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Around the early 2010s, Atlus decided to do something ambitious. That's right, a crossover game! Featuring the cast members of two of their biggest games, Persona 3 and Persona 4! Wait, no, wrong game.  Welcome to Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth! It's essentially Persona battle system elements mixed with Etrian Odyssey, a game involving dungeon crawling and map making, along with some turn-based battle. As far as spoilers go, Persona 3 and Persona 4 are... pretty old games. Heck, the game itself probably expects you to know the story of those two games. Heck, I'll probably expect you to know the story of those two games. It doesn't actually spoil content past a specific point (so no endgame spoilers), but the core cast from both games do show up. PQ itself does do an okay job breaking the player in in case you're unfamiliar, but still. So discussion of those is probably fine. Game-specific content? Yeah, obviously, no touchy. Anyway, let's get to it. Portraits for this LP cropped neatly by TomatoPawah! Table of Contents Opening P3 side: Start You in Wonderland: Part 1 You in Wonderland: Part 2 You in Wonderland: Part 3 You in Wonderland: Part 4 Character Analysis: Hero (P3) and Zen/Rei Character Analysis: Yukari and Junpei Character Analysis: Akihiko, Mitsuru, Shinjiro Character Analysis: Aigis, Koromaru, Ken ApplesandOranges fucked around with this message at 14:22 on Dec 11, 2023 |
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Nov 2, 2023 19:17
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Here's our opening cinematic. It's pretty cute. Featuring a very catchy track: Maze of Life  Let's not waste time, getting right to it.  It is up to you to choose the protagonist of the story... Your choice of protagonist will affect how the story develops... Essentially, we have to pick whether we're playing from the view of the cast of Persona 3, or Persona 4. The core story will remain the same on either path, but character interactions and little sub-plots will differ. We will (hopefully) experience both, so just a matter of which we're doing first.  On one end, Persona 3!  And Persona 4! So here's our poll for you guys. Pick which side we're playing from. Also... we need names! For the protagonists of both games. First name and last name, six characters each. So yeah, Narukami is off the table.
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Nov 2, 2023 19:17
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A Persona Q LP, this should be interesting to watch. I always thought this game was a bit of an odd duck. Persona 3 Protagonist Name: Quinn Blue Persona 4 Protagonist Name: Quincy Silver Voting for the Persona 4 side of things first.
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Nov 2, 2023 19:48
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ApplesandOranges posted:As far as spoilers go, Persona 3 and Persona 4 are... pretty old games. Heck, the game itself probably expects you to know the story of those two games. The Velvet Room attendants straight up discuss (in indirect terms) the future fate of two of the party members during one of the skits. Both this game and Q2 fully expects you to know everything about Persona 3, 4 and 5 (Q2 only) and will unrepentantly refer to major events that happened or will happen with the barest of fig leaves to avoid spoilers. ApplesandOranges posted:So yeah, Narukami is off the table. You sure about that? P4 name: Yu Na rukami Yes, those are two blank spaces between Yu and Na. Voting to start with Persona 3.
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Nov 2, 2023 20:48
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Oh this is gonna be a trip, that much I know Anyways, Persona 3
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Nov 2, 2023 21:03
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Oh boy. Good luck with this LP! That's a pretty big project here. Persona 3.
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Nov 2, 2023 21:08
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Persona 3 Protagonist Name: Ryouta Aoki Persona 4 Protagonist Name: Johnny Katana I'll vote to start with the Persona 3 side. Good luck!
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Nov 2, 2023 23:01
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Well this seems like it will be interesting. I think I will vote for the Persona 4 side.
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Nov 3, 2023 04:28
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You know, I had a plan of doing Q2, so having this done saves me the effort of hemming and hawing about "well where's Q1?" P3 first.
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Nov 3, 2023 05:06
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P3: Naito Faaru P4: Dei Burake Start with the P3 team
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Nov 3, 2023 05:27
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Start with the P4 protag named Punch Tanaka. P3 name I'll add a vote for Naito Faaru.
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Nov 3, 2023 06:24
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Start with P4. Name for the P3 Protagonist is Mario Mario. Name of the P4 Protagonist is Luigi Mario.
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Nov 3, 2023 09:03
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I remember this being a lot of fun on the first run but despite having the protagonist choice to spice it up, feeling incredibly pointless on the second one - far more so than other rpgs, including the original p3 and 4. Might just be me though... Anyway, i don't have any funny name ideas but start with P3.
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Nov 3, 2023 10:32
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I still need to finish the sequel of this game. Persona 4.
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Nov 4, 2023 04:48
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 The vote was for Persona 3.  I wasn't wild on any of the suggested names, so I'm going with the tried and true.   And of course we're going on Hard. Standard Persona difficulty, let's go!  Is it really a Persona game without cryptic quotes?  Oh, we're... jumping right to it, then.  This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. How unexpected for you to visit while my master is away... Hm? Is it my imagination... or... Have we had an exchange like this once before...?So yeah, get used to Igor not being here. He only had two new lines in Arena too, partly due to his Japanese VA passing away around this time.  There was a strange incident, where you met a certain someone... At least, that's what I seem to recall. But... Could that have been a dream I had? Or... ......Elizabeth's words bring back memories of a certain person's words...  That voice... I wish to ask you something. What transpired on the night of the typhoon... Do you happen to remember the name of the person you met? Oh, name? Psh, easy. We'll just use the same idea, canon name go!  Oh, crud. You can tell this was designed for the Japanese keyboard given the six character limit. Er...  It's perfect and I won't hear otherwise.  What could this mean? I had heard that you were bedridden during the typhoon... Aw, Liz thinks Makoto Yuki had friends. Very well. Allow me to speak a bit on the subject of that incident... It happened on the night of a typhoon merely a few days ago... The absence of this room's master had made the existence of our Velvet Room somewhat uncertain...  Your companions are getting ready to enter... So yes, this game takes place in canon during that period in Persona 3 when the protagonist is knocked out with a cold after a typhoon, which also happened to cancel the Culture Festival. I remember it because I had planned those four days to get some events in my social calendar knocked out and the game just whooshed me out of four days. Rude!  Junpei Iori... Makoto's classmate, and a very cheerful companion. Oh man, I'm going to have to do introductions for every single one of these guys, huh? Well, might as well get it over with. Junpei! I've always kind of liked him as a character. He's pretty much your 'bro' kind of character, and if Makoto had a bit more personality I could actually see them getting along more. He's prone to fits of jealousy, though at this point in canon he's kind of chilled out a bit from that. Due to meeting a certain someone he's swooning over.  Yukari Takeba... Makoto's classmate. She is a strong-willed member of the archery team. Yukari is a character I've really come round on and is possibly one of my favourite characters in the franchise. She's a bit of a complex character without being too grating about it, and does very well as a 'straight man' role to some of the more wacky events of the group.  Fuuka Yamagishi... A second-year, like Makoto. Her specialties like in providing backup from afar. Fuuka's alright. She's always been the character that felt the least meshed-in with the group. Not really a bad character, just... never really had a lot of time to shine, kind of like Haru in Persona 5. She's the quiet one who really likes computers. Oh, and she's bad at cooking, but at least they didn't make an entire running gag about it in P3...  Mitsuru Kirijo... A third-year student at Makoto's school, and the student council president. Mitsuru is the natural leader of the group, yet sees fit to delegate well enough for Makoto to lead them. She's smart, refined, and forceful, which both makes her a force to be reckoned with yet also somewhat difficult to relate to at times. For the most part though Mitsuru never takes all her talents into arrogance. She's cool.  Akihiko Sanada... A third-year student and captain of the boxing team. He's popular with the girls, but... Akihiko forms a good dynamic with Mitsuru. Akihiko tends to be a bit gung-ho about getting things done and prefers to just charge in to solve the problem. Because of that he both clashes with yet complements Mitsuru, who tends to be more level-headed. Akihiko can be reckless, Mitsuru can be too cautious, so they do a good job at times of pushing each other to a more happy medium.  Shinjiro Aragaki... A third-year at the school, but he has currently taken leave. Akihiko's childhood friend. Shinji is a character that originally didn't get a lot in the original game, but later releases (particularly the female route) fleshed him out a bit more. He's got a caring personality despite his sullen aura, and he really likes cooking. And dogs. Normally cool-headed but Akihiko tends to bring out that competitive nature in him.  Aigis... A humanoid robot given the power to use a Persona. She has just transferred into Makoto's class. Aigis is the beep-boop robot character. She eventually develops a bit more semblance of a personality (especially in the sequels) and has a bit of a trollish character at times. We're still not quite at that stage at this point in canon though, so she's still a little beep-boop.  Ken Amada... A fifth-grader with the power to summon a Persona. He lost his mother in an accident. Ken's a kid who's had to grow up too quickly, and kinda wars between wanting to enjoy being a kid and feeling like he has to grow up faster. Like 'drinks milk despite likely being lactose intolerant' feeling like he has to grow up fasster.  Man, that lucky skunk. Getting to change his Persona is cheating. I wonder what his new Persona will be like this time... Koromaru... A Shiba Inu who also has the power to summon a Persona. His owner was killed in an accident. Koromaru mostly fills the role of 'cute dog', though Aigis does translate for him at times and reveals him to... mostly just be a protective dog. Good boy. Koromaru says, 'I want it to have big bazongas!' Like he'd say that. Are you stupid or something? Yikes, she sounds even more pissed than usual... Koromaru is best boy. Ohh, I see. But he's probably fine. It seemed like his fever was going down. Not like we can go anywhere in this typhoon anyway, so he coulda just stayed in bed 'til it passed. He said something was bothering him, so we came to Tartarus... but there's nothing really here either...*big bell bonging noises*   Is that.... a bell...?*bell stops.*  ...It stopped. What was that...? Whatever it was, stay alert, just in case!  Aah! What's wrong, Fuuka!? There was a spider by my feet... Huh...? Where'd it go? A spider...? Oh, I'm sorry. I guess it was just my imagination. I'll use my Persona to check--  Igor, the master of the Velvet Room, is nowhere to be seen. Elizabeth is sitting there, alone...  This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. How unexpected for you to visit while my master is away... Indeed, I am the master of this room for now... You might call it 'usurping the throne'. If it's fusion you require, then I have some knowledge of the process. Feel free to ask me to perform them. By the by, only a Legion can be summoned today. That will be alright with you, won't it? A "Legion" means an army... Each face has a different expression. They all bear such rich anguish that I never tire of watching them. I highly recommend one to you. Well then, let's proceed with the fusion ritual without delay... A young man steps out of one of the many doors in the room... Ah, Theo... how do you do? This is my incompetent younger brother, Theodore. I realize that's long, so simply call him, 'Theo'. But my name is shorter than yours... My name is Theodore. Thank you for bearing with my sister Elizabeth all this time.So yeah, Makoto actually never met Theo in the original P3 timeline, since he was limited to the female side in P3P only. I am sure her naivete must cause you difficulty at times, but I hope that you can work well with her. When the Velvet Room is without its master, the room's existence itself becomes more unstable. Storms shake things up. Not only the body, but the heart, too. One's resolve, one's internal strife, one's hidden thoughts... Everyone closes their eyes during a storm, for that is when the world within begins to encroach... One will have no choice but to face what has gone hidden while their eyes were averted... There are storms that can shake up fate, and even time itself.  W-what on earth...? My... Who're they? What's going on here? It's so blue! Is this an elevator!? Wh-what is this place...? Uninvited guests in a private chamber.... That can only mean the culprit is among us! Eh!? C-Culprit!? Merely my small joke. That aside, this is a facet of fate as well... and perhaps a beginning. I am Elizabeth, and this is my younger brother Theodore. We are residents of the Velvet Room. 'Velvet Room"... Oh, you mean where our leader goes for Personas? Yes, we provide aid to our guests by fusing Personas here. So... So it was true...!Can't believe Fuuka didn't believe us, rude. So why did you call us here? As to that... even we don't know. Bluntly speaking, that was our question. Those who enter here have formed a contract of some kind, or... It... It stopped...? Heh, it reminds me of a roller coaster... The way it keeps climbing until it stops all of a sudden... Yukari no, you tripped a flag! *everything starts shaking as the room starts dropping*  We're indeed falling. Are we going to crash....!? Into what!? *elevator screeches, stops. Door opens...*    "Yakisoba! Get your yakisoba here!"     It looks as though this school is having a Culture Festival...  Charmingly amateur delicacies, attractions bursting with that handmade warmth...! And for a finale, I've heard that students dance like madmen around an infernal flame...! Ah, it's that sort of ceremony!? Then we are being treated to something wonderful right now... I'm more surprised that they're so gung-ho to sign up for this obviously weird Culture Festival... Just to be absolutely certain... you did not bring us here, correct? Yes, of course. We have no idea what this place is, nor we did expect to see you all, since you are not our guests. Elizabeth... take a look at that shop's sign. "Cotton candy"... it's candy made out of cotton! What manufacturing trickery was employed to accomplish this!? Enough of these jokes already! The Velvet Room is inseparable from its guests' fate... Nothing meaningless happens there. ...Are you saying our arrival here was inevitable? One could even say it was destiny... Destiny, huh... What could we need to be here for?  Woof! Y-yes... Alright, let's all split up and search the area. I wanna explore! But if the room invited you here, don't you think it's important to check on its condition? I insist that you examine it with your own eyes. Then I will go look elsewhere. Well then, shall we all meet back here later? Please make sure to be careful... The interior has changed drastically... My... Contrary to an elevator's purpose, it seems the Velvet Room is now stationary... This is truly without precedent...  Confident though I am in my physical strength, even I cannot budge them. ..... I believe the time has nearly come for everyone to return. Let us go back to that spot from earlier. The others have returned from scouting the area...  I ask 'em, "Where is this?" and they say "Yasogami High"... But when I ask, "Where is that?" all they say is "This Culture Festival is so much fun!" Woof! I encountered no students who acknowledged Koromaru-san's presence. Weird. Normally you'd expect someone to speak up about a dog hanging around a Culture Festival... Has anyone checked outside the school? I did... Looks like we can't get out. Can't get out? There's a school gate, but you take one step past it and you're back inside. What do you mean...? Just what I said. As soon as I thought I'd gotten out, I found myself back inside. Basically, we can't leave. It's not just the gate, either. Same thing happened when I climbed the fence. Um... Then what if we try going back the way we came here...? There are two mysterious doors, but there are four sturdy locks on them which cannot be opened. Uhh... Are you saying...? We cannot go back. Ohh... We cannot go back. ...No no, no no no! This is really bad news! It's just one weird thing after another! Can't I catch a break!? Aw, Junpei is thinking about Chidori. Will you shut up...? Hey, what about our cell phones!?Everyone quickly takes out their cell phones...  Nope. Which means we can't make any calls or check our messages. GPS isn't working either. Get with the times, Akihiko. I-I see. Yeah, that's a problem. Is it possible... that we might never be able to leave here...? The Velvet Room is a place where nothing meaningless happens for our guests. And it was the Velvet Room which brought you here... That indicates that there there is something which must be done here. Something that must be done...? Until you accomplish whatever it is, you'll most likely be trapped here... You are the Velvet Room's guest... Thus, this situation is tied to your fate. Theo and I will continue to lend you our assistance. ...But nothing more.It looks as though she doesn't plan to do more than assist you...  Impressive. No wonder your name shares the kanji with the words "adaptability" and "self-assurance". That's not where my name comes from!quote:The name Junpei means "obey/obedience, submit" (順) (jun) and "flat, broad, level, even, peaceful" (平) (hei/pei). Thanks, Persona wiki! But how would we enjoy it? It might just be my imagination, but I'm sensing Shadows somewhere... That seems natural, I believe. Huh...? This is not reality. Time and space are not fixed... It may be more correct to say they hold no meaning. It most likely exists somewhere much "deeper" than the Velvet Room... It's something like Tartarus. Yikes, seriously...? So we're in a place like that, and you said we have something to accomplish here. So that can only mean one thing...! Akihiko! It's a bad habit of yours to be so excited about the prospect of fighting. Well, is there some other way? On top of that, there are Shadows around somewhere. Is there any other way to handle the situation? ..... You're right.... For now, that is all we can do. That's all we can do! Don't get excited. Honestly... Now normally wouldn't be the time for us to stick our necks out. You think there'll be some good enemies here? Who knows... Hmm... it's coming from this floor. What...!? You mean it's nearby? Alright, let's head there. Yuki, you're our field leader, as always.  Man, I want cotton candy. Ohh, there he goes. You're too honest sometimes. Well, it wouldn't be very funny if we were stuck here forever, so let's do our best for now, okay? Then, Theo and I will investigate the Velvet Room. Please be careful on your way. Everyone has gathered in front of the attraction where Fuuka sensed the Shadows. I sensed it around here earlier... I think it's coming from inside. "You in Wonderland", huh...? The flier says, "Now you can walk in Alice's shoes!" It must be an interactive display. That's okay. I never wanted to walk in Alice's shoes. Huh!? But it's every girl's dream! Alright, we should try to avoid needless combat, but this may be our only clue to a way out. Proceed with caution, Yuki. Okay, I'll back you up from here, and... Ah! Who are you two...?  And who are you? Where did you come from? They're actually talking to us! Where...? Um... Do you know Iwatodai...? Iwato...? Umm... First things first, where is this place? Hm? It is what it is. What was it that we heard? Something about "Yasogami High"...? Yasogami... High.... ...Yes. Mhm, we're.... students at this school. Okay, so where is it? I mean, what's with this place? There are Shadows here, right? Have you guys been attacked by any? Um... What are Sh-Shadows? I want to learn more about Rei-san... But... why...? "Leave"...? Yeah, we want to go back. You can... go back from here? It is very important that we return. ...I want to go back too. Rei? I want to go back too! Go back where, though...? Hmm... where...? We were here when we gained consciousness. We don't remember anything before that. Huh...? Our memories were taken. Taken...? You mean... someone stole your memories? Who? I don't know. Even though you remember someone taking them? Even though we remember someone taking them. Then how did you guys get here? Wait.... you won't remember that either. We don't remember that either. We can't rule it out... Could the "someone" who stole Zen-kun and Rei-chan's memories be here...? Oh... maybe it's the same one who trapped them here... Again, we can't rule it out. ...No, I'm sure they're here. Do you sense something, Akihiko-senpai!? Nah. It's just that it would be more fun that way. We just have to defeat them and get outta here. Simple as that. *sigh* You can be so... Alright. If that is what you wish. Ever since I heard that bell, I felt it was important for us to enter this labyrinth... Bell...? I have a favor to ask. If you are going to enter this labyrinth, I ask that you take us with you. We won't be any trouble. I will protect Rei, and I can fight the monsters in this labyrinth. Do you mean to say... You're a Persona-user?  Well then, let us do this. Well then, let's do this. It's nice to meet you all! *giggle* Now that that's out of the way, I'm feeling hungry! Oh yeah, Rei's character gimmick is food. Huh!? Where'd that come from!? You mean where do donuts come from? They're born from love. Love meets dough, and...! So, they do not come from flour. Updating my records. No, don't do that... By the way, Zen-kun? It was Zen-kun, right? What was it you were saying about a "labyrinth"...? Are there... you know...? Wh-what did you two do about them? You can't get out, you have no memories, and top of all that, there are Shadows here... I was here with Zen. That's not what I meant... I ate donuts, had takoyaki, and licked ice cream cones. ...That's all? I don't think we have any choice but to look around inside... ...We're going in? Rei, you want to leave this place, right? Don't worry, I'll protect you. Mm... I'm going. Shinji, you better come too. So it's up to you now? Actually... he's right. Us third-years should go. We can't put our underclassmen in unknown danger. I've been talking to you two assuming you're younger than us... What year...? I don't know. Let's assume for the moment that they're first years. Forgive me for going back on my comment about underclassmen, but I ask that you and Rei come with us. You said that you can fight against monsters, and I'd like to see that for myself. Alright.  Alright, that was a turbo long update! But most of the preamble is out of the way. We'll jump into the labyrinth... next time. ApplesandOranges fucked around with this message at 12:47 on Nov 7, 2023 |
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Nov 4, 2023 20:49
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Not much to say about this, it is very much an "eh, gently caress it" solution to get poo poo rolling and i can respect that. And yes, Korumaru is the best boy
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Nov 5, 2023 07:27
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I don't have the patience to play this game due to the dialogues so I hope this LP can show me the later dungeons! Btw are you okay with portraits having a white background? I could crop them for you if you're okay with that. I'll leave this MC portrait as an example
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Nov 5, 2023 23:17
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TomatoPawah posted:I don't have the patience to play this game due to the dialogues so I hope this LP can show me the later dungeons! Btw are you okay with portraits having a white background? I could crop them for you if you're okay with that. I'll leave this MC portrait as an example I'm not fussed about them either way, but if you want to do them then sure (I lacked the patience to crop them properly at the time).
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Nov 6, 2023 01:25
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Almost 3 hours but I finally finished, check your private messages and let me know what you think.
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Nov 6, 2023 04:19
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Rad, appreciate all the work, I'll give due credit in OP.
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Nov 6, 2023 04:24
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 Alright here we go! We're entering with a fixed party here (Makoto, Akihiko, Shinjiro, Mitsuru, Zen/Rei).  OST: You in Wonderland  Careful! I do sense Shadows in there! The world of a children's book, huh...? It seems like the perfect place to run into something. ..... Rei, there's no need to be scared. Mm... Game reminds us of the menu screen at this point, so we can look at our crew. Most of them are pretty similar to how you might expect them to play in P3 (Mitsuru uses ice magic, Shinjiro hits hard, etc.). Zen/Rei are newcomers, but we'll go over them later; for now, they use a crossbow (so Pierce damage). And despite being seasoned fighters at this point, of course everyone gets bumped down to level 1.  Number of skills is... a bit more limited, you can see that each Persona can only have four skills (with four additional skills to be unlocked with Skill Cards). The stats should be familiar to Persona veterans, but to go over them again: Strength determines damage of physical attacks. Magic, ditto, for magical attacks. Endurance determines durability, or how much damage you take from incoming attacks. Agility determines move order, and affects dodge rate and accuracy. Luck determines chance of landing and avoiding status effects and instant kill moves, as well as critical hit rate/avoidance. There's also elemental affinity (you can see Orpheus has a double weakness to Elec and Dark, not ideal), which differs for each character. We'll go over each character in more detail later. For now, let's keep moving.  Moving is fairly straightforward; up or down to go forward or back, left or right to change the direction you're facing. A to check items or open doors like these.  What is it? Some medicine. Those blue folks gave them to me. Said, "Don't hesitate to use them if you're injured." Oh? That was kind of them. If any of us are wounded, leader, be sure to use them without hesitation.Received Medicine x5! We'll keep moving, and run into our first random encounter!  Looks like Shadows have already shown up... Don't worry about us. We know how to fight. If you strike at the opponent's weakness, you will be able to minimize your own damage. I see... it seems you do know the basics. Still, we don't know what that one's weakness is yet. So what? I've been itching for some action ever since we got here. We'll just have to fight it, and we'll discover its weakness eventually. In any case, I'm giving it my all!When fighting Shadows, it is important to attack using elements they are weak against. Attacking with an element that an enemy is weak against will put the attacker in a Boosted state. A Boosted character has 2 advantages: Acts first in the next turn, Skill costs drop to zero.  OST: Light the Fire Up in the Night (P3 Ver.) First of all, the battle theme for Persona Q is a bop. If you haven't heard it before, I recommend it. If you have heard it... well, it's good enough to listen to again. Alright, battle basics! Most are fairly straightforward: Attack strikes with a weapon, Skill uses a Persona's skill. Item/Defend/Escape are also self-explanatory. Move lets character move between rows or swap with another character - you can see that Makoto, Akihiko and Shinjiro are in the front row, and Mitsuru and Zen/Rei are in the back. Leader Skill is new here: you can see the gauge on the right. It fills up as you deal and take damage, up to five stocks.  With stocks, you can use one of your navigator (so, Fuuka)'s skills. Fuuka's Healing Breeze costs 1 bar, and gives the entire party a HP regen for 3 turns. It's immensely powerful, scales with your max hp, and is useful the entire game. The only con is that you can't stack or reapply it before it wears off, so if you need emergency healing while it's still ticking you'll need to supplement it with some items or skills. But otherwise, it's great, free healing.  Anyway, these guys are straightforward. They're weak to Bash attacks, so Akihiko and Shinjiro can hit their weaknesses with just Attack. Each character's weapon aligns with one of three physical attributes: Slash, Bash or Stab. There's no One More system here, so you enter commands for everyone, then the round plays out with everyone acting in Agility order (enemies too). As mentioned earlier, a character that hits a weakness enters a Boosted state. While Boosted, their next skill costs 0 HP/SP, and they'll go first (if multiple characters are Boosted, then standard turn order applies between them). And yes, a character that continues hitting weakness while Boosted will re-apply Boost for the next turn. However, if they get hit before the end of the turn, they'll lose Boost. They're also weak to Elec, so Akihiko can Attack and then get a free Zio to hit for higher damage while continuing to get Boost. Makoto can also hit weakness with Agi. Hitting an enemy weakness can also cause them to fall to the ground, preventing them from acting for the rest of the turn. Similarly, a character that gets hit by their weakness can be Downed, preventing them from acting til the end of the next round.  Anyway, we down them and continue on, to another door. I searched ahead, and I think there's still a long way to go... That much, huh? Shouldn't we go back for now? Yeah, we should keep our strength up as much as we can before moving on. But... No, you're right. Let's head back for the time being.We can't progress, so we do have to head back to the entrance.  Obtained Shadow Piece! Another random encounter drops this on our way out.  Welcome back, everyone. I searched ahead and picked up on a unique reading further into the labyrinth. I think it might be a giant Shadow... A giant Shadow... It's... probably a strong one, too. That's what I'm talking about. I had a feeling that would be the case.... If so, we must be fully prepared. Prepared... in what way? Well, for a start... Weapons to attack with, armor to protect ourselves... items that could prove useful in our search... And above else, someplace where we can recover. ...Not that we've seen any of those things around here. If we cannot update our equipment, I predict we will face heavy odds. If only we could hit up the Paulownia Mall... It's a projectile device that uses nearby objects. Its effect changes depending on what it fires. Why don't you all use one too? It's a nice offer, but... we all have our own weapons we like. If that's all we get, fine, but we'll be much better in a fight if we can use the stuff we know. I see... Different weapons for each of you... Um, I think there might be some. There's a place I know. It has tons of stuff. Let's all go together! And we can swing by the donut shop on our way! The sign reads, "A hands-on class on making small toys!" but something doesn't feel right about it... "Handcrafted Workshop..." Was it always like this? Zen, Zen! Strawberries! They're like berries full of straw! Is that the true origin of the word "strawberry"...?! Of course not! That's way too nasty-sounding to be true! Look, there are swords here! You could use these to.... Huh? These are toy swords... Are they no good...? Yes, Theo will be happy to do so. Elizabeth... Very well, then. I am still in the midst of learning the process, but I do have some knowledge of it. You will come across different materials when you defeat Shadows in the labyrinth. Please bring them to me so that I may turn them into weapons, armor and expendables. Materials? It would be faster to show rather than tell. Here goes...Theo has taken Shadow Piece from you! And it's done! What do you think? You obtained Goho-M! As you have just witnessed, I will create equipment and expendables for you. We will need payment for them. We will? That is how a contract works. It's a means of compensation so that you don't slack off... Put simply, a give-and-take system is necessary. I see...! Well then, though it pains me to do so, I will charge a suitable price for said items. I will do my utmost to be of importance to you, so I hope we get along well. Ah... one moment, Makoto. What you hold there is a fascinating part of a Shadow... It's very rare! I've never seen a piece shaped like this... Why do you ask? I don't feel as if I'm injured anywhere... There is one other thing. Carrying all your things around would be burdensome, so why not leave what you don't need here? If you hand it over to Theo, it'll be stored somewhere, like an unused shelf. Impressive... most thoughtful of you, Elizabeth! But she's still forcing her bro to do all the work...So yeah. The shop is in a similar manner to P4 and P5; sell materials from Shadows, unlock more equipment and items to buy. Theo can also store items for you if you hit the inventory cap. Well, Theo, you are now the master of this establishment. Do your duty well and try not to embarrass yourself. Here, a present for you. It is a uniform that I prepared for just such an occasion! Elizabeth... Thank you! I will do my best not to disgrace our master and your name, and... Why not try it on? Um... Why not try it on? Uhh... Very well. Yup, that's Theo's appearance for the rest of the game. Yikes... Now that I see it on you... Wh-what is it? It's a strawberry! Bears like to sip from them with straws! So, the name has a double meaning... I think Rei-san is giving Aigis-san some funny ideas... Moving along now, you asked for a place to recuperate, yes? That can be easily arranged. I have something in mind. If you'll follow me... Elizabeth... Are you planning to finish that sentence from before...? It's an ordinary nurse's office. This is slightly disappointing. With more time, I could have made some adjustments for comfort, but we'll have to make do. I will set things up so your stamina can be healed here. Whenever you return from the labyrinth, please remember to come here. It is our duty to aid our guest... Though we may be busy or the work tiresome, we will carry it out.  As I mentioned, this worlds mandates a give-and-take system... I cannot go against such laws either.Anyway, we can heal our HP and SP here for a fee. That fee scales according to how much we'll need to heal. On the way out, people chat about formation and swapping party members, and there's a reminder that Aigis, Yukari, Ken and Zen can use their weapons from the back row without hurting their damage.  We now get to chance to pick our party members (Makoto is forced). We can have up to five party members, and up to three in each row (so 2 in the front, 3 in the back, or vice versa). Aside from the standard 'back row characters do less damage with physical weapons', they also can't be targeted by single-target physical attacks unless the front row is knocked out (magic and attacks that pierce rows or all targets can still hit them). Same applies for enemy formations; if an enemy is in the back row, you can't hit them with physical attacks til you clear out the front. I'd put this to a vote, but we'll do some more labyrinth exploration first. We'll just put in Mitsuru, Yukari, Aigis and Best Boy Koro and head back in.  I'll try searching ahead... Hmm... This looks like a very expansive stand. Its structure looks complex... It's quite different from Tartarus. I can't tell the topography or the exact locations of Shadows... Sorry... If you can't help us navigate, then we'll need some other measure against getting lost... You obtained Leather Notebook. I made it by putting the students' day planners together. I made it to write down where Rei's favorite shops were, but I don't need it now that I've memorized them. Since you're our leader, you should handle marking our path from now on. It'll keep us from getting lost. Ah, you're right! Could you draw a map of the places you've been? A reliable map could be very useful for us to escape from this world!So yup, we can now map out the labyrinth as we go along on the bottom screen. Floors will auto-fill as we walk across them, but we can also draw in walls, doors, and so on. Also... it seems there are a number of pretty strong Shadows. Grr.... That's great news for us. Since they're so strong, I'll call them by a separate name. Um... Fysis Oikein Eidolon. Fysis Oikein Eidolon. Saying it twice doesn't help! Like, what's that supposed to MEAN? It's just as it sounds. Very well... we'll go with that. We'll call them FOEs for short. FOE? Okay. About those FOEs, though... I don't think you'll be able to beat them. You should be able to tell just by looking at one, so don't do anything rash. Just stay out of their way. You're telling us to run from them!? Putting ourselves in unnecessary danger would be reckless. Discretion is the better part of valor. If you find an FOE, take pains not to fight it. Understand? Well then, please be careful on your way. I'll do my best to back you up! Meanwhile...   ???: "Time" resumes... ApplesandOranges fucked around with this message at 19:08 on Nov 9, 2023 |
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Nov 9, 2023 16:02
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This was going to be a much longer update but uggggh so much talking.
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Nov 9, 2023 16:03
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loving Overpowered Enemies. That's what it stands for since the original JP Etrian Odyssey and nobody will ever convince me otherwise. Here we see the first of the skits and they would be cute, don't tell me Elizabeth being an unapologetic troll isn't funny the first few times, but they can't support a whole game where nobody is allowed any kind of depth or character arc in this weird limbo we've ended up in.
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Nov 9, 2023 17:04
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Even in your Persona spinoff, F! O! E!
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Nov 9, 2023 18:44
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Fysis Oikein Eidolon. You know maybe this game isn't so bad after all.
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Nov 9, 2023 23:17
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Fun fact, row has absolutely no effect on damage in the Persona Qs. All it does is restrict the range of melee attacks (If you're in the back row, you can't smack the enemy's back row with melee). Probably done since the Persona games don't really have a row mechanic. All it does is reduce enemy aggro, as they're less inclined to smack the back row. Magic also affects infliction rates as well, though luck is twice as powerful as magic for doing so. However unlike in Etrian Odyssey 3 and 4 (Which these games' code are based on) the effect is rather minimal unless you're like a hundred of magic and luck points above the enemy's. Araxxor fucked around with this message at 23:50 on Nov 9, 2023 |
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Nov 9, 2023 23:48
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Man having distinct physical attack types is so much better than having them all under "phys" Real mad they stopped doing that.  <- picture of me thinking about persona damage typesOmobono posted:a whole game where nobody is allowed any kind of depth or character arc in this weird limbo we've ended up in. Hey now, the p3 cast is allowed character arcs! It's just the same ones they already had in their own game.
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Nov 10, 2023 12:39
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Hey, it can't be the exact same arcs unless Shinji dies in this game too. Which, frankly, would be hilarious.
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Nov 10, 2023 12:43
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 Alright, map-making. The game has a tutorial about this, but it's fairly straightforward. We can now map out the labyrinth as we go along on the bottom screen. Floors will auto-fill as we walk across them, but we can also draw in walls, doors, stairs, and so on. The game's auto-filled the initial chamber from the entrance, the rest is up to us. For the most part, just make sure to step on every tile you can to fill out the floor and the shape of the rooms will just fill out.  Back to random encounters. The Table in the back is weak to Stab and Fire attacks, and the Mayas in the front to all four primary elements (Fire, Ice, Elec, Wind). Also, Aigis specifically has her Orgia Mode return. It powers her up for a few turns before forcing her to cool down. To be honest, I've never really used it.  After the battle... There's no knowing what they're used for, but you should probably hold onto them... Obtained Blank Card x2! Progressing further, we find (and hear) a ticking clock on one of the walls.  Is this... a clock? Is it a sign of some sort...? Or is there some kind of mechanism to it? What should we do? ...Let's move on from now. We may learn more about it later.Hmm. Okay, moving on.  Oh yeah, there's treasure chests, too. The Life Belt gives whoever wears it a bit of extra HP. Moving on, we find another clock on the other side of the wall from the first one.  Hm... Aha, this is the other side of that same wall. There may be something here after all. We should- Ooh, I found a switch! W-wait! Iori! Wah!? We end up back in the room with the first clock, and then we zip back to the second room... We seem to have emerged where we were earlier... This suggests that the clock is a for a mechanism that lets us pass through walls. drat, is there no switch for it on this side? No, it seems we can pass through from this side as well now. The mechanism must allow passage from both sides once activated. Oooh, that'll come in handy. This is hardly the time to be standing around impressed! Honestly... I just said we should be cautious! Listen to me. This is a Shadow's lair. We must proceed with greater caution from here on out. S-sorry. ...And Yuki, I suggest you note this mechanism down on the map. Done! (There's a shortcut icon you can use for it, but I like the arrow option instead. Especially since some switches are 1-way only.) Progressing further, and...   That is an FOE. It seems like a very powerful enemy! Please be cautious! Alright, let's charge at it! We won't be doing that. Don't rush into things without a plan! That FOE is behaving suspiciously. Not only is it not readying itself for battle, it is showing no interest in us. Now that you mention it... Hmm. Try observing that FOE a little while more.Cue the FOE moving around in a square...  It looks like it's going in circles around a certain area... Yeah, you're right. I wonder if there's something around that pond. Woof! "That is the FOE's territory. If we enter the area and attack it, it will retaliate mercilessly." ...That was Koromaru-san's warning. R-right.... Wise words from someone who knows all about marking his territory... What that means is, we can predict the thing's movement and avoid it. Yes. It's a powerful enemy, so I think it would be best to avoid fighting it. Akihiko, why must you always be so... Anyway, if you see an FOE, don't try and fight it. Give it a wide berth instead. Understood? FOEs are automatically marked on our map. They tend to have distinct movement or approaches (as mentioned, these ones will just move in a set pattern or route). One note is that FOEs will keep moving during battle (one step per round of battle). So if you're engaging in combat and one of them happens upon you, they will join the fight. So let's try and avoid that. Anyway, we avoid that FOE (walking behind it to mark all the tiles for our map), move on past an inactive switch, and to another door.   Please be careful. I'm sensing Shadows down below as well! This place seems to consist of multiple floors going downward. Why not make reaching those stairs your objective for now? If we wanna go down, we'll have to use those stairs... But we can't get over this lake. Oh, one more thing! I'm sensing Shadows from beyond that door! Please be careful! Rei... Stay behind me. O-Okay... It's just a standard random encounter, nothing interesting, though something does happen during it.    (I had swapped Aigis back out for Akihiko because I needed a Bash source.) All-Out Attacks can trigger randomly during battle now, instead of needing all enemies to be knocked down. They'll just do a bunch of Almighty damage.  And Yukari picks up Garu from that battle.  Obtained Blank Card x3! Moving on...  Some dead ends don't really progress the story, but they can bring up some side conversations.  Hm... May I have a look at it? Isn't this, well... a bit too vague? I think it would be more useful if you drew in all the walls, so the dead ends were easier to see...Screw you Mitsuru, my map drawing strategy is perfect. It's Yuki's call. We trusted him to be our leader, so we should abide by his judgement. Plus... Plus? It's more fun if we get a lost sometimes. We'll run into more Shadows that way. ...Honestly... you can be so......Moving on, we find something else shining on the floor.  Isn't it some kind of aura? Y'know, all that spiritual stuff. You mean the sacred locations known as "power spots". These are tourist sites where people, primarily women, gather to receive good fortune. Yeah, that's it! You sure know a lot, Ai-chan. I don't this and what you were talking about are the same thing... If those Fysis-whatevers are called FOEs, then we should call these Power Spots PSTs for short! PSTs...? What's that stand for? Power... Spo... I'm sorry. I should have known I would regret asking. Stop it! Don't apologize all nice like that! C'mon, let's just get going. Hm? Huh... I think there's something in there. Maybe we should check out this Power Spot closer. So we're going with that name...? Right, Power Spots. They're basically a place where you can pick up materials for Theo's shop. Some of those materials can only be gathered from Power Spots, with some being rarer. They replenish when you leave the dungeon, so you can duck out, go back in, pick up more materials, and repeat. Definitely an option to try to farm some money (as long as you can use a Goho-M to quickly duck out to save time). Sometimes they'll also spawn Shadows when you inspect them, though.  Moving on, we dodge another FOE (and fill out its patrol route)...  And go through another wall switch, though this one is guarded by Shadows when we step through.  Woof! Koromaru-san wishes to praise you. He says we would not have found this hidden room if we had been focusing only on the map. Woof! I still don't believe one "woof" has all that meaning. I am picking up on Koromaru-san's feelings and translating them into the proper language. Our partnership allows us to do this. It is similar to Junpei-san and Yukari-san's relationship. Uh, Aigs... who says me and him have a relationship!? Woof. You two are similar after all. Arf! I love the Yukari/Junpei dynamic. Oh yeah, that room had some equipment for Zen. Moving back along on the main path...  It's a solid-looking treasure box... Where the lock should be, you see a relief which looks like a map. ...!? Suddenly, the map starts to glow, and a strange pattern appears on your map as well! It seems to be reacting to places you haven't yet been...  Right, each floor of a labyrinth has these treasure boxes that only happen when you hit 100% exploration on a map. (You can see we're close in the upper right corner.) It will also inform you which tiles you haven't stepped on yet in that kinda bluish cloud.  But we can't actually finish this floor yet without going down into the next floor.  It seems that this new floor won't be the cakewalk that the last one was... Rei, are you alright? Mm-hm! There's so many people with me, and you're too, Zen. I'm scared, but I'll be okay. I am glad to hear that. I've... always been drawn to this place, but I was too scared to explore it. But with everyone helping me, I'm okay coming in. It's a lot of fun! Thank you! Very much! ..... Zen? What's wrong? Does it hurt somewhere? No. I don't really understand..... Mm-hm! Of course! It feels like they're in their own world... You think so? Chidorita and I can be kinda like that too, hehe... I guess! Ugh, what a pain. Man, I getta get out of here as fast as I can, for Chidorita's sake too! I hope we can get Rei-chan and Zen-kun out of here quickly too. Arf! Yeah. Haha, Koromaru's fired up too. Keep in mind that we need to prioritize getting ourselves out of here first. Oh... right. Th-That reminds me. I noticed Rei-chan and Zen-kun don't fight with Personas. Persona... Oh yes, you mean the "power of the heart" you use. It's true that Rei and I cannot use them. I had heard that only Persona-users can fight against Shadows, though... Well, they live someplace Shadows show up. Maybe they just adapted? Can that actually happen...? This place itself is irregular. It's hard to distinguish what's normal and what's abnormal... This experience will be good research material... if we ever get home, that is. In regards to abnormalities, the same could be said about our leader's Persona. You're telling me! I could have swapped to six or seven killer Personas at this point... You're the only one who can summon other powers? ....Why are you not summoning them now?At Zen's urge, you try checking your Personas... But you don't have any Personas aside from Orpheus.  A blank card...? It's beyond me, but if it's a Persona thing, why not ask those blue people? Yes... if our leader can no longer shift Personas, it could be a drastic setback in battle. Let's visit the Velvet Room and see what they say, before the battles get more heated.I mean I've been doing just fine, thank you Mitsuru. All up in my business today. But sure, let's head back...  You need to go ask about the "blank card" and why you haven't been able to gain new Personas...  So this is the Velvet Room... Hm...? What could those two doors be? About that... we have no clue. As you can see, the doors are chained shut, preventing us from going through. But nothing meaningless happens in this room... Their role should become apparent to us eventually. Zen, Rei... Do you know anything about these doors? Hmm.... no. I don't know... But I think... they're probably connected to where you came from. Does that mean these are the way out? How can you be sure? This room itself didn't exist until you came. To me, this is your place... and those doors there are also yours... But that's just a feeling I have. There's no evidence for it. ....Forget what I just said. ..... As expected, it won't open... We'll just have to leave them be for now... We came to ask why our leader is unable to summon other Personas. Ah... Why, indeed. Ah... That is what we wish to ask. Ai-chaaan, you're starting to talk like her now. Well then, though I am not used to this, I will try investigating the matter a bit. Please sit down there.You take a seat on the sofa, as Elizabeth directs you to... Yukari was told to sit next to you... Elizabeth spreads about twenty cards on the table...  "Tower".... Wh-what is it? I do not know. ...Huh? Yeah, like you could be an alcoholic monk, or a nerdy kid, or another kid who's a gamer nerd with a Get Smoked hat... That I drew the Tower is unimportant. What is important is that I did not draw the Fool. Fool...? Uh, you mean an idiot?Someone hasn't been paying attention to Edogawa's classes. (It's okay I never pay attention to them either.) No. The Fool is the number zero... It is the Arcana that means a beginning, and infinite possibilities. Just like the card, my guest can wield infinite Personas... We call that ability the "power of the wild card"... The wild card... But perhaps this place is affecting it... His usual power of the wild card seems to have been altered... It seems you cannot shift from your own "Orpheus" Persona here... So... he cannot change his Persona? That could have serious consequences for us in combat... It truly represents "infinite possiblities"... But I had not thought this was among them... Wh-what do you mean? Besides his fixed, unchangeable Persona, it seems he can take on a second Persona... This other Persona can be summoned freely... In other words, he may change it as he likes... He can summon two Personas at the same time!? But the changeable one cannot display its full strength. It's best to think of it as playing an auxillary role... If Orpheus is his "main", then the "changeable Persona" is his "sub"... They can both be assumed at once. It would be best to think about it as such. This "wild card"'s power is pretty crazy... And... could it be? One moment, please.Again, Elizabeth spreads a number of cards on the table...  Oh man, Yukari main character! I'd play that game. The Fool... Oh my... H-huh? What? You think I have this wild card power, too...? Hahaha, there's no way. It isn't just you, Yukari. The power of the Fool is evident on all of you. Huh? On all of us...? To use your own Persona as a "main"... while taking a changeable Persona as a "sub" at the same time... It seems this is possible for all of you as well. Two at the same time...? That's a bit hard to believe... But it does make me feel stronger! Still, why this irregularity...? It's as if the power of the Fool has been strengthened... As if another with the power of the wild card is here... Could it be that one of the two doors is...? Another with the power of the wild card...?I got it! The door has the power of the wild card. Let's call it Door-kun. ...Oh no, it's nothing. Can Zen and I summon Personas too? Unfortunately, you and Zen did not have Personas to begin with, so I believe that will be impossible. Oh... but Personas are so cool. How is it that Zen and Rei have no Personas? Isn't one necessary to fight Shadows? I suspect the answer to that is deeply intertwined with the mystery of this place. This is a haven in the rift... A floating island, gently drifting deep in the sea of unconsciousness... Normally, one would not find living humans here... If there were one.... then they may, in theory, have become one with an entity such as a Persona or Shadow... Zen-kun and Rei-chan are Personas...? Hahaha, nope. Certainly not... cough. It's only a hypothesis of mine. But... Well, we have no other theories that can explain it for now... Now, would you happen to have one of these? A "blank card"... May I presume that you gained these from Shadows through battle? These cards are blank. They appeared in a state which has not yet been guided to any sort of fate... Though you were only able to summon Personas unique to each of you, you may now summon other Personas... If fate desires it, then these cards will accomplish their role on their own... Please use these. They are a new kind of Persona card.The blank cards changed into Personas!  No, the original power of the wild card is still yours alone... Everyone else is receiving its boon, for some reason... They share in a tiny piece of its power. Well then, if you have difficulties fighting the Shadows, I recommend changing your summoned Persona. Most of you will be unused to doing this, and so I encourage you to experiment for yourself. Ha... reliable as ever.  Alright, we've unlocked sub-Personas now! They're a big part of the battle system, so this may take some explanation. As Elizabeth mentioned, we got a bunch of freebie ones. They can be equipped by anyone, and shuffled around freely outside of battle.  Each sub-Persona gives a stock of 'additional' HP and SP. These get added to that character's maximum, are replenished in between battle, and will be used first. So for instance, if Makoto equips Sandman, and uses 9 SP in battle, the next fight, it will be as if none of it was used. They don't change any of the character's other stats or elemental affinities (so Yukari will always be weak to Elec and resists Wind, for instance). Aside from the extra HP and SP, sub-Personas also have skills of their own, and anyone who equips them can use them. So anyone can equip Sandman to use Sleeper Punch and the Treasure Hunter passive. This greatly expands versatility for characters and lets them augment existing roles or find utility that better suits their stats. You can give Yukari a physical attack, or Junpei a heal, or Mitsuru more elemental variety, just as examples. They'll also learn new skills as they level, although they'll level up slower compared to main Personas. And finally, as mentioned, Zen and Rei can't use sub-Personas. They do have a larger variety of skills and stats to make up for it, but it is something to keep in mind. And with that, that covers most of the basics! Let's form a party and jump into the labyrinth proper. Let's have the thread pick... three characters to go with Makoto. I'll reserve the last slot to round out any gaps in the party formation. ApplesandOranges fucked around with this message at 14:12 on Nov 10, 2023 |
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Nov 10, 2023 14:03
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For those that never played Persona 3, 4 or 5, the MC there is the only one who can use the power of the wild card. It allows them insane versatility and power; I never played 3 but in 4 and 5 it's intended for the endgame to be the Yu Narukami/Joker shows, guest starring the other party members. gently caress, in 5 Royal one of the last bosses has a phase where said boss kicks the rest of the party out of battle for a 1v1 fite me bro. In exchange however, the protagonists are load bearing. They get knocked unconscious it's game over, no ifs no buts no "I had 99 revival items in my backpack and enough SP for twenty Samarecarms on my healers". In this game, everyone (but Zen&Rei who play more like a standard Etrian Odyssey character) get the Wild Card and the protagonists are nothing special. However on the maximum difficulty, your chosen protagonist (so Makoto right now) is still load bearing. Don't play Risky in Q or Q2 is what I'm saying, Etrian mechanics do not gel at all with a load bearing character.
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Nov 10, 2023 14:23
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Funny thing is, there's not much reason not to use the Shortcut icon; whenever it's placed on a shortcut, it turns into the arrows, plus they're colour-coded green for two-way and red for one-way. As for stuff like the Treasure Hunter passive, it's important to keep in mind that skills with the sparkly orb next to them are Navigator abilities; they do nothing when equipped on a standard party member. Some sub-personas are very specialized as Navigator options, while others are more of a mix. Personally, I like the ones that really lean into being Navigator options, like Shiisaa in Q2. Absolute lifesaver in the first dungeon, that one. Now, for who to pick: - Zen and Rei: These two never really see use as far as I can tell, especially in the lategame, so might as well get to see them now. - Mitsuru: What can I say, magic slinger good. - Junpei: In the same vein, someone bulky with a good physical option is also nice. I could've also said Shinji, but we're still early, and it's difficult for him to opt into Boost without sub-persona shenanigans, and ours are rather limited for now.
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Nov 10, 2023 14:39
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ApplesandOranges posted:I got it! The door has the power of the wild card. Let's call it Door-kun. No. You may not. Junpei, Yukari, Koromaru, only the coolest people. e: also i believe Orgia mode outright doubles Aigis' damage output so you can do some silly things with it.
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Nov 10, 2023 16:16
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The same team I used on Persona 3. Aigis, Akihiko and Mitsuru
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Nov 10, 2023 17:18
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Zen and Rei, Yukari, Mitsuru. Incidentally don't camp a sub-persona for too long. If the party member who equipped it has their level outpace the sub-persona's level, their damage actually takes a hefty penalty! If they're 6 levels above it starts off at a 10% penalty, maxing out at a whopping 50% at 10 levels or above. Navigators don't have to worry about this and can use whatever sub-persona they want since this penalty only affects the party member's damage output. Omobono posted:For those that never played Persona 3, 4 or 5, the MC there is the only one who can use the power of the wild card. It allows them insane versatility and power; I never played 3 but in 4 and 5 it's intended for the endgame to be the Yu Narukami/Joker shows, guest starring the other party members. Risky with the Persona 3 MC is also something you have to watch out for, as he's weak to Dark attacks which are instant kill. Fortunately it's not like a major increase, as the dude has a 120% multiplier against them, but something to watch out for compared to the Persona 4 MC. Weaknesses on the playable characters are always 20% extra damage (or an extra chance of being slapped by an instant kill) while resists are always 50% damage reduction/halving the chance of instant kills. Incidentally due to being on the EO4 engine, weaknesses and resistances don't operate the same way as they do in the SMT series. EO only uses damage multipliers in its enemy data, while SMT has those but also additional flags for each damage type saying if the enemy should be "weak" (grants a press turn or One More or something), "resist", "null", "reflect", or "absorb". Which can create situations like enemies taking 1 damage from an attack despite the game telling you it's weak to it. Or enemies secretly taking like half damage despite the game not telling you they're actually resistant to it (and also making them immune to break skills if you're trying to use that to get rid of resists since they don't have the resist flag). In the Persona Qs, resists MEAN resists and weaknesses mean weaknesses. Though which is which actually depends on what the damage multipliers are set to. 0% is null, 1-80% is resist, 81% to 119% is neutral, 120%+ is a weakness. For example, the Laughing Table actually takes 10% more damage from Bash attacks, but since it's not in the 20%+ range, it doesn't officially count as a weakness (Where in the EO series 101%+ is a weakness). vilkacis posted:e: also i believe Orgia mode outright doubles Aigis' damage output so you can do some silly things with it. Yes. It's double damage for all damage types and immunity from disables for 3 turns (including the casting turn so you only have 2 turns to deal double damage), but puts her out of commission for 3 turns after it wears off. Pretty much tailored for mega burst strats. Though being based on EO4's engine means it's not actually truly double damage and there's diminishing returns for damage amplifier effects the more you stack (it's pretty negligible and not worth worrying about unless you love stacking a lot of buffs.)
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Nov 10, 2023 20:27
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I notice that Aigis doesn't have a Leader Skills option in her menu. Is that the case for anyone else or is it her-specific? I'll vote in... Yukari, Mitsuru, and Ken.
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Nov 11, 2023 01:51
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AweStriker posted:I notice that Aigis doesn't have a Leader Skills option in her menu. Is that the case for anyone else or is it her-specific? Only the Leader can use Leader skills (so P3MC or P4MC depending on route). If they're knocked out, no go until they're rezzed (but on Risky it's a Game Over anyway).
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Nov 11, 2023 02:13
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ApplesandOranges posted:
I was so tired of this "gimmick" by the end of the game. 
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Nov 11, 2023 08:49
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Character Analysis - Hero (P3) and Zen/Rei Disclaimer: stat rankings are, to a degree, fairly arbitrary. Hero (Persona 3)  Weapon: Short swords (Cut) Persona: Orpheus (Fool) Elemental affinity: Weak to Elec and Dark Stats: HP: B SP: B St: B Ma: S En: C Ag: B Lu: A Learn list: 1: Agi 9: Gurentou 15: Agilao 22: Dekaja 35: Goukentou 40: Agidyne 55: Hientou Makoto's got a fairly even stat spread, though having two weaknesses and no resistances is kinda rough. He's got Fire skills on both ends of the attacking spectrum, and Dekaja to cancel enemy buffs, which is nice when you need to have it on hand. While he excels at Magic and can be kept in the back row for that purpose (especially since his bulk, while fine, isn't stellar especially with that double weakness), he's not a bad physical attacker either. He won't deal as much damage as most frontliners, but his speed is decent and high Luck means he'll crit more often (and only one other physical character has comparable Luck). Often I find myself fielding more potent frontliners though, which relegates him to the back. Sub Personas also help to expand his role past his rather limited skill set. He can carry a healing skill to good effect and has better speed than the other actual healers. Good Agility and Luck also make him a solid status afflictor, too. Makoto does have an issue where he's got a good jack-of-all trades spread but is rarely the best at something. This can mean he struggles to find a meaningful role in more specialized teams, which can be annoying when you're forced to use him all the time. But at the same, it also means he can fill any role (other than tanking) to decent effect; he can sling spells or heals, do physical attacks, or status all fine. Zen/Rei  Weapon: Bowguns (Stab) Persona: None Elemental Affinities: Weak to Light, Resists Dark Stats: HP: S+ SP: S+ St: S Ma: S En: A Ag: B Lu: B Learn list (Zen): 1: Bane Slice 5: Frozen Spear 7: Thunder Clap 9: Fire Spray 11: Cyclone 19: Squire Card 25: Guiding Sword 30: Guarding Staff 35: Hex Slice 43: Knight Card 50: Soul Slice 63: King Card Learn list (Rei): 1: Serene Journey 3: Recovery 8: Becalm 12: Refresh 21: Renewal 31: Platinum Coin 36: Life Goblet Zen/Rei's skills are all unique to them, so I'll just briefly cover their skill lists, though they fight as one unit. They learn elemental attacks of all four primary elements with various ranges, passives to augment their damage, a stab attack line that can also inflict Curse, and assorted utility skills that affect a single row: heals, stat buffs, status and ailment cleanses, and so on. They also have a passive from the start that recovers their SP while walking around the labyrinth. Zen/Rei are a unit that packs a lot at first glance. They have the best base HP and SP of any character, high attacking stats on either end, and decent to good in everything else. Their early versatility can cover a lot of gaps in party compositions, particularly in the healing department if you need spot healing early on. However, their big weakness is being unable to equip a sub-Persona, which hurts both their longevity and versatility. While they recover SP by walking about, it's generally not at a rate that can really keep up with having a replenishing stock between battles outside of extremely long dungeon crawls (at which point it might be easier to just exit the dungeon and heal). It also means their power is limited by their level, which can make the large gaps between their next skill hurt a bit at times and start to fall behind the potencies of regular Persona skills at a given time. While their support skills are useful especially early on, they can start to feel a bit limited due to only affecting a single row. That said, they're a perfectly decent unit. Being able to package all four elements in a single character is otherwise difficult to do, and their damage is acceptable enough that they won't really lag behind your attackers that much given their solid stats until you start unlocking more broken skills and combos. ApplesandOranges fucked around with this message at 15:24 on Nov 11, 2023 |
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Nov 11, 2023 15:20
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Character Analyses - Yukari and Junpei Yukari Takeba  Weapon: Bows (Stab, Ranged) Persona: Io (Lovers) Elemental Affinity: Weak to Elec, Resists Wind Stats: HP: C SP: S St: C Ma: S En: C Ag: C Lu: D Learn list: 1: Dia 2: Garu 10: Media 15: Garula 19: Diarama 33: Mediarama 40: Garudyne 50: Diarahan 55: Mediarahan Yukari is more or less what you would remember her for from P3: Excellent SP and Magic, focuses on wind magic and healing, to the detriment of everything else. Outside of Luck, none of her other stats are outright miserable but you'd rather not rely on. She's the only character to naturally learn the Media line, which is nice to have on a character just because you'll always have access to spot healing if Fuuka isn't fast enough. Unfortunately for Yukari, all the things that made her amazing in P3 haven't quite translated well into Persona Q. For the most part, magic as a means of primary offense is just worse compared to physicals in Q. The drain on SP is more noticeable compared to physicals draining HP, and HP is easier to recover than SP (especially with Fuuka around). There are physical elemental moves now, which means you're less reliant on magic to hit weaknesses. Magic does have some advantage (being able to ignore row placement, for instance), but for long dungeon crawls/fights, Yukari probably will be draining herself too quickly in a lot of cases. What about healing? Yukari is certainly good at raw healing, thanks to her high Magic and SP. The unfortunate side comes in two parts: first being Fuuka, which handles 80% of your healing in most cases. There will be times when you do want some extra healing to go with that, but the other issue comes in that Yukari's Agility is only kinda average. If you need healing fast you probably want someone with high Ag (like Makoto or Akihiko) to do it, and Yukari's very middling stat distribution means she has a hard time pivoting to more optimized roles. Junpei Iori  Weapon: Two-handed Swords (Cut) Persona: Hermes (Magician) Elemental Affinity: Weak to Wind, Resists Fire Stats: HP: A SP: D St: A Ma: C En: B Ag: C Lu: C Learn list: 1: Fusion Blast 4: Rakukaja 14: Death Chaser 20: Scorching Blast 27: Marakukaja 40: Nuclear Blast Junpei's stats are fine but in a way that makes you feel like they could have been just a little better. He's got enough St to hurt things and enough HP and En to take a hit, but considering that he's kinda bad at slinging Magic and not that fast, you'd think they would make him better at his strengths to make up for it. But he'll do his job fine. His natural skill list is short but fairly good for what he does; the Fusion Blast line hits two elements (Fire and Bash), and they're ranged which means Junpei can hit enemies in the back just fine even if he's sitting in the back row, making it easier to run more physical units in the party. (Ma)Rakukaja buffs the party's defense which is a good use of his limited SP, and Death Chaser lets Junpei chase his row allies' attacks with a physical attacks for a few turns, adding some incremental damage. Junpei plays the part of support attacker fairly well, and while he doesn't exactly have a lot of room to pivot to other roles, all he needs is just some offensive skill variety really and passives to increase his damage.
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Nov 13, 2023 19:27
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 07:38 |
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I'll be recording next set of gameplay this week and the votes are pretty close, so if you haven't voted and want to, I'd say do so in the next day or two.
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Nov 13, 2023 19:27
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