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Day 1 The game opens up with the ending of Tag Tamers, when Millenniumon's body is destroyed and Ken is hit by the Dark Seed. Flash to the present, where Ken is sick in bed and Ryo's hovering over and taking care of him. Ryo asks if he's okay, Ken responds that he's getting better, if still a little ill. Only two or three days have passed since Millenniumon's defeat. Ken then points Ryo to his computer, saying that there was something Ryo should see on it. Ryo turns it on. This page is basically an entrance exam of sorts for people wanting to enter the D-1 tournament. Curious, Ryo begins. First question is pretty easy, it's "What's the last form of Millenniumon". The obvious answer is "Moon-Millenniumon". Second question is so obscure that Ryo's starting to get suspicious, it's concerning Tag Tamers. He turns to ask Ken who really made the webpage. Ken sort of evades the question, and Ryo points out that only he, Ken, and Taichi would know this. Taichi doesn't have the skill and this is new to Ryo, and Ken apparently didn't create it. Since no real answer is forthcoming, Ryo goes on to question 8, which is basically "Supposing you could choose only one of these, which one is it?" and is followed by the listings of the Holy Beasts. Since I wasn't really paying attention the first time and didn't look at my transliterations until now, it's by sheer luck that I managed to get Zhuqiaomon. The silhouette of Zhuqiaomon appears and Ryo is abducted before Ken's very eyes. Poor kid. First the mountain exploding in Tag Tamers and now this. Meanwhile, Ryo is dropped off in a town in the Digital World and is soon surrounded by some very familiar digimon. Piccolomon says hi and that they needed Ryo's power again (if Ryo turns into a Power Ranger, I'm running). Gennai says it's been a long time. Ryo's really curious now, and I don't blame him at all since he's only ever summoned if Millenniumon's causing trouble. He asks why he's summoned since he's already defeated Millenniumon. Piccolomon then says that the four Holy Beasts who reign over the Digital World have recently called for a tournament. Gennai adds to this, saying that they're calling for Tamers from Earth and that Ryo should go to the tower/arena where the D-1 Tournament is taking place. Ryo concedes to playing along for the time being. Once Ryo enters the arena, he's soon surrounded by a pack of other Tamers. One that reminds me of Goth TK looks at him critically and says something to the nature of "This is the Ryo that defeated Millenniumon. I expected better." Another boy who's probably been brawling since he could walk steps up and ask whether Ryo can remain undefeated. Ryo doesn't reply or stand up for himself at all, and the other Tamers come closer. Before a brawl commences, Piccolomon runs in to break things up and yells at them to basically stop it. Goth TK (his name is later revealed as Kazuya) sneers. Piccolomon states that the Tournament is meant to gather all the strongest Tamers in the world, etc etc, and that they should all get along better than this. Poor Piccolomon underestimates the nastiness of the human nature once competitiveness comes to play. Anyhoo, he sends Ryo off to Gennai "at onceppi!" I can only imagine what's going through Ryo's mind at that moment, whether or not Gennai's going to blame him for the near-brawl, or if something bad has happened that he has to clean up. However, it doesn't turn out so severe. Gennai wants to show Ryo something, and points him to a computer. Then, out of nowhere comes Ken's voice chirping happily "Ryo-san!" Startled, Ryo peers closer at the computer, "Ken? How did this happen?" Ken says that Gennai set it up and that he wanted to help through the computer since he can't go back into the Digital World. General conversation happens then, and Gennai says that the two can now communicate through their D-terminals. Then, just to rain on their parade, ToyAgumon comes by to say that the Holy Beasts have finally appeared and that Ryo should go to the D-1 tower. The Holy Beast the player chose (Zhuqiaomon in my case) introduces himself and explains why the tournament was set up. The other three Holy Beasts turned evil and were working separately to take over, then they realized that the fourth wasn't in on the scheme and were working together to defeat the stray so that they could resume their individual plots to take over. The stray called all these fighters together to find the strongest to help him either help the other three become good or defeat them and help the other take over for good. The winner will partner up with this Holy Beast. (Man, it figures, Ryo gets stuck with the virus, how fitting considering my fanfics...) Piccolomon then explains that the tournament has 5 levels. Only the Tamer who wins the first level can go on to the next, and self-training is encouraged (this translates to: level up as much as you possibly can). Back at Gennai's, the old man ponders what's going on with the Holy Beasts. Ryo says he'll fight if he can gather the digimon to help in the tournament. Right on cue, Agumon, V-mon, and Wormmon pop up and general conversation takes place. Wormmon admits that even though he's willing to fight, he knows he's weak and not very helpful, but he'll try. Gennai suggests levelling up near a volcano close by, so it's off to that for the time being. Nothing too difficult. Now that I've suitably leveled up, it's back to the D-1 Tournament. Kazuya/Goth TK is no longer sneering as Ryo's party makes mincemeat of his *points and laughs at Kazuya*. Bet he's swallowing his words now. Then came this cute human-version of Lillymon named Rieko, then Koushiro. Koushiro, unlike Kazuya and Rieko, was almost a challenge. Kou-kun then greets him, though it looks like Kou-kun is hoping to be the one that the Holy Beast selected. However, it didn't take long for him to fall, and Ryo won the level. Piccolomon makes a big and possibly embarassing show of Ryo's winning that level and asks for an applause. Oi. Afterwards, Koushiro congratulates him and it's back to Gennai's. After having levelled up in yet another dungeon, it's back to the D-1 Tournament. The other contestants for the 4th level are done away with soon enough, and the 'boss' of this level is Wallace. Complete with blue jean overalls, and the only thing he's missing is a piece of hay sticking out of his mouth. He says "Nice to meet you, Ryo" in English and says that rumors of Ryo's abilities even reached the United States. However, he's certain he'll win. And hey, he is a bit of a challenge. But his digimon do eventually fall, and he too congratulates Ryo for winning. I've stopped here for a well-deserved break and to hunt down an insidious fanfic plotbunny that was born because of these games. Day 2 Once done with Wallace, it's off to another dungeon I go. Gotta level up, after all. The treehouse dungeon is no biggy, though the Jagamon are complete pests to get rid of. The bosses of both levels have an annoying tendacy to evolve during battle, though they're not too hard to get rid of. With that done, it's back to the D-1 Tower. It's a bit more challenging now, but not too hard if you level up enough (by then I had Wormmon, V-mon, and Agumon with 9999 Exp). The 'boss' of this third level is Mimi. And oh dear gods, Mimi's lines... For entertainment value, I'm writing them down here. Translation clarified by Graywords, because he rocks that way. Mimi: HI~! So you're Ryo-chan? Looks like you're hanging in there pretty well. But sorry, you can't win a girl's heart with power alone! Hehehe... I'll teach you what that means... ...or maybe make you feel it! High ones, either Mimi is auditioning for a role in a magical girl anime, a future as a dominatrix, or she's hitting on Ryo in a really scary way. Run, Ryo-san! After this line I was surprised her party did NOT consist of a Rosemon. The party consists of a Togemon, Mushmon, and Monochromon. And if you're not careful (i.e. levelled up, with all the right digimentals equipped) she can really kick Ryo's rear. The possible fact that if you lose you can just level up and go back to challenge Mimi again should be very suspicious. And when Ryo wins, Mimi gets even scarier... Mimi: Aww, I lost, Ryo-chan... You put a lot of thought into that. Hee hee... looks like you're a little cooler than I expected... Let's go on a date after the tournament's over! Ryo can't seem to grasp the idea that Mimi's asking him out, so just goes "Uh..." and stares blankly. Fortunately, Piccolomon interrupts to save Ryo's hide and congratulate him. Whew. I do like Mimi in 02, but she's being downright scary here. Anyhoo, now that the Jogress room is finally open I can abuse the system like I did with Tag Tamers. Jogressed Vmon to Wormmon and filled the leftover slot with a Betamon. Generally wandered around Toy Town until the Betamon was high enough for me to Jogress to Agumon. Repeat as necessary. Interesting thing to note is that all the bosses in Toy Town want items once you defeat them. This is actually a good thing. Ryo, being the generous little scout he is, turns over items. This is actually a good thing because once you hit the final dungeon in Toy Town, the previous bosses come by to give Ryo new, usually better items. One per level in that dungeon. Right on. And since I'm such a level fiend, I'll be running around and jogressing things until there's nothing left in Nanomon's server room to jogress to. So the next few days will be nothing but levelling and trying to get Ultimates(mega in the dub). Yay. D-1 Days 3-5 Yes, I know this is horribly delayed and I'm such a bad person. I lost all my notes when one of my sisters oh so elegantly deleted the NJ Star files, then had to start a new game. This upset me quite a bit, because I had a pinocchimon, hououmon and wargreymon that I was quite proud of. Oh well, picking up from my last entry... Massive amounts of levelling up. I'm a powergamer when it comes to RPGs like this, I like grinding the opposition to dust, especially when I know what the final boss is like. Fanboys and girls, Millenniumon is a bloody bastard in every game. Trust me, this is not overkill. So eventually, after many days of trying to regain my original state and failing (instead I got myself a paildramon, mugendramon, and holy angemon), it's on to Grade 2 of the D-1 Tournament. But first, a quick run-down of the dungeons: The machine city: pretty good place to level up once you've run through the toy town. In both the final dungeon of the toy town and the machine city you can find an item called the JogPlus, in typical Japanese abbreviation style I'm sure that's supposed to be Jogress Plus. These items add 5 jogress points to whatever digimon you use it on. Highly useful. The last boss of the machine city, Boltmon, changes his battle focus as according to which gear you choose (Attack, Skill, Defense). The graveyard: Here you'll want to set aside one of your three main digimon and replace him/her with someone expendable. This is because the boss of each Black Box will demand a sacrifice and will NOT let you escape until one digimon is sacrificed. Fortunately, once you get rid of VenomVandemon in the last dungeon of that area, you can go back and the bosses of the other Black Boxes won't demand sacrifices anymore. There's a JogPlug in this area too, and if you're a sick puppy like me, grab a few Raremon for Jogress fodder. I'll explain later. Also, the enemies here like dishing out status ailments: curse and poison. It would help to have a few Metallic Chips from Nanimon's shop handy. Also, in regards to the shops: upgrade all of them as far as you can. Of great use is the Digimental room. Some digimentals have properties that allow a digimon to use an area attack, or give him/her the ability to resist status ailments, or allow the digimon to counter an attack. Very useful. I'll provide a chart when I have some free time to dedicate to it. After many
hours, I acquired a Red Vdramon, one of the two rare digimon in
the game. Woo. And Mugendramon shouldn't be cute, yet somehow
this one manages that quite well in videogame SD form. Somehow
can't get Imperialdramon along Paildramon's natural line. Odd,
in Tag Tamers Paildramon just needed 80 JP to get to that level.
He's at 89 JP in D-1 Tamers and still hasn't gotten to Imperialdramon.
Oh well. Busy building up Remi the Mugendramon so I can have him
kick Yamato's ass in Stage 2 of the tournament. Keeping Holy Angemon
the way he is, 'cause honestly, if I jogressed him again to anything
I'd end up getting Day 6 Much later I jogressed Paildramon to Sylphimon 'cause I was sick of waiting around for him to evolve to Imperialdramon. So now I have a Rosemon. And, as fond as I am of my Mugendramon (Mugendramon should not be so cute dammit), I wanted a Millenniumon. Like I said, I'm a sick puppy. So I jogressed a couple of Raremon together, levelled them a bit before jogressing that to Mugendramon. The former Mugendramon is now a Chimeramon, and I need 11 more jogress points to get Millenniumon (for a total of 96 jogress points. high ones above...). There's something so twisted about winning the D-1 Tournament with a Millenniumon. So, just trying to gather more jogplus items and level up Rosemon before taking on Yamato. Day 7 I don't know why I've never brought this up in my gaming diary before. Maybe because it was inconsequential? Oh well. The point is this: While Ryo does participate in the D-1 Tournament alone, since Ken is basically sick in bed for the most part. However, Ken does keep in contact with Ryo through the D-terminal and, if the D-terminal is used from the items menu, there's a short menu drawn up. Select the evolution lines option (shinka) and Ken explains how many experience or jogress points are needed for the selected digimon to evolve. Very helpful :). Ken also gives advice. So, now I have a Millenniumon which of course easily outpowers my Rosemon and Holy Angemon. Named it Azazyel for purposes I don't particularly feel like explaining since it's a fic thing1. Waiting for Rosie and Azazyel to reach Tsubasa's "age" (15) before taking on Yamato though. Yeah, I know, what's the point when Azazyel's Mugen Cannon does a painful amount of area damage and Time Unlimited takes out an enemy's special attack. Rosie's Thorn Whip is pretty powerful too, and Tsubasa has Heaven's Gate which brings a KO'd character back to the battle with about 200 HP. But I just have to be ridiculously powerful. Best way to survive in RPGs, after all. 1
Azazyel is the name of one of the 200 angels who fell in love
with humans and left heaven to take wives among them. Azazyel
was the one who taught humanity the art of war, vanity, and fornication.
He was punished later by God, sealed in the desert and his face
covered so that he may never see the light again. In a Brave Tamer
fic I'm working on, this is the name Millenniumon uses for his
human clone body. I took my game to work. Fortunately, I was off for a few hours. Thus... Azazyel rocks
and Rosie kicks ass. Grade 2 of the D-1 tournament, as follows: There's a
quick cut then as Yamato congratulates Ryo for getting so far.
However, Yamato is determined to stop him. Ryo vs Yamato. Fight! At this point I don't really have to level any more. After all, I'm powergaming now. Taking out both dungeons there is pretty easy at my levels. Another visit to Gennai's has brought a scene where he basically comments on how many digimon Ryo has now and says there's a gift in the server for him (basically, I don't remember the actual wording). This would be GoldVdramon who, like his brother Red, is ridiculously overpowered. He has double Azazyel's power, HP, and at least 5 times his DP. And he's a bloody adult/champion. Azazyel is a mega for crying out loud. And as I am a sucker for powergaming, jogressed the two vdramons and am currently working to raise the jogress child to mastervdramon. As I was in need of more jogress points, decided to just jogress Rosie to the child since they were so much more powerful anyway. Hey Millie, let's see you try to ream Ryo like you did in anokaso now =D. Millenniumon: *smirk* Try me. x_x though realistically, Millenniumon is a damned difficult boss no matter what Ryo game you play and how much you level up. The final dungeons of the Ryo games are reminiscent of the final dungeon of Final Fantasy 3j, where one has to wander many many floors just to get to the last floor, where the party has to take on the Fiends, Zande, and the Cloud of Darkness in one sitting. Oh yeah, and there's no save point. Apparently Mille subscribes to the "throw everything I've got at the hero in the final dungeon and then some. Maybe if he actually lives I'll make him my slaveboy" mentality. Of course, then came Brave Tamer and Millenniumon's little self-admission. But that's for another gaming diary. Day 9 D-1 Tournament, Grade 1: Ryo vs Hiroyuki (or rather, the Satoshi sprite with a different name) - Hiroyuki has a choromon, megadramon, and giromon. Ryo has millenniumon, marine angemon (formerly Holy Angemon), and goddramon (formerly MasterVdramon. Now, at mega level, his stats/HP/DP are lower than Azazyel's and I don't feel like I'm cheating anymore by having him). Won in 3 rounds. That's just sad. Ryo vs Genki (or, the Kazuya sprite with different name) - Genki has Vandemon, Raremon, and SkullSatamon. Goddammit Azazyel, stop wasting your dp on Time Unlimited attacks. It's a nice attack, yes, but save it for Mugen Cannon! Time Unlimited in this game only erases an opponent's attack. Argh! Won in 8 rounds though... Now comes Taichi. Taichi goes on about how it's been a long time since they've seen each other and says that this is the last battle (for the tournament), and that Ryo won't pass him. Ryo vs Taichi, fight! Ryo vs Taichi - Taichi has a tricemon, wargreymon, and cyclomon. Apparently if you actually last 10 turns, Ryo wins. *stare* Which is kinda funny since my one healer (the marine angemon) was killed halfway through, Vinnie the goddramon (the result of jogressing the master vdramon to the rosemon) was down to 20 hp, and the only one with any hope of lasting was Azazyel. Piccolomon proclaims Ryo the winner and asks for applause. Cheering and clapping from the spectators, then Taichi speaks again. Taichi: Congratulations,
Ryo! You are the fighter for the four Holy Beasts now. It was
already decided to be you. Really, congratulations! Although we
did not know originally, you had been chosen since the beginning. *at Gennai's house, as if I had a choice* Gennai: So... all this was to train you to your fullest potential... Now, the Digital World needs your cooperation against the awakening evil in the dark shrine... You've done well and taken the time to train your digimon. Our power goes to he who claims victory... but that is you, however well your potential may be hidden. *Ryo steps out of the house, Zhuqiaomon appears* Zhuqiaomon: You have done well in becoming strong.... The Digital World will be destroyed with the revival of the evil king that even us four Holy Beasts cannot defeat. He is the evil king of destruction... However, you have an unknown power that surpasses ours... Ryo! Go to the final training dungeon. Clear the dungeon in time and the way to the destructive evil king's lair will be opened. *the kids show up* Mimi: Sorry
for deceiving you, Ryo. *Taichi & co leave, only Ryo, Gennai and Piccolomon are left* Piccolomon:
The other digimon send their gratitudeppi! Ryo, you must battle
the villian you've fought before. For the other digimon, I would
give our appreciationppi! *At the D-1 Tower* Zhuqiaomon: The last practice dungeon is accessible through an entrance from the basement floor of the D-1 Tower... *Back at Gennai's* Gennai: Ahh,
good Ryo. We will wait here for you. Stopped here for the day. The rest will follow shortly. Day 10 The last practice dungeon before going on to Moon-Millenniumon is the Heavenly Field, home of the Holy Beasts and accessible through a teleportation gate in the basement of the D-1 Tower. A quick talk with Ken for advice (not much, he just says that after this Ryo can finally go on to Millenniumon's area), and then off to the D-1 Tower. When Ryo enters, the Holy Beast shows up, says that he governs the Heavenly Field, tells Ryo to do everything in his power to clear the practice dungeon. So off we go. The Heavenly Field is in the sky and accessible, after the teleporter sends you to the first floating island, by connecting ladders. This is an RPG, what did you expect? The bosses I've encountered here are griffomon, sylphimon, and aquilamon. I've seen in one FAQ that by choosing Qinglongmon or Xuanwumon the main bosses are Black Wargreymon or Metal Seadramon respectively. Consider Griffomon for Zhuqiamon as my contribution or something. The priced digimon I got afterwards seems to be hououmon. Now, back to Gennai's after this dungeon. Gennai says that Moon-Millenniumon is partially revived and that Ryo should go defeat him soon. However, before doing that, Ryo should gather all the items he needs and make any last minute preparations before then (level up the digimon, etc). Once you're all set, go back to Gennai's. Do not, I repeat, do NOT go back to Gennai's until you're ready. That's the point of no return. Day 11 There's something to be said about going into a battle with full knowledge of just how much a frelling bastard the final boss is. There's the imminent dread of seeing the party wiped all across the dungeon floor, then the dreaded Game Over screen. Fortunately, I actually survived. Well, inasmuch as I can considering what happens afterwards... Anyway, talking to various NPCs gets you various reactions that I don't particularly feel like translating here because it's pretty pointless. Some are amazed that the tournament was a fraud, others say only Ryo can defeat Millenniumon. Why? That'll come up soon enough. Then back to Gennai. Gennai asks if all the preparations are made and doesn't give you the option to back out. Instead he sends you off. There's a brief flash to Millenniumon's field, with its notable crystal tower. Then back to the digimon town. Piccolomon says it has started, Gennai ushers Ryo to the last decisive battle. The digivice then glows and the Holy Beasts appear. Xuanwumon urges Ryo to defeat Millenniumon, Qinglongmon says he would like to request a favor of Ryo afterwards, Baihumon tells Ryo to fight with all his might and not give up, Zhuqiamon repeats what has already been said, that only Ryo can defeat Millenniumon. Afterwards Ryo stands alone in the middle of darkness, the screen flashes, and he appears before Millenniumon's crystal palace. The screen then cuts to Moon-Millenniumon, and for clarity's sake Graywords and I will just translate his lines. Moon-Mille: ... I've been waiting... Ryo... I have revived so that I can defeat you... Hahaha... Now that I have revived, no digimon is a threat to me anymore. Not even the Four Holy Beasts can challenge me now. But... but you are different. You are the only random element that makes the impossible possible. Heheheh... The world does not need two beings with the same power. Now... come to me! There's a flash out to Ryo before he enters the crystal tower. Then he enters, and thus commences the battles. They are as follows: (and good lords I can't believe I actually took notes on this) My party:
Marine Angemon, Goddramon, Millenniumon (yes,
I did say I was a sick puppy) Before the battle with Moon-Mille begins, our favorite evil king says "Now, let's put our hearts into the battle and fight..." and it begins. Vinnie the goddramon is damn good with Thorn Whip. Moon-Mille has Mugen Cannon too, so we have Millenniumon and Moon-Millenniumon tossing Mugen Cannon volleys at each other. Yes, I'm easily amused. Also amusing is that if you poison Moon-Mille with Poison Ivy, his crystal cracks and a chunk falls out. This remains this way until the status ailment either fades out or is healed. Anyway, it takes a while to defeat Moon-Mille. All the while my girlfriend is entertaining me with how Azazyel would flaunt his position to Moon-Millie and elicit screams of rage. It's always fun to MST a game. Once I've defeated the final boss (yay), the scene cuts to the kids and Gennai. Piccolomon:
Ryo, did you win? I'm worriedppi... Then we cut back to the last dungeon. And then... Mille: Ryo...
You and I are Yin and Yang... Never will just one of us die...
Do you... understand what that means? The screen fades out, then there's an explosion. It fades to black again and shifts to Gennai's house. V-mon, Wormmon, Agumon, Piccolomon and Gennai are gathered around the monitor. Gennai: Since
we parted after that battle, Ryo has not returned... It was a
shocking thing that happened to Ryo... Fade out to Ken's room: Ken: One week has passed since then... Ryo-san has not returned yet. It seems he has not yet returned to the Digital World either, according to Gennai-san's e-mails... Though everyone else is worried, I am not. I feel... surely Ryo-san is out on a new adventure. Although there is no basis for this, I believe it... Unlike me, he is a true Tamer. No matter what happens on what world, so long as there is a Digital World, surely there's someone who needs Ryo-san's help. Thus, I think it's true. I hope, no matter how many years it takes, that we will meet again. At the time a strange digimon will show up with a companion who says "Hey! Wait up, Ken!", that's when he returns... I believe this so much... Ken then turns, the screen cuts to his computer's monitor, and the credits roll in Digital World code and then hiragana/katakana. |
D-1
Tamers, Fushigi Yuugi, Digimon style