Persona 3 FES: An Asocial Experiment

[Lotus]

April is now over, so it’s time to once again see what happens in an alternative timeline…

A weird detail to change, but Kotone doesn’t wake up from the Magician stuff until the 19th. You probably wouldn’t normally notice or care that this IS different, though (Makoto woke up on the 17th).

In a weird bit of streamlining, Junpei also joins SEES on a different day; the 21st here as opposed to the 19th before.

And we then IMMEDIATELY go to Tartarus for the tutorial. During the forced entry of the Velvet Room at this point…

The Poem For Everyone’s Soul

Tell me… When you think of this person, what do you see?
Is it a man?
I see… Then let’s bring him out for a proper introduction.

So, we have a choice of Attendant here. Still no return of the classics, like Belladonna or Nameless though. Theo is pretty great and it’s a crime that the only way we know this route technically happened is that he turns up in Persona Q.

Anyway, here he’s voiced by Travis Willingham. Who, in completely random trivia that you probably already know, is married to Laura Bailey.

And now we’ll just skip ahead to after the tutorial is done, because we don’t needta see that twice.

One thing I appreciate is that this game stole the rank up graphical style from Persona 4. It’s not quite as cool as Persona 5’s but it’s a bit more streamlined and I appreciate that it’s here.

A Way of Life

One of the weirder changes is that Be Blue V doesn’t sell accessories now. It’s not a big deal and it won’t even matter really, but it sure threw me off at first.

Mercifully, Kurosawa sells them at his totally legitimate arms dealer second job. The nebulous “connections” aside, the only way I see this really working is if he’s selling us stuff out of the evidence locker or what have you.

First day of free time doesn’t have much for anyone to do, so we’ll spend that at the movies too. Next day, however…

After School

I know someplace that’s really good! It’ll be my treat! C’mon, let’s go!
Sweet, let’s go!
Alright, now you’re talkin’.

I’m pretty sure you’re not allowed to be surprised by this.

It’s crowded, but luckily you were able to get in without much waiting.

That sounds good.
Well… I’m sure it’ll be better than you’re expecting.

After a few moments, the waiter brings two ramen bowls to you.

The fragrant smell rising from the bowls makes your stomach growl…

C’mon, try it.

You take a bite…

The distinct taste of the soup blends well with the thick noodles…

I’ve never had anything like this.
Haha! Good, right? Well then, I’m digging in too. Chow time!
Ahh, hot hot hot…
Man, this is great!

Although Junpei eats noisily, he seems to be enjoying his ramen…

Hey… Do you feel okay now?

Thanks…
Huh? Oh, um… No need to thank me…
I had some problems myself when I transferred here, too.

I was wondering if you weren’t accustomed to school or whatever…
Then again, I think you’ll do just fine.

Junpei seems embarrassed and laughs…

You can sense Junpei’s thoughtfulness towards you…

The Power of the Heart

I love that Junpei is the character that represents the Junpei Social Link. I dunno, it’s just perfect in its simplicity.

After School

Stop smirking like that.
Aww… I can’t help it.
Oh, but I don’t drag love into my work.
Then again, I can’t guarantee that I won’t fall for somebody, mwahaha!

You and Junpei chatted for a while, then headed back.

So, yeah, this is a pretty significant difference. New S.Links! You can probably guess some of the others at this point (if you don’t already know them).

Also we’re going to Tartarus immediately. Not so much for the money (no, Kotone’s money problems come LATER because Maniac’s only point of difficulty is economic inflation) but because this is the best chance for a while.

The Voice Someone Calls

So, uh, we’ll be glossing over most of the actual Tartarus trip here. This is a big deal though; I forget its here a bunch, but it makes the Terminal Points kind of irrelevant for their primary purpose. This can even take you to floors like, say, floor 6 which is just a random floor that you normally can’t warp to. I appreciate it but I also dislike it.

I’unno, I’m kind of weirdly fickle like that.

Also, Mitsuru gives us all this shit. Decent healing items, SP recovery, items that let you warp out of Tartarus/guaranteed escape from randoms and… Cadenza. Yeah, so, Fusion Spells here are just items that you can use. This is both better and much, much worse than what vanilla/FES do.

Oh, uh, Skill Cards! Right. They’re a thing backported from 4 as well. Get a Persona up to a specific level and gain the listed card; it just teaches one of your Persona the listed skill. Some are way, WAY better than others, yes…

Also, uh, the EXP scaling is way, way different here. I’d call it “fixed” but it feels a bit too much in the other direction now. This is on the upper end for the first few floors but the lower end is like 9 so…

And this is with the 1 of Wands. Jeez. Haven’t even gotten to the Venus Eagles yet!

Nekomata is still Nekomata, but we need to get her to level 11 for her card. We won’t; it takes a ton of grinding even in the best case scenario. Provoke is not good enough for that.

Also on floor 6, we find this. It, uh. I reset at this point to NOT get this. Because getting this here is ridiculous.

Anyway, Kotone and co EASILY get to the barrier Mitsuru mentioned so we’ll just split the timestream here and come back to that later…

Time

So, sports teams! Tennis is cool and good and I really like tennis.

The only alternative is volleyball and that is ALSO cool and good. Hrm. This is tricky.

Well, let’s think… we’re doing Kendo in the other timeline, so…

Joy

She’s Kotone Shiomi from class 2-F. Everybody be nice to her, okay?
Nice to meet you all!

This club seems to have a rather friendly atmosphere.

At the very least it seems that you’re welcome here…

Um, who was the leader for the juniors?

Ohey, it’s… uh… that girl. You know the one! Yeah, her!

Oh, good. I’ll leave the rest to you. I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do here anyway. giggle
…All right.

Ms. Kanou left…

Tanned: Haaa! That sounds exactly like her. She’s too old to try to act cute like that.
…C’mon, let’s get back to practice!

I’m in charge of the juniors in the club, so don’t hesitate to ask me anything.

Man, these days are different. That’s nice and all but it’s one of the many things that means I need a completely different schedule for this…

Thanks.
Well then, we’re gonna concentrate on doing basic exercises today, so come on and join in.
Just keep up as much as you can.

I keep telling you all that the fundamentals are important! Let’s start off with some running.

Club Members: Alright…

Kotone-san, you stand in this line.
If you start getting worn out, just keep your mind focused and you’ll be able to pull through.
I’ll be all right!
Ahaha, you sound promising.

Rio seems to be taking her role in the club seriously…

The Power of the Heart

Joy

Club Members: One, two…

After running laps, you went through a series of muscle exercises…

Then you diligently went through basic drills in serving and receiving.

You decided to go back to the dorm after practice ended.

[i]The Hierophant S.Link is started and plays out completely identical to before, so we’ll just skip over it for now.

But this? This is important. Also different again, dammit.

So, what does this mean in practice?

Kotone comes back tomorrow and it gets to rank 2. This didn’t happen before because Sunday is the closed day for Makoto, and he went to the movies instead. (We’ll see the actual scene for this later, don’t worry.)[/i]

Time

So, let’s completely mess up time itself for a moment…

Wanna go somewhere?
Hmm… okay. I wasn’t doing anything today, anyway. Alright, let’s go.

You stopped somewhere on the way home with Yukari…

Joy

Still haven’t come here outside of these sorts of scenes. Hmm.

U-Um, well…
There’s… something I need to say to you.
What is it?
Um… You probably might not remember, but…
Um… When you woke up in the hospital…

You know how I said all those things to you right after you woke up?
Like, “you’re the same as me,” and “you’re alone,” and stuff about your parents…

I mean, I lost my dad, but in your case it’s both your parents…
And even though things may seem the same, people react to them differently…
But I ignored how you might’ve felt and forced my own opinions onto you.
I’ve been worrying all this time that I might’ve said some unfair things to you that day.
…And I want to properly apologize for it. I’m sorry.

You might not like it, since it’s teh fact that we’re both missing parents…
Still, I’ve never had anyone who could understand it around me before…
It’s different for everyone else at school. They have both their parents at home…
They can complain about how they’ll get yelled at if they come home late…
I… When I hear stuff like that, I feel jealous.
But I hate that feeling that way, so I hide it… And because I can’t tell anyone that, I feel distant.
I felt lonely.

…Yiked! Sorry! I’m being selfish again, I know.
But, the fact that you’re part of our group now makes me feel a lot better.

Haha, I’m just going around in circles with this pity party, aren’t I?
But… That’s how I really feel.

Yukari confided in you.

You feel as if you’ve gotten a little closer to Yukari…

The Power of the Heart

So, Yukari is not unique to this route. Getting the S.Link this early, however, is. For the “main” run, we’ll need to wait several more in-game months before we can even attempt to start it. As a result of that, the initial scene for it (at minimum) is significantly different. Hence why we broke time to do this one now.

Joy

…You decide to go back to the dorm.

Iwatodai Dorm

So, Junpei doesn’t give us ISO and instead considers about playing it himself. I guess (in his head) girls just don’t play games or MMOs or something??

Next school day, rather than waiting 'til evening to tell us about sidequests Theo opts to do it in the afternoon. This matters. This matters a lot!

The sidequests available are almost identical to before, but we don’t have one to perform a Cadenza. Makes sense, since it’s just an item here.

Naturally, to accomodate the skill cards a few rewards are changed around. Oh and this one gives us armor instead of Revival Beads.

What makes this important though is that we can accept the quest to show Theo around Paulownia Mall and this option appears immediately. Well, no time like the present!

A Date With Theo
definitely watch this if you can/want to/whatever

Joy

…Indeed, it’s exactly as I imagined.

Despite these words, Theo’s eyes are clearly glimmering with excitement…

Are you excited to be here?

Theo is mumbling…

…? What is that over there?

Theo is pointing to the water fountain.

…
The dwellers of this world must get thirsty easily.
I don’t think that’s it.
…
I-I know its true purpose, of course.

Oh Theo, you poor boy.

That’s not it.
…!
…
…It was only my small joke.
…
So… Wh-What is it actually for?
A bit of scenery…?
…I see.

Theo seems distraught for some reason…

Hm…? And what, pray tell, is this facility here?

Theo headed towards the police station.

These photographs…

I see… So the concept of subjugation requests is not unknown here.
We don’t kill them.
Ah? In that case, you mus have to capture them alive… Only a skilled hunter could accomplish it.

Theo is nodding triumphantly…

If there are hunters of such talent in this world as well, I may want to make a few requests of my own…

Hm…? What is that?

Could this be “club” of rumor…?
You know about it?
Yes, I heard no end of it…

…Though this marks my first time seeing it in person.
Well then, let us venture in…
…It’s closed…!?
This can’t be…

Theo is in utter shock…

It seems… I have no choice but to turn back…

Theo is slightly tearing up.

…You decide to show him the arcade.

Ar…cade…?

Theo, please. I have so much to teach you…

Hmm… A-All right, let us investigate.

“Bird controlling game”…?
The things inside this case… Those are birds?
They look to my eye more like stuffed animals made of cloth…

Theo is lost in thought…

Ah… Excuse me. I note another aquatic pool over here.

Theo headed towards the fountain in the corner of Paulownia Mall…

He seems restless for some reason…

He’s looking around as well…

…He abruptly stuck his hand into the water.

It’s 8 degrees Celsius.
You can tell?
Of course I can.

…This world has its charms.
I… would relish the chance to visit it again sometime.
Thank you very much for today.

You returned to the Velvet Room with Theo.

End

We’ll also clear out almost all the remaining quests here, since we can. There’s only two we can’t, because Grave Beetles don’t drop a shell if we don’t have the quest active and the other one left can ONLY be done on May 2nd.

Oh and going out with Theo doesn’t use time. How nice! So, let’s hang out with Junpei as well.

After School

I’ve been looking forward to this coming out!

Junpei’s eyes are lit up…

C’mon, let’s go in!
Ooh, are you looking forward to it too? Alright, let’s get some good seats!

You and Junpei watched the movie “Double-Barreled Justice” together.

Seeing the action scenes on the big screen was overwhelming…

…The story was surprisingly complex.

It was… kinda not what I was expecting.

Junpei cocks his head…

The villain wasn’t all that evil. It kinda killed it for me when he started talking about his tragic past…
It isn’t cool if you have to beat somebody who didn’t want to be a bad guy.
Bad guys should be evil all the way to the core. It’s just more satisfying.

Junpei shrugs…

Oh, you still got time, right? Let’s grab something to eat on the way back.

You came here with Junpei.

I sort of figured it’d be a bit longer 'til we came here. Guess not, huh? Thanks Junpei.

Oh, crap… The guys at school might say some stuff if they see us together.

Plus, the famous Yuka-tan and Mitsuru-senpai live in the same dorm, too.
There are a lot of dudes who envy me because of that…
I’m… sorry?
Yeah, it’s your fault!

I mean, you’re not all excited and asking me who’s saying all this stuff.
…I mean, of curse you aren’t. No girl would be that desperate.

Junpei nods triumphantly.

Also, I know you’ve probably got your hands full with your own stuff now.
Actually, the same goes for me, too…

Junpei’s expression suddenly turns serious…

Want more fries? You don’t mind sharing with me, right?

You and Junpei chatted for a while before heading back.

[Handel]

Fun fact, BOTH of the VA for Makoto are wedded to their Velvet attendants. Lowenthal and Platt are married as well. An amusing thing to know.

[Lotus]

Alright, let’s see what May has for us. A new month means new opportunity!

Want To Be Close

Well, it IS May already. It’s amazing how time flies…
I guess.
So much has been happening…
Ya know, it doesn’t seem like the number of Apathy Syndrome cases has been decreasing lately…
We’re the only ones who can fight the Shadows, so…
I guess we should train more, so that we’re ready if anything like THAT comes up again.
…Me especially. I don’t wanna be a burden on everyone else.

Though we skip straight to after school, today’s taken up with something else…

Just Visiting

He called me earlier, and asked me to bring him something.
Yup, he knows who to count on.

I’m kind of surprised, but also not really, that Junpei’s a member of the good ol’ Going Home Club…

H-Hey, I resent that.
giggle I’m just kidding. So, what’d he want you to bring?

What’s he want that for?
…Well, I don’t have practice today, so I’ll go with you.
You’re coming too, right?
Sure.
Cool.
W-Wait a minute…
What? Is there a problem?
Well, it was ME he asked…

Troubled

…in this room? By any chance?

We came to see you!
But… it doesn’t look like anything’s wrong with you.
I’m just here for a checkup.

So, Akihiko’s visitor here is voiced by Grant George. As far as Persona cares, he was also Boy with Earring/Naoyo Toudou/The Protagonist of Persona 1 in the PSP remake. which is also good and you should totally at least check it out

Yeah, thanks.
Tch… I don’t have time for this shit.

A friend from school… sort of.
You know how the number of Apathy Syndrome cases have been increasing?

Hey Junpei, did you bring what I asked?
Of course, Senpai.

Uh, you shouldn’t move your arm…
It’s nothing. I’ve wasted enough time already. I need to get back to my training.
Yeah! Gekkoukan’s golden boy! He was born to be in the ring!
Sometimes, I really don’t get you.
By the way, Senpai, why boxing?
You mean, why did I choose that sport? Well…

…and I don’t want to feel that way again.
Besides, I’m curious to see how strong I can get. It’s like a game, only I’m competing against myself.
That’s an interesting way of looking at it.
Ya know, I’m into games too…
Yeah, VIDEO games.
Hey, they’re good for hand-eye coordination!

It’s good to know that Junpei is That Guy who uses this as an excuse for why playing video games is totally worthwhile and important honest.

End

Iwatodai Dorm

It may take some time for Akihiko to fully heal, and I don’t want anything like that to happen again.
Besides, the number of victims seems to have been increasing.
…I have a bad feeling about that.
We had best muster as much strength as we can.

So, don’t worry. Heal, support, attack… Whatever you need, we got your back!
Huh? Which enemy would we attack first? …The one that’s about to die, of course!
Listen, if you don’t know what to do, just choose Act Freely.

Disagree very heavily. Act Freely is bad and leads to people coming up with arbitrary complaints that aren’t actual complaints. Its real problem is that it’s just not as efficient as any of the more dedicated tactics.

This is all Mitsuru has to say right now, so uh, yeah. I guess she did have a point earlier re: Tartarus though. We’re not gonna go today, mind you.

Yeah, I think so.
Akihiko-senpai said that guy goes to our school, but I’ve never seen him there before…

A-And that’s the latest word from the man on the street. Now, back to the studio for more news…

So, what to do today? Let’s see, it’s Friday so…

The arcade seems like a good plan to me. We’re going to put this Courage to use sooner than you think, but it’s still a bit of a ways away…

Want To Be Close

Listening: Ehh… Not really. But I’m not gonna miss tomorrow’s show!

Gossiping: When I hear that jingle, I can’t resist buying something… I never miss it when it’s on Sunday afternoons. I’m about to go broke!

The first bell had rung.

Tanaka’s show turns up in one way or another in every single Persona game from 3 onwards. Since it’s only around once a week, you’d think it’d be easy to forget it exists. You’d be wrong. Very, very wrong…

The Poem For Everyone’s Soul

So, what to do today… well, this is our first chance to show Elizabeth around. Let’s do just that!

A Date With Elizabeth
really gonna recommend just watching this instead trust me

Joy

This must be a “fountain”…
It makes sport of water, well known to all to be the foundation of life… How wicked!
It’s rumored that its enchanting nature grants wishes to those who sacrifice a few coins…
That’s a superstition.
…Is that so?
Is it possible that the worth of the coins wasn’t sufficient to pique the fountain spirit’s interest…?
Fortunately, I anticipated this, and brought a good supply of coins.

I shall make an opening bid to the fountain spirit of 1,000,000 yen.

Um…!

So yeah, uh, Liz is VERY different to Theo…

The torrent of coins is like a waterfall…

Ah…!

This won’t do…
I shall give it more careful consideration before I return here in the near future…

There are some stern-faced gentlemen inside…
And these photgraphs displayed so prominently…
Most Wanted… Reward…

You don’t kill them…
I see… So they must be captured alive.
You’ve sated my curiosity.

It can’t be… Is this… A “club”!?
Dancers, dictated by the sway of one’s inner passions… A subterranean garden of uninhibited spectacle…

…Such a pity. I had hoped to join in the wild ritual…

Ooh! That was quite satisfying.
But I’m overwhelmed… Everything looks so new and inviting. Everywhere I look, something catches the eye.
…If you wouldn’t mind, perhaps you could recommend our next activity?
Karaoke.
Karaoke… is that…?

It seems the time has come to show you my hidden talents…

…Y’know I’m really unsure on whether Theo just casually being able to get the exact temperature is better or worse than Liz dumping in 1mil.

Hm!? Yet another fountain, on the opposite side…

I think it’s the quantity of these incidents that does it; if she did the 1mil once, it’d win out handily.

I see… so this place is host to a trinity of fountain spirits.

I’m kind of very disappointed we don’t get to see even a little bit of that.

I consider this mission fully accomplished.
This may sound forward, but… I’d like to accompany you again sometime.

You headed back to the Velvet Room with Elizabeth.

End

The Poem For Everyone’s Soul

That fountain… I still haven’t made a decision on what to wish for.

And I was so set on it, that thinking of something else is proving to be… difficult.
…Oh! I’ve finally come up with something.
I’ll wish to think of a wish. There… that wasn’t so hard.
Now as for a reward, I’ve prepared something special.

Can, won’t. Not because she’s bad (whe we DO make her, she’ll probably be really good!) but because she’s level 20…

She is a charming Persona, combining the looks of a sweet girl with powerful abilities.

So, uh, now that we’ve kind of got to know Liz and Theo somewhat, let’s get weird. And by weird I mean you probably already knew this, but… their names are taken from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. And, uh, associated materials thereof.

Elizabeth is named after Elizabeth Lavenza, the wife and, uh, adopted sister of Dr. Victor Frankenstein. It was the 1800s, but even Mary Shelley knew that was weird so she removed the marriage thing in later versions.

Theo is a bit less clear cut. He’s got two potential namesakes, though neither of them are characters from the book. Dr Theodore Bohmer is a character from the 1942 film The Ghost of Frankenstein and the alternative is Theodor con Holst, the first illustrator of the novel. I don’t buy the latter, because no Attendant has been named after Mary Shelley herself and that would happen first by far.

…Yeah, and, Igor himself totally falls into this pattern as well being arguably named after Ygor from the 1931 Universal movie. Ygor was an invention for the film, and let’s be honest Bela Lugosi did such a great job that it’s super-easy to forget that Ygor isn’t even in the book. The pattern didn’t formally start until 3 though, so I would be surprised if they didn’t decide to just run with it when wiping the slate clean.

Uh, anyway. Cadenza is a thing that was cast at some point or another I guess. I can’t say I remember doing it but whatever. This nets us some Agilao Gems which is going to prove very important. No, really.

This unlocks another request for a Fusion Skill, but we can’t do this one for a while. It clearly requires Jack Frost and Pyro Jack but Frosty is level 8 and Pyro Jack’s even higher…

Want To Be Close

Fortunately, despite the last line implying that Liz’s hangout takes time, it doesn’t. So we can head back to school and see if we can find someone there.

Hmm… How should I deal with this?

Just seeing him makes me smile.

You can see someone else in this corridor too, in fact. I wonder who that could be…

Ah, so THIS is where Mitsuru hangs out, huh?

Yeah. Want to join me?
…Sorry, I’m busy. I’m going to study for a while before I go back.
Make sure you don’t neglect your own studies.
I know you have other things to worry about, but studying should be a student’s number one priority.

Kind of a shame we can’t hang out with Mitsuru right now, but maybe one day. Hmm, so for now…

Sure, Yuko’ll do. We don’t have a Strength Persona even remotely close to being available right now though. The first one is level, uh, 11…

Joy

And now we can even check out the “proper” version of Wild-Duck Burger. I’m sure this is what you were really interested in, after all.

What happened?
Well, nothing major. Maybe I exaggerated a bit…

But seriously, I have been feeling kind of down lately…
…Mr. Ekoda asked to speak with me. He wanted to know why I turned in a blank quiz.

Getting a bit too real here, game…

Then, he got pissed off! He even yelled at me about the length of my skirt!
Who cares about Classic Literature anyway!? Besides, I didn’t do anything wrong!
Right, Makoto-kun!?

Do your school work, Yuko.

I agree.
Exactly.

Doesn’t he realize we’re only teenagers? Now’s the time to enjoy life!
Who cares about stories by a bunch of dead guys!?
Maybe I should be a science major. Then, I wouldn’t have to take Classic Literature…
Wait! Then, I’d have to take Physics…

My reputation as an “intellectual” would be ruined. blush
That’s true.
That was a joke… Y-You’re supposed to play along!

I didn’t mean to trick you! …Is my nose getting longer!?
You’re so gullible… You shouldn’t believe everything people say.
Mr. Ekoda asked me to write a 3-page essay, reflecting on my performance in his class…
Three pages!? Is he serious!? What does he expect me to say!?
But I guess I have no choice, if I want to graduate. Otherwise, I’ll have to repeat his class.
I can’t wait to celebrate graduation with everyone, especially the team…
And you too, Makoto-kun.
…Or, am I getting ahead of myself?

It seems Yuko has taken a liking to you.

Your relationship is stronger now!

Bye-bye.

After saying goodbye to Yuko, you decided to go back to the dorm.

Iwatodai Dorm

I asked some peeps if they wanted to hang out, but the only ones interested were guys…
Man, I don’t want no sausage fest…

You had best use your time wisely.
sigh You HAD to remind me…

Yeah, uh, midterms start on 5/18 for reference (you can see this at any-time on the Calendar in your room or in the menu!) and… to get the best score possible you need an Academics that’s at least at rank 3 which is absurd. It’s possible, sure, but it generally requires spending time studying that could be best used on anything else. We probably won’t get it (yet) is what I’m saying, sorry.

Some Personas have skills, other Personas have physical abilities.
Remember, it’s important to use a Persona that suits your style.

Akihiko’s advice here seems really weirdly out of place. Like it would make a lot more sense if this was like Persona 1 or 2 where everyone can change freely, but here it’s just a sort-of tutorial that kind of stretches suspension of disbelief somewhat.

Therefore, fighting an enemy by yourself will gain you the most experience.
The more experience you gain from fighting, the stronger you and your Persona will become.

Considering EXP scales, this isn’t necessarily as useful as it sounds later. It has a resurgence in a big way far, FAR down the line… but until then, it’s just a good thing to keep in mind to potentially grind up other people easier.

Well, those are the best times to go to Tartarus, dude.
You’ll definitely kick a lot of ass!

So naturally, they scheduled midtersm right after the break… It sucks!

The Hachiju Hachiya means “88th Night.” It marks the beginning of the late dew season. It’s widely known that this time of tear is when the best tea leaves are picked. There were many tea parties thrown around town in celebration.

Let’s see, it’s 5/2 now and according to one quest’s description we can really only finish it today so…

You need some? Why would I have pine resin…?
…! Ohhh, okay… You mean the powder we use in Archery Club, right? The yellow stuff?
We use it even in practices, so it runs out quick…
But I think I have some left. Hang on.

What did you need it for, anyway? Got a bow to take care of? Well, whatever.

Well, we could immediately go to Paulownia and give this to Elizabeth there but… there might be a better way.

Like, say, let’s go to Tartarus. It IS Saturday and all…

The Poem For Everyone’s Soul

And THEN give Elizabeth the Pine Resin!

Ah, no… it must be the pine resin I requested.
It does look like soybean powder, though…

Your reward for this assignment will be soybean powder.
Ah, excuse me. I was just cooking something with soybean powder, so…
…Hmm. Which hand was the pine resin in… my right, or my left…?
They look so similar…
Please accept your reward.

This is an item equivalent of an instant-kill spell. It has its uses for sure, but of course being Expel elemental anything worth using it on is immune.

tartarus_0d01

So, let’s see if we can finish off Thebel this time. Since we don’t have much left in terms of unique content, this should (appear to) be brief at least!

This is kind of nice, but Elemental Gems have a secret downside that means we probably won’t use them all that much. It’s worth it just for the functionally free multi-target attack at least.

Once we hit floor 7, Mitsuru chimes in with information that there is indeed a boss fight upstairs… somewhere. Useful!

That’s a pretty small Shadow. That means it’s probably just one thing… Grave Beetles always come alone…

Mass Destruction / Wiping All Out

Since we crept up on it from directly behind, this was nice and easy to snag at least. Sure enough, it IS a Grave Beetle too!

Thanks to Angel giving us actual Wind capability, we can drop it reasonably quickly as well. As for the cut-ins that will inevitably keep cropping up, they sure look cool… but that’s all they do. They don’t guarantee your attack to hit (at least here), they don’t ensure extra damage, they’re just style not substance. Which is kinda disappointing, but whatever I’m super okay with that.

Since we have the quest to get a Beetle Shell active, the Grave Beetle actually does drop it too. I do believe they’re guaranteed so long as the quest is active, so you COULD get more than 1. I don’t know why you would though…

Oh and from 6F+ we can also encounter these guys. They’re basically miniature enemy versions of Yukari, without the ability to heal. They use bows to attack and cast Garu. They do have a weakness that’s actually exploitable at least.

tartarus_0d01

On 8F, Mitsuru just gives us good advice and recommends we bail if we’re too injured/Tired. While I totally agree with that, I am far too arrogant and overly confident for my own good and almost never do so unless it’s actively a liability. You’d think the extra damage received and reduced damage dealt would be incentive enough…

But, see, it really isn’t. In fact for a lot of trash Shadows I just kite them around at this point and see what I can get out of it. Sometimes it’s useful. Others… it’s, uh, Medicine.

Absolutely nothing of substance happens on the 9th floor so we’ll skip to the 10th!

Definitely going to want to active the Terminal Point just in case…

The Poem For Everyone’s Soul

And then take this thing back to Elizabeth!

It is by far one of the most lucrative things we can do at this stage after all.

Anyway, uh, how about that boss fight?

Magician Dancing Hand x3 b[/b]

Master of Tartarus / Danger Zone

Yeah, uh, no. These guys are kind of easy compared to the Venus Eagle. Honestly, there’s only one reason I reckon they aren’t the other way around…

That they’re weak to Strike sure doesn’t hurt, but it does mean we’d normally need to ditch Orpheus and pray that Bash gets inherited on fusion for it to be viably exploitable. But! Ara Mitama comes with it by default!

As for what these guys can do, they can cast all the single target first tier Elemental spells.

…And apparently they can cast this? That’s the meanest thing about this fight, right there.

Tentarafoo is a multi-target ailment spell that has a base 25% chance to inflict Panic. Fortunately, it isn’t quite as mean as it is in later Persona games since this just closes off skills and that’s basically it here. But, uh, that can potentially be bad enough if it hits Makoto.

Anyway, my main plan for these guys is really simple. Knock 'em all down, don’t All Out Attack, make sure Yukari doesn’t ruin anything and hope to God that Junpei doesn’t miss and kills one.

Thankfully, the AI obliges provided thigns go as planned. This makes the remaining two hands waste their turns getting back up and then we knock 'em flat onto their… palms?.. again and then we do AOA and end the fight. Nice and easy.

At least that’s what we WOULD do if I didn’t have a cunning plan…

They give okay EXP and 3 Mazio Gems is potentially nice. Resistance-wise, they’re relatively tame there being immune to Expel/Curse (for sensible reasons) and resistant to Fire/Ice/Elec/Wind. That’s it. They have 220HP and 120SP so we can’t realistically run them out of spellcasting anytime quickly.

End

tartarus_0d01

A dumb thing about vanilla and FES is that it doesn’t tell you if your party members level up following a boss fight. So you have to manually check and, sure enough, they did. This is pretty important since now Yukari and Junpei can actually hit weaknesses sometimes. It’s kind of hilarious that Yukari learns her first three skills at levels 4, 5 and 16 though.

Fixed treasure on this floor is a pair of higher-end SP restoratives. Once again, I feel like this is weirdly paced and doesn’t necessarily make sense. It’s fitting for the boss fight and all, but maybe like 5 Snuff Souls would’ve been more level appropriate? Not like I’m complaining all that much though!

From 11 onwards, we get some new Shadows added to the rotation again. We’ll see them in time, I’m sure.

As an added bonus, we find a rare treasure chest that gives us a Juzumaru as well. I will need one more before I’m satisfied enough with this, though…

Mass Destruction / Wiping All Out

Floors 11 onwards add this one new Shadow. Yep. One. It’s two humanoids that are connected by skewers which is kinda hardcore I guess?

They can do this which is pretty mean. Even meaner is the AI explicitly cheating with its targetting here.

Trance Twins ARE weak to Fire and Junpei has Agi now, but he’d never used it before.

Neither aspect of this winning plan was exactly known by the AI at the time…

tartarus_0d01

On the 12th floor, Mitsuru tells us where the next boss fight is. Exactly. Impressive! I also think the dialogue here got messed up and this should be on the 13th…

Ah well, while looking for the stairs leading on up to the 13th, we find this. A Traesto Gem might be useful at some point as a quick means of leaving Tartarus without finding an Access Point.

On the 13th floor, Mitsuru decides to get vague again. This is why I’m pretty sure the dialogue here is backwards. It’s really clearer the other way around after all.

Ah well, it’s not like it matters too much. At least the 13th lets us find a nice piece of armor.

It’s flatout better than anything else we have AND gives a Strength boost? Definitely giving this to Junpei then.

Speaking of armor, there is some… special armor around the middle of the block (from 6+) that I’ll definitely go back and get because it’s worth seeing.

Anyway, we’ll worry about that later! For now, the 14th floor awaits and with it the boss fight against… one Shadow? Well, this should be easy.

…Ahahaha noooo. At this point, everyone is Tired, I’m missing a key element to make this fight viable and I don’t want to get Sick today so we’re going to just bail. Having the Terminal Point active will save time getting back here later though!

The Voice Someone Calls

You again?
It’s been a while. Are you well?

Be careful. A new ordeal awaits you…
What kind of ordeal?

You must prepare for the ordeal, but time is of the essence… I’m sure you’re aware of that, of course.

[Handel]

The older I get, the more I identify with Yuko. (Or something something depression)

[Fefnir]

I can’t tell if I like Elizabeth or Theo more. I want them both in the same room, they’d be great.

[Lotus]

After last night’s… interesting heads-up from that one weird kid, I guess that explains why there’s moons on the day calendar here and a constant reminder on the main HUD too…

So, first day of Golden Week! It’s a 3 day holiday, though really it’s just 2 since the first is a Sunday.

Hmm, Sunday… that reminds me.

Current Net Price Tanaka
super recommended double plus pro click

[quote]Current Net Price Tanaka in your television
Everyone’s friend of desire[/quote]

Hmm, translating it sounds rather clunky huh. Oh well, that’s what the opening actually says (though it’s not translated in-game).

We’ll show you great items at unbeatable prices! Ooh, you won’t be able to touch that dial!
Let’s bring out our item of the day!

[quote]Current Net Price Tanaka in your television
Shop, it’s now or never[/quote]

Oh my goodness! I can’t believe its wondefulness!
But wait, there’s more!

We could totally not buy this, but if we either can’t afford it or opt to not but it then we lose the chance permanently.

Honestly, Tanaka’s is such a good deal in general, that missing out here sucks so much. Granted we don’t get the stuff until Tuesday…

See you next Sunday, same time, same channel!

The catchy song starts up again…

The shopping program is over.

Welp, that’s it for this week. Now to find something less important to do…

Iwatodai Dorm

Sure am.
Damn you, you backstabber!
Well, go right ahead then. The door’s right there. Don’t worry 'bout me. I’ll just be here, doing nothing.

The bigger it is, the more enemies there are inside it.
And watch out for those red Shadows.

Know what you’re getting into before you attack one.

How do you know about that, Akihiko? They sure don’t appear at the start of Tartarus and none are in Thebel at all…

Will you be able to fight with only three members until he returns?
Of course.
C’est magnifique! Then, I’ll be counting on you.

Oh wait, it’s Sunday! Damn I nearly forgo–

Nooooooo!!

And now, the news.

Today we’ll look at the epidemic of youth depression, including an interview with the leader of the…

And then it just ends. Welp, okay.

When The Moon’s Reaching Out Stars

Alright, so, while we’re out ever-so-briefly we could totally sell all this trash gear we’ve picked up. Getting it from Shuffle Time isn’t quite as efficient as just taking the money outright but it’s not really bad either.

Oh and those Empress’s Masks are just for use here flipping them for an easy 6k. Gonna have to remember to do that sometime.

Although she’s late… Hmm. I wonder where she is…

But, uh, it’s a Sunday so we’re limited in what we can do right now. That means I guess we can stay inside and study, go to the movies or do the needful and play an MMO.

Let’s be real, there’s only one option here.

Joy

You don’t see any other players.

The girl in gray signs on.

u remember me rite? =/
…Have we met?

The other player seems sad.

Hey, if you’re going to reference Persona 2 and then try and act like it’s clever, you’re not allowed to get mad when I do it too!

hmm… what kinda people r we, playing inside on such a beautiful day?
Sunshine is overrated.
HahaHAha!! dman straight! XD

It seems like Maya is amused.

lol… we’re s’posed to be leveling, but we jus keep on chatting =3
but hey, grinding gets old rite? its more fun talking to u, tatsuya.

Maya opened up to you.

Your relationship is stronger now!

Oh shit, I figured it out. It’s Sunday which means sales day which means… Maya is Saitama!

Ace detective!

Maya’s player signed off.

You decided to log out as well.

Honestly, it’s amazing that we’re even capable of putting up with this thing even if it IS for S.Link purposes. Makoto always looks so bored in these scenes, moreso than at any other time.

Also Maya does indeed just steal our nighttime slot too. For some unexplained reason. It’s kinda very dumb!

Let’s see, today is a Monday which means we can’t Tanaka again. We could spend today with Maya as well, but that’s not really ideal. Hmm…

Iwatodai Dorm

During these times, you may encounter an enemy. So if you think you’re in danger, use Request Help immediately.
When you do, I will contact the others and request that they assist you.

Honestly, I’m impressed that Akihiko can sleep with something on his face like that. Just like in general.

Today’s subject is a 20-year-old girl with bright blond hair.

…Next is the news. Pain, pain, go away!

So the second guest we’ve seen on Who’s Who is Lisa “Ginko” Silverman, an American girl who… can’t actually speak English because she wasn’t taught it. Because her dad is a weeb. Really. She’s got a super-obvious crush on Tatsuya, is super into Bruce Lee and kung-fu movies in general and decided to try to learn Cantonese in lieu of Japanese to spite her shitty parents. Lisa’s primary Arcana was the Lovers, and her default Persona is Eros, the overtly on the nose Greek God of Love. She’s a playable character… in Innocent Sin… and only an NPC in Eternal Punishment.

When The Moon’s Reaching Out Stars

Hanging out with friends is nice, but it’s important to get some alone time too.

So, that’s today down the drain. We’re gonna try again tomorrow.
I always have the worst luck on my days off…

'Sunfortunate, that. We’re also fairly limited on what we can do today right now, but it’s fine since we have just the thing.

We could totally do Maya again, but this is a day that gives us effectively guaranteed bookstore time so we’d be a fool (no, the bad kind) to not take it.

Joy

What was your name again?
Makoto…
I’m just joking. I know who you are. I’m not that old.
My wife and I were just talking about you, Makoto-chan.

Makoto-chan, do you like Melon Breads?
Someone gave them to me, but I have more than enough. Go ahead, take one.
Thanks.
Don’t worry about it; it’s just a Melon Bread. There’s no need to thank me.
Makoto-chan, you’re so polite. I wish HE had been that way…

Do you want one for a friend too?
…Because it’ll take us forever to finish them all.
Thanks.
Alright, here ya go. Um… uh… err…
What was your name again…?
Remember, dear? This is Makoto-chan.
I’m sorry, Makoto-chan. He’s terribly forgetful lately.
Here you go.

…Where did he run off to, dear?
Who’s “he”?

Let’s not play the pronoun game for once, maybe.

Our spoiled son. He hasn’t been back in a while.

Bunkichi seems lonely.

Where did he go, dear?

Mitsuko seems sad.

Troubled

What are you talking about?

My apologies, Makoto-chan. I hope I’m not making you feel uncomfortable.

Bunkichi and Mitsuko shared their painful past with you.

Your relationship is stronger now!

H-Hey, hey, why the gloomy faces?
It’s dark outside. I don’t need it to be dark in here too.
…Please come again. We’ll be waiting for you, Makoto-chan.

After saying goodbye to Bunkichi and Mitsuko, you decided to go back to the dorm.

Iwatodai Dorm

You’ll have to carry it with you, even when you’re not in battle.
A one-handed sword is probably the easiest to use.
It’s not too hard to swing, and it has decent range.

But if you want to go to Tartarus, you can go and tell her.

Let’s see, it’s a Monday so that’s probably out but… the next Saturday IS the night of the full moon…

Sorry Junpei, already know. Hold R1 and it displays until you let go! Already used it, even.

There’s no excuse for being unprepared.
We can’t afford to let ourselves be surprised.

Now I’m not putting complete stock in what that kid said, but if he’s telling the truth and we have to deal with One Of THEM, then we’re limited on time to go to Tartarus…

So this is our first opportunity since we last went. Might as well take it and see if we can at least finish Thebel at last.

Mass Destruction / Wiping All Out

Goddamn, a Gold Shadow! This wasn’t supposed to happen! I was meant to get to secretly finish grinding without needing to do anything here on-screen.

But, yeah, these guys are Metal Slimes through and through. Nimble bastards, tank hits real good, almost always go first and run if given any chance. Stat-wise, Wealth Hands are level 1, have 100HP, 100SP, 1 Strength, 1 Magic, 1 Endurance… and 99 Agility and 99 Luck. They’re immune to Expel, so whoops that’s out. Resitant to everything else though.

Thankfully, Elizabeth gave us these Agilao Gems otherwise we sure wouldn’t be killing this thing anytime soon.

Don’t even give any EXP but that’s fine since that Wealth Coin is very important. Because it’s vendor trash. It’s another 3000 on top of whatever else we can get, which is pretty great.

The Poem For Everyone’s Soul

…At some point I apparently did pick up a 3rd Juzumaru. How about that.

Ahh, and the hilt has beadwork laid in… That’s why it’s called the katana of evil’s bane.
It’s a good-sized sword, too.
Approximately… 81.08 centimeters, with a 3-centimeter curve, measuring about 3.96 centimeters in width.

Cards like this are semi-rare but useful to get whenever you can, since they’re statboosters. They all increase Luck and a second stat based on the Lesser Arcana represented. Cups are Endurance so this Lu+1/En+2 which isn’t exactly my preferred stat gain.

And while we’re here, let’s make the first boss of Nocturne. He’s going to theoretically end up being really useful for what we need him for. Gonna stick Pixie and Nekomata together for this one to get best chances of Pulinpa and anything useful.

Pulinpa (ST Panic; base 25% chance) is only available on Pixie at this point and she needs grinding to level 4 to get it, you see, hence swapping her in at the end of the Dancing Hands. Jack Frost DOES have it by default but he’s level 8 and if you can grind enough to get him here you’re a more patient person than I. Or playing Portable since it requires no grinding to manage that there.

Now then, let’s just head right on back to the 14th floor.

There’s only one Shadow here, but man can this guy be a bit of a doozy if you don’t know what to expect…

Chariot Rampage Drive b[/b]

Master of Tartarus / Danger Zone

Nice to see that Mitsuru has learned how to read the number on the mask, without needing to analyze the Shadow first.

Anyway, Rampage Drive is a meanie poopiehead and I’m so hardcore I’m fighting him with the main character tired. (thanks pixie)

Mercifully, he’s a big ol’ strong dude with no elemental weaknesses so he’s susceptible to ailments somewhat. Panic is the best we’ve got at this stage, the only easy early alternative being Rage and oh dear god no that sounds like a fucking terrible idea.

The early-game really hates Junpei though, so this guy is just that writ large. On top of being immune to Expel and Curse, he resists Fire and nulls Slash and Pierce.

That doesn’t mean Strike is a good idea though. No, that’s worse. Asshole reflects Strike!

If it is was just that, he’d be kind of annoying but takable in a straight fight. You’re ultimately going to be leaving either damage or healing (or potentially both!) to Yukari because Junpei can’t contribute to either well, so this guy has a counter for that too. Remember how getting knocked down eats your turn when you get back up? Elec just so happens to be the only magical element this guy has…

Suddenly that susceptibility to Panic is a damned good thing to use, huh. If he wasn’t Panicked, he’d deal ~70 damage to Yukari alone, so uh, yeah. Bad times. Strangely he doesn’t get One Mores outside of Portable which is not at all a bad thing.

But if “almost one-shotting Yukari” isn’t scary enough (which, let’s be fair, it kind of isn’t), he can also do this make it “almost one-shot EVERYONE” instead. That 70 goes to breaking triple digits. Yeesh.

Mazio is Rampage Drive’s only multi-target attack though, but let’s pretend he got to use something. Assault Dive is light Strike damage. Bash is also light, for reference, but the difference is quite pronounced as Bash has a Power of 30 whereas Assault Dive is 90. Rampage Drive has 9 Strength and he sure knows how to use it.

Fortunately, there’s other means of dealing with this thing albeit they’re riskier. Cadenza is a good alternative since it’s both a multi-target heal AND an evasion boost. It’s not quite as sure a bet as inflicting Panic though. It’s still helpful if you don’t have a thing that can cast Sukukaja (you almost certainly don’t)…

Since remember what I said before about Panic sealing skills? Yeah, his basic attack still goes through. And it’s Pierce elemental just to mess up anyone who thought Ara Mitama was a safe bet to solo this thing or whatever.

So, yeah, Rampage Drive is the first “real” roadblock and one hell of a step-up after some eagles and hands that probably don’t even get real turns. And that’s a good thing. It gives a fight that has some degree of tension since Panic only removes 2 turns and then he gets to do SOMETHING.

Another alternative is to wait until later and then just dunk on the bastard with stronger things and party members that can contribute better but, uh, nope. That’s not my speed and is a bad idea in general.

End

tartarus_0d01

Balms of Life are revives that put someone back up with 100% HP instead of the 50% that Revival Beads do. And since Rampage Drive dropped one, we got two out of that guy. How nice. That other briefcase though…

Full party restore. For all HP. And all SP. If they’re giving this NOW, I can only imagine what’s waiting on higher floors…

Speaking of which, 15F let’s go why not!

It ends up being really, really tiny though. There’s the stairs basically right in front of where we spawn, one whole Shadow but there’s nothing new here, an access point by the stairs because uhhh random generation is dumb and one item (it’s a Muscle Drink here, great).

Good work. Return to the entrance.

16F is… as far as we can go. We’ll leave in a moment, but first: fixed loot!

Not quite what I was expecting, but Elizabeth wants to at least see this for the last request we can do. It’s also on a time limit that is very, VERY close to expiring so I’m glad we got this outta the way now.

We can even read it in the menu if we want, though it’s not so much a “document” as it is a “paragraph.” Following in the survival horror trend of documentation, I see.

Also, I appreocate that the barricade is formed entirely out of school chairs. And also a magical aura. It just gives it that extra touch.

The Poem For Everyone’s Soul

Have you already read it? It’s quite interesting…
If not, then I definitely recommend you take a look.

A Bead Chain is always nice for sure, but I feel like this wasn’t necessarily reflective of the work required to get it considering we got a Bead Chain and a Soma en route as it is.

Only request remaining now is to have both a Jack Frost and Pyro Jack at the same time and that’s not happening for a while. No reason to stick around here, so back to the daily life of being a high school boy it is…

[Lotus]

Nothing left in Tartarus right now, so we’ll be hanging out with a bunch of folks this time, I guess.

Tuesday being a holiday drastically limits our options, though…

Iwatodai Dorm

The Minister of Public Management has reported the number of children under 15 years of age. According to the report, 9.8% of the population is aged 15 years or younger. The report marks the first time Japan’s child population has been under 10%. The aging population is slowly becoming a problem in some areas… The government has called for more data regarding the situation, and ordered a study into the matter.

Mitsuru’s dialogue hasn’t updated since yesterday and Akihiko is still dead on the couch. Still not gonna deal with Maya because of sensible time-management reasons.

When The Moon’s Reaching Out Stars

But dude, no one’s showed up yet. Maybe I’m just early, but…

Hmm, so there’s not much to do today really so… back to the bookstore it is!

Joy

But, I can’t seem to find it.
Looking for something?

How’d you know I was looking for something? Are you psychic?

I’m looking for my glasses… No, not my glasses–my wallet… I can’t seem to find it.
I’ll help you look.
Wow! Makoto-chan, you really can read minds!
I was just thinking it’d be nice if someone gave us a hand.

You search for the wallet with Bunkichi and Mitsuko.

…Wait, what were we looking for?

The mysterious foreigner handed a wallet to Bunkichi.

Wow! This is it! I’ve been looking for this wallet everywhere!
Well, it’s not a golden wallet, but I’m still happy to have it back!
Sumimasen, excuse me…
Aren’t you ze transfer student everyone eez talking about?
I go to ze same school–Gekkoukan!
…Who are you?

Wait, how do you get from that to… but that’s… I don’t…

…
Hajime mashite, it eez nice to meet you too!

Remember a while back there was an NPC who mentioned that room? Yeah, now that makes sense. Though this scene is only one requirement for getting in there. We still need more Academics…

I 'ope to see you zere. Sayonara, goodbye!

Bebe has left the store.

Hmm… I thought I put it in my wallet so I wouldn’t lose it…
Ah, here it is! I knew it was in here!
…Dear? Is that key for…?

Troubled

Seeing Makoto-chan reminded me of how things used to be…
I haven’t heard the roar of the engine in a long time. How do I look, dear?

Why must you get into a car!? Do you want me to end up all alone!?
What’s so bad about a car?
Um, Makoto-chan…
I’m sorry for raising my voice. Did I scare you?
Our son… Remember what I told you? How he passed away…

I’m sorry to hear that.
Makoto-chan, please punch me… Punch me for being so insensitive…
With all my excitement, I forgot to consider how my wife might feel… I’m such a… I’m such a…

It seems like Bunkichi feels guilty.

Bunkichi and Mitsuko told you the truth about their son’s death.

Your relationship is stronger now!

Since I found my wallet, why don’t we eat out, dear?
Thanks for searching with us. Makoto-chan. Consider this your allowance.

Bunkichi stuffed a Medicine into your pocket.

After saying goodbye to Bunkichi and Mitsuko, you decided to go back to the dorm.

Iwatodai Dorm

Yuka-tan said she’s gonna study… But not me, man. I’m gonna find something fun to do.

Yeah, Mitsuru and Akihiko aren’t anywhere in the dorm today. So this is the first time we explicitly can’t go to Tartarus isn’t of just opting to not do so.

I didn’t study at all over the weekend, so I’m getting it done now.
Maybe next time?

Yukari IS around, but uh she’s shut herself up in her room to study. Well, we DO have exams in 2 weeks…

We can’t do much about that for the moment, so we’ll just do whatever we can I guess.

It’s the thing you bought from the TV show!

The Slash Ward will be useful later, but the Sappy Jelly is basically useless really. It’s fine, we weren’t after that anyway.

Now this? This is gonna be useful if it sticks around 'til the 7th. Extra Courage from Edogawa isn’t a bad thing.

Want To Be Close

Listening: You know, rabbits can die from sadness.
Gossiping: Okay… First, you’re not a rabbit. And second, that’s just a rumor.
Listening: What? No way! I thought it was scientific fact…

Listening: She looked so sad playing all by herself. I felt sorry for her…

The first bell has rung.

I was watching TV last night, and there was a special on weight loss. “The more you drink, the thinner you get!” Yeah, right!
What about the osmotic pressure, huh? It’s misinformation, but people believe what they see on TV…
A lot of companies say stuff like “Our product contains minerals!” But that’s a load of hooey. There’s hardly more than trace elements of whatever they’re talking about. It’s meaningless.
Did you know that there are different names for water depending on its calcium or magnesium content? You look like you know the answer. Makoto… Surprise me.

Soft water.
That’s right. You’re better-informed than I thought! Most of the water in Japan is soft water.
That’s why many Japanese find it strange to drink hard water, because they’re used to the other kind.
Remember. cooking rice with hard water ruins the flavor. Now. let’s look at the various ions in water…

You gave the correct answer!

Alright, so now what are we going to actually do with our day? Hmm.

Well, first we’ll gladly take our Courage boost and then, uh, since we’re in the area…

Should probably go talk to Ms. Toriumi about student council before I forget entirely.

About Student Council…
Oh, yes. I heard from Mitsuru. All you need to do is read this and sign here.

You signed the papers that Ms. Toriumi handed you.

Makoto Yuki… Alright, then.
Leave the rest to me. Good luck in Student Council.

You now have access to the Student Council Room.

Now we can do something with that, I guess? But for now, we’ve got something more important to do. Gonna head on over to that shrine to see what’s going on over there. Something weird about that and all…

When The Moon’s Reaching Out Stars

Who are you?
Mom and Dad said not to talk to bad people… Are you bad?
Yeah, real bad.

Maiko looks as if she wants something.

I can’t play right now because I’m hungry.
There’s something I really want…

We already have the right thing for this, so we don’t get told quite what she wants but it’s fine.

This is my favorite! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

This is the easy bit at least, since if you don’t have it you can just go to the strip mall and buy it.

That was so yummy I ate them all!
But, now I’m thirsty…

Maiko looks as if she wants something.

This is my favorite! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

This one is a legitimate timekiller though. If you don’t have this, too bad. Only place to get it is the vending machines in the dorm so you can’t just go and get it as easily.

Wow! I’m having so much fun!
You’re nice. Will you be my friend?
Come play with me again, okay?
Of course.

There ARE options to be a dick to the actual child who seems to have no friends but, uh, lines. Try not to cross them.

You better not be lying!

Social Link… no…? Huh. Weird. Sure feels like one would trigger here, but no dice. This didn’t even take up time!

But we WILL get one here now that we’ve done this, but that’s a way down the line right now. We need to come back at a later date, which is why the timekill from missing the Mad Bull can matter so much. You only have like 3 days of leeway when it comes to maxing every link so there’s one gone right there. So far so good, though…

But anyway, let’s see. What are we going to spend actual time on? Kenji (haha) isn’t around, Kaz isn’t around, Yuko isn’t worth our time without a Strength Persona now and that’s a long way off…

I suppose we’ll get this done then, yeah?

Joy

He’s the one I’ve been talking about the past few days. He’ll be joining us in Student Council.
Makoto-kun, huh…

I’m a sophomore, and um… I’m still learning the ropes, so… please be patient with me, Makoto-san.
Nice to meet you.

Again. We saw Chihiro very, VERY briefly on our first day of school.

Hidetoshi is sizing you up.

…You must be talented if the President hand-picked you.

It seems Hidetoshi wants to learn more about you.

You’re getting to know the members of Student Council.

The Power of The Heart

A mysterious voice rings in your head…

So, uh, fun fact about this link. In the original vanilla version, it’s glitched. The boost you get from having a Persona of the relevant Arcana didn’t work here, which made charting an already tight route even harsher by accident. Fortunately it was fixed in FES and Portable so we don’t have that issue to deal with.

Joy

It’ll be your job to help us, Yuki.
From now on, you have my permission to enter the Student Council Room whenever you need to.
That includes after school, too. Thank you, Yuki, for joining us today.

You decided to go back to the dorm.

Iwatodai Dorm

I’m getting worried since nothing’s happened since that one day…
Is it just me, or are more people getting Apathy Syndrome lately?
I have a feeling something bad is going to happen. …Or, am I just being paranoid?

However, you can’t wield it very fast, so there is a high risk of the enemy launching a preemptive attack.
Therefore, when using a two-handed sword, you must stand a good distance away from your enemy, and pay close attention to the timing of your strike.

Should I just start going to club when I feel like it. Makoto?
Definitely.
Hey, I was just kidding. Even if I wanted to, Mitsuru would never let me.

…This is a perfect setup for me.
“Now, who wants to reach the top, hmmm?”
“Oh, me! Me! I wanna go to the top! I wanna go to the top!”
Well? Whaddya think?
sigh Ignore him. He’s just trying to do his impressions again.

Yeah, uh, I really don’t get this weird running gag all that much. Junpei trying to be a one-man manzai skit really is losing something in translation here, I swear.

It has great range, but its attack speed is slow.
If a Shadow gets in too close… I’m done for.
I need to fight from a distance…

The employee involved in creating the malicious code has already been terminated, but company officials have yet vto determine the true extent of the information leak.

Well, that’s rank 2 in about 16 days or so. Can we get to 3 in the next 12? P-Probably not… but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try!

Silence

Hm? Well, this is different.

Sure.
You wanna do something next Sunday?
Sure.
Sweet. I’ll see ya next Sunday, then. Don’t forget!

Kazushi seems excited…

Okay so, this would’ve happened on Monday right? Accepting this offer gives us like 5 points or so towards the next Chariot rank (enough to push over the threshold for rank 4!) but the offer would’ve been for Tuesday instead. We could reject that one but then we wouldn’t get this one because it’s kinda a dumb system.

Going to Tartarus locks that day’s call out and delays it until the next opportunity for it to come up. This is something we’re going to be using a couple times because otherwise scheduling is gonna be a pain in the ass to deal with.

More important right now, is that this DID happen and I didn’t have to savescum for it either (though I was totally planning on it).

Want To Be Close

En route to Edogawa, we can find Chihiro hanging out just outside our classroom now.

Um…
…C-Can I help you!?
I wanted to talk…
I-I-I don’t have anything to talk about!
…Oh, um… I’m sorry…

There is an awkward moment between you and Chihiro.

As is the case with a lot of things we’re doing today apparently, this is something that’ll pay off more in the future than now. Necessary evils…

Also we drink Edogawa’s weird bullshit again. I was completely expecting this to push us up to the fourth rank but no such luck. Go figure.

Well, uh, we have a fair few options now but we’ll stick with an old classic for now.

Joy

The Kendo Team is giving it everything they’ve got.

The workout is tough, but fun.

You don’t see Kazushi…

After finishing the training, you decide to go back to the dorm.

Wh-What’s up…? I was just gonna sneak into practice…
Did you ditch?
No way! I had a legitimate reason!

Kazushi seems pissed off.

She made the appointment without telling me, so… there was nothing I could do!
That sucks.
Doesn’t it? My mom, the rest of the team… Why does everyone have to be like that…

It gets annoying when everyone around you is so nosy, huh…?
Today, they took x-rays… I’ll know the results tomorrow. I don’t know why they couldn’t have told me today.
…Oh, hey! Don’t tell anyone about me going to the hospital, alright? I’m counting on you, Makoto!
…I-I’m always asking you to keep quiet… Sorry 'bout that.

Kazushi seems to be appreciative.

Your relationship is stronger now!

Wait a minute! Since you’re leaving, that means practice is over…
…Oh well. I guess I have to go home today… Later, Makoto.

Kazushi has left…

You decide to go back to the dorm.

Iwatodai Dorm

Other than that, nothin’s been going on…
Man, talk about boring…
Let’s go to Tartarus for a little action.
Maybe I should come along… I’m dying of boredom, too.
…Akihiko, are you trying to make me angry?

Yeah, uh, definitely recommend NOT doing that!

How do you like living here?
It’s really… exciting.
That’s very true. I don’t think you’ll find a dormitory like this anywhere else in the world.

Officer Kurosawa must be selling them to us without realizing it.

Yeah, that’s a thing you can tell from the interface even! When your perusing in the store it tells you that there’s some added effect, but not what it is. If you parse it from Kurosawa’s perspective that makes sense but it does have a weird implication that it’s random even though it isn’t.

…But that doesn’t mean anyone will want to buy anything from you.
But, I guess there’s nothing you can do about that.

For even better luck, try skipping and frolicking around!

While I’m sure your curious, sorry, I don’t know if Makoto is a Taurus or not. His actual date of birth is not a known quantity, but that the year is 1992 is. He has to be 16 at the beginning of the second (of three) year of high school which limits it somewhat but that’s all.

For reference of everyone else of importance:

Yukari: October 19, 1992 (Libra)
Junpei: January 13, 1993 (Capricorn)
Akihiko: September 22, 1991 (Virgo)
Mitsuru: May 8, 1991 (Taurus)

So, uh, yeah, the horoscope happens a day before Mitsuru’s birthday at least. Fancy!

Silence

Actually, I’m kinda busy.
Oh, you are? Alright, I guess I’ll talk to you later, then.

Kenji hung up. He sounded disappointed…

Unlike with Kaz before, we can just tell Kenji to piss off and that’s the correct option. I know it seems weird since we don’t need to actually hang out with Kaz for anything this Sunday, but replacing it with Kenji instead is the worse option.

…And not just because he’s Kenji but that sure doesn’t help.

Want To Be Close

Regardless, we want to talk to Kenji now because at rank 3 he tells us about the Best Character*.

Well, I heard he knows more about food than anyone…
People are always asking him for recommendations on where to eat.
…Well, I major in noodles, so there’s nothing he can tell me about ramen that I don’t already know.
I mean, I heard he goes to Hagakure and orders rice-based dishes… What a loser!

Yeah, I’m sure that’s his worst trait all right.

Also wow Kenji you have no high ground to stand on, you creepoid weirdo.

I wonder who he is…

We could theoretically try and meet the Gourmet King right now and I was very tempted but there’s a time and a place for everything. The Gourmet King will get his time in the spotlight soon enough…

For now, let’s see how bad Kenji’s terrible plan will go. This should be funny.

Joy

Why?
Hey, don’t freak out, man!
I’m gonna go ask Ms. Kanou out right now!
Good luck.
Thanks, man! I’m gonna go get myself a girlfriend!

If I give him false hope, it’s going to make his crash that much sweeter…

Alright, dude, here I go!

Kenji ran off.

Hey, man, listen to this!
She said yes! Can you believe it!? She said YES!

No, in fact, I don’t believe it at all.

…O-oh. Uhh, so, you see, the thing about that is…

Kenji is in his own world.

Dude, I owe you! I owe you big time!

It seems that Kenji successfully asked out Ms. Kanou… i[/i]

Your relationship is stronger now!

Maybe, uh, here’s a thought: don’t consider assaulting your teacher, Kenji. Definitely don’t do it either!

Kenji is talking to himself and doesn’t seem like he’s ever going to stop.

Kenji ran off.

It’s getting dark. You decide to return to the dorm.

So, uh, real quick: the first time I played this game I got to this scene. I then proceeded to ignore Kenji for the rest of time, because jesus christ.

I can be fairly confident in presuming I’m not the only one.

Iwatodai Dorm

Anyway, happy birthday Mitsuru! No one will comment on this in-game though!

You’re referring to the Shadows, I take it?
It’s been a month since the last attack, yet I’m certain that won’t be the last time they appear outside of Tartarus.
True… Lately, it seems like The Lost are everywhere. So, something must be going on…

During Rush, everyone on the team will attack the same enemy. It’s an easy way to finish a battle quickly.
But, be careful if you use it on a strong enemy, because you can’t heal during Rush. So don’t get us all killed, man.

It’s also the button that gets remapped in Persona 5 for the skills menu, so while I auto things a lot anyway I end up doing it more by accident as a result. Awkward, annoying but it hasn’t killed me yet so that’s a wash.

Anxiety is spreading near Port Island, where many of the victims are from. This is Kaede Kuroki, reporting from Tatsumi Memorial Hospital.

So there’s not much around at the dorm, and there’s a full moon tomorrow…

If that kid was right, then we have something happening tomorrow. Hopefully, it’ll be something we can manage if it even happens…

[Lotus]

So, May 9th. A Full Moon, huh? I’m sure nothing untoward will happen.

Want To Be Close

How’s it going? Have you been training in Tartarus?
Yeah, a lot.
Great, keep it up. It never hurts to train while you have the chance.
My wounds will heal in no time, and then I’ll be able to join you on the front line.
But, don’t just rely on me.

So, uh, something important here…

You wonder if something will happen.

You should probably head back to the dorm just to be on the safe side.

We don’t get any free time at all today. Last chance to save at all for the totally definitely nothing was, well, yesterday.

After that, we just skip right on over to the Dark Hour…

In The Shadow Of A Full Moon

The Voice Someone Calls

You’re still at it?
Yeah. You never know when the enemy might appear.
But, I thought you couldn’t scan outside of Tartarus?
To be honest, I lack the power…

Although, the power of Persona seems to be much broader than I thought.

There’s something special about his ability.
It hasn’t been that long since his awakening, either.
I have to admit, I was surprised too.
But in the end, it’s up to him whether or not he can reach his full potential.
Huh…?

Silence

What!? You actually found one!?
Wait, something’s not right. The reading is too big.
We’ve never encountered anything like–

Calamity

You mean, it’s one of those!?
…It must be.

I’ll wake up the others.

One press of a button, a loud alarm and a fade to blue later…

Where is it!? I’ll rip it a new one!
We’ve detected a Shadow outside of Tartarus.
We don’t know for sure, but we think it’s another big one.
We have to defeat any of them we find, as quickly as possible.

That must be avoided at all costs.
In other words, we need to kick some ass, right? Well, count me in!
sigh Junpei…

Wha–!? Are you kidding!? I’m going!
You still need to recover. You’ll just be a hindrance.
Tch!
They’ll fare better than you, in your current state.
Have faith in them, Akihiko… They’re ready.
You’ll get your chance. But for now, wait for the Chairman.
…
Dammit…
Relax! I’ve got it covered!
I guess I’ve got no choice…

We’re counting on you…
Why me?
Who cares? They chose you, didn’t they? Same as always.
Heh, looks like you’re stuck playin’ leader again…
Sucks to be you.

If you’re providing backup out there, you’ll need time to get ready, right?
Wait for me in front of the station. I’ll be there as soon as I can.
Got it.
Alright, let’s go!

The Voice Someone Calls

She’ll be here soon.
There’s a full moon tonight…

…Huh? What the!?

I just love the reactions (by which I mean Junpei’s) to Mitsuru turning up on the motorbike that they all know she has.

Listen carefully.
Tonight, I’ll be providing support from here. Everything else is the same.

To get there, you’ll have to walk on the tracks.
Are you serious!? Isn’t that dangerous…?

But, your bike…
It’s special.

That’s a bit of an understatement…

Now, if circumstances change, I’ll notify you immediately.
Let’s get started.
Okay.
L-Let’s do this!

End

Deep Breath Deep Breath

You have to stop the Shadows before they harm the passengers. Hurry!

This is a small, controllable section that basically exists just to setup everyone’s equipment and check out the full moon. And also get a look at Tartarus from a distance, for good measure.

The Voice Someone Calls

Yes, I can hear you clearly.
We just got here, but I don’t see anything out of the ordinary…
The readings are definately coming from that monorail.
Proceed with caution, and stay together.
Got it.
Heheh, my Persona’s just beggin’ to be used!

He’s been Transmogged, huh… Creepy.
So… guys like him don’t remember a thing, right?
It’s probably better that way.
Huh…? Wait a minute.
We’re not at a station, but the doors are wide–

!?

As if on cue, the doors begin to slam shut. Great work, tempting fate there.

Calamity

Damn, it won’t open!
Ow, my fingers!
Will ya look at them! They’re all jacked up!
What’s wrong? What happened!?
It looks like we’re trapped inside…

Be ready for anything! Proceed with extreme caution!
R-Roger!

Deep Breath Deep Breath

We get to move through the monorail’s train cars now though they’re lacking in much of anything. Including Shadows. Hmm, how odd…

I don’t see any Shadows…

Junpei even comments on it as we enter the 9th car…

Though this time around, nothing happens.

Well, not immediately anyway. Once we get about halfway through the 8th this happens.

gasp
There it is!

Oddly though, rather than attack us, the Shadow runs away. Hmm!

Junpei, being kind of an idiot, fails to see through the world’s most obvious ruse and tries to give chase.

Something’s not right… The enemy is acting strangely.
But, if we don’t go after it, we’re gonna lose it!
Makoto, you’re in charge over there. What do you think?
We should be careful.
I agree.

Who needs your advice!?
We can beat that thing no problem!
Hell, I’ll do it myself!

Watch out! Behind you!

Oh look, the obvious trap was in fact an obvious trap. What a shocker. I bet as we’re getting ambushed here, Junpei’s getting jumped by a bunch up ahead.

Mass Destruction / Wiping All Out

Alright, so, we have some new Shadows to deal with here. Makes sense, since this isn’t Tartarus and all.

They, uh, are cripplingly weak to fire though. Well, they ARE books…

They also signal the beginning of just getting real EXP values in general. I’m getting excited!

Deep Breath Deep Breath

We have no choice.
You have to go after him, or you’ll be picked off, one by one.
Dammit, Stupei! What are you thinking!?

If I had to guess, he isn’t.

From what I can tell, he’s only a few cars ahead.

Gah! Get out of our way!!

Mass Destruction / Wiping All Out

Two Spurious Books like before, but with a Heat Balance added in for good measure. This one resists Fire (and Ice) so you can’t just use the same thing here, but…

It’s weak to Wind and Elec to compensate. It balances heat, after all! Not so great at the other things.

Deep Breath Deep Breath

Well, after that we get a chance to heal if necessary (ha) and then run through another empty carriage.

He should know it’s too dangerous to go alone…
Don’t you think he’s acting weird? Did you say something to upset him, Makoto-kun?
Well, we can ask him once we’ve caught up to him!

No need, I can tell you right now what the problem is.

He’s obviously upset and mad that we were assigned group leader again, and he wasn’t considered. Unfortunately for him, it’s stunts like this that make him bad leadership material in the first place.

Shoot! He’s surrounded!? We’ve gotta help him!

Well, shit, he’s been hit with an All-Out Attack! He got too cocky…

…I’ve got it under control!
Take this, you freak of nature!

Mass Destruction / Wiping All Out

So, one book, one balance and… a Dancing Hand?! Well, that’s different.

It’s not quite the same as the ones we fought before, though. It has significantly less health and a reduced movepool.

It’s also capable of taking over double its max HP from a single Agi. Resistances are also, therefore, quite different from before, yes. It sure ain’t weak to Strike here.

Silence

…So, are you alright?
O-Of course I am…
I was doin’ just fine…
Excuse me!?

Well, he’s not wrong. That fight was 2/3rds weak to Fire and 1/3rd resistant sure, but Heat Balance kind of crumples because it’s trash fodder.

Be careful, you three!
I don’t detect any movement, but stay alert!

Calamity

It seems the monorail is under the enemy’s control…
Whaddya mean, “it seems”!?
Uh… This doesn’t look good.

WHAT!?
Oh, God! What are we gonna do!?
Calm down and listen.

You’ll have to defeat it to stop the train!

So just do what you were going to do anyway, and everything will work out fine. Convenient!

Mass Destruction / Wiping All Out

Well, so long as the table is only laughing it’s fine. Being a table, it IS weak to Fire but uh Makoto missed like a dumbass.

So Yukari had to actually do something, and one-shot the table anyway.

Deep Breath Deep Breath

Anyway, yeah, uh, you probably noticed the time limit. That never stops ticking down now that it’s started. If it hits zero, that’s kind of amazing honestly. You have to TRY to do that.

There ARE a couple normal Shadow fights hanging around in the second and third carriages, but…

They’re technically downgrades to the random fodder from Tartarus. Kind of a weird decision, but there is a chance that someone could maybe not one-shot the book, hand, table or balance so this is sort of maybe easier to deal with.

The Trance Twins being here is kinda a clever dickmove though, since they CAN steal your SP and all.

As we enter the second car, this happens. It… doesn’t affect anything though.

And of course, what we want is right up front in the first car…

The High Priestess b[/b]

That Which Comes From The Darkness

At the beginning of his journey, as the Fool met the Magician, he also met the Priestess. The Popess balances with the Magus to create all understanding. While the Magician is the conscious, the Priestess is the unconscious. She represents the potential and mystery that surrounds the unknown, in particular it generally refers to hidden knowledge. Remember the unlimited possibilities held within the self, and you can achieve anything…

…Is this the friggin’ boss?
We’re in the front car; it’s gotta be!
Hurry!

II. Arcana Priestess b[/b]

Master of Shadow

As a Shadow, the Priestess represents the Reversed side of the High Priestess tarot card. She was active by taking a direct role in proceedings, for example. A Priestess is generally knowledgable and wise…

She has an interesting design, huh? Long scrolls for “hair” covered in Sanskrit, an overly direct acknowledgement of the feminine aspect of the Priestess and she takes the B and J from the card directly. They stand for Boaz and Jachin and are two of the copper pillars from the Temple of Solomon, the first Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

Anyway, uh, the Priestess is kind of very simple honestly. She has 300 HP, 200SP and… 10 Strength, 10 Magic, 10 Endurance, 10 Agility and 10 Luck. Sure, okay.

Skillwise, she IS varied enough to put them to some degree of use. She always opens by summoning reinforcements, though.

In particular she summons two Muttering Tiaras. They ARE a bit different to normal and are also different to each other!

The one on our left has 8 in all stats and 100HP. It likes to cast Pulinpa, which I hope you remember from before.

If it’s not doing that, then it’s being a bit of a bother and casting Agi.

The other one has 7 in all stats and 70 HP. It casts Dia at that is it.

Resistance wise, these Muttering Tiaras are souped up somewhat being immune to Expel, Curse and Fire.

But they ARE Muttering Tiaras, so they are still quite weak to Ice.

Just, uh, keep the Ice single target and never aimed at the Priestess herself.

In an amazing mercy, the analysis screen here actually DOES tell you her elemental resistances. In particular, she repels Ice. Summoning Muttering Tiaras would be clever if you could realistically even have Mabufu at this point.

Anyway, her other skills include a Pulinpa of her own. Inconvenient, but not that big of a deal really.

Her basic attack is Pierce elemental for some reason. I don’t know. She’s slapping someone around with her scroll hair and that’s Pierce. Look, just go with it okay?

She can also cast Bufu, just so you can find out the quicker way to not cast Ice at her. The quickest way is to just do it, naturally.

But she’s not limited to just the single-target version. Mercifully, though, this means she can’t really hit anyone’s weakness except maybe Makoto’s.

She doesn’t need to, to do a number on folks. Especially Yukari, which you’d think wouldn’t be the case huh? She’s the mage! Why does she take more damage?

Simple: her Endurance sucks. All defense is based on Endurance, since it doesn’t affect HP here.

And lastly she can do Assault Dive. Remember it from the Rampage Drive before?

Yeah, about the same here. Her Strength IS ever-so-slightly higher though.

But, honestly, the Priestess is not a hard fight. Understandable, really. She CAN’T be a hard fight because you get railroaded into it without a chance to save or anything. It’s an odd mercy.

She gies some very nice EXP though, and a Diamond is great too. It’s not vendor trash! Gems are important. Gems are VERY important.

Silence

Crisis

We’re going too fast! We have to put on the brakes or else…!
What are you waiting for!? There’s a train up ahead!

Seriously, c’mon, highschoolers. Operate this train! You should be able to do that effortlessly.

Dammit! I don’t know how to stop this thing!

In all seriousness, though, as everyone else is freaking out Makoto DOES just run through and… do something.

Silence

I-I think so…
Is everybody alright!?
Uh, y-yeah, we’re okay.
Ha, haa… My knees are shaking…
Dude… I’m like drenched in sweat…
sigh I’m so glad you’re safe…
I’m sorry I couldn’t do more on my end.

Tranquility

I trusted my instincts.
You saved me again.
…Thanks.

Silence

It seems the level of trust between you all has grown.

You learned a new tactic!

This is Mitsuru. We’ve successfully completed the operation.
The monorail didn’t sustain any noticeable damage.

Although the mysterious teleportation is, uh, not something we can do much about.

Thank you, Mitsuru.

Now, I don’t have to worry about tomorrow’s headlines.
The team did a great job.
They’re learning quickly.
But, what are the Shadows up to?
Taking over a monorail… This is getting out of hand.
I’ll be looking into the matter.

Hmmm… Let’s not jump to any conclusions.
For now, we should study their behavior for patterns or clues.
We cannot afford to always wait for them to make the first move.

Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re doing fine.
More importantly…
Do you have anything to drink, Akihiko?
Huh…?
Why do you look so tired, Ikutsuki-san?
Wait… Don’t tell me that bicycle outside is yours!
Boy, am I gonna be sore tomorrow!

It seems as if the prediction came true.

You wonder what it means…

You are too exhausted to make any sense of it right now.

You decide to rest as soon as you get back to the dorm…

[Fefnir]

You know, after being murdered by Death, the full moon doesn’t seem so bad. It even gives you a nice new setting!

But, if we don’t go after it, we’re gonna lose it!

He said on the train.

[Transhomura]

It feels weird reading this after beating p5 how far we came. Also girls volleyball I now am scared of the coach
Is q and arena worth viewing lps for.

[Handel]

How does one LP Arena?

It does have a decent story with Labrys but it also has individual story modes that have minor variations with each other. Depends on how much you like that.

Q…probably is best experienced via LP. When a Persona game’s highlight is dungeons, something is off.

[Transhomura]

Arena looks too power of friendship for me especially compared to 5 which was friends are only that if they help you commit grand larceny. I suck at fighters so that’s why
Still this LP encouraged me to go download a rom for p3p and play it on my phone. Ah nostalgia

[blahmoomoo]

One of the main draws of Arena and Dancing’s story for me is that they show the Persona 4 characters at their best: after they have been shaped by the events in the original game. You also get to see what everyone is doing now, aside from Yu of course.

In Arena, Labrys is kind of like Aigis, but she’s the center of the story so coming to terms with being an anti-shadow suppressant weapon is explored more deeply. They did a good job with exploring a character like that.

Dancing is definitely a bit more power of friendship for the middle part of the story mode, but the rest of it is pretty good. Yes, the premise is pretty silly, but they made a great story with it in the end.

Q does have the problem with the dungeons being really long. Which is fine if you’re into the Etrian Odyssey style of game, but it gets tiresome otherwise. I haven’t finished this game myself for this reason. The story I’ve gone through so far is good and the interactions between P3 and P4 characters are great. Some people have criticized it for the characters acting rather odd (especially Teddie who is in full flirt mode), but the thing is that these characters were pulled out of their timelines not too long after the whole team was together. So they are not the endgame/fully maxed social link versions of the characters.

Ultimax… had major writing issues due to there being eight writers on the game. It had a great premise with a Persona user who was forcibly given an alternate personality and with P3 and P4 characters coming together, but it was pretty disjointed and didn’t go much of anywhere. The Adachi story was good though. And the fighting itself was good too.

[Transhomura]

I suppose. Though to be fair flirt Teddie was creepy and unfunny from the start

[Lotus]

After dealing with the Priestess, we’re naturally tired because of the… difference in the event to, like, everything else since the Magician. At least this time we maintained consciousness!

The Poem For Everyone’s Soul

I believe a path that was blocked is now open…
I thought you would like to know.
…I wish you a safe journey.

The phone call has ended.

This is going to be useful and relevant and worthwhile… at some time in the future.

When The Moon’s Reaching Out Stars

Today we’re hanging out with Kaz and we can’t even watch Tanaka’s or anything.

I guess it’ll make me mentally tough.

Kazushi seems calm.

I’m not trying to bag on myself or anything, but this calm exterior is just an illusion…

Kazushi seems a little embarrassed.

I get even more nervous when I think about winning…
Winning isn’t everything.
So, you’re telling me to give up? …I don’t know if I can do that, man…
But, I know where you’re coming from.

Today, your friendship has grown stronger.

So, uh, just to give you an idea of how useful this would’ve been if we needed it: accepting the invite gives you 5 points alone and then getting the dialogue option “right” gives 30 points. Make that 45 with a Chariot persona. Yes.

We didn’t even remotely need it, though. This dialogue box just means that next time we hang out with Kaz, the S.Link will rank up. It was going to anyway, though.

Iwatodai Dorm

This could be quite damaging to the reputation of the monorail company.
Even though it was a Shadow that caused all the trouble, I still feel sorry for them.

Luckily, no one was hurt.
Oh. and by the way, I heard there was some trouble on the monorail last night.
But that’s a separate matter now, isn’t it? Ahahaha…

Well, if you want to go to Tartarus, then I’m not going to stop you.
But if you do go, just treat it as a light warm up.

But, if you’re stronger than they are, they’ll run away.
And remember, even if you don’t have the first attack, you can still knock the enemy off balance.
…Did I just have a really evil look on my face? Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare ya.

It was so far off course after the Dark Hour ended.
I bet they had no idea what happened to them.

The last train, Anehazuru, failed to stop at the red light and went beyond its stopping point. Police and the monorail management are still trying to determine what caused the incident. Though the train overshot its mark by over 2,000 feet, no one was injured. Monorail management are suspecting the train driver, and are holding him for questioning. In the meantime, they are promising to make every effort to reduce the monorail accident rate. For now, service on the Anehazuru car will continue as normal.

I do appreciate that the game acknowledges that the monorail train in no way could have been moved back to where it was at the beginning of the Dark Hour. Would’ve been easy to just never mention it.

The Poem For Everyone’s Soul

Came to the Velvet Room to check out new requests, but we’ve ended up with something… else.

I’ve been asked to inform you about the Persona Compendium.
You may register any of your Personas in this book, and for a fee, you can withdraw them at any time.
Please speak with me to view the compendium.

…It seems you enjoy a challenge.
Don’t worry. You’ll find my fees for withdrawing Personas very reasonable.

Well then, we’ve finally unlocked the Compendium so let’s give it a look-see!

Since we’re playing on Hard here, these prices are… emphatically NOT reasonable which is part of the point. Note how these are the base versions of everything and not the updated versions that we have on hand.

This is what updating it does for the prices. Thankfully, the prices are only based on the level and nothing else from the looks of things. It… is still pretty silly though. This will eat far, FAR more Yen than the social stat gains from the arcade etc. could ever dream about. Exciting!

Gonna need this guy very soon, so I made one right now (Orpheus + Nekomata).

So, what about the new requests? Well, there’s no “take Elizabeth to [place]” this time so why even bother.

There ARE a few for Tartarus stuff, and this one is an easy one to deal with. These “create [Persona] with [Skill]” requests are the requirements for getting Social Link/Confidant confidant ranks for Empress in Persona 4 and Strength in Persona 5. Here, they’re just things we can do for free things.

Jack Frost with Dia is easy, mercifully. We can make Jack Frost in a few ways but the way that involves the least money for us is Ara Mitama + Angel.

Jack ends up getting to level 10 which is nice but even nicer is that he has 11 Magic already. And at level 11 he learns Ice Boost which is going to make him really useful if/when he gets there.

Well done. Your reward for this is a Special type of armor.
Your appearance may change dramatically when wearing it, so why not try it on?

Why not try finding it as well?

The Chivalry Shirt is just lying around in a treasure chest in the middle part of Thebel. You can see what it looks like right now, in the Portable version of the Priestess fight, if you really want to know.

This, uh, we’ll get back to this.

Since this is also a questline, we unlock a new one by getting the Jack Frost one completed.

Valkyrie is level 11 so she’s gotta wait, unfortunately. We’ll definitely be doing this one as soon as we can, though.

And now we’re back to school like nothing happened. Because for most people, it kind of didn’t.

Want To Be Close

That was crazy though, the day before yesterday.
I’ve never had that kinda thrill in all my life…
Don’t you think it’s been getting more exciting lately?
Not really.
Dude, are you crazy!? We’ve got the power of Persona!
Plus, we won the battle and saved the city…
How sweet is that!?

Well, uh, hmm. I’m sure we’ll do fine…

If you paid attention during class and studied diligently at home, you should have no problems.

Hmph… If you choose to neglect your duty as a student and waste your life in idleness, then be my guest…
In my day, society was nowhere near as rich and abundant as it is today…!
That’s why we worked so long and hard; to better our lives. Can you young people say the same? Hmm?
Our society’s material wealth has come at the cost of its spiritual wealth…
In “Ise Monogatari,” on the contrary…

You stayed up and listened to the lecture…

And so it begins. This is something we’re going to be getting a lot of, in the hopes it’ll get where we need it…

Oh and, uh, Kenji sure has changed a bit huh? Yeah, so, this is the last week before exams so all of our school S.Links are not available at this time.

This limits our options quite a lot, at the moment but later on it’ll be less noticable.

To compensate for this disparity, we’re going to, uh, I dunno deal with the one that we can do easily I guess!

Troubled

My wife just left for Gekkoukan.
I’ll wait here for a while.
Well, she won’t be gone long. Why don’t you keep me company, Makoto-chan?

Are you thirsty? Here, let’s share this.
…Wait, where are the cups? I’m afraid I’m completely useless without my wife.

Mitsuko looks pale.

What happened?
Seem you have Makoto-chan worried too. You oughta know better than to walk that far at your age…

Bunkichi seems worried.

Here, drink this, dear.
And here’s one for you, Makoto-chan.

The persimmon tree by the walkway, at your school…
My wife heard a rumor that it was going to be cut down, and she almost fainted.
Do you know anything about it, Makoto-chan?
Now, you have me worried.
You’re so kind, Makoto-chan…
I’m worried too. I tried to look into the rumor, but…
I think I was “barking up the wrong tree…”

Makoto-chan, if it’s not too much trouble, can you tell us if you hear anything about the persimmon tree?

It seems Mitsuko is counting on you.

Your relationship is stronger now!

Please let us know if you hear anything about the persimmon tree.

After saying goodbye to Bunkichi and Mitsuko, you decided to go back to the dorm.

Iwatodai Dorm

Could you look into it? It shouldn’t take long.
I asked Akihiko and Iori, but judging by their responses, I doubt they were taking me seriously.
This isn’t an order, just a favor. If you have nothing else to do, I’d appreciate this. Thanks.

This is a new addition for FES/Portable. It’s something we’ll definitely be checking out everytime it pops up.

So be careful. If you get distressed, you won’t be able to dodge, and your defenses will go down.
You’ll also suffer a lot of damage.
When this happens, don’t mistake it for an ailment.

Computers ain’t my field, dude.
All I know how to fix is a TV. You just smack the top and voila!

She wanted one of us to check on it.
Huh? Me?
No way! I don’t know anything about that stuff.
I’ll leave that stuff to the tech-heads. Why don’t you do it?

Family and friends are overjoyed that they are returning to normal. That’s all the news today. Tune in next time, for Action News.

So, upstairs in the command room if we examine these computers we can watch something that was caught on camera…

Over Shadowed

Silence

I should investigate whether this means it’s finally begun…
Monorail…

giggle Heehee…
Oooh, I must make a note of that one…
Luck played an uncomfortably large part in the victory…

For Shadows to work in a group to overrun large machines is unprecedented…
The engine…

Hee hee hee…! What’s with me today!? I’m on a roll!
Oh yeah, better write that one down too…
One should always wear bright clothing at night…

Whoa, I’m getting a little off subject… but who cares!?
Hey… I should write all these down and show them off the next time everyone gets together!
…

Hee heeee! This has nothing to do with the status report anymore, but I’m having a blast!
Let’s see, what else…

The recording ends here…

End

Iwatodai Dorm

Th-Thanks, Ikutsuki. That sure was, uh, something alright.

Honestly, Ikutsuki’s terrible, terrible puns are so bad that it becomes amazing. Just for the sheer dedication to them being terrible if nothing else.

Anyway, we want to get as much Academics as possible so we really cannot drag out this Tiredness very long at long. There IS a chance for it to get cured by like bathrooms and stuff but I’m not taking any risks.

Want To Be Close

There’ve been fewer new cases of Apathy Syndrome the last few days.
Senpai said it’s probably because we beat that Shadow.
Wouldn’t that be great if it was true?
Our efforts paid off.
I think so, too. It was dangerous, but I’m glad we did it.
We shouldn’t get carried away, though, cuz we have midterms next week.
Let’s just hope nothing like that happens again until midterms are over.

Provided the UI isn’t lying to us, that’s probably a reasonable presumption. At least this early on, anyway.

En route to the exit, we can find Kenji by the shoe lockers. I don’t know why it’s always this guy who’s just hanging around on-screen but sure.

The exams aren’t too far away, so I’m goin’ straight home today.
Studying at the library is just too boring…
At home I can watch TV while I study.

For better or worse, Kenji certainly seems to have the kind of work ethic I had in high school.

But that just means that we really can’t hang out with anyone at school, so back to the bookstore we go!

Troubled

I’m sorry for troubling you about the persimmon tree…
I’ll ‘root’ out the truth!
Good one, Makoto-chan!
It’s really nice having you around… I can make stupid puns whenever I feel like it!

…That persimmon tree is a reminder of our son…
Before his death, he was a teacher at Gekkoukan High School…
He planted that tree on graduation day with the students in his first class.
That tree is about to bear fruit…
Why now…? Why do they want to cut it down now?
Don’t worry.
…Thank you, Makoto-chan.

Mitsuko seems very appreciative of your support.

Wow, Makoto-chan, you’ve really captured her heart!
You must be popular with the ladies! My wife’s no sucker, after all!
I feel I’m looking at myself when I was in my prime!

It seems Bunkichi and Mitsuko have grown to trust you.

Your relationship is stronger now!

Oh, and take this. It’s left over, but it’s still good…

Take care.

After saying goodbye to Bunkichi and Mitsuko, you decided to go back to the dorm.

Iwatodai Dorm

Midterms are coming up, you know…
So, I’ll have to pass today. …Sorry.

Yukari has left.

This doesn’t exactly stop us from going to Tartarus or anything, but it does mean it’ll be just us and Junpei and, uh, that sounds like a terrible idea! Gonna pass on that for a while, then.

So, if an enemy distresses you in battle, you won’t be able to use your Persona.
Most intelligent enemies will try to use this tactic, so please be aware of it.

I guess I should study too…
…starting tomorrow.

Do your homework, Junpei.

This is kind of amazing, really. Considering the very different array of things we’ve seen on here, in order for there to be absolutely nothing that Makoto counts as intereting is pretty remarkable…

I guess that just means we get to the mall marginally quicker this time around.

Which in turns brings us back to studying in our room. We can, theoretically, get a decent amount of Knowledge out of this week and almost double that if we were to spend every day in the Library…

But that’s actually a terrible idea and will, on its own, make our overall goal here actively impossible.

Want To Be Close

Gossiping: I heard the road suddenly collapsed, and the guy’s car fell 30 feet straight down!
Listening: Wow, I’ve never heard of anything like that before… Is this school haunted?
Gossiping: I know, right!? I think I just felt a chill go down my spine… I should go to the nurse’s office.
Listening: Th-The nurse’s office!? The same place that staffer is resting? Are you kidding me? He’ll give you that weird medicine. You might end up feeling even worse!

The first bell has rung.

Just in case you didn’t know that Edogawa is really bad at his job and that this is usable, the game finally decides to tell you that very obliquely. Would’ve been nicer earlier, really.

The Earth rotates once every 24 hours…
All right, don’t fall asleep or anything. It’s basic, but it’s an important premise for the rest.
Let’s see… Hmm… Makoto?
How fast would you say the Earth rotates near the equator?
About 1,700 km/hour.

Flip to the next page… Oh, this is an application. Let’s skip that and… Hm, that’s an experiment. Okay, um…

You gave the correct answer!

Charm’s probably be hanging around at rank 1 for a bit longer, since we’re not exactly focussing on it just yet. It’s not super important for the time being, is the thing.

I don’t know what to do with her… So I’ll just leave her hanging.

I think I would be satisfied just to stare at him from afar…
sigh What should I do…?

I don’t think I mentioned it before, but this particular sidestory is one that has been in every Persona game from 3 onwards. It’s… certainly something, and it IS going to go somewhere eventually.

When The Moon’s Reaching Out Stars

Anyway, today we can’t actually get a rank up out of Bunkichi and Mitsuko. We needed 20 points to get to rank 6 from 5, but the previous scene with Omoikane gives a maximum potential of 14. This is something that’ll be more of an issue later when we need to spend days just gaining points instead of gaining ranks. It’s inconvenient but there’s nothing more we can do about that.

Iwatodai Dorm

Hit the books.
Are you serious, bro!?
Isn’t saving the world more important?
C’mon… Yuka-tan wants to go…
We DO have exams next week…
But, what the hell… I’ll go.
Yeaaah! Now, we’re talkin’!

This is the last chance we have before exams to go to Tartarus with Yukari around. So, going to Tartarus today is something that we… aren’t going to do. Got more important things to do right now.

Well, there’s a skill that can make someone become enraged.
It’s a status ailment; anyone can go berserk.
Both your attack power and your attack speed will increase, but you won’t be able to defend yourself, so you can get really messed up.
So if you become enraged, be careful…

There are weapons that will increase your attack power, and armor that will strengthen your defense.
You can cover all kinds of weaknesses this way.
Just be sure you don’t equip any weak weapons or pieces or armor.
It’s all about the balance, man. Balance.

When you’re charmed you will attack your team members and heal your enemies.
I wonder if I’ve ever been charmed before. A person who’s been charmed doesn’t remember it happening…

The hospital settled with the patient for over 1 million yen. Next up, the summer weather forecast…

Eh, we have no reason to care about the weather forecast here, so we just kind of leave at this point.

So our pattern mostly doesn’t change. Just gonna grind that Courage and also Academics for very different reasons.

Today is a good Academics day netting us 6 points (4 from the Arcade and 2 from studying), though that’s something we can only realistically do twice a week…

[Lotus]

Thursday is a very light day with no talk outside school or anything.

Troubled

So we’ll just jump right on in to the next Hierophant scene!

So, would you please cheer up…?
I understand their reasoning…
But, if that tree is removed, I feel like the memory of my son will vanish with it…
Please stop quarreling.
…We’re fine. We’re not fighting. I was just fretting…
Sorry to make you worry.

“Mitusko”? Can’t say I’ve noticed all that many typos here, so this somehow really stands out.

…Apparently. the rumor was true… They really are going to cut down the persimmon tree…
So, we went to the school to say goodbye.
But, that just reminded Mitsuko of our son’s death…

Bunkichi and Mitsuko seem really depressed.

It’ll be okay.
See, dear. That’s exactly what I said!
If you keep crying all the time, then what will your admirers think?
Right, Makoto-chan?

A smile has returned to Mitsuko’s face.

You feel Bunkichi and Mitsuko’s great appreciation.

Your relationship is stronger now!

My wife will be happy to see such a handsome young man.
Here, take this for when you get hungry.

After saying goodbye to Bunkichi and Mitsuko, you decided to go back to the dorm.

Iwatodai Dorm

You can study anytime. We need to get stronger ASAP.
Me n’ Hermes will take down the next big Shadow ourselves!
Go hit the books.
C’mon, gimme a break, man…
How are your grades, Iori?
How are yours-- Never mind. I already know.

Man, now I don’t feel like doing anything at all…

Just in case you somehow didn’t quite get the message that Mitsuru is very smart and Junpei is very not, here’s it with all the subtlety of a brick to the face.

This ailment is known as fear.
Fear may immobilize you, or make you flee from battle.
When you are in this state, you will be unable to control your own mind.

Admit it, Makoto–you’re hooked!
I guess that online game I gave you really got you going, huh?

No sense in keeping 'em both, so you can have the old one.
Here y’go. I’ll take you on anytime!

Alright, now that we’ve got this for Elizabeth, I’m sure she’ll be happy with her new PSP COMP.

Yep.
Man. you’re a good student. I’m not… I never study.

Meanwhile, Yukari is going to be studying every single day for the rest of the week. Do your homework, Junpei.

The dollar is now valued at 114.9 yen, a slight increase from before.

Remember a couple days ago when there was nothing interesting on the news? This is all we get from it today. Apparently Makoto is kind of interested in economics in the most minor, milquetoast way possible.

The Poem For Everyone’s Soul

Are you familiar with the Antique Shop in Paulownia Mall?
They carry all sorts of things, both ancient treasures and worthless junk.
What’s more, I’ve heard the shop’s owner has an interesting ability…

She calls it… weapon fusion.
However, the shop seems to still be closed… I look forward to its grand reopening.

Just in case you really haven’t been poking around anywhere, Elizabeth lets you know about the Antiques Store now. We saw it was closed a while back, and it reopens on June 9th so that’s a day to look forward to!

Anyway, we’re here to give Liz a not-PSP.

I’ve heard these have special mechanisms that make the player forget about the passage of time…
How frightening…
How does it work…? Does it send slight shocks to addle your mind…?
I don’t think I’d like to try this anymore. Please take it with you.

Like the Exorcism stuff from before, this is just single-target instant death but this is Curse elemental and not Expel.

Next requests we’re going to get done are probably the ones that require Tartarus excursions.

Chronologically it might be the other “talk to someone in the Dorm on the right day” quest, but Tartarus seems more likely.

Want To Be Close

Of course.
Ah, just as I suspected. I’ll be looking forward to seeing your grades…

They gotta be a bit better than merely “good”…

To be honest, I’m not as well prepared as I should be. I’m still preoccupied with monitoring Shadows.
At any rate, the number of incidents have decreased since our last mission.
If we can continue to defeat them, we may be able to rid the public of their fear…
However, every time a new Shadow appears, it seems to be more powerful than the last.
And even after Akihiko returns to battle, we still won’t be at full strength…

The bell’s going to ring soon, so make this quick!
In this scene, the family is sitting down to dinner. Doesn’t it warm your heart?
Now, who wants to answer a question? Today’s the 15th, so I’ll pick… Makoto.
One of the items on the menu for the family is “pan.” How would you translate this to English?
Bread.
Good job! “Pan” means “bread” in English. The term “pan” came from Portugal to Japan a long time ago.

We’ve still got a couple minutes left… Oh, in today’s newspaper…

You gave the correct answer!

Charm’s still lagging behind at Rank 1 but it’s fine. It’s fairly close to Rank 2 at this point if I’ve been doing my halfassed napkin math correctly. We’ll get it by the time it’s relevant I’m sure.

Joy

Pre-Exam week is nearly over, so we’ll spend time with someone else soon I’m sure. But for now…

Mitsuko is crying.

Why’s she crying?
Don’t worry. She’s crying because she’s happy.
She always cries at happy events, like the day we first met!

All the graduates from my son’s class have gathered at the school.

I sure didn’t see anyone at the school doing that, but maybe I just didn’t quite go to the right places since I beelined for the entrance…

They say the tree is a memorial to their former teacher… They don’t want it to be cut down.
That’s great.
Many of them came to our son’s funeral…
It’s been so many years… but they still remember him…

They’ve given their precious time… sob for our son… I-I don’t know what to say…
…Makoto-chan, were you the one who called them all?
What are you talking about?
There’s no need to be modest, Makoto-chan…

You “da man,” Makoto-chan! Incredible…

Bunkichi and Mitsuko seem to think that you’re the one responsible for the petition.

They seem very appreciative.

Your relationship is stronger now!

Someday, I’d like to go have a drink together…
But, let’s wait until you’re legal.

See ya later, Makoto-chan.

After saying goodbye to Bunkichi and Mitsuko, you decided to go back to the dorm.

Iwatodai Dorm

To do good in a competition or on an exam, you need to practice or study a little every single day.

And that’s all that’s new in the dorm today. Yes, really. It’s a lowkey evening, rather than morning, for once.

At least we hit Courage rank 5 now. Fearless is bizarrely only the penultimate rank, and not the final one. Yeah, I dunno.

As for Academics? Well, this IS the week before we get to midterms, so I’m gonna keep that one secret for now…

Ah well, this is the last day we can realistically work towards that sort of mini-goal!

Want To Be Close

Not feeling well?
huff The opposite, actually.
The doctor said I’m almost fully healed, so… I couldn’t wait to get some exercise.

But, that means I’ve got to start training now.

…Yeah, gonna be honest here: waiting for Akihiko was a big motivator behind not diving into Tartarus this week.

50 sextillion times 1,200? …60 septillion? Multiplied by… 1,820? 10 octillion, 920 septillion!?
…
These numbers are too big to fit on the blackboard… Errm…
Oh! I was using the wrong equation. If you plug the numbers into the correct equation…

…Wuh? H-How… I don’t… but…

What a beautiful equation this is!
Huh? The exam…? Oh, right, the exams start next Monday.
It’ll cover up to page 34. This formula won’t be on it.
It’s so beautiful, though… Maybe I should put it on the exam, too.
Kidding! Kidding! Don’t give me that look…!

You stayed up and listened to the lecture…

A day when we get a lecture in school AND the Quiz at the arcade AND get to study? This is a big day for Academics alright!

Joy

I wanted to tell you the good news as soon as possible. It’s about a customer who came by earlier…
Who do you think it was? Here’s a hint: “signature.”
A diehard Bunkichi fan?

…Yeah, I wish! Actually, it was one of the organizers of the campaign to save the persimmon tree.

He said, “Let’s protect the tree together!”
…AND he’s gotten a lot of signatures from students who were in our son’s class.
That’s great.

He was loved by everyone…
Of course! He was our proud son!
I’m sure he’s just as happy as we are…
Alright! Makoto-chan, let’s go to Gekkoukan right now!
I have to tell my son the good news!
Let’s go.
Sweet! That’s music to my ears!

I’ve never been so excited about a walk before!

Bunkichi and Mitsuko seem to have taken a liking to you.

…I certainly hope so by this point!

Your relationship is stronger now!

Alright, dear, we’ll be back. Thanks for watching the store.

It’s a good thing most people don’t seem to be aware that Makoto’s an orphan otherwise they might ask questions about Bunkichi, huh?

Iwatodai Dorm

No, I don’t.
Very well. Spend tonight and tomorrow night studying for the exam.

Is that just coincidence, or is he that big of a slacker?

Akihiko, it’s Junpei. He’s been living here nearly a month; you know the answer by now.

Okay, so maybe that’s not true. I started out fine, but then I got lazy.
I don’t know how everyone can study so much…

It’s so popular that the 50 sweet rolls, one to a customer, were sold out within the first five minutes…

It’s, uh, certainly something that apparently a snippet of a news story about a bakery being Pretty Good is considered worthwhile.

I dunno, I just find it interesting that what ends up being determined to warrant showing is kind of very varied.

It really helps give an idea on what Makoto’s personality is outside of being a kind of asocial enabler.

Hopefully we’ve gotten all that studying out of the way, since we’re not doing it today! It WOULD be worth a good 6 points without the arcade or cinema, but…

Current Net Price Tanaka

Oh my goodness! I can’t believe its wonderfulness!
But wait, there’s more!
We’ll throw in 2 Diet Food for only 5980 yen!

Sub-6000 yen for a new sword AND a couple diet pills? Sign me up!

Alright, that’s the important stuff today done and dusted.

Iwatodai Dorm

Akihiko, much like Yukari, is just holed up in his room. He’ll probably be fine, really. Junpei…

You can hear Junpei complaining loudly about his homework…

Junpei sure is being Junpei. At least he’s actually doing his homework, which is nice.

Mitsuru’s gonna ace this test, I’m sure, so she’s worrying about something else.

This is the perfect time to train. It’s so quiet…

Though she clearly hasn’t heard Junpe–

…except for Iori’s screaming, that is.

…oh. I guess she has, after all. Maybe even from here; it sure seems like he could pull that one off.

Wait, hang on… I nearly forgot!

how does this keep happening

One of these days, we will finally catch an episode. One day!

Probably should’ve made a Hermit persona here in hindsight (we could’ve done but I just forgot), though we can get away with not doing it at least.

Joy

so ummmmmm… i’m drunk! xD
Oh really? o__O

save me tatsu! i’m sick of my job! no tiem to party T__T

3 beers an counting!11 will u hold my hair bakc? heheh
rawr, i even have to work from hoem this weekend… =(

Of… of all the writing errors, this is the one you correct?

nvm -_-;;
dun worry, i’m on a break u know =P

Maya danced funky?!

Maya’s avatar sat down.

it didn’t use to be liek this T_T i never had to work weekends
but lately i cant get motviated to get ne work done @ work. =/
So you don’t like your job?

Maya seems proud.

it has been 8 yrs tho… maybe i’m jus bored? =/
ugh… sumtimes i wish everything would slow down a bit… ^__^;
why do i play this game even tho i hav better things to do? lol
i dun talk liek this irl, i swear! its jus an online habit =P
I suppose I should type correctly like this, but im jus lazy, eheheh

Maya’s really opening up to you.

Your relationship is stronger now!

that type of thign could get me fired for reals! o_O
dun tell ne one, k? i can’t get firediwanna keep my job! -_-:
hmm… i better get back to work, huh? nite! ^^

Maya’s player signed off.

You decided to log out as well.

So, that was our final week before midterms. Hopefully we’ll get a good score. Let’s positive thinking!

[Handel]

Proper spelling online is truly the leetest of things to do. Man, that dates the game. Now Maya would probably be pulling somewhat outdated memes out of her butt.

[Lotus]

Well, I suppose it’s time for midterms to begin today. Should only last a few days, so it shouldn’t be that big of a deal…

Or it can take up the entire week, sure. Not like it’s going to matter anyway.

Want To Be Close

Gossiping: Come on… You don’t need to lie about it every time. By the way, did you hear? Our PE teacher was hospitalized.

Listening: Whoa… Wait. Who cares about our PE teacher? C’mon, we’ve got 5 minutes! We can memorize 10 vocab words!

The first bell has rung.

Boy, is this kinda last second attempt at cramming far more my speed.

During the Test…

And, uh, this was a very frequent result from that, yes.

Welp, there’s that day go…ne… wait, seriously?!

Yeah, seriously. During exams we get no free-time during the day nor at night.

I sort of understand why, but it’s quite silly. One question (if that) and day over!

Speaking of questions, though, the previous one was straight up taken wholesale from class. This one changes the answers around somewhat.

Occasionally, we’ll be asked something that is the opposite of what we were asked before.

We had to answer what water low in calcium and magnesium was for class, so it does require remembering that at least.

And this one is something that was mentioned during an Academics increasing lecture forever ago way, way back near the start of the game.

Gotta remember that happening AND what the answer was AND hope you didn’t skip it by taking a nap (don’t do that).

Just like that, though, since each day is taken up this week goes by VERY quickly.

An Unpleasant Premonition

If the doctor gives me the O.K., I’ll be able to fight with you guys again… finally.
By the way, I have a favor to ask. You’ve been doing a great job leading the team in Tartarus…
Would you mind continuing after I come back? That way, I can concentrate on building my strength.
I don’t mind.
I already talked to Mitsuru, and she was okay with it too. Good luck.

During the Test…

I dunno, I always felt like that after I was done with my exams. Sometimes it was accurate, sometimes it… really, really wasn’t.

Want To Be Close

As a nice mercy, now that we’re done with our exams we get to actually do things on Saturday. The first time I ever played this game… 9 years ago… I was fully expecting to get shunted to either Saturday evening or even Sunday. Understandable why, I’m sure.

Added bonus: people at school are like actually available and stuff now!

I, um… sort of overreacted… and I, um… Just wanted to say I’m sorry…
I-I get really nervous when I, um, talk to people… especially boys…
I-I know it’s bad, but… I-I can’t help it…

Chihiro seems to be very self-conscious…

OH! It’s cool, I know how to fix this!

I’m male.

S-Sorry, I won’t be a very good Student Council representative if I’m like this…
…I have to try harder to overcome this phobia.

Somehow that didn’t work?! I know, I’m shocked too!

Right, fine. Okay. Let’s see… it is Saturday so we COULD go back to the bookstore… again… but let’s be sensible about this. We just regained the ability to work on school links, so who’s available today? It’s a Saturday…

So our options are limited. Fortunately, we don’t need a Strength Persona right now, though we will need one soon…

Joy

I don’t think we’ve seen this place at all on-screen yet. I’ve walked past it once or twice trying to find folks on Sundays but that’s all.

Even though I eat lunch everyday, I still get hungry after practice. I consider this an early dinner…
I’ll still eat dinner when I get home, though…
I really have to stop eating between meals, or I’ll gain tons of weight once I’m not so busy with the team…
Hey, Makoto-kun, do you think I eat too much?
Not really.
I agree! I just eat a little more than your average girl, right!?
I’m sure I burn off the extra calories during practice!

You live in the dorm, right Makoto-kun? Not to pry, but…
You must love being around good-looking girls like Mitsuru and Yukari…
Not necessarily.
Really? So, not all guys like the same thing? Honestly, I wouldn’t mind being more like them.

I know she means Mitsuru and Yukari (etc.) here, but the way its worded in context makes it seem like she wants to be more like, say, Junpei…

…Not that I’m desperate for attention or anything.
Maybe I should go on a diet… I’m lazy, but it’s the only way.
…I’ve decided! I’m gonna stop eating between meals! My first goal is to tone up my arms!
Did you hear that, Makoto-kun? You’re my witness.

Yuko has told you about her resolution.

Your relationship is stronger now!

Let’s go.
Yeah, otherwise I might be tempted to order something else. blush

Alright, let’s go.

After saying goodbye to Yuko, you decided to go back to the dorm.

Troubled

Congrats, man!
I need to catch up on my training. I’ve slacked off for a whole month.
Shouldn’t you take it easy, though? You don’t wanna reinjure your arm.
I’ve already wasted precious time.

Yukari DOES get an exclamation mark above her head too, here, though since Akihiko managed to catch Junpei’s attention…

We did!? Sweet!
Is it a girl…?

Actually, it is. She’s a junior who goes to our school.

Yamagishi…? Oh, that girl in 2-E…
She gets sick a lot, from what I heard… I don’t see her at school very often.
She was at the same hospital as me. That’s how we found out about her.
But, maybe she’s not cut out for battle.
I had an Evoker made for her, too…

I was gonna offer her some private lessons…

Wh-Why’re you lookin’ at me like that? C’mon…

I dunno, something better than that.

Iwatodai Dorm

Not really.
Are you serious? You’re such a strange guy.

Or, did you want her to join instead of me?
…
Sorry, that’s a tough question to answer. Just forget I said anything.

He’s just happy.
Yeah, you’re right. He got this big smile on his face after he heard that a girl was coming.
Well, I guess it would be nice to have another girl in the dorm.

However, it can’t be helped if she’s weak and unable to fully participate.

The man’s computer was also seized in the raid.

Hm, so let’s think. We just got Akihiko back in the party, we’re running low on money, we have a bunch of quests to finish with a deadline for those in like 2 weeks… we just lost 1 week to exams…

I think it’s time we went back to Tartarus!

The Voice Someone Calls

With Akihiko in the fray, we now have a full party of 4 and always will do. How nice!

He joins at level 12, which is notably higher than we could ever dream of being right now without absurd levels of grinding.

Aki’s a bit of a mixed bag, really. As his baseline will let you know, he’s a very generalist kinda guy; he can sort of do everything and he’s not really BAD at anything. Notably he’s a good source of Strike elemental damage to finally round those out, he can heal, he can do Electric stuff and he’ll be able to debuff later as well. Yeesh.

Do you remember how I said Tartarus was divided into different areas?
I discovered through Penthesilea’s power that the first barrier is gone now.
I suspect that the others will disappear too, eventually…
Therefore, I’d like to make reaching the top our goal.
You never know what the future may hold, and getting to the top of the tower is the most logical step.
I’ll let you decide on an appropriate pace, but the sooner the better. I’m counting on you.

Whew, jeez, okay. So, first order of business then:

This dreadful thing. It can only be equipped by girls, so that’s Yukari and… Yukari. +1 Strength is not really super necessry or useful and its defence is double what she has by default at least?

Also it’s needlessly creepy and changes Yukari’s model to be… this. It’s weird and I don’t get it.

Just gonna stick to the Rash Guard when it matters. Or maybe something else if we find decent armor before the next boss.

And now we can progress further on up, just like we’ve been informed twice. Let’s see what lies ahead…

The second block, as expected. So long Thebel, we’ll see you… almost never. Almost. Gotta go back for one thing still.

tartarus_0d02

I’ll try to see what’s up ahead. Hold on…
…Sorry, but I’m experiencing difficulties, possibly because of the distance…
I need more time… You may proceed for now…

Alright, so now we can run around… Thebel?? No, game, you’re wrong. That’s weird, stop lying.

Mystery New Block is not named Thebel. All versions do this, though; I don’t know why, since Elizabeth’s requests tell you the real name already.

A new Block brings with it, new opportunities for lots of money jeez. More in this one case than we’d realistically get from 3 before…

Mass Destruction / Wiping All Out

But the real important thing here is the new Shadows! There’s nothing BUT new Shadows around now, in fact.

This is the only time we’re going to run into Grieving Tiaras though. Not like it matters since they’re kinda weak pushovers.

Sure, they’re weak to Ice but jeez that’s ridiculous.

These things are a bit more interesting and important. They’re potentially nasty bastards since they have Mudo access, and their only weakness it Expel which we could have easily but it requires grinding an Angel and, uh, nah.

These guys generally appear in groups of 3 and Elizabeth wants 3 drops from them for good measure. These ones are not guaranteed to happen, annoyingly.

Expel being the only weakness is not a big deal though, since Akihiko doesn’t really care. He’s kind of a Crit Machine at this stage and that speeds up so, so much. One of the benefits of coming in at Great status!

It pushes his damage with a basic attack upto around 70 and makes Sonic Punch an easy one-hit kill here.

The thing you’ll probably sort of notice here is that Ice is quite a common weakness. Makoto is the only source of that right now, and weirdly the game was kind enough to give us Ice Boost already via Jack Frost.

The other thing of importance is that because everything here is level 9+, we actually get real EXP values now! It took long enough!

Oh and gems drop semi-frequently too. Except when you want them. And we will want them. Gems are important!

We also start to get Rank 2 Minor Arcana cards which are a tangible upgrade over Rank 1 by a noticable amount. Can’t complain about that, nope.

We also get to see what happens if a Shuffle Time would give a Persona that we can’t actually use. It’s a silhouette and then it just disappears. Shame. Archangel here is level 10, so we’re close to it at least.

Hey a Red Shadow! Akihiko mentioned this before; these things are fairly uncommon/semi-rare but very worth fighting whenever they crop up…

Though it’s probably better if they DON’T get the Advantage. Revolution is helpful for us as well, though, since it increases the chance of getting a Crit for… everyone. Everyone.

Not like these things really need it though, when they’re doing this on Neutral before proccing a Crit. Yeesh.

Meanwhile, when we hit their weakness, it’s not a particularly good amount of damage.

Though, they are also weak to Expel if you have a means of doing that effectively. Resisting Strike is a minor inconvenience, really. Note that they’re level 19 as well; Red Shadows are always the highest levelled thing you can encounter in the Block outside of bosses.

This means they give really, really good EXP for the area. This is without a Suit of Wands card as well…

It’s easily enough to push Makoto to level 10, though, and that lets us have a stock of 8 instead of 6 now.

tartarus_0d02

Floor 18 is really low on new content, sadly. There’s, uh…

Oh, Black Ravens turned up here. They’re really weak, though.

A single Zio is an easy, easy one-shot. Shame, but it’s really not that big a deal. Black Ravens are straight-up the weakest things in the Block anyway. (Grieving Tiara’s are a close second though)

On 19F, Mitsuru decides to let us know that we can leave and come back to lower floors if we need to grind. Uh, nah, we’re okay thanks.

So, Arqa is the name of the second Block. It’s named after Arka from the Kabbalah; it’s one of the seven lands of the lower world where Cain’s sons reside. Thebel was also from the Kabbalah being named after Tevel, which is the name for our world. Which is also where the world “Thevel” mentioned before comes from.

…Except just to make it more confusing, Arqa spelt like this is also a thing. It’s the third of the Seven Earths of Islam, and is generally considered to be functionally the same thing as the Arka from Judaism as mentioned above.

Anyway, uh, that’s a small shadow meaning it’s one thing, meaning I know exactly what it is…

Mass Destruction / Wiping All Out

Bestial Wheel is a bit of an awkwrd thing if you don’t know what you’re doing. Being a solo Shadow that is pretty strong (16 Strength and Endurance; 10 everything else) it’s basically the Grave Beetle for this area. Except dangerous because it takes that 16 Strength and uses it to throw down Power Charged Assault Dives. Yikes.

Mercifully it’s weak to both Elec and Wind so we can quite easily deal with this if need be. Since getting up requires turns and being a Strong Solo Shadow, it’s not exactly immune to ailments either…

Although, thanks to a quirk in the turn order, it goes immediately after Makoto here. So he can knock it down with Zio, do something that ISN’T an attack and then it wastes its only turn getting up. Repeat until fight’s won.

…Wow, this is a rare mechanic. So, sometimes this happens and, uh, it’s kind of exactly what you think really.

There ARE limitations to what you get from the second draw here, and picking a Blank card voids your initial pick as well.

Double Up draws only have Blank cards and Persona from the normal pool for the area. It’s generally easy to avoid the Blank at least, which means our 1.2x EXP boost from the Rank 1 Wand before is completely safe. Hurray!

tartarus_0d02

On the 20th floor, Mitsuru finally finds the next boss and it’s still quite a ways away at the 25th floor. Well, we’ll get there eventually.

A Black Raven got lucky and lived since I tried to auto it and it dodged Akihiko. Welp. Poisma is single-target with a base 25% chance to Poison. Notably, Black Ravens have 4 Luck so uh…

Of course Junpei gets Poisoned. I’d be more surprised if he didn’t.

Poison deals damage at the end of the turn, though it cannot kill anything. It only ever drops you to 1HP. Boring.

It even persists after battle, though it really doesn’t matter at all. Dis-Poisons and Posumudi are kinda common as dirt.

On the 21st floor, Mitsuru lets us know about some new Shadows as of this floor. I’m not exactly sure that’s accurate though, since I think the “new” Shadows here CAN appear from 17-20F as well, just rarer.

Mass Destruction / Wiping All Out

Anyway, the stuff we run into regardless of its status as “new” or not includes the Heat Balances from the monorail. They can appear in upto groups of 4 and are slightly stronger than they were before, though not by much. We just can’t one-shot them now, basically.

They sometimes appear with this thing, though. Wild Beasts are a minor annoyance to deal with on account of their only weaknesses being Expel/Curse. They’ll cast Tarukaja sometimes and then Sonic Punch dudes.

Though they have 2 Luck and are sorta also weak to Ailments so, uh, whoops.

Laughing Tables also make a return appearance after popping up on the monorail! They really like Ice spells so of course they burn quite easily and are immune to Ice for good measure.

tartarus_0d02

That’s it for the 21st floor. On the 22nd, Mitsuru just continues to doubt our capability for the boss coming up. Jee, thanks Mitsuru.

We also run into another pair of Steel Gigas. Since we’re a higher level now their EXP isn’t as good, though it’s still the best by far.

The 23rd floor gives us this message which doesn’t really make a whole lotta sense, but sure. Okay. A floor is expanding. Whatever you say, Mitsuru.

Weirdly, she’s not exactly wrong since the rooms here are almost all these large open squares. It makes it easy to sneak up on things or just run straight past 'em at least.

…And we get 3 Old Lanterns from the Phantom Mages in one fight here. I would be happy about this, but I had 2 already that dropped 1 at a time until now.

Absolutely fuck all happens on the 24th floor. Even Mitsuru’s dialogue is just “boss is closer than it was before.” Good, thanks.

So we’ll skip to the 25th floor where the boss is waiting.

Turn on the Terminal, leave for the full heal…

The Poem For Everyone’s Soul

And also we need to give Elizabeth these Lanterns. Absolutely worth it for the reward, if you ask me. And you definitely did.

31k is nice and we’ll be using this, uh, right now because fucking hell the Compendium is expensive this early.

So, we’re gonna make a Valkyrie out of Forneus (our best source of Tarukaja right now), Orpheus AND Angel. No matter how many times I rerolled skills, she would insist on always inheriting Bash which sucks but whatever. At least shes gonna give us Mabufu which her 7 Magic can definitely use really well. Yup!

More importantly, this is another one of Liz’s fusion requests dealt with.

A fine specimen it is. Well, you have done as I asked.
The reward I’m going to give you this time has an unusual effect.

If you are strong enough to control this Persona, then please give it a try.

He’s level 24, so we’ll be waiting a bit for this one too!

Speaking of waiting, next she wants an Oberon that’s been levelled up. Sure, okay. Oberon’s base level is 15 so once we get there and also get Emperor to rank 3+ this one will just solve itself automatically.

We’re currently level 11, so let’s make a level 9 persona that will run rings around everything else. Yomotsu-Shikome is kind of a good early game Persona since she has no weakness, is quick, can cast magic effectively and also she starts with Auto-Tarukaja now that we’ve got Strength to rank 3. It’s exactly what it sounds like; Makoto starts the fight Tarukaja’d. For free.

With Shikome prepped, we’ll go deal with some uppity tables I guess. We don’t NEED her for this, but it feels better to have her than to not.

Magician Crying Table x3 url=http://polsy.org.uk/play/yt/?vurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DAhjWy7ydjok[/url]

Master of Tartarus / Danger Zone

I think we know the deal by now, since this is the fourth time and all.

So, these Crying Tables are weak to Ice. We can win pretty handily already, considering both Jack Frost and Yomotsu-Shikome have both Bufu AND Ice Boost.

Honestly, probably a good idea to not let the AI interfere at first/at all in this fight. As Junpei will gladly demonstrate, the tables drain Fire.

And as Akihiko learns, they’re also immune to Strike for good measure. They also resist Slash and Pierce, though Elec and Wind are neutral.

Attack-wise, well, they’re fire elemental tables. They cast Maragi, frequently.

They also cast Agilao, arguably more frequently. Also they have Fire Boost so, uh, maybe don’t use Jack Frost or anything else with a Fire weakness. This is why I brought Yomotsu-Shikome, yes.

If you really want the AI to help out, probably just have Junpei run support so he can Rakukaja folks and early-on help with healing if its necessary. Akihiko can contribute damage with Zio, if you use him right and focus on downing tables and let him only attack ones that have stood up. Yukari can do the same with Garu and they can both heal effectively. Not enough to keep up with 3 Agilaos a turn, mind, but it’s something?

Crying Tables are level 14 so, uh, we don’t get that great EXP out of them compared to what we’re used to. They also have 260HP and 260SP so they’re kinda flimsy too. Apparently they can cast Poisma and do some decent physical attcks but Poisma is fairly rare and I don’t buy that Magicians with 16 Magic would opt to use their lower Strength all that often!

tartarus_0d02

They were guarding… a Bead Chain, huh? Feels like a step back after the Soma (because it is), but it’ll still come in handy I’m sure.

…Sucks that Yukari had to go and get tired after fighting the Tables but that means Junpei and Makoto won’t be far behind now, so we’ll take a bit of a respite I guess.

[Lotus]

tartarus_0d02

Well, let’s see. Yukari is Tired right now, but no one else is. We can push this a little further, I’m sure.

Mitsuru’s thoroughly useless right now, so we’ll just see what’s up from hereon in.

Red Shadows are still around, and are just Steel Gigas x2 fights still. That’s not gonna change for a while. They’re still the best thing to fight for EXP though.

Mass Destruction / Wiping All Out

A bunch of the Shadows have been replaced wholesale now. There’s some carry-over, but like half from before the fight against those 3 Tables are gone.

Anyway! Spurious Books were on the train before, but they’re slightly different to before. For starters, they are weak to Elec now and not Fire!

Dancing Hands are ALSO around now, as regular Shadows. Sometimes Tartarus bosses are going to become random fights, sometimes they aren’t. As a general rule, if it appears in a group of 3 it will reoccur; if it’s solo, it won’t. This isn’t perfect but it’s a good rule of thumb.

They’re much closer to their incarnation on the train than the boss fight, though. Still not quite a 1-to-1 since they have higher Magic here and can use Bufula.

Venus Eagles are also just hanging around, but their resistances are very different to before. Not weak to Pierce, don’t even Drain Fire!

A-Aki, are you… okay?

Right… uh, that’s…

I guess since everyone’s Tired at this point, and Akihiko’s showing it more than anyone else, we should definitely just up and leave now.

Sunday’s come again already? Exam week really messed with that perception.

Current Net Price Tanaka

Tanaka’s selling a piece of armor this week, that presumably forms a weird set with that Katana from before. This one ALSO comes with 2 Diet Food. Definitely gonna buy it, of course.

Speaking of the Katana, it’s by far the strongest weapon right now. It doesn’t have Juzumaru’s +20HP effect, but using it anyway.

I’m not even annoyed any more. This is just… natural, really.

There’s no one else in the dorm, so we’ll go out and about to see if we can find 'em.

…Nope, no one’s around anywhere today. Weird. At least we can see that the Cloth sells for a decent chunk, relatively, AND we got it for free without having to track down Gold Shadows.

Joy

Maya is not signed on.

Maya entered the area.

…ugh, its like all she cares about is marrying me to some dude >=/
Why don’t we get married?

Maya seems happy.

dun worry… >:D i still have sum spunk left at my age, lol
it’s sexist to think women can only be happy when they’re tied down. -_-#
the other nite, i got a lil drunky, and i kinda passd out @ Paulownia…

i told him to stfu, dammit!! >=(
OTL …sry, kinda got off topic. i guess i’m a little tired =_=
but i do feel better now! xD
here tatsuya, this is for u

Maya used a Heal Potion on Tatsuya.

But there was no effect…

i’m trying to say thx for listening to all my bitching

Maya feels like she can open up to you.

Your relationship is stronger now!

if you see him, don’t be nice! >=/ u’ll know cuz he talks like a woman
alrite, i better go pratice being a good housewife for tatsuya! <3

Maya’s player signed off.

Well, that’s going to be relevant later I guess…

You decided to log off as well.

Well, now we get to see if we hit 1st place or not…

Want To Be Close

Junpei looks like the world is about to end.
What happened?
Well, exam scores will be posted today, so…
He said he’s gonna beg for a higher score…
Like that’s gonna work.

I hear she’s kinda weak… but that’s just a rumor. I wonder what she’s really like.
Either way, having another Persona-user can’t be a bad thing!

If she ends up being really bad, I guess she can just warm the bench or something.

During the Test…

Excellent, now we’ll know how well we did on the exam.

Damn, that’s the second best result. This still has a benefit at least…

Still not enough to get to rank 2 though? Really thought that’s what would’ve pushed it over the edge…

Want To Be Close

Let’s go over the test now. The first part was the kanji dictation section…
How could any of you have got this part wrong? It was a gimme! I swear, you make me embarassed to be your teacher!
The next portion was the short essay, reacting to a passage about bullying in schools.

You could have complained about the bullying at Gekkoukan, right?
…I’m kidding, of course. There’s no bullying here… None whatsoever. I’m not getting into that.
Okay, on to the next section. Many of you got this part wrong.
Now, pay attention. You were asked to write the correct conjunction in each case…
The correct answer was “and,” but I gave partial credit for “however.”

You stayed up and listened to the lecture…

Notably, I don’t think we were even all that close to rank 3 to begin with for Academics. It’s easy to blame failing to get there on me playing fast and loose with extending Tired/Sick status but that’s only part of the issue.

Well, I’m sure we’ll be able to get it high enough for things in the future so we’ll worry about that later.

For now, we’ll just find someone who we CAN hang out with and I think Kaz is just the guy.

Joy

Unsurprisingly, Kaz didn’t turn up to practice this time either…

You see Kazushi…

Wh-What’s up…? You’re probably wondering where I’ve been…
The hospital again?
You remember what we talked about last time? …Of course you do; you remember everything…

I just got back from the hospital… They had the results from my last exam…
H-Hey… Makoto. I…
D-Dammit! …I can’t–

Nothing here that counts as dialogue, which is fairly annoying. We’re picking the first option, of course.

Thanks, Makoto…
S-Sorry to be such a pain…

…F-Funny, huh? I was trying to tie my shoes, and I fell…
It’s a good thing you were around… If it had been someone else, then the rest of the team would’ve found out…
Thanks, man. I really appreciate it.

Kazushi seems appreciative.

Your relationship is stronger now!

I have to train even though practice is over… The big meet’s not that far off.
…You’re leaving right? Later dude, let’s train together sometime…

You decided to go back to the dorm.

Iwatodai Dorm

I’m glad the exams were easy…
Going to Tartarus really tires me out, so I can’t focus on my studies like I used to.

Well, I guess that makes sense, since I’ve been spending all my time studying.

I like how Akihiko says this like there was something better he could’ve been doing with his time when he was spending it just recuperating anyway.

Oh, by the way. Mitsuru won’t be back until later, so we won’t be going to Tartarus today.

Well, that’s fine. I wasn’t really planning on it anyway.

Aw, just leave me alone, man…

When we spoke to her, she said her favorite thing about the game was being able to talk to the kids.

Yeah, I can believe it. Both parts of it, even.

And now we’ve finally hit Charm rank 2. I swear we’ll be using these for stuff other than exams sometime in the future!

Want To Be Close

Hey, how’d you do on the exams…?
I’m satisfied.
Seriously…?
Man, I’m a laughing stock… After the results were posted, I heard these two cute girls talking…

Well, I won’t let it get to me!
We might be getting another girl on our team anyways!

…Yeah, I’m really not sure where anyone would get the impression that Junpei has a one-track mind. I don’t see it.

Nothing else going on today, so we’ll skip right to the important stuff.

Hello.
I was able to say hi to you!
I’ve been telling myself not to be afraid, but the more I think about it, the more scared I get…
I hope somehow I can get better at this…
Let’s go out.

…I-I’ll think about it, okay!?

I’m beginning to think that we can’t actually hang out with Chihiro at this point. It’s been 3 attempts that have all been systematically shot down.

Perhaps somewhat expectedly, Hidetoshi’s hanging out over by the Faculty Office when there’s no student council I see.

There’s no meeting today… My day just doesn’t feel the same.
Don’t you agree?

S-Sure…? Anyway, we need to hang out with someone. I guess seeing Kenji’s plan go up in flames is a good option.

Alright, first of all…
Never leave 'em hanging, that really makes 'em mad.
Oh, and NEVER break a promise. That’s, like, the worst thing you could ever do.
And remember, chicks get jealous easily.
If your chick sees you walking home with another chickm you’re dead, dude.
…Not that I have to worry about that. Emiri is the only chick I need.

Y’know what, I changed my mind. Kenji doesn’t deserve attention right now.

We’ll hang out with our other injured sports buddy instead.

Joy

It’s for you, but he didn’t know your address.
It says. �Come to Iwatodai Station.� What is he thinking? He skipped practice today, too!

After practice, you go to Iwatodai Station.

In a rare moment for him, Makoto actually genuinely runs here. Odd, that.

Y-Yuko was pissed off, huh? …Since I missed practice.
I should’ve told you before, but… um… the results…

The doctor said if I keep this up… I won’t be able to walk anymore…
He said I put too much strain on it during practice. How pathetic…
Well, I just want to win…
Suck it up.
…Y-Yeah! That’s what I was thinking!

Every minute, every second is critical! I don’t have time to waste!
I promised to be the number one athlete in Japan.
Is it that important?
Well, it isn’t just about me…

Living with Determination

He can’t walk right now…
…but if he goes through rehab. he might be able to recover!
He says it hurts too much. though, so he doesn’t want to do it…

I made a deal with my nephew that–don’t laugh, alright–

So, I have to win this meet to make it to nationals.
What about your knee?
I-I appreciate your concern… but… I can’t worry about that now…

Sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you… especually the depressnng conversations…
It’s tough to keep it all inside. You were the only one I could talk to.

Kazushi has opened up to you.

Your relationship is stronger now!

…tell her to talk to me directly. I don’t wanna put you in the middle of this, Makoto.

You decided to go back to the dorm.

Okay, bye!

Iwatodai Dorm

I need to get back into the swing of things. I can’t leave all the fun to you guys.

Eh, we’ve already been to Tartarus this week. Maybe later?

The tower reaches to the skies…
sigh It’s going to be a long and arduous journey.

I can get in close to attack, so I hardly ever miss.
But, my attack power isn’t that high. I mean, I’m strong…
But there’s no way I can do more damage than a sword.

It would be nice if a girl who’s in the same grade as me joined…

Hey wait, where’s Junpei? Don’t tell me… He isn’t, is he?

You hear Junpei yelling and shouting.

Oh wow, he really is. He’s actually hiding in his room! He’s too scared/ashamed to face Mitsuru after bombing the test. I wonder if he’ll also learn from this…

The economy seems to be on the rise again… Though a touch of inflation has led some consumers to complain.

Oh right and it’s the 26th of May, so that means we can do something for Liz today.

What are you talking about? Is this some sort of riddle?
Triangular sword… A triangle…

It’s not exactly a triangular sword. but the blade’s cross-section does resemble a triangle.
I have a few in my room. I’ll fetch one for you.

One swift fade to blue later…

Do you plan on taking up fencing?
If so, I can give you lessons once I have some spare time.

Can’t use this as a regular ol’ weapon in Tartarus before/after taking it to show Elizabeth, sadly. Even though it’s a sword. Don’t question it, okay?

The Poem For Everyone’s Soul

A triangular sword… Yes, this meets the requirements for my request.
This epee was once used for the final rounds in fencing matches.
Fencers wore white uniforms so that blood from struck blows would be more visible.
Along similar lines… do you know why my clothes are blue?

…I will ask my master for the true answer.
Please accept your reward.

Now then, since we’re going to be at Paulownia Mall when we leave anyway…

When The Moon’s Reaching Out Stars

This guy wasn’t around before. I wonder if he’s who Maya told us about. I also swear I’ve seen him somewhere before. Hmm… nah, I’m overthinking this.

There must be some handsome young man who will drive the housewives wild…
Right here.
Where? I don’t see anyone. For heaven’s sake, quit wasting my precious time!

But, he does not seem to be interested in you.

Well, this is what it looks like when we run face first into a stat lock I see! Gonna need to keep an eye open for a Charm level of Smooth. Which I will definitely remember, and not promptly forget.

Before we worry about that, though, we might as well finish working on Courage since it’s already so close to being done.

I gotta admit, I feel kind of relieved that I haven’t hit Academics 3 yet anyway. It’d suck if we were very close to it when the exams dropped, but it’s seeming pretty likely that we were still quite a ways off. Oddly relieved by that one.

Anyway, uh, let’s see. We should probably spend some time soon hanging out with someone new. We’ve got a few that we just kinda instantly backburnered after all…

[Fefnir]

“Gee, there certainly isn’t any bullying here. We brought it up out of nowhere, but it isn’t happening nosiree.” I bet bullying totally isn’t a plot point at all.