IO's First LP- Forgotten in the Conscious Mind: Persona 2: Innocent Sin (Screenshot LP)

[Interdimensional Observer]

It's time for another Interlude before more dungeons and action unfold.

Interlude 2: The Spotlight Starts Swaying from Blue to Yellow

Spoiler

As I said before, Kasugayama is now closed to me, I can't go in there at all.

We don't have any actual leads on where to go right after Kasugayama High, so I just wander around. Returning to Eikichi's old hideout:

All three of the guys here have lost the ability to speak in full sentences. Shadowmen gradually decay to nothing, I like seeing this process unfold.

The Ramen Lady is getting even more distorted by rumors. This isn't even related to being a Russian spy.

Just the heroes musing over what happened. And Eikichi, I disagree with wanting to avenge that egghead, but his murderer nonetheless shall be slain in time.

Strange, I can't spread rumors right now. Must be something plot relevant.

I side with Lisa here. Though when Yukino speaks, I consider her word. A life sentence over a life termination, fine, I'll cede that as the proper punishment.

Since I have some Free Tarots now, I check out the Demon Painter. I can convert Free cards into any of the Arcana at a 1:1 ratio. I Don't have a lot of Frees though, and certain Arcana I lack any cards for, so I choose to withhold my Frees for now.

How'd I forget these latter two had small talk? I would have loved to see whatever I missed.

The Demon Painter directly confirms the immortality from age for the Velvet Room attendants. To hear it directly from them is canonical lore solidity, no room for speculation here, I find that to be a good thing.

With everyone's Personas at Max Rank, I choose to finally spend some Tarots for a new Persona.

But it's NOT this one! I haven't gotten a single Death Tarot yet. The only character able to use the Death Arcana with Good or Great compatibility is the Death Boss himself- Eikichi, and he has the worst Dex of all the PCs, with low SP to match.

But look at that spell lineup! It has Garu (you can't see it here) for Wind, Magnara is Earth, Mudo is Dark instakill, Hellfire, Bufula is Ice. And Frei is Nuclear, yes, Nuclear is an element, P5 brought it back I think, but I don't get why it exists when nothing so far has resisted or been weak to it. Nuclear totally redundant with Almighty it seems. That is five elements on a single Persona, most carry only one or three at most. And Hel has no weaknesses either. I vow Eikichi will be getting the Death Queen when he has the level and the cards.

How wonderful it is to be able to preview a Persona's entire skill lineup before I commit to it, and before I can even summon it! Better than Nocturne, where demons often have so many skills to learn from leveling, but leveling a demon takes a while. The result being it's possible make a demon you thought might be good, but discover much later after the fusion that the 3-4 "???" skills it had to learn are complete junk. 

Instead, I settle on this:

A plain old Pixie. This is all I'll make for today, I overthought things, and since a new Persona takes time to learn all its skills, I opt for just this one, for Lisa, although nothing stops me from passing Pixie to anyone else at any time as long as Lisa isn't using it.

I am led to this. I thought Material Cards were the same as Skill Cards, but they aren't apparently, and I can't choose one of those, though I have none.

I choose not to add a Skill card, which would add a new Skill to the Persona upon summoning. 

I am then allowed to select an Incense Card, even though I have none. Those add a stat boost to the Persona upon summoning.

I am given a preview of the Persona, and Igor asks for final confirmation. I answer Yes. Cue the animation!

Igor takes out a phone and begins talking to someone. Who is it? Philemon? The minnow in the innumerable school of my being which shall be fished out as Pixie? The world may never know.

Everyone else does their own stuff, Belladonna sings, Nameless plays, the Demon Painter furiously paints.

The platform levitates off the ground of the Velvet Room, giant Tarots appear, they coalesce into a ring. A bright flash shines out from them.

And behold, a new Persona, tucked away into its surprisingly portable giant card.

But the Persona does not automatically enter my inventory, I have to talk to Igor again to take on the Persona. I've played ahead to the point where I've often left the Velvet Room, only to realize I forgot to do this.

As you can see, I can carry up to only 10 Personae at any time, including those currently equipped. Which in the worse case scenario means 2 Persona per character, but it can be better than that, you saw above how Yukino and Lisa are both Great with the Lovers Arcana.

Igor on the other hand can hold on to a generous 24 Personae, so if I'm struggling with a dungeon or boss, I can trek back to him and grab a good Persona I felt I didn't have room for on my active set, but didn't want to delete.

Then I stop in the menu to swap, at no cost, Lisa from Eros to Pixie.

Now I leave the Velvet Room, back to roam Sumaru City.

Eikichi just finished a character arc, and now the game will be giving Lisa one. A little formulaic, but she needs it. Now what of this mystery?

I head into Mu, the arcade-turned-casino via rumors, but nothing happens there. It appears I have to trigger something else first.

You can be an arsonist, a principal, a dork, a high school dropout, or a mother who whose child succumbed to Joker, the Masked Circle takes all.

More time chatter, Lisa keeps it refreshingly light.

Maybe Steve the Weeb isn't MC material, but I can't trust the face of this paternal disgrace (Happy US Father's Day every BTW!).

EIC- Editor-in-Chief just to clarify. And at Maya has heart in the right place at least, plenty of journalistic passion- even if she hasn't done any of her job since she joined.

Huh. A curious detail. Will it be relevant here?

I came here to collect rumors from the Rumormonger, and this happened. Is there a fake Lisa or what? Can rumors spawn a second self? We'll see.

So flat nose's weapon rumor is he works for the Mafia. An old Russian spy, and now an American teenager who knows some dons. I'm not going to spend for it, since I find myself using magic 90% of the time, and weapons don't make that better.

Maya foreshadows yet again, Yukino continues offering pity to Anna.

I just wanted to check if I could reenter Pleiades, and I cannot. Well without either school accessible, there goes a great deal of NPC quips.

The game hasn't told me anything about why the Sevens students would run away, it's really keeping me in the dark here.

 

At this point, I got frustrated and turned to a spoiler-free guide on GFAQs for a moment, since nothing was still happening at the Mu arcade where I know something will happen. Turns after that after making small talk with the Rumormonger in the Park, I have to make small talk with Chikarin- the blue haired Rumormonger in Peace Diner. I got fresh weapon/armor shop rumors from her, but I never made small talk. So I did that, but pressed too quickly to screenshot it and she doesn't repeat the message.

Chikarin said basically to seek out the fortune teller in Kounan, and with that, it's on the world map. (Oh yeah, I bought Peace Diner food earlier.)

The buildings look a little old, but there is the coastal waterfront, so I like this district of a fictional 90s Japanese city.

🤗

Aww... How cute. This game has a little stretch of shoreline that would be perfect in mainline SMT. 

Although Ebisu makes me think of this guy. Quiet unbefitting of this serious place.

We start exploring by going to the Abandoned Factory.

This is indeed a dungeon, an optional one. All the demons therein are ones from the past three dungeons, barring those without Tarots Cards like the Zombies. Given I cannot access any of those old dungeons, this must be like Soul Hackers' Sea Ark- a hotel where demons from all the prior dungeons gather on different floors.

For the Control Staffer (whose name is commonplace in Japan, but if he appeared in the flesh, I wouldn't be surprised if he was the legendary Onmyoji Abe no Seimei in disguise) says more doors will be forced open in time, I expect with the completion of additional dungeons that more rooms in here will open up. If this game mimics Soul Hackers in full, then the entrance to a bonus dungeon will be in the depths of this place- but that is far off in the future. 

I explore, and discover that unlike the Sea Ark, there treasures to be found in the Abandoned Factory.

More scattered notes, I wish there are more of these with more substance to them.

I make this angel Happy, and I learn there is a problem with the ideal of making every demon Happy and then using Eager to get Free Tarots from everyone. I can only have three Pacts ongoing at any time, which could cover not even half of all demons types in a given dungeon. But this isn't that big a deal, I'll just keep updating my Pacts to whatever I actually encounter in the field.

Reaching the limits of my spelunking in the Abandoned Factory for now, I leave.

Aerospace museums are indeed fun. I've been to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, free and perhaps the finest in the world of its specialty.

So she says of the suicide beach. Can I get rid of Naomi and put you in IV instead? Then again, two photographers isn't redundant, I'll literally axe Gaston instead, or Starter Girl.

Next is Lunar Palace Kounan, an apartment complex.

Don't you mean eternal oblivion, because that is what that darkness looks like to me. I never expected Maya to live in the void between worlds.

Duh duh! (The game plays a sound like here and shakes the camera in and out to indicate "an OH MY GOD!" reaction.)

So Tatsuya made the sound then? He can do impressions in battle, including a jet engine and construction work, so I could believe.

I myself maintain the veneer of an orderly bedroom. The shelves and such might not be the most organized or cleaned (if not terrible), but every readily visible in perfect order.

And I've seen far worse than Maya's place, you can actually walk from one end of the room to the other without ever stepping on anything.

I can interact with this, but I do not know why.

Kounan PD is the next stop on our tour.

Tatsuya has an older brother. Why didn't I learn that sooner? Because Tatsuya is the silent type, that's why. Silence ruins any short of tension between these two, it just doesn't work when only one speaks. It a crazed man throwing garlic in the suburban wind, its devoid of a target, stinks, and leaves all the neighbors wondering if the man is mad and aggressive.

Katsuya looks good, despite his anger and total uselessness to us. Will he amount to more than a decorative house plant? I'd have to think he would if Atlus invented him. I'd could see him as a secret Masked Circle member due to the aggression, but he hates arsonists, which King Leo is. What will become of these nuggets of leads for something to happen to Tatsuya?

\

Who's a good electronic boy! You are!

IRL I'm a dog person, but I prefer the Kuzunoha Detective Agency cat in this case. Coppy is still cute though. And the assigning of a dog at a police department, and a cat at a private inspector's office, must be done to draw in a little of the romanticized sense of rivalry and distrust between these two different crime solving organizations.

Last up is the shopping mall, going down the list to the Sumaru Genie fortune teller last.

Rumor will very very likely have it that this guy is a pirate. That is even more absurd than Ramen Spy and Mafia Boy, for this kind of piracy stopped centuries ago, the rumors just keep getting more of out reality.

He has no eyes. How do you make costume that removes your eyes?

I declare you Taiwako (Great Pirate) of the suicide beach! You deserve to come to mainline SMT, I like the cut of your skull. Even if the apron is kiddy.

The menu is surprisingly sweet and child-friendly. Then again, maybe this is a themed restaurant intended for youngsters? But nobody suggests this in dialogue.

Brilliant name.

And doesn't this mean that Lisa's Father could ask Joker for Japanese citizenship? Or to be timewarped and become a founding member of the Yayoi culture? It'd be easier than a Japanese guy in Japan wanting to be English.

The Demon Painter hasn't been a member of the Velvet Room since time immemorial, but sometime during the 1900s joined it? This doesn't explain the other three, but I find the prospect of being able to give up one's ordinary existence and humanity and enter eternity in the Velvet Room as something different is very very very fascinating!

We don't have Canas, so I used his son's emoji instead. FE7's Bramimond made similar choice to sacrifice much of his humanity for a very very long life with great powers. I guess I'm drawn to such tradeoffs, much as Canas was, but never achieved.

Just some good chatter of how rumors are born.

I haven't even officially made this butler in a kilt sell real armor, and what he has is more than twice my current wallet. This must be P2's super high-end store.

Kept to the side like this, I don't mind a few breast jokes/emphases. It's generally when they're shoved in my face that I dislike them.

We find our first Good Dad that isn't Maya's presumably dead father. Shame it's only an unnamed NPC.

Those sales contests can only go on for so much longer. Eventually, one will develop that hegemonic edge, and will leave the rest of her sisters smiling from left pinky toe to right temple. A clone war for supremacy is inevitable.

On a less grisly note:

The shop owner here is a woman. And given the dire cost, that has been paid, the "him" is Joker. Not only does he thrive on insecurities for his devilish deals, but trauma.

After talking about her Persona 1 friends and comrades so much, Yukino shows us one!

Sure she is just another useless NPC, but as to encounter another original Persona heroine like this is still a tasty frosted snack cake. If you played P1 beforehand, it must have made one smile to have a "here they are now" moment.

Another healer is that isn't creepy! Dr. Reiko looks very nice. But I still have never used the services of any of them.

Now to the fortune teller at Sumaru Genie.

This makes four Rumormongers, IIRC, an NPC said there were five in Sumaru City.

*Insert modern politics joke*

I myself cannot conceive of anything worthy enough for this dialogue box.

I thought Joker and the all-powerful politician were enemies? Unless it turns out that is a prequel where Joker gives Shido his power, causing Shido to rise to greatness, and then Shido betrays and curses him into a teenage boy. Either way, both are evil, there is no good.

But seriously, if you want to be a politician of any level that badly, I think you have to be inherently corrupt. I can't see someone of good intentions giving up so easily, unless I'm missing something IRL.

I could buy it that she is a fake.

"Sumaru Genie" has an Orientalist twinge. Genies- Djinn in actual Arabic- are from Arabia, while this woman looks so dark in skin tone as to say "Indian" to me at first glance, which is incongruent and therefore a lumping of disparate peoples together, as Orientalism does. But she could be from the Saharan/Sub-Saharan Islamic world, which is why I won't outright call it Orientalism.

Is she an exotic dancer? Does she just want to relax? Is that her real source of knowledge and not the crystal ball and cards?

She tells me to go back to the Park. Why did the game want me to come to her then? Just to open up another section of the city? With Mu being in Yumezaki, I did not yet need Kounan to be opened.

I can have her tell me my fortune- tell me what next I should do in this game to advance the story. Not very useful, because normally the game is very direct about that. But let me try it out.:

The earnings of three good battles is overpriced for a hint service. I opt not to use her aid.

The Honmaru Park guy redirects me to return to the Kuzunoha Detective Agency, where the missing duo have returned.

I choose to drop all of Trashashi's responses, because he is plain ugly and unscrupulous to be buying such a poster when he is somehow engaged to a perfectly wonderful female- Tamaki. You can guess at what he says.

Why would MC be interested in drawing out Lisa in particular?

And as for the last thing Yukino said, Tamaki pulled Hideous off to the small room to the left of this picture, and sounds of somebody being beaten could be heard throughout the rest of this conversation. You can understand what that means.

Before I finish, I enact a rumor and buy some new body armor, believing the cost-to-defense-boost ratio is worthwhile.

As for the "Phantom" Todoroki is referring to, it's the worst serial criminal to ever strike Japanifornia. Nope, he means the "Phantom Society", the generic evildoers of Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, and maybe plain old Devil Summoner, I wouldn't know about that game, because it hasn't been translated yet.

The stage is set, Mu is up and so might be Lisa.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Sorry for the delay on the next part, I had stuff written up, but it was all in a post I didn't actually post, which SF ended up deleting.

 

Part 4: Song and Silverman

Section 1: Mu-y Macho Stair Climbing

Spoiler

We get conveniently cast as extras and are thus allowed into the backrooms of Mu formerly blocked by an NPC. Off to the fourth floor to see what is what with this Muses group, which Lisa is hesitant to do.

That sounds pleasant. Fortunately, this isn’t a difficult dungeon, it’s pretty easy actually, and none too long. Few damage tiles, design is fairly inoffensive.

There are four colors of these Masks, each representing one of Leo, Scorpio, Taurus, and Aquarius, which therefore implies that the other two Masked Circle executives are the Taurus and Aquarius zodiacs. 

The Masks use primarily magic matching the color they wear and are weak to its opposite (Fire-Water, Earth-Wind) and are as that Contact line shows, unable to be negotiated with. There are demons in this building too, mostly new ones, including Nekomata.

The praise to the Joker is said with a high-pitched VA. It's like these are choirboys who feared the breaking of their voices and sold their souls to Joker to stop that. Only for Joker to renege on the deal by giving them helium-infused voices, thus forcing them into his fold.

I had more money than this in if you noticed earlier when I bought new armor. What happened?

Like Macca and Wastrel Beams and Panic in DDS, Persona 2 ways to make you instantly loose vast sums of money in battle with no possibility of getting it back. I hadn’t saved in a while, so I pushed on.

After a battle with a Nekomata, I obtain their rare drop, a new weapon for Lisa. Everyone is still using their joining weapons, so this is a big power boost.

I notice here too that the element of each weapon when using a normal attack is listed as well. Strike, Sword, Range, and...Thrust? The last physical element is called Havoc.

I actually had to savestate in a battle for once against this chest forced encounter with a Faust. As I later learned, they have a skill called Mephistopheles, after the devil who Faust made a soul-selling bargain with. It inflicts random ailments on everybody, and Faust has two powerful target all spells as well. I won without needing to use the savestate though.

A Miracle Egg is a just a single target 400 SP restorative, good for a lengthy boss battle, but not needed now, nobody has even 300 SP.

Money! This goes well into compensating for the funds lost to a cursed hula. Money itself is quite plentiful now, with this, I was able to recoup my losses by the dungeon's end.

Everyone does their little extras role for the short shoot, and we encounter the other two members of Muses, Lisa’s friends from earlier. No boss battle this time.

So according to Lisa, her “friends” aren’t actually her friends and just want to hang out with her because she is different in a cool way. That is the secret concerning Lisa's relationship to her friends. Continuing in her snappiness, she states she is adamantly opposed to being an idol too despite an earlier whim of considering being one, which is a little odd. And something is very very possibly up about how Muses formed.

Now we have our next destination, the nearby Macho Records building. I opt not to go anywhere to check for dialogue, given how uneventful that dungeon was, barring to the Velvet Room because I like the small talk there.

Willing to let her supposed friends just die. Lisa is angrier and meaner than she has ever yet been in this story.

It is a little odd indeed that Lisa is so furious, the girl needs to explain things some more for everyone else to sympathize with her, but she doesn't.

The Collective Unconsciousness of Carl Jung, that mystical concept he questionably brought to the social scientific field of psychology. Not for professionals, but adored by hippies and popular entertainment. Anima and Animus was another idea of his, and The Shadow I think was yet another, a term which may play into Fei Fong Wong's trifold psyche in Xenogears, Id to be precise.

Although infested with demons, there is a shop owner on the first floor of Giga Macho, and they sell music CDs. Because they are inexpensive, I buy them all, I assume they’re for a sound test of some sort, and it turns out that had I made small talk with this seller, I would have been nudged to Maya’s boom box back in her room, as I could guess already. Only this floor has a shop, although the shop itself suggests there will be more CD sellers.

 

Macho Records is big, fairly empty and uneventful in dungeon design, with only a few damage tiles. It has some doors I can’t open but the minimap suggests I eventually could. It has Trish’s too, as Mu did and all dungeons seem to, but as always I didn’t need to use it. An elevator exists, but all it is good for is getting from floor 3 to floor 4, everywhere else has a door I can’t unlock from either side and there is no key to which would let me open them.Masks aren’t present here, which is good because more demons means more Tarots.

Among the enemies were Ixtabs- Mayan Goddess of Suicides and Mothers Who Die in Childbirth IIRC. I though I screenshotted them, but I didn't. They were important because they were of the Death Arcana, and therefore they would let me summon Hel. I make them Eager four times, earning 20 Death Tarots per success, which is about average for the Tarot gain from the usual Eager, with about 14 Frees if you have a Pact. Exceptions to this Tarot gain rule strangely existed for the Lovers and World Arcanas. Still, Tarot gain is making the idea of summoning anything and everything not so bad.

Once I had gotten my Death Tarots and Eikichi to level 17, within 5 of Hel and hence making her usable, I considered leaving Giga Macho (I was on maybe the start of the thrid floor). But the encounter rate was really high and severely discouraged me from walking back, I pressed on and chose to complete the dungeon first.

An easy forced chest encounter with a single target full HP revive. I like the Lich's design. It, like Faust, will later become a generic random encounter demon.

My first weapon found in a chest, for Yukino. This a good find, since her Str is enough to make normal attacks a sometimes okay option.

A group Contact I felt like sharing, sorta funny.

Rasputin! The crazy mystic from Siberia who helped contribute to the public downfall of the Czarist Russia, and had a false but mythologized death where he survived poisoned drink and teacakes, bullets, a frozen river, and then took more bullets to kill. 

So this is what happened to him after Raidou Kuzunoha defeated him, reduced to the Joker's servitude.

Frosty! Hee maintains his signature speech style ho!

 I though I had more screenshots than this. Oh well, on to the tippity top of Giga Macho.

An okay nickname, but a little middle-aged and... I don't know, looks like he could be cool at first, only to turn out to be a sociopathic jerk.

The face is disgruntled, he predicted the heroes were coming like according to a plan, sudden and unexpected rise. Yep, Joker junkie.

So Lisa goes into the booth, maybe it's not such a bad idea.

Uh-oh. But no warning like with the first two bosses was given when I was outside of the conspicuous entrance door here. I saved just in case however.

Sleazy question from a semi-sleazy looking man.

Way to go Lisa! Disavow the pressures of the idol industry to abandon all plans of a personal relationship so you can be every horndog's waifu!

And the Lisa-Eikichi feuding dynamic is funny here I think, if predictable of course.

😈

Lisa stumbles and then leaves the room with Producer Nasty Plotter and her not-friends. This seems a little odd, she just goes along with it and doesn't show any of the resistance she put up at Mu. I mean I get going along with things as cover, but isn't this going a little too far? Now she is endangering her own life apart from the rest of the group.

We have our destination demarcated, better hurry, Lisa might need to be rescued.

I should be able to complete this Part in just two Sections, maybe three.

Edited June 22, 2019 by Interdimensional Observer

[Interdimensional Observer]

Part 4 Interlude 0.26: 8/4 New Places

Spoiler

Before I head to Aoba to follow Lisa and stop whatever this Ginji goon is up to at the concert, I head straight for the Velvet Room here in Yumezaki.

More aphorisms of the human condition:

I was not expecting such a frank and apathetic answer from DP here. "Their" can refer to the heroes, or it could be the other Velvet Room attendants, either way, he'll just keep chilling and painting away, which Igor doesn't mind. I'm liking this guy a fair bit.

Now on to business.

First, it turns out Hel costs 88 Death Tarots, I was eight short of that, so I tap into my Free Card supply and make an even ten Deaths, although you can adjust your usage by individual cards.

While I was preparing to summon Hel, I did a look see over the other Arcana and any new Personae I might want to summon the future. This one looks very, very nice. No weaknesses, and more importantly- Mediarama! The second tier party heal. Media is starting to approach the limits of its great efficacy, though it is only at it now, and still very useful. This has good affinity with Maya too.

Unfortunately, the game hasn't given me a single Priestess Tarot-giving demon yet, and I don't ever feel like selling out my entire Free Card collection for a single Persona.

First, I choose to make a Nekomata for Yukino (Lisa has left the team temporarily you can see). Her Dex is low, though only Maya and Tatsuya are actually good with that stat, but she could use a new Persona. Most Persona pack one or two attack elements, so Nekomata's access to three- Water, Wind, and Earth, is very good. I'm keeping Vesta for Fire access in one of my remaining ten non-Igor slots.

An individualized summoning quote, purrfect!

Now I make the Hel I've desired.

Aques I thought was the first tier water spell, I gave to Hel to expand her already impressive lineup to include all four of the "primary" magic elements. Turns out I was being negligent (TBF, Water usually isn't an SMT element- Ice/Bufu is usually in the place it occupies in this game) and Aques is the 2nd tier water spell, which means I can't casino grind for another copy. Oh well, Hel is still one hell of a Persona, so it's worth it.

Amen to that Your Majesty!

Compared to her modern SMT self, Hel is dressed up here. Normally she is topless with her hair long and down.

Spoiler

Done in the Velvet Room, Aoba is yet another district of Sumaru City, opened now halfway into this turn to Lisa.

Normally I wouldn't want to chat everyone up with the sense of urgency created by Lisa's absence and need to see the concert, but I choose this time to go around and chat up this new neighborhood before going to Aoba Park. Hence the Interlude I call this LP entry.

You'd have to be in one sorry state if talking with flowers was your escapism/coping mechanism.

Ignore this man. Despite the red wording, when I went to the park, I interacted with every flower, but not a single one said anything. Not even after I talked to this guy there who gave me some sort of clue, which I didn't get. If I missed something, oh well, I don't mind.

First up is Kismet Publishing:

Maya and Yukino's workplace, a fine place to actually see. And it looks like Yukino's implied boyfriend is her work mentor.

Yukino, you were a little unnerved sometimes when mentioning this guy before, but you generally kept it cool. Here, you've just melted out of character. I expected better.

I can see him being fairly attractive, and he sounds nice. Not a bad coincidental catch Yukino!

You're bringing memories of National Treasure to the surface, don't make me puke.

Next is Aoba FD- Fire Department, a very small place.

Nothing much. But slight usual beats laughs, and a man who fights the fires without, but kindles one in his heart.

Sumaru TV follows:

You are busy, making Shadowmen and all. 

-Attitude, arrogance, mysteriously unchanged looks despite age and a sudden rise to greatness again. Joker has his fingerprints all over her. Could be one of those two unnamed Masked Circle executives.

Another of Yukino's fellow P1 heroes just hanging around. Were it not for knowing he is a friend of hers, I would suspect him as a bad guy. He seems nice-ish.

Further evidence Ms. Kurosu is evil.

Aoba Way is more shops. Top left to bottom right as always for the visits, the Velvet Room is the same as before.

"Clair de Lune" doesn't play at the restaurant of the same name, only more classical music. Looks nice, good flavor that Maya loves it. 

Why do rumors of people being in groups with firearms keep spreading? Does Sumaru City have a love affair with the US's 2nd Amendment?

Wait, did rumors resurrect this woman?

Isn't Soejima is the name of the head honcho of Persona games since the beginning? Is this him choosing what he wishes to be?

The food is overpriced for the bonuses it offers.

Another Rosa Candida store:

Exactly what I mean about Yukino's behavior towards Fujii earlier, she's confidently proud of having a potential boyfriend and winning him over here. Total 360.

Eikichi freaks out at a "Woman?" here, who used to be a man, thinking it was a little caricaturely offensive, I left it out. The Joker made them a full physical woman of course though, a reverse of the woman-turned man back at the Hirasaka armor shop.

Weird, I'd assume red meant she was the older one. Neither is pretty though.

Satomi Tadashi next.

The only text of note. A lowly drug user who is substituting one sin for another. Let's hope they don't mix them together.

Onto Etheria:

A male friend? Can't be her roommate, Maya must have several friends, and this one is vain. Will keep in mind.

Yukino is skeptical of beauty enhancement, generally in character of course.

The Joker makes an overweight grown woman into a model, add this to their list of wishes granted.

Looks cooky, but not as bad as other NPCs for sure. 

Lastly Double Slash, an Internet cafe.:

Remember, this game was released in 1999, as comical as this seems today, this was a real thing back then.

So it's from here that Maya and Yukino got the leads that brought them to Sevens, a small background events tidbit filled in.

Internet negativity manifested before it became the widespread problem it is today.

This jerk of jerks sells food by the way.

I use the lone orange computer here to see what Maya means.

There were five Sumaru City Rumormongers it was stated much much earlier. This makes the fifth. A clever and very modern choice for the last. The wording of the rumors they provide is a good flourish. Their philosophical musings are now a third category of them, accompanied by Velvet talk and Time Count temporally depressive stuff.

And that exhausts this diversion here, Lisa is waiting at the Outdoor Concert Hall.

The rest of Part 4 won't take long, I'll finish it next time.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Part 4 Section 2: Revelation, Prophecy, and Forgettable Teen Idols

Spoiler

So now it's onto Aoba Park, you cannot reach the Outdoor Concert Hall directly via the are map, you have to trek through the Park to get there.

One of those flowers in many colors which I never discovered a purpose for. Just to show what they look like and "said".

The dungeon has damage tiles that look like fire pits with grating over them, easily avoidable and noticeable. Fights here a little tough, in a bad situation I could lose half of everyone's max HP in one turn. But they normally aren't that bad, even if Lisa being not present for this dungeon slows things down a bit. Hel and Nekomata mean Eikichi and Yukino lose SP faster, but alternating my battles between Contacts and actual fighting makes SP a nonissue again.

Some treasures I find in this dungeon are a Balm of Life, a Str Incense from a chest encounter with some uglies, and...

The Vi Card is an Incense Card, using during summoning, it gives the Persona selected a boost to the stated stat.

Rainbow Light is Material Card. Certain Personae need the appropriate Material Card to summon. You can tell which Personae need Materials right away from Igor's menu, because they'll have a little gold card right next to their name. Igor won't let you make one without the appropriate card.

The Kiku-ichimonji is a new sword for Tatsuya, which is a real boost for him, but since I've seen magic >> physical, I've made his stat build 1 Vi 2 Dx for quite some time. This gives him a much better magic offense and 5 more max SP per Dx.

Getting to the end of this dungeon, I reach the Concert Hall itself.

Eikichi's use of "Hey, gang!" brings a certain children's show to mind...

Otherwise, yep, that's how everyone will get in, a little opportune bribery.

I have no choice here, but as you can see, I'm well within the means to afford this.

Thankfully regarding Maya's line, I saved already as a precaution. I head inside.

This is Lisa's big insecurity secret? A little tame if you ask me. But I guess in Japan, where English has that foreign exoticism French may have in the US (or Italian, or Japanese), it is bigger deal.

I stand corrected. Lisa immediately providing more context helps, she has been objectified both negatively and positively for it. Still doesn't have enough punch I think, Lisa could use more being bullied/objectified praise I think.

And of course, Stephen is a bad dad. Doesn't he know that normally, the children of immigrants should be fluent in their new homeland's tongue and that of that parents'? Modern technology is making the three generations within an immigrant family process of thick accent to thin accent to no accent and monolingual in the new country "process" obsolete now however. Getting back on point, for the sake of helping her daughter feel a little more confident, maybe he should have actually taught her a whole bunch of English?

Slam the piano keys! These two girls have sold out to become idols, normally that doesn't happen in kid/teen TV/movie entertainment of the type until after they make their first major single.

Why are even listening to the guy! You know he's out to kill you, you know all his evil, quit listening to him!

Lisa is too pliant here for my tastes. But on second though, she has just professed her inner secret and is alone and vulnerable now. I might have been too harsh. Knowing this is a video game however and that I can't lose Lisa when so much game remains for me to use her, she won't betray.

The other heroes think about what they overheard and think of how to act. They also get kicked out into the seating area in front of the concert hall itself.

I somehow didn't take a screenshot of Tatsuya being presented with a choice of rescuing Lisa or letting her figure it out on her own. Thinking on how it worked to let Eikichi handle their own personal conflict at Zodiac, I chose to do the same with Lisa. Eikichi is understandable angry, but we'll see how things play out, I can reload if things go bad.

There is actually a lengthy song and a little dance performance here, too long for me. To see the full thing, check here:

Spoiler

I joke, this game was too cheap to afford actual singing and animations beyond what you see above. The song has no lyrics or anything, and the music isn't real music.

Lisa feels better, but she's been manipulated into doing the work of EVIL! Not good.

Everyone runs away.

Taurus is indeed one of the other two executives' title. And it is that flavorless producer, eh. The scarf makes him look a little elegant as a silver lining.

King Leo appears again for some story presence befitting his Masked Circle executive role, and he speaks of what sounds like a prophecy and a riddle. He also chides Taurus for letting the meddling heroes cause all his potential victims to run away too soon.

Nahui-Ollin, not sure of the language it is in, but this sounds pivotal to the Prophecy of Maia thingy and should be explained later.

King Leo teleports away, leaving Prince Taurus behind.

Prince Taurus is an unremarkable battle. He nulls Earth and has no weaknesses. Maybe he had one to Wind, but I coulda sworn he didn't. It was a long slog of a battle, requiring me to pop a Chewing Soul on Eikichi to replenish his SP.

Taurus uses the basic single target physical attack, Magnara- the second tier single target Earth spell, and Dark Maganara, which you see there. Its name lacks creativity, and its animation is only a little better. Why he just doesn't use Mamaganara I don't understand, his Dark version does nothing differently, it is just Earth damage.

Media from old Maia heals off Taurus's attacks very easily. Although Lisa almost died early on due to having Pixie as her Persona, which has an Earth weakness. In the absence of Press Turns however, that isn't so bad. Yes she took extra damage, but the enemy didn't get a whole 'nother attack on top of it, and certainly not without the dreaded Smirk. Swapping her back to her default Persona Eros replaced the weakness with a null, even if it meant all she ended up doing was occasional Dia and mostly basic punches to Taurus. The victory ended after enough slugging of this bull without any further hiccups.

And if you haven't noticed already, Taurus's Persona is a recolored version of Lisa's Eros. His magic element also matches the color of the mask and scarf he wears and that of the Masks that use his name.

In the heat of the moment, Lisa lacks the chance to persuade her friends to abandon Prince Taurus, and instead they faithfully take their metaphoric cyanide pills, becoming Shadow(wo)men.

Speaking of suicidal cults, I think Heaven's Gate coincidentally was the name of one.

Turns out Lisa was in the wrong here, these two truly were her friends, but she realized too late. Sad.😥

And because of the aforementioned bombs that could go off at any moment, we get to running out of this place!

A three minute timer until denotation has been set. It only passes when it hallways, not in rooms nor in battle. The area the game limits me to explore is so small, that the timer is a nonissue.

What do I have to do? Well not find the bombs they're stuffed everywhere and it'd be impossible to defuse them all. What we're looking to find is the riddle King Leo said he left behind as to his other bombing targets.

He'd want to relish in that probably, but can't because he might die soon if he does. The seriousness and the likely desire makes this really funny to me. 

Found the riddle in the second explorable room (and a Vi Incense in the hallways). One more room before we escape.

Yukino speaks of love, Eikichi celebrity, Maya heroism, and Ginko overcooked food. Three have dreams, one clearly does not. Stated, but understated and fitting the moment.

Oh yeah, fighting in these hallways has me learn my first new Fusion Spell in forever. This is the Wind Equivalent of the Yukino-Tatsuya Fusion Spell used back against Hanya. It just requires two Wind spells be cast back to back against the same target. I also find Fausts as generic enemies here.

But back to the escape!

💣💥

What kind of heartless fool would choose the bottom option? (And, you can see unsaid that Lisa's friends were carried out of there.)

I actually chose the bottom one here, she needs it more at this moment.

He Who Put Toothbrush Mustaches Out of Good Taste for All Eternity is named for the first time.

But Ms Ideal runs off after some namedropping and wrongly placed suspicions, she was of no more use this time than last. May things be different on the third forced meeting.

But the heroes have no time for pursuing Ms. Ideal for more information. Instead, they have to stop King Leo from bombing more of Sumaru City, a much more urgent crisis.

Part 4 Fin

 

Overall, not bad, but not as good as Eikichi's stuff at Kasugayama I think. Lisa's development seemed weaker, even if it really wasn't. The bigger issue for me was she was basically dragged and unflinchingly carried out part of the villains' great prophecy. It felt forced and poorly done, for the sake of just having a prophecy.

At least there was a literal bang at the end, and a good deal of tension has carried through into the next "Part" as I term it of the plot. Stopping a pyromaniac with explosives from destroying a city, with said fiend of humanity a very personal foe for Maya, who will be getting the spotlight next I believe.

The dungeons were a little better if not good, and the new Personaes I summoned livened up the gameplay a little, though I showed not much of it. Difficulty is still creeping up, if only slightly.

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

Interlude 3: Bomberman Can Wait

Spoiler

Whilst I felt like I should consider continuing the tension of the moment by meeting Yukino's friend at Double Slash, I opt to do the rounds and talk everywhere with everyone again.

RIP Aoba Fire Department, I only saw you once. Smart thinking from King Firebrand.

Quite a few NPCs think the bombings at Aoba and the Concert Hall were caused by the heroes. Not just Junk o' Suspicion.

King Leo struck the police station as well? Again it's a logical target, disable the other institution able to stop his reign of terror.

Would this be that Mt. Iwato I haven't been able to go to for some reason? This could be Yukino's arc maybe, but it won't be for now with another objective present.

And Maya is oblivious to the visible romances of others, another quirk for her.

As I said before, some blame the heroes for the serial bombings, but the Masked Circle is getting its share of blame as well. Which will predominate?

Does not like kids at all, you were so likable before this with your seafaring nostalgia and poetry.

RIP Coppy the PD Mascot.

Tatsuya's brother, you've prolly good intentions in general for society, but otherwise you're not so nice, and that ain't right.

Not much to say, other than Lisa is sympathetic, and Eikichi has a point, this bad dude abides by no rules.

Why'd I screenshot this? It suggests she is a fraud when it comes to be a fortune teller, or that she was real, until rumors that she wasn't has started stripping her of her powers.

Good point Maya! Doing bad things will make the MC even than it already is.

A poor victim of Joker degenerates into an even worse condition.

Maki volunteers to help the poor memory lost guy, but it can't be remedied until Joker is defeated though. And being a former Persona user Yukino suggests could offer Maki a measure of protection against the power of rumors.

Like the guy just mentioned, this one wants destruction after having called on Joker, and for a time living in bliss with the wish fulfilled.

Just more Demon Painter backstory.

So with the passing of time, Sumaru City is becoming increasingly warped by the power of rumors. It was innocent enough when the Ramen Lady became a spy, and the Emblem Curse was a fairly minor crime, but now things are starting to drag down the entirety of society, the stakes are rising.

Lisa really is peppy and determined! Good to see her little personal crisis has strengthened her, much less of his distressed/sad look from now on.

This is all he has to say? -Well he can't know most of what she has been through and is doing. An improvement- he doesn't complain about her not being feudal Japanese enough.

Just some weapon shop rumors I felt like recording due to what they say they are.

More foreshadowing, but nothing is yet remotely clear.

So Eikichi's underling's mother did join the Masked Circle after all. And, the Shadowmen condition has progressed to the stage where not even a loving mother can recall her son, only a mysterious sensation of what was one. She too wishes to destroy all, a third victim.

Yet another tablespoon of the Time Count's dirges.

Agression instance no. 4, but no destruction here.

A little regret from Lisa again in wake of Mee-ho and Sheba's loss, and Maya makes some good serious commentary.

Giga Macho is still open, but no demons in here this time. The shop on the first floor is open, but the upper floors are off limits, so I just leave unable to buy anything.

Some character flavor. Me likes it all.

Maya is referring to how by branding the entire Masked Circle as evil terrorists, the vast majority of members, themselves victims whose only crime was playing the Joker Game, an injustice is being done to that majority.

A little variety of comments here, all small goods. But the saleswoman is deserves a strong reprimand for crushing on Tatsuya to the point of wanting Lisa dead.

Oh the irony. The heroes are just inquisitive, and their want to know results in spreading the sounding of evil by mistake.

Surrrrre!

King Leo, crank the heat up here. Melt his facial silicon.

Oh, and I forgot to check this earlier.:

Eek! A Calling Card!

Stay calm, breath, don't feel the urge to hide anything. If you think you have nothing to hide, nothing to protect, nothing will manifest and nothing therefore can be stolen. There, beat those thieving suckas with meditation.

Hmm... A little worrisome indeed. But it's good to have an update, and Eikichi will always save Hanakouji's day.

A fourth layer of distortion on this lady, she is the poster child for rumors gone amuck.

This defies the Russian Revolution lie, unless she sided with the Whites, but then how would she be getting weapons now when her career would have to have been under the Soviets whom the Whites opposed? The idea of czar's daughter being by virtue of her class at all amenable to the Soviet cause spits in the face of the USSR's classism, being born working class alone made one normally wholly trustworthy. It makes no sense, and it isn't supposed to.

Maya offers a decent explanation for why Lisa acted as she did at the Outdoor Concert Hall, and Yukino slides in a minor boob joke.

"Foreign song" if you haven't figured it yet, was why Lisa had to sing the one part Taurus wrote in English, the language is foreign to Japan.

A fourth NPC who wants naught but destruction now. Is this to be the fate of most NPCs by the game's finale?

Great contemplation Yukino.🤔

Joker is having an impact on Sumaru and its people, but there are rumors here that don't help his cause, and those which the heroes ask to be spread outright work against Joker's interest. But then by what force would rumors come true? A mystery in need of time's unveiling.

I passed a few rumors here, for weapon shops and armories, the only things I can. I really should check with demons to see if they offer rumors now.

Pleasant consideration of King Leo's state of mind, and this Garcon is cooler with rumors enacted actually.

Yukino worries about her lovely mentor, comments on the strong bond between Eikichi and Lisa, and I buy some Revival Beads, having survived without the need for resurrection items or magic for a long time. But just in case, I load up on the more affordable ones for now.

And the final itinerary item is to go to the Velvet Room again.

Whoops, I forgot to screenshot Igor's small talk, but that doesn't matter really, I'm here to do some Persona summoning.

Tengu gets made for Maya, it has only Wind Magic and some Sword skills, but she could use any new offense, and being of the Magician Arcana, it gives Dx on leveling. She'll keep Maia as backup for Media healing.

Iris is for Lisa as an alternative to Pixie and a second source of Media. I lose the Material Card making her, but I can always store her with Igor if for some odd reason I wish to keep her to the very end.

And I summon Shax for Tatsuya, I'm flush with Hanged Man Tarots which Tatsuya has Great compatibility with. It has a lot of weaknesses, but two magic elements makes it something other than Vulcanus for him to use. Sun Tarots are nonexistent, which Tatsuya too is Great with, despite the weakest being lower leveled than Tatsuya now.

I choose to get rid of Lisa's starter Persona Eros. Between Pixie and Iris, she has her weaknesses covered, and Iris does everything Eros could do but better.

Eros is forever gone, no getting it back, since I cannot summon it anew. But if you look behind Igor you can see a list. If one returns a Persona to Igor and its Rank has reached Max, the Persona is converted into an item of some kind. The list shows exactly what you'll get once a Persona hits Max Rank. 

For all the starter Persona other than Eros, I get Incense. But Eros gives me an Orb of Solving, which I could have bought at the casino. This once equipped will show me any Fusion Spells I haven't discovered, but could make with my currently equipped Personae. I need this, since I haven't learned new Fusions in a long time. I give the Orb to Eikichi due to Hel's incredible spell lineup letting him participate in many different Fusions.

 

I thus end things here in the Velvet Room. Maya's little arc will begin soon.

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

Part 5: Stopping a Serial Arsonist

Section 1: I Flush When I Smile

Spoiler

First we go to the Double Slash Internet cafe to meet Yukino's friend to help figure out what the riddle King Leo left behind means.:

As is to be expected, Yukino's friend is a fourth P1 Persona user, and this one is actually helping us rather than just stand around. She looks delightful, and more than a little like an archaeologist.

The city's shape is a bit peculiar, the way the river flows with the island right in the center, it looks like an eye to me.

The Zodiac and Pleiades grow in relevance here, it's more than just the naming convention of some of the villains and a school.

Destination found! But wait, there's more!

That wordplay Maya mentions is totally lost in translation. Could the translators have created a localized wordplay? Maybe. But I can understand why they chose not to here. Fortunately Maya makes it readily apparent looking over the places in Hirasaka as to what the bombing target is.

But first, I do a little chatting in Double Slash before I leave:

This is where they chose to place Lisa's friends for now. The shading and the glow suits their faces perfectly. Lisa laments and swears to get them back to normal.

"Cool and quiet" sounds exactly like an SMT silent protagonist. That would explain why he isn't named, that the player could always adjust.

And Elly was a victim to the "irresistible charm of silence to be worshipped" that silent protags tend to get.

 

Now I live this place and head to Hirasaka. There are two buildings I can choose to enter which I couldn't previously: the Sakanoue Building, and Smile Hirasaka. One of these is where the bombs and the remote detonator which stops them is located.

The riddle Maya emphasizes said "smile", so it must be Smile Hirasaka that is the target. But before I enter, I am given the choice to reconsider, for there isn't enough time to investigate both buildings if the heroes choose the wrong one before the bomb goes off. -I didn't screenshot any of this though.

I enter Smile Hirasaka, and immediately am thrusted into this:

Totally unexpected change of scenery. You're right on this Eikichi.

Smoking- not something so allowed in video games.

And this is a blend of the very old school "caught in the bathroom smoking" trope, and a clever trick that sets off the building's fire alarms.

Good for your health Maya! But it'd be more interesting admittedly if you did smoke.

Except for the fact you've never returned to work since you joined up as a Persona heroine. Nor has Yukino. I think you've had a common law divorce. Well, at least journalism isn't so strictly speaking a 9-5 job, Maya can just engage in a little crunch at the end of the month and meet ends' meet that way.

Happy talk and that pesky foreshadowing again! Let's get past it game!

As I said, an old time trope, and at this point, the fire alarm did go off.

Well you do have a healthy heterosexual teenage male's romantic and sexual attraction for the ladies. But you haven't really engaged in perversion or flirtation at all actually. So no, the Cleaning Lady is wrong, this is not pervert. 

So everyone else without another word suddenly and humorously to me ditches Eikichi with the Cleaning Lady to find the transmitter. This leaves me with just Tatsuya to control, to be fair to me, the game slashes the enemy count per battle to 1 now.

I go off in search of the transmitter. As you see, I am for some reason on the 4th floor to start, and through another typical and unexciting P2: IS dungeon, I roam around finding treasures, foes, and hopefully my objective.

I forgot to screenshot here. But on the third floor, instead of finding the transmitter, I find Maya who says her search for it was fruitless and suggests we check and see what Lisa and Yukino have found. Enemies remain as low in number per battle (encounter rate is still high) as with just Tatsuya.

A new pair of guns for Maya. And unlike all other weaponry I've seen, this gives Magic Attack and Defense, which is really really good! Maya is a caster in the foremost, this should buff her healing and offense a little. Definitely never removing these unless I can find a weapon with a similar bonus.

Other treasures in this dungeon are 30000 Yen, Maragi and Sukukaja (single target evade up supportive spell) Card, and Dx and Vi Incenses.

Those two questions I answered earlier have changed their relationship for the better I see. They don't seem like a bad couple, but Lisa's unrequited love still remains just that, is she being sidelined forever?

Yukino is found lower on the building with her search also a failure. Enemy numbers have creeped up with Yukino back. 

Tatsuya died here, unlike numerous other SMTs, Silent Protag KO is not a Game Over. This reminded me to buy some Revival Beads when I get out, being this game has been so easy, I haven't had the need to get them, or even carry Recarm.

Cause of Tatsuya's death was the enemy Hel's Mudo, insta-death in enemy hands is never good. Tatsuya's Persona didn't have immunity to Dark, so he bit the bullet. Hels rarely use Mudo in actuality, so I'm in luck there.

Lisa's back and her search also failed. All this failure and possibility this was the wrong building means going back to the 4th floor to get Eikichi back and then out of here.

It took me maybe an hour to get through this dungeon? So yep, this was a long time of just standing and arguing in place.

At this point, a ticking sound can be heard, like a clock, a steady, incessant clock.

That can mean only one thing. ⏰💣

So I didn't actually need to explore this dungeon? 

Seriously? How'd all of these blue-footed boobies get in here? Were they all here this entire time? The game is cracking one heckuva joke.

And Belphegor as he alludes to, is one of the demons associated with the famed Seven Deadly Sins, he is the Demon of Sloth.

An anime cosplayer girl? Sure have high standards and a no-nonsense storyline going on Atlus. Maybe old SMT wasn't so anti-pander after all.

Her mask if you didn't naturally pick up on it due to the human ability to see faces where they do not exist, is different from the others. It has a big smile, with two yellow eyes on the red upper half. Her name seems vaguely indigenously Mesoamerican looking at it.

You signed up for the wrong game warrior princess. We're not "demon tamers" we're PERSONA USERS! THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE! Go and infect some other game with your childishness.

Tatsuya just takes the transmitter and smashes it, well that was easy. Now light up that girl's future for insulting Maya.

...

That's it little brat, your sympathetic snippet ain't enough to spare you from a great deal of pain. So much pain, that Maya's little lesson will sink in about the value of life, and you become so overwhelmed by the fear of future pain and death you'll go mad and instantly become dried up 65 year old woman becomes a menace to humanity through her plan to "save" all life on the planet.

How will I inflict that much pain? Well I'm...

 

 

NOT TELLING YOU!

 

Wrongamundo! That's one of Maya's signature VA'ed battle opening quips, a blind newborn pup sans bowel control like yourself couldn't have conceived of it before the Great Maya, you weren't even conceived of when she did.

See the very strange background exclusive to this fight? 🚽 I don't know why they chose to associate the Demon of Sloth with toilets. If someone was given to most severe Sloth, they wouldn't care where they emptied their bowels and just shat wherever they happen to be.

The Palace of Versailles was infamous for lacking toilets and having at most servants running around with pissboxes. As nobody bathed either, the Versailles stunk of excrement, covered in the fragrance of lavish amounts of very very fine perfumes, a disparate combo if there ever was one.

Getting back to the battle, the Mask goons don't actually fight in this one. It's just the girl and Belphegor. All the girl can do is physical attacks and Stun Claw, which can inflict Sleep and disable an ally for a few turns if left untreated (it'll eventually where off on its own). Belphegor has the stronger arsenal filled with AoE spells and maybe some other ailments, I forget.

Belphegor I chose to target first, since he seemed weak against most types of magic. Once he died, the battle I realized was very easy because he was the offensive powerhouse. But Ixquic was like Prince Taurus, a slog to kill. She has no weaknesses and nulls the physical elements, so it was a long roasting with magic, draining through most of my SP, but not tapping into the Chewing Soul supply.

I would just like to point out that I discovered a Fusion Spell during this battle, Dragon Flight. It was the first I discovered in a very long time.

The Orb of Solving isn't as useful as I thought it'd be. It shows me all possible Fusion Spells I can discover with the Orb-equipping character using their currently equipped Persona. But it doesn't show me the full instructions, it only tells me "X element spell" and where it must belong in spell order to trigger the Fusion Spell. It still requires trial and error to learn new Fusion Spells, but this a whole lot better than not having any idea at all. Multiple Orbs of Solving via the Mu casino would allow me to skip the guesswork.

 

Now to the battle's aftermath:

Hit that baby one more time! Do it for me Maya!

Belphegor is slain and out of mercy, Maya and the rest leave the girl and the Masks alive and alone here. 

As with the first riddle, Maya figured out the harder part, and leaves the rest transparent. But that's the next entry!

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

Part 5 Section 2: A Short Workout

Spoiler

Before I head to Yumezaki, I pay another quick visit to the Velvet Room to jot down the attendants lines and do a little talking elsewhere.

It's fairly interesting this time I think. The Velvet Room attendants admit they have become immortal from aging, but they have lost something in doing so. They are stagnant, spending their existences in a chamber removed from time's flow. Nameless's counting has a meaning to it, giving him something that tries to connect him to the humanity moved by time which he is no longer a part of.

Poor Eikichi...😕

This is the price of mercy. But I'd be fine bribing the not-Midori with Yen, however much she wants, I'll pay if it actually keeps her off me.

So, if I had chosen wrongly, it does really sound like Smile Hirasaka would have been destroyed.

Now in Yumezaki, I have a choice, what is the next bombing target? Pachinko SILVERRRRRRRRR! or GOLD? The riddle said El Dorado, which is the fabled land of gold, so doesn't take a genius to figure out the correct location.

Ulala? Is Michael Jackson around? Please no dance off, I'm bad at rhythm games.

One really good membership she has to let five guests come with you at the same time. I don't need one at all like this, but I'd like one, if it was cheap enough.

Works at a lingerie company but boxes and doesn't seem sultry in behavior. A fair blend of strength and beauty.

*Insert flash of the screen indicating times passes as the heroes explain stuff*

Ulala punches the sandbag so hard its bottom rips open, and all the sand falls out, alongside a good old TNT bomb.

Yup, this is target alright.

Maya's friend, thinking the man who duped her is to blame for this, runs furiously off to find him. And now the heroes can begin their search for the transmitter.

Yukino vs. this Ulala woman, I'd watch it. Eikichi, is boxing actually good for weight loss? Lisa, why does Jeet Kune Do sound fictional? Maya sympathizes with her roommate knowing the man she dated well, and you've alarmed and unconcerned NPCs alike.

This dungeon is of comparable difficulty and design to the prior ones, it's pretty inoffensive as I search for the transmitter.

This is what I meant about what the Orb of Solving does. It fills in just one of these three slots for an unlearned but possible Fusion, not even naming the required skill. Fortunately, I am able to string together what works from trial, error.

Each of the four primary elements (Fire, Water, Wind, Earth) had a Fusion Spell like this one, but which slot Eikichi filled in wasn't always the same. I noticed the top and bottom slots were both the same element as the Fusion Spell, but the middle one was of a different magical element from the four primary ones, which in this case it turned out to be Wind. The Water Fusion Spell with the same stats called for an Earth spell in the middle, while the Earth called for Water and the Wind for Fire. It makes logical sense.

And the results were so worth it!

Beautiful spell animations for once. But the best part is they do awesome damage and target ALL enemies, not just a lone target or group. These new Fusion Spells made normal battles, which were dragging a bit at this point, much much faster.

Thanks to heavy Fusion Spell use involving her stemming from such a diverse spell lineup, Nekomata can now Mutate into a new Persona at the Velvet Room. But I don't have to do that, it's optional.

A demon told me I could ask them any question I wanted to, I asked them to explain evolution. Evolution scares demons it seems.🐒👫👿😱

Mediarama! The 2nd tier party heal spell! I'll have to find a really really good Persona for Maya or someone else to place this on. It'll do a great job of supplanting the now kinda weak Media.

Other treasures I find are an All Card (+4 for all five stats for the chosen Persona when summoning), 50000 Yen a the women's changing room, and an Ag Incense in the men's.

 

Returning to the transmitter search:

Wonderful expression.

I missed a screenshot here of a full-sized barbell falling right where Tatsuya is, which is where Maya was.

But you know he has died now. Or maybe he's been dead this entire time, that's what being a silent protag can feel like.

Actually, I think I recall hearing the man who invented the Polaroid was a little eccentric.

And is it just me, or is the use of the term "detonator" here incorrect? Shouldn't the transmitter be the detonator and these just called bombs?

Lisa should really show off that dropkick on someone, it'd be funny.

And Maya, that isn't a sock, it's a jock strap.😜

Exactly what I mean about terminology!

Not gonna let the insult of a madman get to me, I'll just laugh it off that he'd include it.

Huh? How the 🤬 did somebody attach an entire exercise machine to the ceiling of a room not that tall, and keep it held up until somebody opened the door?

Eikichiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!😲

Why isn't he dead? A barbell I can see someone surviving, but an arm press machine weights and all? None of this makes sense, but the absurdity of the upscaling of the trick I do love.

Maya gets angry, but stays politely under control and places her momentary emotions in a greater context at the same time. Distinct, in a good way?

A reference to Igor outside of the Velvet Room. And I do wish Personae could be crafted with noncombat features. Can I have please have a Persona that lets me fly everywhere?

Swimsuit DLC gimme!

And what is wrong with mankinis Lisa? Keep things gender equal.

That was easy.

I forgot to screenshot a man in white clothes with blonde hair walking into the room after I smashed the transmitter and then quietly leaving immediately after.

So now I go after this guy, who didn't look cool at all to me. And Maya thinks she knows him, what could that mean?

I go off to find the man, and it turns out he is back in the gym on the first floor where we met Ulala, who isn't in the room at the moment.

A gentleman he sounds like, but not as handsome as his name suggests.

"Queen" then means the last Masked Circle executive should be called "Queen Aquarius" piecing things together.

And a boss battle commences!

And Ulala, a sudden and unexplained Persona-user, runs away with the man who she thought was behind the planned bombing earlier, being the actual person in charge of the transmitter I guess.

You're right on the first point Eikichi, Ulala deserves to hunt her prey.

But you're wrong on the second point Eikichi, for there is no harem to make in this game.

Thus ends this uneventful and short dungeon, which raises more questions in Ulala, than it answers.

Given Lisa got her spotlight resolved in three dungeons, I'm expecting the same of Maya. Without anywhere to explore, I can say for certain the next entry will cover the rest of Part 5.

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

Part 5 Section 3: The Lion, The Witch, And The Aerospace Museum

Spoiler

As I normally do, I return to the Velvet Room to collect the musings of those who reside there and friends.

Igor now explains how Personas can mutate and evolve into new ones, now that I have one that can. I forget as a result to small talk with him.

This is what Nekomata can mutate into, it is a healing demon. Notice it’s Arcana is called Coin, not a normally summonable Arcana. I opt not to turn Nekomata into it, since as is, she is much more valuable with her varied magical offense.

And looking at the new normally summonable Personae...

Buddha! It’s rare to see him as someone summonable, he also has a skill called Nirvana- great Light damage to all and a chance of instakill. I don’t have his necessary Material Card though. Nor any Hierophant Tarots.

Mafui I think is a different, more accurate transliteration of Maph- "Ma + Fu" translates as Magic/supernatural/demon + wind. So Buddha = Gharnef, got it. It's just a crappy ailment spell, I don't see a use for those.

I made a snap stop into the Britain-themed armor shop, since I wanted to see how pricey its armor was, not that much actually.

I would hazard from this that talk of the Last Battalion is now the talk of the city if I bothered to speak around? But I don’t feel like it being in the middle of a story part. And a Maya comment on Joker I just felt like including.

This taken care of, to the Aerospace Museum it is for the showdown with King Leo.

He looks much better with the mask on, bearable actually.

Unexpected comedy to begin what I thought would be very serious, but I’m fine with it.

So Ms. Ideal Okamura is somewhere where I can hopefully extract information from her. I might want to leave here now and ask her about the Nazis.

Nope, not leaving right now!

Now here is the seriousness I expected!

Another timer, I have ten minutes to find all the children in the building and make it to the roof. Otherwise, it’s a game over. No enemies are to be found here, although the building is fairly large and flames block some of the paths. If I try to walk through them, the crew takes damage and is forced back.

There are empty rooms in this building, Maya just does a look-around and then says so when this happens.

Maya, why are you of all people cussing in front of the children? Better to scare the candy out of their systems if it gets them motivated and moving than not, however.

How did she get into the plane in the first place and why? And why is she even here? Why would she have done that if she came to kill the heroes? 

I know she’s just a popcorn shrimp to the Masked Circle and that’d they be fine letting her die though. She already failed them once. And she is clearly afraid for her life, so better to save the innocent girl than let her die as punishment for what she had done before.

Maya taking action! She is very confident in the plan she herself threw together in a moment, of course I’ll leave it to her.

The little girl is safe, now for Maya…

…and the rope breaks! Tatsuya’s Persona tries to help grab her hand.

Sudden flashback, this is the Alaya Shrine arson of 10 years ago! At last, we see it. And with child Maya unseen.

Wow. Only a child and knocked down, Tatsuya summons his Vulcanus and attacks the younger King Leo.

Back to the burning present of the day, Maya is safe, Ixquic is safe, everyone is safe. Relatively speaking, back to hauling keisters and getting out of this aerosol can with a lit match stuck inside.

At last, a new gun for Eikichi! And it’s unexpectedly Almighty element, which can be commonly resisted in this game, undermining its Almighty-ness. Other treasures found here include a Dx Card, Lu Incense, a pair of Revival Beads, and a Miracle Egg.

Tamaki calmly stops me from going up, children must be stuck on this floor and she won’t let me go on without finding them. Thank you for stopping me from GOing myself by getting too high up with kids trapped on the lower floors.

First Maya saves children, now Yukino does so with her usual polite and strong character. I reason then there must be five rooms of children to save, one per playable character.

Eikichi rescues the little students with a smile, how kind and cute of him. He is a good guy, the first impression was really really off base.

Yukino uses super strength from her Persona to save a lone child stuck in a malfunctioning elevator door. Wicked!

Yes sir! A burning building with a time limit and child hunt wasn’t bad enough, now I have to fight along the way. But the timer stops in battle, so it doesn’t actually put additional pressure on me. Thank goodness! If battles had the timer, there is no way I could make it to the top.

And you know Maya the angel is angry when she cusses for a second time in one place.

Death Starex3 maxes the Scared emotion of schoolchildren, I’ll keep this in mind if I ever have to Contact them. 

A decent silent protagonist joke. Eikichi is right though, Tatsuya should have used Persuade.

A random encounter with a Rasputin has me learn that Lisa’s Discuss Love Contact works on him. He is infatuated with Lisa, what a wonderful OP.

Lisa provides compassion for the children, sweet. Even sweeter, all the children have been saved and sent to the rooftop.

Oh, I am ready! Bring it on it Flame Hyenard!

I savestate here since I can't save, they block that so I don't lock myself into a Game Over situation. I've about 2-3 minutes left on the clock at this point, so this dungeon doesn't allow you to dawdle around or get lost, I had to bring up the full sized map a lot to make sure I knew where I hadn't gone and should explore/go next.

No Tamaki no! You can’t lose! Demons must be stronger than Personae! I refuse to accept this! How’d you lose? Did you use Jack Frost, Wicker Man, and Jeanne d’Arc? Bring Amaterasu or Surtr to shrug off the fire attacks and have Loki sling Ice magic at him, or somebody with Aquadyne! You’re a veteran demon summoner, this dude has to be weaker than Hazama. You have brought SHAME on Shin Megami Tensei! You deserve death for your sin! 

*Cue Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army Game Over screen*

I failed to capture a moment dweeb here pathetically failing his arms at King Leo only to be knocked aside.

What? This man is Tatsuya Sudou, the man named by the one NPC way back at Sevens as the rumored serial arsonist of ten years past? Not exactly surprising given King Leo’s love for arsony and all that has been said and shown, but the game just changes his name to that without him saying it.

About a third of his face is destroyed, the arsonist got a taste of his own inhumanity from a mere collapsed child back then. The rest of his visage bears a look of fear, but he stops not at his insanity and depravity.

Maya can’t remember a thing of the Alaya Shrine incident, nothing, despite having been stalked by King Leo for a long time.

Bastard! No rules and honor at all for this bad guy, just a farce of them.

So much to take in from him, so little time to get explanations right now.

They don’t explain this, but it’s not hard to deduce. The restaurant looks like a blimp, the children innocently think it is real, it becomes a real blimp.

The flames must have destroyed the building’s internal structure, to the point the roof collapsed. Sudou’s own handiwork does him in, while Ixquic survives.

A breath of relief amid the dire depths.

Behold a glorious airship takes flight. Return the zeppelin to its rightful place in aviation!

Ignore the smoke coming from the burning museum.

EAGH! What imbecile spread the rumor this was full of HYDROGEN GAS? That vaporized the Hindenburg in one minute. H2 is very reactive and hence flammable, Helium gas is inert and won’t catch fire. Damn the US for hoarding the world’s critically declining helium supplies.

He’s back alright. How could this narrative end without a boss battle?

Daddy issues rear their head once more! A villain has it badly, real real badly it sounds like, he’s a little pitiable from this.

Yet Maya thinks she understands him, I can’t see how she does from knowing nothing else of him. But she is right, he deserves death for all he has done already.

 

King Leo was a tough-ish boss. His Persona as you see is a recolored Vulcanus, expectable, and most of his attacks are Fire elemental. No weaknesses, but I primarily belted with with old Hydro Boost for another slow victory.

He has normal physicals, Agilao, Maragion (why Agilao looks so different in ma- form is lost on me), and most notable of all- Dark Fiery Fury. That juvenilely named skill deals two hits, one of Fire, and one of Sword. DFF deals about 80 damage, which I underestimated initially and he spammed the skill a whole lot. Combined with the fact that he always moved before my heroes, things were precarious for a time, with me having to have Lisa join Maya in casting Media via Iris. Later on, Tatsuya Sudou strangely used Dark Fiery Fury a whole lot less, letting Maya be the lone Media user again and freeing Lisa to chip away at his HP.

Tatsuya put his hand on Maya’s shoulder or something, a way to tell her no luck getting any answers now, King Leo is dead.

The Fire Crystal Skull! One of what I guess are four is now mine.

Yukino, you’re being great and all, but you just shoved Eikichi and two kids out of a blimp without parachutes on. We’re probably so high up falling into water would be no better than falling onto pavement.

Not a bone is broken, screw physics indicating splatting!

Maya’s reconciled with the little girl here, no more a nuisance. Maya tries to press Lisa on that foreshadowing bit. I had not considered the possibility of a female Joker before.

Next destin-

Great, rumors are now working against us!

Isn’t that a little ironic? Given what we just went through. You of all people I would think would be too sensitive to use that phrase right now Maya.

Go children of Sumaru! You aren’t the future! But you’ll save us, and we are the saviors of the future!

Everyone leaves Tatsuya’s side but Lisa, so ends this lengthy chapter in the story.

 

It took a long time from old Sevens to get the chance, but now we’ll finally be able to milk Ms. Ideal for all she knows that the heroes do not.

It’s a little surprising to see the most menacing executive of the Masked Circle die so early, but the Aerospace Museum was tight. I liked this story arc, even if the GOLD gym was very filler.

[Eltosian Kadath]

3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Not a bone is broken, screw physics indicating splatting!

This is a world where rumors are real, and water's magical ability to prevent fall damage is one rumor that has been along for a LONG time and constantly perpetuated by Hollywood and other popular media.

3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I had not considered the possibility of a female Joker before.

I am now kinda hoping for the next version of Persona 5 to have a FeMC option like P3P.

[Interdimensional Observer]

On 6/30/2019 at 4:41 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

This is a world where rumors are real, and water's magical ability to prevent fall damage is one rumor that has been along for a LONG time and constantly perpetuated by Hollywood and other popular media.

GOOD POINT! 😀🍪

This gets me thinking, how would the Mythbusters react to being in the P2 world?  faces across the board for all the unbelievable myths that can't possibly be true that they inexplicably confirm?

Maybe I could spread a rumor the last few seasons of Mythbusters don't exist. What a wonder it'd be to existentially wipe away the nadirs of tv, film and gaming by just collectively agreeing they aren't real.

 

Exposition Dump: Conspiracy!

Spoiler

I chose to exclude this from Interlude 4, partly to break down its size a bit.

But the primary reason for the separate is because plot important information is throw at us here, and it's a little esoteric in some ways. Giving it its own small segment allows one to digest it more easily.

It really is just Tatsuya and Lisa now, some places I could normally go to it are blocked off for it. But I still wander around Sumaru a little.

Thankfully he isn't such a jerk of a big brother to arrest the little bro he has a dysfunctional relationship with.

That was a fascinating line by King Leo at the time, and would align with Lisa's belief that Joker is this "Big Sis".

This philosophy, sounds like it could actually be relevant to what is going on. Or maybe it's only because I've played beyond this and I'm reading it again with hindsight *wink wink*. Not sayin' anymore at this moment.

Let it go Lisa, say their name!

The schoolchildren are doing their job, and the police have actual sketches of what the heroes look like. We never get to see them, so who knows how accurate they are? But accuracy doesn't matter to rumors.

 

Now to the Kuzunoha Detective Agency:

Maya Okamura is calm this time, no "Face of "OH MY GAWD"", answers are coming from her this time.

Two rumors competing with each other to be true, one malicious, one heroic. What will result from this? The game hasn't portrayed a situation like this yet. The Laws of the Science of Magical Rumors have not ever been given a textbook explanation.

"Baseless rumors" gain foundations as strong as Manhattan bedrock in Sumaru City. It's fair to say that the Last Battalion will exist, if it has been rumored into existence already.

Something doesn't look right... 👀

I realized it right away without even noticing exactly what it was.

But to state it upfront, the heroes will brush off any oddities of "Maya" until it is too late of course. Though to be fair and give them a little cover, they haven't seen anything like this before in their world. For players of video games who have seen this trope a bazillion times, it is obvious, but Tatsuya, Eikichi, Lisa, and Yukino haven't played a bazillion cliched video games. Though demons when Contacted may ask them "What do you think of video games?", so they do exist of course in this contemporary Japan, just nobody among the heroes owns them, this was only the late 90s, they were still niche.

Crystal Skulls, a Hitler who lived past WWII, and now aliens. This game is a love story to conspiracy theories.

So King Leo used to be a "good" guy here. "The medium" means Tatsuya Sudou here I later deduced, not a fourth person.

A spaceship and the ancient Mayans, of course they fit in with the Crystal Skulls and aliens. And Sumaru just so happens to be the origin point of it all.

"Maya" isn't even hiding her evilness two lines into her appearance.

I wonder if Okamura speaking nonsense about Idealians and Ideal Energy (to be described shortly) is how people came up with the nickname for her.

Becoming Idealians will result in the obliteration of 99.9% of humanity, that is bad. Knowing the meaning of life is overrated.

Speak of the devil. Didn't go public you say? Fine, the next dialogue boxes will do that for you on TV for all to hear.

It will happen! The truth of ten years' past is at hand!

-In two LP entries that is for us. I'll finish this one off by talking to everyone in the Detective Agency, particularly Okamura for much more detail on everything she has already said before.

Looking at her little HP/SP face sprite, you can see they changed the eyes on it as they did her portrait.

This is the first time the game has actually used the Nickname I could pick at the very beginning of the game. I left it as the default.

She notices, but again, she won't act on it at all until it's too late.

I can ask Okamura about In Lak'ech and the Last Battalion, I start with the alien book. I go in order from top to bottom.

This is the identity of the ghost who momentarily appeared after defeating Hanya, if you can remember what a forgettable face looked like that way back. If you don't, you can revisit the relevant entry in my LP.

Second is Tatsuya Sudou:

"Rumored to be an arsonist" he was an arsonist. -Unless rumors started coming true a decade ago, but that is highly unlikely I believe. 

And if you say "It's the only explanation", it is just begging for a contradictory one.

Sudou's voices in his head are explained, and without him, it seems to me that the In Lak'ech would not exist. Since the Oracle of Maia within it was derived from his chats with these voices.

But it doesn't have to be King Leo actually heard aliens, this is a world where rumors can retroactively become true. He could have just been mentally disturbed and they were indeed the inner ramblings of someone with mental illness.

Now for In Lak'ech itself:

Okay...

About the Maians (not the Mayans as in the Mexican/Central American indigenous peoples):

I have to take all this seriously.😑

Ideal Energy:

This explains why the Crystal Skulls are important, and the tie-in to Persona's psychological side.

Now about the Last Battalion, Hitler (they refuse to ever use his actual name in the English localization I see):

As a would-be historian, I must ask. In what primary source recordings or documents did Hitler say he was immortal, learned magic from Mayan mystics, and wish for the non-breeding-Aryans evolution of humanity? I would like to independently discern the veracity and authenticity of those primary sources.

The Last Battalion itself:

Hitler possessing the Spear of Destiny is a historical fact IIRC. That he lost to the Allies only after losing the Spear to them is utter fiction, they didn't reclaim that until like a year after his suicide. It is furthermore highly doubtful the relic is anything other than a forgery, and that it was not used to stab Christ to confirm he was dead.

 

Now that Ms. Ideal has generously bestowed all the information she has, decide to leave, but talk to Chief Todoroki first.

This line confirms that "Todoroki" in fact Kyouji Kuzunoha from Devil Summoner. Or as close as the game gets to being explicit about it I think.

Now I try to leave, and get interrupted.:

\

Thanks for the plea and the wacky book Princess Leia. You have sincerely been massively helpful here.

With this done, it'll be another Interlude as the coming entry.

Edited February 3, 2023 by Interdimensional Observer

[Eltosian Kadath]

19 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Crystal Skulls, a Hitler who lived past WWII, and now aliens. This game is a love story to conspiracy theories.

Why am I suddenly reminded of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull.

 

39 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Hitler possessing the Spear of Destiny is a historical fact IIRC. That he lost to the Allies only after losing the Spear to them is utter fiction, they didn't reclaim that until like a year after his suicide. It is furthermore highly doubtful the relic is anything other than a forgery, and that it was not used to stab Christ to confirm he was dead.

I want to say the Spear of Destiny that Hitler had was scientifically proven to not be the lance that supposedly stabbed Christ (no traces of blood on the tip, and indications that it originated in the 8th century), in the 2000s. That would make it two of the five (possibly four if you believe the account of one of the Popes where he claims the contender that went missing in Paris, and the one enshrined in Rome were once part of the same lance) main contenders for the Spear of Destiny that were by some means discredited.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Interlude 4: Stroll Before Shrine

Spoiler

The perennial trip to the Velvet Room, with me and my utter stinginess when it comes to using Tarots not obtaining anything new again. I really should spend them, but I always feel insecure and afraid something better will come later.😆

"Maya" will spout this kind of villainous nonsense as long as she is present. You'll see a lot of it in this entry.

Yukino makes a point worth noting. If nothing in In Lak'ech was true already, the magic of rumors can make it true if the people spread them.

Belladonna is doing a little foreshadowing. Igor provides lore, with it making perfect sense that Karl Jung would be a Persona user, his psychological-philosophical-mystical beliefs lay at the core of the Persona franchise.

The Demon Painter and I believe Nameless are both noticing "Maya" isn't the real Maya. Yet they aren't saying outright that she is evil and whatever else she is. Why? Well visiting the Velvet Room and talking to them is optional, secondly, it'd interfere with the planned narrative if they did say it on a visit.

And from a lore-perspective, it is how the Velvet Room operates. Those within can assist the forces of good, but they cannot interfere with the journey the good are undertaking and tell them anything that they don't know, but which would seriously help them. Personal growth is essential above all else for those who bear the power of Personae, it cannot be undermined through a fast track to essential knowledge.

Maya's profile image has shadow cast over those changed eyes. They really went all in modifying her for this dubious appearance.

"Maya" for no presently known reason wants the heroes to learn the truth, thinking it'll benefit her somehow.

Eikichi's father sounds worthless, although he isn't quite that with the sushi he sells, it's very low-priced, but the stat benefits are no worse than a place that is more expensive.

As for the Masked Circle member behind the column, belief in In Lak'ech and the want to become Idealians is instantly catching on in Sumaru.

Some of the last foreshadowing, all will become clear soon. Well, most of it.

Titanic the James Cameron movie released just two years prior to P2's original release. Making her rumored to be Whats-Her-Name-Who-Let-Whats-His-Name-Drown is a then-contemporary and pleasant jab.

Let's Play Drunk or Doppelgängers! 

Is this man drunk, or did he actually see doubles of all the heroes? Place your answer soon. You may win the "No duh, this is a video game!" award for a correct response.

It isn't just Masked Circle members who believe in In Lak'ech now, its ordinary folk of all stripes too. 

That is the ultimate fate of Shadowmen. First forgotten, rendered shadowed and apathetic, they darken and lose their speech, in the terminal phase fading away from physical existence altogether.

Tissues for Eikichi please.🤧

Thats how the message of In Lak'ech is spreading so fast. Mass printings, advertisement on the news, the ravings of Masked Circle members probably too. So much time passes so fast in this game, even when you haven't done anything.

The obvious from Lisa, and "Maya" speaks of repressed desires like Man is Beast. Not familiar with any brazen side in Jungian psychoanalysis, but I know Freud to be pessimistic on human nature.

Good question Lisa. And I don't know about this prior-unsaid Oracle of Maia line, could this have been part of what King Leo was accomplishing?

Who is this mysterious villainous young man I have not heard of before? And why is "Maya" in something of praising commentary for him?

Yukino is concerned about her mentor-boyfriend, he said he wanted to go to a mountain before. We should find him on Mt. Iwato then.

You're a Masked Circle executive all right, if you're speaking with this special agent "Maya".

Well Mr. Soejima here is familiar with Maya from her frequent appearances here. Good they would keep this consistent with what Maya said before.

And speaking of battle-honed instincts, what else should I expect from "her"?

On a different note, Lisa is right, it could become very confusing when surrounded by magically actualized rumors about what is real and what wasn't real and shouldn't be real but now is "real".

A person acknowledges they have one of the Crystal Skulls for once.

"Maya", don't use "we" when describing Ideal Energy extraction, I hurt for how obvious your farce is when you say it like that. Thanks for the explanation of what you do and why people let you do it though.

We even have a new Shadow(wo)man in this building, the fat middle-aged woman model has been squeezed of all her zesty Ideal Energy like those ~20 limes I once squeezed by hand for a key lime pie. Although it sounds like she was shortchanged beforehand anyhow, Joker made her a model, but a pretty lousy one categorically, which the person likely didn't notice right away by just being satisfied with their dream fulfilled.

Dream talk with Yukino and Eikichi is good. And the Esthetician confirms that the healers in Sumaru got their healing power by virtue of rumors, another good effect brought fourth by the rumor.

What is the Grand Cross? I see video games reference this a lot. I think it's meant to mean just the crucifix of Christ, but I don't believe it'd be that in this situation.

Lisa's friends are following the course of symptoms taken by the other Shadowmen, we better hur-ry!

Twenty years later, this is all the more true. 🍁 🚬 

(Pretend the leaf is green and I'm having a puff from my pipe of philosophy.)

Why'd I take this picture? I noticed the the beverage fountains behind the counter. You're running low on air to breathe because your coke-ing with laughter, am I sprite?

🦗

 

 

 

I'll quit while I'm ahead on the funnies.

Tatsuya's brother cares about him deep down and is relieved his little brother is no terrorist. But in tsundere estranged fashion, refuses to admit to it beyond a restrained degree.

I wish I knew more about Tatsuya and his family, but being silent brings that to a standstill.

Suuuuurrrrrrre, Princess Pinkeye. 

A Masked Circle member who actually opposes In Lak'ech, unusual.

The Sumaru Genie asks me if I would listen to their story. They say it's a long one and they give me a choice to not to, but I'm curious so I go ahead and agree to listen.

The hoax I was expecting. Some of the other details, not at all. They are a nice person it seems like, so I'd be fine telling their fortune later.

I've been forgetting to say that the Rumormongers are all out of fresh rumors to give me, nada, nothing. They say they're having issues getting stuff from their sources.

Another, particularly sad victim. And Maki as a former Persona-user can see the Shadowman like the heroes.

I wish I could take you down right now. Maki joining me to replace Maya in battle would be a pop of fresh and ephemeral flavor.

I forget why I chose to small talk with you, but I have bought tens of consumables. Revival Beads, status healers, and maybe Chewing Souls.

A lightning fast replacement rate, and what is this from "Maya" about humans inventing the new executive? 

I like hamburger, not picky about what it is made of, so Yukino, get out the meat grinder.🥴

More Demon Painter backstory, the Velvet Room is accessible to the auteurs of the world in their unconscious state of being.

She keeps her poise and manages to interweave advertising and serious topics.

That is true, regardless of whether the rumor caused anything else, the heroes via the counter-rumor remain unchanged, which what it had to do.

A dose of condolences to the deranged mother. The Time Count keeps up his not-too-flowery talk of time, with some memory mixed in this edition.

Stephen has no use in this lost memory quest, oh well.

Speaking of that quest, I should be getting to Alaya Shrine.

Do not miss the next episode of Persona 2: Innocent Sin. The promised time will be at hand, the secrets of a decade past will come to light! 

[Eltosian Kadath]

3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

What is the Grand Cross?

A quick search of Wikipedia shows that Grand Cross has a meaning in Astrology. To summarize what a short wikipedia article has to say a Grand Cross is when 4 planets are in 4 zodiac signs 90 degrees of each other, so one sign of each element but of different modality. In general it is difficult to accomplish anything during a Grand Cross, but the Grand Cross of Fixed modality (the one created by the four signs described) leads to a time where people are well organized, but do not know where to direct their talent. This seems consistent with what is occurring, where people people not knowing where to direct their efforts after achieving their "dreams" begin transforming into shadow men.

[Interdimensional Observer]

11 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

but the Grand Cross of Fixed modality (the one created by the four signs described) leads to a time where people are well organized, but do not know where to direct their talent. This seems consistent with what is occurring, where people people not knowing where to direct their efforts after achieving their "dreams" begin transforming into shadow men.

Huh, the writers at Atlus did some homework with their referencing. Thanks for this, it adds to the general context of what is occurring indeed.

 

Part 6: Reflection and Revelatory Memories

I decided for full effect to put all ~300 screenshots for this post in several spoiler boxes. They’re broken down according to the drip feeding of new what the heroes discover about themselves long forgotten.

Section 1: Through the First Reflecting Pool:

Spoiler

Alaya Shrine…

A golden butterfly? 😇

Master Philemon! 🥰

In longing for you I questioned if we would ever meet again after our first encounter. So long has it been since you brought us to you back in Sumaru Prison, before we knew of Personae and had not yet called Joker. Whatever do telos do you wish to assign to us?

Yes Your Excellency! To Mt. Iwato after Lisa and Eikichi’s great hesitations we shall go forth and learn what lay therein necessary for liberation from falsehood to fight this true war you wish for us to be participants in.

(If his Velvet servants could sense “Maya” for what she is, then Philemon has to know what she is even better than them. But he too says nothing, self-obligated to avoid saying too much. “Maya” for her part doesn’t attack him, and Philemon I fathom would have nothing to fear from her. Philemon is the grantor of Personae, his power must be so great that he could lift just one finger and leave not a trace behind of “Maya”.)

If you don't recall Mt. Iwato is accessible just to the left of Alaya Shrine. It being behind it mirrors what Yukino had said happened in the first Persona. Is this a Japanese spirituality concept? Indigenous of Central America did revere caves as centers for holy rituals, kings would draw their own blood there as offerings to the gods.

This is the importance of Mt. Iwato- the secret hideout of children during a summer’s vacation. Our first layer of many has been peeled back on the past, revealing its soft and sweet flesh. A tangerine, whose seeds one yearns to plant and see germinate into trees of life.

Going a few paces further into this cave, where demons now lurk.:

That ghost would be young Maya’s, but that would require Maya to have died, but she hasn’t, she outlived the incident to the present day. Hmm…

Tatsuya's memories aren't as strong as the rest apparently. The Maya ghost is the little girl that has been said to haunt Alaya Shrine.

 

Doing some fighting from throughout my spelunking, including beyond the above moment in time, I just want to get most of it out of the way.:

“Maya” can’t do Contacts while wearing those rose contact lenses. Her Fusion Spell cut-in has changed, and an altered “food wears off” line when she is “Maya”

.

The two of you would make perfect friends. How about I leave you here and you become her enforcer for those who don’t pay?

Trish is in every dungeon I’ll remind you, but the dialogue never changes and I still have never used her overpriced services. Enemies here were fair foes, not hard, not that easy. SP is still not an issue outside of boss fights, though my Personae are increasingly dated.

A chest forced encounter against a Demon King. A demon king? "Maou" as it is called in Japanese, is usually the name of a demon race- the Tyrants in English. The phrase is utterly generic and describes everything from Lucifer to Gharnef to Ganondorf to David Bowie (the term is gender neutral and can be applied to females, I just can't name an example off the top of my head), but in this case, SMT-Persona assigns it to a specific demon with no other name. Unusual for the franchise.

 

Getting back to Persona 2, I didn’t screenshot it, but I reach a reflecting pool in another room. When the camera automatically slowly turns and focuses on it, there is a bright flash of light. Flashback time.:

Katsuya might have been a teenager at this time, perfectly logical he’d be wanting to ditch his little brother then. But it isn’t good fraternal duties, and where are the parents? This is the franchise with an urban legend demon called Night Stalker.

That unnamed well-dressed boy from the Air Raid Shelter flashback, with a Power Ranger/Super Sentai mask. I read this as the first time he and Tatsuya met.

Lil’ Eikichi. As the Hanakouji chatter had implied, as a child he was overweight. And his father was no nicer then. Yellow is not the color I was thinking for a mask for him, why not blue?

Unnamed Boy has a good dad, aligns with Maya’s deceased father, but nobody else’s in this game. The marital issues sounds like like a possible blight on his character though.

Stephen has not aged a day since he was the father of a young daughter. Couldn’t afford to have the character artist draw him twice. Katsuya just opted to do without a portrait. 

Pink has to be the color of the female ranger. Lil’ Lisa looks cute too.

*A little time passes in this flashback*

😮

The Masked Circle started as a bunch of children. Not what I could have imagined, even if Lisa hinted at this before.

This is the second time in gaming something begun by children becomes infamous later, albeit this precedes the other instance I encountered of it. And Persona 2 does it better.

End of flashback. I can and do talk to everyone in this room.

Section 2: Through the Second Reflecting Pool:

Spoiler

I find a dead end room the game labels “secret”, but was right in the middle of my path.

Something important related to the first Persona involved masks Yukino is saying?

The Pink Azas Mask is a key item, I can’t use it. But it had to be here obtainable for a reason.

The chests here you can see look like toy boxes, which emphasizes this place used to be where children played together.

 

I reach a second reflecting pool, a second flashback.:

…… always wins, but nobody plays the unspoken fourth possibility, because they do not know it is real. Only those with the profound insight of the heavens above know it can be done.

The girl wants to do girly things, while developing her unrequited crush on Tatsuya which survives this memory’s loss. 

And I don’t think Eikichi wanted this memory to come to light again, a little humiliating for him.

End of flashback.

Lisa fills us in on the bullying she suffered as a child, this was missing during her character arc earlier, but here she tells us it. That is good enough for me, even if we don’t see it.

“Boss”, if Eikichi never got to be the boss, this explains his status as the Death Boss of Kasugayama at the start of Persona 2. He unconsciously desired to be the Boss after being denied it so much as a kid, and worked hard to attain that status as a teenager in high school.

The drawing should be why he offered to give tips to cosplayer girl when she said she wanted to be a manga artist. Though he may have been overselling his artistic talent

Section 3: Up to Outside the Fourth Reflecting Pool:

Spoiler

I find another secret room.:

If “I’m sorry” is the most disgusting phrase in the world, then I am one of the most disgusting people in the world. I’ve a long record of overusing the phrase, thanks Colette Brunel who I copycatted that from in my preteens.

Deep Yukino, deep. The social contract of forgiveness, I would read an academic essay on this if one existed.

I wish I could see this Ta-chan, but being silent then as silent now prevents that. A different game in the SMTverse handled this better.

A second mask, Tatsuya’s. Red for the Super Sentai color of leadership.

A third secret room.:

Donning masks to hide identities, but knowing their true selves so perfectly. A beautiful contradiction good writing can portray.

Yukino is the outsider of the good gang of five, here, she provides some idea of how it feels to be that outsider.

Duplicitous wench.

Yellow Owl and Red Eagle most definitely means “Azas” has to be a bird, but a quick search brings nothing up. Is it that specific to Japan that they couldn’t translate the name?

See on the minimap those purple circles with Xs in them. That’s a hole I fell in. This room has many holes in its floor, but I can’t see them until I step on them, and when I get back here, the holes are covered up again. To avoid falling into as many holes as possible, I postulate they’re mostly between the giant crystals and so hug the walls of this cavern.

If I step on a hole, I land in this room with red damage tiles hurting HP, and blues hurting SP. I needn’t step on a single tile to get back to the higher floor with the holes however. This lower level has a whole bunch of chests, but they contain only consumable items, mostly ones I can buy at Satomi Tadashi.

 

The third reflecting pool room, the third flashback.:

Younger, but not as young as the others, Maya. She, little surprise from reading the Group Contact lines involving her with Lisa and Eikichi, is Big Sis.

Hahahahaha! -Not funny now!

Tatsuya unseen and unsaid approves.

End of flashback. The Persona Game isn’t shown, but it was certainly played.

Maya has been against letting others make your dreams come true from the very start

 

I continue on, and find a fourth “secret” room, which anyone could find if they bothered to explore every corner of every room before moving on. There are no hidden paths, nothing obscured. The map won’t point them out exactly, but the player can find them on their own if they try to complete the map in every chamber.:

Maya was the blue ranger, even if we didn’t see her wearing the mask. Since there is still dungeon left to go, this “sin” Lisa and Eikichi can’t get over should be explained shortly.

 

A fifth secret room.:

⁉️ -The chest was open before I walked in.

That unnamed boy, why did he come here and what is his role in things. He has to be doing something. But what?

 

A new weapon for Lisa. Nuclear fisticuffs? How does those function, and without killing the wearer?

 

Now, the fourth and final reflecting pool. As I have with all the others, I save right before I walk into the room.

Section 4: Mt. Iwato's Heckuva Conclusion:

Spoiler

It took them a deliberate while. The boy is named after dodging it through a dungeon where they showed up again and again. Jun.

End of flashback, this is getting to be too much for Lisa to take.

Is this what “Innocent Sin” means? Children end up playing a crucial role in what they think murdered someone they loved by locking them up in a building which an arsonist razed to the ground. That is their “sin”, made when Lisa and Eikichi were “innocent”.

“Maya” attacked Tatsuya and stole the Fire Crystal Skull. She turned after waiting for so long and shows her true colors, with new, evil and aged facial expressions. She then attacks the other four.

The real Maya! I wondered if she had been kidnapped and I’d have rescue her later. Nope, she rescues us! What a strong heroine. 

The new opening sequence made Maya look like an unaware damsel, but she is anything but that in the actual story. I’m disliking that revamped opening for its inaccuracies as I have seen from playing this game.

Joker, they left the heroes to their cronies after Sevens, and here they make a dramatic showing again. Spacing out a villain’s appearances for quality and power of those of appearances over quantity is a balancing act. Atlus did good on that front with Joker.

Surprise! Lisa’s belief that Big Sis was Joker was a red herring, one the real Joker coincidentally wanted us to believe. Joker is no girl, he is that flashback boy.

He cowers at hearing Maya lives, sad and strange. Joker leaves, but not before taking the Fire Crystal Skull away.

Shadow Maya is the boss of Mt. Iwato. Shadow versions of playable characters I know is something that reoccurs in later Persona games, not so much 5 as 3 or 4.

Here, Shadow Maya isn’t a repressed or distorted version of Maya caused by her own internal anguish or defects like greed and lust. Maya is perfectly sane and mentally healthy. This is just the creation of the terrorist rumors, the heroic counter-rumor kept the heroes safe, but the terrorist rumor was strong enough to create an evil Shadow Maya out of nothing.

Everyone started this battle injured, except for Maya, the pre-fight attacks actually stripped the heroes of what looks like 60% of their max HP.

As a boss Shadow Maya was hard, I thought I might need a second try, even if I didn’t. She uses a recolored Maia as her Persona of course, which I knew meant no weaknesses. I gradually whittle away her HP and win as I always do.

Dark Dimension is an evil version of Omni Dimension, which Maia uniquely has. The spell is an insta-kill that terminated Tatsuya on turn 1, but it isn’t so accurate as I shockingly first thought, almost every other casting of it was a miss and a wasted turn for Shadow Maya. I don’t know if it is Dark element or what, Omni Dimension doesn’t say what element it was.

Diamond Dust, a powerful Ice attack that damages everyone, is Shadow Maya’s deadliest tool. I needed double Media users (I never used that Mediarama Card, parsimonious/thrifty me) to heal it off. And since Ice spells can freeze, sometimes one of those Media users would be frozen and unable heal for a turn, resulting in everyone having about 40 of the ~80 damage carry over on them into the next turn.

I tried Auto Battle with two Medias from Lisa and Maya and the other three using magic for a few turns. But then this happened- Mahama. That is weaker Light partywide insta-kill (the stronger generic is Mahamaon). Were it not for some of my Personae having natural nullification to Light, this could have killed everybody (and resistance to Light is still useful for halving the hit rate, just not 100%).

I need to get a Persona with Tetraja- the spell that nulls one instance of Light or Dark insta-kill to all allies and which lasts until such a Light/Dark insta-kill is cast. This battle tells me I absolutely need one from here on out. Shadow Maya used Mahama very infrequently however and it never did the worst it could possibly do. Tetraja's importance varies from SMT to SMT where it exists. SMTIV had it be very useful from the optional David fight in Naraku to the final battles, but I could easily find Dark-null equipment for my human duo in SMTI and Soul Hackers, so it wasn't so important there.

Aquadyne is the tier 3 single target water spell, the first I have encountered. She has Poison Claw in her lineup, but I don’t recall more than maybe one instance of it ever inflicting Poison, which is how bad it is. Standard physical attacks are present as has always been the case, but they yet again are weak and just a free turn for me.

The Shadow of Maya fades from existence, the shadow cast by the shadow being all that remains in this ephemeral screenshot.

In the very end, I win on my first try, but this warned me I need to up my Personae game, and my equipment too maybe, not that it does much against magic attacks because it doesn’t boost magic defense.

Tatsuya leveled up three times! I think I’m underleveled. 

The real Maya back means all the changed images are returned to normal.

The non-Tatsuya characters have very balanced stat growth with only minor leanings. To make them go further in anything, you need to make sure they have the Persona offering the desired Level Up Bonus equipped. Since Death offers St, Eikichi is massively stacked in that. Yukino gets Vi from both Nekomata and old Vesta, so she has a gargantuan stat there. Fairy, Iris, and the discarded Eros give Ag, not that that has stopped Lisa from failing to out-speed many things. Maya is primarily Ag, but owing to some level ups with Tengu of the Magician Arcana, her Dx stat has risen above the others not Ag.

In in a min-max world, I'd swap everyone to a Dx Persona before they level up, for that is the best stat, but I'm not so driven to do that.

 

*Ahem* Back to adventure!

A Shadow Maya born of a terrorist rumor, and a haunting rumor of the arson created an Illusory Maya, who inherited all the feelings and memories of the real one up to that point and could continue to make more of them. A sad existence.

The butterfly returns.🙂

Philemon opened his first meeting with Tatsuya, Eikichi and Lisa with a “Or have you forgotten?”, the initial act of performing the Persona Game ten years ago triggered a meeting with him, though it was forgotten and the contents unknown to us. Though without a world crisis at hand, what could Philemon have said? He speaks primarily in times of crisis.

Primes! New, stronger versions of everyone but Yukino’s starter Personae. No official art of these can I find, but they’re awesome! Philemon does something other than just nudge us in the right direction, he manifests from growth of character new Personae, he wins my heart with these gifts.

Divine guidance bestowed, to save Jun’s twisted soul!

And Jun Kurosu- Junko Kurosu was the must be evil actress’s name whose career had a downturn ten years ago, his mother? To think that the Joker themselves is a victim of the rumors he began to spread. From the actor, to the acted upon.

The Crawling Chaos, this though Philemon speak no more and leaves us with word of Caracol, this to manipulate the Joker, is therefore the true leader of the enemy.

The interior of Alaya Shrine, butterflies and masks, a temple to Philemon in every way.

Time to pit the Masked Circle of old against the Masked Circle of new.

The Nazis are here! The Nazis are here! No swatistkas (spelling be damned), but with flying robots!

No rest for the weary. Everyone gets their acts together with a jog through memory lane, and those Primes are about to be put to a major stress test. 

Mt. Iwato wasn’t where Yukino’s mentor-boyfriend was, it is on this other mountain I didn’t know exist that he is. Some character growth for her might be in the works.

We end at this junction. Has it been a ride?

 

 

On the whole, Tatsuya aside, I like this “heroes who forgot they were childhood friends” more than I do an instance of this in a different JRPG from the 64-bit era.

 

[Eltosian Kadath]

8 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

“Azas” has to be a bird, but a quick search brings nothing up. Is it that specific to Japan that they couldn’t translate the name?

The Persona wiki claims it should be Pink Argus, and the Argus or Argus Pheasant is a type of bird. The masks are of the heroes of Pheonix Ranger Featherman R, an in universe TV series that is referenced in latter Persona games (and according to same wiki Devil Survivor 2). I always looked forward to the Pheonix Ranger Featherman R epsiode recaps on the Sunday TV  in Persona 3.

9 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

On the whole, Tatsuya aside, I like this “heroes who forgot they were childhood friends” more than I do an instance of this in a different JRPG from the 64-bit era.

I feel like I should get this reference, but it just isn't coming to mind.

[Interdimensional Observer]

8 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

The Persona wiki claims it should be Pink Argus, and the Argus or Argus Pheasant is a type of bird. The masks are of the heroes of Pheonix Ranger Featherman R, an in universe TV series that is referenced in latter Persona games (and according to same wiki Devil Survivor 2). I always looked forward to the Pheonix Ranger Featherman R epsiode recaps on the Sunday TV  in Persona 3.

A typo and a Persona universal continuity, I like it. Thank you for the information again.

I don't remember any Devil Survivor 2 referencing, maybe it added in the Record Breaker edition? I never bought that. Or I just missed it. If DS2 were in the same universe as any of the Personas, what a sorry fate those heroes must have suffered then.

8 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I feel like I should get this reference, but it just isn't coming to mind.

Maybe if you were a lion, or a man with a machine gun, you would force your way to the answer. If you don't know what I mean, well its...

Spoiler

Final Fantasy

Spoiler

VIII

Spoiler

Traumatic experiences/guilt repressing memories, is better than impersonal Guardian Forces doing it. The GF-induced memory loss not really affecting any other users of them.

I mean, I haven't finished IS yet, and there was some good in VIII's take on the same idea. But on the whole, I'm liking IS more than VIII when it comes to group amnesia.

 

 

 

Interlude 5: The Last Battalion Doesn’t Kill Everybody, Not Right Away:

Spoiler

No fear of and hesitation for Mt. Iwato, the past is resolved for the heroes, saving Jun from it is all that is left that they need to do.

Peaceful soldiers of Hitler. They let me roam the city as always, no encounters on the world map or anything. This is what you call “occupation”, a Nazi pastime for the regime’s short existence. 

Ow, my neck! That’s some whiplash, Joker is now a good guy? Defending Sumaru? I’d have thought the Last Battalion and the Masked Circle were on the same side.

It feels like it has been a while since Lisa used her Cantonese. And the heroes’ hypotheses about why Jun is defending Sumaru are reasonable. As is why the Masked Circle is being overcome.

Naoya? Naoya! Noooo! We can’t lose you, how could you lose? Why’d you even join the Masked Circle, I thought you didn’t like cults? *Sniffles* Can I have your one codetastic robe?

What did Maya’s father care about then? We still know nothing about him other than being dead.

Typo in Eikichi’s dialogue- “Dads”, should be “Dad” singular. But Stephen is okay this time.

Perfume and the metaphysical self, a measure forced, but the serene lady being as lost inside as her nose is clogged with fragrances grants her a fingerprint of characterization.

Big Maya. An updated form of the endearing old term of affection “Big Sis”, awkward in English, Maya is no giant kaiju fighting MechaJoker and King Fuhrer. But it’s okay.

More Jun pity, there is no shortage of this at the moment wherever I go and converse with the other heroes.

Across the city, you can find instances of Masked Circle NPCs being gone or saying they’re willing to fight for Joker.

The Time Count has updated his weapon selection and changed his one accessory. No armor sellers have done this, and not all weapon dealers either. The Pirate and the Ramen Shop lady join the Time Count in the update.

The Rumormongers still have nothing to offer, these weapon updates have nothing to do with them. With the rumor of the Last Battalion coming true, they're flabbergasted and confused, unable to gather anything. When rumors become reality, those dealing in rumors lose their purpose with rumors ceasing to be rumors?

Judging from the flashbacks at Mt. Iwato, I haven’t a clue how you’re to blame for Jun’s change to Joker, Maya. Its all from what I know to be blamed on your “death”. But that doesn’t actually say much, Joker only arose recently, why now? Why nothing sooner? And Joker didn’t attack Tatsuya and the rest until they played the Joker Game, he couldn’t have wanted vengeance on him from the start.

The Velvet Room group is uplifting. The one other individual who Nameless refers to I’ll take to mean Mr. P1 Protag.

All the Prime Persona are like this. Pretty much the same resistances as the Persona they’re upgrades of. The SP cost is cheaper than shown here, because Great compatibility reduces the cost by 25% of the base value. 

I did a quick look on Megami Tensei Wiki, their skillsets are almost exactly stronger versions of their original Personae. Maia Prime has Mediarama, Rhadamanthus Prime has Tetraja, I’m set defensively in upcoming battles. Ma- versions of the 2nd tier Fire, Water, and Earth spells are learned with time too.

With the Primes, and my thrifty fear of spending Tarots, I again don’t summon anything new. Yukino just has to settle with Nekomata for even longer.

Why I didn’t I notice that sooner? Pixie small kalpas ago must have mutated a 99 Luck stat.😛

Wasn't there a password in SMT: Strange Journey that gave a 99 Luck Pixie (maybe with Megidoloan?)? This is what it was referencing?

The Primes do not replace their old base Personae, and I had gotten rid of Eros anyhow. Instead, the game expanded my Persona slots from 10 to 14 to fit them in without deleting any Personae I already have. Igor has expanded his reserve slots by another four I believe, though they aren’t as valuable.

I put Vulcanus and Rhadamanthus in storage with Igor. I do not recommend being as thrifty as me FYI. I just never stumbled on anything so difficult that it forced me to change what I have.

Kasugayama is drained of all life. Anna/Lady Scorpio must have come back and done a number on it after the heroes were finished there. The thing is, no NPC can likely remember what it was before. A building as dead as those that were bombed.

Another NPC said that the Fuhrer has reached his destination already.

Hitler is making progress very very fast, that bodes ill. His forces are proving victorious in a race against the Masked Circle. If either wins the world is doomed, but inter-enemy competition has to be kept alive to delay the success of both and give the heroes a chance to beat them both.

Eldest son is your only son. Eikichi’s father is rather bad.

Want to reconnect over the days lost? Good idea, do it. Want to roleplay like children again?

*Joins Yukino*🤦‍♀️

There are so many problems with paratroopers that you really shouldn't use them.:

• Parachute fails to open *dies*.
• Paratrooper shot at by enemy while in the air *dies*.
• Plane with paratroopers gets shot down *dies*.
• Personnel blown off course.
• Parachuted supplies are shot and destroyed or blown off course.
• Individual paratroopers can't carry that much in supplies, making them pea shooters behind enemy lines.

Two different opinions of Yukino, they can be reconciled, the only issue is I walked into the armory before the tanning salon, so I saw her calmed before angry. Understandable when all this is nonlinear.

Conspiracy theorists are rightfully deserving some of the blame, but beating on an aged horse does nothing good at this stage.

Why would humanity wish for its own destruction? Nothing from all my NPC conversing suggested this before some went modestly mad.

Masked Circle members still exist who were drained of Ideal Energy, despite the call to arms against the Last Battalion. It must be too late for them, drained before the sudden war began and in retrospect that would not have been done.

Lisa, you can check off two of those boxes if you jump over to the SMTI-II universe. SMT hasn’t tried the other three yet.

Saddening thoughts we may all experience as we pass through our short lifespans. *Sighs*

No not that kind of humiliation! You make me remember it when I had blissfully forgotten it!

The Masked Circle executives disappear along with this woman. Coincidence I can say with 95% confidence this is not.

Masked Circle members who disagree with the leadership, it isn’t a simple brainwashing. People willingly become and stay as members due to the sweetness of having their dreams fulfilled, when the sweetness stops, the spell that isn’t an actual spell can be broken.

All depends on the media’s source Maya. Give to some your trust, others you should pay no heed.

But sitting here longer and doing nothing to help me is what you're doing.

Like the perfume woman Kaori, the Esthetician is losing herself in the rumors. But the power given to her by rumors is being really useful with the Last Battalion threat.

Are you lying that you aren't the Oto-whatevs aliens Ms. Ideal spoke of? -Better not spread that comment, else it be taken as truth.

Skull talk.

Yay! Spend some of the hundreds of thousands of Yen I’m sitting on!

“and… the young man whose name I can’t remember. Was it Sagi Baka, or Coolku Master37?”

Adding in Yukino herself, if she is counting Persona 1 playable characters, that makes 9 of them. Which is on the bloated side for an RPG roster.

Yukino used to be a weak person. And generic, but Soejima says something nice.

Katsuya is expressing concern without estrangement this time. If not flowing love either.

An upbeat attitude is great Yukino, but yeah, you’re taking pride in being the only protectors of humanity too far Eikichi. 

🧐

You failed history every year in school Maya? This is a question on par with "What's an airport?" when comes to stupidity in light of all one should know.

-But you weren't there when Okamura explained In Lak'ech and the Last Battalion, you were presumably fighting off Shadow Maya's accomplices, you will be forgiven.

Just dawned on me, where did the Last Battalion magically spawn, and why isn't the Japanese government doing anything? Or Israel or Germany?

Smoking cigarettes and leaving them around in a messy messy room. I just realized that Maya could be walking home one day and suddenly think King Leo had returned. 

When you know what “putz” means in Yiddish, you don’t go using that word around in normal conversation. It’s fine here; same applies for the word “schmuck”.

We can't ask Ulala about her being a Persona-user, as extraordinary as it is. Remember, the GOLD dungeon was missable if I had flubbed up and gone to Pachinko Silver. But what is the point to making her one then?

The next entry will be at that Mount "Name means "snail" in Japanese". Yukino's beloved should be there if you forgot already.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Part 7: Woe and the Joke’s End

Section 1: Facing Mount Katatsumuri Damacy

Spoiler

Katatsumuri has been added to the world map, a much larger mountain than Iwato, looming over Sumaru City.

No cable car, no lighting fast trip to the top. It’s long hike to that itty bitty light orange dot to the left of Eikichi's head instead. 

I walk into the Mt. Katatsumuri Entrance, where Last Battalion troopers are noticed, but they do not notice the five humans approaching them.

As I’m afraid the enemies will be too hard and I haven’t trained up my new Primes yet so their skill pool is limited, I opt to take the stealthy scenic route. 

A “Lost Woods”-styled dungeon, commonly called in Japanese a Mayoi no Mori.

The signpost explains it all for me, no guesswork at all. With screenshots aplenty for this LP, I can reference them and thus never get lost even once.

Some minor though elegant lore, with its lesson paralleling that of Mt. Iwato/Alaya Shrine for Lisa and Eikichi. In both cases, children kept a person they loved shut in against their will. 

One of the many guardian “deities”. Just walk through the exit in the direction they suggest, usually that means the direction their backside faces, but sometimes it means the front.

A majestic waterfall. 😌

No important treasures in the forest, just mostly buyable consumables.

I don’t know why their “personality” is called Philosophy, but no Contacting them. Reich isn’t an Arcana.

Masked Circle grunts in the forest too. These aren’t the exact same as those I fought at Mu, these are Mask 1s, Mask 3s were the ones at Mu, and at the Aerospace Museums I encountered 2s. So these are stronger, if visually identical.

Demons are prevalent, including Wayomudo, who gives Fortune Tarots, the first source of them I've found. I can get Cerberus once I reach level 46 without needing to convert Free Cards. But I still haven't encountered a single demon of certain Arcanas, like Emperor, Empress, Hierophant, and Sun, despite each of these having demons at levels much below what I currently am.

I left out the long but breezy and none-too-violent journey through the woods. SP is now more of an issue with Primes outpacing natural SP regen, but as long as I don’t get too many fights with only un-Contactable baddies in a row, I can use Contact to avoid fighting and thus save on SP. And I bought several tens of Chewing Souls if I needed them.

Rather than go west to the Summit, I pick Goketsuji, whatever that is.

A demon sacrificed itself and inflicted Possession, the first time ever. What it does I do not know, but it lasting after a fight is a sign it can’t be good. I’ve the consumables to cure it.

The icon looks very similar to the Smirk icon in SMTIV, even if the design is nothing special or unheard of.

The mountain monastery they spoke of down below in Sumaru. The Head Monk has the determination of a good old man.

This is no real boss battle, the Kommandant who leads them might have a hat, but that is about the only difference, he even has the same Contact quip. Some target-all Fusion Spells wipe them dead in maybe 3 turns.

Fusion Spells have stronger target-all versions, this is the Fire one, Loiseau de Feu. It requires Fire Magic (any)-Earth Magic (any)-Maragion to cast, a change of the middle element and a need of the Ma-second tier to cast. Very powerful and extremely useful.

Leaving behind his camera, that is not what you do when you’re confident you’ll come back, better sprint to the Summit.

The screenshots don’t do it justice, but you can see one shooting star in the cloud right over the mountain top in the top one. There were more shooting stars than this. That building is the Caracol, a step pyramid with rounded corners in the shape of a snail shell.

The lion’s roar meant the Leonids. Doesn’t seem like it would be that impressive, but when you think about it, it might be. At the minimum, the power of rumors affected the sky and created a working illusion of shooting stars. At maximum, the power of rumors reached out into outer space and dragged space dust around. More than Sumaru, the rumors would have changed things thousands of miles away.

Making a moment's merriness with the monks:

Mokujinken? Martial arts techniques are nefariously difficult to translate, so I won’t even think of what it could be. I wish it was shown though.

I try to leave:

Joker left behind another flower, though he came here not before everyone. He must have known the heroes would come to Caracol.

A powerful rare drop, a Mamagnara Card. If only I knew what Persona to give it to. I find as a treasure a Recarm Card, but why use that when Revival Beads are SP cost-free and affordable? Or a Balm of Life, which are still expensive, but for 6k apiece getting a few for emergencies and bosses is wholly feasible.

I check to see how much her healing costs now, that initial 5000 Yen I knew had to go up. It has gone up, and it’d cost be a third of a finger, not worth it, ever. 

A double Rank Up Mutation propelled Eros Prime from being one of the lower ranked Primes I had, to the highest at 6. Ranking Up Personae is easy, just skill spam, it just needs time once you get to the higher ranks. I forgot exactly how long it could take, not having been using a lot of new Personae for the bulk of this game.

I reach the entrance to Caracol:

More robots, no humans amongst the Last Battalion? 

An NPC said earlier that the Last Battalion can sense people, this must be what they meant. 

Their names are German for various basic numbers, like the Deadlords in Japanese in FE are called. “Elf” is the name of the Sara-lookalike with Nosferatu and Wrath in Thracia 776 I remember reading. Speaking of which, I need to finish that game, Saias and Reinhardt are waiting for me.

Jaeger means “hunter”, and “Himmel Feurer” Google translates as “sky fencer”. Marionette Hunter “Sky Fencer”. They can fly, and they use spears which poke at people like fencing. 

Are they calling themselves Marionettes or do they hunt them? Well glancing Megami Tensei Wiki, so I could just see that the skill names of these things were again (some are in German), “Marionette” here is referring to Personae. Which sounds logical. A special anti-Personae squad, I feel honored to have them fight me, if at the same time threatened by it.

Hide hide HIDE! We have no Ancient Arrows. Get down and wait for them to close in, then brandish the Blade of Evil's Bane and go for the legs!

I choose to take the heroic burden from Yukino and go it alone. 

The robots are rather honorable, if very very evil and working for one of the worst humans to ever exist, die never too soon, and then come back again.

With a handful of Beads and Rattle Drinks, Tatsuya can fully heal himself in this fight. The Longinus Unit takes good damage from magic and resists physical attacks. 

It has Longinus Copy- a skill that if it hits seals Persona skill use for one turn, two since he outspeeds Tatsuya (MT Wiki says 3, but I forget, couldn't have been really bothersome if it was 3). He can shoot a machine gun, MG34, for Ranged damage (the Last Battalion foot soldiers like machine guns too). Geisteblitz is Elec damage with a chance of Stun to negate my turn. Aques is Aques.

He deals ~80 damage at most per hit, so if I keep above ~100 HP, not a challenge. This a solo fight that doesn’t break me, RPGs have a full spectrum of intensity and frustration when it comes to these.

Destroying all their Longinus assailants, the five Persona-users approach the entrance to Caracol.

From a handsome man, to a face disfigured, if by no means worried, as he lay bleeding dead.

Farewell Fujii Shunsuke. Hardly knew ye, but the few snapshots we saw were delightful.

With a newfound emotion of greatest sorrow on his face, I choose the top option, sorry Yukino.

She pulls herself together like that, Yukino is strong.

Philemon?

 

Durga! 

When all the male deities failed to slay the Buffalo Demon in Hindu mythos, they combined their powers and created a goddess who could, Durga. Armed with the tens of weapons given to her, she clashed with the Buffalo Demon slew him. Thus the fabled epithet Mahishasuramardini- “Slayer of the Buffalo Demon”.

This befits Yukino as a person, an upgrade I’ll be working on ranking up with her now. 

 

*Cough* Enough cheer, it's inappropriate.

Maya brings out her stuffed animal when she hadn't since the Air Raid Shelter IIRC, she is in true lament for Fujii and Yukino.

With this somber moment, I end this section. Caracol’s open maw is before me, in its bowels are Joker and the Last Battalion.

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

Part 7 Section 2: Ta-chan Jones and the Raiders of the Temple of the Last Crystal Skulls

 

 

I couldn’t find a good way to fit the word “Crusade” into the title and had to settle with “Last”, can you blame me?

I’ll first shove all the dungeon and non-boss battle commentary into a single box, as I will a shot of dialogue from outside Caracol. And then I’ll put the plot stuff before Caracol's climax in a second. Caracol's climax is a third box, which is listed second, because I thought of only doing two boxes, and didn't leave a space below the second to insert a third, so it had to be placed above.

Warning!: Hitler is making a physical appearance. He’ll get thrown in a box in the plot box when he speaks, the entire exchange with him will.

 

Non-Story and non-boss material:

Spoiler

Before going into the Caracol, I take the now-open cable car to the bottom of the mountain in a matter of seconds. I just want to read some lines in a few locations before I go in.

That would have major repercussions on if it was true. Ending the reign of rumors in Sumaru would threaten to make Maya disappear then. I wouldn’t bet on Maya being created by a rumor at the present.

Not as touching and sentimental I expected this place would turn out to be. 

The Velvet Room attendants have not changed a single line of dialogue, odd given all their prior wordiness. The main characters didn’t have anything interesting to say.

But Durga did expand Igor’s and the party’s Persona roster maximum slots by 1 each.

 

Into the Caracol:

*Is followed by the screen turning black for a second and three punches being heard*

Since Mt. Iwato’s revelations and Yukino just pulled through her own development, I recheck group contacts and screenshotted some new ones, mostly the descriptions.

I manage to find get 3 Victory Hachimaki accessories to drop from the enemy, very common then. They increase physical attack, so they aren’t good, but I haven’t bought any accessories so I slap them on Maya, Yukino, and Lisa.

Crowley, the last name of Aleister Crowley. A cult leader in the late Victorian era who believed focusing your mind on something you wanted as you had sex would make your wish come true.

An elevator and it doesn’t work, this might have gotten the villains to the bottom of this gargantuan temple, but it won’t for me. The Shoe Leather Express and some staircases it’ll be.

Conveyor belts, they move slowly, and you can get into fights while on them. But they’re simple, found on only one floor, and getting to where you want to go requires only a modicum of brainpower to figure out. 

Blue teleportation tiles, I have to use trial and error to figure out where they send me. There are only two floors in the temple with these, neither so terrible. The second is worst, you have to pick the right one of six teleporters to progress, the other just send you elsewhere in the room. May teleporters, should they appear again, be less than bedlam. 

Those other red and blue tiles are standard damage inflicting ones.

I find a full Head, Body (lost the screenshot), Legs set of Achilles equipment in this dungeon, Tatsuya gets it all, even if Eikichi is more frail. It’s potent armor in raw physical defense compared to my old gear, but the evasion boost doesn’t make me very dodgy. 

Other good treasures include:

• an All Incense,
• an HP Incense, an SP Incense (and a rare drop for another),
• a St Card,
• an Ag Card,
• a Vi Card,
• a Dekaja Card (removes enemy buffs, which I have seen used only a tiny amount by some bosses),
• a Samakaja (increases one ally’s magic defense) Card,
• a Bufula Card,
• and an Estoma Card (quite valuable), A good and big haul.

I got a new pair of guns for Maya as a rare drop, but they don’t boost Matk and Mdef, like her current ones, so I don’t equip them.

 

Standing before the Rings of Time (READ THIS LAST!😞

Spoiler

Shadow Eikichi, Shadow Tatsuya, Shadow Lisa is unseen but in here, and Queen Aquarius.

Does Joker speak of some part of the Prophecy of Maia foretelling three factions gathered here? Is that why the Last Battalion rumors were spread?

 

And now, the great scum of humanity resurrected:

Spoiler

  

    The man who Winston Churchill said were he to invade Hell, Churchill would have to make favorable reference to the Devil, wears sunglasses indoors. This is a localization change, because the eyes of a demagogue dictator are so vile. It does nothing to hide his identity.

  

Hitler is a more bizarre character than I would have thought. He is aware his self is purely the result of rumors, his goals the results of rumors, his army, rumors. Being aware of this, the mortal worse than any demon presses on, he is a beast, an impersonal force wishing to be what it is.

        

Spoken like a true demagogic dictator. This is in the spirit of the real inhuman being.

Joker inserted a fifth Crystal Skull into the center of the Rings of Time, and they began to spin.

Xibalba takes flight, Sumaru goes with it.

 

Our belated introduction to Queen Aquarius. Junko Kurosu as you can tell from hair and clothes. They tell us what she had been doing over the duration of the game. 

Being an actress with supernatural popularity, she I speculate could have held many celebrity events, attended others, and perhaps does some live performances. All of which could have granted her chances to obtain vast quantities of Ideal Energy.

Hitler: Now! Seize the Skull! [Didn't feel like posting such a short line for this bad man.]

Jun and his cohorts fail to stop Hitler’s forces from obtaining the Crystal Skull in the middle of the Rings of Time.

Hitler then flies away. No jetpack, no help from his mechs who fly away with him. Rumor Hitler can naturally fly. But being multiple stories underground, he either flies through a hole, or he makes one, I don’t see whats above.

I’m done with Toothbrush Evil Restored, for now.

Demented. Shadow Lisa the most.

Mama? Someone in addition to Maya? Then is Junko your sister? Or is she a corpse resurrected?

Pressed against a wall, having just suffered a defeat, Queen Aquarius unconscious from the Last Battalion’s attack, and the Shadows sent away, Jun as Joker breaks down. 

It has been long in coming, it was destined to be, the battle with Joker is now!

Joker has no weaknesses, and his Persona is brand new and looks sleek. My strategy is basic as basic can be- Fusion Spells and healing. 

His attacks are High Pressure- Almighty damage to all. Wind and Mind damage + chance of Confusion to all. Abortive Slash- Ranged damage and Confuse chance to all. Floral Profusion- Almighty with Illusion (Blind) chance to all. And Faerie Wind- Wind + Mind damage tone. Megami Tensei Wiki is wrong about at least one thing, since none of his attacks are listed as inflicting Poison, when at some point everyone on my team was Poisoned. But you can tell he loves ailments.

For much of the fight, with everyone Poisoned but consumables curing one by one, I just let the Poison stay and healed away. Any other ailment I cured immediately. But then I changed my mind and actively purged the Poison. For the great poster villain of the game, Joker was no card able to trump me at all.

 

Yukino is here! Too late, but I’m more than happy to see you survived against your Shadow.

Joker’s Persona, Nyarlahotep. Featured in some other SMTs as a generic, unimportant high-end demon (Devil Survivor featured him, my first SMT), he is of the horror literature of H.P. Lovecraft. The faceless and intelligent god of the Cthulhu eldritch gods. 

“Joker’s Persona” sounds like an inappropriate phrase. The Persona here is coaxing the self it is supposed to be bound to into giving up its life.

Persona 2’s graphics do Angel Joker injustice, this is their official art.:

Spoiler

MT Wiki alerts me to scrapped plans for the player via rumors to decide Joker’s second form. This had to be canceled late into development, a polished artwork of this canceled Joker form exists, Devil Joker.:

The split down the middle approach is not unlike Persephone’s commonly used SMT design.

Everyone is fully healed for round two (although that might be from leveling after Joker 1), and Yukino is playable again.

According to MT Wiki, Angel Joker has a weakness to Dark, befitting its holy appearance. I didn’t realize this, because I operated under the assumption that all bosses were immune to Dark due to Dark having insta-death spells, that is how most SMTs (barring IV Apocalypse) tend to be. Joker is immune to insta-death, he is only weak to Dark damage-dealing spells. 

I could have realized that wasn’t the case sooner, because Sharpshoot (which has killed me multiple times and which Lisa has used to good effect), a Ranged single target instakill, is not Light or Dark. And bosses I could have noticed still took damage from Ranged attacks.

Angel Joker has Holy Sword, a target all Light skill dealing damage and with a chance of insta-kill. I applied Tetraja with Eikichi to mitigate that chance as was called for. He has Hamaon- the strong single target Light insta-kill, Ziodyne for strong Elec damage and stun, and Alpha Blaster for heavy Light damage to all.

Angel Joker was somewhat scarier than base Joker, and I savestated right at the beginning to avoid having to redo both rights and see all the dialogue again. But I did not lose and slew this Angel for good.

The face of a goddess.

If you recognize him, well the old opening did show him momentarily, holding a flower. Joker’s secret identity was there from before pressing Start. Not until Mt. Iwato could you put a name or anything other than being Joker to him however.

Those expressions are new to Lisa and Eikichi, Jun is saved.

I stand corrected, the Nemophilia picked by Maya for Jun when they would meet again, not left there by him.

The eyes are devoid of life, they hypnotize. Jun’s father takes three steps in, and he becomes a travesty of fatherhood, diabolic.

Jun’s Father steals the “Joker Power” from him. Lifting from his son what I thought was an illusion of Joker’s physical form, or was it Nyarlahotep?

Jun’s Father leaves, and the entire place is shaking violently. Faced will a collapse or another danger, everyone is warped away from the Rings of Time.

Philemon, fresh providence comes with Caracol finished.

Yukino, thank you, you’ve been a great help and good character on this journey. 

Hello Jun, hello Hermes.☺️

The ultimate Personae, shown in the openings. The game’s end approaches with the last full measure of internal strength unsealed and outwardly manifested.

Spoiler

and Hermes:

Lord Philemon, your boons are immeasurable. In your name, I shalt not fail.

 

Everybody is brought to Alaya Shrine.

This is the Persona Game. 

Have everybody form a circle and repeat the chant. As you do so, have each person run into to the spot where the person to their right was standing. At the end, shove the person to your right into the next spot.

This a family-friendly way of attempting to awaken your True Self and draw on its spiritual powers. No guns are required. 

But, if you lack the internal talent, and that should be many people, obtaining a Persona will be impossible. Philemon implied that just above. And if by just playing the Persona Game, which seems like was being passed on by word of mouth among children, gave you the power of Persona, regardless of inner merit, then having Persona should be commonplace. But it isn’t.

A nostalgic chance encounter. It rehabilitates Jun and gives everyone an opportunity to relax from all had unfolded.

Jun tells everyone what must be done specifically to stop evil as things stand. Thank you for your knowledge from just having been one of them.

Bye Yukino!

So this ends. Jun has found salvation and can begin his redemption as the new fifth party member.

 

With Yukino gone, I'm going to express my opinion of her:

Spoiler

Yukino, I liked her. 

She didn’t get that much screentime, she was an outsider from almost from her introduction. Back in the day, as a familiar face from the Persona 1, she would have been a transitory figure for players of that game. Though understanding Persona 2’s beginning without P1 is no trouble either.

In gameplay, it is now readily apparent she existed solely to fill in the fifth character slot until Jun could join, over halfway this must be into the game. There is no reason she had to give up her Persona power to Jun, it’s bizarre that Jun wouldn’t be able to naturally generate his own. But she did, because there wasn’t room for her in battle anymore, Jun needed to be playable.

I do not hate Jun whatsoever. Yukino was given as naturalistic an excuse for leaving as they could make. I’m happy they didn’t kill her or leave her permanently crippled. 

Her Anna story and her Fujii romance deserved more scenes, but this game had only so much room to work with to fit that in. The storyline keeps the filler and fat content low (unlike… how about we go with Tales?). They gave Yukino sinecures of importance after Sevens, but that was all. 

The primary four heroes and now Jun (as Joker and a child) have been well developed, but supporting actors like Anna and Lisa’s friends have been sadly lacking. All they need is more, they aren’t fundamentally bad in themselves. Some optional scenes, maybe flashbacks accessible from a menu after a matching item is found, these would enrich the supporting cast all it needs.

Let me reiterate- I liked Yukino. As Fire Emblem can tell you, you do not have to be at the center of a storyline to be an enjoyable character. A good 3/4s or more of FE casts have no story roles of slightest significance, does nothing to stop people from loving them. Yukino is the same way.

That is it. Jun has be converted and the conflict intensifies.

 

To the Doors of Time (READ THIS SECOND!):

Spoiler

Maybe it was two floors (or three, I forget) down in the Caracol that I enter a Stella Chamber, just an enemy-free transition room where I speak with everyone.:

I get you Eikichi. I’m no good in situations where someone has died, I want to console, but I know I can hurt more than I can help the grieving process.

Our battle with Lady Scorpio is close this means, so I save.

I must save her instead?

Another round with the Order of the Holy Lance coming right up! The lone one was child’s play, I absolutely can handle three of them.

YOU PIECE OF SHIT!

Most dialogue in battle mode given before the battle begins is voiced. The above shout was no exception. And Yukino’s VA nailed it. All her anger funneled perfectly into a single exclamation, it was gold.

I took no screenshots of the actual battle, but the three Longinus Units used everything the lone Longinus I fought earlier did (swapping Aques for other elements and adding some weak ailments and single target buffs). They all resist physical elements again, and are generally vulnerable to magic, but each has a different specific weakness.

I should have lost this fight, having three enemies as strong offensively as any boss beforehand with at least two of them at all times outspeeding everyone on my team and the healing shutdown that Longinus Copy and Sblitz could inflict meant I took frequent casualties. 

It was luck that I won. Mediarama was my savior, and so were target-all Fusion Spells. Yet once the first Longinus fell, I passed the hardest part of the fight. That is true of numerous boss fights featuring multiple foes, excluding those where the bosses can revive each other, summon endless minions, or killing the one makes the other(s) super strong.

Shadow Yukino knows more Yukino than I do at a glance, and she looks vastly more twisted than Shadow Maya.

Yukino has left the team to distract her Shadow self with Anna’s support. The remaining four move towards their ultimate goal, stopping the Masked Circle and the Last Battalion and saving Jun.

 

I reach a third Stella Chamber (Anna’s room was a second IIRC).

Sudden flashback:

What? This isn’t how things went!

That is the distorted memory Philemon said Jun suffers from, he is white knighted into the heroic one, and Tatsuya takes the blame. Shown to benefit the player and the heroes alike.

Able to realize the truth, but the Crawling Chaos does not want him to see it. Why does it want Jun specifically? Why not use someone else?

 

Going deeper, a fourth Stella Chamber, with a second flashback:

This memory is the game’s old, drawn, and wistful opening. Is it that significant?

A flower for Tatsuya, that Tatsuya recalled a memory with Jun alone in the Air Raid Shelter. And the two were the first two Masked Circle members. And Tatsuya still unconsciously carried the lighter given to him, with him bringing it out in an idle animation. All support what Maya’s says, despite being silent, and me preferring it if Tatsuya could speak, this does show strength in the bond between Tatsuya and Jun.

The Rings of Time, beyond the grand doors is Jun. I save, using some Chewing Souls to replenish SP. There were some big floor tiles earlier which looked inconspicuous until stepped on, they then drain a large portion of SP.