Colors Flying High - Let's Play Persona 5 Royal

[SpammyV]

Okay so if I have this right… the Scooby Gang figured out Akechi was up to something. So they split up after fake taking the Treasure so Joker would run off on his own and get captured while everyone else runs off with Akechi who just lets them go. Then… they planned for Sae to do a interrogation? And hoped that Joker would be aware enough to convince her to show Akechi the phone, which instantly popped him into a perfect Metaverse copy of the interrogation room with a copy Joker and a copy guard so Akechi shoots the copies while Sae sneaks real Joker out of the police station and no one realizes there’s no blood and no body.

And then despite Shido coming up several times especially in this last chapter they listen to the call where Akechi name drops Shido and don’t realize that he means THAT Shido.

And also Shido is the dude Joker punched for trying to assault a lady and is the reason he’s on probation.

[Timrod]

@SpammyV

Okay so if I have this right… the Scooby Gang figured out Akechi was up to something. So they split up after fake taking the Treasure so Joker would run off on his own and get captured while everyone else runs off with Akechi who just lets them go. Then… they planned for Sae to do a interrogation? And hoped that Joker would be aware enough to convince her to show Akechi the phone, which instantly popped him into a perfect Metaverse copy of the interrogation room with a copy Joker and a copy guard so Akechi shoots the copies while Sae sneaks real Joker out of the police station and no one realizes there’s no blood and no body.

Funny thing about that, I went to record Futaba’s optional dialog just now and as it turns out they cut about half of it out - including a bunch of details that I think were references to an earlier draft of the script. In doing so, they also cut out the entire explanation for how they managed the switch. You’ll see it next update, but you’ve more or less got it.

[drcakey]

@Timrod

: “To think he would be this far gone… I know now what it means to feel a chill down my spine. Furthermore, he wishes to bring a police squad from reality into the Palace…”

: “If the eight of us can enter at once, it’s not inconceivable to think a larger group is possible. He may even be able to bring in vehicles or other pieces of special equipment.”

The dissatisfaction from the payoff of the opening cutscene is savage. I was actually pretty excited to find out what was going on. Once you know about the Metaverse, the opening cutscene becomes very tantalizing, because it seems like the real world is colliding with someone’s Palace. Or there’s some other kind of grand escalation. But Akechi just did a group huddle with the Tokyo PD.

@Timrod

: There was an interview I read a couple years ago with Jeremy Blaustein, the guy who localized the first Metal Gear Solid game. He realized pretty quickly that the idea of Snake (or really, anyone) agreeing to infilitrate a heavily-guarded nuclear facility without even being issued a gun was necessary for the core gameplay to work, but dumb from a plot perspective.

: That’s where the “Weapons and equipment OSP?” line came from. That wasn’t in Kojima’s script, it was something Jeremy Blaustein added because it sounded enough like actual military jargon that no one was going to question it. That decision worked out brilliantly. I never even really thought about that until he pointed it out.

It was the second-best solution to the problem. The best would have been to not mention it at all, like the original script did.

Though now I want the next Mario game to start with Mario saying “Toad, I assume all Fire Flowers are-a on-site procurement-a?”

@Timrod

: I like to think that this scene was the straw that broke the camel’s back that was Hashino’s employment at Atlus. This is the moment when Sega’s executives realized that this game worked despite Hashino, not because of him.

You know Hashino is still employed at Atlus, right? He’s the head of Studio Zero.

@Timrod

"Then the only value left is dollar value - the economy. So we’ll do whatever it takes to keep it humming along! Even war. Especially war!

@Timrod

: You know what I would pay money to see? How Satomi Tadashi would’ve salvaged this plot.

Ergh, please no. I’m still holding out hope that Eternal Punishment will be satisfying, but I’ve seen P1, Innocent Sin, and Digital Devil Saga and games are just not his medium (and P5 probably isn’t his genre).

Also I’ve seen him ‘salvage’ someone’s plot before. It was called Digital Devil Saga 2 and aaaaaaaaaaa its so bad.

[Timrod]

@drcakey

You know Hashino is still employed at Atlus, right? He’s the head of Studio Zero.

I did not know that. I assumed he had left Atlus to form that studio. I looked it up and it looks like Re Fantasy is probably vaporware (and if it comes out will probably have a lot of the same problems P5 did) but at least it stops him from ever laying his hands on Persona as a series again.

@drcakey

The dissatisfaction from the payoff of the opening cutscene is savage. I was actually pretty excited to find out what was going on. Once you know about the Metaverse, the opening cutscene becomes very tantalizing, because it seems like the real world is colliding with someone’s Palace. Or there’s some other kind of grand escalation. But Akechi just did a group huddle with the Tokyo PD.

Oh yeah, it totally sucks. When I played the base game, I knew about Akechi due to people spoiling it and had seen the opening casino segment in promo videos, so I assumed that the casino was Akechi’s dungeon. I think that’s a large part of why I hate the plot - they had hyped the shit out of it during development and when you actually get there it’s just… meh.

I was also hoping the game would take the kind of adversarial stance that Persona 4 did to the player - things like the scene with Nametame where the party is encouraging you to just fucking kill him (even though they should have, he was too dumb to live) or the part at the end where it keeps asking if you’re really sure you want to go back to Junes and not spend your last day with your friends. That was one of the reasons I really liked Snow Queen - it offers you the option of doing Thanatos Tower first and then dangles the extra ambrosia in front of you. And then it just… doesn’t, despite this being the perfect game to do just that.

[Timrod]

Click Here for Update 89

: This scene had a lot of changes in Royal for some reason. In the base game, Sojiro isn’t in the room at this point.

: “The police report on your death isn’t gonna show up at your school. No need to worry. Seems Prosecutor Niijima worked out some kinda deal with the higher-ups or something.”

: …And how exactly did she do that without Shido finding out, given that the “higher-ups” are mostly in his pocket - at least, if what he says is true.

: Now, I’ll admit that I do this sometimes, but come the fuck on! Proofread your goddamn script!

: “And I guess if they reported your death now, they’d basically be saying you were a phantom thief. They can’t really go around announcing what the Phantom Thieves are, so I’m sure they’ll avoid that.”

: Futaba’s dialog here was cut significantly - it was originally about five minutes of text. Royal adds voiceacting to it as well. I wasn’t aware of this, which is why I didn’t just put it in the last update.

: To avoid confusing anyone, I’m only going to post the dialog that actually shows up in Royal. You can see the entire thing from the base game here, if you’re interested.

: “Well, remember how I put that wiretap app in Akechi’s phone? Basically that let me see GPS info for two phones: yours and his. I’d be able to tell the precise moment Sae Niijima, who had your phone, ran into Akechi!”

: “That’s when I saw my chance and beep - sent the signal to activate the Metaverse Navigator. But there was the chance they’d just pass each other without saying a single word.”

: “That’s why we needed you to tell Sae Niijima to show the phone to Akechi!”

: You might be wondering why she keeps referring to Sae by her full name - I think it’s because in Japanese, everyone refers to Makoto by her last name.

: “This plan still surprises me no matter how many times I hear it…”

: “Still, I couldn’t just directly hack into the Metaverse Nav. It’s a mysterious app, after all. But you know how it has that bookmark function? All you have to do is push the button.”

: “Making the phone think he was pushing that button was totally doable. Mwehehehe… pretty good, huh!?”

: I do want to post a couple of excerpts from the base game’s version of this scene, because I want to show you just how much of a confusing clusterfuck it was. For this, I’ll use Futaba’s phantom thief portrait.

: “Lemme see, another problematic thing was… oh yeah! Tying Akechi up! That was really tough. Uhh, I obviously don’t mean the real Akechi. Even if we could do that, it would ruin our plan.”

: “The one we had to tie up was Sae Niijima’s cognitive Akechi… this part’s really complicated. I know you’re tired. You sure you wanna hear all of this now?”

: This is where my theory about the multiple plot drafts comes from. There is no cognitive Akechi in Sae’s dungeon. I saw this my first time through and thought I missed something, but I didn’t.

: “Well, since the rest of us didn’t get captured, we had to act. We had to pretend we never wanted you to get arrested… pretend the suicide news was a real shock… basically we had to act like we didn’t know anything, 24/7.”

: I’m pretty sure this is also from the initial plot draft that had the cognitive Akechi in it. In the initial draft, there was probably a longer period between when Joker gets arrested and when Akechi ‘kills’ him.

: “The enemy knows who we are, so we couldn’t let our guard down even once while you were gone. If they had people watching us and realized what our plan was, they would have killed you immediately.”

: There’s one last bit of optional dialog, and that’s with Morgana.

: “But even that’s putting it too lightly. You had it rough in there, didn’t you?”

: “Akechi was after you all along. I knew it was risky, but we had no choice but to depend on him… but thanks to your tenacity, you were able to fool him.”

: “It’s payback time. Let’s make him regret underestimating the Phantom Thieves!”

: And now, let’s do the only thing we can do and go to bed.

: “Don’t worry about it. This’ll be a breeze compared to what we’ve had to face so far. And we’ll have all the time to come up with the plans together!”

: “To be perfectly honest, I don’t really care what happens to Shido one way or the other. But when I consider the fact that he’s your enemy, I naturally think he’s my enemy as well.”

: “I’m going to stay with you until the very end. Well then, we should get to sleep.”

: “When you were in a pinch in the Palace, she picked up a reading of someone who came to your rescue. Was that…?”

: “So it was Yoshizawa… then we’d better let her know you’re safe now. And, I’ll even lend you a hand with that.”

: There’s scenes each day for the next few days where we’ll get IMs from the various non-party member confidants. I’m not sure what the criteria to get them are - I heard it was Rank 10, but we get Shinya’s even though we’re only at Rank 9.

: This means we miss out on Iwai’s and Chihaya’s.

: “I swear, you’re like monkeys in a zoo. …Hm? Oh yeah… I received word from Kurusu’s family that he’ll be absent for a bit. Geez… what do you people think school is, anyway?”

: “It’s almost time…”

: “You don’t need to worry about it in here, but try not to do anything to draw attention. Anyway, today’s a day off, so eat your curry and take it easy.”

: “You can take your time with it too. It’s not like any customers are gonna be showing up.”

: “Let’s try and think of the keyword once the chief’s curry has energized you.”

: “All right, let’s head to the Diet Building. Make sure you aren’t discovered, okay?”

: You might be wondering how it is that Joker can go out if he’s supposed to be dead, and the answer is…

: A hood. Clearly, Joker is a descendant of that guy from Assassin’s Creed.

: “You gotta be kiddin’ me… you realize you’re done for if you get caught, right? …Sheesh, the stunts you pull sometimes. Just don’t stay out too late.”

: “Let’s begin at once. Police cars are making rounds, so we can’t stay here too long. We already have ‘Masayoshi Shido’ and ‘Diet Building’. All we need is ‘what’ he thinks of this place.”

: Why would they even need to be here? The game showed them guessing the keywords just fine in Leblanc.

: “Maybe ‘Mt. Fuji’ since it’s the highest place in the country?”

: “What about a ‘mansion’?”

: “Since he’s going to subjugate everyone as prime minister… perhaps a ‘school’?”

: “What about an ‘arena’ like the Colosseum?”

: “Imperial palace?”

: “…It’s no good.”

: “I thought we would’ve gained entry by now… maybe we shouldn’t have called Akira-kun here…”

: “Shido stole the cognitive psience research, right? Maybe it had some special move written in it.”

: Shido did a quarter circle back and punch and now his palace is impenetrable.

: “Is that even possible?”

: “Who knows? I’ve got no idea.”

: “There was nothing like that in the notes I saw.”

: “Anyways, what kinda person is Shido? I can’t figure him out…”

: “I did some light research on him last night, but I couldn’t get a grasp on the type of man he is.”

: “What kind of person is Representative Shido? What’s he think about the National Diet?”

: “You know, what’s his shadow see his personal brain realm as?”

: “An exemplary answer.”

: “It makes sense he wouldn’t tell teenagers anything unnecessary.”

: The guard’s radioing in and asking “Hey control, is anime real? Because I see a bunch of teenagers with off-color hair and modified school uniforms sitting outside, and I can’t tell if they’re anime protagonists or just teenagers.”

: “Wait, is it about us?”

: “That doesn’t look good.”

: “We should leave at once. Tomorrow’s a day off, so let’s have an early strategy meeting. Meet at Leblanc, okay?”

: “We should all think about this tonight…”

: “I’m saying this even though it would make more sense not to, because now I’ve got no one to pin all my murders on.”

: “However, I believe that this country’s citizens are still living their days in anxiety. These scandals only increase our distrust of the current government. As a citizen myself, I am enraged!”

: “Look who’s talking.”

: “What does it mean to be a politician with responsibility? Working toward personal gain without consideration of the country is outrageous!”

: “The election’s public notification is tomorrow, but no matter where I go, people are cheering for Shido.”

: I’m not exactly sure what he’s talking about. If I had to guess, it’s probably Shido being announced as the candidate for prime minister even though it’s kind of a foregone conclusion at this point.

: “Everyone’s being deceived so easily.”

: “In order to save this country that has been tainted by villains, social reform is essential!”

: “Ugh…”

: While Joker was gone, someone put up a Phantom Thieves flag in his room.

: “I get no one knows the truth about him, but it still creeps me out…”

: We have time tonight to do something, so let’s try another game.

: Sarutahiko is a demon that has not made an appearance since Nocturne. He’s the husband of Ame no Uzume.

: “Oh, there’s a practice course. Let’s try that one first. All right, time to practice a normal-distance shot.”

: I miss the QTE the first time by a single bar.

: “Your ball’s in the rough now. That wasn’t the best shot… oh, the screen changed. It looks like you’re stuck in the sand now.”

: “Not bad! You managed to get yourself out of the bunker. Oooh, you’re near the flag now! It looks like this is practice for getting your ball on the green.”

: “Hey, you did it! The ball’s on the green now. Looks like that’s the end of the practice course. I guess we’ll finish here for today.”

: “Oh, that’s right. Aren’t you all supposed to be gathering here today? Make sure you finish eating before everyone shows up.”

: “It’s almost time for our meeting. I wonder if anybody has figured out the keyword…”

: No, that’d be Elon Musk, and also an emerald mine.

: “…No good.”

: “How many’d we miss?”

: “Perhaps he truly does have a barrier up.”

: “Right!?”

: “That’s not something to be excited about!”

: “We know all the way up to ‘Diet Building’ too…”

: “…So you enter keywords into the Metaverse Navigator.”

: “Boss, can you turn the TV on? Shido might be on it.”

: “Sure thing.”

: “Him and his stupid, composed face!”

: “I truly apologize for causing such a stir. Honestly, it required a lot of courage to openly oppose them when their popularity was at its peak. I mean, people often lashed out at me online and whatnot.”

: “That was to catch them off guard. I could say I applied my profiling knowledge. Once they lost public support, someone they thought was their greatest enemy lent a hand…”

: “That’s the same strategy used in romance, wouldn’t you agree?”

: Joker and Yusuke look at each other and reflexively go “No.”

: “Why is he being treated as an ‘ace detective of justice’!?”

: “It’s not just on TV or online. Newspapers, magazines… I see his face everywhere.”

: “On the other hand, no one’s hoping for our comeback on the Phan-Site, like at all!”

: “The Phantom Thieves are ‘evil’. Shido and Akechi are ‘just’… it should be the other way around.”

: “They’re manipulating information using the media!”

: “Leaving Akechi aside - we’ll get back at him later - our main issue is Shido.”

: What the shit kind of dialog is that? That sounds like something you’d hear out of the narrator in a book.

: “Were there any instances before when you didn’t know the Palace keywords?”

: “Well, there was the time with Futaba.”

: “We didn’t know anything about her, so all we could do was make conjectures.”

: “Then, why don’t we just go directly and see Shido?”

: “That’s impossible. He’s surrounded by bodyguards and followers all the time.”

: “There’s no way high school students can get an appointment with him either.”

: “Well, we do have an adult with us…”

: “No, that’s still impossible. Besides, that’s too dangerous a method.”

: “Well this is a problem…”

: “Isn’t that an election-campaign car?”

: “Oh right! The candidates are currently campaigning!”

: Hold on… you recognize Shido’s voice in person, but don’t recognize his voice from the multitude of times he’s been on TV?

: “I apologize for the commotion! I am Masayoshi Shido!”

: “Wait, did he just say ‘Shido’!?”

: “Yeah, he did!”

: Has this happened to anyone ever, where you recognize their voice almost a year later but not their face? I mean, unless you’ve got prosopagnosia or something.

: “…!?”

: Haru runs after him because Haru thirsts for blood. That’s not even a joke - there’s a couple of Metaverse lines that confirm it.

: “This way. Hurry! By the way, did something happen? You didn’t seem well a moment ago…”

: Gee, I wonder what his palace could possibly be. What’s funny is that this isn’t even the line that makes Joker realize what it is.

: Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, this will not raise Japan’s declining birth rate.

: “Let us all set sail toward a happy future together! I hope to continue serving you all!”

: “You guys wait here! I’ll go get intel for us!”

: “Wait!”

: “I just wanna talk to him for a sec!”

: “The hell!? Ain’t he s’posed to hear a citizen’s comments!?”

: “You’re that asshole we met at the hotel before! At the elevators!”

: For the bodyguard, it was… actually, what day was that? Oh, right. For the bodyguard, it was Thursday.

: “Come on, stop!”

: “But, these guys-”

: “Hey kid. You don’t want to know what happens when you cross me…”

: “What are you looking at? This country is filled with clueless children… I worry for Japan’s future. Let them go. My next appointment is coming up.”

: Shido looks right at Joker and somehow doesn’t realize who he is. You’d think he’d be racking his memory like “Wait… I was supposed to do something if I saw a bunch of teens…”

: “Wait… he’s the jerk you told us about before!? The same guy!? For real!? Seriously!?”

: Penalty, offense, number sixty-three, overuse of the interrobang. Five yard penalty, game remains on third down!

: “You’re sure… aren’t you?”

: “Shido’s the one who ruined your life…”

: “Holy shit… I don’t believe it…”

: “…”

: “…Let’s get going, okay?”

: “Talk about a destined connection…”

: “Shido was involved in the cognitive research too, right? This can’t be dismissed as just a coincidence…”

: “God… what the hell’s going on here?”

: “Shido was already a politician then, yet he sued a student and ruined his future? He must’ve pulled some strings so that his name wouldn’t be mentioned…”

: Shido pulls a giant rope hanging from the ceiling with a sign on it reading “DUMBASS HASHINO PLOT”.

: “Furthermore, he also would’ve had to force that woman into making a false statement.”

: “He would do anything. We’re talking about a man who ordered a hit inside the police station.”

: “He can’t sit still until he crushes whoever opposes him, no matter how trivial. He’s always been that way.”

: “What a piece of shit! ‘Children are the future’, my ass! What he’s sayin’ and doin’ are completely different!”

: “But now that we found out who did it, can’t something be done about Akira’s record!?”

: “Once the courts have made a judgment, overturning that decision will be difficult. It’d barely be possible even if proof of innocence is presented and Shido admits to his crimes.”

: I’d say this sounds ridiculous, but it’s really not.

: “At any rate, we need to trigger a change of heart in him.”

: “Be that as it may, Shido’s outer appearance and his true face are wholly different. It’s beyond hypocritical. It’s as if he’s an entirely different person.”

: Way to say exactly what Ryuji just said, but in different words. Quality Hashino writing.

: “He speaks about the good of the country… it makes me wonder what really is on his mind.”

: How many villains has this been now where their motivation is “strong eat the weak”? Oh right, all of them.

: “He treats himself as an elite man while looking down on others… that’s the worst.”

: “I assume the keyword for what he believes the Diet Building is will be despicable too.”

: “It must be something self-centered and completely different from politics.”

: “Someone like him needs to be punished as soon as possible!”

: How many times has someone said that over the past couple of updates? I’m sure you’ve noticed it by now, but Hashino has a lot of trouble keeping the party members plot-relevant.

: “Stewing over it won’t get anywhere. We have to do this…”

: “Oh, yeah, those clothes… you’d stand out if everyone else is wearing their school uniforms. It might be a good idea to wear your uniform when you head out.”

: Translation: The anime cutscene animators fucked up again.

: This is another night where we can’t do anything. Fortunately, tomorrow is the last day of cutscenes for a while.

: “Huh? Is this a gym? Oh, and there’s a weird old guy standing over there.”

: “Ohhh… so there’s a practice stage before you get to the real action.”

: The inputs are fixed, but this is basically Featherman Seeker without the memory bit. Of course, this was in the base game and Featherman Seeker was added for Royal…

: I also realized I forgot to mention something. Featherman Seeker is basically Akechi’s backstory. If you have the paid DLC that adds the Featherman costumes, Akechi’s is Gray Pigeon.

: Wait, isn’t that screen ripped straight out of Punch-Out? It even says W.V.B.A. on it.

: Next time, we’ll see the inside of Shido’s palace in the mandatory plot test run. After that, we’ve got a week or so of finishing up confidants before we go in for real.

[Timrod]

Click Here for Update 90

: Today’s the last day of cutscenes before we get to play the game again.

: “It feels pretty weird seeing you around on a weekday… you’re taking off tonight, right? Sheesh, you’re such a risk-taker… listen, make sure nobody notices you, okay?”

: “We have to do something about the keyword for sure this time…”

: “But we still have no hit…”

: “Think it’s a barrier after all?”

: “Where’d your enthusiasm from yesterday go?”

: “Aw shuddup. The real game starts at two outs!”

: “Enough chatting. You should only be thinking about the keyword!”

: “The citizens are secondary. He only cares about his own well-being and that of his lackeys…”

: I sure love all these cutscenes in a row with lots of repeating dialog.

: “He wants to become prime minister even if it means trampling on others…”

: I sure love all these cutscenes in a row with lots of repeating dialog.

: “Fortune… rich people…”

: “Hey, Akira, can you think of anything based on what you’ve heard from him? Just try saying anything. It doesn’t matter if you guess.”

: Wait… how did Morgana hear Joker’s internal monologue?

: “What? The Diet Building’s a ship!? What kind of scenery will that be!? The actual building’s on land!”

: “I can’t even begin to imagine what it will be like…”

: “Well, whatever it is, looks like there are no barriers!”

: “Sh-Shuddup! Let’s hurry up and go in!”

: “Are we clear of the guard’s sight?”

: “Get closer to the wall, just in case. All right… do it, Akira.”

: “The security guards seem to be gone, but it’s difficult to tell for certain… this seems to be similar to what happened with Sis’s Palace.”

: Read: The character designers didn’t have the time to make new NPC designs.

: “But this time, the Diet Building remains unchanged…”

: “Ah… the gate wasn’t open earlier though.”

: “Wait, look! Mona’s appearance is different.”

: “C’mon, let’s go take a look.”

: I told Salty Vanilla that they’re probably more qualified to do a Persona 5 anime at this point than the actual animators are, and I’m totally right.

: Seriously, this cutscene is what, maybe a minute or two long? I can count the number of on-model frames on two fingers, those being my thumb and index finger making a zero.

: This looks like the CG cutscenes from Persona 1’s PSP port… which is not a good thing.

: This looks like they’re on a pier staring at an Excel spreadsheet. End of Excelvangelion v2.0+1.1, You Can (Not) Be On-Model.

: Joker and Yusuke at the same time: “We have to do the Titanic thing!”

: Futaba: “You mean T-posing? I love T-posing!”

: Joker: “It’s not T-posing! It’s an incredibly romantic scene where…”

: Futaba: “Where Kate Winslet T-poses! She was so ahead of her time!”

: Joker: “You know, Titanic sucks.”

: “A country that children can be proud of, my ass! It’s completely sunken in his head! If a guy like this stands above everyone, we’re seriously done for!”

: “This is beyond ridiculous!”

: “The same goes for Akechi. He should’ve seen this scenery as well… yet he still aided Shido.”

: “What in the world is he thinking?”

: “Whether it be for glory or for simply a reward… my father died because of someone like this!”

: I mean, admittedly, your dad pretty much WAS this. Wasn’t his entire plan basically the same thing with the whole “Escape to Utopia” bit?

: “A Palace with not just the center of the distortion, but the entire country sunken… I can’t believe there’s someone with this tremendous of a desire… be careful! This will be completely different from past Palaces!”

: It’s not. It’s exactly the same as all the others, just far longer. I remember that the guide I used to 100% the base game scheduled four days to do this dungeon because doing it in one day kinda sucks.

: “We’re definitely gonna take his Treasure!”

: “All right!”

: “We must put an end to this by December 17th, the day before the elections!”

: “Let the infiltration begin! Time to pay him back for setting us up into a trap!”

: If the game would let me clear the palace today, we absolutely could.

: “Speakin’ of that, shouldn’t Akira’ve been disguisin’ himself on the way here?”

: That might require effort on behalf of the cutscene animators, and we all know what their stance toward being on-model is.

: “Uh, seeing someone in a disguise with a bunch of kids in school uniforms would be super weird…”

: “Well, we won’t have to worry about any of that once we steal the Treasure… let’s do this!”

: “Let’s go find out. It’s time we begin our infiltration.”

: “But why are even the passengers wearing masks?”

: “You think they’re tryin’ to be phantom thieves, like Noir was with that Beauty Thief stuff?”

: “Th-That’s quite enough!”

: “Whatever the reason, it reflects Shido’s mentality. Surely he doesn’t view others normally.”

: “Given the insane nature of his distortion, I’m surprised they even look like people.”

: Unlike Sae’s palace, you can talk to the NPCs here.

: Oh hey, a chest. Let’s go grab it.

: “Urgh, it’s attackin’ us with all these people 'round!?”

: Oh look, it’s Pascal the Dog.

: I couldn’t remember what his weakness is - it’s Ice - so I wasted turns letting Makoto do something. I promptly replaced her with Yusuke after this fight.

: Psycho Force is probably my favorite spell in the game, if only because it shows what Ness’s main PSI skill would look like in 3D.

: My mistake here was not pulling out Beelzebub.

: “It seems they think no harm will come to them because they’re here on Shido’s ship.”

: “They’re not even sensin’ the danger… c’mon, let’s make 'em see what this ship really is!”

: There are enemies roaming around here, and I thought I was within Insta-Kill range of this one but I wasn’t, so I got ambushed.

: Cerberus shows up with Sarasvati, who was a low-level support Persona in 4. She was mostly notable because she learned Invigorate and was a good early source of SP regeneration.

: Of course, in Golden she’s kind of pointless because of how easy it is to get Victory Cry.

: Sarasvati fucking sucks because she does nothing but spam full-party confusion, which causes this bullshit to happen. I had someone throw out an incense, which was grounds for a reset.

: The stealables this time around are darumas.

: The humanoid shadows here are low enough for me to insta-kill. We inadvertently grab both a Dakini and Cerberus this way.

Returning Persona (Technically): Dakini

Origin: Tibet

First Appearance: Shin Megami Tensei I

Tibetan deity re-purposed by Japanese buddhism. A fox spirit that is part of a goddess called Dakiniten.

: Dakini was an enemy in Persona 1 - you mainly saw them in the SEBEC route after Deva Yuga. I saw a lot of them after grinding Mark for like eight hours.

Returning Persona: Pascal the Dog

Origin: Shin Megami Tensei I

First Appearance: Shin Megami Tensei I

Protagonist’s dog from SMT 1. Merged himself with a demon at the start of the game, and was later picked up by the protagonist at Destinyland. Pascal the Dog is here.

: We pass some very obvious stuff on the way there, including a save room…

: And the map stand. Why is it that every dungeon has a map stand?

: “There’re slots to stick something like a keycard… whoa, there’s five of them!”

: “I hear something.”

: Voice: “Congratulations, Prime Minister Shido, T-posing is now illegal in all prefectures of Japan.”

: Futaba: “You goddamn monster!”

: “Passed? What’s goin’ on? Was that Shido’s voice?”

: “If this truly is the Representatives Chamber as written, beyond here must be the main assembly hall.”

: “…The what now?”

: “It’s that large conference room that’s usually seen on the news.”

: “Ohhh, that thing. Gotcha. …So, what’re they doin’ inside?”

: “Most likely a meaningless vote… one in which whatever Shido proposes will always go unopposed.”

: “So he’s doing whatever he wants by keeping only his supporters in there.”

: “What do we do to get in, though? Should we find these keycards?”

: “Maybe we need some kind of qualification, one that vows to be his follower or swear loyalty.”

: “So basically, we need to prove that we’re on his side.”

: There was a speedrun marathon going when I was working on this update, and one of the runs they did was Persona 5 Strikers - New Game+ Any%.

: The only thing more boring than several hours of Hashino cutscenes is watching some guy hit Square-Square-Triangle for Megidolaon for FOUR HOURS… with the English voices on. It probably would’ve been less terrible in Japanese.

: “You sure move on quick…”

: “But what’s this qualification thing about?”

: “Why don’t we ask the guests on this ship?”

: “That thought never crossed my mind.”

: “Asking around doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”

: Clearly, the people doing that second localization pass must’ve fallen asleep. Can’t say I blame them.

: “True. You have a point.”

: “That said, the ruler here is that evil Shido. It wouldn’t surprise me if they did turn hostile.”

: “Right… yeah, wouldn’t they attack us?”

: “We should prepare for the worst, of course, but I think we’ll at least be able to talk to them. This ship is most likely an ark loaded with those that Shido believes are worth keeping alive.”

: “It’d explain the luxury cruise ship. I doubt idiots who can’t even hold a conversation would be here.”

: Ryuji and Makoto start sweating at that last statement.

: “We can at least gather information. It helps that everyone’s wearing masks. We’ll blend in even with our attire.”

: “He must believe that no one shows their true face to anyone else… just like him.”

: Well no shit, this is a game that is ostensibly still about Jungian psychology, though now it’s more about dumbass anime tropes being glued together to make something that resembles a plot if you don’t look at it too closely.

: I mentioned this in the Persona 1 LP, but Jung’s entire theory hinges on the idea that showing your “true face” to someone is not achievable - even for someone who totally accepts themselves.

: “Well then, let’s split up and ask around.”

: “There’s no doubt… I can sense the Treasure behind this door. Looks like we’ve already hit the jackpot. Let’s go talk to the others!”

: This segment consists of finding all of our party members and talking to them. I’m going to cut this part because there’s a recap that goes over everything immediately after it.

: Yusuke is the hardest one to find, mostly because he’s in a side passage. All the wrong routes are blocked off by shadows that Morgana won’t let Joker demolish because Morgana sucks.

: After we talk to the last party member, Morgana will suggest going back to the incredibly obvious map stand and getting a map.

: “Not great, but not bad either.”

: “I was able to get a bit of intel as well. We should sort through what all of us gained for now.”

: “Well, I took a look at the map we obtained earlier and found what appears to be a safe room.”

: This is the save room we had to walk past because Hashino thinks that railroading is the best aspect of game design.

: “Oooh, it’s close.”

: “The casino earlier looked pretty real too, but talking with these guests was a whole 'nother story.”

: “You have that right…”

: “This ruler’s observational skills and insight are off the charts. Shido’s a formidable foe…”

: A formidable foe who didn’t just kill you all even though he knows who you are.

: “C’mon, no need to freak out!”

: “I’m not freaking out! I was just thinking it’ll be easier to make a plan since they can talk normally. All right, let’s put together the information we gathered.”

: “…So, we gotta get a ‘letter of introduction’ from the five VIPs?”

: “And those letters become the keycards?”

: “Exactly. Now, let’s go over what all of us have learned. First, according to my intel… one of the VIPs is an influential politician by the name of Ooe. He’s supposedly seen at the restaurant at night and sits at a table near the window.”

: “Um, I’ll go next. I heard about a prominent VIP who used to be… nobility? They said he’s usually by the pool.”

: “Next is my intelligence. It seems the president of a television station is also a VIP. He always plays slots at night. It would seem he spends his money quite lavishly.”

: “Crap, I’m startin’ to forget people already…”

: “Next is my turn!”

: “For real!? Even you got info?”

: “Of course. I eavesdropped. Supposedly one of the VIPs is the president of an IT company. He’s always in his room and reportedly enters from an exclusive hallway.”

: That would be the fake Medjed.

: "Well then, I’ll close us out!

: “How the hell’d you get info with your looks?”

: “Cleaner? I wonder what they mean by that.”

: You know, Mr. Wolf. Solves problems.

: “Wait a minute. After all the VIPs we listed, this one’s a cleaner? Is he really a VIP?”

: How have none of these people ever seen a mafia film? I know yakuza movies are an entire genre in Japanese film, and there’s no way the yakuza don’t have cleaners.

: “…Supposedly.”

: “I’m sorry… I couldn’t get any information.”

: “Me neither! So don’t worry about it, okay? Let’s just work harder during the battle.”

: “You’re right… I’ll do my best!”

: “But there’s a bigger problem, y’know… my memory’s, uh… not so great. Anyways, who was who…? Uhh…”

: “Ugh, it’s no use! I can’t keep the profiles of five people straight in my head…”

: Let’s be real here Ryuji, they’re going to be generic minibosses that Joker will steamroll with Satan, since we’re fusing him tomorrow.

: “I can only remember about two of them… what about you, Joker?”

: Now, you’re probably wondering - are we at any point going to have to memorize this as a mechanic? The answer is no, we’re not. I’m sure at some point in development they might’ve considered it, but it’s not in the base game or Royal.

: “Really!? Wow!”

: “But only go for the cleaner after the other four have been dealt with. Right?”

: “Whoa! Now that’s impressive! You go, genius!”

: “If we can’t remember the details on the VIPs, let’s reconvene inside a safe room.”

: I fucking hate when games do this. The thing is, even if you don’t know that the game isn’t going to make you remember this shit, you can kinda tell they’re not going to.

: "All right, let’s get this done quickly!’

: “We know how to get into the main assembly hall now… should we head home?”

: We’re forced to go back at this point, so it’s not like we can grind. Speaking of which, we have a free daytime period coming up on the 4th that I may use to grind in Mementos.

: We’ll see why in just a minute.

: “Huh? You wanna go back already?”

: “There are people in here with special letters. That means Shido trusts them to a certain extent.”

: “It would be best to consider them as powerful individuals… we do not want to get too hasty. Let us take our time here.”

: I wasn’t sure if the Velvet Room was out here on this trial run, but it is. I actually fused Satan tomorrow, but could just as easily have done it today without the alarm. That’s how good Satan is.

: I opted for the easiest path to fuse him: that being Michael and a treasure demon. Satan has a solid moveset by himself, and Michael just happens to have the skills he wants but doesn’t learn himself.

New Persona: Satan

Origin: The Bible

First Appearance: Megami Tensei II

Demon from Abrahamic folklore whose lore is kind of all over the place. The Old Testament potrays him as a demon who tempts humanity from God, while the New Testament portrays him as a demonic general who will lead an army of fallen angels against Michael and the army of God.

Satan is linked to several figures in different Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic religions, including Seth, Hades, Ahriman and Mara. Judaism links him to both Samael (the angel of death) and Mastema. Gnostics refer to him by the name Yaldabaoth.

May or may not be the same entity as Lucifer.

: Satan is good. Satan is my pal. Satan is probably the third-best Persona in the game, tied with Yoshitsune and is definitely the best ice-element Persona. His trait reduces the cost of ice spells by 75%.

: Black Viper in particular is a VERY interesting spell. It’s essentially a super Megidolaon that only hits one target. Because multi-target spells generally do less damage to any given target, it actually has a bit of an edge over Lucifer’s signature spell in situations where there’s only one target.

: I tossed Ice Boost on over Concentrate, since we have other sources for that.

: This right here is why I want to grind. Satan itemizes into the best armor for male characters - there’s one that’s technically better (in that it gives you +8 Magic instead) in the expansion dungeon, but it’s a rare drop from those dirty armor things and a pain in the ass to get.

: We also have access to the Persona that itemizes into the best armor for female characters. I really should get around to fusing that, since it shares some components with Metatron.

: “So, this is it, huh?”

: “…Thanks. Do what you need to. I’ll try to help any way I can. Just don’t be reckless, got it?”

: I missed one line in this IM, it’s Ryuji saying “We gotta pay him back for what he did to Akira too.”

: Tonight, I figured we’d read Game Secrets. Personally, I think this game is already as easy as it can possibly get.

: This from the company who put out a game so full of bugs that they had to include a thing in the game case that told you how to avoid them. That game was SMT II.

: “Secret technique, huh? Sounds like something phantom thieves would use… I think.”

: I wish there were major glitches in this game and not just a couple of minor out of bounds clips (most of which are useless unless you’re speedrunning).

: “So, you’ve finished reading Game Secrets. It was full of secret techniques for a bunch of games… we could beat any video game we want now!”

: Joker climbs onto the counter, jumps off, saves and quits in mid-air and then warps to the credits.

: “Although, I guess it’s up to you whether or not you actually want to use any of those cheats.”

: Remember kids, it’s not okay when other people cheat and they deserve to be brainfucked - but it’s perfectly okay when you do it.

: “I’ve decided what I want to do with Shido after goin’ into his Palace. We can’t let him run free. If there’s a heart we gotta steal, it’s definitely gotta be his.”

: “I really get it now. I want to avenge you, that’s a no-brainer, but that’s not it. If we let him run the country, the weak will be totally effed. Isn’t it our duty to protect them?”

: “Remember when I told you that heroes who lurk in the shadows are boring? Well, forget what I said. Those heroes are way cooler.”

: “…Hey, Akira - once we change Shido’s heart… no, never mind. Forget it. Let’s do it. Let’s steal that bastard Shido’s heart. I’ll do everythin’ I can to make it happen.”

: I’m going to cut this update here, because we have another long cutscene before we can play again. Next time, we’ll introduce Sojiro to Caroline and Justine, finish Iwai’s confidant, and maybe finish Futaba’s confidant too.

[SpammyV]

@Timrod

: A formidable foe who didn’t just kill you all even though he knows who you are.

Yeah that’s mostly what I’ve been stumped on these past few updates. Why let everyone go? Akechi knows who everyone is. The only reason I could think of is that he thinks having the gang could be useful but obviously he’s not planning on taking control of the Phantom Thieves.

Also they knew Akechi was lying to them from the start right? Why not change his heart?

[Timrod]

@SpammyV

Yeah that’s mostly what I’ve been stumped on these past few updates. Why let everyone go? Akechi knows who everyone is. The only reason I could think of is that he thinks having the gang could be useful but obviously he’s not planning on taking control of the Phantom Thieves.

Also they knew Akechi was lying to them from the start right? Why not change his heart?

They can’t change Akechi’s heart because he has a Persona, and because Joker already has a boyfriend.

There is a plot reason why Akechi hasn’t killed the entire party, but there isn’t one for why Shido didn’t order him to do so.

[drcakey]

When you said Shido’s Palace was going to be a ship I was imagining something a little…cooler?

Oh yeah, a couple weeks ago my friend and I played some Revelations: Persona and the literal first line of the game is priceless.

[Timrod]

Summary

: Boy did I forget about this. Seriously, I went to record 11/27 (which is when we actually do her Rank 10) and realized I never recorded her Rank 10 romance scene. Then I panicked because I wasn’t sure I had recorded her Rank 9 non-romance scene. I did, it’s in Update 80 along with her Rank 10.

: Telling Chihaya you love her causes her to revert to being Sandy the Squirrel.

: “I-I mean, ‘course I like you too! Hearin’ you say that was just so gosh dang sudden though…”

: I feel like the writers maybe overdid the whole kansai accent thing a little. Just a bit.

: “Sorry, I slipped back into my country dialect… but, um… I’m really looking forward to getting to know you better… the tarot cards might be shocked about this though. My love fortune has been at zero for ages now.”

: “But… I guess we’re pretty good at changing fate, huh? giggle”

: “Oh, it’s getting late…”

: Glad to see her Rank 9 romance is just as poorly proofread as her other Rank 9.

: “Th-The thing is… well… um… I-I… w-well, I really wanted to hear your voice, and, um… I-I mean, just kidding! I got you! Ahaha…ha…”

: That text was painful to transcribe.

: “W-Well, same here! But you prolly figured that already! I mean, what with the declarin’ love and everythin’…”

: What’s weird is that as far as I can tell - and again, this is with my very limited knowledge of Japanese - her kansai accent really isn’t all that strong, at least not with her current VA.

: “Oh my gosh, again with the accent! Phew… if I listen to you any longer, I think my heart’s going to burst… but I should probably get used to that, right!? I mean, I’m supposed to be the older one here…”

: Chihaya’s Rank 10 romance starts out completely differently than her non-romance event does.

: “As a country bumpkin, I’ve always admired it…”

: “No. I somehow felt like I wasn’t allowed to… because I was a monster.”

: At this point, the scene becomes word-for-word identical with the friendship version. Honestly, I think this version is better because it makes Chihaya seems like less of an idiot.

: I’m just skipping around a little bit to show you the context of the next part - there’s a few lines between this one and the next one I’m going to show.

: “Ku ku ku… I got you good, didn’t I? I don’t care what my boyfriend’s true identity is. As long as you’re around… I can always be my true self.”

: They translate the “ku ku ku” bit as a giggle, but it’s very clearly not. Anyway, there’s more identical text until after the rank-up screen.

: “Are you okay with your girlfriend being a country bumpkin…? It’s become a habit of mine to hide my native tongue… and I’m not used to fancy places like this.”

: “Huh…!? I-I ain’t sure… how to respond to that… ah… I’m speaking in my country dialect again. Um… the thing is, I read our relationship fortune today. And it was really, really good!”

: “So, um… if you don’t have any plans to steal anything tonight… um, perhaps you can stay…”

: And that’s that. We’ve only got two more romance cutscenes in the game - Haru’s and Kasumi’s.

[Pizuz]

Blockquote : And that’s that. We’ve only got two more romance cutscenes in the game - Haru’s and Kasumi’s.

Did you leave out Futaba’s romance scene intentionally?

[Timrod]

@Pizuz

Did you leave out Futaba’s romance scene intentionally?

Oh, no. I think I forgot it because I recorded it on the same run as the stuff I did for the next update. We will be seeing her romance cutscenes.

[Timrod]

Click Here for Update 91

: “Haha, I’m impressed. Whatever happens, you always manage to just shake it off. You’re finally facing off against your archenemy. I know you know this, but don’t get impatient…”

: “Let’s look to see if we can find anything to help us get warm.”

: The heater is basically Morgana’s room decoration, because he’s an auto-confidant.

: “Once we take care of Shido…”

: “Hm? Well… I was just thinking… this might be the last job for the Phantom Thieves. Everyone’s goals and ambitions… they’re all linked to taking down Shido. That’s how I feel.”

: “We all became phantom thieves for our own reasons. We weren’t just playing around. Outside of the Phantom Thieves, you also have friends who’ve been helping you. They believe in you.”

: “We have an important battle ahead of us, and we only made it all this way because of them.”

: Morgana’s saying this because we have less than a month left until The Last Day, which is on 12/22. The Last Day is the cutoff for all confidants that are not Caroline and Justine - they’re either maxed out or you’re permafucked until a New Game Plus.

: This is also true of Royal. While you do get an extra month, confidants work differently in the expansion. The cutoff to hit Rank 10 is still 12/22, or 12/24 for Caroline and Justine.

: We will be hitting 100% on 12/05, and by sheer coincidence spending the last day with Yusuke. By that point, we will have seen all of the optional events that aren’t that one with Hifumi.

: “Akira… I’m with you, all the way to the end.”

: “It’s a personal matter, so don’t go spreading rumors.”

: “How long can we keep this up? We need to take care of things before we get caught…”

: “I mean, wouldn’t it be bad if a Shujin student walked in and saw him?”

: “Eh, don’t worry about it.”

: “Welcome-”

: “What did I just say?”

: “Nah, still fine.”

: “You… you’re not like a stunt double or something, right?”

: “I don’t know what’s happening, but I really hope this isn’t a dream!”

: “Well, are you pleased? I’m the one who set this up - a little surprise from me to you. I asked Futaba to do me a favor…”

: “…And I asked Ryuji to pass the message along to Kasumi.”

: “I knew you’d be wiped out for a while, so I made sure to give you time to recover first.”

: This scene is ALMOST good until you realize why it’s here, then it becomes laughably dumb.

: “Well, it looks like you know what’s been going on with him. Take a seat, why don’tcha? No reason to stand around. I’m going out for a bit to grab some groceries. I’ll let you all get caught up with each other.”

: “W-Wassup? It’s a… pleasure meeting you!”

: “Yes, nice to meet you as well, Sakura-san!”

: “Could you at least figure out whether to be polite or casual?”

: “Sh-Shuddup! Don’t you underestimate my people anxiety!”

: “Mona tells me that you helped Akira out in that Palace a while back. We’re awfully grateful for that.”

: You know, helping him out with that one bless spell before he annihilated everything.

: “Oh no, it was my pleasure. He’s usually the one who helps me out. Not only that, I’d promised to repay his kindness to me, no matter what.”

: “What a refined response! Are we really around the same age?”

: “You know, there’s something I’ve wanted to ask you, Yoshizawa: why were you in that Palace in the first place?”

: Because she accidentally activated the navigator by using the keywords, even if she broke the rules by not using the person’s full name.

: “That’s, ah…”

: “I was wondering that too. Of course, I’m extra-grateful that you saved our leader… but if our plan had somehow leaked, then we need to change our tactics from here on out.”

: “It all started about a week ago, when we had lunch together on the roof of the school…”

: “I got the feeling that something big was going to take place that day, so… I’m so sorry! I was actually following you the entire time!”

: Man, Futaba SUCKS at detecting people. Akechi was with them the whole time in Okumura’s palace and she didn’t notice, and now this.

: “Wait, we were tailed there?”

: “We definitely had no idea about that. It’s like night and day compared to when Makoto was following us…”

: “I’ve been considering for a while now… perhaps I should be fighting alongside you if I have special powers like yours, Senpai. I wondered if an outsider like myself should even get involved, but I couldn’t just stand back and do nothing…”

: “Oh, it was nothing compared to how much you’ve done for me in the past. …Um… correct me if I’m wrong, but… you’re not done here yet, are you? Then perhaps I ought to lend you a hand.”

: This entire cutscene is here solely to explain why Kasumi can’t accompany Joker into Shido’s Palace. The reason is sheer laziness on Atlus’s part.

: There’s a couple of anime cutscenes they’d need to redo, but the other reason they didn’t do it has to do with the gimmick of Shido’s palace, which would require a model I don’t think exists for Kasumi.

: “Well, we could definitely use the additional firepower, but…”

: This is about as dumb and shoehorned as Fallout 3’s ending. I never played any of the DLC for that, but I heard they were mostly trash.

: “…Senpai?”

: “Well, you say that, but…”

: They could’ve just had her join and then leave once you find the treasure, or have her show up for Shido’s bossfight but she leaves to go clear the escape route or something. Still shoehorned, but at least not as dumb.

: “Honestly, we have no idea what risks you would face. Our enemy this time is more dangerous than anyone else so far. Also, we pretty much brought this entire mess down upon ourselves, so this is on us.”

: “We’re delighted by the offer, but we really can’t drag you into this any further. Moreover, you have something to do yourself, right?”

: “…I believe I’d be acting selfishly if I were to press any further. Very well, I understand your reasoning. If that’s the situation, then I’ll wait for you to return…”

: “But you have to promise me this: you’ll come back safe, no matter what. I don’t ever want to feel as horrible as I did when I thought you…”

: “…I really do believe you. It’s time I get going - I’ve got practice today, as usual. Well, be seeing you.”

: “Okay, so - you’ll stand out too much during the day, so we need to go out at night. We’re about to face our toughest target to date. Don’t skimp on your preparations.”

: For reference, I beat Shido in the base game without any tier 4 spells. The base game didn’t have traits to lower their SP cost, and even with Spell Master they were exorbitantly expensive.

: We’re doing Haru’s Rank 5 today, so I figured I’d grab the vegetables. You can only go to the roof - the rest of the school is locked off.

: We’ll definitely want these carrots for the final bosses, because your party members learn fourth-tier spells but don’t get Spell Master or the traits that reduce their cost.

: Well, that’s not entirely correct. You can get Spell Master through the jazz club… about three days before the end of the game.

: “Several people I asked said that he often complained about my father… but just as many seemed to say the exact opposite. One side has to be deceiving me, correct? I’m honestly suspicious of everyone at this point.”

: “I see… if there are two contradictory stories, one of them has to be right. I suppose I’ll need to learn the truth of the matter myself… to be honest, Takakura-san has been pushing the marriage particularly hard lately.”

: “He says it will help provide vital backup for myself and Okumura Foods, both in public and in private… he’s even started asking Sugimura-san into important company meetings…”

: “We have a ‘contract’… does this mean… it’s already too late? Is marrying him my only option? Though now that I think about it… that may be my best chance to help the employees my father left behind…”

: “You’re right. Perhaps I shouldn’t give up so easily… either way, graduation is quickly approaching… I’ll need to decide my course of action soon enough…”

: “You know, before you came along, I hadn’t even considered not going through with this marriage. I believed I would simply marry the man my father had chosen, and let the rest of my life pass me by.”

: “I wonder what would have happened if my father didn’t have a Palace… would I have just resigned myself to the fate he had made for me…?”

: “Akira-kun… thank you. You always know how to make me feel better. Honestly though, things would have been far worse for me if I hadn’t joined the Phantom Thieves.”

: “Plus, I would never have had anyone to talk to like this. If there’s anything I can do to return the favor, please tell me. I want to help you as much as I can!”

: This is a mistranslation. This ability actually increases the amount of vegetables you get per planting from two to three.

: sigh “I hope someday I can just look out at the sea with a nice cup of coffee and forget about all of this… and… I hope you’ll be there with me, Akira-kun.”

: “We can forego the elephants though, don’t worry. Well then, shall we go home?”

: “U-Um, I wanted to apologize for all the weird stuff I said earlier… you know how I talked about how things would have been if I hadn’t joined the Phantom Thieves?”

: “Once I started to imagine that again, this powerful fear came flooding back…”

: “…Ow. Hee hee… yes, that hurt. So this is all real, then. And I’m so indebted to you once again. I’ll have to work hard so I can repay you. Sorry if I worried you. Okay, see you.”

: Tonight, we’re doing the last Caroline and Justine event we need to do in order to get the reward. There is one more event with them that we’ll be seeing on 12/02, but it’s entirely optional - this is the one that determines whether or not you get the reward… which we’ll see when we get to the expansion.

: “Listen closely: the place we wish to evaluate for your rehabilitation is… the castle of your own master, Inmate.”

: We’re about to introduce Sojiro to two little girls who may or may not be gods. What could possibly go wrong?

: “The individual responsible for your successful rehabilitation in your own world - this is a person of great import.”

: “As your wardens, we would be remiss to forgo a meeting with this person. Take us to your master immediately.”

: “Excellent. Let’s move out, on the double!”

: “What kind of person could your master be? Well, lead the way so we may find out.”

: I like to think this is the moment when Sojiro finally realizes that he’s boarding a JRPG protagonist.

: “Are you the master of this place? Thank you for assisting the Inmate with his rehabilitation.”

: " ‘Inmate’?"

: “Yes, it is all going as planned, in no small part due to your own efforts. We must express our gratitude for that.”

: “Uh, sure…? Hey, Akira… what kind of crowd are you running with nowadays, exactly?”

: Joker: “Well, y’know… Satan. Oh, and Beelzebub.”

: “Well, yeah, I suppose that’s true, but… how and where do you even meet these people? Well, take a seat. Have you already eaten? If not, I could bring out some curry for you.”

: “Curry?”

: “We haven’t a clue what that is, but we will politely accept your offer.”

: Sojiro: “Wait, if you don’t know what curry is… what do you eat? Ramen?”

: Justine: “Ramen? What kind of god is Ramen? It sounds delicious.”

: “What in the world is this? The rice is slowly being absorbed by this sludge…”

: " ‘Sludge’? Really? Wait - have you really never had this before?"

: “The scent isn’t bad at all… in fact, it’s rather appetizing.”

: “What are these poisonous-looking red chunks along the edge here?”

: “It’s called fukujinzuke…”

: Fukujinzuke is a mix of vegetables - it usually has eggplant, daikon radish, cucumber, and lotus root - pickled in soy sauce. It’s used as a condiment on curry.

: “Fukujin… what is it?”

: “So this is dyed with the blood of a god…”

: “This man’s a god killer… now I see how he’s able to rein in the Inmate.”

: It is now my headcanon that Sojiro was a JRPG protagonist at one point. He’s killed God before.

: “I have high hopes for any dish prepared by a godslayer. Let us pay our proper respects and happily eat our sludge.”

: I really, really wish they had put Dagda in for Royal and had him unlock through finishing these optional events. It’d be fitting given that he originated in Innocent Sin.

: “Look, it’s not sludge, alright?”

: “Hrff! It’s so spicy! My mouth’s on fire!”

: “I agree… nom… mmm… but it seems I cannot stop myself…”

: “…Eh, it’s not bad. I think it could stand to be a little sweeter, though.”

: I don’t know if this is a common complaint among kids in Japan or what, because Disgaea 5 also has a child character who only eats sweet curry. That’s one of the two things I remember about that game.

: “I must say, I do feel this ‘curry’ sludge filling both my body and spirit to burst. Eating this every day would, no doubt, support your rehabilitation immensely.”

: “Be grateful to that godslayer for sheltering you, Inmate. If you were to cross him… he’d chop you up for his next garnish.”

: “…I should get going. I have to get Futaba’s dinner ready. If they want coffee, you know how to make it. Okay, the shop’s yours for the night.”

: Sojiro, no! They’re never gonna get to sleep!

: “Coffee… I believe that was served at the slave camp as well.”

: “All right, Inmate, serve us coffee.”

: “…The smell’s not bad, though. It’s more satisfying than we’d previously experienced as well.”

: “And now, for a test sip…”

: Joker could pick the top two options. He could… but he won’t. Igor’s not sleeping tonight.

: “Yeah? What’re those?”

: “I have heard of them both. Supposedly, they are magical white-colored additives that can enhance the taste of this inky abomination… I shall demand those additives.”

: This is Joker’s revenge for them overcharging him for fusion.

: “Ah, it’s so sweet… there is an intriguing, crunchy texture to it. However, it does have its own unique appeal.”

: “Not only did we get to meet the Inmate’s master in this realm, but we also got to try some exotic food. And as for yourself, this assignment is now complete.”

: “Here is your reward.”

: This is the other way you can get a High Counter card for their confidant, assuming you don’t fuse Ose for some reason.

: “Now that I’m thinking about it, the Inmate’s shown us quite a number of different places, huh?”

: “Indeed - we’ve been able to see some unexpected sides to humans. This has been a very fulfilling experience for us.”

: “Fun has nothing to do with our mission. We are here to oversee your special assignments - don’t forget that. Although, Caroline does occasionally forget her station in her excitement.”

: “O-Oh yeah!? I could say the same for you! I KNOW you asked our master if we could get a jellyfish tank for our room! Don’t try to deny it!”

: “It appears we’re out of time. We must be heading back now.”

: “HEY! Don’t act like you can just drop the subject that easily! You’re not getting out of this one!”

: “…We are wardens, and this is our prisoner. Nothing more, nothing less. However, there is no denying the fact that the Inmate’s results have exceeded our expectations. For that alone ,we would certainly be remiss to not express our appreciation.”

: “Yeah! That’s high praise coming from us! Show your own appreciation for us, Inmate! But this isn’t the end of your special assignments! You better not give up on 'em now - got it!?”

: “Let’s finish the godslayer’s meal before we leave - what were they called again? Curby and coughing?”

: “I believe you mean curdy and comfy.”

: I love when I don’t have to try to come up with an update title.

: It’s time to do Futaba’s Rank 8. Her Rank 9 and 10 will be in another update.

: “And believe it or not, she replied. We even ended up talking on the phone about elementary school. She said the only reason she got mad at me about her diary was because she was embarrassed.”

: “Apparently she thought I would hate her if I knew about her secrets… so she ran away. I guess me and her are pretty much the same after all.”

: I was going to do one of those things where I quote song lyrics here, only I remembered it was a Linkin Park song so I will spare you all from that horrible fate.

: “Long story short… we made up! I finally apologized to her!”

: “Really!? I’m surprised you’re so excited about it… but I’m glad. Anyway, it’s too far to actually visit each other, so we’ve been sending emails back and forth.”

: “We even made a promise recently… to both go to high school next year. Y’know… there’s no way I would’ve been able to call her and apologize before. It’s all because of you that I could do it, Akira!”

: “Y-Yeah, I guess you’re right! It’s kinda embarrassing to actually hear you say it though. Oh, I almost forgot! Kana-chan was really surprised the Phantom Thieves listened to her request.”

: “She’ll never know the truth of the matter though… mwehehe! I’ve finally finished that promise. ‘Get along with Kana-chan’…”

: “Um… this is really important, so I’m gonna say it again… thank you, Akira. Wait a second… I never even said it the first time. I guess that means I’ll just have to say it again now! Thank you, Akira. Seriously.”

: “Um, is it okay if I ask you for a favor real quick? I mean, I Just finished a super-old promise. S-So, um… c-can you… pat me on the head?”

: And now this confidant takes a hard right turn into awkward.

: “Mom used to do it when she was happy with me. Just… pat pat. …Can you do it?”

: “M-My heart…! M-My face…! It feels like they’re on fire! pant pant C-Calm down, Futaba…”

: Joker realizes what he’s done and brings out the air horn. “Fight it, Futaba! You don’t have to be horny!”

: “Phew… looks like that strange outburst is finally over. My heart’s still beating real hard, but I’m totally good now. Sorry for making you worry.”

: “I just remembered… I still have one more promise to do. ‘Being okay without you around.’ …Is that really possible? Meh, I’ll find out some other day!”

: “So I’ve been having a lot of fun talking with Kana-chan over the internet! We talk all the time now. We tell each other what we’re doing, what our days are like…”

: Boy do I love these phone calls that tell us nothing we didn’t already learn in the confidant event immediately preceding it.

: “Kana-chan said she cried when I reached out to her. When I heard that… I kinda cried a little too. And now I’m getting along with Kana-chan… I’m so glad I cleared that goal.”

: “Whaaaaa!? D-Don’t tease me like that! I might freak out again! Anyways, I just have one more goal to clear! It’s like I’m about to face the final boss!”

: “Once I beat that, it’s game over. Credits roll. I hope you’ll stick around until then, Akira! Okay, later!”

: Tonight, we’re going to finish Iwai’s confidant. The Persona we get from this is rather unique - it’s one of the few times Atlus has really tried something different from a design perspective.

: “Hold on; I’ll call him over.”

: “Hmph… intruding on another private family moment.”

: “Whoa there, kiddo…”

: "Who your parents are and where you come from stays with you for your entire life. Thanks to my loser parents, I got bullied by complete strangers, and- "

: “Yeah, there’s nothin’ to worry about now… sigh So in the end, I was just fightin’ my own demons… stuck in my crappy childhood and all the problems I had growin’ up…”

: “My view of Kaoru was all distorted… 'cause of my rotten childhood memories.”

: “Wow… you’ve really matured, huh?”

: “You gotta go, Kaoru. The supermarket’s about to close. Aren’t you in charge of dinner tonight?”

: “Sheesh… kids grow up quick. They can be a pain in the ass, but they’re worth it. …All right, let’s close up shop. Go pull down the shutter.”

: “Seems like he had a change of heart, just like them people they’ve been talkin’ about on TV. I can’t be the only one who was saved by his change of heart. Wonder who else knows…”

: “Heh, I wonder. Well, don’t worry. It ain’t really none of my concern. Man, you really had me fooled. That whole thing about being an enthusiast was all just BS.”

: Joker: “No it wasn’t. I want my anime gun.”

: “I hired you as a mere pawn… and now you’re Kaoru’s bro… the Phantom Thieves are usin’ my guns to take down bad guys, aren’t they? They help people in need, huh?”

: I would have loved to see Atlus add a Richter mode to this game that follows from Royal’s bad ending where you play as Iwai. You’d be able to pick from the other adult confidants to fill out the party.

: I thought about this a little, and it would’ve been really interesting to see a mechanic where no one is a wild card, but the trade-off is that they are VERY good at their skillset.

: Then again, that’d basically just be Yakuza 7.

: chuckle “Interesting… All right, I’m gonna put all my effort into that special menu we talked about. I don’t like to owe nobody nothin’, so I’ll do my best for ya… because that’s the kind of support I can provide.”

: Attis is an interesting Persona in that he’s probably the closest thing in the SMT series to something like a Trick Room team in Pokemon. I was originally going to reserve a slot for him in the final Persona roster, and I still might… once we have Lucifer.

: Mara and Scathach is a valid combination, which is kind of funny when you know what Attis’s story is.

New Persona: Attis

Origin: Greece

First Appearance: Soul Hackers

Greek god born when his mother ate a fruit from a tree that grew from the castrated penis of Agdistis, the son of Cybele and Zeus. He attracted the romantic attention of Cybele, and then castrated himself in front of a pine tree and died. The tree saved his spirit, allowing Zeus and Cybele to revive him.

: “Pfffffft! Damn, that’s all kinds of fucked up! Don’t fuse me into that shit! I’ll call my agent!”

: In the base game, Attis was easily the worst ultimate Persona. Royal makes him into the single best buffer/defensive hybrid in the game. He’s also an excellent Concentrate carrier.

: Attis’s trait, Vitality of the Tree, makes it so that any skill that would require you to be in an ambush to use can be used at any time. Thermopylae is one of those skills - it’s a full party Heat Riser for only 30 SP (15 with Spell Master).

: He can also get a skill which is a straight-up better version of Ali Dance that gives 66% evasion but only when ambushed. All of this is great, but that precludes him from taking a trait like Lucifer’s that reduces all spell costs by 75%.

: What you want to do is use him to Concentrate (or Charge), Thermopylae, and then pass to another Persona that can do damage.

: “And the knives are just replicas. They’re even less useful than a butter knife, y’know? …Haha, you’re such a weirdo.”

: “…We were in the middle of closing shop, weren’t we? Well, let’s get to it.”

: The only thing we’re doing today is Futaba’s confidant. This is because this is the night we actually do Chihaya’s Rank 10.

: That is, right after we get the new arcade prize. This is a sheep man from Catherine, a game where Hashino proves that he’s not only a homophobe - he’s also a transphobe.

: There’s also this conversation, which I’ll only post this part of. Poor girl thinks Joker can save her dog, but he’d need a very different kind of overpowered bullshit Persona for that.

: There’s a trade you can make today by buying a Legendary Yaki-Imo from this guy in Yongen-Jaya and trading it to the guy in Kichijoji. It gives you an itemized Heat Riser. We have Attis. Fuck that.

: “She said she wants to go back to school next year, but she might not have the money… as for me, I… I’m gonna go back.”

: “Mwehehe! I think I’ve gained like fifty levels in the past few months, and it’s all 'cause of you, Akira! And I mean, sure I hated elementary school, but I met Kana-chan there, so… maybe it wasn’t all bad.”

: "The same goes for high school. Even if I hate it, I know something positive will come from it. But… I still have to do the last item on my promise list. ‘Being okay without you around…’ "

: “Honestly, I’ve been feeling kinda weird lately… my heart’s been beating real fast when we’re together. Then even when we’re apart, I can’t stop thinking about you…”

: “Not at all. I’m more like… NO-kay. But then again, I feel good too… by the way, um… can I ask you a favor? It’s a pretty big one. …Can we skip that last promise?”

: “Y-You demon… I know you’re only being strict 'cause it’ll help me, but… I just… can’t be okay without you around. Life doesn’t feel the same when you’re not with me.”

: Futaba’s confidant is really the only one that seems like it was written with a romance route in mind. All of the others feel like they were written and then had it shoehorned in at the last minute.

: “I mean, er… not that, but… I dunno… Akira… you’re always so nice to me, kinda like Sojiro is… that makes sense for him though. I mean, he’s basically my dad.”

: “But you don’t have a reason like that, so… why are you so nice? O-Oh, I just thought of a possibility… am I, um… the only one you treat like this?”

: If her writing was more consistent and less gamer gremlin, Futaba would probably be the best girl in this game. They should have gone with the original plan and made her a goth.

: “Teammates… r-right… of course teammates would wanna be nice to each other… it’s so obvious! That’s gotta be why my heart’s always pounding so much.”

: “It knows how much I care about my teammates! And you, Akira… my key item! From now on, I’m gonna devote every fiber of my being into supporting you guys!”

: Unless we do the one superboss we can access outside of New Game+, it’s highly unlikely we will ever see this activate.

: “Hehehe… it’s gonna be great!”

: “Akira joined Futaba’s party! Futaba is beaming at Akira! Futaba attacks! Fatal damage to Akira! Wait a second… that’s not what teammates are supposed to do…”

: “When we talked earlier today, you said I’m your teammate. But that’s, y’know… kinda vague, right? Could you get specific? What kind of teammate am I to you?”

: “Seriously!? So I fall under your most valuable items, huh!? Heh heh… I didn’t know I was that important to you. Good thing I’m your teammate!”

: “We’ve got something special, you know? Like, no matter how far apart we are, our hearts will always be connected!”

: So what you’re saying is that you’re Joker’s forever? That with every passing day the winds might grow stronger and carry you away but you will move on to joy to light the way to keep the reminder that love does not escape?

: “Wait…? No matter how far apart…? So… that means… oh, sorry. I completely spaced out. But yeah! We’re gonna be really great teammates! Anyhow, time to make like a tree!”

: And now for Futaba’s Rank 10. There’s a three-day gap in availability, so I’ll be fusing her final Persona in my next recording run when I do her romance route.

: “I think I wanna give it another shot. I’m comin’ for you, Akihabara!”

: “If I’m not back in half an hour… just stay here and wait for me to come back. I’m kinda nervous… but here I go! Time to make like a tree… and branch out!”

: “I, ummm… I was having fun. Guess that means I beat my mission, huh? Y’know, it was the same Akihabara as before, but everything looked so different to me this time… it’s not just here though.”

: “My whole world is expanding. Every day brings new and different discoveries. The direction of Sojiro’s cowlick, the atmosphere of Yongen, the various types of coffee beans…”

: “Things might be the exact same as they were yesterday, but from my perspective, it’s all spinning. I knew it was possible… but I had never really felt that sensation before now.”

: “I just hope I can keep changing little by little… like everyone else does.”

: “Yeah… that sounds good. Oh, by the way… I got a text from Kana-chan saying she got a job at a convenience store. It sounds like she’s just happy to be living life like a normal teenager.”

: “Plus, she got study guides with the money she made! She’s gonna take the high school entrance exam! Even Kana-chan’s trying to step out into the world.”

: “Th-the Phantom Thieves are more important right now! But… I’d like to, someday. Hey! You said you’d give me a reward if I completed my promise list, remember!?”

: “You da man. You know, I was looking in a bunch of stores thinking about what to buy… but it felt kinda weird. There were plenty of things I wanted, but it was all stuff I could get if I worked really hard.”

: I worked really hard today. By that I mean I sat in the office and read Jojolion on my phone for seven hours. They called me back into the office for no good reason.

: “And after all… I already have something I wouldn’t have been able to get on my own. You don’t think so? No… you’re forgetting.”

: “It’s thanks to you that I learned I’m fine just as I am… and that I learned to trust my mom again. I was as good as dead, but you resurrected me. I want to use my work with the Phantom Thieves to return you the favor.”

: And now we have the last thing I actually need for Lucifer, not counting the ability to fuse Metatron. Ongyo-ki is one of two sources of Firm Stance that are not DLC.

: Firm Stance halves all incoming damage, but sets your evasion to zero. Lucifer has a lot of resists, which are upgraded to being nearly a null for all practical purposes.

: I used to have it too! They took it away in Royal, and my agent’s going to sue!

Returning Persona: Prometheus

Origin: Greece

First Appearance: Devil Summoner

Titan of Greek mythology who sided with Zeus against his brethren. He and his brother Epimetheus were given the task of populating the Earth. While Epimetheus created animals and gave them all the gifts he could, Prometheus created humans… but had no gifts to give them, so he stole fire from Mount Olympus and gave them that.

Later taught humans how to trick the gods, for which he was chained to a rock and sentenced to having his liver eaten by an eagle for eternity by the gods - until Hercules freed him as part of the Twelve Labors.

: As if Futaba’s design doesn’t share enough elements with Baofu, she also gets his ultimate Persona. Of course, his had a bit more thought put into the design as opposed to… whatever that is.

: “You gave me my life back, so it’s my turn to risk my life for you. Feel free to tell me anything. I’ll do whatever I can to help. I’m serious, okay!?”

: “Yup! You might as well just give in! And…! I never said I was gonna let my reward go unclaimed! So, lemme see… how 'bout a month’s supply of instant yakisoba!? Pretty good deal, huh!?”

: “I don’t wanna order it off the net though! Let’s go look for it in the real world!”

: You might ask what we’re doing on the night of the 27th. Well, the answer is failing at videogames.

: Train of Life and Gambla Goemon are both purely luck-based. You’ll want to have read Game Secrets to minimize the save reloading if you really want to complete these.

: The game gives us the option to cheat or not. DEFINITELY CHEAT.

: “Ah, I see. Not only do the dice rolls move you forward, you can also use them to buy properties. I think things are going well. You might finish in first place at this rate.”

: “Huh? There’s something strange up ahead. Is that… an octopus?”

: “Does this guy exist just to get in our way?”

: You mean Hashino? Yeah, yeah he does.

: I’m going to cut this off by saying that you roll the dice and see where fate may fall (come on why don’t we spin the wheel, see who it may call) to give into temptation…

: And roll a four five fucking times. The number we need is 8. Fuck this. Next time, nothing but Haru. We’re going to finish her entire confidant in a single update.

: Before I go though, since I already recorded 11/30… 11/30 marks the first night at which the Persona 4 callbacks on the TV start.

: Oh boy, is it gonna be Yukiko? I want to see Yukiko again!

: Rise can go right into the “Atlus’s Lightning” bin with Kasumi and Marie.

[Timrod]

Click Here for Update 92

: Time for an update of nothing but Haru. Off screen, I have her grow some tomatoes. We’ll need full-party SP recovery for later.

: “It says here that the type of roast you want should differ depending on how you want to drink your coffee.”

: giggle “I’d rather not. I don’t think I could ever hope to match the intense depth of Sakura-san’s coffee. You know, Okumura Foods didn’t start out as a burger chain… originally it was nothing more than a small cafe run by my grandfather.”

: “That particular shop closed before I was old enough to appreciate the finer intricacies of coffee. But that’s where the real origin of our family business lies.”

: “I didn’t either. My father only first mentioned it to me a year or two ago. At any rate, after my grandfather passed, the company shut the cafe down due to its steady loss of revenue.”

: “He had never cared about turning a profit though. His only goal was to make people happy. He built a strong community around the cafe… he’d even give out free meals to those who couldn’t afford it.”

: Was your grandfather Shadow the Hedgehog?

: “Then the day it closed, people lined up for blocks to give flowers. They really loved that place… I wonder how many people would line up for Big Bang Burger if it suddenly went out of business…”

: “I know we need to do well to keep our employees paid, but I can’t help but think we’ve lost something important. I mean, Takakura-san seems to only be focused on profits… at this rate, we’ll never lose our black image.”

: What she’s talking about there is Okumura Foods being a so-called ‘black company’, which is a Japanese term used for a company embroiled in scandals.

: “…Huh? Oh, I get it! giggle You’re so funny, Akira-kun! You were trying to cheer me up, weren’t you…? Thanks for that. sigh I think what I really need… is to get stronger.”

: “I mean, I can act tough in front of my employees… but you know how weak I am inside. …I have a plan though. Before I can really determine who I trust, I first need to know what it means to have others trust in me.”

: “So I’m going to get stronger… strong enough for you and the others to rely on me!”

: “Hm… but how am I supposed to gain the trust of my employees? I’m not great at public speaking… and even just giving my opinion makes me a little nervous…”

: “Hm? Do I know you from somewhere? …! You’re one of those brats from before…”

: “Um, this is a friend from school. He’s helping me look for some books today. Anyway, we should be getting back to our shopping. Please excuse us.”

: “…Hold on, Haru. You think you can go on a date with another man and leave your fiance in the dust?”

: “You are not my fiance… I already said, I’m not going to marry you.”

: “Oh yeah? And what about the contract I made with your father?”

: “F-Father is… no longer here… besides, marriage is something you go into with your own free will… a contract could never hold the same weight…”

: “Are you sure about that? Think about the reparations clause. If you back out of the deal now, you will lose everything you own. Okumura Foods, your estate…”

: I’m pretty sure Hashino has no idea how contracts work.

: “Even so, I…”

: “And what about your employees? Are you really willing to put their jobs on the line for the sake of your selfishness? Besides, this marriage is exactly what Okumura Foods needs right now.”

: “My father would have no trouble managing your shares or sweeping away your company’s tarnished image.”

: Why would you even need to ‘manage’ them? It’s stock in one company. It’s not like her father was a hedge fund manager.

: “That reminds me, did Takakura-san tell you about the wedding hall? He got us the Phoenix Wing at the Wilton.”

: “Wh-What!?”

: “He made a provisional reservation for ten days this coming spring. After all, the sooner the better.”

: “W-Wait a minute!”

: “We’ll have to look into our guests’ schedules as well. There’ll be over three hundred of them, you know.”

: I like to think that in the background, Joker’s texting Yusuke. “Haru’s idiot fiance just bought a big expensive wedding hall. Do you want to get married once it inevitably falls through?”

: “I’m out of here.”

: “I’m sorry about that…”

: “You’re not wrong about that… he has everything… fame, intelligence, etiquette… the only thing he needs now is a wife he can control… and I guess I’m the perfect target.”

: I want a wife who is completely out of control. We’re talking like, clipping through walls in real life to go out of bounds.

: “He’s going to get Okumura Foods as well as my entire inheritance… and I’m totally powerless against him…”

: Something tells me Okumura may have been solidly in the ‘too dumb to live’ camp.

: “You’re right… I can’t afford to drag myself down with such negativity. …Thank you. Anyway, um, I hope I can share with you again some other time. For today though… I’m rather tired. Would it be okay if we parted here?”

: “The thing is, Sugimura-san reached out to me again after we saw him. I’d rather not talk to him, but I couldn’t stand him using the company to threaten me, and even speaking badly of you…”

: “The negativity felt so painful, too much to handle alone, and… before I knew it, I was already calling you.”

: “Hearing that makes me so happy… thank you. Even though I just promised myself I’d get stronger, I suppose I’m still just depending on you. But still, I can’t help but worry about the contract…”

: “…How frustrating. I can’t just let them keep manipulating me like a puppet. I have to find some way I can change this.”

: We have a crossword tonight. Why do I even bother showing these anymore?

: And now we have Ohya’s optional event. This one requires you to be Rank 8 or higher.

: “C’mon, don’t hold back! Order anything you want. Think of it as a thanks for all the info you’ve given me. Plus, I like to eat normal food once in a while too, you know.”

: “Heh… yeah, you’re right. Let’s make sure we get nice and energized for out next big mission. Okay, it’s on me today! Knock yourself out!”

: “Wow, you ate a ton… well, I guess that’s normal for a high school kid. …I’ll just have you make up for it with more scoops. I’ll be counting on you!”

: “Well, I guess we should get going. Let’s get some sushi to go and stop by Lala-chan’s place.”

: “Hey… I didn’t know you could buy this. All right, I’m giving you one as a gift! Now we’ll each have one piece of a matching set.”

: Let’s put down our new decorations.

: Probably the fact that he’s in a kinda mediocre puzzle VN.

: Holy fuck that’s a huge mug. Anyway, let’s move on to Haru’s Rank 7. We’ll be skipping the 30th entirely (because that’s the day we do Futaba’s Rank 10). I may also start skipping nights, since we’ve seen the vast majority of the nighttime confidant events and there’s not a whole lot else to do.

: “I thought it would be fun making coffee myself. It’s certainly not easy, but it’s an immensely satisfying process…”

: “I’m fine, honestly… let’s see, next up is… dirt for the planters…”

: “I’m sorry… I think I just need to rest a little.”

: “Takakura-san has really been pushing for us to start a new business venture soon… in particular, he’s adamant about a chain of low-cost, intimate cafes. Some employees don’t think it’s a good idea though, so they want me to step in and put a stop to it…”

: “But I’m just a high schooler… there’s no way I could predict the success or failure of this idea… in the end, I’m just not sure what to do.”

: “H-Huh…? That’s a good question… the idea does sound nice… the smell of a fresh cup of coffee always brings a smile to my face. And it certainly would be nice to be able to give that experience to as many people as possible…”

: “But… I don’t think you can truly gain the same joy from the low-cost chain Takakura-san is suggesting.”

: Yeah, it’s probably really hard to replicate Leblanc’s “no customers” atmosphere.

: “Huh…? You really think he’d listen to a high schooler with no prior work experience? Hm, I see…”

: “I’ll make him see what I’m really thinking… and what’s truly important to me.”

: “I understand… by refusing to trust Takakura-san, I was also shutting myself off from any hope of having him trust me…! But that’s going to be different now… I’ll do my best, Akira-kun!”

: This ability works retroactively and lowers the time needed to harvest by one day.

: “…Oh, and I just thought of the perfect way to do it! A magic item that will help me convey my true feelings to Takakura-san… giggle It’s going to take some time to prepare though, so it will have to be my secret for now.”

: “But I’ll tell you next time, okay? Now then, shall we return home?”

: “I wanted to thank you again. You helped me realize something important… thank you so much for today. It’s thanks to your support that I can keep pushing forward.”

: “Just hearing you say that gives me so much strength. You’re always such an inspiration, Akira-kun. The rest is up to me. It’s going to be a lot of trial and error… but I believe it’ll go well.”

: “And it’d make me very happy if you could help me through the process. I’ll have to make sure everything is ready first, though. Okay, I’ll see you again at the rooftop.”

: On my first recording run, I took Futaba to the jazz club because what’s supposed to happen is that her support abilities power up. Turns out that only happens if you take her on a night when it would teach your party member a skill.

: Instead, she gets a stat boost… which is pointless because her stats don’t do anything. We will be coming back here a few times in January to get some really good skills - namely Ali Dance, Arms Master for Yusuke and Spell Master for Ann.

: While recording, I remembered there was something very important we were supposed to do now that we have a lot of free nights.

: No, it’s not to place a giant statue of Sae inside Joker’s brain palace because the sight of that tramp stamp is now forever etched in his memory.

: Nor is it to do the batting cages. You can get prizes if you do it during the day, but free days are a luxury we do not have. I played on Extreme and I think you can figure out how that went.

: This was out of over 20 pitches.

: Oh, that’s right. It’s darts. We want to raise our baton pass rank because it’s one of the only remaining ways we have to boost Joker’s damage.

: The game has descriptions for each party member’s playstyle. Fuck that nonsense, they’re all the same. Also Yusuke throws beautifully because he is our boyfriend and everything he does is beautiful.

: So here’s how darts works. Each time you invite someone, you’ll also get a second random party member who will play with you in a second round. This means you can improve two characters per run.

: The controls for this are the worst possible thing. You use the gyro to aim and then can freeze the aim area with R2…

: And then you have to shake the controller to throw like this is 2007 and you’re Naughty Dog desperately trying to find a way to shoehorn the Sixaxis controls into Uncharted 1.

: Remember when Naughty Dog made games and not CGI films?

: Once you hit R2, a little white ball appears inside the oval and starts bouncing around. It kinda follows Pong physics in that it’ll hit the walls of the oval and bounce off at an angle.

: It takes me a bit to hit a bullseye because there’s a degree of lag in the motion controls. I don’t think that’s my capture card, because usually it’s pretty low latency.

: You trade off after each round.

: Joker is immediately shown up by his boyfriend.

: I unintentionally fuck up on the third round trying to hit the bullseye. This is actually a good thing, and is also why your partner’s stats do not matter in the slightest. What you want to do is get your score at 100 or under in the third round and leave it.

: What happens here is that you get a dialog option. Pick the right one, and your partner automatically wins the game for you and you get two baton pass levels instead of one.

: If you pick the wrong one, your partner will fail and usually go below zero, which forces you to finish in the fifth round.

: Yusuke goes from Rank 1 to Rank 3. Given that he has Charge, passing to a Charged Yusuke is a really good idea if you can’t hit a weakness.

: Level 3 baton pass makes a pretty big difference, by the way. We go into the part of Mementos that covers Sae’s palace next update, and at one point I got a baton pass to Joker and was hitting 1000 damage with Beelzebub even without Concentrate.

: Once we finish with Yusuke, Ryuji wants to play. We’re already Rank 2 with him due to the tutorial we went through way back when, which is perfect because you can’t get the rank-up bonus in 501.

: By the time we finish this update, I hit at least Rank 2 with everyone but Morgana and Futaba. I’m not sure if the game can choose Futaba as a random second partner, but she can’t get anything out of it.

: That’s kinda disappointing. I would’ve liked to see a thing where you can train her up and baton pass to her if you can’t hit a weakness so she can do a full-party heat riser or something.

: So what you’re saying is that it’s been a… long December, but there’s reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last?

: Wait a second. Why does Yusuke take this train? This is the one that goes to Aoyama. I mean, we don’t know where his school is, but still.

: I’m going to save Haru’s Rank 9 and 10 for next update, where we’re going to finally 100% the base game. Technically it’s more like 110% because Maruki and Kasumi didn’t exist in the base game, plus we did all the Caroline and Justine events.

: “The thing that will help me show Takakura-san how I really feel… is right here.”

: giggle “Correct! You see, the soil here is a special mix I made with a few different kinds of fertilizer. It’s very high quality. It’s soft, it’s warm, it has good drainage… and it’s full of nutrients. This… this is the magic I need.”

: “But I’ve been pouring my heart and soul into this soil for months now. It knows exactly how I feel. That’s why I’m going to use it to grow my coffee plants.”

: “Then once they’re ready, I’m going to make coffee with the beans! It shouldn’t be much longer now. Honestly… just raising those plants has taken considerable effort.”

: “I’ve checked on them every day, given them water, put them in the sun… but… all of that love and care has found its way into the beans themselves.”

: “Combining that with the nurturing warmth of this soil should give me the perfect way to convey how I feel. I wonder what Takakura-san will think when he tries it…”

: giggle “I hope you’re right. I’m not particularly confident in the flavor though. After all, this is my first attempt. By the way, I’ve thought about it some more and… I wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to Takakura-san’s idea.”

: You know, this is something I didn’t think of while I was recording, but Haru’s confidant events are all very samey. You’d think that for a character who only appears a month and a half before the base game ends they would’ve gone out of their way to make her confidant interesting.

: “If that’s what management decides to do, I won’t get in their way. At the same time, I can’t support them if their main goal is to deceive. What I mean is, people don’t think of Okumura Foods very highly right now.”

: “So… I’m afraid management is trying to use this new chain to sneak under the radar rather than rebuild our image. Of course, I understand how hard it is to rid yourself of a negative label…”

: giggle “Well, naturally. I’m a heroine of justice, after all…just kidding. You know, Akira-kun… it’s so reassuring having you here. It’s because of you that I was able to cultivate this soil…”

: “And because of you that I have the courage to tell Takakura-san how I really feel. Speaking of which, um… do you think you could be there when I do it? As long as you’re with me, I won’t be afraid to say what I’m thinking.”

: “Now then, I need to take some of this soil home to my coffee plants. Could you carry a bag for me? Well, see you later.”

: “I’m already testing the soil I brought home today. I can tell my coffee plants are happy.”

: “Come to think of it, I remember seeing some plants in Leblanc too. Are you taking good care of them? Make sure you give them lots of love, okay?”

: “…All that’s left is for me to muster up the courage and express my own opinion. I’ll contact Takakura-san. And I’ll make sure it works with your schedule. I hope… my magic item will work on Takakura-san.”

: “I’m going to do everything I can, so I hope you’ll see it through with me. Okay, bye!”

: “They’re right: this is totally bizarre. What’s going on here?”

: The last thing we’ll do this update is Iwai’s optional event. Next time, we’ll 100% the game. We’ll also see the last optional Caroline and Justine event, spend the better part of two million yen on fusion, have terrible luck trying to itemize armor, and spend an hour looking at a fusion calculator to figure out how to pass down Fire Boost.

: “Yeah, this’ll do. Thanks for tellin’ me about it.”

: “I’m surprised you figured that out. …I wanna give a student who’s preparin’ for the high school entrance exams a chance to relax. Either way, thanks for today.”

: If you’re wondering why he’s not mentioning Kaoru, it’s because this event can happen at any time after Rank 1.

: “I’ll continue bein’ flexible with our deal. Make sure you keep bein’ useful for me, all right? Man, there’s so much nature here. It must be really peaceful during the day… but it’s places like this where you’re most likely to run into trouble.”

: “So just be careful. I remember him playin’ with something like this… I think it was a duck, though. Anyway. You oughta hold on to it. For future purposes, and all.”

[Timrod]

Summary

: Futaba’s Rank 9 romance scene is probably the most fleshed-out of any of them.

: “What…!? L-L-L-L-L…!? M-My heart feels like it’s gonna burst outta my body… I think I’m gonna dieee… is this feeling… ‘love’? I’ve always heard it’s the most intense joy in the world…”

: “Th-then does that mean… you’re my boyfriend? And… I’m your girlfriend?”

: “…”

: “…”

: “…”

: “…Ah!”

: Oh, I thought we’d broken Futaba.

: “Th-That was so surprising… but I think… I understand.”

: “I’m gonna keep giving it my all from here on out. As a phantom thief, sure… but especially as your girlfriend! Anyway, I don’t think my heart can handle any more today. I-I should go home.”

: “U-Umm… W-Welcome home, darling… Want me to cook you dinner? Or fill up the bath for you? Or… maybe… uh… I mean, like… what do you want…?”

: “D-Don’t make it sound so weird, Akira… ugh… I’m blushing like crazy. My heart’s all itchy, and… I can’t sit still. Is this what it’s like to be a girlfriend…? Heh heh… it’s kinda fun, actually.”

: “…Oh, wait. That stuff’s more kinda like… a newlywed thing, not a girlfriend fresh outta the confession. Hrm… being a girlfriend is hard. Is this something I’m gonna get used to?”

: And now, let’s see Futaba’s Rank 10.

: " ‘Being okay without you around’… I-It’s like the complete opposite of that c-cramped up in here…! But I went shopping in Akihabara all by myself the other day!"

: “The crowd freaked me out and my palms got all sweaty, but I did it.”

: Somehow, I don’t see Futaba as being a Catherine-with-a-C type. I see her as being the person who immediately goes for the space tourism ending.

: “She’s mint condition! You see the sculpting on those drills? And totally freestanding, too! …A-Anyway… M-Mission complete, huh?”

: “Walking around was… actually kinda fun. S-So… me being right next to you, um, c-can’t be helped…”

: I am very disappointed that Atlus didn’t put in a trophy pop-up for this.

: “So, uh… well… I…”

: “N-N-Nothing, it’s just… mind if I… you know… do the ‘getting closer’ thing? You gave me permission, so no take-backs!”

: The next part is all identical to her regular Rank 10 scene, until…

: “S-So… instead of training myself to be away from you… I want the right to not have to leave you. That way… we’ll never be apart if I don’t want to be.”

: “R-Really…? …You know, I don’t mind if my purpose is the same as yours… not just as a thief, but in life too… actually, I want it to be the same.”

: “I don’t understand… but this is my right. Until I say so… don’t let go of me. Well, not like I’d ever say that!”

: And that’s that. Haru’s romance scenes will be put up after the next update, and then we’re done until the expansion.

[SpammyV]

I dunno, I’m not really feeling the upgrade from UFO to RGB smiley face like we went from regular popercycle to Arcee.

I’m surprised they even gave Sugimura a name since his textbox is still Haru’s Fiance.

[drcakey]

@Timrod

: “I see… if there are two contradictory stories, one of them has to be right."

You’re not being reductive enough, Haru. Everyone knows if there are two competing ideas, there’s a 50% chance each of them is right.

@Timrod

: As if Futaba’s design doesn’t share enough elements with Baofu, she also gets his ultimate Persona. Of course, his had a bit more thought put into the design as opposed to… whatever that is.

Is…is that the final boss of Okami? Is that Yami? A…smiley Yami?

@Timrod

: I’m pretty sure Hashino has no idea how contracts work.

Maybe Haru’s dad swore an oath on the River Styx.

[Timrod]

Click Here for Update 93

: It’s time to 100% this game. Let’s start with Haru’s Rank 9.

: “Please, if only a taste. This wasn’t made with particularly expensive coffee beans, nor was it brewed by any sort of coffee expert.”

: “My apologies for bothering you at such a busy time.”

: “The truth is… after my father’s passing, I couldn’t bring myself to trust anyone at Okumura Foods.”

: “…That includes you, Takakura-san.”

: “…My apologies. Now then, um, what I wanted to discuss is…”

: giggle “Right… I’ll be okay. Takakura-san, what did you think of that coffee? I grew the beans in my own garden, and even handled the preparation.”

: “I honestly don’t believe it’s a particularly good cup of coffee… but I put my heart into making it. That’s why I asked you here today, Takakura-san.”

: “I’m not suggesting we need to put this level of effort into the Okumura Foods coffee chain. And I’m not suggesting we should put a halt to the plan either. However, I won’t let my company serve low-quality food to our customers.”

: Does Haru not realize what the point of a massive international burger chain is? It’s to be maybe the fourth-lowest rung in the food quality chain, just above Sbarro, Arby’s, and the mystery meat that’s in Subway’s ‘tuna’ sandwiches.

: “What…?”

: “Is… that so…?”

: “I…I’m sorry for being so rude…”

: “Me…?”

: “W-Well… um…”

: “O-Okay…!”

: “Thank you very much!”

: “H-Huh!? Um…!”

: I think he had entirely too much screen time and probably should’ve died with Okumura.

: “I think he’s an intelligent man… but… I have no interest in him. I have no interest in being his wife either. I would prefer to walk my own path. One in which the only person in control of my actions… is me. Not my father, and not Sugimura-san.”

: “But… what about the contract Sugimura-san made with my father…? He said the reparations will be immense if I refuse the marriage…”

: Does the concept of calling someone’s bluff not exist in this world?

: “Huh…? Well, now that you mention it… no, I haven’t.”

: “Thank you…!”

: “Not only about the company, but about Sugimura-san as well. I was so afraid… but now that it’s over, I think it was honestly pretty simple. I only made it to this point because you were with me though.”

: “…Thank you, Akira-kun.”

: “You did too, you know? giggle Anyway, um… I only started trusting people again because you were by my side helping me. So, I want to return the favor. Please confide in me if you ever need help. I’ll be there for you.”

: “Oh, that reminds me! Takakura-san said something… a little strange, didn’t he? Th-th-that I… like you… goodness, why would he say that?”

: “Why do you think…?”

: Man, we just ruined Haru’s hopes and dreams, didn’t we? And we didn’t even have a crystal skull to take them so we can power Xibalba with it.

: “I mean, that’s all we are, so… a-anyway, um… I should go study. I have entrance exams coming up… so I don’t really have time to be sitting around here… but, um… thank you for today.”

: “After we met, Takakura-san told me my grandfather’s blend recipe. I’m brewing some in my room right now, and it smells amazing… if only you could smell it too.”

: Is it those bags of pre-ground coffee you buy at the grocery store? I bet it is.

: “Yes! And it’s all thanks to you. I’d never have found the courage to do any of this if I was alone. I’d just have given up without trying… and never find out about how Takakura-san was feeling about any of this.”

: I think you mean ‘never FOUND out’.

: “So… I hope you’ll indulge a small gift, for fighting at my side through it all. Okay, good night.”

: Tonight, there’s another reference to the older games on the TV at Leblanc, this time to Persona 3.

: And now, it’s time for the last optional Caroline and Justine event until after we finish the base game.

: “Listen closely: the place we wish to evaluate for your rehabilitation is… a nightmarish place for acquiring gifts.”

: “Apparently, when the cold winds arrive, humans gather in a number of areas and search high and low for gifts.”

: “The specific one we seek is buried beneath another similar area. People flock there for all manner of goods. Such unchecked greed condensed into one location… this place sounds like a maelstrom of human desire.”

: “We believe it necessary to ascertain just how much of a threat this place is.”

: “Well, if you know where it is, then escort us there immediately! So, what’ll it be?”

: “So you’ve heard of it! Then let’s get going, Inmate - and you better keep your greed in check while we’re there!”

: “We will not be held responsible if you are consumed by your desires. Now, take us there at once.”

: Why is there a poster for… ‘Popo Kernel’? What the fuck is that?

: “It’s so energetic… I’m nearly unable to feel the cold here…”

: “Crowds come to fulfill their material wants while the vendors seek their profits. This place is a whirlpool of human desire.”

: “It seems the words ‘sale’ and ‘bonus’ carry extra weight in this place. Humans are incapable of resisting such simple temptation… how foolish.”

: This scene reminds me a lot of that part in Strange Journey where you go to a sector that is a demon’s interpretation of a shopping mall, and they hit you over the head with it the entire time you’re there.

: “That reminds me - it looks like a lot of people who fell prey to their pitiful desires come to places like this. I hear the term used for such people is ‘lovey-dovey’ or something like that. Is that what’s going on here?”

: “That’s right, ‘lovey-dovey’ is supposed to mean a harmonious relationship of two people doting on one another. I’ve also heard that such pairings emante a special aura that incites the rage of those around them.”

: “Yep, that’s lovey-dovey. It’s so obvious, I don’t even need to ask. Their aura is so irritating, words can’t describe it.”

: “On the other hand, I’ve heard that lovey-dovey individuals are actually secretly envied by many in society. Could you be one of the envious?”

: I mean, he did spend an entire weekend in Paris with Yusuke. It is also absolutely canon to the Yusu-Gay route that they have matching boyfriend rings.

: Joker would explain to them the difference between being in love and being horny, but it’d be lost on them.

: I looked up how much platinum rings are in real life, and unless they’re buying plain bands, that’s a pretty low price for one. Most of the decorated ones shoot up from around $1000 to around $10,000 because of all the diamonds they usually encrust the things with. Thanks, De Beers.

: “The atmosphere’s shifted…”

: “Yep… a storm’s coming.”

: “The clash of the lovey-dovey shoppers has been decided.”

: “Hmph. Pretty one-sided clash… why’d that man end up doing whatever the woman said? What sort of subservience is this?”

: “I’ve heard of such foolishness befalling lovers before. This must be what they mean when they say ‘love is blind’.”

: “How terrifying love is, that it can render an individual so useless. Be careful, Inmate.”

: “To think they can generate so much disorder just by coming together… humans are such strange beings.”

: “However, upon realizing that is a source of their power, it’s easy to see how this place has aided the Inmate’s rehabilitation. Humans truly are fascinating.”

: I mean, all we really did here was buy plant fertilizer and meet up with Ann for her confidant.

: “Anyway, we hereby acknowledge the completion of your assignment.”

: “Here is your reward.”

: This would be great… if we didn’t have access to Attis. I actually wound up fusing one in the unscheduled Mementos grind trip on the 4th that has the 66% dodge when ambushed skill.

: “I was expecting you to give up partway through. Not too bad at all, inmate!”

: “The strength of spirit you’ve displayed while carrying out your rehabilitation… that deserves our recognition.”

: “So you’ve finally learned to show us respect, huh? You’ve come a long way!”

: “Please continue such strong efforts towards your rehabilitation.”

: “Hm? Speaking of which… humans seem unusually predisposed to giving each other money and material goods if they’re closely related. People buying one another’s affection! Doesn’t that sound pathetic, Inmate?”

: “Oh? And don’t you think there are people you should express some gratitude towards right now?”

: “Indeed. I think a certain pair of exceptional wardens deserve a little something for observing their troublesome Inmate. That was a joke, Inmate. We are not so low as to exploit you for material gain.”

: Joker: “Does this mean I can have the millions of yen I paid you for fusion back?”

: “Say, Justine - shouldn’t we buy something for our master while we’re here?”

: “There appears to be a delivery service we can take advantage of here. Perhaps they can ship packages directly to our world?”

: “Please ship to: Velvet Room c/o Philemon, This Side. Just drop the package anywhere and we’ll find it.”

: Today, it’s time to finish Shinya’s confidant. With this, the only remaining non-auto confidant will be Haru.

: “It’s because you worked so hard. I didn’t really do that much… actually, yeah I did! chuckle Have you noticed that my playing style has changed? I feel calmer when I’m under pressure now.”

: “I wonder if it’s because I’m not so obsessed with winning anymore… hey… I invited some people here today. They should be arriving any minute now. Oh, here they are.”

: “I’m sorry!”

: “I finally realized that I was being selfish… please forgive me. I’ll understand if you guys don’t, but… I promise I’ll pay back the money as soon as I save up enough.”

: “That’s all I wanted to say… thanks for coming. Let’s go.”

: “Huh? Then…”

: “…I’ve gotten better since we last played, you know. Now I can stay calm during a battle. I’m gonna blast right through that pitch-black armor of yours.”

: “…Take that. Don’t aim for the body… and that!”

: “Stop using that armor and start playing fair and square. It’s unacceptable to break the rules just to win, whether you’re an adult or a child. And if you don’t stop, I’ll tell everyone.”

: “No it won’t. Your life will go on, even after you lose. But if you don’t change now, then it might really be the end for you. And then no one will be able to help you. I don’t want you go to through that.”

: I mean, unless you’re Tim Tebow. Then your career’s over before it even really begins.

: Why does this whole thing feel like a Saturday morning cartoon in the early 90s?

: “No… I’m not. I haven’t won the tournament yet. Besides, it’s thanks to you guys… that I was able to get stronger.”

: “…I’m so happy right now.”

: “…Yeah, I think we’ll get along fine from now on. I’ve always thought that winning was the coolest thing. But being nice is pretty cool too… losing wasn’t the end. It was just a new beginning.”

: “I was able to change. Now it’s my turn to help others. My mom, my friends… even people I don’t know. I wonder… will that help me become a member of the Phantom Thieves?”

: “So you ARE one of them, after all!? …Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. Well, this is the last time we’ll play together. There’s nothing left to teach you, and the Phantom Thieves seem to be having a rough time…”

: “Thank you… for hanging out with a lonely kid like myself. …I’ll continue to do my best. Okay, put out your hand.”

: Oda Special would be fucking amazing if you could apply it to Ann instead of Joker. Joker’s final gun is a stat stick like Makoto’s.

: Mada took me some doing to fuse properly. To a lot of people, he’s not actually the ultimate Tower Persona - that would be Yoshitsune, who is three levels below him.

New Persona: Mada

Origin: India

First Appearance: Nocturne

Hindu deity of drunkenness. Has two sets of jaws and is large enough to eat the entire universe. Summoned by two gods who were prevented from getting into a feast because they had been among mortals for too long.

: Mada is the best fire Persona in the game. I purposely left Burn Boost on rather than put Concentrate on him because burn is a straight up damage boost if it hits anything and we have other ways of doing Concentrate.

: On a side note, carrying Fire Boost up to him is a massive pain in the ass. I had to do three intermediate fusion steps just to carry that.

: Unfortunately, we can’t get the best wind Persona until after Shido, so I re-summoned Baal off screen to be able to hit any burns from Mada with a technical.

: “…You’ve gotten really good! But you’ll still never be able to beat me! You won’t lose to anyone else though! chuckle I’ll be supporting you, no matter what!”

: We spend the night of 12/03 playing darts again. I’m going to skip the daytime period of 12/04, because I go into Mementos to grind and fuse - we’ll see that in a side update where I show off our final Persona roster before the Shido fight.

: We’re going to spend 12/04 seeing one of Chihaya’s optional events.

: “Jinbocho? There’s a lot of used bookstores there… it’s a bit far, but let’s go! I wonder if the stores are still open…”

: “Hmm, there’s a lot here… which ones would be good as reference?”

: “The lives of people who have left their names in history… true, those would be worth reading once. There is a lot to learn from their stormy lives! Also, you know those self-help books?”

: “With those, you feel like just reading them is enough. You end up not actually helping yourself. I’d like to learn the ideas expressed in those books, and use them to help my customers.”

: “…Hmm!? That used bookstore’s sign says ‘Study of Destiny’! Wh… a fortune telling specific shop!? Kurusu-san, let’s go check it out!”

: Save me from that Study Destiny.

: “God, can’t these people see past their own fat noses? They’re crazier about Shido than ever… when I think about how he used us… Dammit! It pisses me right the hell off.”

: “Well… it’ll be fine. The better his rep gets, the more I look forward to tearin’ it down. We’ll make him own up to all this bullshit. Then they’ll see who the real heroes are.”

: And now… it’s time to 100% the game. We’ve conquered every possible permafuck. A part of me wasn’t sure I was going to make it this far, and I thank all of you for your support.

: “I heard you’ve been getting into the roasting scene, little lady.”

: The roasting scene, where they only make coffee from beans you’ve never heard of.

: “Yes. I often have the urge to drink a fresh cup of your coffee.”

: “Heh, that near brings a tear to my eye. Well, I’m heading home now. Close up shop for me, will you?”

: “I was finally able to convey my feelings during the company meeting. Not just about the new chain, but about the future of the company, and even about Father…”

: “I think my presence angered some people at first, but in the end they all listened to my thoughts.”

: “All that nervousness was exhausting… I’ve had diplomatic dealings with VIPs before, but I’ve never once spoken my true feelings… that aside, after talking with management, I’ve decided to let them handle Okumura Foods.”

: Wait, didn’t she say on two or three different occasions that she didn’t have anything to do with running the company when her father was alive? When was she making deals with people?

: “It’s simply not something I would have been able to supervise on my own. And after their sincere acceptance of the public’s criticism, I felt it was okay to trust them.”

: “As for my future goals… I’m interested in opening a small private cafe. Everything will be home-grown, from the coffee to the salad. I want to set my own standards.”

: “It’ll be a shop that people love, like Grandfather’s… and like this place. What do you think?”

: “It’s a pretty boring dream, huh? But when you say that… I feel like it will actually happen. Truth be told, I don’t plan on opening the shop immediately after I graduate. I’ll need to study and improve my knowledge beforehand. After all, right now it’s only a hobby.”

: Joker’s like “If you need knowledge points, I’ve got a shit-ton of books I’m never going to get around to reading. My knowledge maxed out months ago.”

: “Perhaps I should apprentice here at Leblanc in the meantime?”

: giggle “I take it that comes from personal experience? Either way, I think this dream of mine will be no easy feat. But I somehow manged to tackle my childhood dream of becoming a heroine of justice.”

: “If I act with resolve and believe in my actions, I know I’ll be able to achieve anything. I’m so glad I met you. At first, it was nice having someone that understands me… but now, it’s much more.”

: “There may be times where people resent me for it… but as long as you’re here, I’ll be okay. You know… I’d like to return the favor. If you ever find yourself in trouble, I’ll be there for you.”

: “Feel free to rely on me from now on. I have the strength to help you… I can sense it.”

: Mother Harlot is an ultimate Persona in the Persona 1 and 2 sense. Her moveset makes no sense.

: She’s got Curse-based instakills, which Alice does better. She’s got ice spells, which Satan does better. Her trait is called Ghost Nest, and… increases the chance of inflicting status ailments on downed enemies. Typically, the only reason you’d want to inflict a status effect is to down an enemy.

New Persona: Astarte

Origin: Syria (technically)

First Appearance: Giten Megami Tensei

Middle-eastern version of Ishtar, and the basis for Aphrodite in Greek myth. Originally used by ancient Mesopotamian cultures as another name for Ishtar. Became interpreted a number of different ways, including by the Phoenicians as the wife of Hadad. In Ancient Egypt, she was a hunting goddess usually associated with Anat.

Christianity refers to her as “Ashtoreth” in the Bible, a play on the Hebrew word for “abomination”. The Bible uses the name Ashtoreth to refer to pagan worship and idols in general, rather than as a specific entity. Later demonized into Astaroth in the Ars Goetia.

: giggle “I can’t wait. My, look at the time. We’ve been speaking for quite a while! I should be going now!”

: And that’s it. That’s all the non-automatic confidants completed. Everything else from here on out is automatic… minus the expansion.

: Next time, we’ll do a quick trip into Mementos to do one request and grind a shitload of money. We’ll also fail to itemize a single Persona six times in a row and finalize our roster for Shido and beyond.

[Timrod]

@drcakey

Is…is that the final boss of Okami? Is that Yami? A…smiley Yami?

You know, now that I think about it? Yeah, it pretty much is.

@SpammyV

I’m surprised they even gave Sugimura a name since his textbox is still Haru’s Fiance.

I’m surprised Sugimura survived Okumura’s Palace, to be honest.

[drcakey]

@Timrod

: Man, we just ruined Haru’s hopes and dreams, didn’t we? And we didn’t even have a crystal skull to take them so we can power Xibalba with it.

Well if you stopped turning all our crystal skulls into rings, maybe we would.