Click Here for Update 39
: This update was a lot of fun to record, because I managed to finally snap the game in two. Any semblance of balance will be pretty much out the window after this.
: We have a seat on the train, and now we can really start abusing speed reading. The only annoying part is that this message will now pop up any time we try to read a book.
: It’s also kind of confusing that they didn’t change the menu to reflect the new reading speed, but we’ll be finishing Ghost Encounters on this same time slot.
: Did they get EMF 5? Freezing temperatures? Ghost orb?
: “Whoa, why are you reading that? Whatever you do, just… don’t read it out loud, okay?”
: “So, you’ve finished reading Ghost Encounters. Ah, these stories are way too spooky for me. Don’t talk to me about any of them, okay?”
: For this, we get five points in Guts. This is about the highest stat gain we can get in one time period without using Chihaya.
: “The humidity is what kills me about Japanese summers. I miss the dry heat of California. Not to mention, July and August both have thirty-one days. Summer is long…”
: “Now then, Mr. Kurusu! Two people are responsible for July and August having 31 days. Do you know who these people are?”
: “Great! That’s right. You may already know this, but the months of July and August are named after the Roman emperors Julius and Augustus. Augustus named a month after himself, just like Julius.”
: “However, he felt like he would be losing if his month was shorter than Julius’s, so he added a day. It’s a mystery why men are so stubborn and prideful over silly things like this.”
: “Well, as far as you’re all concerned, you’re just lucky to get a long vacation. They start on the 13th of next week. Don’t forget, okay?”
: She’s talking about exams, which… I don’t quite understand how you’re supposed to infer that from what she just said.
: “Next Wednesday, huh? You’d better make sure you study.”
: “After our enlightening session, I once again attempted to paint. However, nothing I put on the canvas was to my satisfaction… before the gods of art, I am naught but a lost sheep…”
: “Ah yes, lost sheep! I have come here with you for precisely that reason. Our theme today shall be anguish! I shall paint the anguish Christ felt as he bore the sins of mankind!”
: And then Yusuke was the Demiurge.
: “Hm, I have seen various sculptures and paintings on the matter… but merely replicating them will not do. Would any believers be willing to model and help me capture the true essence of anguish?”
: “It seems not. Very well. Akira, you will have to be my model today.”
: Joker immediately grabs the air horn. No boyfriend of his is going to be horny.
: “Only a subject naked as they day they were born can convey the true anguish of birth! Now then… strip! Take it all-”
: “Actually, perhaps not. Being found stark-naked in a church would be even bigger news than the Phantom Thieves.”
: “Hm, I see… so this would be… no, perhaps… it seems this is not working. I would like to capture anguish, yet you remain calm and composed.”
: “Even the slightest wrinkle can change one’s impression of things… I shall not compromise, even for this sketch!”
: “Now, raise your hands higher! More… give me more anguish! Bring it to its upper limits! Like this!”
: I remember the part in the Bible where Jesus started Jojo posing.
: “I understand now… this is the true anguish of the Passion! It feels as though something is boiling up within me!”
: Oh great, now they’re gonna have to explain anime to a priest.
: “Ah, well… this is an art study…”
: “I am attempting to paint anguish, so I decided to use the crucifixion of Christ as a point of reference…”
: If you wanted to see anguish, all you had to do was look at me when I learned about the 1.25 patch for YIIK.
: What’s kind of funny about this is that if you have the DLC for it, you can get Jesus as a Persona. You probably wouldn’t have him for this scene given that he’s level 81.
: The thing that sucks is that Jesus (or Messiah) is one of the only sources of a skill that boosts Almighty damage. The others are also DLC-only.
: “Resurrection? Forgiveness? I’m not sure I understand… those ideas are contradictory to my conception of anguish.”
: Kind of ironic, given that two of the protagonists in this series (Tatsuya and the Persona 3 MC) are both in states of eternal anguish that are not likely to ever get better.
: “So those shocking depictions were actually meant to represent forgiveness, not pain… hm, hope from anguish… I’m not sure I understand.”
: “I must learn more about the hearts of men… Akira… do you think I will be able to capture the truth someday?”
: “…Indeed. If I do not have belief in my own abilities, I will never come to accomplish anything. Hm… this is exceedingly strange though. Spending time with you has helped me discover new aspects of myself…”
: “You are perhaps… a mirror of sorts. If there is anything I can do in return, please let me know… I wish to repay your kindness.”
: This ability here was basically useless in the base game, but in Royal we will be getting some mileage out of it… specifically once Yusuke unlocks the ability to make skill cards instantly.
: “Let us return home for today. I bid you farewell.”
: “The crucifixion supposedly symbolizes resurrection, forgiveness, and hope… but I could not grasp those connections.”
: “Once again, I made the same mistake of picking up on only the superficial meaning. The more I think about it… the further I seem to be from understanding the abyss of the heart.”
: “Ah, so my anguish is what leads me to my hope… it’s exactly what I learned earlier today. Thank you, Akira. Perhaps what I need is a change of perspective.”
: “I still have a tough road ahead, but talking to you gave me some relief. I’m truly fortunate to have you by my side. I’ll see you later.”
: Kaneshiro already admitted to Makoto that he deleted the photos.
: “I suggest you break up with him. Things are only going to get worse at this rate.”
: “Let us ask the tarot. O divine power, shed light upon her fate…”
: “Yes, I’ve seen everything. Hm… I can sense a dark presence within your boyfriend. His heart seems to be possessed by a demon.”
: Silly Chihaya, no one in the Persona universe has been possessed by a demon. That’s a main SMT series thing.
: Come to think of it, demonic possession isn’t even really a thing in SMT. Most of the time it’s either a demon in disguise (Thorman, Lucifer, Demiurge) or someone fusing themself with a demon.
: “This demon may hide itself away at times, but when it strikes, it will bring with it great misery.”
: “You will be hospitalized for severe injuries suffered in a domestic abuse incident, and he will be arrested.”
: “Wh-what? You want another?”
: Clearly the only treatment for an abusive partner is more activated almonds. Makes sense.
: Whoa, hold the fucking phone there. You’re telling me we could’ve paid in installments and then just stopped paying when we found out it was rock salt?
: “Um, truthfully, I feel breaking up with him would be the best-”
: “She really thinks her boyfriend will stop being abusive as long as she has a Holy Stone? There’s no way that could be true… right?”
: “Right. It would make our jobs way easier if you could really change someone’s heart with a Holy Stone. It’s clear that Chihaya has some fortune telling skills, but that stone isn’t going to do anything…”
: “Hey, Akira! Why don’t we change that ‘Yuya’ guy’s heart ourselves? I mean, he’s hurting this woman here, right? This is the perfect chance for the Phantom Thieves to save her!”
: “You see, some fates in this world are simply inescapable. The demon within your boyfriend’s heart… cannot be exorcised by normal human methodologies. Fate is… absolute.”
: Some fates like me breaking the game the next time we go to Mementos.
: “A-Although, I guess you might be able to control the demon’s temper if you bought another Holy Stone…”
: “Y-Yes! What do you expect to change with that meager information?”
: First he’s going to wait for this lady to die, and then he’s going to go back five minutes before her death and use a series of “ghost tricks” to change fate.
: “What? You honestly believe you can do something!?”
: “What!? You! What do you think you’re doing!? If you keep on making false accusations like that, the divine power will rain punishment down upon you!”
: Which one? I’m pretty sure most of them have been devil busted by this point, apart from maybe YHVH if you consider him to be a different entity than the Demiurge.
: “Hm, I’ve seen everything. A vision of you groveling on the ground… fate cannot be changed… and I will prove that fact to you!”
: “If that woman stays with her abusive boyfriend, she will meet a horrible injury within a year’s time. Now, if you honestly believe you can change her destiny, go ahead and try!”
: “But once you realize the error in your thinking, come back and let a true expert handle things. I will save her… with a Holy Stone!”
: I never said Chihaya’s confidant was particularly well-written or that she’s a particularly interesting character, it’s just that her confidant perks are a necessity for 100%.
: And here’s the last Mementos request we need. We’ll be going in on the 6th. This time, I’m going to truncate a lot of it except for the boss fights and any dialog related to those.
: Unfortunately, just obtaining the Mementos request takes time, and now it’s the 5th. By the way, I looked at the other LP of this and I’m still almost two months ahead despite only starting 9 days earlier.
: We get a reminder from Yusuke to go to Mementos.
: I have to wonder if the “Club Ruby” sign (the one right above Joker’s head) is meant to be a reference to the Yakuza games. There’s a hostess club in Kamurocho called Jewel.
: “Apparently this place was a hotbed for criminals and illegal immigrants before they installed surveillance cameras… I heard there were quite a few brothels as well.”
: Uh, Makoto? The proper term is “undocumented”.
: Joker’s ignoring her and looking around to see if he can find the secret hobo casino, or the underground fighting arena.
: “Well, I heard a great deal about it from my father… this is the first time I’ve actually been here myself though. Regardless, it’s become far safer now than it used to be.”
: “Of course, the surveillance cameras played a substantial role in that… but it was mainly thanks to the police efforts to clean up the area.”
: “Even so, there’s no way to eradicate crime entirely. It seems the operations nowadays are only better hidden… anyway, seeing is believing, yes? Come on, let’s have a look around.”
: “That guy was so persistent… he must have been a scout for a hostess club. He mentioned how ‘his girls’ get paid a lot to wear cute dresses…”
: “All I wanted was to ask if any Shujin students worked there… but he nearly dragged me inside with him. If you hadn’t been there to rescue me, I…”
: “For him maybe. I thought I was going to have to knock him out… I’m glad nobody had to get hurt though. Hm, I guess that’s how they do it… I’ve learned something new today.”
: “Oh, and thanks again. It seems you have a knack for helping me out. I hope I can do the same for you someday.”
: “That aside… even though this is a shopping district, there are absolutely no students around here. And definitely no Shujin students… though I guess they wouldn’t come in uniform either way.”
: “That was… I used to be in the same class as her! But why is she here…?”
: “Do they do horny things there, because I think I need to refill my air horn before we go in if they do.”
: “I’m not sure… but it seems suspicious. I’ll have to ask her about it. Oh, and I’d like you to be there too, as my witness. Would that be okay?”
: “Well, we’ve spent quite a bit of time here. Let’s head back to the station. Thank you for today.”
: “That was the first time I’ve ever had to deal with a barker. I didn’t know they could be that persistent… today was exhausting, but I also learned a lot. I guess nothing beats practical experience.”
: “Honestly, I’ve realized I can’t solve these problems on my own. It took what happened today to make that clear.”
: Tonight, we’re going to do an outing with Caroline and Justine. We owe them that much after how much I’m going to be abusing the shit out of the Velvet Room.
: “Listen closely: the place we wish to evaluate for your rehabilitation is… where one hones both the body and spirit.”
: “Trainees gather there to test and push their limits using various pieces of equipment.”
: “I had not expected a rehabilitation facility on this side… as wardens, we must see such training for ourselves. Does such a location sound familiar to you?”
: “So, what’ll it be?”
: “So you do have an idea of where it is! Then today, you’re getting a special training regimen!”
: “If you don’t keep up the pace, you will die. Now, take us there at once.”
: I was kind of surprised they modeled the gym from multiple angles, and then I remembered you can go there at night to get extra max HP. It’s pointless.
: “This is what you use to train? It’s rather different from how I imagined it…”
: “Indeed. I imagined the equipment here as having more spikes and chains…”
: “…That’s a bench? Then show us how it works!”
: “By lifting the weight, you strengthen your arm and chest muscles.”
: “But that isn’t nearly enough for a real workout - you should increase the weight.”
: “We’re deadly serious right now. I’m insulted you would think otherwise.”
: “Well, it appears we’ve found the limit for your pathetic arms. Now, what’s that over there? Another body training device?”
: “Demonstrate its use for us.”
: “What a fascinating contraption. Perhaps we should bring one to our room?”
: “We could force the imprisoned Personas to run on it. chuckle Not a bad idea…”
: This is actually an ability they give you if you advance their confidant: you get Persona 5’s equivalent of the Pokemon Daycare. It’s mostly useful if you’re doing an Arsene-only challenge run or need to level up a Persona that’s too low-level to be usable.
: And now Joker has been Yamcha’d.
: “Out of breath already? You still have quite a ways to go.”
: “All right, on to the next one!”
: “Is that yet another tool for training?”
: I’m kind of curious as to why a gym has a training tool specifically for kung fu in it. Maybe it’s a Japanese thing.
: I also don’t quite understand… I think the way these things are made, they’re supposed to move when you hit them to simulate the resistance of a body against your strikes, but it doesn’t look like that’s the case here.
: Then again, I’m not even sure how real these things are. You can buy them, but I know that kung fu is one of those things where there’s a real martial art and then there’s all the weird jangly key man shit that kinda rides on top of that.
: “Were we to try, it would be obliterated almost immediately.”
: “You weren’t trying to destroy it? So, the real purpose is to polish your technique… that’s a pretty roundabout method, but I do see how it works.”
: “As far as physical training goes, this place leaves much to be desired…”
: “But it is admittedly sufficient for your rehabilitation. Here is your reward.”
: Both of the skills these cards teach are useless, but there is a way to make use of them - I’ll show that off tomorrow.
: Today, we break the game.
: We get a glorified alert to go visit Hifumi. We’ll do that in the next update.
: We get a free reading period before we go to Mementos, so let’s use that.
: Speaking of which, this update bought to you by some real-life Kawakami who managed to permafuck the servers at work.
: “Make sure you pay extra-close attention to how totally awesome Zorro is.”
: “So, you’ve finished reading Zorro, The Outlaw. Zorro was not only strong in mind and body, but he also cared for the common people.”
: After about five minutes of plot recaps (which will be repeated when we reach the boss fights) we’re let into Mementos.
: Seven requests. This time, I’m going to just show off the fights and skip the random dungeon bits. Why, you ask?
: Because four of these seven requests take place in an area we’ve already been in - that being the Path of Aiyatsbus (which has enemies from way back in Kamoshida’s palace).
: “Really? It seems the same to- hold up. It looks like the Nav’s reactin’ to something…”
: “What’s this?”
: “It sounds like we can go further down now. It’s because we made Madarame’s Palace disappear, right?”
: “Most likely… I think.”
: “You seem rather uncertain. How far does this… Mementos run, anyway?”
: “Uh… It’s huge! Extremely.”
: “You’re always so vague when it comes to the important stuff. It’s like he’s kinda flaky as our chief of operations. Don’t you want him to try a bit harder too?”
: I will never pass up an opportunity to dunk on the cat.
: “There, there…”
: “I don’t fully understand, but Mementos and the Palaces are related to each other, correct? Then all we must do is continue changing the hearts of evildoers to ascertain its full expanse.”
: “I don’t believe there’s a need to quarrel over it.”
: Rain doesn’t do much as far as I know, apart from activate certain skills that only work when there’s a specific weather condition. Most of those have a second skill that makes them work regardless of weather.
: I go and try Makoto’s ability…
: As well as Ryuji’s instant win ability. To get this to work, you have to dash into a shadow rather than trying to ambush it (which will give you a normal fight).
: After the second fight, I get a fusion alarm. It’s here I found out how alarm-related accidents work.
: First, I fuse a Lamia. I don’t keep her, and she’s in the next dungeon so I’ll log her there.
: Panta Rhei is fucking AMAZING, but I don’t wind up keeping it. The SP cost is simply too high - Joker’s only going to get a handful of them off before running out of SP.
: I fuse again, and get Thunderbird. Ordinarily, we’d want this, as Thunderbird is a full four levels higher than Joker is and is very useful for returning - he gives you a skill card we’ll use to break things later. I’ll log him later, when we wind up keeping him.
: For the record, I didn’t wind up keeping him.
: When you get an accident in a fusion alarm, there’s a chance this happens. I showed it off earlier, but basically there’s a couple of “packages” you can get this way. This is one of them.
: The boost skills increase damage of a particular element by 25%. There’s a better version called an amp (fire amp, ice amp, etc) that increases damage by 50% and STACKS WITH THE BOOST SKILL OF THE SAME TYPE.
: Most end-game Personas are going to have a Boost, an Amp, and two other skills we don’t have yet. One of those we’ll be getting… now.
NEW PERSONA: Koppa Tengu
Origin: Japan
First Appearance: Nocturne
Human spirits who became tengu and had ignorant or cruel hearts. Usually serve as retainers to larger and more powerful tengu.
: One thing I found out quickly is that the RNG for fusion is very hard to advance, so I dick around a bit until I get this. This is another “accident package” that’s all skills that regenerate HP and SP.
: The important skill here is Life Aid. Life Aid is a skill that you cannot otherwise get until after level 50 and cannot be itemized into a skill card. It restores 8% HP and SP after each battle.
: That’s pretty game-breaking… but that’s not enough.
NEW PERSONA: Fuu-Ki
Origin: Japan
First Appearance: Nocturne
Demon whose name literally means “Wind Oni”. Can harness powerful winds.
: So let me explain what I did here. I fused the Koppa Tengu (after registering it, of course) into Fuu-ki using… I think it was the Eligor from our earlier fusion alarm.
: Fuu-ki itemizes into a Wind Boost skill card, so what I did was register Fuu-ki and then itemize him into a card… then resummoned Fuu-ki and slapped the card on him.
: So now we’ve got Life Aid, Garudyne, and Wind Boost on one Persona. How can we make this more overpowered?
: Well, a bit later I get a second alarm. During an alarm, Fuu-ki returns a Wind Amp (it really whips the llama’s ass) skill card instead of Wind Boost. Now, are you thinking what I’m thinking?
: Why yes, that is Garudyne with a built-in 75% extra damage plus Life Aid, thank you for asking. I could’ve made this better by keeping his normal trait (which boosts single-target skills by 20%) but I didn’t.
: For reference, here’s Fuu-ki’s normal skill list. I think we came out on top here.
: Here’s another fuck-up, where you can see one of the worst accident packages: all dodges. This is easily the most useless one, because none of these are worth having. Let’s see how our Fuu-ki does.
: This first target is from before the second fusion alarm, so I had the Fuu-ki with Wind Boost and Life Aid but not Wind Amp (it really whips the llama’s ass) yet.
: This is the guy from Kichijoji we heard about way back when we first visited.
: “That’s the first thing out of his mouth… but it seems like this is the old guy who’s making trouble in Kichijoji!”
: “…He’s certainly disturbed. Let’s end this, Joker!”
: It’s just me, Gabe Newell. That’s G-A-B-E-N at valvesoftware dot com.
: I get why they went with Koropokkuru, but that’s not exactly how a koropokkuru would behave. Anyway, this is Garudyne without Wind Amp. It’s doing ~260 damage to an enemy that isn’t weak to wind.
: Ann finishes it off with a fire spell and an All-Out.
: “An unfortunate consequence of isolation…”
: “I’m certain that’s what your family wishes as well. And from now, on, instead of taking it out on others, you should communicate your needs directly to your family. Tell them that you’re lonely before it’s too late.”
: “Look at 'im… thinks he’s some kinda hotshot.”
: “He’s the guy who’s really behind all that bullying, right?”
: “Yeah. If we wanna stop the bullying, we gotta take him down.”
: “Let’s go.”
: One thing you’ll notice is that Makoto won’t show up in any of these scenes. This is because technically, we could’ve done most of these requests before even going into Kaneshiro’s palace.
: “No jerk’s got the right to go around, blackmailin’ people!”
: This guy is the leader of a bullying ring that Mishima warned us about like a month ago.
: “You gotta be kidding! You’re not strong, you’re just a coward who won’t get his hands dirty!”
: Sakoda’s shadow is a Black Frost. In most of the games Black Frost is in, it’s usually a mid-level demon (or Persona) that resists both fire and ice and is usually a three-way fusion between a Jack Frost, a Pyro Jack, and a King Frost.
: In Persona 5, Black Frost is level 67 (!) and is one of the only sources of the ultimate Ice spell: Diamond Dust. The version you can fuse also reflects Fire, but this one only resists it.
: He’s a pretty solid Persona overall so long as you have a way of getting Ice Boost (he learns Ice Amp naturally or can inherit it from King Frost, but none of his ingredients naturally learn it) and Life Aid onto him to offset the insanely high SP cost of Diamond Dust (48 SP, 24 with his trait).
: Since he resists fire, ice and nuke (the real deal repels fire, absorbs ice, and nulls nuke) I just have Ann and Yusuke gun him down.
: “Why don’t you just admit you lost? You’re acting kind of pathetic right now.”
: “All right. Now it’s time for you to get eaten. The strong eat the weak or somethin’, right? When I’m done with you, there’s gonna be nothin’ left but bone. You ready?”
: Ryuji going full-on mainline SMT negotiation mode.
: The Evil Snow Crystal is like the totem items from Persona 1 and 2 and allows us to fuse Black Frost, but doesn’t get consumed when we do.
: Such natural-sounding dialog for teenagers in 2016.
: There’s only one more target in Aiyatsbus, but I didn’t remember that they’re actually on the final level where it transitions to the next area.
: One thing I wish they had done is just have the request bosses available from the get-go without needing to actually have the request, so we wouldn’t have to backtrack.
: “She really seems like a sadist…”
: “She’s calling someone her slave and ordering him around, right?”
: “In a way, she’s denying his existence. I certainly wouldn’t want to be a victim of that.”
: “Let’s go talk to her.”
: This is another Mementos request that was basically a Yakuza substory - in this case, the one from Yakuza 0 with Erranda, who you later recruited for the cabaret club.
: “It’s 'cause you made some guy your slave! That’s all kinds of wrong right there.”
: Ryuji’s line here sounds like an out-take from whatever voiceactor they pulled off the street to voice Richter Belmont in the original dub of Symphony of the Night.
: “Uh… I don’t know where to begin to explain how you’re wrong.”
: Joker and Yusuke are looking at each other, with the unspoken “The straights are at it again” floating in the air.
: “You are so delusional.”
: Oh no, a Yaksini. Whatever will we do.
: “Why did you start treating him like that?”
: Basically, we just ruined BDSM Night for everyone.
: “More than friends? You mean like as a boyfriend!?”
: I’m just imagining Yusuke saying “Actually it’s a sex thing” and Joker clapping his hand over Yusuke’s mouth to keep Ann from hearing it.
: The Whip Sword is a small upgrade for Ann, which makes me question why I even bothered updating the party’s melee weapons.
: Path of Chemdah is the area that opens up a few weeks after Madarame is down.
: “Looks like it’ll be a new area from here on. I’m starting to understand how this place works…”
: “Yes… it is quite a marvel to find the subway system down here.”
: “Uh, Earth to Yusuke! It’s always been like that!”
: A couple of instantly won battles later, and we get our second fusion alarm this trip. Joker’s going to hit level 31 soon, so I’ll just explain what I did now rather than wait.
New Persona: Kurama Tengu
Origin: Japan
First Appearance: Nocturne
Tengu sub-species supposedly native to Mt. Kurama in Kyoto. They are said to be the most powerful of the tengu, and one is said to have personally taught Minamoto-no-Yoshitsune the art of swordsmanship.
: Kurama Tengu is hot garbage. We’re not using him the way you’d think we would. Instead, we’re going to fuse him into…
New Persona: Anzu
Origin: Mesopotamia
First Appearance: Shin Megami Tensei II
Also known as Zu, the name under which it has appeared in the Final Fantasy series. Mesopotamian demon bird known for stealing a magical tablet with the power to control the universe from Enlil, the Mesopotamian god of the wind.
: Now this is more like it. Anzu’s trait decreases the SP cost of Garudyne to 5, and I’ll be passing that along to whatever I fuse him into. He also has Wind Break, which will make sure nothing resists the Garudyne spam.
: You might ask why I did the fusion the way I did, and the answer is because it’s the path with the fewest fusions between Fuu-ki and Anzu.
: “What an unpleasant smile.”
: “It’s his customer service smile, right? Yet behind the scenes, he’s extorting his subordinates.”
: “This guy might start doin’ it to his customers, too. Who knows?”
: “That would be a disaster! Let’s go!”
: “Why’d you blackmail your own employees? That’s not normal!”
: All I know is that at the company I work for, the only signs of intelligent life are in the departments that aren’t management.
: “Property!? Who do you think you are!?”
: Setanta here goes down extremely quickly. By this point, Fuu-ki has Wind Amp (it really whips the llama’s ass) and is doing something like 400 damage per Garudyne.
: Why do I have the feeling this guy was one SMT-style apocalypse from being that guy from Dead Rising?
: “Talk about a horrible workplace.”
: “You’ve done quite a bit more, haven’t you? It’d be best if you just confess everything.”
: I missed the item name in the shot, but it’s a book titled “Chinese Sweets”.
: I’m… not sure how Yusuke gets that from the title of the book, but okay.
: “The last floor had seven areas, but the one before that only had two, right?”
: “I suppose it varies, depending upon the location…”
: “Guess that means it ain’t easy to tell how much of a floor we got left to cover, huh?”
: “That’s right. We won’t know how many areas are on a floor until we make it to the end. But judging by the vibe I’m getting from the Shadows… this floor isn’t any smaller than the last.”
: By this point, Fuu-ki is doing almost as much damage as an All-Out or Showtime with each Garudyne.
: Two floors of pointless encounters later (by which I mean we’re instant winning any battles we run into) we reach our next target. This is the one for Chihaya.
: “He’s abusing his girlfriend, right?”
: “Didn’t her fortune say she’s gonna get hurt bad? We can’t leave him like this.”
: “We need to change his heart, and fast!”
: That’s uh… that’s some dialog right there, even if it’s basically a repeat of the last three Mementos bosses.
: Because this boss is a Fuu-ki and absorbs wind, I brought Morgana back specifically to show off confusion farming. Confusion farming is really only effective against Mementos bosses.
: When an enemy is confused, it has about a 1/3rd chance of dropping a pile of money. You can theoretically do this forever.
: The thing is, it’s not as effective as the Greatest Weapon in the John Persona Arsenal, and let me show you why.
: Even though I had Uchimura dump over 70,000 yen, I only got 17,000 on the results screen. This means that Chihaya’s ability to double money when ending with an All-Out would only apply to that amount and not to the 70,000.
: With the Greatest Weapon, all the money you get from negotations is added to the final total and will be doubled when you end with an All-Out.
: The Sleep Stick is an upgrade for Ryuji, but at this point we have little reason to use him.
: I think the reason a lot of people who play this game hate Mementos is because honestly, apart from the stamps and the request bosses, this entire area is kind of useless.
: We’re barely getting EXP from instantly winning battles, and by the time the area with enemies from Kaneshiro’s palace opens up we’ll be high enough level to insta-kill the enemies there as well.
: “He looks so… bad.”
: “He’s part of a burglary ring targeting restaurants, and he’s used violence against his brother.”
: Now, I can forgive robbing a bunch of restaurants, but using violence against your brother? Can’t have any of that.
: “We have to do something about this.”
: “Let’s talk to him.”
: “Trying to make excuses now? You should be ashamed of yourself.”
: “Bad things? What are you talking about?”
: There’s this MST3K movie called “I Accuse My Parents” where a dipshit accepts a job that is very obviously with the mafia and gets away scot-free by blaming his parents for it. This reminds me a lot of that.
: “You think violence and crime is rebellion? Don’t be stupid.”
: Says the guy who holds up shadows at gunpoint for money.
: Makigami turns into Mithras, a Nuke-based Persona that we will definitely want later. If we keep grinding at the rate I am, then we should have him before the end of the third dungeon.
: The reason we want him is because Mithras is one of the only Personas to learn Nuke Amp, and is also the only way to get a Nuke Amp card.
: Unfortunately, if this fusion calculator is right, he can’t itemize into a Nuke Boost card - in fact, NOTHING does. This is one of the problems with trying to get all the Amp and Boost skills, and why that one fusion accident that gives you all the boost skills exists.
: In fact, trying to obtain any of the Boost or Amp skills that aren’t for a base element (Fire, Ice, Wind, Elec) kinda sucks without having the DLC.
: Makigami immediately summons an Oni and an Onmoraki. We don’t need to kill them to win the fight - only the Mithras has to die.
: That doesn’t mean that I don’t have Ann light the Onmoraki on fire so that I can technical it. Look at that goddamn damage! Now I’m starting to understand why the guide focuses on technical rank.
: Let me just say that even if I don’t go through the effort to get all the Boosts and Amps, just having them for the base elements is more than enough to carry you through the game.
: “You just realized that now? Wait, you already know how your brother feels, then!”
: “What!? Why would we do something like that for y-”
: “…Psh. Anything you want to tell him?”
: “What’re we gonna do about that Treasure?”
: “Yeah. It’s no use to us, anyway.”
: “What will we do? I can give it to him since he goes to my school.”
: “No, I’ll just sneak it into his house. I think that’s the best way…”
: “I hope everything resolves itself.”
: “In any case, we pretty much succeeded with our mission!”
: Jose shows up on the next floor.
: He turns Kaneshiro’s Will Crystal into a ring that’s still kinda trash, but more importantly…
: He now sells Black items, some stat boosters, and most importantly blank skill cards. I buy one of each ambergris before we leave, and a load of skill cards.
: I drive around for a while insta-killing enemies. As it turns out, weaker enemies only give you a fraction of the listed EXP values. What I want is a fusion alarm, and for Joker to hit 32.
: First, we get Kurama Tengu back.
: Next, we compendium summon a Kin-ki, which I had made earlier while screwing around with fusions.
New Persona: Kin-ki
Origin: Japan
First Appearance: Nocturne
Oni whose name literally means “Gold Oni”. Said to have a body so strong that no weapon can pierce it… hence the physical resistance.
: And now, it’s time for us to meet an old friend. For you see, Kin-ki + Kurama Tengu is the only way we can make…
RETURNING PERSONA: Lilim
Origin: Abrahamic Mythology
First Appearance: Shin Megami Tensei I
Demon said to be the children of Lilith. They’re essentially succubi.
: Congrats, Atlus. You spent four games nerfing her, and I made her bullshit overpowered again. Don’t get me wrong, her normal moveset is mediocre at best. The reason we want her is because she itemizes into an Ice Boost (Ice Amp with a fusion alarm) skill card.
: I’m also amazed that I got both Freidyne and Bufudyne on her, in addition to Garudyne and Wind Boost/Amp.
: Unfortunately, we can’t itemize Lilim into an Ice Amp card yet. Trust me, I tried.
: If we do, we get an itemization accident and get trash instead of Ice Amp. I had to settle for an Ice Boost instead and didn’t feel like getting another fusion alarm.
: Yes. Once we get a fusion alarm, Bufula is going to be replaced with Ice Amp. At 12 SP, Bufudyne is hardly cheap, but Life Aid offsets that cost a bit.
: I’m also just now now realizing that we’re one level below the red shadow of the next dungeon, and could probably do the dungeon after that one without fighting anything.
: “Those two look pretty sure of themselves. Real smug lookin’.”
: “So they’re blackmailing that teacher, Kawakami, by using that incident where their child died.”
: “But Ms. Kawakami did nothing wrong, right? We have to help her!”
: “Are you ready? Let’s go.”
: Noticing a pattern with these Mementos bosses yet?
: And now we’ve got Oberon and Titania, who in this game are both relatively high-level Personas.
: I was kind of going down the list trying to find weaknesses, because I could’ve sworn one or both of them reflects wind. Neither of them do.
: Titania is very flammable and Oberon is weak to Psychic.
: This is another case of “Why exactly are we letting these people live?”
: And we get another whip for Ann, which is an upgrade to the one we just got.
: I grab the last stamp thing before we leave, and then we’re done.
: Next time, we’ll start Chihaya’s confidant (for real this time) and do both versions of Kawakami’s Rank 9 cutscene. I will put up a vote about Kawakami immediately after this post because I need to know how I’m going to present it.
: Oh, and of course, more Yusu-Gay coming up.