Part 5: Entry 3/31/10-05

Entry 3/31/10-05

We'd thought we had a handle on things, little knowing our battle was about to get much more serious...

RECORD 13- "Preparing for Caina"

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I thought we were visiting the same time again and again, but the things they sell have changed too.
I wonder if this is another reflection of our will.



We haven't even opened half the doors in the Desert of Doors yet.
If we don't go through all of them, we'll never get this over with.



If you need a reminder, my strong points are ice attacks and healing skills.
Use them as you see fit.
Leave anything that's weak to ice to me. I'll freeze their assets...



Doesn't Yuka-tan look kinda gloomy...? Y'think it's just me?
No, I think so too...
I knew it!
Who knows what's going on in a chick's mind...
...Especially Yuka-tan's.



It's all right. The past is the past.
Thank you... Aigis-san.



I was too young to remember their faces, and that hurts, too...
Honestly, nobody can fault Ken for the choice he made...
...Sorry to bring up something like that. We've gotta pull ourselves together.
So yeah, maybe you already know, but my Persona can take a punch. It's resistant to physical attacks.
Let me know any time you need my help.



It's right in front of you, but it feels as if you're not really there...
It's pretty close to what it feels like when I'm giving support.

Mitsuru rejoined the investigation as well here.



Mitsuru is an expert fencer, and shows it when we're battling the Shadows.



Her Persona is Artemisia, and as she said it's skilled at both ice and healing. Her attacks are brutally powerful, but she's in trouble if the enemy uses fire skills.

The third door had an unsettling mark on it, and the word "Caina" was stamped across it.



The Shadows were much stronger than they'd been in Cocytus.

Gameplay Notes: I Die To Trash Edition
Caina is really where the difficulty really starts ramping up. Watch this hilarious video where I get destroyed by the very first Shadow I encounter in it.


Click Here For Video!

So what do we do about this? The best solution is to simply run away from Shadows that we don't want to fight. As long as you hit them from behind to start you have a 100% chance of escaping. A good rule of thumb is never to fight enemies like Jotuns, Drives, or Turrets, they all suck and tend to have no weaknesses. They're almost never worth the resources they'll take to kill.

Caina was larger than Malebolge or Cocytus had been, and we encountered a large Shadow much sooner than we would have expected.

RECORD 14- "First Great Shadow of Caina"

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Boss Battle: Death Castle and El Dorado Beast x 2
Here's our first boss that could get really dangerous, though I humiliate it in the video. The Death Castle is mainly armed with support skills, and the El Dorado Beasts with strike attacks like Kill Rush. The Beasts are both weak to and Dodge Ice, as we expect when an Answer boss Shadow has a weakness. So what's the plan? Well, the Death Castle can heal, so it's just plain got to go. We put Yukari on Support/Heal and Assign both Metis and Mitsuru to the Death Castle. Then we'll focus on trying to knock down at least one of the El Dorado Beasts each turn with a Bufu skill. What this will do is make the Death Castle waste its turn casting Re Patra to get it back up. If we manage to knock them both down we can also support the effort to kill the Death Castle. Queen Mab is great for this as well, because she learns Dodge Strike. We can also Rakunda the Castle, making it die faster. Once it's down, the battle's basically over. Set Metis and Mitsuru on Knock Down and smash the Beasts.

And there wasn't only one.

RECORD 15- "Second Great Shadow of Caina"

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Oh! I'm sensing it again...!
I wonder if it's a Shadow... I wish I could tell for sure.
But it feels just like...

It was worrying that Fuuka isn't sure what that presence is. But we didn't have time to think about it.



Could it be...?
If there are Shadows waiting for us like this... could "that" be what's summoning them...?
Incoming Shadows!

Boss Battle: Harem Dancer and Merciless Maya x 2
And here's the first really hard Shadow fight. Both the Mayas and the Dancer have midlevel Fire attacks. The Mayas also have Virus Breath, which does 25% of our current health in damage, Makarakarn, which allows the enemy party to repel one magic attack each, and Eerie Sound, which can distress people. The Harem Dancer is armed with Marin Karin, which can charm a character, Poison Mist, a multi-target poison attack, and Heat Wave, which does brutal Strike damage to everyone. The Mayas are weak against Wind, but there's no real weakness to exploit on the Dancer. The real danger in this fight comes from the potential combination of distress and Heat Wave, and this killed me in two early attempts. To counter this, I left and returned with a new Persona chosen just for this fight, Rangda. Rangda repels strike and is resistant to Fire, covering all of the really dangerous things we can see in this fight. I use Mitsuru in this fight largely just to prove that it's very possible to use the party you want as long as the party you want has Yukari in it. We assign Metis to the Dancer while Yukari and Mitsuru both go on Heal/Support, which keeps a lid on the damage everyone's taking from Heat Waves, Agilaos, and Maragions. You want to buy a bunch of Dis-Poisons and Dis-Charms before this fight. Your party is MUCH smarter about dispelling these statuses if they're on Heal/Support than they were in the original Persona 3 so you shouldn't ever have to spend more than one turn with them. Once the Dancer is down we can just put Metis and Yukari on Knock Down and smash the Mayas.

And just as before, we encountered a dead end and a mysterious door.

RECORD 16- "The Third Door"




Akihiko Fan #2: Akihiko-kun!
Man's Voice: Hold on a sec. You're the captain, aren't you?
Student Boxer: Argh, quit pushing! Practice time is over!
School Boxing Scout: Hey you! Sanada-kun, right?
...That's right.
School Boxing Scout: That was an amazing bout! I've never seen a junior high fighter deliver a KO like that!
I'm with the school you were up against in the finals. What do you say about enrolling with us?
We'll give you a fat scholarship-- you'd only have to pay half your tuition!
Student Boxer: Hey... you're from another school!? That's against the rules and you know it!



...Get outta here.
Akihiko Fan #2: Squeee! Akihiko-kun is so cool!
Akihiko Fan #1: You here that? He'd never go to your loser school!
Student Boxer: Come on already! Go home!
...Dammit, we can't leave until you guys do!
*sigh*
Female Student: *chuckle* Couldn't you have handled that a little more politely?



Third year, class C... Akihiko Sanada.
Whatddaya want?
...Aren't you going to ask who I am?
No need.
Whatever you've come for, I don't want to get involved. All I want is to train and get stronger.
It's nothing troublesome. I have a very simple request.
A request...?
I have enemies that need defeating.
They're not people, I assure you. You wouldn't be bound by the rules of boxing.
No, the enemies I speak of... they're related to what you've recently been experiencing each midnight.
......!?



The difference is, I know what it means. If you come with me... I'll share what I know with you.
Who are you?
Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm a third year, like yourself.
Kirijo...? I've heard that name before.
You said you wanted to build your strength. What you really need is a riskier challenge.



And with this... you can challenge "them."
......

And once again, the vision vanished...



First Ken's past, and now mine... What in the world does it mean?
I have no idea, either...
That really brought me back, though... We were both in junior high then.
To tell the truth, I thought that girl was crazy until I first summoned my Persona.
What was I supposed to expect when you gave me what looked like a gun five minutes after meeting me?
All part of the plan... That was the best way I could think of to get your attention.
If I'd asked you to do something like "fight for justice," I knew you'd never listen.
Ha! You can say that again.



Yes, it was. But it was only a small portion of a school.
Really? Then, it's actually much bigger than that?
Yes. ...Have you really never been outside before?
Well... That's...
I didn't mean to embarrass you. It's nothing to be ashamed of.
Thinking back on it, they kept me from leaving the dorm at first, too.
Do you... also go to school, Sister?
I did... but after this spring, I won't be going anymore.
Huh? How come?
All your friends go... They are your friends, right? You like to be around them, don't you?
Why...? It's because I... um...
Well, I thought it over, and it was my own decision.
Oh... I see.



No, not really bad... More like...
We've been taking her so seriously up till now, but...
She's just a kid inside, isn't she?
*chuckle* Maybe so...



> You decided to return to the lounge.

Metis asked a sort of uncomfortable question. Of course, she didn't know what we'd gone through last year, who we'd lost...



What's in the room all the way down the hall on the second floor?
I get the strangest feeling when I stand in front of it. Could it be…
All the way down on the second floor... Do you mean his room?
Hey! The stuff up there is none of your business, Metis!
Would you quit snooping around our dorm and getting into our stuff!?
......
You don't have to yell at me like that...
A-Anyway, the investigation is more important right now, isn't it? Let's hurry and get it over with.

His room... I hadn't been there in a while....



......



The doors to the past, the time skips, his room being sealed... What did it all mean?