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vdate posted:...who would even expect that? Especially the accents on letters thing; AFAIK the current romanization for Japanese doesn't use them. Unless the name's French, or something, I guess? (Did Bebe's name have accents in it anywhere when he first told it to us? How about Mitsuru's random French?) Hepburn absolutely does use macrons, it's just that most people opt for the version that doesn't require a compose key or typesetting.
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Aug 15, 2017 01:53
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What's a - oh, the long-vowel bars! Yeah, now that you mention it when I was a kid I found a translated version of one of Eiji Yoshikawa's Musashi novels somewhere and those were all over the place. But yeah, I don't see them so much anymore. I guess a lot of the target market is a lot more familiar with Japanese phonetics so they can usually be inferred instead?
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Aug 15, 2017 02:08
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 So, another month done and it's time to see what happens when a butterfly flaps its wings...  Well, first we can hang out with Akihiko now! That's a pretty big deal, I would think.  After School  Two extra-large specials, please. Can I order some appetizers, too? Haha, yeah. Eat as much as you'd like.> Akihiko seems happy, for some reason...  Physical strength is everything. Your skills are truly remarkable... But they won't be of any use if you get exhausted easily.> Akihiko seems to be worried about you, in his own way. > ...In any case, you decide to eat the extra-large ramen brought to your table.  > You somehow managed to eat it all, but your stomach is groaning... Hey, are you up for going to another restaurant? Another meal? Let's go! ...Are you sure? You don't look so well. Don't let yourself suffer just to be friendly. Seriously...> Akihiko seems to sigh inwardly... You must have a really small stomach. If you don't eat right, you'll never grow stronger.> ...You feel that Akihiko is treating you like a child. Why are you glaring at me like that? I'm not Junpei. I won't go easy on you just because you're a girl. ...So do your best and do a good job, okay? Our lives are on the line too, after all. And, of course, we'll do our best to back you up, as well. You're not the only one who's going to be trying hard out there.> You can sense Akihiko's care for you... > You feel like you understand Akihiko a little now... Power of the Heart  We won't be seeing Makoto's Star S.Link for a while, yet. Not because of schedule issues or anything (one day, Gourmet King), but because it's flatout not available for ages. After School Let's get a quick jog in to help settle out stomachs.> You and Akihiko jogged back to the dorm while he cheered you on... Akihiko is all of note today, so we'll skip ahead to, uh...  ...the very next day. To the library we go! Joy  Oh, that's right. Ms. Ounishi said that some new books have come in. Can you help me put barcodes on them and enter them in the system? Of course! I'll go get them. If anyone comes to the counter while I'm gone, help them.> Saori seems to be enjoying herself... Eek... Oh, I'm sorry.> Saori bumps into a female student who just came through the door...  > The girl is obviously flustered, for some reason... Me? What is it?Buns: Well... um... C-Could I borrow your physics notes? The teacher erases the blackboard too fast for me to copy them down... Oh, of course. I've been taking a lot of notes for physics, too... I'm not too good in that class myself, so I need to pay attention.Buns: Oh, um... That's all right. ...I see. Give me one second.> Saori pulls a notebook from her bag and hands it to the girl. Buns: Oh, great. Thanks... > The student leaves. > Saori sees her off...  She was very polite to you... Heh... You noticed? We don't know each other all that well. But, it feels good to have people rely on me. So... ......> Saori smiles, slightly sadly... I've never gotten used to this school. ...You're a transfer student, but you seem to have grown accustomed to this place really quickly. I see you sometimes in the hall, and you always look like you're having fun. You should've come talk to me. Hm... I thought other people would think the wrong thing if we started getting along well... > You feel like you understand a little bit about the situation Saori is in...   Oh, I was going to get the new books. Watch the counter while I'm out.> You did your duties in the school library committee and left school with Saori... I know it's not really fair to compare Saori to Maya since we haven't seem the same amount of each, but man. She is really just kinda boring in comparison...  Oh well, next up is Junpei again. After School  Everyone seems to be having fun, but they don't know what's going on... That doesn't make a difference or anything, but... It's like... I feel this wall between us and them... ...That's okay, because I don't really talk about serious stuff with them. ..... Hey, wanna go eat something?Male Student's Voice: Hey, it's Junpei. You going home?   Oh, sorry. I didn't notice you, Kotone-san. Ohhhh! If that's how it is, you should've told me. It's nothing like that. We live in the same dorm, so we-- Hey, why are you getting your phone? Kotone-san, mind if we take a picture together? Why? What'll she say if I don't show her at least one picture of me with a girl? But still... ...A picture? Wait... Could it be you? Is it YOU!? Yup! Wait, what? I-I'm gonna tell you this as a friend, got it? Peeping on girls is a crime! Who's peeping!? I just asked Kotone-san if it was okay! Not just now! PE! Pictures! The ones going around! Huh? What're you talking about? I don't know anything. That's right! At least I'm proud of who I am! So, what's this about? Are there pictures of her going around? Uh... Wouldn't the photography club be your first bunch of suspects? The photography club...! I totally forgot about them... Alright, we'll go check it out. Thanks, Kenji. Make sure you smack 'em for me, too. Why...?> You decided to go to the photography club with Junpei to find the source.  A fun quirk of fate that both paths ended up at the Photography Club for one reason or another. Kotone isn't here as a member though. Th-There's supposedly this photo going around. You know anything about it? Going around...? What photo is it? You're the culprit! Huh? I don't know anything about that... I know all the film used by the club members gets developed here. ...Ohhhh, so you mean someone was being a Peeping Tom? That's why you're here... You sure you don't want to join the club...? Oh, well, it's not me. Also, none of our members would do such a thing. Huh, but that's... I know! People who love the art of photography would never stoop so low. I can tell you none of my people would have done it.Keisuke, let me tell you about this photography club member at a different school. His name is Rex... ...What do you think? Can you trust him?> Junpei asks you quietly... I can trust him. > It seems that he heard you... I'll ask all the club members, too. Just in case. I'll get everyone with a digital camera to show me their data, too. Sorry, but that's pretty much all I can do to help. I know it must be rough.> The president seemed kind... > It seems that there's nothing more that you can ask about here... > In any case, you went back outside with Junpei...  I guess we'll just have to go about this in a more direct way... I'll try asking my guy friends again, too. Wait right here. It's all right, forget about it. It's not all right! Don't be so modest. All right. then I'll count on you. No prob, leave it to me. It'd suck if your social life got ruined by something like this. > Junpei seems to be genuinely concerned about you. > You feel like the bond between you and Junpei has grown stronger...   ...Well, let's just go back for today.> You went back to the dorm with Junpei. I sure hope this is going somewhere, honestly.  But, we've got a good chance right now to hang out more with people we actually live with. I think we should SEES the opportunity. im not sorry   > You joined Akihiko on his training and ran here with him...   Let's take a short break...  That's actually a blessing, after working up a good sweat... It feels nice. I usually train in the club room or alone in my own room at the dorm... I'll train with you, if you want. It'd be nice to have a running partner. ...But if you join me, we're going to do more than just run every day, okay? In any case, I should've changed into my workout gear. I thought this would just be a light run for fun... But, I'm drenched in sweat... Don't catch a cold. This is nothing. I'll be fine. ..... ...Achoo! ..... ...I said I'll be fine. Hey, want to try that before we head back?> Akihiko points at the horizontal bar... You can't do a back hip circle, can you? I bet you can't either, sempai! Oh, really? Haha... I'm actually quite good at it. Want me to show you?> Akihiko grabs the bar while he's still talking...  Everybody should be able to do this.> Akihiko seems proud... Can you at least sit up here? ...Here.> Akihiko helps pull you us to get a seat on the bar. > It's a little scary, because you're finding it hard to balance on it. ...This takes me back. ...It reminds me of when I was a kid.> Akihiko falls silent and looks off into the distance...  If I don't get stronger... ...I won't be able to save anything.> Akihiko mutters, as if to himself... > You feel like you understand Akihiko a little better now...   Were you sweating today, too? Make sure you take a bath today so you don't catch a cold.> You and Akihiko returned to the dorm together. Wait, dang, I just noticed we're super close to the full moon. Umm... Silence Real quick, then. We can choose to go look for the key to the Gym with Yukari like before, but it's identical and nothing changes so we won't. Instead, we'll opt to go look with Akihiko. Junpei's not an option, because obviously Mitsuru is keeping an eye on him.  Very well. Then Takeba will accompany us to the janitor's room. We'll meet back up in the main hallway.Disappointingly, Akihiko doesn't have an interesting quip if you try and go to the bathroom right now. It's tragic, but it's true.  .....? Hold up, someone's coming!> The footsteps are getting closer...  Who's be here at this hour...? We should hide.> The two of you hid behind a pillar...  > The footsteps faded away... Whew... Just a security guard. Will we get arrested? Haha... Well, considering that we're sneaking around the faculty offices after hours, we'd at least be expelled. Let's just make sure we're not caught. ...Alright, he's gone. Let's go.Akihiko is also really kinda boring and has nothing interesting to say if we try and go somewhere other than the Faculty Office, so...  > The two of you searched for the key...  Wasn't it the gym key? Huh!? What, it was just the regular gym key? ...I-I see. .....> Akihiko is rummaging through the keys... > ...You spot a key right next to where he's looking.  No good... It's not here. Must be in the janitor's room, where Mitsuru and the others went. What're you waiting for? Let's go. I found it. Let's go. Oh, so you had it. Well, why didn't you just say so? ...Well, at least we found it. C'mon, let's find the others!> Obtained Gym Key. They said to meet up in the main hallway, right? We should get going.  Yeah, piece of cake!And after that, it just remerges with the normal dialogue. Split into teams, Yukari stays behind, etc. etc. We'll skip ast the rest of the full moon since it's all the same as before but without an animated cutscene.  We haven't spent any time with Rio yet this month, and she's almost certainly going to be better than Kaz in every way. I mean, she doesn't seem to be purposefully injuring herself so that's already a good start. Joy   Alright, I'll serve next, so... ...Oh.Male Student's Voice: Heeey, Rio!  ...Even in an alternative reality, there really isn't any avoiding this guy. He still just keeps appearing.  I've got some homework that I just don'e understand at all. Could you do it for me instead? Or tell me how to do it? Homework...? I bet you just slept through class again. Eh-heheheh... ...What do I get in return? Ooh, so you're up for it? Lucky me! I'll give you my love in return. Love, baby! Nobody needs that! ...How about you buy me a special at Hagakure? Yeah, yeah...> Kenji leaves...  Aren't you being too nice to him? Oh, you mean the homework? He's pretty stupid, so I doubt he'll be able to do it by himself... It's been like this since preschool, so he's pretty reliant on me...  He's been coming here a lot lately, and he's starting to be a pest... ..... What's the matter? > Rio mumbles... I see someone really needs to watch Haikyuu!! You can get plenty done with just two people if you try! Why don't you try apologizing? But... ...> Rio seems vexed... It's like... I don't want to pretend nothing happened, and I'm not going to say this is my fault. ...I know that I need to be more mature about this, but... ...... All that stuff about having never been in a relationship and stuff... That's none of their business. Don't let it get to you! Yeah... Do you have... someone you like? Nope. I-Is that so... I don't get romance. It seems like so much trouble, and there's no big reward for doing it.> Rio opened up to you a little... > You feel like you understand Rio a little more now...   I'll serve, Kotone-san, so you... Uhh... ...Is it okay if I just call you Kotone? I feel like it fits you better.> You and Rio finished your practice, then you went back to the dorm. And next up is, uh, the very next day. Again. Man, it really felt like April and May combined weren't this packed. Weird.  Well, if this is anything like it is for Makoto, this is around about the time we get railroaded into dating Junpei so let's just get this out of the way now. After School You'd better start being careful, you know? You might be fine now, but you don't wanna be a tub in ten years, you know? Shut it, jerk. So hostile... This isn't the first time you've thought of it, huh? Still... Man, you ever wonder what we'll be doing in ten years? ...I don't really wanna think about it.> Junpei seems to stare off into the distance... You'll be a great man. You really think so? Hearing it from you definitely makes my day. ...... Lately, when I do stuff like watch TV or read manga, I can't concentrate...> Junpei fiddles with his chopsticks...  Haha... ..... I wonder if there's anything only I can do...> Junpei mutters as if to himself... Your terrible jokes? Gee, thanks. That's helpful. I mean, Yuka-tan's got her response to my jokes down to a science. She delivers a dope-slap that feels like an icy dagger to the brain... ...... When I think about this Persona stuff, it's like I have a personal mission... But, I don't understand it at all... ...... Maybe I don't even have a mission like that, and that's what I'm afraid of. I've got all these pent-up emotions that I can't figure out... ...... Do you have anything like that? Like, do you ever think about what you can do...? Sometimes... ...I see. I mean... You don't seem like that at all. I guess that's another thing that's amazing about you... > You sense that Junpei has been open with you about his troubles...  This got surprisingly deep and philosophical for Junpei, huh? He's absolutely not at all the regular boring "dumb best friend" type he appears to be at first, which is kinda great.  Ha, I guess talking about serious stuff once in a while isn't so bad.> You and Junpei talked for a while before going back. Oh, wait, I just noticed the date. It's after the 9th! We can check out the Antique Store.  It has more stuff available here than before, but most notable is that this is where you can get the Fusion Skill items. And they're all available immediately. Yes, even that one you're thinking of right now. And that other one you just thought of as well. They're not EASY to get, mind you, but you can. Probably earlier than we'll get many of them with Makoto, even.  Anyway, next matter of importance is that we're going to put our Max Courage (still required, yes) to use here. Fuuka is similar to her link for Makoto, but it's different enough to warrant a bit of a closer look. Joy  I hope you're hungry...> Fuuka handed you a boxed lunch. > ...!?  For better or worse (hint: worse), it still focuses on this one not-joke for way too long. > ...But you mustered up your courage and opened it. > ...!? > It looks pretty unappetizing...  Please eat up!> Fuuka is watching you expectantly... > ...You decide to try it out.  > ...The food tastes as bad as it looks... ...H-How is it? It's not quite right... ...Urgh. Oh... I-I see... It did get a little burnt... Th-Thank you for your honesty... Sorry that I asked you to try this all of a sudden. To tell the truth... Um, did you notice? Look at the blackboard. Then again, I'm the only member so far... I'm going to keep trying my best, so would you mind stopping by and trying my new creations sometime...? Actually, to be honest... I want you to join, too. Cookbooks don't make much sense to me... And instead of just cooking and eating everything by myself... ...Cooking for you would inspire me to try harder. So, h-how about it? ...Would it be too much trouble? Okay, I'll join! Oh, um, we'll meet on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. I'll try my best, so let's work hard at it!> You've become the second member of the Cooking Club and will be helping Fuuka learn how to cook... Power of the Heart  Joy > As Fuuka said, there are remnants of all the ingredients left that she hadn't prepared... > ...Rather than waste them, you decide to cook them all together. > ...You made something vaguely edible.  ...Y'know, I've played Tales of games. I know this is a sign of failure, not success.  If we find a cute doggy in the neighborhood, we should give it this.> You cleaned up with Fuuka, and headed back to the dorm... Possibly not surprisingly, there is a use for Dog Food. It's even a key item, so you know it's important.  ...Oh wait, I completely spaced on this. We absolutely have to go on a date with Theo!  Our Second Datehighly recommended for obvious reasons Joy > .....? > Theo doesn't seem to want to get on the escalator.   I-I've heard of this... It's called an escalator, no? ..... I shouldn't have any problems riding something like this, should I?> ...Despite Theo's words, he isn't budging from where he stands. > It seems he can't grasp the timing of it...  Let's be honest, these are both good options but lending him a hand with an escalator is way better. ...Be better still if it wasn't left in a VN format, but alas we have to make sacrifices. I-I can't allow you to do that! I'll... go on ahead. Please, allow me.> Theo took your hand...  ..... This is rather... slow.> ...You both got off safely. ...... > Theo seems proud for some reason... It's because Theo is the best. That's the reason.   ......! This smell... No, no, don't tell me... Cook: How 'bout it? Wanna buy one? It'll make you smile so wide, your cheeks will fall off! So good as to make one's cheeks fall off...!? That... would be dire indeed...! Wanna try it out? Well then! I accept your challenge.> In any case, you decide to buy one. > You sat alongside Theo and shared the takoyaki. 97 degrees Fahrenheit... ...... Alright, out with it! So I've been taught, which means... I mustn't... ...But using THAT for cooking... It's apparent now why one's cheeks might fall off... *gasp*> ...Theo is pinching his cheeks. ......> ......!?  Yours seem to be in no danger. Thank goodness... That hurt! Oh, I'm so sorry.  > It appears to be... a takoyaki-shaped cell phone strap. > Was the cook pleased with him...?  Would this be considered... a souvenir of my time with you? How unfortunate.. I've acquired something precious to me. It's your fault, you realize. That's why I won't let you have this.> Theo laughs. > You walked around the strip mall with Theo...  The flow of time is fixed at a certain speed... And yet it seems there are moments when it passes so quickly.> The sound of a car's horn is heard. Oh... That car's-- You mustn't allow yourself to become so lost in thought. ...Now, let us go.> You returned to the Velvet Room with Theo. EndI know some people prefer Liz's versions of events, but I think Theo's are kind of more fun. It's mainly because he actually has more than one general reaction and is kind of a goob. The Poem for Everyone's Souls So, how about a new mechanic? Let's have a new mechanic. I have business with you, so please come to the Velvet Room at your earliest convenience. It is an important matter that involves you... I will be waiting.> The call ended.  At this point, we get automatically moved to the Velvet Room. Just so you don't forget/miss this, I guess.   It seems to be someone without the potential who heard the voices of the Shadows... If left alone they will become Lost in your world and may die... Please find them and return them. Yeah, so from now on we'll occasionally get a call from Theo telling us whether or not there's someone in Tartarus. We have a very generour time limit to find and rescue them, but there's 1. Anyone that gets dragged in and not rescued will die eventually. 2. You get a reward of some kind for doing it. 3. It's just a random NPC right now, but later ones can and will include some of your S.Links. Yikes! So with that in mind, I think we'll take a bit of a break here. We'll definitely be taking a trip to Tartarus soon enough, now, and we've still got like half the month's content left to go.
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Aug 16, 2017 03:11
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Can you use that mechanic to kill Kenji? Also what happens if you lose a person who shows up on other social links, do you lose all those too?
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Aug 16, 2017 13:14
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Theo is such a classy gent. 
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Aug 16, 2017 14:45
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Wow, kudos to P3P. I always looked down on PS2!Junpei, but apparently PSP!Junpei is the loving homie. ...Theo's a cutie
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Aug 16, 2017 16:46
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Akihiko is the Star? I would've had him pegged for Emperor.
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Aug 16, 2017 17:54
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Hobgoblin2099 posted:Akihiko is the Star? I would've had him pegged for Emperor. It's a consequence of P3P's new social links being mixed in with the existing ones after the initial P3 release. His Persona is Emperor, but his link is Star, because the original Emperor link stayed in for the female main character (with some small changes we'll see later) but the original Star link didn't. Likewise, Shinjiro's persona is Hierophant, but his social link is Moon. As I recall, in P4 all of your party members have the same arcana for both their social link and their persona.
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Aug 16, 2017 19:48
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The official explanation is "we wanted to leave this Social Link in, but we also want party Social Links, so let's make Akihiko Star Arcana". The handwave is that the Social Link represents their interaction with the protagonist, as opposed to their day-to-day persona that they present to everyone. It doesn't just happen in P3P, though; there is one party member Social Link in P3 FES whose Arcana is not the same as the Arcana of their Persona. Honestly, it's something I wouldn't mind seeing more of. It's true that neither Persona 4 nor Persona 5 (at least as far in as I've played) have any party Social Links that work like that, and it kind of feels like you're seeing a different side of the character.
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Aug 17, 2017 00:55
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Alright, now we'll just pick right back up where we left off. Which means we spend even more time with Junpei! After School Ask me anything. Awesome! Seriously, I don't even know what I don't know anymore. I've been avoiding math ever since I started going here. All this "vector" and "trigonometric ratio" stuff sounds like magic to me...> Junpei looks fed up... Alright, I'm gonna do this today! I'm gonna overcome my fear of math! You're on fire! > Junpei dives into his homework with a great show of confidence... So the circle inside triangle ABC where AB equals AC is... .....> Surprisingly, Junpei is actually taking his homework seriously. > You helped Junpei as much as you could and waited for him to finish... If that's the case, then... the answer is... 40! ...Huh? Am I done? Whoohoo! I did it! I got through all of it! Oh, s-sorry... ..... Haha! You actually did it. I've finally unleashed my true potential! You're my witness! I was... thinking about really trying hard for once. I always thought that stuff like math would never help me in the future... But, I noticed that it might be important, even if you never use it. I don't think I can start lecturing you on how to live your life or anything... I mean, there's nothing wrong with just doing what feels good in the moment... But in the end, it doesn't satisfy me, and it bothers me even more. Yeah... I guess I've just got anxiety or something. ..... But I think I figured it out recently. I haven't found anything yet, but I get the feeling that I will, someday. ...As long as I'm with you and everyone else. I think I understand. R-Really? ...I totally thought you were gonna start laughing at me. Heheh... You're always doing your best, all the time. It made me want to act like that. I mean, you study, you're in clubs... Aren't you in the student council, too? ...I think that's amazing.> It's rare for Junpei to sincerely praise anyone like this... > After hearing what he thinks about you, you feel closer to him...   ...? ...Huh? He hid. Troubled> You turn around, but there's no one there... He was looking your way. Looked like he was holding something... > Junpei jumps to his feet! I'm coming too! Huh? It's okay, you stay here! Oh... He got away... Uhh... I'll settle it myself! Uh, you shouldn't... It might give him the wrong idea if you go to him yourself...> Junpei seems worried about you... Anyway, let's go home. Sorry to keep you here so late... ...Try not to go home by yourself from now on, okay?> You and Junpei returned to the dorm together. I kind of understand why it's there, but man Junpei's link would be improved by removing the photograph thing. There's some real good content here in spite of it.  Anyway, we should spend more time with Akihiko next. There might only be the one Star persona at a level in which this is relevant but hey. Get them a nice boost when they really come online! After School > ...But no matter how you look at it, it's just the Beef Bowl Shop.  Honestly, the beef bowl is really great here. The servings are big, and the sauce they use on the meat is just...Girl's Voice: Akihiko-senpai! Eeeeee! ...? > They're not in uniform, but you recognize them as students from your class.   ...What's funny about that?Heavily Made-Up Girl: It means that you're totally cool. ...? Look, can you get out of the way, please? We can't get in.Buns: Hey, hey, you don't have a girlfriend, right? ...... A girlfriend?Buns: We're, like, totally looking for guys to be with right now.  ...Just let us through, please. If you want to talk with me, let's find some other time to do it. Let's go, Kotone. Let's go, Senpai! Yeah, I'm starving.  > You push your way past them and enter the Beef Bowl Shop with Akihiko.   ...What's the matter? Yes, it was great. I know, right? Oh... I get it. Do you think those girls wanted to have Beef Bowls, too?I think they were a bit more thirsty than hungry. Not in the way you think. Huh? I wonder what they wanted... > He seems to be completely incapable of recognizing female emotions... > You're starting to feel sorry for those girls from before... Don't you want a girlfriend? Now you're going to start asking me about that, too...?> Akihiko gives you a wry smile...  ...I'm not strong enough to carry this entire burden...> Akihiko mutters, as if to himself... > You feel like you understand Akihiko a little better now...   The type I like is... ...... ...... N-Never mind. ...... ...But I can't bring myself to say it! Argh! drat that Junpei...> You and Akihiko returned to the dorm together. Man, I'm glad Akihiko couldn't bring himself to say that, because man. That is... really awful.  Speaking of awful, how about this one awful plot beat again? Isn't that exciting. Joy It you haven't, then would you like to make this with me? Look on this page... "chocolate truffles"! Don't they look good?> Since Fuuka has brought the ingredients for making them, you decide to try making chocolate truffles. > The recipe seems like it would be fairly easy to follow. > ...?  ...Well, at least this is helping us understand HOW she's bad, rather than it being the same one note over and over and over again. Dissolve 200 grams of milk chocolate in hot water... Am I supposed to put hot water in it, or it into the water?> Fuuka is muttering things to herself... Do you need any help? Oh, no, it's okay. I should be able to do this... Thanks, though.> Fuuka seems to be having fun... > You made your own batch of truffles. > They came out pretty well!  It's a date item, sadly. It's just there for bonus S.Link points if you need it. Yes, I'm done! This is much more fun when there's two people here. Thanks, Kotone-chan!> Fuuka is laughing as if she's truly having fun... > You feel like you've gotten a little closer to Fuuka...   > There's an apple-sized dark substance on the plate Fuuka handed to you. > ...... ...What is this? It's a chocolate truffle, of course. I thought that a teaspoon of liqueur wasn't enough, so I used a cup of it. Look, see?> Fuuka is proudly holding up a bottle labeled "vinegar"... > ...Because this recipe is so obviously inedible, you decide to point this out to Fuuka...  I didn't notice at all... ..... ...I'm hopeless, aren't I... ...I just want to help everyone, even outside of battle... So I thought that they might like having some homemade food or sweets when they're tired... ...But I want to try harder so that I can get better at this. Plus, now that you're helping me out, I want to succeed even more... I'll try harder next time!> You finished your cooking club meeting and headed back to the dorm. Today is honestly a really good day to Tartarus, so we'll do just that. Plus, uh, I really need the money. That helps too! We'll kinda just gloss over most of it, but on the 45th floor... tartarus_0d02 Fuuka just tells us that the person we're looking for is somewhere here. Which is helpful enough, I guess.  We just wander around until we find her being harried by a small shadow. We promptly kick its rear end because its a trash loser.  Then we can talk to her, she says nothing of value and we're done.  We can continue exploring Tartarus proper or head back to the entrance at this point.  Either way, once we're done they're saved and are in a secure location conveniently located Off-Screen. A Way of Life Then we just finish up whatever else we're doing in Tartarus that trip, and the next day make our way to see Kurosawa.  Hm? Oh it's something that missing schoolgirl brought in as a reward to the one who found her. There was a lot about the case that stymied us on the force, so I figured you guys were involved... Am I wrong? And that's that. Nice and easy, and since it rewards doing what you would (should) be doing anyway, there's no reason to not clear these out.  That was a fun diversion, but next up we've got Saori to hang out with some more. Joy  > Saori is happily doing her job and helping the students...  ...Huh? You lost it? Um... If you don't have your ID, we can't check any books out for you. Losing your ID's pretty serious... You should go to the faculty room before you do anything else.> Saori seems to be involved with a complex situation...  > A female student comes in. > If you recall correctly, this is the same student who borrowed Saori's notes the other day. ...Oh, Higashida-san. I'm sorry, I'm a little busy right now...Buns: Oh, it's okay, it'll be quick! Um... About the notes I borrowed... My notes...? Oh, right... Huh? ...Oh, that's fine.Buns: Well, s-see you! > The student who borrowed Saori's notes takes off... ..... Oh, I'm sorry. Um, so, if you've lost your student ID, you need to get a copy of this form from the faculty office and...  Let's stay here a little longer. Uh-huh, that's how I feel, too. Oh, right, didn't we get homework today? I should make use of this time and get it done... Oh, wait, my notes... Wanna borrow mine? Huh? Oh, no, it's okay! I was just thinking that my homework would be a lot easier if I had the notes I gave her... Well, there's no point complaining about what I don't have. But she's being terrible to you! Huh? You think so? ...Thanks, you're such a nice person. > You feel like you have a better understanding of Saori now...   Which do you want to do? Clean the counter or make sure everybody's left the library? Let's roshambo for it. Ready? Ro... Sham...> You did your duties in the school library committee and left school with Saori... ...Oh, wait, hang on I just realised that I have something in my inventory still.  Hello again, Sigma Drive. For whatever reason, a lot of things sell for double their old values here. Not everything, though. I don't get it, but it means we get basically 90k for this trash accessory.  That bankrolls us for less time than you'd think (compendium costs...), but it's still very nice all the same. It feels better than it is, really. Warm Feeling    ...It's just a punch. Did you get in a fight? Um, w-well, who cares! Don't bother asking, okay? It's really lame! I don't wanna say it!> Junpei scratches his head... Well, in any case... Thank you! Huh? Uh, umm... Haha. I think... this is my first time. Getting punched? Haha, I've been punched way too many times before.> Junpei shrugs. I thought that if I laughed my way out of everything, I'd never be in trouble. ...That's why I try to avoid having to be serious whenever I can... You know those times when everyone sits around and talks seriously? I thought I could try breeze my way through things, and try to be fun. It's so much easier than having to do stuff like understanding other people. ...Not everything about everyone's cool, right? Everybody has parts of them that are cool or lame... But they're all doing what's best for themselves. After seeing you all like that... I think I got scared. Staying quiet and trying to act cool won't tell anybody anything. Seeing someone way smaller than me put everything they have into something... I've never tried my hardest in anything. I don't take anything seriously. That's why I never gain anything... and why I'm never happy. ...I realize that I'm not living my life at all. ..... Junpei...This got REALLY introspective, huh? Gotta admit, I like Junpei way more now than I did before starting either of these playthroughs. Haha, what's with that face? I can be serious sometimes, too, right? When I got back those pictures of you... it crossed my mind. In the end, I just wanted you to trust in me. ...But trying to get you to rely on me to solve this is just wrong. You're... an important friend of mine, after all.> Junpei laughs, embarrassed... > You sense that Junpei trusts you...   Don't you sometimes just get the urge to swing once in a while? ...I used to ride swings a lot when I was a kid. I'd get close to the sky and think that I could go somewhere else... ..... That's what I'd think about when I was on a swing. ...Let's ride on one together some time. You know how to get two people on one swing right? One stands, the other sits!> You and Junpei spend some time talking about all kinds of things... Like, okay, at face value Junpei is a simple, one-dimensional character. He's meant to be the dumb best friend who makes inappropriate jokes. Then, uh, it turns out he's actually kinda smart and reasonable and that's in the base game before you even get to the S.Link stuff. It really doesn't add anything new or that wasn't there in the first place; it just makes it more obvious and gives it focus that it otherwise wouldn't. The Poem for Everyone's Souls Rather swiftly, we have two more people that have disappeared into Tartarus, huh? Alright, we'll give the notice board outside the police station a look.   It's quite nice that this is clearly related to what's going on right now with how Shadows are focussing on couples. It's a bit subtle, but I appreciate that it's not just completely arbitrary.  We'll deal with that sometime soon, though. For now, we'll spend more time with Akihiko. Warm Feeling > Akihiko is completely silent... Are you feeling sick? Huh...? ...Oh, right. Sorry. Look, if you don't want to tell me, then you don't have to. ..... It's just... He's just a friend. I see... ..... Oh, no, it was just a rumor I heard. Sorry. Don't get the wrong idea, Sempai. ...? > Akihiko seems apologetic... It's bad enough that I listened to a rumor, but then I confronted you about it... It was incredibly rude of me. If I hear anyone say that again, I'll tell them it's not true. Please do. Yeah, I don't like rumors either. Umm... Should we go get something on our way home? ...Oh, we're already all the way back at the dorm. Um... Do you want anything to eat? Something spicy! Yeah... That might be nice for a change. > Could Akihiko have been worried about you...? > You feel that your bond with Akihiko has gotten a little stronger...   > You and Akihiko went out to eat, then returned to the dorm. While this would be a perfectly nice and functional ending to the month, we do have enough time for one more event...  Fuuka gets that honor. Maybe we'll get something better out of this time. Joy Tadaa...! "Sweet Fries"! Everyone loves them! I bought a lot of sweet potatoes for them, so even if we mess up a little, it won't be a problem! So you can relax a little too, Kotone-chan. Let's do our best. Yep! > You follow the recipe from the book Fuuka brought. > ..... > ..... > ..... > Cutting up all the potatoes took a bit of time, but otherwise it went smoothly. > ...? "1 tablespoon of melted butter"... ..... I didn't melt the butter yet, though... What do I do? There's no time now... Uhh... I really think we should get an option to intervene at some point. > Fuuka is muttering something to herself... Okay, the final step is to put this in the oven. I'll put yours in too, Kotone-chan. Let's see... The temperature is 180 degrees... and the setting for residual heat is...> ...!? > Fuuka is operating the oven extremely quickly...   I like taking my time and reading through the instruction manuals for electronic devices, too... D-Does that make me seem weird? That's impressive! Huh? I-It's nothing, really... ...But, I'm happy to hear that. I thought it was embarrassing because it wasn't really girl-like... *giggle* ...I think this is the first time I've said something like that. ..... To tell the truth... I knew that you wouldn't judge me over that...> You sense affection from Fuuka... > You feel as if you've gotten even closer to Fuuka...    Hot hot... Ah, I forgot that we have oven mitts. Look. They look so beauti...ful? > Actually, they don't even look like food... > You're especially confused by the texture of Fuuka's fries... Oh... These ones look normal. They're the ones that you made. ...Th-Thank goodness! They look really delicious. I'll give you all of them. No, it's fine. I don't even like sweet potatoes. > Fuuka seems a little depressed... Thanks for the food... ...! It's delicious... Yours are really delicious. ..... I guess... I'm no match for our leader... There's always next time. ...Thanks. Oh, it's almost time for us to go home. Let's clean up and go back.> You decided to take the sweet fries that turned out good.  > You finished your activities at the cooking club and decide to go back to the dorm. We're not just finished with cooking club. We're also finished with June completely. Next time we'll return to the main timeline and I see a full moon on the horizon, but it's not quite here yet...
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Aug 18, 2017 00:34
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Dragonatrix posted:
Well played.  Dragonatrix posted:
I'm not sure what to say about this. Dragonatrix posted:
Or this. Does she need glasses? Dragonatrix posted:
Junpei is a lot deeper than I was expecting. Blueberry Pancakes fucked around with this message at 15:20 on Aug 18, 2017 |
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Aug 18, 2017 15:12
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Man this Junpei link is really good. I wonder if maxing it out or not has any effect on the overall plot. I'm not expecting anything because that's how video games tend to work, but then again this is the alternate playthrough so maybe there are some twists down the line compared to the FES plot I know.
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Aug 18, 2017 18:53
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This Junpei is surprisingly awesome. The revelation that he actually has a decent brain if he can be convinced to put it to use/gets better tutelage is a nice one, too! I'm glad he got his chance to shine. Also,quote:
...given what we've learned about Junpei's past, that is a depressing statement right there. I'm genuinely amazed he's as well adjusted as he is.
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Aug 18, 2017 20:10
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Yeah I'm definitely liking the portable social links here. Fuuka's definitely gets more interesting because it turns into this horror-esque deal where you see the impending doom of her recipes, rather than just being told they're disgusting. Plus the butter/olive oil thing does show more of her personality, where she gets flustered with a small mistake (not melting the butter ahead of time) and trying to fix it by improvising. Really, that and the 'good at machines' thing really means she should just pay more attention to that, but eh, Japanese gender boxes.
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Aug 18, 2017 20:55
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As someone that only played the p3p version (after p4 was my first game), it seemed crazy to me when I eventually learned that the OG P3 game didn't have Junpei as a S. Link. Even more confusing was that his link was some random guy who wasn't even in your party.
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Aug 18, 2017 21:11
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Hobgoblin2099 posted:
That's just confusingly inept. I'm sure there's some fuzziness due to localization here, but as it reads, she thought to herself "a teaspoon doesn't seem like enough, I'll increase the portion by 48 times." I mean confectionery is a fickle beast to start with and futzing with the liquids in particular is bad mojo, but drat, at that point you'd be adding almost as much booze as water, I dunno how you don't have sanity check there. Substituting oil for butter at least follows a clear train of logic, just happens that olive oil doesn't play nice at oven temperatures (and would not be a good match for sweet potatoes flavor wise in any event, but they didn't get that far.)
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Aug 18, 2017 22:51
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CmdrKing posted:That's just confusingly inept. I'm sure there's some fuzziness due to localization here, but as it reads, she thought to herself "a teaspoon doesn't seem like enough, I'll increase the portion by 48 times." I mean confectionery is a fickle beast to start with and futzing with the liquids in particular is bad mojo, but drat, at that point you'd be adding almost as much booze as water, I dunno how you don't have sanity check there.
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Aug 18, 2017 22:59
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Commander Keene posted:I have no idea why a minor would just say 'nope, not enough booze' and upend the bottle. That seems just plain ridiculous, even to someone like me who's no culinary genius, either. What confuses me is how she thought she had booze to begin with.
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Aug 19, 2017 05:24
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ZevGun posted:Man this Junpei link is really good. I wonder if maxing it out or not has any effect on the overall plot. I'm not expecting anything because that's how video games tend to work, but then again this is the alternate playthrough so maybe there are some twists down the line compared to the FES plot I know. Sadly, it doesn't. There is one link where it does have an effect (and they'd do this again for Persona 4 Golden), but it's not Junpei. But yeah, Junpei's link is really really good. Part of the reason why he and Yukari are among some of my favourite party members throughout the series.
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Aug 19, 2017 07:37
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AnAnonymousIdiot posted:What confuses me is how she thought she had booze to begin with.
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Aug 19, 2017 07:46
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The alcohol kanji (which would probably be on a bottle of liqueur) is 酒 and the vinegar one is 酢 so they're vaguely visually similar, possibly that's what they were going for. Can't help you with teaspoon/cup though, other than ha ha Fuuka sure is bad at cooking.
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Aug 19, 2017 16:38
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 Alright, so we're at July and - for better or worse - we do have exams coming up very soon... Want To Be Close (Reincarnation) / Time  Of course. Good. I'm counting on you. According to the cycle, it should appear on July 7th at midnight, six days from now. And remember, incidents increase when a full moon is near, so remain alert at all times. Nicely, today is fairly short and we should definitely hang out with Bebe now that we can without issue. Joy  Ze sewing machine won't go...> Bebe seems confused. Take a break. Yes... Zat eez a good idea. ...Sorry! Gomenasai! I am worried about my uncle... 'ow can I convince 'im to let me stay 'ere? If I became a samurai, maybe I could stand up to 'im... ...Oh! Maybe it we go to ze Sweet Shop and 'ave a snack, I can come up wiz a plan!Man, if you want to go to the Sweet Shop first, you could just say so.  Shall we!? Alright. Yatta! Let's go! > You decide to go to the Sweet Shop with Bebe.  I will be disappointed if I 'ave to return to my country! I want to stay 'ere in Nihon even if I 'ave to eat dirt! It's really obvious what the answer here, again. It's always kinda annoying having to deal with these kinda options. Arigatou! Zank you! I can do anyzing with your support, Makoto-sama!  Jitsu wa, actually... I 'ave a plan! I will return 'ome... Mochiron, of course, I will not give up just like zat! I will come back 'ere after persuading my uncle! I will convince 'im 'ow great Japan eez! Now, I just 'ave to figure out 'ow to explain it to 'im. Zat will be easy with your 'elp, Makoto-sama! Please help me! Onegaishimasu!> It seems like Bebe is counting on you. > Your relationship is stronger now!   I will see you again... Hasta la vista!> You decide to go back to the dorm. Yeah, see you later Bebe. Iwatodai Dorm That means it's going to be a Star Festival special bout.Oh, wow, I totally forgot the Tanabata is coming up too. Hopefully we'll get something to do related to it, at least.  so I was worried my sword skills might have deteriorated... However, I seem to have maintained my ability level. Because if you do, you won't be able to move. Try to stay relaxed at all times. As a result, umbrella sales have plummeted this year. Compared to last year's rainy season, vendors are reporting a 70% dropoff in revenue.  Since we have exams coming up in a couple weeks, we'll have a bit more of a focus on an Academics grind when it comes to Social Stats again.  I think we only need Academics 3 to be able to get the top score here. It's definitely not over 4 though; we should be able to manage it just fine regardless. Want To Be Close (Reincarnation) / Time But we'll worry about that shortly.  For now, well, let's bite the bullet. We've been ignoring Kenji for abut 2 months (for good reason admittedly), but we can't do that forever... Plus he keeps calling me at night and it's really annoying, so I'll do anything to make that stop. Joy But, I kinda took her away from them, ya know, dude? Like, I made her my girl before they even had a chance... Emiri is a really strict teacher... But at home, she's a real sweetheart. She's always... It was really nice of Kenji to immediately remind me why we've been ignoring him super-hard. Yeah, good-looking people are just attracted to one another. It's like they're meant to be together. I agree. I know, right!? It's like a TV show, dude! Seriously! What about you, Makoto? How are you and Yukari-san doing? Well, I wish you all the happiness in the world, dude. ...Hey, don't tell anyone about me and Emiri, okay? Teachers aren't allowed to date students.That's... an insanely weird and red flag-y request. Or at least it would be, if Kenji wasn't super blatantly delusional, considering our last conversation with the guy, but still. I'm trusting you, man.> It seems like Kenji trusts you... > Your relationship is stronger now!   Well, I guess that's because I've got something better going on in real life.> It doesn't seem like Kenji's ever going to stop talking... > You ended the conversation and returned to the dorm. In my head, Makoto just ends it by getting up and walking away. It seems very plausible, honestly. Iwatodai Dorm Not really. Well, you really should. Your calendar will list events as well as when a full moon will appear.The Calendar is semi-hidden in your menu, but I've just not looked at it because it's kind of not necessary. It's nice, sure, but everything of importance is told to you elsewhere anyway.   I think she should include us in more. I agree. It's hard to know what's going on when she makes all the decisions. And that kind of behavior can lead to misunderstandings... ...Huh, this is ALSO a Persona 2 reference. This show is 100% hosted by Lisa Silverman (you should remember her from her brief stint on Who's Who at the very least!), which is cool.  "Lei Ho" means "Hello"! That's all for this week! Back to the news!In Innocent Sin she also gave a couple of minor Cantonese lessons here and there, just as flavour. I don't know how accurate it actually is, but hey, I'm not gonna complain.  And as an added bonus we've hit Max Charm as well! Now the Academics grind is both a necessity and our only option. ...At least on Wednesdays and Saturdays when we can double-dip. I wonder what we're gonna do the rest of the time... Well, we can also study every day that isn't a day we spend with Maya. So long as the RNG doesn't be a mean jerkface anyway. That's not an option in Portable, sure, but that's not the point.  Oh and we'll be spending this Sunday with Yuko. Don't worry, I have my reasons.  It's really kinda unfortunate, but understandable, that Academics is such a slog that we only get the occasional real boost to. It's just sort of... there.  Want To Be Close (Reincarnation) / Time Listening: Whoa, Shirakawa Boulevard? Ewww... I know what was on his mind! Gossping: We've just started dating, but I'm already kind of disgusted. He's got such a dirty mind... Maybe I should dump him. I don't want to be the subject of one of those rumors that goes, "A couple was found unconscious..." Listening: Hahah! That'd be great! > The first bell has rung.  I... feel like I should be surprised that he still has a job here. But, somehow, I'm not.  That the "Genji Monogatari" had a different author... That "Murasaki Shikibu" was a shared pen name... Some have even suggested that Murasaki Shikibu was an alien from outer space. An intriguing theory... So, she's like the Japanese Shakespeare, except she gets to be on the money whereas he's the focus of a poo poo Roland Emmerich film that doesn't even make the smallest iota of sense. But I repeat myself. But there's one thing you might not know about Murasaki Shikibu... And that's the way in which her achievement is recognized worldwide. Does anyone know? Junpei? Huh? Me? (How am I supposed to know about someone who lived that long ago? Wh-What do I say, Makoto?) (The Global Heritage Pavilion.) Correct. Too easy, was it? Next... (Phew, you saved me... Thanks, Makoto.) Well, this no longer really matters. We'll still get these right, since it might help with the exams, but the Charm boost is a complete inconsequential bit now.  Since we don't have any real risk right now, we can hang out with Fuuka and not have to worry about a dumb timelimit. Joy Don't worry. It won't be like before... You'll be able to eat it this time. ...Wait, didn't I say the same thing last time...? ...Oh well, this time I truly mean it. Well, here it is... Please try it.> It appears to be a flavored rice ball.   W-Well, h-how does it taste? You did a great job. ...Really? I'm so glad to hear that. ...Thank you. I made it today in home economics class. Learning how to make a rice ball in a high school sounds strange, doesn't it? Remember when I told you that I had to get better at cooking? Well, since then, I've been practicing making rice balls every single day. They're simple to make, but perfecting their taste is quite difficult. Everyone in home economics class kept telling me how good my rice balls tasted today. So, to show you my appreciation for all your help, I brought you one. You've taught me so much, Makoto-kun. Thank you for everything... I didn't teach you anything. No, that's not true... You taught me something very important. I said this before, but when I'm with you, Makoto-kun. I think more positively... ...And I want to make people happy... That's probably why I did such a good job on that rice ball. I concentrated on who was going to eat it. ...! ......> Fuuka is blushing. > Fuuka has expressed her appreciation to you. > Your relationship with her has grown...   I'm sorry for talking so long... Well, I'll see you later...Well, yeah, obviously. > Fuuka left. > ...Since it's getting dark out, you decided to go back to the dorm. Iwatodai Dorm  ...on the 7th, during the Dark Hour, when the next Shadow will appear. This next operation is very important to my research. Please prepare yourselves for the next full moon.I guess it's not too surprising or unusual for Ikutsuki to be here now, considering how close to the full moon we are.  I bet they're all just jealous. Perhaps the time of year dictates which type of victim Shadows target. After she didn't return home the next day, her worried parents contacted the police. Eyewitnesses have placed the girl with several of her friends in town around midnight. The police investigation is still underway. It was super weird; one minute she was there, next minute... she was just, like, gone.  But, hey, today is a Friday and our last real chance to go to Tartarus before Liz's deadline and also the full moon, so! The Voice Someone Calls Alright, just gonna give Junpei the Warrior-- wait, hang on, what?  ...Why would you remove this? Why did you replace it with the default piss-weak 2hander? You take this bat with nails in it back RIGHT NOW, young man! So, yeah, I guess the super-cool and useful joke weapons are things that people will choose to unequip because they're wrong.  Anyway, here's our team composition for this next stretch of Arqa. I'm sure it'll be fine, really. tartarus_0d02 Starting things off well with Fuuka not being able to tell us where the next boss is. Not too big a deal, really.  Absolutely nothing of substance happens for a little while, really.  I mean, I guess folks start hitting level 20 which lets us have a stock of 10 Persona if we need it. It saves on time and money later, at least.  Floor 50 is a little more important and worthwhile than the other floors.  Since it has Mirrors as rare treasure. We could also just trade gems for them if we really wanted, but this is better.  ...Especially since we somehow get both. I'm not complaining about that one.  On the 51st floor, Fuuka finally finds where the next boss fight is. So, we'll take this opportunity to take a bit of a gander at the new Shadows. Mass Destruction / Wiping All Out Out of everything here, Maniacal Book is probably the meanest. It's not exactly difficult or anything, but its only weakness is to Dark and it can both drain your SP and inflict Charm.  Which, uh, is quite an annoying inconvenience at times.  Crying Tables are, well, they're tables. They're not exactly a threat and between Makoto and Mitsuru, they don't get turns. They come in packs of upto 4 which is something, I guess.  Killing Hands are probably the least threatening thing here, including the tables that don't get turns. The hands also don't get turns, but if they did they have Re Patra so even if they do get turns, they basically don't.  Enslaved Beasts are... really weird. They only have a weakness to Fire and no resistances whatsoever. At least they have Counter to be an inconvenience to Akihiko.  Finally, we have Dark Eagles which can heal and dodge Yukari. That's, uh, nice for them, I guess. tartarus_0d02 On the 52nd floor, Fuuka questions why enemy Shadows respawn. That's, uh, that's it really. The 53rd floor is even less interesting. It just has Fuuka remind us that the boss is on floor 59.  The 54th floor starts a trend that continues for the entire rest of the block. We start immediately next to the stairs. It's somehow gonna get sillier.  Huh, around here Sky Balances decide to reappear. Weird decision.  ...Oh, while I rememer, let's use the Jack Brothers spell. It costs 20% of Makoto's SP to try and Knock Down every enemy.  They... have a microphone...? The spell involves them doing a standup routine?!  It tries to knock down every enemy bowling them over laughing. I can't... this spell is AMAZING as an idea, oh my God.  The 56th floor is very reminiscent of the 54th floor at first, but it does sort of do something different.  Most enemy formations are just groups of the same Shadow which is really boring, but this one is almost clever. Instead, we just don't use multi-target Fire spells. So close, but so far from something decent.  The 58th floor drops us... right in front of the stairs. Great, sure, okay.  Not gonna take advantage of that immediately, though. Try and find some stuff in the area first, and we luck into finding a Gold Shadow for good measure.  Don't get a Coin for the 10k which'd be nice and useful, but a Nihil Bow is worthwhile anyway. It saves trying to farm one later at least.  Aside from that, there's nothing else of note on the 58th so we'll head on up to the 59th. Just the one Shadow here, which is a good sign. But now that we're here, we'll head on back to Elizabeth real quick. The Poem for Everyone's Souls  The Lustful Snake is quite a strong enemy, but still you were able to defeat it. As I suspected, great power sleeps deep inside you. I look forward to seeing you unlock your true potential... Please accept your reward. A very decent amount of money for sure. This'll be useful for obvious reasons.  What a charming operetta from the two brothers... ...Operetta? Hmm... In any case, I would gladly summon them just to watch that again. Please accept your reward. Well, this is less useful than straight cash but it has some uses all the same. Probably.  Next in the questline is technically worse. I dunno why it's third here; it's Angel+Archangel, so we can do this one right now.  Like so. It costs 30% SP to half enemy HP at best. Its... really not good.  It's, just like, why even bother using this? I'm sure it has uses somewhere, but the Persona it uses are low-end trash so I doubt it.  Divine punishment from the two angels... Although it was directed toward the Shadows... It could give anyone a fright it they had committed a crime before. Please accept your reward. So, what's next? It can only be better than that.  ...Well, alright then. We need to be level 20 to do this one, so...  First we need to grab a Unicorn. It was easier to just make one, but then this happened and oh dear. This is really good and useful but also really worryingly bad. See, Bufula is good and cool...  ...But it led to a roughly-40 minute timespan of rerolling skill inheritance for Narcissus to get the four skills I wanted him to get. I was gonna stick Dodge Pierce on here in lieu of Poisma, but this works better long-term anyway. Oh and Narcissus does have a Heart Item. It grants immunity to Charm. He doesn't even get the Heart on this fusion but it's fine, since grinding it out right now would be misery anyway.  Added bonus to level 20 is that we can make Hua Po now too. She's kinda pretty good by default, but she inherited Auto-Tarukaja so her 23 Magic is pretty great. If Kenji was at rank 8, she'd get Fire Boost at fusion which is kinda wacky but that takes a bunch of hassle and rescheduling just for and it's not really worth the effort.  So, now that we have the two most useful Persona for this fight, let's murder a Shadow.  Emperor Intrepid Knight (Portable) Master of Tartarus / Danger Zone So, the Intrepid Knight is the most on-paper dangerous fight we've had to date.  Well, for starters he has loving Garudyne. Base power of 300 and, whoops, we have Junpei and no Yukari.  ...Fortunately, every single time he cast this it was on Mitsuru. Every. Single. Time. Unfortunately, this 195 is after Tarunda. Yikes.  Oh, but do you really think that's not enough? Good news, he has Mind Charge! Already does around 250 before (de)buffs, but now it's got a 2.5x power boost. Yeah, uh, that ain't survivable.  Fortunately, we found a Magic Mirror so we can put that to good use.  ...Except, uh, not quite. Intrepid Knight drains Wind. Goddammit.  Reflect here uses his Magic (18) to determine the damage dealt, and his Endurance (20) to determine the resistance thereof. So, there's no fun shenanigans with that here. But, uh, this 270 is still way more than we can reasonably deal in a round. And he has 1000 flat, by the way. Yeaaaaah. Fortunately, there's two things to keep in mind here. First, he "only" has 102 SP. Second?  He is VERY susceptible to many ailments. He only has 12 Luck, so its pretty easy to capitalise on.  Panic is good because it seals off many of the nasty things the Knight can do. Makarakarn is a mean one since he resists Slash, Strike and Pierce AND has Counterstrike for good measure.  He can also just leather everyone with his 20 Strength to try to smash through as many people as possible. He also has Wind Break, just in case you use like Ghoul or something, but he never did it for me so whatever.  Oh, when I said most ailments? Yeah, he can be Enraged which is both the ideal choice and also insanely terrifying.  It means he can only do a basic attack, sure, but with the damage boost from Enrage, it becomes equal to (and sometimes even outdamages) his Garudynes.  Oh and he gets to attack twice when Enraged. So, uh, that's something to be wary of.  But, well, he only does the one thing now, and we found an Attack Mirror so...  He will gladly nearly half his HP in a single round, thanks to Enrage also guttering his defense. Sometimes he might sensibly attack the same person twice in a row, but that's not common.  Could also Rakunda before Enraging, or something. This is even more absurdly good on Portable since you can guarantee he hits a mirror on both turns he attacks while Enraged. Not doable here because no manual control, of course.  The reason for wanting Hua Po here is that her Agilao here does about 25% of his health on her own. Granted Auto-Tarukaja and Enrage help a ton here. It drops to ~60 without those.  He's also very susceptible to Charm, if you want to go that route instead. Narcissus is just really good for this fight in general, really. High Luck, starts with Marin Karin AND Charm Boost, can be made with a Pyro Jack which naturally gets Enrage and Rage Boost... End tartarus_0d02 Since the Intrepid Knight came alone, we have two items to grab here. The Megido Gems are... nice, I guess? Soma is never not amazing, though.  Also since the Knight was alone, we're just running to the barrier now it seems.  Not much here, so let's pull off a Frolic. It only costs 10% SP.  It might not be the skill that becomes Frolic in later games, but it... certainly is what you'd expect from Narcissus.  Oh and it's a Mediarahan with a chance to inflict Charm on folks. It's not a super-high chance, but it can be an annoyance or an inconvenience if it happens at the wrong time. But, hey, full HP heal so it's not gonna bite you in the rear end too much. Plus, y'know, Narcissus' heart item grants Charm immunity anyway...  That's all there is to see until we hit the 64th floor and make it to the barrier.  I don't even remember what Liz's reward for this one is, at this point.  Whatever it is, it probably won't be worth the hassle it takes to get here though. The Poem for Everyone's Souls Of course, it was written by a human. But, who...? I'm sure you'll find the answer higher in the tower... Please accept your reward. I straight up never use these, so you might have well just giving me the money upfront instead. It'd be more convenient, really.  That young man has control over many beautiful women... Perhaps someday, I'll find myself in his power as well. Please accept your reward. But this is definitely good and useful. Also kinda fitting, which is nice.  The next one in the chain we can't do for a long-rear end time, though. Take-Mikazuchi is level 24, so you'd think this wouldn't be too bad. But, uh, the other god of thunder is who you think it is. And he is level 53. But, whatever, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it in like 4 months or so (I say optimistically). We have some far more important things to worry about first. Lotus Aura fucked around with this message at 21:32 on Feb 13, 2018 |
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Aug 21, 2017 02:50
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I think it would've been funnier if we just never saw Ekoda again and had to wonder what happened to him. Also, a stand-up comedy spell is one of those things that's so ridiculous that it circles back around and becomes ingenious. Dragonatrix posted:
Junpei's mental image of Shadows is pretty entertaining. Ah, this reminds me of something from the movie. I'll have to link it later when it's more appropriate, though. Blueberry Pancakes fucked around with this message at 16:35 on Aug 21, 2017 |
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Aug 21, 2017 16:26
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Rather than falling on the floor laughing, my interpretation of Jack Brothers was that the jokes are so bad they fall backwards in shock like they used to do a lot in old gag anime.
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Aug 21, 2017 18:20
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Petiso posted:Rather than falling on the floor laughing, my interpretation of Jack Brothers was that the jokes are so bad they fall backwards in shock like they used to do a lot in old gag anime. Both are acceptable and equally hilarious.
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Aug 21, 2017 19:03
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Dragonatrix posted:...But it led to a roughly-40 minute timespan of rerolling skill inheritance for Narcissus to get the four skills I wanted him to get. I was gonna stick Dodge Pierce on here in lieu of Poisma, but this works better long-term anyway.
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Aug 21, 2017 22:11
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...Who defends the random aspect? Why?
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Aug 21, 2017 23:30
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Tae posted:...Who defends the random aspect? Why? The argument for that is that it makes it harder for you to pick the perfect skills, and admittedly, that was one of the aspects that broke P4G's difficulty into millions of pieces. Though really, a tighter leash on what can inherit which skills can go a long way in dealing with that.
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Aug 21, 2017 23:35
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Dr. Fetus posted:The argument for that is that it makes it harder for you to pick the perfect skills, and admittedly, that was one of the aspects that broke P4G's difficulty into millions of pieces. Tae posted:...Who defends the random aspect? Why? In short, grognards who are slaves to obsolete game design from back when devs couldn't fit enough on cartridges to make a legitimately 40+ hour game, so they had to pad out play times however they could. Commander Keene fucked around with this message at 00:35 on Aug 22, 2017 |
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Aug 22, 2017 00:32
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Tae posted:...Who defends the random aspect? Why? I've seen a guy complain that modern SMT games are bullshit because they offer nice quality-of-life features, like the ability to save anywhere, or the ability to more accurately gauge how much health a boss has left. Diehards are stupid.
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Aug 22, 2017 01:21
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ChaosArgate posted:I've seen a guy complain that modern SMT games are bullshit because they offer nice quality-of-life features, like the ability to save anywhere, or the ability to more accurately gauge how much health a boss has left. Diehards are stupid. Either that or Stockholm Syndrome for bad game mechanics and outdated game design.
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Aug 22, 2017 02:04
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Commander Keene posted:It's more like P4G wasn't significantly redesigned to account for the fact that you could get good skills together much more easily, due to the original PS2 version having random skill inheritance. Even with randomized skill inheritance, the spawn rate of the 'rare' monsters in P4G is insane and you're actively hunting them if you want to make decent money for your Rainy Day Beef Bowls and Featherman outfits.
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Aug 22, 2017 02:24
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whoa, when did Mitsuru get the costume change?
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Aug 22, 2017 04:49
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Earnestly posted:whoa, when did Mitsuru get the costume change? That's the same 'special' armor he had on Yukari earlier in the game, the high cut armor or whatever it was called? It's stupid cheesecake for no reason but it is a very good defense value for the time you get it.
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Aug 22, 2017 05:28
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Should've captured Mitsuru's reaction to having it equipped. And your teammates' reactions when you talk to them in Tartarus while having it equipped in P3P.
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Aug 22, 2017 16:01
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 There's but a scant few days until the full moon. We've pretty much done all the prep we can do at this point. Just got a few small things left to go. An Unpleasant Premonition Are you nervous? Nah. ...Seriously? How can you be so calm, Makoto-kun...? I guess we have to do this no matter what...There's not really much point in getting nervous over it now. We've done what we can, so it's just a matter of time now. Want To Be Close (Reincarnation) / Time  Since I met you, each day has been better than the last. Because of your support, I have the confidence to do anything... I hope I can be a help to you as well...> You feel an unbreakable bond between you and Chihiro. Despite the S.Link being maxed, we can still spend time with Chihiro if we really want to. That's, uh, kind of a giant waste and there's no reason to ever do so. Options there if you've got absolutely nothing else to do, though!  But, well, we DO have better things to spend time on, and people to spend it with. Like Yuko. Joy ...I did, however, forget about the children. That's an inconvenience.   Repeat after me: "I can win!"Kids: I can win!  Don't give in to fear!   The winner will get to use the playground. They asked me to write a formal challenge for them... I'm a little worried. Not just about the race, but also about my spelling... *blush* So, what's your honest opinion? Can they win? Let's hope for the best. Th-That's right! A coach has to believe in her team! They've done their best! They'll be fine, right!? After all, they learned from us!> You feel a bond with Yuko. > Your relationship is stronger now!   Mine doesn't sound very impressive... I'll be so embarrassed if those sixth graders laugh at it...> You walked home with Yuko. I, uh, yeah. I'd be embarassed if I got laughed at by gradeschoolers as well. Iwatodai Dorm I'm sure some kind of Shadow will show up. Please be ready.There is one thing we still need to do, but yeah. We're mostly ready as-is.  I can't wait to see what the next Shadow looks like. Witnesses spotted the girl last night with a friend, but the other girl is missing as well. This is the sixth such mysterious disappearance this month. Police are still searching for any leads in the case... I guess this is probably just a public explanation, since the general implication is that the police know about Shadows and the like. Maybe that's just because we only get Kurosawa as the only officer we see on-screen though.  Ah well, that's not super important. What is, is that we need to go to the Antiques Store and trade 2 Turquoise gems for a creepy doll. We're not gonna be using this for its allegedly intended purpose. The Poem for Everyone's Souls We'll just give it to Elizabeth instead. She wanted one for some reason, after all. It looks quite old... but I'm certain someone put a great deal of time and energy into making it. If I'm not mistaken, there's a Persona this item resembles... Please accept your reward. It's, sadly, not a joke weapon for Akihiko. It's a normal weapon for Akihiko, with +3 Agility attached. How... exciting...?  And it turns out this was the start of a quest chain itself! We need to pay Edogawa another visit at school, it seems.  Since we both have an exam coming up and no other social stats left to work on, we're gonna be spending Saturday at the Arcade instead of with Tanaka. Sorry, Mr. President!  And then, because this isn't Portable, we can study immediately afterwards as well. +6 Academics is always nice to get, even though we're not even close to rank 4 yet if my napkin math is accurate.  I just realised it's been almost a month since we got to buy anything from Tanaka. We've really not been nice to him this week, huh...? When The Moon's Reaching Out Stars / Way of Life > Yuko is staring at the steam rising from her coffee. But, I'm sure it won't affect those kids one bit. They're so excited about racing, you know? They're pretty amazing kids...> Yuko seems happy.  You'll find something. Y-You think so? That makes me feel better, hearing that from you, Makoto-kun... I've been so busy being team manager and coaching those kids... not that I mind. I don't have much free time, but... How do I put this...? It makes me feel good about myself. > You two became a lot closer today. We don't need to give her a gift, so we won't bother.  After all, we're gonna hit rank 7 when we get the chance sometime down the line. That won't be for a bit of a while, though... Iwatodai Dorm I have no idea what kind of Shadow it will be, so make sure you're ready for anything. As the saying goes, "If you're prepared, you won't have any regrets." I don't see Junpei or Akihiko anywhere around here, but we weren't told they won't be here, so...    hey wait no cmon i wanna know The missing elementary school girl has been found. However, her slack expression indicates that she may have fallen victim to Apathy Syndrome. Okay, I guess that was fair... Anyway, uh, we'll head upstairs to try and find Junpei and Akihiko next.  ...the Shadows have been getting stronger too. How long can we keep this up? What happens if we reach our limit and then totally get our asses kicked? Man, that would suck. ...and that only applies to someone who's a master. Most people use it as an excuse. They say they've reached their limit, but in reality, they've just given up. You can start by forgetting about reaching your limit. That's the first step to getting stronger.Hmm, let's see... what to do tonight? Sunday is a bit of an awkward day, really. Wait, Sunday? I've got it!  We haven't spent time with Mutatsu in a while. Let's see what our favourite drunk monk's been up to.  ...is what I'd like to say, but this was guaranteed to happen here. Even if we somehow had a Tower persona before we hit the last rank, this would happen here. It's fine though. Not like we have much else to do most evenings now.  We could always just go to our room and opt to not do anything, but that is so insanely boring I don't even know why you would consider that.  Last day before the full moon, sure, but it's also a school day so we should be able to finish one last request for Elizabeth at least. An Unpleasant Premonition Yeah. Dude, I'm totally stoked... like right before a tournament or somethin', ya know? Now, I know how Akihiko-senpai feels before he gets in the ring...I appreciate how short these last few days have been since it keeps things moving a bit.  Although, now we have to get Edogawa to give us his, uh, "medicine" again. And this time an actual bottle of the stuff. I feel like that's a violation of some right or another. This Mysterious Feeling  However, keep in mind that you are interrupting my, um... scholarly pursuits. ...You seem healthy enough. My eyes cannot be deceived! Now, get back to class!...School's finished for the day...?  But this is an annoying minor inconvenience. We need to somehow get Sick or Tired before we can get the thing. Fortunately tomorrow is a full moon, which has so far made us tired the next day every time. Except the Magician one, which just knocked us spark out. We'll be back on Wednesday then! ...Sure is a good thing this request didn't have a time limit attached.  As for what we are going to do today, uhh... we haven't been to Student Council in a while. I guess we could do that? It's probably the lightest of our available options right now anyway. Joy > The hours fly by as you work on the tasks.   Um... no... I think he's busy... Busy doing what? Oh... You mean what Fushimi was telling me about earlier... I see. ...You can go if you'd like. I don't mind. Sorry for all the drama.> You decide to leave the Student Council Room. Well, that was an actual scene but Hidetoshi wasn't there. We've seen this before with Kaz, so we know where this is going... Calamity  There's no need for evidence. I know all about you. You were arrested for beating up a guy in the park who snitched on you, right?  My boyfriend said he was accused too. He was so pissed off. That guy's gonna get himself punched in the face one of these days...> It looks like the punk is going to hit Hidetoshi.  ...If it's not you, then give me some names. Don't worry. I won't tell anyone. You have my word as a member of the Disciplinary Committee.  Don't think you're off the hook just yet.> The punk walked away. Troubled You look like you want to say something... Good work. If we let people get away with breaking the rules, things will only get worse. One day, it'll spiral out of control, and there will be nothing we can do. So, we should deal with the problem now, while we still can. ...I know what people think of me.That you're an egotist who's got a tiny sliver of power, and it's clearly gone right to your head?  So, let this serve as a warning to other offenders. Makoto-kun, you're a sensible person... You understand, right?> You sense that Hidetoshi is beginning to trust you. > Your relationship is stronger now!   > You decided to go back to the dorm. We're only 4 ranks in here, but Hidetoshi's... really not a sensible person, either. He appears to be calm and actually rational (as opposed to internet Rational), but his actions to persue such a minor goal betray him. Iwatodai Dorm If we lose, then pretty soon the city will be full of The Lost. We better win, man... It's all on our shoulders... Dude, I don't know if I'll be able to sleep tonight... If you wanna go to Tartarus, count me in.Dangit Junpei, you need to sleep at night. If you get yourself too tired to fight, you can sit out tomorrow!  It's really kinda cool how almost everyone is sat together. Even though they're no really interacting and mostly doing their own thing, this is such a small thing that tells you a lot about the current dynamic. That Yukari is NOT there is also quite conspicuous.  ...the next Shadow will appear tomorrow. A Shadow will appear during the full moon... That is very exciting for a researcher, such as myself. I'm so psyched! Duuuude, I'm not gonna sleep a wink tonight!go to bed, junpei  ...so we have no choice but to wait until tomorrow. Yukari sitting all the way over here on her own makes sense in a way. She's suspicious of Mitsuru and only really gets along well with Fuuka of all people. Sure, she'll banter with Junpei a bit, but most of that seems more like genuine sass than a friendly ribbing...  Many of the wishes hung up are requests that Apathy Syndrome be finally eliminated. Anyway, uh, what we're gonna do tonight is a difficult proposition. We don't need to go to the Arcade for the Charm boost, Karaoke is also unneeded, Tanaka and Mutatsu aren't available since it's a Monday... When The Moon's Reaching Out Stars / Way of Life Well, first, we're gonna take a trip to Be Blue V for the first time in a long while. We could buy these charms ever since we hit level 17, but I'm just gonna grab a couple Thunder Charms for convenience. It's not a necessary step in my plans here, but it's nice to have.  And then, uh, I guess we can go to the Arcade anyway. We don't need the Charm boost, so we'll look at the other games we haven't touched yet. The remaining 3 are all very cheap for what they do...  They give +3 to a combat stat! Yes. For a tiny amount of yen, and your day and/or night slot, you can get a +3 boost to a stat. There isn't one for Endurance or Luck so if you want those you still need to get cards but for Strength, Magic and Agility you can just spend money. And it's kinda ridiculous, really!  Plus we can still study afterwards. That this isn't even a decision between the two means we can make major gains MUCH faster than the game seems to anticipate us being able to. I probably won't abuse the Arcade too much, because it's ridiculous, but it's always an option.  Anyway, tomorrow is a Full Moon! That means we've probably got a bit of a small dungeon-y area before a boss fight. Yukari forces herself into the party for this and we cannot remove her. Level 18 seems like a bit of a liability, but I'm sure she'll be fine. She's definitely the weakest link we have, but she's not really a liability.  So, what about everyone else? Junpei's revealed his dark weakness that he does not ever get Maragi for whatever reason. Instead, he opts to be able to use all 3 Physical elements which is a 100% fair trade considering it's Junpei. It's kinda funny that Slash is his least useful of the three right now, and his best attack does Strike damage and he's much better at it than Akihiko. How bizarre!  Akihiko is, uh, Akihiko. Tarunda is technically more useful than Rakukaja if you want one of them, but aside from that Akihiko doesn't really have any advantages over anyone else. He's not exactly bad or anything, but he's just lacking in a specialisation.  Mitsuru's probably the best damage dealer of the bunch, since she has Bufula now. It's only slightly more powerful than Assault Dive (100 power vs Assault Dive's 90), but it's more usable since it won't make her ever-so-slightly easier to kill. Really, no one is overtly bad right now, which is nice. They're just different degrees of good. So with that in mind:  Vote for the 2 we will be bringing on the operation! The two that get the most'll get to come along. Lotus Aura fucked around with this message at 00:43 on Apr 8, 2018 |
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Aug 22, 2017 23:57
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Bring Mitsuru, and Your Choice for the other because why not.
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Aug 23, 2017 00:05
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Let's go for Team Brute Force with Mitsuru packing the magical might, and Junpei bringing the muscle. Blitzkrieg is the best tactic.
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Aug 23, 2017 01:03
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Commander Keene posted:Let's go for Team Brute Force with Mitsuru packing the magical might, and Junpei bringing the muscle. Blitzkrieg is the best tactic. Agreed, Akihiko is also just boring, too
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Aug 23, 2017 01:23
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I used a RNG and it said Akihiko and Junpei.
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Aug 23, 2017 01:25
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