Part 145: 11/6: Punishment For A Wrong Committed In A Past Life

Part 137: 11/6: Punishment For A Wrong Committed In A Past Life

Who’s got two thumbs and has to sort through another two hours of Mementos footage? ...I can’t finish that joke in this format.

Music: Tokyo Emergency




Let me check our intel… We’ll start with this one first… This one’s especially dangerous. This particular intel is on an ex-mercenary assassin. From what I can tell, he acts like a homeless man, but secretly carries out assassination contracts. If not even the police can deal with him… it’s time for us to step in.
It’d be bad if we left such a dangerous guy out on the loose! We have to change his heart.
We need to take down the evil that can’t be judged by the law!

One.

There are still more. This intel is on the human incarnation of greed who borrows money and runs off with it. He’s changed his name and even had surgery to change his face. Not even the police can catch him…
When greed has gone that far, the only thing I can feel is pity. It seems it would be best if we helped change his heart.
I’m for doing this too! We need to trigger a change of heart in them.

Two.

There are still more. This intel is on the gamer boy’s helicopter mother. Apparently the skilled boy we know from the arcade is troubled by his mother’s overbearing actions. So, we’re going to change her heart.

Didn’t really sell us on why that one’s necessary, but okay!

This is about that boy known as the King, right? I would never have guessed this was happening… Things sound pretty serious. Let’s get moving.
Fine by me.

Three.

There are still more. This intel is on a man who is making a fortune teller suffer. He called himself the chairman of an organization, but he is nothing but a money-scamming fraud.
This must be regarding Chihaya Mifune… the fortune teller you had mentioned before. To think she has been dragged into such dishonest cult… What a despicable money monger… We shall bring his true nature to light in Mementos.
It seems tough, but I think we can accomplish this if you say we can!
OK, it looks like we’re all ready to do this! We already told Mishima, so the forum post is up and running.

Four.

There are still more. This is from the owner of the Central Street airsoft shop. Apparently an acquaintance is threatening him. This acquaintance, Tsuda, is… a professional. If we don’t hurry, Iwai will be in serious danger.
That man’s pretty freakin’ scary… In any case, this time we’re goin’ up against a real criminal. He’ll be a worthy opponent.
It seems tough, but I think we can accomplish this if you say we can!
OK, it looks like we’re all ready to do this! We already told Mishima, so the forum post is up and running.

Five.

There are still more. Remember that journalist Ohya who got us info on Kaneshiro? This is about her boss. He’s been harassing her, and keeping her from investigating the case in which her partner went missing. He has to know something that he doesn’t want other people knowing.
Truth is the highest art for a journalist. To think someone would be so imprudent as to impede it… Let us lend Ohya our assistance so she can gather the news she needs.
We need to take down the evil that can’t be judged by law!
OK, it looks like we’re all ready to do this! We already told Mishima, so the forum post is up and running.

Six.

There are still more. This intel is on the parents of Futaba’s friend Kana. They’ve forced Kana to take immoral jobs so they can pay off their debt. ...Ever since she was young, they’ve trampled over her life.
I’m gonna crush them… I’ll save Kana-chan!
That works for me too. OK, it looks like we’re all ready to do this! We already told Mishima, so the forum post is up and running.

Seven.

No objections, right? Mm… we’re good to go if you’re OK with it. That’s a unanimous decision!

And the cheater makes eight! Fuck me!



Don’t you think the change of heart is more important? Well, the decision is up to you.

Listen… shut up.

At the moment, our target count in Mementos is 8. Well, let’s go.

Music: Mementos

duh nuh nuh duh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh







It looks like Mementos has expanded even further…
Hm? I thought public opinion of us determined Mementos expansion… and that has plummeted lately.
Our notability must still be on the rise, even if it’s because of our currently bad reputation…
So we’re like a celeb who gets more famous because of scandals? I don’t like the sound of that…
Either way, the further we go, the more powerful enemies we’ll meet. We need to be cautious in here.






Even seeing it with my own two eyes doesn’t help it make any more sense…
Uh, y’know this is a Palace, right? It’s not actually under Shibuya.
I suppose that’s true…

RYUJI: ONE
MAKOTO: ZERO

Hm, is the scale of a Palace proportional to its ruler’s desires and distortions?
Basically. Hence, the bigger the target, the longer it takes to secure our infiltration route.
Yes, but the size of this place easily supersedes that of any Palace we’ve visited up until now.
That’s because this is the Palace of the public. It’s incomparable to anything on an individual level.
So the size of this place reflects the distortions of the public… What a depressing thought…
That’s why we gotta reform society, yeah? All this shit down here just makes that even more worth doin’!
You know, sometimes I envy that personality of yours, Skull… ...Only sometimes though.
You didn’t hafta add that last part!



Before we even get into a target area, Morgana levels up and learns Wind Boost to replace the useless Wind Break. His Wind attacks will now be 25% stronger.



Somethin’ about this guy tells me he’s nuts. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
He’s threatening Iwai… He’s doing this because he’s getting desperate, right?
He seriously intends to kill someone. We’d better change his heart immediately.
It’s scary, but we gotta do it!

Music: Desire



Who said you could come in here? This is my territory! I’m the Hashiba Clan’s second-in-command! Don’t come in without my say-so! Don’t talk, don’t breathe, not without my permission. You guys aren’t yakuza, so you obey me! You hear me? Those are the rules of this world!



Did I give you permission to say no? Dammit, you’re not taking me seriously, either. No one takes me seriously! You, the Hong Kong mafia, Iwai, even the guys in the Hashiba Clan!

Having fun listening to this grown-ass yakuza dude squeal like a little kid about how annoyed he is that he’s not being taken seriously.

Well, forget that! I’m not a joke! I’ll show you alllll!



It’s my favorite toilet friend!

Music: Keeper of Lust




(We take him down in three moves, he gets off a Bufudyne or whatever. He can use Evil Smile to inflict Fear and then Ghastly Wail to instant-kill anyone with the ailment, but he obviously never gets the chance to do any of that)




We trade Mind Slice for Heat Wave (Heavy Physical to all foes).

Music: Sunset Bridge



Once they find out I’ve been letting them down, I’ll be demoted from second-in-command… I’m just a relic from an old era. The young, college graduates in the Hashiba Clan laugh behind my back. Hehehe… Even the world of the yakuza’s been taken over by the intellectuals. That’s why I had to make this transaction work, no matter what. Even if it meant taking advantage of my subordinate… Mune… The Hong Kong mafia pulled the carpet under me. It’s what I get for breaking the yakuza code.



Yeah… I’m done with being pathetic. Sorry, Mune… I wish I could have a drink with you one more time.



Tsuda seems to have had a change of heart. I’ll go check with Iwai later...



One down… seven to go!



He looks super shady.
Well, he’s selling useless rocks and those brainwashing seminars to his followers, right?
If we let him go on like this, so many more people will end up unhappy!
Let’s go and strip this wolf of his sheep’s clothing.

Music: Desire



Give me your money or you’ll suffer grave misfortune! You could even die!



Oh, are you that maiden’s apprentice? You’re so very naive. People really believe this holy stone will save them if the maiden predicts bad fortune! Even if it doesn’t actually work, what does it matter if it makes them happy? People want to be deceived! Don’t you see? They’re all desperate to feel safe!




Shut up, shut up! Don’t you get in the way of me giving sublime salvation to the masses!

Music: Keeper of Lust



So, this guy uses a lot of Psy and Curse moves, including the instant-kill Mudoon, which is very annoying. Thankfully, Ryuji has both Endure and Protect, meaning that he can survive one instant-kill and take one for Maaku if need be. He’ll also use Brainwash on people, but everyone in the party has Harisen Recovery so status ailments are not the debilitating factor they once were.



Here’s Akechi’s cut-in, by the way.



Music: Sunset Bridge



I was going to join a vocational school when I first came to Tokyo, but I ended up getting scammed… I spent all that money on what I thought was tuition. I was all alone, hopeless in the city… The police just laughed. “Those ads are obvious scams. You were dumb enough to fall for them?” That’s why I vowed to not let myself get tricked like that again. I won’t be a victim anymore. If it ever happened again, I’d be the one doing the deceiving!



I… I never really thought about it much. I guess when it comes right down to it, I really am just a dumb guy… Hahaha… haha… The maiden’s powers are real. That’s why I brought her on. I’m the only one guilty of lying. And I took advantage of the two of us happening to meet again.

Meet again? What?

I’ve been wanting to apologize to her for a while… I’m so sorry, Chi-chan...



The Prophet’s Hand is a weapon for Makoto with only 10 Attack, but a high chance to cause Brainwash. Speaking of Brainwash, I’ve heard people say it’s a good idea to Brainwash enemies to make negotiation easier, but every time I’ve tried this they haven’t joined me. Weird.

I wonder if Chi-chan is supposed to be Chihaya...

OH GEE, YA THINK? NEVER OCCURRED TO ME

Either way, Yuichi Fukurai seems to be a changed man. I should report back to Chihaya...



And that’s two.

Music: Mementos





He looks so suspicious.
Well, he is obstructing a news investigation to keep some incident hidden under the rug.
People died in that incident. He should be ashamed to call himself a journalist.
We’ll have to make him see the truth!

Music: Desire



Screw you guys. Snooping around together where you shouldn’t be… What’ll happen if this draws negative attention to me from the higher-ups!? Stop meddling around!



#FREEOHYA

It’d be better for the organization if we didn’t have rebels like her around! You must not care about dying if you oppose me! Just obey those with power if you wanna live!



Music: Keeper of Lust



He does not. This is actually kind of an interesting fight mechanically, though. See, he’ll start the fight by casting Megidola, which will deplete almost all of his SP. Then, he’ll use party-wide Physical moves (or just do nothing) until Invigorate 3 restores his SP so he can do it again. He also blocks or straight up absorbs a lot of elements, so he’s kind of tricky.

Music: Sunset Bridge



I can’t oppose the higher-ups. It’s easier to not rock the boat. Mass media is just another corporation, really. Passion for journalism won’t pay the bills. It’s useless, just useless to chase after your ideals…



...She’s really incredible. No matter what people say to her, she’ll never give up on finding the truth… I found her naive passion to be so annoying. It reminds me of all that pain I felt in the past. Back in the past, before I gave up. Before my passion rotted away and my wife cheated on me…

Just casually dropping the adultery thing at the end there with no context, okay sure.



Honjo’s Shadow disappeared. I should go see Ohya...




It looks a little anxious.
I hear he’s been repeatedly changing his name and face with plastic surgery to escape debt.
The police will never catch him, so it’s up to us.
Yeah. Let’s go!

The heroic and noble Phantom Thieves act today on the behalf of creditors everywhere!

Music: Desire



Hey, we’d never accept any help from a guy as bad as you.
You better return all the money that you stole from others!
Shut up! Why should I? Banks are always taking money from people unfairly. I’m stealing back from the people who stole first. I’m doing what’s right! I’m carrying out justice!
I disagree. You’ve been running away, always hiding behind a new name and face.
Hmm? You guys hide your identities too. You know what? That makes you all hypocrites! I’m gonna take off those masks and see who you guys really are!



Let’s do this!

Music: Keeper of Lust




This dude will use more Curse, including instant-kill moves, which is something of a problem as Akechi is weak to Curse despite his ability to use those skills. He’ll also use Stomach Blow to inflict Hunger, multi-hit party-wide Physical attacks, and Life Leech to steal our HP. It’s weak to Electricity, though. I switch out Akechi for Yusuke in an attempt to capitalize on this for Baton Passes, but it dies before I am able to.

Music: Sunset Bridge




This whole time… I was a bad guy.
So, you were saying the Phantom Thieves were hypocrites?
I was wrong to have said that. I’ve realized my own mistakes, thanks to all of you. I’m ashamed of myself. I’ve worked so hard to fool the world, living only for my own greed. I’ve changed my face and name many times, but for the first time… you’ve changed my heart.

I’m gonna throw up.



Thermopylae is a garbage skill that increases the entire party’s Attack, Defense, and Agility for three turns. How is that garbage, you ask? It certainly sounds amazing, but it’s only usable while you’re ambushed. Considering how infrequently you get ambushed in this game combined with the fact that most of the time at this point Futaba will just Position Hack us out of it, it’s an obscene waste of a skill slot. Why the hell would you need to be raising all three of the party’s parameters in a non-boss fight anyway!?

From now on, live your life with an open heart with nothing to hide.

He can’t fuckin’ hear you, Yusuke. He already turned into a useless item.




This is the cheater, for the record.

All right! We have a plan this time!



No one can defeat me in the Gun About world! Hm? You guys again? I didn’t think you’d come back. You should’ve learned by now… Don’t think I’ll let you get away this time. Once the match starts… I’ll dash at you with an infinite combo loop! I’ll MURDER YOU before you can try to sabotage the match! I am the god of the Gun About world! I am invincible! No one can ever hope to defeat me! No matter how many come against me, no one can ever wound me!



I’m countin’ on you! We’ll get ‘em this time!

Shadow Nejima Revengeance (His voice is still really good, you should click on this)

Music: Keeper of Lust




A gamer taught you the moves to take him down, right? Teach that stupid cheater a lesson!



Thanks for the reminder, game.



You actually don’t even have the choice of doing anything else here.




yaaaaaaaaaaay



A gunshot that surpasses my cheats!? That can’t be true! Dammit! I’m the strongest! I’m supposed to be king! Me…

Music: Sunset Bridge



N-No… It’s not my fault! The company that laid me off… It’s all because of them! I have the skills and experience, but they want to “make the organization younger”!? D-Dammit! Dammit!

That’s rough, buddy. Still, don’t… cheat at video games? I guess?

Don’t do this again! You better make amends for the wrong you’ve done!

Yeah! ...What!? What’s he gonna do, sponsor a young, scrappy, underfunded esports team? Yeah, he better fuckin’ make this shit right with all the people he hurt. Forgive me father, for I have wallhacked.

I’m sorry… I was wrong…



An actually good skill, this time!



And now that we’re done with that waste of time, let’s move on.

Music: Mementos





All right, we can’t be losin’ our nerve now! We’re goin’ in!



Haru learns Makarakarn (block the next magic attack for one ally) to replace Psy Break.



We also get a chance to see Warning Shot in action here. Instead of negotiating properly, we can just hit Square...




And he’ll join automatically! I’m fairly certain there’s at least a chance this won’t work, but hey, it hasn’t let me down so far!

edit from the future: in the rare chance it doesn't work it will enrage the target and they'll act again. Still worth it to always do it, though.



Now, this next tradeoff is kind of a hard one. Some would suggest I get rid of Defense Master (automatic Rakukaja at the start of battle), but instead I’m getting rid of Flash Bomb (Medium Physical to all enemies with a chance of Dizzy). While it means she’s going to be dealing solely Nuke damage outside of her melee attacks due to her lack of a Physical skill after Flash Bomb, that skill was already pretty obsolete. Besides, now her Nuclear skills will do 25% more damage.



I get chills just looking at him.
He’s an ex-mercenary who is now a professional assassin. He’s no ordinary person.
If even the police can’t handle him, then it’s up to us to take care of him.
Let’s approach him with caution.

Music: Desire



Sorry, but I don’t plan on going away. You kids playin’ hero should go home to your mommies.
We can’t just let someone dangerous like you go around, killin’ people.
You guys are more dangerous from my point of view. Look… As a mercenary, I’ve seen a lot of torture. And torture is all about killin’ the heart and soul. You’ve been destroyin’ the parts you don’t like in people’s character. To me, that’s evil.

I mean, he’s not… wrong?

Evil? Don’t be ridiculous! We’re doing our best to do what’s right!

Not a great defense, there.

It’s my policy to only kill on the job, but I’ll destroy you if you’re gonna get in my way!




Oh no! We have to save our friend Homeless Man!

This guy doesn’t have a lot of tricks up his sleeve. He can increase his attack and critical hit rate, but that’s kinda it.

Music: Sunset Bridge



The people I kill are all criminals! They escape the law, and the police can’t touch ‘em. I’m just like you Phantom Thieves! I’m working to get rid of evil in this world! So let me go!



Sorry, but we’re not the same. The Phantom Thieves would never murder people.
N-No… Help me! I don’t want to disappear!
How can you say that after you murdered so many people!?
You better accept that you lost already. Prepare yourself.
…Fine. Do what you want. Remember though: Evil that oughta be erased will just keep poppin’ up after I’m gone.
We’ll destroy evil in a way that’s different from yours. You can disappear without worry.



We’re gonna want to hold onto this skill card for a very specific reason.



Music: Mementos



We can now expand the range of our exploration.
Then let’s get goin’!



Adyeschach comes from the Hebrew word “Adishut,” meaning apathy.



Wow… This place is a lot bigger than what I’d heard.
I expect the Shadows here will be strong, too. Be careful!



This is Legion. It’s weak to Bless and uses Physical moves, including ones that can inflict Despair.



Even I don’t know that. The only thing I can say is… The sheer scale of this place… is astronomical.
Well, yeah, but c’mon. We all knew that already.
Oh, Mona… You’re always trying to act cool in front of Noir.
Th-That’s not true! I just wanted to make sure she knew!

Crush ended with ANN

Now HARU is my target of affections

Hehehe.



Why are there so many parents who try to control their children?
Don’t overthink it. Let’s worry more about helpin’ their daughter.
We have to change their hearts if we want to save Futaba’s friend!
L-Let’s go!

Music: Desire



It feels like 40% of the requests in this game involve gambling debts.

Why are the two of us so unlucky!? It’s bad luck we’re poor all year round!
We can’t let Kana go to school. She needs to make money for us. Her sex appeal, her innocence as a young girl, whatever… She should sell it for us…

Can we pleeeeeeeeeease give these guys just a little baby mental shutdown? It won’t even hurt! Probably!

You call yourselves parents!? Kana-chan’s suffering so much because of you!
...It’s too bad. But she needs to make us money!
Kana needs to make money. Otherwise, our family will be broken up!




It’s not our fault! It’s all because we’ve got some bad luck!
Kana should just suck it up. Eventually, we’ll hit the jackpot. Then all of us will be happy!
...I knew it. These two are rotten to the core! Joker, please save Kana-chan!

Music: Keeper of Lust



Keep your nose out of other people’s business!

These guys can be a bit tricky, but most of the difficulty for me came from trying to exploit the money grinding trick. Not because I need the money (and with the hit rates for Confuse it’s honestly more annoying than it’s worth at this point), just because there’s something specific I wanted to show off.



If you confuse Mrs. Magario, she’ll give a tidy sum, same as usual. But Mr. Magario will only ever give 1 yen. I have no idea why this is the case.

Anyway, these guys can put you to sleep, or just use extremely powerful Gun attacks to make you “sleep.” The Mrs. can even use Spirit Leech to steal one hundred of our precious SP away! Outside of that, the dude uses Curse and the lady uses Fire. Simple enough.

Music: Sunset Bridge



We were truly horrible parents…



...I know. I have to change my ways. I won’t make Kana do that kind of work anymore.
I’m sorry, Kana… We’ll reorganize our debt. We’ll be responsible for paying it back, not her. I’ll quit gambling. And I’ll start working. I’ll pay back all that debt, bit by bit…
You HAVE to! Don’t hurt Kana-chan ever again!
I started gambling to make some cash. Before I knew it, I forced Kana to do those shameful things. To think, I used to be a father who only wanted his daughter to be able to eat nice things…
You’re right, dear. Before anything else, let’s do our best to make Kana happy…

Remember how I said Sunset Bridge almost made me cry last time? I hate it forever now after all these dumb confession scenes.



Growth 3 gives the Persona who has it the ability to gain full experience even when not being used in battle.

Thank you, Joker. I think Kana’s going to be all right now.
The Magario couple seems to have had a change of heart. I should go check on Kana’s situation...



Music: Mementos




Man, what the fuck, Yusuke.



Here’s Akechi’s finisher screen, for the record. Now, this doesn’t tell the whole story, because the lead-in animation is really something to behold:



Witness the dance of my people. What a goddamn dorkus malorkus.



We’re halfway there, guys. Let’s plow the rest of the way through!
You’re pretty good at navigatin’. Sure is nice to have reliable info!
Why are you looking at me!?





Here, Robin Hood learns Kougaon, a Heavy Bless skill.



You’re getting close to the end… No doubt about it.
We’ve got to keep going just a little longer.

Music: Desire



She looks like she would bite us if we even tried to speak to her.
I heard she’s the definition of a helicopter parent. She’s really selfish too.
We gotta do something about this! Kids really look up to their parents, you know?

We have to stop her, you guys! She did a bad! ...No, I can’t elaborate!

Let’s go, guys!



No one will help a single mother! Everyone just looks at me coldly! Everyone is my enemy! I have to fight them! I have to smash them before they can smash me!



What do you know!? You don’t know me! We have to be strong! We don’t have a safety net to catch us if we fall! I’m just fighting for my own happiness! I don’t want others to mock us anymore!



Shadow Oda

Music: Keeper of Lust



Oda can put us to sleep with Lullaby (something of a running theme today) and use that to score sick Technical hits when she follows up with multi-hit Physical.




As depicted here.

Trying again, we see that this fight is going to be really long and tedious because while she’s weak to fire, she doesn’t take a ton of damage from Almighty, meaning we’re better off swapping in Ann and Yusuke, hitting her weakness, and then Baton Passing over to Yusuke for the double buff over All-out Attacking. After almost eight minutes (!) of this, we finish her off. Not before she charges up and almost kills us even through a guard, though.



Music: Triumph



Oh sweet merciful jesus that’s a lotta level ups



Deathbound is a skill that deals Medium Physical to all enemies 1-2 times. While it can be better than Swift Strike if both of its strikes hit, in practice that’s a big if. The guaranteed 3-4 hits of Swift Strike make Deathbound kind of worthless, but I’m not quite willing to give up on it yet so I slot it in for Headbutt, a skill that never made any sense in the first place. If I’m the one headbutting them, why do they get hit with Forget?



Next, Ann gets Agidyne, an upgrade to Agilao, making her the first party member to learn a third-tier elemental spell outside of Akechi, who I don’t count because I forgot about him when I began this sentence.



Finally, Akechi learns Eigaon to replace Eiga. More Curse is nice, and Eigaon actually has one of my favorite skill animations in the game. Hopefully I’ll remember to show it off later.

Music: Sunset Bridge



Society sees me as a loser. I’ve got no money. I have no reason to be proud of myself… What the hell am I supposed to do…?



Shinya… I have Shinya… Yes… I realize that now. The greatest happiness… was with me this whole time. I have to be a good mother for his sake.



Free Soma!

This mother will have a change of heart, now… I should head to Shinya...

Music: Mementos




Finally, we get to head back.

Music: Triumph



And that’s over with, thank christ. That was the last big Mementos trip in the game, so we don’t have to worry about any more mega Mementos updates in the future. It won’t be the last time we come here, but we’ll at least be in and out pretty quick, comparatively. You have no goddamn idea how nice it feels to get this weight off of my shoulders.