Io’s still alive and the Dragon Stream’s dragon has snatched up Mizar, but we’re not done yet. The party heads to the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building to see what the holdup it, and see that even though Mizar is clenched tightly between the dragon’s jaws it’s tentacles are still holding on to its coils for dear life. Now it’s up to us to step in and make sure it’s eaten.
Mission 35: Food Chain
- Mizar must be defeated within 33 turns
- The whole party cannot die
This map is pretty cool as a set piece. It’s overall U-shaped, with each of the Building’s two spires serving as the ends of the U while the dragon’s coils make up the curve. Layout-wise the bulk of the map that we’ll be spending time on, the coil section, is pretty narrow but the map is deceptively large, and takes time to navigate. On the roof of each spire is a team led by a Badb Catha and a team led by an Abaddon. We can ignore them for the most part, though you wouldn’t want to miss out on cracking Anti-Most from the Abaddons. Our destination is the trough of the U, where we can engage Mizar’s two tentacles.
Tentacle (Lv. 47)
HP/MP
- ???/???
- Weak to Fire; Resists Physical; Absorbs Force; Nulls Drain
- Multi-Strike - Deals multiple Physicals hits to entire enemy party; number of hits dependent on user’s Agility.
- Drain Force - Grants absorption of Force attacks.
- Mizar Proof - Has an attack range of 4 panels.
That’s...not very bad. Well, Multi-Strike is always worrisome no matter what’s packing it, but fortunately the Tentacle’s speed is pretty low so it won’t be able to squeeze many hits out of it. The weakness to Fire mandates going in heavy with it (Bifrons is a great demon for this: his Magic is high and he naturally learns Fire Amp), and it’s very easy to take each of them out in a single battle each. When beaten the tentacles will snap off, putting a total of four of those little Mizar clones on the map. They’re also not hard since we’ve grown stronger since the start of the day while they haven’t. Hinako murders them cold with her own Multi-Strike.
When we beat both tentacles it’s revealed why they were so weak: we’re not done yet! Despite losing its grip on the stage, Mizar will quickly grab hold of another part of the stage and we have to rinse and repeat. Now the tentacles are positioned a little further away, at the part of the U that starts to curve upward into a straight line.
Tentacle (Lv. 48)
HP/MP
- ???/???
- Weak to Fire; Resists Physical; Absorbs Force; Nulls Drain
- Multi-Strike - Deals multiple Physicals hits to entire enemy party; number of hits dependent on user’s Agility.
- Anger Hit - A low-accuracy attack that deals a critical Physical hit to one target.
- Physical Boost - Physical attacks powered up by 20%.
- Drain Force - Grants absorption of Force attacks.
- Mizar Proof - Has an attack range of 4 panels.
Now it’s got slightly more HP and a more powerful Multi-Strike. That’s a little worrisome, but it can still be taken out in a single battle if your Magic is strong enough. Starting from here, the threat only really lies in getting attacked from a range, since the tentacles have a fair amount of reach given the narrow confines of the map. Once you beat them (once more they each spawn two clones) Mizar tries grabbing the stage again, this time near the spires on opposite ends of the map. One more push.
Tentacle (Lv. 50)
HP/MP
- ???/???
- Weak to Fire; Resists Physical; Absorbs Force; Nulls Drain
- Multi-Strike - Deals multiple Physicals hits to entire enemy party; number of hits dependent on user’s Agility.
- Star Pressure - Deals a critical Physical hit to one target.
- Petra Eyes - Attempts to petrify entire enemy party.
- Physical Amp - Physical attacks powered up by 50%.
- Drain Force - Grants absorption of Force attacks.
- Swift Step - High chance of acting first in battle.
- Mizar Proof - Has an attack range of 4 panels.
Fortunately the Tentacles’ Agility still isn’t anything to write home about, but a Physical Amp-boosted Multi-Strike can still wreck you. My plan was to have a number of demons that had Physical defense, like Balor and Kresnik (immune) or even better Girimehkala and Mithra (reflect). They’ll certainly save your bacon vs. Star Pressure, which can easily one-shot units. Still, spamming Agidyne and Fire Dance will end the Septentrione’s threat, allowing the dragon to finally pull it free.
Oh, and the reason why I haven’t mentioned the time limit yet (the energy of the Dragon Stream depletes over time) is because it’s completely inconsequential. If you need thirty-three turns to complete a map that doesn’t involve hordes and hordes of enemies and backup, I don’t know what to say. Mizar should realistically fall long before then.
Completing the mission earns us 2400 EXP and 7200 macca.
With Mizar dislodged we’re treated to an FMV of the dragon chomping down on it. Mizar tries to escape by replicating, but as it turns out each one of the dragon’s segments is actually a head, and when one’s not enough the next devours it...again and again and again, until the final head is able to swallow what’s left of the Septentrione whole. Then it simply falls to the ground, where it stops moving and turns to stone, like a bear hibernating after a large meal. Also, don’t fear if you’ve left one of the clones alive at the end of the mission - they’ll jump off the roof to escape, but end up getting crushed anyway when the head comes on down.
The sixth Septentrione is down, but there’s no time to celebrate for Yamato calls to report that Yokohama, the city only fifteen miles or so south of Tokyo, has been swallowed by the void. He says that he will begin gathering his troops and has high expectations for Hibiki...that he’ll join his side, no doubt. Daichi again admits that he’s not really feeling either Yamato or Ronaldo, and suggests they all spend the rest of the evening talking to everyone and see what they all think (read: do Fate stuff). The will of the species must still be met, after all.
So, before we go through with that, I’m going to do the Anguished One’s events. So far I’ve been ignoring almost all of them in order to fit in the Dera-Deka plotline, and afterwards I’m still going to have to reset so that I can attempt to carry out my original plan, but they do shed a little more light on what’s been going on with Yamato and Polaris, as well as laying the groundwork for some of the ending routes that I want to make sure I cover for the sake of the blog.
All of the Anguished One’s events take place in Tokyo, and the first one I’m going to watch takes place in Roppongi. He starts out by apologizing for “last time” (I assume in reference to Otome’s death clip battle) and says that he knows that soon the party will be divided and forced to fight one another. He shows some befuddlement, however, if you ask if he can predict the future, claiming instead that everything in the world is predetermined - there is no such thing as “past” and “future”. That’s all he has to say here, and his Fate goes up to Stage 2. Seeing that event opens up one called “Concepts”, where Hibiki finds Daichi staring at the splotch of void in Miyashita Park, thinking. It’s grown even more since the battle to unseal Lugh, and Daichi’s having a hard time wrapping his mind around the concept of absolute nothingness. As if there were an exposition Bat Signal in the park, Fumi comes upon the two (scaring the daylights out of Daichi, almost making him fall in) and explains the relation between “information”, “ideas”, and “concepts” and how the void deletes the very concept of matter. This is still too philosophical for Daichi, so she threatens to stick his head inside and erase it, and he moans that if his brain was like an electronic file she should edit it instead to smarten him up.
That one line, however, proves to be a "Eureka!" Moment for Hibiki, as he realizes that that’s what Yamato is going to do: use Polaris’s power to literally edit and rewrite the world like it was a data file. Then when we consider what the Anguished One said about the world being predetermined, Daichi asks if there’s already data somewhere on the future, and if that’s where Nicaea pulls the death clips from. Fumi says that he must be talking about the concept of the Akashic records, the “indestructible tablets of astral light” coined by 19th century occultist Helena Blavatsky that supposedly contain all the records of human thought past, present, and future. That must be what gives Polaris his power to freely edits worlds at will.
With that done, returning to Roppongi to speak with the Anguished One again has him answer questions from Hibiki, Daichi, and Airi. The reason Polaris has decided to erase mankind, he says, is because he believes that man as a civilization has reached its saturation point and is no longer necessary to the world. He says that this is not without precedent in the history of worlds, a line which will no doubt remind players of Strange Journey, as it did the “all-encompassing void swallowing man due to its stagnation and decadence” plot first. He says that he’s been acquainted with humans for a long time, dropping the bomb on his audience that he actually played the role of Prometheus in ancient times, giving primitive man fire and language. He goes on to say that it’s ironic that giving man the means to form a civilization led to Polaris enacting his judgement and apologizes. The Anguished One also says that as long as they have a reason to live, Polaris does not actually care about the manner of a world’s existence, making him come off as a very capricious god, and not in the “whatever” way that Fumi is. Yamato knows this, so he seeks to use Polaris’s power, AKA the Akashic record, and use it to rewrite the laws of nature to basically institutionalize (or in the layman’s term Daichi uses, brainwash humanity) his meritocracy into the very fabric of their reality, quite possibly the most Orwellian one can get. With that there’s one final event with our red-wearing, supernatural buddy beneath Tokyo Tower where he basically just lets us know that the decision point is almost here. Since Hibiki is basically his avatar for mankind’s will, saying that you wish for another alternative than the meritocracy pleases the Anguished One greatly, and he says that he will await our final answer. He vanishes, and his Fate hits Stage 3, unlocking Asura. Asura is notably Lv. 77, so even if I unlocked him now for real, I most likely wouldn't be able to fuse him until New Game+ anyway.
Alright, now that I’ve seen all that and taken it down, it’s time to jump back in time to just after beating Mizar finally so that I can get my plan underway to raise the rest of my party members’ Fates to Stage 4 before the decision point. I guess after all that drama with Lugh I should first tackle Io’s event, but it actually has nothing to do with her being the medium and almost dying and all. Instead it’s about her trying to futilely break up yet another argument between Hinako and Airi over the value of studying. Yes, studying. The latter believes that there’s no point in studying in a time like this, but the former disagrees, saying that in times like these it’s very important to gather knowledge that can be used in the future. Io explains to Hibiki that her studying the origins of the demons was what triggered this, but she’s too timid to say anything, saying that it’s better to keep things to yourself if it’ll avoid arguments, a stance that I can actually relate to, since I often feel the same way. The other girls take a break from their spat to say no, that’s not true, and we have to say the same. It all serves to make the girl more flustered, but she finally achieves Fate Stage 4.
The next two events I’m watching are with Jungo, because holy cow, have I really not talked to him since before the Megrez battle?! Well, we’re certainly going to correct that now! He’s at JP’s HQ and it seems that cat he saved is going to be okay. Otome suggests he come up with a name for it, and after the game gives the sarcastic “Jungo’s cogitates deeply” message he comes up with...Jungo. It’s the easiest name for him to remember, after all. Otome, however, thinks that’ll just get confusing, so the buck is passed to Hibiki to name the cat. Most of the options we’re given are really generic so really, “Jungo” is the only right answer here. Some exasperation from Otome and Who's on First? ensue, but then the scene gets a little more serious when Jungo the human wonders if Jungo the cat will be able to survive in the disappearing world. His next scene is at the Nagoya TV Tower where he and Otome are looking for Jungo, who’s disappeared. Hibiki and Otome soon find him, but demons soon appear, but seeing his cat being threatened causes Jungo to see red and go on a rampage, utterly flattening the demons. Afterwards he assures Jungo that he’s going to be okay and will always be with him...then comes to the realization that being with him will likely just put him in more danger... Fate Stage 4 for Jungo (the person).
Okay, this is getting rather long, so I’ll just quickly summarize Otome’s two events that bump her up to Stage 4 by saying that they concern the When You Coming Home, Dad? trope (anyone who’s played Persona 4 could no doubt see that coming) and her having a bout of self-doubt as to her worth as a mother. Since I clearly underestimated how long this update was going to be, I’m going to go ahead and end things here for now ‘cause otherwise it will be very long. The time is nearly here, at any rate...
Compendium
- Myrmecoleon
◊
- A literal "ant-lion": a creature with the head of a lion and the body of an ant, destined to die of starvation due to the two component species' conflicting diets. The concept of this bizarre fusion is likely to be a mistranslation from the Book of Job.
- Vivian◊
- Another name for the Lady of the Lake, whose role in Arthurian legend consisted of presenting King Arthur with his legendary sword Excalibur as well as being the mother of Lancelot, the most celebrated knight of the Round Table. Upon Arthur's death Excalibur was returned to her lake.
- Python◊
- The Python was an enormous snake born from the earth Titan Gaia who was the guardian of the Oracle of Delphi. Python himself had prophetic powers, but he only used them to deceive others. When Apollo took the oracle for himself he slew the snake.
- Kazfiel◊
- The angel of death in Jewish lore, also known as Kazbiel. He used to be known as Biqa, meaning "a good person", until he tried to trick Michael into telling him the name of God. This earned him his current name, meaning "he who lies to God".
- Laksmi◊
- Wife of Vishnu in Hindu lore and the goddess of love, wealth, prosperity, and so forth. She is sometimes depicted as having two forms, Bhudevi and Sridevi, that represent the material world and spiritual world respectively.
- Asura◊
- Violent, triple-bodied deities who appear in numerous Asian religions. In Hinduism and Buddhism they are seen as embodying violence and vice, but in Japanese Buddhism and Zoroastrianism they are more positive and are forces for good, though in the case of the former they can be just as varied in personality as humans are.
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