Mark Danced Crazy - Let's Play Shin Megami Tensei: Persona

[LaZodiac]

Okay, while Thanatos felt a little rough or rude… this one just seems kinda cool and tricky. Rude, but in an interesting enough way for it to actually be interesting. I like it!

[Timrod]

My favorite thing about it, personally, is that the developers had to have tested it pretty extensively before they shipped it. You had to know that the player could make it to Michiko easily within 20 minutes if you went through the left door (the relatively easy part) but also had to make it impossible for players to go through the right door and still make it within 20 minutes. I don’t even think the game sets a flag for this: I’m pretty sure you can go through the right door, turn around after a minute or two and go the other way, and you’ll still get the best outcome.

The only thing I wish Atlus had done differently is make Michiko more of a threat if you’ve already done Thanatos. There is a way we could’ve made that happen, but it’s really not enough. What happens is that the last tower you do has the boss strengthened by a few levels, but even with Michiko at full power it’s not enough to make her nearly as much of a threat as Yuriko was. We could actually have done Nemesis last and still gotten all the Ambrosia so long as we did Thanatos first.

[SpammyV]

There is an Always Sunny in Philadelphia title generator but the music seems to be broken.

The real question is how many drinks do I have to have for all the "Ohohohohohohohohoho"s?

[LaZodiac]

One for each Ho.

The amount of elaborate effort put into Snow Queen makes the uh… rest of the game really stand out as kinda bland too, I’m realizing. That’s interesting a result.

[Timrod]

: 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.

[Fefnir]

Ah, the time old tradition of Atlus almost having a good plotline, only to somehow fuck it up in the worst way imaginable. It’s great. And by great, I mean how many times do we have to teach you this lesson, Atlus?

[LaZodiac]

@Timrod

: “An easy win, thanks to me! Although… it kinda left a bad taste in my mouth…”

In which Brown reveals he’s the only person who realizes they basically just murdered a depressed suicide victim.

In a just world (and if Persona 1 was written like the later Persona’s mechanically) Kumi would be our navigator ala Teddy.

[SpammyV]

I can kind of see where they might have thought they were going with the towers, with the primary antagonists of each tower representing negative feelings of teenagers. Or negative responses to high-schooler’s stresses.

Yuriko looking at the uncertainty of life after high school and wondering, “Does it get any better than this?” And then someone says she could stay like this forever.
Kumi feeling misunderstood and like there is no place for her except her dreams. And then someone says she could stay in her dreams forever.

Granted this kind of falls apart when you hit Michiko since I’m finding it hard to read past a one note “Smug rich kid” stereotype, but that’s why I called it an attempt. I can see what they were going for and I can imagine the game that might’ve been if the whole thing was like the Snow Queen route. Maybe that is later Persona games, I know barely anything about this series other than it exists.

[Timrod]

: I hope everyone’s ready for the most annoying dungeon in this game. Let’s end this.

: “Is it working!?”

: Sure is Batman around here. There’s a few things about this cutscene that don’t make a lot of sense, even when you take the tiny bit of additional information the bad ending gives you into account.

: “Eeeeeeek!”

: “Holy son of a — wh - wh - wh - what the hell!?”

: The transition to the battle is just that sudden.

: You would think that being a creature made of snow, the Snow Queen would be weak to fire. Nope! She’s weak to nuclear and merely neutral to fire.

: Her main attack is casting Mabufudyne, which hits pretty hard but not hard enough.

: She has Magrydyne as a backup option, which mostly does a lot of damage to Brown. I didn’t take a single death during this fight, because the Snow Queen only got off a single Mabufudyne and a single Magrydyne and spent the rest of her turns casting Tarunda (physical defense buff) on herself… which did absolutely nothing against the chain of Megidolaons.

: Everyone gets a levelup and then some.

: We’re going to need to grind again, mostly because there’s a couple of Personas I want (namely Armaiti and Barbatos) before we fight the true final boss of the Snow Queen route.

: “Ms. Saeko! You okay? You must’ve been so cold… are you hurt?”

: So uh, this is where things kind of break down a little bit.

: “Tomomi? Who?”

: This is true, but it also isn’t. There’s kind of a plot hole here involving when certain things take place.

: “But whyever would your best friend possess you?”

: “I had no idea she thought of me that way… I guess.. sometimes you hurt people without realizing it.”

: “Our last year here, and you finally beat me out.”

: “But I’m nervous about the mask… is it true everyone who’s played the Snow Queen’s role has been cursed?”

: “Whaaaat? Hey, I’m sure that’s just some superstition. Just keep up that cheerful attitude and I bet any curse wouldn’t dare touch you!”

: “C’mon, don’t talk like that! Cheer up! You won the title role! What am I supposed to think if you’re not happier about it?”

: “Y-you’re right.”

: “Huh!? She tricked me?”

: “She withdrew… because she’s scared of the curse…? No way! Even if she did bow out, I’m sure she was just being considerate!”

: “We’re in the same year, but I’ve never gotten a better role than her, so…”

: “…”

: “Why are you hiding? Well… break a leg tomorrow! I’ll be looking forward to it.”

: “…Your… …ault…”

: “What was that? I can’t hear you!”

: “Huh!? Tomomi, what’s gotten into you!? Calm down!”

: “You… you forced the masssk onto mee…”

: “Tomomi, are you all right? What’s this about the mask?”

: “The mask… the mask… suddenly wouldn’t.. come off.. it got so hot… hot! My face started… it started… sizzzzzling…”

: So, if you’ll remember, Tomomi was the last person to wear the mask before it was sealed away. This means that somehow, the mask killed Yuriko, Kumi and Michiko before Tomomi’s death.

: “You didn’t force it on her, right? So it’s all Tomomi’s misunderstanding!”

: Honestly, I don’t think you’re going to be all that reasonable if you’ve just had a mask burn half your face off.

: “Maybe so. But… I can’t say with absolute confidence that that’s true.”

: “Maybe some part of me really was gloating over how much better I was.”

: “Maybe I was just acting like Tomomi’s best friend, when I never really cared. Maybe I was too in love with the idea of being ‘considerate Saeko’.. and I only ended up hurting her.”

: “Ms. Saeko…”

: “Enough!”

: “…”

: “Yeesh.. it’s so cold…”

: “Oh! This can’t be…”

: “What’s up?”

: “Huh. Come to think of it, the sky’s still a weird color…”

: “Wh-What’s going on!?”

: “Oh crap… oh crap…! Not cool! We just defeated it!”

: Meet Nyx. In this game, Nyx is kind of a plot hole. She’s supposed to be Tomomi’s Persona - she’ll even tell you this if you get the bad ending to Snow Queen. The problem is that doesn’t make sense, because Tomomi wasn’t around when the tower guardians died.

: There’s no real explanation for why Nyx was in the mask, or how Nyx was apparently in Mikage-cho for years before Kandori and SEBEC even showed up.

: The explanation for the mask is supposed to be that Nyx, not Tomomi, was the one killing people. The line about Nyx being Tomomi’s Persona isn’t accurate - at least, I don’t think it is. Nyx is effectively an SMT-style demon, not a Persona.

: “I shall enshroud this world in black and white; void and sorrow.”

: “What!?”

: “Foolish mortals who cling to hope… I shall teach you a lesson! I have not yet given up on the Eternal Night.”

: There’s also the principal’s line at the beginning of the route where she said Saeko was the last person to wear the mask. I’m pretty sure that’s also a plot hole, because it’s pretty clear that was Tomomi.

: “Huh!? What was that about?”

: This explanation makes no fucking sense! The tower guardians all died before Tomomi probably even attended St. Hermelin! I think the writers honestly just stopped giving a fuck when they realized they had to somehow fit Snow Queen into the SEBEC timeline.

: Anyway, I did some digging, and it looks like Nyx is basically there because Snow Queen is sort of a remake of one of the plot lines from SMT If. I really should get around to playing that, though my experience with SMT 1 kind of turned me off to the SNES SMT games. Incidentally, the LP of If on the archive was made before the English translation romhack and was done on an emulator, so maybe…

: “That’s the most likely scenario.”

: “Thanks for the explanation. I think I’m finally starting to get what’s going on here. So if we don’t defeat that Queen, we can’t go home or take a hot bath!”

: “It hasn’t been long since this started, and look how much you’ve all grown.”

: “Aww, well, I only made it this far 'cause I had everyone backing me up. There’s, like, no way I would’ve made it by myself…”

: “Yeah, thanks to these guys, well… I don’t know how to say this, but.. it’s like I understand for the first time why I’m alive.”

: “Whoa, that sounds REALLY cool!”

: “Sh-shut up! Let’s go, Jihei!”

: God dammit I knew I shouldn’t have bought that Yakuza 0 soundtrack. You mean return to yourself with message for you, if you had to wake up, do the forever? Return to yourself, all you need is to be free? Half the lyrics to that song are in English and I don’t understand them.

: “That reflection… my heart was so awful that I couldn’t look straight at it..”

: “It’s not just you, Ms. Tomomi. I’m sure anyone’s reflection would be horrible in that mirror.”

: Moreover, why does Nyx have the mirror from the Snow Queen story in the first place?

: “Not very many people in the world with a truly pure heart…”

: “Speak for yourself! I’m innocent as a young girl, pure as an angel, and… never mind.”

: “I bet I’d look like some kind of monster.”

: Ayase is a monster.

: “If you looked right now, I know you wouldn’t see a monster.. I know! You should keep carrying the Demon’s Mirror with you. I bet it would protect you from misfortune.”

: Yeah I mean, maybe then we can cleanse Nyx with the power of Jesus just like in the story.

: The Spiegel Shield is an armor piece only Jihei can equip, because I don’t think the writers for this game actually read the original Snow Queen story. It’s also the best hand armor in the game. This is your reward for getting all 12 mirror shards.

: The costume is the “Spiegel Set”, and you can only get it (and the shield) if you’ve obtained all twelve mirror shards. I don’t know what she’s talking about when she says the hero though, given that Gerda is the closest thing to a hero in that story. Unless she’s talking about Kay, but then the “Spiegel” name makes no sense.

: “It was kept near the box with the Snow Queen’s mask, to keep the seal strong.”

: “Well, that’s one piece of good news. No idea where the storage room is in this Ice Castle, but it sounds like it’s worth hunting for.”

: “Ah… if only I’d met you all sooner.. I’ll be watching from above with the past Queens so no one else ends up like us. Thank you.”

: “It’s people like me that make it hard for others to trust the ones around them…”

: You know, it’d be nice if any of this character development carried over to the other route.

: And that’s the last we’ll see of Tomomi. There’s some optional party dialogue here, so let’s do that first.

: “You have a look in your eye that says there’s nothing you can’t do. I have a feeling you’re capable of taking care of the rest. Please sever the curse of the mask! It’s brought pain to so many students! I’m counting on you…”

: She’s not wrong. What we’re about to go into is bar none the longest dungeon in the game.

: “Does it feel a little warmer to you? Y’think the Queen’s losing her power?”

: “Oh, yeah! Maybe that door that was frozen shut up to now is open!?”

: “Night Queen? Sounds like some hostess at a Ginza club. How strong could she be? You guys’ll do just fine without me. …I’m joking! C’mon, let’s go!”

: Right across from the Cafeteria, there’s a door that was previously frozen shut. We can get in there now.

: Talking to the party member you didn’t pick will have them give you an item. Nanjo’s is the middleground: we already picked up a Phurba Dagger in Thanatos Tower. It’s a decent weapon that boosts Agility, and Elly’s currently using it. Jihei doesn’t have much of a reason to because his Agility is already as high as it goes.

: If you didn’t pick Brown, he’ll give you a Scorching Tablet (Megidolaon fusion item). Elly will give you a Full Moon Tablet, which teaches a Persona Mediarahan (party full heal). I’m pretty sure you can get Full Moon Tablets from the medicine store, so they’re the least useful.

: The second floor of the Ice Castle is full of enemies from basically everything past Deva Yuga in the SEBEC route. We’re going to do some grinding here, but not until we reach the 9th floor. Let’s post the map.

: As you can see, the second floor is a giant conveyor belt maze.

: While the room itself is a giant mass of squares, this is what the route looks like to get to the next floor. This floor in particular is a direct callback to SMT 1 - there’s a room almost identical to this in the Messian headquarters building.

: The third floor has three distinct routes we can take - two lead to items and one leads to a room that’s just got some optional dialogue.

: Taking the southern route puts us here, in a room with.. how the hell did Mariko get here?

: The weird thing is, if Persona 1 takes place in SMT If’s universe, people should already know about demons being a thing.

: Anyway, the reason we’re here is because this closet has a Mars 133, which is significantly better for Elly than the gun we were able to buy her in Thanatos Tower.

: Next up is the pointless room in the middle.

: This room looks like the room we got the Snow Queen mask from, but it’s not.

: “Hunh? H-Hey, look… there’s something on the floor. I-I-Is it a 10,000-yen bill? 'Cause if it is, dibs!”

: I checked the guide to be sure, and there’s no items in here.

: “Dibs, you hear me!? I saw it first!”

: “Oh, Yukino, please. I would never steal money like that. In fact, I’ll offer it to you. No, no, seriously.”

: “You moron. What I’m saying is, that’s not a 10,000-yen bill!”

: “Huh? O-ohh… you’re right. Aww…”

: “Totally stupid. There’s no doubt you’ll pay the piper.”

: “U-urgh! Why’s Ayase saying that now!?”

: Correction that I learned only after I got through the worst part of this dungeon: the Spiegel gear is in here. There’s a note on the floor somewhere that you have to pick up and then you can find it. I’m not going back for it.

: On this floor, we start encountering enemies like Titania, who showed up in the Alaya Cavern in the other route.

: The four nuke strategy always pays off. Always.

: The other room just has a Crimson Tablet in it, which is a fusion item we don’t need or want. The fourth floor is.. a kick in the dick, to be honest.

: You’ll notice these stairs fairly close to where you enter the fourth floor. These are part of a puzzle.

: Just past those stairs going down is a single damage floor which marks the beginning of a maze through a room full of holes that will drop you down to the third floor. That’s what the stairs are for.

: So what’s our reward for getting to the end of this maze?

: A hole that drops us to the third floor again, that’s what!

: Hee-ho-kun is here, and he’s had the ultimate Persona fusion items on him the entire time. See? There was totally a reason I went over who he is.

: These are the items for Ayase, Brown, and Yukino, respectively. You get to choose who gets one if you do not have all 5 ambrosia, but we do. However, we’re not using any of the ultimate Personas, because I am not grinding that again (and we don’t need it). I will, however, Personalog them.

: Ayase’s ultimate Persona, Freyr, isn’t all that bad. His weaknesses suck, but at least he learns a ma-dyne spell. The Caesar Leg he can be traded in for is the best leg armor in the game. Interestingly, Freyr only shows up in the Sega CD remake of SMT 1 and not the SNES version.

: On the other hand, Brown’s Persona, Tyr, is GARBAGE. Look at that shit! He has the lowest magic stats of any of the ultimate Personas, the last move he learns KILLS HIM WHEN HE USES IT, and he’s weak to all the elements!

: Durga is honestly kind of an anomaly. I don’t understand what the logic behind her was game-design wise: she’s not great against Nyx, and that’s pretty much the only thing you’d ever use her against. Her stats are also really low (just barely above Tyr’s) for some reason. She’s also weak to most of the attacks Nyx uses.

: Finally, we have Elly’s ultimate Persona, summoned using the Judgement Contract. Michael is easily the best of the ultimate Personas - sure, he doesn’t learn a ma-dyne spell, but he makes up for that by having amazing resistances and Tarukaja. I would grind to 62 to get this for her, but Armaiti has the same resistances and can learn Megidolaon. If you do manage to grind this out, you’re pretty much guaranteed to win against Nyx even if you set the game to auto-battle.

: Just outside the room with Hee-ho-kun is another hole, which drops us..

: Back on the second floor, not far from where we started. This is where I wish I had known the Spiegel set was on the third floor, because I’d have grabbed it on the way up.

: Back on the fourth floor, shit starts getting annoying. First, Berith shows up. Berith is immune to magic and annoying to gun down. Worse, he’s higher level than the party is and we simply don’t have the negotiation technique to get his card (that’d be Nanjo) so we have to make him fuck off.

: Eventually, we reach the gate to Hell. Just trust me on this, the next four floors are going to be the worst thing in this game.

: This room has Raiho and Reiho in it, and the first thing we want to do is open the closet and get a Kouma Staff for Brown.

: Raiho is an asshole, and here’s why. Let me just.. I’m just gonna show you the map. I can’t for the life of me describe the route you take through the next area.

: Yeah. It’s a giant staircase maze. The trick to this is following the two Stanley Parable Adventure Lines and never, ever deviating from them even slightly. The orange one gets you to most of the items, while the blue one is the one you want to follow to make progress.

: Here’s what makes this part suck. Most of the encounters are going to be this. If you’ll remember, Dakini (in front with the swords) reflects nuclear damage. Dominion (in the back) reflects all spells. Therefore, our only recourse is gunning everything down.

: Our first stop is on the 5th floor after going up to.. I think the 7th and then going down a ways. This is honestly kind of like navigating the Zero in Kentucky Route Zero - you don’t.

: Wait.. what? How? How did Maki get here?

: “Check out that painting.. it’s all black. Freaky…”

: “Be careful! This could be one of the Queen’s traps!”

: What is this, some kind of reverse Genki Rockets song?

: “How can you withstand the pain? You have each other… Ms. Saeko… your family… people you can rely on. But I’m always alone. I can only watch the happiness of others.”

: On a side note, what little the manga shows of Snow Queen actually has Maki as the Snow Queen rather than Tomomi.

: “Wait a sec, are you…?”

: “You can never understand how I feel! I’ll destroy this place… I’ll destroy the whole school!”

: Our next stop is on the 7th floor, after about half an hour of stumbling around because I didn’t understand what the Stanley Parable Adventure Line ™ was trying to tell me. By the way, the one guide on Gamefaqs to this is wrong.

: “Hey, have you seen my Daddy?”

: “Your Daddy? Huh, maybe she’s lost.”

: “Hey little girl, what are you doing here? You should go home. It’s, like, really dangerous.”

: “Ayase! Won’t you please try to be more cautious? Your carelessness has gotten us into a lot of trouble! I’d appreciate if you made more of an effort to learn from your mistakes.”

: “Sh-shut up! Get off my case! What if she’s really looking for her dad? Are you really gonna leave her by herself!?”

: “Sorry, but nobody I know wears a mask.”

: “Oh. Okay then.”

: There’s a sword in this room for Nanjo if you have him, but we don’t.

: Finally, there’s this room. There’s technically two others, but they’re way out of the way and only give kinda mediocre rewards.

: The Justice Coin isn’t great attack-wise, but it makes a decent stat stick.

: “Excuse me. Have you seen me?”

: “Huh? What’s she trying to say?”

: “Hey little girl, what are you doing here? You should go home. It’s, like, really dangerous.”

: “Ayase! Can’t you think rationally for a change? How could a small girl be here? She clearly must be a monster!”

: “Sh-shut up! Get off my case! I thought she was in trouble, so I talked to her, that’s all! I’m not mean like you.”

: “I’m wearing clothes like yours, and I have a white mask on.”

: “You’re looking for a student from this school? Sorry, but nobody I know wears a mask.”

: God dammit, Brown.

: Here’s the other reason this area sucks. When you’re not fighting Dominion, you’re fighting Succubi. They’re not nearly as dangerous as they were in Alaya Cavern (mostly because it’s a lot harder to put 5 characters to sleep) but they still absorb magic.

: I spent probably the next half hour following the Stanley Parable Adventure Line ™ to the ninth floor.

: At the end of the 8th floor is a room very much like that room at the end of Deva Yuga with the light-up floor.

: “It would have been easier if you had just waited for the Eternal Night to fall. But if you insist… I shall grant your wish with despair. You won’t find me as easy as Tomomi… hmhmhmhmhmhm…”

: Kandori offers an elevator ride, but he’ll only send us down - and once he does, he won’t be there at the bottom to bring us back up.

: Floor nine is where I’m probably going to do a lot of grinding. The thing is, we could cheese Nyx down really easily, but only Jihei would survive. Let me post the map, just so you can see that the Damage Floor Guy at Atlus finally got his wish.

: Anyway, I’m going to have to spend a considerable amount of time grinding: the problem is that most of the enemies on the higher floors are from the final dungeon of the SEBEC route - and if you’ll recall, the enemies in that dungeon didn’t give as much EXP as just doing random encounters on the street. I might also need to go back in order to get spell cards. Next time, we’ll kill Nyx and finish Snow Queen.

[Timrod]

: So, uh.. I posted the last LP update not knowing how long it’d take to get the results I wanted for the final battle against Nyx. It didn’t take that long.

: I figured it’d be kind of a cop-out if I didn’t show how to get the Spiegel gear. The Spiegel gear is not even remotely worth it. Talking to Kandori on the 8th floor and telling him to send you back to the 1st floor will put you back here. I didn’t cap it, but he says something like “Heh, you came all the way up here just to go back down?”

: My goal for Nyx was to get a team very similar to what we had for Pandora - that is to say, with as many reflects and absorbs as possible. Elly’s Persona was trash, so I fused Tensen Nyannyan as a stopgap. I’m not going to Personalog it because Tensen Nyannyan is just a bastardization of Taishan Nyang Nyang, the Chinese name for Apsaras. The wiki also gets her stats wrong, which is another reason I’m not doing a Personalog.

: Anyway, the Spiegel gear is extremely well hidden. Remember how Brown made that joke about finding a 10,000-yen bill?

: This is the confusing part. What you have to do is walk past the frozen girl, then turn around and press X in front of her, while facing the way Jihei is facing in the screenshot. This will let you find a note.

: This is the only good piece of the Spiegel set, and it’s useless for Jihei. I wish I could put this on Elly, because it’d actually be worth a shit there.

: Back to the 9th floor. You can see that everyone in the party is poisoned - as it turns out, about half the damage floors here poison you instead of doing damage.

: What you’re supposed to do here is walk around the damage floors.. or you could just use a core shield. The gem store sells them.

: The 9th floor isn’t the best for EXP, but with an underlevelled party it’s the best you’re going to get. The encounters are shaken up a little bit from how they were in Avidya World: this encounter here with four Vetalas is worth some 9,800 EXP.

: The 10th floor is technically better EXP, but has two major issues. Paimon is one of them - they reflect Nuclear, are frequently paired with enemies that reflect Gun, and have a combination of Curse damage and instakill spells.

: Rangda is the other problem. They’re not nearly as deadly as Paimon is, but they reflect Nuclear and have a lot of HP.

: I actually explored the entirety of the 9th floor using core shields. There are a lot of damage floors here, but with a core shield you can go right from the healing spot down to the stairs.

: I spent a few hours grinding Elly to 62, specifically so I could fuse Michael. With Michael, Elly can pretty much solo Nyx.. even if Michael’s moveset kinda sucks.

: Nyx is immune to Expel (which is the damage type Makouha does) but Tarukaja is extremely useful for gunning stuff down faster.

: Jihei gets levelled to 60/59, and I fuse Barbatos for him. Ignore where it says Odin, I wound up giving that to Ayase. Barbatos, if you’ll recall from the SEBEC route, is much like Michael in that he reflects magic.

: Yukino gets levelled to 55, and gets Armaiti. Armaiti has the same resists Michael does with one big exception: she doesn’t reflect or nullify status effects the way Michael does.

: Brown had Tensen Nyannyan until I tossed Lilim on him. This makes three out of five party members that reflect magic, and one who absorbs it.

: With that setup, I went to the 10th floor and pushed right through. Everyone but Ayase is basically invincible.

: Fafnir and Fenrir are both giant sacks of EXP. I managed to get Ayase up to like.. level 53 I think.. by the end of the 10th floor. Theoretically, if I was insane enough, I could have gone back to the 1st floor and fused a Succubus for Jihei (which absorbs magic and reflects status) and then given Barbatos to Ayase. I didn’t.

: Most of the 10th floor is a giant dark zone, but with a map it’s easy enough to get through.

: Here we are, at Nyx’s boss room.

: Meet the dumbest-looking boss outside of Pandora.

: Nyx gets her own boss theme, and it sounds like it belongs in an SNES Final Fantasy game. Anyway, Nyx has a gimmick that’s kind of like Pandora’s only way more dickish.

: This position, which she starts in, is called “Center Head”. In this form, Nyx takes 2x damage from weapons (which will do nothing anyway) and becomes extremely resistant but not immune to guns and magic.

: Center Head uses nothing but spells and a weak physical attack, alternating between Mabufudyne, Maragidyne, Mazandyne, and Maziodyne. You’ll notice that all of these are regular spells and not the resistance-penetrating ones that Pandora had.

: This is Nyx’s key weakness, and also how you can cheese her to death at a low level. See how Brown absorbed 592 damage? If you have Lilim, Nyx pretty much cannot kill you.

: This position is “Left Head”, where Nyx turns her face off and lets Maki do the work. Left Head is annoying because it can remove your buffs and also has a heal, as well as a move called All Guard. It does not have any attacks or damage spells.

: All Guard causes all attacks to miss for one round. Left Head takes 2x damage from guns and magic, but resists everything else.

: This position is “Right Head”, where Kandori takes over. Right Head has Makakaja, which increases magic damage, as well as some debuffs. The idea is that Right Head buffs with Makakaja and then switches to Center Head to cast ma-dyne spells.

: Theoretically, Nyx should be a really challenging (and kind of cheap) boss: it has a higher Agility than most of the party does, meaning it can cancel out your attacks by switching heads after you’ve chosen your actions but before they go off. With this setup, we can simply set the game to autobattle and gun her down.

: Like I said, Lilim will ignore every single thing Nyx can do without grinding at all. This setup was just overkill. I actually did a second run of this that I didn’t record where I had everyone guard, and I won simply by virtue of Nyx reflecting spells onto herself.

: I doubt it. I mean, it’s not like Atlus made an entire sequel about this or anything.

: “Your name was Suzakin, yes? I have a feeling we’ll meet each other again.”

: And with that, we’ve finished Snow Queen and also finished Persona 1. The ending is kind of weak, but you’ll see why.

: “Yeah, there’s still some business we’ve gotta take care of. Right, Jihei?”

: “We gotta find Maki.. she looked like she was in pain to me.”

: “…Alright. Then you go do what you gotta do!”

: “You’re adults now, setting out on your own. I won’t stop you. But promise me this..”

: “Huh? Like what?”

: “Come back and see me before you get all old and wrinkled! And come back to report in when it’s all over with!”

: “You should try being in my shoes, getting yelled at every day by the vice principal!”

: “Haha… it looks like this incident has given him second thoughts, though. He asked me to thank you guys. Maybe now he won’t be so strict.. for a while, at least.”

: “Hah! That cueball? As if!”

: “Oh, he’s not really all that bad. But anyway! You should stop chitchatting and get going before it’s too late!”

: “Right!”

: “The school’s returned to normal, but that’s only the beginning. Our true battle comes later. First, we must restore peace to our city.”

: “We’re still young.. there’s a lot of life yet to fight through. I’ll rise to the challenge!”

: “Y’know, up to now, I’ve just been doing whatever I feel like. But when I see Yukino and the others try so hard, I feel like I can do way better.”

: “I dunno how exactly, but that can wait until after we save the town. Catch you later, Ms. Saeko!”

: Unfortunately, Yukino never becomes a teacher. In fact, I’m not even sure any of the Persona 1 cast wind up going to college.

: “Thanks for everything, Jihei! Looks like they have ideas for their future. How about you?”

: Well yeah I mean, we’ve still got Innocent Sin to do.

: “Great! You’ve done something amazing here. Savor that feeling and give it your all!”

: The game makes you wait until the end of the credits to find out how Snow Queen fits into the timeline.

: So yes, canonically Snow Queen happens before the SEBEC route. I believe Snow Queen is the canon version of events, so the entire beginning of the game happens differently.

: I can only imagine how much better the SEBEC route would’ve been if we never had Nanjo or Maki in the party and started at level 50+.

: And.. that’s Persona 1. I think in the end that it’s not a bad game, it’s just a game with incredibly dated and flawed game mechanics. Someday, I’d love to see Atlus remake it in the canonical order and fix the SEBEC route so the plot sucks less.

: I’m probably going to need to go back and finish the alternate party dialog for SEBEC, but once I do that.. it’s on to Persona 2: Innocent Sin.

[LaZodiac]

@Timrod

Nyx is effectively an SMT-style demon, not a Persona.

God I fucking love when they do that.

I’ll admit, this ending felt really anti climactic, especially for a “and then the adventure continues in the alt route, but you don’t get to play it” style ending. Ah well. Good LP, kinda rough game.

[SpammyV]

Oh so… the game just ends when you go Snow Queen. Alright.

Tomomi looks like she was always practicing her asymmetric sneer in case she turned into Two-Face so I’m glad to see her hard work paid off in the end.

Thank you for the LP! I’ve never played a Persona in my life so I really enjoyed following along.

[CommanderKeene]

Thanks for the LP. Like I said at the beginning, I could never finish this game, due to the incredibly dated game mechanics you mentioned. Unfortunately, they basically ruin the game for me.

[Mraagvpeine]

Thanks for playing through this game. One question, you mentioned that this game takes place in 2006, where did you hear that?

[Timrod]

Officially, the game takes place in 1996. I think I mentioned in one of the later SEBEC route updates that Persona 3 retcons that to some extent, though now I’m wondering if part of it is a mis-translation. Most of it has to do with how old Maki is.

The entire Persona 1 cast is supposedly 17 when Persona 1 happens. Persona 2 happens in 1999, and most of the P1 cast shows up there. This makes the P1 cast 20 years old in 1999.

Persona 3 takes place in 2009. In P3, Trish (the healing spring fairy, who we’ll see more of in Innocent Sin) has a TV show called Who’s Who where she interviews the P1 cast. When she interviews Maki, she says that Maki is 20 years old. Maki’s birthday is June 6th, 1979 - this would make her 30 by the time Persona 3 rolls around.

It might be a bad translation because Trish describes most of the P1 cast as being “in their twenties”, and implies that Yukino is actually older than the rest of the P1 cast - which is impossible because her birthday is April 9th, 1979.

Even so, it’d have to be that P1 takes place later than it actually does, presumably sometime in the early 2000s, for any of the cast members to be in their twenties in 2009. Basically, the entire lore is off until Persona 3 when Atlus kind of got their shit together on that.