Part 151: 11/13: Hamill’s Nine

Part 142: 11/13: Hamill’s Nine

Okay, so, let me get this straight: you knew that you were getting arrested if you failed to change my heart?
Yep.
But instead of doing something about it, you fucked around with your friends for two weeks and put it off until the last minute?
I don’t see the issue here.
*sigh*

Music: Tokyo Emergency



We’re doing it right now, idiot!




Music: The Whims of Fate

Someone requested the lyrics so here’s a video with them. They get stuck in my head a lot, it’s great.




Music: Aria of the Soul



We’re just here to free up a slot, so we fuse Queen Mab from Kikuri-Hime and Lachesis.



You who holds my mask shall soon understand the true might of the fairy queen...



Queen Mab, also known as Medb or Meive, is the fairy queen in Celtic myth. She was immortalized in Mercutio’s monologue in Romeo and Juliet.

Music: The Whims of Fate



Now, time to enter the Palace.



And for that, we will need to have a member’s card.
Where’re we gonna get one though? There’s not too many places we can go right now.
Hm… I doubt we will find one simply lying on the ground in the main hall. I suggest we head for the backroom.
Huh…? But why?
I will explain later. In any case, let’s try to find an entrance.



These Unicorns use Physical Strikes and are weak to Curse.



Oses also use Physical along with charging up and inflicting Rage. They’re weak to Bless.



Yusuke learns Deadly Fury, an upgrade to Rising Slash that keeps the Baton Pass strength boost and ups its attack power from Heavy to Severe. I apologize for saying Ryuji is straight-up better than Yusuke, which isn’t exactly true even yet; Yusuke does have higher base Strength, and learns his Physical skills a bit sooner. His support skills are just marginally less useful.



Then let us check around. We may find something useful.
Like… what?
Mwehehe… I get it… You mean some kinda customer data terminal.
Haha, I am glad you’re so quick to understand. Though even if I were to find such a terminal, there is nothing my meager skills could do about it…
That’s where I come in. Leave it all to me!



These are Powers. They’re weak to Curse and use Physical and Bless skills.



Makoto learns Marakukaja to replace Rakukaja.



These Kikuri-Himes have no attack skills whatsoever, preferring to use Makarakarn to repel our magic at us, as well as heal themselves. They’re weak to Fire.



This is a Valkyrie. It’s not weak to anything. It has Physical attacks and Dodge Phys as well as Counterstrike, so Physical attacks aren’t recommended.



We eventually come to a safe room.




That thing really don’t want anyone gettin’ past there, huh… You wanna try attackin’ it?
Or we could always find another route. We may be able to sneak around it and avoid fighting. What do you want to do, Joker? We’ll follow whatever you decide.



That you suggest there’s an alternate path means there absolutely is one, so I’ll go with that.

Understood. In that case, let us find another way in.




Back near the safe room, we can climb up some boxes to find an alternate route through—what else?—a vent.




Now, we’re on the other side of the door the Shadow was standing in front of, and we could just leave… but nah. Let’s fight it anyway.



You can do it. I’ll do my best to support you guys too!




And we get a free ambush out of it.



These girls are weak to Wind and can use strong Electricity and Fire spells, along with Concentrate to up their power. Not that they get a chance to do much of that.



Hey, it dropped something… Is this some kinda keycard?
It might help us open stuff up further in. We should probably hold onto it for now.
Then let us be grateful for its existence and proceed onward.



A bit further in, we come across more guards in front of a different room.



Talk about bein’ heavily guarded. They’re practically screamin’ at us ‘bout how there’s something important in there.
It would be foolish to overlook this, though perhaps even more foolish to meet them head on… What is your call, Joker?




Right next to that corner is a barred door.

There’s an authentication device next t oit though. Let’s try using the keycard from earlier.




Great. Now we’ll be able to get through here, Joker.



The room contains nothing but another vent.



But the vent leads into the guarded room, meaning we intentionally went back and did a skippable fight in order to skip a different, harder fight. Though it turns out that if we decided to just do this fight anyway, the door was locked, so we couldn't do that either.

OK then, let’s hurry up and take that guard down!




Very well then. We shall defeat it at once!



And we score another ambush.



And the great thing about getting an ambush is...



Motherfucking BULLET HAIL can trigger! The rest of this fight is pretty simple, though he resists Physical and Dodges Electric attacks so Ryuji’s not that useful. He mainly just tries to crit us with Miracle Punch.



Ah, aren’t those what we are looking for? Oh… There are no names on them. They’ll be unusable if they remain unregistered.
Mweheheh! I can handle that!




I wasn’t sure what name to give it, so I just thought of a random one: Taro Tanaka.
That’s way too simple! Aren’t they gonna figure that out?

“Taro Tanaka,” for the most of you who aren’t going to get that, is the Japanese equivalent of “John Doe.” I only understood it because I vaguely remember the name used as an alias from Durarara!.

Um, they already know what we look like, and that we’ve intruded into the Palace… …Then again, it’s prolly better to be safe than sorry.





Joker, you can hold on to this card and the map. Don’t lose ‘em, ‘kay? As for the Taro Tanaka card… Hmmm… Crow, get rid of it next time you see a garbage can.



Hm…? Why me?
These kinds of chores always fall to the newbie.
...Oh.



We can also use that elevator now, right?
According to the map, it would be quicker to use this path than to go back the way we came. Come, let’s hurry on.

Everyone nods.




Stop fooling around and throw out the damn card, Akechi!




Valkyrie is strong against Gun, so firing at her gives us a chance to see Oda Special in action. Yep, that sure is 8 damage.

Anyway, we eventually wrap around to the earlier area with the chandeliers we hop across, but before we go to the elevator, we’re going to go back to the Velvet Room.

Music: Aria of the Soul



Power and Legion make Ananta.



The power of creation that has awakened inside of you shall henceforth be within your mask.



Ananta, or “Shesha,” is the king of all nagas in Hindu mythology and one of the primal beings of creation, depicted with as many as one thousand heads. Vishnu rested upon Shesha, and upon waking up created the universe. At the end of each Kalpa (time period allotted to the earth) the serpent destroys all of creation.



Next up, Daisoujou from Mithras and Queen Mab.



You with the body immune to rot... Let us welcome the impending day of salvation together as one...



Daisoujou is… fuckin’ weird and creepy, and I’m just going to post the wiki’s description along with the game’s here, holy shit:

P5’s description:

“A monk who died while fasting, his spiritual power allows his body to continue to exist without rotting. It is said that he will appear before people on the day of salvation.”

That’s not so bad, right? I mean, except for being wrong, because that’s clearly not a preserved corpse but a fucking skullman, but whatever. Well…

The wiki’s description:

“Based on the Buddhist mummies, Sokushinbutsu. These monks performed self-mummification by starving themselves for about three years. At the end of these three years, they were entombed alive with just enough room to sit cross-legged. A tube was placed in the ground, leading to the tomb for air. The monk had a bell with him and every day, someone would listen for the bell to make sure the monk was still alive. When the bell no longer rang, the air tube was removed and the tomb was completely sealed. A thousand days later, the body would be exhumed. If it was preserved, it was revered as a god.”

Fucking hell!

You may also have noticed the skill Samsara. That’s a unique skill to Daisoujou that cannot be passed on from fusion. It has a high chance to instant-kill every enemy on the field. It’s pretty great.



Finally, we’re going to fulfill the request for a Bugs with Samarecarm. Bugs is an Advanced Fusion from Pixie, Pisaca, and Hariti. Hariti naturally learns Samarecarm, so we just need to make sure Bugs gets it.



You the badass with the mask? C’mon dude, let’s play!



Bugs, or the Bugbear, is the literal Boogeyman. It’s used by mothers to frighten their children into behaving.



I see you have brought us a Bugs with the skill Samarecarm…
Hmph. You make it seem easy. Well, the assignment is done...



So, uh… me and Justine had a little talk. I dunno how to put this… but we don’t know each other too well, even though we’re so close.
We have also come to realize that each of us complements the faults of the other quite nicely…
I don’t think I’ve ever had a deep convo like that with anyone before. Oh, and it made me remember something super important. I bet you wanna hear what that was. Isn’t that right, Inmate!?




The thing that I remembered… is something someone once told me. You explain it, Justine.
Essentially, the twenty-two arcana represent a journey… The Fool embarks on a pilgrimage through the numbers, overcoming Death and eventually obtaining the World. In short, this journey is the tale of one’s path through life.
So we realized something. If this wild card thing—the potential of the Fool—proves that you’re a traveler…
Then your becoming stronger will lead us all in the right direction. That may be the true meaning of rehabilitation. Or perhaps it is something beyond even that… Regardless, one thing we can be sure of is that this list was written with the intent of being completed.
Understanding and having faith in that intent is the change this list has brought about in us.



Not that somebody like you would be able to comprehend that. But for us… it was something really important to learn. Oh, and… I think we might know who that voice in my head was too. I can’t tell you right now though.



First of all, we don’t have any way to actually prove it.
Secondly… if it is indeed true, everything we have come to know would be thrown into question. Regardless, we have grown able to reflect on ourselves thanks to you. This may not be something I should be saying to you… but I have quite enjoyed out time spent together.
You hear that, Inmate!? You’d better overcome this ruin stuff! Keep surviving, all the way until we learn the truth… together!
We vow to do everything in our power to assist you… For the sake of your future, and our own.
I feel like my bond with Caroline and Justine is growing deeper...




Don’t expect us to play nice just ‘cause we believe in you though! We’re gonna be as strict as ever!
Now then, it is time I assign you the final task before you receive your immensely powerful reward.



Please bring us a Seth with High Counter. Speak to us again once you have obtained it.

Music: The Whims of Fate




Joker scans the card.

Authentication complete. You can now access the following floors: The Standard Floor/The Members Floor.
It didn’t say nothing about the one for the manager…
Well, the floors we have access to are limited by player ranking. That must mean the members floor is the highest we can go for now.
It’s impossible to mess with the data on the card too. It’s nothing like the ones I’ve seen before.
So we can’t go directly to the manager’s floor… In that case, what exactly should we do?
Our first move should be to head upward. Either way, we have no more business on this floor.
Please select your desired floor.







Music: Desire




You wanna just get this over with right now, huh? That makes this easy. Bring it on.
Do not speak to me as though you are my equal. I am the manager of this casino, as well as its number-one player. At the moment, you lack the qualifications to fight me.
It would seem she looks down on us.

Got any more stunning insight to share with us, Councilor Troi?

And what if we would like to battle you, no matter what?

Uh, we’re not actually here to fight her, guys. We’re supposed to at least pretend the boss fight isn’t mandatory.

I had to win time and time again in order to reach my number-one rank. If you want to face me, you must continue to win as well.



Continue to win…?
It must have to do with the fact that this place is a casino.
Correct. Do you have the confidence to win…?
We might just pull the rug out from underneath you if you aren’t careful.
I don’t expect much from you… but I’ll be waiting.

Shadow Sae snaps her fingers.




Music: Suspicion



It’s going up…
I wasn’t expecting to come all the way to a Palace only to end up gambling…



What about you guys?

The group looks around at each other.



Looks like this is going to take longer than expected.
We don’t got time to waste!

Sorry, my bad.

No need to worry. Leave this to me.
You know how to do this?
I’m well-informed on what it takes to win. In any case, we need to hurry and change her heart. If she acts recklessly, both her chances of promotion and reputation as a prosecutor will drop greatly. Sae-san didn’t use to be like this, did she?
My sister must have lost her sense of justice because her desires became distorted…
Do you think there was a particular event that triggered her Palace’s creation?
...I believe it’s related to my father’s death. My sister took on all the responsibilities of dealing with it herself. Trying to earn a living wage, gain a promotion in a male society, and uphold justice at the same time… Those things may have weighed her down and led to the distortion within her heart.
...My apologies, but we don’t have time to be sentimental. The longer we wait, the more people will learn about us. The investigation will advance as well. Hence, we must infiltrate this Palace as quickly as possible.
She did challenge us to reach her, after all. Niijima’s Treasure must be at her managerial base of operations. Either way, we have to get there!

Everyone nods.

Well, we’ll see what else this Palace has in store next time. But that doesn’t mean we’re done here for today! Now that Akechi’s joined our party, we can do something I’ve been anticipating for a while!

See, for 60 real US dollars, you can buy a pack of all the DLC costumes off the PlayStation Network! And I’m an idiot, so of course I decided to buy it for the sake of showing it off in this LP!





There’s another 12 of these popups.




By going to the “Outfits” section of the Equipment menu, we can put on outfits that change our appearance. This does nothing to affect our stats, but that doesn’t mean nothing changes. We’ll go into what that means in a later episode!

Now, without further ado, it’s time for the…



Yes, I’m putting on something of a fashion show here! We’ll be covering the basic set of costumes in today’s appearance. Hope you like awkward camera angles and shit-ass JPG compression, because those are the real stars tonight!



Why, it’s the incredibly stylish Phantom Thieves! Well… mostly stylish. Poor Akechi here probably thinks he looks cool as hell, while I’m just thinking “I hope he doesn’t rip his band uniform.” He also breaks the male trend of cool, impractically large collars. Gotta say I don’t understand Makoto’s antipathy for her outfit, it’s dope and the cape (not visible here, sadly) rules. Haru’s might be my favorite, though, especially with the ammo belt. Why does Ann’s costume have a boob window? Yusuke’s weird tail always makes me laugh, by the way. I’m also less sure how much I like the pirate look for Ryuji the more I see it.

This is also Morgana’s only costume for today’s show, but look forward to his appearance changing in future installments.



Maaku goes for the standard look, but pulls it off. There have been many jokes made in the past about how Ryuji’s shirt here says “HOMO RULES” instead of “NO MO,” and I can only say I approve. Gotta wonder how Haru manages to have a totally unique uniform for both seasons without the faculty complaining, but she pulls it off. Makoto also manages to make a fairly standard uniform her own. Akechi loses points for his tie clipping into his shirt, sadly. All I can say about Yusuke is that Kosei’s purple shirt for the summer uniform is cool as hell.



Maaku is the only person in the game who looks good in the Shujin turtleneck, which unfortunately kind of includes Makoto. She makes up for it though with her… vest? Whatever the hell that is, it’s nice. I like how Ryuji just lets the suspenders hang out of his pants. Ann’s hoodie is dope and if I was a girl I would buy one. Maybe I will anyway. Haru’s sweater is goddamn adorable and I will not hear otherwise. Are the gloves a standard part of the uniform of whatever school Akechi goes to? The fleur-de-lis on Yusuke’s shirt is pretty cool I guess.



Maaku, rocking that watch, nice. Ryuji’s shirt seems to say “ON U R MARK” instead of “UR,” but okay. I like the sunglasses clipped onto Ann’s shirt there, and the shirt wrapped around her shorts. Haru’s unfortunately looking rather plain. Futaba’s got a cool shirt, but the person playing Tetris on it really needs to step up their game. Really like Makoto’s blouse here. That shirt is not doing you any favors, Yusuke buddy.



Like the v-neck, Maaku. Not liking Ryuji’s hoodie so much, it’s a little gaudy, though that’s just him I guess. Ann’s wearing like a letterman jacket or something, which is an odd fit for her. Please cover up, Futaba, and I don’t just mean that because you’re probably really cold not wearing your jacket on your actual shoulders. Haru and Makoto both look nice in their coats. Akechi’s sweater-vest just cements his dork status, though. Nice jacket, Yusuke.



Now we get to the awkward part of this where I review a bunch of teenagers’ swimsuits… yeah, pass. I only included this in the first place because we haven’t seen Haru’s yet. Though Yusuke’s hoodie is real silly and I appreciate it.



Really like both of these outfits, but what in the goddamn hell is “JL MK !”?

That's all for today’s installment of The Phantastic Phantom Phashion Phrenzy, please join us again next time, where this is going to get a little weirder!