Part 28: Legato Attacca

Legato Attacca



Now that we're in Nagoya, we can pick up our last elemental dance for quite a while. All we're missing of them now is the Almighty one, and that's not turning up anytime soon.



And as an added bonus, we get a neat add-on. Fire Set lets us pick from every Fire oriented move we have cracked when fusing a new demon. Naturally, there's one for Ice/Elec/Force as well and they're all good for either patching up a major weakness, or doing some... other things that we'll see later.



For now we have something else to deal with. Nagoya front ends a fair bit of its plot. Let's do this thing!

[Music: Exploration]



It's a small thing, but I like how you can see Takashimaya over to the side the entire time. It's just a chain of department stores, and they're all over Japan... but very few in Nagoya, oddly enouh. There was even one in New York for a while, but it closed in 2010.

I fixate on weird things sometimes.



Phrew... Things aren't as bad as I was afraid of, but no progress at all isn't great...
I agree.



But we can't find JP's and we have no idea what's going on. Yep... it's a pickle...



Hm...! Um, Hibiki... That's...

[Music: Silence]



...There you are! I'm not letting you go now...!

[Music: Heroes Have No Fear]



Agh...! That girl's really persistent!
Wuh-oh... What should we do? Is she with JP's?
Hey, you guys!
A-Are you talking to us?
Who else would I be talking to!? Who are you guys!?



We're with JP's.
What...? So you're on my side? Then help me!



Those guys took our food! We can't let them get away with that! Help me get it back!



We have to break their phones so they can't fight anymore! I'm counting on you!
Wow... Hahaha... Someone's full of energy... I guess we should get moving, then.
Dammit...! What should we do!?



A-All right! I'll take care of the guys downstairs.
You take the food and run out of the top level!
No...! They're going to take the food... Let's catch them, Hibiki...!



The escape point only applies for the guy with the box. It's incredibly unlikely that he'll ever get there though.

[Music: Battle of the Brave]



It's also incredibly unlikely that Airi'll even come close to losing on this map. I find it a bit weird that box guy escaping isn't a lose condition though.



Out of all the skills here, the two we really want are Anti-Force and Tailwind. We can get Anti-Force later if we miss it here but that leads to... problems. Tailwind's an Auto Skill so that's a given.



I picked Multi-Hit for my third, but Mow Down's probably better since the wait for its next chance is a bit longer. Not by much, but we can get Multi-Hit immediately after this if need be. Same with Sexy Gaze which is why I skipped on that here.



In order to get Anti-Force, having Devil Speed is basically mandatory. The lady who has it has a Waira and will immediately pop Devil Speed of her own and beeline towards Airi.



That being this lady. After she does that, Airi's most likely to destroy her entire party and we don't want that.



That means that taking down at least Waira ASAP is a priority. The Toubyou is hilariously outdated at this point, though.



Not that it matters when our party's probably a bit too powerful for this map.



Airi's only level 18 and she's still able to trash these guys. We're at 20. Makes a big difference!



Of course, with her out of the way we have a new problem. Even though sending Hibiki cowboying out was necessary here it leaves him very vulnerable.



Very vulnerable. There aren't that many people on the map, but when there's a good chance of 3 of them ganging up on him that becomes a problem.



...Admittedly, it does seem more like a problem for them than anything else.



They can still put up a bit of a fight if they try. Lilim in particular has Sexy Gaze and that can inflict Charm on the entire party. That's what we really want to avoid. Charm isn't quite as overpowered here as it is in other games because it only lasts for one skirmish, but attacking your own party randomly or healing the enemy is never good.



Surprisingly this lady opted to attack Joe here. Kinda expected that she'd jump Hibiki as well. Not complaining.



...Paral Eyes is a dumb name, but I'll be damned if it doesn't get results.

Gozuki is the level 18 Touki demon. It hits hard, but that's about it. Has lots of inconvenient weaknesses and I don't like it much.



The poor foodguy stands no chance at getting away. He just runs up the escalator, but...



Airi's gonna cut him off so he runs back down it again.



While that's happening, this guy's picking on Io. I'm glad he's trying to do that, because that means she can nab Multi-Hit.



Like so. Poor guy never really stood a chance, though he did have Fire Dance so he should've tried that.



Come Io's actual turn, she's got an easy mark to finish off. This lady's entire team is still paralysed and thoroughly crippled, making it kind of a joke.



Abraxas getting the finishing blow shows that even now Sacrifice still isn't that great.



Joe snipes the Salaryman from a safe distance thanks to Suzhen's Evil Wave and we get an interesting new skill.



Tailwind, like Hustle, benefits our chances at evading and hitting... but it does it in a different way. It's a flat +5 to Agility unlike Hustle's 25% increase. This means that until ~20 Agility, it's actually a bit better. Giving it to Joe right now would mean that his Agility would count as 17 for example.

But, eh, he's fine with Hustle. Io needs it a bit more since she has exactly 6 Agility. Hibiki could also use it right now but he doesn't have that 6 required.



Airi's able to catch the guy after he ran back down and she's gonna be more useful than Keita was, right?



Well, yeah, but it's not like that's hard. Also I could've sworn her demons were not a Sarasvati and an Angel. I distinctly remember her having a Kijimunaa but I guess I'm misremembering or something.



Much more importantly, let's just take this guy out and finish this.



Yeah, that'll do it. That'll do it pretty well.



Of course, he's the only one here we didn't "have" to beat.



But it doesn't make a difference one way or the other, really.



Letting the boxdude escape, intentionally, is actually harder than it sounds. All it changes is one map later today which will have that guy pop back up. Not worth the hassle.



We don't even gain enough EXP for anyone else to level up. At least Suzhen picked up Diarama thanks to this.

[Music: Over the Brink of Death]



Airi comes over to talk to you...

We're backup.
Huh... You don't quite seem the type. You're really JP's?
Oh, um...



[Music: Connected Hearts]

Huh, is that so? But... aren't you guys a little late? Wish you'd have shown up sooner...
I'm sorry.
Oh, that's not what I meant. It's nothing to apologize over...



Overrun?
Who did this?
Oh, yeah. Well, you know how there's a shortage of food and medicine already?



He put together a mob and attacked us. Since then, the whole group's been scattered.
Ronaldo... Kuriki? He's the one leading the mob...?
Yeah, that's what it sounded like. He was giving the orders, so I'd say he was the leader.
Anything else?
Hmm, I don't know. It's been all I can do just to fight back... and here I am now.



Grrr... He's so stupid! He's always going off alone and getting into some real scrapes!
I see... So there was a riot in Nagoya.
And since the Nagoya branch members were scattered, we lost contact with them...



Find Jungo and the others.
Yeah, sounds good... Hokay, let's add these other guys to the list of people to find.
I don't think we can do what we came for without knowing more about Nagoya's problems.
Huh, really? I'd be grateful if you would. I'll do my part to find the others, too!



Yeah, so Airi doesn't join our party at the moment. Not really complaining, but we'll get to that soon enough.

...We should get going too, Hibiki. It's probably best if we hurry...

You all leave the area...

Alrighty, so Hibiki hit level 21 in that last fight. That means we need to fuse some new stuff again.



Sarasvati and Wairi make hee-veryone's favourite adorable mascot, ho! Just to add to the fun, hee's half of what we must use to make Ghost Q.

It's kinda weird how Jack Frost has the first Ma- spell we've seen. It's just a really expensive version of regular Bufu that hits everything in the enemy party. Everything. I'm sure you can see the glaring flaw in this.



Bai Suzhen and Ubelleris give us Ictinike. Ictinike is a Genma and, like all Genmas, is a physical powerhouse. Quick Move is a neat passive ability that means Ictinike's speed in battle increases. I'm sure you can see why I gave him Multi-Hit.

Completely random, but Ictinike is one of the very very few demons in the series that's based on Native American mythology.



And, lastly, Sarasvati and Angel give us Apis. Apis is, uh, not that great. It being Unique and an Avatar is a pretty shitty combination, honestly. I wouldn't want more than one anyway, but Unique implies its actually quite good for its level (or just good in general).

Apis definitely isn't that.



Oh well, let's see if we can squeeze in a second fight.

[Music: Exploration]





Daichi's nowhere to be found. This place is so big that I think it'll take time...
Let's keep trying.
Yeah... It's not like we know he's doomed already. Let's be patient and keep searching.

[Music: Silence]



You hear arguing from ahead...

Oh...! Let's go check it out, Hibiki.

[Music: Heroes Have No Fear]



Sorry if this hurts...



Oh my. This guy's pretty good.

Gah! This guy's tough! This doesn't look good...!



W-Wait! I've got to get out of here, too!
You idiot! It's just one kid! Why're you running away?



Ugh... You bastard... Don't think this means you won!

[Music: Silence]



Is JP's giving you a hard time? Leave them to us!

[Music: Countdown]



Wow, he just be really good to hold his own against so many of them.
We're going to help him.
Oh... Yeah!



Well, that was nice and easy. Now we just have to find that Ronaldo guy and we're set.

Friend.
......

Jungo seems happy...

...You're allies. Then I won't lose.

[Music: Battle of the Brave]



We could actually kinda do this one before Airi's fight, but it would require wasting half an hour first.

It would also make Airi infinitely more disappointing, because Jungo is great. But we'll get to that in a bit.



For skill cracking, we only have 2 options but if we missed Anti-Force before it'd be here now. The problem is...



It and Diarama are both only available from this one Sarasvati waaay over here. If I skipped Multi-Hit before, it'd be here now as well.



Since Hibiki's beelining for Diarama, yet again, this seems like it may be a bad idea. This time around it works out a bit better, though, since Jungo and the guy down here basically focus exclusively on each other. It also has the advantage of letting Hibiki heal Jungo if absolutely necessary.



...Which it kind of isn't. He's not kidding either.



Jungo is easily good enough to survive past this one guy. Any more than that and it'd get a lot dicier but that's not a problem.



Oh, yeah, and he has an Ubelluris and Lilim just to be safe. Jungo's actually brought two level appropriate demons for a surprising change. Dude's the most competent partner we've seen so far.



Back with our team, Io's super competent too and steamrolls through the student lady with Sexy Gaze.



This guy tries to pick a fight with Hibiki. Ordinarily this would be a bad idea, but this one guy actually has the best chances at success here.



...If only because he has 2 Lilims and both spam Sexy Gaze with reckless abandon.

And it worked on Hibiki.



Who then proceeds to crit on Sarasvati. Twice. Just to rub it in.



Fortunately, Jungo wrecks his dude and is now done. He won the one fight he had to worry about, and nothing else is going to even touch him.



Really, Hibiki cutting through the middle didn't matter that much. It just put him in place to heal Jungo if it came to that. Since Io and Joe had to walk around, it doesn't seem like they should all get to the top of the stairs at about the same time. But they do.

This map has probably the most complicated design yet, because things like this don't look accurate. But they are. The isometric perspective makes it a bit of a mess.



Oh, and this guy paralysed Io. And only Io.



...He then paralysed Joe's entire team. Fortunately that one is significantly less obnoxious than it sounds!



Sarasvati's Affection cures status ailments, but it's quite expensive right now. Still, it's worth it just so Joe doesn't get wrecked.



The lady Hibiki was after isn't much of a threat once we get to her, so she falls nice and quick. And Hibiki gets Diarama and can heal nicely.



Whoopsie-dang! More reinforcements!

Of course, this makes 2 new enemy units spawn in. They're too late to really help, but points for trying I guess.



The dude that successfully charmed Hibiki earlier drops at about the same time, so their advantage is already rendered basically moot.



Now this guy is special but only at this point. Hibiki's team has him so hilariously outclassed.



He tried to throw a Paral Eyes at our team, but it missed everyone it could hit. Sarasvati's immunity to Mystic stuff makes it a non-issue there.



We also hit every weakness possible, avoided getting hit at all and took out all 3 things in that skirmish. Despite them being weakened massively, the game counts that as Overwhelming them in the exact same way it would if they were at full health.

This nets us an absurd +95% Macca, even though that means very little for our current point in time.



Most important thing is that it gives us an Ma+2 add-on. I can think of a few uses for this, but they dwindle in effectiveness after a while. It's still nice to prop something up and make it lord high lord magic murderer for a while though.



The last two dudes aren't even all that great frankly. This lady tried to pick a fight with Joe which is probably the smartest option all things considered.



...Or it would be if Jack and Joe couldn't both throw around Ice spells like crazy. Poor lady never really stood a chance.



And this guy decided to pick a fight with Hibiki for some reason. Even though Io was closer and a much easier target.



I'm not gonna complain when the AI decides to suicide for no apparent reason, mind you. It makes my job a lot easier at least.



And just like that, we're done.



Ictinike learned Elec Dance... for some reason... and that's about it.

[Music: Over the Brink of Death]



Yup. We made it through. ...Somehow!



Jungo comes over to talk to you...

We're backup.
Hey... your clothes are different.
Uhhh, well, this might take some explaining...



[Music: Silence]



Airi... You're okay. Whew.

[Music: A Moment of Rest]

Are you outta your mind!? I was the one worrying about you, genius!
...About me?

Jungo seems perplexed...

Well, no harm done.



Um... Airi, I'm sure Jungo was worried about you too...
Don't go easy on him! This isn't the first time he's done this, you know!
Huh...? S-Sorry. But I'm sure Jungo was just as-- Huh?



H-Hey! Jungo!?



Jungo runs off...

...That did NOT just happen! What's his problem!?
It is a mystery...
Yeah... He's always like that.
He's very... interesting.

[Music: Silence]





...Talk about bad timing.

[Video: Jungo Torii]



[Music: Countdown]








[Video: End]

It's kinda weird how they handle this one with a bunch of fades rather than actually show you Jungo get his ass kicked.

[Music: Crumbling Routine]



There's no mistake.
Oh... Oh shit! He's gonna die! We gotta hurry after him!
Uhhh, hold on... Hahah... There's more bad news.
You're kidding me! Wh-What now?



No...!

Daichi is indeed visible in Jungo's death clip...



...Sure looks that way. We need to do something about this.
Hmm, where's this taking place? I don't recognize it.
Oh yeah... Hey, Airi? You know where this is?



Goddammit, Airi.



[Music: Silence]

Hmm... hokay.
...This is bad, guys. Now we're really stuck. What next...?

[Music: Connected Hearts]

Oh...! Hey, I know! Maybe... Yeah, Fumi might be able to help!
Who's that?



She's a little out there... But she's a whiz when it comes to science stuff.
I haven't seen her today, but someone else said they did. I doubt they were lying.



...I can't help but think that sounds familiar for some reason. Eh, it's probably nothing.

If we find Fumi, she might be able to fix our cells so we can make calls again...
Ahhh, I get it.
If we figure out where Daichi is, we'll get Jumbo's location as a bonus. Smart thinking.
Let's go!
Mmm-hmm, you said it. Let's get moving!





You leave the area...

Oh joy. Airi's basically just here so we can field a team of two real good demons because Airi herself sucks. She has no redeeming features at all, which is weird considering how relatively late she turns up.

I know at least one of the two demons I'm picking for her at least. We don't have it yet, though. We just hit level 22 in that fight and that's all we need for it. Get it later, because we fused enough today.



Instead we have at least an half hour to fill. We also have the matter of Jungo's life hanging in the balance. Decisions are the same as ever though.

Who do we hang out with this time (I'm sure I already know the answer to this one though! )

and, much more importantly,

What do we do re: Jungo?