Part 103: Wednesday's Changes ~ Valgate of Eden

Wednesday's Changes ~ Valgate of Eden

So, once again we'll throw some more fusions in at the start. Wrap up two levels this time around since 67 only has the one demon.



66 brings us the fusion of Purple Mirror and Suzaku in Fenrir. Fenrir's main thing is that he is fast and can either be a spellcaster or a quickpuncher without much of a care one way or the other. Spellcaster was marginally easier since I already had the materials onhand.



Not like we need to be picky any more anyway. Behemoth and Anzu gave us the Yamata-No-Orochi who's meant to be Str/Vit but his materials work better for improving his dire agility. And he gets up to speed really fast too.



Anat is our last level 66 beauty and she comes from Fenrir and Titania. She's nothing particularly stellar compared to Fenrir but she is a good Femme so it works out nicely.



Level 67's only demon is Oumitsunu (Orochi + Behemoth); Jungo's Fate 5 contribution. Very transparently meant to be Str/Vit even more than Orochi was. Improving his dire speed was also easy to manage so it doesn't really matter.



So we beat up Megrez's first bud and we can already see a new scene with Daichi. Might as well.

[Music: Exploration]



You want me to fight demons? All by myself!?
Yes, we just received a request for help. Can you do it?
Oh, uh, but I don't think I can do it alone...
We don't have the manpower. I'm asking you for help.



Y'know, it's weird but Daichi does totally outclass Hinako right now. It's not even an "overlevelled" thing; dude just has slightly more Agility than she does.

Gah... I can't say "No" after that... Hey, Hibiki!
My best friend! You want to help me take on some demons?
Sure.
Yes! I knew you'd agree to help!
Oh, uh, sorry, Shijima... I was going to ask Kuze to do a different job...



All right, fine. I'll go it alone, but anything happens to me, you'll come help me.

Makoto's cell phone rings.



Good, so you made it. Does that mean the Shinjuku area's good as well?
Oh, I see. Thanks for your hard work. ...Are there any wounded?
Wounded...?
...All right, I understand. I'll have the treatment rooms open. Hurry back.

Makoto hangs up.



A nearby JP's member took care of what I was going to ask you to do.
You too, Kuze. The job I had for you has already been taken care of.
Oh... really? Yay!
I apologize to the both of you for keeping you.
...Huh? Oh, it was nothing!
Oh, yeah! You were talking about wounded on the phone... Is it because I took so long?
Oh... No, we can't blame any of this on you.
Don't worry about it. This is our job. Well, I have to go.
......
Hey...! Hey, wait!
......? What is it, Shijima?



I don't really like having to deal with demons or riots or whatever, but...
...Thank you, Shijima. You're a great help.
Can I ask you to take a truck to transport some food?
Oh, a driving job? I can totally do that!
Well, I'll send you a text with the details later. I'm counting on you.

Makoto walks away...

[Music: Connected Hearts]



Makoto denied it, but do you think it would have happened if I'd gone right away?
Nothing to be done.
Hm... Maybe. But did I disappoint Makoto...?
Of course, I want to help out, too!
But if someone else was more capable, and could do it for me...



Daichi smiles, but seems conflicted...



For the sake of the Fate events after The Anguished One smokes the next Megrez bud in the cutscene, we'll keep things consistent so far and go do the morally right thing one last time.



Skip ahead to when its relevant now, and we'll go see what's up with Keita.



[Music: Exploration]

...Tch, it's you. They told me I had to come to Tokyo for a physical. How stupid.
Does it matter if I'm healthy or not at a time like this?
Why wouldn't it?
Because no matter how healthy you are, you could die any moment. Just how it is.
I'm a boxer. I need to watch my health to stay competitive.
Are you a pro?



I was going to go into that stadium as a pro, but those monsters appeared.

Keita stares at the Bugeikan again...

Taking on the world?



...It's not like I live for boxing. It's just one step in making myself stronger...
A battlefield with me on one side, the demons on the other... That's what I want.
...Tch. I'm saying too much.

Keita walks away...



Hey look, Keita's already breaking new ground! It's amazing.



We'll skip ahead a little; let Joe troll Daichi again of course. Already seen Joe's reaction to that little event, so we'll see what Daichi has to say about it.



[Music: A Moment of Rest]

That was close! They almost found out!
Joe almost gave us away! And he was doing it, too! I really don't get him...
Who knows what trouble I'd be in if the found out... Man.
They'll execute you.



I fail at seeing anything while peeping, I have to lie about it... Being bad bites.
How can I get past this with no one finding out...?
Tell everyone you're gay.
Huh... I might get away with it if I said I was in love with Yamato.
......No. That's too risky.



I think I'll just try staying quiet for a while...

Daichi seems sorry...

[Music: Exploration]



Now we're skipping quite a fair bit ahead. We've got the terminals up and running again, had the meeting about how we plan to deal with Megrez later in the day and dealt with the JPs and civil unrest over by Bickman in Osaka. We're just killing time at the moment so let's do the sensible thing and go see Keita some more.



[Music: In the Devastated Town]



Hey, Keita, what was that just now!?
...What was what?
We agreed that I'd take the demons on the right, and you'd take the ones on the left!
......
Why would you go after both sides!? It's much safer if we work together!



You can't keep thinking like that! What if something comes up that you can't deal with?

What if they had Phys Repel?!

Yeah, right. Don't pretend you and I are the same.
H-How dare you! You cocky little...
Calm down.



How did your parents raise you!?
I wish I could tell them a thing or two!
...What?
...N-Now what?



Uh... Oh.
I-I'm sorry. I take it back. But still, your attitude's...
You don't understand, you little idiot.
...Huh?
I'm thankful for them. It made me tougher. ...Being alone makes you strong.
Uh... If you don't have family, you could at least have some friends...



......

Hinako sighs and walks away.

You too, Hibiki. Don't start anything you don't intend to finish.

Keita walks away in a foul mood...

[Music: Exploration]



Man this would be nice if it wasn't completely and utterly irrelevant at this point.



Berserker is a nice demon... on a first cycle. And to make it even more weird, Keita technically has two Fate 3 demons because Berserker is the only Fate demon that is a mandatory component in a fusion; because of how Heroes work, the level 39 one needs Berserker.



Might as well keep this train rolling and see what's eating Airi next. Never did do this scene either.



Oh, I know this place! It serves those great crepes, right?
Yeah, but... how would you know? You're from Osaka.
I saw them on TV the other day. I wish I could have eaten there before... this.
Oh... I don't think you could, Hinako.
Huh? Why not?



Hinako's smile glazes over...

[Music: A Moment of Rest]

Don't start pissing me off. I was in high school just last year.
YOU'D stick out, Airi... You look like you're in middle school!

Airi furrows her brow...

What!? How dare you! You're the one plastering on all that makeup!



What!? I don't eat crepes! I've never ever been here before!
Why not? Didn't you say it was where all the high school girls go?
Uh...
You could come here all you want after school or on weekends...
Hrgh...
Oh, I got it! You don't have any friends!
...!



...I don't care! I don't need friends from that stupid school anyway!
Huh? Why are you calling it stupid? What happened?



[Music: Exploration]

...Ai, you shouldn't be saying things like that.
I'm sure you've got things on your mind too, but you can't push people away like that...
Shut up, stupid! Nagoya's off-limits to you now! Don't come back here again!



Hey, Hibiki! Ban Hinako from Tokyo!
Okay.



You guys...
What? This whole thing bothers you, anyway, I know it! Now scram!
H-Hey! What is wrong with you...?

Airi chases Hinako out...



Life's about disappointment.
Wh-What? Is that supposed to comfort me? I quit piano. I don't regret it. Whatever.
Gah! You're pissing me off! You're banned from Nagoya now, too! Now get out!

Airi harasses you until you decide to leave...



...Okay, we've past enough time. Let's finally deal with our first New Game+ boss that is a boss fight. The Original Wife does not fuck around.

Sounds fun, don't it!

[Music: Dark Clouds]



Lilith... I would give my life for you. Just say the word!

[Music: Countdown]



Oh, who are you?
Are you saying you want these men to return? That's simply impossible.
No man can resist my charms, and these boys will never regain their right minds.
That is, unless you defeat me... I wonder, can you do that?

[Music: Desperate Situation]



Okay, so this fight on paper seems REALLY difficult. It kind of is because everything here is seemingly on par with last day enemies or better. All the human enemies here have end-game autoskills including Null Auto, Pierce + and one particular asshole has Magic Yin.

Even with that, you're not liable to die to the random dudes. No, one in particular has Rage Soul, Double Strike and Attack All; he will probably kill himself on a Reflect Phys demon.



Lilith herself is kind of an irritating gimmick. Temptation is technically a Curse elemental auto skill, unique to Lilith in this fight, but it ignores Null Curse (at least on Human Males; not sure about everything else offhand).

Beyond that she has nothing particularly stellar and wastes two of her passive slots on defending against Physicals and Almighty. Whatever.

She has 2600 HP for what its worth. That's less than some end-game bosses we've fought but still quite a fair bit.



Biggest quarm I have with this map is that because it takes place in the Valgate you need Phantasm and/or Flight in some form to even get near Lilith.

In part this is due to that giant deadzone in the middle of the map. In part it's due to the enemy humans inevitably boxing you in and being stuck having to kill or be killed. Kind of an invisible time limit like that.



It also works in our favour somewhat by having this random dude try and pick a fight with Diachi. Who I had setup to run into this guy's line of fire anyway.



He's the guy with Pierce + but he never uses it. Instead he wastes his turns casting Paral Eyes all the time



Oumitsuni with a Power Hit can oneshot these level ~70 Lilims.



They could Maziodyne if they wanted to hit Daichi's Null Elec. Instead she just Paral Eyes' and hits Daichi's Null Curse.



This random Salaryman is kind of an asshole. He has Magic Yin, Megidolaon, Mana Aid and Extra One. Guaranteed double Yin'd Megidolaons and he gets some of that MP back.

That would be worrying if he had the MP to pull it off. One Magic Yin'd Megidolaon at this point is still fucking terrifying.



Positioning gets quickly sorted out thanks to Hibiki having a Suzaku. That done, Daichi's putting his Fate 4 to good use and I'm actually using SDTP for the first time this LP. And like my fourth time ever.



Sending Oumitsunu to Hibiki in lieu of the Suzaku he had. Doesn't need that now and it's kind of a liability. Plus actually using SDTP means that I can do both Evil Flow and Agitate this turn; can't pull from stock and Agitate on the same turn.



Agitate and Evil Flow gives a ton of crits and no need to worry about range.

[Music: Shudder]



Temptation goes off regardless. I would imagine Null Auto may be able to stop it, but that requires Hibiki to have stat points in something other than Magic to use. And he doesn't have stat points in something other than Magic.



Ah well, it only procs on Hibiki at the very least. I think Vritra and Oumitsunu's regular resistance helps mitigate its chance to succeed, or at least it feels like it.



Oumitsunu and Vritra both Deathbound. Oumitsunu hits thrice and they all crit. Agitate is fucking bonkers.



Vritra only hit twice. If he hit three times, Lilith would already be dead.



Instead, she gets to survive. With 104 HP left.

If she was a lower level, or Vritra hit thrice too, this wouldn't have happened. I am irrationally mad at random chance.



Appropriately enough, her charmed white knights will turn and run to her aid at this point. Even this guy who has no business doing so normally will now head on over to where Hibiki is.



Or rather they will try to. And fail miserably, because Lilith actually opted to move. Bad idea, lady.



Gave Hibiki Grace to see if it would proc after Temptation. No dice; it goes first. At least it heals Vritra and Oumitsunu back to full.



Oumitsunu outspeeds Lilith and punches her once. Dealt 50 more damage than she had remaining (if not, it would've hit more because Multi-Strike).



11.4k EXP isn't too shabby for something like this, but I dunno. Feels a little low.



Hibiki only gained two levels out of it, but that's exactly enough to give him 40 Magic so I guess I can't complain too much.







At the end of the day, this fight is actually kind of hard because the regular enemies are functionally unkillable. Shame too, because the game mocks you with those insanely good cracks.

Which we, uh, already have. Oh well.



I couldn't even begin to imagine trying this without an Avian; that added move is what makes them better than a Genma here in my opinion. True Phantasm would be nice for getting a second person across the map quickly but it's not really worth it.



Since it was functionally a free battle, we still get no bonus EXP out of this. Sucks.



Oh yeah and now we can fuse Lilith, the top-tier Femme, at level 83. Or rather, it would be level 83 but levels are a meaningless concept when it comes to fusion now. Can do it whenever. Won't do it just yet though.



Now we're just killing time and hanging out with people again. Lilith was the big event of the day this time around, and she's been nicely dealt with.



Joe's rapidly catching up with Daichi on the Fate list. He was at Fate 4 by the end of this day beforehand too.



With Io now at 3, we can fuse Hathor proceed to ignore her unless we want her back in the party after alignment shenanigans. She ain't dying now at least.



History repeats and Joe hits Fate 4. This is kind of a contextless montage of Fate levels I realise.



Kind of gonna be a thing in general; maybe in the future I'll just truncate it down further to highest ranks gained on a day.



Probably even combine days when they run out of new shit to do quicker. Which they will; next cycle will probbaly have even less.

Oh and yeah, going to see Alcor before fighting Megrez proper is mandatory.



Megrez is still slow and shite on NG+. Can't one-hit him because of his dumb gimmick. Megrez sucks.



Kind of rethinking my initial assessment of liking him a little more than Benetnasch. At least Benetnasch's gimmick was interesting.



Megrez is just a big spiky ball. And an unfun one at that. Benny at least had some good scenes around him, and a cool fight concept.



Don't even remember why I thought he was worse to be honest. Just remembered it being harder than it really was, for some reason.



Oh good, I can stop filling in for meaningful contributions with my semi-rambling now. Other stuff I could've glazed over instead was: Ronaldo's thing never changes, so we'll skip the video he stole. Dudes trying to rob Io and Daichi get their asses handed to them exclusively by Io and Daichi. Nothing particularly exciting.

Let's just go see what Tico has to say.

[Music: In the Devastated Town]



I kinda put together a rundown of the stuff you did today...
Well? Wanna hear it?
Let's hear it.
Ho-kay! Well then...
First you woke up! Then you met with Daichi and them.
You talked about finding out more about what's happening in the world!



Thennnn, you guys tackled one of Megrez's buds!



Oh yeah! What did you think of His Excellency?
I got my fingers crossed you get to be super best friends with him! Whaddaya say?
Then Yamato called you out to Osaka! You know, for that Megrez meeting thing.



Ahahaha... Didn't it seem like Yamato got rilly annoyed by His Excellency? What a goof!
Oh, that reminds me. You used the Terminal for the first time! You're good at it!



Oh, hey, you probably know this already...
But don't you think JP's and the civilians are at each other's throats? Look out!



It's not like there's enough food or medicine for everyone. People are fighting over it!
Seriously, what's he gonna do? Is there anything JP's can do about this mess?
Oh, and then! You saw ol' Joe's death clip.
You're lucky Joe's still alive! Good work with that!



You're soooo cooool! And rilly strong!
Oh, but what about that photo of Fukuoka that Ronny got from JP's?
Could it be real? If not, it has to be fake, right?



Well, I think that about sums it up!
Okay, then! Have a nice wheeee!



No new e-mails this time around; we already saw this day's extra bonus ones last time. It was Joe accidentally sending us one meant for his girlfriend and then apologising.