SMT:N gameblog
Battle Party:
Valkyrie
Ongkot
Karasu Tengu
Fused/Recruited/Evolved:
Kushinada (Kushinada-hime)
Long (Seiryu) (evolved from Mizuchi)
Horus
Okuninushi (I'm amused with ATLUS' rendition of him--the most beautiful of his brothers indeed. At first glance I thought he was a girl! XD)
Sarutahiko
Mikazuchi (Takemikazuchi)
Mothman
The first of the looooooooooooooooooooooong dungeons; Ikebukuro Tunnel has some dark areas that requires the use of Light Balls or Lightoma in order for Micchy to get around without smacking his neon-tattooed face right into a wall. When Micchy arrives, he bumps into a demon who tells him the place is run by four really strong demons; obviously, in order for Micchy to get to the other end of the tunnel and make his way to Asakusa, he needs to take these four demons out first!
(I was too lazy to look up any websites for the four bosses, so no extra links for you. Deal with it.)
The first boss is Sui-Ki, whom Micchy dealt with easily, especially with Valkyrie in the party. After frying Sui-Ki, it's more running around before Micchy stumbles on the next of the Four Annoying Bosses--Kin-Ki. Trying to put out a certain J-pop duo out of his mind, Micchy takes care of the second demon easily.
(Note: I had a hard time with this dungeon the first time around in Maniacs, so this time I ran around Nihilo killing various Divine demons in order to level up. And fuse! And level up. And fuuuuuuse. Basically I was a good 8-10 levels higher this time around. Bosses? Heh.)
(I did however, again completely forget about bringing Ame-no-Uzume here so she can recruit Sarutahiko (her husband). Agh. I wanted to see what their dialogue was like!)
Fui-Ki? Phooey. (Amusing though, how he asks Micchy for some money.) Next!
Ongyo-Ki is the last one out of the merry bunch, and out of sheer dumb luck Micchy stumbled on him while Kagatsuchi was in Full! Ongyo-Ki makes shadow clones of himself and the only way to pick out the real one from the lot is by a small shadow he casts during a Full Kagatsuchi.
You know what's dumb? Micchy had Horus in his battle party, and this is what happened:
Horus: *GLOWS BRIGHTLY* I have first turn of attack!
Micchy: *squints from the glare* Oh shit, I can't see where's the damned shadow.
Ongkot: ...
(Not kidding. Horus was second from the right in the battle party line, and I had a hard time trying to make out where the real Ongyo-ki was if the boss appeared on the right. "Let's see... extreme right? Crap, it was the other one!" @_@ I stuck with Horus anyway instead of summoning someone else, since he was the only decent healer.)
One long squinty battle later, Ongyo-Ki dies and Micchy resumes his journey to Asakusa, a new Magatama in hand--the Murakumo.
Asakusa
Cheerfully mugging random demons along the way, Micchy treks to Asakusa, where the Manikin have set up their new home. Upon arrival, Micchy finds that the Manikin have started to restore the city; even our old friend the Collector Manikin is there, about to set up shop. Apparently the Manikin were constructed from the mud from the banks of Asakusa (there's a bit earlier on in the game where Micchy finds a pile of mud that's oddly enough, shaped like a person). Micchy checks out the Terminal, and finds Hijiri already there.
Anyway, Hijiri thinks that the Terminal in Asakusa is perfect for spying on the Nihilo and sets to work, shooing Micchy out and telling him to walk around and explore for a while. So explore he does; at one point, he meets a little Manikin boy who's just done playing an old arcade game that resembles Sokoban--except, instead of controlling some poor bastard in a warehouse, Micchy gets to control some poor Jack Lantern in a... warehouse. Win the game and Micchy gets a Magatama!
(I haven't finished this sub-quest yet. SHUT UP, I HATE PUZZLE GAMES.)
More wandering around results with assorted conversations with Manikin; one mentions how Futomimi is busy meditating in their holy place, Mifunashiro; one mentions Isamu (and his hat O_o); a few souls complain how noisy it is now that the Manikin have set up camp and... a few Manikin mention a certain psycho Manikin on the loose.
Micchy heads off to Mifunashiro, hoping to see Futomimi but when he arrives at the shrine, Futomimi does not allow him to enter. Futomimi apologises, but is still pleased to see Micchy around and tells him a bit more about Asakusa and the work the Manikin are doing to make it a proper city. Before he politely hints Micchy to leave, he warns our Demi-fiend of a certain Manikin called Sakahagi, the psycho Manikin the others mentioned much earlier.
Micchy: A spasmtastic and homicidal Manicidal mud doll! This I gotta see.
Micchy leaves Mifunashiro and explores the other areas nearby and dum-da-dum, he finds blood trails and sprays all over the place. A survivor or two mention the name 'Sakahagi' and how Sakahagi is out for some skin--literally. Following a trail of dead and mutilated Manikin, he stumbles on the sight of a Manikin, who is crouching over a victim. The murderer turns around and lo and behold, Micchy is treated to a fascinating sight of Sakahagi, who apparently skins off his victims and patches their faces together for his own clothing.
I was really hoping for a boss fight here, but all Sakahagi does is just be surprised at Micchy's arrival. When he realises that Micchy's not a Manikin ("HEY! I DO NOT SPASM, I JUST GLOW IN THE DARK!") he talks on how he's going to kill the other weaker Manikin in order to obtain Magatsuhi, and that he's going to be the one ruling this world.
Sakahagi leaves, and Micchy heads back to Hijiri to tell the man about what he's just discovered. Of course, what Micchy finds is never important to Hijiri, so Hijiri just tells him to shut up and go to a place called the Obelisk. The Obelisk is the centre of Hikawa's Nightmare System and the Maiden--Ms. Takao herself--must be there. And again, since Hijiri's too much of a wussy to do anything, it's obviously Micchy who is going to be the one to go to the Obelisk and restore the flow of Magatsuhi back to normal.