So now that everyone is united in the quest to kick alien computer God Canopus’s tail, what are we going to spend the remainder of the day doing? Lots of talking, as a matter of fact. Between now and the end of the day there is only a single mission, so we’ve basically got a whooping ten hours of free time, and we’re going to need them.
But first, there’s a series of mostly-mandatory events that a few characters are mostly locked behind that pretty much spell out what our options are going to be regarding the post-Canopus world. The first is called “An Ideal Administrator”, where we meet up with our pal Al Saiduq at the Terminal beneath the Skytree, upgrade in progress. We can already see that the upgrade involves a lot of sparkles and some paneling decorated with his distinct red and black stripe motif. Al Saiduq says that he’s been thinking about how to use the Astrolabe once they regain control of it, and he’s thought of two possibilities, the first being to create a whole new world as they did during the Kingmaker ending, and the other is to put a rightful Administrator on the Heavenly Throne. Of course the problem with that is that the Administrators aren’t necessarily on humanity’s side and operate under Blue-and-Orange Morality, he says, so there’s no guarantee that another won’t try to destroy mankind like Polaris did. We have Hibiki suggest that they could designate an Administrator themselves, and Al Saiduq thinks that’s an interesting idea, as they could use the Astrolabe to transfer the Administrative Authority and then use Miyako’s device to turn the Triangulum into their Swords, fulfilling her original plan without having to sacrifice anyone. Unfortunately, it comes with the caveat they’ll have to abdicate as soon as Errai appears a millennium from now or so, even if he himself were the one to assume the Throne.
That’s when we get the chance to propose a radical idea: what if it was a human who was made into the new Administrator. Al Saiduq thinks on it and agrees that it’s a fascinating idea - humans are not part of the Administrator System like he and Miyako are, therefore they wouldn’t have to follow its rules and would not have to step down from the Throne once their cycle was complete. It’s an interesting idea, but one that will require very serious thought.
The next scene is “Eternal Struggle”, where we meet up with Ronaldo at the Tokyo branch. He’s also thinking about what to do once Canopus has been defeated, being chiefly concerned about the idea of the other Administrators attacking mankind and being caught up in the eponymous eternal struggle against them. Both of Hibiki’s dialogue options are somewhat flippant dismissals, and that somehow turns the man on to Keita’s line of thinking: they can just defeat every last invader that comes after Earth, and can simply regress the world with the Astrolabe again and again to repair any damage. Of course, if any one of them dies and loses their portion of the Authority, then we’d kinda be screwed since we wouldn’t be able to work the Astrolabe...
Finally, the third event has us meet up with Yamato and Miyako at the Terminal for our brainstorming session. The best choice again seems to be to create a new, separate world that the Administrators can’t invade, but Yamato feels that leaving behind the old world just because they were invaded would be like admitting defeat. A solution to that would be to transform that world into one like the modern one, but Miyako points out that that would be impossible since they wouldn’t have access to the Astrolabe then. However, you may recall Yamato’s line before about the Administrative Authority allowing the user to subtly influence the world through their desires, and bringing that up causes him to acknowledge the possibility, but again Miyako plays spoiler by saying that the will of only thirteen won’t be enough for a successful overwrite. It would require the will of all of humanity, in unison, and the problem is that, well, almost all of it is currently swallowed up by the void.
However! There’s a solution to that too. The data for all of humanity still lies in the Akashic Record, so they can still use the Astrolabe to split the Authority amongst all of them: seven billion plus ways. Miyako admits that yes, that could work and Yamato declares that they’re their mission to find the best was to save the world has been found. Miyako makes a sarcastic remark to Yamato, asking if he’s going to kill her now that she’s outlived her usefulness, and upon him calling her a vixen again adopts an incredibly smug expression and gets the best line of the game: “Hehe, you call me vixen, but whenever he is involved you come wagging your tail like a good little lapdog.” Ouch, talk about getting rekt.
With those events out of the way I’m going to see Joe in order to illustrate something. He’s by an Osu storefront in Nagoya reading a manga magazine when we walk up to him and he comments that it’s funny that now he’ll never know how the story is going to end, just like the situation that they’re in now. Upon being asked about his girlfriend he says she’ll be fine since Miyako had JP’s send a bunch of supplies to her hospital, so he’s then asked why isn’t he with his girlfriend at a time like this. Joe’s reasoning is that he’s basically trying to dodge the Retirony trope and his girlfriend would know right away that there was something wrong. He doesn’t want to worry her and insists that things are more likely to work out the less you worry about them. ‘sides, the whole party’s back together and they have their badass, demon-smashing, rarely-speaking leader with them and he’s got a strong reason to live as he hasn’t successfully popped the question yet. So nope, he’s just going to stay right here and read his manga. Whether you agree with that viewpoint or not, he achieves Fate Stage 4.
That was the final event of Joe’s subplot, but you may notice that he did not max out his Fate. The Triangulum Arc is much, much more unforgiving than the Septentrione Arc when it comes to maxing them all out on a single runthrough, obviously due to how compressed it is in comparison. Miss one event or choose the wrong dialogue option and there’s about a 90% chance you’ve screwed yourself. It’s not impossible to do, but again it’s something you really need to have a guide open for (and that comes with the caveat that guides for the game are scarce since it’s new and those that do exist are in Japanese to boot), and there’s still some debate among players as to whether or not it’s possible to both max everyone out and unlock the bestest ending of the bunch in a single playthrough. I’m thus going to be primarily focusing on the characters who are already at Fate Stage 4 for the remainder of the day, as well as Yamato, Miyako, and Al Saiduq since the developers at least do intend for their Fate grinding to be done at the end of the day like this.
So I’ll head back to the Terminal to speak with Miyako in “The First Reason”. Unsurprisingly her hang up is that she’s still concerned over whether her emotions are genuine or simply “programmed” into her in her role as Canopus’s creation, leading to her keeping her distance from the others. She decides that she should tell Hibiki her story, and we learn that before all of this she actually lived a normal life - well, as normal a life as one being groomed to lead the Hotsuin family can - until one day Al Saiduq appeared before her. We get to see a flashback of that meeting, and he introduces himself to the startled girl as Alcor, one of Polaris’s Swords. His words are pretty cryptic, but he believes that she shines with the same sort of light that the party did, and the terminology he uses manages to jog Miyako memory until she realizes her true nature as Cor Caroli. However, she cannot reconcile her feelings to protect humanity with her inhuman nature, but Al Saiduq thinks that her ability to doubt and question is wondrous. He does say though that she will need to come up with an answer on her own.
Despite this crisis of identity she did manage to come up with her plan, but was quite surprised at Al Saiduq’s poor reaction to it, and we get another flashback of the two of them within the secret JP’s lab, this one opening with him expressing his opposition to the plan, saying that it will wipe out the party’s potential. She, locked in her The Needs of the Many mindset, could not understand why he would be so opposed, and that led to her capturing Al Saiduq and releasing Nicaea in order to lure the rest of us out. A normal person would hesitate or question such a decision, she says, yet she chose it without any such hesitation. So we’re gonna have our hands full convincing her that she isn’t some robotic, unfeeling construct. Hearing her story bumps her Fate up to Stage 3, unlocking the demon Sandalphon in the process.
On a lighter note we’ll return to the Terminal (it’s something of a hub for the majority of these lategame events) for “Sibling Squabble” where Miyako has heard of our quest to find a present for her brother from Daichi, though she says that she cannot ever imagine Yamato actually enjoying something. On cue he jumps in out of nowhere to display that sense of violent overprotectiveness towards Hibiki that makes him oh-so-popular amongst certain types of fans by accusing her of trying to plant deceit in his head and threatening to kill her. Miyako once again adopts a super-smug tone and expression and begins to troll him by mocking his lack of social niceties and suggesting that she can run JP’s and the Hotsuin family herself while he goes off to “enrich himself through practical experience” before dying a lingering death in the middle of the Sahara Desert, or drown in the Aegean Sea. Yamato’s pretty much left speechless as his sister leaves to resume the upgrade work with a sarcastic bow but he does achieve Fate Stage 4. Speaking to him again in the Tokyo branch has him admit that he’s been thinking about the real meaning behind Miyako’s words, namely the realization that since he’s never left Japan due to his position, he doesn’t actually know a lot about the rest of the world, and what it means to be free. He asks Hibiki if his offer is still good and admits that maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to leave the Hotsuin family and JP’s in her care to go on a journey to see the world that he has a responsibility to protect with his own two eyes.
We make the suggestion to accompany him and after a start Yamato says that of course we will, as his sworn friend. Then Al Saiduq, apparently eavesdropping, appears out of nowhere to invite himself along on the trip as well, since he too would like to express his thanks to Yamato for all that he’s done. The chief’s clearly taken aback, who wouldn’t be, but consents to him coming along too, but only if he learns how to walk rather than floating around everywhere, as there will be no place for the Septentrione’s strange powers on their trip; they’ll be taking public transportation after all! Yamato’s Fate maxes out, and we have what will no doubt be an amusing and entertaining bro road trip that should provide comedic 4-Koma fodder for years to come.
Al Saiduq’s available event “In This Twisted World” opens very similarly to one he had in the Septentrione Arc called something like “An Awful World” with a couple people in the neighborhood near the Skytree fretting and despairing over the void. Once again Al Saiduq is watching them, wondering if the world will ever break free from divine order. Once he strikes up conversation with Hibiki he seems to start slipping back into his Anguished One persona as now he’s unsure over whether it was right of him to “force” the vast power and responsibility of the Administrative Authority onto us. He brightens up rather quickly once we say that that wasn’t a mistake, and declares that he wants to see how humans will live in the new world finally free of the Administrators’ control. We say that we’ll do it together, and he achieves Fate Stage 3.
However, his next event is entitled “New Anguish”. Now he’s moved to the underground lab, apparently upset over the fact that Miyako has remained distant towards him even as they work together on the Terminal. He is worried that they have yet to make peace still. After a bit more prodding he admits that he believes there is still some lingering discontent from when he rejected her original plan, claiming that it would wipe out our potential. However, there was another potential that he wanted to see blossom, that being Miyako’s. But of course, he didn’t tell her this, believing that it would fall on death ears given how set she was in her self-sacrificial mindset. He asks Hibiki if telling her how he truly feels would allow them to make peace, but we’re supposed to urge him to think for himself on that matter. Al Saiduq agrees with that notion, and says that he’ll give the matter some thought before disappearing again and achieving Fate Stage 4.
I’ll work on maxing out a few other Fates next before I continue with Miyako and Al Saiduq’s subplots. Daichi’s final event, at the Terminal naturally, finds him playing what appears to be not-Devil Survivor Overclocked on his Nintendo 3DS XL. He said he figured he’d play it some to kill time since it still had some power left, and makes the expected fourth wall-leaning comment how weird it feels to save the world in real life rather than inside a video game. Then Miyako comes across the two boys and wonders what we’re doing, mistaking the handheld for a remote control device. Daichi expresses his complete lack of surprise that she’s not familiar with video games and other leisure activities (he went through the same thing with Yamato after all) and then takes the opportunity to oh-so-smoothly suggest that they should have some fun together after Canopus is beaten and this whole incident is behind them, but she cannot fathom how someone can think about such frivolousness at a time like this. Daichi makes the argument that actually having something to look forward to can make you fight harder, like study breaks, and decides to leave his 3DS with her so that she can have a taste of the whole “having fun” thing that normal people do. Once he leaves Miyako expresses a bit of puzzlement that someone like Daichi can have the power to brighten people up no matter what the circumstance, but she’d expect no less from someone Hibiki calls his best friend. Awww. And indeed, the outpouring of love maxes out our hapless-but-well-meaning bud’s Fate.
Next up, Makoto, also at the Terminal. Here Hibiki joins up with Yamato in eavesdropping on Makoto and Miyako discussing the trolley problem again, and this time Makoto says that she has an answer: to join Miyako. Her boss predictably blinks in confusion at this seeming non-answer but Makoto elaborates with a little speech about how the trolley problem is a narrow-minded concept and that life has too many problems to be put on two rails. She implores her boss to trust her, open up to her, so that they can worry together and don’t have to sacrifice the few to save the many. Miyako naturally comes around to this, comments in Makoto’s change in demeanor, and officially reinstates her as a JP’s agent. From the side Yamato nods his approval and leaves with hardly a word more, though Makoto does indeed run into Hibiki on her way out of the chamber, and sincerely thanks him for his role in her transformation from someone who followed orders with little question to someone who learned to listen to her heart and followed her assertions. In ends with another handshake, and another opportunity for “secret handshake 78”. Naturally her Fate maxes out too.
We immediately return for Jungo’s final event, where he’s trying to offer Miyako some chawanmushi since she’s one of the few people he hasn’t given any to yet. In doing this he’s a little surprised to learn from Miyako that she’d never thought of the act of eating being a social activity before as she always only ate alone or with military/government official strawmen. Jungo then suggests that they should eat together in that case, producing a whole tray of more chawanmushi from nowhere to the great puzzlement of the JP’s chief. Jungo’s Fate maxes out.
Ronaldo’s final event starts out with a JP’s agent reporting to Miyako the results of an operation, which was a success not only for completing the objective, but for resulting in a casualty rate of 0% rather than the predicted 40%. Miyako asks how that can be, and the woman replies that it’s because JP’s was actually aided by a number of civilian demon tamers. This is Ronaldo’s cue to jump in a preach a little about the merits of a common front and how they should strive to save as many lives as possible. Even though he admits that saving every last endangered life is probably impossible, it doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t try. He formally requests that civilians and JP’s cooperate, and though she says that she sees some problems with his proposal, Miyako agrees to it. Once she leaves Ronaldo does the usual routine of thanking Hibiki for giving him the courage to take this step and confidently declares that he can now fight Canopus with every last ounce of strength. He achieves Fate Stage 5, and oddly enough Miyako achieves Stage 4 as well. It’s not often at all that two characters level up like that outside of plot stuff like at the conclusion of the “Being Human” mission(s).
This is a good place to stop for now, so we’ll resume things next time.
Compendium
- Catoblepas
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- A mythical creature from Africa who is quite sluggish and slow but can nevertheless petrify people by simply looking at or breathing on them.
- Sandalphon◊
- Sandalphon is often identified as the twin brother of Metatron, and sometimes is said to have originally been a human, in this case the Prophet Elijah, transformed into an angel by God in the same manner of Enoch. Like Metatron, Sandalphon is so massive that it would take over five-hundred years for a person to travel the length of his body. His roles involve battling the fallen angel Samael, delivering prayers to God on garland leaves, and determining the gender of an unborn child.
