Keisuke’s mission is at Shiba Park at 1:00 like the mail foretold, and unlike Mari’s you’ll eventually be forced to choose it. Now, if you didn’t draw away Kaido, upon arrival we’d be greeted by the sight of the gang leader confronting Keisuke, Pazuzu defeating Yama and then lifting him up off of the ground and burning him alive before tossing his charred corpse away like a rag doll. And yes, that would be shown all on screen. Then you would have to fight Kaido and Pazuzu.
Since we already drew him away, instead we come across two crooked police officers, apparently part of the same group from yesterday, harassing a woman. They panic a bit when they see us, but still end up declaring that they’re above the law. Keisuke enters the scene here, saying that it sounds like their hearts rotted along the way. They threaten him, and he summons Yama to judge them. Yama declares that they’ve abused their positions of authority to fulfill their own dark desires and so sentences them to death (what else?). He begins attacking the officers, who gasp that they’re not sticking around to fight something that strong. Meanwhile, Atsuro if they can somehow BS their way through this, but that’s not the tact to take (if you do, Midori voices her objections, leaves the party, and eventually ends up forcing a confrontation with Kaido anyway). Instead Akira decides that they should focus on Yama to start with, as without him Keisuke won’t be able to make his new world. Keisuke declares that if we’re going to get in his way, then he’ll eliminate us too.
Mission 26
- Yama must be defeated
- The whole party cannot die
- No citizens can die
- Keisuke cannot be defeated
- Atsuro must be dispatched
A laundry list of things to do here, huh? Like the battle for the devil’s fuge, once the Tamer Cops are defeated they’ll become normal civilians that must escape safely. Unfortunately they have a tendency to run towards the demons that Keisuke summons to the field, so we’ll probably need to heal them before they start running towards the escape panels. Thankfully there are only two of those cops to deal with; the civilian woman has the good sense to head immediately for safety. One of the cops has a very useful Auto Skill for mages called Magic Yang, which halves the MP cost of spells for both parties in battle. Make sure to crack that one.
Keisuke (Lv. 36)
HP/MP
- 259/161
- None
- Ice Dance - Deals several random hits of Ice damage to multiple targets.
- Mabufu - Deals Ice damage to entire enemy party.
- Diarahan - Fully restores one party member’s HP.
- Mana Surge - MP raised by 30%.
- Extra One - Guarantees the user one extra turn.
- Endure - Survive an otherwise lethal attack with 1 HP.
- Hustle - Increases team’s chances of landing and evading Physical attacks.
- Hanuman, Lorelei
Yama (Lv. 45)
HP/MP
- 542/122
- Resists Fire and Elec
- Agidyne - Deals heavy Fire damage to one target.
- Maragi - Deals Fire damage to entire enemy party.
- Fire Amp - Fire attacks are powered up by 50%.
- Pierce - Physical attacks bypass Physical resistance, nullification, and absorption.
- Beast Eye - Allows two actions per turn during battle.
- Awakening - Sacrifices some MP to raise magical damage by 50% for one turn.
I don’t know what the justification is for getting a game over if Keisuke falls, but that’s just how Atlus decided to roll. Nothing says that we can’t beat his demons though, in fact that’s recommended because once they’re gone Keisuke will heal himself up and wisely decide to avoid battle for the rest of the mission. At least he’s got Endure to protect against accidental death.
Like before Yama will ignore us at first, but by his second turn he’ll declare us guilty for attempting to harm him and will start seeking us out in addition to going after the Tamer Cops. Definitely draw his attention, for if he uses Awakening before going into battle he can easily one-shot the cops. He’s pretty strong even without Awakening and veterans of Nocturne will know how annoying the Eye skills can be, but my confrontation with him was actually rather anti-climactic as I was lucky enough for my Ice Dances to keep freezing him so he couldn’t attack. Whittle down his HP with Dance skills and he’ll fall. Make sure to crack Agidyne, as it’s the first of the heavy-level spells available to us. Once Yama’s defeated the mission comes to an end.
Completing the mission earns us 1130 EXP and 740 macca.
Keisuke’s on his hands and knees after the battle while Atsuro says that while he does understand that he’s trying to make a righteous world, doesn’t he think that ruling by fear’s going to go awry at some point down the line? His friend says that he always wanted to change the world to one where good people wouldn’t have their lives ruined by the selfish, so why is it wrong to use Yama’s power to bring it about? We’re supposed to point out that he wasn’t using his own power and that to truly affect change you have to lead by example instead of forcing it on others. At this he finally realizes and admits that what he’s been doing is no better than what the people he persecuted did, and says that he’s made a terrible mistake. The others say that even so, he can still start over and make up for what he did. Midori asks Akira if we can let Keisuke back on the team now, and while I think they’re ignoring the elephant in the room (the fact that he’s actually killed people) a bit, why not, I’m a nice guy. So Keisuke becomes a member of the crew again and we receive a notification that we can now fuse Yama.
Keisuke rejoins at...Lv. 43?! For reference, no one else is currently over Lv. 38. Well, what I was about to say is that unlike the original DS game, Overclocked (and Devil Survivor 2 for that matter) gives out Leaked Experience to inactive team leaders. It’s something to the tune of 80% of what the Hero receives, I believe, and that can be further increased by equipping the Watchful and Vigilant Passive Skills. On a separate tangent, there’s a somewhat unusual free battle that opens up at this time. It’s at the Ueno barricade, and instead of just mindlessly defeating demons we have to help the two stationed SDF troops defend it, under the stipulation that if we get too close they’ll fire on us as well. It’s a pretty good place to grind for a bit too since the Legions on the map are at a highish level but they’re pretty weak still. Just something interesting to note.
Well now that we’ve brought that subplot to a resolution, it’s only fitting that we watch the next Keisuke event in Akihabara that sheds some light on Keisuke himself. Atsuro asks what happened to him in high school to change him, and his friend admits that in high school, he himself was bullied. He explains that he started out trying to protect one of his classmates from them, but the classmate eventually joined in with them. Keisuke says that being turned on like that was something he just couldn’t forgive and quickly stops himself before he starts ranting again. He apologizes and says he’s going to go and clear his head, leaving Atsuro to murmur that he never knew. Reminds me of Teru Mikami’s backstory from Death Note.
Next we head to Shinjuku to hear what’s on Honda’s mind since we haven’t talked with him lately. He’s pondering the age-old question of where the COMPs are coming from, and if you didn’t see the scene before where he told the crew about his mission he off-handedly mentions it here. He says that he got his off the body of a dead Shomonkai member, and once he departs Atsuro says that just learning who’s giving them out won’t do them much good, they need to do something about them. On that note, we can see another scene right afterward in the same location where the crew encounters a thug who just got his hands on a COMP. He threatens to sic a demon on us when we ask how he got it, but upon learning about the contract process and how he might die from it he quickly changes his tune and surrenders his device. He says a Shomonkai member with “squinty eyes and a black coat” gave it to him, and despite that description fitting Azuma perfectly the crew’s all “I wonder who it could be? We don’t have enough information to suspect the Shomonkai yet.” My face.
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Regardless, they do arrive at the conclusion that “whoever’s” handing out the COMPs is trying to spread more demons throughout Tokyo, because if the user doesn’t know about the contract or Harmonizer and they die as a result, then demons are free to use the COMP to jump to the human world whenever, as we’ve already seen.
Our next event is a mandatory 3:00 battle at Akasaka Tunnel. The crew’s got the intention to either see what information they can get out of Izuna, or if she’s not there escape the lockdown entirely. But as they approach the tunnel entrance a group of demons come up on them from behind.
Mission 27
- All demons must be defeated
- The whole party cannot die
Aside from a random spawn panel that pops up once the mission gets underway there’s not much to say to start with. After a couple of turns however, Izuna and Fushimi will emerge from the tunnel, see us, and try coming to our aid by summoning a demon from a COMP they apparently found. Of course, they don’t know about the whole contract process, so we have to explain to the two why the Badb Catha they summoned isn’t obeying them. Once they’re filled in, the two begin to wage their own battle against the solitary demon.
Izuna and Fushimi each have two “Spec Ops” soldier allies, and all of them can only attack with Gunfire, a Physical attack that going by the description is super effective against humans. Well, they’re not fighting a human unfortunately, but the Harmonizer does allow their guns to work, and their Long Range Racial Skill means that they don’t have to get up-close-and-personal to do so. They’ll whittle the over-sized crow’s HP down bit by bit and they can actually do so entirely on their own provided you prevent the other demons from reaching them.
Completing the mission earns us 1280 EXP and 860 macca.
After the battle Fushimi isn’t willing to divulge any information pertaining to their mission but Izuna argues that it would be advantageous to enlist our help for it’s clear that we’re much more powerful than they thought. Go us. Fushimi gradually agrees and tells her to give us whatever info we need. So she takes us into the tunnel, through the byroad (it actually exists) and into the Nagata subway station, where no one can eavesdrop. Izuna says that what she’s about to tell us violates numerous secrets acts, and if we divulge any of it we’ll be facing severe retribution from the government. The lockdown isn’t quite the time or place for that kind of talk, really, but regulations are regulations, I suppose.
She confirms a lot of our suspicions by explaining that the government knew of the Shomonkai’s development of the demon-summoning COMPs, and thus chose a day when all members would be in the city to enact the lockdown. Atsuro asks why they can’t just collect the COMPs and release normal people, and her answer to that is that some of the demons have been known to take human form, so for the time being there are no exceptions, even for her and her fellow special forces. What’s more, the government doesn’t want knowledge of the existence of demons to spread. Once in the lockdown, there’s no getting out.
We can then ask what the timetable is, and Izuna says that now that she has a COMP she can see the death clock too, and confirms that yes, when the number runs out it means that the mission will end in failure. With a little prodding she admits that at that time everyone in the Yamanote circle will be annihilated. Atsuro wonders if they’ll just nuke the city or something, but she says that it’ll be nothing as destructive as that. Since we uncovered the existence UEM Field yesterday we can have Akira bring it up now, and Izuna’s reaction gives away the fact that that is indeed the government’s final option. She reluctantly explains that it’s meant to be a superweapon to wipe out foreign invaders, which seems...incredibly paranoid because I don’t think Japan has to worry about invasion much in the 21st century. Missile attacks, maybe, but invasion? Well, then again, judging from some of the stories I’ve heard and read about Japan’s far right wing...
Fushimi arrives at this point to answer Midori’s question of what the government plans to do if the UEM Field doesn’t work...which is, they don’t really have a plan. They’re not even sure if it’ll work on the demons, but at least it’ll destroy all the COMPs in the Yamanote circle (and of course kill everyone inside, demon tamers and normal people alike). Izuna stresses that she wants them to understand that their team is trying the best they can to avoid that scenario. We can have Akira choose to believe her or not, but regardless Atsuro justifiably goes off on her, calling the idea of the government being willing to sacrifice its citizens like this to be a whole bunch of crap. Izuna again shouts that this wasn’t an easy decision to make (though honestly, if we met any of the politicians responsible in this game I’d bet anything they’d be portrayed as a bunch of strawmen. That’s usually how it goes), but it’s better than losing the whole country to demons. Yuzu says that they could at least extend the deadline but Izuna says that that’s not an option; so far no demon has passed the barricades, but what about latter today? Or tomorrow? They can’t afford to keep the lockdown in place indefinitely. She tells her to think hard about what it means that they didn’t just implement the final option immediately, and while you’re supposed to say that it means there’s a chance of success, you can also be a dick and say that Izuna and Fushimi are just the government’s pawns.
The conversation pretty much comes to an end here, and after agreeing to help the special forces out in any way we can and promising not to disclose any of what we just heard, the crew leaves the tunnel. The conclusion they’ve come to is that they can’t rely on Izuna, or anyone else. If anyone’s going to get the lockdown lifted, it’s going to be them.
Compendium
- Odin
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- The chief god of the Norse pantheon. Odin famously only has one eye as he gave the other up in order to drink from Mimir, the well of knowledge. As such he is held to be the god of wisdom, prophecy, and poetry in addition to more violent pursuits like war and hunting.
- Legion◊
- The demon Legion comes from a story in the New Testament where Jesus encountered a man who was possessed by so many demons they spoke as one "my name is Legion, for we are many." Jesus dealt with them by casting them out of the man and into a herd of nearby pigs, all of whom promptly drowned themselves.
- Cu Chulainn◊
- The hero and son of the Celtic son god Lugh. Cu Chulainn was a fearsome monster in battle, only dying upon his own spear thanks to a curse from the war goddess Morrigan.
- Hariti◊
- The Buddhist goddess of childbirth and children. Before Buddhism she was known as a demon that devoured children, but as the story goes Buddha hid away one of her children to teach her the pain of losing a child. Since then whenever Hariti gets an urge to eat children she eats pomegranates instead.
- Airavata◊
- In Hindu mythology Airavata is a giant white elephant that serves as the god Indra's steed. He can call forth rain after a drought.
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