Let's Play Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: The 7th Stand User

Whoo. That title's a bit of a mouthful. Anyway, since I know there are a few Jojo fans here, I found this thing and thought I might give it a whirl.

In case you were wondering, this a little rpgmaker fangame of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Specifically, of Part III. The basic premise is, you, yes you, are given a stand and made a main character. Exactly what that entails within the story is... largely up to what you decide to do. Join the Stardust Crusade? Skip out to go get some meat-flavored gum? Your prerogative and all that.

So, uh... if you haven't read part 3 and intend to, I guess you might not want to watch this thread. If you do not fall under that category, well, welcome aboard! Oh, and, don't feel too bad if you don't want to read the prologue. I don't get to talk much in this one anyway and it's mostly just setting the stage (which you should know anyway if you've read Part 3).

Prologue (open) Prologue (close)

So this is the screen you get when you start up a new game. Basically Speedwagon's here to help explain more or less how the game works and help you set it up. However, since I'm here explaining that, it's... not that pertinent. Maybe I could use a Speedwagon face whenever I'm playing Mr. Exposition? I dunno. Anyway, he also lets you pick your difficulty. Easy and Hard mode are pretty much what they sound like, but... they also make it harder to build up a healthy friendship with your teammates, which is a Very Bad Thing(TM). So we'll be running with Normal Mode.


Crane Operator: What are you waiting for? Open it!
Man in Diving Gear: I told you! There's bound to be good stuff here, considering this is where a luxury liner went down 100 years ago...
Bald Man: Who cares!? Just hurry up and open it!!
Man in Diving Gear: Geez, calm down, I get it... ...Hm? That's funny... It's locked from the inside.
Bald Man: We'll force it open, then! Hey, you! Grab me a blowtorch!


Bald Man: Huh? There's writing on the side... D I O... Dio? Must be the company that made the chest. Now open it already!




Investigator: All we've found is an empty container that was left on the deck... It seems to have been forced open with an acetylene torch...
Investigator: ...No clue as to the whereabouts of its former contents. We are requesting that a search team for the lost crewmembers be dispatched ASAP!
*BEEP*
Investigator: Geez... talk about bizarre... Hey, what do you make of all this? This chest is made of reinforced steel, so whatever was in here had to be important...
Investigator: Heh... Maybe someone... or someting was lurking inside... and when they opened it, it devoured them whole! ...And maybe it's still on this ship!
Investigator: Or whatever.
Investigator: ...Hm? Hey, where'd you disappear to? C'mon, it's getting dark out!


Holly!

Holly: I'm so glad you could come, Papa!

Joseph: With my only daughter in a bind? Why, I'd cross the entire earth in 24 hours if I had to!

Holly: Hee hee! How's Mama?

Joseph: She threw a fit! But I told her that it was top-secret Joestar company business... heh heh!

Holly: Papa... mmmm...

Joseph: Hey! Knock it off, Holly!

Holly: Don't wanna! I haven't gotten a chance to cuddle with you in ages!

Joseph: Good grief... do you realize how that sounds coming from a 45 year old woman?

Holly: Oooh, now you've done it! I'll have to tickle you for that! Coochie-coochie-coo!

Joseph: H-hey... quit it!

Holly: Tickle tickle!

Joseph: Noooooo!


At this point, everyone abruptly stops staring, since the last thing you need to anger is a buff old Englishman.

Holly: Let me help with your luggage!

Joseph: Now then, Holly... about Jotaro...

Holly: !

Joseph: Are you sure he mentioned an... evil spirit?

Holly: Oh, I can't believe it! My Jotaro! It's all true! No one else in the room could see it... But I could! Another arm besides his own... and that gun!

Joseph: Nobody else could see it but you?

Holly: Yeah...

Joseph: Have you been experiencing anything similarly... unusual?

Holly: No, nothing like that. But listen! He says he won't leave his cell until he figures out the cause of all this! Papa... What am I going to do?

Joseph: Now, now, my darling. Now that Joseph Joestar is here to save the day, there's no cause for alarm! Now then, I'd like to meet with our Jotaro face-to-face...

The dark-skinned guy in the corner approaches Joseph as he says this...

LATER, AT THE PRISON...

Warden: H-he's been possessed by something terrible... and whatever it is, it's violent...! If anyone finds out about this, I'll be fired in a heartbeat...!

Joseph: Don't worry. I'll handle my grandson.

Holly: Jotaro! It's Grandpa! Grandpa's here to help you now! Please come home!

Joseph: Get out! You're coming with me!

Jotaro: Piss off. I didn't ask you to come here. You want to help me? What makes you think you can do that? Sorry you had to come all the way from New York... But I'm not leaving.

Joseph: !




Joseph: My... My finger... ...when did he take that off...?

Jotaro: See that? Do you finally get it? This is my evil spirit... Don't come any closer... unless you want to cut short what little time you have left.

Joseph: (Unbelievable... he actually pulled one over on ME... I know all about the true nature of that evil spirit of yours, Jotaro... I knew it even before I came here! I'd clear up this little mystery for him right now... but...! It won't do to simply explain it... he has to feel it with his own body! It's the only way to protect him from the dangers yet to come!)

Joseph: Abdul! ...It's your turn... Allow me to introduce Abdul, my good friend from Egypt. Abdul... Get my grandson out of this cell!

Jotaro: Give up. He looks tough, but just saying he'll get me out isn't going to make it happen. Besides... do you really think I'd let a butt-ugly guy like that boot me out of here? Nothing you can do is going to change my mind. All you're doing is getting on my nerves.

Mr. Joestar... I may have to be a bit rough with him. When I'm through, he may be in so much pain that he'll be begging us to let him out...

Jotaro: ...

Joseph: That's not a problem.

Holly: Papa, what's going on here!?

Warden: H-hey! Keep it down!

Joseph: Quiet!

Yes! Abdul has an "evil spirit" just yours! This "spirit" that obeys Abdul's will is called...
Magician's Red!

This introduces the battle screen. You have a pretty standard set of commands: Attack, Skills, Guard, Items, and Escape (which for this battle is obviously disabled). As of right now, we have three Skills: Cardiac Massage, a revive which everyone gets, Stone Toss, a cheap and weak attack skill, and Loud Yell, which cures Confusion.

In addition, the whole concept of Stand range is implemented as well: in combat, this translates to your moves getting bonuses if the enemy is in your effective range, which can be Short, Middle, or Long. Jotaro's Stand is most effective at short range, so we do more damage if the enemy is a short distance away [signified by an (s) next to their name].

Either way, after the first move or so...

We unlocked Star Platinum! As a result, we can use proper Stand attacks (read: skills) now. More specifically, Ora Ora. It does some pretty respectable damage at short range.

It's tough to see in screenshots, but the animation for Jotaro's attacks and for his Ora skills is a bunch of punches. They do pretty respectable damage if the enemy is in your face.

We do a bit of a back-and-forth here, as Abdul gets in close and we exchange flaming bindings and punches. It is possible, if difficult, to actually beat him here, but it's by no means necessary. Either way, after the two start pressuring each other in earnest, Jotaro gets pissed and...


...tears open the bars!

Warden: The... the bars opened on their own!!

Abdul, apparently satisfied, turns away...

Jotaro: Hey! Where are you going!? Look at me!!

Abdul: Mr. Joestar... as you can see, I've gotten him out of the cell.

Jotaro: ...Was this your plan all along?

Abdul: Not quite... I did truly intend to send you to the hospital, but your strength far exceeded my expectations.

Jotaro: And what if I hadn't pulled these bars apart? What then?

Abdul: My ability... rather, my Stand is Magician's Red. If it came to it, my flames could easily melt them.

Joseph: You and Abdul have the same kind of power, Jotaro. But we can talk more about that once we leave... this isn't the place to loiter.

Holly: Yaaay! Jotaro finally came out! <3

Jotaro: Shut up! You're such a pain in the ass!

Holly: Got it, honey! <3

It's... kind of hard to hate Holly, given how nice and sweet she is about everything. Even if she acts like a doormat I just feel bad about pointing it out.

Joseph: Hey! The nerve of you, calling your own mother a pain in the ass! Who taught you to speak like that? And you! Don't look so happy about it!

Holly: Fiiiine!

Jotaro: Hey, Gramps! Lighten up!

Joseph: !

Jotaro: There's still something that's bugging me. How do you know so much about my evil sp--rather, how do you know so much about my Stand?

Joseph: Well... That's what I came from New York to talk to you about. ...But we'll get to that in time. There's something else I need to talk about first... something linked to the entire Joestar Family. Take a look at these pictures.

Joseph: 4 years ago, this metal chest was pulled up from the waters west of Africa. Afterwards, I took it into my own hands... In reality, it's not a chest, but a casket. It dates back about 100 years.

Jotaro: !

Holly: !?

Joseph: When it was discovered, it was empty. Only I know what it contained! The one Abdul and I have been searching for!

Jotaro: When you say "the one" do you mean...

Joseph: Yes... I'm searching for a person, one who was also aboard that ship 100 years ago. A monster who has finally risen from his 100-year slumber! His name is Dio... Mortal enemy to the Joestar line!!

Later, the group convenes at a cafe to discuss...

Jotaro: Abdul, right? I don't know who you are, but you've got balls to say that to me... And Gramps... do you expect me to believe this 100 year old guy just crawled out of the ocean? You really think I'm gonna just nod my head and go "oh, makes sense" after hearing that load of bull?

Abdul: Heh... but when you think about it, our evil spirits are equally unbelievable, aren't they?

Jotaro: ...

Joseph: Hmph! That's fine by me. I'll make you believe me in due time. Just let me tell you my reasons for going after Dio... And why I know all about him in the first place.

Joseph: I'll show you... Truth is, Jotaro... one year ago I discovered that I actually have the same type of evil spirit as you-- a Stand!
Holly: Is that true, Papa!?
Jotaro: What'd you say, Gramps!?
Joseph: Look closely! This is my Staaaaaand!

Joseph smashed the camera and a Polaroid photo came flying out!

Joseph: Did you see the thorns that sprung from my arm? That's MY Stand! Its ability is Spirit Photography... I can make faraway things appear on film. Of course, I have to bust up a $300 camera every time I use it...
Waiter: What's going on over here, sirs?
Abdul: Nothing that concerns you. Begone.
Joseph: Pay attention, Jotaro! The image this photo shows... will decide your fate!
Jotaro: What?
Joseph: Jotaro, Holly. Have you ever taken a good look at the backs of your necks?
Jotaro: ...? What do you mean?
Joseph: I'm sure you've never examined it carefully, but on the base of my neck... there's a star-shaped birthmark.

Holly gasps. She and Jotaro inspect themselves and, sure enough, the same birthmark is on each of their necks...

Jotaro: Why do you mention it?
Joseph: I heard from my mother my late father also had this very birthmark. I imagine all those of the Joestar bloodline must have it.
Jotaro: So what exactly is on that photo?
Joseph: This birthmark, that none of us had paid any mind to, will decide our fate.

Joseph: It's that Dio! It's him that always appears in my photos... and on his neck is that same birthmark! That's because below the neck, Dio Brando's body belongs to my grandfather, Jonathan Joestar! If not for my grandma Erina, I would never have known what occurred on that ship that was lost in the Atlantic over a century ago... That bastard Dio stole my grandfather's body. That's all that she told me! I'll bet that now, somewhere in the world, he's using that body to carry out some evil scheme! 4 years since he was revived, and just this year we discover both my psychic ability and your spirit... It can't be a coincidence! Dio must be the cause!
Abdul: Our abilities are what most people might describe as ESP or psychokinesis. I was born with my Stand, but yours seems to have something to do with Dio and that stolen body of his... like an invisible link between you and your ancestor Jonathan. It's very likely that Dio's awakening has in turn awakened your own dormant abilities.

Of course, with that said, the party has no idea where Dio actually is... So for now, they decide to bide their time in Japan until they can find something out.

And, unbeknownst to them, a figure moves through the darkness...

???: Nnnuuu... I felt it again.... Once again... I sense that someone is watching me... Jonathan's descendants... no doubt... This body seems to be sending out a signal somehow... So be it... I suppose this is destiny.

Okay so if you went through all that, holy crap, you've got more patience than I do. I got fatigued near the end and just started summarizing... I'll go through the mechanics a little later, if that's needed, but for now, there's a slightly more important matter.... Making our character. See, you have to take a test and determine what type of person your character is. I should note that your decisions throughout the game will actually make a difference in, most obviously, your Stand, but also what you can do and how your character will interact with the world, so... be careful.

I'll put the questions and the cutscene in a new spoiler so you can skip the first one if you wish. At any rate, please submit your preferred answers in a post so I can use them!

The Birth of the Seventh Stand User (open) The Birth of the Seventh Stand User (close)

???: That would be your destiny... you, nameless one, apostle of Fate... You are about to walk a path full of pain and suffering... However, it is necessary that you continue to fight. Please accept this small offering... Your very own Stand. I hope you use it well...


Abdul: I detect the capability to wield a Stand within you... If you answer a few easy questions for me, I may be able to determine your Stand's power. Sometimes this gets a little long, but the more questions you answer, the clearer my perception will become!

Questions (open) Questions (close)

First off, picture yourself in everyday surroundings. Where are you standing?
Mingling with the group
Right in the Center
Off in my own place

How much trust do you put in new people?
I trust them from the outset
I make them earn my trust
Depends on the situation

Your significant other has left their phone at your house. Do you check their messages?
Yes
No

You're at a party and someone is drinking alone by the window. They seem lonely. Do you try to strike up a conversation?
Yes
No

You're busy with an important project, but your friend is swamped with work. Do you put your project on the backburner to help them?
Yes
No

Do you think most world's issues can be solved as long as people learn to cooperate with each other?
Yes
No

Do you have trouble with social obligations?
Yes
No

When your family members get sloppy, do you scold them?
Yes
No

When giving presents, do you prefer something that can be kept as a memento over something practical?
Yes
No

Do you put a high value on your individuality?
Yes
No

Do you often go out of your way to help others?
Yes
No

When something good happens, do you often suspect that there's a "catch"?
Yes
No

Do you talk to yourself often?
Yes
No

Are you a good liar?
Yes
No

Are you flexible in your beliefs if someone else puts up a convincing enough argument?
Yes
No

When you're troubled, do you like to talk it out with others?
Yes
No

Do you put a lot of care into your appearance?
Yes
No

Do you readily take positions of leadership?
Yes
No

Do you like being the only person in a room?
Yes
No

Do you think there's no one that truly understands you?
Yes
No

Do you dislike inviting people over?
Yes
No

Do you have trouble saying no?
Yes
No

Are you a person of few words?
Yes
No

When something fun is going on, do you immediately perk up and want to join?
Yes
No

Are you uninterested in gambling?
Yes
No

Do you think that life is short, and it's most important to have fun while you can?
Yes
No

Are you quick to throw in the towel?
Yes
No

Do you think that people are fundamentally evil from the moment they're born?
Yes
No

Are there people you'd gladly trust your life with?
Yes
No

Do you aspire to become rich?
Yes
No

Do you try hard not to stand out?
Yes
No

On your days off, do you prefer going out to relaxing at home?
Yes
No

Do you find yourself thinking 'women are scary'?
Yes
No

Do you have trouble keeping still?
Yes
No

Do you think the ends justify the means?
Yes
No

Do you believe in survival of the fittest- that it's natural for those who are weaker to get picked off?
Yes
No

Do you think two against one is unfair?
Yes
No

Do you think putting high hopes in others will just lead to disappointment?
Yes
No

Are you fussy about how others view you?
Yes
No

Are you a boy or a girl?

What is your name?

Do you have a nickname? If so, what is it?

Do you have a catchphrase? What is it? (We have 10 characters for this, so don't go overboard.)

Which of these describes your appearance best?
Average
Distinctive
Short
Chubby

Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler

>Mingling with the group
>Depends on the situation
>No
>Yes
>Yes
>Yes
>Yes
>Yes
>Yes
>Yes
>No
>Yes
>Yes
>No
>Yes
>No
>Yes
>No
>No
>No
>Yes
>No
>Yes
>Yes
>Yes
>No
>No
>Yes
>No
>No
>Yes
>No
>Yes
>No
>No
>Yes
>No
>Yes
>Boy
>Henry
>No/None
>Momentai!
>Distinctive

All right fellas so I've done a bit of work. Concerning character creation, I kind of had to compromise; whenever a conflict arose between the answers I flipped a coin to decide, and I used the name "Richter" and the catchphrase "momentai." That said, let's get this show on the road. For future reference, my own thoughts will be marked in italics.



Abdul: In addition, it can use hypnosis to induce various effects on opponents and allies alike. As for your personality type... You're a methodical person who doesn't like to leave a job undone, but you're also very excitable and cheerful. Family-oriented, you are unguarded and immediately open up around anyone. You're friendly, have a great sense of humor, and take pride in your sense of right and wrong. You're easily touched by the sentimental, and are sometimes taken in by sob-stories.

In other news, I see we had an agreement on the "distinctive" appearance. I hope you guys like funky hairstyles, then, because...

... We are rockin' a pompadour. No, we're not Josuke. There is a Josuke mode, with Crazy Diamond in all its glory and some unique events, but I haven't gotten it unlocked yet, I'm sorry to say. I may or may not come back to do it later, depending on what you guys want.

So, here's our finished profile, I guess you could say. Now... it's time for your very own pokemon adventure to begin!
With a flash of light, a young man awakens in his room. He gasps and looks around.
Richter: ...Was I dreaming? Even for a dream, that was strange...

Richter: ! It's coming from the computer's speakers! Who are you!?

Steven or Lucy? Before or after the whole Made in Heaven time-crashy thing?

You know, all things considered, I think the Sonic Youth personality does kinda fit our Josuke doppelganger. That brings me to another point: it's subtle, but we can already see some of the effects of our choices. There are 18 different Stands that you can end up with, and each has a different personality associated with it. These personalities will change the dialogue in various little ways; for example, some personalities will be icy and dismissive towards Steel here, and some will be relatively cordial. They'll all be pretty freaked out by suddenly having a Stand, though... Anyway!

Steel: There's no need to be afraid. I've been searching for someone like you... a courageous youth who desires a "special power"... I have given you what you seek!
Richter: I have no idea what you're talking about... where are you hiding!?
Steel: If you don't believe me, try calling out the name of your Stand from before. It will manifest before your very eyes.
Richter: St-Sta- what? That's... that's ridiculous! And quit changing the subject!
Steel: I promise everything will make itself clear if you just give it a try. Go on.


Steel: You can see it, I presume? That is your Stand...
Richter: S... Stand?
Steel: In layman's terms, it's a superpower. The apparition standing in front of you is an extension of your body, so to speak. Generally, each Stand has one unique special ability. These abilities can flout the laws of physics and defy the imagination... Your Stand will surely become an indispensable ally.

Richter: And what exactly are you?
Steel: I'm simply the remnant of a man who was killed by one of these "Stands." Think of me like you would a prerecorded message.
Richter: Then what do you want with me?

Steel: You, with your newfound Stand, must take out a certain person... That insidious vampire, Dio! It will be dangerous... Dio has assassins everywhere! They don't take well to those who defy him... As long as Dio lives, they will continue to hunt you down... Go with caution.
Richter: Wait, slow down! Are you asking me to risk my life!? What makes you think I'm going to let myself get involved in something that dangerous?
Steel: Haven't you heard "with great power comes great responsibility?" This is simply a consequence of the thing you yourself wished for.

QB, pls

Richter: I can't believe this... You're the one who did this to me, so shouldn't your life be the one that's on the line here!?
Steel: I'll say it one more time... You are the one who wished for a Stand... and you are the one who called it forth. If you left Dio to his own devices, your friends and family would be at risk. Even if you weren't aware of it, you knew you needed a "protector." This is your destiny. I'm just helping to move it along. Now... Head to school. Just like you would any other day.
We can now start the game proper. And so, in typical RPG fashion, we start it...

...By looting everything in sight.

It's dangerous to go alone! Take me.

Steel is our mission control for this journey. He'll let us equip the things we find, change how we fight, or even just change our catchphrase if it becomes really silly. He'll also remind us of our objective if we forget, and track our budding friendship with the gang.

That done, I go ahead and inspect the room. Here's our old computer. As we are currently in the 1980s, it's... kind of a clunker by today's standards. Pretty impressive that a dude who may or may not be from an parallel universe/alternate timeline/other weird Jojo occurrences could channel himself through it.

And over here we have our bookcase. We can read these things for instructions or other information. For some reason, every issue of Pink Dark Boy we find has information on Stands in them... but who would do that? I mean it would have to be some kind of psychic mangaka to--ROHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN

...And as for this, uhm, well. I'm gonna come clean with you guys, I'm actually using a New Game + to help show off some things that are either difficult or impossible in the first playthrough. This is here because on my first playthrough I unlocked it. Truthfully I didn't know this would happen, but it was rather amusing anyway.

Don't worry too much about it, though; our levels are bound to our Stand, and since I'm using Sonic Youth this time when I didn't have it last time, we're still level one. I can't cheese my way through everything. Either way, time to go downstairs and get our adventure going.

Sure, sis. I have a date with a ton of buff sweaty guys and we have to go halfway across the globe and kill a shirtless egomaniac vampire. ...No, seriously. That's where we're going.

While there is no breakfast to be had, we can raid the first-aid kit of ointments. We can take three from them before we run out in this box. Believe it or not, this is kind of a big deal; just like in the manga, actual healing abilities are hard to come by, and the only healing items usable in battle are medicines and drinks, the latter of which usually aren't very potent until you're using endgame-level beverages.


This dialogue isn't here unless you've gotten the bunny suit in a previous playthrough. I considered it amusing enough to include.

So, we leave and attempt to go to school like Steel told us to, but...

...Everything wants us dead.

I caught a screencap of our attack animation. For its standard attack, Sonic Youth has a hit-all-enemies wind-attribute attack that can sometimes inflict Confusion, which is nice. Each Stand has its own attack (with unique animations and attributes) in addition to its own skills, so I thought I'd show you one of them. Sonic Youth in particular has access to several buffs and debuffs, and generally is centered around affecting your ability to pummel enemies as opposed to actually doing pummeling.

As for what you need to know about this delinquent... well, there's not much to say. There are a lot of them wandering around town and they're all really weak. They're good exp for a starving level one, as they go down fairly easily.

Speaking of starving, 7-11s like this one are a fairly common store, where you can buy supplies and sometimes equipment. There are bazaars and open-air food stalls later where you can buy things, but I kinda like having just a straight-up 7-11. It gives the game a pretty Earthbound-ish vibe.

You may have noticed this ugly mug in the last picture. He hates all living things. Or, well, I guess I should say "she" in this particular case...


As the enemy Stand takes the form of a bunch of Russian stacking dolls. They are appropriately called Murderdolls. We'll be seeing a lot more of them in the future, and they get more elaborate and stronger each time. Of course, they also typically hint at the user's whereabouts when they change forms...

And speak of the devil, here's a level 2.

Yes, they're schoolgirls. This may tell you something about the person controlling them. If not, well, trust me, the next iterations will.

This is a menu taken from some of the scattered vending machines. They sell drinks, which are generally less effective than food, but can be taken in the middle of combat.

On the way to school, we take a detour or two to explore the town.


...And, well, what kind of enterprising RPG protagonist would we be if we didn't completely ignore all signs of danger and explore the creepy bombed-out house?

Inside, we find a few objects of interest...


-Dan Penn-
My own Stand. Remote-controlled. Takes the form of countless levitating hands. Can turn memory fragments into physical records.
-Murderdolls-
Allows dolls and mannequins to be controlled from a distance by attaching a strand of hair. Does not transmit damage to the user.
-Alhirt-
An automatic Stand that takes the form of many large, insect-like entities called Green Hornets.

The diary, meanwhile...

There's a photo of a young woman and a much older man. Are they father and daughter? They seem very happy.
And behind bed number two...

"...It's that bow and arrow... that's the cause of this whole catastrophe... It has the power to awaken latent Stand powers... I've tested it many times to no ill effect, but that day was different... An unbelievable thing occurred. The arrow broke apart, scattering pieces of it everywhere. I don't remember how it happened... it was almost like it shattered on its own. ...That was when it all started. Bizarre accidents began occuring around town one after another. Things that seemed like the couldn't possibly have been the work of human beings. Then, today, I received a visitor. He, too, was a Stand User. The man introduced himself in a detached tone of voice, then began to say... "I apologize, but you know too much about my powers. I came here to dispose of you." That man is my murderer. Using my Stand, Dan Penn, I was able to transcribe my final thoughts into this diary. That arrow has caused many Stand Users to appear, and so has sparked many disasters... This is my penances for my irresponsible deeds... Watch yourself from now on... Watch out for Stand Users..."
In addition, we receive a Bizarre Memo. We can use it as an actual memo, and if we check what's already in it...

Now, if you've read part 4, you may be tempted to do this:

...And it is my solemn duty to inform you that this is a TERRIBLE idea. Why? Well...




...Well, that's why. Bites the Dust triggers to let him show up in your face and beat you into the ground. You're really not intended to fight him and Killer Queen until you're already really strong. So we'll show up later and be a proper Josuke to pound him. For now, let's continue exploring town and pretend that never happened.

Near the eastern part of town, we see someone else who should be familiar to fans of Diamond is Unbreakable... His sack even meows if you interact with it.
...And in the south, there's this one dude you may or may not recognize from Vento Aureo.

I should note that Diavolo here only shows up on NG+, and yes, he is indeed an enemy that is too strong for you to handle if you're only grinding off of the local enemies.

Next time we'll have something that we can beat, I promise.

When we last left off, we were in search of foes we could actually defeat.

Well lookie here... While beating up some local delinquents, we found a creepy card. I'm sure this can only mean good things.

So to help take it off our minds we swing by the game center. School can wait... can't it?

Oh holy criminy that's a lot of dudes. Thankfully, they're all still just as wimpy as before so they're easy prey for a Stand user with a few levels under their belt.

The manager is understandably perturbed that our entrance caused a small riot in his establishment. Not to worry, good sir, your friendly neighborhood problem-solver is here!

We talk to this girl here, who happens to be fortune-teller. Of course, she is also our stage's secret boss. You can never trust the quiet ones who never move. NEVER.

Rainbow: I am called Rainbow. My job is to rid the city of you Stand users. I didn't think you'd find me here, but now I can take care of business...

Long story short, she's been brainwashing the delinquents around here to get them to come after us. As you might be able to tell, she's got a pendulum and can use Hypnosis to try and inflict Sleep. Other than that, though, she's nothing too spectacular; her stats aren't that high, and even support-type Stands can beat her without too much trouble with a few levels. Even the weakest attack skill you have (in our case, Whirlwind) will inflict about 30 damage on her, and she only has about 100 HP.

... So it only takes a few turns of this until she hits the floor like a sack of potatoes. Since she's a boss, though, she gives a pretty nice reward of experience and money.

Rainbow: What a... fearsome...


... I think we'd better leave before this guy decides to throw me out for beating up many of his apparent patrons. So, we scurry on out of the arcade and actually go to school. It's much easier now, since beating Rainbow has released the Delinquents from her control and they won't roam the streets looking to jump us anymore.

... And then we run into this poor guy in the schoolyard. He can't catch his cat. And neither can you, unless you happen to have Pixies or Miracles as a Stand, OR have a Stand with a speed of 50 or higher. Our Sonic Youth, conveniently, has just over that as a result of beating Rainbow.

We play the good Samaritan for him and catch his cat. In return, he sings our praises and gives us a Crazy DX. Crazy DX, by the way, is an item that gives a permanent buff to our strength. So all in all, pretty nice.

Just inside, the lockers contain a Letter of Invitation. We'll be able to see what it does later. For now, it's time to do some things.

Our first order of business, of course, is to raid the supply closet. I have no idea who decided to put a lighter next to a bookcase but I'm convinced I'm doing a public service by taking it away from here. It's an item that can be used to inflict Fire damage in battle, but it's not very strong. The other chest has a Dora Cola in it, a weak healing item. Either way, we're done here right now, so we go up to the second floor and...

Talk to this guy. He'll ask you if you're looking forward to an upcoming gory movie; the first answer changes nothing, the second one will give you a trait that makes you more squeamish in dialogue, and the third is only available for guys and makes you more perverted in dialogue. I made an executive decision to pick the third since, well, if we've got a bunny suit lying around at home I figure we ought to go as far with it as we can.

This is the library. Yes, there are issues of Pink Dark Boy in those bookcases, each talking about Stands. I also thought now would be a good time to point out a few subtleties in the game: some of the other possible player characters are characters as well, like this guy. For example, if we had picked a different appearance, the sprite that is currently our character would instead by roaming around on this floor and you could talk to him. I kinda like those little touches.

In the bathroom, a student is being harassed by delinquents. You can rescue him for some easy money and experience. In addition, if you talk to him while having no ointments in your inventory, he'll give you five. As ointments are rare and valuable, the smart (read: not UD derpy) thing to do is to rescue him, THEN raid your family first-aid kit. Oopsies.

Finally, on the third floor, we can kick off a fairly long sidequest, but only if you're playing a male character. You see, there's a guy who is bemoaning the confiscation of his... adult reading material, shall we say. If you're playing a girl he shuts up before he says it outright, but if you're a guy you can offer to help him get it back. If so...

So we march down to the first floor and find the teacher what took it. Predictably, though...

Well, I guess we'd better let the guy know it's not gonna work out.

Schoolboy: I'll never see my magazine again...
Geez, kid, no need to pull the emo card. We'll just need to pull a little bit of subterfuge.

...Like so. We just ask another teacher how we can get lost items back (the best kind of lie: the one that's not technically a full falsehood). Unfortunately, the target is locked. So we climb back up to the second floor for advice.

Schoolgirl: What? You can't get a lost item back? That won't do. But between you and me... I saw Mr. Ito run to the bathroom looking suspicious... And he didn't have his key with him on the way back.

Oh, that is just... not okay. This guy's a teacher, for crying out loud. Well, I guess we'd better go check the stall...

Schoolboy: Incontinence at his age... What a shame! He uses the first floor bathroom, by the way.

With all this running around we're doing, this reward better be worth it...

Oh thank goodness. The way this was going I thought we'd have to deal with Moaning Myrtle or something.

Target acquired. Time to cash in.


We did all this... for clothes. Seriously, dude? Well, I guess if we worked so hard to get them, we might as well try them on...

WHOA HOLD THE PHONE ARE WE SUDDENLY IN ARMOR

I TAKE IT BACK THIS WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT

I think we've done enough dinking around for one day. Time to advance the plot a little bit. To that end, we head on down to the first floor again and check the nurse's office.

Delinquent: No way! When have you ever seen Jojo come out of a fight with injuries, doc!?
Other Delinquent: Huh huh, yeah!
Nurse: Hohoho! Fine then! I'll believe you just fell, clumsy.
Jotaro: Wait! What are you doing...?
Nurse: I'm going to cut your pants off so I can treat the wound.
Jotaro: Quit messing around! I'll take them off. It's a waste to cut them.
Nurse: Hohoho! I didn't peg you as the stingy type. Now then... While Jojo is getting his pants off, I'll take your temperatures and prove you're both faking sick!
Delinquent: I have a cold! Please let me go home early!
Richter: That must be Jojo... Jotaro Kujo.
Steel: (This is where it begins... This is the start of your struggle against fate.)
Jotaro: ...?

Jotaro unwraps the handkerchief that the new student, Kakyoin, gave him to tend his cuts. Inside was written...

Jotaro: Ka... Kakyoin!?
Delinquent A: D...doc! W-what are you doing!?
Delinquent B: Eyaaargh!
Jotaro and Richter: !?

Nurse: What am I doing!? I'm shaking the thermometer so I can check your temperatures, of course!!!
Delinquent: Yeeek... D-doc... that's a pen! Not a thermometer!
Nurse: A pen!? Are you saying this is a pen!? This right here!?
Jotaro: !

Nurse: Does this look like a pen to you!? What! A bunch! Of idiots!! What about you? Do you think that this is a pen!? Why don't you take! A closer! Look!!

Richter: She... she stabbed him in the eye!
Nurse: Huff! Huff! Huff! Jojo... don't tell me you think this is a pen, too... You don't, do yooooooou!?

The nurse draws near and thrusts the pen towards Jotaro!
Jotaro: This... this isn't a normal woman's strength! I definitely saw something creep out from behind the beds... it must've been a Stand! I can't risk hurting her... I'll have to find some other way to fight back! That handkerchief... it said Noriaki Kakyoin... The cut on my leg must also be his doing!
Kakyoin: That's right...
Jotaro: You...! Who are you!?
Kakyoin: My Stand's name is Hierophant Green... It's the same type of Stand as your friend Abdul's.
Jotaro: Th... there it is... the Stand!
Kakyoin: I may be human, but I've pledged my loyalty to that man... That is why I've come to kill you!

Jotaro: There it is.. it's in her mouth! Argh!
Kakyoin: !!
Jotaro gave the nurse a kiss!

Richter: What!?
Jotaro: I won't let you harm this nurse! Now that I've pulled it out, it's clear to me that this is just a pathetic Stand that can't do anything but control people... And it's all green and covered in lines... looks like a melon to me!
Kakyoin: You're going to regret... pulling it out, Jojo...
Jotaro: Quit the act. I can see the marks from my fingers on your forehead. If I press down any harder, your skull will explode like a melon... I'll just add a little more force... enough to make you pass out. That way you won't resist when I take you to see my grandfather. I'm sure he'll be happy to see you. And he'll also be eager to hear all about your friend Dio. ...!? (W...what's this? Green liquid came out from his Stand's hands!)
Kakyoin: Take this... My Stand, Hierophant Green's...
Jotaro: Don't you dare move, Kakyoin!

(Oh, yuck... I caught it just as the screen flashed. I'm sorry, guys.)

Richter: !?
Jotaro: Hack... koff... bastard...!
Kakyoin: This is my Stand's special technique... I call it the Emerald Splash.


Nurse: Ah... ahh...
Jotaro: Wh... what!?
Kakyoin: I told you. Attack my Hierophant Green, and you'll hurt her too... My Stand may have a much longer range than yours, but it hates wide open spaces. If something tries to remove it, it gets angry... It'll claw at the inside and latch on! That's why she was injured! You did this to her, Jojo! It's all your fault! If you'd just let me kill you, this nurse wouldn't have had to suffer!


Richter: Nngh...
Steel: ...It's your turn! He's one of those people I told you about... One sent to erase those who stand in Dio's way!

Before Kakyoin makes another, move, though, Jotaro gets to his feet and closes in.


I can't hold it in. I have to share this theme with you.

Jotaro: ...Am often called a delinquent student... When I get in a fight, I'll pummel the other guy until he bleeds... I've even hospitalized people... I've given half-assed showoff teachers such a scare that they never showed their face at school again... And when I don't like the food at a restaurant, I'll leave without paying the bill! But even so... I still know nauseating evil when I see it! Evil is when you crush the weak under your heel, using them for your own gain... even women! And you match that description to a T! Neither the victim nor the justice system know about your Stand...

That is why...

Kakyoin: Evil? Now, there you are wrong... The only "evil" one here is the loser. The path of he who survives is the only just one! No matter what methods he uses... Justice belongs to the last one standing! Take this! Emerald Splash!

Jotaro: ...Did you say... the loser is the evil one? In that case... you're definitely evil!
Kakyoin fires another salvo... but Jotaro's Stand deflects it! As this happens, Richter rushes into the fray and takes a fighting stance.



Strike your best Jojo poses, ladies and gentlemen. This is how our story starts.

Kakyoin: Looks like you won't be heeding my warning... Fine then! Die along with him, fool!
Despite what he says, Kakyoin's not that tough as a result of being stuck with the duty of 1st proper boss, especially since you have two party members with you this time. Jotaro can use Stone Toss to smack him while he's at Medium range, and you can use whatever skill you happen to have; for example, I like to buff the party with Anthem (A Defense Up) and then spam Whirlwind. If/when he steps into Short range, you can positively murder him by having Jotaro spam Ora Ora. If you've beaten Rainbow, he's a bit of a pushover.


Jotaro: Well, that was a waste of time... My shoulder got busted up, too... Good thing his Stand wasn't much. Still, I think I might be getting more violent...

He turns to you, inspecting you.

Jotaro: I was in a bind there... thanks. But you... you have a Stand? You don't look the part, but... you're not another one of Dio's followers, are you?

Weirdly enough, answering "yes" will give us Friendship points with Jotaro... while also giving us a point of Bad Karma. Bad karma is a hidden stat and it's... kinda weird. Strictly speaking, it by itself doesn't do anything bad, and it's actually necessary to take some options/access some story paths... but the actions that give bad karma typically earn you the ire of the entire party and/or are counterproductive. In addition, most of the routes that require bad karma aren't particularly great ones, and your party will start to take notice if you've racked up a lot of it.

Either way, though, he's slightly amused at our sarcasm and invites us to come with him to interrogate Kakyoin. He also checks on the nurse, who will, thankfully, be fine with some treatment.

Later that day, back at the Kujo residence...

Holly: Oh! Just now... Jotaro was thinking about me at school! I felt it! It's the bond between mother and son! <3
Jotaro: I wasn't thinking about you.

We announce ourselves by flopping an unconscious and bloodied guy onto the floor. Classy men, we are.

Kakyoin: N... nngh...
Holly: J-Jotaro! What in the world happened? Who... who are these people!? He's... he's bleeding... Did you do this!?
Jotaro: It's none of your business. ...I'm looking for Gramps. It's such a pain to find anyone in a house this big... is he in the tea room?
Holly: Y-yeah... I think Abdul's there, too...
Jotaro: Good... here, Richter. Hold Kakyoin while I go talk to them.
Holly: (Jotaro... what could possibly be going on that you can't talk to your own mother about? Don't make me worry like this... I know that you're a nice boy deep down...)
Jotaro: Hey!
Holly: Yes?
Jotaro: You don't look like your usual self. ...Are you feeling okay?
Holly: .... Yay! <3 Fine, thank you! (He really does care! <3)
Jotaro: Hmph...

Saying yes here will raise our friendship with Jotaro and make Holly squeal with delight that her son made a friend. Darnit Holly stop making this so adorable. She promises to bring a first-aid kit and snacks.


Joseph: He'll die in a matter of days.
Richter: No...
Jotaro: ...
Joseph: Jotaro... It isn't your fault. Look... this man has already pledge his loyalty to Dio. And do you know why? It's because... of this!

Jotaro: What is this thing? It looks like a spider...
Richter: I-it almost looks alive...
Abdul: That's a "flesh bud," forged from Dio's cells! It's burrowed its way into that boy's forehead.Tiny as it may be, it's reached deep enough into his brain to influence his thoughts and feelings! Just like one of Hitler's supporters... just like a member of a cult... this boy is a slave to Dio in mind and body! Dio's charisma is such that Kakyoin will unquestionably follow his orders to kill us!
Richter: So... in other words, he's brainwashed him!
Joseph: Yes, I suppose you could say that.
Jotaro: Why not just operate on him?
Joseph: If it were only that easy... the spore has a mind of its own, and if so much as twitches when we try to pull it out... he'll suffer permanent brain damage.
Abdul: Jojo... let me tell you about something happened 4 months ago, when I was in Cairo... When I met him. Dio!

I am a fortuneteller, as you may or may not know. I'd set up shop in the bazaar that night... it was the night of a full moon. Then, I saw him, quietly observing me from atop the stairs.

Abdul: I'd already heard from Mr. Joestar about Dio, the man who had been pulled up from the ocean, and I recognized him as such the moment I laid eyes on him.
Dio: You... you're no run-of-the-mill human, are you? I'd be very happy... if you were to demonstrate it for me.
Abdul: That's when I knew he was one to be feared. The moment he spoke, my heart was calm... too calm. A dangerous kind of calmness!

Abdul: I ran for the hills! The thought of fighting him never once went through my mind! I thanked my lucky stars that I had recognized him as Dio, and as quickly as I could, I escaped through the window! I knew my way around the labyrinthine bazaar, so I had the good fortune to evade him...

Joseph: And just like this boy, his brain would've been consumed by the flesh bud and he'd be dead within a couple of years.
Jotaro: Dead? Not so fast! Kakyoin's not dead yet!
Richter: What are you doing, Jotaro...?

Joseph: Jotaro!! Stop! Look at the part of the flesh bud that's outside the brain! There's a reason why even the world's most skilled surgeon can't remove it!
The flesh bud extended a tentacle and burrowed into Jotaro's hand!
Abdul: Damn! It's gotten into your arm! Hurry, Jojo! Let go of him!
Joseph: It'll invade the brain of anyone who dares to remove it!
Richter: T-the tentacle...! At that speed, it'll reach his brain in seconds!
Jotaro: Nnnngh...!

Just then, Kakyoin opened his eyes!

Jotaro: Don't move, Kakyoin! If you flinch, your brain is toast!
Richter: It's...!
Abdul: Let go, Jojo! It's already reached your face!!
Joseph: Wait, Abdul. My grandson has grown... Even as his body is being invaded, look at him... He's completely calm! And his Stand, too... its movements are as precise as a machine's!
Richter: So this is what Jotaro's Stand is capable of...?

Abdul: He's done it!
Jotaro: Uooohhh!
In that same instant, Jotaro's Stand pulled the flesh bud out from his arm!
Joseph: Overdrive!!
Joseph incinerated the flesh bud with his Ripple!

Kakyoin: Why did you put your own life at risk to save me...?
Jotaro: Well... to be honest... I'm not so sure myself.
Holly: (I can see right through you, Jotaro! <3)

Joseph: And... thanks for helping our Jotaro. I don't think he properly thanked you, so let me do it on his behalf. ...So is it true that you've only recently discovered your Stand as well? And that dream you were talking about, with Abdul and that strange voice... seems pretty hard to believe. But you don't seem like one of Dio's minions, so I'm not too worried. It seems that, for whatever reason, Stand users are popping up everywhere... But I digress. Let's both get some sleep. School is out for summer, so we can talk all we want tomorrow.
And on that note, we end our hectic first day. Next time, we'll finish up our business in Japan and embark on a journey!

Last time on Jojo, we stayed a while at the Kujo residence and freed Kakyoin from Dio's control. This time...

PLOT (open) PLOT (close)

We get up the next morning and talk to the rest of the people in the house.

Abdul: But you know, yesterday was definitely the first time I'd ever seen you... I guess it's just a mystery! Or perhaps a sign...

Suddenly, there is a sound of breaking glass! Abdul and Richter cut their conversation short to find an unconscious Holly in the next room... Abdul quickly goes to her side to check her condition, and Jotaro and Joseph make their way here only to stop cold at the sight.

Abdul: This is...!! It can't be... Pardon me!

Abdul pulled down Miss Holly's shirt... revealing a plant-like Stand growing from her back!!

Abdul: I can't believe it... my hand passes right through it. This is definitely... a Stand! Holly's Stand has awakened as well! But... this fever... The Stand is harming her... I'd thought that Mr. Joestar and Jojo were the only ones affected by Dio's curse... Thinking Holly was the exception, I relaxed... N-no... I only thought I could relax! It seems that all those with Joestar blood flowing through their veins are susceptible! Stands are manipulated by the user's fighting spirits... but Holly doesn't have an ounce of aggression in her entire body! She's so sweet and gentle... she can't control it! That's why it's hurting her!
Richter: !...
Abdul: This is terrible... If this continues, she'll...! It'll kill her!
Joseph: ...Ho...lly...
Jotaro: .....

Jotaro is silent, but his lips are quivering...

Joseph: My... my worst fears... have been confirmed... My... my daughter... has... has a Stand. I knew that should wouldn't have the power to fight Dio's curse...
Jotaro: ..... Say it already! Say you have a plan!
Joseph: Nn... nngh... ugh... There's one way. The only way! We have to find Dio and kill him! If we do that, his curse will fade... But I can't determine his location just from my spirit photography...!
Richter: He has to have left SOME kind of trail...!!
Abdul: But even out Stands combined--mine, Richter's and Jotaro's--don't have the kind of range required to conduct a search... And if that didn't make things hard enough, he lives in complete darkness! Because of that, it's impossible to make out his location using Joseph's ability alone... we've tried analyzing the photo with all kinds of high-tech gadgets, but to no effect.

At this, Jotaro steps forward...

Jotaro: Just maybe, I might know a way to figure out where he's hiding!

Jotaro calls upon his Stand. It scrutinizes the photo harder and harder, zooming closer and closer, until...


Abdul: It's a fly! A fly was buzzing in the air behind him! Wait... I... I recognize this fly!

Abdul recognizes it as the Nile Wewe Fly, mostly found in Egypt.

Abdul: Egypt! He's in Egypt!! And it has to be somewhere close to Aswan!
Kakyoin: So he's in Egypt after all... When do you depart? I'm going with you.
Jotaro: Kakyoin...
Kakyoin: I was invaded by that parasite three months ago, when I was on a t rip to the Nile with my family. That's where I met Dio. For whatever reason, he must be reluctant to leave Egypt.
Jotaro: ...Why do you want to come with us?
Kakyoin: Hmm... I'm not so sure myself, either.
Jotaro: ...tch!
Kakyoin: I wouldn't be here now if not for you. That's really all there is to it.
Abdul: Jojo! As a fortuneteller, allow me to bestow a name upon your Stand. These are Tarot cards! I'm going to draw one at random... Then divine your Stand's name and ability!

Abdul: Now... we must go! For Holly's sake! Richter... this isn't your fight, and I don't intend to coerce you into going with us. But we could use your power... the power of a Stand user with the courage to help those in need! ...I think it may be destiny that you met with us. What do you say, Richter? Will you lend us your strength?

Interestingly, we can totally pull a Rohan and say no in the bluntest of ways. Of course, doing that is generally accepted to be a bad idea, as it just leads to you being asked a second time. If you decline that time, you just game over similar to Super Paper Mario. Even choosing it in the first place gains you disapproval from everyone in the party. The first answer, by contrast, improves your relationship with everyone. The other answers don't affect anything. So, assuming you pick the first answer...

Abdul: I had a feeling you'd say that!
Joseph: I can't thank you enough, Richter.
Abdul: I look forward to getting to know you from here on out.
Kakyoin: I'm sorry for everything that happened earlier. Maybe I can make it up to you somewhere down the line.
Jotaro: ... Sorry. I didn't think you'd end up getting wrapped up in all this. If things get nasty out there, then you're free to go back.
Richter: Don't get me wrong, Jotaro. I'm fighting for Holly! That's why I'll take down Dio no matter what!
Jotaro: ... You're a dumbass who sticks their nose where it doesn't belong... but I'm curious to get to know you, Richter.
Get used to Jotaro's Tsundere treatment. That's gonna happen a lot before he warms up to you. Anyhow, we move Holly to bed and summon the Speedwagon Foundation doctors.

Abdul: Soon, it will grow, constricting her entire body... It'll also inflict various symptoms such as fever, and eventually a coma. ...One from which she will never awake. These doctors from the Speedwagon Foundation will tend to her 24 hours a day. However, since normal humans can't see Stands, they can't do much... None of us can do anything for her... I've watched countless people die by their own Stands in the past.
Kakyoin: ...
Abdul: But for Holly, there's hope! As long as we can get to Dio and take him out within 50 days... her Stand will disappear! She'll be saved!
Holly: ...My goodness, what happened to me? To think I collapsed with a fever... but now that I've taken medicine, I feel so much better!
Jotaro: ...
Richter: ...
Joseph: You startled me, Holly! Try not to give me a heart attack!
Holly: Hmhm. Right, sorry, Papa! Now where were we... Right! Jotaro... what do you want for dinner?
Jotaro: Don't move! Just go back to sleep!
Holly: !...
Joseph: ...
Richter: .....
Jotaro: I... I mean... don't... overexert yourself until your fever goes away...
Holly: ... Hee hee. You're right! Everyone's so nice to me when I'm sick... I guess a flu every now and then isn't too bad!

After this, Holly turns over and sleeps once more.

Joseph: *gasp* H... Holly! Ngh... she passed out again! She... even with that fever, she tried to reassure us that things were fine... She definitely knows what's going on. She didn't say it, but she noticed the Stand on her back! She's hiding it from us! My kind, beautiful daughter... she didn't want to make us worry about her!
Jotaro: .....
Joseph: We... we'll save you no matter what, Holly... You just relax and don't worry about us. You'll be well again soon enough. Just stay strong...
Kakyoin: ... Jojo's mother... Miss Holly is the kind of person who makes you feel calm just by being near her. If I were ever to fall in love, I'd want it to be with a woman like her. I want to protect her... if only to see her smile again.
Abdul: Hmm... We should get going.
Joseph: Richter... I imagine you have many things to do before you depart. You should head home for now. I imagine it won't be easy explaining things to your family, but if you just tell them you're vacationing with friends, they should understand. Come back when you're ready.
Richter: Got it.

Tl;dr version: Holly is sick because her Stand was activated and she's too gentle to control it properly. She will die in 50 days, so we have to find and neutralize Dio in that time so her Stand will shut off and... not kill her. In addition, Dio is probably going to try and murder us anyway, so that's a factor as well.

But that can wait. Some new things have opened up in town since we've defeated Kakyoin, after all.

For example, a path has opened up in the forest in the southern part of town. If we follow this long and winding road, we find a... restaurant. Huh.

Seriously, who puts a restaurant in the middle of the woods? Coming all the way out here is like asking for a wolf to bite your face off.

Wait... could it be?

IT TOTALLY IS

So, here's the rundown on Tonio and his cooking: it'll heal your entire party fully, no questions asked, both HP and SP, no matter what the issue is. The main drawback is cost, which increases as you continue your adventure. You can find him running about at ludicrous speeds all throughout the world, but only on certain days in certain locations. The main selling point of his food is, sometimes it will not only act as a full heal but it will permanently boost your stats. He also has a take-out menu which is less impressive, but still fairly nice. Of course, we have no real reason to use his services in Japan as there's not much left to do here, but keep an eye out for him in the future; he may sneak into my screenshots now and again.

So, for now, we go back home to tell our parents of our new plans...


But on the way we stop by this place, just south of our own home. This is what we use that Letter of Invitation for.

Ayaaaaaa

She's still doing what she does, guys. She offers "plastic surgery" so you can, as she puts it, "Change your destiny." In gameplay terms, she lets you choose whatever Stand you want to change to if you have a request for her. This sounds incredibly broken, right? Well... There's a bit of a catch to that. See, if you do that, you are reset to level one, base stats. The reason I make a point of emphasizing that she uses base stats is because properly completing the personality test at the beginning of the game gives you stat bonuses when you actually start. You lose those. Freedom ain't free, after all. Anyway, I thought you might want to see her in case you were/wanted to play along yourself. We vacate the premises and go back home for real this time.


This is important partially because it makes it look less like you vanished off the face of the earth and partially because it gives you free stuff. Your sister will give you sweets, a pretty expensive early-game item that can restore both health and SP. Your father will give you 1000G to spend as you wish. And as for your mother...

Well, she gives you some various medicinal items as well as a choice. She asks if you think you'll need anything else.

Saying that you want something to help with stomachaches will give you medicine to deal with them... as well as a chance to get stomachaches as a status effect when you eat foreign food. Asking for something to help a weak constitution makes you frail, and your stamina will drop as you walk around until you pass out. These are kind of a nuisance, so I usually pick "not really," which gives you no items but also gives you no reason to need those items.

I forgot to show it or do so, but you can also play the video games in your room. The only one you'd want to, though, is F-MEGA. It'll start up a racing minigame and you can earn cool rewards for clearing it in under 20 seconds, depending on difficulty.

That's about all the business we can take care of here, so we head back to the northern part of town and go to meet up at the Kujo residence. We're on our way now!

Meanwhile, however, in the fortress of doom...

Dio: ... It seems they've found me. Looks like they're coming... to Egypt... Joseph and... Jotaro... is it...?

Intermission: Original Stands and UD's Notes

I've made reference to some of the other Stands before but haven't really explained them a lot, so I figured now might be a good spot to take a time-out and show some of the others that you can get. Just like in the manga, pretty much every Stand has at least one trait, skill or way to get insanely powerful.

First come the Power-types. Generally speaking, they hit harder than most other Stands, and are mostly focused on straightforward combat.

Red Garland (open) Red Garland (close)

"Clothed in red armor, this warrior Stand uses its fists as a weapon. Its punches can knock people silly, incapacitating them temporarily. Its incredible offensive power is offset by disappointingly low accuracy… However, in terms of sheer strength, few Stands can match it."
Red Garland is the Short Range, Power type Stand. As far as pure power goes, you'd be hard-pressed to find anything in the game that can beat it; this thing has a base Strength stat that's even higher than Jotaro's Star Platinum. In exchange, its defense lags seriously behind its Strength and its speed is only okay in comparison to its insane Str. In terms of skills, he has a tendency to get absurdly strong ones that may inflict status effects... but also guzzle SP like it's nobody's business. The most crippling factor, though, is that Red Garland really gets almost nothing to compensate for its terrible Range. As a result, most battles boil down to whether you can get the enemy into your effective range to end them all at once.

Howlin' Wolf (open) Howlin' Wolf (close)

"A beast-like Stand that can howl to create powerful, far-reaching shockwaves, in addition to attacking with its fangs and claws. Well-balanced in all areas, its power is backed up by impressive speed, giving it the potential to wreak instant devastation."
Howlin' Wolf is the Mid-range Power type Stand. It's very well-balanced and is one of the easier Stands to use, especially since Medium-range attacks don't suffer as much from range discrepancy as other attack types do. It gets a little bit of everything; some skills are Physical, some are Wind, and some revolve around status. In exchange, it's not the best at anything. Still, it's a pretty solid Stand, and, considering that you rarely if ever have a party that doesn't include your main character, it can work well with most of your allies.

Ocean Blue (open) Ocean Blue (close)

"This long-ranged Stand can charge the user’s blood, sweat, tears, and other fluids with Stand power, then use them as projectiles. When touched, these shots create an impact not unlike being punched by a powerful Stand. However, due to the nature of the ammunition, it must be used wisely or else..."
I would like to take a moment to emphasize that Ocean blue literally shoots your blood, sweat and tears at your enemies. That is seriously metal. Anyway, it's our Long-range Power type Stand. It's generally advised that you have Steel switch your tactics to defensive ones since this guy is more fragile than the other Pow-types and you want to maximize your Long range damage. It doesn't hit quite as hard as Red Garland, but it's still a power-type, has a lot of attacks that hit the whole field and its attacks are surprisingly SP-efficient. Its basic attack is range-free and is Water-aligned. In exchange for its attack skills being both powerful and cheap, it pretty much only gets attack skills. If you were hoping for anything that wasn't hitting the other guy, you better look elsewhere.

Next up are the Speed-type Stands. Generally, they have high Speed and Spirit, in exchange for having comparatively low Durability.

The JoyKiller (open) The JoyKiller (close)

"A humanoid, axe-wielding Stand that resembles a certain famous killer. By chopping things with its axe, it can cause them to gradually rot. Physically speaking, its strength is nothing to write home about, but its axe can phase through objects and slice cleanly through anything regardless of hardness."
The JoyKiller is our Close-range, speed-type Stand. It likes to get in close and murder people fast. It hits for a truly ungodly amount of damage, but it can't take hits for much. It has a surprising amount of skills with a chance of OHKO. However, like Red Garland before it, it kind of suffers due to range. Its standard attack is crazy-strong, hitting everyone at once, and has a 55% chance of inflicting Poison.

Sonic Youth (open) Sonic Youth (close)

"A humanoid Stand that can manipulate sound. Depending on the melody it plays, it can create powerful shockwaves, sharp air blades, or echolocation-based radar just by strumming on its guitar. In addition, it can use hypnosis to induce various effects on opponents and allies alike."
We can't very well leave our own Sonic Youth of the picture, can we? Well, I've already given you a little synopsis on it, but as I said before it tends to be one of the more support-based Stands out there. This is less terrible than it sounds; most Stands only get a handful of Support skills and can only target one character, whereas Sonic Youth targets everyone at once and can buff whatever stat is relevant at the time. This is especially useful in respect to its Echolocation skill; a lot of bosses like to inflict the Can't Find status on your party and make you auto-miss, but this can let you completely ignore their attempts to do that and keep hitting anyway.

Wildhearts (open) Wildhearts (close)

"A gigantic fusion of human and beast, it can move at mind-boggling speeds to capture its prey. Not physically strong, but can do considerable damage with fangs and claws. Has a mind of its own, but not a very sharp one. It is unpredictable and will often give chase to an enemy whether its user wills it or not."
Wildhearts is the Long-range Speed-type Stand. As the description states, its attacks don't do a ton of damage... at least, not all at once. While it has a fairly bog-standard repetoire of Medium and Long range techniques to pummel enemies, its most powerful skill is a unique one called Endless, Nameless. For a measly 15 SP, it slaps debuffs of every stat onto an enemy, lowers their SP, and inflicts a unique status that hits them for 10% of their HP each turn, and gives them a -10% chance to hit while it's active.

The third category of Stands is the Control Stands. They have powers that are centered around the control of other, physical entities or objects. In general, they don't hit as hard as some other types, and tend to have unusual skillsets.

Deep Purple (open) Deep Purple (close)

"Made of smoke, it can manipulate atmospheric density. It can poison the air around it, change the air pressure, and detonate hydrogen and oxygen particles. However, its range is extremely short. The smoke that composes the Stand flows out of the skull-faced jar in the center."
Deep Purple is the most direct of the Control-Types, which is fitting for its Short range. It doesn't hit insanely hard considering its Range, but it also is not actually restricted to a single element. In addition, it gets most of its big moves relatively early, and they have a chance of inflicting both Blowback (one-turn stun) and On Fire (Damage over time) statuses on top of doing pretty respectable damage.

Pixies (open) Pixies (close)

"Can invade small things, living or otherwise, and control them. The Stand itself is tree-like, but its energy takes the form of tiny ‘pixies’. Cannot manipulate anything larger than a small child. The larger the number of pixies the user manifests, the weaker and harder to control they get. In addition, the arboreal portion can use its roots to manipulate the ground."
The Medium-range Control-type Stand. Stat-wise, Pixies has a tendency to be a bit more feeble than other Stands. It's also one of the more unconventional Stands in terms of Skills. It has a lot of Earth-elemental moves, which is pretty rare, and they tend to hit hard but not especially often. It also has status-afflicting skills that can hit the entire enemy party. Like with Sonic Youth, statuses are a bit more useful than they sound, since Pixies only learns the most irritating ones; Berserk (in a game where standard attacks are nigh-worthless after only a few chapters), Darkness/Blindness (which is very effective at shutting down nearly any single-target assault) and different varieties of paralysis (in a game where every turn tends to make a difference due to the fact that there are usually only 2-3 people on each side, and things die quickly). It is also one of the Stands that gets a lot of what I call Map Events; that is, when you're exploring locations, Pixies will be able to solve problems that are plaguing the land and get rewards for it.

Miracles (open) Miracles (close)

"This Stand has the power to manipulate the subconscious using bioelectricity. It can make the user invisible to others and induce hallucinated pain. It can also deflect attacks back at the foe."
Miracles is a bit of a weird one, on account of it having an ability that sounds awesome in theory but is hard to implement into a video game. It's mostly a Support Stand, and it gets a lot of skills (as in, most of its skills are of this type) that affect Statuses. This makes its effectiveness really hard to place since it almost can't fight on its own, whereas some of its skills are seven kinds of insane. For example, it's one a the few Stands that gets an early all-stats buff, and it can actually inflict one of the most annoying statuses in the game, Can't Find. Just like how it's a massive nuisance to you, it is really effective against bosses. In addition, its Long range makes it sometimes more useful than you would imagine it to be.

The fourth type of Stand is the Special Type. These ones are odd and have different abilities than one would normally expect from a Stand. Two of the three are actually equipment-type Stands that give your character a fairly active role in the battle, for example.

Napalm Death (open) Napalm Death (close)

"A calligraphy pen that uses the alphabet as bombs and ink as napalm. The bigger the writing, the bigger the resulting explosion, but the radius of the blast remains consistent. It can set off time bombs with a limit of up to 10 seconds. It’s repertoire of words grows as the user gains experience."
Napalm Death doesn't have a ton of utility, but it's fairly useful at Short and Medium ranges. Its moves do a lot of damage and expend a lot of SP, but it does have a fairly high max SP to help you use them more often. However, your defenses... aren't stellar. It has a tendency to struggle in long, drawn-out fights and it sometimes has a rough time dealing with Long range fighters. It's hard to expound further on this one since its quirk is basically that it hits really hard.

Carpenters (open) Carpenters (close)

"Using carpenters’ tools, this Stand can remodel and disassemble anything, living or otherwise. Disassembly does not inflict damage - in fact, it can refurbish and improve upon the target. Not particularly strong, and lacks precision, but fairly quick."
Carpenters is the Medium-range Special type, and just like its description entails its skills revolve around tools. None of its stats are particularly awesome, but it can do okay damage in most circumstances with its Medium-range skills and it gets skills that make it able to take care of a lot of situations, such as giving other party members buffs, debuffing enemies, or even giving minor healing. One of the interesting things about this little guy is that at level 14 it gets the Customize skill. This skill lets you try to make one item into a stronger one. While its success rate isn't consistent, the thing is, some items can be customized into stat ups. Towards the end of the game, those items become purchaseable in shops. What this means is, as long as you have the patience to get money for those items, Customize can potentially give you infinite stats. Additionally, some of its skills have the potential for a OHKO. You're also going to love the fact that its ultimate skill is to drop a Steamroller on the enemy.

Quicksilver (open) Quicksilver (close)

"This Stand appears as a cannon on the user’s arm. It can convert minerals into Stand power and blast it at its foes, like a battery that uses metal as fuel. It can be detached if necessary. As far as Stands go, its pure destructive capability is top of the line."
Quicksilver is the Special-type answer to Ocean Blue, or the Long-Range answer to Napalm Death. What that means is, basically all its stats go into raw attacking power. Its Skills are ludicrously powerful for its level, at ALL levels, but they chew through your (rather low) SP at equally hilarious speed. For instance, at level 3, when you're lucky to have about 40 SP, it learns a skill that eats up 15 SP. It's nominally a Long-range Stand, but its insane attack power means that generally, you can melt through anything if you really put your mind to it. The obvious downside is, you have no real plan B. You lose SP at ridiculous rates and your defenses are hideous. While you can eventually learn a skill or get items to help alleviate your chronic SP addiction (Quicksilver can break down Scrap Metal which is good for nothing else, and one skill sucks SP from the enemy), your defenses are pretty much never going to be that great. In addition, you don't have a lot of utility; with this thing, you live fast and die young.

Next up are Support Types. Support types generally aren't great at fighting on their own, but can help the team a lot more than their raw stats might suggest. They do this in different ways.

Cardigans (open) Cardigans (close)

"A support-oriented stand that resembles a nurse. Can cure others’ wounds and ailments, using Stand power, and if necessary, inflict a small amount of damage with scalpels and medical tools."
Cardigans is everything you'd want in a Support-type: lots of healing techniques, lots of Special, lots of Speed. But holy mother of Magikarp, Batman, does it have a lousy early game. On top of having all the rest of the problems that short-range Stands do, it starts out with almost no offensive capability and you have to slog through most of the game without a whole lot of it, so you're pretty dependent on the rest of your team to deal damage. If you manage to tough it out until late game, though, you start to be able to do respectable damage AND have more sustainability than almost anything else. One of its only attack moves is a laser sword that ignores defense, can OHKO and is super-effective against vampires and zombies, for example. It also has all the usual trappings of team healer, being the Stand with the strongest healing abilities and the only one able to take the entire team from "dying" to "totally fine" in one move.

Caravan (open) Caravan (close)

"A merchant Stand that can craft and transform items by rearranging their atomic structure. While fully independent, business is its only interest. In exchange for the spirit energy of the user, it can create objects - not unlike the exchange of cash for goods."
Caravan's a quirky little Medium Range Stand. It's one of only two Stands in the entire game that will actually speak to you and have their own personalities. It generally has skills that mimic the effects of certain items. While it's classified as Medium Range, most of the moves that aren't mimicking items are actually short ranged. In addition, you can potentially become a whole lot stronger than you should theoretically be by resting at an inn with items in your inventory that Caravan can create. While all Stands can potentially learn skills by resting at an inn, Caravan is the only one who can learn so many this way. In addition, Caravan has Acts. Act II and III take the form of skills; Act II lets you go to a pocket dimension formed by Caravan where you can buy things, sometimes things that can't be bought anywhere else, and the inn there won't use up days. Caravan Act III is a combat skill that inflicts heavy damage and status effects. Caravan is kind of like Cardigans in that you have to wait for a while before you get to the good stuff; namely, throwing stuff like fabricated nuclear warheads at your enemies.

Mr. Big (open) Mr. Big (close)

"A large rifle that fires bullets made of Stand energy. The effects of the bullets differ, but it’s more support-oriented than attack-oriented. It can cause status effects, but also heal them. In a pinch, the barrel of the rifle itself can be used as a melee weapon."
Mr. Big is the thing you bring out to make Hol Horse feel inadequate about his Stand. More seriously, it's got a weird melange of support and healing skills and damage/status skills. While it's generally less effective at support or healing than the other two are, it's also more capable of standing up on its own by virtue of having more direct damage skills. It has a less severe difficulty curve, but it also usually ends up having less amazing endgame results than the other two.

Finally, we have Swarm-types. These are kind of fun since they're Stands that split power into a myriad of individual beings. Usually they have at least one skill that involves sending the entirety of your Stand at the enemy to inflict a debilitating status effect of some sort.

Specials (open) Specials (close)

"There are six of them in all. This special corps is loyal to their master, but have their own will and vary in personality. Each has the power of a normal human, and damage is split between them."
Specials is a fun one. The agents will talk to you, making Specials the only Stand other than Caravan to have a personality. Or, in this case, six. Specials has skills to help you fight at short and medium ranges, and can inflict the Specials status with some of its moves. While active, this halves stats and eats up 10% of HP per turn. Most of their skills are offensive, but there are a few defensive abilities, such as inflicting Darkness on enemies to make them blind, or just buffing your defense.

Pharaoh Sanders (open) Pharaoh Sanders (close)

"A unit of Egyptian foot-soldiers, 30 in total, made entirely out of electricity. Attacks with spears, but does damage using electric currents rather than physical force. As a result, its destructive power is relative to the conductivity of its target, and it can disperse its attacks at will."
Bringing the thunder at a medium range. Pharaoh Sanders generally inflicts more damage with its regular, non-swarm attacks in exchange for having a less powerful swarm debuff. It inflicts Surrounded, which has 10% chance of ending each turn. Every turn that Surrounded is active, the enemy loses 3% of their HP and has a -5% chance to hit.

Adam Ant (open) Adam Ant (close)

"A microscopic insect horde numbering 1,000 in total. It can corrode living flesh by consuming it slowly. It has no will of its own, simply eating whatever is closest at hand. Though weak, it specializes in slowly wearing away at the enemy’s will to fight. It does not transmit damage to the user, but is difficult to command, only following certain simple instructions."
Goodness gracious these guys are nasty. Almost every single skill they have is either attacking everyone with the Adam Ant swarm or focusing said swarm on one guy to inflict Bugs/Swarmed for some damage over time. Adam Ant is the Long-range specialist of the Swarm types, and generally it's going to be grinding down its enemies slowly rather than inflicting big lump sums of damage.

Next time, I swear we'll have moar plot and stuff.

Last time, we set out on our quest to punch Dio in the face. This time...


Jotaro: Yeah...
Joseph: Watch out... I have a feeling we might have some unwanted company aboard this plane.

Just then, a large insect flies out from one of the aisles!

Joseph: What was that!?
Kakyoin: ...!
Abdul: Ah!
Jotaro: It's... it's a rhinoceros beetl-- No, it's a stag beetle!

Before anyone can react, it darts away!

Joseph: Ugh... it's somewhere in the seats...
Jotaro: A bug inside the plane? That's definitely not normal!
Abdul: W-where is it!?
Passengers: zzz...

The other passengers are sleeping soundly...

Richter: It has to be hidden somewhere among the other passengers!
Joseph: Abdul! Is it a Stand!? I... I didn't think we'd be detected by Dio this quickly!
Abdul: A Stand that looks like a bug... it might be...

Suddenly, the beetle appears from behind and begins to pester Jotaro!

Stag Beetle: Splrchsplrch... blsh..tchbl...blccch...
Jotaro: Disgusting... let me take care of this.
Abdul: Be careful... I've heard of a bug-like Stand before... one that likes to tear out and eat human tongues!

Jotaro summons his Stand and launches a furious barrage of punches... but he doesn't score a single hit.

Kakyoin: There's no doubt now! The bug's a Stand! Where's the one controlling it!? ...Shoot! It's attacking!

Jotaro: Shit! That was too close...
Star Platinum stopped the needle with its teeth!
Joseph: He did it! He stopped the needle!
Abdul: But one second later and his tongue would have been torn to shreds... this Stand is no pushover! I know this Stand! It's the Tower card! It symbolizes mayhem! Destruction! Interruption of journies! Its name is... Tower of Gray! I'd heard talk of this Stand before, but I didn't know it was working for Dio... It specializes in accidents. Train wrecks, plane crashes, the works... he likes to make his killings look natural. This Stand is responsible for the plane crash in England that took 300 lives last year! And now he's on Dio's side...!
Jotaro: Ooooaaah!

Jotaro launches a counterattack of another volley of punches... but he can't catch the enemy!

Abdul: H-he dodged... the speed required to evade that dual-handed barrage...! Unbelievable!
Tower of Gray: Heh heh... you could have a gun on me at point blank and it'd still be useless! Not that bullets can do anything to Stands anyway...
Jotaro: Damn...!
Joseph: Who's controlling the Stand!? Where are they!? (They have to be somewhere on this plane... where there's a Stand, the user can't be far!)
Jotaro: Ngh! It slipped away again!
Richter: It just moved over there!
Towert of Gray: Heeeh heeeh heeh...
Jotaro: What's it planning...? Wait... it can't be..!


Tower of Gray: I got their tongues! And I'm planning on a...

Richter: The passengers!
Abdul: T-the nerve of the bastard! Incinerate it, Magician's Red!
Kakyoin: Wait! Hold on a minute, Abdul!
Elderly Passenger: Mmmn... what's all that racket?

Elderly Passenger: M... A... ...!? It's... it's blood!
Kakyoin: Back to sleep!

Kakyoin cracks him on the head once to knock him out.

Kakyoin: We can't risk alarming the other passengers and causing a riot. We need to defeat him discreetly. Abdul's Stand can defeat it, but it'll hurt the other passengers, too... It might even blow up the plane! We have to be careful!

We are now fighting Tower of Gray. We start the battle with everyone in the Can't Find status, which makes it incredibly difficult to actually hit the enemy. It's quite an annoyance, to be honest, since the defense boost it gets from being outside your range is huge. You do one damage if you're lucky when you hit it while it's outside your range. To make it worse, we have a time limit of 8 turns. If we go over that we lose. And even more annoying, like some bosses it has a tendency to KEEP you in Can't Find status, like so:

Later we can start to pick up skills that dispel this status, but they generally come late in the game. For now our only real recompense is to use skills that hit everything on the field. The best people for that are Joseph and Kakyoin, and maybe you if you have a Stand that has herd-hitting attacks. However, if you're on Hard Mode, it will sometimes use a one-hit-kill move on your party members. The good news, though, is Tower of Gray has basically no HP. It has 45, total, so it's just barely more durable than a regular enemy at this point in the game. Get one or two good hits on it and it goes down. Once we have thrashed it satisfactorily...

Richter: T-that old guy's tongue was imprinted with the shape of a beetle!
Kakyoin: So that old man from before was the culprit... Heh. Guess disgusting Stands have disgusting users, am I right? Hm? It doesn't look like he was under the influence of a flesh bud...
Abdul: Tower of Gray is a Stand that uses accidents to kill and steal valuables. He was probably bought out by Dio.

Suddenly, the plane shakes!

Joseph: !! That's odd... Is it me, or is this plane tilted on its side...?

The plane shakes again!

Joseph: N-no, I'm not just imagining it! It's definitely tilting!

Joseph, not one for waiting idly, immediately heads up to the cockpit.

Joseph: I know!
Stewardess: S-sir!?

Stewardess: Aaah!
Kakyoin: Oh. Pardon me... It's a crime for him to shove a young woman like that... However, it's an emergency, so please forgive his behavior.
Stewardess: ...O-okay! <3

At the controls, though...


Richter: T-the... The pilots!
Jotaro: Their tongues have been yanked out. Must've been that damned beetle...
Joseph: We're going down.. the controls are broken, too! We're going to crash!

The old man, user of the Tower of Gray, slowly toddles in despite his injuries...

Elderly Passenger: Bwaaarrrrbglh! My Stand is The Tower! It symbolizes tragedies and interruption of journies! You'll never get to Dio! Even if you manage to survive the crash, you'll be thousands of miles away from Egypt! And when you continue, Dio's loyal servants will hound you 24 hours a day! He's enlisted Stand users with power beyond your wildest imagination! And Dio's Stand... it's the greatest of them all! Dio's Stand will reign over the entire world! You'll never reach Egypt aliiiive! Glbrghlghbl...
Stewardess: Eek...
Jotaro: You guys are real professionals. Despite everything, you haven't screamed... would've been a pain if you did. This old guy here is gonna make an emergency landing, so tell the passengers to brace for impact. We're counting on you.
Joseph: Well, I've flown propeller planes before...
Kakyoin: P-propeller planes...?
Richter: I-I don't know about this...
Joseph: But y'know, Jotaro... this is actually the 3rd time I've been on a plane that ended up crashing! Isn't that a weird coincidence?
Joseph, bro. I love you, I really do, but Neptune's beard why does everything you step onto crash and explode?

Jotaro: ...
Richter: ...
Abdul: ...
Kakyoin: ...
Jotaro: I am NEVER flying with you again!

And so, join us in the next update, where we tackle the city of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is a lot like Japan, but there's a little less to show off. To make up for it, walkabout sections in the future will generally feature a lot more to do.

Anyway, Hong Kong is kind of a small map. In the center is this little pool and there's a bunch of enemies lurking down alleys, sometimes literally. This map also introduces food stands, where you can pay a little bit of money to heal a little bit of HP/SP. Sometimes this is more cost-efficient than buying items or resting at the inn, sometimes it's not. You'll have to make a judgment call there.

Anyhow, near the pool in the center...

There's a beggar here. He only asks for 1G. If you pay him 11 times, he'll eventually be moved to tears and give you a Crazy DX. I have no idea why and how a Beggar has something that sells for that much and is still begging for scraps, but I'm not complaining.

Geez man can't I even feed a poor beggar without you hassling me

Meet the Martial Artist. He's honestly more of an annoyance than anything else. It's hard to show in screenshots, but sometimes he'll "jump" to rapidly cross three tiles at once to try and catch you off-guard. He also has some moves that can knock you down for a turn. Still, his HP is really low and he never shows up with backup, so he's rarely a legitimate threat.

Anyway, after he is promptly thrown in a dumpster somewhere we go south a little bit...

Well. Way to go, stud.

Oh, for-- do you have any idea how much of a Shinji you sound like right now?
If you have Pixies, Miracles, or Sonic Youth you can encourage him to actually have some guts and pop the question.

...Sonic Youth does this with the most style, though. The music actually changes as he proposes. She accepts and the two live happily ever after. Hopefully. I mean, assuming all the terrible monsters in this town don't eat one of them or something.

Like these guys. Remember those Stand summations back in Japan? These are the Green Hornets. They are a bit more menacing than the Martial Artist because they come in twos and can inflict Poison at a time when you really do not have many resources to deal with it. Thankfully, they sometimes drop a drink that can be used to cure Poison, so paradoxically one way to gain the ability to counteract poison is to get yourself poisoned punching these things in the face.

There are also these guys. They take the form of will-o-the-wisps on the map. Generally, will-o-the-wisp type enemies are really irritating and some of the tougher enemies. This guy can do more damage than the other enemies mucking about, and he has more HP as well. He thankfully only appears alone.

Anyway, down south of the pond there's a dog walking about rather rapidly. If we keep bugging it...

And we get a cool 500G from this. There are some other people to interact with and get stuff from, but we lack the necessary Stands to do so, so we can't really do them. What I do have to offer you, though, are some mini-boss battles.

Like this guy. He's skulking around the southern part of town beating people up and demanding tribute. Now, we could say yes... which would have hilarious consequences if we somehow have over 3000G at this point in time (almost no way to accomplish this short of NG+) or we could say no and...

EHH? FREU REALLY STEALS? NO DIGNITY!
But seriously he's the first mini-boss who will actually use his Stand. What I mean by that is this: his Stand will become another enemy on the field that we can target. He and his Stand are synchronized, of course, so if we take out one, the other one goes down too. His Stand, Rinocerose, is an Earth-elemental Stand and hits hard... when it hits. It's inaccurate and damn hard to kill, so you'll want to focus fire on Freu here. The general trend is that the user is less durable than the Stand, so... it's usually a good rule to follow. Either way, just bash him for a few turns.

He changes his tune mighty quick. Well, I feel mean today, so we're going to do some bullying. We herd him into a corner and...

...Start harassing him. If you keep talking to him enough he'll eventually give you 10 G... and then an HP-up item. How's it feel to be on the other end, dude?

This guy will let us through now. That other person he's chilling with looks kinda familiar...

Rohaaaaaaaan. He gives us some advice on Stands. He'll keep showing up later in the game and will generally offer information on plot and stuff.

You may have guessed, but this guy is also a Stand user. He's much tougher than Freu over there and if you head to him right out of the gate you will likely get wrecked. However, neither he nor Freu will actually give you a Game over if you lose to them; Freu takes your money and kicks you back onto the map, and Utah will be disappointed and boot you to the map with 1 HP. Anyway...

He has higher HP than Freu, has better moves, and his Stand, Saints, can summon Burns. You know, those flaming skull guys I warned you were rougher than any other common enemy at this point in the game? You probably won't want to challenge him unless you have your second-tier damage skill. At that point, you do the same as you did with Freu; punch him in the face until he goes down and his Stand and summoned minions will all go with him. I got lucky here, since my first Wind Edge inflicted Bleeding for damage over time, and the second one KO'd him outright. Of course, since the DoT isn't a huge amount of his HP (and thus he would've died on the third turn even if he survived the first two), that should demonstrate something about this game: everything is fragile. Fights will generally end very quickly, the sole exception being boss fights. Anyway, after you beat him, Utah can be asked about Stand battles.

No, Richter's not in time-out for the retaliatory extortion he inflicted on Freu over there. This spot, if interacted with, will make a knocking noise. If you interact with it again with the right timing...

You are allowed into Emporio's room. That computer is only useful for NG+, where you can summon versions of your previous selves to fight. The left door leads to "Sanctuary," basically the holding chamber for the afterlife. We can go in but there's not much we can do yet.

For some reason, though, we can get bottled water from this sink. It never runs out so we can get as much as we want. Bottled Water is a pretty weak healing item, but it has 5 uses and is incredibly cheap... so you can buy them in bulk and spam them out of combat to heal your wounds and replenish SP. Of course, you could also skip paying altogether and get it here, if your patience holds out. Which is... a bit of an accomplishment, I won't lie.

Here's one of the things we can do in Sanctuary: talk to the people who've died during your journey. Honestly, dude, you made a living by crashing planes and trains... that you were ON. How did you not die sooner?

Anyway, Diavolo's location this time is in the northeast. I think (from his panicked expression and the fact that he likes to run from combat) that he keeps showing up because somewhere, at some point in time, Giorno nailed him with Gold Experience Requiem. If you buy into that theory, it's extra hilarious since his eternal punishment is to get beaten up and robbed by Stand users.

That's about it for this town, so please join us next time when we order weird food and pick fights with traveling Frenchmen.

It's been a long while since I've updated this, but I finally got around to fixing the image hosting and am ready to post some updates Anyhow we finally decide to go to the restaurant where the others are waiting and...


Joseph: If we get attacked by a Stand in the air again, we could put even more people's lives at risk! that leaves us land and sea! Those are the only safe ways left to travel!
Abdul: But we only have 50 days to reach Dio! We can't afford to endanger Holly any further...
Jotaro and Joseph: .....
Kakyoin: If it weren't for that plane crash, we'd be in Cairo now...
Joseph: I'm well aware.

Joseph: Even without airplanes, we should be able to reach Dio in less than half that time. Here's what I'm thinking... if I can charter out a ship, we can take it all the way around Malaysia and through the Indian Ocean. Sort of like the Silk Road of the sea!
Abdul: I agree with this plan. If we go by land, there's things like deserts, the Himalayas... all kinds of complications, basically.
Kakyoin: I've never traveled either way, so I'll just follow your lead.
Jotaro: Same here.
Richter: And here.
Joseph: Of course, Dio's Stand users are going to be the biggest complication of all regardless of which route we take. What we should really be thinking about is how we're going to reach our destination undetected... Hmm...

Jotaro: ?...
Kakyoin: Oh, don't you know? In Hong Kong, this means, "refill, please." Then, after they bring more tea, you tap on the table twice to say thanks.
Richter: Wow, you know a lot about this stuff...

???: I'm visiting from France, and I can't seem to read the menu.
Jotaro: Go bother someone else.
Joseph: Hey, Jotaro, no need to be rude! Excuse him. I've been to Hong Kong enough times to be able to read a menu at least... what would you like? This one's shrimp, this one's duck...



Joseph: ...W-wa-hahahahaha! Well, eat up everyone! It's all on me! All of the food is good here, so it doesn't really matter what you order anyhow! Ahahahaha haa...."
Jotaro: ...
Richter: Momentai...
Silver-haired Man: Oh, isn't that cute! This place has such a fine attention to detail. Look at how they cut this carrot... It's shaped like a star. Y'know, I feel like I've seen this before...
Everyone: ...!
Silver-haired Man: Oh, I remember now. A friend of mine has a birthmark just like this on the base of his neck...
Joseph and Jotaro: ...
Richter: D-don't tell me...
Kakyoin: Are you a Stand user!?

Abdul: Mr. Joestar, get out of the way!
Richter: A rapier! There's a rapier in the porridge!
Joseph: It's a Stand!



Abdul: What!?


Richter: Look! A Stand! One that looks like a knight!
Silver-haired man: My Stand represents the Chariot Arcanum... I call it "Silver Chariot!" Mohammd Abdul... It looks like it wants to take you on first.

Abdul: That's some unbelievable swordsmanship... I've never seen anything like it. But taking me down before the clock strikes 12... don't you think you're giving yourself a little too much credit? Mister, er...
Silver-haired man: Call me Polnareff! Jean Pierre Polnareff!
Abdul: Merci beaucoup... It's very kind of you to introduce yourself. However...
Polnareff: Hm!

Abdul: Monsieur Polnareff... my flames are not like typical ones. Don't think that they can be blown by the wind, or that they only burn upwards... These flames bend to my will. That's why I call my Stand Magician's Red!
Polnareff: Hmm... They say the world was born in a sea of flames! I suppose your Magician is supposed to be the one that controlled them... a noble Stand indeed! However... you seem to think I'm all talk. Maybe this will change your mind... Too much credit, he says... ha!

Polnareff drew out a handful of coins, threw them into the air, and...


Jotaro: No... take a closer look!
Kakyoin: He pierced Abdul's flames, too!
Abdul: I-I see... You pierced my flames along with the coins...
Polnareff: It seems you understand why I did this. Call me what you like, but I am no braggart. My Silver Chariot can cut fast enough to slice through the air itself... Therefore, your flames are nothing before my sword! My card, the Chariot, symbolizes victory and acts of aggression. In a crowded place like this, it would sweep the floor with you... but your Stand's ability works best in wide open places, does it not, Abdul? Such a one-sided battle isn't becoming of a noble Stand like mine. Shall we even the odds a bit?

Polnareff leads the party away from the restaurant, and away from prying eyes... They find themselves in the middle of a grand garden.

Polnareff: Why don't we take this somewhere a little less cramped? Allow me to show you to your deathbed...
Joseph: What is this place!?
Abdul: So Tiger Balm Garden is our battlefield...

Polnareff: Here, you will be undone by your own Stand's power...
Abdul: ...
Richter: He seems pretty nonchalant about all this...
Jotaro: Abdul...
Abdul: Stand back, Jotaro. It's as he said. My Stand performs best in open places such as these.
Joseph: Hmm... I see where you're coming from, but what if he has us right where he wants us? Let's decide among ourselves who'll take him on.
Polnareff: Do what you will. I'll eliminate all of you in due time, anyhow.

You have a few choices here. You can follow the natural course and have Abdul fight him; you can fight him yourself; or you can just swarm him because he was the one silly enough to expect you not to do that. Of course, as this is a Shounen series, that's a breach of etiquette and it pisses off half the party. Only you, Kakyoin and Joseph will be willing to do it and everyone else loses friendship points with you. You also get more bad karma. The best choice is probably to just let Abdul handle Polnareff; if he wins he gets bonuses to friendship. Of course, winning isn't strictly necessary for this one since the game recognizes that you have to do this with characters you haven't really had a chance to build up or get used to yet. I'm going to let Abdul do it because... he's Abdul. He's cool enough to do this on his own.

Chariot: En garde!
Magician's Red assaults Silver Chariot, but the attack is dodged!
Polnareff: Take that! And that!
Magician's Red dodged effortlessly!
Polnareff: What's wrong? Not going to use those flames you talked so much about? In that case...



Polnareff's thing is mostly speed. He, like Tower of Gray before him, can inflict Can't Find on anyone you send to fight him. However, since he's only boss number two, he's not that intimidating and doesn't really have a gimmick. He's mostly a tutorial on how many bosses work and how important crowd-hitting attacks are, with neat rewards if you win. Abdul probably has the least problems fighting him, since he has attacks that are effective at mid-range (where Polnareff starts) and hit everyone.

... Like so.

Here's what you get, not showing one friendship point with Abdul if you used him, for victory. I'll take this time to explain something; sometimes, bosses will give out different rewards depending on what range you'd defeated them at. For example, we got the Crazy DX for beating him while he was short range. If we'd knocked him out at mid-range, he would instead give us an item called Echoesterol that boosts our maximum SP.

Abdul: Heh... What's wrong? What about that swordmanship you bragged so much about?
Polnareff: Why don't you take a look behind you?
Abdul: What!?
Joseph: Ah! Abdul! Look!

Joseph: Damn it! He's making fools of us!
Polnareff: Hmhm... It goes nicely with the rest of the stautes in the garden, don't you think?
Abdul: ...Looks like I'll have to get serious.
Polnareff: Ooh, this is getting interesting! Get ready!
Abdul: Prepare yourself! Crossfire Hurricane!!
Polnareff: Hmph! Is that all you've got!? What a disappointment!
Joseph: Shoot! He deflected it back at Abdul!
Polnareff: Looks like my prediction was correct.

The flames engulf Abdul and Magician's Red, and with a swift movement Polnareff's Stand cuts right through them! There is a moment of silence, and then...

Abdul: Crossfire Hurricane Special!
Polnareff: W-what!? I thought I'd killed him for sure..! Where are the flames coming from!? ...ahh!
Abdul: Finally caught on, did you? The flames made it hard to tell, but what you cut open was the statue you yourself carved! You thought it was the real thing because its melting joints caused it to move!
Polnareff: D-damn youuu!
Abdul: This is the end of the line, Polnareff... take this!! Crossfire Hurricane!!

Joseph: Looks like we made it... he should be out of commission for a few months after that attack. Well, we'd better get going. Egypt's a long way off.

Before the party has a chance to move, though, Polnareff's body begins to levitate...

Polnareff: Bravo! Oh, bravo!!
Jotaro: Bastard...! He looks good as new aside from a couple of scrapes and bruises! And how is he floating in the air like that!?
Polnareff: Hahaha... why don't you take a closer look?

Polnareff: Voila! This is my Stand, Silver Chariot, without its armor! Now... it wouldn't be very knightly of me to just attack you without explaining my Stand's power, would it? What say you to a little time-out?
Abdul: By all means, go ahead.
Polnareff: What you'd see earlier wasn't my Stand being dismantled, but just the removal of its armor. What you'd burned was just the pieces of the armor... that did, in fact, damage me, but not considerably. And now, without all that extra weight, you'll find that my Stand is quite fast indeed! The reason you couldn't see it lift me is because it's too fast for the naked eye!
Abdul: I see... so what you're trying to say is that my Crossfire Hurricane was able to hit you because of the extra weight. But without that armor, the next hit will be fatal... you realize that, yes?
Polnareff: Well, yes... IF it hits. But it's impossible. You're about to see something that'll make you quake in your boots!
Abdul: Well, please do show us.

Joseph: W-what!? His Stand multiplied!
Kakyoin: How!? Stands are supposed to be one to a person!!
Polnareff: Looks like my prediction was correct again... You're all scared as hell! These are afterimages, friends... just illusions created from my Stand's movements! Now, tell me... How does Silver Chariot's blade feel noww!?

Here we go again. This round actually counts. You have three options again; let Abdul handle it, in which case he gets a permanent level and temporary health buff; fight him with everyone; or go man-mode and fight him on your own. Generally, the easiest option is to fight him with Abdul, since he gets a good enough buff to win fairly handily, and what's more, he gets the Brainstorm command. The Brainstorm is basically your get-out-jail-free card: if you just don't have the stats necessary to handle a boss battle, you can use it to force a victory through good old cutscene trickery. Doing this doesn't actually "win" you the battle; it triggers an event flag that ends it immediately without giving you the rewards you would normally get for winning, and the story progresses much as it does in the manga. ...Of course, that's the boring route so whenever possible we're not going to use that. Instead we take him on ourselves. Because UD is an insane person.

If you thought those afterimages were only in cutscenes, well, sucks to be you. They're real. This means Polnareff basically gets 8 moves unless you deal with them. This is a big part of why choosing to rush him all at once isn't as beneficial as it sounds; if you've been playing normally, the team you're allowed to bring with you in this option doesn't have to stats to compensate for the sheer number of moves he gets. It's even worse since each afterimage can hit everyone in the party at once. Either way, hit him with crowd-clearing moves; if you KO all or most of his afterimages, he'll waste a turn reviving them, and each time you take one out they come back weaker. This is another reason why Abdul is advisable to anyone else; he has the only Mid-range, all-target attack at this point in the game, and he hits very hard, so even with Polnareff's rezzes and heals coming into play he can usually outlast him unless you get unlucky with Bleed statuses.

So, yeah, trying to fight him yourself is pretty hellish. The only reason I was able to do it was by burning one of my NG+ perks to get levels; I'll explain that bit a little later. If you keep smashing him, at any rate, you can eventually grind him down.

The ointment is greatly appreciated since you're likely to burn off a healing item or several here. I know I did.

Kakyoin: We really owe you one.

Our flagrant display of strength impresses everyone in the party, netting us +1 Friendship with them.

Joseph: He was truly noble until the very end... it'd be a waste to kill him.
Kakyoin: I suppose Dio took advantage of him just like he did me.
Joseph: It looks like he doesn't have any strength left to fight... Now, Jotaro!
Jotaro: Yeah... I'll extract it.
Joseph: Yecch... Those tentacles always gross me out!

Jotaro: ...Kakyoin. Don't guys that make stupid puns all the time piss you off?

Next time, we try to find a boat to the dread isle Egypt.