Part 8: 04/19/09 - 04/30/09: The Butterfly Effect

April is now over, so it's time to once again see what happens in an alternative timeline...



A weird detail to change, but Kotone doesn't wake up from the Magician stuff until the 19th. You probably wouldn't normally notice or care that this IS different, though (Makoto woke up on the 17th).



In a weird bit of streamlining, Junpei also joins SEES on a different day; the 21st here as opposed to the 19th before.



And we then IMMEDIATELY go to Tartarus for the tutorial. During the forced entry of the Velvet Room at this point...

The Poem For Everyone's Soul



Tell me... When you think of this person, what do you see?
Is it a man?
I see... Then let's bring him out for a proper introduction.



So, we have a choice of Attendant here. Still no return of the classics, like Belladonna or Nameless though. Theo is pretty great and it's a crime that the only way we know this route technically happened is that he turns up in Persona Q.

Anyway, here he's voiced by Travis Willingham. Who, in completely random trivia that you probably already know, is married to Laura Bailey.

And now we'll just skip ahead to after the tutorial is done, because we don't needta see that twice.



One thing I appreciate is that this game stole the rank up graphical style from Persona 4. It's not quite as cool as Persona 5's but it's a bit more streamlined and I appreciate that it's here.

A Way of Life



One of the weirder changes is that Be Blue V doesn't sell accessories now. It's not a big deal and it won't even matter really, but it sure threw me off at first.



Mercifully, Kurosawa sells them at his totally legitimate arms dealer second job. The nebulous "connections" aside, the only way I see this really working is if he's selling us stuff out of the evidence locker or what have you.



First day of free time doesn't have much for anyone to do, so we'll spend that at the movies too. Next day, however...

After School





I know someplace that's really good! It'll be my treat! C'mon, let's go!
Sweet, let's go!
Alright, now you're talkin'.



I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to be surprised by this.

> It's crowded, but luckily you were able to get in without much waiting.



That sounds good.
Well... I'm sure it'll be better than you're expecting.

> After a few moments, the waiter brings two ramen bowls to you.

> The fragrant smell rising from the bowls makes your stomach growl...

C'mon, try it.

> You take a bite...

> The distinct taste of the soup blends well with the thick noodles...



I've never had anything like this.
Haha! Good, right? Well then, I'm digging in too. Chow time!
Ahh, hot hot hot...
Man, this is great!

> Although Junpei eats noisily, he seems to be enjoying his ramen...

Hey... Do you feel okay now?



Thanks...
Huh? Oh, um... No need to thank me...
I had some problems myself when I transferred here, too.



I was wondering if you weren't accustomed to school or whatever...
Then again, I think you'll do just fine.

> Junpei seems embarrassed and laughs...

> You can sense Junpei's thoughtfulness towards you...

The Power of the Heart







I love that Junpei is the character that represents the Junpei Social Link. I dunno, it's just perfect in its simplicity.

After School



Stop smirking like that.
Aww... I can't help it.
Oh, but I don't drag love into my work.
Then again, I can't guarantee that I won't fall for somebody, mwahaha!

> You and Junpei chatted for a while, then headed back.

So, yeah, this is a pretty significant difference. New S.Links! You can probably guess some of the others at this point (if you don't already know them).




Also we're going to Tartarus immediately. Not so much for the money (no, Kotone's money problems come LATER because Maniac's only point of difficulty is economic inflation) but because this is the best chance for a while.

The Voice Someone Calls



So, uh, we'll be glossing over most of the actual Tartarus trip here. This is a big deal though; I forget its here a bunch, but it makes the Terminal Points kind of irrelevant for their primary purpose. This can even take you to floors like, say, floor 6 which is just a random floor that you normally can't warp to. I appreciate it but I also dislike it.

I'unno, I'm kind of weirdly fickle like that.



Also, Mitsuru gives us all this shit. Decent healing items, SP recovery, items that let you warp out of Tartarus/guaranteed escape from randoms and... Cadenza. Yeah, so, Fusion Spells here are just items that you can use. This is both better and much, much worse than what vanilla/FES do.



Oh, uh, Skill Cards! Right. They're a thing backported from 4 as well that originated here, actually! (at least in this particular way) Get a Persona up to a specific level and gain the listed card; it just teaches one of your Persona the listed skill. Some are way, WAY better than others, yes...



Also, uh, the EXP scaling is way, way different here. I'd call it "fixed" but it feels a bit too much in the other direction now. This is on the upper end for the first few floors but the lower end is like 9 so...



And this is with the 1 of Wands. Jeez. Haven't even gotten to the Venus Eagles yet!



Nekomata is still Nekomata, but we need to get her to level 11 for her card. We won't; it takes a ton of grinding even in the best case scenario. Provoke is not good enough for that.



Also on floor 6, we find this. It, uh. I reset at this point to NOT get this. Because getting this here is ridiculous.

Anyway, Kotone and co EASILY get to the barrier Mitsuru mentioned so we'll just split the timestream here and come back to that later...

Time



So, sports teams! Tennis is cool and good and I really like tennis.



The only alternative is volleyball and that is ALSO cool and good. Hrm. This is tricky.

Well, let's think... we're doing Kendo in the other timeline, so...

Joy





She's Kotone Shiomi from class 2-F. Everybody be nice to her, okay?
Nice to meet you all!



> This club seems to have a rather friendly atmosphere.

> At the very least it seems that you're welcome here...

Um, who was the leader for the juniors?



Ohey, it's... uh... that girl. You know the one! Yeah, her!

Oh, good. I'll leave the rest to you. I don't really know what I'm supposed to do here anyway. *giggle*
...All right.

> Ms. Kanou left...



Tanned: Haaa! That sounds exactly like her. She's too old to try to act cute like that.
...C'mon, let's get back to practice!



I'm in charge of the juniors in the club, so don't hesitate to ask me anything.



Man, these days are different. That's nice and all but it's one of the many things that means I need a completely different schedule for this...

Thanks.
Well then, we're gonna concentrate on doing basic exercises today, so come on and join in.
Just keep up as much as you can.



I keep telling you all that the fundamentals are important! Let's start off with some running.

Club Members: Alright...

Kotone-san, you stand in this line.
If you start getting worn out, just keep your mind focused and you'll be able to pull through.
I'll be all right!
Ahaha, you sound promising.



> Rio seems to be taking her role in the club seriously...

The Power of the Heart





Joy



Club Members: One, two...

> After running laps, you went through a series of muscle exercises...

> Then you diligently went through basic drills in serving and receiving.

> You decided to go back to the dorm after practice ended.



The Hierophant S.Link is started and plays out completely identical to before, so we'll just skip over it for now.



But this? This is important. Also different again, dammit.

So, what does this mean in practice?



Kotone comes back tomorrow and it gets to rank 2. This didn't happen before because Sunday is the closed day for Makoto, and he went to the movies instead. (We'll see the actual scene for this later, don't worry.)

Time



So, let's completely mess up time itself for a moment...

Wanna go somewhere?
Hmm... okay. I wasn't doing anything today, anyway. Alright, let's go.

> You stopped somewhere on the way home with Yukari...

Joy



Still haven't come here outside of these sorts of scenes. Hmm.

U-Um, well...
There's... something I need to say to you.
What is it?
Um... You probably might not remember, but...
Um... When you woke up in the hospital...



You know how I said all those things to you right after you woke up?
Like, "you're the same as me," and "you're alone," and stuff about your parents...



I mean, I lost my dad, but in your case it's both your parents...
And even though things may seem the same, people react to them differently...
But I ignored how you might've felt and forced my own opinions onto you.
I've been worrying all this time that I might've said some unfair things to you that day.
...And I want to properly apologize for it. I'm sorry.



You might not like it, since it's teh fact that we're both missing parents...
Still, I've never had anyone who could understand it around me before...
It's different for everyone else at school. They have both their parents at home...
They can complain about how they'll get yelled at if they come home late...
I... When I hear stuff like that, I feel jealous.
But I hate that feeling that way, so I hide it... And because I can't tell anyone that, I feel distant.
I felt lonely.



...Yiked! Sorry! I'm being selfish again, I know.
But, the fact that you're part of our group now makes me feel a lot better.



Haha, I'm just going around in circles with this pity party, aren't I?
But... That's how I really feel.

> Yukari confided in you.

> You feel as if you've gotten a little closer to Yukari...

The Power of the Heart





So, Yukari is not unique to this route. Getting the S.Link this early, however, is. For the "main" run, we'll need to wait several more in-game months before we can even attempt to start it. As a result of that, the initial scene for it (at minimum) is significantly different. Hence why we broke time to do this one now.

Joy



> ...You decide to go back to the dorm.

Iwatodai Dorm



So, Junpei doesn't give us ISO and instead considers about playing it himself. I guess (in his head) girls just don't play games or MMOs or something??



Next school day, rather than waiting 'til evening to tell us about sidequests Theo opts to do it in the afternoon. This matters. This matters a lot!



The sidequests available are almost identical to before, but we don't have one to perform a Cadenza. Makes sense, since it's just an item here.

Naturally, to accomodate the skill cards a few rewards are changed around. Oh and this one gives us armor instead of Revival Beads.



What makes this important though is that we can accept the quest to show Theo around Paulownia Mall and this option appears immediately. Well, no time like the present!

A Date With Theo
definitely watch this if you can/want to/whatever

Joy



...Indeed, it's exactly as I imagined.

> Despite these words, Theo's eyes are clearly glimmering with excitement...

Are you excited to be here?



> Theo is mumbling...

......? What is that over there?

> Theo is pointing to the water fountain.



......
The dwellers of this world must get thirsty easily.
I don't think that's it.
......
I-I know its true purpose, of course.



Oh Theo, you poor boy.

That's not it.
......!
......
...It was only my small joke.
......
So... Wh-What is it actually for?
A bit of scenery...?
...I see.

> Theo seems distraught for some reason...

Hm...? And what, pray tell, is this facility here?

> Theo headed towards the police station.

These photographs...



I see... So the concept of subjugation requests is not unknown here.
We don't kill them.
Ah? In that case, you mus have to capture them alive... Only a skilled hunter could accomplish it.

> Theo is nodding triumphantly...

If there are hunters of such talent in this world as well, I may want to make a few requests of my own...



Hm...? What is that?



Could this be "club" of rumor...?
You know about it?
Yes, I heard no end of it...



...Though this marks my first time seeing it in person.
Well then, let us venture in...
...It's closed...!?
This can't be...

> Theo is in utter shock...

It seems... I have no choice but to turn back...

> Theo is slightly tearing up.

> ...You decide to show him the arcade.

Ar...cade...?



Theo, please. I have so much to teach you...

Hmm.. A-All right, let us investigate.



"Bird controlling game"...?
The things inside this case... Those are birds?
They look to my eye more like stuffed animals made of cloth...



> Theo is lost in thought...

Ah... Excuse me. I note another aquatic pool over here.

> Theo headed towards the fountain in the corner of Paulownia Mall...



> He seems restless for some reason...

> He's looking around as well...

> ...He abruptly stuck his hand into the water.

It's 8 degrees Celsius.
You can tell?
Of course I can.





...This world has its charms.
I... would relish the chance to visit it again sometime.
Thank you very much for today.

> You returned to the Velvet Room with Theo.

End

We'll also clear out almost all the remaining quests here, since we can. There's only two we can't, because Grave Beetles don't drop a shell if we don't have the quest active and the other one left can ONLY be done on May 2nd.



Oh and going out with Theo doesn't use time. How nice! So, let's hang out with Junpei as well.

After School





I've been looking forward to this coming out!

> Junpei's eyes are lit up...

C'mon, let's go in!
Ooh, are you looking forward to it too? Alright, let's get some good seats!



> You and Junpei watched the movie "Double-Barreled Justice" together.

> Seeing the action scenes on the big screen was overwhelming...

> ...The story was surprisingly complex.



It was... kinda not what I was expecting.

> Junpei cocks his head...

The villain wasn't all that evil. It kinda killed it for me when he started talking about his tragic past...
It isn't cool if you have to beat somebody who didn't want to be a bad guy.
Bad guys should be evil all the way to the core. It's just more satisfying.

> Junpei shrugs...

Oh, you still got time, right? Let's grab something to eat on the way back.



> You came here with Junpei.

I sort of figured it'd be a bit longer 'til we came here. Guess not, huh? Thanks Junpei.

Oh, crap... The guys at school might say some stuff if they see us together.



Plus, the famous Yuka-tan and Mitsuru-senpai live in the same dorm, too.
There are a lot of dudes who envy me because of that...
I'm... sorry?
Yeah, it's your fault!





I mean, you're not all excited and asking me who's saying all this stuff.
...I mean, of curse you aren't. No girl would be that desperate.

> Junpei nods triumphantly.

Also, I know you've probably got your hands full with your own stuff now.
Actually, the same goes for me, too...

> Junpei's expression suddenly turns serious...







Want more fries? You don't mind sharing with me, right?

> You and Junpei chatted for a while before heading back.