Aside from Shinobazu Pond there are two other locations we can explore here in Ueno, and they can both be reached via exits in the underground. The larger of the two is a large shopping facade simply identified as Central Way and the smaller is called Ameyoko Way. They mainly exist so that you can plunder relics from the many storefronts, and there are a lot of lawyer-friendly Bland-Name Product names on display for real world stores and brands like Yodobashi Camera. While you’re exploring always take care to check on the AR scan ring whenever it appears around Flynn because you can find some out of the way items or relic points that way. Plus there are some shortcuts back to the underground district via manholes that come in handy if your party’s getting battered, and there’s a shortcut that can be opened in Central Way back to the Station Entrance by chopping through some wormwood. Examining one of the storefronts in Central Way has Burroughs say that she detects a Domain. I’m gonna put that one on the back burner for now.
Shinobazu Pond is reached through the southernmost exit in the underground after a jog through a very short hallway. This isn’t actually the first time Shinobazu Pond has appeared in the Megami Tensei games, or even in the ones I’ve liveblogged in the past as this was actually the site of the battle against Metatron in Devil Survivor Overclocked and it was a dialogue-only location in Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker. We can actually explore the place this time, and the overall shape of the place looks generally faithful to the real world park but it seems to have been shrunken down a lot and a chunk of the path that leads out into the pond itself has been broken up, necessitating some bunny hopping from Flynn if he wants to map out the whole place. If you do this you can reach the Bentendo Shrine in the middle and climb up a ladder to its eaves and open a chest for the Hawthorn Spear which has the neat side effect of putting targets to sleep. Also I kinda like the view from the roof of all the surrounding lit up buildings against the shimmering darkness of the ceiling. It’s no Scenery Porn, but it does a great job of selling the atmosphere.
So, where’s Pealliadh? To find him we have to find a boat dock near the shrine marked by an awning (on top of which is a chest with a Balm of Rising (revives someone at full HP)). Walk to the end of it and the swamp monster Pealliadh appears, cockily declaring that he’ll never leave the lake - he’ll shit it up all he wants!
Mou-Ryo Horde
HP
- 830
- Resists Physical; Reflects Ice and Dark; Nulls Gun
- Mudo - A Dark-based attack that attempts to instantly-kill one enemy.
- Spirit Drain - Absorbs some MP from one enemy.
Except before we fight Pealliadh we have to contend with some friends that he summons first. The Mou-Ryo Horde’s main threat isn’t the fact that it’s the first enemy to break out the instant death spells or drain MP, it’s the fact that its basic attack is a multi-hitter and can halve or come close to halving a demon’s HP. Flynn’s more sturdy, but I took the precaution of buying the Yasha Soldier armor since it gives him Dark resistance. The key demon I used here was Dzelarhons as she knew Maragi thanks to being fused with a Hua Po. Walter helped too by being a meatshield.
Pealliadh
HP
- 1200
- Weak to Fire; Resists Ice, Light, and Dark
- Axel Claw - Deals up to three hits of moderate Physical damage to random enemies.
- Pulinpa - Attempts to panic one enemy.
- Poison Breath - Attempts to poison all enemies.
- Dekaja - Removes enemy party’s buffs.
Pealliadh’s focus on status ailments means that you can rush his HP down without much worry, especially since there are a number of demons available right now that are immune to poison such as Jueyuan (who’s even found in the area) and Toubyou. Dzelarhons knows Agilao too so there’s that. I didn’t know that Pealliadh even had Dekaja until seeing it now but you don’t really need buffs for this guy as he’s just a mook of a mini-boss. When he dies he goes out wailing “They can’t clean me, bro!”
Winning earns us a Bead and a Revival Bead.
With that Pealliadh Extermination complete earning us 3000 macca and now I don’t have to worry about spelling that name right anymore. The apprentices take the demon’s head as a trophy for the Kelpie but end up playing hot potato with it for a bit due to the foul smell until Flynn get’s saddled with the thing. That’s what you get for never speaking up for yourself! I bet there’s not much in the way of showers in the underground either. That’s all for Ueno as far as exploration goes. There’s an exit from the pond that leads to an enclosed section of the world map that corresponds to the rest of Ueno Park. We can enter the Buddhist temple Kaneiji but it’s one of those one-screen “challenge quest goes here” places. We’ll have to save that for later.
This is a good place for a break so I’m going to go ahead and knock out most of the new challenge quests that have become available before we move on.
Ueno Quest 1 - Eggs for One-Hundred
This one comes down from the “Ueno Head Chef” and it’s calling for Hunters to retrieve Rukh eggs in order to shore up the region’s food supply. The description says that the giant birds like high places such as “the tower that reaches the ceiling” so we have to head back to the Skytree’s 1st Observation Platform and hug the outer wall until the AR display denotes a point of interest. Examining it has the game state that there is indeed a nest full of eggs visible, but predictably trying to empty it pisses Mama off.
Rukh
HP
- 1104
- Weak to Fire; Resists Force; Reflects Gun
- Poison Claw - Deals moderate Physical damage and attempts to poison one enemy.
- Mazanma - Deals moderate Force damage to all enemies.
Since Rukh is a bird you might go into this battle assuming that you can get easy press-turns by shooting it since that’s been the case with all the other bird-like demons we’ve encountered so far but that would be a bad, bad idea here. Rukh hits very hard with Mazanma and it seems to be pretty fast too since I kept missing attacks and Sukukaja didn’t seem to make much of a difference. Just Kill It with Fire as fast as you can I guess.
Flynn obtains the requested egg after the battle and when we turn it in to the Hunter Association we’re awarded with three Luck Incenses.
Ueno Quest 2 - I Want to Make the City Bright
We’re tasked with retrieving an LED light but there’s a catch: it’s located in a storefront that has a Domain set over it. This is our official introduction to how most Domains will be implemented from here on out. If you’re ever examining someplace either in the field or on the world map and Burroughs says there’s a Domain there there will always be a key item relic of some sort required for a challenge quest to be found within after defeating the demon guarding it. Most of the time you can retrieve the relic before even being issued the quest.
We have to go back to the suspicious storefront in Central Way and this time dive right in to the Domain. Unlike Alraune’s this one it greenish in color instead of tan/beige and there will unfortunately be no map on the bottom screen to guide us. Almost all of them will be like this going forward. While the Domains are mazes they generally aren’t too difficult to navigate but you can easily get disoriented from demon battles. Eventually you’ll reach a door that Burroughs will say the guardian demon is behind. Let’s go through it.
Kin-ki
HP
- 1055
- Weak to Force; Resists Physical and Dark; Absorbs Elec
- Fang Breaker - Deals Physical damage and lowers one enemy’s Attack.
- Zionga - Deals moderate Elec damage to one enemy.
Not much to see here. Zionga’s nothing to write home about unless it hits a weakness since Kin-ki’s magic isn’t anything impressive. Fang Breaker could be annoying in a group battle but four-on-one it’s eh.
Flynn obtains the LED Lightbulb afterward and turning it in to the Hunter Association earns us a Recovery Set A which consists of three Medicines, a Revival Bead, a Chakra Drop, and a Chakra Pot.
Ueno Quest 3 - Deliver the Film
This one is nice and easy. First we go to the Ashura-kai shop where the shopkeeper hands Flynn a roll of film. The task, she explains, is to deliver it to a somewhat oddball Hunter who likes to take pictures of Tokyo despite everything that’s happened. We’re told that she’s probably out taking pictures of temples or shrines in the Ueno region.
Thus we have to return to Shinobazu Pond and take the exit that leads to the Ueno Park section of the world map and enter Kaneiji. This time the temple is occupied by a Hunter in a red jumpsuit with a shotgun resting over her shoulder who protests that just inadvertently photobombed the shot she was just trying to take. After getting over that she introduces herself as Nozomi, and despite the fact that she’s a recurring sidequest character, has a unique sprite, and all her lines are fully voiced she doesn’t get a character portrait. She explains that she likes doing photography on the side and given that Flynn doesn’t know what a camera is she hands him a digital camera with a built-in printer so that he too can experience the delights of photography. Completing this quest and meeting Nozomi will open up a couple more quests further down the line. For now, Nozomi thanks us for the film and leaves the temple and we’re awarded with 2500 macca for a job well done.
NG+ Ueno Quest 1 - Slay the Pirate Demons
We’re tasked with killing hordes of Vodyaniks that have been appearing in Ueno in lieu of their usual aquatic habitats. The necessary red ape-like apparitions spawn in the Ameyoko Way side area right next to the underground’s entrance area.
Pirate Horde
HP
- 1079
- Weak to Fire and Force; Nulls Ice and Elec
- Axel Claw - Deals up to three hits of moderate Physical damage to random enemies.
- Mazionga - Deals moderate Elec damage to all enemies.
Not just Vodyanik, but Peallaidh and Zhu Tun She as well. For starters, don’t bring in anything weak to Elec - I myself had Flynn switch to the Ahazuya Gray armor since it bestows Elec resistance (despite being made of chain mail, go figure) and held on to that Raiju since it absorbs the element. The Pirate Horde looks threatening since both of its attacks deal moderate-level damage and we haven’t seen too much of that, but since they’re hordes Maragi, Mazan, and their corresponding Stones should make mincemeat of them before they can do much of anything.
The quest wraps up once three of the Pirate Hordes are beaten earning us 1900 macca.
Those’re all the quests that can be done in Tokyo at the moment, so next we’ll check out the new crop of Mikado quests.
Mikado Quest 8 - A Drunkard’s Best Friend
Another super-duper easy one as we just have to turn in six Birdman Livers dropped by Tangatu Manu to K for 750 macca.
Mikado Quest 9 - Missing Child Search
This quest comes down from “O’Gickbough Woman” whose son Timothy has gone missing in Kiccigiorgi Forest. If you haven’t noticed by now, all the regions in Mikado are actually named after regions of Tokyo only with their names corrupted and they’re presumably located directly over top of their buried namesakes. Kiccigiorgi is derived from Kichijoji (I imagine Flynn being from Kiccigiorgi is a Mythology Gag to Shin Megami Tensei I as that’s where the original Hero was from), and Cheoda (Chiyoda) and Setteguye (Setagaya) have also been mentioned in NPC dialogue. O’Gickbough I’m pretty sure should be Ogikubo, a residential area that lies just about two-and-a-half-miles east of Kichijoji. Fitting given that Mikado seems to have been founded by a Tokyoite refugee.
Anyway, we have to go meet with the boy’s mother on the outskirts of the city first before we can do anything else. Predictably Little Timmy is to be found where we first encountered the Black Samurai, as deep into the forest as one can possibly get. Leading him back introduces us to the game’s Escort Mission mechanics where Flynn can’t do anything in battle but pass his turn and whenever he takes damage Timmy will as well (his HP is displayed where the battle partner would normally be). If Timmy’s HP gets depleted we’ll simply be forced to go back to the starting point and recollect him but fortunately the forest isn’t big at all and the demons aren’t strong enough to pose any threat. Reuniting mother and child has the kid proclaim that he wants to be a Samurai when he grows up and his mom awards us with the Silver Necklace, a useful accessory that nullifies the bind ailment.
Mikado Quest 10 - Capture the Berserker
This one is special. While most challenge quests are unlocked through either K’s Tavern or the Hunter Associations, there are a handful that are actually issued in battle by demons. You just initiate scouting negotiations as normal and they’ll mention they have a friend who wants some help. The only limitation is location: once you’re far enough in the game to set off the proper flag any demon in the proper location can issue it, and it’s up to luck as to whether or not the demon will issue it. If you’re not getting it issued, just keep trying. I think I got this one from a Lham Dearg when I was first heading through Naraku for Tokyo.
The client is the Chinese god Erlang Shen who’s famous for having an all-seeing third eye. He wants us to capture the demon Wu Kong who’s been rampaging about in the heavens and has since fled to Naraku. Like a couple challenge quests in the game this mirrors something from actual mythology, in this case an event in Journey to the West where the two fought for a good, long while and Erlang Shen managed to subdue Wu Kong only after getting some assistance from some other gods.
Wu Kong’s down on the Fourth Stratum, on the other side of the first rope bridge. Naturally he’s not going to come quietly. In fact after a few turns of fighting he’ll turn tail and flee all the way up to the Second Stratum, then flee again after some more fighting to the Fifth Stratum where the giant Minotaur gate is. Only then will he stand his ground to the end.
Wu Kong
HP
- 1472
- Weak to Ice; Resists Fire and Elec; Nulls Physical, Gun, and Light
- Oni Kagura - Deals moderate inaccurate Physical damage to one enemy with increased crit rate.
- Taunt - Greatly raises all enemies’ Attack while greatly lowering their Defense.
- Crushing Wave - Reduces one enemy’s HP to 1.
Ice and Force are really your only avenues of attack here. Taunt can be both a blessing and a curse given the attack buff it gives you but you also have to be mindful of the debuff too because having your Defense lowered by two levels instead of just one all at once against a physically-powerful enemy can be bad news. Crushing Wave is nasty because it’s not an elemental attack at all so there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it but hope the depleted demon can survive another turn so that you can apply healing. The battle actually ended up being very close because even after three Sukundas from a Poltergeist Wu Kong managed to land four Oni-Kaguras in a row; talk about getting lucky!
After Wu Kong cries uncle the voice of Erlang Shen (he’s never been adapted as a demon) rings out to tell Flynn that his own uncle the Jade Emperor and all the other Chinese gods are pleased with his efforts while the Monkey King grumbles that he didn’t expect a human to be the one to take him. Still, he says he has his honor and won’t make a further scene and departs after telling Flynn to not let himself go after this. We’re awarded with the Tokkosho, a bludgeon despite it looking more like a double-bladed dagger in real life, and the ability to fuse Wu Kong himself.
Mikado Quest 11 - Dance of the Dead
This mission tasks us with slaying five demon hordes camped out in the Third Stratum that have been spreading plague, probably the bubonic variety given the apparent presence of Macabres. Head down there and look for the red humanoid apparitions.
Calamity Horde
HP
- 616
- Weak to Gun and Light; Nulls Dark
- Blight - Deals Physical damage and attempts to poison all enemies.
- Life Drain - An Almighty-based attack that absorbs some HP from one enemy.
- Pandemic Bomb - Attempts to sicken all enemies.
These guys are assholes thanks to Blight, another That One Attack. Despite nominally being a “weak” attack it can still hack off half a unit’s health, hits everyone, is very accurate, and its poison effect has a very good proc rate. And y’know, there’s no way to heal multiple units of poison at once yet. Lord forbid they’re able to stack Pandemic Bomb on top of that. I had to end up taking this mission pretty slowly, regularly going back up to the barracks to heal.
As the description said there are five of these hordes to beat, but after you get the fifth one to spawn and take it down a new challenger will suddenly arrive. Oh hey it’s a new version of the Fiend battle theme from Nocturne wait OH F-
David
HP
- 1424
- Weak to Elec; Resists Fire, Ice, and Light; Nulls Dark
- Blight - Deals Physical damage and attempts to poison all enemies.
- Mamudo - A Dark-based attack that attempts to instantly-kill all enemies.
- Pulinpa - Attempts to panic one enemy.
And right away we’re pitted up against one of the Fiends! Traditionally being either a personification of an aspect of death or some kind of urban legend Fiends are almost always a cut above your common demon. Rather fitting that David would be leading Macabres given that he dances and plays music atop people’s graves.
This skeletal violinist is packing Blight as well but he’s not quite as trigger-happy with it as the Calamity Hordes. Instead his greatest weapon is Mamudo so you really need to have protection against Dark because David has a pretty good proc rate with it. This is the original reason why I bought the Soldier Yasha armor, just for this battle, and you can get Resist Dark on a couple demons via Jack the Ripper. Another good way to protect yourself against Dark is by fusing Apis thanks to its knowledge of Tetraja. Tetraja will protect the whole party from the next instant death spell and unlike Tetrakarn and Makarakarn it won’t fade away after only a single turn. This extra safety net should allow you to handle David as long as you’ve got enough Zio-users on your team though there’s always the unfortunate possibility of him going on a tear with Blight.
Upon beating him he’ll say that we did well to overcome his curse but since death takes many forms this won’t be the end and he’ll likely see us again in another form one day. Which may or may not be true given the mechanics behind the Fiends in this game.
Finally eradicating all the enemies nets us the Ahazuya Gray armor which is okay I guess (weak to Elec, resists Force) and more importantly the ability to fuse David (Lv. 22 Fiend; Chagrin + Apsaras + Naga). There’s a very good likelihood that he’ll be the only Fiend we’ll ever be able to use this liveblog outside of Plasma.
NG+ Mikado Quest 2 - Newcomer’s Competition
Another “kill stuff for K” quest. The target this time is the demon Nue that has appeared in Naraku’s fourth stratum and there are eight specimens of the beast that we must slay.
Nue
HP
- 704
- Weak to Gun and Force; Absorbs Elec; Nulls Light and Dark
- Scratch Dance - Deals up to three hits of Physical damage to random enemies.
- Shock - Deals up to four hits of Elec damage to random enemies.
Eh, these are basically just the standard random encounter Nue just with more HP and lower levels. With two different weaknesses pretty much the only way they should be able to inflict any damage before dying is if they score an ambush.
Beating all eight of the Nue earns us 1000 macca.
NG+ Mikado Quest 3 - Pluck the Buds of Rebellion
Finally a New Game+ quest that actually pits us against something unique. This one’s from Hope, requesting that we surreptitiously eliminate a demon that’s hiding in the city. A new location on the list of Mikado locations is temporarily added called “Back Alley” (even though it’s clearly an open village square) where we find a suspicious-looking peasant. Elect to follow him and he’ll turn around to tell Flynn that Mikado’s whole class system is completely messed up and says that he’s willing to put his life on the line to change it. And ours too, for he suddenly turns into the demon Ogun and declares that he’ll bring war to Mikado for viva la revolution and all that.
Ogun
HP
- 960
- Nulls Fire, Light, and Dark
- Rapid Needle - Deals Gun damage to all enemies.
- Maragi - Deals Fire damage to all enemies.
Unlike the Nue Ogun is actually somewhat difficult! While he only has two moves Ogun’s capable of taking out a lot of your party’s HP in one turn (as he gets two press turns) plus he has no weaknesses, fun! Best you can do is to get some Tarundas in there quickly. I had a Raiju since it’s immune to Gun as well as Dzelarhons since she reflects Fire. I never saw Ogun use Maragi during the attempt with Dzelarhons though, just Rapid Needle and basic physicals. Dunno if that was just a coincidence or the AI consciously avoiding the move since it could be reflected; there are enemies in the game who take that sort of thing into account, after all.
A samurai shows up afterwards to congratulate us on the quest’s completion and we’re awarded with both the ability to fuse Ogun and the Steel Hoe that he wielded. Ogun’s the first Zealot of the game, a race whose members are all special fusions (Lv. 24 Zealot; Kamapua\'a + Ictinike + Mokoi), and apparently the proper way for Flynn to wield the Steel Hoe is by randomly flailing it around while screaming at the top of his lungs like a banshee for it hits randomly and can panic enemies. An entertaining mental image.
Those’re all the quests that we can do at the moment so it’s time to move on. Returning to where the Kelpies were the apprentices gladly hand over Pealliadh’s severed head and the demons gleefully go into a frenzy and devour the remains of their tormentor. Once they’re done with this gruesome task the lead one of the group offers to have his fellows form a bridge so that we can cross the Kanda River and head deeper into Tokyo.
Compendium
- Apis
- A god worshiped in the Memphis region of Ancient Egypt whose role was to serve as an intermediary between humans and the ultimate god. Apis takes the form of a bull because the Ancient Egyptians believed that cows represented kings who had become deities in the afterlife, and they were sometimes lavishly mummified and entombed inside the god\'s temples upon death.
- Pealliadh
- A sprite from Scotland whose name translates to \"Shaggy One\" due to their shaggy coat of heavy fur. They live near bodies of water of all kinds and during most of the year they spend their days in solitude, occasionally glimpsed sitting on boulders by travelers. During the winter they seek out companionship, often frightening humans without meaning to.
- Archangel
- The term \"archangel\" comes from Greek and translates to \"chief angel.\" Usually the term is used as a title and is used very sparingly in Christian and Judaic writings with most denominations identifying only ten Archangels at most such as Michael, Raguel, and Metatron. The generic Archangel here is depicted as the second-lowest of all the angelic ranks (thus being the \"chief\" of the generic angels) populating the Third Sphere of Heaven.
- Daphne
- Daphne was a freshwater nymph from Greek mythology who attracted the amorous affections of Apollo. Daphne did not share his feelings but since Apollo could not take a hint she prayed to her father, the river god Peneus, who transformed her into a laurel tree. The laurel would go on to be one of Apollo\'s signature pieces of iconography.
- Rukh
- A massive bird of prey, also known as a roc. While it\'s been popularized in Arabian lore thanks to the tales of Sinbad, its origins are actually tied to an Indian tale of the winged beast Garuda fighting a Naga serpent.
- Kin-ki, Sui-ki, Fuu-ki
- Three of a quartet of oni who were said to be controlled by the Fujiwara clan during Japan\'s Heian period. The three of them all had specific special powers: Sui-ki could create floods, Fuu-ki violent storms, while Kin-ki\'s hide was so strong weapons could do no more than simply bounce off of him.
- Tam Lin
- A figure from Scottish ballad, Tam Lin is the guardian of the Carterhaugh forest who fights the Queen of Fairies out of fear of being sent to Hell as part of a ritual that occurs once every seven years on the night of Halloween.
- Wu Kong
- Son Wu Kong is the monkey hero from the epic Journey to the West. He is noted for being very incorrigible and crafty, and learned seventy-two types of magic from a sage named Bohdi. As a character he was likely inspired by the god Hanuman.
- Macabre
- The demonification of the danse macabre (French for \"dance of death\") genre of art centered around the inevitability of death. Macabre artwork tends to take a black comedy approach to the subject, its most famous visual being a troupe of skeletons dancing atop dead bodies or graves.
- David
- The Fiend David is based off of the French legend of Death himself appearing on Halloween night to rouse the dead to dance by playing on his violin until sunrise the next day. This \"dance of death\" was famously depicted in Camille Saint-Saens\'s Danse macabre orchestral tone poem which contemporary audiences found rather unsettling thanks to its discordant use of strings and xylophone.
- Nue
- In Japanese mythology a Nue is a creature that has the face of a monkey, the body of a tanuki, the tail of a snake, and a cry similar to that of a bird. Its cries in particular where said to herald misfortune, so whenever an emperor would hear it he would quickly start praying. Emperor Nijo was so fearful of it that an associate took it upon himself to slay the beast, leading to many local legends on what exactly happened to its corpse.
- Ogun
- The Nigerian god of iron, after receiving his knowledge from the supreme god Olorun he used an axe to cut down a forest in order to provide the first humans with space to live in. He is also known as an imparter of knowledge but also has a temper and will turn on those he looks after if enraged.
- Ictinike
- Ictinike is a trickster figure from the lore of the Lakota Native American tribe, Unlike the Norse god Loki, he is not necessarily an evil figure as tales of his hapless exploits were used to teach morals to children. His normal appearance is that of a spider, but he can also assume the form of a red-cloaked human.
- Kamapua\'a
- Meaning \"hog child\", Kamapua\'a is a figure from Hawaiian mythology associated with the god of agriculture Lono and the island of Maui. His most famous tales involve his relationship - sometimes romantic, sometimes hostile - with the volcano goddess Pele. It is thanks to Kamapua\'a\'s powers that the island\'s volcanic rock became fertile soil.
- Take-Minakata
- Take-Minakata was the son of the founder of Izumo, Okuninushi. He became a double-amputee after his arms were lopped off when he was defeated by Take-Mikazuchi in a sumo wrestling match. Afterwards he went to Suwa in modern-day Nagano Prefecture where he became a local guardian deity and remained inside his lakeside temple, only leaving during the winter when the lake froze over.
- Quicksilver
- A Quicksilver is a female poltergeist but other than that nothing differentiates them from normal Poltergeists.
- Mamedanuki
- This demon is based on a tanuki, a type of raccoon native to Japan. In folklore tanuki have the supernatural ability to shapeshift into different forms and guises aided by, believe it or not, massive twelve-foot-square scrotums.
