#I WANTED SOMETHING BUT THIS WASN'T IT ATLUS

[theredcuyo]

If atlus wasn't a coward when it comes to persona crossovers we'd see SEES' shadows being bitter, angry, almost jelous of the fact that Yu and Joker are there.

That they're alive, that they're here, they survived things as catastrophic as them, they got to defeat gods too, the phantom thieves changed the cognition, the ideas, that were dooming the world, and Joker is still there

While none of them would actually act like that to them, because they're 'over their grief', their shadows, their true selves, who know that grief is something that never truly leaves you, can out those thoughts that they don't want to

And they hate it, they refuse it, because they know that not what he would want but at the end, it is something they do feel, and it's okay to feel, as long as you know what you're feeling and not to harm others for it, it's not their fault

I just think it could be really interesting, because yeah, the answer, but if you've ever lost someone you know that you don't stop missing them, you learn to move on, but it doesn't mean you forget, you can go trhu all the stages of grief, and yet, once or twice, you'll have an angry thought at the world, as small it can be (for example, if you lost someone for an accident and they fix whatever caused that accident 'Oh, now you can fix it, it couldn't have been back then?'), or you'll feel the sadness again (maybe on their birthday, on the anniversary of their passing, or just, one day you wake up and you miss them), it's like that

Or maybe it's just me, but i'd like to see it

I specially picture Mitsuru and Yukari (probably because of the answer, again)

[senblades]

hello! i was reading shuake fics, as one normally does, and i came across an interesting subject in one of them!

in the fic (it was kinda like a feb 2 fic but with the interaction between ren and akechi happening 2 week early), ren asks akechi:

"if i know that you're not real and that this is just part of maruki's reality, why haven’t you dissapeared like when wakaba, okumura, and makoto's dad did when futaba, haru, and makoto realized?"

i thought it was an interesting point to make so i was curious and wanted to hear your opinion on it! :D

oh ho ho I have thoughts indeed! (and I think I've read that fic actually lmao)

My general, heavily biased thoughts, are that Akechi not disappearing on 2/2 (or earlier, in the case of the fic you mentioned) is because he isn't actually dead. Something of a basic answer, but a girl can dream HA

Other reasons, however, could include Akechi being a wildcard, Ren being a wildcard, Maruki-typical shuake favouritism, the works! Atlus seems to be very insistent on not giving Goro a true death status, given that they've taken to confining him to "that one week in november" in spinoffs (smh can't believe that the Tactica dlc wasn't set in the third semester /j (...mostly))

But, in the end, I think that Akechi not disappearing and subsequently insisting on returning to the true reality and awakening Hereward, is very important in establishing that, whether alive or dead, Akechi in Maruki's reality is undoubtedly real

There are several meta and narrative-based reasons why I think this is important- first off, would something that is entirely Maruki's creation oppose his ideology like that? And can cognitions even have personas? Like. I'm no Metaverse doctor, but-

And for the more narrative and thematic reasons- To say that Akechi in the third semester isn't real is to strip any and all development to his character during that time of meaning. From the third sem jazz club convos, to 2/2 (what a mouthful HA), to Hereward; to turn around and say that all that was exclusively Maruki putting on a puppet show- at that point, what would be the point of Akechi being there at all, narratively speaking, if it doesn't actually add to his character?

...that was something of a slight tangent LMAO- but my thoughts often spiral in different places when I think of the third semester haha (like. Y'all. if I had been a persona fan before Royal came out, I would have gone fucking NUTS when I saw all the shit they added HAHA)

anyways, thanks for the ask! I've been waiting for an excuse to spill all my thoughts like that hehe <3

[saintbluues]

can you do lo'ak with an arranged mate?? some angst if you dont mind hehe

"I'm So Sorry."

Lo'ak x Omatikaya! Reader

I hope this is kinda what you asked for D:

word count: 2k

genre: angst with confort

disclaimer: probably ooc Lo'ak at some point. NETEYAM IS ALIVE. LO'AK DIDN'T FALL FOR TSIREYA.

Kinda proofread and I'm not giving the other woman a name because idk how to come up with na'vi names. I ENJOYED THIS ONE

The subject of mating would be brought up a lot since Toruk Makto and his family came back from Awa-atlu, after all, his sons were getting older. Kiri was a different case.

For the last three months, you've been waiting for Lo'ak, worried he'd never come back from wherever he was. Unbeknownst to you, Jake was already arranging mates for his boys, not being able to wait any longer. Absolutely no one was pleased with the arrangements, specially Lo'ak.

With his rebellious nature, he got into a lot of verbal fights with his parents which resulted in nothing but more trouble. How would he tell you that he was about to be mated to someone he barely knew? Lo'ak was supposed to be with YOU and his dad just wouldn't get it. Status was important and your parents weren't anyone special. No warriors. Ho healers. Just the common folk. You and Lo'ak meeting was just pure luck, right place, right time.

"WHY CAN'T YOU LET ME JUST BE HAPPY? WHY DOES WHO I WANT TO BE WITH MATTER TO YOU?!" Lo'ak screamed from the top of his lungs, Neytiri grabbing his arm pulling him back from Jake. "YOU LOWER YOUR VOICE WHEN SPEAKING TO ME, BOY." He had his finger pointed right at his son's face. "You go and tell that girl it's over, you hear me? Whatever was going on between you two, is no more." If Neytiri wasn't grabbing Lo'ak, he'd surely pounce on his father. Angrily he pulled his arm back and walked out bumping shoulders with anyone in front of him.

Tears welled up in his eyes as he walked through the forest thinking of what the hell he would tell you. Just imagining the look on your face made him cry out loud. It was night-time so Lo'ak wasn't expecting to encounter anyone but how lucky was he? It's as if Eywa was against him and put you right in front of him. What were you doing out here at a time like this? Were you trying to get eaten by some random creature?

Lo'ak turned around on his heel ready to walk off but you saw him. You called out for him. He really couldn't do this right now. Anger still bubbling hot inside him.

"Lo'ak!!!" You waved your hand running in his direction while he tried to get away from you. "LO'AK!!!" Maybe he hadn't heard you but he wasn't that far away and the forest was silent. Finally reaching him, you put your hand on his shoulder. He stopped walking just to push you away.

"Leave me alone." What? What was wrong with him? "What happened, Lo?" He was screwed. Your soft preoccupied voice making the entire situation even more overwhelming. "Nothing!! Just go away!" Now this behaviour was strange. If he ever had a fight at home or something of the sort, he'd open up to you and tell you what was frustrating him. You tried to get closer to him once more, gently touching his face but he slapped your hand away. "WHAT DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?" Shock spread all over your body. You stood there looking at him with wide eyes and your jaw hung open. "Lo'ak…?" You felt so small and fragile like you could break into a million pieces at any moment.

"If saying my name is all you have to say then please go home." Was he even aware of how he was treating you? He clearly wasn't in his right mind because the Lo'ak you knew would never speak to you like this. "Did I do something wrong?" How you managed to make a sentence come out of your mouth, you don't know.

"I did. Engaging in any romantic stuff with you." His own vision was foggy. Saying these things wasn't any easier than listening to them. He was so going to regret it later. "We're done, ___. I have a mate." A mate??? Since when did he have a mate? What about you? Has he been playing with your feelings all along? You gave your all to him and this is what he does?

"What are you talking about, Lo'ak?" He rolled his eyes, turning his head away.

"You heard me!! So get lost." Oh boy. He just kept digging a bigger hole for himself.

What else was there to say? You smiled in acceptance, lowering your head so hopefully he wouldn't notice the tears falling. You felt pathetic enough. With a nod of your head, you left just like he wanted.

Once he was sure you were gone, Lo'ak sat on the grass, elbows propped up on his knees, fingers intertwined with his braids. His cries could probably be heard all throughout the entire forest, losing his voice from how much he screamed. This was something he wouldn't forgive Jake for this.

You really did leave him alone. You did not try to get in contact with him since that night.

Lo'ak hasn't been the same. Silent and minding his business away from his family. Frequently he'd go for walks around the village, hopeful he'd find you. Just seeing your face would lift his spirits a little more. But he didn't. You were never outside, nowhere to be seen.

Everyone sat around a firepit getting ready for dinner. The last few days the Sullys and the family of the girl (her included of course) Lo'ak was supposed to mate would have dinner together, almost forcing the two youngsters to interact. The girl was absolutely smitten with him, always trying to sit next to him, so close to the point their knees would touch. The sentiment was not shared.

This time, to the Sully boy's surprise, someone he so wanted to lay his eyes upon, joined for dinner. You looked devastated, dark circles under your eyes, corneas red. You did look different. In a bad way. And it was all his fault.

You and your family sat on the outer circle contrary to the Sullys who were in the center one. Lo'ak almost broke his neck eyeing you the entire time. If only he could get up and tell you how he didn't mean anything he said, explain what was really going on. For a split second you looked back at him, which made him turn his head back around as fast as he could.

As soon as dinner was over, he ran off, only to be followed by none other than the girl who seemed to now follow him everywhere he went. He didn't even remember her name in all honesty.

"Where are you going, Lo?" Lo? Who does she think she is? Only you can call him that, after all you're the one who came up with the nickname.

"It does not concern you." He always had a poker face around her, giving her the cold shoulder. "You wouldn't like me to tell you father you're sneaking off right?" This woman is absolutely nuts. She has nothing to do with his business. She got no response back. Lo'ak wasn't even going to bother knowing that she was just trying to get on his nerves. "Maybe we could go somewhere secluded aaand-", "what are you implying?" If he was human, he'd probably have a hundred white hairs thanks to her. "You know what I mean…" Her hands roamed around his chest giving him the famous butterfly lashes or whatever. He didn't care.

"Get your fucking hands off of me! Get your ass back home." He left her alone. His feet taking him to your hut.

There wasn't really anything to knock on so he just invited himself in, coming face to face with your father first.

"What do you want, boy?" He wasn't happy to see Lo'ak and that was for sure. Lo'ak didn't feel welcomed at all but he was the one to blame for this situation.

"I just want to talk to ___."

"My child has no business with you."

"I need to clarify some things. It's very, very urgent." To him it was urgent. He couldn't let another day go by without talking to you. Seeing you how he saw you today edged him on even more. "Please, I beg, sir." This was humiliating. He was aware of how much of a fool he looked but you were more important than the shame he felt. Your father stepped out of the way, the first thing coming into vision being you. Lo'ak walked your way, kneeling in front of you.

" ___…" You wouldn't even look at him. He had to choose his words very wisely not wanting to worsen things. "You don't have to talk to me if you don't want to but I want to apologise for everything I said that day. I didn't mean any of it. My parents made a stupid mate arrangement with another family and nothing I said or how much I fought back mattered to them. I tried, ___. I tried so hard." His hand caressed your cheek. You didn't budge. "The damned girl just won't leave me alone and my father is putting so much pressure on me but that has never stopped me from loving you. That day I was furious after an argument with dad… You just happened to be there at a bad moment and I let it all out. I know I shouldn't have. ___ I need you. I need you by my side so bad."

You finally looked at him, eyebrows furrowed. You felt like a crybaby, crying was all you did in the last week and you were about to do it in front of him. Again.

"I am so sorry, baby." Baby, something he learned from his dad. An English word.

He lifted your hand to his lips, leaving a kiss on the back of it and then putting his forehead against it. It felt wet. Was he crying…? You laid your head on his.

"I believe you."

Suddenly he raised his head, bumping it against yours on accident. Typical of Lo'ak.

"Really? Thank you, thank you, thank you. I love you, ___. I do! I do!" Happiness radiated off of him, it was contagious.

"I love you too, Lo." Lo sounded so good coming from you.

"I'm going to talk to my father again, and if he disagrees, we'll run away together." He said it so serious it was almost funny. "I need you there with me, please."

You did go with him. Now standing in front of Toruk Makto and whoever the other old men was. You didn't know who, by Lo'ak did, very well. That woman's dad. Lo'ak had your hand in his, standing tall, not letting the two men intimidate him, or you.

"Father. It's the last time I'll be saying this. Call this arrangement off. I already have who I want and I will not be mated to anyone else but them." Oh Jake was pissed. In front of his friend too? Really?

"What is this nonsense?" The other man spoke before Jake could reprehend his son.

"I'm glad YOU are here. Tell your daughter and yourself I want Nothing to do with her. This shit was never my idea anyway." You looked at Lo'ak, concerned about what the consequences of this might be.

"Lo'ak." His father called for him.

"Excuse me?" Eywa, the old man sounded very aggravated, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

"You're excused. Leave me be! And dad, nothing you say will change my mind." Lo wrapped his arm around you protectively. You and him reminded Jake of his younger self and Neytiri. Could he really punish his younger son for this? For loving? Jake has been nothing but a hypocrite and it was time for him to stop and get some sense knocked into his head. Jake stood up, turning to the warrior previously sitting next to him.

"My friend… We'll talk about this later, just the two of us." There wasn't much to talk about. It was obvious this arrangement was over with.

In no time, he left, leaving father, son and his lover behind. Jake grabbed Lo'ak's upper arm, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "I'm sorry son. ___." It sounded genuine. No need for any more fights about this.

You smile up at Toruk Makto, a hand at your chest showing gratitude for his understanding at last.

[beanyboobee]

Random theories of mine:

1. What were the Archvisites?

2. Teachers out here scheming

3. How does vanitas die?

What were Archvisties to vampire society? I keep wondering that because I find it so curious how so very few people actually know what they are, and the only ones we have seen who know right away are count orlock, chloe and Ruthvan, all high ups in vampire society, while those of lower status, aka count Orlocks servents, Jean Jacqes, didn't know until they were told.

Surely if Archivistes were well known their massacre would still be remembered as it wasn't that long ago [if we go by Noes age] but yet the servent of Orlocks who does know what an Archvisite is, refers to the massacre as happening 'long ago'

Concidering how long some vampires live, isnt it odd for them to refer to something not even 20 years old as a long time ago ?

We also know Archvisites are differant to regular vampires, as Dominique claimed vanitas wanted to use noe for his unique abilities, (abilities not just ability to see memories), how it (presumably) took longer for chloes potion to kick on for him

Not to mwntion- SPOILER FOR THE LATEST CHAPTER CHAPTER 61

how Noe is already starting to recall what Ruthvan did to him, which shouldn't be possiable if Ruthvan is more powerful than him.

Moving into another theory that I mentioned before but I keep finding more and more proof for,

I think EVERYTHING since the beginning has been planned by teacher, everything, not just the small things. From him just os happening to find noe at an auction, as far as we know the teacher didn't have any others in the mansion so he just so happend to go to a human auction and find the last remaining archvisite? As we know noe added that the vampires who kidnapped hom mistook him for a human?

It was almost as if Noe was the main peice of the story the teacher wanted to see play out. Not to mention in Domiques first appearance she says this-

Who told her where Noe was? Realistically how would anyone know that Noe was with count Orlock? Unless count orlock told someone and it got passed on? But the only person who knew noe was in Paris was the teacher.

The teacher sending a letter to count orlock with Noes full name and asking him to help Noe with anything he needs is also weirdly suspicious because there was no need to give out Noes full name unless he knew the effect it would have.

I am also of the mindset that everything happening is a timeloop, of this situation has played out time and time again, from the conversation lady Archvisitie and the teacher have in Chapter [ 58]

That his excitement at Noe coming with him, "Yes I am having fun because you came with me" implying Noe had a choice not to come, and as we know Teacher loves throwing around the word "choice" an awful lott.

If it is true abiut this being a time loop or some sort of time shenanigans, Noe could be the slightly differant thing Lady Archvisite and Teacher discussed in chapter [58 and 59 ]

One small "choice" can change the entire direction of a story after all.

Also final theory, Vanitas Dies by Noe not grabbing his hand when crossing the portal, I'm still of the mind the story will end with Atlus crumbling. And Vanitas will be trapped in the middle world because Noe didn't grab his hand. Why? Simple, I like to think this scene is foreshadowing

Noe keeps moving between saying- he killed vanitas by his own hand, and, he regrets not grabbing his hand that day, the death of vanitas won't be this big and major gruesome thing like we are led to beleive but rather him being stuck in a void, as it would also explain vanitas saying this during his 'death'

As we know Noe is an unreliable narrator, he blames himself for alott of things that happend, and tends to overexagerate how much of a part he played in the tragedy, as we can see during the whole Louis situation, he holds alott of regret and blames himself for it to the point even years later Domi has to remind him it wasn't his fault, so by him saying he killed Vanitas by his own two hands, it could be something as simple as him- being unable to catch vanitas in time. Or hesitating before holding onto him because Vanitas might of been the to let go.

There was enough of time between Vanitas dying and Noe somehow being the cause of it, for Vanitas to give him the reassurance that he won't die that he just won't be apart of this world,

It could of been said in a similar fashion to how Jean jauqes forced Noe to drink his blood so someone would remember hom and chloe, because if we think about it in that sense. He could of meant he won't die because Now will always be around to remember.

Making Vanitas a figure similar to the shapeless one or lady archvisite; who mainly seem to operate and live in the between world.

[ever-so-sleepy]

"zenkichi is just a repeat of dojima" okay? so are sojiro and futaba. sophia is aigis 2.0,,, but they still manage to find new meaning with it. persona reuses a lot of the same tropes, but often (not always) they're able to write it just differently enough you get something new

persona 4 is my favorite game. i love jb blanc (dojima va), and i am so biased to dojima and nanako. but zenkichi and akane are very similar to me and my dad. i didn't watch my mother die thank god,,, but i did lose a family member as an early teen. when i was around akane's age (14-15) i was angry, and who was easiest to blame? my dad

he HAS done bad things but at the same time, he cared. i said the same things, "my dad doesn't care about me" knowing it wasn't true. friends and family would say the same thing makoto did, "don't say that it isn't true". and while i can't speak for akane, that always pissed me off

maybe it wasn't right, but it was how i felt. my dad, like zenkichi, hadn't shown well enough that he cared. so even if i knew that he loved me that insecure, hurt part of me said he didn't. i built up this tolerance to that idea, that now i don't want my dad to apologize. i don't want him to be the better man, to grow and get better. that anger gave me comfort and some sort of peace, having something to blame for my emotions. when zenkichi reveals the truth, and apologizes anyway, akane is still just as sad. and angry

the small differences matter. akane and nanako are years apart, and they're also different people. they will, then, grieve differently. zenkichi knew who killed his wife, but he stopped chasing it because akane's life was literally threatened. dojima never stopped but he never (as far as we're aware) found out who it was. but that isn't the main cause of discourse with his daughter, it's his own fear of being a dad. imo dojima is more at fault than zenkichi. the latter obviously should have acted differently but some things were out of his control. nanako just wanted a present father

also so off topic but fuck the idea that mamoru (i think that's how it's spelled; star arcana in persona 3) is just a kazushi clone !!! they're so different and have majorly different meanings. yes atlus reuses tropes, but they don't demean the characters story and that idea doesn't even apply to these two. leave my man's alone

[adachimoe]

P4U2 / Arena Ultimax Design Works - About Episode Adachi

I think the anecdote is known, but this is the part of the interview where Atlus and Arcsys talk about Episode Adachi.

Interviewer: Now then, why did you make Episode Adachi? And how did fans react to it? Kazuhisa Wada (Atlus): First of all, figuring out how to handle Adachi's character is very tricky. But this time, we had a P4G scenario writer who is a huge Adachi stan on staff, so we left the scenario up to him. But I didn't want him to fanboy too hard, so I had to rein him in. Takumi Ichigaya (Arcsys): There was some talk about whether Adachi needed a story since he was a DLC character. Wada: Right, right. But Adachi wasn't "just" DLC; he was also involved in the main story, so I wasn't sure what to do. But before I knew it, the aforementioned staff member had written Adachi's story…… (laughs). Ichigaya: Wada-san asked us, "Can we add more story through DLC?" We didn't have any issues with that, so we told him, "Yeah, do you want to?" (laughs) Mysterious Maskman (Arcsys): I thought it was nice that Episode Adachi gave us info about the enemies in P4AU. It gave insight into Adachi, and we got a deeper understanding towards Sho as well. Wada: In the main story, we couldn't depict Adachi's stance, but I think we were able to clearly depict it here. I was nervous about how the fans would receive it. Iguchiya: I think the fans loved it. It may have been for the best that when we created the P4A series, we made it clear that, "This is a canon sequel".

"Stan" and "Fanboy" are my word choices lol. Something more literal would be "obsessed with Adachi" and "letting the fan mentality take over".

[lumeha]

@furtiveseal no derailment at all but making a new post because I Can :D

Joker : I like him ! He's a fun silent protag, and as always, I do think the Persona games are good at having silent protags having a lot of personality. I like how we get to know a lot of Joker's personality through hobbies we can have him have (watching movies and playing games, cooking), the fact that he does get into Shenanigans outside of the main plot (... the whole Yusuke social link, like, Sir), that he has some really strong morals from the start, etc.

Morgana : I, hm, really didn't like Morgana. I'm. One of the problem being that I genuinely think they sorta did his existential crisis arc much better writing wise with Teddie in P4. /o/ \o\ /o/

Ryuji : (carries him above my head) I Love Him So Fucking Much He's The Best. Didn't expect him to be my favourite but. He is. He deserves better. I wish the comedy of the game didn't rely so much on him getting the short end of the stick. I also wish the game was consistent regarding his leg injury because damn the game isn't consistent with the leg injury. But I Love Him. (also very fond of his relation with Mishima and I ship them but I'm mostly saying this because I am in fact vindicated by the fact that he does say that his friendship with Mishima is meaningful to him in the 3rd semester and I am very glad okay they have some nice scenes together) (also I have feelings about him as the Chariot it's a great pick)

Ann : I wish most of her stuff wasn't frontloaded in the first Palace, and I am glad she has another spotlight time in Strikers. I really like Ann ! She's a great character ! I think there's a whole tension over how the game treats her character and her story over beign sexualised that is, let's just say, quite obviously not well done, but as a character, she is just. so delightful. She's a great friend, she's a fun girl, I love her determination and her compassion at the same time :3c

Yusuke : hell yeah !! hell yeah. I love the boy. He's such a weirdo (affectionate) another one who gets another turn in the spotlight in Strikers and it does work super well for him too. He's definitely a character I got to appreciate more the more I got to see him in game, and I appreciate that there's a sort of delighted weirdness about him that is just... he's just like that and that's all, it's good, I appreciate it.

Makoto : my least favourite thief, because she just... doesn't... feel like she belongs in the group. I'm genuinely thinking her sister has a bigger "becoming the rebel" moment than her, despite being older and not a teen which is part of the theme of that game ? Didn't help that she is not doing herself a favour in Strikers. Also the way she's set up in the game was a little, uh, too "look at how COOL and GREAT Makoto is !!" by putting down the other characters which was just a little grating to me so that probably didn't help a lot (the ultimate irony being that she is voiced by Cherami Leigh AND represents the High Priestess, much like my absolute queen favourite character Rhea FE3H)

Futaba : actually grew on me because that's the one character that I swear to the gods Strikers did an horrible job with (can we stop with hot springs scenes thanks Atlus), and I played Strikers first. But her relationship with Sojiro is fantastic, I think her palace was legitimately my favourite to go through story wise (maybe because it did have echoes of P4 dungeons, I just think it did Something with it at least), and I like that it doesn't get... smoothly easier for her

Haru : she deserves sO MUCH BETTER than what the game gives her. I love her. I really love her. But I think the game writing doesn't allow her as much space as she could and should have. What we see of her relationship with her father and her feelings about his death, about the memories of her grandfather and how she wants to carry legacy of everything her family is, and how she's so genuine, I think she's great. Also she has an axe. Who doesn't like that. OH and she does get an additional arc in Strikers too !! and it's good !! I really liked it !!! I liked it because it shows her interacting from someone she knew as a kid and who she thought a lot of positive things about and idk it worked super well for me

Sumi : she's. she's so badly integrated pre-3rd semester. But I think her story is compelling !! I like her 3rd semester arc !! She's just really badly integrated into the story, in a way that Marukichi is weirdly not. Which kind of does her a disservice. But what a goddamn grim story she has.

Bonus Round Zenkichi : I love cop dad a whole fucking lot, and not JUST because he's an old man okay :/// ... and NOT JUST because his Persona is Valjean :////// .... no but he's fun. I like the way he interacts with the Thieves in general, his relation with his daughter being a red thread of his arc AND a good echo to the overall themes of the game he's in regarding actions and inactions. I think Strikers does a good job at adding him to the team, also he has a fun interaction with Sae :3c which was fun.

[akechi-stole-my-heart]

If I may ask: how would you have written/rewritten Sumire's confident story? 😊 Unless it's too close to what you did in code violet, sorry 😂 Personnally, I thought the first half wasn't THAT boring, she was endearing but I felt like she was either in denial or hiding her grief about her sister's death - and then I got the truth 😂 I've become a shusumi fan quickly but I still think there's *something* lacking for it to click. And the last scene we see Sumire was underwhelming imho 🥲

yeah! there are a lot of similarities to what i do in code violet, but it's not identical, since I have a lot more freedom in my fic than there is in the game.

i wouldn't change much if anything about the first half. i agree it isn't that boring, what really makes it seem that way are (1) high expectations for the New Special Girl to be exceptional since she wasn't in the original game and (2) comparing her to the other team members who you're already invested in, her conflict just isn't as interesting (at least to me). basically, you start out every other thief confidant already knowing the core of their conflict because of their palace, so you're already invested in their arcs, while with sumire that is reversed, where you don't learn what's actually going on with her later. so, the "boringness" of the confidant is really exaggerated by that. if you didn't like the way they inserted her into the opening sequence (i never had an issue with it, but royal was my first experience, though i did know the stuff with her was added in the rerelease) so she made a bad impression on you, then it's understandable why people wouldn't like her (at first, anyway)

but let's get to the point. my issues with her confidant. they can basically be summed up in 2 points, and the two of them intersect quite a bit (1) the way she idolizes both kasumi and joker and rely on them for her self worth is not properly unpacked and (2) her role as the waifu REALLY impedes her arc.

basically, sumire idolizes joker. her outfit mirrors his exactly, and her arc in third sem is all about...learning that since joker loves her, she wants to both rise to his expectations and can learn to value herself. and that's not bad, but certain lines about how she wants joker to see her really rub me the wrong way. specifically in her rank when they go to the mall and she picks an outfit for herself. i like the part about her wanting to be seen as herself, and the part about joker's reaction ultimately being irrelevant to whether she likes the outfit, and i would emphasize those points more strongly. but the parts about her wanting joker to see her feel a little like she's trying to be a person he will like? rather than being the person that she is. some of the dialogue is pretty meh, and it feels like she's getting her self worth from joker.

the bones of the confidant are good. great, even. but there's just subtleties in the execution that make it not quite land for me. choosing the romance route ends up feeling unhealthy for both of them, where sumire is putting too much of her worth in someone else and joker is entering an unequal relationship where sumire doesn't give him as much as he gives her because he just isn't in a place to. and i think that's a shame.

for me to get behind shusumi, sumire needs to be on equal ground with akira, and she just isn't. and the game is even aware of this--sumire says on white day that she isn't, but that she wants to be someday. and like, it could be her being self deprecating, but either way it's not what either of them deserve. i wish we could get a moment where she's there for akira like he's there for her, but atlus is allergic to joker's friends being there for him so we never get that.

so honestly, i really wouldn't change much. i'd leave the first half how it is, tweak some dialogue in the second half so it seems less like sumire is getting her self worth from joker, and add a moment where sumire explicitly says she's there for joker and wants to be there for him as much as he's been there for her, so they're on emotionally equal ground with each other.

finally, i do wish we got to see more of her journey, since she really is just at the very beginning of her arc of recovery at the end of the game. but i think it's okay that we don't. there is only so much time allotted to watch her grow, and we see her grow a lot in that time. there's questions she could ask herself that she doesn't have the time to get to, like if she really wants to be a gymnast for herself, or if she's just doing it for her sister. that sort of thing. but again, i think it's okay we don't get to that. i might add a line or two where she says she wants to be a gymnast for herself because she enjoys it, though.

and i guess that's it? i'm sorry for how disorganized this answer is. i haven't really thought in depth about what i'd change if restricted by the confines of the game, and so it's kind of difficult to do a rewrite when that's different than just having problems with what exists. a lot of what i would change can be found in code violet, like how i emphasize that it's "joker makes me want to be seen for who i am, and see him in return" rather than the one-way dynamic of "joker makes me want to be seen and so i will try to be a person he likes" which some of her lines really come across as sometimes. honestly, i think the entire confidant could have been improved by leaning more into the rivalry dynamic. sumire and akechi already have plenty of similarities/parallels, and joker kind of inherits kasumi's role as sumire's rival. so i think it'd have been really powerful if they leaned into that and made it clear that this time, sumire and her rival are equals.

but yeah! sorry this is so rambly. i'm going to end the post now

[etes-secrecy-post]

Hi, before I explain my post, I want to say something important.

• What you see my blog has become a major overhaul. And despite the changes, I decided that my 2nd account will be now my artwork blog with a secret twist.

⚠️NEW RULE! (W/ BIGGER TEXT!)⚠️

⚠️ SO PLEASE DO NOT SHARE MY 2nd ACCOUNT TO EVERYONE! THIS SECRECY BLOG OF MINE IS FOR CLOSES FRIENDS ONLY!⚠️

• AND FOR MY CLOSES FRIENDS, DON’T REBLOG IT. INSTEAD, JUST COPY MY LINK AND PASTE IT ON YOUR TUMBLR POST! JUST BE SURE THE IMAGE WILL BE REMOVED AND THE ONLY LEFT WAS THE TEXT.

⚠️ SHARING LINKS, LIKE POSTS, REBLOG POSTS, STEALING MY SNAPSHOT PHOTOS/RECORDED VIDEOS/ARTWORKS (a.k.a. ART THIEVES) OR PLAGIARIZING FROM UNKNOWN TUMBLR STRANGERS WILL IMMEDIATELY BE BLOCKED, RIGHT AWAY!⚠️

😡 WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT EVER LIKED & REBLOG MY SECRET POST! THIS IS FOR MY SECRET FRIENDS ONLY, NOT YOU! 😡

Okay? Capiche? Make sense? Good, now back to the post…↓

#OnThisDay: Sept 23rd, 2009

Title: Cuteness ACE 3 the final retro

IMPORTANT NOTE: Umm... Before I shared my throwback, I just wanted to say, I'm still not okay from yesterday [CLICK ME!]... 😞😔 I'm still had jealousy feeling from my siblings owing to their own jobs and I DON'T HAVE ONE. My cure from depression is going albeit slow... But, I'll try to dust myself off and standing my two feet. Maybe a nice morning walk will make myself a little better, like what happened in 2022. 🚶

Anyway, enough of my sorrow, let's moved on to my Monday's throwback:

Here's a fun fact of me playing video games: Did you know, 15 years ago, I've played the SUPER underrated mech-based game gem called "Another Century's Episode" franchise exclusively on Sony PlayStation consoles/handhelds (specifically, PS2, PS3 and PSP; PlayStation Portable)? 🤖🎮😁 Yup! It was a lot of fun, at the time when PS2 still going strong (over the new PS3).

• For those who don't know, this Japanese exclusive video game 🇯🇵🎮 was created by the old gaming publisher/company "Banpresto", the same team behind the "Super Robot Wars" franchise (formerly known as "Super Robot Taisen") before Banpresto was merged with "Bandai Namco Games", now called "Bandai Namco Entertainment". Now, ACE (short for "Another Century's Episode") wasn't your typical mech-based chess strategic game like the aforementioned "Super Robot Wars", ACE had a different approach using "Third-Person Shooter" game where you played different mechs based on Japanese most memorable TV Anime Mecha shows like of course "Gundam" (which we're never forget in our hearts as a fan), "Martian Successor Nadesico", "Getter Robo" series, "Eureka Seven" series ,and more... Heck, they even collaborate with Banpresto and Atlus (well known for "Shin Megami Tensei" and "Persona" series) creating their own mechs and characters for the 3rd ACE installment, and its SUPER DOPE in a good way! 😃

BTW: let's not forget "From Software", who also developed the said underrated mech series. Which, you may known today behind "Soulsborne" genre, like the over popular "Elden Ring". ⚔️🏰

• And as you can see, I draw Pocoyo 🔵👶 armoring the "Exblau Form H", along with Kirby ⭐ armoring the "Burning/God Gundam", and two Muglox faries of Mirmo 🪇 and Murumo 🥁 armoring the "Gundam Double X + G-Falcon" and "Freedom Gundam", respectively in a colored-retro style! 🤖😁

If you want it more, then please go to these provided links 😉👉 [CLICK ME! #1], [CLICK ME! #2], [CLICK ME! #3].

Pocoyo - POCOYO © Zinkia Entertainment Kirby - Kirby series © Nintendo, Hal Labs Mirumo & Murumo - Mirmo! © Hiromu Shinozuka/Shogakukan, TV Tokyo Armor - Another Century's Episode © Bandai Namco Entertainment (BANPRESTO) Armors (Mobile Fighter G Gundam, After War Gundam X, and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED) - Gundam series © Bandai Namco Filmworks, Inc. (SUNRISE), Sotsu

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Thoughts on Joker as an optional boss in P3R

.........................................snrk.

Wow....just....wooooow wowowowowowowooooow. Wow. Woof. Omg. Wow.

"Silly salt incoming?" Yes but in a "At this point I'm not even fucking surprised. Just wow!" type of salt

"Are you mad cause it's Joker/P5 related?" I mean like...yes and no?

"No?" I'm not inherently against him being an optional boss. I'm all for past characters coming back. Is it a biiiiit annoying it seems to be ONLY P5 related? Yeah. But like, that's because it seems to ONLY be P5. If it was P5 IN ADDITION to something else, I really wouldn't bat an eye. Like how I didn't for P3/4MCs in P5R (Sad they drew the line at those two only, but....hey. At least we got SOMETHING)

"Then what's the yes?" Besides weird timeline bullshit, which I'm sure they'll have an explanation (or at this rate I hope so). It's just....

I find it funny.......how the devs want to hide behind.... "keeping the original spirit alive" or some bullshit like that. As a means to tell certain fans why we can't have certain things in this game.

I mean, should I be surprised? They removed key features of the original game despite saying that. Yet still tried to hide behind that narrative. "Oh no it's more like Vanilla P3!....except for the FES stuff WE want still.....oh, and using a lot of P3P's stuff too-" I mean.....still funny they wanna hide behind that narrative. All that considered.

Sorry, that was a side tangent. Joker fight only now. Ok.

I find it funny they wanna hide behind that narrative....and then put Joker, a P5 character, THAT WASN'T IN THE ORIGINAL GAME, into the DLC. Just....huh. Interesting.

Just....didn't think to, you know, put a different character in the game? A legacy one. Maybe P1MC? With the whole Tartarus shared scenario and Nyx scenario? No?

Or maybe Tatsuya/Maya? I mean, P2 and P3 have a lot of overlapping parallels. Greek theme, dual MCs, sun and moon themes to name a few. Orpheus in some mythos being Apollo's child.... A real passing of the torch vibe when it comes to P2 going to P3 tbh.

Oh! Or you know, having them face Labby or Sho! They had them as DLC in P3D, plus it would've been PERFECT! We could've had all 3 P3 themed robo girls in ONE GAME! :D Plus they already have working models for them! They'd just need to update them.

Or......you know. They could've gone with the obvious one? Esp if timeline/space bullshit isn't an issue. One that would've been both a narrative AND mythos driven gut punch. They could've gone with FeMC! :D

"Oh but we can't have her in the game, it'll take up too much time and mone-" It's one model for a boss fight. (ʘ‿ʘ) One. Model. We don't even need to account for her Personas because they already have models. Just one model, for a boss fight, with certain animations tied to that. "But money" oh noooooo a company has to make one model with certain animations for a fight and not a whole story mode? Whatever shall they do? Where will they get the time and money to do one model with fight animations? :( :( :( :( :( (/sarcasm)

"But would fans really like-" Yes. We are asking for crumbs. Literally the bare minimum they could've done.

I'm starting to think that they are allergic to her. Cause why else are they dodging her like Neo dodges bullets? TT0TT

"You ok Silly?" Yeah I'm fine. I'm annoyed. Not even pissed. Just....."yeah this is what I expected" and moved on. But I had a feeling I should make a post about it so I came back. >_> Literally took me a few hours to realize the bs after seeing it drop kjaskfdl My first reaction was "yeah sounds about right" THEN after a few hours I was like "wait a minute....." jklsadjfkal

If anything, the need for Atlus to hire a new PR manager for BOTH Jpn and West is just becoming more apparent. I mean they've needed it for years now but ooof please someone save them. save me TT0TT

Tldr; I don't care Joker is in the game because it's P5/Joker. I'm not against him being in the game. I'm just FOR other things ALSO being in the game. And I find it weird they draw the line at other things but then choose Joker???? So weird. :/

[obstinaterixatrix]

I live in blissful ignorance of P5Royal bc I refused to give Atlus that much money for the same game with extra bits when it already had a cast bloat problem. What the hell did they do to Yusuke. Strikers was cute if you ignore the plot and the cop detective party member which makes me want to chew glass for how it ignores every single thematic hook with the party it could've used. Sophie you are adorable but the persona design they gave you sucks ass.

I got distracted but anyway what they did to yusuke in the dream world palace thing is make his ideal world 'madarame wasn't exploitive and actually was a kind father figure' which. yusuke's whole thing was that he was trying to push that narrative to the outside world as a direct contradiction to his lived experience, he's *BEEN* there and breaking free from that fantasy was his WHOLE deal in his intro arc. plus it's really strange that his ideal world wouldn't be. his mom is alive and there. like pita was saying that it could be kind of excused as the teacher's interpretation of yusuke's ideal world not necessarily matching up with yusuke's actual ideal world, but I think that gives atlus too much credit. I think 'madarame as an actual kind mentor' would be peripheral to yusuke's mom being there and them having a strong connection through art. his relationship with sayuri is all about loss and longing and I feel like the fulfillment of his actual desire would be her presence--as a person--being something mundane, something that could almost be taken for granted. but it's also interesting because she's never been a presence in his life, so yusuke would have to fill in the blanks himself. this would put him way too much into Main Character Role but I think it'd be really appropriate for yusuke to be alienated from his ideal world because his ideal world is beyond his imagination. he knows one (1) representation of one (1) expression that she would make. how accurately would he be able to extrapolate from that? when they talk about art, would his mother really pay so much attention to lighting, or would she actually be interested in how yusuke's style diverges from hers? how much of what she says would be oriented around praise versus constructive criticism? how would she say it? how much of himself would he recognize in her? wouldn't he be bothered by some lingering feeling of ambiguity?

[skidqrow]

Qrow/Willow for the ship thing? I forget the ship name xD

🐦‍⬛Some of these might be sparse, but I'm gonna give them my best go! Making the assumption it's post-Atlus and they're both living in Vacuo, and basing most of this off my interactions with @ein-schnee-sturm's Willow.

As neither have had to cook much in the past several years, they take turns trying to learn. Between the two, Willow's meals often taste better than Qrow's.

Rarely. Qrow recognizes the sort of harsh/abusive relationship Willow had been in before with Jacques and does his best to keep altercations to a minimum because of it. When fights do happen, they tend to be almost debate-ish.

Tough one! Qrow would definitely try something along the lines of either 'Mother Hen' or 'Flurry-Feathers'. Not sure what Willow might call Qrow though.

Definitely Qrow. Willow's more used to the cold compared to Qrow, so he tends to snatch them away in his sleep if he gets too cold.

Hm...probably Qrow. Willow's got more money than him, but he'd rather her not have to tap into the Schnee money if it'd bring up unpleasant memories.

For Willow, Qrow would probably gift her sunhats and various trinkets or clothes to help keep her cool in the heat of Vacuo when he's wanting to be pragmatic. Otherwise, he'd probably buy flowers and rotate them out occasionally. For Qrow, I could see Willow getting him little accessories like a watch or handkerchief; something that's unlikely to break or get ruined by Qrow's Semblance.

Definitely Willow. Qrow's attention is scattered between their volunteer work, their relationship, his rebuilding kinship with Ruby, and Oz's plans for Salem keep his focus hazy at best.

Probably Qrow, but I bet Willow could surprise him with some unexpected vulgarity.

Qrow would beat the living tar out of whomever laid a hand on Willow. That poor woman has gone through enough. As for if Qrow was hurt, I could see Willow taking him aside and patching him up as best she could.

Yet to be decided! We'll have to wait and see in the stories to what happens next.

Willow made the first move with a rather romantic flirt towards Qrow. He wasn't sure if he was ready to move on from Summer after holding her memory so close to his chest for so long.

Also yet to be decided. You'll have to read the threads to see!

[frauleinandry]

okay, so this is my promised extremely spoilery tactica review, where I'm going to focus more on the story/characters as opposed to pure gameplay! check my review tag for the spoiler-free gameplay post, and don't click on the read more if you don't want endgame spoilers.

in terms of story, i'd generally urge persona 5 fans who like tactics games to check it out, as it doesn't fall into a lot of the pitfalls people expected it to. maybe wait for a sale though, since uh... i have no idea what atlus was thinking slapping a pricetag like that on it.

as much as i love the artstyle and how much personality it portrays, visually basing tactica's visuals on the Q games meant people went into it with very certain expectations (or didn't go into it at all), which I think really, really hurt the overall reception of the game. it's a pity, since a) the art is fun, and b) like I said in my prior post, tactica is really, really fun, and pretty well written to boot. unfortunately, people assumed by default that p5t would have a cop-out ending where everything was forgotten, the phantom thieves would be reduced to caricatures of themselves, and there'd be no references to canon because atlus is allergic to spoilers in sequel games.

absolutely none of those things are true, however - in fact, unlike the Q games, tactica wouldn't have felt jarring if it used canon-typical visuals. while the Q games go to some dark places, on the whole, they're comedic in tone, while tactica is fairly sombre throughout, with most of the hijinks saved for the optional 'talk' segments.

there were also a lot of people who weren't interested in touching tactica since it wasn't a crossover, and let's be real - if it wasn't for that, the Q games... aren't super appealing. upon playing it, however, it's clear the gameplay wouldn't have worked if it was a 3/4/5 crossover - it's very heavily based on persona 5 exclusive elements such as stealth, cover, and guns.

moving away from the sad but necessary this-isn't-persona-Q-three-and-that's-a-good-thing discussion, and onto tactica itself, I was pleasantly surprised with how the P5 cast and canon in general was treated!

the vibes at the start of the game are surprisingly bleak - everyone's upset that joker is leaving soon, the pts are still shaking off maruki's reality, and the whole reason p5t happens is explicitly due to the fallout caused by shido's confession!! admittedly, i do think there should have been a few more main-game plot points specifically referenced as opposed to just alluded to, such as wakaba's death and haru's situation with sugimura, but on the whole, p5t fits into the general persona 5 narrative.

in terms of the thieves, while I'm a bit sad (if unsurprised) none of them get any real character development, I'm happy with how they were implemented. ryuji isn't reduced solely to being the butt of the joke - in fact, he's instrumental in turning toshiro's mindset around. futaba and morgana get some great moments too - like, morgana compliments ryuji during his stint as the navigator, something I wished happened in the main game!

while I do think ryuji, morgana, and futaba shine the most, haru and yusuke also have some great moments. ironically, this is the only p5 game where makoto is kinda sidelined, but given how much focus she gets in p5/strikers, i'm not too upset by that. i am a bit more upset by the fact that ann's pretty much a non-entity though.

in terms of tactica's specific story and not persona 5 stuff in general, it's good!! admittedly, most of the twists were fairly predictable, but the game is pretty frank from the get-go that the thieves are stuck in toshiro's cognitive world, which is a blessed relief. toshiro in general is just a fantastic character - his character development was so good, and as much as I love zenkichi, toshiro does the whole sad-pathetic-man to genuine-hero thing even better.

the kingdoms are an excellent dive into our favourite politician's psyche, and their use of metaphors to depict his life/relationships/trauma is really well done. i saw someone say p5t is an excellent persona 4 game, and they're right. i thought yoshiki and the second kingdom in particular were handled well - i think most people have unfortunately encountered parents/people like that.

I also think it's super fascinating how the game delves into the theme of how sentient cognitions are/can be. when I was thinking about what else atlus could do with persona 4/5 styled psyche worlds a while back, that was one of the ideas I conjured, and I'm glad to see that angle explored. like... erina doesn't feel like a fully fleshed-out human being ala toshiro, which is very fitting given she's essentially his persona, but her emotions are still treated as full and valid.

in terms of themes, I also like how tactica pretty bluntly states that standing up for the right thing can just absolutely screw you over and achieve nothing in general, but it's still worth doing regardless. it's a particularly resonant point to make given how the world has been over the last few years.

now, while this has primarily been a positive review, I do think tactica's story has some faults. the big thing is the pacing - while the first two kingdoms feel like they're roughly the right length, the third one feels pretty underdeveloped in general. like... the actual kingdom itself has no/little substance and is solely focused on toshiro flashbacks. i think it really could have been split into two kingdoms - one which was a tyrannical school led by nakabachi, and another which combines the station/hell aspects ruled by shadow toshiro.

i know some people have issues with the existence of salmael, but honestly, there needed to be some supernatural element to explain why the heck everyone ended up in toshiro's cognition. compared to some of the gods in the persona franchise, he's not the worst by a longshot.

anyway, i think that's all i've got to say right now - i'll post another one of these once i'm finished with the DLC!

[electricprincess96]

What would you have done differently with Yoshizawa then?

A few things.

Number 1. As soon as its revealed she is in fact Sumire and not Kasumi she she accepts that about herself then she never wears that Ponytail again. I'm aware they seem to basically be twins and twins will look alike however continuing to have the visual indicator of her time pretending to be Kasumi ruins the whole point of her accepting who she is. The ponytail was the way the game symbolised her "becoming" Kasumi in the flashback with Maruki and its the way it symbolised her remembering the truth with the ribbon falling out. All of that is ruined by the fact she continues to go back to wearing it at various points throughout the game including her final ever cutscene.

So as soon as she rejoins the Thieves and accepts who she is, she should get a new Thieve Design with a different hair style. I'd even argue give her a whole new Thief look that isn't based on Jokers to show she's really discovered her inner rebel and isn't just copying others. Like keep the leotard design cause she is a gymnast but remove the black coat and red gloves and give her something else.

2. They make one mention of her knowing Akechi before the game and then really never do anything with it. I'd play up that aspect. Like how do they know each other? I doubt it would be from middle school since Sumire is a 1st year in High School and Akechi is a 3rd year. What's their history? I'd have had her know Akechi since childhood and have her really know the real Akechi and not the fake persona he puts on. I think it would be interesting if they both spend the majority of the game slightly suspicious of why the other one is acting strange but Akechi is wrapped up in his own plans and Sumire is too distracted by her struggles with her gymnastics to really delve deeper until it all comes out in the 3rd Semester.

Like Atlus clearly cared a lot more about exoanding Akechi's characterisation and his relationship with Joker in Royal than they did with anything to do with Sumire so like.... playing up her connection to Akechi would only benefit her characterisation. Like she doesn't have to be best friends with him since I know he's a justifiably very contentious character however I think it would still be an interesting take.

3. Arguably the most important one. I want to see a very clear personality change after she is revealed to be Sumire. Not just some scenes of her being sad. I want every scene she's in post reveal, be it Social Link or Plot Relevant, to clearly show that Sumire is a different person from Kasumi. I want to be able to point to Sumire and list her personality traits and not have 90% of them overlap with the traits we are told belonged to Kasumi.

4. Make her social link more relevant to Maruki's plot and make it an unlock requirement for Semester 3. She's only got 5 ranks before Semester 3, you wouldn't be horribly hindering the player by making them also have to max her to get Semester 3. Just make it that you can't remove her entirely from the plot and it wouldn't make a huge difference because currently with minimal rewrites you can do that and the game does not feel like it's missing anything.

5. Have her join earlier. I know, I know she should join when she accepts her true self because that's the whole point of awakening to a Persona. Well the issue is the game already fucks that concept up by having her awaken to her persona without accepting her true self and sure they can claim "oh she hadn't awakened full, it wasn't powerful enough, ther was no blood when she awakened the first time" OK I'd believe all that if the game didn't force her to save Joker in Sae Niijima's Palace. If she was able to solo her way through part of that Palace and save Joker there's no reason they didn't let her join during Shido's Palace which would then allow her to actually interact more with the other Thieves cause as it stands she feels the most out of place within the group. Even Akechi feels less out of place with the group because at least the rest of the Thieves know him and all have their own relationships with him (none of them good but they exist) whereas Sumire might as well be a stranger to most of them. She's Jokers friend and at best an acquaintance to the rest. Alternatively have more scenes through the game where she gets to hang out with the other Thieves and not just Joker.

But yeah any combination of these suggestions I think would have improved the execution of Sumire's story in the game.

And I want to take this moment to say I don't dislike the character we are given in the game. I don't really know who that character is, where Kasumi ends and Sumire begins, but the character we get I like. She's charming, if a bit forced at times, and the plot had so much potential. I just think they didn't do enough to really stick the landing on the execution of that plotline but I know a lot of people really love Sumire and love her relationship with Joker and that's great. I regularly do that romance option because I do think the games been pushing it throughout so it feels natural. However she shouldn't just be there for the romance. And I do love her design I mean I had her as my icon for a while not that long ego. Just because I critise something doesn't mean I hate it, I only point these shortcomings out because I love Persona 5 and I think it could have been even better if they'd put the effort into making Sumire feel as organic to the story as Maruki does.

[bigfanofwomen]

finished playing the nanjo route, here are some of my thoughts on the ending of eternal punishment :3

I barely know where to start. What the fuck am I supposed to say. I think I'll talk about Monado Mandala first.

The dungeon is exactly like what I would imagine it to be. It's great. My head started to hurt after a while though. The puzzles aren't that crazy, I'd say it's straightforward. I couldn't do one of forced battle (probably in the last area), it had stuff to do with spreading rumors and I couldn't bother. Whatever item was in that chest couldn't have been worth it at that point. The OST is eh, gets a bit tiring after a while. The bosses make up for it.

I love that my choices matter so much, I eat this shit up every time but sometimes it messes up my gameplay. Love the shadow scenes so much, they're amazing. Especially Ulala (big fan of her comphet) ugh I gotta talk about them later.

Shadow Ulala and Katsuya were really easy, my setup was:

Maya - Artemis, Ulala - Izanami / Asteria, Tatsuya - Apollo / Tsukiyomi, Baofu - Hastur / Odin, Katsuya - Tishtoriya.

It's the usual endgame setup, set up buffs and use whatever fusion spells that are available and will hit a weakness. Maya is mostly using Crescent Mirror. Same setup used for Shadow Maya and Baofu, but they were way more challenging. I loved these boss fights!

Nyarlathotep's boss fight was ass clenching. Sometimes I had to risk staying with low HP for the damage. Ulala had Mediarahan on Asteria, but she was casting Kamaitachi. Baofu and Maya were open, they didn't have proper heal spells so I used some items... 3 Beads, 1 Bead Chain and 1 Soma. He didn't give us a chance to breathe, I wasn't able to switch personas at any point in the fight. He died to Baofu and Maya reflecting his attack!!? But overall, an amazing final boss. He pisses me off. I had a ton of fun with most bosses in this game. Much more than Innocent Sin. But Innocent Sin is still my favorite out of the two.

Onto the ending. I was expecting Tatsuya to leave or just something awful to happen to him in general. But this is much more hopeful? I was devastated after Innocent Sin, this is much lighter and better for my psyche lol. He's been through it. I *really* can't stand how ATLUS pushes Tatsumaya so much, they put Maya in a love triangle for some reason. That's a lesbian. Anyway, Tatsuya and Maya are siblings to me.

Tatsuya becoming a cop makes me angry, that's all I will say. Good for Baofu and Ulala though!! And Maya's coworker from the start of the game!

This is the part I wanted to talk about. Eikichi, Lisa and Jun showing up at Alaya Shrine again. It's a nice scene, but... I was expecting something more? To see them somewhere outside of Alaya Shrine. I'm gonna be honest, they're repeating the same shit they had said before. But oh well, they make me sick to my stomach (/pos btw, I don't know how else to react to this).

P1 cast reunited!! Was looking forward to this scene. It's adorable. I wish Ayase was here. I wish her character was handled better in P2 lol.

This game will be forever special to me!! My favorite game of all time!! I can't wait to see Elly's route and the EX Dungeon. It's gonna be great.

[adachimoe]

Who really created Heaven?

First off, there is a no-fun-allowed answer from ATLUS in the Persona Club book where they directly state that Heaven was born from the repressed thoughts of Nanako, who wanted to see her mother, and how its appearance is how it is because it was molded by the heart of a 6 year old child:

It continues that the area where you fight Namatame / Kuni no Sagiri has 13 steps, which signifies that something bad is coming (13 steps to the gallows for execution).

But honestly, No Fun Allowed answers aside, the idea that Heaven was actually created by Namatame never really made much sense to me tbqh.

For one thing, Nanako goes into the TV before him. This is confirmed by his journal entry, as he wrote in his journal after Putting Her In but before the car crash. Wouldn't this mean the dungeon was formed by the time he jumped into the TV?

Another thing is that while this isn't exactly stated or explained very well, the player knows from simply playing the game that the dungeons are created by the repressed thoughts of people who appear on the Midnight Channel. Remember how the protagonist/Yosuke/Chie didn't create a dungeon when they first entered the TV? If everyone who just fulfills the basic requirement of "enter a TV" made a dungeon, then the 3 of them should have made one too. But it was Mayumi, Saki, Yukiko, etc who made dungeons, and they were all on the Midnight Channel. Namatame was on TV before due to the scandal, but that was back in April. If anything, spawning a dungeon when you enter the TV seems to be a result of the term "living rent free in someones head" taken literally, given that the TV World is Persona 4's collective unconscious. Sorry Namatame, but I think the only person who's head you've been living in rent free is Adachi's. Speaking of him - the exception here is stuff like Adachi, and his dungeon is hand waved in the book as being something he created - rather than from his repressed thoughts - to fuck with the Investigation Team. Adachi was probably getting boosted by Ame no Sagiri anyway. Cheater.

Lastly, this dialogue is new to Golden (the concert wasn't in the PS2 game), but the dungeons are shown time and time again to be some kind of representation of what the person is repressing inside. As Namatame talks to you in December, he comes to terms with him having a feeling that the TV was dangerous all along. It's likely also what drove him to jump into the TV after Nanako to begin with, instead of just letting himself be arrested.

I think this new dialogue for Golden kinda seals it (before invoking the No Fun Allowed excerpt) because if what Namatame was repressing inside was the realization that the TV was dangerous, why would his dungeon - or one he went 50/50 on with Nanako - look like Heaven?

That said, the book also notes that the protag/Yosuke/Chie created the pattern on the floor of the TV studio because they MURDER on the brain when they entered the TV, so it seems possible for someone to influence their surroundings in the TV World; perhaps the note from Atlus about the gallows steps can be interpreted to hint at Namatame creating that imagery when he went inside?