Part 3: 04/06/09 - 04/09/09: The Butterfly Effect

What if...

Soul Phrase

Soul Phrase



What if one thing were to change? Just one detail... what would that affect?

End



What if we found a way to play on a difficulty higher than Hard?



Well, we'd lose the ability to watch animated cutscenes for a start. That's kind of disappointing, but understandable really.



Yuri Lowenthal would be (mostly) gone and instead replaced with Laura Bailey.

I am completely okay with that happening.



The contract would include a clause that may or may not have been there before. It's only spelt out this time.



The only available "official" name would be from The Weird Masquerade stage play.

...Lady Protagonist gets immediately ignored by Atlus for some bizarre reason and it's the worst decision ever.



At least we can "navigate" our room. The PSP isn't exactly the most potent machine so we don't get to actually move around beyond a floating cursor.



Getting to actually check out everything in our room is red herring though. We can use the bed, the calendar and technically the mirror. We'll see what's in here for real in the future.



But there is unique content in here and so...

Time





This is my favorite part... when it feels like you're gliding over the sea.
Our stop is Port Island Station at the end of the line. From there, we walk.



Oh, look, you can see it now!



Welcome to Gekkoukan High! You're gonna love it here!

Well, I'll be the judge of that thanks.



So, the whole no actual movement thing applies across the board. It might be disappointing but it's an improvement in some respects.



Plus we have quick travel here. That helps a bunch later on, for sure.

There's a couple new things at the school to check out, so let's do just that.



Well, she sure wasn't here before.

Eh, whatever.
......



There's even something new in the store, huh? It's not really anything exciting right now but it's something alright.



...Oh hey, she's new as well!

But I was just in one down the hall...
...Was that just another classroom?



The random gossip this time isn't some kid asking you if Yukari has a girlfriend. Rather, it's a couple folks talking about you.



And, of course, for clear and obvious reasons Junpei's scene is fairly different now too.





Who are you?
Me?



I transferred here when I was in 8th grade.
I know how tough it is bein' the new kid...
So I thought I'd check up on you, make sure you weren't freaking out on your first day.



Did you ever think you might be bothering someone?
What? But I was just bein' friendly.
If you say so.
Anyway, some coincidence that we'd be in the same homeroom, huh?
I'm glad to have a friend.
A friend? Oh... you mean me.
Yeah, I... I'm glad we ended up in the same class, too.
Um, hello? Did you forget I'm in this class too? C'mon, lemme in on the fun!
By the way, do you guys know each other? I heard you two came to school together this morning.



Ugh... Could you just cut it out? I hate dealing with rumors like that.
I mean, I'm used to it, but she just got here, you know? Don't you feel bad, spreading rumors like that?
...Well, I've gotta go take care of some archery team stuff. Don't try anything funny, you got that, Junpei?



Well, just to clear something up, I seriously didn't come over here to hit on you or anything.
If you ever have a problem, you can tell your ol' pal Junpei about it!
I'll remember that.
Heh, cool. Well, I'll be seeing you around, then.







This being here is so weird and pointless. It's too early to be meaningful.

Girls can join too, so why not do it if you're interested?
You'd be joining as a new member, though, so you won't be able to apply for a little while.

> You made small talk with Junpei while walking back...



A lot of scenes are identical, save for pronoun changes. That's why I'm glossing over so much here.



This guy's hanging out in the alley alone now, for system limitation reasons.



...Though this kind of takes a lot of the sting out of this scene.

The Poem For Everyone's Soul



But I'll make sure you two are properly introduced. Another time, perhaps.

There's no Elizabeth in the Velvet Room here, this time around. Just Igor and no one else...

Time



In times like these, it's best to sleep during class!
You ever notice how sometimes taking a nap in class makes you feel more refreshed than sleeping at home?
Don't sleep in class.
Whaaat? Why do you have to be all serious?
That feeling of being completely recharged is awesome... But I'm screwed later since I didn't hear the lecture!
Oh, but we have classic literature today... That means we're stuck with Mr. Nasty ol' Ekoda...

And we do, and you knew that already. The question in Portable is the same as in FES.



A Way of Life



Y'know, this is different. Makoto hasn't been here yet.



A lot of Gekkoukan students come here after school.
There's a karaoke box and a CD shop. Oh, and a really great cafe, too!
There's also a nightclub, but that's kinda not for us yet.

> The Paulownia Mall is crowded with students on their way back from school...

Iwatodai Dorm



It might be nice to read a book by moonlight once in a while.

Unusually, Kotone gets to actually hang out at the dorm on the 9th. How strange.



Gonna definitely take advantage of that, though!

Their main purpose is to send the school reports about daily life here in the dorm.



It'd be great to have somebody like that doing stuff for us, don't you think?
You're right.
I mean, I'm not a good cook, and Mitsuru-senpai just doesn't do things like that...
You know, if you're handy around the kitchen, I bet you could really do something with this place!



Today's TV segment is one of the times the game sort of decides to acknowledge that Persona 1 and 2 exist!

Trish herself is a fairy who is absurdly greedy and totally has a money fetish who was in Persona 1 as well as both Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment who runs the healing springs and associated junk. Here, she runs a talkshow.

Today's subject is a very dependable-looking 20-year-old woman.



...Next is news. Pain, pain, go away!



Her guest today is Yukino Mayuzumi who was a playable character in Persona 1('s opening sections and the Snow Queen route) and in Innocent Sin. She was originally a tomboy criminal, basically, before a teacher at St. Hermelin helped her out. In Persona 2 she turns up as a photographer who assists Maya, the deuteragonist of Innocent Sin and protagonist of Eternal Punishment. Yukino's main Arcana was the Empress and her default Persona in both games was the Roman Goddess, Vesta. She IS in Eternal Punishment but just as a (really cool) NPC.



Skipping ahead now to the middle of the Dark Hour, rather than hand us a sword this time, Yukari gives us a naginata.



Out of all the things to include actual animation of as part of a scene, they went with Arcana Magician climbing up onto the ceiling.



Yukari gets to try and do something cool here, and there is a way that this is done as a cutscene as well...

I. Arcana Magician



Just make it run through the combat engine instead. That works.

Master of Shadow



Here goes...
*pant*



This time around, Yukari doesn't even get to come close to doing anything.



Rather than dick around with melee attacks, Magician just chucks a fireball and sends Yukari flying. Welp.



Still leaves the gun lying at Kotone's feet at least.

Per... so...



...na.



I have one (real) complaint about this...



And it's not really related to this not looking as cool.



Though it doesn't, even if the Magician still gets obliterated with no input on our part.

End



And it's right here. This was the perfect opportunity to go for something interesting and different, but instead just "Orpheus but he's got longer hair and is wearing gold"? I understand the logic behind it, sure, but it's really just kinda dull. It also sort of doesn't work because there aren't really all that many folks with cross-gender Persona to begin with, because it has Implications (Wild Card stuff is inherently... different).



But, whatever. That's just my own personal complaint and not one that I see get floated much ever. Let's beat up some Cowardly Maya again!

I. The Magician ~ Cowardly Maya (Portable)

Wiping All Out



The actual fight itself is unchanged, really.



Still only have Bash as our sole skill...



Still a very comfortable one-shot, doing roughly the same amount of damage as it did on Hard in FES for that matter.



Even take basically the same amount from its attacks too.

I'm beginning to question if Maniac is in fact harder than Hard, or if it's just FES hard with more easier difficulties added. That's really kinda disappointing.

After The Battle



But maybe not quite as disappointing as this.



Portable is just straight up easier in general compared to earlier versions of the game. Even discounting secret not-secret difficulty level shenanigans, it gives more EXP from the word go for some reason too. And, yes, this IS on Maniac. Why would you doubt me?



Add to that a new mechanic designed to make things more streamlined, convenient and easy and we have a bad sign for difficulty down the road in this alternative Journey.



But I think for now we should return to the Main timeline and follow it along until we reach our next real divergence...