Persona 3 FES Part #129

Part 129: Judecca

Living With Determination -Iwatodai Dorm-

I thought we still had a long way to go, but there are only two left now.

Yeah... we're nearly there.

Now's the time to step it up, guys. Let's hurry forward!

We'll get right to that in a sec. First though, we'll head into the Velvet Room since Elizabeth has something new to say again...

The Poem For Everyone's Soul

Veeeeelveet, my master has a laaarge nooose...

...Ahaha. Forgive the insouciance. You had such a grave look on your face...

Don't you feel at least a little better now?

You cannot expect to overcome an ordeal like this in a single night. Haste makes waste.

Technically, we can only finish this in a single night!

What we really need here is less haste, more speed.

We're up to our penultimate door in the Desert, and it's right next to the stairs again.

Interstice of Time

Sadly we're still in the "areas that aren't Ptolomea" levels of effort, it seems.

Which for Judecca seems a bit disappointing. The final area within Cocytus, the deepest part of Hell in Dante's Inferno, it's named after Judas Iscariot (I'm going to safely presume you know who Judas is)...

So, yeah, Judecca is for traitors to masters and other benefactors. Satan sits within Judecca, half-encased in ice, chewing on Judas, Brutus and Cassius just to really hammer that point home.

Mass Destruction -FES-

It's an incredibly weird thing, but I appreciate greatly how most of the regular Shadows from about the halfway point of the Answer have become significantly more tolerable to fight.

That does have the unfortunate issue of making them kinda boring though...

Of course, that also means they can be pretty dangerous all the same if you can't/don't take advantage of their weaknesses. Eerie Sound with Distress Boost comboing into Deathbound is absolutely terrifying!

If only it would ever get the chance to do that.

Noble Seeker is a weird one. Provoke is a bad idea for it to ever use, because it inflicts Rage and that's just universally better for us.

Mighty Beast is remarkably dull in comparison. It's super straight forward and there's nothing else fancy about it.

Random encounter World Balance! It has a lot of HP and is immune to instant death!

Since it's a random encounter, it doesn't get a Megidola rage if you use Makarakarn/Magic Mirror so that just... kinda wins the fight.

Fierce Cyclops on paper is a bit interesting, but its susceptible to 100% of its moveset and it even has Last Resort for good measure. Still kills the user. Still can't kill anyone else.

I really don't know why this move exists.

Growth Relic is very boringly straight forward. Literally punch it and it dies.

Lustful Snake has Marin Karin and that alone puts it a step above a lot of its peers. Mediarama is outdated and weird though.

Harmony Giant is keeping up the apparent trend of being vulnerable (and even outright weak!) to its own moveset. Megidola gives it an out, I guess.

Haughty Maya (see above) can summon Harmony Giants as assistants if they get a chance. They, uh, shouldn't though.

Daring Gigas has Makarakarn to augment its Phys resist, and has Sexy Dance. I, uh, sure. Sure, okay, the Gigas gets to be one of the stronger things here by default.

Minotaur II is pretty annoying and slow to fight normally, since it is the requisite Giant Bag of Hit Points (along with the World Balance). Since this guy is weak to Curse, that makes this one also very exploitable.

Red Shadow battle here is three of the Phantom Hero. Only has Curse spells and possible Mind Charge Megidola. That's potentially sorta dangerous albiet its low SP pool compared to the Almighty spells absurd costs kinda makes it a non-issue really.

Interstice of Time

Really not much else to the area until we hit the 7th floor and get to right before the boss fight.

We'll do the usual warp out and run right back here to get to the boss fight proper.

Chariot Spastic Turret, Chariot Slaughter Drive x2

Master of Shadow

So, this fight is - on paper - a gigantic pain in the ass. The unfortunately named Turret has 4000 HP and has an absurdly high Strength stat...

Which is why it's primarily a spellcaster.

In particular, it spams the shit out of Agidyne and Maragidyne.

Very, very rarely it does remember to use Vile Assault but that's not at all super common.

Despite its large HP pool, the Turret is honestly kinda flimsy and it doesn't last very long at all.

The Slaughter Drives are a bit more dangerous though, but have an even smaller movepool.

Deathbound is pretty potent on its own at leat, and Torrent Shot gives them a way to punish a single target.

If both Drives die and the Turret gets a chance, it'll just Summon another one. Recommended way to handle this fight is to kill one Drive, then the Turret then the last drive but meh, nah. Just dunk on 'em.

The Turret's weak to Ice, resists all Physical elements and absorbs Fire. It has 70 Strength (despite not using it), 39 Magic (despite using it), 59 Endurance, 24 Agility and 27 Luck.

The Slaughter Drives are weak to Elec, resist all Physical elements and absorb Fire and Ice. They have 50 Strength, 32 Magic, 58 Endurance, 22 Agility, 35 Luck and sometimes they use Last Resort when low on HP. For some reason.

End

Interstice of Time

Pretty okay rewards for this, really. Attack Mirrors aren't too bad and the Precious Egg is definitely worthwhile.

At least this next stretch of Judecca uses a cool older level design. It's basically the only thing noteworthy about it, really.

Mass Destruction -FES-

Angry Table manages to buck the general trend from before and is not vulnerable to all of their own moveset. Makarakarn sorta helps with that, but does nothing about that Slash weakness so it doesn't quite go all the way.

Golden Beetle is pretty standard and doesn't really bring much new to the table. Vicious Strike is very strong at least, though that's not really saying much since it doesn't get to use it.

Fate Seeker almost turns things around and being immune to most spells helps it out there. Weak to Pierce and Expel though so it doesn't quite go far enough.

Silver Dice is absolutely terrifying on paper, between Akasha Arts and Arrow Rain. That it's weak to Instant Death is the silver lining here, though.

Hakurou Musha has a very sensible and clear MO. Power Charge Tempest Slash forever. It's boring but technically effective, I guess. Hindered by being weak to Instant Death though.

Carnal Snake is... so non-threatening compared to a lot of its peers that it's really baffling. It doesn't even have a good ailment effect or anything.

Green Sigil picks up its slack, though, by having Sexy Dance AND Megidola for good measure. Only Elec otherwise, which is a bit limiting for it, but after the last Sigil I'm okay with that.

Power Castle goes for a multi-element approach, at least. Both ST and MT Dynes and Deathbound for good measure. Simple, but effective.

Devious Maya is pretty straight forward, but at least its something that remembered we're in The Answer and brought two Dodge skills. The rest of it isn't all that Devious though, but at least it gets points for effort.

Mythical Gigas is the requisite tedious piece of shit that's a pain in the ass to fight. I appreciate it being strong and not easy to just instantly drop, but it goes too far in the other direction really. Not worth the hassle of dealing with, to be honest.

That just leaves the Red Shadow fight which is against three Loss Giants. They're a little weird to fight, with being immune to 2/3 Phys elements and 1 Magical element. It just goes from Wind and wraps around, so that makes it easy to remember at least!

Interstice of Time

16th floor gives us this yet again.

This feeling...

That figure doesn't feel quite like a normal human, but... well...

......

No... I can't be positive... I'm sorry I can't be more specific....

That Which Comes From The Darkness

Oddly, this time around we see the Shadow guy running off to the side from this angle. I dunno either!

It seems like the Shadow is our only enemy again.

...Incoming!

Empress Conceited Maya

Master of Shadow

The Conceited Maya is... weird and simple. She likes to use first tier elemental spells to proc a Knock Down.

And then follow up with a Cruel Attack. Not Vile Assault, Cruel Attack.

And... that's it. Until she drops to about half health, that's all she does. Fortunately, she's kinda easy to blitz down.

Once she gets to about half health, she summons a couple adds. One at a time, of course, and they compliment her real well.

Jotun of Blood is fairly straightforward with what it likes to do as well, honestly. They also like to aim for weaknesses if they can (though aren't quite as good at it), albeit with Dynes instead of first tier shit.

They also like to use Mudoon as a follow-up, strangely.

And also Megidola for good measure, which is a bit more in line with what you'd expect really.

And with two Jotuns of Blood in place, Conceited Maya switches to a support role and casts Ma-ndas going for full party debuffs.

Conceited Maya has 2000 HP and drains Slash, Strike and Pierce. She has 39 Strength, 39 Magic, 57 Endurance, 54 Agility and 24 Luck.

Jotun of Blood has 1500 HP and nulls Fire, Ice, Wind and Elec. He has 31 Strength, 72 Magic, 29 Endurance, 34 Agility and 37 Luck.

End

Interstice of Time

Item rewards from this fight are pretty great. Precious Egg is a Precious Egg and I'm sure not saying no to a third Soma.

As per usual, the third section of Judecca is identical to the second save for having a new visual design.

So we'll just skip to the 25th floor, and the door at the end.

Silence

Oh, crap...

...Forget it. *sigh*

Oh... sorry. I don't think I can make it today... It'll be crowded anyway.

Female Classmate: Hey, is that your stuff...? Have you even been to your room since we got back?

Huh...? Oh, yeah... you're right.

Female Classmate: I don't believe this! You mean you've been spaced out for hours? Are you sure you're feeling okay?

Oh, no, it's nothing, really.

Female Classmate: Ohh, yeah. I see what you mean. It sucks that we have to be cooped up in this dorm for three years. We should be out and having fun! This year's almost over, too... At this rate, high school will be over in a flash.

......

Female Classmate: Well, let's not set our sights too high. We've just gotta get through this.

I knew I wouldn't find out anything about Dad just by going to class...

I mean, not even the police or the media have found anything new...

It's already been 10 years...

......

I wonder if I should just give up...

In case it wasn't already made sorta clear from other stuff, this makes it pretty apparent that this scene takes place one year before the start of the game proper.

Oh... Yeah, that's me.

Dorm Manager: I'm glad you're here. There's a letter for you. I'm very sorry about this... It actually came in yesterday. But there were so many transfer stamps that I couldn't tell who it was for.

What...!?

B-But that can't be...

Commemorating the opening of the Moonlight Bridge... 10 years ago...!?

Dorm Manager: Um, Takeba-san, wait! I need your signature here! And you forgot your things! These are your things, aren't they? Takeba-san!

Their Own Past

It's not like that...

If we're being forced to look into our pasts... It would've been nice if you could have seen your father.

...I would've like to meet him.

I'm tired of dealing with Shadows. We should hurry and finish this.

......

Yukari. Aren't you... pushing yourself a little too hard?

......

You know how Aigis has... his power?

I'm anxious to get my own sign that I'm actually moving forward.

...I made a promise with him, too.

Yukari...

Now that I've seen my past event, I know for sure.

So that means... On that day we saw, did you...?

Ken-kun's story, Akihiko-senpai's story... Junpei's and Koromaru's too.

Mitsuru-senpai's is the one that makes it the most obvious.

Huh...? I'm not following you here...

We WERE told this after the third scene, though it wasn't super blatant about it. Could understand someone not really noticing or remembering, all things considered.

It fits. Fuuka awakened in front of everyone, and Aigis and Metis could use it from the beginning...

So there's no need to see their memories. That would make the most sense.

But even if that's so, why would we be seeing that here?