Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 Part #96

Part 96: The Fated Showdown

The Fated Showdown

For once, we're not starting off with fusions. No, we're grinding out free battles one last time...

For this thing. Grace (auto-casts Prayer at the start of a skirmish if anyone is missing some HP or inflicted with an ailment) is an Auto-Skill you can ONLY obtain through Data Cards on the Last Day. It is the only Auto-Skill that can solely be obtained through Data Cards, which is kinda bullshit.

In the process of getting this, I also picked up Wall, Barrier, Ban Phys, Ban Elec, Ban Force, Full Might (auto-casts Might Call at the start of skirmishes; niche uses but they sort of exist) and Health Save (75% off HP costs for physical skills).

That done, we've some very fusion to do before we continue on. In this case, though, it's just the one thing.

Taown and Titania give us Zhu Que, and in retrospect this was pretty redundant and not that great. He'll have a minor use in the next map, I guess, but it's nothing particularly earthshattering. Basically just got and used him because, uh, used the other 3 Ssu-Ling demons already. Might as well complete the set.

He's honestly not that good at this point, but he was Hibiki's second demon in the anime so y'know there's that. None of the other Ssu-Ling demons were used though.

The only other level 62 demon we CAN fuse is Oberon and, uh, I'm cool with Titania thanks. Let's go deal with Yamato at last, shall we?

[Music: Dark Clouds]

We're here... I-Is this really the place?

It is.

R-Right. I can't think of anywhere else... Ugggh! I've got butterflies in my stomach!

We should have no problem here. Shining One, you brought the dragon, yes?

I don't know how.

Hmm... I had not anticpated this possibility.

Oh... Good question. How exactly are we supposed to enhance the Terminal...?

Hmm... At the government plaza, it became smaller because the Shining One wished it so.

Whaaat? That's ridiculous...

That's it!

You're going ahead with this? Well... can't hurt to try, I guess.

Shrinky-shrinky!

Hm...? I believe it's already small enough. Is my perspective off...?

Now, Shining One... test the power of the Dragon Stream.

All right.

[Music: Silence]

Huh...? Whoa!

[Music: Over the Brink of Death]

...Amazing. What powers of possibility.

[Music: Silence]

Eh? I know a sarcastic clap when I hear it!

[Music: JPs -Geomagnetism Research Department-]

What're you doing here?

I did have high expectations of you. I did not expect you to choose to side with him.

The time for talk is over. You must all die here, and I will take control of all!

[Music: Countdown]

...Daichi's right. We won't let you have this, Yamato..

...Yamato Hotsuin. It is a pity, but I must keep my vow to the Shining One.

Let's do this!

All right! We'll show you what we're made of...! L-Let's go, guys!

[Music: Challenge to the Fate]

Alright so we just need to best Yamato. His demons can be pretty tiring to try and wade through...

But they might make a good warm-up. Dude resists everything. And I mean everything. Without Fate bonuses or passives giving him it or anything... Yamato has a natural resistance to Almighty.

Also dual-shadow Megidolaons is fucking evil, holy shit. He's kind of like what Hibiki could easily be at this point and that is terrifying.

Only things we can crack are the highest chance to counter-attack and Anti-All. We could get Avenge from two places, but the Heavenly King here is the most convenient since he's in Yamato's party.

So, what's Yamato's big main gimmick?

Right off the bat, he'll do... this.

...!? Something feels wrong! Yamato, what is this...?

Haha, you'll come to see what I did... when you die!

The Dragon Ring is kind of like a slightly different version of Alioth's toxic residue. If we start a turn standing on it (and we will), we lose 10% of our HP and MP.

...But, y'know what, I'm going to let you in on a little secret here. This map is a complete and utter joke.

All of these demons, this silly gimmick with the ring, everything. Completely unnecessary and blinding you from how secretly easy this fight is.

We DO start exactly 8 spaces away from Yamato. This method is a tad inefficient since it requries a Vile and all, so we'll do something a bit different.

First, Alilat pops an Enlightenment just to be safe. This isn't strictly necessary but it gives us a better margin for error.

Next, Culebre uses Evil Flow. Culebre's a higher base level than Python which kinda matters here. Again, better margin for error.

Oh would you look at that. We can also easily hit Yamato from here.

We Holy Dance. His entire team dies.

...Actually, on second thought, no. We don't Holy Dance. Holy Dances are boring. We're going to change things a bit. Gonna switch things around a bit...

This works with every elemental dyne (both his demons have Hero Soul so you need to wipe one out anyway). I'll explain how this works and what you can really do with these kinds of shenanigans much later (it's not hard to figure it out, but say nothing until then), and when I do this will look absolutely mundane in comparison.

Y'know, I can't believed I overlooked this before. His Magic is 32, but his Vitality is 12...

As much as I would like to Rage Soul here, it's not possible because Koumokuten has Phys Repel with his Hero Soul. As wacky as that would be, inability to cast Magic renders it impossible here.

I think you get the idea by now.

So, yeah, that's it. That's the entire map. There is no need to do anything else at all to win this one.

Just to reiterate, this fight is so ridiculously easy that you can win on the very first action you take.

...Okay, fine, let's do it "properly."

Rangda and 2 Gucumatz isn't as annoying as it sounds on paper, at least not for this team.

This Rangda, conversely, is kind of annoying.

Not because they Charm Fumi.

Because they Charm.

Makes it quite tricky to drop them when they cast Sexy Gaze long before you can even move.

Hinako has Suzaku for the benefit of getting rid of this Arioch right off the bat. He can be quite irritating otherwise.

Inferno hitting everyone is something that can be planned around at least. Hinako and Nata Taishi reflect Fire here, which means Suzaku heals himself thrice over.

...But because Hinako and Nata Taishi didn't take damage that does cost Suzaku his extra turns.

Inferno is stupid and bullshit.

Arioch got dropped quite easily, though.

Only for Norn to immediately Samarecarm and bring him back without any issue. And I do mean immediately.

Rangda round 2 and this one goes infinitely worse.

Charmed Parvati. Who then dropped a Megido on Fumi and Yoshitsune.

So, yeah, I got quite miffed by that. Elec Dance dropped on Rangda to oneshot her seems fair at this point.

This Ganesh has a Culebre. He can drag things out a little bit because of that.

Not that it really matters considering they have a whopping 4 agility and drop quickly enough.

Hibiki couldn't quite reach Yamato from where he was, but this Arioch is no problem.

Especially since it WAS alone. Norn never revived his buddies.

Just move Fumi out of the blue ring in the middle now, and...

Yamato removes it. There's a couple demons on the far left side of the map, but they're kind of a non-issue at this point.

Yamato also picks a fight with Hibiki. This one could go either way, since they're basically identically matched. Depends if he procs that Dual Shadow or not, really.

You should join ME.

Hahaha, I cannot do that! This is my fondest desire!

[Music: Decisive Battle with a Sworn Friend]

Yamato has 1,000 HP exact (quite a step down following the Dragon, huh). His demons are kind of a non-issue but because he Magic Yins his Megidolaons they can hurt quite a fair bit!

So, we don't quite win on the spot. We come out second best, by far, but at least we didn't lose outright either.

At this stage, taking out the Norn is irrelevant. Just nice for extra EXP for Hinako and as a precaution.

Nata Taishi's pretty good at what he does. Which is hit stuff hard and often.

So, Jungo gets to fight Yamato next.

Between Prayer and Drain, he's able to have full HP when Jungo punches him.

Jungo did just punch him for more than his max HP without issue (again). That brings things to a close for real.

So, that's that I guess.

I guess in summary, Yamato can be either absurdly easy or kind of sort of maybe pretty hard (especially compared to what we're used to by now) depending on how you go about it. Doing it the easy way makes it far, far too easy, but is fun for the spectacle.

[Music: In the Devastated Town]

You aren't human... What are you, and why are you aiding Hibiki...!?

Yamato Hotsuin, no one can truly say what they are in this world.

I... am following my heart. Just as you are.

Preposterous! You're nothing like me. You're not even human!

Hear me, Hibiki... I'll tell you what that "man" really is!

...Don't, Yamato Hotsuin.

[Music: The Anguished One]

So, Alcor is technically part of the Big Dipper in a very, very round about and loose way. It's Flamsteed designation is 80 Ursae Majoris and is at a magnitude of 3.99 putting it ~13 minutes away from... Mizar. That they're often referred to together as the Horse and Rider is Alcor's connection here.

Al Saiduq plays into this as well. It's (probably) meant to be an allusion to Al Sadak, or Al Saidak, a pair of names given to Alcor by Al Firuzabadi in the 14th century. Sadak being The Test and Saidak being The Truth. Fits further with his characterisation when Alcor's also referred to in Arabic as Suha meaning... The Forgotten/Lost/Neglected One.

He is nothing more than a monster sent by Polaris to destroy the human world...!

You are being deceived! If you believe in him, you doom all humanity to annihilation!