Part 152: 11/13: 6500 Miles To Graceland
Part 143: 11/13: 6500 Miles To GracelandMusic: The Whims of Fate
Im glad this song is good, because outside of the occasional switch to Last Surprise for a battle, its all I hear for most of this Palace!
It should be quite clear. We must play in the casino and win. Customers are divided into the different floors based on the rank of their play. If we wish to enter a higher floor, we will need to increase our rank.
So that means we gotta win and gain the right to head up. And as I mentioned earlier, a different kinda members card is used depending on your rank. Well have to obtain a card for the high limit floor somewhere around here.
For real!? Ugh, what a pain!
Why dont we begin by walking around this floor? That should be a good method of gaining intel.
This room is fairly empty outside of some treasure spots, the cashiers desk up ahead...
...and a safe room, natch.
So all of this is going according to her plan I cannot help but feel were being manipulated here.
First, we will be providing you with a welcome gift. Please accept these coins.
We receive 1000 coins and a handy/gaudy counter to keep track of them that will stay onscreen all the time outside of cutscenes and battles so we dont ever forget whose rules were playing by!
Hes just giving them to us!?
Perhaps this is a show of confidence. It seems she truly has no intention of losing.
Now then, to the left of the counter is the dice game area, while to the right are the slots. Please head to whichever strikes your fancy.
Furthermore this is a map of the members floor. Please accept it.
That means we should probably start with the dice game right?
Ah, one more thing. Casino coins can be exchanged for prizes at this very counter. Please feel free to ask us about this service.
Prizes? What do you think we can get from there ?
Our most desired prize is a members card for entry into the high limit floor. However, the price of exchange for this item is 50,000 coins.
I see I believe I have figured out Sae-sans intent behind this.
Thats absurd! 50,000 coins!?
*chuckle* We also allow players to borrow coins if need be, up to the current total on their card.
I dont wanna do that! Owin cash to a weird-ass casino inside someones head is way too scary!
Oh well Standing around here wont get us anywhere. So, should we head to this dice game?
Actually, do you mind if I speak to you all beforehand? There is something on my mind.
It would not surprise me in the least if they were rigged somehow.
You think shes cheatin!?
Remember, this is a courthouse in the real world. Sae-san is quite particular about winning here. To compound that, defendants in Japan are prosecuted at a rate of 99.9%. Victory is nigh unattainable.
What!? How can a percentage like that really be possible? Are all those verdicts the correct ones?
What do you think, Ann?
Not exactly The investigators are human too, after all.
Then
You are not the first to poijnt out the rigged nature of this system. The prosecution is near unbeatable. Thats why cases of false accusation cause such a stir: They are exceedingly rare.
I think this is supposed to say cases of exoneration or something similar. Cases of false accusation implies that people being falsely accused is rare, rather than people being found innocent. Also, that still sounds awkward, but hell, it aint my job to fix this.
But its total bullshit gettin arrested even when youre not guilty!
Indeed, and if we do not hurry, the Phantom Thieves will fall victim to a similar fate.
...Were going to win this, no matter what.
Now that weve regained control, lets head for the dice area. First though, we see this present. The presents are a little different from ordinary treasure spots.
Grabbing one will give us 100, 150, or 200 coins on the spot. Its nifty but ultimately totally unnecessary unless you completely fuck up somehow.
Y-Yeah, I guess Thats not really how a normal high schooler would describe it though
Yusukes a good boy, Ann. Dont try to change him.
In any case, we should proceed further in.
First, lets head into one of the dice rooms.
Please enjoy this simple game in which you guess the total number that will appear on three cast dice. A correct prediction will double your bet, while three matching dice will triple it. Most importantly, matching sixes is a supreme victory! Regardless of what your initial bet was, the payout will be quintuple that! Buy-in for this game is only 25 casino coins. Would you like to play?
Would I!
Damn!
Would you like to continue playing?
>Continue
Lets go again!
Dammit!
Three attempts later...
What is it, Akechi? I feel a hot streak coming up!
Wait, you mean cheating ?
Even if we continue playing here, there is no chance of victory. We should retreat for the time being.
But we wont be able to earn coins if we dont play.
Yes, that is exactly why we will stop them from rigging the game. Considering the scale of this operation, I doubt they are cheating via analog methods. I expect there is a control room of sorts that determines the win percentages for the entire area.
So thats where well strike. All right, lets go look for anywhere that seems suspicious!
After reloading to keep my coin count pristine because Im incredibly dumb like that, we find this vent on the north wall.
Super convenient, dontcha think? Anyway, based on what Crow was saying, the games in here are all totally rigged.
Oooh, so were gonna catch em in the act! I guess thats easy Cmon, lets get to it!
This Ganesha has the same attacks its boss form did last update, but its weak to Psy this time around.
Queen Mab here is also near-identical to its boss form from the last update, including its Wind weakness.
Climate Decorum is a skill for Haru that doubles her evasion against all skills during Pollen, Rain, or Flu. Its decent enough but were probably not going to get a chance to use it with Akechi subbed in for her. We slot it in for Fast Heal anyway.
And another safe room.
A fifth!?
(Were not a fifth. The game doesnt recognize that weve progressed since reaching the beginning of this floor, and even still thats a really low estimate that makes me suspect they cut something)
Further in, Ryuji learns Elec Boost to replace Deathbound. His Electric attacks are now 25% stronger.
Subrecover SP restores 1% of the backup partys SP after battle. This is clearly not enough to really rely on even just as an incentive to switch between party members, but it does mean we can now Auto-Recover with impunity because Morgana and Ann will recover most of what they lose if we dont take a lot of hits.
Akechi also learns Attack Master to replace Kouga. Attack Master gives him Tarukaja at the start of battle, and its pretty useful. Weird that he gets it instead of Ryuji, though.
We also run into this Treasure Demon, Orlov. At this point Im saving most of my bullets for Odas Down Shot to use on Treasure Demons or pesky enemies without weaknesses.
And we make it to the control room.
So this is the cheating control room What should we do, Joker?
Very well. Let us dispatch it swiftly.
Bullet Hail on a miniboss always feels nice.
This dude is weak to Bless and goes down right quick.
Morgana learns Diarahan, which fully heals one ally, to replace Diarama.
Ann learns Burn Boost to replace Dormina. We havent used Dormina since Kamoshidas Palace, and while it was handy there we dont really need it now.
Yusuke learns Masukukaja to replace Sukukaja. Sukukaja is kind of lame. Masukukaja is fucking awesome and well worth a skill slot.
Makoto finally learns Freidyne to replace Freila.
Cmon, we should stop the rigging.
Hold on a moment, I have an idea Id like to discuss.
Oh god, where did the rest of you come from!?
Ive devised an easier way of doing this A way to get all the coins we need.
All of them in here?
Is that even possible ?
It is now. Ive deduced how to win the games.
And everyones gone again.
You can do that!?
Wait, this is a job for me! Itll be a breeze!
Cheating seems somehow wrong though
The odds here are stacked against us. We would never win if we stuck to normal methods. We do not have any time to waste either. It would be best for us to focus on our objective.
...Youre right. Changing my sister[s heart is the ultimate goal here.
I feel bad asking this, but may we borrow your expertise yet another time, Oracle?
Im game! But man, you sure give a lot of orders for a noob!
The other rooms should at least be back to normal honest gambling now too. Anyway, I marked our special room on the map. Make sure you use that one!
Perfect. Now, let us head into the fray.
Lets head over to the marked room, then.
Both buy-in and payout are five times the normal amount! A single customer is limited to four plays!
The buy-in is 125 coins! Would you like to play the game?
(It doesnt matter what you pick)
Would you like to continue playing?
Of course.
Excellent, sir. Please predict the next sum.
We roll again...
Would you like to continue playing?
You bet we do!
In that case, please predict the next sum!
We can play one more time, right? Were gonna keep it rolling!
U-Understood, maam P-Please predict the next sum
Hot damn! We got a shitton of coins in like, no time!
Weve retrieved the device. Our next move is up to you, Joker.
Wait, what device? What the hell are you talking about?
I thought we were done winnin here. Wanna go somewhere else?
Have we reached our goal?
It still may not be enough.
Are you seriously planning on taking every last coin in here?
Ahaha, it was a joke. However, it would be nice to have a little more coinage on hand, would it not? Everyone wait here. Skull, I would like you to come with me.
Why me?
Because I am the brains here, am I not?
Huh? Oh, sure.
...Time to see what hes made of.
That was amazing! It was like magic!
I could totally get addicted to this!
Where are Crow and Skull?
Whoa
So heavy
They just give you another 3000 coins because we need a certain amount for the next section. I guess Akechi rigged a different table? With the device?
We still have a long way before we reach our goal though. Now then, on to the slot machines.
What he said.
Here you will be playing a game that requires you to match the patterns on the rotating wheels.
Were here to win coins, not to play your game.
I am well aware of that. Though to be perfectly honest Ive been granted permission to kill every last one of you here.
These guys are weak to Nuke, and their only skill is Wage War, which inflicts Rage on the entire party. Theyre chumps, though Akechi isnt that useful since they Null Bless and Reflect Curse. I do learn in the process though that if an enemy reflects your own weakness back at you, you dont get knocked down.
Wait, why didnt the guests around us react to that battle?
It is probably due to Sae-sans perception of the other people in the courtroom. Perhaps as she sees it, they only care for their own victory, while ignoring the needs of others.
That reaction is certainly different from what we saw on the lower floor. I wonder if that trend grows stronger the higher up you go in the court system.
It is possible. In any case, we can now freely access the Slot Room. We should go look around. ...Although I doubt we will find a fair fight waiting for us in this scamming casino.
I would expect theyre all rigged to prevent us from ever winning.
Then should we deal with that first?
No, I believe it would be prudent to examine this slot area further. Casinos hold their higher-limit slots somewhere in the back. If we were going to circumvent their trick, would it not be more efficient to do so on those?
Thats assuming well even be able to solve the problem.
I trust in your ability to handle such a matter.
A-Aight, lets go look for that sweet, sweet slot machine!
Near the entrance, we come across this terminal.
Can you mess with it and figure out how theyre cheating, Oracle?
Wellll this ones on standby. Uh, basically Im gonna have to activate it remotely from a main terminal somewhere else.
So this one is useless unless we can access the main hub. Oh well. We should at least commit this place to memory for now.
Off in the distance there we can see a tasteful bunny girl. Like in Madarames Palace, the female-variant Shadows dont give chase, but instead summon additional Shadows upon spotting you.
The lady in the middle should be familiarshes a Kushinada, and weve already summoned one of her. She uses Matarukaja to boost her partys attack and Mabufula to deal Ice damage.
These guys are Kumbhandas, and while theyre still only able to cast Wage War, their resistances are a little differentinstead of Null Bless, Repel Curse, and a Nuke weakness, theyre weak to Ice and merely resist Curse (though they also Null Fire).
Let him feel like hes on a winning streak, then make him lose big on the final round.
Tch, theyre tellin the dealers how to rig the games
We anticipated as much.
Earlier I said Id show off the animation for Eigaon, and while I might gif it later, heres the meat of it. Its dope.
This must be the main hall of the slot room.
Eventually, we make it into the main hall.
Lets do that, then.
Wait, all cherries wins you 5,000 coins, BAR gets you 10,000, while a 777 gives you 50,000!? Whoa! Thatll get us all the coins we need in one fell swoop!
Assuming we can win, that is. If the rewards high, the risk will surely be high as well.
Either way, our goal here is to gain a members card for the high limit floor. It would make the most sense for us to utilize this slot machine in some way, shape, or form. However
Lemme guess, We will need to stop their cheating first? Theres no doubt this ones rigged too.
Haha, Im glad you understand. Now then, let us search the area. Hopefully we will find something that can give us a little more information about this slot.
Theres prolly a terminal for info back behind the thing. Try looking there, Joker.
Sure enough, its here.
Mweheheh Lets see ...Wow, theyre going really hard on this whole cheating angle. We wouldnt have won a penny here.
Do you think youll be able to disable their rigging of it?
Not from this terminal. It looks like there are multiple different-colored control panels throughout this area. Out of those, Ill need the red and green ones. I should be able to control things from there.
Do you know where we can find them though?
Uh, you know this is me were talking about, right? I can predict where they might be. Ones most likely near the entrance to this area. The comm link ran all the way out there. The other should be back in the staff passageway somewhere. Thats all I can figure out.
Hm, so the entrance to the slot room and some location tucked away in the staff passageway
I guess well just have to go looking for them! Lets hurry up and get this done fast!
So, the wording here is a little confusing. When Futaba said the entrance to this area, I on my first run thought that meant this room, and didnt know why the panel wasnt here. Its simple enough to check, though. That first panel we found is one of the ones were looking for here, so lets go.
That means we just need to find the green panel now. Lets go!
As for the green panel my first run, I got stuck on this for maybe half an hour. See, I just couldnt find it, backtracking everywhere. I even went back to the backroom of the dice area, thinking that maybe they were trying to trick me. Well, they were. Just not like that.
Hidden behind these crates to the left...
Why, its a treasure chest and the panel! The issue wasnt that I didnt know about this area, by the way. Its marked on the map, after all. The issue is that the panel is infuriatingly hidden on a wall you have no reason to look at unless youre coming from an absurd angle.
Whatever, here it is.
Gotcha! Well be done after this.
...Hold on.
Oracle, would it be possible to also tamper with the average win percentages for the slot machines?
So you want to take advantage of the system, just like we did for the dice game.
Essentially. My aim here is the giant slot machine.
You mean the one thats 5,000 coins a play!? I dont know if thats really possible !
Oooh, sounds like fun to me. Just gimme a sec.
The giant ones still only on an 8:2 ratio though. Theres honestly no guarantee itll work properly.
Yep, thats just about on the same level of fucked as everything else in our lives.
Does that mean it will miss two times out of ten? Thats somewhat concerning
It should be fine. Nothing the Phantom Thieves do can ever be truly considered risk-free, after all. If we want to succeed, we simply have no other choice but this.
That seems like a sound argument to me. Very well, lets leave this to Joker then.
I-I wonder if well actually manage to score that 50,000
Shes right. Theres a 20% chance the rig wont work, and even if we win, it might not be enough.
This is a big gamble, Joker. Are you sure about this?
Eh, fuck it.
One reel stops.
And the second.
We did it!
50,000 coins, hm? ...You truly are special, Joker.
You ever watch this video where two Australian dudes win the double jackpot at this Japanese arcade not-pachinko game and its just nonstop coins raining down for like, multiple minutes? Thats what this reminds me of.
Hey, doesnt that sound like a jackpot to you?
What!? Who got it?
It is no surprise the customers are reacting to this commotion. We should leave for now.
But what about the coins!?
Those are just for show. The actual coin total has already been added to our card.
Then why was Ryuji pushing around that fucking cart full of coins earlier!?
Akechis got the gambling madness in his eyes.
You wish to win more coins? Im pretty sure we have enough.
More is always better than less. Then again, I suppose we are already good to go.
Thats right We have 50,000 coins now! Lets go exchange them for a members card to the high limit floor!
Good idea.
We head back to the counter.
While were here, we have enough to buy yet another Soma (full HP and SP restore to all allies) as well as a Bead Chain (full HP restore to all allies). Theyre both well worth it.
We also pick up the High Limit Card. Eh.
I hope I was able to contribute in some meaningful way. Come, let us head over to the elevator.
Uh-oh, Shadow!
Theyre greeting us in front of the elevator? This doesnt give off a welcoming vibe though
This must be due to the instigation of Sae-san. We should be prepared to fight.
Music: Blood of Villain
We merely followed your rules.
Hmph! I am the manager of this casino, and the rules deem that I am the victor!
It appears both the Sae-san of the real world and that of this world are at their wits end
...I think our guests will be leaving now.
The Shadow approaches.
Youre the only one whos gonna be leaving, black suit!
Things wouldve been so much simpler if we could do this from the start!
This enemy Drains Wind, uses Ziodyne and Garudyne, and can use Diarahan to heal itself to full. If only it had enough health to survive a full round, especially after Akechi gets a lucky crit on it...
Music: Desire
Criminal trials are but a gamble to be won, and us prosecutors arrange the gambling table. Hence, losses are unacceptable! We must win, even if it has to be on false charges!
Are you serious, Sis!?
*pause*
Mako-chan
Dont think such a petty trick could defeat me. I may have to acknowledge your skillsif you can make it up to the managers floor, that is.
I wish I didnt have to hear that from Sae-san herself
Sis is completely distorted! We have to stop her, quickly!
We all feel the same way.
Theres no time to waste. She mentioned something about a managers floor, right? Lets try heading up there. Well change Niijima-sans heart for sure.
Music: The Whims of Fate
You can now access the following floors: The Standard Floor./The Members Floor./The High Limit Floor.
But shes so close I can almost smell her now. The next floors prolly gonna be the last one.
Welp, lets get on up to the high limit floor!
And we ascend once more.
All right, during tonights Phashion Phrenzy, were taking a look back through Persona history! Well be looking through costumes from every main game in the series, as well as some related titles. Its also worth pointing out that whenever Maaku wears an outfit from a different game, the battle music changes from Last Surprise to a track from the respective game! Ill be including those songs as well here. The victory themes change too, but those are more incidental (read: Im too lazy).
Music: A Lone Prayer
This track is the main battle theme from the PSP remake of the first Persona game. Dont play that game, its not very good.
God we look like such fucking nerds noooooooo! Whats with the outrageously huge tie for the girls!? Morgana is dressed up as Trish, a fairy from Persona 1 who charged you to heal.
Music: Battle (Persona 2)
This track is the main battle theme from the Persona 2: Innocent Sin remake for PSP. That game is better than Persona 1 but still utterly impenetrable and totally irrelevant to modern Persona.
Much better already. Kinda flat, but still stylish. Morgana is dressed up as Trish once again, while Akechi is dressed up as a student from Kasugayama High School, probably Jun.
Music: Mass Destruction
This track is the main battle theme for the vanilla, FES, and male route of P3P versions of Persona 3. This is a great song but I would have killed for them to have included Wiping All Out.
I like this outfit on these characters more than I liked it in actual Persona 3. The Evokers are also a nice touch. Morgana is dressed up as Aigis, the real main character of that game.
Music: Time To Make History
This track is the normal battle theme of Persona 4 Golden. Im glad its this one because Im so fucking sick of Reach Out To The Truth, you have no idea.
Nice glasses, everyone. Morgana is dressed up as Teddie, naturally. Also the way Akechi wears his uniform is a clear callback to Naoto, hah.
Music: Old Enemy Akira Volume
This track was remixed for SMT III: Nocturne and most people probably know it from there.
I like the uniform, but I know absolutely nothing about Shin Megami Tensei if..., and it wasnt localized. Great pull, Atlus. Morgana appears to be Raidou Kuzunoha? This game was an inspiration for the high school setting of the Persona series, and other elements like the Arm PCs seem to have inspired other games like SMTIV.
Music: Stage
This track plays in the third stage of Babel, Obelisk. I never got past the first stage, rip.
Catherines a really good game with really great style except all the transphobia. Maaku is Vincent, Ryuji is Orlando, Morgana is a random sheep I guess, Ann is Catherine, Haru is Erica, Futaba is Toby for some reason, Akechi is Boss (the first Atlus Boss