Click Here for Update 96
: It’s time. Immediately after this fight, we will finally have Lucifer. Shido is going to be a joke even without him, but with him…
: “You!?”
: “Why’s he here!?”
: “Hmph… I’m impressed that you managed to deceive me. It seems I underestimated your abilities. You truly are interesting… quiet, yet possessing the courage and determination to take action.”
: “Under different circumstances, we could have been great rivals… or perhaps even friends.”
: This scene was mostly unchanged from the base game, but the writers for Royal misunderstood the relationship between Joker and Akechi - I’m guessing this was on purpose due to Akechi consistently winning popularity polls in Japan, particularly among shippers.
: We’ll talk about that a little later.
: “You don’t allow yourself to be enslaved by such things as human relations or past selves… and so, your heart is always free. The exact opposite of mine. To be honest, I’m envious… I wonder why we couldn’t have met a few years earlier, Akira…”
: “Akechi…”
: “But… it’s no use talking in hypotheticals. That didn’t happen in reality…”
: “Don’t you see what this Palace looks like!? His true nature is-”
: By the way, almost all of the shots in this scene either pan in one direction or zoom in, and I actually sat here for a few minutes just to see if it would eventually do something stupid. It doesn’t. This is about as far as it goes.
: “Cooperating…? What are you talking about? I don’t care for Shido, or this country.”
: Remember when I said I hate Akechi because he’s a ripoff of Reiji from Persona 1? This is why. He’s got the exact same background, the exact same motive, the only difference is that he’s a friendless loser and Reiji isn’t. No really, that’s the entire reason we’re going to beat Akechi. I’m not joking.
: “Shido is your father!?”
: “Remember I said before, how my mother had been in a relationship with some good-for-nothing man? So I’m his bastard child. My very existence is nothing but a scandal…”
: “My mother’s life turned for the worst after she had me… and died. I was a cursed child for her too.”
: This shot zooms in, and I wanted to see how far it’d go. The answer is this far - it’ll zoom in just a bit more and then snap back out to here to keep the illusion that it’s still going.
: “I resented him, but he was already a high-ranking official by then. A kid like me could do nothing. But… that’s when it happened!”
: Akechi is fucking loving this shit. Also, I don’t think there’s ever been a time where the portrait reflects what the model is doing less than this particular shot.
: Man’s just having a time.
: “You son of a…”
: “Who cares? My targets were all doing the same damn thing in this eat or be eaten world. All I did was remove their evil from society. How is that any different than the Phantom Thieves?”
: “We’re not murderers!”
: “So what!? Masayoshi Shido is finally within my grasp! Once he reaches the apex of his power and acknowledges me, I’m going to whisper in his ear… I will tell him the truth of who I really am!”
: “And that’s when I - an utter disgrace to the world - will rule over him. I will prevail!”
: “What a warped thought… it’s almost pitiable.”
: “In just a few weeks, my plan would have come to fruition… but no, you just had to interfere! I can still take it back though. I’ll just need to kill you all.”
: I don’t even get what his plan was. He was going to tell Shido that he’s his illegitimate son… and then what? Why would he not just do what he did to Okumura and sneak in to kill Shido’s shadow after the party takes him down?
: “Hmph, we won’t get killed for something like that. You talk big, but you’re really nothing more than a little kid throwing a temper tantrum!”
: “Don’t lecture me, you piece of shit… I am going to personally thrust Masayoshi Shido into a living hell. So, Joker… rest easy and die.”
: “…Yes. I’ll do it better than you could ever imagine. That is, once I get rid of you.”
: If Akechi had been like this for the entire game, I’d have liked him a lot more.
: “You sure sound confident, but don’t go pressin’ your luck. We already know all your tricks from back when you were workin’ with us.”
: “Joker… how could you be so successful while having such an idiot as your partner?”
: “Huh!? Quit bluffin’!”
: "It’s no bluff. If he truly is behind the mental shutdowns, he’s likely only shown us a fraction of his strength.
: chuckle “I’ll tell you all about my true power… while you die. You can take that knowledge with you to the grave.”
: “The mental shutdowns aren’t the only incidents people are talking about.”
: “Those cannot be explained unless the true culprit has the power to make people’s hearts psychotic… snicker That’s right! It’s my power - one that you don’t have!”
: I think this is something that mattered more in an earlier draft of the script, where there was an actual difference between the ‘mental shutdowns’ and ‘psychotic breakdowns’. In the final script for the base game they’re essentially the same thing.
: “He’s gonna try something…!”
: “Allow me to show you!”
: This doesn’t do anything, it just makes the Cu Chulainn and Cerberus black and red.
: This fight was also unchanged from the base game, and I feel like they could’ve done something really interesting with it. Maybe you’d have two separate fights - one with the party against the super-shadows while Joker has a duel with Akechi and kicks his ass again. But they didn’t.
: Annoyingly, both of these enemies have the same weaknesses as their regular variety, but the game won’t show you the information for them.
: Oh. Turns out there’s a reason for that… kind of. In the base game, the Cerberus has no weaknesses. They nerfed that in Royal and gave him back his weakness to ice. There’s a bug in the launch version of Royal where if you take down Cu Chulainn first and then knock down Cerberus and finish him off with an All-Out, it skips the next phase of the boss.
: Ann nearly takes out the Cu Chulainn in a single hit.
: The Cerberus gets a single attack in, and it hurts - this is with Haru having the best physical protection she can have.
: “That power to make others turn psychotic… he used it on actual people…? This guy’s out of his mind!”
: “Of course I didn’t expect you to be defeated by them. You have deceived me and escaped death, after all. I wouldn’t give up my chance to massacre you with my own two hands…!”
: We’re already Concentrated for the most part, so I rush a Thermopylae and it’s go time.
: Akechi has the same moves he did when we had him - Kougaon and Eigaon. Joker has Big Mike, who repels Bless and nulls Curse. Speaking of which…
: Two hits and Akechi’s dead. We’ve done more than just break the game - we’ve shattered it. I could go up to Hard or Merciless, but… why?
: “So he’s able to turn people psychotic… I thought it was some special thing like the Nav, but it seems to be his own Persona’s power.”
: I think what I hate about this is that it’s too Shonen Jump battle manga. None of the other Persona games ever really got to that level.
: “I can’t believe that the ability to control and drive others mad was born from within his heart…”
: “Will you please stop!? You’re fighting the wrong people! We both hate the same guy! Why do we have to go against each other!?”
: “Killing us won’t make you happy.”
: “But… I…!”
: “This ain’t about what Shido says! You’re your own person! You gotta know that!”
: “Damn it…!”
: “You know… sometimes I think about that fake Medjed that you guys made up… that was the worst trap… but if not for that, I don’t think I’d be here right now. Uhhh, basically… it doesn’t matter where you start over!”
: This? This is bad writing. Futaba should be fucking furious. This is the guy who killed her mother. Nobody made him do it, either - it’s clear he did it because he wanted to.
: This should have been like the moment with Namatame in Persona 4 where the party is urging you to fucking kill him. Futaba should be asking Joker to hand her his pistol so she can kill him.
: That’s one of the things I don’t get about this game. They’re trying their hardest to make it be a shonen battle manga while forgetting that people die violently in shonen battle manga all the fucking time. Hell, Tatsuya Sudou fucking incinerated a kid in Innocent Sin.
: “And… you don’t really hate Joker, do you? That smile before we fought… isn’t that how you really feel?”
: “…!?”
: “Follow your true feelings! Even if you think people hate you or don’t want you around, that’s-”
: “Teammates!? Friends!? To hell with that! Why am I inferior to you!? I was extremely particular about my life, my grades, my public image, so someone would want me around! I am an ace detective… a celebrity!”
: It’s because Joker has THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP and a giant anime nakama that is completely and utterly unrealistic. I went to high school. No one had shit like that.
: “Akechi-kun…”
: “But you… you’re just some criminal trash living in an attic! So, how… how does someone like you have things I don’t!? How can such a worthless piece of trash be more special than me!?”
: “This argument is meaningless!”
: “What was that!?”
: “A black mask!”
: There’s around ten shots of flashback, I’m going to cut it down to three.
: “Then, what Kaneshiro said before…”
: The thing is, I don’t get why any of this is surprising. It’s not like Akechi couldn’t bring a second outfit with a black mask that he puts on when he’s going on murder runs.
“So… you were behind the mental shutdowns after all…”
: NO FUCKING SHIT! HE JUST FUCKING SAID HE WAS!
: “Oh, this is great… I’m surprised… this is actually a first for me. I might even have to try my hardest against you. You know… I just came up with a fun little idea… I wonder how far I can go with this…”
: “Fun?”
: “You’re not satisfied with where we left it either, are you? Isn’t this what you really wanted? You and I are going to strike and strike again until one of us is dead! To hell with holding back!”
: “Ah… just picturing it sends chills down my spine. What Shido thinks of me? Haha! I don’t give a shit… all I care about now is killing you… to prove I’m better than you!”
: Akechi’s in the wrong anime. No, really, we’ll see in a second.
: If I wanted to re-caption this, it would read “I just shit my pants, Joker! And now I’m gonna shit yours!”
: Loki? Really. Loki’s the best you can do? He’s a fucking third-stringer in Persona 1 and never really gets better. Seriously, I don’t think there’s a single game Loki has been in where he’s not a jobber.
: Whoever did the animation for this was probably drunk. That’s about the only reason I can think of as to why Akechi’s such a fucking dumbass.
: Remember when I said Akechi’s weakness is that he’s a friendless loser? Akechi is canonically a wild card - it’s just that he only has two Personas because he has no friends.
: Uh, he’s a hitman and a serial killer. I think he’s already psychotic.
: If you’ve read Berserk, Akechi’s new outfit is going to look remarkably familiar. That’s because he’s wearing Guts’s berserker armor.
: I agree with that statement because I have played team-based multiplayer games before.
: While we charge up, Akechi uses Tetrakarn on himself. This renders Yusuke useless for the rest of the fight, as he can’t physically attack without killing himself.
: This version of Akechi has a lot more HP, and if we weren’t as bullshit overpowered as we are I’d probably have dropped a Soma to get everyone back up.
: If you think this is no damage, just wait until you see Shido. I’m not kidding when I say that at one point he uses Diamond Dust on Joker and does exactly 16 damage.
: At this point, we’ve skipped a phase. What’s supposed to happen is that Akechi goes into a phase where he uses Makarakarn on himself and starts unleashing Eigaon… and Maragion. He’s still using second-tier spells and this is one of the final bosses in the base game.
: If you have Yusuke, you want to get rid of him at that point because if Maragion hits, Akechi responds by using Desperation on himself and at that point things can get kinda iffy.
: However, we’ve nuked him down so much in one turn that he’s moved right into his third and final phase. In this phase, he’ll waste a turn staring at Joker and then use Laevateinn, a single-target Almighty skill that can hit really hard if he’s got Desperation.
: And he’s fucked. RIP Akechi, never got past his first phase. Oh right - he also has Megidolaon, which he’ll use if anyone has a reflect up. The thing is, Akechi’s magic stat is kind of a joke. He has 80 strength, higher than any of Joker’s broken Personas, but only 30 magic.
: “…You’re so lucky. Lucky to be surrounded… by teammates who acknowledge you… and once Shido confesses his crimes, you’ll all be heroes.”
: “As for me, people will find out my past deductions were just charade. My fame and trust will vanish.”
: “…I see. So you were turning people psychotic, then solving the cases yourself. And you did that by joining forces with Shido.”
: God fucking dammit! Fuck! Fucking fuck! WE ALREADY FUCKING KNOW THIS! IT’S BEEN STATED AND RESTATED A THOUSAND GODDAMN TIMES! SHUT THE FUCK UP!
: “In the end… I couldn’t be special…”
: “Dude, you’re more than special…”
: “It pains me to admit… but your wit and strength far exceeds ours. We only defeated you by teaming up… I was honestly… envious of your natural ability. It was frustrating to see how much my sister trusted you…”
: I’d do a second take of this where I kill Akechi solo as Joker, but it would consist entirely of fusing something that can abuse reflects and abusing them.
: “I have no intention of forgiving you for what you did to my father, but… I sympathize with you. I wholeheartedly understand wanting to get back at the adults who took from you…”
: “But when you gained the power to fulfill that desire, you only used it for your own self-benefit.”
: “If you’ve got more than one Persona, maybe you actually have the same kinda power as Joker’s. But you trusted no one, so you only got two Personas: one for your lies, and one for your hate.”
: “Still, you thought that was enough, right? That part I totally get.”
: “You excelled at everything over us… yet that was the one thing you lacked.”
: “…”
: “All right, let’s go back and get that callin’ card ready! We’re gonna take Shido down. What’re you gonna do?”
: Why is it that everyone immediately wants to give Akechi a redemption arc when he has zero redeeming qualities?
: “It’d be a problem if you kept getting in our way. Wanna come along and help us settle things?”
: “… Are you all idiots? You should get rid of me… if you don’t want me getting in your way. …You are all truly beyond my comprehension.”
: I mean, it’d be one thing if Akechi had some redeeming quality. Something like, say, “I had to kill those people because Shido had a gun to my head, literally and figuratively” or “I had to do it because otherwise, Shido would find (or make) another person with the same power and send them after me, and who knows what that person might do?”
: Remember how I said the cognitive Akechi doesn’t exist? I was lying a little. He does, but only in this dungeon. There’s zero foreshadowing that he exists - at least that I know of.
: “That’s… Shido’s cognitive version of Akechi!”
: How would that even be dangerous? He’s a shadow. There’s no way he can have a Persona, so why wouldn’t Akechi just light him on fire and be done with it?
: "…!’
: “Captain Shido’s orders. He has no need for losers. Well… this just moves the plan up a little. He was going to get rid of you after the election anyway.”
: “What!?”
: “Did you truly believe you’d be spared after all the murders you undertook? Don’t tell me… were you actually feeling good about having someone rely on you for once? Oh by the way, the captain says it’s time you receive retribution for causing the mental shutdowns.”
: You uh, just said that.
: “What the hell, man!? That bastard’s the one who put him up to it!”
: “I see… I was wondering how he’d protect himself if I used my power to tear through his Palace. Turns out you’re how. So he’s making a puppet kill me… sounds like something he’d do.”
: Yep, that’s typical Shido for you, has a bunch of hitmen ready to kill each other just in case one turns on him.
: “That’s right. I’ll do anything. But look at yourself… you’re the true puppet.”
: “…!”
: I feel like the direction given to the artist here was “Just draw Light Yagami having an orgasm”.
: “You’ve been nothing but a puppet from the very beginning!”
: “You little…”
: “So this… is how Shido thinks of Goro Akechi? It’s… it’s too horrible!”
: “It’s still not too late! We can change his heart together! Even if he’s your father… no, BECAUSE he’s your father!”
: I don’t know what this even is. What the fuck is that facial expression?
: “You know what? I’ll let someone volunteer to take his place. Who knows, you might delay his death.”
: “Damn you…”
: “You guys are all about doing things for others, aren’t you? Oh, that’s just the same as me. I’m going to take all the blame for our captain. I’ll die for him too.”
: “This is what Shido thinks of Akechi-kun, even after making him help with the murders!?”
: “Here, I’ll give you one last chance. Shoot them.”
: “…Don’t misunderstand. You’re the one who’s going to disappear!”
: Akechi quickly turns and shoots the fake Akechi.
: You know what would have been a super shonen thing to do? Have the party jump into save Akechi, and then immediately after the fight Joker kills him.
: It’s a watertight bulkhead door. Didn’t you hear the announcement?
: “Akechi!”
: “Hurry up and go.”
: “You fool! Are you trying to get yourself killed!?”
: “The real fools… are you guys. You should have just abandoned me here a long time ago. You would have all perished… if you had tried to face these with me weighing you down…”
: “Akechi-kun!”
: “Let’s make a deal, okay? You won’t say no, will you?”
: “Why at a time like this!?”
: “Change Shido’s heart… in my stead. End his crimes… please!”
: This choice was changed for Royal. My guess is it only changes if you maxed Akechi’s confidant and picked the right options.
: Akechi does not get The Path Is Open because he sucks.
: We now have the final component for Lucifer. We will be fusing him as soon as this cutscene is over, so I’ll save Metatron for then too. I wound up making two Metatrons: one for fusion into Lucifer and a second to be the best Bless Persona with the highest magic stat of any of the Personas we have.
: Why would he not have just immediately mag-dumped his gun into the shadow?
: Two gunshots ring out at nearly the same time.
: “No…”
: “Come on, you guys! We can’t let a rotten criminal like Shido do what he wants any longer! We can’t… no matter what!”
: “Akechi…”
: “…We should get going.”
: “He entrusted us with an important task, after all…”
: “Let’s go, Joker.”
: I wanted to leave right now to go fuse, but the game will not fucking let you.
: “It looks like we’ve come out on the side deck. We should be able to secure a route from here.”
: “Welp, let’s head over and get to usin’ those letters then.”
: “Open sesame!”
: “Yes.”
: “The hell is that!?”
: “It’s pretty rockin’!”
: “So this… is the main assembly hall?”
: “P-Probably. Daruma are often used as symbols of election luck, plus everything else in here seems real…”
: “Odd… there isn’t a single person in here. It sounded as though there was quite the crowd inside when we heard voices through the door.”
: “But given how it looks, this has to be the root of the distortion.”
: “Yes. I’m picking up on the Treasure’s presence as well. There’s no doubt this place is where it’ll appear.”
: It’s time to fuse. This will be our second to last time in the Velvet Room.
New Persona: Dominion
Origin: Judeo-Christianity
First Appearance: Shin Megami Tensei II
Angels who watch over nations.
: Wait a second… isn’t that just Yusuke in a robe with some hair extensions? He must keep the scarf afloat with his boyfriend powers. Either that, or a shitload of hidden wire.
New Persona: Metatron
Origin: Abrahamic Mythology
First Appearance: Shin Megami Tensei II
The voice of the Judeo-Christian God. Has a million eyes, a million mouths and 36 wings. Appears largely in ancient Jewish texts, in which he is an entity (not an angel) who has a higher status than that of Michael. Supposedly the twin brother of Sandalphon. Some branches of Gnosticism claim that Metatron is the same thing as the Holy Spirit. Does not appear in the Bible.
: This is the Metatron I made specifically to fuse into Lucifer. The one we wind up using as a Persona has Bless Boost and Bless Amp and replaces Arms Master with Spell Master.
: Metatron fuses into one of Joker’s two ultimate guns. This one does less damage than the one we’re actually going to use, but it’s better if you plan on fusing and using Yoshitsune later. And now, please welcome…
New Persona: Lucifer
Origin: Judeo-Christianity
First Appearance: Megami Tensei I
Former highest-ranked archangel who rebelled against the Judeo-Christian God. Not the same entity as Satan - Lucifer is likely based on a Babylonian myth involving a celestial being who tries to overthrow the Babylonian pantheon but is cast into the underworld.
: Lucifer is MASSIVELY improved over how he was in the base game. In fact, let me show you my base game Lucifer.
: In the base game, Lucifer had no resistances and a weakness to Bless. In Royal, he’s fucking invincible, especially with Firm Stance. His job isn’t to do damage - without Almighty Boost and Almighty Amp his damage will be middling at best - his job is to be a wall.
: Here’s his signature move, Morning Star. It doesn’t do much damage, but Joker can spam it all day.
: Lucifer itemizes into the Tyrant Pistol, which is Joker’s best gun provided he’s using magic-based Personas. 15 magic is a huge stat boost, bringing a couple of our Personas up to around 80.
: Off-screen, I also fused another Odin using Metatron and Gabriel. This Odin has Firm Stance and Spell Master, making him the best electric Persona in the game.
: “Akechi saved us all in the end. I think in his heart, he might not have been so bad… Hey, Akira. Let’s succeed on this mission, no matter what.”
: We get a massage from Kawakami… so we can do an optional event with her. Strangely, I didn’t get the optional event I thought I would - this may be because I skipped one early on.
: “I’ll let you decide where to go. I guess you can consider that our first assignment. If there’s anything I can help you with today, I’d be glad to come over. So, what do you think?”
: “The art museum in Ueno, huh? Sounds like it could be educational. I hope it’s not closed yet. Let’s go check it out.”
: Okay, so what I’d like you to keep in mind is that Akechi has died. Is Joker grieving? No. He cares so little that he’s going to an art museum with Kawakami. This is how it was in the base game.
: “I wanted to teach you things like that. This is an extracurricular lesson to enhance your education. Eheh… or something. It’s more like a thanks for helping me make up my mind.”
: “I’m going to start acting like an honest teacher again.”
: “Ooh, I feel like I never hear you talk like that. It would be really easy to teach you if you were always this compliant. giggle I realized that I love being a teacher.”
: When is Joker ever not compliant in class? I mean, I guess this could be one of those things like in Strikers when Morgana reveals that Joker hates crepes out of nowhere.
: “It’s really rewarding, you know? Especially the moments when you realize how a student’s grown… and also thinking about your future… okay, let’s resume our lesson! If there’s anything you don’t understand, please ask me!”
: “…Wait, no! I take that back! Just ask me simple questions, okay? Please?”
: What you are about to see is a scene that was added for Royal. This is where we’re going to find out about how the writers for Royal understand Joker and Akechi in a very different way than Hashino did.
: “I wonder what happened to Akechi… after we heard the gunshot on the other side of the shutters, Futaba said there were no readings left… does this mean we’ll never meet again…?”
: There are two distinct gunshots.
: Remember how I said there were those two options in Akechi’s Rank 7 and Rank 8 that were permafucks if you didn’t pick them? This is a third permafuck. You want to pick the bottom option.
: “I do still have that promise with Akechi to duel again someday… I know Akechi would especially hate having it end with his defeat… still, there’s nothing I can do now.”
: In the base game, Akech is confirmed dead. Joker never thinks about him again, and I don’t think he ever comes up in conversation outside of Shido’s boss fight. Joker could not give less of a shit about Akechi or his death.
: Now I need to talk about that OVA. Right before Royal released in Japan, the anime studio behind the Persona 5 anime put out a promotional OVA called Proof of Justice.
: Proof of Justice is a 17-minute OVA (with about 5 minutes of that runtime taken by the OP and ED) that is mostly an advertisement for Royal. Let’s take a brief look, shall we?
: The OVA opens with this shot. I showed this to Salty Vanilla, and their response was “What did they to do Yusuke!? What did they do to my boy!?”
: I told Salty Vanilla that they’re more qualified to be an anime director than whoever directed this, and I meant it.
: Anyway, this shot takes place roughly when they’re sending the calling card to Shido, which happens tomorrow in-game.
: Joker pours a coffee for Akechi, who is working on a crossword puzzle. Note that nothing is on model because the animators this SUCK. Even in the close-ups they can’t get shit right.
: I’m pretty sure this is the last night we meet Akechi in Leblanc, right before Sae’s palace.
: That night, Joker takes the crossword magazine into his room and starts looking at it because all he can think about is Akechi. This, despite the fact that in the actual game he does not give a single fuck.
: Crosswords in Japanese must be a nightmare to do. Do you count the “extended sound” character after the “bi” as a second “bi”, or is it that the one going down would have to have an “extended sound” in it even if it’s not a “bi”?
: Oh, but what’s this? Akechi wrote “Proof of Justice” for no fucking reason! Clearly, this is a mystery that only a 13-minute OVA could solve.
: This disturbs Joker so much that he cannot sleep. It’s pretty clear that whoever authorized this did so knowing the massive Joker/Akechi shipping fanbase that continually bumps Akechi to first place in popularity polls (even over the playable characters) is very much a thing.
: Joker spends the night going around Tokyo (making sure to stop at Kichijoji, the darts place, and the jazz club where he has flashbacks to Akechi’s confidant) before he finds his answer.
: The answer is that “Proof of Justice” is written on the box that had Akechi’s toy laser pistol in it. I am not fucking kidding when I say that in the OVA, Joker fucking breaks down and starts crying.
: Then he has a flashback to Akechi’s death, which… I suppose if you hadn’t played the base game and were watching this it spoiled Akechi being the killer and his death.
: Then he sees a poorly-drawn anime kid whose dad bought him one of the laser pistols, and for some reason has a flashback to Akechi as a kid even though he never knew Akechi that young.
: It’s like the writers forgot that Akechi is a serial killer and were like “It’s okay because he’s pretty!”
: Oh, and then it ends with Joker going back to bed and being an insomniac because of Akechi. The final shot…
: Is Joker trying to finish an unfinished game of chess that Akechi left behind. Fuck this shit.
: So why am I showing you this? Because it’s canon. This is how Royal’s writers re-interpreted Akechi. This is what they’re going to use to justify a plot point in the expansion content… and that plot point is why I hate Akechi. We’ll talk about that more when we get there. It’s not far away.
: “Having Shido as your dad? The thought makes me sick… could you really stand having a dad that has destroyed people’s lives for his own benefit? What would happen to this country if someone like that became the prime minister?”
: “…We can’t let him win, no matter what. There is no way we’re going to let you have your way, Shido!”
: “It would be pointless to send it to the Diet Building.”
: “And even if we handed it over to different media sources, who knows how it would be treated… the worst case scenario would be giving it to the police under the table.”
: “What shall we do then?”
: “We just said that’s not gonna work.”
: “Um, Futaba-chan?”
: This name is based on an actual tool used by Anonymous called Low Orbit Ion Cannon, which was used to crowdsource DDoS attacks.
: “Huh?”
: “It’s good to go. Look. Now, if I do this…”
: Oh no, a command prompt! Hide the Linux, the cops are gonna be here any second!
: “You shoulda told us you were plannin’ something!”
: “To trick your enemies, you first gotta trick your allies.”
: Futaba is then isekai’d on the spot into Ni no Kuni 2.
: “How stylish.”
: “It’s kickass!”
: “This should work nicely…”
: “All right! It’s time for people to start comin’ to their senses!”
: If I remember right, the TV lines weren’t subtitled in the base game in this scene either.
: I thought the thing on the TV in the back was Eikichi. It’s not, but it’s definitely got that same aesthetic as Innocent Sin.
: I feel like they got a completely separate animation studio for this one shot, because it looks nothing like the usual P5 anime. It’s surprisingly on-model.
: I think the anime studio forgot the whole “cameras don’t work in the metaverse” bit. Actually, this shot being there doesn’t make a whole lot of sense if you think about it.
: The only person who knew what the party looked like in their thief outfits was Akechi, and he’s dead. Shido doesn’t know what they look like because he’s never been to the metaverse.
: This part is narrated by Joker’s VA.
: It’s almost like John Persona… is some kind of stand-alone complex! Actually, nah. Stand Alone Complex had better writing.
: “And what about Akechi!? Where did that useless brat go!? He must have run away knowing he failed! Bring him here when you find him! Got that!?”
: “Phantom thief? Body?”
: “Um, I really don’t know what you’re speaking of… oh, but that reminds me… I received a calling card from the Phantom Thieves… but everything from then on is a blur…”
: “No… could I have done something wrong!? Then, I… I…”
: I like to think that Sae isn’t doing this out of some dumbass shounen anime ‘sense of justice’ but instead because the tramp stamp is real and this is how she’s going to explain it away.
: “What have I done?”
: “Why me?”
: “I’m sorry, I honestly don’t know what’s going on here…”
: You know what I don’t get? Why they needed that scene right before this one. They’re both repeating the same information that we already know.
: “Is illness really what killed him? Do you think his death was truly due to illness!?”
: “…Very well. It’s all up to you now, everyone.”
: I think of all of these scenes, this one is the only one that really works.
: “Who the hell’re you?”
: “Oh, you mean those guys they’ve been talking about on TV?”
: How would they know that Sojiro knows that Joker is a phantom thief?
: “This is obstruction of business, you know.”
: “Is this the only way you do things?”
: “If you’re not a customer, I’m gonna have to ask you to leave.”
: “Justice isn’t on your side.”
: Was there some kind of betting pool in the writer’s room as to how many cutscenes they could cram into the game?
: “It is nothing more than a wicked terrorist act, aimed at obstructing the elections. What we need now is a powerful, unyielding leader. I am willing to risk my life to fight them.”
: “I speak now to those who call themselves the Phantom Thieves. Your actions are gravely serious crimes. You are rebelling against the laws of this country and unnecessarily causing alarm among its citizens.”
: “I call on you to surrender yourselves at once and apologize to the people of this proud nation.”
: I like to think that last line is actually directed at Hashino.
: “That bastard Shido’s tryin’ to act all calm, but he’s prolly freakin’ out on the inside.”
: " ‘Apologize’? Quite the funny joke."
: “Who is the real criminal here?”
: The real criminal is Sega for allowing Atlus to do a full-price re-release without fixing the script.
: “Our calling card has had a tremendous effect.”
: “I’m real proud of that one!”
: “All they’re doin’ is makin’ noise though…”
: The people in the back are chanting “Shi-do! Shi-do!”
: “Seriously. They should just go home and get some sleep…”
: I stopped playing SMT Imagine because it sucks, but one of the lines you can get if you fail to negotiate with a beast-type demon (which happens all the time because the default negotiation success rate is 1% please buy our microtransaction master balls that auto-capture demons) is “GO HOME AND SLEEP”.
: “Even after what happened, not many people want to see Shido have a change of heart. What we’re about to do is just… right?”
: “That’s right. Have we ever acted outside of the scope of justice?”
: I mean, if you believe the part about the party going after Okumura to get famous, then technically yes.
: “You have a point.”
: “Hey, look over there.”
: “This has me excited as well. snicker That boy really keeps the news rolling in.”
: “She doesn’t notice we’re here… right? That keen journalist nose is a force to be reckoned with. Whoa! Why’s Mishima here!? Man, that kid’s impressive…”
: I have no idea if there’s a rank requirement to get these little scenes with the confidants, but it doesn’t matter because we’re maxed anyway.
: “The Phantom Thieves are just. I guarantee it.”
: “Heh… now that’s what I like to hear.”
: “There may not be many of them, but we have to cherish our fans. Let’s go change Shido’s heart!”
: It might seem weird that Iwai, Yoshida and Hifumi are all so close. They were actually going to put a scene in Royal to explain that. It was (mercifully) cut before release.
: I wish we could bring Shinya with us, but when you see how hard we break Shido you’ll understand why he couldn’t come.
: “What did you do to Akechi!? He… he was your own son!”
: “Hmph, I had a feeling it was something like that. He reminded me too much of that woman. I also have an idea as to why he approached me. He was hoping to trap me, was he not?”"
: “He was sharp, but in the end he was just a kid. I controlled him merely by offering praise. I intended to dispose of him as soon as I became prime minister.”
: “What!?”
: “I could never keep someone with such intimate knowledge of my past alive. What an ‘ace’ detective. He was standing beside me all this time, yet couldn’t see through my plans. His destroying himself saved me quite a bit of effort though.”
: “How could you…!?”
: “You stole my mom’s research… and took her life!”
: “Everything you’ve done has been for your own selfish gains! You even killed my father! I will never forgive you!”
: I would do the Princess Bride thing here but that movie is super overrated.
: “Sacrifices are inevitable in the path of reform. I only require that the foolish entrust themselves to their superiors. I shall guide them.”
: “The hell makes you think you’re so much better than everyone else!?”
: “You never would have been able to make it this far without Akechi’s help!”
: I mean, he apparently had connections to a yakuza hit squad. It’s not like he couldn’t have just used them instead.
: “He only appeared because of the expectations God held for me. Moreover, it was thanks to me that Akechi was able to properly use his power to begin with. The ‘changing of hearts’ that you’ve been doing… was nothing more than provoking the public.”
: “How selfish! You were unable to win by honest means, so you used foul tricks to ascend the political ladder!”
: Yusuke, we already know that.
: “A cruel person like you has no right to stand leading the citizens of this country. You’re nothing but a criminal who rose above others by climbing a staircase of sin.”
: “The life of the nation as opposed to those of a few sacrifices… there can be no comparison. The ignorant masses only care about their own personal happiness. I am merely granting that for them. That is the social reform that only I, as the one chosen by God, can enact!”
: This whole speech feels like a budget version of the Messians in SMT 1.
: “I can’t believe you look down on everyone else so harshly…”
: “I’d never accept a leader who makes a teenager murder people! You say it’s for the country, but I bet it’s all for yourself. Nobody would wish for something like that!”
: Ann, you can’t even vote.
: “Nobody?”
: There’s an animation of him walking from the second tier of the podium to the third tier, followed by an elevator noise. I’m not really sure what that’s supposed to add to this cutscene.
: “Everyone denies the value of hard work these days. Instead, they seek to effortlessly gain wealth. That is why I must reestablish this mighty country. One that does not waver… one that others bow to.”
: “Mighty, my ass! That’s just a crooked country made by a crook!”
: “We cannot let you do this. You are a disgrace to Japan. Hence, we will take your deranged heart.”
: “Hmph. Those who disobey me must be eliminated. However… considering the loss of Akechi, it would be a waste to kill those who are actually capable. I will allow you to choose between life or death one last time.”
: “Devote your power to my social reform. I will give you anything you want, be it wealth or status.”
: I get that he’s not being serious because he’s already revealed that he was going to kill Akechi himself and would do the same to the party, but still this is kinda dumb.
: “There’s no way we’d follow you!”
: “No matter how many times you ask, our answer’s not gonna change!”
: Couldn’t we have, I dunno, skipped right past the whole monologue and gone right to this?
: I’m not sure what the kanji say.
: Shido’s first form is a blatant ripoff of Char Aznable.
: If I had come into this fight with an ideal party setup, I probably could’ve wiped Shido before he could enter any of his other phases.
: You see, what Shido doesn’t realize is that he’s just undammed a river that he is about to drown in.
: The wiki tells me that this first phase is mostly about stealing Girimehkala’s gimmick: the “Beast of Human Sacrifice” repels Physical and Gun, and has Wage War to attempt to enrage the entire party. We will not be seeing that.
: It also has a thing where it’ll cast Makarakarn on itself to force you to eat a magic attack (not that it would do shit) and can charge up an attack that’s basically Megidolaon but with a chance of inflicting rage.
: So yeah, don’t bring Yusuke. This was an instant death.
: You also don’t want to bother trying to buff, debuff, or cast reflects as he will simply remove them. But fuck that. We’re not constrained by game mechanics anymore.
: That is over 1800 damage with Metatron using Kougaon on an enemy that is not weak to Bless. By lowering his HP under 50%, we’re going to skip his entire second phase.
: The second phase is the “Wings of Human Sacrifice”. It resists magic across the board, but loses its physical and gun repels. This doesn’t matter, because we’ve already killed it. Before we can even act…
: Meet the third form, the Tomb of Human Sacrifice. The wiki tells me it has two attacks: a single-target almighty attack…
: And a charged Almighty spell that takes two turns to charge. We will not be seeing that.
: We go through nearly 10,000 HP in six turns, three of which were spent charging and buffing. I also switched Yusuke out for Makoto.
: This could’ve been done faster if I had switched Haru for Makoto and revived Yusuke so we had more sources of charged damage, but this is good enough.
: “Once you’re losin’, you’re puttin’ all the blame on the masses, huh!?”
: “A touching reunion, isn’t it?”
: “The next time you crush a foe, I suggest you do it in a more certain manner.”
: “Not that there’ll be a next time for you!”
: “You took him to court and yet you don’t remember? You truly don’t care about the fate of others.”
: There’s a flashback here to the scene at the beginning of the game with Joker pushing Shido Shido falling completely on his own because we can’t have Joker being a bad boy that I’ll skip.
: “What!?”
: “Are you saying that the people you killed deserved to die!?”
: “He’s totally insane…”
: Oh look, it’s US Senator Stephen Armstrong. What’s he doing in Japan?
: Actually, he looks more like a ripoff of Allen O’Neill from Metal Slug.
: As soon as Shido reveals his true form, the battle music changes to one of the most memorable vocal themes in the game.
: I have Haru blow a Bead Chain. We have several of them, and switching to Morgana is slow.
: In this form, Shido has one major difference - he won’t remove buffs and debuffs. I have everyone start nuking while Joker gets ready to buff.
: Shido uses Tyrant’s Purge, a new move for the Royal version of this fight. It’s a physical attack with a high chance of instant kill - but he CANNOT use this on Joker.
: This change was made because in the base game, he had both Mudoon and Hamaon and could target Joker with both. I remember this hitting me in the base game and me being really pissed about it.
: At 50% HP, Shido takes an extra turn to buff himself.
: We respond by nuking him to death before he can do anything with it.
: His head looks way too small for his body now.
: We only took two turns to kill Shido’s first form, because we’re able to extend Thermopylae.
: Shido’s final form has 5,800 HP and has access to all of the Ma-Dyne spells as well as a couple of strong physical attacks. He also has the ability to grant himself extra press turns - but he has to use these to do one specific attack.
: Joker simply dodges with Ali Dance.
: Shido can barely hurt Joker even without Lucifer active.
: He uses Maragidyne again, but Futaba blocks it.
: It’s not obvious, but we’ve actually broken the game so hard the seams are showing. In the base game, this hit would’ve killed him - except now we enter the new part of the fight added for Royal.
: Shido has turned this fight into a duel, and in doing so has fucked up.
: “I never would’ve imagined… that impertinent brat from so long ago, managing to get in my way this much! Honestly unbelievable… I should’ve finished you off before this could’ve happened… hahaha, it seems I was too naive.”
: Shido looks like he’s either having an orgasm or shitting his pants, and I’m not sure which.
: “My desire to steer this country has finally come to fruition! But, my ambition has only yet begun! I WILL NOT stumble over mere minutia like yourself!”
: Our party is gone. It’s time to bring out Lucifer.
: We’re going to keep spamming Morning Star until Shido dies. In the meantime…
: He switches to fourth-tier spells. I’m pretty sure Shido’s stats get lowered for this part to account for the fact that you only have Joker, but that’s a grand total of 16 damage.
: Tyrant’s Judgement bounces right back into Shido’s face for free damage. In hindsight, I probably could’ve won this part of the fight without doing anything.
: He’ll alternate between the elements, but it doesn’t matter - nothing is going to do significant damage to Lucifer.
: We still have a SHITLOAD of cutscene left, so I’ll stop the update here. Next time, we’ll do the rest of the cutscenes. We’ll then go through a bunch of optional confidant events before heading to Mementos. That run should be quick as I’ll only need to grind money.
: From there, it’s on to the true final boss of the base game.
: It’s because you’re the villain in a bad shonen battle anime. By the way, I went to record again and found out I made a fatal mistake.
: “For causing countless mental shutdowns in others, you will atone… with your life.”
: “Don’tcha got something to say to our leader before you go passin’ out?”
: “Yes… I acknowledge… that I incriminated you on false charges. I did it to protect myself… I’m so sorry for what I’ve done… it feels as though it’s been quite some time since I have felt sincerely apologetic.”
: “What arrogance…”
: “An explosion…?”
: “We’ll talk later! Come on, let’s grab the Treasure and run!”
: “The ship is exploding… but why!?”
: “We have to run!”
: “Ryuji!?”
: “He didn’t… make it out…”
: “We gotta go back!”
: “Ha…haha… this isn’t funny at all…”
: “What!? I got blasted out from the explosion… when I woke up, I was lyin’ on the grass… I mean, ain’t I alive?”
: “We’re in reality right now, you know.”
: “What’re you talking about? I was taken to that asshole Shido’s place, but they suddenly told me I could go home. That’s thanks to his change of heart, right?”
: “Oh my god, I had a horrible fucking nightmare. I was in the maid cafe, and I saw some shit. Shit no human was meant to see.”
: “The look on your face seems to be that of a man who has accomplished a great deed.”
: “To think you would use the trap set against you to entrap them… I’ve never seen a dramatic resurgence such as that. Truly marvelous - those are the only words I can think of to describe you.”
: “Not that I asked for your opinion on the election. Well, no matter what the cause was, this election is heading in the right direction.”
: Hey! This is character assassination!
: “It’s been quite a while since we last met at school like this. Thank you for your efforts in changing Representative Shido’s heart.”
: We gave you words of praise… but we take them all back!"
: The source of what was hindering your rehabilitation… to think it would be the ignorant masses to which you tried to prove your integrity."
: “M-Master?”
: “Man, your bod’s as great as always. C’mon, come closer.”
: “I mistakenly thought myself to be talented… but now I think I’m a fool for wanting too much.”
: “It’s not like you get punished for bein’ dumb. Nobody needs to strive to be more than they really are.”
: “Huh? Tch, the hell is this? What’s going on!? Kaoru… Kaoru!”
: “Is this scenery… for real?”
: “What on earth!? This is impossible… why doesn’t anyone notice this!?”
: “…! Oh no… something wrong’s happened to the world!”
: “What’s going on here!?”
: “Everyone else isn’t seeing this?”
: “I was torn apart by a malevolent will and took the form of those twins. I sought help before my body was split in two.”
