Start your game and Atlus will have their disclaimer about the views and opinions within. Watch the long opening sequence to hear of how prosperity turned into chaos and the environment suffered, bringing about the Land of Ruin to the world.
But the Journey about to take place will decide man’s fate. A group of elites from various countries are in a giant conference room. Everything that is told here in the Schwarzwelt Joint Project is to remain a secret.
The scene shifts between news reports of events around the globe, and then random shots near the speculated area by the South Pole. Several large vehicles drive closer to the Schwarzwelt. The time for investigation is near. It is led by Commander Gore. He talks for a bit and then will introduce First Lieutenant Zelenin. She goes into more detail about the natural phenomenon that arose here. Many thought it was a blizzard but it is a spatial anomaly that is continually expanding.
The exterior of the Schwarzwelt prevents entry. The interior consists of parallel universes. Entering and surviving seems bleak though these vehicles have the protective means to do so. Command Unit Arthur speaks. He will coordinate your system with other ships to devise a strategy. There are four amphibious assault ships; Ship 1 The Red Sprite, Ship 2 The Blue Jet, Ship 3 Elves and Ship 4 – Gigantic. 2 and 4 are used for combat support. You are aboard The Red Sprite.
Shortly after this you are introduced. Name your character (the american) and then you can shake the Commander’s hand. Save your game and then speak with the Engineer, Strike Force and the russian Zelenin. The Engineer mentions Demonicas but you will learn more later from Commander Gore. Not much else to do here so choose move and go to the deck (other areas are busy). Then return to Commander Gore’s briefing. He gives you details about the powerful armored suits you wear – the Demonica suits. Crewman Jimenez is ready to explain how they work; not only do they withstand harsh conditions but there are many high-tech features. The system itself grows to match your experiences in battle. Jimenez has a snide remark at the end.
Time to initialize your Demonica’s Main App. DEMOountable Next Integrated Capability Armor online. Now you answer questions deliberately and honestly. How you answer them determines things about your character (for the record, I got Luck Support). More chatting with the Commander and you are free to double-check documents you have on file (press X). New documents on mission logs; Schwarzwelt Investigation Team, Alignment + Demonica. Read over the Alignment details. Jimenez ponders the motives of this operation, concerned of being used as a meat shield (he won’t shake your hand, if you offer).
Back at the Commander’s room Zelenin speaks about the Schwarzwelt, a term hailed from German Professor Hammerschmidt. Time to head back to the deck. The announcer mentions you are closing in on the barrier. Turns out the ships are being pulled in various directions by an unknown gravitational force. Most people panic, some make fun of the people panicking. An Engineer asks how you feel so respond accordingly; shortly after though, the Red Sprite crashes.
You find yourself in a strange room with three voices. They see you as a hardy soul, but are uncertain if you will achieve greatness. First though, you must fall. You wake up on the ship. Commander Gore speaks with you and mentions the engine being stopped and Arthur being out of commission. But, we did make it in the Schwarzwelt.
Back in the Commander’s Room, Red Sprite is no longer functional says Gore. No contact with Ship’s 2-4 either. Suddenly, the deck hatch begins to open. Terry says there is a man down and the attack begins. New Main Mission on the mission log; Engineering SOS. Speak with everyone, save and head to the deck.
The area is littered with corpses of the crewmen, but there is one alive crew member that recognizes you. It is Terry. He is going into the reactor room to active the sub-reactor and ultimately shut this door. No enemies around here yet but soon there is one. However, the Demon Summoning Program starts up. Shortly after, a battle with two unknown blue enemies occurs. Gun down these two enemies since gun attacks two at once (while the sword is more powerful for one enemy). The hatch door shuts after defeating the Foul Slimes.
Back at the command room we speak with Commander Gore. Time to get the plasma shield off but also to analyze this Demon Summoning Program. Arthur is still unresponsive but it turns out Arthur’s admin systems have been overrun by the program. There is a message to you though, from the Land ruled by Demons. Seems that some will be our enemies, some will be our friends. Just after this we are alerted of an emergency at the Sickbay as the medical crew is under attack. New main mission; Sickbay Trouble. Get to Sickbay and rescue the medics. First, talk to everyone and Gore will mention heading to the lab for some medical supplies. Do that first for Medicine x5 from Chen. More things to read if you wish but can just head to the Sickbay. Quickly defeat the two Foul Slimes. If you didn’t use a Medicine before this battle you may need to here. Your Demonica should gain a level and the Sickbay Trouble mission is complete.
Return back to the Commander’s Room of course, after hearing the news of members possibly outside the ship being attacked. Back in the Commander’s room it sounds like members of the crew have been kidnapped by demons. One member missing from Comms, one from Monitors, and one from Maintenance. Also, Irving from the Lab. Gore then says it is time to go explore with the Strike team in Sector A – codename Sector Antlia.
Main Mission; Missing Crewmen in Sector Antlia. Head over to the lab first for Medicine x10 and then to the Sickbay to rest up if need be. Now, to the deck. Tell Dent you are prepared and then Disembark to Antlia.
You find yourself in an ice cave. New document on Field Controls. Check it out and speak with the Strike member about the DP Gauge. Through the door and you run into an enemy; it is a Pixie. Now we are introduced to conversing with demons. Say ‘pleased to meet you’ and the upper-center bar flashes green to indicate the demon liked what you said. This can net you Macca or an item. Sometimes you get something special if you just choose to do nothing. Pixie then explains you can ask the demon to join if the conversation went well, though it depends on various things; most notably alignment but also moon phase. Certain demons will just dislike you though while others will be easier to recruit or just talk to. You cannot communicate well with the unknowns but there are rare occasions where you get something special from doing it. The Pixie then asks you to ask her to join, so she joins for free (the other demons are not this nice). Your Analyze level for Pixies goes up after this; they are strong against Fire and use Agi and Dia.
Time to check out your Mission Log. Read about Alignment and Demon Conversation; clearly integral parts of the gameplay. After you are caught up put Pixie in your party and then walk forward to see a Strike team member. Move around a bit and you will fight a battle with a Foul Slime and an Unknown. You learn more about combining Alignment attacks – for example, Agi with the Pixie and your character’s Fire shot. Use this on an enemy here and the follow-up attack comes in addition to that character’s own turn. The other enemy is a Jirae Knocker. Also may run across a Spirity Dybbuk. Head directly west from where you start to find some floating green thing. This is Chakra Drop x1. Straight north through the door to find a crew member; this is Muccino of the Comms team. He is saved but ahead there is Maebe who needs attention. So go to the right and look south to see Maebe from Maintenance. Save her and defeat the Foul Slime and Jirae Knocker. You can ‘examine’ these boulders, but they won’t move yet.
Rest up if you need to, and go to the far west and then south for another treasure, 500 Macca. The far north portal is locked, so check the one just north and west of the 500 macca. It is locked as well. Flight Tangata Manu is another flying enemy you may come across, which case use a gun since they are weak against projectiles. Return to the beginning area and go west (the route just north of the Chakra-drop treasure). You will come across a Strike Team member. Further ahead a battle to save MacCleary of the monitor team. He talks of the Moon Phases and you will have that document in your mission log. Head west and north for a Revival Bead. The portal at the far west is locked. Only one area on the 1st floor of Antlia left to explore – the southeast region. The Demonica senses a life-form ahead. It is Irving from Supplies at the end of the path. He heads back and Commander Gore calls in to congratulate you on finding all four. Head back to the Red Sprite. Commander Gore offers to go with the Strike Force as the options are now limited with all the recent casualties. However someone connects and calls in, and it is Jimenez of the Strike Team. The Blue Jet is done for and he seems to know of these demons as well. Time to find Jimenez.
New Main Mission; Rescue Jimenez. Rest up and buy some medicine if you would like. Note that resting with your demon friends does cost a decent fee, so be efficient. When you are ready, enter Antlia once more. You have some C4, enough for one blast. Head all the way north and then east to the red exclamation mark on the map (where you found Maebe). Time to use the C4 but when you do a demon will appear. It devours many allies and leaves. Commander Gore goes after it while many are in a panic.
South and west to see that locked portal that you saw on the other end. East of here is a green door with carbon dating back 100,000 years old. Basically, a save point. Go north and east (passing a locked portal) and then you can enter to see the wrecked Blue Jet. We need to get to the other side of it. Travel south now for a heal spot (you have to pay macca here, too). East is where we need to go but continue west. I found a Jirae Knocker that joined around here, which can use Bufu magic so that’s nice. The area west of this does not have much though, besides a few weak enemies and then a purple demon bird that taunts you.
Back to that rest point in the southeast. Heal yourself and make sure you have full MP. Commander Gore does something rash here and attacks the Orias demon himself. He attacks a few times and lands some weak shots while the Orias has some stronger attacks. The Orias feigns defeat but then comes back as Commander Gore lets down his guard. Gore is down, but now it is your turn to fight this thing. You will make use out of Agi here, and Fire Shot from the Hero. This allows you to get an extra shot. Pixie may be needed to heal however. If you have a third ally it might be wise just to defend so that if they are hit they can act as a good meat shield. Stay healed as the Fallen Orias has a bit of HP even if you are getting off the extra attacks. Your MP will probably be nearly depleted, though most will go up a level after this. You also find a Lemegetonite, a rare item.
Times are bad after this, but we must continue. Arthur has at least been restored though the faction is in disarray. Jimenez just wants to leave. Others feel that way but some want to stay and carry out the plan. Either way there is no way to leave yet. Meanwhile Irving interrupts as he is looking at that Lemegetonite that we acquired from the Orias boss fight. Jimenez is then officially made a member of the Red Sprite Strike team since Blue Jet is out of commission. Speak with Blair and Dent and then it will be time to disembark.
Spent some time talking with Tangata Manu after entering. He wanted some money and a few life sucks. Head to the north end of the Blue Jet wreckage site. Check for the Engine Room and you hear a voice. Jimenez is here talking about the Tokamak Motor. Many dead bodies lay within, though we here a cry from the control terminal. It is Verne the command unit of the Blue Jet. Though inoperable, he says to remove this terminal and take it to another ship. Time to take this Tokamak Motor and CU Terminal back to our Sprite. Before you do that though, go visit that purple flying demon west of the healing spot. He will mention looking for materials, but we will learn more about that soon.
The Tokamak Motor is sent to engineering to be put to use. Main Mission Engine Restoration now completed. You also hand over the CU Terminal that Verne had. It will still take some time to get the engine going but it’s a start. Meanwhile Irving chimes in about that Lemegetonite. Evidently it is a ‘material’, and a rare one at that (material like that purple demon was speaking of). They are called Forma that act as new equipment or abilities for demons. Head over ot the Lab and hand over the Demonica. You now have access to Forma Search A which we can use on the field to find Forma materials. Then we bring them back here to the lab. New main mission; Collect Rare Forma. Head on into Antlia when you are ready.
As you can see, there are a ton of Forna around that you previously could not see. Grab the Antlite x2, Detox Core x3 and Recovery Core x3 in the nearby area. Note that you may also find unidentified Forma in battle now too. Far to the north for a Rare Forma, a Feather Flock. Search around a bit more for DF Antlite x1 and Recovery Core x3, then head back to the ship and Irving at the lab. The Feather Flock is nifty; and now we can open the locked doors we have seen. Finally we can explore more with Unlock A. Meanwhile though, Arthur talks about what he found from Verne and regarding the Blue Jet. Their escape failed.
New Main Mission; Energy Signature Investigation. But wait, first Verne has the Demon Fusion Program that Arthur has now copied to all Demonica. Now back to the lab for Irving. Manufacture a Heat Knife for your character; good upgrade for your character. Also chose to manufacture a Hiroemon for attaining items post-battle with more frequency.Time to venture back out and explore with these new goodies (and fuse a few of your demons so that you can get better demons and you can always re-acquire your old ones back). You can make lots of progress by fusing these demons and it is a way to farm very nice abilities. If you have played SMT / Persona games before, you know about this concept.
For the time being, head to the far west to open the door and find some more Forma discoveries (DF Antlite, AT Antlite and Detox Core x2). South and east of here you see a Jinae demon who mentions that downstairs there are very powerful enemies that can wipe you out quickly. Look for an Agilao Stone x1 in this area, and then return to the central area where you entered. The far northeast has another portal that you can unlock but this leads to the downstairs basement; don’t go here yet. Return back to the Lab at the Red Sprite and acquire an Iperitta gun. Very powerful. Plus, you should probably rest and save before going down too. Descend down the stairs to Antlia / B1F.
Grab the Night Sand x1 Forma in front of you. Up ahead you hear a cry for help from what turns out to be a Pixie. She wants a Bead x1. Accept the mission and a new EX Mission will be added; The little injured faerie. A Bead fully restores HP and you will find them as a random drop from an enemy in the next floor or two. Just keep your eye’s peeled. When you do find the Bead, return to the Fairy to acquire the Fairy Knife. You have completed the EX Mission The little injured faerie. The effectiveness of the Fairy Knife often depends on how fast you get it; it has a lower attack even if you get two attacks off, but if you get lucky and get the four attacks that is really nice. Not to mention the passive Charm effect it sometimes gives off is very nice.
Head south after this and wrap around to the left to see a green door. Enter and this update will allow the user to change a Demonica’s Sub Apps when linked with a terminal. This will be useful later. For now, just save.West of here you can rest for some Macca.
Unlock that door just to the left to see a battlefield on fire. This is where the tough enemies are – use Elec Shot to get by the early battles until you gain some more levels. Head west and scan the Detox Core x3 Forma. Go north and east for more Detox Core, then all the way west for Patra Stone x2. South of here but then east at the upside down T for Recovery Core x3. West all the way now through another door (still in the outdoor area though). AC Antlite x2 ahead. Should be good for now on this west end.
Go to the east door in the room with the save point. Check the Forma north of you in this battlefield area for Beast Fire Fur x2. East through another door and then grab the AC Antlite x2. Not much else here, so return to the save point and go south.
Through the door to the outside, and then through another door. Head straight ahead and you see a strike team member looking at your Demonica. He tells you a bit more about your demon friends and sends you some notes, mentioning the sources that demons sometime give after gaining a level. Go back and take the north route and east for AT Antlite x1 forma. East more for a Revival Bead x1 treasure chest. More Forma northwest of here, Detox Core x3. Back south now, and take the route going east that is just south of the Revival Bead chest. This leads to an open area but also has a place to descend at the far right. Turn back and go west and then southwest when you can, through a door.
There are a few options in this new spot. You can go north all the way for a one-way door going back to the save point / rest area. Or go all the way west from that spot for Jaki Bolt x1 Forma. Back east and south when you can – this route leads to a Chakra Drop x2 treasure. Return south more and then further west. You will run into a Strike Team member cautioning about the tougher demons ahead. He then offers to explain more about Demon Fusion, including the Compendium and again on the Demon Sources you acquire. He serves as a reminder that you need to constantly be upgrading your weaker demon allies. West more for a terminal to Save, Return, or Install Sub Apps. North for a door.Forma discovery just southwest as you enter, for a Night Sand x1. Tougher enemies are in this area, as you will soon find out. Clearly, you are not ready to just head down another floor, so return back to the entrance.
Plenty of things you should be able to purchase at the Lab, with the Forma you have attained. The Body Ring is a nice initial accessory to add HP if you want to spend the Macca on it. You should be able to get the Caloric now too, which allows you to again attack all enemies with a gun but much stronger than the Strike Rifle. Might want to get the Lunatic Sub-App so you don’t have to worry about it being a Full Moon.
Return back to B1 on Antlia. Go to the far east and descend to B2 that way. Take the north route and then east to a dead end, but a dead strike team member. Head through the west door and grab the AT Antlite II x1 forma. Clearly not much else for us here, so head back to B1 and then all the way west to the Terminal and the other route to B2.
Enter the door east of you (North-west is a dead end). Go north when you can, and then west through the door. West another spot and you will see a Sandman. Accept his mission and he talks about the Sandmen’s Signature. He is looking for another Sandman who has his bag. You just have to get in a battle with another Sandman, and then talk to it. You are more likely to find them closer to the beginning of B2 (like right after you enter the fiery battlefield area). You will then get the Sandman’s Bag.Return this to that Sandman looking for his bag (look for the blue dot if you forgot). Your reward is a Chakra Pot x1, which is actually nice because it fills up any member’s entire MP.
Back to the guide. The Forma just north of the Sandman is a Recovery Core x2. Not much else over here, so go back east and look for another door on the east end. Head straight north and you will run into a huge red demon. He is one of the elite mercenaries that Master Morax made. You may have fought one of these Brute Oni’s before. Tough attack and stingy physical defense. Use a gun or magic, preferably Zio (Lilim has Zio and Mazio, also Hamsa has Mazio). They have a bit of HP though. After the win the demon curses you and goes down, while a Strike Team member shows up and hands you DF Antlite x1 and Jaki Bolt x2.
Further north through a door and then you will see a door on the west end as you head north. Another Brute Oni is here but he has a Fallen Melchom with him. Don’t underestimate this Fallen Melchom; much more improved than your normal one you have seen in random battles. Use that Caloric gun and Mazio. LONG route north of here but there is nothing. Go west through this door, then south through another door. A Bufula Stone x1 is here. North and west through a door. South leads to a one-way door that results in you walking all the way around to get back. You may wish to take it to return and rest up, since a tougher boss lies ahead. Upon returning I was also able to buy a Mind Ring (not that good yet) and an Ancient Vest.
Along the east wall is a door and another Brute Oni. It has a Kaso (Beast) and two Fairy Pixies. Again, that Caloric gun is a huge asset for attacking all of these enemies. And of course Mazio and Zio for the Oni. The Forma northwest of here is AT Antlite II x1. Go through the door to the east. There is another door to the southeast here but that just acts as a shortcut to leave. Enter north through the other door.
Uh oh. You get a warning about a powerful demon up ahead. It would be wise to rest up at this juncture, though if you rested a bit ago maybe you don’t want to head all the way back. The Forma up ahead is AT Antlite II x1. Further ahead and a Strike Team member stops you to tell you about the password for the door, and sends you a document on Demon Compendium Passwords. Look around you now. In the northeast there is a green door to Save and Return. In the northwest there is a place to rest up. To the southeast and southwest in this room you see strange markings on the sides and you can scan to open doors. The southeast door leads to 1000 Macca and the southwest has Revival Bead x2.
When you go through the door, you come across Morax. No matter what choice you choose, Tyrant Morax goes into battle to kill you. He likes to use Maragi and Lunge (50+ damage to an ally). Gehenna is something he uses towards the end that forces your characters to spend turns doing nothing or something being ‘put away’. Horned Rampage is a scary move he uses towards the end too and it does 35+ damage a few times. Stay healed and use Bufu-related tactics and hopefully you have members with similar alignment for group attacks. Regular attacks are weak and other magic attacks are not much better. Tyrant Morax has a ton of HP so this battle is going to last for a bit. If you can’t beat him, head back and see if there is something new to buy or try to recruit / fuse newer, more powerful demons. After the battle, Tyrant Morax can be created through fusion. A ton of EXP for your group and you will come across the Brass Horn and an Energy Mass.
Jimenez and Arthur congratulate you after the battle. You then appear back at Red Sprite. Arthur says you have completed Mission: Energy Signature Investigation. This energy source will solve the problem of the quantum tunnel at the zenith. The energy source is known as a Rosetta Manifold. The Energy Mass just acquired has been identified as a Rosetta: Ant.
The Engineering crew then uses the Rosetta Ant to act as an oil to go through the Schwarzwelt’s shield to a new sector. The new sector code is B, codename Bootes. Arthur then gives you a Signal Beacon that is to gather intelligence for the group. Main Mission: Bootes Monitor Duty now under way. You can now store 10 demons at once by the way.
This game is the shit. So fun…
Would enjoy a demon fusion chart of some sorts.