TAO: The Way

[xolta]

Going to have to resache about this mara guy. Peckly is kinda cute looking. Also Dinosuar better it into mara hevan.

[ebe]

Alright! Time to talk to the people of Tokyo!




This fellow is actually a battle, but he's not very strong compared to what we've been up against.


"Amitaba...ha!"



This guy sells stat boosting items. The boost isn't great, but money continues to have less and less meaning as you progress through the game and everything gives you $150 while stuff still costs $20. Miroku Buns increase skill, Tea increases psychic power, and Vegetables increase stamina.


Nothing to do here at the Mercury Gang hideout other than acknowledge that they are, in fact, a gang.


THIS is an incredibly useful NPC. I will explain why later, but for now remember that he said this.



"Our leader is divine..."

At this point we get close to a large red building that is really the only conspicuous place on the map, is it important?


"Heavens Treasure Sect!"

"1 Disc is 200 coins. A dream come true."

Eh, buy an ominous red disk from what is probably an evil cult? Why not?


Now it's time to discuss a dick move. In a tiny corner surrounded by exits out of Tokyo, there is a guy:

Haha yeah a little late to tell us what city we're in dude! BUT, in ONE unmarked square of this map, there is a critical area that you might have searched for if you paid attention to that kid earlier.


"blesses these charms."


Yes! Free stuff! But...let's go back and see if she has anything else to say...

"blesses these charms."

Um I guess...

Oh! A different charm!

"The charms light a path back to Raum."

Ok, so recap. On an unmarked square in the LEAST CONVENIENT spot to reach in the largest town map, there is a shrine that gives you a charm. If you go back the shrine maiden says the exact same thing, but if you accept again will give you a completely DIFFERENT charm, and both charms will be important to the plot later! TAAAAAAAAOOOOOOO!

Anyways with that done let's go outside the city and take a look.


Ah yes, apparently the Dinosaur apocalypse has stained Japan red. Let's check out that house first.


"The land of light!
Ancient Japan was once golden
A prophet came from the edges of the Orient...
Land of Truth. Strange doctrine has spread."

Got it gramps, religion ain't what it used to be or whatevs. Let's check out that Torii gate!


"Many are the gods...
But not the one you seek..."

Alright we found Mirakuji like Mara wanted! ...also they seem oddly monotheistic for a Shinto temple.













"Raum bore all souls.
6 billion years ago in Raums womb...
Raum bade everyone to journey for wisdom...
Blessed to return to the Mother
Turning from Raum you and I alight the Way.
6 aeons pass.
Many rebirths later the Mother is forgotten...
A great cataclysm is foretold.
Heavens Treasure Raums Way, Triple Gem
3 Treasures, a gift to he who diverts mans demise...
A Heavenly Paradise shall open...
Obtain the 3...
Return the souls home to Raum!"

W-wow! That's a lot of spiritual explanation there! To help translate, he explains the two separate parts of the character for "god," he then takes the right half and flips it, so it kind of looks like "mother" ?, and then goes on about how Raum is the divine mother from which all souls came, and that we were born into this world to gain wisdom and then return to the divine womb of Raum. The key to returning to Raum will be the three treasures, whatever they are!

I'll explain this more in another update, but with the arrival of Raum, the game has finally revealed who they are!

Meanwhile, let's head back to the Mercury Gang hideout to see if anything has changed!
...what? How would we ever know to go back there? Because SHUT UP.


"Our leader got lost on a mission.
Ambushed!!"


"Why'd he stray!?"




Welp it's off to Crosston to see what's going on!


You like it when I tickle behind your crest don't you? You dirty thing!

Upon getting there we go to the fountain...



"A hole in the head."

"Violent Mercury gang boss First Born.


"Meteor expert is missing!
Loiterer!
Leave!!"

Ok so the translation here is really weird and talking about a Buddha and everything so let me explain. That corpse is First Born, the guy who busted us out of jail, and apparently the leader of the Mercury gang. He's got a hole in his head and yeah, he's dead, but why? I assure you none of the reasons will be sane.

Before we head out on more adventures, hearing about Raum unlocked some final tier enemies. These are not the absolute strongest of the strong, but they are close, and in fact are stronger than a lot of the upcoming bosses. Yeah, TAO has serious pacing issues.


The Deathlord here likes to spam God Magic, and has an incredibly high psychic stat, so you'll probably be dead a few moments after seeing him.


I'm...not sure what the Life Stealer is, a fox with more fox tails instead of heads? In any event it likes to use powerful physicals and corrosion.


I'm not sure if Bladeron does anything but cast God Magic, because that's all I ever see him do.


Garuda here likes to use Spikes and "Mmm...meat!" as it's attacks. Along with Life Stealer it's one of the weaker of the super enemies, but it has a NASTY trick.

After you kill it it revives as a head! The head is slightly weaker but still dangerous.


The Whip Devil is the ultimate form of the Devil Series. Definitely a big step up from the Buzz Devil! To give you an idea of what things have become, the Whip Devil has 15688 Power, 46 Attack and 43 Speed. He likes to use LightBeam just like Horn Devil did, and now it's somehow even worse.

You might notice I'm dead in all these screenshots. The new enemies are obscenely powerful and I kill me in less than a second. I am planning to grind until I can beat Garuda and Life Stealer, at which point I will be more than powerful enough to kill the next four bosses, and can try and get a new weapon so that I have a chance against Whip Devils. There's still a few slightly more powerful enemies left, one of which might as well be the final boss. Did I mention this game sucks at balance? But I guess that's just how TAO rolls.

[ebe]

Ok guys! Now that the game has revealed the name of the supreme deity as Raum, we can figure out who is paying for this game! It also has to do with the 3 treasures, but that's harder to google!

Actually Raum won't give you any useful results because it's a mistranslation, the programmers apparently spelled "LaoMu" in katakana, to make sure Japanese people wouldn't read ?? in the Japanese pronunciation of "RoBo." Anyways, the name translates to "Old Mother," and is symbolic of God's role as the source of all living things. Who calls God this you might ask?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiguandao

Yiguandao (the one point path) is a new age movement in Taiwan that was outlawed until recently. Some fun points about them are they are syncretistic, meaning they are really open about saying everyone is part of their religion. Taoist Dao? LaoMu. Christian God? LaoMu. Ahura Mazda? LaoMu. The organic shop earlier was important too, as they require their adherents to be vegetarian. We also now know what those 3 treasures everyone talks about are:

The Third Eye Opened (The Heavenly Door)- The 'Master' performs a ritual with incense in front of the alter, then unlocks the third eye of the initiate.
The Sacred Mantra- These sacred words are not to be discussed outside of the alter space.
The Heavenly Seal- A basic hand seal with the two hands held over the heart during chants or placed on the prayer mat.

So yeah, "without form" because they are rituals, not objects.

Why were they outlawed? Well they are a secretive society, and don't discuss the specifics of their beliefs with outsiders. Taiwan's government used to be a dictatorship just like mainland China, and were suspicious that the group was organizing political activities.

Feel free to research based off that Wikipedia article, and have fun rereading TAO updates so far to try and see if anything makes more sense now (probably not.)

[xolta]

So we can assume theres dinosuars in rama heaven. Its werid that this kinda odd rpg is funding by a "cult". But that back story make the game much more intersting.

[i love my dead gay forum]

i wonder why those dudes made a video game to promote their ideas, as opposed to like a movie or something with wider appeal

[Thrinaxodevil]

Im kinda digging the terrifying foxtail headed fox.

[ebe]

Hmm? Oh nothing, just thinking to myself.

We go back to Tokyo to let the Mercury Gang know about First Born's death.


"First borns child."

Unfortunately all we see is his family is sad, and he has a daughter! Let's try to find a place to use those charms we got!


Look, we can't meet up in Crosston too often ok? No I'm just busy alright?

Anyways, we now go back to Kanbal. There was a hut here where a Monk told us "Ancient one watches us every day." that had a Buddhist altar. Let's try out our charm that is used for "spirits."


"I am the ancestor spirit."

"Throw the beads to paralyze demons."

"Kukai beads."

The Kukai beads might be useful but I've never used them. I find it's generally easier to grind a bit instead. With that taken care of, let's talk to some people around town.


"What is it's purpose?"

That seems like a relevant question.

Well not much else to do here, although some of the townspeople are telling us about how the 3 gems are formless and all that good stuff. Let's see what our resident plot engine the Mountain Witch has to say...


Maybe I'd stop by more often if you weren't such a nag!


"7 Star Lords of Ursa Major give power..."

Seven charms? Looks like we might need to go back to that Shrine Maiden! Before we do however, let's check the crater in Angolmois. The cop investigating First Born's death mentioned Dr Yabahama was missing, so perhaps something new is there?


................

Back in Angolmois the Professor's assistant just keeps saying how the doctor is obsessed with money now, but if we investigate the nearby Farmer's hut...


"Behold his forest crater!
Now hand over that precious medallion!"

Holy shit!


Gelada here has 11520 Power, 32 Attack and 34 Speed, making him a tad weaker than a Whip Devil. If you've been running from fights he's likely to kill you at least once, especially since he can use powerful spells like Earth Curse and Freeze. But I HAVE been grinding, so he goes down without much trouble.


"Amita Disc!?"

We take the Amita Disc away from him. Bad farmer!



"I thought my wishes would come true.
Life tiring..."

On a side note, it's never spelled out where Angolmois is but it's pretty clearly not Europe/America like Crosston is, what is with the police and farmers hopping borders? Ah well, let's check out the church!


Look I'm SORRY ok? Let's just go back to how it was.

In the Salem Church everyone is acting the same as always...the only person left to talk to is the Organist. Maybe he knows som-

-EAAAAAUGH!


Octopus isn't so bad. He has 9216 Power, 16 Attack and 34 Speed, so if you beat Gelada you can beat him. He concentrates on punches and bites.



Yoink!

"Visit the psychic master."

The old master we could train our psychic power with? I wonder what horrible beast HE'S become!?


AAAA-...oh, an enemy we've been fighting for awhile now. Yeah the game makes you fight the bosses in reverse order of power.


Gave me disc at mothers grave.
Rely on the discs power...
I trained to be a master
unskilled in the 1 Point way...
My eyebrow was marked...





And with that advice we unlock the final world location! Before we go there though, we have one loose end to tie up. Remember how the Witch said we need more charms? Back in Tokyo...


Listen I just don't need drama right now ok? I have a lot on my mind.




Charms get!


Now for no particular reason let's visit the Mosque at Khalibad.


...sorry. You're right...


Things seem normal here...but let's look around.

"Mara Sutra Scroll!"

...wait. THE MARA SUTRA SCROLL IS HERE?! And no, we weren't able to see it before. Well, let's take it! ...doesn't do anything. What to do? Well, I remember what we did to get the Medallion...

MURDER THOSE THAT HAVE THINGS I WANT.

The Rajah here isn't too bad. Still, isn't it suspicious he's spewing ectoplasm at us?

Hey...why is our new charm for dispelling illusions activating?

OH.
Sadly, Mahikale here isn't actually that strong, with 9984 Power, 16 Attack and 24 Speed, making him about as strong as the cop we fought to break out of jail. I think it's a missed opportunity for what seems like such a cinematic moment. But hey, TAO. As far as attacks, he likes spamming punches (kicks?) and curses to stun you.


While this puzzle might seem totally unfair, this is a completely optional battle. The rewards for getting the scroll are great however. I got a massive power boost and we unlock some new dialogue with Mara. Now that we have the scroll and some new charms, let's check out what the Mountain Witch and Mara have to say.


"Dawn Dusk
Crane Turtle
Front Back.
Century Ends.
True Prophet"

The tune to the Japanese rhyme "Kagome Kagome" plays while she says this. So you can bet it will be important.

Off to Mara!


There's, something I need to tell you.

Back in Angolmois, we go to the main temple to speak to Mara.


"Buddha Kannon
Confucius
LaoTzu
Christ...
Saw 3
Gems
returned
to Raum
The Doctrine of the Bible and Sutras.
Now...truth is warped in this age.
The teachings are corrupt."

This is elaborating on what we learned earlier.

Well, nothing else to do here, so let's go to the Heliport at Angolmois, where FINALLY the "strong winds" have stopped and we can go to our final location!


Bishmanda!

[ebe]

First off, let's go over the new enemies that have shown up.


For some reason I always see Wing Devil last. He's weak but he completes the Buzz Devil - Wing Devil - Horn Devil - Whip Devil line.


Dannoo blinds you with a bright flash of light and then stabs you in the stomach. Overall nasty.


Remember how the ancestor spirit gave us beads in return for flashing him? Souls are not that. Souls may be generic looking but they are right there with Whip Devils and Dannoo for power. They like to stab you in the stomach and use the "Warrior, to Hell!" attack.


Winger is our first upgrade to Peckly. He's pretty solid but if you're fighting Souls and Whip Devils he's no match for you.


Ethop here is pretty rare. He uses pretty standard physicals but if you choose not to fight him he's almost impossible to run from.


This little guy actually starts up standing and begins meditating half a second later. TAO is odd about putting effort into some places and none in others. Anyways he's basically a slightly stronger Ganesh, using "Blood" and "I'll kill!" But still weak at this point.

Also some important gameplay notes! The Rokuzon charm we got is for healing sickness, and can be used during battle.

TO FULLY HEAL YOU.

I can't stress how awesome this is. In TAO there is ONE place in the entire game to get healed. Before if we were injured in Tokyo we had to run all the way to Moska while hoping we weren't brutally murdered by a Deathlord on the way. Now we can fully heal during any battle. It's not foolproof as enemies can hit us while we're trying to use items, but it is a HUGE help.


The Mara Medallion is considered a weapon? What does it do?




It transforms you into a random demon! After that you gain access to all of that monster's moves. Also, you are not limited to enemies you've fought, so sometimes you become an Orbiter, and sometimes you become...




That said, it's not terribly unbalanced because you keep the same stats, so all that changes is your techniques. Worst case you start bumpin' rumps, best case you blast the enemy away with Earth Curse and God Magic.

Also if you've been following along, you can actually figure out the plot at this point. It will be made super-clear in the next update (probably) so I won't explain it now, but all the pieces to the puzzle have been laid.

[xolta]

So when you say you can transfrom into demons you havent seen dose that mean bosses too?

[Thrinaxodevil]

man you can even turn into demons now?Why does tao insist on taunting us with neat gimmicks and incomherensibility?

[ebe]

Apr 16, 2014 23:58:48 GMT xolta said:

So when you say you can transfrom into demons you havent seen dose that mean bosses too?

Yes.

[xolta]

Thanks for anwsering now heres a gif.

[ebe]

Bishmanda is...not a large world map. Let's check out the torii gate on the left!


"Thirst!!"

...ok let's go to the torii on the right.


Ah, much better. We start out investigating that tower to the left.



Heck yeah! Well this is ok. The Vajra is not really better than the automatic gun. It does more damage but is slow, and they balance out to be about the same as near as I can tell.



"Divine vision is restored by ancient Psychic power.
Eternity in Paradise..."

When we speak to him again he goes on about 3rd eyes for awhile. 3rd eyes are a spiritual concept in Buddhism of an extra-eye that sees "truth" and denotes enlightenment. Let's talk to the monks wandering around.



Thanks for letting us know where we are!


Bosses perhaps? Have we fought them?


Yeah got it.

Well that wasn't too exciting, let's check out that right tower.


"Stop whining!!"

Undeterred, our hero checks her out.



...oh? That sounds familiar...

Ah yes, the girl who gave us the flame bottle mentioned her. Well smoking is wrong so let's nab that cigarette!




As punishment using a razor against us, we respond with the correct level of force and unload with an assault weapon.



This is what I do too when strange women burst into the men's room, attempt to steal my stuff, and then shoot me repeatedly with a powerful gun. "Here's a password and some weapons of mass destruction." Anyways let's explore the other towers, one of them has a monk who tells us that Raum saves souls, which doesn't deserve a screenshot.


"...Apocalypse
This world is cursed.
Evil Spirits are roaming freely
Wrinkled lids. Hole in brow..."
I think this guys hole in the head is supposed to mean his third eye has awoken. And yeah this world IS cursed what with all these demons, aliens and mutants roaming around.


"Every wish...
Exchanging merit for long life.
Satan masquerades as God...Heavens Cult."

More evidence that the Heavens Treasure Cult is bad.



"Emma Ohs...firesale in Hell!
Reflect light at demons.
Costs 200 coins."

200 coins is almost nothing for us at this point, so we buy the Deeds Mirror. Incidentally weaker enemies sometimes use this as an attack.

We get some more comments about opening our minds eye and how the Heaven Treasures cult is probably up to something, but then as we walk into the final room...




We get this...interesting button mashing minigame. It works the same as a massage class.




"This could remove bad luck!!
Fortunes fleeting."

"Messiah?
Listen at a Torii"

A Torii? Well...I guess he's telling us to go back to the scary dehydrated zombie lady. Also this guy is the one who carved the various Chakra Statues we've collected.


HERE TAKE SOME WATER JUST DON'T TOUCH ME.


"The rainwater dried up...
Horror! The Amita Disc...
Histar has 3 eyes.
His Dark Magic took animals by tornado.
The 3rd eye gouged from beast brows.
If 3rd eye is lost senses fail."



"The Trigram has 3 great lights. Truly the 3 Jewels are in Paradise.
Tennen Kobutsu, Old Buddha. A secret doctrine."



And we get a grenade! More importantly, we can now put the entire plot together fairly easily. Let's review what has occurred!

A Meteor impacted our hometown in Angolmois, and Yabahama went to investigate. Gelada told us that the crater was where Lord Histar arrived, meaning Histar was/was in the meteor. Yabahama had "a god enter his body" on a tower at some point, becoming Mochona. Now under Histar's influence, Yabahama went to the billionaire Ridley and got funds to start the Heaven Treasure Cult. He then paid poachers to remove the third eyes out of animals (hence that Lion with 3 eyes.) Later Histar's magic simply swept up the animals in a whirlwind, and also took human sacrifices given to the Mochona Cult in Moskva. The eyes were encased in plastic and sold as Amita Discs in Tokyo, which caused humans to transform into demons. First Born is working for Ridley and was given an Amita Disc, but he died when it was installed into his head. Also, Tennen Kobutsu is mentioned here, which is the Japanese pronunciation of Zhang Tianran, the founder of Yiguandao.

Having learned the name of the Messiah and the nature of the Heavens Treasure Cult, we have unlocked some new things to do! First it's off to Tokyo!


I'm sorry, we can still be friends but...you aren't the one I love...




Sweet he gave us a...lighter...for our courage in shooting that woman! TAO has excellent moral messages.



And our latest set of charms, that's 6 so just 1 more to go! Rencho makes enemies leave in peace and Bukyo boosts your skill stat by 50% for that battle.



Meanwhile back in Kanbal the girl who told us about Dragon Lady now gives us this item which temporarily freezes an enemy.



"Cross conjuncts at 1 point, heavenly palace.
The doorway to 1 Point. Door is not seen."

The doorman at the Salem Church now starts rattling off Kanji esoterica. However the REAL importance is now that we know the name of the Messiah, there was a monk here in Crosston that was awaiting the Messiah...



"First Borns wife is in terrible health!!"

Uh oh! We best go check up on First Born's wife and daughter again!


Yeah...it was my fault. You deserve better.


Birdly here is the ultimate form of the Peckly series. He is extremely strong and can use the very special "Zap! Demon Sword!" attack, as well as shoot Death Beam. I've grinded to the point where I am ready for the endgame but otherwise this guys attack power is something to fear.





You can't tell from the picture, but the screen flashes, a terrible noise plays, and the girl disappears, just like when the woman was abducted by the whirlwind.






Ok so at this point I realize I have no Nectars (a stat boosting item the Doctor in Crosston sells) so I backtrack and get one for 100 coins.



"She protected her.
See the neighborhood friend of Yoshiko."

Mysterious! While we've never met the friend there's only a few places in Tokyo to check. When we go to the guidance house...


Ganesh here hasn't leveled up at all. He dies immediately after the intro screen for the fight.




"Heavens Treasure Temple
Use the chakra figure"


Here we are back at the Heaven's Treasure Temple. Let's go beat up that Amida Disc selling monk!


Mochona! He's also exactly the same as before, and dies immediately.


"I just grant Mans wishes.
Happy customers...I profit!"


He runs away! When we try to follow-



No problem! Yoshiko's friend told us to use the Chakra figure. We use the Ajni figure and it opens revealing...



Some incense! The passage continues underground however...




With the lighter, we are able to find our way a bit forward.





So they don't explain who this woman who looks a lot like the mountain witch is, but we seem to be stuck here. But it DID say this ancient inscription showed both Histar AND the Medallion. Perhaps we can use the Medallion on this ghostly image of a demon!



It...becomes solid...

Battle!!
The demonic image has 14592 Power, 40 Attack and 56 Speed, making a boss that is FINALLY stronger than a Whip Devil. He also has the powerful "Hijinks!" physical, but we take him down regardless. What is left is the stone visage of Histar. We pick it up...and gaze at the face that has turned this world upside down...


...what are we up against exactly?

[xolta]

Even with the polt explained and most of the loesse thread all most tied up, tao is a odd little game. Its back story and who it was made by make it even more intersting. Any ways cool updated.