The Let's Play Archive

Persona 5

by Arist

Part 11: 4/18: Thief And The Big City

Part 11: 4/18: Thief And The Big City

Today we’re not gonna worry about any of that “forward progression” nonsense and just explore. Well, explore and prepare. There’s a lot of stuff to buy and if we want to tackle the Palace in as little time as possible (we do), we’re gonna need the essentials. But first, time for school!

Music: Disquiet





The implied “motherfucker” is what really makes this a great dialogue option.



In class...

Music: So Boring



Seems like Ryuji probably got the same treatment.

He was just standing there looking at me with this shit-eating grin on his face.
Ugh, that’s annoying… he was probably mocking you.
Honestly, seeing that got me even more fired up about this.
Yeah. I’m worried about Shiho, but I want to concentrate on our operation too. And I won’t let myself get exhausted like last time.



Same goes for me.
Me too! I’ll do my best. No going in without me, OK?
Yeah, you better let us know if you’re going into the Palace.

Music: Tokyo Emergency



I bet the others are ready to go and waiting on the signal. Well, I’ll leave the planning to you.




We’re finally free*!

*Freedom may be limited at this point in the game.



The game just goes back a week like in P4 if you hit the deadline, don’t worry. The fail states are slightly more interesting than they were in that game, but not enough to really justify showing them off. They’re generally pretty samey, though there is one abjectly horrifying one.



Despite the two days of preparation, we’re still nowhere close to adequately prepared to take on the castle. We’ll need to more thoroughly investigate the city for more resources.

Let’s take Kamoshida’s twisted heart!




We can also check what other people did during their runs.



Most chose to enter the Palace, which is understandable. Incorrect, but understandable.





Ain’t we meeting up? If you dunno what to do, let’s just go.
Well, what do you want to do? Should we meet up at the hideout and head into the Palace?



Sorry, Ryuji.



Hey, we’re heading in today, right?



Do you need to get ready first? I want to make him pay as soon as possible now that we know the real story behind his actions….



I appreciate the offer… but I’m not really in the mood to be out having fun right now… Sorry, but I’d rather focus on the Kamoshida situation.
Lady Ann seems stressed… I guess it’s not much of a surprise. Kamoshida’s the only thing she can afford to think about right now. If you want Lady Ann to rely on you, you’ll need to be kinder. Like me!

Looks like it’s too early to develop Ann’s Confidant any further.



Instead, let’s head to the library.






We can check out books here or just read or study.

You’re only allowed to borrow one book at a time. Once you finish, please be sure to retur-- Huh? That badge… Are you a second-year? ...Oh, could you be that transfer student I keep hearing about!?



I knew it… Um… I don’t mean to be rude, but maybe you shouldn’t come here… See, you’re scaring the other students too… Oh… No, I didn’t mean that you can’t use the library, but...
You’re not welcomed anywhere you go… I guess there’s nothing we can do about it.




...You can only borrow one book at a time. Be sure to return it once you’re done reading it. ...These are all the books you can check out right now.



Yes, all the books we can check out are based on our party members’ Personas. We’ll check out Pirate Legend for now.



But I’m a little worried about the look that librarian is giving you. Not to mention the other students…



We’ll get a Knowledge boost when we study...



...but also Guts, if we manage to stay focused. If not, we still get Knowledge.

Are you sure you’re gonna be OK studying here?



We’ll ignore that for now and head down to the courtyard.



SP’s at a premium in Palaces, so having these SP restoring drinks, even if they only give back five each, is essential.



Mmm, sounds... delicious.



We also run into Kamoshida roaming the halls. Attempt to walk past him without a word...



...and he accosts us himself.

I can’t believe you can come to school all calm like that. Unless you’re scheming something…?



Don’t give me that cheek! You’re really pushing your luck, you defiant piece of garbage. I suggest you try and enjoy the time before your expulsion. Now then, get lost. I don’t have the time to be dealing with you.

Time to leave school.





We can see the names of Confidants we can spend time with by hitting Square next to their respective area. The only one available today is the Languid Doctor from the medical clinic, but let’s not commit just yet. Let’s head to Central Street in Shibuya instead.

Music: Tokyo Daylight





Next, let’s hit up the bookstore and clean the place out. I’m gonna be the bestest pick-up artist in the world!



Your room’s a little cleaner, but there’s still no reason to go here without a TV.

A TV, eh…?




This is the sad song of mid-April, sung by this fucking cat. We can’t actually enter about half of these establishments because Morgana decides otherwise.



While we’re here, we’ll buy 30 Adhesive Bandages, which are the best value on healing we have available right now at 20 HP for 120 yen a piece. Is this enough? Well, I know the future, and I’m going to say probably not.



You can watch a movie whenever you want later. Let’s save it for after you deal with Kamoshida.

Damn cat’s interfering with my personal life. To continue on, we head underground.



Inspecting the magazines lets us consider some job possibilities.




Some of the jobs are gated by social stats or gameplay progress, though, so we can’t accept all of them just yet.



We can’t go out at night yet so the beef bowl shop’s out, and the flower shop requires more charm, so the only option we have is the convenience store.

A part-time job at a convenience store, huh? Sounds typical for a student. You wanna apply?



Let’s call them right now!
Hi, this is Triple Seven on Central Street. You’re calling about the job opening? Hold on. I’ll get the manager.
Thanks for waiting. So, you wanted to apply for a part-time job? You’re a student, right? I’ll plan your schedule around the days you’re available. I’m always in the store, so you can come straight here. I look forward to working with you.
Seems like it worked out! Good job!

That manager’s gonna be bummed, because we aren’t going to go to work there for several months at the very least. The convenience store job gives no social stat boosts and isn’t tied to any Confidants, so there’s only one reason besides money to even bother with it and we don’t have to worry about that for a long-ass time.




I don’t know why it bothers telling you any of this, because you can work at any job any day of the week as long as you have that segment of the day free. It’s not like P4 where you could only go on certain days.



Down in the Underground Mall, most of the shops are full of items that are really only useful as gifts to give female Confidants. Different girls like different things, but I don’t know any of the intricacies of any of that and as such I’ll probably just ignore it entirely.



We need to make sure to pick up these Bio Nutrients while we’re down here, though. It’s pretty critical.

Back up on the surface...



If you’re interested, I’d love for you to come. I want young people like yourself to hear it.
A speech highlights a person’s ability to attract others. What’s your take on this guy? I sense experience emanating from him, so he may be good at it… If that’s the case, we should go. But… it’s at night, so we won’t be able to attend without the chief’s approval.




Don’t mind if I do.



All right, let’s scratch away! Let’s see… Scratchers… There’s three spots you can scratch and… It seems that you win if any of those spots show a money amount as the prize. I guess you can just go ahead and scratch them all. Which one do you want to scratch first?



M-Meh… It’s a miss. Which one do you want to scratch next?
>The left one.
M-Meh… It’s a miss. Just one more left… Now, let’s see what you’ve got! Huh…? Could it be...!?




Wow, you really won! Let’s come here again some other time!

Time to never, ever play scratchoffs again, I guess.



We’re moving up to the big time!






Over in Yongen-Jaya, we find another vending machine with more SP drinks.



Let me take a bath you goddamn cat, Leblanc doesn’t even have a shower



This Spring Fruit Pack is a great deal, too bad it’s only available during this season and in limited quantities.



Next, we head over to the second-hand shop.

...Welcome.




I didn’ t think anyone would buy such an outdated TV… Since you got it off my hands, I’ll throw in a DVD player and tuner for you, OK? ...Does Leblanc work as your delivery address?
He’s giving us a DVD player and a tuner? Maybe this turned out to be quite the bargain! I’m excited! I can’t wait for it to be delivered!

One of the only things we can actually do today is head to the batting cages.



Batting cages? In a small place like this? ...What’s it like inside?








Getting the home run prize is much easier than the slugger prize, for the record. I believe you also get bonus Proficiency if you can get the slugger prize, but it’s hard enough that it’s not really worth it to even try at this stage unless you love savescumming. The rewards are decent enough that we might put some time into this, though.

Whoa, he said there’d be prizes. Sounds like it’s worth trying!



You came here just to look…?

Sorry, Morgana. We’ve got other plans.

For those of you who want to keep track, we bought:
This all drains our coffers down to a paltry 22,000 out of the 50k we started with. And we’re probably going to chew through most of that just in this next Palace run, keep in mind. Future Palaces won’t be quite so bad, but this one is dangerous for a few reasons. But that’s for another time.