Persona 3 FES Part #127

Part 127: Antenora

Living With Determination -Iwatodai Dorm-

What's in the room all the way down the hall on the second floor?

I get the strangest feeling when I stand in front of it. Could it be--

All the way down on the second floor... Do you mean his room?

Hey! The stuff up there is none of your business, Metis!

Would you quit snooping around our dorm and getting into our stuff!?

......

You don't have to yell at me like that...

A-Anyway, the investigation is more important now, isn't it? Let's hurry and get it over with.

So, before we do anything else relating to the Abyss, let's take a quick look upstairs because we sorta haven't looked around much yet.

Not only is the room on the second floor locked, it doesn't even remotely move and it has this strange glow to it.

Eh, probably nothing important. Doubt it'll even come up again.

We'll be going with Yukari and Akihiko as our last 2 this time around. Metis is coming because Metis pretty much always comes. Don't worry, she isn't permanently glued to the party or anything. She's just... kinda super useful most of the time.

Interstice of Time

No new level design this time around, so we'll just take whatever we can get.

Antenora follows on from Caina nicely. In Dante's Inferno, it's the second area within Cocytus and is named after Antenor from the Iliad. It is used for traitors, like Caina, albeit this time its traitors to one's homeland. Antenor gives it his name as he ended up being declared a traitor to Troy after he opened the gates, to allow the Trojan Horse entry. Sort of hard to see that being genuine treachery, but that's just me.

Mass Destruction -FES-

So, new Shadows! Enslaved Beast is kinda annoying, I guess? Considering it has Swift Strike and Tarukaja, it could put up a decent fight still. Dodge Ice makes it theoretically possible for it to maybe get a turn. Maybe.

It being level 40 is extra weird, because the second lowest level in the area is...

Killing Hand is so close to potentially being really scary! If it had Evil Touch or, heaven forbid, Evil Smile instead of Bewilder that Ghastly Wail would be terrifying! As is, its just headscratching.

Black Raven doesn't even have that going for it, really. It's just... kinda here. There's always gotta be a weak Shadow, sure, I get that but this is just really disappointing at this point.

Killer Twins aren't much better either. They're pretty much the same but with the added "bonus" of making themselves easier to kill.

Light Balance knows what it wants to do, at least. Not sure I get its resistances beyod the Expel/Curse immunity, but whatever. Resist Slash is the real peculiar one, though.

Hell Knight nearly makes itself awkward and annoying to fight. Evil Touch is probably meant to give it synergy with the Killing Hand... for some reason... since the Hell Knight is the only shadow that can inflict Fear but, like, that's so niche and improbable that it will never come up.

Killer Drive is honestly kinda boring. Gigantic Fist would hurt, yeah, but its weak to Expel so it sorta really doesn't matter.

Liberating Idol is sorta more interesting by sheer virtue of having potentially annoying ailment shenanigans afoot.

Except weakness with no way around it, so it doesn't get very far. Still, points for effort at Charm/Panic stuff I guess?

So, remember how a Shadow like this appeared in The Journey? And how they were at the very arse end of it? Yeah, that's how little The Answer cares about balancing stuff.

It... doesn't matter because weak to Physical means it never gets to use Tetrakarn anyway, but that's not really the point here.

Minotaur IV is, well, one of those enemies. Big slab of HP, takes a while to kill, not worth the hassle. They seem way more common here than before, though that might just be because we're going through them so quickly.

Red Shadow fight this time is three Affection Relics. Points for no weaknesses, sort of dangerous, Tentarafoo could bait you into hitting that Drain (but won't) and Diarahan makes them take longer.

They do get turns by sheer virtue of no weakness and not being instantly killable. That's something, I guess.

Interstice of Time

So, we've got something to do before we deal with the boss here. Not so much this, but hey at least this shows we can get Evade accessories now. They're easier to get from Shuffle Time though.

No, see the 8th floor here is important. See, like all (normal) floors it has 2 chests on it. Unlike every other floor to date, those chests are always Rare Chests.

...Yes, they're always rare. Just... just go with it, okay?

The 8th floor of Antenora finally gives us some fashion capability!

It has everyone's summer/winter casual clothing, which means there's 11 possible items we can get here. Aigis has no winter outfit, and Koromaru and Metis have nothing available here.

Since its random which two you get, you CAN get duplicates and all. They don't sell for much, but who cares. We'll be putting these to use for sure.

9th floor is a floor of respite, albeit with no humanoid Shadow. Definitely following Caina's lead really well with that.

And that means the 10th floor is our first boss fight of the area!

Chariot Brave Wheel, Justice Judgement Sword, Hermit Ice Raven

Master of Shadow

So, now that we seem to be roughly halfway through The Answer, boss fighs have kicked up a notch. Not necessarily in difficulty, although with a bad team composition I can see this one being harder.

Upgrading Dodge for Evade on their part (except the Ice Raven) is mostly just annoying, though. See, now we're getting fights were EVERY enemy is a unique Shadow. This just makes it more awkward for the AI really.

Anyway, this fight is a bit different in that... we're not really in any danger.

Like, at all. Ever. I know that sounds weird, but all three of these Shadows have weaknesses.

(it also has Panic Boost just to make this a bit more likely to work)

Which means that while they might get the occasional turn to act, they spend more time on their ass than anything else.

It's also pretty obvious what element they each use is and thus you can tell their weaknesses very clearly.

It's still kind of a long fight, but it's never really a challenging one. They CAN try tricky stuff like using the Break spells to pelt you with stuff, and they each get a bit more difficult if left on their own for too long... sorta... but like, they just don't get real turns.

They all have 1200 HP, their respective elemental Amp and Fire/Ice/Elec Break for synergy.

Brave Wheel has 38 Strength, 28 Magic, 35 Endurance, 26 Agility and 22 Luck. It's weak to Ice, resists Slash and Pierce, drains Fire and reflects Strike. This is a pattern for these guys.

Judgement Sword has 49 Strength, 32 Magic, 28 Endurance, 26 Agility and 34 Luck. It's weak to Wind, resists Strike and Pierce, drains Elec and repels Slash.

Ice Raven has 28 Stength, 30 Magic, 29 Endurace, 43 Agility and 26 Luck. It's weak to Fire, resists Slash, Strike and Wind, drains Ice and repels Pierce.

End

Interstice of Time

A decent set of items this time, overall. We could probably buy 'em easily enough from the antique's store, but eh.

Gonna make a quick party change...

And kick out Metis for once! Junpei's taking her place instead, and I'm sure this'll be fine.

Mass Destruction -FES-

To say we're thoroughly in the midgame of The Answer now, the Grieving Tiara stands out some as being inexplicably, bizarrely weak. It's not the worst for that though...

No, the Desirous Maya is. By far. It can't capitalise on Fire/Ice Break itself, and I don't even know why it has Fire Break for that matter. Single Shot is the weakest attack in the whole game at a whopping base power of 28... Desirous Maya what are you even doing?

Dark Eagle's more in line with what we'd expect. Not really that strong either, but at least it's not inexplicably garbage.

Phantom Master is, I guess, a step above that too. Two ailments (albeit single target) and multi-target fire/ice gives decent spread. Repelling Elec is a bit odd with this setup though, huh...

Prime Magus seems to really want to die. It has Rebellion but is a spellcaster, is weak to Fire despite being part of the Magician Arcana and is otherwise just kinda here.

It is a bit more interesting than it looks, though, since it can summon Desirous Mayas. I guess that's something?

Death Seeker's next up and is a bit more interesting just by default really. Evil Smile giving it MT Fear kinda does that, to be fair. Mudoon also arguably makes it a bit more dangerous than normal, but that's not saying much.

Wicket Turret's one of the stronger things here, for sure. Repelling all the Physical elements is a bit nasty, and Vile Assault can be super lethal if it gets to happen.

...Two weaknesses, including Expel, kinda run contrary to that though. At least it tries!

Death Dice is much more straightforward, but its resistances are still very weird. Despite only being about Expel/Curse instant death, it only resists them... instead nulling Fire and repelling Wind? Sure. Sure, okay. Whatever you say.

Regal Mother is kinda unusual, I guess. Gigantic Fist could hurt, and she uses Hamaon and more awkwardly Diarama.

Though weak to Curse means she kinda just dies instantly.

Red Sigil here is, well, the most dangerous enemy in Antenora for sure. Weak to Ice seems to undercut that but Evade Ice! Agidyne gives him good ST damage, especially with Mind Charge, and then he has Deathbound just to really fuck you up.

No, really, look at everything else here. Gale Slash and Heat Wave are what they have to compete with the strongest normal MT Slash skill (Vorpal Blade is the only one stronger and that's so much so that it's unfair). Complete with its 25% crit rate. Fucking hell.

Statis Giant is almost close to Red Sigil but also kinda not really. Evade Slash helps nix that weakness, but nothing for Ice means we just do that instead. Heat Wave can't compete with Deathbound. Matarunda could help give it some real survivability at least, but it needs a chance to use it...

That just leaves the Red Shadow fight, which is five of these tiny adorable Berserk Turrets. They're not really all that strong, oddly, but they are quite tanky (...pun not intended) and so potentially get a turn just by sheer default. Possibly end up using it to get back up, though.

Interstice of Time

Once again, this stretch of Antenora has something special for us. The 15th floor always has two Rare Chests, which in this case give us...

The joke weapons! They're stronger than in the Journey, albeit without any added effects, and that means they're all usable this time. Gonna be doing that for sure.

Anway, on the 19th floor...

That reaction again... Was it in the form of a person...?

What does this mean...? It feels just like a human does...

But there couldn't be anyone here...

......

That Which Comes From The Darkness

But that figure over there... it doesn't seem to have any intention of attacking us.

Anyway, for now, concentrate on the Shadows ahead!

...Here they come!

Priestess Primitive Idol, Priestess Shouting Tiara, Priestess Wrathful Book

Master of Shadow

So, this fight is very similar to the previous one in a lot of ways.

All three have weaknesses, all three have Evade skills, etc. but they each have their own unique niche instead.

Albeit ones that they sure don't really get to use much, because of that whole "weakness" thing.

Generally speaking, the Idol focuses mostly on doing damage albeit via Ice spells.

...Including Mabufudyne, just to really rub it in.

And Megido's there too, just in case it ends up being needed.

The Wrathful Book likes to inflict Rage and use debuffs. Unfortunately, Infuriate means that giving someone the Frenzy Beads is a pretty good idea if you have them.

Y'know, provided they manage to hit.

And since it never really got a turn, the Shouting Tiara apparently has a very small move pool which includes Ice Break (makes sense) and... Media...? I'm really not sure I trust that one, but I can't really confirm or deny it.

Much like the previous fight, there's just no real risk here. It could get annoying and awkward, but it's really not a big deal overall.

Primitive Idol has 28 Strength, 55 Magic (Jesus), 25 Endurance, 26 Agility and 35 Luck. She's weak to Elec, nulls Ice and drains Fire.

Shouting Tiara ha 29 Strength, 41 Magic, 29 Endurance, 32 Agility and 31 Luck. She's weak to Ice, drains Fire and Elec.

Wrathful Book has 29 Strength, 42 Magi, 32 Endurance, 33 Agility and 37 Luck. She's weak to Fire, drains Wind and repels Ice.

All 3 have about 1200HP.

End

Interstice of Time

Rewards here are a bit unusual. The Traesto Gems are pretty much worthless, though we still don't have Escape Route (and probably won't until the very end since Fuuka gets it at level 72 here) so they could have a niche use I guess.

But then we also get a Soma for the first time, which is absurdly good and we'll definitely be saving that for later.

Not really much else to this place, though. There's only a small number of floors left...

In fact, the boss was on the 20th floor and the end is on the 25th. Nothing new or different between the two of course. Let's see what's behind door number 4!

Silence

Stupid old man...

How low do you have to be to get drunk on cooking wine...?

*sigh* Maaan... What am I gonna do...? I got nowhere to go...

Yeah, so this random dog is obviously Koromaru. Sure, why not.

Heheh... Sorry, pooch, I don't have any food for ya.

Y'know... Haven't I seen you around here before...?

Huh...? Oh, hey guys.

Former Classmate: Why the long face? Are you that sad that we're in different Homerooms now?

Still dumb as rocks, huh?

Wait, isn't it way past your dorm curfew? What're you guys doing out so late?

Former Classmate: Oh, we snuck out. When you get to be a junior, you learn the secret exit.

Classmate's Friend: That's not true!
Former Classmate: Heheh, don't let it get to you. That's what you get for going after someone like Yukari Takeba.

Former Classmate: I guess she goes for that kinda dark side of his.

Dark? He seemed like a regular dude to me...

Former Classmate: Someone got a peek at his file when Toriumi left it lying around.

Man, you're so gullible... That stuff only happens in soap operas.

Former Classmate: Hey, I said it was a rumor. C'mon, let's get going! You snooze, no booze!

Booze...? Oh, uh... I think I'm gonna pass.

Former Classmate: Huh? What's the matter? C'mon, why don'tcha live a little--

Junpei's reaction here makes a lot of sense to me. Like, we do know that Junpei's dad is an alcoholic and his line at the start of this scene served as a reminder of that. It was putting it back in the front of your mind, so you can understand his reactions here.

I know I don't give The Answer credit for much but this is genuinely a good job.

Former Classmate: Well, man, looks like I'm the only one you got to console you.
Classmate's Friend: I keep telling you, nothing happened!

*whimper*

Man... Is my life really as bad as it seems now...?

Like some awesome skill that no one else has.

*whimper*

Haha, don't gimme that.

I'm sure someday... we can make some real friends that'll listen to us.

Arf!

Their Own Past

It does seem weird, huh...

Junpei...

Arf!

So, you were the dog from that day!

Arf!

Makes it seem kinda like... destiny.

Arf!

Ahhh, I see. I get it now: the scenes from the past relating to one character that we've seen have all been from shortly before their (off-screen) Awakenings. In the case of Ken, that throughline was real clear and obvious. Akihiko's was said to be that but it seemed kinda arbitrary and this one was just maybe a couple hours earlier.

The only place I could go from there was the convenience store, and that's where I was when the Dark Hour hit...

You were bawling in the dark with that awful expression. Honestly? You looked worse than the Shadows.

W-Well, what was I supposed to do!? That was the scariest damn moment of my life, man!

*chuckle*

But y'know, I had other stuff to deal with, like my old man...

I see...

Even though it's sort of just kinda been made clear that this is the pattern, Metis explains it briefly too. Just in case you didn't figure it out at this point, I guess, which is fair enough since it's not really all that obvious.