Board 8 > Anagram Plays Persona 5: Expensive Overleveled Personas Editions (spoiler)

(+) Yeah! (+)

I have completed everything up to sending the calling card for Shido's Palace, which I will do at some point when I next play.
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Yeah, Akechi's whole motive is probably the weakest part of the game from an overall writing standpoint. The dude's a train wreck of a character. A fascinating train wreck, though!

I do wish they would have kept him chill-but-evil instead of EVIL BREAKDOWN MUUAHAHAHAHA. A lot of JRPGs have a tough time doing that.

EDIT: That being said, even though it's kinda weak logically, Akechi's motive is a very barbed piece of social commentary about Japanese culture and the way it treats orphans and single moms like absolute shit while looking the other way at many men's bad behavior.
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trdl23 posted...

Yeah, Akechi's whole motive is probably the weakest part of the game from an overall writing standpoint. The dude's a train wreck of a character. A fascinating train wreck, though!

I do wish they would have kept him chill-but-evil instead of EVIL BREAKDOWN MUUAHAHAHAHA. A lot of JRPGs have a tough time doing that.

I don't really mind his motivation, I think it's okay. I'm even okay with him dismissing the power of friendship. I just prefer calm and collected villains to crazy ones, I feel like they lose something by making that turn. I hated that about Azula in Avatar as well.
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Sorry for the edit, but I think it's an important point that I forgot in my original post.
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Akechi's last scenes are a complete mess. He goes from being normal Akechi to MUAHAHA I'M EVIL to "I was wrong all along, now I must redeem myself" in a ridiculously short period of time. Does a good job at making Shido look like an even bigger asshole than before, though.
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Azula's I think was very well-done. She only loses her calm and collected demeanor after she loses everyone close to her, and it takes place over a much longer period of time.
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The Akechi sequence is silly but it somehow manages to make it to the fun part of silly IMO.

trust no one not even yourself

I think Akechi makes a bit more sense if you view him through the lens of someone who didn't realize you could change people's hearts like the Phantom Thieves did until he actually encountered them, rendering all the actions he did unnecessary. Like he jumped off the moral cliff only to later learn there was a better way to do it.
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trdl23 posted...

EDIT: That being said, even though it's kinda weak logically, Akechi's motive is a very barbed piece of social commentary about Japanese culture and the way it treats orphans and single moms like absolute s*** while looking the other way at many men's bad behavior.

Yeah, I did notice that theme there. Every other character mentions having no father or his mother dying early or something.
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Akechi's final scene is a mess but man Robbie Daymond really brings it with his voice acting
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LeonhartFour posted...

Akechi's final scene is a mess but man Robbie Daymond really brings it with his voice acting

This happened in another game I played recently too. I guess evil meltdowns really allow VAs to go wild!
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Spoilers about Akechi: I was convinced after Akechi's off camera demise on the boat, that he would somehow return in some capacity in the end. Alas, I guess this proves that sometimes people really do die off camera.
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We havent gotten any real spinoffs yet a la P4A, so dont count Pancake Boy out yet
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He still shows up in the bad end if you don't steal Shido's heart before the deadline. Whether that's an oversight or it means he survived is up to your interpretation.
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Mewtwo59 posted...

He still shows up in the bad end if you don't steal Shido's heart before the deadline. Whether that's an oversight or it means he survived is up to your interpretation.

Theres no way that is anything but an oversight imo
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I've never had an enemy take a party member hostage. I didn't know that was even a thing.
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swirIdude posted...

I've never had an enemy take a party member hostage. I didn't know that was even a thing.

He took morgana hostage and demanded 5000 gold. I gave it to him and then the battle went back to normal. What a weird mechanic.
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Anagram posted...

swirIdude posted...

I've never had an enemy take a party member hostage. I didn't know that was even a thing.

He took morgana hostage and demanded 5000 gold. I gave it to him and then the battle went back to normal. What a weird mechanic.

It's one of the dumbest trophies because it happens so rarely, even when the conditions are met.
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apparently Anne (or someone) has this skill (I think gained through confidant links) where she can negate a negotiation so to speak without giving up anything.

One of the few times I actually had a hostage situation take place, their skill kicked into action. It was all so quick though it was hard to even follow what happened. In the end the battle returned to normal so I was like, whatever.

It was kind of a needless skill. Either that, or it needed to be fleshed out more.
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Arghhhh I went to Mementos assuming it'd open up the last part because I'd finished everything except Shido, but it just opened up another part, not the last part.
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Okay, it's time.

I'm level 63, I've got the best weapons and armor you can buy, and I've got some level 80~ personas. Let's do this.
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I just remembered something. Akechi told us that Kaneshiro and Madarame were connected to Shido. But why? From a narrative standpoint I mean. Also, was Kadoshima unrelated, then? Just seems like a weird plot twist to make every palace except one related.
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Yeah, it was stupid and hackneyed.
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I love how a ton of politicians show up to clap for Shadow Shidos speech, thats the kind of thing that makes me play video games.
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Also, youre correct, Kamoshida is unrelated. It makes sense because all of his stuff was self-contained, without any financial or political ties.
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Kamoshida isn't connected to Shido, but the school principal was.
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CAN YOU ENDURE THIS?!

*Casts an ice spell on a persona healed by ice*

I guess I can, Shido.
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he's trying to get you to let your guard down by feigning ineptitude
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Time for the best music in the game
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KamikazePotato posted...

Time for the best music in the game

nah that already happened at the end of Sae's Palace

Rivers in the Desert is pretty good too though
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Shido beatoed

This was a very easy final boss. No one was knocked out once and no one even really came close. I will say, however, that it probably would have taken me foreeeeever to kill him if I hadn't make a level 84 angel persona with charge and sword dance. Each attack did like 800 damage.
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Anagram posted...

I will say, however, that it probably would have taken me foreeeeever to kill him if I hadn't make a level 84 angel persona with charge and sword dance. Each attack did like 800 damage.

Welcome to SMT, where bosses are easy if you prepare properly and hell if you don't.
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I like this scene in Shido's office. Two doctors and some cronies are waiting for him to wake up, and one of the cronies is wearing a surgeon mask because I guess he's scared of germs or something.
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Shido best boss in P5.

Cognitive Psience, son!

While I was never really threatened by him, the battle was a bit of a marathon. I could see it being the hardest fight simply from an attrition standpoint depending on how well supplied you are. I also didn't fuse above my level at that point in my first playthrough so there was that too.

only flaw is that this should have been the boss music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL0cUBIIDsA" data-time="
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Yeah, I spent like 300000 yen fusing stuff above my level. I only used it against Shido, though. I should've done it earlier, but eh.
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I don't think I ever fused above my level on my first playthrough, and Shido still wasn't that hard for me.
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When will I get the ability to go deeper into Mementos and find out whatever Morgana is? Do I just wait for the 18th?
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Don't worry about it, the game will let you know when.

If you really want to know the day: the 24th
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"Could you not get with Futaba? I can't imagine you calling me father."

Harsh, Sojiro. Harsh. Luckily I'm a Makoto man.
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I don't know why so many people totally gloss over that he immediately rescinds it and says maybe it would be okay.

tcaz2 posted...

I don't know why so many people totally gloss over that he immediately rescinds it and says maybe it would be okay.

It's funnier that way!
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Spoilers that won't matter because Anagram can't get the scene anyway:

He covers for you anyway even if you're cheating on Futaba with 8 other girls. In the end, Sojiro knows what it's like to be a player.
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tcaz2 posted...

I don't know why so many people totally gloss over that he immediately rescinds it and says maybe it would be okay.

Even better is the Valentine's scene.
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technically Anagram could still get the scene if he decides to romance a girl he hasn't maxed yet
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KamikazePotato posted...

Time for the best music in the game

Nah, that's still to come :)
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Tentacle penis chariot shadow

I really did not see this one coming.
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Haaaaaaaaaahahahaha I forgot we had this called in the first topic.
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i see you have finally encountered mara
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Why did Ann's rival model have a portrait? She doesn't seem important at all.
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Dunno. Maybe they felt it'd be difficult to get across her two personas if it was just text as opposed to being able to use the portrait?
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Kind of confused, need help. Shinya asked me to change his mom and gave me her name, and unlike all previous requests, this immediately triggered a meeting with the others. They said we should do it, then the meeting ended and things went back to normal. When I go to Mementos, though, there's no presence of her, just of another request I'm supposed to do.
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