Part 9: 4/15: Wild Card, Bitches

Part 9: 4/15: Wild Card, Bitches

Kamoshida’s got us on the ropes. Seems like we only have one option left...

Music: Suspicion



We gotta hurry up and go to that world and beat the shit outta that asshole!
...We’re not beating him up. We’re simply stealing his distorted desires. Can I assume that you’ve made up your minds about this—about how he might suffer a mental shutdown?
...I have. Someone almost died because of him! I don’t give a rat’s ass what happens to him anymore!
And you?



There you have it.
By the way, is gettin’ rid of a Palace hard…? You’ve tried it before, right?
...When did I ever say that?
...Eh? WHAT!? Were you just pretendin’ to know!?




That asshole’s at it again…! So you came all this way to tell us that?
If you’re going to deal with Kamoshida… let me in on it too.



I can’t just sit back and do nothing after what happened to Shiho!
This has nothing to do with you… Don’t butt your head into this…
But it does! Shiho’s my--
I said don’t get in our way!
…..



...That was harsh.
We can’t take her somewhere like that...
I hope that she doesn’t torment herself over this. When it comes down to it, women don’t hesitate.
We just gotta hurry up and deal with Kamoshida. Let’s go already!



Huh? Phantom thieves?
Those who covertly sneak in and stylishly steal Treasure—that is what we become!



That sounds kinda cool! So we just gotta say the school, Kamoshida’s name, and… castle? Then we end up in bizarro world.




True. There’s no point in thinkin’ about it now. We’ll show that effin’ Kamoshida!
Let’s go!



They’re doing something on their phone? A name… School…?




Music: King, Queen, and Slaves (Another Version)





That voice… Sakamoto!? And… are you Hamiru-kun!?
Wh-Wh-Why are you here!?
How should I know!?




Uh-oh, the cat’s making googly eyes.

I see. Perhaps she was dragged in because of that app thing. If multiple people can enter with the person who uses it, it stands to reason it’ll pull anyone nearby.
For real…?
Wait, so THIS is related to Kamoshida!?
Anyways, you gotta leave!
No!
The Shadows are going to find us if you make a scene.
No way! It talked!? Oh my god, it’s a monster cat…!
Monster…?
You better explain what’s going on! I won’t leave until you do!
Looks like we gotta force her. But… how’re we supposed to do that?
Just take her back to where we came in. That’s how it worked last time, right?
O-Oh, yeah. Can you lend me a hand?



We can’t deal with Kamoshida if we don’t!



We’ll explain after everything’s over!




Hey! And just where are you touching!?
Whoa, sorry, I didn’t mean-- ...That’s not important!
You guys seriously-- Ah!?



We’d better be careful from now on when we use that app...
You should’ve checked the tools you used! Why do I—the one who was just watching—know more about it than you two!?
Sh-Shuddup! Geez, Takamaki found out right when we were startin’off… We gotta deal with this fast!
That girl’s name is Ann Takamaki, right? Lady Ann…

Oh jeez. I’m not liking where this is going.



We’re counting on you, Joker!
Joker? That a nickname?
Don’t refer to it in such a lame way. It’s a code name.

It’s cool to have a code name, I guess. It’s not that weird.

What kind of stupid phantom thief would use their real name!? I’m not down for that! And there’s no telling what kind of effect yelling our real names will have on the Palace. It’s just a precaution.
So, why’s he Joker?
Because he’s our trump card when it comes to fighting strength.



Just go with it! You’re Joker!
It ain’t too bad, yeah?
Next up is you, Ryuji. You’ll be… Let’s see… “Thug.”
Are you pickin’ a fight with me!? I’ll choose it myself! Hm… When it comes to me, it’s gotta be this mask. Honestly, I actually kinda like it. What if we named me after this?
Fine… Why not “Skull” then?
Ooh! That sounds awesome! I’m Skull! What do we do about this one’s code name?



How ‘bout “Mona”?
Well, if Joker thinks it’s easier to call me that, then I’ll go with it. All right. From here on out, we’re Joker, Skull, and Mona. We need to be absolutely thorough about using those code names from now on!





We can run faster, but at the risk of making ourselves easier to detect. Simple stuff that’s really only useful for specific moments.



Looks like they don’t know ‘bout this way in yet.
Joker, Skull… Are you ready? Let’s go!



Music: Blood of Villain



“Entertaining” is certainly a word you could use to describe what happened, sure.

However, I can’t allow that trash to ransack my castle! Strengthen the security! Kill them on sight! I’ll reward whoever brings me their heads.



Death to the intruders!



Look at all those soldiers, idiot! It’d be suicide. And I’m sure you don’t want a repeat of last time. Besides, don’t you want him to confess his sins? There’s no point beating him up. We need to steal his materialized desires… The Treasure.
Fiiiine. So, where is it?
It has to be somewhere in the depths of this castle. Let’s infiltrate further in while he’s out here!



Whaddya wanna do? Should we kick its ass?
Hold on… Hmmm… This might be a good opportunity to teach you something… All right, Joker! Are you ready to take it down?
>Let’s go.

Music: Last Surprise



There’s another use for Hold Ups besides simply defeating enemies. Shadows are beings born from people’s hearts, so naturally, they can talk too. In other words, you can communicate with them. Get it? If you talk to them when they’re cornered, they might offer money or items since they don’t want to die. In fact, talking has a better chance of scoring something great, as opposed to just offing them*.

*This isn’t true. Well, it’s not true yet. We don’t have the Confidant abilities that make going for rare items or lots o’ cash possible, so most of what we get from these guys is going to be junk. Keeping in mind that the battle immediately ends after a successful negotiation, and that enemies left undefeated because of this don’t give money or experience, there’s really only one reason we’d want to talk at this point in the game instead of just launching into an All-out Attack. We’ll get to that in a second.

Well then, let’s do the first step: Knock all the enemies down, and do a Hold Up!

Music: Talk



It can’t get worse than this… What’re you going to do with me!?



Huh? So you’ll let me live if I just give you money?
Well, something along those lines… Now let it be money or items. Just cough it up!
But, this happened so suddenly… I actually don’t have anything on me… I-I usually do though, you know!?
W-Wait, what? Oh… This isn’t how I was planning this to go. Uh… Anyway, it can’t be helped if that’s the case. Time for you to go to hell.
W-Wait!
Sorry, but we’re in a hurry.
No, wait up! Can’t we work something out? Don’t kill me, please! Won’t you let me go?



Ugh! Sorry, but that sounded really lame. That was the best one-liner you could come up with? I say cheesy stuff like that all the time too, though. I guess I’m more like you than I thought. Whoa, I feel different! Something’s happening!
What the…!? What’s going on!?



I’m an existence that drifts about in the sea of humanity’s souls… My real name… is “Pixie”! I’m Pixie! From now on, I’ll live on inside your heart!





What was that just now…? What happened!?



I-I have no idea! I wasn’t expecting that either...




Crap, they noticed us!







We can hold multiple Personas, just like in 3 and 4. Having a specific Persona active means gaining that Persona’s respective skills and elemental affinities. We can only switch once per turn, though.



Pixie is strong against Electricity and Blessed and weak against Gun, Ice, and Curse. Stats aren’t great, but all we want is that Zio.



I-Is that the Shadow from earlier!? Don’t tell me… Did you take in the Shadow’s appearance and powers as a Persona!?

Let’s try to get this one on our side.



So that’s yer move? ...Then I guess I’ll talk first. I’ll decide if I’m gonna help you after. I gotta say, you’ve been a pretty inconsiderate host. You oughta show more hospitality. Couldn’t you at least make me a cup of tea or somethin’? Hell, that’d be real polite.




Red veins are bad news, as you might have guessed.

...Hey. Won’t you listen ta my dyin’ request? I wanna have some of yer “hospitality.” What kinda “hospitality” will you show me at the end of my life?




Well, I guess I’ll try to worry more like a young person… while I’m runnin’ away!

And just like that, we’re ejected back into the fight because we failed miserably. In addition to red veins for displeasure, there are also yellow notes for answers Shadows will accept and blue sweatdrops for neutral. Neutral gives items and notes lead to the Shadow joining. A Shadow’s reaction to specific answers is determined by its nature.

From the game’s digital manual:



These are the kinds of answers each personality likes. The real challenge, then, is just figuring out what answer from the selection is “vague” or “kind,” which isn’t always as easy as it sounds.

I should also mention that we can only recruit Shadows that are at or below Maaku’s level, so no recruiting powerful enemies.




He sealed the enemy’s appearance and powers into his mask, and made it his new Persona… I’ve never seen anyone do that before… didn’t even know it was possible!



Of course it is! Only one heart exists per person, so normally a person can only have one Persona! But this… this is incredible! That ability will give us a huge advantage in battle! All right, try to do that even more if the opportunity arises! You better help out too, Skull!
Hell yeah! We’ll hold every last one of ‘em up!



It’s worth noting now that we’re free that Maaku and his Personas level separately and at very different rates. Personas require quite a bit more experience to level, in fact. We can only hold six at the moment, so there’s incentive to get rid of old ones. But that’s not really relevant quite yet.



There’s nothing we can do here right now. Let’s try elsewhere.






In that chest we find a new knife for Maaku. It’s good to upgrade when we can, even if it only affects our melee attack.



We get some new Personas while we’re here, but the real reason I took this picture is because they changed Pyro Jack’s name to Jack-o’-Lantern and I’m not over it.



A safe room. We can discuss our strategy inside. There are a lot of places even I don’t know about in here…

Outside…

Music: Disquiet




I just said the words Sakamoto said, and I ended up--



Huh?



Aaaaaaaah!



Just gettin’ this far’s been a real pain in my ass!
It’s all because you guys provoked Kamoshida, you know. Still… he seems to be awfully on guard...
Anyways, how’re we supposed to steal that Treasure thing?
Don’t be so hasty. First, we’ll need to secure an infiltration route.
A what…?
A path to the Treasure’s location. But honestly, I think we’ll need a little more manpower in order to accomplish this. At the very least, one more person would be nice…

Gee, I wonder who.

Hey, you say you don’t have your memories and all, but somehow you still know about that kinda stuff? Do you think this thing’s really got amnesia?




I should really stop making the cat sad.

You sure talk big, but what if it turns out you’re just some stray cat in the end?
That can’t be...



Princess…?



It doesn’t matter now. We must take her back to King Kamoshida!
Who’s this princess they’re talkin’ about…?



Morgana leaves.

And yet another question goes unanswered… Stuff like the castle and that navigation app are mysterious… but Morgana’s got ‘em both beat.



Crap, sorry! What was I again? ...Oh yeah, Skull!



This is bad!
That was fast!
Your friend… Lady Ann! She’s been taken by Shadows...!
Wait, what? We sent her home earlier.
If Lady Ann does indeed have the app, it could be possible.
Oh no… Don’t tell me it got put on hers just like mine…!? Dammit! We let her out for her own safety, and she just came back in by herself…!



We need to hurry and rescue her! Follow me! I’ll guide you!





On our way back through the dining room, we see Morgana’s All-out Attack finisher. It’s one of the better ones.



Along the way, Ryuji learns Lunge, a light Physical strike.




Look, I’ll apologize for touching the armor without permission!
She totally doesn’t get what’s goin’ on!
Let’s hurry! We have to save her!




Like in previous games, they’ll warn you before big fights, which is always nice.

OK, let’s go!

Music: Desire



So, this is the intruder.




Who’s that...? More importantly, what is this place!? Why’s the school turned into something like this!?
I can’t believe you mistook my Ann for someone like her. Are you afraid?
What is that outfit…? Have you lost your mind?
I do as I please here. After all, this is my castle… The world of my desires.
What the--!? Wait… Is this some red-light district!?
What a lively slave.
This isn’t funny! Enough of the bullshit, Kamoshida!




In that case… she should be executed.



Are you kidding me…?



Is that what he thinks of the girls on the volleyball team…!?




Just when I was about to start enjoying myself...
What’s the deal with this guy…!?
You little…!
...How many times are you gonna come back?

Kamoshida turns to Ann.

I bet you’re just like those thieves. You came because you’re pissed at me, huh? But, ah… I forget that chick’s name, but it’s your fault she jumped, you know.
Huh…?



...Holy shit. That’s… okay, we need to repave this dude’s face.

You bastard!

A guard approaches Ann.

…..!
No!



Dammit…!
Just sit back and enjoy the dismantlement show.
No! Don’t!



*giggle* You’re such a perv!
H-Hey, what’re we gonna do!? Takamaki!



That’s more like it. You should’ve looked like this from the start.
Shiho… I’m so sorry...



Huh…? …You’re right. Letting this piece of shit toy with me… What was I thinking…!?
It’s like I always say. Slaves should just behave and--
...Shut up! I’ve had enough of this… You’ve pissed me off, you son of a bitch!

Ann’s Awakening

Music: Awakening



Urgh…!

Tell me… Who is going to avenge her if you don’t?



Such is the scream of the other you that dwells within… I am thou, thou art I...











Music: Will Power






Ann kicks the guard’s sword into the air...




…then jumps up and catches it…



...and slices clean through her doppelganger.



You know what? I’m not some cheap girl you can toy with… you scumbag.








YOOO IT’S MY MAN BELPHEGOR



No one’s gonna stop me now!





Sadly, Carmen is not named after Carmen Sandiego. From the Megami Tensei wiki:

"Carmen is a fictive female [Romani] created by Prosper Mérimée. She first appeared in Mérimée's eponymous novella that was first written and published in 1845. The novella was adapted into a variety of different genres, most notably the opera Carmen by French composer Georges Bizet which diverges in significant points from Mérimée's original story.

Whatever the version, Carmen is generally depicted as a classic femme fatale who would take advantage of her beauty and charm to make men fall for her but quickly break the relationship once she is bored of her wooer and then looks for the next victim. Carmen is also usually seen smoking tobacco because she had once been working in a tobacco factory. She is later slain by a spurned ex-lover driven to a jealous rage after she leaves him. Though she knew he would be fated to kill her, she declares that she would rather die than allow herself to be bound to the will of another and that "Carmen will always be free".”

Ann is… interesting. She’s Yukiko in a lot of ways, but the ways in which they’re different honestly kind of kill her. She’s got the fire affinity as well as healing, and her stats and skills make her probably the party’s most effective magic user. However, she has odd limitations in her skillset. Not only does she never learn any form of multitarget healing, which is a real bummer, even the niche spells she learns aren’t as useful as what other party members bring to the table. Ann can do a lot of damage, but she’s one of the less flexible party members in a game that really rewards flexibility. This isn’t to say she’s not useful, because she learns skills like Tarunda (enemy attack down) and Dekaja (gets rid of enemy buffs) very early on. It’s just that especially in the late game her limitations come into focus. She’s not as much Yukiko, who was an excellent all-rounder, as she is Chie from Golden, who can technically do tons of damage but becomes hopelessly outclassed in actual utility at certain points in the game. But hey, nuking shit with fire’s always good.

Ann and Carmen are voiced by Erika Harlacher, who’s… uh… well, let’s see... she’s Videl in Dragon Ball Super and Kurapika in Hunter x Hunter, and that’s all I really know her from.