As you can probably imagine the White do not appreciate the fact that we’ve turned down their demand to destroy all of reality. Speaking for the group, the Issachar White cannot believe that Flynn would believe in the future even after visiting those other worlds and has chosen to upend the status quo while also preserving it. Since he’s no longer of any use to them, the White says, he can stay trapped inside this fabricated space of the Expanse, regretting his choice until he eventually dies. So we find ourselves within a mysterious forest drained of all color that the Gauntlet scan cannot identity.
It’s here a voice speaks up to ponder the fact that Flynn managed to reject not only the despair of the White but also the law of God and the temptation of demons. It’s a voice that we haven’t heard in quite a while and after a quick fade out Stephen appears before us. It becomes clear from his choice of words that he knows that Flynn is a reincarnated soul and Burroughs reports that he’s likely the one he’s been searching for so it seems pretty likely that Stephen was the one who originally programmed her. Convinced that Flynn is F reborn Stephen explains that he must return to his world and revive the “Goddess of Tokyo” if he wants to bring about a future. As for the White, he explains that they are an aggregation of thoughts rather than fully independent entities so I guess you could say that they’re the world’s despair personified. The four of them are likely lurking in this Monochrome Forest, Stephen explains, so in true video game fashion we’re going to have to seek ‘em out and beat ‘em all if we’re going to escape. This mission is designated With Complete Understanding and Stephen leaves us to get started on that after giving us a full heal.
Now here’s the significance of Stephen appearing here as far as game mechanics go - it means that I’ve managed to successfully thread the needle and kept my alignment points within that roughly +/-8 range in order to reach the Neutral path. The last three alignment questions you get in Infernal Tokyo (saying whether you wish to go back home or not, Walter’s galaxy brain take on equality, and the White’s question of whether to preserve or destroy the order of the world) are worth five, five, and ten points in that order so if you still have a rough idea of where Flynn currently is alignment-wise you can fine-tune it with those three. Provided you haven’t been too neutral of course. There’s no Cynical Man in the parallel Tokyos, but there actually is a way to still tell which way Flynn’s leaning - during these chapters Flynn’s icon on the world map will rotate clockwise if he’s lawful, counterclockwise if he’s chaotic, and will waver back and forth if he’s neutral. It’s a holdover from the SNES games (and maybe Nocturne, I dunno about that one for sure) and it’s a neat little Easter egg…but it’s something that 95% of players are never going to notice or pick up on.
The Monochrome Forest is made up of five different isolated areas that are all kinda small and twisty and often have paths blocked off by wormwood. There is kind of a logic as to how the different areas connect, but more often than not it’s going to feel like you’re simply stumbling around. If you end up getting dumped back to the starting area it’s not all bad though: Stephen reprises his role from the Alraune Domain as a Pokemon Center should you speak with him. Out of the new demons that show up here I find Abaddon, Ammut, and Master Therion to be the three most notable. Abaddon spams Hades Blast just like the one from that challenge quest way back when, Ammut spams War Cry, and Master Therion has Ancient Curse. Blah. Burroughs will warn you whenever there’s a White in whichever “Animal Trail” you’re in but they’re not random encounters - you’ll find little purple portals on the ground that’ll take you to them. Usually these portals are hidden behind wormwood so you’ll have to figure out alternate routes to get behind them, making the Monochrome Forest something of a miniature teleporter maze.
The first one we encounter is the Hugo White. He, and all the others, refer to Flynn as “our fifth son” which is kinda ambiguous phrasing. I remember when spoilers for the game were first coming out people thought that maybe this meant that the White were the Greater-Scope Villain of the whole series with each “son” being a prior Hero but that doesn’t seem to be the case in the final product. It could suggest that Flynn is the fifth reincarnation of the same soul, or it could just be a cute little reference to the fact that IV is the fifth mainline Shin Megami Tensei game if you include Strange Journey and discount if…. Anyway, the Hugo White is not happy that we chose neutrality and threatens to unmake us if we can’t choose nothingness.
White
HP
- 5569
- Nulls Light and Dark
- Mabufudyne - Deals heavy Ice damage to all enemies.
- Mazandyne - Deals heavy Force damage to all enemies.
- Hamaon - A Light-based attack with a high chance of instantly-killing one enemy.
- Naught Wave - Deals moderate Almighty damage and may instantly-kill all enemies.
- Tetrakarn - Erects a one-turn barrier that reflects the next Physical or Gun attack.
This is the closest we can get in this game to punching Hugo’s lights out. His White incarnation has a crippling overreliance on magic so you can actually just have that shiny Oberon you just recruited spam Makarakarn every single turn to shut him down - the Hugo White doesn’t even counter it by spamming Naught Wave like certain other bosses would if you try to cheese them like that. And if you want to further humiliate him use Fundraise to shake him down for as much macca as you can (yes, Flynn can indeed fleece an Anthropomorphic Personification of nihilism and despair). Fittingly his last words are that as creatures of passion humans are no different from demons and are thus beyond redemption.
Winning earns us a Bead Chain.
The second White we encounter is the K White. This one’s always seemed a bit of a stretch to me; like Issachar and Isabeau, I can definitely understand why the White would take their form when speaking with Flynn, and even Hugo to an extent since he’s largely responsible for Flynn being sent to Tokyo but K’s connection to Flynn seems much more tenuous. I guess he’s supposed to be like a mentor figure to the Samurai, Flynn included, but you spend so little time with him that the White taking his form seems a little hollow. I’ve always thought that Hope might’ve made more sense but he’s barely in the game too. Pickings are slim I guess. Either way, this guy claims that he’ll teach us the splendor of nonexistence.
White
HP
- 6464
- Nulls Light and Dark
- Blight - Deals Physical damage and may poison all enemies.
- Riot Gun - Deals severe Gun damage to one enemy.
- Blast Arrow - Deals moderate Gun damage to all enemies.
- Blank Bullet - Deals two hits of moderate Gun damage and may panic all enemies.
- Tarukaja - Raises Attack.
The K White has a fair bit of firepower on his side. Blight makes an unwelcome return after a prolonged absence plus he has the honor of being the first enemy to break out a severe-level spell. Riot Gun is very painful, capable of two-shotting pretty much anyone and anything that doesn’t have any sort of Gun protection if it doesn’t outright one-shot them plus it seems to have a slightly greater crit rate than normal. However just as the Hugo White overrelied on magic, the K White has nothing but Physical and Gun attacks with no Almighty moves in sight so you can simply throw up Tetrakarn to completely shut him down. In my experience during this playthrough Tetrakarn has not been anywhere near as available for the player as Makarakarn has been, but I was fortunate enough to obtain an Alciel via a fusion accident towards the very end of Infernal Tokyo’s Camp Ichigaya as they naturally learn the spell (they better given their weakness to both Physical and Gun!). This White’s last words are that if Flynn continues to have hope even after seeking a dead-end of possibility then he is beyond redemption.
Winning earns us a Chakra Pot.
The third White is the one wearing Isabeau’s face. Her smack talk is that she’ll eliminate Flynn’s will in preparation for a new messiah’s coming.
White
HP
- 8576
- Nulls Light and Dark
- Titanomachia - Deals heavy inaccurate Physical damage to all enemies with increased crit rate.
- Impossible Slash - Deals moderate Physical damage and lowers all enemies’ Defense.
- Maragidyne - Deals heavy Fire damage to all enemies.
- Mamudoon - A Dark-based attack with a high chance of instantly-killing all enemies.
- Panic Voice - Attempts to panic all enemies.
Well, well, they’re learning. While the Hugo White and K White could be almost completely shut down with the right reflection barriers the Isabeau White is a mixed attacker so you can’t simply throw up one of those and call it a day. To tell the truth this battle actually went fairly poorly for me. She got off a lucky crit and smirk chain (off of normal physicals mind, not Titanomachia) and a lucky Mamudoon stuck down both Flynn and my other main damage-dealer Marici (through a Dark resistance at that). One day I will remember that Tetraja Stones are a thing. Not this day though. Or any other most likely. Without being able to swap out demons or even heal (don’t be like me and rely on the MC for healing 80% of the time) I just had to hope that she didn’t get lucky again with the crits. Fortunately I had doused her with some War Cries earlier in the battle and Abaddon’s pretty sturdy and resistant to most of what this White can throw out, even reflecting Fire. Her last words are that if Flynn thinks humans can live in the quagmire of order and chaos then that neutrality is beyond redemption.
Winning earns us a Balm of Rising.
After some more running around we find the final White, the Issachar White, the unofficial leader of the group. Unlike the others, this one actually plays up the fact that he’s taking the form of someone Flynn knows: tears are running down his/Issachar’s face as he tells Flynn that he will use the form of the friend who died at his own hand in the rift between the people to show him how wrong the choice to not end the world was.
White
HP
- 8686
- Nulls Light and Dark
- Mortal Jihad - Deals heavy inaccurate Physical damage to one enemy with increased crit rate.
- Impossible Slash - Deals moderate Physical damage and lowers all enemies’ Defense.
- Blank Bullet - Deals two hits of moderate Gun damage and may panic all enemies.
- Mamudoon - A Dark-based attack with a high chance of instantly-killing all enemies.
- Megidola - Deals moderate Almighty damage to all enemies.
- Naught Wave - Deals moderate Almighty damage and may instantly-kill all enemies.
- Charge - Greatly increases the power of the user’s next Physical or Gun attack.
- Luster Candy - Raises Attack, Defense, and Speed.
Mamudoon, Mamudoon, Mamudoon, why is it always Mamudoon? Why not Mahamaon for a change (I know it’s because Flynn isn’t guaranteed to be immune to it most of the time)?
The final White doesn’t have a Signature Move but does have an All Your Powers Combined thing going on by possessing the other three’s unique spells. At the end of the day though the Charged Mortal Jihads and Luster Candy spam are the greater threats. If he spends all three press-turns popping Luster Candies you need to Dekaja that away, pronto. Heck, if he manages to sustain even one Luster Candy you need to fix that because by now we all know how fast momentum can shift. My main damage-dealer here was Marici since I managed to get Charge along with most of the best Physical/Gun moves available right now on her: Berserker God, Hades Blast, and Stun Needles. In fact if all the hits manage to land Stun Needles can easily out-damage Berserker God, Charged or not.
Also unlike the others this White is more chatty and open to Boss Banter. For the first round he’ll ask Flynn what sort of possibilities he thinks the world holds. Obviously answering “God” or “Demons” is a bad idea for Flynn’s indecision makes the White even stronger (Flynn’s party’s hit with a debuff to all stats while the White gets a buff to all of his) while “People” is a trap; that one will result in Flynn’s party getting the Debilitate treatment since putting faith in those trapped in an endless cycle is only something a blind person would do, apparently. Instead you have to come off as wishy-washy by saying “I don’t know yet” which has the White remark that we’re being too vague but the rather cheesy “spirit of pursuing possibility” energizes Flynn anyway, giving his whole party an extra Luster Candy of their own.
The second round is more straightforward with the White asking Flynn to keep Walter and Jonathan in mind and consider what they would think of Flynn’s actions. Clearly you don’t want to forget them because you’re rewarded for your douchebaggery by having Flynn’s HP being reduced to one and his MP completely drained. So don’t be a dick and instead refuse to forget your friends, Flynn’s Determinatorism powering his party up like a shonen hero. Burroughs will also chip in to rub some more salt in by saying that there’s no reason to team up with anyone so resentful, rash, and irrational. This touches a nerve apparently for the White will then start furiously spamming Megidola, Blank Bullet, Impossible Slash, etc. but if you can withstand that last barrage victory is yours. This White’s last words are not a condemnation like the others but instead he speaks with Issachar’s true voice, pleading with Flynn not to leave him behind in the rift of God, demons, and man. Sorry guys, I spent too much time pouring over guides trying to figure out each decision I had to make to get the Neutral ending to throw it all away so so long, chumps!
Winning earns us a Megidola Stone.
With Complete Understanding comes to an end and we’re showered with EXP and 15000 macca as the Monochrome Forest collapses and Flynn finds himself on that desolate plain where we had to meet that little girl in one of the game’s opening dreams. Stephen appears to deliver some exposition before sending us on our way: that little girl we’ve been seeing on and off throughout the game? That’s actually the Goddess of Tokyo he mentioned earlier, not a “real” mythological figure but more like a deification of the spirit of the city itself. In the upcoming world she’ll be the one to answer the cries of the people and comfort those who are hurt and lost, but in order to revive her Flynn must remove the dome of rock that has split the people of the city in two, which ironically was set up by F to protect Tokyo originally. What’s more, Stephen reveals that the Firmament is not just a simple layer of rock but actually a form taken by the guardian deity of Tokyo, the former rebel Masakado. So basically not only are we going to have to revive this goddess, but also Masakado himself. No rest for the weary it seems. Stephen entrusts Burroughs with keeping an eye on Flynn before saying that a “certain someone” is waiting for us and once again everything goes white…
… … …
Now you may be wondering what happens if you do decide to turn the world to nothingness as the White order you to. In that case there’s a brief scene where you hear ethereal voices giggling, laughing, and sighing in relief before the image of the Yamato Reactor’s central control device appears. The White claim that they created it (which is factually untrue unless they\'re being heavily, and self-servingly, metaphorical) and the Isabeau White claims that all we have to do is destroy the control system. She explains that since the Yamato Perpetual Reactor was originally a particle accelerator it is capable of generating black holes which is indeed what one of their potential functions is. Only this is the fictional, LHC conspiracy theory version where the singularity will swallow up the Earth…and expand to swallow up the entire universe if it goes out of control. Well it can already rip open a portal to the demon world so…eh, I’ll roll with it. We’re thrust into one final boss battle…
Control Device
HP
- ???
- Nulls Light and Dark
- None
As Burroughs informs us, the Control Device is simply an inanimate object. It will not respond in any way to your continued attacks on it other than emitting metallic groans and shrieks as the barrage continues. She’ll keep track of its damage percentage and when it approaches 75% she’ll ask if Flynn really understands what he’s doing but then backs off and says of course he does. When it finally does reach its limit she reports that it’s starting to go berserk and says in an uncharacteristically solemn tone “Congratulations on completing your objective.”
One by one the White fade away into the coming nothingness, content that they’ve triumphed over God’s plan and saved mankind from sorrow and pain. The Isabeau White is the last to vanish; she says that the long and painful road has finally come to an end, and ends by displaying the most human bit of behavior seen from the quartet by telling Flynn, “Thank you…and goodbye.” before disappearing. And so we bare witness to one last cutscene where Flynn stands before the reactor’s control device as a black singularity appears in the device’s hoop before expanding to consume him, Tokyo, Mikado, everything. There’s no reward to be found in this ending, no sense of accomplishment or satisfaction, because there is nothing and there will be nothing. Nothing at all, for ever and ever and ever…
So it’s a good thing we didn’t actually go that route, right?
Compendium
- Oberon
- The husband of Titania and the king of the fairies in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, though the name had appeared in French literature prior to that. In the play he and his wife get into disputes over how to raise a human child (Oberon wants to raise him as an underling, Titania a son) and he has his servant Puck slip her a love potion in order to make her fall in love with a donkey-headed man as a spiteful joke.
- Huoniao
- A “sun crow” from Chinese myth. Originally there were ten of these creatures that each took turns flying through the sky but one day all ten appeared at once, scorching the earth. An archer named Houyi saved the day by shooting down nine of them leaving only one sun remaining.
- Ammut
- If a soul’s heart outweighed the feather placed on Anubis’s scales it would be devoured by Ammut, a monstrous crocodilian beast whose name means “eater of souls”. Once their heart was eaten the soul would be denied entrance to Osiris’s afterlife and doomed to an eternity of restlessness.
- Master Therion
- Therion means “beast” in Greek and this demon is derived from the first of the two Beasts who appear in the Book of Revelation at the end of the New Testament. The first Beast is a seven-headed scarlet monster who appears from the abyss of the sea and is being ridden by a harlot and is usually interpreted by scholars as symbolizing the corruption and oppression of Rome. Occultist Aleister Crowley identified himself as “Master Therion” after a drug binge, and if you’re wondering about the genitalia he had a tendency to include well-endowed members in his writings.
- Sleipnir
- The eight-legged horse that served as Odin’s steed in Norse mythology. Sleipnir’s father is the stallion Svaoilfari, the legendary horse who assisted in the construction of a massive fortification around the gods’ domain. When it looked like the builder was going to meet his contract, which the gods never planned on honoring, Loki “distracted” Svaoilfari by taking the guise of a female horse and Sleipnir was the result of their union.
- Anubis
- The jackal-headed judge of the dead in Egyptian mythology. Anubis’s original role was to guide the souls of the dead to the afterlife and weigh their hearts on a scale opposite an ostrich feather with the feather representing “truth”. A person who had lived a righteous life would have a heart lighter than the feather and would be able to move on while those whose hearts were heavier would be devoured by the monster Ammut.
