: Before we head out to Hypnos Tower, I stopped at the gem store to buy some Clean Salt. Clean Salt is an item that works like the Estoma spell - it stops you from encountering enemies that are of a lower level than you are (done by character level, not by Persona level).
: I also did some grinding in Devil’s Peak to get everyone to a minimum of level 40. Unfortunately, I didn’t run into another Alice, but I did fuse some new Personas.
: Ayase gets Hermod as a stopgap, with Maragidyne rather than Mabufudyne. We’re probably going to need to grind more later, but for now this should be fine.
: Brown gets Pascal the Dog, who really isn’t bad if you can give him Megidolaon. Megidolaon pretty much fixes everything that’s wrong with him - otherwise he’s got a really low SP cost for a level 40 Persona and still has pretty decent stats.
: For Jihei, I fuse Odin, but this time I give Odin Megidolaon. He’s now automatically way better than he was in the SEBEC route.
: Philemon’s technically wrong here. I’d say that Nemesis has a much simpler map, but what he means is that Hypnos doesn’t have a gimmick the way Nemesis or Thanatos did.
: Why Hypnos Tower is just Big Ben, I don’t know.
: Welcome to Hypnos Tower. Unlike Thanatos and Nemesis, we aren’t immediately greeted by the tower’s master. See how the clock in the top-right has around 10 minutes taken out of it already? Hypnos has a time limit like Thanatos did, except it’s 2 hours instead of 3.
: I forgot to use our Clean Salt right away, but we definitely want to do that. The random encounters here are all way below our level (Lilim is the highest-level enemy here at 21) and they’re simply not worth fighting. All of the enemies here are from the hospital.
: That’s better. The Star of David in the corner under the moon indicator lets us know we have Clean Salt on. I have no idea why they picked the Star of David.
: There’s really not much to the first two floors at all.
: The second floor has a treasure room with some weapons and fusion items in it, but we don’t need it.
: There’s also a Velvet Room and a healing spring here, in case you need them. We don’t, having been in all of one random encounter.
: The third floor has weapon and armor shops that we similarly don’t need. However, that’s not all there is to the third floor.
: On the other side from the shops is this room, which on the map kind of looks like the torture chamber in Nemesis Tower. Let’s go inside.
: “Tadashi and Tamaki!? And Nurse Natsumi! What are they doing here? Weren’t they back at school? No way…!”
: I don’t know why she’s surprised, given that we did Nemesis Tower and it did the same thing.
: She killed the Xbox kid! Now we’ll never see all those cheevos!
: “Damn that Snow Queen! I’ll avenge their deaths if it’s the last thing I do!”
: “T-Tamaki!? Is he talking in his sleep? Wait.. they’re all just sleeping!?”
: “Tch.. well, that was a lot of panic over nothing.”
: Unlike the other two towers, it doesn’t seem like the person who runs Hypnos Tower is very interested in killing people.
: “Hypnos Tower…”
: “Hold it, Yukino. Even if they are only sleeping, it’s odd they should be here and not at school. It could be a trap of the Snow Queen’s. I advise keeping your guard up.”
: “Look at those faces, though.. they seem so happy! I dunno if the Snow Queen really has anything to do with this.”
: Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do.. at least, not at the moment. There’s a bit of optional dialogue here, but the only really important parts are Elly and Nanjo.
: “If Hypnos is, in fact, tied to their strange slumber.. I doubt they’ll wake up no matter how long we wait here.”
: “If they’re not in mortal peril, it should be fine to leave them. We don’t have time. Time is money, as they say. Let’s proceed.”
: “Ugh.. I have to make a conscious effort to avoid falling asleep. I’d like it it we could spend as little time here as possible.”
: At least here, they give you a reason for the time limit - Hypnos Tower makes anyone who enters it fall asleep.
: Just down the hall, there’s a room identical to the one we just came from.
: “This is deplorable! I work my ass off as a student, and what do the teachers do? Lie back and doze off! Get real!”
: “Ewww! Baldy’s sneering in his sleep… gross!”
: “Oh no, Ms. Ooishi! She must be having a nightmare. Look, she’s sweating so profusely… did the Snow Queen cause this?”
: “They’re just like the people in the other room. None of them show any signs of waking up anytime soon. What should we do?”
: “We’re not just gonna leave 'em here, are we?”
: “Hmmmmm… alright! Listen to your leader’s decision! We’re moving on! Although… wait a minute… if we save them, they’ll owe us one. Whaddaya think?”
: “We’re letting precious time to go waste in our indecision. Whether we awaken the sleepers or climb the tower, we must make a choice.”
: “Hey, like, now’s our chance! Let’s draw stuff on Baldy’s head!”
: “Oh, for crying out loud…! Remind me why we entered the tower… to escape the school, correct? Then we should ignore any distractions from that end!”
: There’s one final room on the third floor. By the way, have you guessed how we’re going to get two of the three mirror shards in this dungeon?
: “Huh? Ahhh… I get it! The boss has to be around here! Stay on your toes, guys! Oooh, I always wanted to say that.”
: “Hey, uh, this door is kinda weird-looking. Wanna go in?”
: “This door does look suspicious, but I don’t get the sense that it’s dangerous. Perhaps we should consider Ayase’s suggestion and go through.”
: “Alright! No use talking and talking without doing anything. Let’s see what’s on the other side!”
: There’s a Philemon cutscene here, and I don’t know why. I get why they wouldn’t have made one for doing Thanatos or Nemesis first - mostly because that would have taken up a lot of space on the disc - but still.
: “How are you doing, friends?”
: “This is a world of dreams.”
: “Ruled by the persona Hypnos of this tower’s master.”
: “Hypnos is currently trapping people’s souls and confining them in the dream world.”
: “Thus, this is a crossroad between the dream world and reality.”
: “Either go to the dream world and awaken the people there,”
: “Or continue forth and defeat Hypnos.”
: “The choice is yours.”
: “But remember, there is a limit to the time you are given.”
: “I wonder if I end up in the dream world when I go to sleep, too.”
: “I feel icky, watching someone else’s dream.. like I’m some peeping tom.”
: The Dream World is a much simpler version of Tartarus, only without the whole jail thing.
: “Huh? Is that the guy Nurse Natsumi just broke up with? He’s pretty handsome. Not like me, but not bad.”
: “Whoa! Nurse Natsumi’s boyfriend is like, smoking hot! I so wish I had an awesome guy like him.”
: Natsumi’s dream is not at all necessary to get all the mirror shards, but it’s the first one you come across.
: “Oh, Nurse Natsumi… don’t tell me she’s acting as though she cooks the store’s pre-made lunches. I feel sorry for him.”
: “This… is painful to watch, in so many ways. Let’s wake her up and move on.”
: “Big surprise she got dumped, huh?”
: “This is fantastic! To think that the human subconscious can create such a realistic environment! This convenience store looks authentic in every respect!”
: “I wonder if we can bring any of this food back to the real world.. what a waste.”
: “Hey, you think eating the food in this dream is bad for you?”
: “No clerk, no other shoppers… this place is more unsettling than a convenience store late at night.”
: I honestly kind of wanted to leave her there, but she pulled the whole Steamed Hams thing.
: There’s another one right near where Natsumi is. We want to enter this one.
: “What the… Hanya is the principal and Ooishi is the vice-principal? What’s going on here? Ohhh, I get it! This is what they’re dreaming.”
: “Whaaaaaat? Baldy’s our principal here? That’s like, SUPER wrong!”
: “Vice-Principal Hanya’s desire for power must be very strong… not only does his dream reflect them, it pulled in Ms. Ooishi…”
: For those of you who think Hanya is annoying, don’t worry. He’ll be back in Persona 2.
: “Let’s hurry and wake 'em up. I can’t stand listening to this.”
: I did not know this until I went to get a portrait for Tadashi off the wiki, but he’s apparently in Persona 2 as well.
: “I love you with every fiber of my being!”
: Two things I want to note about this scene, both from the wiki. Apparently, Tadashi is based off one of the game’s scenario writer by the same name (Tadashi Satomi). Tadashi Satomi is also hugely divisive among fans and was kicked off Persona after Eternal Punishment. Why?
: Well, I didn’t know this, but Tamaki (full name: Tamaki Uchida) is actually based off a real actress by the name of Yuki Uchida, who had an idol career in the 90s. This entire scene is basically the real Tadashi Satomi shipping himself with Yuki Uchida.
: “Nooooo! Oh, the humanity!”
: “I refuse to believe Tamaki likes Tadashi! Someone, please tell me it’s all a dream!”
: This means someone was also probably crushing pretty hard on Yuriko Yamamoto. Now I realize that YIIK actually WAS true to the 1990s, the Allansons just didn’t realize it.
: “Wait… it IS a dream! Or is this reality and the other side is the dream…?”
: “Omigawd! I knew it!”
: “Honey… look into my eyes!”
: I should also mention that Tamaki is the protagonist of Shin Megami Tensei If. I hadn’t played If when I started this LP, and still haven’t. I have an actual SNES and should probably fix that, since I hear that If isn’t nearly as bad as 1 and 2.
: Anyway, from what the wiki says (and I believe it), Tadashi Satomi shipping himself with a stand-in for a popular idol pissed off a whole lot of people in Japan. Who’d have thought, right? I mean, it’s not like idol fans in Japan are known for being extremely obsessive to the point of sending death threats if they even think their favorite idol is in a relationship with someone.
: “Look me in the eyes… do you see yourself? I see myself in your eyes… Ah! We’re united as one!”
: No, Yukino, no they can’t. Anyway, I had always wondered why people said Innocent Sin bombed in Japan, and now I know. In IS, Tadashi is married to Tamaki. Can’t imagine that would’ve stirred up any controversy, no sir. They rectify this in Eternal Punishment by having Tadashi die off-screen.
: Anyway, there’s one last door way out of the way. Hidden treasure? I bet it is.
: “This doesn’t feel like the other rooms. Is this someone else’s dream?”
: “…Huh? Someone’s back there!”
: Meet Kumi Hirose, the master of Hypnos Tower. The shirtless prettyboy is Hypnos.
: “She’s a cutie! Hm…? Wait a sec! Oh man, she’s got our school uniform on! How the heck did I never notice a girl like her!?”
: “Hey, what’s your name? Which homeroom are you in? Are you trapped here too?”
: “Heehee… why are you people here? This dream is for myself alone. The Snow Queen entrusted me with guarding this Hypnos Tower…”
: “It’s very rude of you to barge into someone else’s dream. Isn’t it, Sir Hypnos?”
: “You’re guarding this tower? Then you’re putting people to sleep and keeping them in the Dream World.. but disposing of them entirely would be simple for you. Why have you chosen to imprison their souls in the Dream World instead?”
: “Heehee… you came all this way to ask me that? But I guess it can’t be helped.”
: “You’re forced to live in the real world, just like the rest. But isn’t it clear that people are happiest living inside their dreams?”
: “They can never be happy in the real world.. I’m just helping them see that. Isn’t that right, Sir Hypnos?”
: Kumi is really the only one of the three tower bosses who didn’t deserve to die.
: If you’ve played Persona 4, it’s pretty obvious that both of the Sun S-Links were at least partially based on Kumi. Strangely, she’s NOT based on a real person as far as I know, which is surprising because of how much screen time she gets.
: “My grades went down, and… my p-parents said to forget the club.. and study…”
: This is why I kind of don’t like Kumi as a villain, because she’s in what’s basically a borderline abusive scenario. Yuriko was too dumb to live, Michiko was an evil bitch, but Kumi? Kumi feels like she killed herself for, you know, the same reasons actual people do.
: “Um… I wasn’t… n-number one…”
: “I…I didn’t mean to…”
: The other thing I don’t really get is why being the Snow Queen in the play is such a big deal. I posted half the story when I started the updates for this route, and honestly the queen herself barely even has a role in her own story. Logically, Gerda should have the most screen time.
: “…”
: “U-um… it’s just.. the “Snow Queen,” see… I was pick --”
: “But – my average was eighty --”
: Again, this is really shitty. What little the manga does with Snow Queen is pretty much entirely this, and the manga makes it very clear that Kumi killed herself.
: Personally, I think it would’ve been more thematically appropriate for Kumi to be in a coma. Maybe re-write it so that she was the last one to use the mask, not Ms. Saeko - so she hasn’t been out that long.
: “…I know, Father.”
: “…”
: “Whether I do or don’t do anything, it’s always like that… all of them…”
: “The world around me. The people around me. Everyone’s so… full of hostility.. I feel like I don’t have any freedom…”
: “If only there was a gentle world, full of gentle people.. a whole world full of kindness and generosity… where I could be free…”
: Sure sounds a lot like Maki. It is complete fucking bullshit that she dies and Maki gets to live. A more competent writer probably would’ve realized “Wow, this really is not great and maybe I should either re-write it so none of the other tower guardians are that bad and they all live, or re-write it so that Kumi is actually a bitch and kind of deserved to die.”
: The official explanation, by the way, is that Hypnos shows up and brings her to the world of dreams, but it’s being used as a euphemism for suicide. My personal explanation is that Hypnos Tower is non-canon.
: “…And?”
: I don’t like this scene. Not one fucking bit. It makes Yukino seem like a bitch when she’s not supposed to be. You know what, let’s just edit those last two lines to make them more appropriate.
: “So… that’s what made you shut yourself inside the Dream World. …And?”
: “The Snow Queen.. that mask immediately understood my pain and anguish…!”
: “Y-You’re just like my father and the others in the Drama Club! You don’t even try to understand me!”
: “C’mon, Kumi, aren’t you taking it all a little too seriously? I mean, life’s full of fun stuff! You gotta take it easy! Live a little! Like me!”
: I get Brown being tone-deaf because Brown is supposed to be an idiot, but you’d think someone in the party would say something about this being EXACTLY THE WRONG WAY TO HANDLE THIS SITUATION.
: “So what if I’m stupid!? Ohhh, I cannot BELIEVE this! I’m like, SO pissed!”
: “No matter what I did or didn’t do, no one gave me a hint of praise! I tried my best, really I did! But everyone around me just… right, Sir Hypnos!? None of it was my fault, right!?”
: I get that they’re trying to make it seem like she’s another Yuriko, but it doesn’t work!
: “Your life seems very easy… any problem of yours is solved by blaming someone else from a safe distance. Are you that afraid of dealing honestly with other people?”
: “I must say, you seem rather weak and selfish to me.”
: Again, this is shit writing and a mischaracterization. This doesn’t sound like Elly at all, it sounds like Nanjo (which is what happens if you have him and not Elly). I should mention that I’m pretty sure this scene is optional, but it’s just so badly written.
: “Wh-who do you think you are!? I’m happy now! I’ve never been happier! It was the Snow Queen’s mask and Sir Hypnos who saved me, no one else!”
: “For the first time in my life, I’m free, here in the Dream World! It may not be real, but the happiness I feel inside is!”
: The other thing that I think makes Kumi more sympathetic is that she hasn’t killed anyone, nor has she tried to. I hate to spoil Persona 4, but it is complete fucking bullshit that she dies and
Nametame doesn’t. That guy was way too fucking old to be that much of a moron, and the fact that he gets off scot-free is garbage emblematic of all of the writing issues this series has had from the get-go.
: “Then both of you are just part of Kumi Hirose’s dream. I’m guessing the real Kumi is somewhere else in the tower.”
: “And that means if we pinch her and wake her up, you’re history. So that’s exactly what we’ll do!”
: Let me explain what pinching Kumi does. If you choose not to, you fight Kumi in a weakened state similar to how Michiko works. If you do pinch her, she’s slightly stronger (about 8 levels higher if she’s the last tower guardian). I pinched her because I wanted more EXP.
: Anyway, once we’re done there we can back all the way out of the Dream World and go back to Hypnos Tower. All of those people we met there are now woken up here.
: “How are you feeling?”
: “Where in blazes am I? …This is all your doing, isn’t it!?”
: “You pack of delinquents! What are you up to, locking us in here?”
: “Dammit, I was having such a nice dream, and now I can’t remember any of it!”
: “Arrrrrgh! Will someone please explain to me what’s going on!? You ask them, Ms. Ooishi! They’ll listen to you!”
: “Oh, come ON, Mr. Hanya! How can you call us delinquents!? With a little support from these guys, I was risking my neck out there! All to save you and Ms. Ooishi!”
: “Wouldn’t you say I deserve at least a little thank-you for that? Then again… I guess it’s all right. What’s done is done!”
: “What’s important now is these Mirror Shards. Do either of you know anything? They’re super important if me and these guys are gonna save the school.”
: “Any ideas? Any at all…?”
: “I don’t know how it got there, but that was in my suit pocket. It ripped a hole in the inside!”
: “My daughter starts her job soon! I can’t ask her to mend my clothes anymore…”
: “Ahem T-that wasn’t relevant. Forget what I just said!”
: “Anyway, just what are you kids planning to do with this!? Nothing good, I’ll bet! Absolutely not! Out of the question!”
: “Something tells me if I give you this, the situation will get even worse!”
: “Seriously!? Are you for real!? What’s wrong with you, cueball!? You didn’t even let us explain, and you’re gonna say no just like that!?”
: “Ooooooh, you’re the worst! This is why everyone likes the principal and NO ONE likes you! Now gimme that shard, chromedome! Hand it over, baldo!”
: “…Okay. Here you go.”
: “I’m sorry… but we need this, not just for ourselves, but to save the entire school.”
: “Hmph! I won’t bother trying to stop you. Go on! Do whatever you please! …But listen up! If… when the school is back to normal… see me in my office! I have a special lecture in mind… after which I’ll demand a full explanation! So come prepared!”
: “Heh… don’t worry, you can hold us to it! All of us! See you later!”
: I’m just going to truncate this particular cutscene, because it’s more of Tadashi Satomi shipping himself. Trust me, you’re not missing anything.
: “I’ll get out of your hair if you just tell me one thing.. do either of you have a mirror shard? It’s really important.”
: We now have all but one mirror shard, and I think you can guess where that last one is going to come from.
: “Good thing we took a little side trip to the Dream World.”
: “Oh, hey! If Tamaki and Tadashi had a shard.. maybe Nurse Natsumi has one, too! Let’s ask her!”
: “Nurse Natsumi, do you have a mirror shard? Nurse Natsumi? Helllooooo! Earth to nurse!”
: That’s right, we’ll be getting the last one off Kumi.
: The rest of the dungeon is.. it’s really straightforward, especially with no random encounters. I’ll post the map in case you’re curious.
: There’s an item room on the top floor that has some junk in it we don’t need.
: “Right, Kumi!? Sorry to keep you waiting… but we’re here now to straighten you out!”
: “So you came… you fools. You can’t see outside the bounds of reality… you can’t grasp or accept the paradise of dreams!”
: “Kumi… I dunno what to say… it really tears me up having to fight a cutie like you… but I gotta.”
: “But I gotta! For truth, justice, and the St. Hermelin way! Plus I gotta show off all these wicked skills I know!”
: “Now’s the time to apologize if you’re gonna!”
: “Judging others by their appearances only proves how foolish you are… Sir Hypnos! Help me! Defeat them, please!”
: So, Hypnos. Even in the powered-up state, he’s a weakling. He lasts longer than Nemesis did for exactly one reason: I hadn’t done any random encounters so half the party had to waste a round learning Megidolaon.
: Hypnos gets exactly one attack in, and it’s a single physical hit on Ayase. Unfortunately, Ayase was useless in this fight due to Hypnos’s immunities: Hypnos is Night order (the same as Lilim) and absorbs Fire, Ice and Earth. He’s weak to physical attacks, but why bother when you’ve got Megidolaon and he’s not immune to it?
: Pascal the Dog finishes Hypnos off by barking a nuke at him. Hypnos lasted.. I want to say three full rounds.
: Only Ayase and Brown get a level-up.
: “The Persona your heart made is gone. You wanna keep going at it? Suits me either way.”
: “…So this is it…”
: “There’s no place for me anywhere. Not in the real world or the dream world… haha… I have to flee my own dream. Ahahaha…”
: “An easy win, thanks to me! Although.. it kinda left a bad taste in my mouth…”
: “Whoo! We won! Hah! In your face! Well? Had enough yet? Hmmm?”
: “But I just blamed everyone else. I went to my safe place and nursed my grudge. I..I acted just like the people that I blamed for everything..”
: “Kumi… now that you acknowledge your weakness, you’re no longer weak. A dream is like an oasis in one’s soul.. it quenche the thirst of travelers exhausted from life’s journey.”
: “Thank you, everyone.. I wish friends like you were there for me back then…”
: And with that, we’ve completed the mirror.
: Next time, we’ll take on the Snow Queen and see what getting all 12 mirror shards gets us.
