Moonspeak! 1337speak! Let's Play Soul Hackers!

You're asked to put in a password and I would have asked y'all for one except it literally matters for all of 2 minutes. After that, Finnegan appears on the roof, and says they're going to settle it like men. I'm sure Urabe will be fine. I guess Finnegan didn't really understand what Urabe was doing? I don't know, because he didn't destroy the GUMP or keep it or anything.

The screen fades to sepia, and we're back with Redman. Turns out that Urabe didn't survive. Bummer.



On the bright side, BandyAid gains six levels! You get one point per level to modify one of six stats:



(力) Strength: Increases damage dealt with physical attacks ("Sword" weapons).

(知力) Knowledge: Increases Max MP, as well your accuracy with magic. It also has a lesser effect on magic damage dealt, magic evasion rate, chance of inflicting status effects, and the chance of evading/recovering status effects.

(魔力)Magic: Increases Max MP and damage dealt with magic. It has a minor effect on magic accuracy. Ultimately useless for BandyAid.

(耐力) Constitution: Increases Max HP, as well as your defense.

(速さ) Agility: Increases accuracy of physical attacks, evasion rate, and turn order. Also has a minor effect on escaping battle.

(運) Luck: Does a lot of little things. Increases accuracy of physical attacks, evasion, critical hit rate, status effect rates and evasion, items found after battle, and demon negotiation.

The best for BandyAid are, in this order: Agility, Intelligence and Strength. Constitution can be ok once in a while, but he'll pick up more HP just for leveling up.

I'll leave this up to you guys: How should we divide up his points?

I'd put at least two into strength. I find that always makes a difference early in these games. One or two into constitution, whatever's left into agility. There's time later to get him ready for casting, etc.

Edit: missed your guide. Invert my suggestion!

Four strength, two agility. Worry about health after the cake first dungeon.

Or never, since you at least get a partner in this one. I had forgotten that you don't get her first levels at the same time

I think my guy has some points in Magic because my graphics got all fucked up at the end of the Urabe part and I was just panicking trying to save since I hadn't yet, and didn't realize this game uses six stats like the old ones instead of five like the newer games. Hahahah.

I thought the password thing was kind of cool but it's also rather silly. At least they didn't turn it into a completely retarded memorization "puzzle."

Obviously, teenagers are the only ones stupid and cocky enough to fall for this whole "save the world" schtick, which is why you never see middle-aged "heroes" busting evil up.

This would potentially be more surprising if his name were different.

So pour into Constitution, then a couple into Agility?

If BandyAid dies, it's game over, regardless of his partner's status.

It gets so much worse. Yeah, let's put an 18 year old in charge of fighting an organization that's been responsible for every significant development in the history of mankind

Oh. I didn't die yet (in the first dungeon, basically) so I didn't know that. But I stand by what I said for now.

Update 4: Jesus Christ this is long.

So I went with this:
3 Strength, 1 to Constitution and 2 to Agility. That seemed to be the happy medium.

Hitomi wakes BandyAid up. She thought he was dead. He immediately uses the password he learned from the Vision Quest to unlock the GUMP. Somehow, the Summoning Program activates itself (despite it being deleted in the Vision Quest), and an error message appears on the screen. A ball of light emerges from the screen. Oh. My. God. Do you know what we've done?! DO YOU?!


Navi---I mean, the ball of light, flies across the trailer, then bounces back toward Hitomi.


Welp, looks like Hitomi was incinerated. Oh well. Maybe in her next life, she'll learn to dodge balls of energy. It's a tough way to learn a lesson, but at least she'll remember it!

Wait.

The presence within Hitomi laughs ecstatically, and thanks you for freeing her. She introduces herself as Nemissa. The demon Nemissa. She says she's leaving, but thanks you for her new body. Hitomi resurfaces, and is freaked out. Nemissa is annoyed that Hitomi's soul is still in the body and still has some control over it.

Oh, and the fusion feature of the GUMP is unlocked, so now we can fuse where ever, whenever. Life keeps getting more convenient!


Fellow Spookies Six and Lunch show up. We technically already met Six in Paradigm-X, he was the bald man we ran into.
Six's real name: Sako Shingo. Likes: Guns, Horror Movies. 17 years old.
Lunch's real name: Kitegawa Junnosuke. Likes: Food. 19 years old. Lunch is the best member of Spookies because he is the only one I don't feel like killing.

Lunch says that Hitomi's really loud, he heard her all the way outside. Both he and Six are surprised by her new hair color and her total change in attitude. Six wonders where Spooky and Yu-ichi are. Hopefully, Yu-ichi is lying in a ditch bleeding to death because Yu-ichi is worthless and I hate him.

Lunch notices the fancy new Paradigm-X hardware. Apparently it uses a new, fancy, hacker-proof chip called Krypto. I'm sure it's nothing though.

BandyAid's phone rings. It's Spooky. Apparently he's got himself in a teensy bit of trouble over at the Algon Net Service building in the Nikamimon district. You know, the building we just saw in the Vision Quest that was overrun with demons? Yeah. That place. Hitomi doesn't want to go, because, y'know, super dangerous, but Nemissa tells her to shut up because they are so going. Nemissa acts like a spoiled 5 year old. Six distributes some guns and bullets, and the group sets off to Nijomon.

After the scene is over, Nemissa gains 5 levels. Like BandyAid, we get to distribute one point per level. Since Nemissa learns magic as she levels up, and starts with the "Dia" spell, the most basic healing spell in the game. It recovers a small amount of HP to one character. Since she does learn magic automatically, and fully recovers her HP and MP when she levels up, it would be utterly wrong to level her as anything but a magician. Magic, Knowledge, and Agility should be her primary stats. Eventually, she'll reach a sweet spot where she'll have enough MP and be gaining levels quick enough that she'll be able to do nothing but spam attack magic for every battle and still never run out of MP. It'll be great, I promise.

For now, I put 3 points into her Magic and 2 points into her Agility.


Nijomon is the location of Algon Software's offices.

At the Algon NS building, Lunch decides that they should split up. Hitomi and BandyAid will be one team, Six and Lunch will be the other.

BandyAid's current equipment:
Sword: Igniter (A cigarette lighter with a small knife on the end)
Gun: Clap K*K (I'm not sure what this is supposed to be, it only holds 3 bullets before it needs to be reloaded, so it probably should be Crap K*K)
Bullets: Normal Bullets
Helmet: Knockout Hat (A hat that has an iron plate in the bill)
Body Armor: Kevlar Vest (A vest made of kevlar)
Gloves: Leather Gloves
Shoes: Leather Boots

Nemissa' current equipment:
Sword: Skean Dhu (A double edged knife once used in Ireland)
Gun: Clap K*K
Bullets: Normal Bullets
Helmet: None
Body Armor: Padded Armor (The quilting provides additional protection)
Gloves: None
Shoes: Climbing Boots (Sturdy boots used for mountain climbing)

Overall, Nemissa's equipment is better than BandyAid's, but she has less of it. It doesn't matter, she's going in the backrow.

Lunch will unlock one of the elevators that were locked in Urabe's Vision Quest. It leads to the fifth floor. Again, the whole area is already automapped on the GUMP, so just follow the paths. On the fifth floor, BandyAid and Nemissa encounter their first battle:


The green smiling face indicates that you can recruit the demon if you try to talk to it. Since we want a Pixie, we select the Talk option on the main menu. She recognizes that the computer you have used to belong to a man named Urabe, and joins the party with little resistance. Into the GUMP you go! We won't be summoning her, because unlike in the PS2 games, a summoned demon consumes your MAG with each step.

Recruiting the Pixie nets us a small bit of experience, but it's enough to push both BandyAid and Nemissa up a level. Both get a point to Intelligence, and Nemissa learns her first offensive spell: Zio, a single target Electricity spell.

The type of offensive magic she learns is based on how you responded to Spooky's question back in part 2: If you had said she was always cheerful, Nemissa would learn Agi/Fire elemental spells, and if you had answered that she's very cool, she would have learned Bufu/Ice elemental magic.


There's another locked door on the fifth floor that Lunch will unlock, and behind it are a Terminal (Save point) and a Heal Spot. At Heal Spots, you can spend MAG to heal your party.

Not long after the Heal Spot, BandyAid and Nemissa enter their second battle:

Gedou Slime and Shiki Facebind. If you select the Talk command, you'll notice that the smiling face is gone. That's because both of these enemies are DARK-aligned, and as such would much rather EAT YOUR FACE than chat or join the party.

We have some other options too:

• Comp will let us analyze the enemies, but we'll only get data if we've fought them before.
• Escape will let us run away, but if we fail the enemies will get a free turn and total rape us.
• Auto brings up the auto battle menu, which will let us choose either Sword/Go or Repeat last turn's actions. Sword/Go is the more traditional autobattle: The human characters will use their physical attacks, and the demons will do whatever they think is best.

Fight:
BandyAid's battle menu, which I didn't get a screenshot of, has 6 options:

• Sword lets him use whatever weapon he has equipped as his sword. It's basically the Attack command from every other RPG ever.
• Gun lets him use his gun. Guns take bullets each time you use this command, and when you run out you'll have to spend a turn reloading. If you try to use a gun with no bullets in it, you'll be taken to the item menu to select which bullets you want to use.
• Comp allows him to summon a demon ally into battle.
• Item lets him use items.
• Move lets him move to any adjacent spot.
• Guard lets him defend to lessen the damage he receives.

Nemissa's menu is identical, except she has the Magic command instead of Comp.

Nemissa casts Zio on the Facebind, while BandyAid uses his sword on the slime. When you kill things with sword weapons, they're split in half when they die. It's a nice touch.

After battles, BandyAid and Nemissa are rewarded with experience, items and MAG. Here, they obtain Ointment, a weak healing item, and 36 MAG. Enemies do not drop Yen.

BandyAid and Nemissa spend some time chatting up some demons. BandyAid comes across a Chirei Knocker, who explains the nuances of demon negotiation before joining the party, as well as a Majuu Gally Trot.

• Level 6 Majuu (Demon Beast) Gally Trot: Drains Zan/Impact spells. Abilities: Bite, Sukunda.
• Level 2 Yousei (Fairy) Pixie: Drains Zan/Impact. Abilities: Zan, Dia.
• Level 3 Chirei (Earth Spirit) Knocker: Voids Bufu/Ice, weak to Agi/Fire. Abilities: Tarunda, Short Chop.

Unfortunately, those kind of suck. So let's try out our GUMP's Fusion feature!

The GUMP is capable of fusing two demons together to create a new demon. Since in this game, demons do not gain levels, you have to do a lot of fusion. You can get fusion errors too, which usually results in both demons you're using being deleted. That kind of sucks.


The result is Youki (Ogre) Azumi.

CP is the number of MAG that's consumed per step while the demon is summoned. The red and yellow bar is loyalty, which I'll explain in a minute.
Azumi's alignment is Chaotic-Neutral. Alignment doesn't mean a whole lot in this game. A demon that's extremely chaotic won't speak to you if a lawful demon is currently summoned, nor would you be able to summon an extremely chaotic demon from your GUMP as long as a lawful demon is in the party. Since Azumi is moderately chaotic, we can also summon moderately lawful demons if we needed to.

Azumi's abilities are Bufu, a single target ice spell; Raku Kaja, a spell that boosts the entire party's defense; and Scratch, physical attack. The green spells are spells and are accessed from the Magic menu, while the blue are special abilities found on the Extra menu.


Loyalty: Demons don't always listen to you in battle. In the Azumi picture, you see a red and orange bar with the number "3" on it. That's its Loyalty meter. The more loyal a demon, the more likely it is to follow your orders in battle. It's in your best interest to max out a demon's loyalty if you intend to use it in battle. To build a demon's loyalty, you need to give it orders it wants to follow. These are determined by it's personality type.

• 愚鈍: Azumi is a Stupid demon. Stupid demons gain loyalty by being left to their own devices. Just select "GO" as their command and they'll love you more. Like Clever demons, at max loyalty they can be changed into items. In the above picture, I told him to "GO." When a demon's action box is blue, it means they're gaining loyalty. If it was red, it would mean they're disobeying orders and losing loyalty. If it's white, that means they're following orders, even if it isn't what they want to do.
  
• 冷静: Stoic demons don't have a set command to gain loyalty. Most of the strongest demons in the game are stoic.
  
• 友愛: Friendly demons gain loyalty by defending or casting healing/support magic. When their loyalty is maxed out, they'll leap in front of BandyAid to protect him from fatal attacks. Back in Urabe's Vision Quest, Leanan Sidhe was a friendly demon, so she would have protected him from any fatal attacks.
  
• 獰猛: Ferocious demons will gain loyalty by using physical attacks and physical special skills. When their loyalty is maxed out, their physical damage output will be increased by 50%.
  
• 狡猾: Clever demons gain loyalty by using magic attacks. Spells like Marin Karin and Dormina count too, but only if they actually inflict their related status effect. When their loyalty is maxed out, they can be transformed into items.

BandyAid gains another level, and fuses Pixie with another Gally Trot to get Seijuu Heqet.

Seijuu (Sacred Beast) Heqet: Weak to Zio/Electricity. Abilities: Maharagi, a fire spell that hits a row of enemies; and Mapper, a spell that puts in automap in the corner of the screen. Heqet is a clever demon, so she'll gain Loyalty from casting Maharagi. Since she only has so many MP, we're not going to summon her just yet. You can see from the "Moon Effect" that she becomes more powerful as you approach the Full Moon, but becomes weaker as we move to the New Moon.

BACK TO THE STORY.


In the basement of the NS building, BandyAid encounter... a rockabilly? He introduces himself as Carol J, because Atlus in the 90s felt that all rockers should have girl names. He's a Dark Summoner of the Phantom Society. His COMP is his Guitar, and he summons by playing different chords. Yeah, and I bet you thought the GUMP was impractical and awkward.

Carol J summons his demons via grainy FMV, and the boss battle begins.

Carol J's demons:

• Two Yuki (Revenant) Gakis: Weak to Hama/Expel magic and have the ability "Scratch."
• Shiki (Walking Dead) Padlock: Weak to Hama/Expel magic as well as Agi/Fire. It can cast Rakunda to lower your defense and Agi.
• Jaki (Wicked Ogre) Ippon Datera: Weak to Hama/Expel magic. He can cast Sukukaja to boost the enemy party's agility, and a physical attack "Somersault."

Carol J himself has no weaknesses, and only has about 140 HP. He can use Short Chop and Mellow Beat (高揚の歌). Mellow Beat can inflict a party member with "High" status, but his Intelligence is so low it's not likely it'll connect.

Nemissa blasts him with Zio, BandyAid attacks with his knife, Heqet blasts him with Maharagi, and Azumi casts Bufu. Carol J gets beat down pretty quickly, then runs off. He drops a card, which BandyAid picks up.


Spooky shows up and is surprised that you got the GUMP working. It turns out he came over to try and figure out how to unlock it.

The team heads back to the base, where Yu-ichi finally shows up.


Real name: Haga Yu-ichi. Likes: Hacking, Spooky, the thought of being a super hacker, acting like an child.

Spooky figures out that the card Carol J dropped is actually one of those ID cards that Nishi mentioned at the launch party. With it, we gain access to the Summoner's Network BBS. According to Summoner's Net, the Phantom Society has been collecting souls for some unknown purpose. Whatever it is, the posters believe that it's all going down in Amami City. Interesting.


Oh, and while the grown ups were reading and discussing what was on Summoner's Net, Yu-ichi's managed to fuck up the GUMP. He hasn't been in the game 3 minutes and he's already been a pain in the ass. "Call to Goumaden"...? Spooky says that's the name of a nearby hotel, but he can't imagine what it would have to do with a computer.

Yes, what indeed.

Next time: Vampires! Drag Queens! Extraterrestrials!

Update Five: Familiar Faces


Hotel Goumaden is the cruise ship in the middle of Shibahama. Say, didn't we see some women leaving this place earlier?


Inside, BandyAid and Hitomissa are greeted by a maid. The maid wants to know what business the two have at the Goumaden. Hitomi thinks the maid is creepy, and can't bring herself to ask about the COMP. Thankfully, Nemissa steps up and is like "Listen bitch, our computer is broken and it said to come here." A voice comes from the hallway: It's Victor. He tells Mary, the maid, that he'll handle it. Apparently, Mary is a android. If you finished Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha vs the Soulless Army, this sequence sudden makes sense. I wouldn't recommend looking at unless you've finished that game though.

Incidentally, Victor acts so different in Soul Hackers than he does in Raidou Kuzunoha. He's so cartoonish and wacky in that game, but here he's more mature and a bit more solemn.

In case you're wondering, he's lived this long because he learned the secret of eternal life: Vampire blood transfusion.


He invites the two downstairs. Normally, BandyAid would worried about following a vampire Strange Man down a hidden stairway in such a gothic setting, but he figures Nemissa's got it covered.


Victor needs a favor: There's something in the warehouses in Amami Bay district he wants BandyAid to get for him. He can't go himself because he's not accustomed to daylight. He fixes the GUMP, and gives BandyAid two software chips, Neo Clear(ネオ・クリア) and DaVinchi(ダ・ヴィンチ) and explains how to use them.


At any terminal, BandyAid can install software onto the GUMP, each piece of software takes either one or two memory slots. The GUMP only has five memory slots.

The GUMP came installed with:

• Enemy Sonar (エネミー・ソナー), which shows shows if enemies are around or not, and their relative strength compared to BandyAid's (Blue to Red)
• Honey Bee (ハニー・ビー), which allows BandyAid to get molested at a seedy hotel to get some panties. Or lets BandyAid access the map of every floor in a building.
• Moon Adult (ムーン・アダルト), allowing BandyAid to speak with demons during the Full Moon.

Neo Clear displays an automap in the corner of the screen, while DaVinchi allows BandyAid to check the fusion FAQ from the GUMP. One of these is really great, the other isn't. Its DaVinchi. DaVinchi is useless.

Victor also says that BandyAid can now go shopping at the Shibahama Core as a Summoner.

BandyAid heads back to the Hideout to check in with the gang. Apparently, a message has been posted on Summoner's Net about the Sea Ark Hotel in the Bay district being used as a training facility for the Dark Summoners of the Phantom Society. Six and Yu-ichi take off to investigate.


BandyAid and Hitomissa decide that if Six and Yu-ichi are eaten by demons, it won't be a big loss, so they stop by the Shibahama Core mall to see what Victor was talking about instead of following the duo. There's a video store, an art gallery, an antique doll store, a drug store, a liquor store, a Thai rester aunt, and some sort of weird "Somatic Energy" place. BandyAid doesn't see what good any of this is going to do him.


The response at each store is the same: The proprietor notices that BandyAid has a GUMP and shows him their special selection for special customers:

• Video Muscle (ビデオマッスル) is a video store to most people, but sells blackmarket weapons to summoners. BandyAid buys Nemissa and himself new swords.
• Gallery "Ladder" (画廊ラダー) is an art gallery, except the art is actually holograms used to cover up the blackmarket armor they sell to summoners. BandyAid buys Nemissa a ring and upgrades their head gear.
• Automata (オートマータ) sells special, magical items. Well, as magical as a Molotov Cocktail can be. BandyAid skips buying anything there.
• Drug Gear (ドラッグギア) sells healing items, but right now all they have is Ointment, Return Orbs, and Dis-poison.
• Octagon Liquors (八角酒店) sells liquors that effect the personality and the loyalty of demons. It's pretty costly right now, so BandyAid doesn't buy anything.
• Thai Restaurant Sawamura (タイ料理サワムラ), which I didn't get a picture of, is a place where BandyAid can pay Yen to heal his allies.
• Somatic Energy Association (生体エナジー協会) is a special store where BandyAid can convert MAG to yen and yen to MAG. I mentioned earlier that enemies don't drop yen, so BandyAid will have to come here and change his MAG to yen if he wants to buy anything.

When BandyAid and Hitomissa arrive in the Amami Bay area, they see Six and Yu-ichi (the red dots) running around, acting like idiots. BandyAid wisely ignores them and enters the warehouses. Again, he would normally be worried about going to a warehouse down at the bay in the middle of the night, but between his fire-breathing frog goddess, giant fishwoman, and lighting tossin' girlfriend, he thinks he'll be ok.

There are three warehouses here, but BandyAid needs a password to get in the second one. The other two warehouses have identical layouts, so let's start there.


The warehouses are a long hallway with empty siderooms.

At the end of the first warehouse's hallway, there's a worker. He's rude to BandyAid and Hitomissa, so Nemissa tells BandyAid to use his gun to threaten the guy, and BandyAid is too happy to comply. The worker get scared and takes off, but drops a Cold Suit (防寒服). The Cold Suit is an important piece of equipment for this dungeon, and it's better than BandyAid's Kevlar Vest, so he equips it. Outside the worker's room, there's a sideroom that contains a Jabbar Foot (ジャバー・フット), which BandyAid equips.

The third warehouse has the same layout as the other. At the end of the hallway, there's another worker who's much more helpful than the first. He tells BandyAid the security code, which we thankfully don't have to remember, and gives him another Cold Suit, which goes to Nemissa.


With the security code, which Nemissa automatically enters, BandyAid enters the third warehouse. The interior is covered in ice. Good thing they just put on some Cold Suits, right?

This warehouse is longer and much more complicated than before, and it's a fair deal more complicated than the next couple of dungeons. That's why it's mapped out in the instruction booklet. BandyAid heads to elevator in the upper left of the first floor, which takes him down to B1. He then follows the hallway north as it winds around to the east and dumps him at an elevator to the south. The elevator goes to B2, with a Terminal and a Healspot. He follows the winding hallway around the perimeter of the map until he comes to another elevator in the heart of floor, which goes down to B3.

B3 is a straight hallway, which leads to the Freezing Room. There's a monster inside, and Hitomi gives BandyAid the option of retreating. He takes it so he can summon Heqet in the party before going back in.

Zouma (Artificial Demon) Gargantua Zero can cast Mahabufu (Ice to one row), Ion Storm (The most powerful ice-magic in the game that hits the entire party) and Tackle (physical damage to one). BandyAid and Nemissa will DIE if they do not have the Cold Suits equipped. Azumi voids ice anyway, so 3 of the four party members are immune to most of Gargantua Zero's skills.

BandyAid attacks with his fancy new sword, the Leather Comb (レザー・コーム), Nemissa chunks Zio spells, Azumi casts Rakukaja to boost the party's defense, and Heqet casts Maharagi until she runs out of MP. Gargantua Zero goes down without too much trouble. BandyAid and Nemissa gain two levels, too.

BandyAid takes the elevator back to B1, then back up to the first floor where he comes upon a door labeled "Dr. Thrill's Laboratory." Dr. Thrill flips out as soon as he realizes BandyAid is a Devil Summoner and runs off. Maybe he had a bad experience with a devil summoner in the past. Maybe that devil summoner destroyed his entire Gargantua series. Maybe.


Hitomi finds the Dolly Sample 18, which is apparently what Victor wants. It opens up in a grainy FMV to reveal a rather creepy blob. BandyAid and Hitomissa are taken outside to the map screen, where BandyAid gets a call from Spooky, who wants him to come back to the Hideout as soon as possible.

But first, he decides to head back to the Goumaden.Victor's in the basement, and is excited that he has a new specimen. He wants to test out the dolly sample by fusing it with a demon to create an artificial demon. BandyAid is happy to help, and selects Seijuu Heqet to for fusion.


Out pops...


Uh.

It needs a name. The default name is "Seed" but we can do better than that Tyrants. The same rules apply to naming him as picking a username for BandyAid.


What do we call it?

Art
I forgot to do this last update:

Six... Six is wearing something horrible. I can't even describe it.


Yu-ichi's boots. HIS BOOTS.


Mary is a maid.


Victor is dressed like a pirate captain. It's strange that he likes to play dressup.

I want this out for DS so bad. Thanks for playing it so I don't have to learn Japanese.

Alien names:

Fishbowl
Rex
Underoo
Maso (referring to that alarming chain).

Me too. I was hoping that with the 10th Anniversary, they'd announce a portable version like they did with the first Devil Summoner. Instead, they put BandyAid and Nemissa character models in SMT: Online Imagine. The 10th Anniversary of the PS version is next year, so maybe they're do it then.

I know a rando on an internet forum isn't going to affect anything, but look at that map overlay! That DESERVES to be on a bottom screen, with mappable icons.

Come on Atlus (Nich? Maybe?) Let the surprisingly decent sales of Etrian Odyssey AND P3 convince you do port this.

Actually, in the big, full screen map, you can place icons. Stairs and stuff are automatically placed, but you can drop shape icons if you want to mark where you found items, or alternate paths you need to go back and explore.

I was playing this dungeon today and I was really mad that I couldn't get one of these to join me.

I also died a bunch. I'll have to try to finish it tomorrow as I'd love to keep kind of close with this.

And uhh, a name. I think it should be some sort of dog name.

WISHBONE. Fuck yeah.

This dungeon is sort of confusing, if only because after the cakewalk that was Algon NS, they throw this monsterous hellhole at you. Luckily, the next couple of dungeons are relatively short. Well, the next one is.

You won't get a Drag Queen to join you, because they're Dark-aligned, and you don't have the software to speak to Dark demons just yet.

name it Elvis! fan the flames of hatred!

Update 6: In which UNDEROOS joins the party.

BandyAid settles on UNDEROOS as a name for his new pet, although he knows that he'll be able rename it when he fuses it again. He takes a moment to see what options he has at Victor's Goumaden.

• 2 Demon Fusion: Fuse two demons together.
• 3 Demon Fusion: Fuse three demons together. This is different from the PS2 games, as it will result in an entirely different demon than the same two demon fusion. Like, Jack Frost x Metatron x Succubus will result in a different demon than Jack Frost x Metatron.
• Reverse Fusion: See all possible results you can currently get from fusion, and how to achieve them.
• Fusion Guide: Shows what all the icons on the fusion screen mean.
• Status: Check the status of your demons.
• Demon Metamorphosis: Processes a Stupid or Clever demon into an item.

It should be pointed out that Demon Compendium is NOT one of those options. No, in Soul Hackers, BandyAid will not have the luxury of resummoning demons he's recruited in the past for nominal fee. Instead, he'll have to go out and rerecruit them through conversation, or through fusion. Mitama fusions are rendered largely obsolete because of this.

BandyAid doesn't have any more business at the Goumaden for the time being, but remembers that Spooky called him and wanted him to report back to the Hideout ASAP. BandyAid takes this opportunity to stroll over to Shibahama Core to eat at Sawamura and buy new weapons and armor:

New Items are bold:

• Butterfly Knife (バタフライナイフ, a fold out knife)
• Stick Gun (ステッキ型撃発)
• Hard Shot Bullets (バードショット)
• NBC Oxygen Mask (NBC酸素マスク, increases Constitution by 1)
• Cold Suit (防寒服)
• Jamming Arm (ジャミングアーム, increases Magic by 2)
• Yellow Chaps (イエローチャプス, leather pants used by cowboys)

The Stick Gun can hold 10 rounds, which is a lot better than the 3 those Crap guns could handle.

Nemissa's equipment:

• Half Pike (ハーフ・パイク, a short spear used in naval warfare. Can strike from back row)
• Luger P95DC (ルガーP95DC)
• Hard Shot Bullets (バードショット)
• Stahlhelm (フリッツヘルム, Passed down from BandyAid)
• High Leg Armor (ハイレグアーマー, Has a lot of sex appeal. Grants immunity to fire magic and a weakness to ice.)
• Ring of the Universal Will (宇宙意志のリング)
• Jabbar Foot (ジャバー・フット, passed down from BandyAid)

Because Nemissa is in the backrow, her equipment is less of a priority than BandyAid's.

BandyAid decides it's time to go back to the Hideout to see what Spooky wanted. Or let his demons feast on the rest of flesh of the rest of the Spookies. whichever.


Apparently someone posted on the Summoner's Network about Carol J being at the Planetarium in Akanedai. Spooky remembers that Carol J was the man they met at Algon NS, and that he was connected to the Phantom Society, so it might be worth checking into. Six calls and says that he and Yu-ichi have finished scouting out the Sea Ark Hotel at the Bay District. BandyAid, knowing that anything would be better than doing gruntwork for Spooky, heads to off to the Bay area to check it out. On the way, he speaks with people around town, who mention that there's been a virus going around that causes people to become delusional and aggressive. Huh.


The Sea Ark Hotel is a training dungeon, as it were. BandyAid can come here and fight all sorts of demons to build levels or rerecruit any demons he may want.


The lobby has a terminal and a heal spot, and no encounters. Floor 2 is the start of the actual dungeon. It's just a maze with extremely low level encounters. BandyAid isn't allowed to access his large map, but Mapper/Neo Clear still works. There's an elevator and stairs to more floors, but they won't open up until certain points in the storyline. BandyAid takes a moment to recruit Yousei (Fairy) Penangal, which he forgot to do back in the warehouses. With nothing else to do here but waste MAG walking around, BandyAid surrenders to fate and heads off to Akanedai's Planetarium.

There are no encounters in the lobby of the planetarium, so Team Adhesive Strip (TAS) rides the escalator to the second floor. There's a kid there who says he wanted to go to the planetarium and look at the stars, but there's demons inside. Nemissa, quite out of character, says not to worry because she'll take care of all the nasty demons. He thanks her and scampers off.
Through the a door is the actual dungeon. I love the planetarium's look, it's so shiny. Not two steps inside, BandyAid encounters Kijo Acheri and two Azumi. Knowing that he'll need Acheri down the line, he strikes up a conversation with her. She's overwhelmed by his manly pheromones, and joins TAS with little fuss.


Kijo (She-Devil) Acheri voids Curses, but is weak to Expel. She has the spells Agi, Zan, Sukukaja and Paraladi. She's extremely Chaotic and a Clever demon.


TAS must walk through the exhibition hall to get to the third floor where Carol J is. This dungeon's "hook" is that he's supposed to read the exhibits to learn about the constellations so he can answer a quiz that will unlock t he door to the third floor. But BandyAid studied astronomy in highschool, or perhaps has been here enough times to know the quiz's answers, so he ignores the exhibits.


At the north end of the room, there's a terminal and a heal spot, as well as some treasure. On the left, BandyAid picks up the Coward's Armor (落ち武者の鎧, increases Constitution by 2), which he equips because it's better than his Cold Suit, and an Engagement Ring (エンゲージリング) for Nemissa. The Engagement Ring gives her Curse immunity, but makes her weak to Strike attacks. That's probably a subtle reference to spousal abuse. However, since Nemissa's in the backrow, she's less likely to be hit by a skill that has the Strike property.

There's... a healing item on the right, I think.


BandyAid also sweet talks Datenshi Seere, a Prince of Hell, into joining TAS.

Datenshi (Fallen Angel) Seere is immune to Expel and Curses, but weak to Force spells like Zan. He has the spells Agi, Rakunda and Poisomdi. Seere is a clever demon.

In the center room is the quiz game. There are five questions, but they're asked in a random order each time you play. There's a time limit for each question (10 seconds), and if you don't answer within it, you get booted back to the exhibit hall just like if you had answered incorrectly.

Q: 黄道上の星座は全部でいくつ?
(How many constellations are in the Zodiac?)
A: 12

Q: しし座は　なに座の西にある？
(Which of these is located west of Leo?)
A: おとめ座 (Virgo)

Q: この中で夏の星座はどれ?
(Which of these will be over the North Pole during Summer?)
A: いて座 (Sagittarius)

Q: ｌｉｂｒａと呼ばれるのは　なに座？
(What is the constellation "Libra"?)
A: てんびん座 (Balancing Scales)

Q: 黄道上の第１宮は　なに座？
(Which of these is first in the Zodiac wheel?)
A: うお座 (Pisces is the correct response)

After BandyAid nails the quiz, the door to the 3rd floor opens up. TAS heads upstairs. BandyAid takes a moment to whip out his GUMP and do some fusion:


Datenshi Seere and Yousei Penangal are fused to become Tenshi Angel.
Tenshi (Heavenly Host) Angel reflects Expel but is weak to Curses. She has the spells Dia, Patra, Hama, and Zan. She's a friendly demon, as evidenced by her lack of pants.

Youki Azumi and Kijo Acheri are fused to become Chirei Koro-Pok-Guru.

Chirei (Earth Spirit) Koro-Pok-Guru also reflects Expel but is weak to Curses. He has the spells Hama, Tarunda, Patra, Mahazio and a KungFu skill that I'm not sure how to translate properly (端杯手の突き).

There's two side rooms on the third floor, one contains a Chakra Pot (チャクラポット), and the other contains...


MONSTER-IN-A-BOX! BandyAid cordially invites it to meet Nemissa's Zio spell. It dies. It gives enough experience for both BandyAid and Nemissa to level up, resulting in Nemissa learning Media, a party-wide healing spell. It was guarding a Strength Incense (力の香), which goes to BandyAid.


It's good that Nemissa learned Media, because I totally forgot to heal the party after the Monster-in-a-Box so the next battle had them in pretty bad shape. A lone Acheri begs for her life after TAS kill her friends, and offers to join. That is, until she sees Angel and flips out because Angel is extremely lawful.

At the other end of the third floor is the main Planetarium area.

He's surprised that BandyAid, of all people, showed up. He's at the Planetarium to summon the Fallen Angel Kokabel. A Fallen Angel? In my Shin Megami Tensei? Gasp.

Things don't go as planned and he accidentally summons something else. Something that wants souls. A yellow ball appears and absorbs Carol J's body. It spits his body back out:


Only... it appears that he now has a disgusting, cancerous growth. The presence inside Carol J introduces itself as Moowis, and proceeds to attack.

Moowis has about 600 HP, has the spells Maharagi and Mahazan. It can also use the skills Mellow Beat (高揚の歌 - inflicts High status), Bacteria One (バクテリオ・ワン - inflicts Poison status), and Short Jab (ショートジャブ - Physical damage to one). One Short Jab knocks off nearly 3/4ths of UNDEROOS's HP.

BandyAid slices, Nemissa shocks (and casts media when mahazan hits), Koro-pok-guru casts tarunda to lower Moowis's attack power so Short Jab doesn't hurt so much, and Angel casts zan. It doesn't take too long before BandyAid slices him in half.


Moowis addresses Nemissa, speaking as if though it knows her. It vacates Carol J's body and flies at her, whisking her away to parts unknown.


Carol J is ok, and decides that maybe being possessed isn't the best thing in the world, and decides to quit the Phantom Society. It worked out fine for Urabe, so I'm sure he'll be ok too. He gives BandyAid a new piece of software, the Back Upper (バックアッパー), which will allow BandyAid to save anywhere.


BandyAid gets a call from Hitomi. She's a little confused, and then he hears an altercation on her side. Apparently it was Nemissa trying to take control so she could talk. Nemissa starts talking, saying she's in Paradigm-X and to come back to the Hideout. BandyAid is automatically taken back to the Hideout, where he discovers Nemissa on the monitor. She wasn't kidding when she said she was in Paradigm-X. She reappears in the Hideout, and says she wants to show BandyAid something. BandyAid takes a moment to save the game, and tries to leave to go shopping. Nemissa won't let him. He decides he's going to take a break for now.

Next time: He's a Bunny next time!

they... they called the black guy "Boy"?

oh dear.

That island never lets me down.

This game is pretty unapologetic about it's racism. It gets even worse next time. A man in a turban walks into an airport, and 30 minutes later it blows up.

With no other choices, BandyAid resigns himself to checking Paradigm-X. Nemissa asks him to take her hand, and then BOOM: Grainy FMV of Nemissa turning into a ball of energy and taking flying into the computer. From now on, when BandyAid tries to access P-X, he'll have to sit through this FMV. Inside, Nemissa talks about how awesome it is, and before he can take a step, she stops him and drags him into the boutique.


Nemissa wants to try a change of clothing, which you can't blame her for because Hitomi dresses like she's going to the special olympics. Hitomissa disappears to look around, and BandyAid hears the two bickering over what to wear. They return wearing a slinky leather catsuit. A slinky leather catsuit that has bell bottoms. So close and yet so far. Hitomi is mortified, but that's probably because of all the cleavage.
Back outside, BandyAid decides he wants to see if the casino is opened, but is stopped as soon as he steps in front of the alleyway. By a bunny. BUNNY! The bunny introduces itself as Redman. Redman is a bunny this time. That's... something of a downgrade from coyote, isn't it? He bids BandyAid and Nemissa a good day. Nemissa is surprised that he knows her name. Turns out Redman's got another Vision Quest for BandyAid to go on. To the theater!

Vision Quest 2: The Haunters


Storytime! This is the story about a man named Judah. Judah was born into a large family in Nepal, and, to help support them, he became a Summoner for the Phantom Society. However, Judah is not sure if he is cut out for the life of a Dark Summoner. The constant death and murder? Not really his thing. In another life, he would have wanted to become a musician. But in this one, he must settle for a saxaphone-type COMP.


One day, Judah was called in to Amami City by Nishi, who had a mission for him. It seems that some sort of virus from the Manitou Network has leaked into the Amami Airport's computer systems. As a result, demons have been swarming the airport. Nishi wants Judah to clear out the demons. During the mission briefing, Nishi notices that Finnegan has arrived. He asks Finnegan if Urabe has been taken care of. Finnegan says that the body's been recovered. Poor Urabe.


Judah arrives at the airport. It's still under construction, so there's a lot of blocked paths and such. The main system is located on the third floor, and since Judah already the airport mapped out on his COMP, he should have no trouble getting there.

• Marut voids electricity, expel and resists curses. He has the abilities Zio, Zan, Mahazio, Mist Cutter (かすみ斬り) and Human Cannonball (肉弾).
• Tokebi absorbs force, and resists expel and curses. It has the abilities Dormina, Rakunda, Short Jab (ショートジャブ), Mapper and Mamorikuzushi (マモリクズシ)
• Oshira-sama is weak to fire, voids curses, expel, and mind spells, and resistant to slashes and techniques. It has the abilities Recarm, Poisomdi, Estoma, Petradi.
• Silky is weak to fire, voids ice, and is resistant to expel and curses. She has the abilities Bufu, Media, Diarama, and Blizzard of Loyalty (忠義の氷結).
• Judah is equipped with a Shamshir (A Persian sword shaped like a crescent moon), a MauserSR93 and normal bullets, a Metal Turban, Hide Armor (Armor made from the hide of a ferocious beast. Weak to fire, strong to ice, Strength +2), a Gauntlet (Only the thumb piece moves independently) and Hide Shin guards (Shin guards lined with beautiful fur).

Not a bad team. Oshira-sama is mostly worthless, but the others are decent enough. I get the feeling that Judah is going to rue that Hide Armor at some point though.

Judah heads to the northeast and follows that hallway, only to come to a locked door. He forgot to unlock it at the front security counter in the center room. On his way back to the security room, another Phantom Society member reminds him that the whole place is locked down, so he'll have to go to the security counters on the second floor and the basement too if he wants to get to the main computer system.


Judah's computer doesn't have Neo Clear, but Tokebi has the spell "Mapper" which works the same. The only difference is that during the new moon, the map will go away. All map magic like that, Estoma, Riberama, Mapper, etc, will go dead during the new moon. In SMT3, you're able to immediately recast it, but in Soul Hackers you can't recast it until the 1/8 phase.

The airport is also one of the few dungeons in the game with damage floors. Most of them are completely out of the way, like the one above, so there's no excuse to walk over them. The enemies are a crapshoot here, some can be destroyed with little trouble, others can actually give Team Judah a hard time.

On the second floor, another Dark Summoner offers to to explain personality types to Judah. He's about 3 hours too late for that. In the security room on the second floor, Judah finds a woman.


The woman is surprised that someone's found her. Judah identifies her as Rei Reihou, a woman working with the Kuzunoha family. She and Kuzunoha are working against the Phantom Society, and since Judah's a member of the Phantom Society, a fight breaks out. Since Judah's got 4 demons on his side, all of which become stronger during the Full Moon, and Rei Reihou is all alone, this should be an easy battle, right?


No. Rei's a freaking beast. She can cast Maharagion (Major fire damage to all), Megido (Almighty damage to one), Hamaon (Instant death to all) and Diarahan (Fully recovers one character, since she's flying solo that means she heals herself). Hamaon is nothing to worry about, most of Judah's demons resist it. Megido will amost certainly kill a demon if it hits. You can see the effects of Maharagion above.

Rei begins the battle by smashing Oshira-sama's face in, knocking it from full health down to critical. Since she's using a three-section staff, not only does she smash Oshira-sama, she also nails the rest of the party at the same time. Team Judah goes all out: Marut uses Human Cannonball, Judah swings his sword, Tokebi uses Rakunda, Oshira-sama defends and Silky uses Blizzard of Loyalty.

On round two, Rei casts Maharagion. It hurts. A lot. Oshira-sama is killed. Silky has to switch to casting Media. Rei wastes her third turn casting Hamaon, which doesn't effect anyone. On her forth turn, she casts Diarahan, completely undoing everything Team Judah's done. She casts Maharagion again. Team Judah is barely alive. And then... a miracle happens. Rei stops the assault.

Judah wants to know why she stopped. In my mind, Rei tells him that she's completely raping him and he would die if it were to continue. But instead, she says there's no point in fighting, because she senses that Judah's not her enemy. She's sensed that he's really a good person despite him trying to kill her just now, and says that he doesn't have to follow the path he's on. He can change! He can be a better person! She leaves him with that food for thought. Judah unlocks the next door and limps his broken and beaten body to the nearby terminal, where Redman's waiting to heal him and record his game.

Refreshed, Judah heads to the elevator behind the newly unlocked door and rides down to the basement so he can unlock the security door on the third floor. God, RPG buildings are the worst. On the third floor's control room, he encounters the spirit Win-Pe.


Win-Pe says it's been infected by Manitou. Judah recognizes the name Manitou, but is attacked before he can get any explanation.

Win-Pe is... Win-Pe is a lot less than Rei. It voids all the normal stuff bosses do. It can heal itself with Diarama. It can cast De-kaja, but Judah didn't recruit any demons on the way here that had a kaja spell. It has an annoying spell called Demon's Birthcry (悪魔の産声) that deals almighty damage to one target then hits whatever's adjacent to it. It also has a rare skill called MAG Drainer (生体MAG抜き), which will deal a fuckton of damage to whichever demon has the highest CP. Since three of Judah's demons have the same CP, it appears that it targets whichever has the highest level, which is Marut. Marut takes a lot of damage and is petrified, sending it back to the COMP.

Win-Pe can also use Spinning Cut (回転斬り) to damage the whole party, but Silky can cast Media should counter it.

Eventually, the combined might of Tokebi's Rakunda, Silky's Blizzard of Loyalty and Judah's sword are enough to take it down.


Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that he's killed it. The screens all turn pink, and the text "Manitou" repeats over and over. In a last ditch effort to stop it, Judah pulls a kamikaze charge to destroy the computers.

BandyAid finds himself with Redman again. It's difficult to take cryptic warnings from a bunny rabbit. On the plus side, BandyAid gets three levels up for Judah's suffering.


BandyAid is awakened by Hitomi's voice. She's glad he's ok, because this is the second time something like this has happened. Nemissa' s confused, and asks what she means by the "second time," and asks if they had met Redman before. BandyAid and Hitomi, probably mostly Hitomi explain it through the black screen of exposition. Hitomi says that last time it happened, BandyAid came back with the password for the COMP.

A message on Summoner's Net says that demons have been deployed at the Amami Airport as part of a training mission for Dark Summoners. Coupled with the fact that BandyAid just saw that there's important clues there, it looks like that's going to be TAS's next stop.

But first, BandyAid enters Paradigm-X and heads to the bath house forum.


There's a middle-aged man whom BandyAid has never seen before. The man mentions some stuff about demons and summoners, and asks if BandyAid some questions. He gets spooked and leaves, much to BandyAid's disappointment. BandyAid heads back to the User Counter, only to bump into the man on the way over there. The man asks for BandyAid's help. Apparently there's a powerful demon haunting the Amami Bypass.

What do we do Tyrants? Should we go ahead to the Airport, or make a stop off at the Amami Bypass and see what's going on?

The next update will probably be Sunday night.

Art:

Bell bottoms!


At least we can trust someone to dress themselves.

Finnegan screencap. Judah screencap.

Surely BandyAid will get into enough trouble on his own, but how can you pass on a tip like that? Hit the highway!

Update 8: Take the Highway!


BandyAid takes a moment to swing by the Goumaden and speak with Mary. This begins another wacky, game-long "side quest."

He heads to Video Muscle to buy himself a Billy Club (ビリー・クラブ, a concealed weapon that extends in three places, his one enemy column) and a Socom Pistol (ソーコムピストル). He stops in Gallery "Ladder" to buy himself and Nemissa Metal Turbans (メタルターバン, makes wearer immune to Mind-attacks but weak to bewitchment) and Foot Escapes (フットエスケープ, boosts Agility by 2). He takes a moment to chow down on some Thai food because his demons are still hurting from the Moowis battle.


Then he heads back to the Planetarium, because he forgot to do this back when he was here. He recruits another Kijo Acheri and raises her Loyalty to 5. Then he heads to the Goumaden, and processes the hell out of her to create the Toygun Knife for Nemissa. It's more powerful than BandyAid's Billy Club, and it increases her Luck by 2 points.

With his preparations complete, BandyAid heads to the Yurajima district to get on the highway.


There are three "stages" to the bypass: BandyAid is being sucked forward, and has to avoid the dark spots in the road or else he'll get sucked into a battle. It's really easy to avoid the dark spots, so there's no excuse for getting into a battle here. After the second stage, he finds himself in the Amami Bay area. After the next one, he comes to the end of the highway, where he encounters the Speed Demon. Speed Demon summons 3 Kubinashi Riders, and the battle begins.

Speed Demon has a specific pattern he'll follow as long as his Kubinashi Riders are with him. The first turn they'll use Soothing Wave (獰猛冷却波), which will damage any Ferocious demons you have in the party. The next round they'll use Binding Glamor (狡猾縛りの魅惑), which does the same thing except it hurts Clever demons. The third turn they'll use Rage Against Kindness (優しさに一喝) to damage any Friendly demons. Since BandyAid only has Koro-Pok-Guru and Angel with him, Friendly demons, these attacks are easily manageable. On the fourth round, it'll use Happy Trigger (ハッピートリガー) that deals bullet damage to all party members.

After the Kubinashi Riders are defeated, Speed Demon begins casting Dormina, which can put a party members to sleep. Since BandyAid and Nemissa are wearing metal turbans, they're protected from the spell. He'll also use Downward Swipe (両腕落とし) to deal a lot of damage to one character. Nemissa gets a level up and learns a new attack spell, Roma Fulmen (ロマ・フルメン). This is one of those terrible "It deals more damage the lower the caster's HP are" deals. It hits all enemies, but Nemissa will have to be in the red for it to deal more damage than her other spells. It's an electricity-based spell.


Back at the Hideout, Yu-ichi asks BandyAid about his sister Tomoko. Six teases Yu-ichi because he thinks Yu-ichi's got a thing for her, but Yu-ichi blows it off, saying that he's only asking because he's an only child. He asks if Six if he has any siblings. Six sort of blows the question off and leaves. BandyAid silently swears that he will not let Yu-ichi's stupidity defile his family, and enters Paradigm-X. The man who asked him to kill the Speed Demon is hanging around outside the bank. The man deposits 50,000 yen into BandyAid's bank account. Nice.


BandyAid goes back to the Amami Bay district and enters the Amami Airport. It's long-since been finished, and is a whole lot bigger now. And not mapped out on BandyAid's computer. But BandyAid has been here many times before, watching the planes land and take off, so he knows where everything is. He heads to elevator in the back of the building. On the way, he and Hitomissa hear a man's voice. Could it be a g-g-g-ghost?

He takes the elevator down to the basement, and immediately heads east.


He encounters a Youma Apsaras and Datenshi Shax. After bisecting the Apsaras, the Shax bargins for it's life, offering to join TAS. Then it sees the half-naked winged chick, and flips out. Chaos and Extreme Lawfals can't co-exist. Sigh. BandyAid continues his way east until he comes to another elevator, and takes it up the 2nd Floor. He heads southeast, to a lone room in the corner of the map, where he and Hitomissa hear the voice again. Apparently, something in the basement is waiting for them. They pop into the Healspot nearby (it's in the same location as it was in Judah's Vision Quest), and patch everyone up before going back to the elevator.


In the western part of the of the basement, there's a machine room. And down in the pit of odd perspective is a saxophone. A Saxophone-type COMPuter. BandyAid, having no problem desecrating a dead man's prized possession, rips out the memory card and puts it into his GUMP. The demons Judah had in his COMP at the time of his death (including any he recruited on his way to the Win-Pe), are loaded into the GUMP, and BandyAid is now able to hold more demons than before. The downside is that Team Judah's Loyalty has been reset to 3.

• Youma (Trickster) Marut
• Shinjuu (Tree God) Oshira-sama
• Yousei (Fairy) Silky
• Youki (Ogre) Tokebi

Back in the hallway, a voice (a real voice, not an ethereal voice from a dead Gurkha) announces that Finnegan is on the third floor. Nemissa wants to meet this guy, so that's the next destination.


BandyAid sends Angel and Koro-Pok-Guru back to the GUMP and summons Team Judah to build their loyalty on the way back up to the third floor. On his way back up, a Youki Bilvis begs for BandyAid to spare it's life. You may remember Bilvis as the demon the Monster-in-a-Box from the Planetarium.

Youki (Ogre) Bilvis is immune to curses, and reflects force spells. It has the skills Mist Cutter, Dia and De-kaja.

On the third floor's control room, BandyAid arrives just in time to see Win-Pe die.


...At the hands of Finnegan. Y'know, he killed the last person that owned the GUMP, so maybe BandyAid should be worried. Finnegan wants to know if BandyAid is working with Kuzunoha, but TAS doesn't know who, or what, Kuzunoha is. Finnegan takes off without giving any answers, but leaves behind a wonderful parting gift: An army of demons!


He summons 4 demons:

• Kijo (She-devil) La Llorona, who is weak to Expel but reflects Curses (whether or not Hama works on her in this battle, I don't know). She has the spells Media, which she'll almost always use, Scratch, and Final Nude (charms party, she never uses this. Good thing too, because those Metal Turbans are weak to it).
• Jaryuu (Wicked Dragon) Hakujoushi, who voids Curses, resists Expel, and reflects lightning. She has the skills Marin Karin (charms one) and Scratch. She'll almost always use Scratch or a physical attack.
• Ryuuou (Dragon King) Yata-no-Kami, who voids Gunfire and has the skills Mahazio, Sukunda, and Parala-Eye. He'll mostly use Mahazio and Parala-Eye.
• Yojuu (Phantom Beast) Chaglin, which drains Force spells. It has the skills Zio, Rakukaja, and 99 Needles. It'll almost always use physical attacks.

BandyAid's first attempt at this battle ended in disaster. All three front line enemies went after him. Silky, who had maxed out her loyalty to BandyAid, took several blows for him while he was in critical status before she died, leaving him defenseless.

The second attempt, BandyAid made sure to summon Angel and Koro-Pok-Guru as well as Marut and Silky. Koro-Pok-Guru's Tarunda helped take the edge off the strong physical attacks. Silky's Blizzard of Loyalty and Media spells were a great asset, too. Angel was just there to take damage for BandyAid if he got in a bad way.


Finnegan's long gone by the time the battle ends. Another man, however, shows up. At first he's mumbling something about taking bodies, which surely BandyAid misheard. The man laments not being on time to reach Finnegan, but then introduces himself to TAS as Sukeroku. Nemissa wants to know if he's also a Phantom Society. He's not. In fact, he's working with Kuzunoha. It seems that the Phantom Society and Kuzunoha are at odds. I wonder which one we should trust guys?


Sukeroku asks TAS if they know a woman named Rei Reihou. Nemissa wonders if Rei is Sukeroku's girlfriend, but he assures her that's not the case. He says they should get in touch with her if they want to know more about the Phantom Society.

Spooky calls and tells TAS to return to the Hideout.


At the base, Spooky and Lunch inform the TAS that there's a club in Shibahama that's run by expert programmers, and they may be able to help out. EL-115 ("El" as in "The"). Lunch takes BandyAid there.


Outside, they bump into Lunch's father. Lunch and his father do not get along. The owners of EL-115, Alpha and Beta, sell software for the GUMP. Right now, they have only a few:

• Gulliver Magic (ガリバーマジック): Restores BandyAid's HP as he walks.
• Hiroemon (ヒロえもん): Increases the rate of finding items after battle.
• Nurse Call (ナース・コール): Demons summoned into battle have their HP recovered.
• Lady Killers (レディ・キラーズ): Negotiating with female demons is easier.
• Albert (アルバート): Stabilizes demon fusion on the GUMP.

BandyAid buys Hiroemon, Lady Killers and Albert. The rest are trash. He installs Hiroemon in place of Enemy Sonar, because it will be infinitely more useful. Albert will be useful like, twice.

Outside EL-115, BandyAid gets a call from mom. She says that he's been playing a long time, and maybe he should take a break. Just kidding. She says something's wrong with Tomoko. For some reason, BandyAid feels like whatever is coming next will be really, really annoying. He stops by the Goumaden and fuses Bilvis with UNDEROOS:


Our little UNDEROOS is growing up so fast. It's reached the second stage of evolution. Puberty, as it were. You can tell because he's lost the translucent body and started lifting weights.

Next time: FILLER CONTENT WOOT WOOT WOOT

I would just like to say this.
1) I just read the whole thing so far, caught up, and you're doing a great job! All of these MegaTen games are so... appealing... and yet I'm not nearly hardcore enough to beat any of them. It's nice to have things like this and the Persona 2 one so I can enjoy them without, you know, sucking at battles and being too hesitant to fuse like crazy. Rock on!
2) I don't know what you're talking about, Parishioners would have been a kickassly horrible name, though I think Parish would have banned us all for it.

I'm glad you're enjoying it. The fusion thing is an understandable concern, especially in this game where there's 260+ demons, and maybe a 10th of those are actually useful.