Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner 2 Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon
King Mode Guide/Walkthrough
May 20, 2009
Version 0.8
By: S.A. Renegade
Email: renegade@scathingaccuracy.com
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Table of Contents
Version History
Introduction
General Tips
PROLOGUE
-Ritual of Battle-
-Being cheated out of getting any badges at Nameless Shrine Shinoda-
CHAPTER 1: AN ENIGMATIC WOMAN
-Akane busts into the Narumi Detective Agency-
-First time at Tsukudo-Cho-
-Walking freely around the nameless shrine for the first time-
-First time at Dark Tsukudo-Cho to fulfill Victor's request-
-Meeting the mysterious young blonde man at the Tamonten Shrine-
-First time at Fukagawa-Cho-
-First time at Mannen-Cho-
-Trapped in the Fukorutsubo-
-First investigational meeting at the Narumi Detective Agency-
-Ghost Driver-
-Searching for Tatsumi at Dark Mannen-Cho-
-Second Investigational Meeting at the Narumi Detective Agency-
CHAPTER 2: ASSASSIN'S BLOODLINE
-Wherein Gouto ruins a perfectly good shortcake-
-Welcome to Tsukigata Village-
-First time at Tento Woods-
-This is why you don't eat at the heart of enemy territory-
-Third Investigational Meeting!-
-A quiet stroll through the capital while we let Narita get his ass kicked-
-Training Hall B1-
-Training Hall B2-
-Cursed House-
-Stare from the Cracks-
-Fear of Betobeto and first time at Kasumidai-
-Narita's probably dead and buried by now but let's check up on him anyway-
CHAPTER 3: THE DEFILED GODS
-Slip out the back to the capital-
-Training Hall B3-
-It Came From The Sewer!-
-Catchin' some waves at the capital-
-Training Hall South-
-The Curse Reborn-
-The Crown of Victory-
-7th Trumpet, Eternal King-
-Return to Tsukigata-
-Great Summoner's Hall-
-Centipede Road-
-Tento Sanctuary-
CHAPTER 4: PRELUDE TO ABADDON
-Fourth Investigational Meeting! Fukuroku edition!-
-Screw the marriage ritual, I'm going home-
-Training Hall B4-
-Training Hall B5-
-The Shichinin Dougyou!-
-Ghost Customer-
-The Sword of War-
-Return to Tsukigata Village for the Marriage Ritual-
-Off The Map-
-The day of the Marriage Ritual-
-The Capital beset by earthquakes-
-One Girl's Happiness-
-Ishigami Tunnel-
CHAPTER 5: THE DAY OF MISFORTUNE
-Investigating the serial murders-
-Fifth Investigational Meeting!-
-Ahright boys and girls, it's time ta hit the streets!-
-Training Hall B6-
-Streetcar Ghost-
-Haunted Mansion-
-The Scales of Famine-
-Scars of Recession-
-Fallen Dragon-
-Getting your ass kicked at Sakuradayama-
-Dark Harumi-Cho-
-Dark Tsukudo-Cho-
-Dark Ginza-Cho-
-Dark Kasumidai-
-Dark Fukagawa-Cho-
-Job From Narita-
-The Star of Death-
-To the skies!-
-Training Hall - West-
-Training Hall - East-
-Time the Apollyon was shown who is the boss-
CHAPTER 6: THE WAY OF KUZUNOHA
CASE FILES
Case File 1
-Stocking up (1)
-Collection Warrant (1)-
-Kagami Hell!
-Low on stock (1)
-Request for Gems (1)-
-Demons for science! (1)
-Lab Rats
-Ghost Driver
-Stare from the Cracks-
-Cursed House-
Case File 2
-Biting Spirit-
-Missing Tiles-
-Photog Needed (1)-
-Bug Collector (1)-
-Selling Umbrellas-
-Demons for Science! (2)-
-I'm Collecting Demons-
-It Came From The Sewer!-
-Fear of Betobeto-
-The Curse Reborn-
Case File 3
-Don't Try This at Home (1)-
-The World of Plants (1)-
-Manhuntin' (1)-
-Please, Raidou Hon?-
-Request for Gems (2)-
-Sword Collecting (1)-
-Long-Distance Dating-
-Limits of the Macabre-
-The Shichinin Dougyou!-
-Guard Mission-
Case File 4
-Looking for Fickle Dew-
-Photog Needed (2)-
-Bug Collector (2)-
-My Wish (1)-
-Low on Stock (2)-
-Leanan Sidhe in the Sky-
-Ghost Customer-
-Off The Map-
Case File 5
-Stocking Up (2)-
-The World of Plants (2)-
-Manhuntin' (2)-
-Zombie Highlander-
-Request for Gems (3)-
-Need a Funny Demon-
-Wise Demon Required-
-Streetcar Ghost-
-The Crown of Victory-
Case File 6
-Don't Try this at Home (2)-
-Collection Warrant (2)-
-Photog Needed (3)-
-My Wish (2)-
-Sword Collecting (2)-
-Demon Wanted (1)-
-Job From Narita-
-The Sword of War-
-Haunted Mansion-
-One Girl's Happiness-
Case File 7
-Stocking Up (3)-
-Manhuntin (3)-
-Low on Stock (3)-
-Request for Gems (4)-
-Burning Reinforcements!-
-Demon Wanted (2)-
-The Scales of Famine-
-Scars of Recession-
Case File 8
-Don't Try this at Home (3)-
-Gift from Uranus-
-Photog Needed (4)-
-Demon Wanted (3)-
-An Uneasy Alliance-
-National Secrets-
-7th Trumpet, Eternal King-
Case File 9
-Missing A Few Screws-
-Ukemochi-
-Fallen Dragon-
THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE AND KAGEBOUSHI
-Fiend Black Rider
-Fiend Red Rider
-Fiend White Rider
-Fiend Pale Rider
-Fiend Kageboushi
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---Version History---
-0.8
Chapter 5 is done now.
-0.7
Basically finished the horsemen section, chapter 4, and more case files.
-0.5
Added a whole bunch of case files and half of chapter 4.
-0.4
Got chapter 3 completed now. Also sneaked in Pale Rider.
-0.3
Started the guide. Got chapter 1 and 2 completed. And a little bit o' 3.
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---Introduction---
Hey! What is all kinds of up my peoples! Welcome to my King Mode guide.
First of all, just to be clear, King Mode is Devil Summoner 2's hard mode.
To unlock it you must beat the game once on normal mode.
With that out of the way, you may be wondering "Why a King Mode guide?"
To which I'd respond by saying fuck you, I'll be whatever I wanna do!
But secondly, because I believe that the only way to truly appreciate
Devil Summoner is to play its hard mode.
If you're anything like me, you're disappointed by how ridiculously easy
Devil Summoner is. It's enough to discourage a man from even trying. After
all, why bother putting in any real effort when nothing poses a challenge?
You can win just by throwing yourself at stuff with your eyes closed so
things you do feel somewhat meaningless. And if you're anything like me,
you're also slightly sore at Atlus for catering to the casual market by
making SMT games after Nocturne increasingly friendly and accessible.
Devil Summoner happens to be by far the friendliest SMT of all, and I think
that hurts the game. Fortunately, hard mode is there to appease us. To be
quite honest, I'd prefer if you didn't have to beat the game to unlock it.
Having to go through the game on pussy mode first is a bit of a chore
because it's just something you want to get out of the way so you can
finally get to play the real game. That and you already know the story
by the time you're playing King Mode. But oh well. I suppose you can't
have it all.
Devil Summoner 1's hard mode was beautiful and made the game a lot more
enjoyable. I zerg rushed through Devil Summoner 2 hoping that its hard mode
would be just as fun as its predecessor's. As I write this, I haven't
started my second playthrough yet. I am a huge fan of SMT. It's my favorite
series and I was very excited to get Devil Summoner 2. Now that I've beaten
it once and unlocked King Mode, I get to finally play the game I wanted.
I figured, hey, I love these games so much, why not write a King Mode guide
as I play through it? That way it'll be even more fun! And if, by writing
it, I can get at least one person to try out King Mode and see how much
more fun it is, it'll be worth it. I don't believe SMT is a series that
should be played mainly for its story like a lot of RPGs. No. That's not
the full extent of its beauty by a long shot.
In this guide you will find my experiences through King Mode, directions
for everything I did, and strategies I used/recommend for every boss. In
addition to said strategies, I've filmed videos of me fighting almost
every boss in the game just for kicks. You can find this entire guide and
all of the videos over at my personal website:
http://scathingaccuracy.com/article.asp?guide/2009.05.20-S.A._Renegade
So anyway, that's the theory behind this guide. This guide is written
assuming you're playing on King Mode, however, it's written in such a way
that you can also use it as a general walkthrough for normal mode if you
desire. My suggestions throughout may be a bit of overkill for normal mode,
but it should work out. Anyway, without further ado, welcome to my King
Mode guide. I would like it so very much if you joined me on this journey.
Come on, I'm sure it'll be fun!
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---General Tips---
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---PROLOGUE---
-Ritual of Battle-
So let's get this thing started! Load your completed save file and choose
yes when it asks you if you're strong enough to take on King Mode.
Looks like Raidou's just come back from his grueling training in Kuzunoha
Village. Judging by his body, it didn't involve any weight lifting. But
who needs muscle mass when you've got those killer sideburns? But anyway,
the game'll prompt you to enter your name. Don't choose a stupid name like
buttface ok?! Be serious! You're the protector of the capital! Speaking of
which, I like the drawing of Raidou in the name entry screen. Pretty
badass.
After being reintroduced to Gouto, it's time for the Ritual of Battle!
We also get to hear the old battle music here, which is nice. Walk
forward to trigger the first tutorial battle. If you're playing on King
Mode you already know how to play so this tutorial is worthless to you.
Interestingly, if you try to leave the training hall, the elder voice tells
you to stop being a pussy and get back in there. Ha!
Uh, ok. These first demons aren't even fighting back so just beat them
up until they die. Kind of disappointing for a first fight huh?
For the next fight, this Pixie likes to teleport all over the place, so
just kill her with your gun instead of chasing her. Easy. This fight will
also cause you to level up. Isn't it great to be level 1? I know it is.
In any case, allocate your first stat point. Generally speaking, I'd
recommend having balanced stats. However, if King Mode is anything like
Devil Summoner 1's Devil Mode, you should probably be extra generous with
Vi and Ma. Wouldn't wanna get one-shotted now would we?
For the next fight the enemy will keep using an attack that leaves him
wide open. The game tells you to block the attack, but there's no need to
take the block damage. Just run circles around the enemy to avoid his
Wind Cutter, then combo him while he's doing it. You shouldn't get hit at
all for this fight.
Next you get a Tam Lin to help you in this battle. Apparently we're
fighting an Oumitsunu. Isn't that kind of a high level demon? Let's check
and see what skills Tam Lin has. Hmm, just Fire Slash huh? Oh well. Let's
just use that. Strikes don't work against this enemy anyway. Just use two
Fire Slashes to end this.
Now for this next fight we're up against some Jack Frosts. How convenient
considering we have Fire Slash. Should be a piece of cake. Well, you'd
think that, but this battle actually happens to be the first mildly
challenging one! Fire Slash causes the Jack Frosts to be pushed back which
means you have to run at them to hit them when they're stunned, wasting
time and absorbing less MAG. Be very careful with your MAG in this fight,
as it can be completely drained before you know it. Let's try fighting a
bit more conservatively with our gun and sword, shall we? Stun one Jack
Frost with your gun and then combo him. Make sure to keep an eye on the
other ones though because you do not want to get hit by their Bufu and
Mabufu. A solid hit from that will take off half of your HP! Very scary.
Remember to guard if you can't avoid it! And keep Tam Lin hidden most of
the time since he tends to get right in the heat of things and get a
bufu to the face. Also remember that you have 4 medicines in your pocket.
Theoretically you shouldn't have to use them if your careful, but it's nice
to know they're there. Finally, again, remember to use Fire Slash when you
have enough MAG and to get close to the Jack Frosts before you do.
Tam Lin learns Zio now. Excellent. Now let's head on over to the end of the
hallway and confront the boss! Gouto seems to have arranged for another
to come help you. He says it's a female demon and says you're about the
age where you'd prefer having a female demon. What? Are you trying to say
I just hit puberty? Screw you man. Anyway just answer whatever you want.
Frankly I couldn't care less what gender my demons are. If you answer this,
Tam Lin thinks you're just being considerate of his feelings. Um, no?
Now Jorougumo appears. This is the boss you have to fight. She uses some
cheap seduction tactics that weren't going to fool anyone. Come on, sister!
If you're going to try that at least first stop looking like a complete
abomination!
After some banter, your new demon, Alraune, appears and says not to be
fooled. Um. I do believe I just said no one was being fooled? Well, she's
an improvement over the giant spider demon, but still a little too strange
looking for my tastes. Anyways! Let's start this boss battle!
---Boss: Pagan Jorougumo---
This battle is too easy. Disappointing, I know. But ah well. Have Tam Lin
set to using Zio, as that's what Jorougumo is frail to, and have Alraune
set to using Dia. Unfortunately, Zio seems to have a lot of difficulty
stunning Jorougumo, so you probably won't be relying too much on comboing
her while she's weak. Have Tam Lin exhaust your MAG reserves using Zio
nevertheless, and remember to hide them when she's about to strike. The
cue is pretty big so this shouldn't be much of a problem. Her only other
attack is Mazan, and this has a huge cue so it's very easy to just roll
backwards to avoid it when you see it coming. Other than that, a good
strategy is to get somewhat close to her, unload your gun's entire clip to
stun her, then combo her once and reload while she's recovering, dodge
back to avoid her counter, and then repeat. If you see her attacking one
of your demons, go ahead and combo her while she does that and don't hide
your demons. If you're hitting her while Tam Lin casts Zio, this makes it
more likely that she'll get stunned by it. Hitting her a lot also makes her
fall down which is useful. Once your MAG is all used up, just rely on the
gun stun + combo tactic and keep your demons hidden. No need to get them in
harms way and have to waste medicines. She should go down easily.
---
And that's it for the ritual of battle. A bit too easy, but I suppose I can
let it slide since it was just the tutorial, and dying would mean having to
start all over since you haven't reached the first save point.
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-Being cheated out of getting any badges at Nameless Shrine Shinoda-
Blah blah, Herald of Yatagarasu telling you what to do. Unlike our first
playthrough, this time the Yatagarasu doesn't help us by giving us badges
to sell for big cash! Well FINE! We don't need your stupid help,
Yatagarasu. We'll earn money the hard way. The Kuzunoha way.
After all this we finally get to save our game for the first time. Yay!
Prologue completed. Let us proceed to the next chapter.
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---CHAPTER 1: AN ENIGMATIC WOMAN---
-Akane busts into the Narumi Detective Agency-
Ahh, the capital. Feels like home. And the Narumi Detective Agency. Feels
even more like home. Cut the Gordian knot! We get treated to a nice FMV
of Narumi making some toast. I love that guy. we need more FMVs of Narumi
doing everyday things. And Raidou, as always, stands by with his arms
crossed being a total badass. "Break time is whenever you feel like it."
Could there possibly be a better boss than Narumi? I don't think so. It's
a joy to work for the guy.
After a while Akane busts into the office and begs to you take her missing
person case. I love the expressions Narumi makes. He asks you whether we
should take the case or not. Just answer whatever you want. Narumi thinks
we shouldn't take it but as soon as Akane shows him how much she's willing
to pay, he gets all excited. Haha, I love it. You receive Dahn's photo
and it's your job to find him. It's time to do some good old detective
legwork!
Before going out, let's save our game. Now, remember this is King Mode! So
let's take it easy and enjoy this, shall we? You can go up to the roof of
the building before heading out if you want, and talk to Gouto there. Let's
check out our inventory as well! Hmm, seems we have 2500 yen, 4 medicines,
and 2 Jin Dan. Not bad, not bad. Check Gouto's notebook while you're at it
and read the entry he made on Dahn. The notebook is useful to know more or
less where you are in the story and to understand what's going on, but it's
also fun to read because of Gouto's informal style.
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-First time at Tsukudo-Cho-
Items:
-Ox Bezoar
-Medicine
-Jin Dan
-Four Wind Tiles
-Anti-Mind x2
Now it's time to start the game proper! Remember to explore thoroughly
and talk to every single person you can. It's not necessarily useful to do
so, but it's fun.
Right as you go out the door, you'll see an item lying on the floor. Pick
it up to obtain an Ox Bezoar. If you try to leave Tsukudo-Cho Gouto doesn't
let you, so let's take care of everything here. You can also visit the
Konnou-Ya shop, but the prices are pretty outrageous for our budget right
now, so don't buy anything.
Head west from the Narumi Detective Agency through the alleyway and then
turn south to find to find another item on the ground. This one's a
Medicine. Once you have that head on over to the big street Kamishiro-Zaka.
Make sure to talk to the suspicious maid near the south end of the street.
Give her directions to the detective agency. Turns out she's actually a
demon. Specifically an Ippon-Datara. He gives you your first sidequest.
It's a pretty important one too. Let's go back to the detective agency
and accept it. Even though it's a sidequest, this is one you're forced to
complete. And really, this is King Mode, so it's best that we complete
ALL of the sidequests, ok?
Once you accept that quest, you can leave for Shinoda! Excellent. But
before we do that, let's get the items we missed. Go back to where you
met the Ippon-Datara. Head west from there towards the dock. There's an
item on the floor there slightly concealed by the tree. It's a Jin Dan.
Next, head east from there past the assembly hall. Hug the side of the wall
where the river is and you'll find an item completely hidden by the tree.
It's a Four Wind Tiles! Hmm, I wonder what that's for. Keep going till
you get to the dead end. There's an Anti-Mind x2 there.
Well that about covers it. The only place we haven't gone to is the
Tamonten Shrine. But let's leave that for later. First let's head over to
Shinoda and complete our first sidequest! You can try to exit towards the
north and go to the Daidouji Mansion but unfortunately the gate is closed.
Sucks. I liked that house. Go out through any of the other exits and take
the streetcar to Shinoda.
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-Walking freely around the nameless shrine for the first time-
There ain't nothing here right now. Although you can chat it up with the
two Inari Statues. Save your game at the dragon cave and then ring the
bell to call the Herald. Ask her to perform the ritual of entry and go to
Dark Tsukudo-Cho.
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-First time at Dark Tsukudo-Cho to fulfill Victor's Lab Rats request-
Items:
-Medicine x2
-Life Stone x3
-Anti-Poison x2
-Jin Dan
-Onyx
-Ox Bezoar
Demons:
-Pyro Onmoraki
-Skill Pixie
-Frost Preta
-Volt Koropokkur
-Fury Slime
Alright! Our first dungeon! About time. We don't have any demons yet, so
remember to negotiate with a demon whenever you find a new one. I suggest
getting all of demons in this area. Except the ones you can't negotiate
with, obviously.
First though, head up to the save point. When you get near you'll get
a cutscene with Victor. When Victor asks you if you'll help him test the
Tesseract Box, answer that you will. After a few more words, Victor will
leave and you'll receive the Smoked Salmon. Case closed! Damn, that was
easy! You can now also teleport to the Gouma-Den from a save point at will.
Anyway, a noob would just leave now that that's over with. But you're not
a noob are you?! Good. Let's explore this entire dungeon and see what we
can find. Remember to save your game first!
These enemies take about half your HP with one spell if you don't block so
be careful. Remember to heal at the Gouma-Den after every battle if your
health is low. It doesn't matter if you have to backtrack. In fact, it's
good if you have to! Means more exp! Remember that this is King Mode. The
more excuses we have to backtrack and get extra exp, the better. However,
we also don't want to waste money if we don't have to. So as soon as you
are able, recruit a Pixie and have her heal you with Dia.
In any case, move west from the save point into a small alleyway to find a
blue crystal. It's Medicine x2. Next head to the dock to find another
crystal. This one has Life Stone x3. Now walk north from the save point.
You'll find a dragon's jaw that doesn't let you through, so you'll have to
take the long way around. You should run into a second save point. Use it,
then walk out into the main street. You'll see Nakisawame in front of the
Tamonten Shrine and two blue crystals beside her. Grab 'em both. They
contain Anti-Poison x2 and a Jin Dan.
Nakisawame here can heal you and restore your MAG, but frankly 600 yen
and 6 yen per MAG point is highway robbery so I'd say forget her. You're
better off just going back to the detective agency and taking a nap, or
better yet, get into some more fights and fight intelligently to restore
your MAG by absorbing it from enemies.
If, like me, you've already hit level 8, pay a visit to the Gouma-Den and
fuse an Onmoraki with a Preta to create a Wind Angel. You'll need her to
finish exploring the rest of this place. Go back to the start of the
dungeon, and move east from the Ushigome-Gaeri bride all the way to the
dead end to find a current of wind. Summon your Angel and use her Kamikaze
skill on the wind. You'll be blown elsewhere.
Right off the bat you'll see a blue crystal in front of you. Open if to get
an Onyx. Then you'll see another one nearby. This one has an Ox Bezoar.
That's about it for this dungeon. Run back to the second save point.
Once your MAG and health is looking good, go save and then go back and
talk to the Inugami. He'll talk so crap and then challenge you to a fight.
---Boss: Pagan Inugami---
My level: 8
This guy isn't a threat. He's frail to fire, so have an Onmoraki ready
and spam him with Agi. Better yet, have two demons with Agi and have them
both spam him. His strike has pretty much no cue, so stand him front of
him and hold block, and let your demons damage him with fire. He's not that
strong though so if he does hit you it's not the end of the world. Just
keep blocking and only attack once the Agi puts him into frail stun.
Make sure to watch out for his Pulinpa. Whenever you see the cue for it,
just keep blocking but also hide your demons so they don't get confused.
Then resume the attack once the Pulinpa effect is off the arena. Don't jump
the gun though. It can hit your demons if you stop hiding them too soon.
Don't bother using Fire Bullet. It doesn't really do enough damage to be
worth it. Other than that he shouldn't pose any problems.
Go to
http://scathingaccuracy.com/article.asp?guide/2009.05.20-S.A._Renegade-part1
if you're interested in seeing my video of how it went down.
---
Afterwards, Inugami begs you to let him be your demon. It's a good deal,
and it's good to be merciful, so accept.
Anyway, we're done with this dungeon now! Let's get back to Tsukudo-Cho
and continue with the main adventure.
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-Meeting the mysterious young blonde man at the Tamonten Shrine-
Did you know that Devil Summoner 1 had a perpetual typo here in that the
Tamonten Shrine was always spelled as Tamonten Srhine? Just something
interesting to note. Looks like they fixed it though. Could you imagine
if they hadn't? Anyways. Go into the shrine to meet the young blonde man
for the first time. Show him Dahn's photo. He tells you he's seen Dahn over
at Fukagawa-Cho, so that's where we're heading. Onward!
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-First time at Fukagawa-Cho-
Items:
-Ox Bezoar
-Scoring Sticks
-Wood Ornament
-Anti-Mute
-Fubuki Sake
-Old Underwear
Before you enter Fukagawa-Cho proper, check out the right side of the map.
There's an item lying there. It's an Ox Bezoar.
You're supposed to go talk to Satake at the Daikoku-Yu bathhouse, but
before we do that, let's explore this entire place and talk to all the
people. Cross the Daikoku Bridge and take a turn north. Check out the
corner here. There's an item concealed by some flags. It's a, uh, Scoring
Sticks? I guess? Some Mahjong stuff I dunno. If you try to exit north and
go to the Red Light District, some asshole doesn't let you through because
of some harmless quake that happened. Oh well.
Keep going east past the showroom. There's a Wood Ornament on the ground
here. Go through the door to the south. Down here you'll find an Anti-Mute
on the right hand side. Take note of the fence on the left side. There's
a hole here. Unfortunately it would seem that we aren't able to
go through there yet. So let's keep going. Walk into the empty lot and grab
the item in the corner. It's a Fubuki Sake. Keep going west past the empty
lot and then north at the first opportunity to find an Old Underwear!
And that's it for Fukagawa-Cho. Head back to the entrance and into the
bathhouse. Talk to Satake. Show him Dahn's Photo. He can help you but wants
the Smoked Salmon Victor gave you in exchange. Whatever, who cares. Give it
to him. He says to go over to Mannen-Cho and ask this Tatsumi character
about Dahn. So we're back out into the streets. Get out of Fukagawa-Cho
and go to Mannen-Cho over on the left side of the district.
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-First time at Mannen-Cho-
Items:
-Jin Dan
-Muscle Drink
-Twig
-Frost Steel
-Number Tiles
-Tatsumi's Hair
-Mansaku Sake
-Ox Bezoar
-St Incense
-Dainty Snack (hidden!)
Alright this place is pretty damn big. And it's full of crossdressers
offending my senses! Gah! If you try to go into the first house on the
left side, the lady asks you for a password. We don't have it yet, so we'll
come back later. Instead, go into the house on the right side. Inside
you'll find a Jin Dan lying on the floor. Go back out, go north, west when
you get to the fork, then north when you get to the next fork. You can go
into the house on the left side here but there ain't nothing in it! What
a waste of space. If you keep going north, you can go into two houses on
either side, but in both you'll be driven out by a timid woman and an
uptight man. Bah.
Go back south all the way and keep going through the place. There are some
cops blocking the way to the east here. Across from them there's a house.
You can go in, but this one's empty too! What the hell! Directly north of
this house there's another one though, and this one does have something
inside it, so go in and grab it. It's a Muscle Drink. Go back out.
If you keep walking north you'll get a cutscene with Osamu Kogure and his
son Kenta. After the cutscene, talk to them a second time, and show them
Dahn's photo. He'll give you the password to the gambling parlor so you can
go show that Tatsumi what's what! The password's super-chilled cider.
But we're not done exploring, so we'll leave the gambling parlor for last.
Go to the well above the violent chicken. There's something inside it but
only a frost order demon can get it. You should have a Preta. Summon it and
make him climb down the well. He'll come back with a twig.
Now, south across from the well there's another house you can go into.
Here you'll find a Frost Steel. Go back out. If you try to go further north
Gouto won't let you. So it's time to go back to the entrance of Mannen-Cho.
Before we go into the gambling parlor, go north and then west at the fork.
Keep going. Along the way you'll find a house you can't get into because
the door's jammed on the left side, and another one on the right side
where you'll get driven out by a hypocrite. Across from the hypocrite's
house there's a house you can go into though. But, uh, it's empty aside
from some homo crossdresser. So you might just want to skip that particular
house.
Keep going north and you'll find some more asshole cops blocking the way.
You can get into the abandoned temple here though. Check out the bottom
right hand side of it. There's an item here almost completely hidden by
the hedge. It's a Number Tiles.
That about covers it for now! Head on over to the gamblin' parlor and give
the lady the password. It's super-chilled cider, but if you're anything
like me, you can't resist saying giga-sweet pie and getting thrown out.
Ahem, anyways. Now you can get through. The gamblin' parlor's the house
on the bottom, but before that let's pay a visit to the top house. What?
There's nothing here? What IS it with all these worthless empty houses?
Whatever, let's get into that parlor.
There'll be 4 people here. Goro Tatsumi's the one you're after. He's the
one who looks like the biggest prick in the house. Yeah, that one.
Show 'im the photo. He says he won't tell you a thing unless you play a coin
toss game with him. You can choose heads or tails, but it doesn't matter
what you choose, you can't win. He's got too much luck. Just give up.
He'll look at the photo again and recognize Dahn. Then immediately deny
everything. He won't tell you the truth willingly, so we'll have to use
a pagan order demon to read his mind. If you've been following this guide
you should have Inugami from back in Dark Tsukudo-Cho. Summon him and use
Mind Read on Tatsumi. Looks like he's thinking about some insect. Talk to
him again and ask about it. He'll get all scared and run away. What a
pussy. Chase after him!
But no, we can take our sweet time. If you'll notice, you can now use
Mind Read on people! That'll be fun. Try it out on the meaningful smile
man over there. In fact, try it out on everyone. After that go out. You'll
see Tatsumi run into the hypocrite's house. If you go in, the hypocrite
will just drive you out. Seriously? Come on! Raidou Kuzunoha defeated by
some fat good for nothing loser? Couldn't he just shove him out of the way
and go through? Jesus. Apparently not. Looks like you'll have to do this
the convoluted way. Transform into Tatsumi with a skill order demon's
transform ability. Gouto will do the work for you by bringing you a lock
of Tatsumi's hair, so you don't have to do anything. You should have a
Pixie. Transform into Tatsumi with L1. Now you can go through unhindered.
Go through the houses and over to the place with the violent chicken. Go
south from there, and you'll notice the cops have left their old post and
you can now check out that part of town you couldn't before. Go east
through the path, then north the first chance you get into a house. Go all
the way in and through the door. Inside you'll find a Mansaku Sake. Go back
out into the street again, and go south into the foreground when you see
some doors in front of the screen. There's nothing in this house, but you
can actually keep walking south and out into a backyard. There's an Ox
Bezoar on the ground here. More importantly, check out the well. Send your
Preta or whatever frost order demon you have into it. He'll come back with
an St Incense! Excellent! Don't give incenses to your demons. Eat them all
yourself. Yeah that's right. EAT IT!
Get back out into the street. There are two other houses to the north.
The middle one doesn't have anything, but the third one you can go inside.
Seems there's nothing here, right? Yeah, you might think that. But wait!
Bust out a Volt order demon like Koropokkur and use its inspect ability.
You'll find a hidden item! Nifty huh? It's a Dainty Snack. Go back out and
keep heading east to the dock. You'll find that loser Tatsumi trapped like
a rat. Raidou moves in to kick his ass but WHAT? Slips on a banana peel?
You have GOT to be kidding me. Damn that Tatsumi's luck! He'll run away
again. Go back to the place with the violent chicken and you'll see him
run into a crossdresser's house. Go inside, but it's too dark to see
anything. You have the option of going left, right or straight but it
doesn't really matter what you do. Tatsumi has too much luck and will
escape again.
Give chase once more. You'll see him run, and go up a ladder up onto a
house's roof. You'll corner him for the third time. Honestly, at this
point I thought the roof was going to crumble beneath Raidou's feet.
But nah, instead some masked men show up to save his bacon. They ask you
if you're searching for someone. There's no reason to lie to them. After
all, you're Raidou Kuzunoha. These red necks don't scare you! Well, they'll
cast an illusion spell on you. The Fukorutsubo.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Trapped in the Fukorutsubo-
Items:
-Life Stone
-Anti-Mind
Demons:
-Wind Poltergeist
-Skill Pixie
-Fury Slime
-Frost Preta
-Fury Obariyon
-Pyro Onmoraki
-Volt Koropokkur
Looks like we're in our second dungeon now! Fun. And it even uses the music
from Devil Summoner 1's final dungeon. Nice. Right in front of you you'll
see the save point. Walk over there and save before doing anything else.
To the right you'll see a soul. Talk to him and he gives you the tip about
this place. Basically, depending on which side you enter a room from,
barriers appear to block you or not. For example, if you keep going north
from that soul, you'll get to a room/intersection and you'll see there are
3 barriers blocking your way, so you can't advance any further. What you
have to do is go back to the save point and take the left path on the fork,
and enter that same room but from the left side.
Once you do that, you'll see that the north barrier is gone (as well as the
west one, obviously. That's where you came in from). So head north. You'll
see Nakisawame here. But who needs her. Wait a second though. Instead of
going forward, go back south to the previous intersection you just went in
from. If you do this, you'll see that the east barrier that was previously
there is now gone. Awesome. Let's check out what's there. Oh, just a blue
crystal with a Life Stone. Oh well. Go back, and you'll find that now there
are barriers to the north and west. You'll have to go back all the way and
enter this same room from the left side again. Go north to Nakisawame and
this time keep going.
You'll enter another one of those intersections from the right side.
There's a barrier to the north, but that's it. Don't go south as we've
already been there. Just keep going west. Here you'll find a dead end with
a blue crystal containing an Anti-Mind. Go back to the previous room. Now
the north barrier is gone and you can save at the dragon cave there. Up
next is the boss. Do what you gotta do to restore your HP and MAG. I like
to use dia and hitting enemy weaknesses to restore MAG but that's just me.
---Boss: Soldier Bug Jiromaru---
My level: 11
This guy can easily kill you if you're not careful. His tackle takes off
over 100 HP and can stun you, and his hopper attack is even more dangerous.
Fortunately all of his attacks have cues. The trick here is to play it
safe. He's frail to fire, so bring in an Onmoraki or any other demon who
knows Agi. If you have Maragi by now, that's even better since it stuns him
for longer. You can fuse a Pyro Enku and level him up once to learn that.
It's not strictly necessary though. In any case, set both of your demons
to spam Agi or Maragi at him. You, on the other hand, will not be attacking
quite as much. You'll mostly be on the lookout for the cues that indicate
when Jiromaru will use an attack. Stay right on Jiromaru's face (so he'll
attack you rather than your demons, who can't block). You can slash him a
few times if you're feeling risky, but mostly the only time you'll go into
combos is when one of your demons' Agi puts him into frail stun. Keep your
finger on the block button when he's not stunned and be ready to hide your
demons when you see a cue that he'll attack. He has three attacks. Scratch
is the least dangerous one and only hits what is in front of Jiromaru, so
if your demons happen to be behind him when he uses this, there is no need
to hide them. Just keep blocking. His tackle is far more dangerous though
and seems to have somewhat unpredictable area of effect, so just to be safe
I'd say always hide your demons when you see this coming. Again, you should
also block. It has a much longer cue than scratch, but it's too hard to
dodge and there's no need to make the gamble when blocking decreases the
damage to about 15. Finally, when you see him jump into the air, hide
your demons and run away. Just make sure you keep running, don't get
snagged in the arena boundaries, and you'll avoid his hopper attack. He
seems to come down much faster than he used to in normal mode. But yeah,
that's all. If you play it safe like I say, you shouldn't have to heal.
Go to
http://scathingaccuracy.com/article.asp?guide/2009.05.20-S.A._Renegade-part1
if you're interested in seeing my video of how it went down.
---
After the battle the damn rednecks will steal your luck. Sucks, but that's
the way it goes. The cowards will split, the Fukorutsubo will fade
away, and you'll be back in Mannen-Cho. Unfortunately your bad luck will
cause the fiend Binbou-gami to appear. You'll be pulled into battle.
And even more unfortunately, you can't win because your luck is so bad that
all your attacks will whiff. We have no choice but to sit down and wait for
the battle to end automatically. After that you'll get the first mysterious
cutscene and then you'll be back at the Narumi Detective Agency.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-First investigational meeting at the Narumi Detective Agency-
Narumi will ask you to have an investigational meeting. Sounds fun. If you
choose to postpone it, you get to save your game, which is nifty but Narumi
won't let you out of the office until you get the meeting over with. So
save, and once you're ready get the meeting started. Narumi'll ask you some
easy questions throughout. The answers are obvious, and sadly, giving the
wrong answers doesn't give you any funny dialogue. So just get it over
with. Your next order of business is to pay Akane a visit at Narita's
mansion in Kasumidai.
Take the train to Kasumidai and enter the Narita mansion. Talk to the
butler and say you're looking for Akane. You'll get a cutscene with Narita
and Akane. After that, talk to Akane again and interrogate her. Once
that's done go back to the detective agency. Before you go in, Kenta
will stop you. He'll beg you to look for his dad who disappeared and
gives you a croquette as payment? Not good enough, kid. Anyway, go into
the detective agency, and Narumi tells you Tae wants to talk to you. She's
hanging out over at the Shin Sekai soda joint in Ginza-Cho so now we'll
have to beat feet over there.
When you go into Shin Sekai, remember to talk to the owner. He'll forward
case files he's received to the Narumi Detective Agency, which means now
you can solve some sidequests. Well, no time like the present! Forget Tae.
We gots some sidequests to do! Check out the case files section, complete
the quests you've unlocked, and then come back here. Most of them you just
have to give a specific item. For now there's only one that's an actual
quest. And that's what we're doing next!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Ghost Driver-
According to the case information, the ghost car is over at Dark
Tsukudo-Cho. So head on over there.
Before we keep going, let's talk. You've probably encountered the four
horsemen of the apocalypse several times by now. Considering that the
horsemen are around level 60, you're not supposed to defeat them at this
point. And for ones such as the White Rider, whose unavoidable attack does
more damage than your max HP even while blocking, you literally cannot
defeat them. However, there is an exception. The Black Rider's unavoidable
attack does not instantly kill you if you block it. This makes him beatable
even though you're very low level. Of course, he's only technically
beatable. You're still obviously not supposed to beat him so early on. But
if you wanna be a renegade like me and you're willing to fight a battle
you're not supposed to win, read on and good luck.
---Boss: Fiend Black Rider---
My level: 11
You're not supposed to win this fight at such a low level, and it shows.
The damage you do to Black Rider with your sword is pitiful. On the other
hand, one solid hit from him and it's over for you. This is going to be a
very long battle. It took me 45 minutes. Furthermore, Black Rider isn't
frail to any of the elements, so that's out of the question. The
consequence of this is that you WILL run out of MAG in this battle, and
once you do, the only way to replenish it will be to rely solely on strikes
while you let it naturally regenerate excruciatingly slowly.
Stock up on medicines before the fight. 10 should do it, but make it 20
just to be safe. And even more than that never hurt anyone.
Bring in the demon with the highest Ma you have. Have him set to attack
Black Rider with any of the four basic elemental spells. This is the best
way to damage him, because each spell should do around 50 damage. That's a
lot compared to your sword and gun, which do like 1 damage.
So this demon's spell will be your big guns. However, don't just leave your
demon unattended and let it do its own thing. Not only because it can
easily set it up to get one-shotted by Black Rider, but also because MAG
consumption is a serious problem throughout this fight, and you don't want
your demon to miss. You have to make every spell count. This is why you
should only have the demon with the highest Ma using a spell. Set the other
demon to strike. You're going to be doing some serious babysitting
throughout this fight when it comes to your demons. You should keep them
hidden at all times and ONLY bring them out when it's absolutely 100%
safe to attack.
That goes for you as well. Only attack Black Rider when it's 100% safe to
do so. This only happens during two situations. First of all, when you see
him cast Mudo. When you see that, that's your cue that Black Rider is about
to go into a loop where he casts Mudo, teleports, casts it again, and does
this about 5 times or so. This is one of the two situations where you and
your demons can safely attack him. While he's readying the Mudo spell, run
to his side with your demons, unhide them, and start slashing at him and
let your main demon hit him with a spell ONCE (twice is too risky. It's
likely to miss and that's wasted MAG. If you have your demon set to
spamming the spell, hide them after it uses it so that it won't use it a
second time). The Mudo should NEVER hit you if
you're at Black Rider's side when he casts it. Also, if you're lucky, your
sword strikes will cause him to flinch and you can get a second, sometimes
even a third combo on him.
The second situation in which you can attack him safely is when he uses
Begin Starvation. This move leaves him vulnerable for a long time if he
misses with it, and he should. Every time. Unless you seriously screw up.
No, really, you shouldn't get hit with this move even once. It's the
easiest one to avoid, and getting hit by it is too devastating since it
halves your MAG. The cue is pretty easy to see. Black Rider will teleport,
and then not do anything at all for a second. Then he'll use Begin
Starvation. But even if you don't see it, it's still very hard to get hit
by it if you just keep moving at all time. In any case, when you see him
doing that attack, that's the cue that tells you he's about to go into a
loop where he uses Begin Starvation, teleports, then does it again and
repeats this about 5 times or so. What you're supposed to do is avoid it
by running, and while he's in the middle of the move, run up to his side,
or preferably his backside, unhide your demons, and start slashing him
before he finishes using the move and keep on attacking him during the
recovery (though, again, only permit your main demon to use its spell
once). Make sure your demons are very close to Black Rider before you
unhide them if you're going to attack him while Begin Starvation is still
onscreen, because if they're not, there's a small chance that the demon
set to strike will stupidly waltz right in front of Black Rider and get
killed.
Anyway, those are the two situations which are most beneficial to you.
However, Black Rider has some other attacks. Attacks which are not as
beneficial to you. His two physical attacks are extremely dangerous.
His strike has a VERY short cue and is quite deadly. However, you should
never be close to him if he's not using Mudo or Begin Starvation, so you
should never get hit by this. If you see him teleport near you, roll away
immediately just in case he's about to use his strike. The other physical
attack he has is Mad Rush, and this one is even more deadly. It has a
longer cue than the strike. You shouldn't be near him when he's readying
it. To avoid Mad Rush, simply run to the side or roll to the side before
he uses it. Remember that when you see him use either of these two physical
attacks, that's your cue that he's about to go into a loop where he
keeps doing physical attacks about 10 times or so. Just something to keep
in mind. Slashing him during this process is NOT safe. Don't try it. And
keep your demons hidden. If you want to damage him a little during this,
you can shoot him with your gun after he whiffs every strike and Mad Rush.
You should get about 7 damage per clip. If you do it right. But be careful.
Finally, Black Rider's arena-encompassing attack is Soul Balance. This
attack has a very long and obvious cue in that you get a message saying
"Black Rider is preparing for something."
Soul Balance takes off half your HP if you block it. However, you can also
get off scot free from it! When you see the message that Black Rider is
preparing for something, don't stay grounded in place. Rather run just a
little bit in any direction and THEN go into block stance. There's a good
chance that Soul Balance will miss you completely. There's also a chance
that it'll hit you anyway though, but don't worry. Just heal yourself
afterwards.
Speaking of healing, use medicines for your healing purposes. Never use
Dia unless you absolutely have to. Remember that MAG is a serious problem
in this fight, and you want to use as much of that MAG as possible to
damage Black Rider.
Also, Black Rider uses Luck Roulette of the Dragon regularly throughout
the fight to confer a variety of bad luck effects on you. These can range
from pretty bad (Raidou's attacks will whiff, and cannot use items), to
somewhat bad (Enemies hate you, demons may get lost), to virtually
inconsequential (order sealed). Just deal with it. There's nothing you
can do about it anyway. Remember that when Black Rider is angry at you,
he won't flinch, and his attacks will do more damage so be careful. Also,
don't summon a demon when demons may get lost is in effect. When cannot use
items in effect, you'll have to rely on Dia. Which brings me to my next
point:
You WILL run out of MAG in this fight. When you do, set both your demons
to strike and switch to damaging Black Rider with only physical attacks
while your MAG very slowly recuperates. However, just in case cannot use
items comes up on the luck roulette of the dragon, stop using magic attacks
when you're down to about 20 MAG or so. This gives you the opportunity to
be able to use Dia a couple times if you have to heal when you can't use
items.
Well, that's about it. It'll be a long and arduous fight, but if you
follow this strategy you'll wittle him down eventually. After the battle,
he gives you so much exp that I went from level 11 to level 17. I really
didn't want that much exp, but oh well.
If you're interested in watching my video of how it all goes down, go to
http://scathingaccuracy.com/article.asp?guide/2009.05.20-S.A._Renegade-part1