend and being able to snipe them by 1 macca every single time.
After winning a demon, you don't necessarily pay for it straight away. You can try and default on your bid, but that just pisses off everyone and the demon leaves, and your auction rank goes down.
You can also sometimes get the demon for free, apparently, but the chance is so small it's not worth counting on. It'll almost never happen.
Of course, these are demons we're dealing with so it's not going to always be that easy. Sometimes, they'll ask you for a varying amount of extra macca.
In this Kabuso's case, it's only a paltry 3 so I opt to pay it anyway. It's absolutely nothing to worry about in cases like this, and if you accept then sometimes something nice can happen...
You get some of your money back. In this instance, we basically got this Kabuso for less than our winning bid. You aren't guaranteed to get any money back, of course, but if you do and the extra cost is small enough this can happen pretty frequently.
Now, we need 1 more demon to fill out our ranks and the other things we can buy are still all 3 star generics. More specifically, a 3 star Obariyon, Pixie and Poltergeist. Yeah, no. We're not buying worse versions of what we already have.
So, we want to restock the auction. There's two ways to do that. The first is by advancing the in-game clock (the one in the top right corner of most screens) 30 minutes; after every scene, the stock refreshes and changes up. We'll do things the other way, and just save/reset. Everytime you reload the game, the stock also refreshes.
For our trouble, we get a 5 star Kobold to appear. If he appeared before the 3 star one I'd consider it. A 5 star demon has a +3 stat bonus over a regular one, and it has some skill differences too.
This Kobold has Anger Hit and Phys Up which ours does not, and cannot, have. In return, he does not learn Snipe at level 5 however and I do not like Anger Hit as a replacement.
Phys Up is exactly what you would expect it to be (a passive boost to physical attacks), and Anger Hit... we'll see shortly.
Trying again, gives us the exact opposite end of the scale. A 1 star Pixie. As you would expect from the stat bonus of a 5 star demon, 1 star grants an overall -3 stat penalty. In return for that ridiculous -4 penalty, a different one is given a +1 bonus. For some reason.
There's very rarely a good excuse to buy a 1 star demon. There are exceptions, but those are very, very few and far between. Let's try this one last time.
That gives us a much better selection to go on. The 5 star Pixie is basically ideal, and the one I'll pick up. She saves time on needing to grind by coming with Zio, Mana Bonus is a passive increase to her maximum MP and her Magic stat is higher than the other Pixie we have too.
The Poltergeist underneath her is nice at 4 stars... but I'm not buying a Poltergeist. No one should ever pay macca for a regular ol' Poltergeist, even if it is 4 or 5 stars.
Much like the Kabuso, though, our Pixie wants a macca bonus.
It's much more than the 3 he asked for, so we're going to refuse in this case. This one's risky because much like how paying extra can have a nice bonus, refusing to pay it can anger the demon and make it leave.
Fortunately, Pixie doesn't do that and so we now have 6 demons.
We could advance the plot a little bit more, but first there's this new Free Battle thing over here. Let's very, very briefly check this out first.
[Music: Confrontation]
Free Battles are basically how you grind. On paper, they're a good way to pick up extra EXP, macca and skills.
Of course, the fights themselves are usually really, really easy. There's also a bit of a reward for never using them, but we'll do a few here and there (at least on the first cycle) just to pick up a couple of things.
A level for Io isn't what I'm after, but it's a nice bonus all the same. Kabuso getting Zan is decent too, since that can potentially come in handy in the next map.
What I'm actually after is these things. Agathions are the second Ghost demon, which means they have the same racial skill as Poltergeist and are overall better to use. They're still pretty bad, don't get me wrong, but they're actually usable for a little bit.
Like, Poltergeist is so bad it actually died in that fight. It will also be the only casualty of this map. At least Daichi also hit level 6 in the process.
Since it was lying there, I opted to grab the bonus money while wrapping things up. It's not a lot, but it's more than enough for what I need it for.
Unlike plot battles, you don't get bonus EXP for finishing a free battle. You only get a bit of money, and even then it's less than you get from plot fights too. The main source of cash here is the memory card bonuses (which aren't that common) and demon fights which aren't great.
The main reason for bothering, though, is this. Sometimes after a fight you can buy a new demon or two. Demons are only up for auction after you fight them, but there are some that won't be purchasable even after a fight.
Agathion was the only new demon in that free battle, so of course I immediately pick one up. I only got a 3 star one, but that's all I need.
Okay, that's enough messing around. Let's finally go and see this Joe fella.
[Music: Exploration]
Whew... Hibiya Park at last.
Man... I'm exhausted. Wasn't there a concert hall nearby? Let's take a break there!
Phew...! I'm so glad! All right, let's take five, then we can get going... ...Hmm? What is THAT?Daichi points at a man running towards you...
[Music: Silence]
Waaaaaah!
...Hibiki, there's no time for explanations. We have to chase them...!
C'mon Daichi, you remember? It's that guy you met earlier.
[Music: A Moment of Rest]
Man, that was trouble. ...Oh, good. The other two came, too.
This strange man doesn't appear apologetic at all...
Um... Who are you? Give Daichi back.
According to one, and exactly one, guide on GameFAQs the "correct" answer here is the last one. I have found absolutely nothing to corroborate this, however, and every other guide on the best answers don't even list this option.
Besides, we all know what the real answer here is.
You pervert!
Now, hold on. Don't go jumping to conclusions, man!The man seems to be joking with your questions...
What's the matter with you, you bastard!? First you drag me away, and now you want introductions! I don't understand!Joe gives Daichi a confused look...
What did you save us from?
There were a whole bunch of them running around where I was, so I escaped to here. ...! From your phone...?
Demons. Yeah! They totally did look like demons. Is that what they were?
...[Music: Silence]
An uncomfortable silence fills the air...
Yup. I mean, he was being chased by demons, right? Then...[Music: Countdown]
Yeah, they're here. Right on cue, too.
There's a lot more of them than from our contract battle though. Maybe the others just got drawn here somehow.
Yeah... I am in a spot of trouble. They chased me all the way here... ...I knew it! They WOULD chase you, because you didn't form a contract with them!
We're surrounded. We have to fight... Aw, crap! This is your fault!
Let's do it! Yeah... I can do this. I can fight. Fine, whatever! Dammit... Why are WE getting dragged into this twerp's mess!?
Hey, it's Tico.
Okay, thanks Tico. This is a neat new feature; the simple version is that we pick a skill to "crack," next we choose one of the enemies on the map that has it, then we just make sure to beat it with the right person's team and we get new abilities.
Hey, wait, I'm confused. So if the app learns new skills, we can use them!?
Well... It might be useful, but I wish there was a feature that skipped combat entirely.[Music: Confrontation]
Missions where one of the defeat options are "[person] dies" are usually not a good thing. Here, they're not that bad on the whole though. This one's also super easy, which is nice. We start on the stage which has 2 entry points and are both easy to defend. Nothing should get anywhere near Joe.
Skill Cracking is entirely decided upon before the fight begins. We can only take 3 of these skills, and some of them are all only on one enemy so we can only get 1 from it.
That one being this guy right here. Tam Lin's very physical oriented and is the sole person we can grab either Anger Ht, Phys Up or Hero Aid from. We could also get Bufu from him, but there are other, better demons to grab that off.
He also just happens to probably be the hardest demon here. Still nothing too challenging, but compared to the slew of Poltergeists and Kabusos in other teams he's certainly a decent match.
So I'm having Daichi take him out.
Io's taking out the Knocker, which is the second Fairy demon we've encountered. Not as interesting as Tam Lin, but still the only one of his kind here. Those two are the only fights on the left side of the arena.
Hibiki's wading into all the demons on the right side, which includes that Kobold which is Joe's contract demon. I'm sure he'll be fine, though. Those guys are mostly just weak demons, so he won't get too overlevelled either.
...I'm sure someone will yell at me that there are better skills to pick here instead of Bufu or Zan, but I prefer to get them over physical stuff. At this stage, we have more people who need good spells and this way I can divide them out better.
Speaking of which, here's the teams as they are going in. Poltergeist's going to die horribly if something in here sneezes on him, so he's out for good. Hibiki has the original Pixie, and Io has the 5 star one. They're all rocking the skills from before, so Daichi's his team's healbot in between punching dudes.
Since there's only 2 entry points to the stage (under normal circumstances), we spend our first turn blocking those. We can't get close enough to do anything else but get hit first anyway.
Anyway, I'll be cheering you guys from back here. Good luck!
And, of course, Kobold does not approve of our unintended interference. It doesn't really matter in the end, though.
Since we can draw first blood now, we'll start with the Kabuso that got in the way of the stairs.
It enables us to take out the Poltergeist we want immediately. The Kabuso itself is pretty damned lucky to survive with exactly 1 HP by accident, though.
Whenever we crack a new skill, we can also give it to the person who cracked it. We might not always be able to it because their stats are too low, and we might not want to use it either. In this case, neither of those are true so we'll use it right away.
The Obariyon nearby has a Kobold with him, for all that doesn't matter.
Not like it worked out for the Kobold, or its Kabuso buddy (he died immediately afterwards).
Speaking of Kabusos, the one we attacked before decides to try and fight back. Y'know, rather than run away to get healed or something.
It works out exactly how you would expect.
Meanwhile, over on the other side of the arena the Agathion's using his Tam Lin partner's racial skill. Phantasm is a nice movement passive ability, since it lets you catch up to things quicker sometimes. Whenever you move, you can move through an obstacle that you would otherwise have to walk around. It also cuts the movement turn penalty in half, so you can get your next turn quicker too. There are better movement abilities, but Phantasm's a pretty good one I think.
And, yes, since it ignores obstacles it technically could be used to skip past our party members and get to Joe quicker. The Agathion's starting point doesn't work for that, though.
Instead, it was nice enough to stick itself 2 spaces away from Daichi. We need to take out Tam Lin first, and if we focus fire on it we can definitely manage that.
[Music: Attack]
Tam Lin's generally high HP and Lightning resistance means he survives the first onslaught. Thankfully, he wastes his turn on an Anger Hit. This gives a guaranteed critical hit which sounds like a massive problem.
Instead, however, it is mitigated by having its accuracy absolutely destroyed. Since we now have the Extra Turns to deal with, we can kill him before this skirmish ends.
...Is what I'd like to say, but Daichi picked this moment to whiff on a regular attack.
Goddammit, Daichi.
Back on the other side of the area, the lone Kobold decided to try its luck against Hibiki's team. He got lucky enough to barely hang on, but come the next turn he's done for.
Speaking of which, the Agathion's up next and that opted to immediately instigate a fight with Daichi. Now, we can take out Tam Lin.
Only, Anger Hit has a 50% chance to connect so of course it does so the second time. And on the Agathion I picked up solely to avoid anything like this happening.
On the plus side, at least we got Phys Up immediately afterwards. This'll help Daichi try and keep up for a little while at least.
Even better is that he levelled up and got another Strength point.
He didn't really need it to equip Phys Up (our first skill with a stat requirement!), but it helps all the same. It's a 10% damage increase, so that makes it proportional and means it gets better over time.
Yet again skipping back to the other side, Hibiki gets to pick who he beats up next. The Kobold is a guaranteed kill, but its next turn isn't for a while. The Obariyon's next, though, and the initiative could be the difference between wiping it out and it sticking around just a little bit longer.
It's not, but Hibiki hits level 7 anyway. Gonna put that straight into Magic!
To keep this train going, Daichi finally takes out the two demons he was tasked to kill. If he didn't miss, this could've been done quicker but still.
Io's not one to be shown up, however. Now that Tam Lin's out of the way, she swoops in and picks a fight with that Knocker at last.
His Kabuso friends last about as long as you would expect, but he's got nearly triple digit HP so he doesn't fall as easily.
He does, however, get shocked during the Extra Turns (of course he does). He also hangs on with 6 HP after one fight.
Daichi's looking pretty pathetic right about now, huh?
To prevent Hibiki from eating up all the remaining EXP, I moved him back a bit. The Kobold still decided it hated living and wanted to die.
With that, Joe has his contract demon. He still cannot fight anything just yet, though.
Speaking of fights, Io's team took out the Knocker immediately afterwards. This just leaves that lone Kabuso who no one's fought yet.
Much like with Daichi, Io grabbed a level in the process and put it into the most relevant stat.
The Kabuso's all that remains, and he got his buddies wiped out instantly. Obariyon wasn't quite good enough to finish him off in one shot, but he came close.
Instead, I let Io come over and deal the final blow. She needs slightly more EXP than Hibiki to reach level 8 right now and Daichi's almost there already.
With that, we are done and... no one important gained another level out of the bonus EXP. We did get more macca than we could eke out of that free battle, though.
[Music: Exploration]
Ahhh, so that means I can use demons too now. Yeah, okay... Hey... Pay attention here. This isn't easy to understand, and you'll need to know, okay?
Oh, sure, I'm listening.[Music: A Moment of Rest]
I told you...! That's your demons! You made a contract with it in that battle and now it's on your side! Are you really listening!? If you don't take this seriously, you're gonna die, okay!? Yeah, sure, I'm listening. But... I'll be with you kids, so I can ask you whenever. Hm...? With us?
Hey, you caught on quick. You'll go far in life. Seriously!? This guy's a total flake! You sure about this...?
Whoa, harsh, man. C'mon, pretty please? I'll tell you something useful... You know something?
Huh? Why? We need to get to Ariake...[Music: Connected Hearts]
I just think you oughtta find another road. There's tons of demons that way. Did you escape them? Sure did. You saw how I came running from Harumi and all.
Tons of demons... Wh-Why? Why would they be...? Who can say? Not me, man. From what you said, demons can go free by killing their tamer?
That... sounds plausible, but still...! I can't believe it would happen so suddenly! Eh, maybe there's some other reason too. ...Either way, though? I'm really lucky I met you guys. Huh? Why's that...? Hm? Well, think about it. It's thanks to you guys that I can use the summoning app.
Oh... Well, yes. That may be true, but... Okay, so... Going back to what we were talking about, you guys are headed to Ariake. Hm? Oh, right. But from what you were saying... Heheh... That's where a grown-up like me comes in handy.[Music: Exploration]
The Rainbow, right?
Um... We don't have a car... Can we cross the Rainbow Bridge without one? Heheheh. You can, actually! There's a walkway. It's truly a bridge for one's dreams.
Ooh, now that's the spirit. Raiiiinboooow! Hey... Can we get going now? Is the Rainbow Bridge the one that's south along the ocean? Um... Yes, I think so. Shall we go, Hibiki?You leave the area with Daichi, Io and Joe...
Joe joins your party.
Joe is... well, Joe's cool in scenes as you've seen already. It's a shame that I don't like him that much in combat, though. He's okay in the early game when his cripplingly poor stat decisions aren't so crippling, but the instant he can be replaced he is going to be.
Another mail... Probably from the death image site. Oh yeah, really? That Nicaea site, right? Sweet, time to take a look!
The ranks are from 0 to 5. Each time you rank up, you receive a bonus.
Get as close to as many people as you can to ring out man's true potential!
You can think of them as kind of like Persona 3/4's social links but more focused if you like.
More importantly, the Fate Viewer's information will be in the second post from now on.
The government, maybe? Hmm, I dunno about that. Would the government be messing with all that at a time like this? If you think about it, can't you say the same for the death clips and summoning app? Like with us, knowing how close we are to our friends... And saving them from dying, like Hibiki did for me...
Yeah... Could they have some purpose behind it? Hmmm... Well, I doubt we'll be able to put it together with what we have now.
Great minds think alike. There you go, Hibiki! You get me!
Thou art I... And I am thou...
Thou hast established a new bond...
Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Star Arca-
wait shit wrong game hang on whered i put those notes...
Okay. So! Those dialogue choices we've seen up until now? Some of them have had point values assigned to them; those points count towards a new Fate level. They don't grant fusion bonuses in and of themselves (oh right, spoilers: an SMT game will have fusion later).
Instead, you get a couple of slightly different bonuses. The levels themselves are predictable to a point; Fate level 1 will always grant elemental resistance in some form, but it's not always going to be Fire.
We also unlock the ability to buy Knockers from the auction. Tam Lin's suspiciously not available though.
Much more importantly, we have half an hour to kill before the plot intervenes again. We'll also have some time to kill afterwards, though I'll be forcing a scene or two in that time for reasons that make sense then.
So, until then pick whichever of these four you want to see and the two that get the most votes are what we'll be rolling with. You're smart people so I'm sure you can reasonably guess who the other 2 scenes involve.
Like before, that can be done here.
