Voted "best"!
Chapter 3: The Defiled Gods
20 May 2009
S.A. Renegade
Slip out the back to the capital
So we're back at Tsukigata Village! Diggin' dirt on Lord Tento. Or at least that's what we're supposed to be doing, but we're renegades right? Let's take it easy and take a nice relaxing stroll around town. Tsukigata Village's got a nice new tune, even. Perfect for taking a walk, wouldn't you agree? And Narumi's even coming along with you! What a swell guy.
Before we do anything here at Tsukigata though, let's take the streetcar back to the Capital. We've got business there to take care of. First let's head to Kasumidai. If you go to the Narita Mansion you can talk to Narita and get some extra explanations on his relationship with the Tsukigatas.
Go to Kasumidai proper and talk to Sadakichi. Well, actually read his mind. He'll give you a new case file! Before leaving this area, make sure to go to the east side and talk to Tsunatsugu. He's the guy in the navy uniform standing by the car. He'll talk about a curse and says he might submit a case file for you if he can't undo it. That's two new case files we got! And they both happen to be actual quests. But before we take care of that, let's finish our stroll through the capital.
Go to Shin Sekai. Talk to the owner to get a boatload of new case files. Limits of the Macabre, Looking for fickle dew, photog needed (2), low on stock (2), Leanan Sidhe in the sky, stocking up (2) and Zombie Highlander. Also talk to the blonde young man and he'll tell you something about going to the catholic church. Hmm... we'll have to keep that in mind!
Let's visit Fukagawa-Cho next. Enter the Daikoku-Yu and talk to Satake to get another case file!
Next, hit up Mannen-Cho and talk to the crossdresser in front of the house you went in when you were chasing Tatsumi. You know the homo I'm talking about. The one you swiped hair off to be able to transform into him. Kamanari.
Finally, go to the nameless shrine in Shinoda and talk to the herald to receive another case file. We're almost done, but we've got one last thing to do. Let's hit up the training hall 'cause more of it's opened up!
Training Hall B3
Items-
-Bead
-Sapphire
-Red Crystal x2
Demons-
-Pagan Mokoi
-Fury Turdak
-Frost Azumi
-Volt Makami
-Skill Selket
-Wind Archangel
-Frost Jack Frost
-Pyro Ukobach
-Wind Moh Shuvuu
-Fury Lamia
-Pyro Pyro Jack
Straight up, this area has 2 blue crystals and 2 red ones in a cross formation. The blue crystal on the right has a Bead. The one down below has a Sapphire. Once you got those, head back out and save your game, then commence the process of abusing the system to make sure you get an incense from each of the two red crystals. Once that's done, it's time to head back to the detective agency and take care of all our new case files because B4 isn't open yet.
It Came From The Sewer!
-Items:
-Flute of Rhone
Ohhh snap, this case is great. Why? Because as a reward you get the large tarrasque and can finally traverse the ocean! You're actually obligated to complete this quest later on, but let's do it right now. The sooner we can show that ocean who's boss the better. Besides, you do remember the mysterious blonde man telling us to check out the catholic church don't you? And the only way to get there is by sea. You're just as curious as I am about that aren't you? Of course you are! So let's do this.
Take the case and go to the manhole in front of Ushigome Gaeri Bridge. Talk to the dude there and say you're here for le sewer case. You'll get the chance to say what exactly the large tarrasque is. Obviously the coolest answer is a white alligator! But let's move on. The dude's actually a demon and he wants you to find his G, the Large Tarrasque. Apparently he got hammered and drifted out west? I dunno. Well, we know Tsukigata Village's out west, and that's where he is. I'd rather not pay the 1000 yen to make the trip, I mean seriously 1000 fucking yen? Are you fuckin' loco? But them's the breaks. So get back over to Tsukigata Village. Once there, head straight for the residential area east of the resort environs. You'll find some brats picking on the tiny tarrasque. One of them even says to smash it and kick its shell! The fuck? That's kind of unnecessary. Let's rough these little hoes up. Well, that's what I'd wish you could do but unfortunately the only two options you get is to either bribe them or give up. COME ON! I've killed fiends, I can take these three little bitches easy! Uh, anyway, yeah, choose to bribe them. You'll have to hand over 3 Jin Dans. Well that's easy. You should already have this many, easy.
The kids leave and the Large Tarrasque will now take you on a ride whenever you want! Woooo! You got any idea how many possibilities that opens up for us? It's crazy. The Large Tarrasque will also give you a box that keeps you young forever as long as you don't open it, but the jackass drops it and its ill effects hit you, bringing you down to 1 HP and MAG. You get the option of forgiving him or giving him hell. Normally I'd be mad but I'm too stoked about being able to travel over water so I'ma let this slide, let me ride. Just another homicide. You also get a Bead of Life as a reward. Pretty awesome. Alright, so! Now that that's done with, head back to the detective agency. We've still got waaaay more stuff to do at the capital. Don't forget to rest and replenish your health.
Catchin' some waves at the capital
Items:
-Bead x2
-Birdline x3
-Diamond
-Ma Incense
-Bead of Life
-Yamiyo Sake
-Balm of Life
-Twig
Alright! So let's take this Tarrasque on a test drive! There are plenty of things to check out now that you can travel over water. East of Ginza-Cho there's a dock with a Bead x2! Just below that on an island that looks like a ship, there's a Birdlime x3. If you go up to Fukagawa-Cho and get off at the dock there you'll find a Diamond. If you get off at the southernmost dock below Harumi-Cho and walk all the way to a dead end you'll find a Ma Incense!! Hell to the yes. That is what I am talking about. Unfortunately you can't actually get into Harumi-Cho since a navy policeman is patrolling. If you ride to the center of the capital you'll find a dock there with a Bead of Life.
Now I personally can't wait to see what's in the catholic church the mysterious blonde man sent us to, so let's head over there. Get off at the northernmost dock in Harumi-Cho. Go into the catholic church.
Oh snap, he's here? How in the? Well, let's talk to him. Turns out he gives us a brand new case file! Woah. This must be big. We'll definitely have to check that out when we get back to the agency. But we're not done exploring quite yet. Amazingly, there are no tightass cops keeping you from going into Sakuradayama. So head there. You know where that is don't you? Of course you do. It's slightly to the left of Harumi-Cho, right below the gigantic radio tower that looks like a wang. Walk up the stairs to find a Yamiyo Sake. Unfortunately there's nothing inside Waden One. Head to the Oumitsunu Shrine though, and keep going past it to find two items in the bushes at a dead end. It's a Balm of Life and a Twig. That's all we'll find in Sakuradayama. Go back out. There are two places left to check out. The north and south training halls! Let's arbitrarily start with the south one. It's located at the southwest corner of the world map.
Training Hall South
Items:
-Red Crystal x8 (!)
Demons:
-Element Flaemis (ultra high chance)
-Element Sylph
-Element Aquans
-Element Erthys
-Element Aeros
-Wind Kurama
-Fury Yoshitsune
Really dog. This place is a dream come true. There are EIGHT fricken red crystals here. You know the drill. Abuse the system and make sure you get an incense from every single red crystal. I'll paste the instructions here again: Red crystals are awesome in that their contents differ based on the personality of the demon you use to open it with. Now here's the awesome part: red crystals have a chance of giving you incense! Incense is by FAR and AWAY the best possible item you can get from these crystals. Now, since we're playing King Mode here, we want to be as strong as possible right? This is where these red crystals come in. I recommend that you make sure you get an incense from EVERY red crystal you come across.
How to do this? Well. First of all, you'll need a demon with a calm elegant female personality. In my experience these give you a higher chance of getting an incense. I'm talking about the ones that go "I hope my skin doesn't dry" and "Ahh, a nice after-dinner workout." or "This case is making me sleepy." That's what you need. A few examples are Selket, or Leanan Sidhe . Get one of these demons and keep it in your party forever solely for this purpose. Now, even if you have the correct demon, the item you get is still chosen at random. So what you have to do is go save at the nearest save point (for the training hall, this is the one near the nameless shrine). After you've saved, take your Leanan Sidhe or whatever and get the red crystal. Now, the chances of getting an incense are very low. Most of the time you'll get a Jin Dan, and sometimes a Balm of Life. If you get either of these two items, load your saved game and do it again. And again. And again. And AGAIN. Keep reloading and doing it as many times as it takes until you get the incense. Once you do, go back and save your game. Then do the same thing for the next red crystal until you get an incense from every single one. Yes, it's kind of tedious. But this is the only way to max out your stats, and we all know maxing out stats is awesome. So just go for it, move forward and COMMIT TO IT.
This ones a little bit harder since the save point is kinda far away. But a man's gotta make some sacrifices if he wants maxed out stats, so get to it. Didn't you know? Chicks only dig devil summoners with maxed out stats. Remember to be patient. The chances of getting incense are very low. Around 5% or so, I'd say. So don't get frustrated if you're having trouble getting them. Don't give up! Trust me, I know how hard this is.
Now, before we move on to the north training hall, let's kill two birds with one stone. Check your case file 2 and take The Curse Reborn from old Tsunagatsu. The demon you gotta kill for this case is up there.
The Curse Reborn
Items:
-Red Crystal x8
Demons:
-Element Aquans (ultra high chance)
-Element Undine
-Element Erthys
-Element Aeros
-Element Flaemis
-Wind Kurama
-Fury Yoshitsune
Note that to reach the North Training Hall you have to take the streetcar to Fukagawa-Cho and then walk all the way to the north part and then use the Large Tarrasque just to swim over the tiny pond to the island in the middle. Here you'll find another 8 red crystals. You know what you have to do. Make sure you get an incense from every one. Yeah, I know you just did that in the previous training hall and you're tired but hang in there! You can do it.
Once you're done with the red crystals, you'll have already noticed there's an Oni standing on the north side. This guy probably has something to do with Tsunagatsu's curse. After saving, go talk to him. Looks like he is the one responsible for the curse. He'll summon his brothers (and he has tons of them) and you'll go into battle. Pfft. This guy actually thinks he's got a chance?
---Boss: Fury Oni---
My level: 30
There are tons of these guys and you'll have to kill them all. As per usual with these types of fights, the best way to go about things is to continually imbue your sword with the element they're frail to. These Onis are frail to both electricity and death, so you have a choice of either going with Volt Sword or Pagan Sword. It's up to you. Next, have two demons who know either Mazio or Mudoon. Set them to use these skills repeatedly. As soon as the fight starts cast Pagan (or volt) sword on yourself, and recast it every time it runs out. In this way you're almost untouchable because every hit from your sword will stun them. The spin at the end of your bread and butter combo is especially effective at stunning any dudes that try to surround you.
This fight'll be similar to the Obariyon fight in the Betobeto quest, but unlike the Obariyons, these Onis are quite a bit more dangerous. Even with Pagan Sword they're still likely to get a few hits in on you and your demons so it's a good idea to have some form of Dia handy. Finally, these whores can also use Luck Roulette of the Beast. If you get a particularly nasty bad luck effect like I did in my video (Raidou's attacks will whiff), it's a good idea to just use a luck locust and negate the effect. It's not worth fighting the entire battle whiffing your attacks when luck locusts are so easy to get.
---
Apparently, murdering this Oni won't undo the curse on Tsunagatsu. It will, however, give us a case closed, and the reward is Bizen-Osafune. Next up, let's take a look at Guard Mission.
Guard Mission
You get this case from reading Sadakichi's mind over at Kasumidai. Take the case and head over there. Take a left from the colonel Adachi statue and go past the cannon to trigger a battle with the Hyakki-Yakou!
---Boss: Hyakki-Yakou---
My level: 31
This fight is too long, clanky. You've got 100 demons here and you have to kill them all. That's a lot of work, but oh well.
The first third of this fight is a complete joke. You'll fight Pretas and Enkus for christ sake. Those guys are like, what, level 3? I dunno. Point is, the damage they do to you at this point is pitiful, and they go down real easy-like. Remember the Pretas are weak to fire and elec, and Enkus are weak to ice. Might want to keep that in mind. To make this fight even easier, use Volt sword and stun those pesky Pretas. I'd recommend not going with fire or ice, since that can heal Enku and Preta, respectively. But anyway, this first half should pose no problem at all! Hell, in fact, these guys are so weak that you might as well just use brute force to kill them faster instead of bothering with weaknesses.
Afterwards though, you'll start facing Nekomatas and Okiku-Mushis. These whores are pretty damn annoying since they love to spam Marin-Karin and Pulinpa, confusing and charming your demons. If avoiding these things is proving too much of a hassle, I recommend bringing in demons who are immune to mind. There are many demons that have this characteristic, bring in whichever you prefer. I went with an Oshichi and a Nigi Mitama. Of course, make sure these two demons know some fire and electric skills because Nekomata is frail to electricity, and Okiku-Mushi is frail to fire. Volt Sword also helps if you want to stun those Nekomatas easily, although I'd recommend going with Pyro Blade since Volt Sword heals Okiku-Mushi.
Afterwards they'll go back to throwing Pretas and Enkus at you, and this works the same way as the first third of the battle. For the final 2 demons, you'll face two Gashadokuros. These guys are pretty tough, but there's only two of them so it shouldn't be too much of a problem. They're frail to wind so have your demons hit them with Mazan and the like.
This fight is too long, so I decided to just show it starting from the second third.
---
After all that you get Renki x2. Not too bad. Movin' on. Get back to the detective agency. The next case we gotta take is the one we got from the blonde young man at the catholic church.
The Crown of Victory
Wait a minute, didn't we already murder this jackass? Oh well, looks like blondie wants to see it with his own eyes. If we killed White Rider back when we were level 20, we should have significantly less trouble now.
Like I said, you get this from the blonde young man at the catholic church. Ride the Large Tarrasque back over there and walk towards the church altar. You'll be asked if you want to wait there. Do so, and you'll fight White Rider! Again.
---Boss: White Rider---
My level: 31
The main twist this time around, is that you need to kill White Rider before 5 minutes are up! That means you'll need to do major damage to him, and fast! If you fought him back at level 20 like I did, you already know more or less how it goes. Check the horsemen section for the strategy I used back then. However, since we now have to kill him ASAP, our strategy is going to slightly change.
The main thing I recommend is that you get a Jubokko. As you well know, White Rider is frail to ice, and Jubokko happens to learn the strongest ice attack we have access to at this stage, Glacial Blast. This will be your main means of damage. On top of that, Jubokko is immune to White Rider's Mamudo, which we already know he loves to use. Just an added bonus to having this demon.
Secondly, it wouldn't hurt to bring in a demon who knows Makakaja, just to make those Glacial Blasts even more powerful. The demons who can learn Makakaja include Skill Thoth, Wind Anzu, and Fury Lamia.
Thirdly, it would help if one or preferably both of the demons you use in battle can drain death, so you can capitalize on White Rider's abuse of Mamudo. Demons who drain death include Pagan Ghoul, Pagan Lilim, Skill Ippon-datara, Pagan Sandman, and Skill Legion.
Once you have this, it's time to punish some suckahs Compton style! When the fight starts, have one of your demons cast Makakaja immediately, and set Jubokko (or both of them) to spam Mabufu. As you already know, the best time to frail stun White Rider is right when he reappears from his teleport, and Mabufu does this best. Read my horsemen section if you don't know what I'm talking about or if you want to understand White Rider a little better.
Now, every single time you frail stun him with Mabufu, command Jubokko to use Glacial Blast instead of striking White Rider while he's stunned.Then, command him to use glacial blast AGAIN while White Rider is casting Mamudo for even more damage! The reason I recommend not using Glacial Blast to stun him is because it uses up a lot of MAG, and since White Rider loves teleporting all over the place, it can easily miss and go to waste.
Combo him while he's weak and steal his MAG. As soon as you see him come out of stun, roll away because he's about to use Mamudo. Now this is very important: EVERY time White Rider comes out of frail stun, he will counter with Mamudo. EVERY. Single. Time. No exceptions. This is a blessing to you. Roll away (you're not immune to death), but don't hide your demons! Let them keep punishing him with their Bufus while he's casting Mamudo, and then drain it for extra MAG on top of all that!
Now listen carefully, this is very important: wait for your demon to absorb the Mamudo, but IMMEDIATELY after you see the draining animation HIDE YOUR DEMONS. This is because right after Mamudo there's a chance that White Rider will use his strike attack that has almost no cue. Now that you're higher level though, this isn't as much of a threat. If you're feeling risky, go ahead and leave your demons unattended. But if you want to avoid damage, you will hide them right after Mamudo to prevent this. If he doesn't use his strike then just unhide them and let them use their Bufus on him while he runs around, hopefully frail stunning him again.
That's more or less the extent of the strategy. If you do things correctly you should beat him in less than 5 minutes without much problem.
---
As a reward, you obtain White Rider's Victory Crown. I wonder what this is for! Welp, let's get back to the agency and check out the last quest!
7th Trumpet, Eternal King
Check case file 8, and you'll find this one tucked in there. Looks like another one from our good friend. According to the blonde young man, he's giving me this case because I've once lived my life keepin' it real. This leads me to believe that you can only get this case once you're on your second playthrough.
In any case, take the case and head over to Mannen-Cho. The place he's waiting for us is obvious if you think about it. It's the abandoned temple. Talk to him.
... He wants to do battle with us?! This is getting good! He teleports you to the final dungeon of Devil Summoner 1, and shows his true form to us. Hmm. So it's you. I had a feeling.
Lucifer takes us to a place reminiscent of where we fought him in Nocturne, and it's on. Now, at first you might be thinking "How the HELL am I supposed to beat Lucifer himself this early in the game?" But don't worry, it's not like that. As always, Lucifer is a nice guy. He knows we're not yet at our full potential, so he's gonna go real easy on us. He's only testing the waters. This fight is entirely doable, so cast those doubts away! Still, you're going to be fighting 4 enemies back to back, with no healing in between, so don't let your guard down. If you want to get out of this fight without using too many items, it's gonna take a tiny bit of preparation.
First off, I recommend you fuse a Thoth who knows at least a fire skill such as Maragi or Agirati. The cool thing about Thoth is that he absorbs all of the elements except death and phys. This makes him very valuable for this string of fights, since your MAG won't get healed at all. If you can get Diarama on this Thoth, it would be nice as well. Also, if you can level him twice and learn Makakaja, that'd help tremendously. If you have Makakaja on another demon, that works too.
Next, have a demon who knows Mazio or Ziorati but isn't instantly killed by physical attacks like Thoth. Preferably this demon also drains ice. I went with Alraune. If you can get diarama on this demon too, that's nice.
As soon as the fight starts, cast makakaja on your party, then remove one of your demons and leave only Thoth in your party.
---Boss: Pagan Mara---
My level: 32
This is the first demon Lucifer will pit you against. Mara only has three attacks: Rush, Marin-Karin, and Cursed Emission. I don't even know what Cursed Emission does since I've never been hit by it, and neither should you. If it's anything like Mikazuchi's cursed emission in Devil Summoner 1, it paralyzes you. But it's way too slow to pose a threat. Just run away or roll away a couple times and it won't get to you.
Mara's most dangerous attack by far is his rush. This can actually instantly kill you if you're not careful. And Thoth? It'll kill his dogs and his babies. Fortunately, Mara ONLY concentrates on you. And this is what we will be exploiting throughout the fight. Always position yourself away from Thoth so that Mara can rush you without hitting him. You should ALWAYS be blocking right before he hits you with the rush. It'll do about 50 damage to you, which isn't anything to scoff at, but it's fine. The good thing is that while Mara is hitting you, he leaves Thoth free to continually pelt him with Agirati, which he is frail to. And whenever he decides to use Marin-Karin? Thoth drains that.
So that's the extent of the strategy for this guy. Keep away from Thoth, let Mara rush you while you block, and let Thoth hit him with Agirati while he does so, hopefully frail stunning him. If he does, make sure to combo him to get back some MAG because this fight will really drain you. Otherwise though, I don't really recommend trying to hit him when he's not stunned since his rush is so dangerous. Overall, Mara seems to be quite resistant to frail stun, but he should still fall into it every now and then.
Theoretically, you shouldn't have to heal at all in this fight, EVEN taking the block damage from Mara's rush every time.
After you've killed him, immediately switch to your demon who knows Mazio or Ziorati and hopefully drains ice. Like I said, I chose Alraune for this.
---Boss: Frost Arioch---
This guy is pretty strong, and is gonna take a while to kill, but thankfully he doesn't have any attacks that instantly kill you. If you do things right, he'll be a blessing to you in that you can completely refill your MAG draining from him. Set Alraune to using Mazio/Ziorati, but in this fight, you'll be doing a lot more babysitting to keep her from getting killed compared to the last fight.
Arioch is frail to elec, but normally he is really resistant to being frail stunned. But there's a way to get him into stun every time. Read on.
Arioch has 4 attacks. He has Winged Fury, in which he'll throw your sword at you like a boomerang. While this attack won't kill you in one shot even if you don't block it, it's still not a good idea to get hit by it. Whenever you hear Arioch do his little groan, hide your demon and block, just in case it's this attack that's coming. Remember how I said there's a way to frail stun him every time? Well, this is your best chance at doing so. RIGHT after you block Winged Fury (and it's not coming back to hit you in the back of the head), immediately unhide Alraune so that she begins casting Mazio or Ziorati, and while she's in the middle of casting, run up to Arioch and combo him with your sword. He's VERY vulnerable right after his Winged Fury, and if you do it correctly, your sword strikes should cause him to flinch for a second. This flinch causes him to be 100% likely to go into stun if Mazio hits him, and conveniently enough, Alraune should be about done casting it by this time. Combo him and steal his MAG.
Once he comes out of stun though, watch out. He's likely to counter with his 2 hit strike combo. Hide your demon and roll away or just block it. The good news is that the cue for this strike is fairly obvious. What I recommend doing here is to run behind him, while letting your demon keep hitting him with Mazio from the front. As soon as you see him about to initiate his strike, quickly press L2 to call your demon. If done correctly, the demon should now be behind him, safe from damage, and free to cast Mazio again while Arioch finishes his combo animation. As soon as he does, run around back to the other side, and if he uses the strike on your demon again, repeat the same process.
Arioch also uses Tetrakarn to render your physical attacks completely ineffective. This is a really annoying move since it keeps you from being able to use the 100% foolproof way of frail stunning him until Tetrakarn runs out. Not much you can do though. When he casts it, you'll just have to wait it out and let your demon keep using Mazio, hopefully frail stunning him without your help at least a few times.
Finally, Arioch may also use Glacial Blast. The cue is also his groan, but the difference seems to be that he'll take longer to initiate Glacial Blast compared to Winged Fury. Remember that Glacial Blast travels in a straight line, so to avoid it just run circles around him. If your demon drains ice, don't hide it! Let it get hit by Glacial Blast and replenish some MAG, not to mention hit Arioch with some Mazios while he's finishing the glacial blast animation. For added effect, if you managed to avoid it by running circles around him, go in and start comboing him yourself while he's still using Glacial Blast. There are some chances that he'll be stunned by Mazio if you do this.
By the time you kill him your MAG should be looking pretty good! But we're not quite done yet. In the next interlude, Lucifer will say he's got a present for you. He's being sarcastic. His present is Evil Gleam, an unavoidable attack. Block to minimize its damage. Next, you'll be fighting the famous Beelzebub. Switch back to Thoth for this fight.
---Boss: Pagan Beelzebub---
Beelzebub has no weaknesses, but he takes pretty good damage from Agirati anyway. This will be your main mode of damage. This also means that the only way to get MAG in this fight is to drain his moves. Beelzebub has 4 attacks: Thunderbolt, Megido, Mamudoon and strike. Thoth can only absorb thunderbolt. All the other attacks kill him. Theoretically, you could also use a demon who absorbs death to absorb his Mamudoon and get MAG that way. But absorbing his Thunderbolt is better. Why? For one thing, he uses Thunderbolt FAR more often than Mamudoon. Secondly, the start up on Mamudoon is huge, making it easily avoidable, while Thunderbolt can damage you from the moment it appears on screen.
In any case, throughout this fight, you will not touch Beelzebub at all. That's right. I recommend you just hang back, blocking, and concentrate ONLY on babysitting Thoth to make sure he doesn't die and kill Beelzebub solely with Agirati. So here's what you have to do: set Thoth to using Agirati. He will likely teleport right in front of Beelzebub to cast it every time. This is fine, but you have to be on your toes and watch carefully what Beelzebub does. You must NOT let Thoth get hit by Beelzebub's strike, as it will end him in one shot. Fortunately, the startup for Beelzebub's strike is fairly obvious. If he starts moving as if beginning an animation and makes no sound, that means he's about to strike. Immediately call Thoth back to your side to avoid it. On the other hand, if he starts an animation but you hear his little groan that means he's about to use any of his other attacks. Leave Thoth where he is and let him finish casting Agirati. If Beelzebub casts Thunderbolt (which has a VERY tiny startup), that's great! It gets absorbed and that's more MAG for you. If he uses Megido or Mamudoon, that's also fine because these moves have such a huge startup that you can safely let Thoth finish casting Agirati and call him back to your side and avoid damage every time.
That's the entire strategy. If you do this, you should never be in any danger yourself and thus there'll be no need to heal. By the time Beelzebub is dead, you'll have used up most of your MAG, but that's fine.
---Boss: Prince of Darkness Lucifer---
Now you'll go up against Lucifer himself. But don't worry. Like I said, Lucifer is a good guy. He knows we're not yet at our full potential, so he'll be going really easy on us. He will only use two attacks, alternating between them with no variation at all, and we'll only have to take his HP down to 3/4. Easy. He will first use Maragidyne. This is great, because Thoth will drain it for some much-needed MAG. You will have to block it though, because it's unavoidable. Then, he will use Roughhouse. This is an unblockable attack that causes a blue sphere to appear near you for a few seconds, and then damages you. Just roll away from the sphere before it bursts and you won't take damage. Easy. if he uses it on your demon, hide it.
He has no weaknesses. What did you expect?! This is Lucifer we're dealing with! Anyway, fire doesn't work against him, so set Thoth to strike and spend a little time using strikes on him. This isn't too effective, but the main thing we're doing is replenishing MAG with those Maragidynes. Remember that it'll hit you for 50 block damage every time though, so if you have to heal, do so.
Once you're up to 150 MAG or so, switch Thoth out for a demon who knows a big-damage skill such as Glacial Blast, and command it to use it in between Maragidynes and Roughhouses. By the time your MAG runs out you should have Lucifer down to 3/4s health or at least close to it.
---
Well that was fun. As a reward for showing him your strength, Lucifer lets you choose from two items in his bag of temptation. The Nous or the Healing Bell. Get it? Knowledge or life? The Nous lets you create a strong weapon (according to him), and the Healing Bell gives you and your demons permanent HP regeneration in battle. Choose whichever you want. The Healing Bell is actually really awesome, but I chose the Nous because we already know what the Healing Bell does, but we don't really KNOW what weapon will result from the Nous. So in the interest of discovering new things I went with the Nous.
Anyway, wow! Feels like we did a lot outside of the main plot just now but we're pretty much done for the time being! Time to return to Tsukigata Village and start exploring that place.
Return to Tsukigata
Items:
-Birdlime x3
-Wind Silver
Aright! Straight up as soon as you get to Tsukigata, it's time to show that river we mean business. When you get out to the world map, you'll see a dock just above the crazy lady talking about bugs. Get on your Large Tarrasque and we gawn. Just to the left you'll find a Birdlime x3 lying on the ground. Further to the west of that, you'll see another dock that leads us to the Three Cedars. No harm in checking it out, but unfortunately there's really nothing we can do there at the moment. Instead, go upstream all the way to the top and you'll find another dock. Get out and you'll find a Wind Silver beneath the forest canopy.
Bah, looks like that's all we'll get with Tarrasque here. What a letdown! But let's keep exploring. Remember that now that you've got the chief's blessing, the villagers won't block your way. Just talk to them to get them to move. You can check the Fire Tower at resort environs and take a picture of Tsukigata from there. Furthermore, you remember the patch of grass in Tento Woods that didn't seem to have anything growing on it? North of the stupid Obariyon? Well, if you check that patch during a full moon you'll get the moonlight herbs. With that, you've completed Photog Needed (2) and World of Plants (1) respectively.
Right well, it's time to head over to Centipede Road. Old man Akijiro told us not to go there, so of COURSE that's where we're supposed to go. You know how it works. You remember where it is right? 'course you do. It's to the left at the Tento Woods intersection.
You'll find Nagi there doing her pointless patrols. Apparently you need a Tento Talisman to get through the woods but she's not just going to hand her spare over without something in exchange. Oh come on. Who does this girl think she is? She ain't no thang mang. We could pry the thing off her dead hands if we wanted to. But this ain't Mass Effect so we can't do that. Accept her request. She'll take you all the way to the nameless shrine of Tsukigata. Well at least she's grateful. I guess it's not so bad.
Apparently she needs Raidou's blood to open the Great Summoner's Hall and train there, since Geirin thinks she's still too much of a noob. Well, maybe it's because you ARE? Come on sister. You gotta know where you stand. Gotta know your limits. Know what I'm sayin'? Chances are he's right when he says you can't take the heat.
But we gotta do this anyway. So check the door and Raidou's use his blood to open it. Well! At least we get to do a dungeon so it's all gewd.
Great Summoner's Hall
Items:
-Red Crystal
-Sapphire
Demons:
-Wind Poltergeist
-Frost Pabilsag
-Fury Slime
-Frost Preta
-Wind Anzu
-Pyro Ukobach
-Skill Leanan Sidhe
-Skill Selket
-Wind Archangel
-Skill Blob
-Pagan Jorougumo
Go past the stairway to slaughter and you'll find Nagi has beaten a Tsuchigumo. Apparently her cute eyes did 'im in. RIP, Tsuchigumo. But now we're in the dungeon proper! Let's do dis thang. You'll see a save point right in front of you, so make use of it. You can't go north because there's a mysterious force blocking the way, and you can't go east either because there's a dragon's jaw. So that leaves only west, which is blocked by a firewall. Take out one of your Frost Order demons and take it down. Past it you'll find a wind current. Use Kamikaze on it to get blown to the east side past the dragon jaw.
Here you'll find Nakisawame and a red crystal. You know the drill. Abuse the system and make sure you get an incense from it. Before trying, take the wind current back to the save point and save. I don't mean to rub it in, but I got an incense from this one on my first try. Heehee. Once you're satisfied, go through the door to the east. Walk up to the Onmyo Mirror and prepare for an easy fight. It's some Enkus and an Oshichi. All very weak to ice attacks, so hit 'em with stuff like Mabufu and Glacial Blast to end their pointless existence. After that you'll face some equally weak Ippon-Dataras. They're frail to electricity, so get some Mazios up ins. Then after that, you'll get a few Pretas and Nekomatas. Guess what? These are all weak to electricity as well, so don't change anything. Finally, you'll get some level 2 Onorakis and Gashadokuro. The Onmorakis are no threat in the slightest, but Gashadokuro is at least closer to your level. He's frail to fire and wind, so get some Maragis or Mazans on his face.
Winning the battle causes the first barrier to go down. Nagi also asks you why you fight. As always, answer whatever you want. Though personally, I would've appreciated if they'd included an all of the above option. Come on people! Options! ...moving on. Get back to the save point. Head up to the next barrier. To the right is a Strength Wall. Bring out a Fury Order demon and take it down. Past it you'll find a Blue Crystal with a Sapphire. Go back west, and you'll find a barrier only demons can pass through. This particular one requires a demon who is above level 15... BAHAHAHA! Are you joking? Considering we're in our 30's there may as well not even BE a barrier. Go past the wall with any of your demons and immediately take a right to find the crystal keeping it active. Check it and follow the instructions to destroy it. Frankly, I'm disappointed that they wasted the Soulless Battleship song on this. The should've really used it for like, an actual battle. Oh and by the way, I don't mean to brag, but I destroyed that crystal with only ONE demon. Heehee.
Ahead you'll see a door. Go back and save if you want to, then go through it and check the mirror at the end, and get ready for another piss easy fight with common run of the mill demons. First you'll fight Obariyons. You know the drill. They're weak to both wind and death, so get some Mazans or Wind Swords or Pagan Swords up ins. Then at the end you'll fight an enormous Obariyon. This guy is basically similar to the small ones, with the exception that he's stronger and doesn't go into frail stun quite as easily. Try to stay away from his front where his combo hits and stay behind him. Hit him with Wind Sword or Pagan Sword right after he completes a combo to stun him with 100% likelihood. But seriously. He's still a weaksauce and this fight should really pose no problem.
After you win, the second barrier will disappear. Then Nagi asks you yet another alignment question. I like how cute she looks when she's not sure about asking you. Question is whether you treat your demons as tools or as friends, sharing sorrow, joy etc with them. Answer whatever you want, but let's be honest here people. Demons are really tools. You're not going to keep a demon for long. Once it's outlived its usefulness it's fusion fodder. That's just the way it is. Go back and save. Once you're ready go through the door on the north side of the map.
You'll find that Nagi's gotten her ass kicked by the major demon. Hwell. We can't just sit back and let a cute girl get killed now can we? That would just be a waste. So gear for battle 'cause we're about to rip shit up.
---Boss: Fury Atavaka---
My level: 35
This guy is all about physical attacks. He uses Warcry to increase his attack power, and then uses Rush and Frenzy with a few strikes thrown every now and then. And if he gets angry, he gets even stronger. But even with all this, he still doesn't do enough damage to one-shot us. He's moderately hard, but nothing extreme.
If you wanna annihilate this guy, and I mean completely humiliate him, might I suggest getting a Chernobog and leveling him twice until he learns Null Phys? This will make anything Atavaka tries absolutely futile, and make the whole fight laughable. If you don't feel like doing that though, Atavaka isn't really dangerous enough that he warrants it.
If you wanna fight him the normal way, first of all, note that he's frail to fire, so bring in demons who know Maragi or Agirati. Second, it wouldn't hurt to boost your defenses with Rakukaja. Thirdly, note that Atavaka is very resistant to physical attacks, so trying to combo him won't accomplish much. He's very susceptible to magic attacks though. So if you can, use Makakaja and hit him with those Agis, and when you manage to frail stun him, don't bother trying to combo him and instead command your demons to pelt him with magic some more.
Now, as for the fight itself. Be careful that you and your demons don't get hit by Frenzy. The cue is pretty obvious but it can still sometimes be hard to see it coming. Whenever you see light beams gather on Atavaka, that means he's about to use Frenzy. Hide your demons and roll out of his vicinity. If you can't roll in time, block. Be careful though, because Frenzy works independently from Atavaka. This means that when he uses it, he's protected from all side by it, but can move around freely while the attack is still on the screen. As a consequence, he can follow up Frenzy with a Rush, so stay on your toes. To avoid the Rush, just run or roll away and to the side of him. In a pinch, block it. Once he's finished his Rush though, is when he's most vulnerable because of its long recovery, so as soon as he finishes it, unhide your demons and strike him yourself. Hopefully he'll go into frail stun, but sometimes he may not so be careful and be ready to block a Frenzy or Rush.
As I said before, physical attacks don't really do much damage to him so concentrate on commanding your demons to use agi on him when he's stunned. If you used Makakaja and used magic attacks a lot, he should fall surprisingly fast.
---
After the battle Nagi's High Pixie dies from the wounds. Good. She was really annoying. But Nagi still cries about it. Come on! Just use a Jin Dan and it's all good, what's the big deal. But anyways, afterwards Geirin shows up and man is he pissed. "You've done nothing here but create foolish drama." Ohhhh snap. But man I feel sorry for Nagi. She almost died when Geirin said he was disappointed. But whatever. We've got the Tento Talisman. Save back at the dragon cave, then exit the great summoner hall. When you get out, Nagi asks you yet ANOTHER question. Whether to go apologize to her master or not. I dunno about you, but Geirin doesn't seem like the kinda guy that'd go "Oh it's fine, c'mere and gimme a hug".
Anyways! Now that we've got le talisman, it's time to get back to Centipede Road.
Centipede Road
Items:
-Shishiou Sake
-Ruby
Demons:
-Frost Jubokko
-Pyro Orthrus
-Wind Moh Shuvuu
-Fury Turdak
-Skill Blob
-Frost Jack Frost
-Fury Slime
-Volt Makami
Nagi will be waiting for you here. Talk to her to get the "theory behind this area". It's all about the moon phase and the stone tablets tell you during which phase you should advance.
Aright, so. The first one's easy. You just have to wait until the full moon to advance. The moon phase changes FAST in this place so don't stray too far from the exit.
In this next area you'll be at a fork. You need to take a right and proceed during a 3/8 moon.
Next, you need to exit back from where you just entered during a 1/8 moon.
Now you'll be at a place with three roads forward. You need to take the leftmost road during a 5/8 moon.
According to the tablet in this area, there's a hidden treasure up around here. To get at it, take the rightmost path during a 2/8 moon. You'll arrive at a glade with 2 blue crystals. They contain a Shishiou Sake (don't drink this. You need it for Kamanari's quest, remember?) and a Ruby (very nice)! Head back. To advance forward exit through the center road during a 7/8 mon.
That was the last one. We're out of Centipede Road now. You'll see a dragon cave. Use it! Or don't, I mean, I ain't forcin' you or nuthin'. Exit out north. You'll be back on the world map. Keep walking north to reach the infamous Tento-Kagura.
You'll find a Fukoshi Black Mask guarding it. Looks like Dahn's beaten us to this place. Walk up the stairs to the shrine to find Dahn. He's not fighting us though. In fact, he gives us a personal invitation to check out Tento Sanctuary. Sounds good to me! Let's take him up on that offer. Go into the Tento Entrance.
Tento Sanctuary
Items:
-Anti-Poison x2
-Kagura Flute
-Amethyst
-Javanese Figure
-Balm of Life
-Attract Water
-Renki
-Foxtail
-Birdlime
-Ox Bezoar
-Red Crystal
-Aquamarine
-Homura Sake
-Jin Dan
-Bead
-Red Crystal
-Vi Incense!
-Bead
-Life Stone
-Soma!
Demons:
-Pagan Jorougumo
-Skill Nekomata
-Pagan Mokoi
-Pyro Enku
-Fury Mezuki
-Fury Gozuki
-Pagan Sandman
-Pagan Okiku-mushi
-Pyro Oshichi
-Skill Blob
-Volt Tsuchigumo
-Fury Obariyon
-Frost Pabilsag
-Frost Azumi
-Frost Jubokko
-Wind Anzu
-Wind Feng Huang
-Wind Angel
-Skill Leanan Sidhe
-Fury Lamia
-Skill Ippon-datara
-Volt Nandi
-Volt Koropokkur
Hell yeah, full blown dungeon baby. Let's explore the shit outta this place. From the entrance, go all the way south to reach a dead end with a blue crystal containing Anti-Poison x2. Go back to the entrance and take the other path. You'll be stopped by Nagi. Looks like she decided to come even though Dahn didn't invite her.
Suddenly a hat-wearing figure will appear! Apparently he doesn't like the fact that you're a man. Yeah? Well I don't like the fact that you're a fugly piece of shit. Anyway, it's battle time!
---Boss: Freak Hat-Wearing Figure---
My level: 35
He'll come with 3 Blobs but they ain't no thang. They're frail to everything except wind, so destroy them. If this fight was a contest on being ugly, you'd be screwed. But since it's not... Freako is actually a raging pussy. I'm not even joking. This isn't even a fight. It's a massacre. Just hit him with whatever and he'll be dead before you even know what's going on.
---
After the fight, freakm'n will run away. Nagi also decides to come with you. Also I wanna make a note here. Nekomatas appear in this place. They drop the much sought-after Foxtail. So if you want Foxtails, you can farm them here. They're worth getting for Gouto's funny responses. And if it's anything like Devil Summoner 1, he'll give us some bitchin' items if we bother him enough.
Keep going to find an astral body. He was killed by the Tsukigatas for finding out the truth about Lord Tento. Keep walking past him and exit out to the world map. Go south and enter the next part of the sanctuary. The Silkworm Road. Here you'll find a dragon cave. Use it! Take the path east from it to reach a dead end with a blue crystal. It has a Kagura Flute. Go back to the save point and go south from it to find Dahn and his Fukoshis with Freakmotron.
Dahn will ask you if you'd be willing to kiss and make up with these abominations. An obvious alignment choice. Answer whatever you want, but let's be honest people. Those things are ugg to the lee. Everyone likes beautiful things, and everyone dislikes ugly things. That's just the way we are, and no one can change that. Oh and these dudes' god complex? Not helpin'.
If you answer this, Dahn gives us a very wise life lesson: honesty ain't always the best policy. Very true. The world can't function without hypocrisy. But we're Raidou Kuzunoha. We can AFFORD to be honest.
Then the big reveal, these monsters are Lord Tento. Except it's not big because we already knew that. Anyways. After the cutscene keep heading south to reach what seems to be a sprawling network of tunnels. Right away you'll catch a glimpse of a blue crystal in the north part. If you try to get to it, a dragon's jaw will block you. You'll have to take the long way around. It contains an Amethyst.
Now, if you go all the way south you'll find an exit. But before that, go to the dead end directly to the right of that south exit, and walk right to go through a hidden passageway and find a blue crystal with a Javanese Figure. Now take the east exit to go out into the world map where you'll find a Balm of Life. Go back into the sanctuary and take the south exit to get to the Nest of the Old Ones.
Walk south to find a save point. Just a bit below and to the left of the save point you'll find a small room with a blue crystal. It has an Attract Water. Get back out, go all the way south, then down the bridge to the right to get to the bottom floor. Then go north all the way and take a right once you hit the wall to find another blue crystal. This one has a Renki! Not too shabby.
Go back to the save point and cross the other bridge to get to the other side of the chasm. Head south to find another bridge that takes you to the bottom floor. Before you go down it though, check the room opposite of it to find a blue crystal with a Foxtail. Go down the aformentioned bridge and walk to the north part of the bottom floor to find yet another room with yet another blue crystal. This one houses a birdlime. Get back to the top floor, then keep going south past the Fukoshi Black Mask to get to Butterfly Road.
When you reach a fork, take the west path to find an exit. Unlock it. You'll be out in the West Tento Shrine Annex. This'll let you get into the sanctuary from the west exit of Tento Woods. Mildly convenient. Get back into butterfly road though, and this time take the other path to find Dahn with the Tentos again. After the cutscene's done, keep going down the path to get to Spider Road. Another sprawling network of tunnels. You'll find another save point. Go straight east from it to go through a secret passage and get the blue crystal on the other side. It has an Ox Bezoar. If you walk straight down from the entrance you'll go through a secret passage to a red crystal. You know what to do, soldier. Go save at the VERY conveniently placed save point and send out your Selket or equivalent demon and make sure you get an incense from it.
Once you do that, from the save point go all the way to the end of the west side. From there you can go up or down through two secret passages to find two blue crystals containing an Aquamarine and a Homura Sake. After you get those two items, go the east side to find two Fukoshi black masks. They tell you Dahn's waiting for you past the exit to the north, so head there. You'll get another scene where Dahn explains to you the fate of the brides given to the Tento. Welp. Them being so ugly was already bad enough, but now this? Now we're definitely exterminating these whores.
Anyway, go past the part where the Fukoshi were guarding, and go south as soon as you can. Take the path all the way to find a wind current. Before we check that, open the door below to unlock the Tento Shrine Annex South. Now we can get in from the resort environs. Hoho, at this rate the tento sanctuary will be a fricken' tourist attraction. Anyway, go back. The aforementioned wind current just sends you back to the save point. Waste of a current if you ask me. I mean it's just a few feet away. What's the big deal. In any case, keep heading east and you'll find two north exits. Beside the left one is a blue crystal containing a Jin Dan. If you take the exit that's right beside that, you'll go out into the world map and find a Bead lying on the ground under some trees. Go back. Farthest to the east you'll find Nakisawame, and below her another red crystal! This one's quite a ways away from the save point compared to the other, but hang in there. If you send Selket out solo you won't have to worry about getting into any fights. Try to get an incense from this one too. Once you have, take the second north exit to go out into the world map. If you pay careful attention, you'll see that there's actually a fork in the road hidden by the trees. You can go either north or east. Take the east path and enter into Bee Road.
Keep walking and you'll reach a fork. The path to the south has an astral body who tells you the way past him leads to the Mushibito lair. Too bad the door's sealed tight though. It's a dead end. So take the other path and unlock the door to Tento Shrine Annex East. Our defilin' tour's almost complete now! Go back to Bee Road and all the way back to where you originally entered from. This time go into the northern entrance into Fly Road. To the right, you'll see a blue crystal. It seems to be blocked by a Dragon's Jaw, but you can actually go through the wall just below the Dragon's Jaw to get at it. It has a Vi Incense! Heyll yeyuh! That is the kind shiznit I am talkin' 'bout!
You can also go through the wall opposite of the aforementioned dragon's jaw to get a blue crystal there! It has a Bead. You'll also see yet another blue crystal beneath that one but we can't reach it from here. Get back on the main path again and head north. You'll find a blue crystal with a useless Life Stone. Head west from there to reach a small room. You can go into a secret passageway in the bottom left corner to reach the crystal we couldn't get before. It has a fricken Soma and that ain't no joke! This baby COMPLETELY refills your MAG and you can only carry one of 'em so you better take some real damn good care of it. Very valuable. Once you have that go back to where you got the life stone and take the north exit. In the distance you'll see Tentomaru past a save point. Save your game first. Now, before we approach Mr. Tentomaru, head east from the save point and past a wind current. Unlock the door to the shrine annex north. Now you can get right into the heart of the Tento Sanctuary from the world map. Very convenient. Don't use the wind current because that'll just take you way back to the nest of the old ones! There's not much to do there, unless you want to hear what Nagi has to say about the Tento brides. Anyways, save at the dragon cave. Once you're ready approach Tentomaru and get ready to fight!
---Boss: Soldier Bug Tentomaru and Freak Lord Tento---
My level: 40
This fight isn't very hard. Tentomaru is all hype. He'll come with two Freak Lord Tentos, and at the start of the fight will be immune to all damage. To get him to open up, you'll first have to defeat the freaks. They're frail to wind so bring in some demons who know Mazan or Zanrati. Wind Sword can probably be helpful as well, but be careful with it since Tentomaru himself drains wind type attacks. If you're fast with those Zans and combos you can kill off both freaks before they get a chance to use any attacks on you, but if you don't, don't worry. They're not really that dangerous. Just pay attention and when you see one stand in one spot for a suspicious amount of time, and scream with his dumb voice, it means he's about to use 99 needles or his dumb cry.
Also keep an eye on Tentomaru while you fight the freaks. If you see that he suddenly moves and starts tracking you with his head, that means he's about to use Wind Cutter. That's right, a not so impressive move that we've been using since back when we were level 20. But no need to get hit by such an obviously telegraphed move, so when you see him tracking you, hide your demons and start running from one side of the arena to the other to avoid it.
Anyway, once the freaks are dead, Tentomaru's mask will open up and you'll be able to damage him. Set your demons to use their hardest hittin' moves such as piercing spells and dynes, and you combo him yourself as well. Tentomaru isn't frail to anything, but he still takes good damage from anything that isn't wind, which he absorbs. While you're damaging him he will use Wing Flap to hit you. This move has like NO cue so there's really no way to avoid it other than to anticipate it. But truth is the damage is so pitiful that you should just not worry about it and take the full damage. It will knock you back a bit though so after it hits you quickly roll back into Tentomaru's face and keep up the pressure. Tentomaru may also use scratch here, but again, the damage is so small that you're better off not even worrying about it. Since he's only open for a limited time, I'd recommend just damaging him as much as possible and not think about whatever attacks he might use on you during this phase. If your health gets too low you can just use media or whatever you have later. Because after a while he'll close up again and 2 freaks will reappear, resetting the situation. You'll have to repeat the same process.
When the freaks appear though, watch out! They're likely to use their attacks immediately upon spawning, so instead of running at them immediately like an idiot the way I do in my video, run to a side in case they do open with 99 needles. Then just switch to Zan skills and kill them like you did before to get Tentomaru to open up again.
---
After the fight, Dahn will invite you to see the last thing he wanted to show you. Let's save back at the dragon cave before that though.
Now hey. Let's talk. I think it's about time Pale Rider was shown who is the boss. OH, don't think I forgot. Let you slide, let me ride. Just another homicide. We're at a high enough level now that his attacks at least won't instantly kill us, not to mention we can do enough damage and have enough MAG that we won't run out halfway through and be screwed. And last but not least, if you're at least level 40 like me (actually not that likely but whatever), you can now create Pagan Nebiros. Pale Rider's worst nightmare. Nebiros not only drains death but also nulls phys, making ANYTHING Pale Rider tries against him completely futile. If you want to kill him now like I did, check out the 4 horsemen section.
Once you've pissed on Pale Rider's corpse, walk into the Pojitrawn Chamber where Dahn is waiting for you. After some words, Dahn asks you if you can look the other way while steals the capital's luck for Tsukigata and Akane. I'm sympathetic to Dahn's cause and all, but stealing the capital's luck is causing way too many disasters and fiends to pop up. If I have to choose I'll take the capital, so I'm going with no.
Afterwards Dahn escapes, and Nagi can't decide what to do about the situation. I dunno about you, but what I'D do is stop the ritual, kill off the Tento lords and tell the Tsukigata clan to stop being such pussies and try to survive with their OWN power rather than depend on their stupid gods. But that's just me. Here, chapter 3 comes to a close. Fin!
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