Part 106: 01/07/10 - 01/10/10: Adamah The Earth Below (Intermission)

January brings with it our first genuinely completely free days. Since we've maxed out every link we can do on off-days (that aren't Sundays), we have nothing to do today!

Living With Determination -Iwatodai Dorm-



At least we get to see Lisa on the TV again. There's no one from Persona 1 or 2 with a birthday in January, so Trish's segment won't be coming back again unfortunately.

Today's Cantonese word is "Hoisamuro"! Punch the air and say, "Hoisamuro!"



That's all for this week! Back to more cult-related news!

Since today is free for whatever, I'm just gonna use it for a cheap stat boost at the arcade because fuck it, why not.



And then we're gonna do something more important and take Koromaru out for a walk.

Joy





I'm actually looking forward to it. Everything seems so different now...
If you wouldn't mind, perhaps we could walk home together after classes tomorrow?
I'd like to see the town with you, Makoto-san...

Boy, that sure sounds important.

> You spoke with Aigis for a while.



Hm? You're hungry? Well...
I will give you a small snack when we return. Just a little one, okay?



Going back to school on a Friday seems incredibly weird, all things considered. I dunno, it just feels off to me.

Memories of the School



In the off-chance that you're just not talking to anyone, ever, this might be the first time you can get confirmation of their being a cult. The posters and stuff made it obvious, yeah, but they're not acknowledged for all of December so...

Listening Student: Hey, don't call it that if you don't know anything about it. The Fall is coming; it's already decided.
Gossiping Student: Oh... Well, if it's already decided, then it can't be helped. By the way, about the homework for second period...

> The first bell has rung.

That they're so casual about The Fall seems weird, but considering to normal people that's just a dumb cult thing it makes more sense.



No more booze... Oh, you guys are underage. Wow, I feel sorry for you.
Well! Let's get right down to business. It's a new year, so we'll start with the basics.
It's a simple concept, but students often get it wrong. I'm talking about the apostrophe.
Okay, Makoto.



It's wrong.
That's absolutely right.
"It's" is a contraction of "it is".
"Its" is a possessive word. You could say "its tail" or "its temperature", but not "its wrong".
There's another pair of words that are commonly confused...
"They're" and "their" have the same pronunciation, but they're not interchangable, so watch out.
Now, open your textbooks.

If you really want to hate English pronunciation and homophones, then I recommend trying to read The Chaos Poem. It's something special, that's for sure.



Could you come with me for a sec?
Okay.
Let's go to the rooftop.

Silence



It's almost Coming of Age Day, ya know.
I used to just think of it as a day off...
But now, I wonder if I'm even gonna live long enough to celebrate it...
You worry too much.
*laugh* Yeah, I guess you're right.
It's been pretty weird around here lately...



Senpai said it's because there are too many Shadow victims and the memory revision can't keep up.



Oh, and have you heard about that doomsday cult?

Really wanna make sure you know that there's definitely a cult around. Two unmissable mentions of it today, huh.

They've been running around town telling everyone they see that the end of the world is coming...
Man, we need to do something, and quick.
I agree.
Yeah, I guess they can somehow sense what's going to happen.



They haven't done anything yet, but I know they've gotta be planning something.
And we need to take care of them, too.



*laugh* I never would've imagined that happening last spring.
But then again, I never thought it would come to this.
Ya know, I don't think it's completely hit me yet...
It's just all so hard to believe...
But, that doesn't mean we should just sit around and wait for it to happen.



That thing was inside you for ten years, and you harnessed its power and made it your own...
I'm glad I met you.
It's embarrassing to say it, but... that's really how I feel.



Of course

Friends to the end, ain't we my friend? We kinda blend together. Coffee and cream: boy, what a team! You'll never find two other guys, compatible as steak and fries...

Memories of the School



I'm going to ask her out! Don't worry, I know she'll say yes! I mean, she was the one following me around in the first place! I'm going to make her mine!

Since we're back to school now, we can head right on back to the roof and see that these two are back here.



I hope he's not going to ask me out...

It's surprisingly mundane, all things considered. Not even considering using the impending Fall as a shite excuse, which is a nice thing to see really.



Anyway, we'll head back to the classroom and speak with Aigis. She did ask last night after all.

It's been a long time since I first came to school... My outlook on many things has changed...
But I'm not sure these changes are for the best...
...Makoto-san, do you have any plans after school lets out?
If it's all right with you... I would like to walk home with you.
Okay.
I'm glad to hear that...
Oh, but there is one place I would like to visit before returning to the dorm.
...Shall we go?

Tranquility



So, this scene was a new addition for FES. The entire conversation up to this wasn't even in the original vanilla release, either.

Before, I couldn't understand the benefits of coming to these places called "shrines."
But lately, that has changed...
This is also where we met Koromaru-san last summer...



Now I can understand his reasons for doing that.
What drives people isn't necessarily facts, but feelings...
He knew for a fact that his master had died, but his feelings of wanting to be with him made him stay...
It's the same for me.



Subconsciously, I was following my feelings rather than the available data.
I was so confused at the time that I didn't notice it, but to tell the truth...



......

> You sense faint affection from Aigis.

The Power of the Heart



> A mysterious voice rings in your head...



The biggest change for The Journey in FES is that it adds a new Link. As you might remember from forever ago, Edogawa gave an explanation of the Major Arcana in what he erroneously called the Thoth deck. I alluded to it then, but Aeon is what replaces Judgement in the actual Thoth deck.



We even already have an Aeon persona, by the way. You may, or may not, have noticed in a boss fight at some point that we have Uriel in our stock. Uriel was in Vanilla, as a level 54 Tower Persona oddly, but here he got upped a bunch to the first Aeon Persona at level 63. There's only 5 Aeon persona total, including the rank 10 unlock, so I'm glad to already not have to worry about it.

And, yes, this is the real last Social Link now.

Tranquility



I talked about "what drives people"...
But of course, Koromaru-san and myself aren't "people."
*chuckle* I'm sorry.
......

> Aigis looks somewhat lonely.

> You decided to go back to the dorm.

Living With Determination -Iwatodai Dorm-



Well, I wouldn't say that. Doomsday cults aren't really THAT common.



Can you think of any effective ways to counter them?
Eliminate the cult.
...I would prefer not to do that.
Eliminating the cult should only be our last resort.

Why would you want to keep the death cult that's getting people hyped up for The Fall?!



I thought more people would oppose it.
But, it's like a fire drawing moths to its flame.



They have no clue that this may be the last third term ever.
Isn't it weird that we're the only ones who know about this?



...but I was wrong.
All our classmates are talking about the end of the world now.
*sigh* They have no idea what's really going on.



Some people are fully devoted to it.
We have to do something about Nyx...



She wasn't trying to convince us to join it, though.
But I heard that a lot of teachers at the high school are trying to convince their students to join it.



Newscaster: Due to the epidemic, the parents are unable to visit their relatives, and...

It's pretty conspicuous how that's everyone but Junpei, huh? Don't worry, since you likely noticed that Koromaru's not there either...



'Scos they're both up on the second floor.

We better find them, before they make more trouble for us.
Why don't we let Koromaru sniff them out?
Woof...?

> Koromaru tilted his head.

The Voice Someone Calls



Ah, what the hell, it's a short climb so we'll squeeze some more Tartarus in now. Much like with part of Harabah, this is just a nothing climb really...

tartarus_0d06



Well, mostly. We did manage to pick up a special new gun for Aigis that I will definitely give her once we get back downstairs.



Really not much else of note until floor 224. That's when Fuuka manages to find the next boss. Disappointing return to the normal trend there, really.



But, hey, we get another Judgement rank at that point too.



But that's it. Because there's no new Shadows at this point, it was just pure luck that determined getting the Brigid's Flame. Well, we're at the boss floor already, so we'll take a brief detour as per usual.



We'll give Aigis her sweet new gun, while we're at it. Over 300 Attack, a decent Accuracy and it has a fixed added effect for good measure. It always gives Aigis +3 to St/Ma/En/Ag/Lu which is pretty nice, all things considered.

Poem For Everyone's Soul (Reincarnation) / Blues of the Soul



Somehow I managed to get the missing Platinum Medal. I'm shocked too.

That means you've defeted each of the rare, medal-bearing Shadows.
I have the perfect reward for you...
A special glove...
It promises to be as entertaining as it is effective.
Please accept your reward.



Akihiko's joke weapon. It's exactly the same as the rest of 'em and thus completely fucking useless at this point. Thanks, Elizabeth.

Plus side: there's only 8 requests left in total and they all have decent rewards. Two in particular are extra special, but we'll get to them when we get to them.



Also Makoto is level 68 now. That means he can make Cybele (she's okay) and more importantly Abaddon. Abaddon isn't super-great or anything, but we want him here because of his Heart item, The Tome of the Void. He gets it at level 74 (so one level after fusion!) and it grants really early access to an otherwise unique-to-one-Persona passive ability called Unshaken Will.

Unshaken Will is Persona 3's Null Ailment skill. Kind of. Persona 3 is weird because it has ailment elements, but this never really comes up or matters because they're almost all Mind elemental. The only ones that aren't are Poison, Shock and Freeze (but Shock and Freeze are so niche and rare that no one cares). If you get the chance to see Unshaken Will's help text, it does clarify that it's protection from "mental ailments" but the Heart Item claims all ailments period. This is a bit misleading because it's just Null Mind instead.

Don't worry, that's less complex than it seems. Persona 3's just being wacky is all. Let's do something that's just as simple as it seems and beat up some snakes.

Lovers Carnal Snake x3 (Portable)

Master of Tartarus / Danger Zone



Nah, these snakes aren't powerful at all.



They're also really boringly simple, honestly. If you have anyone that's immune (or better) to Fire, they cast Fire Break. There's 3 of them. Junpei and Koromaru are guaranteed to be Fire immune at this point and, by the way, Abaddon nulls Fire too. There goes their entire first round.



There's other stuff they can do afterwards, but they're easy to lock down in the most uninteresting ways possible. Got any buffs up? Dekaja'd. They can cast Dekunda too, but that's rarer.



If there's nothing else that catches their attention as a priority, they'll just go for like an Agidyne or Maragidyne usually.



Sometimes they'll shake things up and try to cast Mudoon... or Mamudo... but that's less likely.



They can also buff too. Tetrakarn's the only one I got them to use over like 4 different runs, though, and that was after critting all 3 at once with Myriad Arrows. They can also cast Tarukaja or Rakukaja, but not Suku. Only single-target stuff, though.

But, well, that's it really. They CAN cast Life/Spirit Drain too but really who cares? Oh no, a fixed 35HP/20SP.



1600 HP/SP, 46 Strength, 57 Magic, 36 Endurance, 33 Agility and 45 Luck. All very ho hum. Tetrakarn was obviously because they're susceptible to all 3 Phys elements, sure. But their elemental resistances are odd because they're Fire, Elec and Wind. Notably not Ice for whatever reason. If you've got it, you could give Mitsuru the Blazing Flame (from Surt) and she'll run roughshod over these guys.

End

tartarus_0d06



3 bosses left, and so far each one has given an odd rank for the link. Something's obviously gonna change for that because it's impossible for that pattern to keep up the entire time.



2 Eggs this time is what we get from the loot just past the Snakes. Sure, why not, I guess.



Don't worry, next time we go to Tartarus it'll be more substantial. And involve something worth our time more than the Carnal Snakes and Noble Seekers.

Memories of the City



Today's a super-short day with no school scenes of any kind. Before we go do something else, we'll take a trip to the Antiques Store and make Akihiko a real new pair of gloves. Cybele gives us our sixth unique weapon, and it's a classic pairing at this point of "elemental damage and appropriate boost" for good measure. Its accuracy is a bit bleh, but the attack power is a good boost for Aki at least.



That queued up ready to collect on Monday, we'll go hang out with Mitsuru.

Joy



Do you remember when I said I was hesitant to meet with you like this...?
...Well, could you just pretend you never heard that?



And...
I should confirm my decision.

> There's a melancholy tone to Mitsuru's voice...

...Hey, Yuki.



Or, is that being selfish?
Let's do it!
...Oh, I'm glad to hear that.
Let's visit all the restaurants you introduced me to, in order.
I can go anywhere now... as long as you're with me.



...Thank you, Yuki.
Let's make some memories that will last forever.

> You understand how Mitsuru feels.

> Your relationship is stronger now.





Mitsuru's really good at just ending her link scenes immediately after the rank up, huh.

Living With Determination -Iwatodai Dorm-



But, it's weird... I was pissin' my pants all last month.
But, since I decided that I was gonna fight, I'm not scared anymore.
...Hey, let's go to Tartarus, man. We gotta do what we can do, right?

We just went, dude. We're not going back today.



Akihiko-san and Mitsuru-san are both gonna ace it.
They try to hide it, but they study all the time.

"Hiding" their study habits sure isn't a thing that's true at all. Especially for Mitsuru.



Newscaster: Going into the month, safety-related companies are seeing large gains. The apocolyptic thinking that's spreading among the populace is said to be a major factor...

Of course TV stuff is just about people profiting monetarily off The Fall. It was pretty inevitable, really.



And so we don't end on that note, I'm glad we've got time for another day.



Yeah, it's Coming of Age Day.
Like I said, I'm just hoping I can make it to my 20th birthday.



Yes, Akihiko and I will be taking it. I believe it's on the 16th and 17th.
It's only held during the day...
...so we'll be back in plenty of time to go to Tartarus.

Only Junpei and Mitsuru have something new to say, and even then Mitsuru's thing is just repurposed from Junpei's last night.





I'm pretty glad and relieved that Phoenix Ranger Featherman R manages to be appropriately nonsense for a tokusatsu show, even now.

Memories of the City



But, anyway, it's Sunday so that means we're off to see Akinari!

There's something important I want to tell you...
I must warn you, though. It's a little depressing...
Okay.
Thank you...

Living With Determination (Reincarnation)



I finished my story and wanted to show it to you...

> Akinari wears a calm smile.

As you know, I was having a lot of trouble with the ending... but I finally figured it out.
Since the alligator ate his friend the bird, he cried and cried for a very long time.



His tears became a beautiful lake, around which grew beautiful flowers and a tree with delicious fruit.
The other animals in the forest came there often to relax...



The end...

Honestly, it's not what Akinari intends at all but it's really easy to read this as a message about your legacy in the things you leave behind.

That's the ending I decided on.
...Even though the alligator did not find meaning in his life, the residents of the forest did.
They just didn't realize it...



It's really what others think of my life or what I was able to do for them.
So... for me, or you, or anyone... the meaning of our lives is something that we make but don't see.



I don't know if that made sense, but... ...Do you kind of get what I'm saying?
Yeah, I understand.
I'm glad...
This is the notebook... I wrote my story in. It's all I have to leave behind.
I want you to have something... since you shared my last moments.





Thank you for everything...
...Coming to see me, talking... even discussing the meaning of life...
I... I can be glad that I was born...

> You can understand Akinari's kindness.

> Your relationship is stronger now!

The Path Is Open



> A mysterious voice rings in your head...







Living With Determination (Reincarnation)



In a perfectly timed moment, we gained access to Asura for if Makoto ever hits level 85 (no). Asura's pretty okay, but most noteworthy is that Unshaken Will just-so-happens to be his unique skill! He even starts with it innate, for good measure.



Maybe... some day...
I hope...
...we meet again.



> Akinari is gone.

> You gripped his notebook tightly and decided to head back to the dorm.

So, uh... Akinari was already dead. Probably not the entire time, but it's technically possible I guess. That sure makes this the most conclusive link ending possible at least.