Click Here for Update 24
: It’s the 29th, and we’re headed right to Harajuku. Today and the 30th are basically going to be extended cutscenes.
: “I had a photoshoot nearby, so I figured, why not?”
: “But why Harajuku, Mishima?”
: “Well, Harajuku’s this big cultural hub, right? People from all over the world come here. So that means there might be all kinds of international villains walking around in broad daylight!”
: I’m sure there’s just tons of corrupt executives walking around Tokyo’s main fashion district.
: “I dunno if I get that logic…”
: “Uh, for example… oh, check that guy out! He’s definitely suspicious! I mean, who wears black leather longcoats at this time of year!? He’s gotta be shady!”
: “And all those belts must be supplies so he can tie people up… oh man… do you think he’s an escaped convict?”
: It’s just a Final Fantasy protagonist.
: “No, I’m pretty sure that’s just a goth style.”
: “But my phantom thief senses are tingling! Don’t you think he’s suspicious, Kurusu?”
: I don’t get why the game does this. Mishima’s confidant advances solely based on the number of sidequests you’ve done. There’s no way to get points to his confidant. People have datamined the game to confirm this - that’s where those unused will seed cutscenes came from.
: “…Look, that’s not important! You know what I mean!”
: “If you think he’s that suspicious, then go talk to him.”
: “Huh? Me?”
: "You’re the one who’s all hyped up about this investigation, right? So hey. Go up to the guy and ask. ‘Yo, Captain Trenchcoat! Sorry to bother you, but are you an escaped convict?’ "
: “You’ve got to be kidding! He’d have that belt around my neck before I even finished talking!”
: * sigh * “It’s normal to see people dressed in unusual clothes around here.”
: “Honestly, I think it’s kinda cool. Like they’ve got the confidence to wear whatever they want, you know? Like… nothing’s gonna keep them from expressing their own style.”
: When I was in high school, there was this group of kids who wandered the halls dressed like the agents from The Matrix. I still have no idea what they were doing - this was years after the movie had come out.
: “Cool or not, they’re definitely not lettin’ anyone hold them back.”
: “What do you think about unique fashion like this, Akira?”
: This answer gets us 3 points to both Ryuji and Ann’s confidant.
: “Whoa, really!? I guess we can spend the day transforming you! I’m thinkin’ heart-shaped glasses, dye your hair red and blue… and we’ll get you a big puffy laminated coat.”
: I prefer my fashion of shirts I bought at speedrun marathons and clothes I’ve had since like 1998 that I’m never getting rid of.
: Ann just looks at him and goes “We must consult THE COUNCIL”, then brings him to the secret cabal of lesbians who pull the strings of the underground fashion industry like a puppet.
: “Anyway, no more judging people by their appearance. If they’re wearing what they want to wear, that’s something to admire.”
: “Heck, I’d say it means they’re honest. Not like people who seem nice on the outside, but turn out terrible on the inside.”
: “I guess you’re right…”
: “Lady Ann is absolutely right. After all, I look like a cat, but I’m actually a dashing, noble gentleman!”
: “Now that I think about it, it’s kinda Harajuku-ey to walk around with a cat in a bag.”
: “True! He’s like a really specialized fashion accessory.”
: “Is… that a compliment? I guess you’re lucky, Akira. You can get popular just by having me around.”
: “So, Mishima… I take it you don’t actually have any leads here.”
: “…Nope.”
: “Yeah, figures. Well, as long as we’re here, let’s have some fun.”
: “Then let’s get Akira dressed up! Oh, and Mishima too. Maybe Ann can get rid of your weird anti-Harajuku prejudice.”
: “Huh!? Me too!? …Actually… if I’ve got any hidden talent for fashion, this’d be the perfect chance to discover it.”
: “All right! We can squeeze in a trip to the pet shop for Morgana!”
: “I’m not a pet!”
: “You know, Kurusu… sometimes it sounds like your cat’s really joining in on the conversation.”
: No, that’d be Junko Enoshima. I hate Danganronpa so fucking much. It’s Ace Attorney with anime girls and a plot so dumb I dropped the first one before I even finished it.
: Now that we’re done with Mishima’s bullshit, it’s time to get to the real goal of every Sunday: gripping and sipping.
: Oh god dammit.
: That’s the entire point! The movie’s shit! The only reason anyone remembers it is because of how fucking dumb it was!
: Wait, what? I don’t remember that… then again, the only things I really remember are the first five minutes and the “I was born in the darkness” thing.
: I have absolutely no fucking idea why, but this gives us 5 points to kindness.
: “How ‘bout you? Don’t these revenge movies make you feel somethin’?”
: They do, specifically they make him feel like going on the internet and baneposting.
: “Right!? This kinda thing is what the Phantom Thieves are doin’ too!”
: Shooting a man and then throwing him out of a plane?
: “Aight, let’s get goin’. It was fun kickin’ it with you today!”
: “Thank you for your concern. However, I really am in a hurry, so if you’d excuse me…”
: “Like I said…”
: I’d like to remind you that Not-Elly is 15.
: “Stop it…”
: “…!”
: “Thank you so much! I’m sorry for the trouble!”
: Can you tell, by the way, that Not-Elly is supposed to be the canon love interest for Royal? She is.
: “Yes, I’m fine now! It was pretty scary, though…”
: “… Ah- um… may I ask you something? So… what made you step in to help me?”
: “I… see. Well, I apologize for asking something so strange. You’re headed to the cleanup as well, right?”
: “…The cleanup…?”
: “I’m so sorry. I haven’t even thanked you properly yet!”
: “Oh no! I forgot my gym clothes at school! I’ll see you at the cleanup, soon. We can talk more then, if you’d like.”
: “Did you really come here from home in your gym clothes?”
: “It must be so nice to be a guy…”
: “Ain’t it normal? And uh, are you plannin’ on doin’ this cleanup in that outfit?”
: “Of course not! I brought my gym clothes with me. I was gonna change in the bathroom, but now there’s a huge line.”
: “Ohh, that makes sense. Sounds like it sucks to be a girl.”
: “Dude, could you try pushin’ your way into our conversation a little less awkwardly next time?”
: “I bet some Kichijoji clean-freak hung paper dolls all over and prayed for clear skies today.”
: “Morning, everyone.”
: “Oh? Are you here for the cleanup too, Doc?”
: “You got it.”
: “Uh, in those clothes?”
: “Oh, no. I’m in a different-”
: “Prepping what?”
: “I’m part of the cooking crew. Hope you’re looking forward to a solid meal. See you all later.”
: The meal’s actually a soup, so it’s more a liquid meal.
: “More like Dr. Popular…”
: “I’m sure the Phantom Thieves will be even bigger someday.”
: “Once the cleanup is completed, a lunch of miso soup with pork and vegetables will be served.”
: “Ooh, pork miso soup! So that’s what Dr. Maruki’s fan club is making.”
: It honestly sounds kinda disgusting.
: “FYI, the school already assigned the groups at random. They’re four people apiece, boys and girls mixed.”
: “Now that these announcements have been made, please break into your groups and head to your assigned areas.”
: I looked, and Inokashira Park is actually not all that huge - at least, the actual park part of it isn’t. Most of it’s a zoo and athletic fields.
: On one level, I’m kind of glad that the reservoir area I’ve been walking through since COVID hit doesn’t have random cafes in it. On another…
: “Alright, let’s just get this over with as fast as possible so we can chow down on that soup and get outta here!”
: “Oh, nah…”
: Ann has to stop herself from tearing her shirt open like Superman and revealing the shirt underneath with “I’m the Husband” written on it. Naturally, Shiho has a matching one that reads “I’m the Wife”.
: Oh look, it’s Haru.
: “Huh? Sure… Oh! Are you a collector?”
: “Huh, I didn’t know that… well, that sounds like an awesome way to bring more justice to the world!”
: Someone on /v/ pointed out once that Haru looks like a humanized version of Lady from Lady and the Tramp and oh god they’re so right.
: I didn’t know what taro is - it’s a root vegetable that mostly grows in Asia and Africa that apparently tastes like a yam.
: “I do cook pretty often at home. Let me try this little technique here…”
: “Uh… sorry.”
: “Would the leader of each group please come and get the soup for their teams?”
: “I don’t know the best way to put it… but that sure was a crappy time out there.”
: “Oh! I’ve finally found you. I was trying to find you so I could thank you properly for this morning.”
: “So… where’d the other people in your group go?”
: “Ah… I see. I’m in pretty much the same situation. If it’s all right with you, why don’t we eat our soup together?”
: “I want to thank you again for this morning. That man was even more frightening than he might have appeared to you… so I truly appreciate with you did for me! Thank you so much.”
: “Sorry, but I’m not even finished! There’s one more issue I need to address… I’m also sorry for what happened the other day!”
: “…The run-in we had outside of the guidance office.”
: This happened over a month ago. Kamoshida was down by 04/28, and it’s now 05/30.
: “Mr. Kamoshida had just told me about you a moment prior, so I sort of spoke without thinking there… I heard some of my classmates gossiping about you, too.”
: “I was, but I haven’t paid it any real mind. I don’t like gossip and rumors and the like…”
: “And I know this’ll sound strange since I just met you, but you don’t seem like the kind of person they describe. It’d be a different story if all those rumors were actually true, though.”
: “What were all the crimes I’d heard? Burglary, murder, and… elephant tusk trafficking, was it?”
: John Persona sweats a little and tries to hide the several-ton elephant that’s been just off-screen in every shot behind him.
: * giggle * “Even I can tell you’re joking.”
: “Hm? You know what, it just hit me - I haven’t even introduced myself yet!”
: I choose the formal option because that’s what Elly would want.
: “Oh, I’m sorry to make you go first… Kurusu-senpai. Actually, there’s no need for you to be so polite - I am an underclassman, after all. I believe you already learned form our meeting at school that my-”
: “Wh-what the hell just happened!? …Oh, look.”
: Akira immediately calls Yusuke and tells him to get over here so he can hold him.
: “Huh? I guess you sleuthed me out before I got to tell you. Well, you’ve cracked the case - I’m Kasumi Yoshizawa, a first-year!”
: “Figured that out too, huh? Well, yes. I compete in gymnastics. It’s not that difficult once you get the hang of it - just a hop, skip, and a jump.”
: “Gymnastics, huh? Hey - don’t you think some of those moves would be awfully useful? I was just thinking about how the Phantom Thieves need to get some sweeter moves, too…”
: Remember the star we got from Jose? This ties in with that. We’ll see what it does in the next dungeon.
: “What’s the matter, Kurusu-senpai? Wait… is there a cat somewhere around here?”
: “Does that mean you’re in interested in gymnastics? That makes me so happy! I’d be honored if you’d allow me!”
: “The only problem is… I have a favor to ask for myself as well - if you wouldn’t mind. Lately, I haven’t been getting the results I want from my performances, and I’m worried that I’m overthinking things.”
: “So it would be wonderful if you could give me some advice whenever you have the time.”
: “Sure I do! I’d love if you were willing to lend me an ear from time to time.”
: “I see… this sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me - what do you think?”
: “Y-Yessir! …Wait, that’s a little overboard. But, I promise! I’ll glean as much as I can!”
: There’s a good 15 seconds of dead air here, which I like to think is Sae just going “Why am I asking these stupid fucking questions?”
: You might notice something here - namely that there’s only five stars, as opposed to the usual 10 (or 11 for the party members) that we’d see with the others. There’s a reason for that: both a story one and because it had to be shorter than the rest in order for you to have enough time to max out all the confidants in one run.
: As a reminder, we HAVE TO max out Kasumi’s confidant before November in order to get to the new content in Royal.
: You might also notice that I don’t have a Faith persona on me right now. Thankfully, we’re JUST PAST the minimum level to get one: the earliest one available is Phoenix, at level 21.
: Unlike the other arcana, Faith personas do not naturally spawn in any of the dungeons. We are going to need to manually fuse a Phoenix at some point. Thankfully, Phoenix is easily made from cheap materials: we need Kodama and a Pixie, both of which we can compendium summon.
: The good news is that after this month, we basically put Dr. Femdom on hold for three months, so I can ditch Matador for Phoenix before the next dungeon.
: “Oh, why don’t we exchange contact information?”
: “Ha, it’s back! Okay, I’ll contat you when I’ve got free time, if that’s fine.”
: “Attention Shujin Academy students: the cleanup event will be ending momentarily. Please do not discard your trash in the bins here. Instead, bring your waste to the predetermined location for disposal.”
: Yeah, we’re gonna need that room to throw Makoto in there. Where she belongs.
: “After that, we will be officially releasing everyone for the day. Thank you all for your hard work.”
: “Well, the cleanup seems to be finished. We’re already in our gym clothes - would you care for some basic training before we head home? Let’s start with some core exercises! Those are the foundation for staying in shape.”
: The reason we didn’t call last night was actually because we couldn’t - calling Kawakami requires rank 3 in guts.
: He asks, as if he isn’t constantly horny for human women. Kawakami’s definitely not the best girl - a lot of people seem to like her, especially in Japan, but I didn’t.
: In fact, on my first run, Joker wound up with no one at all because I had pinned all my bets on Makoto being a short-haired Yukiko and dating only her. I was so fucking disappointed.
: The way the vote is looking, it looks like we’re ending up with Yusuke anyway. I’m straight and I think I’d rather date him than any of the women in this game, unless you count Yukiko as being in the game via her cameo on the TV.
: “…Oh wait, it’s you. Well, it’ll be 5,000 yen with the request fee included, you know. Is that okay with you?”
: I mean, no… not really. It wasn’t okay when Kamoshida did it.
: “…Very well. I’ll head over right away then.”
: “…Never mind. So, what kind of kid are you? The way you opposed Mr. Kamoshida, I’d say that you’re earnest and have a strong sense of justice.”
: “That being said… you called a maid service and requested me?”
: “I see… oh, that’s right. You have a criminal record… okay, then how about this? I’ll let you skip class a few times.”
: “It’s tough not having any place where you belong, isn’t it? However, I reserve the right to change my mind if your grades drop. And in exchange, you won’t tell anyone that I’m moonlighting as a maid. Sound good?”
: John Persona looks her in the eyes and just goes “Every day I’m hustlin’.”
: This is reason one why Kawakami’s confidant is mechanically the second best. Any time we have her class and there’s not a question, we can just do whatever. This doesn’t come up too often from what I remember, maybe four or five times, but that’s a handful of free chances for us to read a book.
: However, her real use comes at Rank 10, which is why we rush through her confidant so quickly. In fact, apart from letting us skip class and her Rank 10 ability, nothing she does is anything we’re ever going to use.
: “Well, I guess I should get going. Oh, please request me if you need any help with your housework, okay?”
: “Well, I mean… we know each other’s secret, and it would really put my mind at ease… besides, I’m, uh… I’m considered over the hill for this type of job, so I don’t get requested that often…”
: “I’ll show my appreciation by making it easy for you to ditch class! Just think about it, okay?”
: “Ugh… God, you have no idea how exhausting this job is… listen, promise me you won’t tell the school about this, okay? For both our sakes.”
: “Absolutely no talking about maid stuff to anyone!”
: Joker immediately grabs his air horn and barricades himself in his room. Moments later, a series of messages appears in the John Persona group IM.
: “Help! Horrifying anime gremlin in cafe, barricaded upstairs, need help, send exorcist immediately!”
: “What, you’re not even gonna play along? You’re killing me here…”
: “…Well, I’m gonna head home. Oh, and don’t forget to study for your exams, okay? If you waste all your time playing around, your grades will suffer. See you later.”
: “By the way, the exhibit’s 'til the end of this week, huh… we did what we could, and now we wait for results.”
: “True, it’s important to take a breather after some hard work. But I feel like my body’ll be weaker if I play around too much.”
: “I can’t go sea fishing because I get seasick easily. So much for my dream of being a sailor. Oh right. When people think of sailing the high seas, they tend to think of pirates.”
: “Even though they’re ruffians who plunder other ships and coastal settlements through force… for some reason, they ended up getting romanticized.”
: “Now then, Kurusu-kun. Do you know which peg-legged, parrot toting historical figure’s appearance became visual shorthand for pirates?”
: We already know who Captain Kidd was, and that he wasn’t much of a pirate. Anne Bonny was an Irish pirate, but didn’t have a prosthetic leg or a parrot.
: James Cook (aka Captain Cook) wasn’t even a pirate - he was a captain in the British navy who surveyed a lot of places - including Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii.
: Cook was also a dumbass who got clubbed to death trying to kidnap the King of Hawaii over a stolen boat - a boat that was only stolen because he’d incorrectly accused the Hawaiians of stealing it.
: “That is correct. The answer is Long John Silver, a character from ‘Treasure Island’. The story of Long John Silver informed much of our modern view of pirates.”
: “Unfortunately, he only exists in fiction. In terms of nonfictional pirates, well… Captain William Kidd made quite a name for himself, I’d say. Maybe you’re familiar with the story of his execution? How he declared that he hid all his treasure in one piece?”
: No, that’d be One Piece. As in, the manga. Hashino had to have some kind of thing for it, because you can find devil fruit as a healing item as well.
: “Though research seems to indicate that he didn’t actually have much. Still, several novels were written based on his legend, and people still look for his treasure today.”
: “By the way, I’ve heard that there’s an island in Kyushu where Kidd’s treasure is said to sleep…”
: Just like I’m sure the ancient Mayans took boats all the way to Japan to build an exact replica of El Caracol on top of a mountain so they could use it to dock their spaceship.
: “Kidd’s secret treasure, huh… regardless of its actual worth, there’s still value in letting that many people dream about it.”
: We’re supposed to go to Mementos, but the thing is that we have to do “view requests” first and I kind of forgot to take some shots of that because about 80% of it was stuff we already know.
: The only takeaway from it is that they don’t need to send a calling card for Mementos because apparently posting “We’re coming for you, motherfucker” on a forum is good enough.
: Goho-M’s were a very useful item in Persona 4, because it let you go into a dungeon to do a sidequest and then immediately go back to the hub. They have to be crafted in this game, and aren’t as useful.
: “Huh? Whaddya mean?”
: “Well, Mementos is affected by the emotions of the public.”
: “Wait, so you’re saying… weather changes people’s feelings, and that in turn changes Mementos?”
: “Not just Mementos. The shadows inside too. The type of change will depend on what kind of weather it is. This might turn out to be useful.”
: There’s a tutorial pop-up here that explains that if you go into Mementos on a rainy day, you have a higher chance for enemies to call for help but also a higher item drop rate.
: “What happens when there’s a ton of pollen?”
: “I’m not too sure… but the impact on Mementos is determined by how the public is feeling. How have other people been seeming to you?”
: “Come to think of it, some of the kids in my class have bad allergies. They all seem really out of it. Apparently the medicine makes them feel sleepy…”
: During pollen season, most of the shadows will be sleeping. Not that this matters - the area with enemies from Madarame’s palace still isn’t open yet, and the enemies in Kamoshida’s palace won’t even aggro us anymore.
: “That one closed-up door’s finally opened. Are you the one who did that?”
: “I knew it! Mementos filled me in on it. But thank you. I should be able to find more flowers deeper down. Well, I should get going. Good job!”
: “We bumped into that guy again. Uh, what was his name?”
: “You mean Jose, right? He’s such an adorable little kid, isn’t he?”
: “Panther!? I’m adorable too, you know!”
: Joker reaches for the air horn and then realizes that Morgana’s ears are on top of the van.
: “Yeah, yeah. Anyway, he said he was looking for flowers and wanted our help, right? Sounds like he’ll reward us too. Doesn’t it seem like helping him would be worth it?”
: “I guess. I am kinda curious about what we’ll get… why don’t we go look for him? He’s probably still around here.”
: “Looking for him is fine and all, but remember that it’s risky to stay in one area for too long. There’s this one really fearsome Shadow in Mementos… if we hang around too long, it’ll hunt us down.”
: Oh boy, this is my favorite part because it’s a Persona 2 reference. At least, if you ask the fans it is.
: “Huh!? The hell’re you talkin’ about!? Why didn’t you tell us this before!?”
: The game does give you a small picture of the Reaper, but let me just get you a bigger one. The Reaper has been a thing since Persona 3, and was post-game content in Persona 4.
: If you’ll notice, he’s got an outfit that looks remarkably similar to Tatsuya Sudou’s “King Leo” outfit that he wore in Innocent Sin.
: Moreover, he’s missing the same eye that Sudou is.
: The fan theory is that the Reaper was meant to be Sudou in Persona 3, but that got scrapped for some reason (read: Hashino). The design just kinda stuck around anyway.
: By the way, the Reaper was the best way to farm EXP in the base game. This is because in November and December, Flu Season rolls around and causes all enemies to die in three turns. This meant you could continually run into the Reaper and watch him auto-die, and then get a fuckload of EXP and money. They fixed that in Royal because we’re not allowed to have fun anymore.
: I dicked around for a bit and grabbed some flowers - Jose will trade SP recovery items for them, but we won’t need those by the time we hit the third dungeon.
: The annoying part is that Jose appears totally at random, and any flowers you collect disappear when you leave Mementos.
: “Huh, whatcha got there? That’s really neat.”
: “Wow, this is amazing. I recognize it from my studies! I’m feeling strong human desires coming from this accessory… but, it still hasn’t reached its full potential.”
: “May I see it? I won’t do any damage to it. I promise.”
: Joker’s like “Uh, kid, you don’t want to know where that’s probably been.”
: Jose then upgrades our jackoff crystals into rings. Where the crystals mostly give passive bonuses, the rings also give a themed skill that costs a fuckoad of SP to use.
: The Ring of Lust goes from giving Diarama as a skill to giving Champion’s Cup, which costs 10 SP to Diarama’s 7. It’s a single-target heal that also provides an attack boost, similar to the chalice in Kamoshida’s boss fight.
: The Ring of Vanity is absolute hot garbage. Bleeding Dry Brush is a skill that is basically Tetrakarn and Makarakarn (which reflect one physical and one magic attack, though I forget which one does which) at the same time, only instead of reflecting it merely nulls a single attack. At 22 SP, this is solidly in the same category of “too high of an SP cost to be useful” that the ultimate Personas in P1 and P2 were. At least it still retains its passive of nulling weaknesses.
: “Learning about desires also teaches me more about humans. Oh, that’s right - here, before I forget.”
: “Remember when I told you I’d come up with a fun game for us to play in Mementos? I thought of this after seeing the subway in the other world. This’ll also prove that you’re checking for flowers in all sorts of places here.”
: I really like the UI for Jose’s shop. We can either trade flowers for items, or trade stamps for what is basically the Cheat Shop from Disgaea.
: He mostly sells SP restoratives. I wound up buying a couple of Snuff Souls by the end of the run.
: On the Cognition side, we have the ability to increase EXP gain, money gain, and item drop rate. Each stamp we find is 1 point, and by the end I had enough to boost money twice and probably boost EXP once - I didn’t find Jose again after the second time.
: By the way, there’s an optional superboss if you get all of the stamps. I’ll be going for that. Chances are that the party probably won’t be strong enough to take on the Reaper though.
: There’s a stamp station at the down stair on each level, plus one that’s just kind of randomly floating around. This might change in the later levels.
: “Hey, looks like there’s a stamp thing here. Might be that stuff Jose was talkin’ about. Just lookin’ at it makes me want to get stampin’ like crazy.”
: “Skull… you’re such a caveman.”
: There’s two stamps in the very first area, so I went back and got those off-screen.
: In case you’re wondering, the trophy pop-up is for going to a floor with a “deviation”, which can cause different enemies to appear. This is the very first floor so I didn’t bother checking it out.
: There are random party chat lines that will go off while you’re going through Mementos. I’ll post any I get, but I’m not going to go out of my way to find them all - there’s Youtube videos for that.
: “Mementos is different. While other Palaces exist because of just one person, this one’s from the public. From that perspective, it’d take more than a few intruders to make a mark on the security level.”
: “You’d have to do something so bad that the entire public sees you as an enemy. So… be careful, okay, Skull?”
: So what you’re saying is that the party would need to dress as a highly political late-80s rap group? Who gets the giant clock necklace?
: “Hey, shut up!”
: “I can sense our target somewhere in this area!”
: I found the target almost immediately, but then I dicked around for a bit getting stamps.
: I’d say it’s kind of out of character for Ryuji to be into JRPGs, but Dragon Quest is apparently very much all-encompassing in Japan, so I dunno.
: All I know is I tried DQ11 and it put me to sleep in a way that almost no other JRPG has.
: “This guy’s bullyin’ is real bad. From what I hear, it’s mostly blackmail, takin’ money from people, that kinda thing.”
: “If we don’t make him have a change of heart, his bullying might get even worse.”
: You might notice that Yusuke has been absolutely silent since we got here. That’s because this entire area (including the two sidequests we’re here to do) was meant to be done before we fought Madarame.
: “Let’s go.”
: “That’s no reason! How’s it their fault when you don’t give 'em any choice, huh?”
: “You’re the lowest of the low. Bullying people weaker than you, knowing they can’t fight back.”
: It’s funny to me that he just kinda turns into a Jack Frost.
: Half a round of gunfire (and an Agilao from Ann) later… shit, I forgot to mention that.
: Basically, I went up against a Berith to see if I could shake him down for money the way we did to Shiki-Ouji. Unfortunately, that’s no longer possible: he will die in a single All-Out Attack now.
: Ann leveled up and got Agilao, making her the first party member to learn a second-tier attack spell. Anyway, the Jack Frost is more or less toast at that point.
: Then, someone (I think it was Yusuke) gets an attack off that causes Confusion. Confusion is how you want to farm money in Mementos: it gives the enemy a chance to throw money away each turn.
: The mini-bosses from sidequests are especially good for this, but we can’t really confusion farm effectively because we still have limited SP. This will change by the next time we’re in Mementos.
: Yusuke is rapidly catching up to the rest of the group. To be honest, I never really used him in the base game - my final party was Joker plus the three female party members.
: “What’re you talkin’ about?”
: “Oh, I get it now. There’s an even bigger bully - ordering this guy around - who’s behind all this.”
: “Hey! Didn’t you just say it’s people’s own fault for not standin’ up for themselves?”
: “This guy… fickle fellow, isn’t he?”
: That’s one out of two. Let’s keep going.
: Here’s the free-floating stamp thing I mentioned earlier.
: “They’re people… right?”
: “Well, I’d say they’re most likely Shadows…”
: “What’re Shadows doin’ here? It’s not like they’re gonna be catchin’ a train or-”
: “Hey, where’s that go?”
: “If I had to guess… I’d say into the deepest part of Mementos.”
: “What? This place seriously doesn’t make any sense…”
: This’ll be sort of an ongoing plotline as we progress through Mementos.
: This is why Goho-Ms aren’t as useful as they were in P4. There’s save points all throughout Mementos, and you can use them to warp.
: “In Mementos, sometimes the road will be unnaturally blocked. The walls are pretty weak in those spots. I should be able to break through them no problem. If you see any while we’re exploring, try busting right through them!”
: “Uh, just let us know before you do that… don’t go crashing into any walls before we can buckle up.”
: You know, now that I think about it… how do they get out of the van so fast?
: I went ahead and used six stamps to buy two points in money - I forgot that the points needed to level it up go up as you get more stars. The first two are only three each.
: “Just watch. I’ve learned all about this. You see, the cognition flowing through Mementos… it’s got these things that are similar to what you humans would call ‘pressure points’. So, if I do this…”
: Pressure points are not a real thing, by the way. That’s some jangly key man bullshit. They’re directly related to acupuncture, which at this point has been more or less debunked. There was a study in the early 2000s that basically found that it doesn’t matter where you put the needles for acupuncture.
: There are spots in the body where there’s more nerves (and thus it’ll hurt more if you hit someone there) but that’s completely divorced from the jangly key man bullshit that is pressure points or chi or whatever you want to call it.
: “There. That should’ve changed it for you. Don’t believe me? Just take a look for yourself.”
: Now, if I saw this, I would probably just grab a hammer and start smashing the floor at random in hopes that I could somehow get the world to believe that Wyoming isn’t real.
: Our target isn’t on this floor, so I grab the stamps and leave.
: " ‘Other kitties’…? Hey, what are you talking about?"
: Aino is, of course, a Nekomata. We’ll see those as regular enemies pretty soon. With the party as overlevelled as they are, we devil bust this one down in no time.
: Except instead of just killing it, we have to negotiate. There’s no way around this.
: “Joker, it seems like there’s something going on with this one. Maybe we should try talking to them. Okay, here’s what we know about her.”
: “She’s calling the cats she catnapped ‘snowballs’, the catnapped cats are ‘stressed out’… and lastly, the ‘pet owners are giving up’.”
: I’m pretty sure this is meant to be a reference to Paranoia Agent, but she sounds a lot like Nametame in P4.
: “What does she mean by snowballs? That’s so weird. Are all cats snowballs!?”
: “They’ll die ‘too’? So the real Snowball is already gone? Okay, I think we’ve got this. She’s calm enough for us to talk to her now. Go for it, Joker!”
: This is why I went for the money bonus. Look at all that goddamn money. That’s like… almost 1.5 Shiki-Oujis. That’s how I think of Japanese currency now, is in the number of Shiki-Oujis I’d need to kill.
: Yeah, this is absolutely a reference to Paranoia Agent.
: “It’s brought you a lot of suffering, huh…”
: “It’s all right. You realized your mistake… just don’t do something like this again.”
: There’s just one more thing I wanted to do, which is to grab this last stamp you can see here. Naturally, we can’t go any further because the next level only opens on June 6th.
: “Also, I overheard the owners talking… it sounds like Aino turned herself in. Once she pays for her crimes, apparently she’s going to volunteer to take care of stray cats.”
: “I agree! …I doubt she remembers me, but maybe I’ll go visit her someday. I made a promise, after all.”
: Before we finish the night off (we spend it studying), we have a crossword to do.
: Next time, we’ll see what happens to Madarame… I think. There’s kind of a week time difference between the base game and Royal - if we were on the base game 100% route, we’d have just done Madarame’s boss fight today and the encounter with Kawakami in the hallway wouldn’t happen until 6/3.
: Oh, and after the Mementos run, our total cash is, uh…
: A metric shitload.