What references are there?Originally Posted by Sione
What references are there?
I completely forgot about this, but this is a nice detail to point out if you take into account Amanozako's power:
Aw, I was on board for Pretender Ryoma.
Guess I have the same issue with him as I do with Avenger Nobu, they're the same character as an original welfare who we'll probably never hear from again because now they've an SSR form that can make money.
Arabahaki and Amanozako. Not sure if it's just coincidental choice or intentional reference though.
They made it almost painfully clear very early on that it wouldn't be the case, because he was always just the real Ryoma, just had a slightly different personality. The only thing that would've ever been remotely pointing to Pretender was that he was shady and mysterious and not letting on exactly what was his deal, but that's literally how everyone talks about regular Ryoma in-story too.
Goetia is an NPC.
Lancer is like the worst class in this game, it's Assassin and Foreigner tier.
Arahabaki.
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Also, if that's an SMTV spoiler I will boil you.
shit BL says
Once and always and nevermore.
I will assume people call them references because of design or whatever, considering SMT has basically every demon and mythological being ever...
In the 6+ years before Elizabeth's strengthenings last month (or two months ago, whenever it happened), we'd had all of like two strengthenings for a welfare, and one wasn't even for that welfare, it was for when you put her in the same team as either of the Illyas.
It's not like we actually got shut out of anything here.
Lancer has like, the best class mod though? And with only one Pretender, it's not like there's a slew of Alter Egos that replace their use ala Assassin and Caster dps.
Lancer has 1.05x class mod, slightly worse than 1.1x for Ruler, Berserker, Avenger, and some other class maybe?
Lancer is bad because it's a class that has Servants who universally have bloated HP stats and low attacking stats and their star absorb is ass too. And they're like all DPSes even with these type of stats.
Karna???
Vritra too, but it's like the exception that proves the rule. I don't know why there aren't support Lancers (and I mean 5* ones).
Almost forgot about these today.
Part 10 - Awaken, O Strange God
Another flashback, this time without date, but it's Takasugi and Ryoma talking on a beach. Takasugi seems to lightheartedly want to take credit for assembling an alliance. Ryoma humors him, and they talk about the change that's coming to Japan. Ryoma thinks this isn't the time to be fighting, and so he hopes what he has planned will work out. He also thanks Takasugi for giving him a gun earlier, as it saved his life at some point. Takasugi laughs it off, however, saying there's no way Ryoma would ever die with that woman by his side. Ryoma leaves the scene, saying he'll see Takasugi some time later in Edo. Takasugi thinks to himself that Ryoma really is special in how he managed to make such an uninteresting world more interesting. Despite that, Takasugi will come up with something way more interesting and make Ryoma drop his jaw. However, at that point, standing on the beach, he begins to cough blood (TL note: Takasugi in real life had TB).
A soldier is reporting to Takasugi and new!Ryoma. Reinfocements have shown up from Chaldea. The Shinsengumi are running through the city, Nagao Kagetora has been sighted, Oda Nobunaga's brother, Queen Himiko, and someone calling themselves Majin-Saber are also here, alongside a Heroic Spirit of the shield. Takasugi is a bit miffed that we kept such interesting things from him, and Ryoma asks if the plan will actually pull through. But Takasugi has an idea. The city begins shaking again, and the pull from earlier is now immensely stronger. At this rate, the citizens won't last long at all.
Your group, consisting of Gudao, Takechi, Ryoma, and Izou finally make it to Takasugi and new!Ryoma. Takechi mentions he'll avenge his fallen comrades, and Takasugi reiterates that he won't allow you to be more interesting than him. Nevertheless, you'll have to fight, so new!Ryoma is told to hold them off while Takasugi finishes up the project. At this point, new!Ryoma's nameplate actually changes to Amanozako (or well, Ama-no-Sakagami), so I'll just refer to him as Zako for this part. Ryoma actually notes that the other him's tone is getting distinctly different before he realizes it's the spear taking over more. Any normal man would have become a cripple in less than six months, but Ryoma lasted surprisingly long. Zako taunts Ryoma, saying he can't do anything without Oryou, but Ryoma engages nonetheless, and is struck by the spear. However, Ryoma had already planned for this.
In the first place, Zako is just using the body of the other Ryoma, and so Ryoma asks Zako why he has that spear. The answer is, of course, that since that Ryoma didn't have Oryou with him, that spear is the Noble Phantasm of the Ryoma in this Singularity. Which means, it is also your Ryoma's Noble Phantasm. As such, he's able to wrest it from Zako, if only partly, making him more or less unable to act. Should he manage to completely get the spear as well, it'll be much more dangerous for Zako, seeing as how it's a spear that fells gods. But as it turns out, Ryoma always knew he wasn't gonna be able to do something like that, and so the best he can do is take Zako and the spear with him in his death. Once again, he apologizes for keeping Izou in the dark.
In some unknown place, Ryoma wonders if he's dead. The voice of Ama-no-Sakahoko (the spear) speaks to him, saying it's been a long time coming since Ryoma tossed the spear aside on that day. Ryoma clarifies that he didn't need it, and when asked why he freed that malformity, Ryoma simply said it was because he thought she had it really bad. That was all there was to it. The spear says that it is of divine power, sent from heaven to defeat evil. It's a power meant only for those chosen to lead mankind into the next age. Wouldn't Ryoma want that power, to protect people? If he takes the spear here and now, he can have that power, he can protect everyone, and he can aascend to the heavens not as a man, but as a new god. Ryoma takes the spear, but then...he snaps it (it breaks surprisingly easy for a divine weapon).
Ryoma says he won't be manipulated again, and turns out that the spear talking here was actually Zako in disguise again. However, in losing the spear, Ryoma will lose himself too, consigned to wander the netherworld forever.
Back in the real world, the others notice the spear is broken (so I guess that scene played out in his mind rather than some limbo), and because of that Zako has lost his body and is now basically powerless. Takasugi then explains that preparing a new body for the second coming of a god is the purpose of the Kishin Project, but also that this is the right time for him to cut his ties. Basically, Takasugi pulls ANOTHER double-cross here, and rather than giving Zako a new body to work with, he'll absorb Zako to use his divine powers. Thus, he reveals his grand project, the Strange God, Arahabaki.
Aw, could've had the New Motive Power in this event too
Part 11 - O You, Conquer the Fields of Wadatsumi
Arahabaki has awakened. Everything in this Singularity was a means for this end. The generators in the city, the Holy Grail, Nobunaga's head, even Zako. Takasugi says he technically didn't lie to Zako, because he did prepare a body for him, he's just not going to let him control it. And so it absorbs Zako. Also, it's all thanks to Chaldea coming there that the plan was able to proceed so quickly.
However, he hasn't been lying entirely either. He really will create a new world for the people. But the conclusion he arrived at was that everything like the Kinno-to and similar are not about true change, they're just changing parameters in the large picture, and as long as they are human, they will always decline. And so Takasugi's goal is to have a god be the absolute leader above all of man. Only then can man truly be disciplined and allowed to prosper. When you point out some flaws in his plan, he retorts saying "it doesn't matter, as long as it's interesting, ok?"
Takechi asks Takasugi a seemingly random question: "do you like persimmons?", following it up by saying he'll steal all the persimmons in Takasugi's garden (real historical reference time here, you'll have to look this one up on your own). Okuni arrives and deploys a giant version of her stage around you. It is the greatest kabuki of all time, and it will seal Arahabaki. This performance is blessed by the participation of all the "guests" you've brought in from Chaldea, including Himiko and the Shinsengumi. On top of that, instead of destroying the reactors around the city, you redirected the flow using Himiko's power so that Okuni could do this.
Takasugi says it's only a minor hindrance, as Nobunaga's head still powers Arahabaki, but Okuni points him to look at the sky, where Ranmaru is now flying in with Chacha and Mori. Mori cuts through the god's armor effortlessly using his Noble Phantasm, and Ranmaru and Chacha retrieve Nobunaga's head. In a last ditch effort to produce something interesting, Takasugi vows to crush you all here, and then proceed to destroy this world.
You beat Arahabaki up a bit, and while it's not nearly enough, the blood coughing very conveniently strikes Takasugi again, as his disease is catching up to him even as a Servant. Takechi says it's only right, as they're dead, and the living should be the ones to decide the future. However, because you messed with Arahabaki so much, Zako has managed to break free from within, and now moves to possess Takasugi in his weakened state. One weird thing here is that he says he'll rise again as Ama-no-Sakagami, and his nameplate also changes from Ama-no-Zako to that following this, but it's a bit weird because when they first name him, they give Ama-no-Sakagami in ruby as a reading for the kanji that is Ama-no-Zako.
Anyway, he'll rise up and enslave all on this earth and all that evil jazz. However, suddenly a voice is heard, and a light shines from the pieces of Ryoma's spear. Sakagami says that's impossible, as he should have been consigned to the netherworld forever.
Cut to a scene with Ryoma elsewhere. This time he wonders if he's actually dead and in the afterlife. But he quickly recognizes whre he is. It's where Oryou now sleeps. An unknown voice speaks to him, which he at first thinks he's Zako again, but the voice says it doesn't matter who they are. All that matters is that Ryoma fulfills his task of destroying the malformity before him, as the one who originally pulled Ama-no-Sakahoko from her. Ryoma says Oryou should already be dead, but the voice explains that the Oryou that was with him was just a copy of the thing that sleeps before him now. Ryoma realizes this is where Oryou has been sleeping ever since he died. The voice says this thing will eventually awaken, and become an evil god that devours all of Japan. It was to prevent that from happening that Ama-no-Sakahoko fell from the heavens.
The spear itself is the residue of the Age of Gods that fell from the heavens, and only it can destroy the evil malformity that stems from the same age. But Ryoma has other things on his mind. He's been waiting for so long, and he feels the need to tell her right now: "Oryou-san...I'm sorry."
The voice is bewildered that he would fall for such a malformity, but to Ryoma, Oryou will always be Oryou, no matter what, and since she's waited here for him for so long... The voice, in response to this, gives a little speech about mankind. We know what's wrong, but can't help not doing it. We know what's right, but can't bring ourselves to make it happen. That's the difference between man and god. The voice acknowledges that Oryou fell in love with Ryoma and because of that rejected going to heaven, and instead fell asleep in this abyss. It then proceeds to tell you the truth about the spear. Its original power was not to destroy evil, in fact, it's not even a spear in the first place. It's a token of atonement from the unknown god for the malformity that was cast out from the heavens long ago, so that it may return to hte heavens as a new god. Now, if Ryoma lifts the spear towards the sky, it will be time for that malformity to be reborn as a new god, or rather, as his protector. Likewise, Ryoma will be able to call himself a new god - the White Serpent of Takachiho.
Oryou wakes from her slumber, and is surprised to see the sight she has been waiting her whole life for. She has so much to say to him, and she wants to apologize for not being able to protect him back then. But she also wanted to thank him, for saving her and giving her a name. Likewise, he thanks her for waiting all this time. And then, in harmony, they both thank each other again: "I'm thankful to have met you".
Oryou arises in her new white form, and is ready to go see the plains of Wadatsumi. As they leave, the voice remains, pondering to itself about how it seems that thing that wandered the world for so long seemed to have found something more important to it than ascending to godhood. Sakamoto Ryoma. In the end, it asks him to take care of its daughter.
Back in SAITAMA, Ryoma and Oryou show up in their super-forms (long-haired Ryoma and white Oryou), and Sakagami immediately recognizes the power that flows from them as that of Ama-no-Sakahoko. Oryou has been resting a long time, and so she's exploding with energy to let out. And so, the White Serpent assists you in taking down Sakagami. Oryou even rescues Takasugi after Sakagami departs from his body. He says he would've rathered died as a sacrificial villain there, but Oryou was too much in the mood to help. However, Sakagami doesn't seem to be entirely down for the count yet, and it possesses Takechi. However, it seems that was all according to plan. Sakagami is a god that preys on the minds of the weak, and so Takechi, knowing he was the weakest mentally of the group, was sure that he would be targeted sooner or later. Because of that, he had asked Okuni to carve a seal on his body, effectively making his body a permanent sealing container for the god. Just like Ryoma did earlier, Takechi apologizes to Izou here for once again leaving him in the dark about the plan.
As atonement for all he has done, and for the sake of his ideal, Takechi performs seppuku, cutting his own stomach three times, causing Sakagami to effectively "die" as he can't continue controlling Takechi, but also can't leave because of the seal. With his dying breath, he apologizes to Izou for turning his sword, that was meant to protect people, into one that killed people. He tells Izou to do his best to protect others.
The Singularity will soon collapse, and so Takasugi tells you to get out of there. He can't come along, he's about to die from the TB anyway, so he just gives you the Grail as a souvenier to remember him by. He just asks that you remember him as the coolest guy in Chosu. Once you depart, Okuni approaches the dying Takasugi. She didn't leave, as she was still in a contract with Takasugi, and so she'd like to perform a dance of parting for him. They play music, and she dances, as the hero of restoration, Takasugi Shinsaku, finally falls into a well-deserved rest.
Interesting, very interesting. Playing Genshin Impact for the last months gave me some ideas of what's going on here and the references being used by both games.Wadatsumi
Mashu should've no longer needing Ortinax at this point.
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