New Game+ on the Triangulum Arc is simultaneously even easier than it is on the Septentrione Arc and a little frustrating. Easier because you get the compendium almost right away instead of having to make it through two days without, and a little frustrating because scrounging up enough Survivor Award points for carrying things over is a lot more difficult to do. Unlike before, I only really had enough to bring over a single demon, skills, auction level, and lift the Anti-Grinding. Fortunately money is pretty easy to come by on the Triangulum Arc, though I decided that in order to maximize my point reward at the end of the run I was doing to forego free battles and rely exclusively on the free DLC stuff for my grinding needs. The DLC missions give out a very low amount of macca for completing them, but by the time you get to the endgame-level demons you can get around 2.5k per battle with Moneybags equipped.
The other aspect about the Triangulum Arc’s New Game+ that’s a little disappointing is the fact that while there are some bonus missions, there aren’t anywhere near as many as there were on the Septentrione Arc. Unlike before where there was one on every day but Day 1 and Day 8 here there are only two, one on Thursday and the other on Friday, and one of them requires a Survivor Award unlock. I’m going to be saving them for next time.
Anyway, when we reach the decision point this time we’ll be checking out the “Future Found” event where Yamato asks Ronaldo to once again explain the merits of his plan. He explains his belief that fighting all of the Administrators and Swords in existence for mankind’s freedom is the best option of the three, since if they consigned one of them to remain in the Akasha Stratum forever they’d never be able to live with themselves, while the plan to create a new world via the wills of the entire human population is far too risky. So, despite my significant misgivings we decide to go along with him, and the advocates of the other options stand down, Yamato and Al Saiduq apparently figuring that perhaps it is necessary to break a few (potentially billion) heads to ensure humanity’s freedom. Al Saiduq says that the Terminal is ready, but his modifications to the Skill Crack feature will inexplicably take much longer than it did on his own ending, the ETC being three in the morning.
Ronaldo tells everyone to make sure that they’re prepared for battle and everyone departs, just as Nicaea starts up again for Tico’s final word of the day. Regardless of which gender you picked, both of them are glad that we’ve chosen this path because it means that they can continue to serve Hibiki. Even if it’s for forever and ever.
Last Day - Our Final Stand
Unlike on Al Saiduq’s ending where there was only a single scene before the final battle, the other two routes provide you with eight where you can speak with various party members for some last bit of insight/encouragement/what-have-you before the end. However, we can only watch six of them before we’re railroaded into taking on Canopus, and his is likely because these conversations actually do yield some Fate points, so despite the fact that we’re past the decision point we can still have a last chance at getting that one straggler or two up to Fate Stage 5 if we haven’t already. And of those six, we can only really choose three, since Yamato’s, Miyako’s, and Al Saiduq’s scenes are mandatory. “Show your free will” my butt.
Going down the list, the first of the events is with Yamato at the Tokyo branch’s command room. He says that he did not foresee Hibiki choosing the path that will lead to a difficult, nigh eternal war against the stars, but some of the ol’ Keita-brand bloodlust has gotten to him as he adds that cutting through armies of Administrators and Swords with their own hands doesn’t sound like such a bad prospect. He then offers some assurance, telling Hibiki that if he ever find his will faltering, just remember that he’s with him too, and that once we have destroyed every last Administrator we will have true peace.
Miyako is at the Upgraded Terminal listening to an agent’s damage report. Once the agent is dismissed and Hibiki approaches Miyako muses on how even once Canopus is defeated and the world restored yet again there will still be much suffering in store for humanity once the battle against the other Administrators starts. However, if we can persevere then it’ll be worth it to be at a state of eternal peace at last and have access to the Astrolabe still, so she promises to remain with us until that day comes. After her comes Al Saiduq, who’s off in one of the Tokyo branch’s hallways, apologizing for not being able to lend a hand against the Triangulum like he had intended. He admits that even he is feeling a little anxiety at the thought of the upcoming battle against Canopus and all the other beings out there, but if Hibiki’s confident that they can win, so is he. He vanishes into thin air yet again, but not before repeating Miyako’s pledge to remain with us until the end.
The next possible event is at SL Plaza where we encounter Daichi, reminiscing on the time we fought Dubhe, the moment the fight against the Administrators really began. He says he feels like they’ve been fighting forever already, then Io comes along to say hi to the two teens. Daichi jokes that it must be fate that they’ve run into each other, and Io takes it seriously and says that it’s true, perhaps fate really did bring them together that day at the subway station, and that it’s up to them to protect the world so that people can live in true peace. The three talk a bit about how funny it is that they began that day as normal high school students, and now they’re heroes before pledging to do all that they can to save the world. Airi and Hinako’s scene at Karamachi Plaza follows similar lines, and the two say that they’re practicing their shows’ dance routines so that they can perform and keep people’s spirits up in between Administrator fights.
The final scene in Tokyo returns us to the JP’s branch where we encounter the rest of the ladies talking about Canopus and what comes after. Fumi, naturally, is really more bent on studying Canopus than anything else, and the same goes for all the other Administrators and Swords that they haven’t encountered yet. Then the conversation turns towards the Astrolabe and Makoto agrees with the notion of “with great power comes great responsibility”, so they shouldn’t use it for trivial things and when they do use it, think carefully about the consequences.
Osaka and Nagoya only have one scene each. Osaka’s has Jungo helping Keita with mitt drill training at the usual America Town training spot, and of course Keita says that he cannot wait to go up against the strongest being in existence as well as getting to beat the crap out of the arrogant Administrators. That’s how things should be, he says, survival of the fittest. Jungo adds his sentiments that they can’t lose if they work together, and Keita tells Hibiki that once everything’s over the two of them should duke it out in order to determine which one of them is stronger once and for all. I suppose he won’t mind getting Tetrakarn’d to the face again.
And finally we have Ronaldo and Joe in Nagoya’s Sakae district, where we can come along to interrupt their “bromance” (Ronaldo does not understand what that means, prompting Joe to explain that we’re just “over-manalyzing in juvenile fashion the implications of two handsome bachelors enjoying each other’s company”). Naturally they’re really talking about Canopus, and Joe says that he feels bad for all the civilians that’re going to get caught in the crossfire afterwards. Even Ronaldo admits to being surprised that we decided to follow his plan, but as long as the Administrators exist mankind is bound to be in danger from them. They will just have to do their best to keep the collateral damage to a minimum, and be the shield that protects the weak.
So once any six of those scenes have been watched the remaining two vanish and at 3:00 the final battle opens up.
Final Mission: An Eternal Battle
- The Factor of Heat must be defeated
- The whole party cannot die
Unlike the Polaris battles, the one against Canopus does not change at all on different routes. The only difference is that some of the dialogue from your party members is slightly tweaked to reflect the fact that there’s more to come after the god-amoeba-alien, and even if you didn’t field him (though I did) Ronaldo will show up in between phases for some mandatory lines just like Al Saiduq did previously. I did learn though that even if you attempt to one-round Canopus (which is doable with high levels and/or a Kishin) you cannot actually finish it off in one turn. It’ll hang on with a single HP point so that it can still access it’s healing skills and spawn more Genes. It’s even more of a futile gesture than before, of course.
Once Canopus is defeated again and Providence vanishes this time the entire party is shown floating in the starry void, with Al Saiduq reporting that we should be able to manipulate the Astrolabe again. As he and Miyako drift up to the top screen Ronaldo speaks for everyone and declares that no matter how dire the path, they’ll always find a way and never surrender, and Miyako finally shakes off her pessimism by marveling at how she’s starting to believe that they can actually prove victorious in their struggle against the sky. A fragmented disk appears below Al Saiduq as he prepares to regress the world again, and everyone still on the bottom screen drifts into a circular formation as they all glow with the light of the Administrative Authority. Instead of fading to white, however, instead the screen fades to black, and the ending narration wonders if the path we’re heading down will lead to liberation or ruin. Once again there is the sound of a bell and a voice urging us to wake up.
And so we find ourselves back in the same spot we were at the start of the arc, Daichi waking up Hibiki after their exams finish and asking him how he did. Before they can talk about Nicaea, however, the classroom is rocked by a giant earthquake, and the two receive emails from the death clip sight. The website, now up to ver. 2.1 (complete with another new logo - I’ve seen speculation that the new set of invaders are based off of the Winter Diamond with Betelgeuse as the Administrator going by its shape), comes up and we are once again greeted by Tico, who notes that the crisis is starting a lot earlier this time around. But have no fear, they’ll be there to serve as in all our battles!
The BGM immediately switches to “Break the Record” as the rest of the ending narration plays out over another black background (nothing like illustrations of a city in flames or a hand reaching defiantly out for the sky or anything like that). It’s pretty simple, and not really all that condemning. It’s actually a reminder that if your resolve ever falters, just remember that your friends and allies are with you. The credit sequence this time cycles through three different BGM tracks, “Break the Record”, “at Last”, and finally “The Revolving World”, and the message from Nicaea is somewhat expected:
The cycle continues...
Let’s survive.
This ending adds the Spring Triangle to the save screen, and by extension the Great Diamond since Cor Caroli’s already visible.
- Fumi’s Confidant - Fumi achieved Fate Stage 5. (10p)
- Otome’s Confidant - Otome achieved Fate Stage 5. (10p)
- Keita’s Confidant - Keita achieved Fate Stage 5. (10p)
- Airi’s Confidant - Airi achieved Fate Stage 5. (10p)
- Joe’s Confidant - Joe achieved Fate Stage 5. (10p)
- Hinako’s Confidant - Hinako achieved Fate Stage 5. (10p)
- Endless Battle - Completed Ronaldo’s Triangulum Arc ending path. (30p)
- Focused - Completed the game without partaking in any free battles. (120p)
- Unkillable - Completed the game without any team leaders dying even once. (200p)
This time I used a guide that I had to translate myself in order to max everyone’s Fates out. Unfortunately you can’t get the Triumphant title on the Triangulum Arc; it’s still exclusive to Daichi’s Septentrione Arc route. These were enough points for just about everything else I needed to get for the remainder of the game, so that was good. Next time we will be tackling the bonus content!
Compendium
- Cabracan
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- Son of the bird demon Vucub Caquix, Cabracan is a Mayan monsters whose domain is over mountains and earthquakes. Ironically his rule of the Earth came to an end when he was buried alive by two Mayan heroes, Hunahpu and Xbalanque.
- Mother Harlot◊
- Mother Harlot is derived from the figure commonly known as the Whore of Babylon who appears in the Book of Revelation. She is described as a harlot seated on the back of a seven-headed beast, a cup of filth clenched in her hand and being drunk on the blood of martyrs. An angel tells John that she represents "that great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth", so she is thought to represent Rome, though some scholars believe she might actually be Jerusalem.
- Titan◊
- Titans are the predecessors of the Olympian gods, the first generation being born from the earth Gaia and the sky Uranus. The Titan Cronus became king by overthrowing his father Uranus but was in turn overthrown by his own son Zeus and the other Olympian gods in a decade-long war known as the Titanomachy. Upon their victory the Olympians imprisoned their parents within Tartarus, the deep abyss far below the underworld, with a few such as Atlas and Prometheus being spared.
- Okuninushi◊
- The creator of Japan, though in a more metaphorical sense than what's usually presented. Numerous attempts were made on his life by jealous suitors after the beautiful Princess Yagami fell in love with him, though each time he was killed he was brought back to life. Eventually he fled, and after some misadventures involving Susano'o he married his daughter Suseri-hime and arrived at the province of ancient Izumo where he became its ruler. When he eventually abdicated his throne he was made the ruler of spirits and magic, and the god of nation-building, business, and agriculture.
- Xi Wangmu◊
- Xi Wangmu is an ancient Chinese goddess whose full title is the Queen Mother of the West. The earliest mentions of her date back to the Zhou Dynasty during the years 1046 to 256 BC, where she described as being a fierce goddess with tiger teeth and the ability to spread disease, though after being inducted into the Taoist pantheon she became a goddess of immortality. She is still not necessarily a benevolent goddess though, since those who fail to follow her teachings, such as a number of emperors during the late BC and early AD years, are destined to shortly die.
