The Return of the Son of the Revenge of Let's Play!
[Editor's Note: So I've finally decided to buy a digital recorder and some people (whose name I will neglect to mention) have seen it fit to take that and use it for the rest of THAT CERTAIN PERSON'S Let's Play of P3. Now, obviously not EVERYTHING that's said is going to be typed up...and that's where I come in. Basically summarizing the point of what he's trying to make. There's also really no need for some of the comments, since without visual context it's useless. I'll TRY to put the comments into as much context as possible. Otherwise, I'll just be sitting over here in the corner, attempting to slit my wrists. Yes, I really hope you appreciate this, Toast. I would also like to live to be 105 and also live out the rest of my days in the Philippines. :|]
Okay hi everybody, this is Toast. I am recording this because it would be really really hard to remember all I want to say, ah, I’m gonna take these headphones out cuz they’re distracting. It would be really difficult to remember all I want to say when I play this game. So I’m going to record everything as I play and…oh look it’s starting. Ah. Record all this and then I’m going to go through it. And then we’re going to edit it and type up a transcript. Cuz that’s how professionals do these things. Mmhm. That’s right.
So this is the Let’s Play for Persona 3, FES edition. FES meaning ‘Festival’, I suppose. And I’m going to play through the Journey, because no one wants me to play through the Answer because apparently, the Answer sucks. Um. I can neither confirm nor deny this. But anyway, let’s play through the game!
And the date, in game, is April 18th, 2009. It’s a Saturday, and the character name is Minato Arisato, and it’s like just under an hour. So…what’s happened so far.
You come to Iwatodai. You’re flung into this horrible dimension and then you…summon things. By shooting yourself in the head! It’s not a real gun…you know. But, anyway. You go to school and then all that crazy stuff happens, and then you go into a coma and this is like right after the coma and... I’m just gonna switch hands here. And…gonna go to the bathroom. Make my status great. That’s a real fun thing I…I get a real kick out of that. [coughing and hacking goes here. This'll be happening a lot, seeing as how I'm the one technically 'talking'...and that I just got over the flu...yeah]
Mmmkay. I played through for a week in-game and I can summarize some stuff. So Andi doesn't have to!
Social Links:
-Fool: This is the Main Group (SEES) and it'll go up automatically as the story goes on. As of April 25th, it is at Rank Two, after doing a tutorial-ish Dungeon Run. Mitsuru Kirijo, Akihiko Sanada, Yukari Takeba, and Junpei Iori are the current members of SEES...aside from Minato, obviously
-Magician: Kenji Tomochika! He's a student in the same homeroom and from what I can tell, he and Junpei are pretty similar (they've also apparently hung out once or twice). Really likes ramen. Link is at Rank Two. And he is apparently planning on asking one of his teachers out. Classy.
-Hierophant: The Old Couple, AKA Bunkichi and Mitsuko. I love these two! They're so sweet. I like how the old guy pretends to joke about about being senile at first (fish hocking in a book store, now you sit there and tell me he's not joking about that. Love that guy). They're at Rank One right now and apparently there's a persimmon tree in Gekkoukan that's quite important to them.
-Chariot: Hey! It's Andi's arcana. Perhaps I should pay attention to this...anyway. I joined the Swim Team 'cuz of you guys. :| And here's Kazushi Miyamoto (or Kaz), and since you're just introduced to him (and the manager, Yuko), you can just observe for the time being. It's Rank One, so it's just introductions at this point. Also, you can have the apparently 'lovely' image of me in a Speedo in your head.
So that's nice. And now I continue on with the game. :)
4/18:Where I last left off. Minato goes to the fourth floor, is met by Yukari, and now we're formally introduced to SEES! Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad. How cute. I also find it interesting that it's recognized as a school club, yet everyone else is kept from what it actually does. Ikutsuki stumbles through his lines, Aki is formally introduced, and Mitsuru gets cute when she's angry. Also make a note here that no one has a problem with asking Minato to join SEES (not even Yukari). Despite the fact that he just got back from the hospital a couple of days ago. Yep. The Social Link for SEES (Fool) also shows up.
-So the Dark Hour shows up...and so do I! Yes, it's time for Shota!Me. I find this kind of odd, since Shota!Me is acting pretty emotionless, creepy, and also like a Cloudcuckoolander. Probably what happens when you lose your memory. He's also quite similar to Aigis, since they both kind of start out like that...and also stalking you. Yes. Well that's nice. Anyway, Shota!Me gives Minato some cryptic messages before disappearing. This happens quite a bit.
4/19: So it's Sunday and we get a day off. Which apparently means that Minato...was in his room all day. Doing nothing. I'm assuming he's asleep because by the time Yukari calls you down, it's Evening. Jeezus. Anyway, Junpei's moving into the dorms because he has the Potential to! Akihiko found him during the Dark Hour and yeeeeaaaah. And it's at this point that Yukari decides to be a bitch about the whole thing and proceeds to insult and be really snotty to Junpei. You know, I actually really like Yukari, but the more I-this-it’s forcing me to pay attention to little details, and the more I pay attention, the more I’m like “GOD YUKARI, WHY?” There’s no reason for that! Does she just...not like Junpei? She barely knows him past 'acquaintance' at this point so that can't be right...oh well. Anyway, Junpei's got a Persona and, since he joined up, we can now explore Tartarus. It is nothing like the real Tartarus, by the by. So I'm going to refer to this version as "Tartar Sauce" whenever I please.
4/20: Uuuuhuhuhuhu 420. Yes Icy. :3 Okay anyway, some school stuff going on, and Mitsuru walks into his classroom during lunch, tells you guys to meet up because we're going to Tartaruuuuuuuusssssss tonight, then she leaves. Yukari mentions that she must be pretty busy (and is, once again, a total bitch about it). On that note, I'd really like to know what Yukari does with her precious time all day aside from school. Really. Not once have I seen her in Archery Club. I would kind of like to see stuff like this and yes, this applies for the other characters to (i.e, seeing Akihiko in a boxing match). You know. Just saying.
-AND THEN YOU GO TO TARTARUS. Which comes from the school. Surely this is an unimportant and minor detail. Some foreshadowing happens and our gang enters. We enter the base of Tartarus. There are some important things here, such as the flashy golden clock thing that is your Save Point, the glowly blue door which lets you enter the Velvet Room (you enter automatically, at first), and the green teleporter (which doesn't work right now). I'd like to point out that the other party members can't see the door to the Velvet Room, since Philemon didn't bap them with the Wildcard ability. This is where you go to either fuse Personas and get new ones, or where you get and drop off your requests for Elizabeth and get rewards (more on that later on). So from now on, in their point of view, all Minato has to do to gain more Personas is to just stand in a certain spot, space out for a few seconds, and there you are. No wonder they make him the leader... Sorry, Junpei! Oh, and I'd like to note that I can finally get to the menu by pressing the Triangle Button. Yay, that only took like an hour and a half.
-Mmm, Tutorial Dunjan Run! Basically, you guys run around the second floor of Tartarus fighting bigger groups of Shadows and getting treasuuuure. Some things about battle.
1) There are different ways to cause damage: Bashing, Piercing, Slash (all physical) and they can either be dealt with your weapons (Attack) or physical skills from your Persona (Skills). The Main Character can use all weapons, while Junpei uses Two-Handed swords and Yukari uses a Bow. Physical skills eat up your Hit Points. Magic is also under skills and is grouped into different elemental attacks: Agi (fire), Bufu (ice), Garu (wind), Zio (lightning), Hama (light) and Mudo (dark). Just stick with the first four elemental attacks for the time being. Also the One-Hit Kill spells (light and dark) don't work for Boss Fights. Oh, and I like that a lot of the magic attacks are based off of Sankrit. That's clever...
2) Tactics. You need. This. Command. You need it so bad. You need it so bad because see, you can't control your other party members directly. But since you're the leader, you can issue basic strategic guidelines to different people. So, set Yukari to Whine 'Heal' or Junpei to Wield the Sword All Wrong 'Knock Down'. You don't start off with a lot of commands but you get more as the story continues.
3) Items. Self-explanatory. Just don't waste a lot of the items you get, okay?
4) Persona. This lets Minato look through the Personas he has and then change them. Can only be done once per turn.
5) Escape. Lets you run like a filthy whore of a coward. :D
6) Persona-wise, Minato starts out with Orpheus. They have the same hairstyle! Also, he looks like a regular head on a robot body. Probably because he was ripped to shreds by the Maeneds. His still-singing head was found floating down a river. Enjoy that image! Then there's Hermes (Junpei's Persona), which I can't really critique design-wise (ahaha, wings on the feet. :)). Although really, I'm having a hard time getting why Hermes provides you with shitty magic, considering that the real Hermes deals with magic quite a bit and is actually very intelligent. :\ Oh, and then there's Io (that's Yukari's) and she is supposedly a nice young woman dressed in pink, chained to a cow skull (I see what you did there, Atlus). I say 'supposedly' because, during my entire tutorial session, Io isn't summoned once. Now this could either be because A) Yukari's still squeamish about summoning (and honestly, I don't really blame her) or B) She starts out with Dia (healing spell) and I didn't really need healing in battle, so...
7) Weaknesses! Some enemies are weak to certain attacks, and you can exploit them. Just press L1 at the beginning of battle and scan unknown enemies. Mitsuru will then tell you what the weaknesses are right away, since she's so smart! And if they're weak, they get knocked down. And if they all get knocked down, it's All-Out Attack time!, which is pretty much a big ball of violence that does a lot of damage. Now, this right here makes or breaks a lot of players. If you're good at this, then you can pretty much go through all the enemies and wipe them out pretty quick, leveling pretty easily. You can also knock down enemies by landing a Critical Hit, but that pretty much depends on luck.
8) Shuffle: Something that differs from the 'Negotiating' that was so prevalent in so many of the previous games. Basically, cards appear in Minato's head after you do a good job during battle. The cards can either be for a Persona or either of the four Minor Arcana cards. Wands net you extra experience, Coins give you some money, Cups heal you, and Swords give you some extra weapons. Go for the Persona if you get a Shuffle in the Tutorial Battles first thing! I got a Pixie. :>
9) Issuing Commands: Press the Square Button while running around to issue commands to your party members. You can tell them to split up, regroup, attack Shadows, or concentrate on exploring. I never really split up anyway, since that's suicide unless you're going back down to the lower levels and just looking for treasure. But Mitsuru will have you split up anyway, so you might as well give it a shot. Also, make it a good point to talk to anyone with healing spells. You can have them heal you right there. Talking to party members is also how you give them equipment, so remember that.
-That's all the tutorialing for now. Go back to the first floor with the Access point (the green thing that's on all the floors) and we can go back to the dorms now. Running around Tartarus tires humans out. Remember that when the Tired status pops up: You won't do so good during battle then. Plus, it's a nice way of letting you know when dungeon time is overwith. Go back home already.
4/21: We can finally, FINALLY walk around the school by ourselves. Sheesh. Although, as soon we leave, we're treated to the nice sight of Akihiko being swarmed by fangirls...and him not caring. How oblivious. Anyway, he wants you and Junpei to stop by the Police Station (...in a MALL. Huh. Is it a Police Station or a Police Box? OR IS HE A MALL COP?). Might as well, right?
-We arrive in the Mall, where a lot of the stores had their names translated in the English version, apparently. Huh. Anyway, we head into the police station, where we meet Paul Blart, Mall Security Officer Kurosawa. Why? Well, this is where you get your weapons and armor. I'm going to let that sink in for a few minutes. No. Really. I want you to go off somewhere, make a sandwich, maybe go to the bathroom, I don't really care. I just want you to think about that fact for a bit. And then come back and keep reading. ...Okay? All right.
A cop. Is selling swords, axes, bows, knives, and eventually guns. To minors. Okay. And don't tell me that that's not illegal or anything, because I know it is. This type of stuff? Yeah. Law and Order said it was. :| [...slow. clapping. goes here. Wonderful job, sir.] ...Well. Whatever. I did get 5,000 yen out of all this (lol Fifty dollars. What kind of weapons can you even buy with that much nowadays?)
-Anyway, I didn't buy anything yet, so we can wander around town. I wanna raise my courage, so I decided to waste 1500 yen and see a movie. Fifteen dollars! You can buy a movie for fifteen dollars...although it is three movies in a row, so I probably shouldn't complain. ...Not like you see anything anyway. ...Where was I? Oh! Right.
-Dorm. Watch as Yukari texts the shit out of that phone. You are a texting machine, my dear. Anyway. I'm going to go to the Mall again and try the Arcade, because I am a bum. You can actually DO stuff in the arcade this time. And I want to work on his Courage for now, since a Timid Minato is a Sad Minato. Let's play the scary game! Which is 3,000 (???!!!) yen. Arcade games shouldn't cost that much...
-Minato goes back home around Midnight. Should we study? Well sure, why not. He IS a student. Although I'm noticing that he may be tired all the time because he's not going to bed when he should (this isn't including the days with Tartarus runs). Get home at Midnight and...how long does it take to study? Two hours, maybe three if you're sucking that day? So that's like 3-ish in the morning when he goes to bed if he's on a bad subject. Then he'll probably have to get up at around 7AM if classes start at 8 and...um. Okay. I'll shut up now it's just...no wonder he sleeps in class. :|
4/22: School stuff again. We get to see a Morning Assembly and Mitsuru gives a speech, introduced by her Lesbian fangirl. [No really, he does have a point. Look at the sprite again. I think it's the same girl too :O] And then I kinda spaced out when she was talking as I listened to her voice. Aaaaaa-
-And you're forced into an S.Link. An S.Link Tutorial, if you will. It goes through Kenji's introduction, and in the time I've interacted with him (up to Rank 2), he's mentioned Yukari about four times already, yet insists that he is uninterested. Yeah okay. Also, it's interesting to note that Minato's line of thought to hang out with Kenji is that he may be a potential Social Link. Really. I wonder if that's his only motivation for getting friends at first. Something to think about. Anyway, let's go hoooooome.
-And then I made my status great (o yeah, so awesome) and went Dungeon Crawling again. I'd like to try getting up to a floor that has a midboss fight on it, that way I can teleport back down and fight it the next time. For this session, it's Floor 5. Shouldn't be that tough. I also got Apsaras! Keep her and Orpheus as long as possible, since they do Cadenza. :)
4/23: Huuu, school. Afterwards, if you're tired or sick, go to the WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIZAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRD'S Nurse's office to raise your Courage. Just. Just trust me. Also, you can now join the Sports Clubs today. I chose swimming you bastards so, hmmmyes. Introduced to Kaz and Yuko. Oh, and just so you guys know, you have the join the club eventually because of a bad case of The Plot later on (Ms. Toriumi forces you to) so I figured I might as well get it over with.
-Nightiiiiiime and I'm being irresponsible and going to Karaoke BEFORE studying. I am such a wild and crazy teen. Miraculously, I'm still awake enough to study.
4/24: Hung out with Kenji. Raised some more stats. Rinse, repeat. Get used to this pattern, since there's going to be long Plot Droughts throughout most of the Iwatodai area for the rest of this month.
4/25: School on a Saturday, lol. Anyway, this is when you can get the Hierophant Social Link. Love that old couple. Anyway, enter, then go check out the tree at Gekkoukan, then come back. They become Minato's friends because he was so kind to them. Awww. :'D
-Makin' my status great and heading to Tartar Sauce. This is where I saved and quit.
That's pretty much it, although I'd like to say a few things about stats:
Academics: This is the hardest to raise, seriously. Study whenever you get the chance, mainly along with raising other stats, staying up in class, etc. Although I find it kind of weird that eventually it caps. Huh.
Charm: A weird, slippery thing to raise. This goes up when...you answer questions correctly and you do really well on exams. So being a giant nerd makes you socially acceptable in Japan. Good news, Andi! [Oh fuck you.] Oh, and some food items raise different stats. The main one for Charm is...coffee. Yes. I laughed for awhile when I heard that one!
Courage: What I'm working on now. Raising it actually kinda sorta makes sense. Eating at what's basically McDonald's, drinking strange things that a guy who probably smells like patchouli, weed, and B.O. concocts, and singing in front of strangers can all raise Courage. Good to know.
EDIIIIIIIIIIIT: I'd like to point out that with most of the people I've talked to, they keep mentioning how popular Yukari is. Now...I'm sorry, but I don't really see examples of this in game, you know? I mean yeah, she texts her friends in the evening a lot, and she's in Archery, but we just don't see her with her other friends, now do we? I'm not really saying Yukari's not popular, I just want to see examples, you know? That's true for a lot of the stuff about the characters, it's just that it's easy to use Yukari because she's such an obvious example. Like...people can say Mitsuru's very smart, but that's easier to observe, I guess (exam grades, how she talks, her reading all the time) Or how later apparently Fuuka becomes less shy. That's great! Please show me examples of this in game, okay?
It would be really nice, just saying.
And that's...pretty much it. Thanks for reading, and thank you Andi for being the best editor. I'm sure I'll have more fun with this game. :'D
Later.
~Toast
Okay hi everybody, this is Toast. I am recording this because it would be really really hard to remember all I want to say, ah, I’m gonna take these headphones out cuz they’re distracting. It would be really difficult to remember all I want to say when I play this game. So I’m going to record everything as I play and…oh look it’s starting. Ah. Record all this and then I’m going to go through it. And then we’re going to edit it and type up a transcript. Cuz that’s how professionals do these things. Mmhm. That’s right.
So this is the Let’s Play for Persona 3, FES edition. FES meaning ‘Festival’, I suppose. And I’m going to play through the Journey, because no one wants me to play through the Answer because apparently, the Answer sucks. Um. I can neither confirm nor deny this. But anyway, let’s play through the game!
And the date, in game, is April 18th, 2009. It’s a Saturday, and the character name is Minato Arisato, and it’s like just under an hour. So…what’s happened so far.
You come to Iwatodai. You’re flung into this horrible dimension and then you…summon things. By shooting yourself in the head! It’s not a real gun…you know. But, anyway. You go to school and then all that crazy stuff happens, and then you go into a coma and this is like right after the coma and... I’m just gonna switch hands here. And…gonna go to the bathroom. Make my status great. That’s a real fun thing I…I get a real kick out of that. [coughing and hacking goes here. This'll be happening a lot, seeing as how I'm the one technically 'talking'...and that I just got over the flu...yeah]
Mmmkay. I played through for a week in-game and I can summarize some stuff. So Andi doesn't have to!
Social Links:
-Fool: This is the Main Group (SEES) and it'll go up automatically as the story goes on. As of April 25th, it is at Rank Two, after doing a tutorial-ish Dungeon Run. Mitsuru Kirijo, Akihiko Sanada, Yukari Takeba, and Junpei Iori are the current members of SEES...aside from Minato, obviously
-Magician: Kenji Tomochika! He's a student in the same homeroom and from what I can tell, he and Junpei are pretty similar (they've also apparently hung out once or twice). Really likes ramen. Link is at Rank Two. And he is apparently planning on asking one of his teachers out. Classy.
-Hierophant: The Old Couple, AKA Bunkichi and Mitsuko. I love these two! They're so sweet. I like how the old guy pretends to joke about about being senile at first (fish hocking in a book store, now you sit there and tell me he's not joking about that. Love that guy). They're at Rank One right now and apparently there's a persimmon tree in Gekkoukan that's quite important to them.
-Chariot: Hey! It's Andi's arcana. Perhaps I should pay attention to this...anyway. I joined the Swim Team 'cuz of you guys. :| And here's Kazushi Miyamoto (or Kaz), and since you're just introduced to him (and the manager, Yuko), you can just observe for the time being. It's Rank One, so it's just introductions at this point. Also, you can have the apparently 'lovely' image of me in a Speedo in your head.
So that's nice. And now I continue on with the game. :)
4/18:Where I last left off. Minato goes to the fourth floor, is met by Yukari, and now we're formally introduced to SEES! Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad. How cute. I also find it interesting that it's recognized as a school club, yet everyone else is kept from what it actually does. Ikutsuki stumbles through his lines, Aki is formally introduced, and Mitsuru gets cute when she's angry. Also make a note here that no one has a problem with asking Minato to join SEES (not even Yukari). Despite the fact that he just got back from the hospital a couple of days ago. Yep. The Social Link for SEES (Fool) also shows up.
-So the Dark Hour shows up...and so do I! Yes, it's time for Shota!Me. I find this kind of odd, since Shota!Me is acting pretty emotionless, creepy, and also like a Cloudcuckoolander. Probably what happens when you lose your memory. He's also quite similar to Aigis, since they both kind of start out like that...and also stalking you. Yes. Well that's nice. Anyway, Shota!Me gives Minato some cryptic messages before disappearing. This happens quite a bit.
4/19: So it's Sunday and we get a day off. Which apparently means that Minato...was in his room all day. Doing nothing. I'm assuming he's asleep because by the time Yukari calls you down, it's Evening. Jeezus. Anyway, Junpei's moving into the dorms because he has the Potential to! Akihiko found him during the Dark Hour and yeeeeaaaah. And it's at this point that Yukari decides to be a bitch about the whole thing and proceeds to insult and be really snotty to Junpei. You know, I actually really like Yukari, but the more I-this-it’s forcing me to pay attention to little details, and the more I pay attention, the more I’m like “GOD YUKARI, WHY?” There’s no reason for that! Does she just...not like Junpei? She barely knows him past 'acquaintance' at this point so that can't be right...oh well. Anyway, Junpei's got a Persona and, since he joined up, we can now explore Tartarus. It is nothing like the real Tartarus, by the by. So I'm going to refer to this version as "Tartar Sauce" whenever I please.
4/20: Uuuuhuhuhuhu 420. Yes Icy. :3 Okay anyway, some school stuff going on, and Mitsuru walks into his classroom during lunch, tells you guys to meet up because we're going to Tartaruuuuuuuusssssss tonight, then she leaves. Yukari mentions that she must be pretty busy (and is, once again, a total bitch about it). On that note, I'd really like to know what Yukari does with her precious time all day aside from school. Really. Not once have I seen her in Archery Club. I would kind of like to see stuff like this and yes, this applies for the other characters to (i.e, seeing Akihiko in a boxing match). You know. Just saying.
-AND THEN YOU GO TO TARTARUS. Which comes from the school. Surely this is an unimportant and minor detail. Some foreshadowing happens and our gang enters. We enter the base of Tartarus. There are some important things here, such as the flashy golden clock thing that is your Save Point, the glowly blue door which lets you enter the Velvet Room (you enter automatically, at first), and the green teleporter (which doesn't work right now). I'd like to point out that the other party members can't see the door to the Velvet Room, since Philemon didn't bap them with the Wildcard ability. This is where you go to either fuse Personas and get new ones, or where you get and drop off your requests for Elizabeth and get rewards (more on that later on). So from now on, in their point of view, all Minato has to do to gain more Personas is to just stand in a certain spot, space out for a few seconds, and there you are. No wonder they make him the leader... Sorry, Junpei! Oh, and I'd like to note that I can finally get to the menu by pressing the Triangle Button. Yay, that only took like an hour and a half.
-Mmm, Tutorial Dunjan Run! Basically, you guys run around the second floor of Tartarus fighting bigger groups of Shadows and getting treasuuuure. Some things about battle.
1) There are different ways to cause damage: Bashing, Piercing, Slash (all physical) and they can either be dealt with your weapons (Attack) or physical skills from your Persona (Skills). The Main Character can use all weapons, while Junpei uses Two-Handed swords and Yukari uses a Bow. Physical skills eat up your Hit Points. Magic is also under skills and is grouped into different elemental attacks: Agi (fire), Bufu (ice), Garu (wind), Zio (lightning), Hama (light) and Mudo (dark). Just stick with the first four elemental attacks for the time being. Also the One-Hit Kill spells (light and dark) don't work for Boss Fights. Oh, and I like that a lot of the magic attacks are based off of Sankrit. That's clever...
2) Tactics. You need. This. Command. You need it so bad. You need it so bad because see, you can't control your other party members directly. But since you're the leader, you can issue basic strategic guidelines to different people. So, set Yukari to Whine 'Heal' or Junpei to Wield the Sword All Wrong 'Knock Down'. You don't start off with a lot of commands but you get more as the story continues.
3) Items. Self-explanatory. Just don't waste a lot of the items you get, okay?
4) Persona. This lets Minato look through the Personas he has and then change them. Can only be done once per turn.
5) Escape. Lets you run like a filthy whore of a coward. :D
6) Persona-wise, Minato starts out with Orpheus. They have the same hairstyle! Also, he looks like a regular head on a robot body. Probably because he was ripped to shreds by the Maeneds. His still-singing head was found floating down a river. Enjoy that image! Then there's Hermes (Junpei's Persona), which I can't really critique design-wise (ahaha, wings on the feet. :)). Although really, I'm having a hard time getting why Hermes provides you with shitty magic, considering that the real Hermes deals with magic quite a bit and is actually very intelligent. :\ Oh, and then there's Io (that's Yukari's) and she is supposedly a nice young woman dressed in pink, chained to a cow skull (I see what you did there, Atlus). I say 'supposedly' because, during my entire tutorial session, Io isn't summoned once. Now this could either be because A) Yukari's still squeamish about summoning (and honestly, I don't really blame her) or B) She starts out with Dia (healing spell) and I didn't really need healing in battle, so...
7) Weaknesses! Some enemies are weak to certain attacks, and you can exploit them. Just press L1 at the beginning of battle and scan unknown enemies. Mitsuru will then tell you what the weaknesses are right away, since she's so smart! And if they're weak, they get knocked down. And if they all get knocked down, it's All-Out Attack time!, which is pretty much a big ball of violence that does a lot of damage. Now, this right here makes or breaks a lot of players. If you're good at this, then you can pretty much go through all the enemies and wipe them out pretty quick, leveling pretty easily. You can also knock down enemies by landing a Critical Hit, but that pretty much depends on luck.
8) Shuffle: Something that differs from the 'Negotiating' that was so prevalent in so many of the previous games. Basically, cards appear in Minato's head after you do a good job during battle. The cards can either be for a Persona or either of the four Minor Arcana cards. Wands net you extra experience, Coins give you some money, Cups heal you, and Swords give you some extra weapons. Go for the Persona if you get a Shuffle in the Tutorial Battles first thing! I got a Pixie. :>
9) Issuing Commands: Press the Square Button while running around to issue commands to your party members. You can tell them to split up, regroup, attack Shadows, or concentrate on exploring. I never really split up anyway, since that's suicide unless you're going back down to the lower levels and just looking for treasure. But Mitsuru will have you split up anyway, so you might as well give it a shot. Also, make it a good point to talk to anyone with healing spells. You can have them heal you right there. Talking to party members is also how you give them equipment, so remember that.
-That's all the tutorialing for now. Go back to the first floor with the Access point (the green thing that's on all the floors) and we can go back to the dorms now. Running around Tartarus tires humans out. Remember that when the Tired status pops up: You won't do so good during battle then. Plus, it's a nice way of letting you know when dungeon time is overwith. Go back home already.
4/21: We can finally, FINALLY walk around the school by ourselves. Sheesh. Although, as soon we leave, we're treated to the nice sight of Akihiko being swarmed by fangirls...and him not caring. How oblivious. Anyway, he wants you and Junpei to stop by the Police Station (...in a MALL. Huh. Is it a Police Station or a Police Box? OR IS HE A MALL COP?). Might as well, right?
-We arrive in the Mall, where a lot of the stores had their names translated in the English version, apparently. Huh. Anyway, we head into the police station, where we meet Paul Blart, Mall Security Officer Kurosawa. Why? Well, this is where you get your weapons and armor. I'm going to let that sink in for a few minutes. No. Really. I want you to go off somewhere, make a sandwich, maybe go to the bathroom, I don't really care. I just want you to think about that fact for a bit. And then come back and keep reading. ...Okay? All right.
A cop. Is selling swords, axes, bows, knives, and eventually guns. To minors. Okay. And don't tell me that that's not illegal or anything, because I know it is. This type of stuff? Yeah. Law and Order said it was. :| [...slow. clapping. goes here. Wonderful job, sir.] ...Well. Whatever. I did get 5,000 yen out of all this (lol Fifty dollars. What kind of weapons can you even buy with that much nowadays?)
-Anyway, I didn't buy anything yet, so we can wander around town. I wanna raise my courage, so I decided to waste 1500 yen and see a movie. Fifteen dollars! You can buy a movie for fifteen dollars...although it is three movies in a row, so I probably shouldn't complain. ...Not like you see anything anyway. ...Where was I? Oh! Right.
-Dorm. Watch as Yukari texts the shit out of that phone. You are a texting machine, my dear. Anyway. I'm going to go to the Mall again and try the Arcade, because I am a bum. You can actually DO stuff in the arcade this time. And I want to work on his Courage for now, since a Timid Minato is a Sad Minato. Let's play the scary game! Which is 3,000 (???!!!) yen. Arcade games shouldn't cost that much...
-Minato goes back home around Midnight. Should we study? Well sure, why not. He IS a student. Although I'm noticing that he may be tired all the time because he's not going to bed when he should (this isn't including the days with Tartarus runs). Get home at Midnight and...how long does it take to study? Two hours, maybe three if you're sucking that day? So that's like 3-ish in the morning when he goes to bed if he's on a bad subject. Then he'll probably have to get up at around 7AM if classes start at 8 and...um. Okay. I'll shut up now it's just...no wonder he sleeps in class. :|
4/22: School stuff again. We get to see a Morning Assembly and Mitsuru gives a speech, introduced by her Lesbian fangirl. [No really, he does have a point. Look at the sprite again. I think it's the same girl too :O] And then I kinda spaced out when she was talking as I listened to her voice. Aaaaaa-
-And you're forced into an S.Link. An S.Link Tutorial, if you will. It goes through Kenji's introduction, and in the time I've interacted with him (up to Rank 2), he's mentioned Yukari about four times already, yet insists that he is uninterested. Yeah okay. Also, it's interesting to note that Minato's line of thought to hang out with Kenji is that he may be a potential Social Link. Really. I wonder if that's his only motivation for getting friends at first. Something to think about. Anyway, let's go hoooooome.
-And then I made my status great (o yeah, so awesome) and went Dungeon Crawling again. I'd like to try getting up to a floor that has a midboss fight on it, that way I can teleport back down and fight it the next time. For this session, it's Floor 5. Shouldn't be that tough. I also got Apsaras! Keep her and Orpheus as long as possible, since they do Cadenza. :)
4/23: Huuu, school. Afterwards, if you're tired or sick, go to the WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIZAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRD'S Nurse's office to raise your Courage. Just. Just trust me. Also, you can now join the Sports Clubs today. I chose swimming you bastards so, hmmmyes. Introduced to Kaz and Yuko. Oh, and just so you guys know, you have the join the club eventually because of a bad case of The Plot later on (Ms. Toriumi forces you to) so I figured I might as well get it over with.
-Nightiiiiiime and I'm being irresponsible and going to Karaoke BEFORE studying. I am such a wild and crazy teen. Miraculously, I'm still awake enough to study.
4/24: Hung out with Kenji. Raised some more stats. Rinse, repeat. Get used to this pattern, since there's going to be long Plot Droughts throughout most of the Iwatodai area for the rest of this month.
4/25: School on a Saturday, lol. Anyway, this is when you can get the Hierophant Social Link. Love that old couple. Anyway, enter, then go check out the tree at Gekkoukan, then come back. They become Minato's friends because he was so kind to them. Awww. :'D
-Makin' my status great and heading to Tartar Sauce. This is where I saved and quit.
That's pretty much it, although I'd like to say a few things about stats:
Academics: This is the hardest to raise, seriously. Study whenever you get the chance, mainly along with raising other stats, staying up in class, etc. Although I find it kind of weird that eventually it caps. Huh.
Charm: A weird, slippery thing to raise. This goes up when...you answer questions correctly and you do really well on exams. So being a giant nerd makes you socially acceptable in Japan. Good news, Andi! [Oh fuck you.] Oh, and some food items raise different stats. The main one for Charm is...coffee. Yes. I laughed for awhile when I heard that one!
Courage: What I'm working on now. Raising it actually kinda sorta makes sense. Eating at what's basically McDonald's, drinking strange things that a guy who probably smells like patchouli, weed, and B.O. concocts, and singing in front of strangers can all raise Courage. Good to know.
EDIIIIIIIIIIIT: I'd like to point out that with most of the people I've talked to, they keep mentioning how popular Yukari is. Now...I'm sorry, but I don't really see examples of this in game, you know? I mean yeah, she texts her friends in the evening a lot, and she's in Archery, but we just don't see her with her other friends, now do we? I'm not really saying Yukari's not popular, I just want to see examples, you know? That's true for a lot of the stuff about the characters, it's just that it's easy to use Yukari because she's such an obvious example. Like...people can say Mitsuru's very smart, but that's easier to observe, I guess (exam grades, how she talks, her reading all the time) Or how later apparently Fuuka becomes less shy. That's great! Please show me examples of this in game, okay?
It would be really nice, just saying.
And that's...pretty much it. Thanks for reading, and thank you Andi for being the best editor. I'm sure I'll have more fun with this game. :'D
Later.
~Toast