After finishing chapter 1 of Tokyo Mirage Sessions FE: Encore, I learned that there are between-chapter intermissions. The intermission allows you to roam around town, complete side-quests, and train. I continue from where I left off in my chapter 1 review to offer my first intermission impressions.

• Kiria was added to my party at the end of chapter 1. She had skills ready to be unlocked, so I went to Tiki to do that and to unlock a new sword for Itsuki.
• I saw that I had a side-quest for Touma, who I opined in my chapter 1 review had been under-utilized. The story cover his training for an audition to play a part in a live action super hero play on a roof. It required me to return to the prologue dungeon (discussed in my prologue review) and defeat five slimes, which are hilariously weak (I noted that regular enemy levels in old dungeons remain constant). This was easy enough and I managed to have Kiria inherit a few skills from her default weapon. I also completed the first errand (it had been unlocked in chapter 1) to find an item in the prologue dungeon. Touma’s story ended with a predictable twist, but it was good enough to give me some hope that we may see some improved character development.
• After clearing Touma’s side-quest, I received one for Tiki. It began with an easy-to-solve overworld hint gathering exercise (easy to solve if you made a point of exporing the Shibuya area, at least) followed by a return to the chapter 1 dungeon. This was straight-forward enough although I will confess that I barely escaped being wiped out in an unplanned “Savage” enemy encounter. While the regular enemies in the dungeon stay the same level, the Savage enemies were at a higher level (likely based on my level) and did too much damage for me to hang with. I found Tiki’s quest and problem a little bit more engaging than Touma’s, but I would grade both side stories as adequate.
• I still do not like fighting with the camera in the overworld, but I am beginning to remember where things are well enough to get around better.
• I do not think there was anything unique to the intermission other than the character side-story segments, but it was a nice change of pace after grinding through the chapter one dungeon and I hope it is the start of some stronger character development going forward.

I have started chapter 2, but I will reserve my thoughts on that until I am finished.