Click Here for Update 99
: Time to show how useless school is.
: “It happened so suddenly. Can’t blame anyone for being confused.”
: “The year’s already ending, huh? So much has happened that it’s like ‘where did all the time go?’ Oh, but it’s not over for you yet. You still have finals for three days, from tomorrow to the 22nd.”
: We’re already done with practically everything anyway, so it’s not like we need these extra days.
: “I’m sure you already knew that though, right? There’s no way you haven’t started studying yet. They’re coming, whether you like it or not. Well, good luck.”
: “This is the first thing we get after coming to school for the first time in a while? Have you been studying?”
: “I was busy dealing with some of Shido’s cronies. Well, you ARE students, so it’s only fitting you’re doing a study group.”
: “You’re gonna bring us some snacks now and then, right?”
: “You don’t even have exams…”
: “Oh, glad to see you all. Don’t mind me. Make yourselves at home.”
: “You’re too kind. We’ll take you up on that offer.”
: “Why did you bring me here? My school’s exams are already over.”
: Yusuke’s exam was a blank piece of paper with the words “PLEASE ART” on top.
: “C’mon, don’t be so cold! You sayin’ it’s fine if I fail!?”
: “Nothing wrong with that.”
: “Won’t the result be the same whether you study or not?”
: “Now, now, you guys. Just think of it as helping me out!”
: sigh “I don’t know about this…”
: “Making a gamble, huh?”
: “If she’s wrong, we die…”
: “I don’t wanna die…”
: I’m pretty sure in the Japanese voiceovers, Ann and Ryuji say the same thing.
: “Um, is it really that bad?”
: “This is every day for them.”
: “This affects you too, Akira-kun. Well, with your grades I’m not too worried. But you’ve missed a lot of classes, so it couldn’t hurt to study.”
: “Oh yeah, Akira’s good at studying. I feel kind of betrayed…”
: “Betrayed might be a bit much…”
: “Don’t worry, Lady Ann! Even if you’re not great at studying, I’ll…”
: “Now then, let’s get to it. What do you want me to teach you?”
: I’m going to skip the next couple of lines. Basically, you can get Makoto to give you the answer to one question on the exam.. except this is pointless and let me explain why.
: The questions on the exam were changed from the base game, but the answers they give you here weren’t! That means you’re getting answers to questions that no longer exist - picking Japanese will have Makoto tell you about the “crow” kanji, which was on the exam in the base game but isn’t in Royal! Fuck!
: I mean, of course they could have updated this for a full-price re-release, but we all know Atlus’s slogan.
: “Sounds good to me! I can’t do any more.”
: “Even if we study and learn what we can in school, doesn’t it feel kinda pointless?”
: “At the very least, it’s necessary for Ryuji.”
: The Japanese Playstation twitter account did a popularity poll for Persona 5’s fifth anniversary. Ryuji came in dead last. Joker was first, Makoto was second, and Akechi was third because of the BL crowd.
: “You wanna say that again!?”
: “Those sorts of experiences are important too, but common sense is just as important. You should know better than anyone how nasty adults without common sense can be.”
: “That’s a great point.”
: “Someday, you’ll graduate high school and become adults. Then when you get married, you’ll need common sense more than ever.”
: Says the guy who was never married.
: “Marriage, huh… do you wanna get married, Akira?”
: I’m not sure what this scene looks like if you aren’t on the romance route with everyone. My guess is it cuts the lines for the people you’re not dating. But then…
: “Well, that won’t be for a while. In the meantime, I’m more concerned with what I’m going to be eating tomorrow.”
: Even in the actual script, Yusuke realizes that he and Joker are on a collision course to marriage.
: “Cut it out, man. You’re makin’ me hungry. Well, I guess we just gotta get back to studyin’.”
: “That took so long!”
: “We covered all the difficult parts, so you should probably be fine.”
: “Good work, everyone.”
: “See? You can do it if you try.”
: “We’re finally done… only god, uh… only knows.. how’s that saying go again?”
: Only God Forgives? That movie that was just Nicholas Winding Refn going “Fuck it, we can copy-paste the script for Drive and it’ll win awards”? Or did you mean “The World Only God Knows”?
: “Ryuji’s hopeless.”
: “What’d you say!?”
: “Well, whatever happens, happens. Isn’t it about time you wrapped it up? Be careful on your way home.”
: “Sucks that you have to do exams even after changing Shido’s heart and saving the country. It’s rough being a human. But looking at you.. I feel kind of jealous of humans.”
: “I’m sure, now that you don’t have to hide anymore. Your probation ends soon. I dunno if any of this.. other stuff will affect that, so just keep quiet.”
: There’s also an optional IM conversation from the 18th.
: Yusuke took it as a natural defense mechanism against outside boyfriends attempting to steal Joker away.
: Tonight, we’re going to the maid cafe to witness the absolute goddamn horror that happens when you rack up 20 points there.
: There actually is a model for if she doesn’t fuck up the omelette, and I imagine that her face looks something like this if she pulls it off.
: The garbage harem manga I pulled this from (Jitsu wa Watashi wa, localized as “My Monster Secret”) also has the protagonist’s teacher being a maid as a plot point.
: There’s apparently a fanbase for it, and I don’t know why. The artist can draw exactly one face and the plot is.. nonexistent. It’s Love Hina except all the characters are “monster girls”.
: “This is… just an assortment of their items.”
: …You’re… getting them developed? I’m not sure if this is a localization fuckup or Hashino being stuck in the 80s, but unless that maid is using a Polaroid, she’s not getting those photos developed that day.
: CVS and Walgreens (two of the biggest photo development locations in the United States) had stopped doing one-hour photo development in 2015. By this point in 2016, your only options to get film developed probably involved mailing them somewhere - and I’d imagine this was probably true even in Tokyo, unless these maids know somebody.
: Now, here’s the stupid part about this. In Innocent Sin, which takes place in 1999 (a time at which one-hour photo places were still very much a thing) Yukino had a digital camera.
: The photo is a COMPLETELY USELESS ITEM. It’s not a room decoration, you can’t look at it from the inventory to see the actual photo, and it can’t be sold or gotten rid of.
: It’s wild how Atlus put in all these anime shots that are in completely optional IM conversations that no one is going to look at (because after the start of the game you quickly learn to ignore the “New IM” notification) but didn’t put one in for this.
: Don’t worry though, Salty Vanilla is on it.
: “…There’s a huge signature covering your face.”
: I’m going to skip the rest of the dialog because it’s all generic.
: “Hold on a sec, there’s nothing BUT issues!”
: “It’s exams… We’re the heroes who saved this country, right? Can’t we be exempt from exams? And is it just me, or do we not have as big a sense of accomplishment as I thought?”
: “That’s it! People are so doubtful even after the press conference. He hasn’t been arrested, so I guess that’s expected… we just gotta leave it to Makoto’s sister now. Man, I wish exams would magically disappear by the time we get to school!”
: Do you want SMT If? Because that’s how you get SMT If.
: “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.”
: “Oh, if anything, you’re the one deserving all of the thanks, Kurusu-senpai. We should go somewhere to celebrate. Oh, what say we go pay our first respects to the shrine? A new year’s about to begin and all.”
: Of course they’d add this, because it was in Persona 4 Golden. The difference is that in Persona 4 Golden you didn’t have to do that with Marie - you could do it with the only correct choice, that being Yukiko.
: “But, I suppose we ought to deal with exams first. I’ll be in touch afterwards. Please excuse me!”
: “That sounds about right. Let’s see.. an essay question? This looks tough, but let’s calm down and think it through.”
: Shouldn’t he be helping Ann? Joker’s been in the top 10 for exams since the year started.
: “He was a really famous thief in the Edo period, right? How much money did he steal, in the end?”
: “That’s right. But he was caught in the end. As a result, he was sentenced to…”
: “Yeah, he was paraded around town and then had his head displayed. It sounds harsh, but it had a certain significance back then, right? Criminals, especially famous criminals being paraded around, was mostly done for..”
: “The people wouldn’t have been happy if he looked shabby for his death. Things were brutal back then… even condemned criminals had to be prettied up for a crowd. So the reason Nezumi Kozo had makeup was to appease the people! You finished in time!”
: “Sounds like we really had Yoshizawa worried. Just wish we could get the general public to change their minds about us, too…”
: sigh “Another day of tests… We finally defeated Shido, but we still have finals.. aren’t these battles one after the other tough?”
: Did we really need another identical cutscene to yesterday’s?
: “Wha- how behind are you!? Handle your exams like you do your changes of heart…”
: Joker’s saying that because the exams took more button presses to clear than Shido did.
: “Shido was way worse than this! Tomorrow’s the final day of exams… well, let’s do our best, I guess.”
: “What a coincidence! Good morning!”
: “Morning! I just ran into Akira too. How are exams treating you, Yoshizawa-san? You seem awfully busy with practice lately.”
: “Oh, it’s going wonderfully! …Practice, that is. Not as much the exam part. I passed out while studying last night.”
: “Heh, me too. …Let’s see if we can do better than that today.”
: “Yes, I should see how much I can cram last-minute on the commute…”
: The third day of exams is by far my favorite.
: By the way, welcome to THE LAST DAY. It’s all over!
: “Is everyone out of their minds? How can they still trust Shido?”
: “I’m doing the same as usual. Well, no problems. I’m all right with it, but my sister hasn’t come home these past few days. I think she has a lot on her plate with building a case against Shido…”
: “He has connections to powerful people. I’m sure they want him cleared to save their skins.”
: “Yeah… still, Shido confessed already. That is an indisputable fact. And it’s my sister. She’ll see it through, I’m sure. …With that said, now isn’t the time for us to slack off either.”
: “Do you remember what the exams will cover? I’ll check on the train for you.”
: “Hey, we didn’t learn this in class…”
: On the one hand, it’s kind of bullshit that there’s no way to know what the answer to this is. On the other, I like that it perfectly simulates what it would be like to walk into school after a month and take an exam the next day.
: Let’s try to suss this one out, even though the correct answer is above. We know the US doesn’t have a prime minister, and France doesn’t either. That leaves the UK and Japan.
: Then we remember this is an anime game. Of course the fucking answer is going to be Japan, what else would it be?
: “We didn’t learn this one either…”
: This question is a translation failure on so many levels. For one thing, as far as I can tell, “dokyuu” is not the Japanese word for “massive” at all. I plugged it into a Japanese dictionary, and the only word I got back is 弩級, which is pronounced “dokyuu” and is the Japanese word for a dreadnought.
: You might also notice that two of those words do not have a “do” in English. “Dreadlock” does in Japanese, due to being pronounced “dread hair” (with a do-re at the start of “dread”) when transliterated to katakana.
: So yeah, the answer is “Dreadnought” because that’s quite literally what the word “dokyuu” is. I have no idea how a professional translation team went over this TWICE and didn’t catch it.
: Incidentally, you may not want to google that kanji because it’ll lead you to a manga Joker would not approve of. It involves high schoolers fighting aliens by being horny.
: As I promised, we will be spending The Last Day with Yusuke. I would have spent the night with him too, if I could.
: “But the white noise caused by the crowd is quite pleasant, to be fair. It helps me hone my senses. If I close my eyes, it’s almost as if I’m floating through space.”
: “Indeed. There is much to learn in observing the work of others. Interpretation depends on the state of the observer as well. It is as though art itself is alive.”
: “Honestly, I sense something has changed within me due to our visit here. It seems my attitude toward art has shifted in some way.”
: “Ah, yes. I’d like to show you one of my favorite works. A piece that makes you see something new upon each visit is immensely rare…”
: Joker: “I… I think I’m ready for this stage in our relationship. I’m ready to do it.”
: “I look forward to viewing what I may glean from it today too. I hope you feel the same, Akira.”
: This is going to make no sense when we see what the statue is and will make Yusuke seem like a Fake Art Boyfriend. It is not canon to More Like Yusu-Gay, where they would have seen the piece in question while in Paris.
: The statue is the Venus de Milo, which is on display in the Louvre. My guess is that Yusuke was actually talking about Boticelli’s “The Birth of Venus”, which is currently on display in Italy. Boticelli’s painting is said to have used the Venus de Milo as a reference.
: The worst part of this is that I can’t tell if this is a translation fuckup or if this was in the original script.
: In both of my runs of Persona 4, I always had the protagonist sleep on the last day. Instead, we’re going to do that event with Kawakami that was supposed to happen a couple weeks ago.
: “Somewhere with a pretty night view, with just the two of us.. ahaha, is that too much? In any case, I’ll head over if there’s anything I can help you with.”
: “Okay, Mast- wait. Thanks, Kurusu-kun. Riding the Ferris wheel with the guy I love is a dream come true.”
: “…I STILL keep catching myself about to call you that. Really, it’s… still hard for me to believe that this is actually happening. I’m on a date.. with you.”
: “But that’s what I love… it’s frustrating to admit it… but I love you.”
: Even though I think Jitsu wa Watashi wa/Monster Secret is trash, I would’ve preferred if Kawakami’s romance scenes were more like the teacher in that, where it’s more her lamenting the fact that she can’t get a date.
: “Ahaha! Wow, now we’re getting into the lines from old cheesy romances, huh? …But I’m happy to hear that. I thought I was too old for that sort of thing.”
: “God, my face must be bright red… you’re the first person to see me like this.. I want you to know me better than anyone’s known me before. So please, look into my eyes…”
: “Postponed?”
: “They should be firing him!”
: “And wait, ‘poor health’?”
: “This is completely different from what my sister told us…”
: “How can people still believe in him?”
: “What the heck!? The Phantom Thieves are being treated like, well… like they never existed!”
: “Goodness…”
: " ‘No link among the ‘change of heart’ incidents, only coincidental psychiatric disorders.. the Phantom Thieves only used those rumors to their advantage…’ "
: “This is preposterous.. who would believe such a thing?”
: “But the person saying this is a famous researcher. And even the ministry is saying that’s how they determined the situation too…”
: “What’s going on? No matter how you look at it, this isn’t normal.”
: “Yeah.. it’s as if the people in reality have become distorted… what’s happening here worries me. But the only thing we can do right now is wait and see what happens…”
: “We’re at the cusp of making a case! Do you know how much trouble we’ve gone through to get this far?”
: No, this is a country governed by being neutral - unless you’d prefer the Thousand Year Kingdom or whatever the Gaean plan is.
: “You still want to protect him even though you know what happened to the man previously at your post!?”
: “…What!?”
: “…!”
: “We know he doesn’t need a psychiatric evaluation!”
: “His lackeys must’ve pressured the others around him. It means there’s far more people who’d be in trouble if the truth came out than we imagined.”
: “Isn’t there anything we can do?”
: “Sis said the assembly of a case may be possible if the general public wants Shido held accountable… but even that chance has been destroyed with the manipulation of the mass media.”
: “They made it clear that the argument itself was ‘occult,’ even claiming that it never happened.”
: I know that this happened to a degree in reality, but it seems far-fetched that Shido has so many people in this assassination ring that they can bury him going on live TV and saying he killed someone to the point where the vast majority of people not only don’t believe it, but also don’t even believe that John Persona is real.
: There is a plot reason for this… kind of. It’s not a good plot reason.
: “As a result, the Phantom Thieves are still labeled as criminals, even after all that’s happened.”
: “It’s a storm of criticisms online too. People are saying to catch the remnants and execute them…”
: Wait, wasn’t the whole point that no one believes John Persona even exists?
: “This is crazy…”
: “At any rate, let’s wait for my sister. She should be arriving here soon.”
: “Everyone’s being tricked so easily! Why the hell did we risk our lives then!?”
: “If Shido isn’t judged by the law, everything we’ve done will be treated as if it never happened.”
: “Moving the entire country however they wish by controlling people’s cognition… this is no different than being inside a Palace…”
: “I gathered the best of the best and fought for a case.. but as Makoto must’ve told you, it was denied. At this rate, it won’t end with just Shido’s innocence. This trend will continue spiraling down.”
: I’d just like to process this statement for a moment. Sae knows how the Metaverse works. She knows that only eight people (and a cat) have access to it, and seven of them are in the room. I’m assuming that Akechi’s phone probably got destroyed when he died, since he would have needed it to enter Shido’s palace.
: I’m also pretty sure the Metaverse thing can’t be copied the way the Demon Summoning Program can, and that only Igor (or some other god-level entity) can give it to someone. How would anyone else even get into the Metaverse to use it?
: “…But, that’s not what I’m here to tell you. We’re in danger because we know the truth. It’s only a matter of time before we’re apprehended. It wouldn’t be odd if they were to charge in now.”
: “This makes no effin’ sense…”
: I mean, it really doesn’t.
: “Sis…”
: “There’s nothing more I can do with my resources… that’s why… I want to ask for your help. I wondered if there was any way you could do something one last time. I know I’m in no position to ask this of you.”
: “That doesn’t matter to us! So what are we gonna do? Should we change the hearts of all of Shido’s followers?”
: “Even if Futaba were to research all of them, it’d take time.”
: “There’s too little information…”
: “We can only target individuals.. are we no match against the national power?”
: “…Mementos. If we use Mementos, we might be able to do something.”
: “There’s something we can do there?”
: “Like I told you before, Mementos is the Palace of the general public. It’s the source of all distortions, and is maintained by the people’s collective unconsciousness.”
: “Wait.. do you mean that there’s a Treasure even in Mementos!? And if we go after that-”
: “The collapse of Mementos should affect the public as a whole. The state of society would change too. If everyone’s hearts grow to hold Shido responsible for his actions, things might start going our way.”
: I don’t think I see where the connection between “destroy Mementos” and “people now hate Shido” is, but okay.
: “That’s a bold plan, but an interesting one.”
: “Sounds good to me!”
: So wait, is this just Inception now?
: “…But if we’re gonna do this, there’s one thing you all need to realize. To begin with, why does something like the human cognition exist as another, substantial world? The reason for that is most likely sleeping within Mementos.”
: “…We’ll be destroying that, you know.”
: “… I don’t see where you’re goin’ with this.”
: The game will be over! We’ll have to find something else to LP!
: I mean, it doesn’t at all because the expansion content exists. Strikers does too.
: “We’ll have to discard this way of life…”
: “…”
: “I think we need to do this. I mean, we’re the group who’s reforming society, right?”
: “Akira… what do you think as our leader? You’ll lose your powers if Mementos is erased. Will you still do it?”
: Given that the other option is being arrested and probably killed for real this time, why would Joker say no?
: “…I see. All right. It seems there are no objections.”
: “Did you come up with a plan?”
: This cutscene is WAY longer than it has any right to be.
: “Whether it succeeds or not is another story though.”
: “Last job?”
: “Once we accomplish our duty, we entrust the world to respectful adults. That is our condition for accepting the job.”
: “This is a ‘deal’ then… that’s certainly a heavy condition. But very well, I accept. I swear to make Masayoshi Shido stand and be tried in a court of law. Besides.. my pride won’t allow me to be continually saved by you all without doing anything in return.”
: “We’ll be counting on you.”
: “Looks like it’s decided then?”
: “We already said that before though!”
: Did you? I honestly haven’t been paying attention.
: “That’s fine. We’re doing it for real this time, after all.”
: “We don’t have much time, right? We should carry this out tomorrow. I’m counting on you guys. No matter what happens, you better see it through!”
: Before we go to bed, I put up the decoration we got from Kawakami.
: “…Actually, never mind. You must be tired.”
: “Honestly.. you’re amazing. There’s definitely something special about you. You dodge everything the enemies throw at you like it’s your destiny.”
: Joker: “No, that’s because every Persona I have has Ali Dance.”
: “At first I thought you were going to be a useful tool for me.. but now this is where I belong.”
: Haven’t we had this exact conversation with Morgana like ten times already?
: “Aren’t you only going to be here for a year? Still.. it makes me happy to hear that. …It’s not like me to say all that embarrassing stuff. But still.. I think it’s fine. For tonight, at least.”
: Futsunushi is basically a tax on what was the best Persona in the base game.
New Persona: Futsunushi
Origin: Japan
First Appearance: Majin Tensei II
Shinto god of swords.
: Futsunushi itemizes into Hi no Kagutsuchi, the sword Nakajima uses in the Megami Tensei novels… but it’s another one of those items we can’t fuse because it doesn’t have a known user.
: We already have most of the ultimate weapons, and we know that Sandalphon itemizes into Kasumi’s best weapon.. so who uses Hi no Kagutsuchi?
: The answer to that is why Royal’s plot sucks. We will see that either next update, or more likely the update after that. .
: Anyway, let’s talk about Futsunushi himself briefly. His moveset is utterly meh, apart from his trait. Note that it doesn’t actually triple Charge and Concentrate - it makes them boost the next attack by 3x instead of 2.5x.
: His moveset is an improvement over the base game’s, where he learned Ali Dance and Firm Stance together. Ali Dance is cancelled by Firm Stance.
New Persona: Mercurius
Origin: Greece (as Hermes)
First Appearance: Shin Megami Tensei II
Roman god of commerce, speed, and merchants. Also a symbol of the human consciousness. Adapted from Hermes in Greek myth.
: “…He’s repelled such an ordeal, and this guy’s still not being rewarded for it? If gods really do exist.. they’re being too hard on him.”
: 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."
: “Did they themselves not show elation for those who are unseen? Despite all that, they now say you do not exist. They toyed with you, yet none take responsibility.”
: “The distortion of man’s world is endlessly deep… fixing it now may be impossible even with the appearance of a Trickster…”
: “M-Master?”
: “…”
: “It seems this is the limit of humanity…”
: Huh. Igor sure sounds a lot like Nyarlathotep.
: “…”
: Next time, we go to the depths of Mementos - the true final dungeon of the base game. There, we’ll hit the split between the base game and Royal.
: We will be doing the base game’s ending.. in a separate arc header. Royal’s ending will come first, under a header titled.. A WORLD WITHOUT PAIN.