Click Here for Update 27
: I did a second run through of the last update to fix that permafuck, and got some different armor this time on the clothes run.
: You can also spot Makoto in Kichijoji, just uh.. reading a book and staring at a wall.
: Anyway, I make sure to water the fucking plant this time.
: “He was someone who represented Japan. They probably trusted him based on his name alone. Indeed, we’re easily manipulated by the names we see.”
: “However, this world is filled with fake names. For instance, this creature, which you know well. It’s called the red king crab, but it has a form that a crab should not have.”
: I thought we all got over that in 2008 or so.
: “Kurusu-kun, look at this picture.”
: “Heh.. not bad. That’s correct.”
: “The direction the legs unfold is reversed too. Typically they face forward, but a red king’s do not.”
: “Incidentally, the tomalley of a crab isn’t its brain, as some people say. It’s actually the crab’s liver and pancreas. As you can see, the world is full of deception.”
: I had no idea what a tomalley was, but it’s basically exactly what he says. The term is more associated with lobsters than it is crabs in the west - it’s basically this squishy green stuff inside the lobster that people sometimes use in lobster bisque or consomme.
:: The crab tomalley (better known as “crab fat”) is common in a lot of Asian dishes, usually in the form of a paste. It’s in a lot of Thai food.
: “I saw some kind of paste like that in the fridge at Leblanc.. but it’s not often you see real crab meat.”
:: This is also apparently true. What we call “imitation crabmeat” was first created in Japan in the late 1960s, as an iteration on a centuries-old recipe for “surimi”, a kind of paste made to imitate lobster or crab.
: “Hey, why don’t we get sushi for our next celebration?”
:: I’m not sure if that last line is meant to insinuate that Shujin is a private school, or that they’re hoping to get a college scholarship.
:: The “pics or it didn’t happen” is another 4chan reference - I’m sure it was used elsewhere, but I primarily saw it there years ago.
: “Well, no.. he’s out today, but I will ask him tomorrow. Please wait on this for the time being..”
: “…My apologies for the confusion. Don’t worry. I’ll do something about all of this…”
: Hoo boy was that a lot of cutscene. Today, we’re working at the convenience store. You might ask why, and it’s because it’s a “7” day so we get extra Charm points.
: There’s also a Mementos request that only opens up after you’ve worked here three times.
: So what he’s saying.. is that we should just smile? Look into your eyes? See the colors inside? Feel the chemistry?
: “That’s the ‘Panda Bread’. The package is shaped like a panda.”
: I’m pretty sure that was a thing in Shirokuma Cafe. Too bad about the manga artist killing it off over a contract dispute.
: “That’s the ‘Jumbo Vanilla Cup’. What a huge cup of ice cream.”
: “Let’s just focus on finding the barcode and quickly getting through the crowd! ‘Jumbo Vanilla Cup’, huh. Where’s the barcode again?”
: “There it is. Let’s scan it. The mascot has such a radiant smile.”
: “Alriiight! That was some perfect barcode slaying!”
: And now we’re at Charm 3.
: We have another outing with Caroline and Justine tonight, but first we’ve got a crossword. This one is probably more difficult in Japanese.
: I uh.. I think most people old enough to play this game probably know what a press conference is.
: “Listen closely: the place we wish to evaluate for your rehabilitation is.. one that many young people are said to visit. Here, one has the opportunity to view the fantasies of humans.”
: Oh, you mean the PS5 waiting line. Does this mean you want to go camping, or would you rather try it digitally?
: “We hear there are a variety of fantasies available for perusal there - and all outside of a Palace! How strange.”
: Fantasies like “I’ll be able to get one”, or in my case “They’ll surely make the 3080 widely available by 2024”.
: “Yes. These fantasies.. they are the cognitions of others given form. They will undoubtedly support your efforts. Does such a location sound familiar to you?”
: “Well? If you know where it is, then escort us there immediately!”
: “So, what’ll it be?”
: “The what? The ‘moving theater’!? Is this place cursed to wander the land or something!?”
: Howl’s Moving Theater, the unauthorized sequel to Howl’s Moving Castle. In theaters 2022, produced by Fred, the Janitor Who Worked in the Building Where Ghibli Made Nausicaa.
: “We shall confirm our intel for ourselves. Lead the way.”
: This brings up a good question - what exactly happens to the Velvet Room attendants once the protagonist moves on?
: Is this going to be one of those things where Igor comes up to Joker and is like “Uh, so I kind of need you to adopt a couple of little girls” because he’s spending all of Philemon’s money paying off the constant reconstruction costs for the Velvet Room?
: Then the question is, could Joker fuck with Mementos to make gay marriage and adoption by gay couples legal in Japan? How does that even work?
: I have so many questions, and I’ve played this game to completion.
: “…It certainly was startling. The eyes and nose seemed to stretch out right at me.. and it all began the moment I donned those black glasses.”
: “What exactly were those that we wore?”
: This is an updated version of another demon negotiation question from Innocent Sin. In IS, beast-type demons would ask you something like “HUMANS ALWAYAS STARE AT GLOW BOX IN HOUSE, WHAT GLOW BOX IS?” and you could answer “A TV”, “An Aquarium”, or an option that basically amounted to “Fuck Off”.
: “Oh, so there was some sort of trick to the glasses? But your own glasses are just normal ones, right?”
: “Your attention wasn’t wandering while we were caught up in the movie, was it? …Why is it that humans even create such large and elaborate fabrications in the first place, though?”
: “Isn’t the imagining of these things satisfying enough? Even dreaming seems like a superior pastime.”
: “Why do humans go so far as to spend their money just to witness fictional events?”
: “What a naive notion. Humans are such simple-minded creatures.”
: “Perhaps humans immerse themselves in imaginary worlds as a means of escaping reality?”
: Yeah, except I’d never want to live in a Persona game. Seriously, the only protagonists to make it out okay (at least so far) are Jihei and Yu Narukami. We’ll find out how Joker does.
: “Escape, you say.. that sounds rather human as well.. you wouldn’t happen to be plotting an escape of your own, would you, inmate!?”
: So what you’re saying is.. we’re all trying to break free? Broken pieces scattered everywhere? That deep inside, we’re all the same? Every move, every thought? Overlapping shadows everywhere?
: “No matter how much you might rail against it, you shall remain our inmate. Even the very thought of such a foolish endeavor is pointless for you.”
: “Or could that line of thinking be yet another avenue of escaping reality?”
: “Hmph, what a pathetic fantasy! I’ll bet you were thinking of blasting away the cell door, weren’t you!?”
: “Don’t even consider such crassness, Caroline. If he were to attempt such a blatant jailbreak, either our master or ourselves would notice immediately.”
: “Oh? And how would YOU do it, Justine?”
: So let me get this straight. They don’t really understand movies, but Justine has seen The Shawshank Redemption.
: “Blowing open the cell door seems more impactful. They used that plan in one of the movie previews, correct? They wielded a bazooka and went about blowing everything up.”
: There’s no way Caroline doesn’t have the entire run of Seinfeld on DVD somewhere, probably in one of the other cells that Joker can’t see into.
: “Any recaptured escapee is executed on the spot. Freedom or death are the only options for an inmate on the lam. Suspense and excitement are necessary elements of any escape. Did you learn nothing from the movie, Caroline? Or were you simply enjoying yourself?”
: “Shut up! The inmate’ll settle this for us! Hey - tell us how you’d try to escape! Would you blast the door open or use a spoon?”
: “Ha! Did you hear that, Justine! It’s all about making the greatest impact!”
: “Very well then. At any rate, he can’t escape us, regardless of what he does.”
: What is this, Hades? I mean, I’m sure people wouldn’t mind seeing Joker as Zagreus and Yusuke as Thanatos.. apart from the fact that Thanatos is already in Persona.
: “There’s no harm in allowing yourself to fantasize a little bit, every now and then.”
: “Indeed, today we learned more about the power of human imagination. No wonder such vile Palaces plague humanity.”
: The cards are nice, but we won’t really need them. The new character for Kaneshiro’s palace is entirely nuke damage, and psychic damage is easy enough to get later on.
: "I wouldn’t mind seeing that. I like talk shows.. ooh, and variety shows! Wonder if they’ll talk about the Phantom Thieves. They certainly get plenty of attention on TV and the internet. Though I’m a little worried about what might happen if the media gets people too riled up…
: “Oh, that reminds me. Have you guys covered totalitarianism yet? It’s a government structure that unites its people under a single ideology and authoritarian control of the masses.”
: “In theory, it brings the people together under one ideal. That definitely comes with logistical benefits… but it also means forcing ideals on people. Assimilating the unwilling. And that’s how wars get started.”
: Getting a little close to Innocent Sin there.
: “All right, Kurusu-kun. Here’s a question. Where does totalitarianism take things a step further than authoritarianism?”
: This entire question is kind of a nitpick, because as far as I understand it the difference is largely academic. There aren’t too many situations where you have an authoritarian government that doesn’t turn into full-on totalitarianism.
: The first option is wrong because the term “totalitarianism” is meant to cover situations where there is no single dictator - things like Myanmar where they were ruled by a military junta. The second one is wrong because even a democracy can do that.
: “Wow! I’m surprised you knew that. Yes, a totalitarian government tries to control the culture, morals, and even thoughts of its people. To minimize dissidence, they try to assimilate everyone into one ideology.”
: “To minimize dissidence, they try to assimilate everyone into one ideology. Even reading the room can be seen as a form of personal assimilation. You all do that too, right? I try to, though I’m not great at it.”
: “It’s not a bad skill to have. It can even help you survive the modern world. But you can’t do it too much. If you make an echo chamber, then the people whose opinions differ might get hurt.”
: “I’d like to remind you all to keep a strong sense of self and an open mind, so we can disagree and still live in harmony.”
: What the fuck is this, an early-90s kids TV show?
: “…I guess class is over. That’s it for today.”
: “A strong sense of self, huh…?”
: Honestly, I think this is one of the biggest weaknesses with this plot - how no one is questioning whether the principal or any other higher-ups knew anything.
: If this kind of thing happened in the US (and it has) there would be an immediate outcry to find out what Kamoshida’s bosses knew and when they knew it, likely followed by a demand for arrests.
: “It was all for your sake. I thought the more information you had, the easier your investigation would become. And? Did any information arise about the case I asked you to look into?”
: sigh “Nothing yet. I will pass the details along if anything comes up. Right now, there is a more pressing issue.. it appears there are students at Shujin who are being threatened by a criminal organization.”
: “A student who saw your posting came to us looking for help. I’d like to request a countermeasure.”
: “Isn’t this some sort of mistake? I can’t believe this would happen to the students of our academy. Now is no time for such problems. There is still lingering concern regarding the Phantom Thieves..”
: “But we received a request for help…”
: “I-I’m rather busy at the moment. If you wish to do something, you will need to act on your own.”
: You can see this being foreshadowed really early in the game, but I forgot to capture it - if you go to Shibuya, there will be guys who look like they’re yakuza asking Joker if he wants a part-time job.
: And there we have it. Yakuza problem? No problem, just send a single high schooler. Makes perfect sense. How has this guy not lost his job yet?
: “If you pursue this criminal issue, you’ll surely find clues about the Phantom Thieves!”
: “But that’s absurd…”
: “So… let’s say this rumor is true. Do you intend to ignore those students in trouble?”
: “I…”
: “Your sister would have solved this easily if she were in your position. My expectations of you are very high. I hope you don’t disappoint.”
: Well yeah, her sister is a prosecutor who presumably would have some level of access to the police’s organized crime unit, who would probably have something to say about yakuza preying on kids.
: Then again, this is a clown world so I bet it’s like Yakuza where the police are 100% in the pocket of the yakuza because magic or some shit.
: Oh, right. One thing I should’ve pointed out earlier that I didn’t know about myself. If you hit the touch pad on the PS4 controller, it’ll bring up this “assist” menu. This is how you use the Thieves Guild thing to see what people did on a given day.
: We’re not connected to the internet, but you can still use the confidant tracker, which will show you all available confidants for any given time period and warp you to them if you so choose.
: I’m also not entirely positive, but I think using this method to visit Kasumi (who we’re going to be visiting today) bypasses the subway fee to visit Kichijoji.
: “At this rate, you’ll have the fundamentals down in a heartbeat.”
: “It’s all about the harmony between the internal and external oblique muscles… I can’t get enough of it!”
: “Thank you for understanding. Do you remember how I said I wanted to talk to you about something? I’ve been feeling like.. I’m stuck in this slump.”
: “No matter how much I practice, I just can’t get any better. I went to my coach about it, but.. she told me to take some time off from gymnastics. According to her, I need to think about who I really am.”
: Is she Elly? Is she the female Persona 3 protagonist? Which one?
: “The idea’s not to stop doing gymnastics, just.. she wants me to take a break.”
: “I’ve never had an issue that practice couldn’t solve. But now.. I have no idea what to do. So.. um.. I want you to help me, Kurusu-senpai.”
: “Even if we’re not doing gymnastics, will you still keep going out with me!?”
: Note that we have to answer this for full points, even if you have no intention of dating her. I’m starting to think Atlus didn’t learn a damn thing after how Marie was received.
: "R-Really!? Thank you so much! I’ve heard my coach praising me. She says ‘Kasumi’s greatest weapon has always been her boldness.’ "
: I don’t know if I’d call chasing after a gay guy “boldness” but sure.
: “And honestly, that used to be true. I was totally fearless, confident.. gymnastics was a fun challenge. But ever since I started high school, I’ve been in a slump. I got taller, for one, and there were some other… complications.”
: “I can’t move how I want anymore. Like it’s not even my own body. I kind of fell into a depression. It got pretty bad. But when you helped me in Shibuya, something occurred to me…”
: “When I saw how fearless you are, how confident you are.. I knew you were the right one for the job! If I stick with you, Senpai, I think I can learn to be confident again!”
: “Great! Thank you! Hee hee. You’re a strange one, Senpai. I didn’t think you’d accept. Well, I’ll try and return the favor through our deal!”
: There’s a tutorial prompt after this, but as far as I can tell, this ability just kind of eliminates all penalties for not being stealthy, apart from the security level increase.
: What this does is turn any encounter where you would be ambushed by the enemy into either a normal encounter or an ambush in your favor.
: “Oh, excuse me. I should get going. I have a meeting with my coach! I need to get going for today.. but I’ll make sure you don’t regret this!”
: Gotta love how she just repeated herself.
: “Are you feeling sore after all that? You placed stress on muscles that you don’t use very often! Please remember to massage them out before you sleep.”
: “But I’m so glad you accepted my request! I was so relieved, I suddenly got really hungry.. and then my stomach wouldn’t stop growling in my meeting.”
: “Hee hee… thank you very much. Though I don’t know that’s really worth any praise.. an excessive diet tends to make most people feel sick, but it seems to have an opposite effect on me.”
: “But since you’re helping me out, I’ll do whatever it takes to maintain my shape!”
: Yeah, that sounds real healthy and not at all like some kind of eating disorder. Seriously, I think that’s how Atlus intended for you to take that.
: “I hope you can help me next time, Senpai! I’ll be reaching out again soon. Well then, I’ll talk to you soon!”
: Shout-out to that time I called out from a shit job I had to attend a 24-hour tabletop con and the local news put me on camera for like a full minute.
: Unfortunately, tonight’s another Mishima night.
: “Info has started pouring into the Phan-Site too. I’m gonna be a busy bee! So, you did the request I asked you to do. Thanks!”
: “Hey, so I figured out another way I can help as your strategic image management representative. It’s a great deal for you, of course. Are you free today?”
: “Don’t worry about the price though! Come on, follow me!”
: “Phantom thieves are all about fancy stuff like this, right? That’s why we’re here! Oh, and it’s just the two of us, so don’t be afraid to go all out! What do you wanna eat?”
: You just know they put that first option in there after that one comic about Persona 4, which they referenced in Golden as well.
: I feel like of all the things Kamoshida did wrong, punching Mishima repeatedly was not one of them.
: “By the way, this place is all-you-can-eat, so let’s make sure we get our money’s worth. Anyway, I posted on the Phan-Site that I had connections to you guys. The Phandom really ate that up.”
: “Don’t worry though! I didn’t say anything that would point to my real identity!”
: Seriously I’m imagining Kamoshida’s lawyer just going “Your honor, if I brought Yuuki Mishima into this room, neither you nor any of the jurors would be able to resist punching him”, and then they do it and with seconds there’s a line to beat the shit out of Mishima.
: “I did end up talking about how expensive it is to run our little organization though. The donations I got after that were pretty.. generous, to say the least. But I guess our loving sponsors just wanted to show some support! Not bad for strategic management, huh?”
: This is actually how Joker reacts to every single thing Mishima says, we just never see it except this one time.
: “What do you mean? Everyone was glad to donate if it meant supporting the Phantom Thieves. Oh, and it’s okay to consider this meal an organizational expense, right?”
: “..Wait a minute! I’ve seen on the news that using donations for stuff other than what’s publicized is a serious crime..”
: It is, but only if you’re a politician and the funds are campaign funds. This is how a lot of charity scams continue to exist.
: “Food is definitely an acceptable business expense.. but can the same be said of an expensive buffet? The more I think about this whole thing, the less I think we should use the donations here.”
: That’s.. a completely different thing altogether. Business expenses are a tax thing.
: “I mean, people would get mad at a politician for using tax money for personal affairs. The same probably applies to the Phantom Thieves. I guess returning the money would be the best choice…”
: And that’s embezzlement.
: “Yeah. We really need to make sure we keep the image of the Phantom Thieves clean in our fans’ minds. I think I’ll return the money and thank the Phandom for their generosity. They’ll love that!”
: Or think you’re a complete idiot.
: “It might be a waste of some nice resources, but it’s all good as long as it boosts our popularity, right? Man, maybe I was born to do this strategy stuff.. I’m honestly getting pretty good at it.”
: “Don’t worry, I’m still gathering info on the forum too. I actually have a few solid leads right now. Everything so far has been close to home, but these next ones are gonna blow your socks off!”
: Our reward? Nothing!
: Joker has like $5,000 on him right now, not that he’d pay for Mishima.
: “I’m flat broke…”
: “As strategic image management rep for the Phantom Thieves, I wanted to splurge a little to boost morale, but.. I guess it ended up being pretty good for our PR in the end, right?”
: I wish there was a “Shut the fuck up, Mishima” option.
: “It’s all about thinking strategically!”
: Only Maya gets to say that! Come back when you’re actually a likeable character!
: “There’s still so much I have to do for you guys. I’ll work even harder. I want to be a real asset to the Phantom Thieves! Okay, bye!”
: Mishima strikes me as one of those people who works in an office and then is stunned, positively stunned, when he gets laid off.
: “Could this get any more obvious?”
: “Wow.. he’s not even listening to what I said..”
: That room in Groverhaus with the child-height window at the bottom of a stairwell is called the Defenestration Room, and you’ll never guess why.
: “Hey, how much longer does this go?”
: “I swear, I’m not gonna last…”
: “Hey, assho-”
: I had a tripod fail on me in college once and I’ve never touched a video camera since then.
: “Dammit.. who does that jerk think he is?”
: I get that people hitting on women is a problem in real life, but I feel like it’s kinda dialled up a bit far in this game.
: “Uh.. I’m on a school trip..”
: Like, I just have a hard time believing that
: “Uhhh, yeah…”
: “Greatly welcome, my ass. It’s obvious what he’s after. Do these rotten adults care about anything other than looks!? I’ll yank their stupid hearts out, dammit!”
: “Will you quiet down!? You’re supposed to be acting like good students today!”
: It’s probably obvious, but AD stands for Assistant Director. The ones on Game Center CX do everything from setting up second stations in case the console crashes, to making maps and guides for Arino, to sometimes playing the game for him to get him back to a spot if he dies and can’t continue. They also do video editing.
: “Dammit.. this sucks!”
: “Aren’t we supposed to be guests? Why the hell do we hafta be doin’ manual labor!? This is bullshit! Goin’ to the bathroom didn’t even make me feel better!”
: That last line is just.. what?
: “Quiet down, will you? I get how you feel though.. that sucked for the both of us.”
: “We gotta do more of this tomorrow too?”
: You might. Joker’s going to be spending tomorrow giving the worst possible elevator pitch to everyone in earshot. Like Haruki Murakami, only for TV.
: “No flaking out, Ryuji.”
: “I know, I know. I gotta be a ‘good boy,’ right? Bein’ phantom thieves ain’t easy.”
: I seriously want to see a hack of this (once the PS4 gets actual custom firmware and people can do that) where they just remove Morgana from the game. Like that “Garfield Minus Garfield” thing.
: “That reminds me, we get to go home straight from here today. We don’t spend much time in this area, so why don’t we relax and check out some shops beforehand?”
: “Ohhh… you mean Dome Town? The round part is a baseball stadium, then along the outside they’ve got an amusement park.”
: “It’s right in the middle of a business area, but they have some pretty hardcore rides there too.”
: “All right.. let’s go! I’ll show you just how courageous I am!”
: “Going on a scary ride doesn’t really prove any kind of courage.”
: “Not like cats can get on anyways.”
: “Really?”
: “Really. You might be able to sneak in if you stay in the bag, but you’d totally puke if you did that.”
: He’s a cat. He’ll puke for any reason or no reason, especially on places it’d be hard to clean fully.
: “Uhh… I think I’ll pass on the puke rides.”
: And now we finally meet Goro Akechi in person. As I’ve mentioned before, he’s sort of the character the BL crowd latched onto right away… which is funny when you realize which early Persona character he’s a direct ripoff of.
: Not that anyone would realize that, of course. I didn’t even realize it at first because I hadn’t played the SEBEC route in P1 before I played the original release of P5 - if you’ll recall, I did Snow Queen and then dropped the game until I LPed it.
: “Yeah, whaddya want?”
: “I happened to be passing by, so it seemed polite to greet you. We’ll be filming together, after all. Ah, where are my manners? My name is Goro Akechi.”
: “Akechi?”
: “Filming? What, you a celebrity?”
: “There’s a briefing for tomorrow’s recording that I have to attend.”
: “I missed lunch today, so I’m quite hungry myself..”
: “Huh? Cake? What’re you talkin’ about?”
: Wait a second. Morgana was the one talking about pancakes…
: …and only people with a Persona can hear Morgana, because we know that Mishima can’t… I wonder what it could mean?
: “This guy’s gotta be some kinda start-up entertainer or something. He’s never gonna get popular with that kinda hair though.”
: “You don’t get it…”
: “Eh, it’s fine. We’ll see him again tomorrow anyways. C’mon, let’s go to Dome Town!”
: This background is more or less accurate to what Suidobashi looks like.
: “This is why I spoke against it.”
: “Dude… it’s not fair… usin’ your cathood as an excuse.. only at times like this..”
: “Anyway, are you guys feeling hungry? How about some pancakes?”
: Pancakes? Pancakes pancakes pancakes?
: “Let’s go home. We have another full day ahead of us tomorrow.”
: Tonight, we’re going to Kichijoji and playing pool.
: We’re doing this for three reasons. First is for the boost to technicals, which we unlock by doing this once. Second is because it gets you points to every party member confidant, which I believe includes Yusuke even though we haven’t started his (and the “More like Yusu-gay” route) yet.
: It also gets us 3 points to a random social stat. Fortunately, the guide has planned ahead so you do NOT need to reload for a specific stat - I was going to reload if I got proficiency or guts (as they require the fewest points to max) but I wound up not doing that.
: Also fuck off Morgana, no one under like, 80 uses that word.
: “No kiddin’. He’s got the aura of a pro…!”
: “Have you played somewhere before? You do seem to know some unexpected stuff…”
: “Oh c’mon! It’s that thing you’ve got in your hands! What was that about having the aura of a pro…”
: “Heheh. I’m getting pumped now. Alright, let’s get started!”
: Nothing gay about this at all, no sir. Completely straight.
: Translation: It’s in the sports shop in the Shibuya Underground Mall. It and the pool cue we need to buy are a total of 51,500 yen.
: Next time: Long cutscenes! Makoto being a bitch! Yusuke moves in with Joker!