Colors Flying High - Let's Play Persona 5 Royal

Temporarily taking down the website for a game isn’t a big deal, but…they’re really going to hack a website to convince a kid with a cool hat to give them the advice they need to stop a guy who cheats at an arcade game? Like…couldn’t they at least have had to do this for the guy who killed cats?

lets be real tho hacking a website may be the most renegade thing the phantom thieves have done this whole game

Uh but if that happened we would get a parody description of what anime she was watching so I’m gonna call Bullet Status: Dodged on that one.

Click Here for Update 66

Morgana: “Why are they raking us over the coals?”

timrodresized: Today’s a Kawakami day, so we can read the book that will let us finish billiards. I mean, it’s not like we’ve got anything else to do given all of our social stats are maxed.

Morgana: “Check this picture out…! This is basically a show, considering how crazy this looks!”

timrodresized: I have no idea what he’s talking about. Masse shots are technically difficult but not really that visually impressive.

timrodresized: If you don’t know what a Masse shot is, it’s holding the pool cue at a high angle and hitting the top of the cue ball to put spin on it, which allows it to curve around obstacles.

Morgana: “The book even had a detailed explanation and pictures on how to do the masse shot that we were trying to figure out. But we’ll have to see if you can actually pull it off. Let’s go play sometime soon!”

timrodresized: Unfortunately, we have to deal with Maruki’s bullshit today.

Maruki: “You must have a real knack for coffee, Kurusu-kun. This is fantastic.”

Maruki: “Thanks, but I think I’ll pass for today. It’s about the research paper we’ve been discussing. I’m actually putting it all together in a paper.”

Maruki: “It’s been really progressing lately, thanks in no small part to you. But I feel like I’ve hit another wall… so I’m sorry to bother you, but I’d appreciate if you’d help me talk through this again.”

timrodresized: You know it’s a well-written confidant when there’s a recap episode halfway through.

Maruki: “Really!? Thank you! You’re really saving me here! In deepening our understanding of the heart, I wanted to find a means of helping those who have been hurt by traumas… I already told you that was the point of all my research, right?”

Maruki: “It’s thanks to you that my project has come this far. But because of all that progress… I’ve realized a problem. One that may not have any solution.”

Maruki: “Even if my research makes great strides, even if we DO find some miraculous way of healing psychological wounds… with the way things are now, I can only save the people directly within my reach.”

Maruki: “…True, I guess. It’s better than not being able to save anyone. But I can’t just be satisfied with that. I mean, there are so many people out there suffering so badly, they can’t even speak up and let that pain out.”

Maruki: “This is a painful, cruel, bitter world. And there’s only so much one individual can do to fight against that. I’ve said it before. Working as a counselor only makes that more painfully obvious.”

timrodresized: Joker: “You know what, you’re right. We need to get air raid sirens that go off anytime anyone gets horny.”

Maruki: “Deep down, I… I don’t think it’s enough that I can just help people around me. A few people, out of billions. I want to help more people overcome their suffering.”

Maruki: “Pain can strike the heart in infinitely diverse ways. In turn, we have infinite methods by which we try to treat it. And like I said earlier… there are people who need help, desperately, but can’t ask for it. They can’t even share their pain.”

timrodresized: Great, he’s already repeating himself.

Maruki: “Even if we had a full understanding of the human heart, and an effective treatment to soothe it… I don’t think that would be enough to finally beat trauma. And I guess that’s what I ultimately realized.”

Maruki: “Yeah, that’d probably be easier… unfortunately, I’ve never been great at giving up when I should… if we could peer into the hearts of every person alive…”

Maruki: “Diagonose, understand, and then remove the root cause of their pain… it sounds like something out of a dream.”

Maruki: “Then again, that’d be impossible. Maybe truly understanding all people’s hearts is beyond human capability. Hm? Kurusu-kun… did I say something wrong?”

Maruki: “Haha, where’s this coming from? Sure, they can connect, but…”

Maruki: “The collective unconscious… if people’s hearts are connected in the unconscious, their senses are shared subconsciously…!”

timrodresized: Is this Zero Escape because I feel like we’re slowly drifting into Zero Escape, and we all know how well that ended.

Maruki: “Ah, it’s so simple! Why didn’t I realize it before…? Yes, right, and… if I can combine this with the theory I’m verifying, I can tie it all back to cognitive psience, too…!”

Maruki: “S-Sorry! But I think you’ve just helped me make a major breakthrough! I think this means something big for my cognitive psience research! I need to hurry and get this down in my paper!”

Maruki: “I knew it’d be worth bringing to you! Thank you, Kurusu-kun! I swear I’ll repay you for this!”

Maruki: “Sorry for… hah… rushing out…phew…so suddenly…hah…earlier…”

Maruki: “S-Sorry… I ended up running to the station on sheer adrenaline. I’m so out of shape, though… gotta do something about that…”

Maruki: “Anyhow, you helped me come to a major realization. The answer was right in front of me, and I couldn’t see it… all I need to do now is to focus on my paper! After all your help, I’m going to finish it for your sake, too!”

timrodresized: Tonight, we need to uh… visit a maid cafe in Akihabara. The reason for this is that the next Caroline and Justine outing happens here - and it’s one you have to do to get the reward at the end - but you can’t do it unless you’ve been here once.

timrodresized: And now, what is probably Joker’s best response to anything.

timrodresized: Even the horrible, non-canon alternate timeline that is Straight Joker isn’t horny enough for this.

timrodresized: If Gay Joker was an official thing, I can just imagine this alternate scene where he’s just sitting with the waitress like it’s a hostess club and going “It’s like… I’ve already got one maid who is incredibly horny and another who’s my boyfriend and it’s all just too many maids. I’m really only here so I can take this pair of little girls here, so they can talk about hubris or whatever.”

timrodresized: The maid cafe was also in the base game, but I was basically unaware because none of the 100% routes bothered to use it. Let me explain what the special item is, because it’s part of the difference between the base game and Royal.

timrodresized: In the base game, you had a choice of four food options, with each one having a progressively higher chance of the maid fucking it up. If she fucked it up, you could choose to gain a point in Kindness or Guts. If she didn’t fuck it up, you got NOTHING. This is why none of the 100% routes used it.

timrodresized: Royal changes it so that you always get Charm points, and removes the fuckup chance as a mechanic - instead, you get points… and at 20 points, you unlock a secret menu (which boosts the Charm gain to 3 points) and a PSN trophy.

timrodresized: I would have had Salty Vanilla do a special “secret menu” for Gay Joker, but they’re really busy and already working on some extra Yusu-Gay content.

timrodresized: We’re going all in.

Morgana: “Hey… this is pretty overwhelming… all the pink hurts my eyes…”

timrodresized: Oh god. What are you doing to those eggs. I don’t even like eggs. I don’t think that’s how you hold that.

timrodresized: Those eggs have been fucking murdered.

Morgana: “Why did she pick… that?”

timrodresized: Joker immediately pulls out the air horn.

timrodresized: Joker pulls the trigger on the air horn, and then pulls it again.

Morgana: “I feel like you’re going too easy on her… but I guess you learned how to be tolerant. sigh That sure was… unique.”

timrodresized: I had to reload here because the guide is shit.

timrodresized: Basically, the guide never tells you (and even the Megaten Wiki is wrong on this) that there’s new books in the bookstore in Shibuya. All but one of them are worthless.

timrodresized: This is the one we need. The other ones unlock locations we already have, thanks to all those extra confidant events. In fact, we don’t even really ‘need’ it - it’s solely to unlock a non-rankup event with Yusuke in November.

Morgana: “I guess they keep it exciting by doing things like hiring famous actors as tour guides. …In any case, it’s not the kind of place you’d visit alone. I recommend taking someone.”

Morgana: “It’d be fun to go with someone. Just don’t fall asleep while they project the constellations, okay?”

Usami: “Stores will use whatever reasons they can to pull in customers. This season in particular. Ah yes… people also say that autumn is for sports.”

Usami: “A while back, baseball was the national sport, but these days people have been into soccer. As you know, black and white are the common colors for soccer balls.”

Usami: “Now then, Kurusu-san. Could you take a look at this picture?”

Usami: “That’s correct. This ball is composed of twelve black pentagons and twenty white hexagons. It’s made up of a total of 32 surfaces. By the way, apparently soccer balls used to be only one color.”

timrodresized: You can still buy soccer balls in a single color.

Usami: “They changed it to be black and white so it could be seen better on television… or so I hear, anyway. Television was still in black and white when they started airing soccer in Europe.”

timrodresized: This is, as far as I can tell, true.

Usami: “At any rate, the contrast of white and black next to each other… it’s a slick design, don’t you think?”

Morgana: “You think someone like her really eats hamburgers?”

Futaba: “Pretty hard stuff for the second boss… it’s gonna be even harder knowing there are people there too… welp, ain’t no time like the present! Come on, let’s go!”

Sojiro: “You’re going to school!? Oh, um… never mind. Just go have some fun.”

Futaba: “I think my heart’s gonna pop out of my chest…”

timrodresized: Here’s my problem with this scene. Hashino (or whoever actually wrote this) clearly wanted a scene with just Futaba and Makoto, but had to make an excuse for Joker to be there.

timrodresized: This scene feels like those early PS3 games where Sony decreed that every game had to make use of the Sixaxis, so a lot of devs just kinda shoehorned it in where they could.

Makoto: “Wh-what are you doing here!?”

Futaba: “Ummm, well…”

Futaba: “Ummm… can I use a Goho-M instead?”

timrodresized: This is why I think the whole “there are correct answers” thing is kind of a bad design choice.

Futaba: “I was hoping you’d say that.”

Makoto: “I’m sure you’ll be fine. Most of the students have already left, and all the teachers are in a meeting. Oh, and I’ll join you. I can use my position as student council president to avoid any probllems that may arise.”

Futaba: “You’re incredible! If I’ve got you two with me, this place is gonna be as easy as fighting a trash mob!”

Makoto: “…I’m not sure I understand. That’s a good thing, right? Anyway, come on. I’ll show you around the school.”

timrodresized: Notice how Joker is just kind of standing in the background. Here’s how I would’ve done this cutscene, and explaining it’s going to require me to spoil a few minor details about Futaba’s confidant.

timrodresized: The whole promise list thing? They basically throw that out the window after the next rank. They also never really follow up on the whole “Being okay without you around” bit.

timrodresized: So here’s how I would’ve done this scene. In between the last scene and this one, Joker disappears on purpose - so the rest of the event is purely between Makoto and Futaba… which is what the writers wanted in the first place.

timrodresized: Have the dialog choices happen before and after the part with Makoto, and the whole point is that the player realizes what’s going on but Futaba doesn’t - on purpose.

timrodresized: Then, when it gets to Rank 8, have a scene where she’s still worked up about that last point, and then Morgana goes “I don’t think you realized it, but really, you were okay the entire time,” and it flashes back to this scene.

Futaba: “That reminds me of this time I was the only kid who didn’t get a pudding with my meal… oh, and this other time I ate a strawberry with ketchup on it. I didn’t notice 'cause they’re both red. It was really gross…”

Makoto: “U-um, anyway… the cafeteria’s pretty boring, huh? Let’s move on.”

Makoto: “We have all the regular academic fare here: textbooks, encyclopedias, study guides… but we also have a few manga and light novels at the request of some especially vocal students.”

Futaba: “So many books…”

Makoto: “Do you like to read, Futaba?”

Futaba: “Mm-hm. Back in elementary school, I memorized the titles of all the books on a shelf in just one glance. The other kids thought I was making it up when I told them though…”

Futaba: “But then when I recited all the titles to prove it… they just laughed and called me a freak… am I weird, Akira?”

Futaba: “…I don’t wanna be talented if it’s gonna creep people out. Ugh… school is the worst…”

Makoto: “W-Well, should we move along? Only the classrooms remain… though on second thought, maybe we should just pass on those today. Shall we head back to the entrance?”

Futaba: “Don’t be. It’s my fault… I remembered all that stuff on my own… I guess dwelling on the past is a bad habit of mine, huh?”

Futaba: “Huh? Wh-what kinda weird fetish stuff are you into, Akira?”

timrodresized: Joker just goes “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you” and then it cuts to a shot of Yusuke going “Joker! Hurry up! Curtain’s in five minutes and there’s a sold-out house waiting for our all-catboy stage adaptation of Hibike Euphonium!”

timrodresized: Now, you might say “Wait, wouldn’t that just be Jersey Boys but anime?” and yes, but also no.

Makoto: “Honestly, Futaba… it’s clear how much you’ve improved recently. You would never have gotten so worried about this before.”

Futaba: “Huh?”

Makoto: “What I mean is, worrying about something is the first step toward changing it. Coming to school like this is a huge breakthrough, Futaba. You’re doing great… right, Akira-kun?”

Futaba: “Hmmm… is this like that saying about when life gives you lemons? Maybe I could make lemonade for the Phantom Thieves! Er, figuratively speaking.”

Makoto: “That would be wonderful.”

Futaba: “Aw yeah!”

timrodresized: Position Hack doesn’t trigger often from what I remember, but it’s nice when it does.

timrodresized: Yeah, Friends was really overrated and a lot of people only like it because it’s just kind of always been there.

Makoto: “Futaba?”

Futaba: “Oh, uh… nothing!”

Futaba: “Anyways, let’s retreat for now. What’re you feeling for dinner? How about curry?”

Futaba: “Feeling crazy fulfilled, but also super tired, tbh… I can’t believe everyone runs such a high-level dungeon every single day… you guys really are OP.”

Futaba: “I get the sense I’ll level up faster if I stay close to you. But… I still think I’d run out of MP too fast. The real world is a scary place…”

Futaba: “Really!? …But I still gotta work on it, huh. So much for taking it easy on me… urgh.”

Futaba: “But I do feel like I’m making a lot of progress thanks to you, Akira! I’m gonna keep going at my own pace for my next goal too. Gotta focus on healing when you need to, right?”

Futaba: “And I can’t just keep getting carried through all this. I gotta learn how to fend for myself. Okay, later!”

timrodresized: We have Hifumi’s Rank 9 tonight, and it’s here I’m going to make a minor time digression in order to fit both her Rank 9 and Rank 10 in the same update.

timrodresized: Nothing really important happens on the 25th, so what we’ll do is jump from the 24th right to the 26th in order to do both of Hifumi’s confidant events, and then jump back to the 25th.

Hifumi: “However, I’m not going to give them the satisfaction. I’m going to win… with these very hands.”

Hifumi: “Of course! Well, it’s time. I have to go to the venue. You won’t be able to go inside the match room, but you can watch over the internet, if you’d like. Now… I should be going.”

timrodresized: I hate that they had to add this in to make it clear that Hifumi does know how to play shogi and it’s not one of those Harvard admissions scandal type things.

Hifumi: “It was as if an ant had challenged an elephant. A shogi player should know her limits.”

Hifumi: “I was so ashamed of myself. I didn’t want to hurt the pieces any longer…”

Hifumi: “You remembered! One must concede defeat with grace - maintaining dignity until the very end, as a queen should… but, I confess I am confused… I mean, naturally I am disappointed that I lost…”

Hifumi: “But I still feel happy… as if a demon has been purged from me. The moment I realized that victory was impossible… I felt a strange peace.”

Hifumi: “What’s important is what I do from this point on… I played so disgracefully in front of you… perhaps you can just view it as an example of what not to do…”

Hifumi: “And understand that there are times which require one to forfeit with valor and grace.”

timrodresized: If this was Nocturne, this might be a useful ability. We haven’t run from a single battle this entire run.

Hifumi: “Um, I’ve been thinking about this for a while… let’s make today your last lesson… spending time with me has only brought you pain…”

timrodresized: Hifumi’s romance route is… awkward, to say the least.

Hifumi: “The things you say sometimes… perhaps I should take a lesson from that ambitious nature of yours. If that is what you wish, then prepare yourself. Your training will be quite intensive.”

Hifumi: “There may be things I can learn from you as well. I suppose this is a friendly rivalry for both of us… as irreplaceable shogi friends.”

Hifumi: “About how things would’ve been if I had kept playing shogi according to my mother’s strategy… I could have enjoyed a transient, empty success. But when I looked two, three moves ahead…”

Hifumi: “I saw myself in incessant hell… playing a purgatorial, Pyrrhic shogi, unable to ever win or lose… I probably would’ve ended up hating shogi. Perhaps even given up on life.”

Hifumi: “That’s why I can say with certainty. Today’s loss was not a setback, but a glorious step forward.”

Hifumi: “…Yes! I was just thinking the same thing. It is so encouraging to have someone who truly understands me. I’m so happy…”

Hifumi: “All right, I should go. But I’m looking forward to seeing you again.”

timrodresized: The good news is that we’ve now freed up a Persona slot… but we need one more Affinity Reading with her, as I found out when I skipped to the 26th and couldn’t progress. Let’s do her Rank 10 now.

Hifumi: “That’s my intention. There were a lot of people who covered for me by saying that I was just being used by adults. But I’m the one who was most at fault. I was overconfident.”

timrodresized: I mean, your mother was apparently running some kind of blackmail ring, so technically she’s the one at fault, but…

Hifumi: “If only I had taken a look at myself and properly assessed my shogi skills. I believed that with my skills, I could overcome being treated like an idol. …There’s nothing I can say about my mother.”

Hifumi: “You didn’t abandon me, even after you learned about the fixed matches… now i know how encouraging it feels to have someone believe in you.”

Hifumi: “At first, this was just a deal… you help me develop new moves and I give you shogi lessons. But before I knew it, you became… someone I couldn’t do without.”

Hifumi: “I’m not gonna pay attention to the criticism anymore.”

Hifumi: “The reason I’m able to think this way is because you stuck by my side. …I’m really grateful.”

Music The Path Is Open

timrodresized: Hifumi’s last ability is extremely useful because it allows us to shift party members on the fly to counter weaknesses. We’ll want this for the next boss.

timrodresized: We also get the ability to fuse Lucifer. Will we be doing that? You fucking bet we will. I’ll need to do Caroline and Justine’s confidant first and farm a shitload of money.

timrodresized: In fact, without the discount you get for compendium completion, Lucifer costs almost a million yen to fuse assuming you are high enough level do so. We will not be.

Hifumi: “I truly hope that you… no… that the Phantom Thieves find my lessons useful.”

Hifumi: “I’m honored to hear that from one of the Phantom Thieves. I spoke to you about my mother, and then my mother changed… I knew that couldn’t be a coincidence.”

timrodresized: Joker: “Look, we could easily get rid of Makoto and let you in instead.”

Hifumi: “If there’s anything I can do to help, please know that you can rely on me.”

Hifumi: “I will support you in whatever you want to accomplish. Now, let’s play a match. I have a lot of new moves I’d like to test out. I hope you’re okay to stay here a while longer.”

timrodresized: With that done, let’s go back to the 25th. As always, Hifumi’s Rank 9 and Rank 10 on the dating route will be located under the “Alternate Scenes” header in the hub post.

Futaba: “It’s Power Intuition. A real controller-busting thumb-muncher! You have the courage to meet me in a test of mettle?”

timrodresized: I mentioned this before, but Power Intuition is a parody of Atlus’s long-dead fighting game franchise Power Instinct. The last release was on the Neo-Geo in the early 2000s.

timrodresized: None of the Power Instinct games were on the NES/Famicom. The first one was on the SNES/Super Famicom, the second on the PS1, and the third was the Neo-Geo one.

Futaba: “Kk, game start!”

timrodresized: I’m very surprised she doesn’t recognize her console.

Futaba: “Dang… you’re good! C’mon, it’s the final round!”

timrodresized: I did not win this one because I was busy taking screenshots. On a subsequent recording (when I went to do Hifumi’s Rank 10) I did win it but couldn’t take a shot of it.

timrodresized: Instead of doing Yoshida’s confidant, we opt to take Makoto to the jazz club to learn Concentrate. All I can say is that this guide had better be correct about Yoshida being available on 10/10.

Makoto: “O-Oh. I suppose it would be rude of me to look around while there’re so many people here…”

Makoto: “I tend to handle most of the general housework at home… and I realized that I go about it in a very particular way. Especially cleaning.”

Makoto: “When I pointed out that a window was dusty, Sis said I was like a ‘mother-in-law’…”

Makoto: “It’s gotten so late… I was nervous at first, but it’s very homey here. I feel like talking with you helped me to remember my original resolve. Thank you.”

timrodresized: I got rid of Makoto’s one physical skill because Concentrate kind of sets her on a path of being a pure magic build the way Charge sets Yusuke onto the path of being a pure physical hitter.

timrodresized: Finally, let’s get to the canon version of the 26th.

Shinya: “Don’t you get it!? You can’t just shoot all over the place!”

Shinya: “Gahhh! You haven’t gotten better at all! When are you gonna learn!?”

Shinya: “Thanks to you taking so long to figure it out…”

Shinya: “Yeah, you’re right. I’ve always been good at shooting games… but I absolutely NEVER wanna lose at Gun About. So I guess I tend to get all heated up about it…”

timrodresized: He’s not gonna be happy in 2018 when the servers start going down.

Shinya: “…Shut up.”

Shinya: “…Fine. I’ll leave, all right? sigh

Shinya: “Seriously. I… really wanted to keep playing. …My house is so boring. No one’s ever there and there’s never anything to do.”

Shinya: “Adults and high schoolers are so lucky. They get to play all night long. Having that much time helps you get stronger…”

Shinya: “…I wish I could play all day instead of going to school. I’d never lose another game… I need to get really strong, like the Phantom Thieves.”

timrodresized: I mean, we already know he does, but for some reason this is the correct answer.

Shinya: “Of course I do! I wanna be just as strong as they are! I believe in the Phantom Thieves and their strength.”

Shinya: “…That’d be great! Thanks! Seriously though, I can’t stop thinking about that employee. He was super annoying, huh?”

Shinya: “If he says something again, I might just have to use that move on him. The one I taught you, remember? You should use it sometime.”

timrodresized: Bullet Hail is kind of a garbage ability.

timrodresized: Basically, you enter combat and you get a “Fire” prompt. This also gives us a good shot of Haru’s gun, which is a grenade launcher.

timrodresized: The problem is that it takes time and does fuck all for damage. There’s a good reason why - it’s because if it did actual damage, it’d make negotiations a pain in the ass to accomplish - but still.

Shinya: “Well, it’s just a move in the game, so it won’t work against actual people… I wish it did. Then I’d be strong in real life. I need to be able to win in real life… I’m gonna head home.”

timrodresized: What part of dumping an entire magazine into someone wouldn’t work? Unless he’s talking about wasting ammo, because we know that six bullets are more than enough to kill anything that moves.

Shinya: “I was bored, so I thought I’d call. I forgot to mention earlier, but you gotta keep practicing even on single player, okay? Everyone sucks at first, but you can get good if you do it every day!”

Shinya: “You better. You’re supposed to be the adult here. I’m practicing a lot too. I wanna get as strong as the Phantom Thieves. Oh, my mom came home… I gotta hang up. Bye.”

timrodresized: Finally, on the canon version of the 26th, we finish billiards off forever.

timrodresized: Note that what Joker is doing here is a pretty extreme version of the masse shot. Generally, you wouldn’t do this expecting to hit a ball on the other side of the table.

timrodresized: We are going to need this for Okumura’s palace. Guaranteed knockdowns are fucking HUGE, especially now that we have easy access to both Freidyne and Psiodyne.

timrodresized: You might think I’m talking about Makoto and Haru, but I’m not. I’m talking about when I snap the game in two in the next update without even needing the PS5 or Network Fusion.

timrodresized: Have I mentioned we’re going to be doing all ten ranks of Caroline and Justine’s confidant in the next update? We do that. In a single day.

Maruki: “I’d like to hear your opinion on these Phantom Thieves of Hearts. The ones who ‘steal the desires’ of criminals, and reportedly force them to confess…”

Maruki: “Maybe it’s a little hard to believe, but I guess I’ve taken an academic interest in them.”

Maruki: “Hmm… yeah, I guess you could say that. I’d love to sit down and talk with one of them. I just get the feeling the Phantom Thieves’ work and my own research are rooted in the same principles.”

Maruki: “That’s why I’ve decided to analyze them from my own perspective. …For example, there’s the matter of their methods.”

Maruki: “According to those calling cards they send out, their stated method is to ‘steal your desires’… how is such a feat even possible? Any ideas, Kurusu-kun?”

timrodresized: Why’s he asking Joker? How would Joker know?

Maruki: “Hmm, removing them… as if they’re something material rather than abstract? So, they’d be stealing desires by taking some tangible form of them… well, in that case…”

Maruki: “I suppose it’d be possible if you could find some physical proxy for human desires. …Kurusu-kun, do you remember that story with the cookies?”

Maruki: “In that experiment, the desire for the cookies actually changed the way people tasted them. I think we can look at this in the same way.”

timrodresized: I don’t recall that being true from the actual study, back when I posted it. I remember it said that they rated the artificially rare cookies more highly, but I dont think there was anything about taste.

Maruki: “They’re not something easily perceived, but desires do have a tremendous effect on our cognition. Put another way, if that desire is gone, your cognitive perception of the cookies skews back to normal.”

Maruki: “So, does that remind you of anything?”

Maruki: “That’s right. The Phantom Thieves’ own change of heart. That’s the basis of my theory: their ‘theft of desire’ is not metaphorical, but something more direct.”

Maruki: “We still don’t know exactly how they steal these desires, of course… but if this idea of physical, tangible desires can be actualized, I think it’d logically follow that they can be taken away.”

Maruki: “In a world of intangibles… let’s say, a world composed of the contents of people’s hearts… well, they’re thieves, so… if they could perceive a world like that, they could steal desires like any other treasure…”

timrodresized: For someone who supposedly knows nothing about the existence of the Metaverse, he sure gave a pretty accurate description.

Maruki: “Hey, Kurusu-kun. You think I’m getting anywhere here?”

Maruki: “You think so too, Kurusu-kun? If it’s actually anywhere close to the truth, it’d be incredible. Then again, we’ll probably never know for sure unless we could ask one of the Phantom Thieves themselves.”

Maruki: “Mm… I think I can construct a solid hypothesis now. It feels like I’m just one step away from finishing this paper… thank you, Kurusu-kun.”

timrodresized: This ability. It’s the worst thing in the fucking game. Flow was great when it was a once-in-a-while buff, but with this, it procced in almost half the battles I did in the first half hour of Okumura’s palace.

timrodresized: The problem here is twofold. First, the animation for Flow lasts longer than a lot of the actual battles do. Second, it makes using Joker for knockdowns hard because he’ll usually instakill enemies.

timrodresized: We also get 5 max SP and another Phantom Wafer, which I won’t bother showing.

timrodresized: By the way, I found the calendar that fuckhead on Gamefaqs plagiarized, and as it turns out we are in fact in the clear on Yoshida - he’s available on 10/10. Thanks to the Persona 5 Speedrun Discord for providing that information.

Sojiro: “All I want in a relationship is spicy stimulation followed by some smooth, relaxing comfort. And I can get both of those things from my curry and my coffee. That’s enough for me.”

timrodresized: Crazy how he went from this turbosmug horny dude to just being a dad.

Sojiro: “That’s a real roundabout way of showing disapproval… anyway, the only thing I care about in life is making sure my customers are satisfied. Nothing makes me happier than seeing people relax in here. Come back anytime, okay?”

Sojiro: “But I guess food service relies on keeping the right distance from people. Not too far, not too close.”

Sojiro: “Yeah? And what have YOU done to care for her?”

Sojiro: “Don’t be ridiculous. Futaba had a terrible life living with you… plus I already gave you most of the inheritance for custody! Is that still not enough for you!?”

Sojiro: “You…”

timrodresized: The thing is, at least in the US, the court is the one who put the kid with a guardian in the first place - and usually when they do that, they’re hesitant to go back on that decision.

timrodresized: This becomes a real problem in elder law, where you have people who get guardianships over old people for financial gain, often without the family being involved.

Sojiro: “Hey, keep your neck out of this. Just get on upstairs, okay?”

Sojiro: “She’s only like this because she saw you here!”

Sojiro: “Grrr…”

Sojiro: “Futaba… you should just head home for today. I’ll take you.”

Futaba: “Sojiro…”

Sojiro: “That man… is Futaba’s uncle. After Wakaba died, Futaba was passed around all her relatives. His place was the last. He treated her like garbage. He never fed her, and forced her to sleep on the floor like an animal.”

timrodresized: Wait, is this some kind of allegory about 4chan? It’s not like 2ch doesn’t have a lot of the same problems 4chan does.

Sojiro: “He didn’t even let her bathe… once I learned that, I knew I had to step in. I couldn’t stand for that kind of horrible treatment, so I decided to take Futaba under my care.”

timrodresized: It would’ve been great if this was like the old Persona games and Futaba just lit him on fire.

Sojiro: “Even back then, he was whining about all the damn expenses… I threw some cash his way, thinking that would put the issue to bed… but now he’s back for more.”

Sojiro: “I don’t even know how he managed to find me here… maybe paying him was a mistake.”

Sojiro: “Heh… thanks. I never thought you’d be the one comforting me. Either way though, it’s my fault Futaba didn’t leave her room. I just didn’t know how to help her through it… I’d make curry, leave it by her door, and go.”

Sojiro: “If not for you, I’d probably still be waiting for her to come out. So if you asked me whether I deserve to be Futaba’s guardian… my answer would be no.”

Sojiro: “They say blood’s thicker than water, right? I wonder what’d be the best for Futaba. Haha… look at me, spilling my heart out to a punk like you.”

Sojiro: “Though… it’s kinda weird. For some reason, I just feel like telling you this stuff. It’s like you’re peering into my heart… heh, I guess there really is something special about you.”

timrodresized: Another ability we will never use.

Sojiro: “It’s already pretty late… I should be heading home. I’m still worried about Futaba. Don’t stay up too late, you hear? Oh, and… thanks.”

Sojiro: “Futaba’s fast asleep… didn’t mean to get you tangled up in all this mess.”

timrodresized: Well, I mean, there’s going to be a very obvious Mementos request at Rank 7, so…

Sojiro: “No, you don’t have to do anything. The fact that you asked is enough. Man, though. I never know what I’m doing when I talk to you.”

Sojiro: “I just keep yammering on about stuff I never planned on talking about. Must be going senile, huh? Anyways, don’t worry about that guy. I’ll find some way to deal with him.”

timrodresized: Next time, we’ll do all ten ranks of Caroline and Justine’s confidant and snap the balance in half without needing Network Fusion. I’ll also be putting up the alternate versions of Hifumi’s Rank 9 and Rank 10.

Click Here for Update 67

timrodresized: On the 28th, we wind up going into Okumura’s palace. Before we do that, though, I wanted to max out Caroline and Justine’s confidant. We actually just got the item we need to finish it - that being the totem that lets us fuse Bugs.

timrodresized: The first target is a Jack Frost with Mabufu. We could have done this as soon as the confidant becomes available, but it’s a lot easier when you have a bunch of maxed or near-maxed confidants.

timrodresized: As you can see, Jack Frost learns Mabufu naturally at level 12, which we can easily achieve with the Arcana Burst bonus. I made this one out of a Kelpie and a Succubus.

Caroline: “Hmph… fine, I’ll take it. By the way, your Personas are super weak - not that I’m interested, inmate. Though I guess you deserve at least some praise for finishing your penal labor.”

Caroline: “You might actually complete your rehabilitation…”

Justine: “In order to promote that process, we would like to offer you the use of a new facility.”

Caroline: “Hmph. It’s rare to see you smile, Justine.”

Justine: “You are the smiling one, Caroline. Did something happen to make you so joyful?”

Caroline: “Me? Hey, are you laughing at us!?”

timrodresized: Naturally, none of the answers matter. The only thing that ranks you up is making the right Persona.

Caroline: “Know your place, inmate!”

Justine: “As wardens, we simply feel satisfaction in seeing your rehabilitation progress. I find it upsetting that you would see such a matter as a source of amusement.”

Caroline: “It’s like you forget where you are, Inmate. You’ve got some real guts though! With that spirit, you should have no trouble making progress!”

Justine: “Very well then… if you have the will to continue your penal labor, we can grant you greater freedom within this prison. It is a deal between us, the wardens, and you, the inmate.”

Caroline: “Not like you have the right to turn it down though! Hard work is what you’re meant to do, inmate!”

timrodresized: The Group Guillotine is going to be a necessity for fusing Lucifer, though we’ll need five-way fusions unlocked for that.

timrodresized: The base game had the same request, only it’s a Shiisaa instead of Ame-no-Uzume. The reason this was probably changed is the shakeup of the fusion charts that happened in Royal.

timrodresized: There’s a couple of ways you can accomplish this. If you’re in Madarame’s palace, you can simply negotiate with a Shiisaa to get a Frei card.

timrodresized: We also had one from Caroline and Justine that I forgot to use, and one from the beginning of the game when we did the save bonus.

timrodresized: The other option would be to fuse Suzaku with Berith, which will get you this fusion in one step. However, because I never fused Suzaku, we’ll take an alternate route instead.

timrodresized: Fusing Makami with a Mandrake gets us Inugami, who we carry Frei onto. We can then fuse Inugami with an Angel to get Ame-no-Uzume.

Caroline: “Hmph. I guess at least you’ve got the will to work.”

Caroline: “Don’t gimme that smug attitude! This is your duty, inmate!”

Justine: “That said, you have completed the task surprisingly easily.”

Caroline: “You might actually be worth our time after all. Justine, tell him his next task. It’s on that list, correct?”

Justine: “Indeed… now then, I will assign your next task. Be aware that the tasks on this list will increase in difficulty as we go. Are you prepared? How admirable.”

timrodresized: Flauros is the first Persona to require a three-Persona fusion.

timrodresized: Any fusion that requires more than two Personas will always have a set recipe. The game is nice enough that if you have all of the components in the compendium, it will pay to summon them automatically if you decide to fuse.

timrodresized: This is another really easy one. Flauros is made from Eligor, Berith, and Orobas. Eligor starts with Tarukaja, so all you need to do is the basic fusion.

New Persona: Flauros

Origin: Ars Goetia

First Appearance: Shin Megami Tensei I

64th demon of the Ars Goetia. Very similar to Ose, in that they have almost the same description and shared a sprite in the early SMT games. Only difference is that he controls fire instead of shapeshifting.

image

timrodresized: Flauros is a trash Persona, plain and simple.

Justine: “It is to be expected of the human our master saw potential in.”

Caroline: “You’re dedicated, I’ll give you that. Just keep it up, all right?”

Justine: “That is a fine attitude to have.”

Caroline: “Talk’s cheap though. You’re gonna have to put your money where your mouth is. I’ve gotta say, Justine, it’s an accomplishment that he hasn’t thrown in the towel yet.”

Justine: “How so?”

Caroline: “That task list you wrote. It’s not only keeping him on his toes, but helping him improve too.”

Justine: “…Hm? I am not the one who wrote it. I have always assumed it was you…”

Caroline: “What!? I don’t know anything about that thing.”

Justine: “…I suppose now that I consider it, that list is far too precise for you to have written it.”

Caroline: “Quiet! You didn’t need to say that! But wait… who wrote it then? It wasn’t our master, was it?”

Justine: “No, I have not heard him mention anything of the sort…”

Caroline: “S-Shut up! Don’t read too much into this! Just keep quiet and focus on your tasks, inmate!”

Justine: “Caroline, should we consult with our master about this?”

Caroline: “We shouldn’t waste his time on something this pointless.”

Justine: “…Indeed. It does not matter who conceived the list.”

Justine: “Of course, we will continue to offer benefits to you if you can further fulfill our tasks. All that we ask is that you work hard in the duty you are assigned.”

Caroline: “…Anyway, time for your next task! According to the list, it’s… uh… what is it, Justine?”

Justine: “One more thing… the next privilege we provide for you will unlock great power. Therefore, we will need you to fulfill two more tasks before we can hand it over to you.”

timrodresized: The next ability is the one that breaks the game. It used to be their Rank 10 ability.

timrodresized: This unlocks the “Train Personas” option. Lockdown is basically useless - you can put a Persona in there and use incense on it to increase its stats. If you leave it in long enough, it can gain new resistances.

timrodresized: The only thing we’d want to use this on is Lucifer, or a few of the other very high level Personas where we’re going to keep them for a very long time. I believe you also have to do Lockdown over a number of days.

timrodresized: I’m also pretty sure that if you have a Persona in Lockdown, it doesn’t count for confidant purposes, so that’s another reason we wouldn’t have wanted this.

timrodresized: I’d show my fusion process, but there’s only one way to do it really: you fuse a Yaksini (who starts with Counter) with a Kelpie. There’s no way to get a skill card for Counter outside of an accident.

Caroline: “True… I guess we’ve gotta at least admit THAT much. Your Personas are starting to get pretty damn strong too.”

timrodresized: She has no idea what I’m about to fuse as soon as we max their confidant.

Justine: “Is fostering Personas… truly rehabilitation?”

Caroline: “What’re you saying that for?”

Justine: “It is… merely a thought I had. Will the inmate truly be rehabilitated… if we help cultivate power within him?”

Caroline: “Keep it together, Justine. This is the job our master ordered us to do. Orrr, are you gonna try and disobey your orders?”

Justine: “That is not what I meant…”

Caroline: “Don’t worry yourself too much over one measly prisoner. All we gotta do is get the most out of his wild card thing, and make him work hard at his tasks.”

timrodresized: What is this, Among Us?

Justine: “The wild card…”

Caroline: “What is it now?”

Justine: “The more I consider this list, the stranger it seems. Its author must have known that the one carrying out these tasks would possess the power of the wild card…”

timrodresized: I wish the canon explanation for it was that it was written by Philemon for the Persona 1 or Persona 2 cast to do as a group, and somehow got carried from the piano lounge Velvet Room to the jail.

Caroline: “You’ve gotta be kidding me. How would somebody predict that?”

Justine: “…”

Caroline: “I mean, even our master didn’t know the inmate had that wild card thing before we met him!”

timrodresized: I also wish that the canon explanation for the whole wild card thing is that Igor got sick of dealing with six or seven party members at once, so while all of the party members are actually wild cards, Igor just won’t let them into the Velvet Room.

Caroline: “Hmph. Either way, this’ll all get resolved if you just hurry up and finish your rehabilitation already! Justine, give him his next task so he’ll stop talking back!”

Justine: “… Very well.”

timrodresized: One thing I don’t like about this confidant is that Margaret’s confidant in Persona 4 kind of had this thing where the Personas you fused for it built on each other.

timrodresized: As an example, the first request for Margaret was an Ippon-Datara with Sukukaja. The second request was a Matador with Mahama. The third was for a Gdon (a Persona who isn’t in 5) with Rampage.

timrodresized: The easiest way to get that was to fuse the Ippon-Datara you already made with the Matador. This wasn’t true for her entire S-Link, but was pretty close.

timrodresized: We have a skill card for Rakukaja, but there’s no point in using it. You can do this one extremely easily by simply having a Lamia and a Silky and fusing them - Lamia starts with it.

timrodresized: I’m pretty sure this is a glitch and they gave Setanta the wrong introduction script.

New Persona: Setanta

Origin: Celtic Mythology

First Appearance: Nocturne

Setanta is Cu Chulainn prior to his killing of the god Culann’s guard dog and gaining the name Cu Chulainn (which translates to “Hound of Chulann”). Wields the magic spear Gae Bolg and trained under Scathach in the Land of Shadows. Dies after being forced to break two geas he was under: one to not eat dog meat, and a second to not refuse a meal offered to him by a woman, after being offered dog meat by a woman.

timrodresized: Setanta is notable for the sole reason that he’s the first Persona to learn Charge. Given that we had Anzu by this point, he’s still trash.

Caroline: “Heh, you’re pretty interesting, Inmate!”

Justine: “I must say… as Caroline noted before, this list is quite well thought-out. The tasks are designed to push you toward achieving your goals while also measuring your true strength.”

timrodresized: Is this Hashino patting himself on the back?

Caroline: “Hm? I guess so… hey, Inmate! What’re your thoughts on these tasks!?”

timrodresized: To get an idea, it took me about 90 minutes to record this entire confidant, plus all the fusing.

Justine: sigh “Perhaps they are not difficult enough if that is your impression of them…”

Caroline: “Oh well. We should give him the next one. Let’s see here…”

Caroline: “Huh…!? It feels like I’ve seen the writing on this list before…”

Justine: “Do you speak of the penmanship?”

Caroline: “Yeah. Dammit… I can’t remember! Do you recognize it, Justine?”

timrodresized: Caroline went to an all-tsundere elementary school.

Caroline: “I, uh, no… I mean…”

Justine: “It seems you have been rather looking forward to the inmate’s visits.”

Caroline: “Never mind that! I-I’m talking about the handwriting of the tasks themselves! Stop yanking my chain!”

Justine: “Hm… now that you mention it, I do feel as though I’ve seen that handwriting somewhere before…”

Caroline: “Keep your nose out of other people’s business, Inmate!”

Justine: “To be honest, the sense of deja vu I feel when reading this list is certainly concerning to me. Who made this list… and why?”

Caroline: “Whaddya mean? The goal’s pretty obvious. It’s to help train the inmate.”

Justine: “Beyond that though, what exactly is the purpose of training him?”

Caroline: “…Rehabilitation?”

Justine: “But that is merely our master’s order. Someone other than him wrote this list, correct?”

Caroline: “… Then let’s just assume there’s some purpose we don’t know about. If we’re right in our assumption, the purpose’ll be clear once he finishes the whole list, right?”

Justine: “…I suppose you have a point. Hearing something logical from you is like a cool rush of air amidst the sweltering heat of summer.”

Caroline: “You didn’t need to say that!”

timrodresized: Joker’s like “That’s bullshit! Tatsuya got to use Personas five levels higher than he was for free!”

timrodresized: …Except this ability is a lot better than that. This COMPLETELY REMOVES the level limit on Personas. This means that theoretically, with enough grinding, you could have anything that isn’t gated by confidant ranks as early as Level 25.

timrodresized: That’s the one problem, you see. Most of the good Personas are locked behind confidants, with the best ones requiring Sae and Morgana to be Rank 10. That won’t happen until the end of the game.

timrodresized: That does not mean, however, that I can’t fuse a gamebreaker. I’ve already done it in recording, but I’m waiting for a third fusion alarm to really max everything out.

timrodresized: One final note - just because we have this doesn’t mean we want to go nuts with it just yet. It’s still EXTREMELY expensive to use, and there’s a discount at Rank 10.

Justine: “Now then, allow me to give you your next assignment. Please note that the next privilege we provide for you will be quite powerful indeed. Therefore, we will require that you complete three tasks before you can receive it.”

timrodresized: We’re just high enough level to meet that requirement. That means we’ll need to pay for Rank 9 and Rank 10.

timrodresized: Neko Shogun was a request in Persona 4 as well. He’s another 3-way fusion.

New Persona: Sudama

Origin: Japan

First Appearance: Shin Megami Tensei II

One-footed mountain spirits born of rocks and trees on mountains where humans rarely go. Sometimes known to take human shape to watch over their mountain homes. It’s said that if you get the feeling you’re being watched while hiking the mountains, it’s a Sudama… or coyotes. Probably coyotes.

timrodresized: Sudama is fused from an Orobas and a High Pixie and inherits Dekaja from Orobas.

timrodresized: We also need to call Anzu and our old Kodama back, as they’re the other two component Personas for Neko Shogun.

New Persona: Neko Shogun

Origin: Vietnam?

First Appearance: Devil Summoner

timrodresized: I honestly don’t know what Neko Shogun’s deal is. The wiki page has this whole thing on Vietnamese folklore with a link that no longer works, and there’s zero documentation on it anywhere else.

timrodresized: In fact, you know what, let’s just say he’s from Samurai Pizza Cats Cat Ninja Legend Teyandee Anime and be done with it.

Caroline: “What’s wrong, Justine?”

Justine: “It is nothing vital… however… presiding over the growth of another feels almost… nostalgic, in a way… do you feel the same, Caroline?”

Caroline: “Whaddya mean? We’ve never taken care of someone like this before.”

Justine: “You are not wrong about that… and yet, our duty to aid his rehabilitation aside, observing his growth feels oddly familiar…”

Caroline: “That can’t be right! The inmate’s growth and his rehabilitation are the exact same thing! Hey, Inmate. The growth you’re getting from these tasks is helping with your rehabilitation, right?”

Caroline: “See, Justine? They’re the same.”

Justine: “Is that not something we should judge for ourselves, though?”

Caroline: “Anyway Justine, don’t forget about our job. The duty we’ve been handed is all that matters.”

Justine: “I suppose… you are correct…”

Caroline: sigh “I guess you’re gonna keep worrying about this till the inmate finishes his rehabilitation, huh, Justine? Look what you’ve done, Inmate! Getting us all wrapped up in your fate… ugh.”

Caroline: “What’s wrong?”

Justine: “…Nothing. But… I believe I am beginning to look forward to seeing whether the inmate can complete his tasks.”

Caroline: “Okay! On to the next task! …Justine?”

timrodresized: If we had waited a week or so to do this, this would’ve been simple. The outing to the maid cafe with Caroline and Justine gives you a Tetraja card.

timrodresized: We actually already had a Lachesis, which I had to delete to make a new one. Fortunately, there’s a very easy process to do this because we’ve done most of Chihaya’s confidant.

timrodresized: First, you need a Pixie and a Silky. Fuse them into Clotho, who then learns Tetraja automatically due to the bonus EXP. Then you just fuse the Clotho with a Regent to get Lachesis.

Caroline: “Looks like you’re getting the hang of this. Well, that’s another assignment done…”

Caroline: “No difficult questions, Justine. Just give him his assignment.”

Justine: “Understood.”

Caroline: “Huh? What’s with you? You’re not usually this cooperative.”

Justine: “I have no intention of abandoning my duty… but I would like to know the truth of this situation. After all, we possess a mysterious list which seems to have foretold the current state of affairs…”

Justine: “Who wrote it? Why do I recognize the penmanship? Why does observing growth feel nostalgic? And beyond that… what was the true intent of its creator?”

timrodresized: The questions to be answered… not in this confidant. In fact, we won’t know who wrote the list until just before the final dungeon of the base game.

Caroline: “I thought I said no difficult questions…”

Justine: “To be honest though… I have arrived at a hypothesis.”

Caroline: “What!? You know the answer?”

timrodresized: Yeah, I know The Answer. I also know a lot of people hate it and think it was a terrible addon to Persona 3.

Justine: “We manage the inmate’s power via several arcana, which symbolize the mystic nature of this world. In truth, the encounter we share with him is represented by the Strength arcana.”

Justine: “Strength represents great power, a mighty will, and the awakening of the unknown…”

Caroline: “Sounds about right.”

Justine: “Caroline… in our interactions, has the inmate been the only one to have had something awaken within him? Perhaps… therein lies the answer.”

Caroline: “Wh-What’s that supposed to mean!? Uuuugh, dammit! Why do I feel so weird!?”

Caroline: “Although… this next task is gonna be the eighth one. There aren’t too many left on the list. You’ve come this far, Inmate. I hope you see it through.”

Justine: “If you do so… the answer will surely become clear.”

Caroline: “And, uh… you’re more than just some random schmuck to us now… you’re the only one who can find the answer we’re looking for. You got that, Inmate!?”

Caroline: “Okay, next! You’ve only gotta bring us one more Persona before you get another reward!”

timrodresized: Belphegor starts with Masukunda, but unfortunately the one I fused earlier had it mutate into Sledegehammer.

timrodresized: So I had to fuse another one, and then fuse it with an Isis I already had sitting around from our last Mementos trip.

timrodresized: We could also have re-summoned Anzu, fed the Lachesis to Lilim to have her learn Masukunda, and then fused Lilim with Anzu, but I’m not fucking up a perfectly good Lilim for that.

New Persona: Hecatoncheir

Origin: Greece

First Appearance: Shin Megami Tensei II

Giants with one hundred hands and fifty heads. Originally tossed into Tartarus by their father, Ouranos, they were freed by Zeus to fight against the Titans.

timrodresized: Hecatoncheir is, of course, a trash-sona.

Caroline: “We might be getting close to finding out the hidden goal behind that list. snicker Y’know, thanks to you, I’m actually starting to look forward to seeing what happens.”

Justine: “Your attitude has shifted quite considerably, Caroline. I see now that the harsh mask you wear during the fusion ritual is nothing more than a facade.”

Justine: “Perhaps in your heart, you have longed for the days the Inmate would come to fuse the specified Personas.”

timrodresized: It’s funny, because we’re doing this entire confidant on the same day. Seriously, this is how most 100% runs do it.

Caroline: “Th-That’s not true! And what about YOU, Justine!? You’ve been awful chatty lately!”

Justine: chuckle “I suppose you are correct.”

Justine: “Perhaps my hypothesis is true after all. We have thought that if we were to complete the list, we would bring to light the intent of its creator…”

Justine: “We have overseen the inmate, all the while considering the changes that have begun to appear within him. However, can it truly be said that the inmate is the only one who has changed?”

Justine: “The completion of these tasks has also had a great impact on both my consciousness and my memories.”

Caroline: “No way, are you trying to say the list isn’t supposed to change the inmate… but rather… ourselves!?”

Justine: “I have no proof of that… however, if this list represented the will of our master, why has it fallen into our hands and not remained in his?”

Caroline: “This has gotta be some kinda joke. You’re telling me somebody made it… so they could change… us? But… why?”

Igor: “Does something trouble you?”

Justine: “O-Our apologies, Master.”

Igor: “Is the inmate proving to be too horrible a subject for you?”

Caroline: “No, the fault does not lie with him. If you must reprimand anyone… let it be us.”

Justine: “Caroline…”

Igor: “…I see. Very well, continue onward with his rehabilitation.”

Justine: “…Our deepest apologies for that brief loss of composure. Now then, as you have completed three tasks, let us bestow upon you the next reward.”

timrodresized: This allows us to do fusions involving up to five Personas at once. Just like the three-way fusions, four-way and five-way fusions are always fixed. We need this for Lucifer.

Caroline: “Hmph. So I guess we’ve changed, huh? That much is clear. Strength… the eleventh arcana, which near-evenly splits the major twenty-two… the awakening of the unknown… a solitary woman calmly coming to face a lion…”

Justine: “Caroline. Let us assign the inmate his next task before we discuss this matter any further. If this list is meant to change us, that change must surely be important…”

Caroline: “…Fine. All right, Inmate! It’s time for your new task! Oh, and your next reward is gonna be incredible, so you’ve gotta do two tasks before you can have it!”

Justine: “Accordingly, these next two shall be the most difficult you have faced to this point.”

timrodresized: Realistically, I should’ve waited a bit to do this, but fuck that. Bugs is a three-way fusion between Hariti, Pisaca, and a Pixie. Hariti learns Samarecarm at level 41… but we have a much easier way.

timrodresized: By the way, Bugs also requires that totem we picked up in Mementos to fuse.

New Persona: Bugbear (Bugs)

Origin: England

First Appearance: Megami Tensei II

Hobgoblin that looks like a bear. Lives in the woods and scares children.

timrodresized: Bugs is kinda meh. He starts with Psiodyne, which is nice, but most of his value comes from inheriting Bless Boost and Kougaon from Hariti.

timrodresized: This costs us 58,000 yen to fuse.

Caroline: “Hmph. You make it seem easy. Well, the assignment is done…”

Justine: “Thinking back on our encounters here, we have lost our composure in front of you quite a few times.”

Caroline: “So, uh… me and Justine had a little talk. I dunno how to put thi… but we don’t know each other too well, even though we’re so close.”

Justine: “We have also come to realize that each of us complements the faults of the other quite nicely…”

Caroline: “I don’t think I’ve ever had a deep conversation like that with anyone before. Oh, and it made me remember something super important. I bet you wanna hear what that was. Isn’t that right, Inmate!?”

Caroline: “Of course you would. The thing that I remembered… is something someone once told me. You explain it, Justine.”

timrodresized: Is this going to lead into All Star because I feel like you can’t really do that without…

Justine: “Essentially, the twenty-two arcana represent a journey… the Fool embarks on a pilgrimage through the numbers, overcoming Death and eventually obtaining the World.”

Justine: “In short, this journey is the tale of one’s path through life.”

Caroline: “So we realized something. If this wild card thing - the potential of the Fool - proves that you’re a traveler…”

Justine: “Then your becoming stronger will lead us all in the right direction. That may be the true meaning of rehabilitation. Or perhaps it is something beyond even that…”

Justine: “Regardless, one thing we can be sure of is that this list was written with the intent of being completed.”

Caroline: “Understanding and having faith in that intent is the change this list has brought about in us… not that somebody like you would be able to comprehend that.”

Caroline: “But for us… it was something really important to learn. Oh, and… I think we might know who that voice in my head was too. I can’t tell you right now though.”

Caroline: “First of all, we don’t have any way to actually prove it.”

Justine: “Secondly… if it is indeed true, everything we have come to know would be thrown into question. Regardless, we have grown able to reflect on ourselves thanks to you.”

timrodresized: Joker’s like “I fused a bunch of random trash Personas because you asked me to, and then deleted most of them because I’m never going to use them.”

Justine: “This may not be something I should be saying to you… but I have quite enjoyed our time spent together.”

Caroline: “You hear that, Inmate!? You’d better overcome this ruin stuff! Keep surviving, all the way until we learn the truth… together!”

Caroline: “So there you have it. Don’t expect us to play nice just 'cause we believe in you though! We’re gonna be as strict as ever!”

timrodresized: This one is a complete pain in the ass. Seth is a four-way fusion between Isis, Anubis, Thoth, and Horus. None of those Personas know High Counter or learn it.

timrodresized: There’s two ways to get a High Counter card: you can get one from Caroline and Justine during an outing at the end of November, or get one from a Mementos request in October.

timrodresized: You can also fuse a Dakini and get it to level 52, and then downfuse it into Anubis, but fuck that. We need an alarm.

timrodresized: Now that we’ve got one (from me dicking around in the first room of Okumura’s palace) we can resummon that Ose and itemize it into High Counter. That’s one problem solved.

timrodresized: However, we have a second problem. We can’t get Horus easily with what we have - he’s only level 47, but getting him is a pain in the ass. First, I fuse Yurlungr using that Hecatoncheir and a Daisoujou.

New Persona: Yurlungur

Origin: Australia

First Appearance: Shin Megami Tensei I

Giant copper snake responsible for rain. Commonly known as the Rainbow Snake because the water where it lives is rainbow-colored.

timrodresized: Yurlungur’s not bad. He’s not great either, but Mouth of Savoring is an ability that boosts all SP restoration by 50% and I want it.

timrodresized: So anyway, I fuse Yurlungur thinking that oh, I can just fuse him and then use a treasure demon to upfuse him to Horus, which should be the next Persona up in the Sun arcana. Simple, right?

New Persona: Ganesha

Origin: India

First Appearance: Megami Tensei

Major deity of the Hindu pantheon, the son of Shiva and Parvati. Represents wisdom, intelligence, and the arts and sciences. Has an elephant’s head and anywhere from two to six arms. In some variations of the myth, he was born that way (and had his tusk broken by Shiva) while in others his original head was cut off by Shiva and replaced with an elephant’s.

timrodresized: To understand why this happened, you have to understand how fusions with treasure demons work. Treasure demon fusions bump a Persona up or down a rank within its arcana depending on level.

timrodresized: Because we’re so far into Yoshida’s confidant, Yurlungur got to level 47, meaning he skips over Horus (who is level 47) and goes right to Ganesha at level 53.

New Persona: Horus

Origin: Egypt

First Appearance: Shin Megami Tensei II

Egyptian god of the sun, moon, and skies. Son of Osiris and Isis who battled Seth for control of the skies after Seth murdered his father. Usually portrayed as a man with the head of a falcon. In Egyptian mythology, the cycle of day and night represents the battle between Horus and Seth, with Horus losing an eye (the sun) until it is restored by Thoth.

timrodresized: This cost me about 90,000 yen, and I hadn’t saved since Rank 1.

timrodresized: Seth is a hybrid Persona who has Eigaon (it got overwritten during fusion) and a couple of very good Gun skills, along with Gun Amp. He’s pretty solid… but we can do better.

timrodresized: For some reason, Seth is locked behind the incredibly high barrier of… having Rank 1 with Caroline and Justine, even though you can’t actually fuse him until you unlock four-way fusions.

Caroline: “Oh, that’s it! That’s the Persona we asked for! You really made it!? The inmate with all those pitiful Personas actually managed this? Hmph… I guess I can compliment you this time.”

Justine: “Well done. You have far exceeded our original expectations. This may not be a proper thing to say to an inmate, but you have done extraordinary work.”

Caroline: “You’re a real handful, but I gotta give you some credit.”

Justine: “As for the next task we will assign you… there is nothing. You have fulfilled every duty available to you. As the ones who rule over power, our role is…”

Justine: “Rule over… power? Why did I say that? Unh… a voice is echoing… in my head!”

Justine: “I-It is nothing. Just… my head… urgh! These memories… the one who first wrote this list.”

Justine: pant pant “My apologies…”

Caroline: “Don’t worry. This has happened to me too. Inmate! This is all your fault for not keeping your mouth shut!”

Justine: “Caroline, do not shift the blame onto him…”

Caroline: “Ugh… I hope you know you’re a real handful, Inmate! But… fine. I’ll grant you that privilege. Heh, we’ve really gone soft, huh?”

Justine: “Perhaps… perhaps you are too concerned to admit how much his concern pleased you?”

Caroline: “And, um, Inmate… there’s no doubt you’re a problem child… but honestly… we’re real impressed that you conquered all the trials we put forth.”

Justine: “You hold a surprisingly great potential.”

Caroline: “So… fight. I’m sure you’ll be able to accomplish anything you put your mind to. And you’d better put a stop to the ruin, okay!?”

timrodresized: That was Persona 4!

Music The Path Is Open

timrodresized: I wasn’t sure how much of an upgrade VIP Treatment was going to be, but it seems to cut costs by a significant amount. And now, it’s time to break the game.

New Persona: White Rider

Origin: The Bible

First Appearance: Nocturne

Conquest.

timrodresized: We want White Rider for two reasons. He’s an indirect component for Lucifer, and he itemizes into Gun Boost (Gun Amp during an alarm).

timrodresized: For what I’m after, we could have used Seth instead, but Red Rider has Psy Break. We want that more than we want whatever Seth has. We also really want Intense Focus.

New Persona: Black Rider

Origin: The Bible

First Appearance: Nocturne

Famine.

timrodresized: Black Rider is an indirect component for Lucifer. He also itemizes into Megidolaon. But that’s not why we want him. I mean, it is, but we’ll do that later. The good news is that if you pay to fuse a Persona, you don’t have to pay the extra fee if you resummon them from the compendium.

timrodresized: No, the reason we want Black Rider is to fuse him into everyone’s favorite giant penis, Mara. It took me almost halfway through Okumura’s dungeon to get another alarm, so we won’t see Mara immediately.

timrodresized: Meet my gamebreaker. One-Shot Kill is the fourth tier single target gun skill, and we have not only Gun Boost and Gun Amp, but also Intense Focus and Charge. We can get three or four of those off for the cost of a single Mediarama, which we recover each battle thanks to Life Aid.

timrodresized: Mara also itemizes into Psycho Force, which we could absolutely do and stick on him - but we don’t want to do that just yet because Mapsiodyne is going to be more useful in this dungeon… and resummoning Mara costs something like 60,000 yen.

timrodresized: I’m going to put up the alternate Hifumi scenes. Next time, we introduce Okumura to our giant green friend.

Summary

Hifumi: “Spending time with me has only brought you pain…”

timrodresized: This time, let’s pick the other option.

Hifumi: “You’re… just trying to comfort me because I lost, right…? P-please stop… I’m the Phony Princess… I mean, I lied to everyone… and yet, you want to be by my side…?”

Hifumi: “What do you mean by that…?”

timrodresized: I kinda feel like this is going against the entire idea of what her confidant is. I mean, the whole point is she’s been kind of bombarded by all these people who were pretending to be interested in shogi to try and date her, and that’s pretty much what we’re doing.

Hifumi: “…Really? You really feel that way? If that’s what you truly want, I… I will become a woman worthy of you.”

timrodresized: Hifumi’s confidant is also really lazy in that it has the fewest amount of differences between the dating route and the non-dating route. It makes me wonder if at some point in development, the writers did not intend for Hifumi to be dateable and then had to shoehorn it in at the last minute due to Hashino or corporate or something.

timrodresized: Keep in mind that in the base game, this scene just kinda ended here.

Hifumi: “I-I don’t know what I’m saying… I forfeit this match… A-Allow me to start over. I’ve been… thinking, this entire time. About how things would’ve been if I’d kept playing shogi according to my mother’s strategy…”

Hifumi: “I could have enjoyed a transient, empty success. But when I looked two, three moves ahead… I saw myself in incessant hell, playing a purgatorial, Pyrrhic shogi, unable to ever win or lose. I probably would’ve ended up hating Shogi. Perhaps even given up on life.”

Hifumi: “But I had you… and through our mutual revelations, I was saved. So thank you.”

Hifumi: “Wait… what!? So by the first move, you were already…? I-I can’t believe I missed it… but what indescribable joy. I will work hard to become a woman worthy of you.”

timrodresized: Her Rank 10 is even lazier - it’s word for word identical to the one we already saw, it just takes place in Joker’s room rather than in the church.

Hifumi: “Being a hero must keep you busy trying to help everyone, huh? Well… I no longer have a ban on dating… so for the time being, please let me have you all to myself…”

Well no one played Zero Time Dilemma so we don’t know how that ended. But don’t spoil it, I’m playing through the Zero Escape trilogy very, VERY slowly.

I would watch that. (EDITOR’S NOTE: I would not watch that.)

Click Here for Update 68

timrodresized: We have a reading slot on the train, and Chinese Sweets is one of the few books that will still unlock something.

Morgana: “Everything from high-class, traditional cuisine to street food, like xiao long bao. This seems like a fun place to explore and try out all the different cuisine.”

Maruki: “There are a lot of students here at this hour. It’s refreshing to make the work commute at a different time every now and then.”

Maruki: “Hahaha… you caught me. On my way to work today, I ran into these old ladies carrying some heavy luggage. Three of them in fact. So I was offering to help carry their things, but then my back made this sound that it shouldn’t make…”

Maruki: “…Well, anyway! Have you heard the news from Yoshizawa-san? I’m so happy for her. It makes me feel like doing my best too! Of course, as I say that, I’m running late.”

timrodresized: I was honestly confused as to what the shit he was talking about, and then remembered there’s a throwaway IM conversation in the last update about her doing another meet.

Maruki: “Well, hey, we all need to switch it up every now and then! So let’s do our best for today, shall we?”

timrodresized: There’s a glorified tutorial here to let us know there’s new food available at the diner in Shibuya. We don’t care.

Chouno: “It seems so many of us have experienced this that a term has been created for it. The English name for that particular phenomenon can be abbreviated to ‘PVS’… would anyone care to tell me what that stands for?”

Chouno: “Mr. Kurusu! Let’s hear it. What is this phenomenon commonly called in English?”

Morgana: “Okay! Let’s remember what she said together. So ‘PVS’, referring to when you mistakenly think your phone is going off? What’s the P?”

timrodresized: That’s not the only P we’ll be seeing this update. I’m not even kidding when I say we’re going to oneshot a boss later.

Morgana: “Right. It’s gotta start with ‘Phantom’, since you’re only imagining it. So next is the V part. That means it’d be ‘phantom…’ what?”

Morgana: “Yeah, that’s it! When your phone buzzes, you say it’s ‘vibrating.’ Last is the S. So if we have ‘phantom vibration’ so far…”

timrodresized: I really wish they would’ve done this in reverse, where they ask you about a Japanese word instead for English players.

Chouno: “The correct English term is ‘phantom vibration syndrome’. If you’re anxiously waiting for someone to contact you, your brain will apparently trick you. This is an affliction that can only affect a modern society, where being connected 24/7 is commonplace.”

timrodresized: There have been a number of studies on PVS and an associated syndrome called “Phantom Ringing”, but from casually looking it up, it seems like PVS was something talked about a lot in the sort of mid-2010s and kind of peters out after that.

Chouno: “When I was a student, I’d get all worked up waiting for my S.O. to call me at night. Nowadays people complain if you don’t reply to a text you just saw. Kind of obnoxious, if you ask me.”

Morgana: “Think it’ll ever get to a point where we’ll be able to read each other’s minds? …I’ll pass on that, thanks.”

timrodresized: If Joker had telepathy, he’d build that big dumbass brain machine from the X-Men movies and broadcast air horns into the minds of the horny.

timrodresized: We grab a money reading from Chihaya and head in. This was kind of a waste, because the one-turn-kill bonus from Hifumi will apply far more often.

Noir: “Oh, just one moment! I can fight too! Please, let me join you in battle!”

Morgana: “Your Persona is too weak to fight safely at the moment. Just leave that side of things to us for now.”

Mara: I think you mean just leave that side of things to me.

timrodresized: There’s enemies in this first area now, which is what I was farming in that last update to get fusion alarms.

timrodresized: Okumura’s palace is kind of ass-backwards from a design perspective in that the toughest enemies appear at the start. We know what Arahabaki is capable of.

timrodresized: I didn’t have Mara for this first part, even though I could’ve. Instead, I wound up using Bugs for almost the entire first half of the dungeon. Bugs can singlehandedly deal with most of the enemies here.

timrodresized: By the way, do NOT attempt to do the Greatest Weapon on an Arahabaki. Kill these fuckers immediately.

timrodresized: Notice how low Joker’s HP is. This is because if you knock down Arahabaki and do not immediately follow up with a kill, it will cast Makarakarn on itself, reflecting the next magic attack to hit it.

timrodresized: Since Arahabaki reflects Physical and Gun, this makes it effectively invincible unless you somehow have Makara Break or are willing to take a hit. That’s what happened to Joker here, and why I used Kougaon instead of Psiodyne, as Psiodyne would have been a game over.

timrodresized: The other enemy type are these floating orbs.

timrodresized: Any fight like this, where it’s just Decarabia, you can win in a single button press - that button being the “RUSH” button.

timrodresized: Hitting an enemy who is weak to physical gives you an automatic crit, where the party member involved will follow up with a gun attack.

timrodresized: There’s a chest in one of these early areas before the biometric door, which I don’t think you can get the first time you’re here. Most of the chests here contain Physical or Magic Ointment, which provide Tetrakarn and Makarakarn for physical and magic reflects, respectively.

Oracle: “Looks like a hamburger to me. I mean, we’re dealing with Big Bang Burger here.”

Queen: “I’m sure it’ll become clearer as we proceed. Come on, let’s go.”

Queen: “So, for the door in question…”

Noir: “Leave it to me.”

Oracle: “Haha! That biometric scanner’s useless now that we’ve got his actual family on our side!”

Skull: “Was that an act Mona put you up to? Y’know, the beauty thingy?”

Noir: “I was trying to be a heroine of justice.”

Skull: “Uh… is that a joke?”

Panther: “You moron!”

Noir: “Ever since I was young, people have never seen me for who I really am. They would be kind to me just to please my father, and would get money and presents in exchange. Adults, teachers, even friends… it seemed like everyone smiled at me for their own personal gain.”

Queen: “That’s why you kept the details of your family a secret at school…”

Noir: “But the female superheroes I used to see on TV were great! They always fought for others, not themselves… and they were always happy. I wanted to be just like that! Even though I knew it was a fantasy… I still looked up to them.”

Skull: “Everyone goes wild over heroes at some point. It’s fine havin’ someone like that on our side, right, Joker?”

timrodresized: You know what was a total waste? Having Okumura not be voiceacted by the guy who did Dessler in the Yamato remake. Funny enough, he also does Inspector Zenigata in the newer Lupin stuff.

timrodresized: Instead, they got some no-name actor. His biggest credit to date is being about 30 different minor villains in One Piece. He was also in Policenauts.

Panther: “This is insane on so many levels!”

Noir: “Him!? Did he come into the Palace too?!?”

Morgana: “No! He might look the same, but that isn’t the real person. Remember what I explained to you earlier?”

Noir: “You mean about the cognition thing?”

Noir: “Do you recall what I said before? That I would do my best for you? This is my answer to that!”

Dessler: “Are those… the rumored Phantom Thieves? …I see!”

timrodresized: Just like Sojiro, Discount Dessler has exactly two facial expressions. We’ve seen the first. The second… is MAXIMUM OVERSMUG.

Dessler: " ‘Overcome failure at any cost, even if it means betraying others’ … You truly embody the Okumura motto!"

Noir: “Why do you only ever think about gains and losses!? That’s why the company has a bad reputation… all because you treat people like they’re tools!”

Dessler: “To gain, you must give… one must be resolved to give even more if they wish to stand above others.”

Dessler: “The cold reality of kicking people down is a part of business! Virtue and sentiment are for losers. chuckle Okumura foods shall be the foundation of my victory!”

timrodresized: If we actually had Mara at this point, I would have made a joke about firing the wave motion gun.

Queen: “His company is just a stepping stone…”

Dessler: “She needn’t be your lawful wife anymore… take her as your lover, or whatever it is you desire.”

Noir: “Lover? I was raised under this company’s wealth… I even accepted a political marriage for you. This is not what we discussed! Father! You want me to be that man’s plaything just to satisfy your own ambitions?”

Dessler: “Hmph, why fret? You should be overjoyed that you’re fulfilling your role as an Okumura daughter. This is the only value you’ve had since the beginning.”

Fox: “So… even his own daughter’s life is a commodity to him.”

timrodresized: This looks like a Daft Punk music video.

timrodresized: So here’s what I don’t like about this. With Kamoshida, who was the last boss to have a construct of a person, you knew that his portrayal of Ann is completely different from how Ann actually is.

timrodresized: That’s why it made sense that his Ann looks the same but dresses differently - because what he had was basically Ann with a different personality slapped on.

timrodresized: The thing with this is that we know this is how Yoshikage Kira actually is. There’s really no difference between this version of him and the real one, so it doesn’t really make sense for him to be a giant robot.

New Persona: Milady

Origin: The Three Musketeers

Persona 5 Original

Full name: Milady de Winter. Villain from The Three Musketeers.

timrodresized: Time to cuckold a robot.

Queen: “So this is Haru’s true power…!”

Morgana: “Haru… all right, let’s do this! Time to pummel that scummy jerk!”

timrodresized: The big robot is weak to Psychic, while the small ones are weak to both Fire and Wind. I also find it funny that Haru replaced Makoto.

timrodresized: Because Bugs is so fast, I managed to do this fight without the robots ever getting a turn. This is what you want to do even if for some reason you aren’t using Caroline and Justine’s confidant to break the game.

timrodresized: If you don’t kill the small robots fast enough, they’ll use a spell that reduces their HP to 1 to heal each other or the big robot to full.

timrodresized: Not entirely sure how the table lands like that, given that you can see the teapot loads underneath it.

timrodresized: Makoto learns Nuke Boost. We’ll be swapping Yusuke out for her, because physical damage is the one thing you do not want to use in this dungeon.

timrodresized: Here’s Haru’s Persona. She’s a Gun/Psychic hybrid, and learns Psy Boost pretty quickly.

Noir: “I did it, Mona-chan!”

Skull: “What were you sayin’ about her Persona bein’ weak?”

Noir: “Ah! He disappeared! Is that okay?”

Panther: “Are you sure you taught her how things work in here?”

Morgana: “I did… or so I thought.”

Oracle: “What’s the point if she doesn’t get it?”

Queen: “Don’t worry. Cognitive beings have no correlation to their real-world counterparts. You’ll see when we get back. I guarantee he will be okay.”

Noir: “Then, he’s not dead?”

timrodresized: Don’t you just love cutscenes where they re-establish shit we’ve known since the beginning of the game?

Fox: “That’s right.”

Skull: “Dude, does this mean we got a new teammate? Good to have ya… uh…”

Morgana: “She already has a code name.”

Noir: “I’d like to be a heroine of justice, but the Phantom Thieves are on the darker side of the law. I chose the name Noir to remind me of that.”

Morgana: “…There you have it.”

Panther: “As long as she’s into it…”

Skull: “She created quite an elaborate backstory…”

Queen: “Noir. I like it. It conveys a dignity that won’t bow down to others, as well as a rebellious spirit toward society.”

Noir: “Thank you.”

Morgana: “Don’t let your guard down, Noir. Our trip through the Palace doesn’t end until we steal the Treasure, after all.”

Fox: “Hm, that seems quite far off… it is difficult to ascertain the shortest route there as well.”

Queen: “We’ll just have to keep going on whatever path we find for the time being… let’s go.”

timrodresized: There’s a save room to the left and a hallway to the right. This first part has nothing but Arahabaki and Decarabia in it, but during one fight, something interesting happens.

timrodresized: We get a follow-up crit from Morgana.

Oracle: “No, this one isn’t a biometric authentication… but it might be hard to open it from here. We’ll probably need to look for a server or a terminal if we wanna break through.”

Skull: “A server, huh…”

timrodresized: There’s a small raised platform just to the right of the locked door with an air vent on it.

timrodresized: This is the first dungeon outside of Mementos where we start getting these party chat things in real-time in the top right.

Oracle: “Mwehehe… watch this… all right, that should’ve opened up a buncha doors! I managed to grab a map of the place, too.”

Oracle: “I dunno about that… there are three more areas ahead: the barracks, the factory, and the airlock area…”

timrodresized: In the base game, it was, and absolutely no one liked it. This is that dungeon I mentioned earlier that was reworked for Royal because it was the single most hated thing in the game.

timrodresized: They also significantly nerfed the enemies - except for one, who we’ll meet in a bit and was the cause of two or three game overs, which were admittedly my fault.

Skull: “Yeah, and what’re they makin’ in that factory? Burgers?”

Oracle: “Actually, I found one other interesting file when I was cracking into the system. It’s called ‘Project: Escape to Utopia’. There was some kinda blueprint inside too. It looks like whatever they’re making for it is ginormous. That factory can’t just be for burgers.”

timrodresized: You’ll notice if you look at the minimap that the server rack is halfway through the room. If you go all the way through, Morgana will warn you about a nearby Will Seed.

timrodresized: Two grappling hooks later and we’re at the seed room.

Mara: “Hah. Seed room.”

timrodresized: And now we can move past that locked door.

Queen: “But it doesn’t seem to be completely out of order either. Perhaps it’s on another floor. Let’s try coming back later.”

Skull: “That bastard really doesn’t trust anybody, huh?”

Panther: “Skull!”

Noir: “It’s all right. Father is clearly guilty of some horrible crimes… that’s why we will stop him.”

Queen: “We’ll still need to think of a way to get past here though. Can you figure something out, Navi?”

Oracle: “If it’s not a normal lock or a biometric one, I think it might use rank-based authentication. Basically, you’ve gotta be at least a chief director to get through here.”

timrodresized: Oh boy was this one of the worst parts of this dungeon in the base game. It’s so bad that I believe the speedrun skips it entirely by clipping through a wall.

Noir: “Oh, you mean an employee ID! Those are used to authorize entry in the real world company as well.”

Panther: “You two are so smart! That’s gotta be it!”

Queen: “Then it’s decided. Let’s find an employee with the rank of chief director or higher and take their employee ID!”

Skull: “Look, there’re a ton of ‘em… you wanna start takin’ their IDs?”

Fox: “Not yet. If we go instead to their origin, there should be even more ‘employees’ for us.”

Queen: “Oh, great idea. That should make it even easier to find a chief director! Let’s head over there, Joker.”

Oracle: “I did a scan of the area, but there are multiple large readings around here. They’re definitely different from normal robots, so it’s prolly one of them.”

Noir: “So we’ll need to find which one is the real one? But how exactly will we do that?”

timrodresized: This is where the new design for this area really kicks in. In the base game, you kind of stumbled on these robots in a room and that was where things went to shit.

Fox: “By all appearances, that massive red robot must be quite important.”

Queen: “True. Even if it isn’t a chief director, it might have some intel.”

timrodresized: In the base game, there were several rooms like this one with a larger red robot in them. You had to eavesdrop on the small robots (which was VERY finicky) and then get clues to identify which of the big robots was the Chief Clerk.

timrodresized: Once you had that, there was a dialog puzzle with each big robot where you had to determine which one matched the clues you were given. If at any stage of this process you got caught or fucked up, you got a security level increase and all the doors would lock until you fought an encounter.

timrodresized: Royal’s version of this dungeon says “fuck it” and cuts out the middleman. This is truly one of the biggest improvements it made gameplay-wise apart from the reloading gun ammo.

timrodresized: I almost feel like they’re trying to insult me by repeating it three times.

Skull: “Dude, we don’t even work here.”

Queen: “Skull, would you mind staying focused? Excuse me, we have a matter to discuss with the chief director.”

Queen: “Well, it was worth a try.”

Oracle: “Sounds like this guy REALLY doesn’t like the section chief. Let’s try and pump him for information, Joker!”

timrodresized: There’s still kind of a dialog puzzle, in that if you pick the right option you get some information about what the next big robot is weak to. The base game didn’t give you that information at all.

timrodresized: I laughed so fucking hard at this when I read it. I actually like the way this robot is written, because it amuses the shit out of me that there’s a robot who does nothing all day but be stressed and scream about his boss’s elemental weaknesses.

timrodresized: I’m just picturing the little robots going “Dammit, there he goes about the wind powers again.”

Oracle: “Mweheheh, so the section chief is weak to Wind, is he? We didn’t get any deets on the chief director, but this is still good! Looks like this guy’s done chatting, so let’s clean up, Joker!”

timrodresized: I promptly nuke the small robots down in a single hit with Agidyne, and then completely forget what I just read about the wind powers.

timrodresized: You know what, let’s try that one again.

timrodresized: The larger robots have Endure, so they’ll withstand a single killing blow. I should mention that in the base game, these robots had access to third-tier spells of their element. That was removed for Royal.

Noir: “Oh, this must be an employee ID card! Let me see… it says chief clerk on it.”

Queen: “But we’re looking for one that’s chief director or higher, yes?”

Oracle: “This one should be okay for now. At the very least it’ll help us get to some new places.”

timrodresized: Localization fails!

timrodresized: Right down the hall, there’s another save room and then our first red shadow.

timrodresized: The red shadow here is Girimekhala, who only seems to spawn in the first half of the dungeon. Girimekhala is absurdly lethal.

timrodresized: Through some combination of shock and just being amazed at how bullshit it was, I didn’t record the two or three deaths I had to him.

timrodresized: Girimekhala’s gimmick is that he reflects physical and has a spell called Wage War which targets the entire party and enrages on hit. This means that your party will automatically use a physical attack next turn and die to the reflect.

timrodresized: The door we need that ID to open is right behind the Girimekhala.

timrodresized: Little premature there, Haru.

Queen: “Agreed. Let’s go about this one step at a time.”

Panther: “Hey… are those two giving orders to the other robots? You guys think they might be the chief director or the section chief?”

Oracle: “Prolly the section chief. I’m sensing something big further down. That one’s gotta be the chief director.”

Fox: “Ideally, we should secure the ID of the highest-ranking one here.”

Noir: " Yes… we can’t reach the chief director with the ID we have now."

Skull: “Then let’s just beat one of 'em and swipe what we can!”

Oracle: “Hold up. The reading’s not super clear, but I’m pretty sure only one of them’s a section chief…”

Fox: “So only one of them has our key. What’s the plan? Shall we simply crush both of them?”

timrodresized: This was something a lot of people wound up doing in the base game, because it was just that annoying to deal with.

Queen: “There’s no need to waste energy like that. If we can talk to each one and compare what they say to the intel we have on hand… that way, we might be able to tell which one is the section chief.”

timrodresized: The game even has it so you’re facing the actual section chief when you come out of the cutscene.

Queen: “Hold on a second. We’re…”

timrodresized: We already know that this is the right robot, given the whole giant red “USELESS” in all caps. In the base game, picking this option failed the dialog puzzle. In Royal, however…

Noir: “It looks like fighting is our only option now. Let’s go!”

timrodresized: I have questions about how Futaba manages to take those goggles off in time for battles. Do her glasses magically morph into the goggles like a magical girl? Is she wearing them underneath? Does her UFO have a glasses storage bin specifically for this kind of situation?

Oracle: “Well! Sounds to me like he’s got some beef with the chief. Joker, if you play him right, he might dish some useful details!”

timrodresized: This becomes kind of hilarious when you outright tell him you’re John Persona.

Oracle: “Nice! A classic slip of the tongue! I don’t think he has any more useful dirt, so let’s just mop the floor with him real quick!”

Oracle: “Any boss that lets their employees suffer deserves the same thing!”

timrodresized: If this was a good game, they would have had a scene where the chief clerk comes running in after you get the section chief into a hold up (or force him to use endure) where he runs in holding a table fan and screaming “Taste my WIND POWERS!” before turning the fan on and using the breeze to do the last point of damage.

Noir: “It’s an ID! This should get us through the gates.”

Skull: “So that one was the… Section Chief? Or somethin’? Ugh, why can’t the big boss just come to us…?”

timrodresized: Makoto won’t even let you fight the other robot, which is kind of a disappointment.

Noir: “Great! This one’s open as well!”

Oracle: “We’ve gotta be close to the end, right? Chief director is usually directly above section chief!”

Oracle: “Probably safe to assume there aren’t any high-rank robots in there.”

Skull: “Well, sounds like there’s no point checkin’ it out.”

Morgana: “Not quite. If we don’t have any bosses watching, that might just be an opportunity to get something good.”

Oracle: “Good point. Joker, let’s sneak by them and listen in on their conversation.”

timrodresized: The actual eavesdropping text box is on screen for like five frames. It’s so fast that I could barely read it, let alone screenshot it.

timrodresized: I took this on a second run after dying in the next area to a Girimehkala.

timrodresized: In a very strange move, they’ll only say it once, and after that any robot you eavesdrop on will just say this over and over.

Skull: “Huh… so we’re basically eavesdroppin’ on 'em…”

Oracle: “It’s a divine skill of mine.”

Panther: “Impressive. I can see how you managed to wiretap Leblanc for so long…”

Oracle: “That? Oh, that was nothing! Someday I’ll show you what real wiretapping is. Mwehehe…”

timrodresized: Makoto and Yusuke will suggest eavesdropping on a different group of robots, but we have all the information we need.

timrodresized: It would’ve been really funny if they made the second robot in this section have near-identical responses but he’s like, a marketing intern.

timrodresized: Again, they should’ve had the section chief come in screaming “MIND POWERS!” and then have him pick up a chair and throw it at the chief director for the last point of damage.

timrodresized: Then he looks at the party and goes “What? That totally required the use of my mind. Mind powers.”

Noir: “Perfect! We’ve finally found the chief director’s ID card!”

Panther: “This means we can go in that rank door downstairs now!”

Oracle: “Welp, let’s go check it out! Time to make like a banana and split!”

timrodresized: And that’s it for this section of the dungeon. The map is about half the size of the base game’s, and really this dungeon lost a lot of its length because of it. If you do everything right the first time, this dungeon is way shorter than Futaba’s was.

Queen: “Perfect. We have the employee ID card we were after, so let’s head downstairs when we’re done here!”

timrodresized: The doors to the save room lock after you kill the chief clerk, and you need the chief director’s ID to unlock them.

Oracle: “Of course! Well… probably.”

Queen: “You know, it’s a little odd… I thought Okumura might be behind the mental shutdowns… but we haven’t found anything even remotely pointing to such a secret so far.”

Morgana: “Something that important might be deeper in. Let’s just keep going.”

Skull: “If it’s seriously that close, can’t we just go from outside? No point goin’ through there.”

Queen: “Hm… that might be worth a try.”

timrodresized: Solidifying the fact that this palace is just Space Colony ARK from Sonic Adventure 2, we grapple onto a… thing… that then shoots us across the map.

timrodresized: There’s an elevator platform you can use to get back to the start, where there’s a save room I missed.

timrodresized: Strangely, Arahabaki basically stops showing up here, so the fights are actually so easy we can use Insta-Kill on them.

New Trashsona: Mothman

Origin: West Virginia

First Appearance: Devil Summoner

Creature supposedly seen by a number of people in West Virginia in the 1960s. Conspiracy theorists at the time believed that Mothman was a bio-weapon that lived in an abandoned World War 2-era munitions plant near Point Pleasant. In reality, Mothman was likely a sandhill crane (a bird not native to West Virginia) that had been knocked off its migration route.

timrodresized: Insta-Kill is kind of a pain to do, because you have to dash into an enemy and hope it doesn’t ambush you. Mothman, by the way, is very good for using the Greatest Weapon on as he is weak to guns.

timrodresized: The start of this area is a semi-circle surrounded by platforms. You can skip all but the last one, which has the grapple spot to get to the next set of platforms.

timrodresized: The grapple spot leads right to the door to the next area. There’s some optional bits here which are largely not worth it.

timrodresized: After getting fucking mauled by a Girimehkala, I change tactics. Yusuke is out, Makoto is in.

New Persona: Girimehkala

Origin: Sri Lanka

First Appearance: Megami Tensei II

Giant demon elephant said to be the steed of Mara. Has one eye that kills anyone who looks at it.

Mara: Look, I wanted an elephant with laser tusks and bling. Turns out I suck at the whole creation thing. You have any idea how hard it is to throw out a ten-foot tall elephant demon once you’ve made it?

timrodresized: We encounter a Koh-i-noor, the treasure demon for this palace. Futaba then immediately holds it up for us.

timrodresized: In the base game, Koh-i-noor was a demon you had to knock down with either a technical or Down Shot from Shinya. Royal gives it a weakness to Gun to make it like all the other treasure demons.

timrodresized: The real Koh-i-noor is one of the British crown jewels, and is currently on display in the Tower of London. It’s one of the largest existing diamonds in the world.

timrodresized: Naturally, the British got it after annexing India, which had gained and lost it several times between when it was first mined in the 13th century and 1849, when it came into British possession.

timrodresized: Four countries hold claim over it - those being Iran, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. All four have demanded the return of the gem from the British government.

Morgana: “Just past this building. We’re definitely getting closer.”

Fox: “I find it somewhat odd that we have still yet to see anything about the mental shutdowns…”

Morgana: “Well, this Palace is on the site of the corporate HQ, remember? If he never told any employees about it, we may not find any hints toward his involvement.”

timrodresized: This part doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense. Why would it matter if Okumura told anyone when he would be the one who knows about the murders in the first place?

timrodresized: I mean, that would make sense if the palace was made from the thoughts of his employees and he just happens to rule it - but that’s not the case, this is entirely in Okumura’s brain.

Skull: “Worst comes to worst, we’re just gonna have to get that info outta the Shadow himself.”

Fox: “Anyway, let us hurry inside… I believe the factory comes next…”

timrodresized: I got into another fight with a Koh-i-noor and as it turns out, they’re worth a shitload of money if you kill them with an All-Out.

timrodresized: There’s two ways you can go in here - the obvious progress route, and then a second route up a small staircase onto some catwalks that doesn’t seem to go anywhere.

timrodresized: You can jump onto a catwalk from the stairs and grab a chest, and also find a vent that will take you to the second Will Seed room, except…

timrodresized: Why would we even need to? The party can kill most of the enemies here without even fighting them. Oh well, let’s go the other way.

Oracle: “Do you think it’s related to that ‘Escape to Utopia’ thing?”

Skull: “Hold on a sec. Ain’t the guys in here movin’ kinda weird…?”

Queen: “…Unfortunately, this is the exact opposite of how you would imagine a utopia to be.”

Noir: “These conveyor belts and the positioning of the workers… this is almost identical to the company’s bun factory… I can’t believe this.”

Fox: “At the very least, this is how Okumura views his workers. My apologies for saying so, Noir, but this is truly atrocious.”

Skull: “Well, it’ll all be under control if we can trigger that change of heart in him, yeah? Let’s go!”

timrodresized: You’ll immediately notice that big blue cylinder on the left. We’ll come back for that.

Skull: “Is this gonna be another one of them authenti-whatever things?”

timrodresized: Didn’t he know the word “authentication” in one of the earlier updates? I’m too lazy to look.

Oracle: “No, there’s no authentication here. Kinda anticlimactic, huh?”

Panther: “Well, the easier, the better, right? Let’s go!”

Panther: “Whoa! We almost got crushed!”

Skull: “That freakin’ hunk of metal broke way too goddamn easy!”

Fox: “There is no point in complaining at this point. We will be forced to search for another route.”

Morgana: “You’re right. Let’s find something that will get us past here.”

Queen: “Hmm, do you think we’d be able to make use of these fragile arms somehow?”

timrodresized: Now we can go back to the cylinder.

Mara: “Hah!”

Queen: “Huh… this is the control panel for that robotic arm. It seems we can use this to set it to either 3x, 5x, or 10x normal speed.”

Panther: “I bet it’d break if it was stuck on 10x speed for a long time.”

Skull: “It was dead like, instantly. I know it was 10x normal speed, but still… that’s weak.”

Queen: “That just proves how truly overworked these machines are.”

Fox: “It seems any increase in workload would have led to its collapse…”

timrodresized: Yusuke is right in that it doesn’t matter what you pick, the arm still breaks.

Noir: “Wait, but don’t you think we might be able to walk on the broken arm? We should check it out, Joker!”

timrodresized: A couple of new enemies show up here, one being Lilim. Bugs can easily instakill her with Kougaon.

timrodresized: If we cross the broken robot arm and go back toward the elevator instead of forward, there’s a server rack.

timrodresized: From there, all we have to do is grapple twice and we’re back at the top of that staircase from earlier.

timrodresized: If we go the other way, there’s a tunnel underneath some blocks we can use to progress. It’s right around here that I got the fusion alarm that let me fuse Mara.

timrodresized: Kumbhanda is also encounterable in this part of the dungeon.

timrodresized: And here’s that alarm I needed.

Returning Persona: Mara

Origin: Buddhism

First Appearance: Shin Megami Tensei I

Demon in Buddhist mythology who is essentially the Buddhist equivalent of Lucifer. Considered to be evil itself, they control people through lust and their fear of death. Is considered the ultimate obstacle to achieving nirvana. Penis imagery comes from a Sri Lankan story in which Mara tempts the Buddha with their daughters.

Mara: In some variations of the myth, I’m a goddess instead!

timrodresized: Mara also isn’t the only giant penis demon anymore. Royal added a Persona called Mishaguji, an ancient Shinto god of sex that is basically a giant sperm with legs.

timrodresized: I then itemize Bugs into a weapon for Makoto. A lot of the high-level Personas itemize into very good equipment, and it is in fact possible to break the game even more by doing so.

timrodresized: At 90 more attack and a crit bonus, we won’t be replacing these anytime soon.

timrodresized: Naturally, Makoto gets a ridiculous looking pair of bear gloves in combat.

timrodresized: The cylinders are color-coded, and we can see the arm it controls in the background.

timrodresized: Before we make progress, there’s a third cylinder that controls an arm way off in the distance.

timrodresized: The yellow arm leads to a new weapon for Haru.

timrodresized: Belphegor starts showing up in this room, and I believe it’s the only one in which he appears. Of course, we have Mara now, so…

Fox: “We will not be able to reach it without passing over what appears to be a hydraulic press…”

timrodresized: This is starting to sound like the intro to Legends of the Hidden Temple.

Skull: “We gotta do somethin’ about those before we get to the press.”

Morgana: “It’ll probably be a hassle, but I have a feeling it’s our only option. We need to turn off those infrared lasers and deactivate the hydraulic press. Let’s try to find some sort of controls for those.”

timrodresized: I don’t remember if the base game did this or not, but all of the switches in this palace get marked with giant check marks on the map so long as you’ve seen them - you don’t even need to interact.

Fox: “Wait… break is an option!?”

timrodresized: A Press Shift is that thing that Mot does in Nocturne where he gives himself infinite press turns.

timrodresized: Oh, so this is like Naughty Dog. Got it.

Skull: “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up! What the hell did it mean, ‘constant’!?”

Morgana: “Working unpaid overtime is just how these workers live, so setting it to that changes nothing.”

Oracle: “What a nightmare…”

Noir: “…”

Fox: “There is no benefit to us if nothing changes. We can likely ignore that option entirely.”

timrodresized: Ryuji looks at the machine. “Where’s my lunch!? I pressed the lunch button, where’s my lunch!?”

timrodresized: The timer on this is pretty generous as long as you’ve cleared the area out.

Music Run

timrodresized: They also got Shoji Meguro to do a fucking theme for when the timer is going, but couldn’t be bothered to do one for the three days Joker spends alone at home. Fuck this game.

timrodresized: Crossing the nearest press brings us to another switch.

Panther: “Should we set it to ‘Lunch’ again?”

Oracle: “Yup. Actually, I did some research into these… and the other two options are meaningless. ‘Break’ only lasted for like 5 seconds…”

Skull: “Five!? What the hell’re you supposed to do in five seconds!?”

Panther: “Take a deep breath?”

Fox: “Regardless, those options are no use to us. It’s probably best we simply choose ‘Lunch’ from now on.”

Panther: “Hold on, it looks like you can disable the infrared on this too.”

Oracle: “Aha! So this room is actually the one with the main console in it. We should prolly disable the infrared before setting it to ‘Lunch’.”

timrodresized: This seems ridiculous, but this actually happened in one place I worked at. The company was tanking so they got rid of all the security guards… which promptly caused them to lose the certifications they needed to keep their contracts with their clients going.

Skull: “Well, now we can get over to that hydraulic press, right?”

timrodresized: We get over with about 10 seconds to spare.

timrodresized: This door is one that you can clip through, which avoids a series of really easy fights. I was going to attempt it, but then in my hunger for fusion alarms I accidentally killed all the enemies on the floor.

timrodresized: The clip involves getting an enemy to chase you into geometry, fighting them, running from the battle and then using a smoke bomb to get the dalek thing to clip you into the floor.

Fox: “Hm, that is how it appears on the map as well. However, with the infrared sensor as it is, we cannot proceed.”

Queen: “Wait a moment. Don’t you think those robots over there are acting a little strange?”

Skull: “They’re still respectin’ him even though they prolly see coworkers collapse from gettin’ overworked…”

Queen: “It’s mind control. They’ve been purposely driven into a state of overadaptation.”

Skull: “Over…what?”

Fox: “When a person is continually faced with oppression, they come to welcome its presence. Such psychological trickery is being used here. I… experienced it first-hand for many years.”

Panther: “Fox…”

Noir: “So these robots exist because Father is aware that he’s exploiting his employees…”

timrodresized: Hashino, I get it already, please stop beating me over the head with it.

Morgana: “Yes. We should be careful though. I doubt we’ll be able to communicate with these ones. We’ll probably go straight into battle when we approach them. I suggest you prepare beforehand!”

timrodresized: We have all the preparation we need. Their name is Mara.

timrodresized: This opens a path near the arm we knocked down on our way in.

timrodresized: It doesn’t stop the yellow press, which we have to do a bit more work to get to.

timrodresized: There’s a weapon for Ryuji over here.

Morgana: “But we have to do this. I smell the Treasure somewhere past where they are. Brace yourselves!”

timrodresized: These robots are different from the ones we fought earlier in that they’re weak to psychic.

timrodresized: There’s three waves of these robots, and Joker destroys them in one hit with Mara.

Skull: “The heck? That was easy as hell…”

Morgana: “Well I mean, they’re overworked, brainwashed, AND forced to go up against an impossible enemy. I hope nobody ever treats me like that after I turn back into a human.”

timrodresized: These robots have learned the hard lesson that there is no winning when your opponent is a giant penis.

Noir: “…”

Panther: “C-Come on, let’s keep going! Don’t look so down, Noir!”

Fox: “The employees are being dumped in that incinerator!”

Queen: “No… they’re turning all of the worn-down robots into fuel… that means the power source running this factory…”

Noir: “It’s… people’s lives…”

timrodresized: Dammit, Hashino! I fucking get it! Japanese work culture sucks! Doing this kind of shit is why I checked out on the plot when I played this the first time!

timrodresized: I’m also wondering who had to restrain Hashino from having it so that Okumura is using the robots to make crystal skulls.

Panther: “Noir… are you okay?”

Noir: “I’m not…”

Panther: “Huh?”

Noir: “I’m not going to forgive my father for this! I can’t believe this is how he sees his workers! Let us go, everyone! We will change his heart, no matter what!”

Morgana: “Right! We’re with you all the way, Noir!”

timrodresized: And now we’re in the last area. I feel like this one was also made shorter in Royal, but I’m not so sure.

Fox: “Putting it lightly, I believe such an action would lead to our extermination.”

timrodresized: Nah, if Space Station 13 taught me anything it’s that all you need is a firesuit, an oxygen tank, and some coffee and you’ll be fine.

Oracle: “Wellllll, apparently you’ll be okay for like thirty seconds if you keep your eyes and mouth shut. Which is weird, because honestly, I woulda thought we’d just explode out there.”

Skull: “Don’t scare us, dammit!”

timrodresized: At this point, we’ve had an alarm sitting around for a while and I wanted to use it. Kali has fallen a long way from Innocent Sin, where she used to be what was essentially Yukino’s ultimate Persona.

image

Returning Persona: Kali

Origin: India

First Appearance: Megami Tensei I

Hindu goddess associated with death, time, and destruction. An aspect of Durga, who was Yukino’s Ultimate Persona in 1 and Innocent Sin. Modern Hinduism changes her portrayal as a violent goddess who represents time and change.

timrodresized: We then fuse Kali with Mara to make Baal, who I’ve somehow wound up using in every Persona game I’ve LPed.

Returning Persona: Baal

Origin: Syria

First Appearance: Megami Tensei I

Baal is a Semitic word meaning “lord” or “master”, and does not refer to a single entity. The portrayal of Baal in the Megami Tensei games is actually a Canaanite god called Hadad, who was associated with rain, agriculture, and fertility.

timrodresized: Baal is basically a better Mara. Ayamur is his signature skill - it’s a single target physical attack that hits three times and has a 95% hit rate… which is better than a lot of similar skills.

timrodresized: He also starts with Panta Rhei, which is the best single-target wind spell in the game. I made a mistake here by not sacrificing to him to get Vacuum Wave instead.

timrodresized: I also replaced Matarukaja with Wind Amp and re-summoned Mara because I still need him for Mapsiodyne.

timrodresized: During a fusion alarm, Baal itemizes into what is probably Haru’s best gun. We will be doing this in November, because we’re already low on money and the palace sucks for farming.

timrodresized: The only door in this area is locked, so it’s time to do the Final Rush thing.

timrodresized: The console here lets us unlock the doors and progress.

timrodresized: The side room that we passed by earlier has an itemized tetrakarn in it. We’ll be making good use of that later.

Queen: “To think we’d end up flying through space…the awe I felt at seeing that flying bank feels like a distant memory at this point.”

timrodresized: And this is where we find this area’s gimmick.

Morgana: “I hope we can reach our goal with just the ones that are on…”

Oracle: “Hmm… we need to get past here, though. Guess we can’t just sit around. Let’s keep going.”

timrodresized: Welcome to the gimmick. The airlock field has two types of airlocks: Alpha and Omega. The switches control which one of those is active.

timrodresized: However, what’s not immediately obvious is there’s a third airlock type - those being orange airlocks. Orange airlocks are unlocked at specific switches (which still function as the ordinary alpha/omega switches) and stay unlocked even if their letter is turned off.

timrodresized: Two new enemies show up here: Mithras (seen above) and Kaiwan, who we fused a while back.

New Persona: Mithras

Origin: Rome

First Appearance: Soul Hackers

Roman sun god about whom little is known. His worshippers, known as Mithraites, were persecuted by the early Christians and very few written records about the religion remain. Believed to have been born out of a rock and is often portrayed slaying a bull. Worship of Mithras was popular in the Roman army.

timrodresized: We want Mithras because he itemizes into Nuke Boost and Nuke Amp.

Noir: “There is something written above each one. These symbols…”

timrodresized: Here’s a map of this first area. It’s not too complicated.

timrodresized: This little dead end room in the middle has the switch that controls the airlock we need to progress… and also the one that lets us access the last Will Seed.

Noir: “Don’t give us that! Your so-called training is nothing more than torture! Let’s go, everyone!”

timrodresized: When I got here, I hadn’t really used Mara a whole lot - at least, not for the purpose I built him for. You can see that even tossing out Agidyne, Ann is barely registering damage.

timrodresized: Melchizedek gets one hit off, casting an enemy-only spell that causes Hunger. Hunger is pretty much exclusive to Okumura’s dungeon, is very hard to fix, and cuts damage by like 75%.

timrodresized: My plan was to use Mara to charge and then do One-Shot Kill to see how much damage it did.

timrodresized: The answer is roughly 2500 damage, killing Melchizedek in one hit. Despite the name, One-Shot Kill is merely a high damage gun skill, and Melchizedek is not weak to gun damage, nor did I have a baton pass active.

timrodresized: I would’ve used Baal instead, but I think I just kind of forgot I had him.

timrodresized: The special switches are highlighted in orange, which is a detail I did not notice in the base game and as a result made everything take longer.

Panther: “That was simple! Let’s keep blazing a path through here!”

Oracle: “Once we pass through this airlock, the Treasure’ll be right in front of us.”

Skull: “Sweet! …Uh, but this one ain’t workin’… I guess we’ll just hafta find another switch, huh?”

Noir: “That could very well be the only way. Let’s do what we can.”

timrodresized: There’s only one active airlock in this room, so let’s go for it.

timrodresized: This part introduces the final gimmick of this dungeon - green airlocks. These are basically Persona 5’s version of those one-way doors you see in the mainline SMT games and Persona 1.

timrodresized: They’re on a separate cycle from the regular airlocks and switch when you go through one - so in this case, going through the Alpha airlock would close all the green Alpha airlocks and open the green Omega ones.

timrodresized: One thing I think is kind of badly designed about this part is that if you don’t notice the orange switches, there’s no reason to touch them because you can get pretty much anywhere without them.

timrodresized: Here’s a map of the floor. The orange switch is the one at the very top, where you can see the footsteps coming out of.

Queen: “So this is where they’re being used.”

Panther: “But what are they…? It’s hard to tell just from looking…”

Skull: “Dude, let’s leave the factory tour for later. We gotta focus on the Treasure right now!”

Morgana: “Huh. It’s rare to hear Skull say something sensible…”

Fox: “But we haven’t found any information about the mental collapses. That bothers me…”

Panther: “Oh yeah, you’re right.”

Skull: “Maybe he’s hidin’ it? We got this far. Wouldn’t it be better to just squeeze the truth outta the guy?”

Noir: “That plan is fine by me.”

Morgana: “Let’s send out the calling card and take his Treasure then.”

timrodresized: The update’s going to abruptly cut off here, because I didn’t do my due diligence. Actually, the guide author didn’t. Have I mentioned that I reported them to GameFAQs for plagiarism and was told it’s perfectly acceptable to steal entire charts from a Japanese guide without credit? They only seem to give a shit if there’s an actual copyright issue.

timrodresized: Anyway, there’s an optional scene with Hifumi that is supposed to happen tonight… but even without that extra reading, we wouldn’t have gotten it. In order to get it, you have to be Rank 8 and have no extra points with Hifumi beyond those you got from the Rank 8 event, unless that was changed in Royal.

timrodresized: Fortunately, I was able to find a recording of it from the base game on Youtube. You can see that here. You know what? I’ll download the video and take screenshots too.

timrodresized: That’s not the only scene with Hifumi that’s extremely hard to get. There’s a second one on 10/10 that requires you to be Rank 9, on the romance route, read the “Theme Park Escort” book to unlock Destinyland, and to have zero extra points with Hifumi. This one’s also on Youtube: you can see it here. The guide doesn’t even acknowledge that this scene exists.

timrodresized: This means that what I actually wound up doing in-game was Hifumi’s Rank 10. I’ll have to make a minor schedule change to accomodate this: we’ll be doing Sojiro’s confidant on the night we’d normally do her Rank 10, because he has no optional events.

timrodresized: Next time, we’ll discard the one lesson we learned from Ni no Kuni 2 and do a boss fight on Extreme… because it’s so badly designed that it’s actually easier that way.

Hifumi: “This means at times, retreating is an effective strategy in order to attack with your next move.”

timrodresized: I hope you’re ready to see the QUALITY translation the base game had.

Hifumi: “I’ve read all my textbooks… where can I gain knowledge that I have yet to discover…? Oh, never mind. May I request a match?”

timrodresized: This is why I didn’t like Morgana in the base game, because holy FUCK are his portraits bad. Royal improved them and I appreciate that.

Hifumi: “Indeed, that place may have knowledge that I have yet to discover… well then, let’s go there right away.”

Hifumi: “…But look at all these books. It’s not going to be easy to find.”

Hifumi: “Yes, you’re right. I have no intention of giving up easily. I’ll do my best to look for it. It would make me happy if you could assist me.”

Hifumi: “…Rather than search blindly, we should study the shelves and come up with a strategy. First, let’s get an idea of how books are arranged here. Is it by title, or by author…?”

timrodresized: I like to think that there’s a stack right behind Hifumi with a giant shogi piece sign on it reading “SHOGI STRATEGY GUIDES” in five different languages.

Hifumi: “Let’s take a good look around the store to fully understand the layout. I’d also like to find a book about shogi problems as well. I’ll explain while we search.”

Hifumi: “Now then… if we approach this methodically, we’ll find them. I appreciate your assistance.”

image

Oh no, Okumura wants to escape climate change by building Martian colonies.

Wow, wtf? Were they like “Everyone knows Girimekhala repels physical by now, we need to turn it up a notch”? How do you work around it?

Sweatshop is a rad song, but kinda repetitive.

And for those keeping score at home, Persona 5 is still batting a thousand with sexually menacing the female party members.

There’s a couple of accessories that null rage, and at this point it’s not as big a deal because of Endure - everyone but Haru and Joker will survive the reflect with 1 HP. The best insurance policy for it is probably to carry around a couple of the magatamas you can buy from Tanaka that deal 150 bless damage on use.

Alternatively, you could switch to the starting weapons for each character (which aren’t sellable so you’ll always have them) and intentionally lower your physical damage so there’s no way the reflect can kill you.

I’m going to admit that I’m giggling at how Haru will, with her Persona, fight with beauty and justice and a GODDAMN MOUND OF GUNS AND MISSILES. Also I’m a sucker for dramatic hats with plumes.

Too bad the knowledge that Mothman is elementally weak to Gun can’t help Richard Gere now.

Also it’s a shame you can’t just bluff your way past fighting the robots as they obviously can’t take time away from their duty to handle security matters. Make it all dialog puzzles to find the ones who have the keycards.

Click Here for Update 69

Ushimaru: “It’d spell the end of this country if kids started wanting to become more like the Phantom Thieves. You’re already in your second year of high school. You should have a clear vision of your future.”

Ushimaru: “If you’re looking for safety and stability, a civil servant is a good option. Hey, Kurusu. I bet you think that civil service is all office work… but the fishermen of Nagaragawa are actually civil servants as well. So, tell me which sector they belong to.”

timrodresized: A bit of context here. Nagaragawa is a river in Gifu City, and the fishermen there used to be (and technically still are) the Emperor’s official fishermen. They use a special method called “ukai” which involves the use of trained cormorants to catch fish - the birds are stopped from swallowing them via snares around their necks.

timrodresized: The practice has been criticized for being cruel to the birds, and I can see why.

Ushimaru: “Oho… I’m impressed you knew that. Only the cormorant fishermen of Nagaragawa are officially used by the imperial household. Those fishermen are granted spots on the Imperial Household Agency’s Board of Ceremonies.”

Ushimaru: “That said, you can’t break into that industry even if you wanted to since it’s a hereditary occupation. If you want a government job, try for a spot in the Diet - though some may say that’s hereditary too.”

timrodresized: Just imagine being the person whose parents go “It’s time for you to learn the family trade of using a bunch of angry cormorants to fish and then picking the fish out of their gullets.”

Ushimaru: “I’m honestly fed up with politicians these days. Isn’t there anyone who seriously wants to improve this country?”

Morgana: “Oh yeah, they said on the news that the cabinet’s approval rating went down again. They’re the complete opposite of us. Our popularity and approval have been going through the roof.”

Haru: “Oh? I’m the first one here?”

Morgana: “Yep, you’ve got 'em all beat.”

Haru: “I see… actually, this may have been a stroke of good luck - there’s something that I want to discuss with you.”

Haru: “Mmhm.”

Morgana: “What’s the situation?”

Haru: “I’ve been thinking - I want to be more helpful to the Phantom Thieves. So I came up with a new approach to fighting in hopes of making it a regular strategy in our battles… but I need your help to make it happen, Mona-chan.”

Morgana: “Oho! Me, eh? Well, if you need me, then who am I to turn you down?”

Haru: “Thank you!”

timrodresized: I’m going to have to borrow footage again, because I could not get Haru’s showtime to proc and the next time we’d have a chance isn’t until November.

timrodresized: In hindsight, I probably should’ve thought of just removing everyone who isn’t Haru or Morgana from the party. Anyway, their Showtime is called “Drive Hard” (a reference to Die Hard) in English and Best Night Kid (a reference to The Karate Kid, which was used for Ann and Yusuke’s Showtime in English instead) in Japanese.

timrodresized: I think this is also the only Showtime where I like the English name better.

timrodresized: I am very glad you never really see that facial expression on Haru because it looks like she’s trying to be Tatsuya Sudou.

timrodresized: It’s hard to see in screenshots, but she’s firing rockets out of her grenade launcher. I was EXTREMELY disappointed that she didn’t attempt to ride the rockets like Dante.

timrodresized: This Showtime is by far the shortest one, and also probably the least interesting visually. I mean, Morgana’s barely even in it.

Morgana: “Haru… sometimes, the stuff you come up with honestly scares me.”

Haru: “Oh… it’s absolutely fine if you don’t want to…”

Morgana: “Not another word - I’ll do it! You deserve only the grandest of performances!”

Haru: “…Great! Thank you, Mona-chan! I wonder if the Star will grant us our wish…”

timrodresized: I have to wonder now if this happens every time someone comes up with a Showtime - did Joker just randomly have his pocket glow during the last couple of these scenes?

Ann: “But she’s new to the team, right? Shouldn’t we do what we did for Yusuke and Makoto?”

Makoto: “Ah, you mean the Phantom Thief Basic Training. There’s much we need to teach her.”

Haru: “Please do!”

timrodresized: The basic training is just watching a bunch of anime.

Ryuji: “Someone’s excited.”

Morgana: “Then again, I already told her about the gist of things. What other stuff should we talk about…?”

Haru: “Oh, about how we defeated my fiance in there… will that have any effect on my father?”

timrodresized: Something we’ll see in a bit with the boss fight is that the whole “Escape to Utopia” thing is a metaphor for Okumura’s political ambition, and one thing I wondered was why they couldn’t have just brainfucked Haru’s fiance in Mementos or something.

timrodresized: I mean, it wouldn’t do anything about Haru’s dad being Dessler, but it would effectively stop the marriage, and also probably his political ambitions.

Futaba: “Nope. They did something similar in my Palace, but I’m perfectly fine.”

Haru: “I-Is that so…?”

Ann: “That might have just been a coincidence. Usually cognitive people look totally different. The version of me in Kamoshida’s castle was terrible.”

Yusuke: “Ah, and the version of me at the museum was a painting, not even a person.”

Haru: “Now that you mention it, why isn’t there a cognitive version of me? Is it somewhere in there?”

timrodresized: This dialog wasn’t changed for Royal, and in the base game, there was no cognitive Haru. In Royal, however…

Morgana: “Well, I could imagine a couple of reasons why we haven’t seen it… but I don’t think you’d like them.”

Haru: “…”

Futaba: “Come on, don’t think about that stuff. Anyways, if a dude’s cognition can change the scenery or even the people in the Palace…”

timrodresized: It’s like the writers don’t want you to know that Persona 1 existed.

Futaba: “Man, Palaces are super promising! My greatest hopes and dreams might still come true! Well, that’s kinda impossible this time, hehehe… but maybe we should try in the future?”

timrodresized: I mean, that’s basically what the Thieves Den is.

Makoto: sigh “…In any case, if Haru followed that conversation, there’s nothing else we need to teach her.”

Ryuji: “All right, let’s do this!”

Makoto: “We will entrust this to you, Haru.”

Yusuke: “If he notices the calling card, then yes. Are you afraid of doing this to your own father?”

Haru: “To be honest… a little.”

Yusuke: “Try to recall your anger. It will guide you in the right direction.”

Haru: “…So we’re carrying out this plan tomorrow?”

Ryuji: “All right. No stayin’ up late tonight then.”

timrodresized: We can’t do anything else tonight, so let’s play some games. First though, if you are playing this yourself, SET THE DIFFICULTY TO MERCILESS. Right now. Do it.

timrodresized: The reason we want to do this is because the upcoming boss fight was re-balanced for Royal, and is pretty broken. It’s actually easier on Merciless than it is on Normal.

Morgana: “Something about trying to become the sixth Phoenix Ranger… I don’t know much about the TV series, but this looks like a game you can really sink your teeth into! Let’s become a Phoenix Ranger!”

Morgana: “Whoa, they really know how to get you pumped up! Is this… a lab? That person in front of the computer looks like a scientist.”

Morgana: “Training, huh… I guess you can’t become a hero if you don’t put in the effort.”

timrodresized: This game gives you a series of inputs to memorize, and then makes you repeat it with a time limit. There’s a book you can get at some point (I think it might be available now, actually) that makes these easier, and I’m not sure how it affects this game.

Morgana: “Oh, the scenery changed. Hmm… is this a waste disposal facility?”

timrodresized: This is, of course, a blatant reference to Innocent Sin.

Morgana: “So this training is preparing us for real combat. All right, let’s get the Abberant!”

Morgana: “…This guy’s pretty chipper about being a threat to the planet’s safety, huh?”

Morgana: “Here it comes! Get your controller ready!”

Morgana: “This is our chance! Wind Punch!”

Morgana: “Oh yeah! A big win! Hey, we’re back in the laboratory.”

Okumura: “Your success and global fame exists due to the tyranny you rain over your employees. Thus, we have decided to make you confess all your crimes with your own mouth. Hmph.”

timrodresized: Sae is off in that cafe somewhere screaming “Damn that John Persona! I’m gonna find that John Persona, and when I do…”

Okumura: “…I must take care of this before it becomes a problem.”

Okumura: “Don’t make me repeat myself. Give it to the police. That’s an order. These scoundrels have threatened me. Aren’t the police supposed to side with law-abiding citizens?”

timrodresized: I like to think the person on the other end replies: “Uh, sir? The calling card is physically in your hand. I can’t give it to the police if I don’t actually have it.”

timrodresized: This was pretty much my reaction to the FF7 remake. I tried it just now and I think the combat is boring.

Okumura: “This matter is urgent. Take care of it at once.”

Haru: “I need to let everyone know about this…”

timrodresized: And now, let’s completely break the pacing by having one of Kawakami’s free time events.

timrodresized: Destiny Land is a location that has not been in a Megami Tensei game since the original Shin Megami Tensei. In SMT 1, it was a location you’d visit a lot because it was the easiest way to adjust your alignment. It was also where you met up with Pascal after the apocalypse.

timrodresized: Interesting fact I didn’t know about it, there were cut sprites in the SNES version of SMT 1 for an evil Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

Morgana: “It’s a hugely popular spot that’s great for families and even going on dates… I could never go there myself though. You have to invite someone or it’d just be too lonely.”

Morgana: “You should invite someone to go there with you sometime. Oh, don’t go without me!”

Yusuke: “This is different from normal. He has some nerve, delivering the calling card to the police himself.”

Makoto: “Either he’s certain his heart won’t be changed, or he’s colluded with the police from the beginning…”

Haru: “As strange as it is for me to say… I could see that being the case.”

Morgana: “They’re just saying whatever they want. At this point all they care about is seeing those in power beg for forgiveness.”

Ann: “Dammit! This isn’t a game!”

timrodresized: I mean, it kinda is.

Yusuke: “The means and the ends have been reversed. We’re starting to be seen purely as entertainment…”

Ryuji: “But we gotta do this! We can’t just drop everything now!”

Yusuke: “Considering the existence of the Palace, his desires are indeed distorted… in a sense, the earlier we pull the root, the better…”

Makoto: “And given the issue concerning Haru’s fiance, we don’t have another choice in the matter…”

timrodresized: You do though, provided that the fiance exists in Mementos.

Ryuji: “If we don’t… then everything we been doin’ up until now would just be for nothing!”

Haru: “I believe this is best too. After hearing my father speak… I saw no remorse in him.”

Morgana: “Ryuji and Haru are right. Honestly, everything the public is talking about does bother me a little… but Okumura may just be the one behind the mental collapses. We can’t leave this be.”

Futaba: “I feel like he’s hiding something. Something big…”

Haru: “True… and we already sent the calling card, after all.”

timrodresized: I feel like they really could’ve cut down on a lot of this exposition.

Morgana: “Is that… the frisbee Skull mentioned before? That’s what they’re making here!?”

Panther: “The SS Utopia!?”

Queen: “Project: Escape to Utopia… so this is what that was about.”

Noir: “Father did say he was going to ascend into the political world…”

Fox: “So even this company is a stepping stone for him… he will discard this place for his ‘utopia’…”

Skull: “Wait up… if he gets outta here, we’re not gonna be able to make him tell us about the shutdowns!”

Oracle: “You’re right… we gotta hurry! I think we can go further in now!”

timrodresized: And now we’ve gone from Final Rush to Metal Harbor.

timrodresized: Seriously though, this is less Dessler and more Dreamcast-era Robotnik. I’m expecting Joker to pull out a pair of soaps any minute now.

Queen: “There’s no time! We need to hurry!”

Oracle: “Over here!”

timrodresized: We’re now on a 10-minute timer to get up to where Okumura went, and there’s enemies all over these narrow platforms.

timrodresized: There’s a chest here, but we can get that later without the enemy being in the way.

Skull: “No way! We ain’t got time for that! We gotta plow through 'em!”

timrodresized: This part is pretty badly signposted, especially if you played the base game. In the base game, you had to go down this hallway and there were three mandatory encounters in it.

Queen: “Are you even thinking!? If we use up all of our energy now, we may as well toss our entire plan!”

Panther: “Hold on, guys! Calm down.”

timrodresized: If the boss fight was still identical to the base game’s, I would have no problem killing everything in this corridor. However, that’s not the case.

Oracle: “Nothing’s blocking our path now - all we need is a way to get over there. Hey, Joker! See any spots you can use your grappling hook on?”

timrodresized: If we instead run back out and go up to where that chest was, a grappling point mysteriously appears. This isn’t here if you come up here before entering the hallway.

Noir: “Father…”

Dessler: “Haru, you were always so agreeable. Whether it was in school or after, you only ever did as I said… you’ve become so admirable…”

Queen: “What’s gotten into him?”

Dessler: “Ah yes. Do you remember, Haru? You cried your eyes out when my work kept me from attending your first sports day. It was then that you stopped talking back to me.”

Dessler: “Honestly… you had me worried. Still, you stood up against me and became an independent young woman… nothing could make a father happier than seeing that!”

Noir: “You still remember something that happened so long ago? Back then, you poured your heart into making delicious food. You wanted to bring joy to others… why did you change?”

Dessler: “F-Forgive me, Haru… but I would never last if my Treasure was stolen! Please don’t do it, I’m begging you!”

timrodresized: Haru is probably the least genre-savvy person in this game.

timrodresized: This is so fucking stupid.

Dessler: " ‘Overcome failure at any cost, even if it means betraying others’… that is our family motto! The cold reality of kicking people down is part of business! Virtues and sentiment are for losers."

Dessler: “What happiness can be found in acting with justice but losing the battle?”

Noir: “What happiness can be found through profit gained by crushing the hearts of others!?”

Dessler: “Better that than fail! I’d much rather destroy others than wallow in the misery of debt! Regardless, I shall soon set sail into the political realm.”

timrodresized: From a writing perspective, making Okumura cartoonishly evil was a mistake. We’ll see why right after the fight’s over.

Dessler: “Make your decision, Haru. If you cast them away, I’ll let you join me on this ship. Stay, and you will be incinerated along with this entire base. Now then, what is your choice!?”

Dessler: “What about you there? Don’t you want to get out of here alive? Want to board my ship? You’re fighting against the others, are you not?”

Morgana: “Hmph. So you were spying on us.”

Dessler: “You’ll gain nothing by staying with them… that’s what you believe, isn’t it? You are absolutely right. Sell them out! Cut them off for your own personal gain! I’ll even give you the switch once we take off.”

timrodresized: What’s kind of funny to me in hindsight about this scene is that Lupin III does something almost identical in Part 5, which didn’t come out until 2018.

timrodresized: The difference there is that the evil CEO is basically Mark Zuckerberg and has used the power of Facebook (in AI form) to try to entice Goemon to break up with Lupin.

Dessler: “So, do we have a deal? I’ll give you ten seconds. Time is money, after all.”

timrodresized: Like the pizza burger, or a consolized Naomi 2.

timrodresized: Joker could probably just break out of that field with Mara.

Mara: “Hope you like balls, Okumura, because you’re about to get really close to some of mine!”

timrodresized: We’re now put on a 30-minute time limit. The timer ticks down constantly, unless you are switching Personas.

timrodresized: In the base game, this fight consisted of Okumura summoning random robots - he’d always start with a wave of these ones, then would progress to the bigger ones like the Chief Clerk, Section Director, and Chief Director.

timrodresized: Reason one why this fight sucks. Royal changed it so that Okumura will direct his robots to attack a single target. He has lines for every character:

Dessler: “The obnoxious blonde one!” (Ryuji)

Dessler: “The slutty-looking woman in red!” (Ann)

Dessler: “That…bizarre, black-and-white thing!” (Morgana)

Dessler: “The barbaric, dark-haired woman!” (Makoto)

Dessler: “The oddball with the fox mask!” (Yusuke)

Dessler: “The pompous man in the black coat!” (Joker)

timrodresized: Even if you knock all the enemies down, you do not get an All-Out, presumably because Okumura is still… sitting.

timrodresized: Reason two this fight sucks in Royal: it adds a Gamilian Haru to the fight.

Noir: “Huh!? M-Me!?”

Noir: “Basically… that’s my father’s cognitive version of me…”

Oracle: “Hey guys, don’t let this get to you! Just remember: once we take Okumura down, it’ll all be over. Let’s wrap this up quick!”

Noir: “Even more!?”

Noir: “Happiness based on the sacrifices of others isn’t true happiness…!”

timrodresized: Oh, right. This part is from an earlier cut where I was playing on Normal. I should also explain why you want do this fight on Merciless.

timrodresized: I’ve explained this before, but Merciless works by increasing enemy damage by 60% (to 1.6x) and decreasing the damage you do by 35% (it was 15% in the base game).

timrodresized: However, Merciless also greatly increases the multiplier for critical hits and elemental weakness hits - I think in Normal it’s 2x, whereas in Merciless it’s 3x. Therefore, assuming you’re hitting elemental weaknesses, you’ll actually do more damage than you would otherwise.

timrodresized: On Merciless, this would have instakilled the robots.

timrodresized: I really like the visual effect for Psiodyne and Mapsiodyne.

timrodresized: At this point, Okumura will begin debuffing the party’s defense and buffing the robots.

timrodresized: One thing I neglected to mention earlier is that the Chief Clerk has a second weakness - that being Nuclear.

timrodresized: Again, on Merciless, this would’ve been a one hit kill. We’re about to see where this fight starts to suck.

timrodresized: Another round of buffs and debuffs. Now, in the base game, you have all the time you want to take out the robots - so long as you’re within the time limit, of course.

timrodresized: My strategy here was pretty simple - have Makoto and Haru remove the robots resistance to Psychic and Nuclear so they can do damage, and then hit them with Panta Rhei and let Makoto and Haru clean up.

timrodresized: Here’s why this strategy doesn’t work. This is an ability Okumura has called Sacrifice Order.

timrodresized: Sacrifice Order was an ability Okumura had in the base game, which causes one of the robots to go into a salute. It will then blow up on its next turn, doing damage to the entire party.

timrodresized: These robots have a shitload of HP, and even after Panta Rhei, a Concentrated Mafreila, and Haru and Ann using Mapsio and Maragion, we can’t take the fuckers down.

timrodresized: This is from my first take still, so I think I had only actually used Panta Rhei once before determining it didn’t really do enough damage to justify the SP cost.

timrodresized: The speedrun gets past this part by spamming Cyclone Magatamas, which will hit weakness and still initiate a Baton Pass even though they’re an item.

timrodresized: Okay, that’s bad, but I can still fix that. These robots are fucking dead on the next turn.

timrodresized: Wait, what?

timrodresized: This? This right here is why this fight fucking sucks in Royal. If you don’t kill all four robots (or at least, the three that don’t have Sacrifice Order on them) the remaining robots will run, and Okumura will summon another wave.

timrodresized: Unlike Madarame’s boss fight, there is no mechanic where you can bypass this - he will continue summoning until you kill them all.

timrodresized: At this point, the fight is no longer winnable. Time to reset and go to Merciless.

timrodresized: On Merciless, Panta Rhei goes from doing around 350 damage to instantly killing the robots. You can carry over a baton pass from the last wave and use it on Joker to really boost his damage.

timrodresized: Oh, right. The reason that Merciless works is that the robots only have physical attacks… and since you’re going to be killing them extremely quickly anyway, they won’t get very many off.

timrodresized: The intended solution for this, as far as I can tell, is that the game expects that you’ve maxed Hifumi’s confidant by this point and can switch party members freely, so you can start with Morgana and then switch him out later.

timrodresized: This wave is basically identical to the last one, except the robots are bigger blobs of HP.

timrodresized: Because they’re weak to Psychic, you want to have Haru use Mapsio and then Baton Pass to Joker, who follows up with Mapsiodyne. This part would probably suck if I didn’t have that.

timrodresized: This is from my second recording, which was also not successful because of a gamble I took and lost. Okumura manages to put Hunger on everyone but Ann, which I’m just able to recover from.

timrodresized: The Execurobo is the one part of this fight that kinda sucks on Merciless. It has no weaknesses - it’s completely neutral to everything.

timrodresized: It also oneshots people. There’s an easy workaround for this - Haru knows Tetrakarn, so she can just put it up on whoever the robot is targeting and reflect its attacks.

timrodresized: Meanwhile, Baal uses One Shot Kill (you can transfer Charge and Concentrate between Personas) and does over half the robot’s HP in one go. We want to use this instead of Ayamur because One Shot Kill has a high crit chance, and can thus bypass the damage reduction on Merciless.

timrodresized: From this point onward, Okumura will use Big Bang Order on the robot every turn to give it Charge and Concentrate.

timrodresized: You’re supposed to guard against it, but what happened was that I figured I could get another charged One Shot Kill off and finish the robot off before it could use it. Instead, One Shot Kill didn’t crit and I was just short on damage.

timrodresized: By the way, there’s a mechanic here the game never explains where if someone gets hit by Hunger, Big Bang Challenge will fully restore their HP and remove the Hunger effect. The problem is that Harisen Recovery will usually kick in by that point.

timrodresized: On my third run, I start using Tetrakarn, which does work except that Haru still dies to the first Big Bang Challenge. The Execurobo can also put up a magic barrier - which isn’t a big deal because Ann and Joker are both immune to their own magic.

timrodresized: Finally, we get a Showtime and kill the fucking thing. In the base game, this was where the fight ended.

Oracle: “Is that the last of the minions? Let’s finish him, Joker!”

timrodresized: The Haru-bot is the final fuck you that Royal throws at you in this fight.

Oracle: “I can’t believe this guy! A child isn’t some kinda puppet or tool to be used!”

timrodresized: As far as I can tell, there’s no way to actually kill the Haru-bot. Like the Execurobo, she’s not weak to anything.

Oracle: “No way! Okumura’s even willing to sacrifice his own daughter!?”

Noir: “…Everyone, let’s destroy it before it can self-destruct!”

Oracle: “But, Noir… that’s…”

timrodresized: I mean, this might have some impact if you knew that killing the Haru-bot would fuck Okumura up somehow, but it doesn’t, so it doesn’t.

Noir: “I am no longer my father’s subservient puppet! The real me is standing right here, opposing him!”

timrodresized: The reason I don’t think it’s possible to kill the Haru-bot is that you have exactly two turns to do it. Even with a One-Shot Kill crit from a Persona that is quite literally double the boss’s level (Okumura is level 43) I don’t think you can do enough damage.

timrodresized: That’s not to say I didn’t try. Ayamur does a shitload of damage, but it’s just not enough. I don’t think it would’ve been enough even on Normal.

timrodresized: At this point, Okumura can no longer resist us. He won’t do anything, and one hit from anything will kill him. However, given how shit this fight is, I think there’s only one appropriate way to end this.

Mara: “Somebody’s getting bonerslammed!”

timrodresized: We don’t even give a shit about levels anymore, except for maybe Futaba so she can recover people’s SP. The only thing we give a shit about is money… which is kind of ironic given that we just fought Mammon.

Dessler: “I will contact your fiance and rescind the marriage offer. This may be the end for Okumura Foods…”

Noir: “Father…”

Skull: “You were behind all the breakdowns and mental shutdowns, weren’t you?”

Dessler: “I admit, I spent large sums of money to help my company grow, and to crush business competitors…”

Skull: “Answer me, dammit! Did you do it or not!?”

Morgana: “Requests!? Then there really is a mysterious criminal in people’s Palaces after all!”

Queen: “So it’s true…”

Noir: “What kind of contract did you form… and with whom?”

Skull: “C’mon, stop cryin’ and tell us!”

timrodresized: The Palace starts breaking apart, even though we don’t have the Treasure yet.

Morgana: “Dammit, why now!? Mr. CEO, can’t you stop that thing!? Oh well… we can’t just throw our lives away like this. Look! Up there!”

Panther: “Huh?”

Morgana: “There’s one more thing you need to tell us. Have you seen this criminal’s face before?”

Skull: “We don’t got time to get that outta him!”

Queen: “We’ll just have to inquire about it back in the real world.”

Morgana: “Don’t worry, he’ll be fine! We’ll end up dead if we’re not out of here soon though!”

timrodresized: There’s a silenced gunshot from off-screen, and a small explosion of black… which is really hard to see because Desslermura’s outfit is all black.

timrodresized: This is kind of a plot hole when you consider that the killer would have needed to be in this room (the blast doors closed after we got in) and have done this in the like, ten seconds between when Haru left and when the palace fully collapsed.

timrodresized: It’s also not entirely clear where they would’ve been hiding. The gunshot comes from the left, meaning that it’s unlikely the killer was hiding behind the ramp… and the rest of the room is wide open.

Oracle: “Probably not… actually, I think it’s impossible!”

Skull: “We’re countin’ on ya, Mona!”

Morgana: sigh “We did a great job in there.”

Ann: “You know Morgana, you seemed almost normal when you took the Treasure.”

Morgana: “Oh? The truth behind the mental shutdowns remains unsolved though. Okumura wasn’t the culprit. Still, he did mention request people to be eliminated. He has to know who’s responsible.”

timrodresized: Game, I just saw this in the last scene, there’s really no need to point this out again.

Haru: “Mm…”

Futaba: “Mom…”

timrodresized: Futaba has realized that Haru is now a member of the orphan club.

timrodresized: I was trying to figure out what this said to see if it was a Yamato reference (it definitely is) and got as far as realizing the orange text says “Galaxy” before realizing it says “Galaxy War Series” in English in the top right under the kanji.

Ann: “His Treasure… was a plastic model kit?”

Makoto: “What’s the matter?”

Haru: “I remember Father telling me something before he changed… he said there was a model kit he really wanted back when he was a child. But no matter how much he begged my grandfather, he never got it.”

timrodresized: So wait, this was one of those Paranoia Agent “girl destroys Japan because she lied about her dog” things?

Ryuji: “Your family could get like, a thousand of those kits though.”

Haru: “Okumura Foods has been around for generations, but it was a small company until my father took over. My grandfather was a good man, but not the best businessman.”

Haru: “He’d even lend money with no collateral… it seems the debt collectors were a frequent presence when my father was young.”

Yusuke: “That must be why… why Okumura was so willing to pursue his own happiness at the expense of others.”

Yusuke: “It is a staggering price. I’ve heard this can happen to collector’s items, but still…”

timrodresized: Welcome to game collecting. This is why I don’t collect games.

Ryuji: “People’re gonna pay that much for a plastic toy!?”

Haru: “By the way… when exactly is the change of heart supposed to happen?”

timrodresized: I mean, given how fast it happened in Innocent Sin, he’s probably already braindead. Though naturally, it’ll take Okumura until the 12th to die.

Morgana: “Soon. That’s all we know. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens until then. Once he has his change of heart, we’ll surely be able to find out who’s behind the mental shutdowns.”

SIU Director: “Okumura was not fit for the political world to begin with. He should have just behaved himself… of course. Without fail, sir. I’ve requested that he handle the matter.”

SIU Director: “Arrangements have been made. A sudden mental shutdown will occur at just the right time. We’ll dispose of our disappointing connection and the Phantom Thieves at once. Two birds with one stone.”

timrodresized: This is them trying to explain how Okumura’s shadow dies today but he doesn’t actually die until the end of the arc.

Morgana: “I was way too worried about who I am, and how I don’t compare to other members of our group. Turns out I just don’t have any guts, huh?”

Morgana: “Come on, I’ve known you long enough. No need to be modest. I think the reason I was so hung up on wanting to be human is because I needed a goal of my own.”

Morgana: “Well, not a goal per se, but something bigger… I guess more like… a reason to live. But now that I’m sure I belong with the Phantom Thieves, I know what I want to do. Do you know what it is?”

Mara: “Is it being thirsty for Ann? I bet it’s being thirsty for Ann. Giant dicks know these things.”

timrodresized: It is absolutely my headcanon that Mara can detect horny people from range, and is thus the perfect partner to Joker.

Morgana: “That too, eventually. I’m going to do whatever I can to make sure the Phantom Thieves succeed. In other words, our goals are in alignment.”

Morgana: “From now on, I’m not going to hold anything back. You’d better put some effort in too! Don’t make me regret my choice!”

Morgana: “Plus… I want Lady Ann to be happy. If my actions can help her achieve happiness, that’s more than enough for me…”

timrodresized: We should still have enough money to cover new equipment at this point. And now, probably the best Caroline and Justine event.

Justine: “Listen closely: the place we wish to evaluate for your rehabilitation is… an odd feature of the city where slaves attend to the needs of visitors.”

Caroline: “Apparently, the slaves in this camp refer to visitors as ‘Master,’ and their behavior can even be controlled to some degree.”

Justine: “I wonder how this compares to our devotion for our own master. This could make a strong example for the Inmate. Does such a location sound familiar to you?”

Caroline: “Well? If you know where it is, then escort us there immediately!”

timrodresized: Yes, we’re about to take two little girls to a maid cafe.

Caroline: “What is it that makes a cafe ‘made’? Is it the slaves? I wanna find out!”

Justine: “We shall do just that. Inmate, take us there immediately.”

Justine: “I’m surprised one is operating in the heart of the city like this. I had originally thought such places would need to hide in the shadows, far from public scrutiny.”

Justine: “Are you addressing me? You are sorely mistaken about who is your master…”

Caroline: “We’ve come here to observe fully, Justine. Don’t worry, we’ll free her when we’re finished. Hey, you.”

Caroline: “Tell me, why are you grinning like that? You’re a slave.”

Caroline: “Maybe you’re ordered to smile, but what? Do you lack a will of rebellion? Or are you just naturally submissive?”

timrodresized: Honestly, I’m just imagining Mara teaching Caroline and Justine what horny is in kids terms.

Mara: “You see kids, horny is that thing the cat does when he gets near Ann. You know, right before Joker hits him with the air horn? Well, a maid cafe is a place for horny people. It’s like a treatment center.”

Caroline: “It’s safe to say I’m well beyond disliking it!”

Justine: “Calm yourself, Caroline.”

timrodresized: This cutscene is about to go from zero to sixty.

Caroline: “Watch it! You think laughing at your masters is proper discipline?”

timrodresized: I wish we had her as a party member instead of Makoto.

timrodresized: Caroline has taught the maid communism and now it is working too well.

Caroline: “A-Ahh…”

timrodresized: Joker immediately grabs the air horn and the maid grabs it out of his hand and crushes it like it’s a piece of paper.

timrodresized: This scene is good. This is a really good scene. Where the fuck was this kind of attitude when they went back over Hashino’s script?

Caroline: “Wh-What is wrong with her… her mood changes in an instant.”

timrodresized: Caroline has a Tsundere Scouter in her pocket that just shattered from the sheer amount of tsundere coming off the maid.

Justine: “Such versatility… could she possess the potential for the power of the wild card? Well, never mind that. We are to focus on the matter at hand.”

Caroline: “Could this be a form of what some call ‘Russian roulette’ ?”

Justine: “We can’t risk the odds of being poisoned. Let’s order something else.”

Caroline: “In that case, let’s go with the Sincere Omelette.”

timrodresized: Joker just looks at the maid and is like “Please no, not the murder eggs” and the maid just grins. She’s going to murder the SHIT out of those eggs.

Caroline: "Don’t even try that fake-cry act on me! Fix it! Double time! I’m not letting you off until it’s right!

Caroline: “Uh - hey…”

Justine: “How could you make this poor slave cry like that…”

Caroline: “Wha-!? Fine, fine, I’ll say I’m sorry! Look, slav- I mean, maid! I’m sorry! I’ll eat it, I’ll eat it! Just… stop crying!”

Caroline: “Fine, just bring whatever…”

Caroline: “Even the people being served have to behave a certain way… I struggle to comprehend why it’s so complicated.”

Justine: “And yet, people here are willing to pay good money to participate in this master-servant charade… the lengths that humans will go to hold positions of power… their desires truly appear to be limitless.”

Caroline: “Anyway, we hereby deem your assignment complete.”

Justine: “Here is your reward.”

Caroline: “I feel as though we saw a side of humanity today that was new to us. As a matter of fact… this isn’t a new event to us at this point.”

Justine: “We do seem to witness curious new facets of humanity with each special assignment we undertake. Most intriguing indeed…”

timrodresized: I forgot there was one of those “Congrats, you progressed the plot” cutscenes and my first thought was this was going to be a scene where Igor learns that you’ve taken the twins to the maid cafe and just goes “You took them WHERE!?”

Justine: “Contrary to our assumptions, it seems you have turned out to be quite promising…”

Igor: “Your powers continue to grow, as do the relationships you hold with your contractors. It seems the rehabilitation is proceeding at a fine rate.”

Igor: “Allow me to warn you on one matter. Being at the peak may mean you are mere moments from your downfall. Unexpected situations are necessary in a ‘game,’ after all.”

timrodresized: Translation - Hashino is using the standard Hollywood writing format where there needs to be a low point for the protagonist right before the ending. And now, a re-used cutscene.

Morgana: “Th-that dream again… what the hell? I-I’m human… I have to be… I… there’s no way I was born like that…”

Morgana: “H-Hmph. I won’t let myself get worked up over some dream… I’m sure everything will be clear if we can get to the depths of Mementos…”

timrodresized: Next time, we’ll do a bunch of confidant events and then get ambushed by a new cutscene proving that Kasumi is indeed Atlus’s Lightning, possibly even moreso than Marie was.

timrodresized: I’m going to put a poll here just because I want to know people’s opinions. Do you think that when the maid at the maid cafe makes the eggs in full-on tsundere mode, they’re:

  • More fucked up
  • Less fucked up
  • About the same degree of fucked up

0 voters

The poll is broken. My understanding of cliches is telling me to vote More fucked up, but my heart is telling me to vote Less fucked up.

Didn’t predict Yusuke would be the one to go full Dark Side.

It also shows up in Digital Devil Saga, though it’s called Coordinate 136 instead because Digital Devil Saga is, uh…Digital Devil Saga. A statue of Tinkerbell tells you to do a bunch of dumb puzzles.

There’s a typo. I’m a little surprised this got through – ‘personnel’ is always plural.

Thanks for letting me know, I forgot it had to go outside the collapse box.

Click Here for Update 70

timrodresized: This entire thing is to set up a cutscene on 10/3.

timrodresized: October is going to be a month of nothing but confidants and cutscenes, because the next dungeon doesn’t open up until November.

Shinya: “I’m starving… but the hunger doesn’t really bother me when I’m playing.”

Shinya: “What!? Are you sure? Okay, today’s training will be a ‘lecture’. If you pay for my meal, I’ll let you have the course for free.”

Shinya: “I get my meal, and you get your training, so we’re both happy. Now, stop wasting time and take me some place to eat!”

timrodresized: I looked up how long of a train ride it is from Akihabara to Shibuya, and it’s like 20 minutes. You’d think they could find somewhere local to eat.

Shinya: “They attack me in large numbers, so I can’t let my guard down. All they did today was throw eraser crumbs into my lunch, though, so I won that round.”

Shinya: “… It’s a war. I’m on the defensive right now, but I’m looking for a chance to counterattack. I could finish them in a second if I put my mind to it. It’s just that… now’s not the right time.”

Shinya: “It gets kind of annoying having to watch my back all the time, though… maybe I can ask the Phantom Thieves to take care of them…”

Mara: Ooh, can we do that? I wanna traumatize some children! I mean, maybe not traumatize for life, but just enough, you know?

Shinya: “What a joke… once you lose, it’s over. That’s what my mom told me. My mom’s fighting with the school… about how classes are taught, the way teachers treat students, the size of the classes…”

timrodresized: Joker’s like “So, a soccer mom.” and Shinya goes “Wait… what’s soccer? Is that in arcades?”

Shinya: “Since the divorce, my mom’s been taking care of me all by herself. She says it’s exhausting. She leaves really early to go to work. Then she comes home really late to take care of me.”

Shinya: “It’s no wonder she demands so much from the school, you know? But all of my classmates make fun of her and call her a complainer… when I tell them to stop, they call me a momma’s boy. That’s how the war started.”

Shinya: “My mom gets made fun of because I’m weak! That’s why I gotta get stronger!”

timrodresized: This is the ‘correct’ answer, which seems kinda fucked up given that it’s like blaming him for being bullied.

Shinya: “Well, the Phantom Thieves would laugh at me if I lost now. But I’ve got a long way to go… Oh, before I forget, I need to show you something… don’t tell anyone else about this, okay? But I’m going to show you a guaranteed way to win!”

Shinya: “…I wish I could be a member of the Phantom Thieves and help them defeat the bad guys in the world. Oh, it’s kinda late. I guess I should go home…”

timrodresized: I’m actually kind of surprised they didn’t put Shinya in as a party member, ala Ken in Persona 3. Have him be an SMT-style devil buster who uses guns and doesn’t have a Persona.

Shinya: “We just talked a bunch about me today, so you gotta tell me more about the Phantom Thieves next time. Maybe we can go eat something again while we’re at it?”

timrodresized: Shinya is a lot like a little cousin of mine who got his first taste of fast food, realized his parents could buy fast food anytime they wanted, and from then on would demand it every day.

Shinya: “Really!? Thanks, Kurusu-san! Now that I think about it, it’s been a while since I went out to eat with anyone but my mom. Okay, let’s go get some hamburger steak next time. It’s my favorite food!”

Shinya: “…Come to think of it, mom hasn’t made hamburger steak in a while either… but she seems super busy, so… not much I can do, I guess.”

Shinya: “Wonder if she’s coming home late again tonight… okay, bye, Kurusu-san. I’ll see you at the arcade.”

Morgana: “Looks like this Okumura case is finally going to have a happy ending. All that we have to do now is wait for his change of heart.”

timrodresized: Come to think of it, you know what would’ve been a much better way to write this part? Have it so that Okumura doesn’t have his shadow killed until the end of the arc.

timrodresized: Come up with some bullshit excuse for him to still be killable in the Metaverse after his palace is gone, or better, just have the killer shoot him in reality.

timrodresized: I didn’t have a Hanged Persona handy, and at this point I left going “You know what, I might as well fuse something worthwhile.” That plan kinda backfired, but I’ll show off the fusions anyway because one of them is an ingredient for Lucifer.

New Persona: Ananta

Origin: Hinduism

First Appearance: Shin Megami Tensei I

Also known as Shesha. Massive serpent with somewhere between five and a thousand heads who holds the universe in his hoods. Vishnu uses him as a bed. Once ate the Hindu wind god and stopped everything from breathing until Vishnu forced him to stop. Destroys the universe at the end of each Kalpa.

timrodresized: Ananta is a garbage Persona, plain and simple. Sure, it learns Freidyne and Nuke Boost… but we already have sources of both of those and don’t really have a reason to use it when we have Mara and Baal.

timrodresized: I fused the Ananta out of the Decarabia we have and a Regent, though I could have used Koh-i-noor instead.

New Persona: Moloch

Origin: Christian Fanfiction

First Appearance: Megami Tensei I

Like Baal, Moloch probably isn’t an actual entity. The academic understanding is that the name “Moloch” comes from Roman texts discussing a concept called “mlk” that was supposedly practiced by the Mesopotamians in which they sacrificed their children to their gods.

This was later picked up by the authors of the Old Testament (specifically Leviticus), who took a bunch of existing Mesopotamian gods (including Hadad, aka Baal) and slapped the child sacrifice thing on them, then rolled that into a single demonic entity called “Moloch”, to which the people of Mesopotamia sacrificed their children by burning them alive.

The bull-headed demon comes from a medieval understanding of what Moloch was, and was possibly influenced by the Minotaur.

In reality, there is no evidence that the people of Mesopotamia sacrificed their children or burned anyone alive. None of the gods that Moloch is believed to be bastardized from were associated with human sacrifice, and it appears to be a misunderstanding (either intentional or otherwise) by the Romans and early Abrahamic people that wrote the Bible as to what the religions of the various peoples of Mesopotamia was.

timrodresized: You might remember Moloch from the very beginning of the game. I wound up fusing him because he learns Fire Amp, but then I realized that it wasn’t worth spending most of our remaining funds on.

timrodresized: I was also very surprised to see how many sources the wiki links to about Moloch, and I have to agree that the concept of people sacrificing their children by burning them alive seems a little far-fetched.

Iwai: “Now, go. I gotta take care of some business with Tsuda. I’ll be there after I handle that. See ya soon.”

timrodresized: Wait, what? His parents were never in a car crash. In fact, I don’t recall that the confidant ever explains why he has a neck scar. I wonder if the writers forgot or something.

Iwai: “…Yo, sorry for the holdup. You two look like you’re havin’ fun. What’ve you been talkin’ about?”

Iwai: “Well aren’t you two a little pair of ladykillers? Guess there’re worse things you could be talkin’ about though. Wait… did you get a girlfriend, Kaoru?”

Iwai: “Anyways, I can’t stay long. I’ve got errands I need to take care of. Figured it’d be nicer to at least drop by instead of tell you over the phone.”

Iwai: “What’s that s’posed to mean? It’s just work stuff. Ain’t that right?”

timrodresized: I’m pretty sure that second option is a holdout from an earlier draft of the plot. I think I mentioned this earlier, but at one point during development, the devs had planned to re-introduce ‘breaking’ a confidant, something that hadn’t been seen since Persona 3.

timrodresized: Breaking a confidant would be a permafuck: you lose all the benefits you had and can no longer finish it. They probably got rid of this because it would be awkward to be able to break Iwai’s confidant and then continue selling shit to him.

Iwai: “Hey, that’s not a bad idea. Order anythin’ you want. It’s on me!”

Iwai: “By the way, I’m almost done figurin’ out what happened with that deal we were talkin’ about. I’m goin’ now to meet with the guy who set it all up. I’ll have to fill you in on the details some other time.”

Iwai: “Anyways, this is all thanks to you, kid. It’s real nice havin’ a reliable part-timer to help 'round the shop.”

Iwai: “Dangerous? 'Course not. Well, I’m outta here. You can hang onto my wallet, Kaoru. Eat as much as you want.”

Iwai: “With you coverin’ for me, I actually got some good business done, too. Looked like you and Kaoru really hit it off. Glad to see you two get along.”

Iwai: “That was kinda what I was hopin’ when I asked you to handle this. To be honest, though, things went even better than I expected. Hah, well. I figured I was just getting some security, but I guess that’s not all you’re good for.”

Iwai: “He’s hittin’ that age where he has to figure out a lot. Some of which I’m sure he won’t talk to me about. I’m kinda hopin’ you can help him through that kinda thing.”

timrodresized: Today, we’re going to make a minor schedule digression. I had planned to do the Yoshida event we skipped on 09/25 on 10/10, but I don’t trust this guide anymore. There’s an optional event with Futaba today that I’ll show off, but that I’m going to skip and do Yoshida instead.

timrodresized: Normally I would have recorded to 10/10 to fact check, but there is a VERY long cutscene on 10/03 and I don’t want to go through it again.

timrodresized: Today, we have Yusuke’s Rank 8. We’ll be seeing his Rank 9 Romance scene about two updates from now, and of course we’ll be doing his Rank 10 scene at the same time.

Yusuke: “That reminds me, I would like to speak with you and the others. Do you have some free time today? I would like other opinions as well. I shall send out an invite and see who has time to meet. I wish to do so at Leblanc, if that is all right with you.”

Yusuke: “Boss was even kind enough to serve us coffee before he went shopping… now, I have a vital request.”

Ryuji: “Hit me with your best shot! All the tough problems’re gonna have to go to Akira, though.”

Ann: “Hmm, I can help with any subject that’s not math.”

Yusuke: “Hm? Do you two honestly believe I would ask you here for help in my studies? The truth is, I am planning to display my work in a competition.”

Yusuke: “The one organized by Kawanabe of the Japanese Art Support Foundation. You remember, yes Akira? I must win and prove not only my ability, but my intense passion for art as well.”

Yusuke: “However… I am having quite a bit of trouble determining what my next subject should be. I have given this painting a fair amount of thought, but nothing has come to me yet. Hence… I was hoping to hear your opinions on an ideal subject.”

timrodresized: This game is unrealistic because you know there’d be one person who doesn’t immediately change into their fall outfit on 10/01.

Ann: “Anyway, maybe you should paint something people find pretty.”

timrodresized: Joker chimes in, “I’m something people find pretty.”

Yusuke: “Hm… so in the end, we return to the concept of beauty. Akira, what subject do you think would most capture beauty?”

timrodresized: This answer is, of course, non-canon.

Yusuke: “Hm… I suppose she is a subject I put great focus on in the past. But now I am aware of her true personality… I am not sure I could paint her beautifully.”

Ann: “Haha, that’s right! …Wait, what’s that supposed to mean!?”

timrodresized: Owned.

Yusuke: sigh “Why can I not paint a beauty as pure as the Sayuri? Where have all of my efforts gone?”

Ann: “You know, I’m not really sure what you mean by pure beauty. I mean yeah, it’s a pretty painting. But… I’m not sure I really consider it a pure beauty or whatever.”

Yusuke: “Hm…?”

Ann: “I dunno, I guess it just feels more gentle to me. Honestly, I almost cried the first time I saw the Sayuri. It felt kinda like I was a baby again in my mother’s arms. Watching over me, telling me everything’s gonna be okay… that was the gentleness that painting made me feel.”

Ann: “…This is coming from someone with absolutely no art knowledge though!”

Yusuke: “Gentleness? That is yet another aspect the Sayuri captured that I cannot… is my heart too clouded?”

Ryuji: “It ain’t cloudy, dude.”

timrodresized: Maybe what he needs… is a boyfriend.

Yusuke: “But, now? What now!? I have become overwhelmed with a need to prove myself to Kawanabe… to prove myself to the world. I looked down on Madarame for focusing so sharply on fame and money, yet I too yearn for the praise of others!”

Yusuke: “In truth, oftentimes I regret declining Kawanabe’s offer…”

Yusuke: “What? My ugliness has… helped me grow?”

Ryuji: “Akira’s right, dude. Ain’t nothing wrong about doin’ your best to make a livin’.”

Ann: “And you just want someone to acknowledge your work, right? That’s some serious passion.”

Yusuke: “But… how can passion be born from these repulsive thoughts?”

timrodresized: You have to say the heart, the heart isn’t silent. He’s like Kira*Miki from VA-11 Hall-A.

Ryuji: “But y’know, even through all that… I was tryin’ to help my team out. Sure it’s a solo sport, but nobody’s gonna run 'til they puke if they don’t got teammates they wanna inspire.”

Ryuji: “I guess what I really wanna say is, you gotta do stuff for people beyond just yourself if you wanna succeed.”

timrodresized: I mean, my goal with this LP was to stop people playing through a 100+ hour JRPG a second time just to see a bunch of extra cutscenes.

Yusuke: “Hm… is that how it is? …So the sincere gentleness held within the ‘Sayuri’… the warmth of its heart… it was all for the sake of those who gaze upon it? How interesting…”

Yusuke: “I have been a fool! Beauty is not the superficial thing I have long thought it to be! It is something that wells up within the heart until it breaks free!”

timrodresized: Uh-oh. Could this mean he’s planning on confessing to Joker? I think it might…

Yusuke: “It is a gift, given by a subject unto its viewer! Yes, I finally see the truth! The three of you have my sincerest gratitude! You have been a truly tremendous aid!”

Ryuji: “…How exactly?”

timrodresized: Yusuke now has most of his abilities, which is why we’ll be ditching someone (probably Haru) for him next dungeon.

Ann: “He looked pretty inspired though, so he’ll be fine… right? Anyway, are you guys hungry? I might ask Boss to make me something once he gets back. Hm, maybe curry this time.”

timrodresized: I like to think that Sojiro is walking down an aisle in a supermarket with Futaba texting him every five seconds asking for curry, and he’s like “I swear, if one more fucking person asks me for curry today…”

Ryuji: “God, you eat so freakin’ much… oh yeah, and what was that crap about being good at everything 'cept math? It ain’t nice to lie, y’know.”

Morgana: “I get why Haru is worried… but let’s just wait for the change of heart to go through. Don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll be just like it always is.”

Morgana: “I guess it’s somewhat educational with all the science mumbo jumbo…”

timrodresized: We get a whole shitload of knowledge points we can’t do anything with.

Futaba: “Y’know, sci-fi’s more than just some crazy made-up baloney. It’s like… a dream that might end up coming true one day. I guess it’s almost like hope! You get me?”

timrodresized: I get that you’re a couple words off the lyrics to Weight of the World.

Futaba: “Nice, you’ve got potential! In any case, thanks for chilling! Um… this was way more fun than all those times I’ve seen it alone. I know! Maybe we can have a foreign sci-fi marathon in your room someday! Better look forward to it!”

Mara: Hell no! I’m not Netflix and chilling with you, you horrible anime gremlin!

timrodresized: The good news is, I checked afterward and as it turns out we had enough points for Futaba’s next confidant rank without doing this.

timrodresized: Should the guide be correct and 10/10 is open for Yoshida, we will use that time to be ahead of schedule and under budget and do his Rank 10 early, as he has no optional events.

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “Stamina is important for public speaking as well. You’re still young, but take care of yourself. I’ll be giving a speech again today. I’d also like you to come with me somewhere after the speech. What’s your availability like today?”

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “Actually, Dietman Matsushita asked me to meet after this. You remember how he asked me to become his right-hand man? Well, he likely wants my answer… I’ll need you to come with me after the speech.”

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “You have your ears to the ground, huh? And to think that he’s the candidate the party is backing to ruin my chances of winning…”

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “…”

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “What did you say!?”

timrodresized: You’d think this would be the point where we’d need to do a Mementos request, but you’d be wrong. Yoshida doesn’t have one.

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “But why…?”

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “It sounds as if you’re saying that this is my opportunity to clear my name… and so you need an answer from me on whether or not I’ll be your right-hand man, yes?”

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “Join with Matsushita and take my revenge against Mr. Kuramoto, but drop out of the election…”

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “I see… so that’s how you truly feel about this… Matsushita. I appreciate the offer, but I must refuse.”

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “My goal is to become a member of the Diet, not a right-hand man. I will not cast aside my beliefs. On that I stand firm.”

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “I’m sorry.”

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “Why are you doing this?”

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “It feels like I’m caught in the crossfire of a political conspiracy. My friend is trying to take advantage of me, while my former mentor is trying to win me over. To achieve my dream, I have to set aside my beliefs. What should I do?”

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “Indeed, this would all be futile if I don’t become a Diet member. I must focus on getting elected. However, betraying oneself to reach a goal would be a hollow victory indeed.”

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “For some reason, just talking with you always helps me make up my mind. It’s as if my heart is being manipulated. Perhaps… if the Phantom Thieves truly do exist, then I’m sure they’re very much like you.”

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “For some reason, you stood by me, No-Good Tora, who didn’t have any supporters. I’ve been thinking about this for a while, actually. You must’ve experienced cruelty and injustice in your life. I can tell by the look in your eyes.”

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “That’s why I sense your desire to help the weak. And the strength to stand up to the hecklers, to Matsushita, and to Kuramoto’s grandson. You’re no ordinary high school student. Even I know that much.”

timrodresized: This scene makes it obvious, and they re-state this in his Rank 10 scene, but Yoshida has known the entire time that Joker was the leader of John Persona… which makes him the only person to do so without having it spelled out in the form of a Mementos request suddenly getting solved.

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “…Haha, sorry. I crossed the line there. I’ve always lacked restraint in these situations… See what I did there? I relieved the tension by making fun of myself. Think of it as an advanced technique for winning people over.”

timrodresized: This works just like the Greatest Weapon or the similar skill for items - you occasionally get red text over the “Lend me your power” option and then it skips the negotiation entirely.

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “All right then. Well, I’ll at least make good use of Matsushita’s help setting up my next speech. I feel like I’ll be able to fully express my beliefs if you’re there with me. We can discuss it again at the speech.”

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “I told you before… becoming a Diet member shouldn’t be your only goal in life. I still stand by those words, of course, but what are your thoughts on what happened today?”

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “Say you were in my shoes. Could you say with all confidence that you wouldn’t be swayed by such a lucrative deal? Humans are easily swayed. One glimpse of a temptation could be all it takes to make us forget our principles.”

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “That is why you must never forget what’s truly important to you… you understand?”

P5_portrait_of_Toranosuke_Yoshida: “Good. Life is full of tough decisions. I can only hope today’s lesson will nourish your growth. …Well, the real battle begins now. I need to devote myself to this fully. After all, I can hardly afford to disappoint you.”

timrodresized: This part I seriously don’t understand. You’d think that it’d be something like, say, Kasumi having a scholarship for being a gymnast and then being in danger of losing it, but as far as I can tell that’s not the case here.

Maruki: “I’ve been told that her results at the latest meet were quite laudable… isn’t revoking her status as an honor student a bit of an overreaction on the school’s part?”

timrodresized: I feel like this whole thing was just kind of badly translated. Being an honor student typically isn’t something associated with sports, unless this is some kind of scandal where they’re giving her honor status because she’s on the gymnastics team.

timrodresized: Edit: Yeah, it was. After I posted this, poop_doctor on Twitter told me that the term they use in Japanese is equivalent to the English word for “scholarship”. Why they didn’t just use that word is beyond me.

timrodresized: So then why does it even matter? If she’s not on some kind of scholarship, and the only difference is that the school might try to fuck her out of honor roll status… who cares?

Maruki: “Sir, putting excessive pressure on Yoshizawa-san will only be to her detriment.”

Maruki: “Supporting her… I see.”

Maruki: “…”

Morgana: “What’s wrong with Yoshizawa? Didn’t she seem off to you?”

Morgana: “Yoshizawa must’ve dropped it.”

Morgana: “…Shoot, she’s gone. Let’s return it after school. We should at least send her a text so she knows where it is.”

Maruki: “Trying to motivate her with harsh words is only going to give her more anxiety.”

Maruki: “Sir!”

Hiruta: “Stealing hearts? Social reform? Don’t give me this Phantom Thieves nonsense. It’s all so unscientific. I mean, how could they target Big Bang Burger and Okumura Foods? They’re criminals!”

timrodresized: I can’t believe I put Hiruta on the “Most likely to be Lucifer in disguise” list when he’s a corporate fanboy.

Hiruta: “That artificially consummate flavor… enough volume to fill a small universe… are the Phantom Thieves trying to steal the galaxy of junk food from me!? That said… Kurusu-kun.”

Hiruta: “Perhaps you think you understand how vast the universe is, full of countless galaxies, but consider this… if we use ‘three watermelons in the sun’ to visualize a certain matter’s size against the universe’s, what are the melons?”

Hiruta: “Hah. I expected as much from you. It’s meant to convey the density of stars in the vastness of space. Three bees in the whole of Europe also works. In other words, the universe is essentially empty.”

Hiruta: “There are countless stars in the sky, but the universe is even more vast than that. Even within our own galaxy, the stars are separated by a great distance, despite the sheer volume of them visible.”

Hiruta: “Close, but yet far… hehe, you could say the same of our hearts.”

Morgana: “Ugh, if only he knew the places we’ve been…”

timrodresized: This scene is voiced, and they put a very heavy static filter over Kasumi.

Kasumi: “I’m sorry, I just now noticed that you tried to reach me. My smartphone seems to be acting up again. You found my good luck charm, right?”

timrodresized: The Japanese VO clearly says “omamori” instead of “good luck charm”.

Kasumi: “Odaiba, in front of the stadium… where we met before.”

Morgana: “She’s at the stadium?”

Kasumi: “Kurusu-senpai? Sorry, I can’t hear you-”

Morgana: “I guess her signal cut out. I couldn’t hear everything, but it seems like she’s at the stadium. She seemed to be acting unusually this morning, too. Do you think something happened?”

Morgana: “Like the last time we met her there? It’s possible. Well, let’s see how she’s doing when we drop off her good luck charm. To Odaiba, right?”

Kasumi: “I do nothing but cause trouble for Kurusu-senpai, even Dr. Maruki… I’m supposed to be THE ‘Kasumi Yoshizawa’…”

timrodresized: How do they not notice the sign on the wall advertising the rhythmic gymnastics championship?

Kasumi: “It’s not a lab, it’s a stadium.”

timrodresized: Let’s see… we can see that Kasumi is into hockey (unless that’s meant to be a copyright-friendly version of NHK) and has a piano app.

timrodresized: She’s also using the Weather Channel app, which is probably okay because she’s in Japan, but if you’re in the US you should definitely use Weather.gov instead because your tax dollars are paying for it and that’s where the Weather Channel gets most of their data from anyway.

timrodresized: Isn’t this a plot hole? She didn’t say anything… or did she? If you go back and look, it should be extremely obvious what the key words for this palace are and who it belongs to.

timrodresized: I think it was kind of a mistake on Atlus’s part to do this so early.

Morgana: “This atmosphere… is this a Palace!? But, we never activated the Nav… wait, do you think it was Yoshizawa!?”

timrodresized: Hint 1: Joker and Morgana didn’t activate the Nav. Therefore, someone else must have. We also know that the Nav needs a name, a place, and a distortion.

Morgana: “It’s a possibility. She wasn’t anywhere near us when we slipped into this Palace… she can’t fight like we do. We have to find her, fast!”

timrodresized: This place has a theme, but I can’t post it yet. It’s called “Gentle Madman”, but all of the uploads of it on YouTube have spoilers in the comments for something that isn’t as obvious as who this palace belongs to.

timrodresized: For the record, I’m not going to spell out who this palace belongs to directly, but I will give you all the tools you need to go back and figure it out yourself.

timrodresized: There’s a lot of couches and doves flying around. They’re kind of hard to get a good shot of.

timrodresized: Hint 2: This palace is owned by someone who clearly has an interest in the human mind. I wonder who that could be?

timrodresized: There’s a lot of grappling here, and the Batman Vision menu isn’t going to give away who the boss is. Still, that figure looks… male, doesn’t it?

timrodresized: Personally, I’m not a huge fan of this palace, because it feels like a Nocturne dungeon.

Morgana: “Was that Yoshizawa!?”

Morgana: “Yeah, stay on guard though!”

Morgana: “Who’s that? Is she a cognitive being?”

Sumire: “It’s my fault…”

Morgana: “C’mon!”

Sumire: “You must… Kasumi…”

timrodresized: I’m kind of tempted to just cut right to January - not that I’ve recorded that far yet.

timrodresized: Hint 3: The palace owner must know Kasumi in some way.

timrodresized: That’s a Byakhee. They’re servants of Hastur in the Cthulhu mythos… which is strange because most of those died off by the end of Innocent Sin.

Morgana: “Are you all right, Yoshizawa!?”

Kasumi: “That voice - Kurusu-senpai?”

Morgana: “Hmph! Looks like that thing’s ready to rumble.”

Kasumi: “What are you talking about?”

timrodresized: There’s a bunch of voices that start talking in the background - some male, some female. Atlus had to re-do this part with different voiceovers because it was a dead giveaway as to the palace owner’s identity.

Kasumi: “I’ve had enough of this…”

Morgana: “Yoshizawa!?”

Kasumi: “You’re telling me I’m not cutting it? As if I don’t know that better than anyone! Still… I don’t care what anyone says about me…”

timrodresized: If it wasn’t clear enough that Kasumi is Atlus’s Lightning, she gets a fucking magical girl transformation sequence.

timrodresized: Joker and Morgana are both going “This isn’t fucking fair!”. Joker then goes “Yusuke should’ve been a magical boy!” while Morgana goes “Joker should’ve been a magical boy… in a dress!” right over him.

New Persona: Cendrillon

Origin: Modern Fiction

Persona 5 Original

French adaptation of Cinderella by Charles Perrault, which introduced elements like the glass slippers, the pumpkin carriage, and the fairy godmother that were later eaten by Disney.

timrodresized: Now, if I was writing this, there would be a point right here where Joker starts hearing this odd, distant voice telling him to stab this thing to death.

timrodresized: Kasumi is to Bless what Haru is to Psychic - she’s a Bless/Physical hybrid. Her skill set changes dramatically when we actually get to use her.

timrodresized: I was still on Merciless when I did this fight and didn’t realize until about halfway through.

timrodresized: Byakhee is very fire-based, and because we’re on Merciless takes off over half of Kasumi’s HP in one go.

Morgana: “Hey, are you all right?”

Violet: “I can’t… be weak anymore…”

Morgana: “Whoa! I’m quite impressed, considering how you just awakened to your Persona and all.”

Violet: “Kurusu-senpai… right?”

Violet: “…I knew it. By the way…”

Morgana: “Well, of course. This has to be awfully confusing for her.”

Morgana: “…Looks like they’ve found us. Time to get out of here, quick. We can explain later.”

Violet: “Right!”

Kasumi: “Huh? My clothes changed back to normal, too.”

Morgana: “This was your location when we entered the Metaverse. We all just came back.”

Kasumi: “Came… back? Did we go somewhere?”

Morgana: “Uh, about that…”

Kasumi: “Please, tell me anything you might know about what’s going on. I need to know what just happened to me.”

timrodresized: I somehow refuse to believe that there’s a single high school girl who would not know what a magical girl transformation is.

Morgana: “I know how you feel, but… what should we do, Akira?”

Morgana: “Yeah, you’re right. Okay, I’ll tell you everything from the beginning.”

Kasumi: “Thank you.”

timrodresized: Did… did the game just do a cut instead of re-explaining shit we already know? Who knew the writers could learn something?

Morgana: “I’m sure it’s not easy to wrap your head around all of this in one go.”

Kasumi: “Normally I wouldn’t believe any of that, but after seeing it all for myself… but, wow! You’re so good at explaining things, Mr. Kitty.”

Morgana: “I’ll let that last part slide this time… but isn’t there something else that should be surprising you?”

Morgana: “And, I am NOT a cat! I am Morgana!”

Kasumi: “…I see. Well, since you seem to know a lot more about this than I do, maybe I should call you Morgana-senpai.”

timrodresized: Joker in the background waving his arms and mouthing “Don’t encourage him!”

Morgana: “Oh, that’s right - Akira, don’t you have something for her?”

Morgana: “You didn’t seem your usual self this morning. Did something happen?”

Kasumi: “Well… I didn’t get a chance to tell you yet, but… I got third place in the last meet. Of course I’m not happy about it, but the school looks even more displeased.”

Kasumi: “I was summoned to the guidance office this morning. I was warned that the school might revoke my honors status if I don’t improve my results soon. It would be due to my own inability to succeed in gymnastics, so I have to say, it’s not an unfair consequence…”

Kasumi: “But I also overheard the vice principal talking about how I’m a useless waste of effort… and I dragged Dr. Maruki into this mess too, since he was with me when I got the news. That’s what really got to me.”

Morgana: “That’s a tough break.”

Kasumi: “So I ended up coming here - then, all of a sudden, I was in that place we just left. But I’ll be just fine now. I feel like whatever happened in there helped me to get over it. I’m going to realize my dream for sure!”

Morgana: “Seems like you really are on the up and up now. …But then again, how did Yoshizawa end up finding a Palace in the first place? It sounds like pure coincidence, based on what she’s told us.”

timrodresized: Hint 5: The writers for Royal kind of forgot how the app worked.

Kasumi: “The Nav?”

Morgana: “Well, I suppose that makes the most sense. Hey, do you mind if we take a quick look at your phone? If the Nav’s on there, we’d be able to tell whose palace that was with the search history.”

timrodresized: It’s not clear why they couldn’t look at Joker’s phone, since the earlier dungeons have popped up on the entire party’s phones.

Kasumi: “Sure, it’s right - sorry… this won’t do any good.”

Morgana: “Why’s that?”

Kasumi: “The battery’s dead. It’s been acting up for a while now, so that could have something to do with it.”

Morgana: “Aw, really? Shouldn’t you get that checked out? Well, it’s not like that was a Palace we’ve been after, so I guess it’s no big deal. We couldn’t make its ruler our target unless we reached a unanimous decision, anyway.”

timrodresized: I really wish there was an option here to just skip November and December and go right in with what you’ve got. Mara and Baal could probably take most of what’s in there.

Kasumi: “Okay, I’ve been meaning to ask… are you two part of the Phantom Thieves?”

Kasumi: “I knew it… wait, that means… when we were at the cafe with Akechi-san… I basically told the Phantom Thieves themselves that I don’t agree with what they’re doing! Um… I’m really sorry.”

Morgana: “Don’t worry about it. With that out of the way… what’s your call, Akira?”

Morgana: “That’s right! Considering how she did back there, don’t you think she’d make a worthy addition to the Phantom Thieves?”

timrodresized: Nah. I’ll probably toss her in the same trash can as Marie when I get her.

Kasumi: “So, you mean you want me to join the Phantom Thieves?”

Morgana: “In a nutshell, yeah. You’ve awakened to your Persona, you’re aware of the existence of Palaces… and, from the looks of things, you’ve got quite the potential. If you’re willing to join us, we’d be glad to have you.”

timrodresized: This is another reason I don’t understand why this cutscene exists. We know she doesn’t join until after the final dungeon of the base game because Atlus was too cheap to re-do a couple of low-quality anime cutscenes. Seriously, you’d think after two full-priced games they could hire an anime studio with fewer quality control issues.

Kasumi: “I see… hmm.”

Morgana: “You don’t have to give us an answer right now. I mean, you probably shouldn’t make any decisions until you learn more about what it is we’re actually doing.”

timrodresized: So here’s what I’d like to ask. What was the point of this cutscene? We already know Kasumi has a Persona, and as far as I can tell all this really did was reveal who that palace belongs to if you put any kind of thought into it.

Kasumi: “When I awakened to my… Persona, was it? I also realized something… I can’t keep obsessing over my shortcomings in gymnastics like this. So, that’s why I can’t join you at the moment…”

Morgana: “Because you need to focus on your gymnastics.”

timrodresized: Kasumi died on her way back to gymnastics.

Kasumi: “I’m truly sorry to say no after all you’ve done for me!”

Kasumi: “You may be right… but I think I’d only cause you all more trouble if I were to join up without being totally invested in it. Of course, I won’t say a word about this to anyone.”

Morgana: “I’m glad you catch on so quickly. Well, if you ever change your mind about us, just let us know, okay?”

Kasumi: “Thank you, Morgana-senpai. If that ever happens, I’ll get in touch right away!”

timrodresized: God I hate this entire cutscene. It makes Kasumi feel even more shoehorned in. It makes me question what the fuck the writers for Royal were thinking.

timrodresized: I mean, I think I sort of know what they were thinking.

Morgana: “Yes!”

Kasumi: “I should extend the same gratitude to you as well, Kurusu-senpai. I swear, one day I will repay you for helping me out in so many ways. Shall we get going?”

Kasumi: “Quite a lot’s happened today, but I have a feeling I’ll try harder than ever before starting tomorrow!”

Morgana: “We ended up saving her, but I don’t think she owes us or anything… that said, she’d definitely be a huge help if she joined us.”

Morgana: “If only Yoshizawa would join the Phantom Thieves… what a shame.”

timrodresized: Dammit Morgana, only JC Denton can say that.

Morgana: “Yeah, we shouldn’t press the matter. Sooo, how’re we gonna break it to the others?”

timrodresized: Next time, we’ll do Makoto’s Rank 9 (and, unfortunately, her Rank 10). We’ll also watch Mishima get owned and see a Sojiro event early because of that fuckup with Hifumi’s Rank 10.

Or just have him die immediately. The only reason stealing the Treasure has a delayed effect is so your schedule is consistent, right? Which is kind of a dumb reason to begin with…

F-minus-minus sentence. See me after class.

That Morgana face would be a high-tier avatar. Though my own brand is firmly entrenched.

I remember you saying this in the Persona 2 LP. We can just not read the comments. I’ve even been told by multiple reliable sources to never read the comments.

I think you mean Morgana :heart: senpai

Yeah, pretty much. I don’t know why they couldn’t have done it so that the aftermath happens the same day as the boss fight, other than that they wanted to fit as much writing as humanly possible in.

I knew it! Principal Kingpin faked his own death and is controlling the school from a hidden location!

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Haru: “Regarding my father… there isn’t anything different about him yet. I can’t help but think about a lot of things when I’m just waiting. Things like, did it go well…?”

timrodresized: I mean, it went well if your goal was to kill him.

timrodresized: Joker’s like “No need to worry, the entire party are orphans, now you fit right in.”

Haru: “Thanks. Hearing that from you puts my mind at ease. giggle I guess I’ll relax and look after the flowerbed. I haven’t been able to for a while.”

timrodresized: Regrettably, we have to do Makoto’s Rank 9 today.

Makoto: “I want to dig up some dirt regarding Eiko’s boyfriend Tsukasa before we confront her about him. I was thinking of asking around the red-light district for info. Shall we head over there?”

Makoto: “However, we’ll need solid proof of what he’s doing if we’re going to convince Eiko. I believe some of the promoters around here may know something. As my father always said, finding evidence takes serious legwork.”

timrodresized: This guy right here is the one we’re looking for.

Makoto: “We have proof now. Come on, it’s almost time for Eiko’s shift to end. Let’s wait for her in front of the shop.”

Makoto: “Eiko… your ‘boyfriend’ is infamous around here for tricking girls into debt, then forcing them to sell themselves. Moreover, he’s probably doing it in conjunction with a criminal gang. You need to get out of there.”

Makoto: “I have testimony from one of the promoters in the area. You’re not the first girl Tsukasa has lied to about a ‘broken sake bottle’. He doesn’t ask for much at first, but the interest piles up.”

Makoto: “Eventually he’ll ask you to sell your body for money. Please, reconsider this relationship.”

Makoto: “It’s always ‘princess’ with you. Why don’t you ever call her by her real name, Tsukasa? Or are there too many princesses in your life to remember?”

timrodresized: I like to think this isn’t him forgetting, but that Makoto is like Agent 47 in Hitman and was designed to be as generic and bland as possible so that no one remembers her face. Anyone could be Makoto in disguise and you’d never know.

timrodresized: Makoto just standing there with a Hardballer in her hand going “Personalities are for well-written characters, so I don’t need one.”

Makoto: “I knew it. I’m the one who texted you ‘I’ll be 5 mins late 2day, bb.’ I even added tons of emojis at the end to make sure it seemed like Eiko.”

Makoto: “Admit it. Every girl you get money from is your princess, right? You can’t even remember names anymore. Don’t you see, Eiko? This is who your ‘boyfriend’ really is!”

Makoto: “You already know the truth, you just don’t want to believe it! Stop lying to yourself!”

Makoto: “…This has nothing to do with her being an honor student. I just can’t rest knowing there’s such evil in the world! And I damn sure won’t keep quiet while my friend has her life ruined!”

Makoto: “As for you… apologize to Eiko! And stay away from her from now on!”

timrodresized: I don’t know how anyone can take this guy seriously when he’s what one comic artist (whose comic I can no longer find) described as “the most fuck-effeminate anything ever, also disco shoes”.

timrodresized: I tried to find his old deviantart page, and when I searched his name the only thing I got was inflation porn of Sword Art Online from an unrelated artist. I have suffered for this LP.

Mara: Hoo boy! Let’s go take a look…

Mara: …

Mara: You know, people used to ask me “Mara, if you’re a demon based around the concept of lust as a human desire, are there souls so horny you wouldn’t eat them?” and now I know the answer. It’s yes.

timrodresized: I captured this one a bit early because the animation plays and finishes before the text box shows up.

Makoto: “I dare you!”

Makoto: “Akira…”

Makoto: “I come from a long line of police officers. If you really want to start something, be my guest.”

Makoto: “He wasn’t so tough after all.”

timrodresized: You know what I don’t get about this? Why this wasn’t just a sidequest. They could’ve come up with a confidant for Makoto that actually, I dunno, made her not seem as boring, and then made this a sidequest.

Makoto: “Right. Staying here now is only going to cause us more trouble. Eiko…”

timrodresized: Wait… she has friends?

Makoto: “Really? I hope so… you know, I have a bad habit of acting in the moment. I can’t help but get swept up in emotion. That’s why I always have to take extra care to keep myself composed. My father was the same way…”

Makoto: “That aside, this place is… interesting. How did you ever find somewhere like this? You know so much.”

timrodresized: This is actually Crossroads, the bar where we usually meet Ohya. You just never really see it at this angle.

Makoto: “So you come often? It’s hard to believe you’re really a high schooler. You have so much more life experience than me… honestly, spending time with you and getting to know Eiko has given me a lot to think about.”

Makoto: “There’s so much you can miss by living with your head buried between the pages of a book… I thought I knew how the world worked… but the more I spent time with you guys, the more I realized how naive I was.”

Makoto: “…Do you remember how Eiko said I would flunk a test about love? Well, um… I don’t know how to study that subject. What should I do, Akira?”

timrodresized: There’s a text box I haven’t been showing where Joker says he’s already in a relationship with another person, and I wish it would say “I’m already in a relationship with someone more interesting.”

timrodresized: Seriously though, it feels like they had to shoehorn a romance option in at the last minute.

timrodresized: Some day, she will find her human-sized baked potato which lacks sour cream, chives, butter, or bacon bits.

Makoto: “…Right. People say those kinds of things are destiny anyway, so I probably shouldn’t worry myself over it. And besides, I should at least try to focus on my schoolwork right now.”

Makoto: “Let’s work hard to achieve our goals together, Akira.”

Makoto: “S-Sorry about that. It’s rude of us to stay here so long after only ordering tea…”

Makoto: “R-Right. Well, we should be going…”

Makoto: “I think between us… we managed to help Eiko see the truth. I’d probably never have pulled this off alone. Thank you so much.”

Makoto: “Heh… thanks. I’ll work off that debt through the Phantom Thieves. I’m thinking of calling Eiko once she calms down a bit. But I wanted to get a courage boost from you before I did…”

Makoto: “…Yup, that helped. I think I can talk to Eiko properly now. I really am glad I’ve got you in my corner. I’m lucky to have such a reliable leader. Well, I’ll talk to you later… bye.”

timrodresized: We then have to head right back to Crossroads to meet Ohya. Unfortunately, I had to get an affinity reading - I think it’s because I missed one due to that rescheduling with Iwai.

Ohya: “I’ll shmack you if it’s not good enough…”

Ohya: “Whaddya mean? You worried about me, Lala-chan…? You’re usually kinda - hic

Ohya: “I’m… totally not drunk… hic

Ohya: “Oooh, you’re sharp, kid! Truth is, um… my quota got doubled. It’s gonna take like… four times as much work to get that much done though.”

Ohya: “They’re shacklin’ me down so I won’t have time for anything else… ugh, my chief’s such a shithead…”

Ohya: “Yup. That bastard prolly knows something’s up. Before this, I was starting to feel like a real journalist again… the rush of uncovering Kayo’s case… uncovering the dark secrets hidden away by our corrupt society.”

Ohya: “But now? It’s gonna be impossible to run my investigation with this quota…”

Ohya: “Course it’s not good! But what am I s’posed to do…? They’ll fire me if I can’t reach my quota! Hey, Lala-chan… if they fire me, can I live here?”

timrodresized: Hm. You know, I wonder if her apartment is more or less of a trash heap than Maya’s is.

Ohya: “That still won’t help my investigation though… the incident’s over a year old, and the authorities aren’t doing shit. gasp Maybe Kayo really was the true culprit…”

Ohya: “That goes without saying! I mean if I don’t, who will!?”

Ohya: sigh “What am I doing…? I mean, I’m the one who dragged Kayo into politics. It’s my fault this ended up happening to her… y’know, she started out in book publishing, mostly taking photos of nature and wild animals.”

Ohya: “She was a genius behind the camera though. That’s why I thought she’d make the perfect partner for me…”

Ohya: “B-But if I didn’t get her involved in the first place… dammit, that incident is all my fault… that’s why I’ve gotta get to the bottom of it!”

Ohya: “Hell yeah! Y’know, it’s weird how calm I get when I’m talkin’ to you. It’s almost like you actually understand me. Oh, and… I’m sorry for snapping at you earlier. The stress must have gotten to me.”

Ohya: “It’s just, all this quota business is driving me crazy. I’m gonna have to put all my focus on that for now. I’ll still be counting on you for Phantom Thieves stories though… as long as you’re up for it.”

Ohya: “I think I’m gonna have to ease off my investigation for a while too. I don’t need any more eyes on me. But I might be able to ask some of my coworkers for help. Journalists will do anything for a scoop.”

Ohya: “Now then, I’ll take any tidbits you have for me today. Hope you don’t mind if I get back to drinking though. This whole conversation really sobered me up…”

Ohya: “If I’m being serious - I mean genuinely, actually serious - I really appreciate you. I’m only able to meet my insane quota because of the info you give me on the Phantom Thieves.”

Ohya: “Yeah, keep it coming! You’re seriously dependable, kid! But yeah, for now, guess I’ll leave the intel gathering to my partner in crime. I gotta focus on meeting my quota. I’ll never give up on my own investigation!”

timrodresized: We get some time to read during Ushimaru’s class, so we’ll read Master Swordsman… which is important for a reason that has nothing to do with the stats it conveys.

timrodresized: If you’ll recall, Master Swordsman was the book we got from the store owner in Jinbocho. He has three other books, which he’ll give you in order and only if you’ve read the one he already gave you.

timrodresized: The last book is called “Knowing the Heart” and was added for Royal. It’s probably the most important book for the expansion content, because it expands which kinds of attacks can be used to get technical hits.

timrodresized: I hope you are ready for THE most painful scene in this entire game. It’s completely unchanged from the base game.

Futaba: " ‘Learn about my generation.’ Wait, I think I can do the next one too! ‘Have a normal conversation with a stranger my age’! Hmmm, where can I find lots of young people?"

Futaba: “Welp, ain’t no time like the present! Come on, let’s go!”

Sojiro: “Wow, you guys have actually started getting pretty close. Not like that’s a bad thing though. Anyway, be careful out there.”

Futaba: “I’ve heard all about the unlimited fountain drinks at these places… Well…? Where are they? I don’t see 'em anywhere!”

timrodresized: Oh, great.

Mishima: “Oh crap, and you’re with a girl?”

Futaba: “Is this a friend of yours?”

Futaba: “Hmmm. How 'bout I ask him to help with my promise?”

Mishima: “What promise?”

Futaba: “W-Welllll…”

Mishima: “…You just want to have a regular old conversation? So, wait. You’re saying that you, a girl… want to talk to… me? I see. In that case, I guess I don’t have a choice. Nope, none whatsoever. I’ll just have to help you out.”

timrodresized: No! Don’t encourage him!

Mishima: “U-Uh, okay… I’m Yuuki Mishima, but everyone just calls me Mishima.”

Futaba: “Hrmhrmhrm. It seems like help always comes my way when I need it most. Maybe my luck stat’s really high.”

timrodresized: Joker is truly in hell, trapped between an incel and a girl gamer.

Futaba: “Heck yeah! I could prolly roll a natural twenty right now if you asked me to!”

Futaba: “Youth… the unknown frontier…”

Mishima: “Hm, maybe I should try talking about my hobbies… do you like computers?”

Futaba: “Mm, I’m always online.”

Mishima: “Me too! What sites do you use? I usually keep to forums myself… or are you more into streaming? I’d gladly subscribe to your channel. W-W-Wait, do you by chance run one of those… racy channels?”

timrodresized: Is this painful enough for you yet? Because I don’t think it is. Welcome to the worst exchange in the game.

timrodresized: Do people even play WoW in Japan? I thought even back then, FF14 had basically eaten Blizzard’s lunch in Asia. Hell, I had quit WoW before Wrath of the Lich King even released.

timrodresized: Oh right, if you’re lost, the whole “kek” thing started out as a dumbass WoW meme. I don’t know if they still do it, but way back when there used to be a chatfilter to stop the Horde players from talking to the Alliance players.

timrodresized: One of the few known bits was that if you said “lol” as a Horde player to an Alliance player, it would come out on the Alliance player’s end as “kek”.

Mishima: “H-Huh? That’s all you took from that conversation?”

timrodresized: Mishima is the Demi-Fiend offering thousands of macca to a demon only to have it go “Fuck it” and walk off. And that’s one of the reasons I can’t play Nocturne for more than like half an hour at a time.

timrodresized: If you look closely, you can see Mishima’s soul leave his body.

timrodresized: If I could get away with answering the second one, I would.

Futaba: “Really? Huh, I guess you can’t judge a book by its cover. Anyway, I’m glad you spawned here! I killed two promises with one Nishima today! ‘Learn about my generation’ and ‘have a normal conversation with a stranger my age’! Aw yeah!”

timrodresized: I mentioned this in the first post, but I have a $200 statue of Futaba on my shelf. Have I mentioned I fast-forwarded through this scene in the base game and then spent years erasing it from my memory?

timrodresized: Lesson here is to never order figures of anything, and especially not before you finish the game. I’ll post pictures after this update.

Futaba: “I think I gained a ton of EXP on this adventure. And it’s all 'cause you brought me here, Akira. Thanks!”

Mishima: “Anyway, uh… what are you doing after this?”

Futaba: “Going home.”

Mishima: “O-Oh… right…”

Futaba: “I mean, I cleared two goals in one day! That’s not all! On my way home, I found a lost thing in the street, so I dropped it off at the police station.”

Futaba: “I’m a completely different person now! No more getting scared of the police! C’mon, tell me I’m cool!”

Futaba: “Heh heh… man, I love it when people tell me I did good! Though I… basically just left the thing on their doorstep. No way I’m actually talking to anyone in there. But I left a note and stuff, so still! Mission complete, basically!”

timrodresized: So here’s the thing, right? I like Futaba’s character design. It’s legitimately pretty good, even if her whole thief outfit thing is kinda horny. It’s just that everything else about her sucks.

Futaba: “Compared to the police, Nishima was nothing. He’s like the first gym leader. At my current level, I can easily befriend an NPC like Nishima, and… eh, never mind.”

Futaba: “Anyhow, thanks again for today. Time to make like a tree!”

Morgana: “The one behind the mental shutdowns… it has to be someone dangerous. Now that we’re getting closer to the truth, we need to be ready for absolutely anything.”

timrodresized: Unfortunately, we can do exactly fuck all tonight. I thought we could do Sojiro’s confidant, but nope. It’s Featherman time. I also just recently found out that this was something added to Royal.

Morgana: “I guess we’ve moved on from Osagiri’s space lab. This looks like an urban area on Earth.”

Morgana: “Sending a trainee into battle against a real enemy? Man, Osagiri isn’t just tough, she’s reckless.”

Morgana: “What the - is that a walking phone booth?”

Morgana: “Here it comes! Get your controller ready!”

timrodresized: You know, why aren’t all the inputs just X? You know, given that Innocent Sin had cursor memory and most battles could be resolved via auto-combat.

Morgana: “Yeah! Nice dodge!”

Morgana: “This is bad. Pigeon’s caught in the cord and can’t move!”

Morgana: “Cut the cord, quick! We have to escape!”

Morgana: “Good! We escaped the cord and dodged the beam!”

Morgana: “Now, let’s finish this off! Aerial Slash!”

Morgana: “All right! We beat Phoneternum! But I wonder what he was trying to say…”

Inui: “Having executed the royalty, the revolutionaries proceeded to take the courts under their control… all who opposed the revolution were executed. However, the revolutionaries, too, were then reviled as despots and executed by the public.”

timrodresized: Just gotta keep killing until there’s no one left to kill, that’s the French way.

Inui: “Many people were executed during the French Revolution. The fact that this many executions were possible was actually due to one specific invention. Kurusu-kun, take a look at this.”

Inui: “Now, do you know who invented this instrument?”

timrodresized: Like many questions in this game, this answer is “correct”, but also very wrong. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin did not invent the guillotine - it had already been in use in several other countries before it appeared in France.

timrodresized: The French guillotine was invented by a surgeon named Antoine Louis years after Guillotin first introduced the idea of standardized executions by a beheading machine - the reason the machine is called the guillotine is because the French people took Guillotin’s idea as a joke when it was first introduced.

timrodresized: Wikipedia claims that Guillotin was against the death penalty, but that’s straight-up wrong. The idea behind the guillotine was to ensure that there was one standard of execution regardless of social status, as prior to the introduction of the guillotine, commoners typically got the more… messy… means of execution.

Inui: “That’s correct. This tool is named after him. By the way, Charles-Henri Sanson, the famous executioner… it’s said he killed 2800 people with the advent of the guillotine. It may look cruel, but it delivered a swift, painless execution regardless of one’s social status.”

Inui: “It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that it embodied the French spirit of equality. Revolution is sometimes a bloody thing… the revolutionaries that rose up for freedom became despots themselves… it’s a common tale.”

Morgana: “Our social reform doesn’t hurt anybody in the real world… it’s a bloodless revolution!”

timrodresized: We can trade the Calling Postcard we bought earlier for two Strawberry Daifuku, which are not only a full heal for the entire party, but also remove all status effects.

timrodresized: And now, because I’ve done it for everyone else, is Makoto’s Rank 10.

Makoto: “I think she knew it deep within her heart, and seeing him like that finally helped her realize.”

Makoto: “You’re still not gonna let me forget that, hm? Well, I’m glad she didn’t get into any danger… oh, and she told me she quit her job. Right now she doesn’t know what she wants to do, but she’s going to go to college and figure things out.”

Makoto: “So in the end, Eiko’s going to start seriously focusing on her studies again. I plan on doing the same as well.”

timrodresized: I kind of screwed up recording this route, so a few of the choice screenshots will be from the uh… other friendship route. There’s two. Makoto didn’t get a romance route, probably because they were too busy writing one for Yusuke.

timrodresized: It’s strange, because the two routes are word-for-word identical, only one takes place in Joker’s room with Makoto sitting uncomfortably close.

Makoto: “Yes. I thought there was no point in continuing my studies, but… this time I’m not seeking anyone’s praise, and I’m not trying to show off my intelligence. I simply want to fulfill my own personal goals and dreams.”

Makoto: “Before now, I didn’t have a clear vision of what that meant. I was lost in life… but thanks to you, I’ve finally come to realize it. My dream… is to become a police commissioner. That is why I need to study.”

timrodresized: Most boring girl wants to be a cop, becomes worst girl, film at 11.

Makoto: “Yes, the head of police operations. It will require me to have an extensive academic background. There are too many incidents in this country that are never brought to light. That host was one.”

Makoto: “Villains who prey on the hearts of the weak with cowardly, legally questionable methods… my father risked his life trying to catch a group of those people. I will never forgive them.”

timrodresized: Thanks for telling us all this shit we already know, Makoto. Great way to end your second to last confidant event.

Makoto: “But I won’t be able to eradicate them all on my own… instead, I want to head an organization that will destroy the lawless and help rescue victims.”

timrodresized: Okay, what? First you want to be a police chief, and now you’re saying you want to be the head of some kind of NGO not even two sentences later. Were the writers drunk when they were writing this?

Makoto: “I hope so… that is the justice I aim for. I also believe it will be a continuation of my father’s legacy. Honestly, it’s a little strange that I found the true meaning of my studies outside of my studies.”

Makoto: “…Thank you for all your help. Must have been difficult babysitting the upstanding Miss President, right?”

Music The Path Is Open

New Persona: Anat

Origin: Semitic Mythology

First Appearance: Devil Summoner

Mesopotamian goddess of war worshipped as far away as Egypt. Sister of Hadad (aka Baal) who assisted Hadad in defeating the river god Ym and building his own palace. Normally depicted as being extremely violent and murderous.

timrodresized: I honestly don’t remember how Anat works in combat, but from what I remember, Makoto no longer rides a motorcycle during her casting animations.

timrodresized: It sucks that they wasted such a cool Persona on such a godawful character. They even have a transforming Johanna/Anat figure which shows off how the transformation works.

Makoto: “Now then, in order to fulfill my dream, I’ll need to be accepted into my first choice college. giggle What a funny thought… studying to become a head of police while working as a thief…”

Makoto: “But perhaps it’s not as contradictory as it seems. The objective is the same… exposing the evil lurking in the dark shadows… oh, that’s right. In thanks for helping me, I’ll gladly assist you with your studies as well.”

timrodresized: In reality, we’re not doing Makoto’s Rank 10 until sometime in November, so let’s get to what we actually do on the 26th.

Shinya: “Sounds like they had another success, huh? That’s cool. The war’s still going on… it’s probably because they think I’m weak. If only I was as strong as the Phantom Thieves…”

Shinya: “What, so being big is better?”

timrodresized: Is he “familiar” because he’s trying way too hard to be Travis Touchdown?

Shinya: “…Yeah, you’re the guy from all those videos online!”

Shinya: “You just called me weak! That’s it! We’re playing! I won’t lose!”

Shinya: “…I missed!? …Th-that doesn’t count! Let’s play again!”

Shinya: “One more… one more game!”

Shinya: “Shut up! You cheated, didn’t you!?”

timrodresized: I’d make a joke about how no one would play a shooter that is apparently so easy to cheat in that anyone can do it, but then Team Fortress 2 exists.

timrodresized: TF2 is a game where even before Valve shit it up, the top sniper players in competitive were frequently caught using aimbots.

Shinya: “Right!? There’s no way I could’ve lost…!”

Shinya: “Dammit…! You’ve gotta be kidding me…”

timrodresized: I got a little suspicious here, and as it turns out this is the wrong answer - this guide picks it on purpose to get the optional events. I’m now wondering how many other times we’ve intentionally picked wrong answers, because not all of them are as obvious. The correct answer is the second one.

timrodresized: I did a little looking into it, and it looks like we’ve only done it a handful of times. I still think it’s kinda shitty that the guide author doesn’t mention that they’re doing this.

Shinya: “The strongest always win in the end. Just like the Phantom Thieves… watch, I’ll win for sure next time! I’m not a loser, you’ll see!”

Shinya: “…Crap, it’s late. I gotta go… Man, that Takekuma though! Telling me to practice for next time… a grown-up shouldn’t spend so much time playing video games!”

timrodresized: Little late there, Hashino. I’m only… 75 hours into this JRPG. Granted, a lot of that was grinding and me going slowly during recording to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

timrodresized: I accidentally missed a crossword, so this is an old one that carried over. Not like it matters anyway.

timrodresized: Tonight, we’re doing another Caroline and Justine outing.

Justine: “…one halfway detached from this world - it is said the time spent there is like that of a dream.”

Caroline: “Men and women of all ages swarm the land, forgetting reality in search of happiness and wonder.”

Justine: “This sounds like a similar form of escapism as the fantasies we saw in the movie theater… a sinister trap that ensorcels humans… if such a place truly exists, then we must observe it in action ourselves.”

Justine: “Does this location sound at all familiar to you?”

Caroline: “Well? If you know where it is, then escort us there immediately! So, what’ll it be?”

timrodresized: Joker’s like “You do both realize that it costs like $350 a person to get into Destinyland”, to which Caroline and Justine respond “Oh, we know. What do you think the $4,000 we charged you to fuse Mara and Baal were for?”

Mara: Whoa, what!? They told me I was getting a cut of that! Where’s my cut?!

Justine: “Caroline, what excites you so?”

timrodresized: I’m not sure if this is meant to be Teddie or not.

Justine: “Is there a king living in that castle? Shouldn’t we pay him our respects first?”

Mara: I get that all the time.

Justine: "This gleeful music… the rhythmic, monotonous dancing… the grins plastered across every spectator’s face… this overstimulation is making me grow dizzy…’

Caroline: “Ah-ha! This is a brainwashing scheme, isn’t it, Inmate?”

Caroline: “Really? They all appear entranced to me.”

Justine: “Make sure you don’t befall the same fate.”

Caroline: “Although, it may benefit us to investigate just how they pull off such a successful mass-brainwashing. Justine, let us conduct an inspection of the premises.”

Justine: “Lead the way, inmate.”

Justine: “You say that now, despite appearing quite captivated before… what with your outbursts like ‘That bear is so cute!’ and ‘Let’s get in line to meet the characters!’ and so forth…”

timrodresized: I have to wonder who Caroline and Justine’s favorite Disney princesses would be. Caroline I can see pretending to not be into it while secretly being very into it, but I’m not sure which one she’d like.

Caroline: “I-I said nothing of the sort! I was merely going through the motions in the guise of a brainwashed human! That’s all it was!”

Caroline: “Look, there’s another line! Let’s see where it goes!”

Justine: “We had better catch up to her, Inmate.”

timrodresized: Okay, I forgot about this. Justine’s favorite princess is definitely Alice, even though I don’t think Alice counts as a princess - not because of the film, but because she admires the demon.

Caroline: “What was that, Inmate!?”

Justine: “The stalls were lit with chandeliers… and the sinks looked as if they were designed for royalty.”

Caroline: “…Were we actually in someone’s Palace that whole time? Well that was fun - I mean, that was a functional assignment, but we’ve had enough for today. Time to head back.”

Justine: “Just a moment, Caroline… I have heard it is customary to bring back some sort of token gift for one’s superiors after visiting a place such as this.”

Justine: “We should buy something for our master while we have the chance. I perused the wares on display earlier. The mouse ears or the stuffed bear… which do you think our master would prefer?”

timrodresized: Joker is going to troll the fuck out of Igor for making him pay that much for Mara.

Justine: “The master… with round mouse ears… giggle

Justine: “In any case, we have confirmed the existence of a ‘world of dreams’. As such, we formally acknowledge your assignment as complete. Here is your reward.”

timrodresized: This admittedly would’ve saved me some time doing their confidant.

Caroline: “Look at the smiles on these people’s faces… it’s as if they’ve been liberated from their everyday lives.”

Justine: “A human’s desire to dream even reaches into their time in the waking world… a rather curious phenomenon for us, as we dwell in the space between dream and reality.”

Caroline: “Ooh, is another brainwashing parade beginning?”

timrodresized: I’m going to cut this update here, because I want to keep Makoto contained to a single update. Next time… we’re doing Yusuke’s Rank 9 (and also his Rank 10). That means TWO new More Like Yusu-Gays - one from Salty Vanilla and a second from Yokobox.

timrodresized: That’s not all to the Yusuke romance route, by the way. Salty Vanilla did the Christmas date a few months ago and is now working on… a surprise for the expansion content. I’m also planning on having them do a Valentine’s Day event.

timrodresized: We’ll also potentially max out Yoshida’s confidant, and find out whether that Japanese guide was correct or not. I’ll also post the romance cutscenes with Makoto (which I still insist aren’t real) under the “alternate scenes” header.

How do you do, fellow gamers?

Also I can’t believe the Catholic church and medieval so-called “”“historians”"" are covering up the truth about Pope Joan The Pope Who Is Not Only A Motorcycle But A Transformer Too Basically Arcee Except Not Pink.

I guess that explains why they couldn’t do more with her having a motorcycle.

Summary

timrodresized: Just like all of the other Rank 9 events, Makoto’s is identical up until the final choice.

Makoto: “…? U-Um, I’m not exactly the most well-versed in these matters, so allow me to confirm this… do you… like me?”

timrodresized: I think we’ve overloaded the robot’s AI.

Makoto: “…O-Oh. Um… you really mean it, right? W-Well then… if, um… if it’s all right with you… let’s start dating, for real.”

Makoto: “This is so embarrassing… I look forward to, um, growing our relationship um… together.”

Makoto: “Sorry. I know we just saw each other. So… I think between us… we managed to help Eiko see the truth. I’d probably never have pulled this off alone. Thank you so much.”

Makoto: “Huh? C-Come on, stop that… but hearing that does make me happy… you’re too nice to me. I’m thinking of calling Eiko once she calms down a bit. But I wanted to get a courage boost from you before I did…”

Makoto: “…Yup, that helped. I think I can talk to Eiko properly now. I guess b-boyfriends… um… really can be… reliable…”

timrodresized: Yeah, Yusuke really is a great boyfriend, isn’t he.

timrodresized: Makoto’s Rank 10 scene is completely identical to her other Rank 10 scene, except it takes place in Joker’s room instead of Big Bang Burger until after the part where her Persona evolves.

Makoto: “Well… I was thinking… maybe we could study some things we don’t have experience in yet… would that be okay? …I want to be with you.”

timrodresized: And that’s all for this horrible non-canon hellscape.

I mean, I don’t get why they didn’t just make both of her Personas into Transformers - have Anat be a beefier motorcycle with a different color scheme.