Part 108: Bonus Boss: A Date With Margaret

The Bonus Boss: A Date With Margaret

So, if you've met all the requirements to fight the bonus boss I laid out last time, late in the game you'll enter the Velvet Room and Margaret will give you a brief story about her sister Elizabeth and challenge you to a duel. So for those not familiar with Persona 3, here's an executive summary of the information we get:

Elizabeth had Margaret's role in The Journey and The Answer. She leaves the Velvet Room after The Answer. Margaret knows why but won't say, and she thinks the reason was pretty foolish. She intends to track her down and bring her back, but first wants to fight us for reasons that will totally make sense later. Maybe.

Anyway, Margaret will wait for us at the end of Heaven. This means we need to beat the bonus shadow there before we can fight her (you'd be CRAZY not to want the Chakra Ring for this fight anyway). You'll notice the atmosphere is hugely different when you approach the final heaven if you've done everything right. And when you approach the platform, things'll start…

VIDEO- "Showdown With Margaret"

Click Here For the Ultimate Battle!

I spoke to my master after you left.
It seems Elizabeth also requested a duel from our last guest.
Though there's no way of knowing whether the boy took her up on the offer.
*chuckle * I called my sister foolish, but it seems we are kin indeed.
Are you sure you're ready…?
I'm ready.
As the one who rules over power… I will fight with the utmost deference to you.
Show me what lies beyond a mere exchange of words.



Now, we begin. Don't disappoint me!
Whoa… She's beautiful…
Hey, Senpai? Who is she? How do you know-
…What the!? She's floating!?
H-Her power level is insane! What is she!?
Don't tell me you're going to fight her!?

Bonus Boss: Margaret
Margaret is a very special sort of fight. The first thing to keep in mind is that her attack pattern is 100% predictable. You'll always know what attack she's going to use next turn, which is important. This is because she hits HARD. If she's not Debilitated she is capable of doing absolutely massive amounts of damage to your party. The second thing to keep in mind is that you CANNOT use an Omnipotent Orb on anyone during this fight. If you do she'll chain cast 9999 damage Megidoloans until you die. The third thing is that she'll do one of those every 50 turns no matter what, so you probably want to give your MC an accessory with Endure like the Partial Award just in case. She can be Downed by a crit, and unless you've got something like Vile Assault you might as well just take the All Out because you'll never Dizzy her. She's got 15000 HP which is important to keep in the back of your mind.

So, two things control what attack Margaret will use. The first is her health, the second is an internal counter of turns taken. While her health is above 80%, she'll just Attack people. It's damaging for an Attack but not much to worry about. When she gets to 80%, things get a bit more exciting, because that's when she'll start her Persona Cycle. This is the cycle:

Turn 1:

Siegfried: Drains Fire. Skills: Ragnarok, Meltdown (Mega Fire to party)

Turn 2:

Loki: Drains Ice. Skills: Niflheim, Cocytus Pain (Mega Ice to party)

Turn 3:

Okuninushi: Drains Elec. Skills: Thunder Reign, Narukami (Mega Elec to party)

Turn 4:

Cu Chulainn: Drains Wind. Skills: Panta Rhei, Divine Wind (Mega Wind to party)

Turn 5:

Oberon: Nulls Everything. Skill: Mind Charge

Turn 6:

Ardha: Resists Everything. Skill: Megidoloan

And then she'll cycle back to Turn 1. What she'll do is use the group mega damage spells each turn unless you have someone weak to the element she's currently using, at which point she'll use the single target mega damage spell on them THEN use the group one with her One More. Obviously you need to Guard when she Mind Charges because the Megidoloan WILL kill you. After a bit Margaret will talk some shit.



I'll tell you now, discard any concern you may have for me.

The main threat in this phase is forgetting what she's going to do next. If you brought Teddie or Yukiko be very careful to Guard them through their weakness when she's getting ready to use it, or she'll waste their Endure and as we'll see later having that can be very important later. Anyway, things get more exciting at 50%.



My apologies, but I'm even more eager to defeat you now!

And then she'll switch to Lucifer and cast Morning Star on you. This is like Megidoloan but nastier, pretty much. It doesn't even matter what elements Lucifer is vulnerable to really, because on her NEXT turn she'll switch to Ardha and cast Diarahan. So now she's back in her 80+% phase, but since she's in Ardha she'll take half damage from everything (even Almighty). One thing to keep in mind is that she'll start back exactly where she was in the sequence once she's below 80% again. Things proceed normally at that point until she reaches about 40% health or so. That's when Margaret stops playing the fuck around with you. Oberon will start casting Power Charge instead of Mind Charge, and she gets a whole new Turn 6. Just think of the worst thing she could do with a Power Charge, then look down.

Turn 6 New

Yoshitsune: Drains Phys. Skill: Hassou Tobi

Yeah she starts using Power Charged Hassou Tobis as her sixth action. Weaker characters like Naoto, Yukiko, or Teddie can die even if they Guard unless she is debilitated and they have rakukaja on. Ideally you have a Trumpeter or Norn that nulls physical in one way or another, because that lets you recast debilitate if you need to on the turn she Power Charges. If you don't, one other option is to 'sacrifice' someone to use an Attack Mirror on Souji. Just keep scraping people up and drag her down as best you can. You'll know you're getting close when you see this:



Now, show me… Show me what lies beyond battles…!

Again, you have 50 turns to kill her before she uses a 9999 megidoloan on the party. If you endure that, you buy yourself another 50 turns. In the improbable situation that you're still fighting her at turn 100, she will mercifully terminate you with another 9999 megidoloan. Take her down, though, and congratulations. You've beaten the hardest enemy in the game.



Before Elizabeth left… she told me this.
A soul slumbers at the ends of the world-that of a young man who devoted himself to becoming a seal…
That soul is risking itself to prevent mankind, who has lost the joy of living, from calling down ultimate destruction…
She told me that she was going to save him from that fate.
To tell the truth, I wondered what sort of nonsense she was speaking. But no… She was serious.
She said if she couldn't do it alone, she would combine her powers with those bonded with that soul to enact a miracle.
Maybe all that she said was the truth… And that was her reason for leaving the Velvet Room…
She must have come to realize what I now understand…
You, a human, won against me, one who rules against power…
You have shown me one's potential.
Those who search for themselves… are "no one" as long as the search continues.
It isn't emptiness, but limitless potential… It means the seeker can choose to be anything he or she wishes.



I had planned to bring her back by force… But I won't interfere with her anymore.
Her wish seems staggering to contemplate… But fortunately, the chains of time are loose for us residents.
Even if there isn't time enough in a single era, and it takes her eons… She will accomplish her mission.
This boy my sister took such a fancy to… *chuckle * I'm somewhat curious as to what kind of human he must be.
Your victory was truly amazing.
And I must thank you, Souji.
Of all the humans I've encountered until now, you shook my soul the most.
This is proof of my reverence… Please accept it.
> Obtained Raden Bookmark!
With that much power and will, you can overcome any obstacle…
Should you ever run up against your limits and feel you cannot overcome your boundaries, you'd be lying to yourself.
Simply recall today's victory.
There's no need to worry.
Even if you should lose everything… your soul will not be isolated.
And if that does happen… Just as Elizabeth did for the other boy, I shall do for you.
Well then… I will return to the Velvet Room and take up my original duties.
Let us meet again.

So yeah, Margaret describes for us what happens after The Answer now. Elizabeth leaves the Velvet Room and teams up with Aigis (and possibly the rest of the P3 crew but definitely Aigis). They set out to save the MC from P3 from his fate of being constantly attacked by Erebus to prevent it reaching Nyx. This is actually in principle possible if you could get rid of Erebus and I expect this to come up again in a later game at this point.