Click Here for Update 87
: We’re still not done with repeat cutscenes. There’s a lot of filler in this part - if you need a refresher, you can read Update 2. The only difference here..
: Is that the SIU Director has his portrait for his lines. That’s it.
: “Now that you have traversed your long, perilous recollection, you truly have entered the present.”
: “The effects of that drug are gonna wear off soon. This is your golden opportunity. You must grasp the truth that will save you from the brink of ruin.”
: “The evil influence who wishes you dead is fast approaching.”
: “If you want to win this unreasonable game…”
: I don’t know that I’d call it unreasonable. Except for the plot, the filler, and Okumura’s bossfight.
: “If you wish to take back your stolen future…”
: The game is repeating this VERY OBVIOUS HINT as to how to avoid the bad ending.
: I also forgot to post this in the last update. You get this in the middle of the repeat cutscenes, after Joker signs his name.
: “So that’s what led to your ending up here. What a disappointing end to the hero of justice. I still can’t believe it.. but I now have a general idea of the methods you used for your crimes.”
: Didn’t he explicitly tell you how everything worked? I think you’ve got more than a general idea of - oh right, this is Sae we’re talking about.
: “There’s much more I’d like to ask, but my allotted time is nearly up… I do have a suggestion though.”
: “I have a responsibility to solve this case. I will win, even if it means brokering a deal with you. Your operation was leaked, and you failed to change my heart. There’s no point in being obstinate now.”
: “You’ve corrupted the order of this country and caused an uprising against its very existence. You’ll most likely be given life imprisonment or the death penalty.. unless you accept my proposal.”
: Wait, when did we cause an uprising?
: “Going forward, I will read a list of people who are closest to you and this case. Tell me honestly whether or not the following are involved with the Phantom Thieves.”
: I’m going to break my rule here about not using character portraits with dialog that I’ve written, because I think this just flows better.
: “First, the friend who you’ve been with since the day you transferred to Shujin - Ryuji Sakamoto.”
: “Never heard of him.”
: “One of the victims of the Kamoshida case - Ann Takamaki.”
: “I don’t know who that is.”
: “Ichiryusai Madarame’s pupil - Yusuke Kitagawa.”
: " …"
: “The daughter of Wakaba Isshiki - Futaba Sakura.”
: “Shouldn’t you know the answer to that by now?”
: “The heiress to the Okumura foods legacy and daughter of its CEO - Haru Okumura.”
: “You really haven’t been paying attention, have you?”
: Remember, she knows that Futaba did the hack against Medjed, and unless Joker held back a lot knows that Haru was in Okumura’s palace. She also knows about Makoto.
: Obviously, the third answer is the bad ending.
: “So you won’t sell out your friends.. then let me change the question. …I find it hard to believe that high schoolers could have pulled off these crimes by themselves.”
: “Were there not others outside of your direct group who encouraged your crimes or lent their aid?”
: This is where all the dumbass cutscenes at the start of each confidant go.
: “Not to repeat myself, but remember that your life will be forfeit if your sentence is not lightened. …You had the cooperation of people outside your group, did you not? Can you tell me about them?”
: Again, second option is the bad ending.
: “…I see. So you won’t speak a word about either your teammates or your collaborators? Do you even understand the position that you’re in?”
: “…Let’s discuss one other person - Goro Akechi. There are reports that he was acting alongside the Phantom Thieves as well. Might he be a part of your team too?”
: There’s a reason we can’t let her know about Akechi. It’s not a good one.
: “So Goro Akechi wasn’t one of you. Very well… so be it… you clearly have no intention of bargaining with me.”
: “Even now, you’re still acting as though you’re a hero of justice? Your teammates have sacrificed you in order to escape, yet you wish to defend their honor? Why won’t you talk about them?”
: This game is turning into Ace Attorney.
: “…Justice? …Then tell me! What is this ‘justice’ you speak of?”
: “Sticking to the right path? That’s no different from us! sigh You continue to stand firm.. are you implying that we have no evidence on you?”
: I think you just said the quiet part out loud there.
: “But many people have fallen victim to this! We need to learn the truth.”
: “After all this, you’re still-”
: “Are you listening? The side effects of the truth serum should be wearing off. I won’t be deceived by such a poor act.”
: I mentioned this when I did the full version of this cutscene back in Update 77, but this is the dumbest shit. Also, what connection does the “I won’t be deceived” line have to this scene?
: “Hey. …Can you hear me? It seems your mind is clearing up… but unfortunately… my time has run out. Although I find your story quite interesting, I won’t be able to speak with you any longer.”
: “…Huh? What are you getting at? …That’s right. No matter the results of this case, I won’t be receiving credit. I even had to call in a large favor just to conduct this interrogation…”
: If you’ve read the second blurred cutscene, the one posted in Update 78, you’ll know this isn’t what the actual text of that scene is.
: I’m not sure if they’re implying that Futaba hacked Sae’s phone somehow, or if they got that off Akechi’s.. but if they got it off Akechi’s phone, why would Sae be talking to him about that? Wouldn’t he already know?
: “Hey, are you listening? …Our time’s up. We’re done talking here. …Goodbye.”
: “Planned? Why are you saying such odd things? Anyhow.. there’s one last thing I want to ask you. There’s something that’s been bothering me for some time now.”
: “Recently I was removed from my post as head of this investigation and was told to remain on standby. A short while later, I received word that you were caught in the act… within some bizarre phenomenon.”
: “…But that was all I was told. You were told someone sold you out, correct? If that’s true, who could it have been? Don’t you have any idea?”
: I like to think this isn’t actually how Joker reacts - it’s one of those Twin Peaks dream realm things where he’s asking Morgana’s astral projection what he’s supposed to do.
: “What’s wrong? Might you have an idea as to who sold you out?”
: “You’re not joking, are you!? If you know something, you must tell me! I won’t allow things to end like this!”
: “I’ve been told the lock on it is quite complicated. But, it’s only a matter of time until it’s cracked. What’s so important about this smartphone? Are you going to unlock it and show me the data?”
: As I was working on this today, I did a timeline of how the blurred cutscenes work - and really, there’s no time for this one to have taken place.
: They kind of try to hand-wave it by not telling you what happens during that last blurred scene.. except there’s another blurred scene coming up that more or less has to be right after that one.
: Realistically, there’s at least two nights in here, if not more, that are totally unaccounted for by the plot. This sounds like a nitpick, but I mean, they went so far as to have these stupid blurred scenes to explain why the player isn’t involved and they couldn’t even keep that consistent.
: “Hey… what are you trying to get at here? And what about this smartphone?”
: “The traitor?”
: This entire scene is voiced, and the voice on the recording is clearly Akechi’s.
: “Please! I need you to be clear with me! Who am I supposed to show this to?”
: “What do you…?”
: “…You’re referring to him, aren’t you?”
: sigh “What are you plotting? I can’t even begin to fathom it. …But it appears my time is up. This is as far as our conversation can go. This will be my last involvement with this case…”
: “Heh.. very well. I’ve listened to your whole story, so I may as well play along to the end. And that honest look in your eyes… I used to view the world the same way too, once.”
: They changed a lot of lines in this scene (and the upcoming several days of solid cutscene) to be less badly localized, but I see they didn’t quite get all of it.
: “I’ll place my bet on you. I just need to show him the phone, right?”
: In the base game, this ability was just question marks.
: Not only do we get Satan (who is a priority for fusion and who I will be fusing the second we get control again) but we also finally get the EXP bonus when fusing Judgement Personas.
: “…I’ll be going now.”
: “Why do you seem so surprised?”
: “I needed my director to step in to get access and I was directly responsible for this case. How did you get approval?”
: “For the same reason you did. I am heading up the investigation team, after all. It’s only natural I’d have the right to interrogate our culprit as well, don’t you think?”
: “They assigned you command!?”
: “…That was a joke, of course. I’m merely here to assist with the public security interrogation. I am surprised it’s this far underground though… there aren’t any others incarcerated here, yes?”
: “Nobody would ever know if things got a little violent…”
: “If I remember correctly… didn’t you say there was another culprit besides the Phantom Thieves?”
: “That was but a lie I spread to set them up. Oh, I’m sorry! I forgot that I had deceived you too, Sae-san. After all, if you wish to trick your enemies, you must first trick your allies.”
: Game, we just saw this scene. It’s not even one of the ones that I have a problem with. I’ll just cut the rest of it, since that scene is in this very update.
: “Is there a problem?”
: “Hm? Excuse me? …? What is this phone?”
: “It belonged to the leader of the Phantom Thieves. I believe you’ll need it for your investigation.”
: “Not personally. I was acting alongside the Phantom Thieves myself, remember?”
: Did he ever tell her he was? I mean, I guess we can assume he did, but given this game’s insistence on showing every little thing…
: “True. This is undoubtedly a great accomplishment. Good luck in there.”
: Right between when she says this and the next shot, there’s a purple flash on the screen. It’s only there for a fraction of a second, but keep it in mind for later.
: Light Yagami switch.. turn on!
: “May I ask that you accompany me? Going in unarmed to interrogate a murderer makes me uncomfortable..”
: This scene is incredibly stupid for a couple of reasons. We’ll get into that later.
: “That’s right. You and your little friends were vital to our plan. And now, it will be completed. Your popularity truly was quite stunning. That just made using you all the more worthwhile…”
: That you’re a dipshit for not just asking the shadowy cabal to give you a gun instead of going through the risk of stealing the cop’s gun? That you’re using a suppressor on a gun that isn’t loaded with subsonic ammo, and so everyone in the building is probably hearing your gunshots?
: Sojiro drops a plate.
: Oh, or the part where this plan wouldn’t hold up to scrutiny because there’d be no gunshot residue on Joker’s hands or shirt?
: GASP. Akechi works for Shido, who is behind the entire shadowy conspiracy and is the final boss of the base game!? Who ever could have guessed!?
: “Regardless, all that’s left is to deal with the remnants.”
: “The continued deaths of these teenagers would be a bit much, don’t you think? I considered making it appear they had a falling out… but that would only amplify public frenzy… it would be best to have each of them meet with an unfortunate accident once the storm blows over.”
: “Is there any possibility they’ll want to avenge their leader?”
: “No chance. They’re nothing but cattle anyway… they have no backbone without his guidance. I will keep my eye on them just in case though.”
: So wait, if Shido doesn’t want Akechi saying his name over the phone, why is he letting Akechi rattle off his entire evil plan? Wouldn’t this have made more sense if they were both in Shido’s office?
: “I’ll be counting on you.”
: “Make sure to kill that strange cat once you find it as well.”
: So.. wait. Hold on. Shido knows who the party is, and didn’t just.. I dunno, send his goon squad to abduct them all and kill them?
: I feel like someone needs to talk to Hashino about the idea that making your villains sound like incompetent morons isn’t really compatible with the idea of your villains being masterminds behind this whole thing to take over Japan.
: “Understood, though I doubt there is anything to worry about. It’s merely a cat, after all. More importantly, they should be dealing with the suicide right about now.”
: “Things will become quite busy once the word gets out… I’ll need to prepare my comments on the matter.”
: “I must be prepared to deal with it on my end as well. Beyond that.. what of the director of the Special Investigations Unit?”
: “Perhaps he’ll be struck by a mysterious illness sometime soon…”
: And here we have Hashino being inconsistent with how the whole mental shutdown thing works. Clearly, this is Death Note now.
: I’m just picturing Joker with Yusuke as his shinigami. Sae finds the Death Note during the interrogation and bargains with Yusuke to use his shinigami powers to remove her tramp stamp.
: Sae: “That’s totally how it works! Tattoo removal counts as a death! The tattoo is dying!”
: “What was all that about, showing him this phone? …The Phantom Thief Alibaba? Who is this?”
: “How do they know I have this?!”
: “Goro Akechi is evil. He didn’t come to interrogate the captured phantom thief… he came to kill him.”
: “Don’t trust the guard either. He’s an accomplice as well. Now then, I’ll tell you detailed steps to take. You must save Akira Kurusu.”
: “You want me to… save him?”
: “What is it?”
: “…Did anyone else stop by? …Nobody?”
: “So it’s all true..”
: “It’s Akechi-kun. He had to take a sudden call, so he won’t be able to make it down today. …I’ve been asked to handle things instead.”
: “You know… if you stay here, they’ll likely get rid of you to eliminate any evidence. I suggest you go into hiding at once if you value your life.”
: This is one major change from the base game. In the base game, if you had Japanese voices on, the newscaster did not have subtitles.
: This cutscene was one that I suspect may have been ordered for an earlier draft of the plot, but which Atlus had spent enough money on that they didn’t want to throw it out.
: This right here is part of why I suspect that. We have no idea where this is, or who this person talking to Ryuji is. If I had to guess, this is probably something that would’ve been brought up in Ryuji’s confidant in an older script draft.
: I’m wondering if this is a case where Yusuke having a bunch of girls interested in him was originally a plot point that got cut, or if the anime studio just wasn’t paying attention.
: Also, that seems like kind of an extreme angle for a cis guy to cross his legs at while sitting. I can’t tell if that was intentional, or the anatomy’s just way off.
: I now have a theory about Yusuke. I’ll share it at the end.
: Oh boy! I can read this! These are all the party members - Futaba has them in her phone under their code names. From the top: Joker, Skull, Queen, Panther, Inari (or Fox), Noir.
: Only part of this chat gets subbed, and none of it was subbed in the base game even if you were playing in English.
: Kanamin is an idol from Rise’s idol group in Persona 4 Dancing, which I refuse to believe is canon.
: Here’s another way you can tell that this scene was made early in production - Joker got rid of those trash bags when he cleaned Futaba’s room up.
: They also probably didn’t know what they were going to do with Sugimura when they made this cutscene.
: This part isn’t subtitled for some reason, but even without knowing what they’re saying, I can tell you exactly what they’re saying: “We’re receiving word now that the suspect has committed suicide in custody.”
: “But why were you killed? Why did you have to die? Do you remember? It seems you forgot an important fact while your consciousness was hazy.”
: “Indeed.. your ‘death’ was a necessity for your escape from certain doom. What a tremendous plan. How might you be capable of executing such a feat?”
: “Well then, let us rouse the memories which are missing…”
: And now it’s time for the blurred cutscenes. I’ve already posted these earlier, but on this recording, I picked different options - not that it matters.
: “…You realized it too, then. It was our conversation about pancakes, right? There’s no way he could have reacted like that if he hadn’t heard me.”
: Man, I love it when I can just copy-paste. I’ll also be copy-pasting some of my reactions from the previous updates.
: “Right. It was your social studies trip. We met him in the hallway of that TV station…”
: “There’s no way that this is the first time he’s heard my voice. This whole deal feels sketchy.”
: “Yeah. That was my plan too. Okay.. let’s get everyone on the same page right away.”
: And now for the second blurred cutscene, from Update 78.
: "One more person has been on our mind. If it’s possible, I want to eavesdrop on their phone conversation.”
: “Hmm, that’ll be tough…”
: “Right. We really need your help.”
: “Hmmm… I’d have to plant a bug directly on the phone…”
: Wait. Hold on a second. You could wiretap Joker just fine from your bedroom! Moreover, why didn’t you just do this to Akechi instead of inviting him to the school festival?!
: This? This right here? This is something Makoto should’ve suggested! So why the fuck didn’t she?!
: “So it’s impossible even for you…”
: “I didn’t say it was impossible! …Ok, I’ve got a plan!”
: “Don’t worry, I’ll tell you the details later.”
: “This is gonna be fun! I can’t wait!”
: The other LP asks how Joker would know about this scene if he wasn’t there, and I don’t think they understood that if Philemon made an entire world, Igor can probably transplant memories.
: “It seems you finally remember… this ‘game’ is not over yet. There are still things that must be done.”
: This scene also isn’t going to make a lot of sense later. Pretend it’s non-canon.
: Well, that was a short and kind of pointless death scene. Next time: more exposition as the game tries to justify this dumbass plot twist.