Part 48: 08/19/09 - 08/21/09: Yabbashah The Dry Land (Part Three)

Alright, so now we know what's going on at this point, I guess.



And the first person to ask us on a movie date this time is... Keisuke...?

Uhh, who's Keisuke?

hang on ive got my notes here somewhere, uhhh...

...

...

...

Oh! The Fortune kid! Wow, we haven't seen him at all in forever. Uh, oops?

They're showing a nature documentary marathon.
It looks really interesting... Maybe we'll learn something new.
Sure.

Oh, yeah, no, nature documentaries. That sounds super interesting...

Oh, great! Then, I'll see you later!

> Keisuke seems excited.

When The Moon's Reaching Out Stars / Way of Life







For what it's worth, this is inexplicably +4 Charm. Yeaaaaah.

Well, we should get going.

> After saying goodbye to Keisuke, you decided to go back to the dorm.

Iwatodai Dorm



I'm sweatin' like a pig.
It's all in your head...
The heat will only affect you if you allow it to.
......
...Of course, there are limits to that theory.
Ugh...

No one in here has anything new to say, and the only real difference is that Ken's shut himself up in his bedroom again. Kid's more of a shut-in than Makoto.



We've got a few highlights of the game...

At least the TV's updated which is... something, I guess?



Ah well, at least we have our 6 Academics to get for the day.



...And because I'm an idiot, I just now noticed that the message from studying and the message from the arcade are different.



And it makes the studying one, ironically, gramatically incorrect. Genuinely didn't noticed that before now, since I don't really look at them at all.

Silence



Anyway, today starts with... a look at what Junpei's doing...?

Shoot, it's already the 20th. Summer break's almost over...
...Too bad there's nothin' to do.
*sigh* This place is so boring.



Boy, it sure is convenient that she wasn't at the military base before, otherwise this might get awkward.

Troubled



And what do you know? This is her first line of dialogue since the first appearance of Strega way back when. And even then, she said all of one thing.

I can't see. ...Move.
Uh... Sorry.



Uh, nothing. ...My bad.



Okay, Junpei, buddy. It's 2009; gothic lolita fashion isn't that uncommon.

And, what the hell is she drawing...?
Man, I'll never understand art.
Oh, well...

So, yeah, that's that scene I guess. Our movie hangout today is with...

Iwatodai Dorm



...no one. We don't get any calls today, which is the entire reason I bothered to go with Kenji in the first place, yes.



I never see that guy doing any homework...



Junpei-kun said he's going to do his all at once. How are you planning to finish yours, Makoto-kun?
Little by little.
Good, that's the easiest way to do it.
I've been doing my homework every day, so I'm almost done with it.

I think/hope that's implicitly what we've been doing whenever we study at night. I'unno, it makes sense to me at least.



However, it is weak against light.
So, please be careful of Hama skills.

Fortunately, as far as weaknesses go, instant death isn't that big of a deal overall. Most Shadows don't use 'em, and even then the ones that do, uh, don't get turns so...



Apathy Syndrome cases are increasing.
We must do something about this...

We, uh, can't do anything about it for another 2 weeks.



Huh, and today's TV is more Lisa. Always a nice surprise whenever that one happens.

"Fanna" means, "I don't want to!" When you're getting up for work, that's "Fanna!"
That's all for this week! Back to the news!

When The Moon's Reaching Out Stars / Way of Life



Huh, she's still hanging out here doing her art thing. And she doesn't yell at us, which is... unexpected. Junpei's nowhere to be found, though.



I lost it.
That excuse won't work. The teacher will just give you a new assignment and make you stay after school.
Then you can't come to Tartarus!

That's... two completely unrelated thoughts, Yukari. That's not how either of those things work.



Oh, and this NPC story is also over in the strip mall now. Sure, okay.

I'm gonna stop following him. This is so disappointing!
The last thing I need is another guy like him.



What should I do? I can't just keep doing nothing!
Maybe I should go ahead and talk to her, y'know?

Iwatodai Dorm



So, when I rewound time a bit to do the thing we're obviously going to do, I remembered to go check the console and... I guess the game's just given up on informing us of any new recordings. Great, thanks.

i will probably consistently forget this is a problem

Self-Reflection

Silence



At least this time, I remembered at a semi-reasonable moment I guess.



I'm sorry, I can't help but notice that this was recorded on the 13th of August. And Akihiko's calendar already has August crossed off. What.

Is my way with girls really no better than Junpei's...?
How could they treat me the same as his lame pickup lines...?



Is... Akihiko reading some kind of self-help book...? That's, uh, pretty unexected.

Well... I can't think of many examples, but I can do that much at least...
"Careful: Making others laugh and being laughed at are two entirely different things!"
......
"When people speak to you, do you try to respond with pure logic and reason?"



I... wow. Reminder, FES was released in 2007 and it just slammed modern day internet rationals. That owns.

......
Tch... You gotta admit, they've got a point...!
"Try testing yourself by speaking as if you're asking a female friend or co-worker to your favorite store."

..."Favorite store?"

"The two most important things are to smile, and have a good sense of humor!"
......



I'm going to the Beef Bowl place, wanna come with...?
Humor... Humor...



I think it's pretty telling, and a great piece of character building and informing, that the first joke that comes to mind is a shitty pun.

And also that Akihiko looks pained to even try and say alone, never mind to anyone else.

Nrrrgh...!



That's it! Screw this!



> The recording ends here...

End

There sure doesn't seem to much of a pattern to the order we're getting to see these snippets, huh? Aside from the first one being the control room itself, they've all been folks' bedrooms which is kinda creepy... though it's also something we've known since the very beginning was possible so, uh.



Let's just play this dying MMO some more.

Joy



> Maya isn't in the area.

> A mysterious light engulfs Tatsuya.



> A gray-colored sky stretches as far as the eye can see.

> A barren wasteland lies before Tatsuya.

> Maya is staring into the distance.



...i should apologize
Oh, no worries.
no tatsuya, if u keep being nice i won't ever move fwd =S

> Maya seems determined.

remember how i said i would send our chat log to the admins before? >_>



Oh good, she's learned to not send a log full of self-incriminating evidence. I guess that's growth...?

Is that why you're sorry?
kinda, but... i meant sumthing else too ._.

> Maya seems nervous.

> Maya is kicking the ground.



Yeah, most people wouldn't when they realise they admitted repeatedly to being a teacher, wanting to fuck one of their students, being more than willing to explicitly abuse their position of power to do s--



...Goddammit, Toriumi Maya.

u shouldn't have had to put up w/ me doin that. im sry m(_ _)m
sum teacher i am, rite? =/
i kno it'll look like i'm chickening out an stuff, but...



You have no idea just how wrong that is, do you.

This is sudden...
...its kind of a bad habit, but i'm sure this is the rite thing ._.

> Maya seems upset.

since nobody can see my face on teh intarweb, i could be mean... =(



shyeah rite. =P i never would've figured this out w/out ur help
tatsuya taught me to be thoughtful even when im not around ppl =)

> Maya really trusts you.

> Your relationship is stronger now!

The Path is Open









Joy



Arahabaki got a bit of a buff here. In the original, he was level 54 (yeaaaah), but now they're level 60! ...Regardless of which version, though, you'll probably want to gain at least 1 level over what the fusion bonus gives them. For reasons.



i drew something in the sand for u
check the ground once i log off, k? ^^;
its kinda embarrassing, but i worked real hard on it
if u upload a screenie to ur cellphone, u can keep it always!
...



remember, let's positive thinking!
...
gg, tatsu. thx 4 everything

> Maya's player logged off.



> A message is written in the sand.



> You took a screen cap and emailed it to your phone.



> You have obtained Evidence.

> You stored the memories of Maya deep within your heart and logged off.



Added bonus: we can leave the house on Sundays for real now. And we don't lose evenings (when we do an S.Link) any more. Hurray!



There's a sports movie marathon at the strip mall in lwatodai today.
Maybe we'll learn a new way to inspire the team. Whaddya think? Wanna go?
Sure.
Alright, it's a date! See ya soon.

No, Yuko, it's n... nevermind.

When The Moon's Reaching Out Stars / Way of Life







+4 Courage that we didn't even need. Thanks, Yuko.

Let's head home since it's getting late.

> After saying goodbye to Yuko, you decide to go back to the dorm.

Iwatodai Dorm



You look really bored, Junpei...
What's wrong with that?
It takes a lot of maturity to fully appreciate boredom.
Yeah, you're REAL mature...
Look who's talkin', Yuka-tan!
You're the one who's afraid of ghosts...
Sh-Shut up, Stupei!

Junpei almost had a point there. He was so close. So close!



You know those "gothic lolitas," right?
Well, I saw one drawing all this weird shit in a notebook.
She seemed like she was living in a different world, dude.



Actually, my dog ate it.
That excuse won't work on your teachers. They'll just give you more and make you stay after school to do it.
Then you won't have any time to go to Tartarus.

Yukari, you have seen the teachers at your school right? Pretty sure it'd work on most of them. Might even make Edogawa go on a long spiel about the magic properties of dogs or whatever.

...Also that's still not how either of those things work.



This is most likely because Koromaru-san is fast himself.
Taking him for a walk can be quite tiring.



Fortunately, for Aigis apparently, he doesn't want a walk tonight. It's something of a subtle character bit, but I like how Aigis has been standing by Koromaru more often than not so far.



It was just lying around so I took a look at it.
Those clothes featured seem to be very expensive. You must need a lot of money to be a female.

"Woman," Ken. The noun is "woman." You can't use an adjective as a noun.

Unless you're wearing one of a small select group of terrible hats, I mean.



He's talking nonsense again.
Something about gothic lolitas and art...

Anyway, we could totally do hang out with Mutatsu today, but I think we've got something better to do. Koromaru might not want to go for a simple, everyday walk...

The Voice Someone Calls



But we're off to Tartarus, so he'll get a workout anyway.



Just gotta get past that pesky "barrier" thing, first.

tartarus_0d03



I'd be more surprised if they were static, Fuuka. Jeez.



...Wow, we immediately find the red Shadow this time, huh? Welp, let's see what this has in store for us then.

Mass Destruction / Wiping All Out



Champion Knights are pretty underwhelming, honestly. If you've brought Yukari, then you can decimate them immediately. If you've brought a thing with Wind at all, you can decimate them immediately. It's pretty disappointing, really. They might survive an AOA, but if so they'll have like 10HP left so...



That's 1400 exp. Without a Wands card. Fucking hell.

Also, hey, a Request item for Elizabeth. We want 4 of those before we're done here, which... sure thing.



And since we fought a thing, let's keep this Shadow train rolling. They're pretty dang weak, because they are Maya, but they can be potentially annoying with that Diarama. I say "potentially" because it's predicated on them getting turns. Which, spoilers, they don't.



Also, hey, new part of Tartarus means we can get rank 5 cards now. Cups heal more, Swords give outdated equipment, Wands straight up give double EXP for a fight...



Coins are inexplicably not as shit as the previous cards imply. Rather than being ~5000-5500, it's 7000-9500. Still not exactly great, but it's learning. At last.



Justice Swords are pretty simple, and also pretty easy to deal with. They're one of the more surprisingly straightforward Shadows in a while, really. Hit it with Wind and it crumples and dies, yawn.



Ice Ravens are...n't. They resist Ice, sure, but like that's it? They use multi-target Dark and Wind, and single-target Strike. What. Doesn't even resist Dark for some reason?!



At some point during all this, Makoto (and thus Fuuka) hit level 32.

This ability will only work after you've analyzed an enemy.
Be sure you analyze the enemy so the battle would be easier.

> Fuuka can now use Third Eye!

It's, uh, honestly it just tells you if you're about to smack into something you shouldn't. It's not super useful or anything, since it only comes up for Makoto and once you've analyzed something once, it does it immediately if you just press the button again. It's a useful(ish) shortcut, but so are things like: memory, notes, the Analyze screen.



Mind Dice sure live up to their name, I guess. They use two mind-affecting ailments and can either single or multi-target both which is... something, I guess. Unfortunately, they are dice so they die as soon as you look at 'em funny.

Oh, right, and Wild Drives hang out here too but they're pretty par for the course at this point and we can destroy 'em without much hassle.



Anyway, all that done let's give Fuuka's BGM function a try for the first time. Kinda been ignoring that, huh? I suppose we'll go through 'em in order over time, so for now Track 01 it is!

The Snow Queen
okay no but seriously this is rad and cool and good and its a persona 1 remix and my second favourite version of this track



On the 91st floor, we get some upgraded shoes that are... legs? Oh, I get it. This is an upgrade for Aigis.



Just in case it's not obvious, which it usually is, the description tells you outright that it's for Aigis too. With this, she has over 1/3rd the Evasion of Koromaru! Good job, Aigis.



Still on the 91st floor, we get another equipment upgrade. This one isn't for Aigis though.



It's a pretty decent upgrade for whoever gets it, and I ended up giving it to Mitsuru for... some reason that I don't really remember right now.



On the 92nd floor, Fuuka lets us know that, yes, there is a boss but she doesn't know where it is yet. Thanks, helpful.



Nothing else of note there, but on the 93rd floor we get an almost real amount of money. This is like a quarter of a Persona that we're 10 levels too high to be really using any more!

Okay, but in all seriousness: if you're not playing on Hard, this is kind of a lot. Money troubles don't really exist otherwise, because the Compendium isn't more extortionate than Tanaka sure seems to be. I knew this'd happen though, and it's not really THAT big of a deal overall. It just means I need to spend some time occasionally grabbing some extra cash here and there, no big deal.



Also on the 93rd floor, we find an axe that is actually an axe!



On the one hand, it's a pretty potent weapon and gives +2 Strength for good measure. On the other hand, it's not a Spear so whatever.



On floor 95, Fuuka lets us know where the boss is. I think she first found it on 93, but I generally skip past her interstitial dialogue pretty fast (because its mostly filler and irrelevant).



On the 96th floor, we find another equipment upgrade purely for Aigis. I guess they thought you'd do the previous bit entirely before she joined? Which is really weird and doesn't make much sense...



It's not much of an upgrade, really, but it lets her be better at eating damage. I guess it counts enough to warrant using, sure.



Nothing else of interest happens until the 98th floor, where the requisite fight is. So we'll just take a trip back downstairs to fully heal because Makoto has like 5SP left. I am really good at resource management, I promise.

The Poem For Everyone's Soul



I'm sure you're wondering why I requested this item.
That's not what matters, though. What's important is that you defeated the Champion Knight.
I am thrilled to see you getting stronger...
Please accept your reward.



Terrible non-explanation aside, this is a pretty nice upgrade for Aigis.



The SP increase is pretty much irrelevant, though, since she's a Physical attacker in every way and her only SP skills are buffs which... don't really use all that much.



While we're here, we might as well make some new Personae. Like Eligor. We finally got to make goddamn Eligor! He hits level 34 via fusion, which is enough for him to learn his final skill... that he can learn via fusion. He can get to level 36 with maxed Tower, but his next skill after this is at level 37. It's really fucking annoying how P3 does that for almost everything.

Anyway, Cruel Attack is really REALLY good and lives up to its name. It has a base power of 225 and a 99% Accuracy. It's pretty decent Pierce damage, right? Well... sure, but it deals a bonus 1.5x damage to any Downed enemy. Yeeesh. Combine this thing with Power Charge and you can really hurt things that don't nullify(+) Pierce. It's not the best Pierce attack, but there's only like 3 that outclass it. One of which is a special skill anyway. Yikes.



Anyway, boss fight hello.

Magician Magical Magus x3 / (Portable)
i dont say this often, but it'd be quicker to just watch either video this time yeesh

Master of Tartarus / Danger Zone



Oh, that's adorable. You think they're a threat!



So, the Magical Magus are... probably the easiest Tartarus boss? Maybe? I AM including the Intrepid Knight in that, and remember: he'll beat himself for you.

The Magus here are weak to Fire, and Eligor learns Maragion at Lv32. Granted he has a bad Magic stat (still higher than their Endurance (17) though!) and they also resist Fire, but...



They have 700HP. Yikes.



They drain Ice, which is a bit of a telling clue.



Unfortunately for them, their Agility is balls (15) and Koromaru exists. And has Agilao. Sure, his Magic isn't great either but it doesn't need to be.



We still do more than half their max HP in a single AOA, and so they die without ever getting a turn. Yes, really.

End

But, fine, let's say for the sake of argument that they get turns (which you have to go out of your way to let them do).



Of course, they can Mind Charge. It'd be weirder and more surprising if they couldn't at this point.



What a surprise, they have Bufudyne. They also have 35 Magic so this is probably gonna hur--



Uh, oops. King Frost exists so we're virtually invincible here.



They also have Mabufula for that mildly inconvenient multi-target damage.



Makarakarn seems an odd choice, but they DO resist Slash, Strike and Pierce so Magic is the only real way to deal with 'em.

They could also cast Ice Break if they ever remember, but I autoed the fight to the point where I nearly won by accident and they never did it once (which, uh, is pretty telling since killing 1 takes an average of 14 basic hits...) so, I guess they really want this to be an unlosable fight. Thanks for being completely terrible, Magical Magi!



Don't even give that great EXP for a boss fight any more (that's 184 EXP for each Magus, yeesh), but at least the Sapphires might help? Maybe?



And the item they were guarding is an Egg. I'll put it on the pile with the others. You'd think Makoto was prepping for Easter or something, with all the eggs we have now.

Anyway, that's all we'll get done in Tartarus for now. We'll be back later to clear out the next bit of the sector, though. We have a lot more movies to go see before then!