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Nah, it's really just the worst, most egregious example coming at the worst, most inopportune time.
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Mar 22, 2018 02:48
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So the evil burger king has a bunch of daleks, OK. Also Morgana is a goddamn moron.
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Mar 22, 2018 02:48
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Teddie is a much better mascot than Morgana because for all of Teddie's faults he was never this much of a loving rear end in a top hat to the team. Maaku is probably relieved that he can go to bed at a time later than 9 PM on the dot now.
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Mar 22, 2018 02:53
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This is, with little doubt, the nadir of the game if only because it goes on so loving long. There’s a scene later that’s super loving bad, but it’s at least short. I don’t hate Morgana but man does this plot thread seem to try it’s best to make you hate him.
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Mar 22, 2018 02:55
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Arist posted:Nah, it's really just the worst, most egregious example coming at the worst, most inopportune time. hard disagree, but we'll get there
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Mar 22, 2018 03:11
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I can see where the plot thread's going, and they did try to build up Morgana's inferiority complex so it didn't quite come out of nowhere, but the problem is it ends up coming out as 'be an even bigger jackass to Ryuji', and add in he comes off as extremely bossy. Though really, Ryuji really is a dumbass who needs to be yelled at, neither is coming off good.
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Mar 22, 2018 03:15
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I think most people will agree that this whole sequence is a low point for the game, but I do think there's one particular scene later on that stands out as "The Worst Written Scene."
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Mar 22, 2018 03:16
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The one thing I like about this sequence is that Futaba was the one who noticed Morgana was missing. She just spent a week with him, it makes all the sense in the world she'd be the one.
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Mar 22, 2018 03:20
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She also lives like a block away so she's the only logical choice besides Sojiro to bring it up with Maaku. She usually doesn't greet the protag on his way out to school, so presumably she came in to specifically check in on the cat.
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Mar 22, 2018 04:13
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Why are any of these people friends again?
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Mar 22, 2018 04:17
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From what I can tell from the dialogue, Maaku didn't sell out Makoto so much as mention the data they got off Sae's laptop. Sae is at least semi-competent sometimes and realised that someone would have had to have accessed the laptop directly, which makes Makoto the obvious suspect. She doesn't seem certain that Makoto is in with the Phantom Thieves, just contemplating the possibility. Then again, I'm reading a lot into a couple of lines of dialogue. 
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Mar 22, 2018 04:22
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On the topic of phantom thieves cash-ins, meet the Lupinrangers, half of this year's 
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Mar 22, 2018 04:28
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Lupin III itself is getting a new season in a couple weeks.
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Mar 22, 2018 05:13
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I would forgive everything if he'd gotten into a fistfight with the cat first.
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Mar 22, 2018 06:12
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Night10194 posted:I would forgive everything if he'd gotten into a fistfight with the cat first. That would've been MAGICAL. Both for the drama value of the arguement actually turning out in a way that actually threatens a real schism and the comedy value of Ryuji forgetting that he's in the real world and punching a cat.
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Mar 22, 2018 09:29
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fractalairduct posted:From what I can tell from the dialogue, Maaku didn't sell out Makoto so much as mention the data they got off Sae's laptop. Sae is at least semi-competent sometimes and realised that someone would have had to have accessed the laptop directly, which makes Makoto the obvious suspect. She doesn't seem certain that Makoto is in with the Phantom Thieves, just contemplating the possibility. She at the very least knows that Makoto contacted the phantomthieves for the Kaneda case Not sure if that means she knows Makoto became one of them And yeah low point of story here Just like with any story medium that uses a sudden break-up
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Mar 22, 2018 09:42
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Let's give credit to Yusuke and Ann for being reasonable human beings worried about the sudden surge of popularity the group gets.
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Mar 22, 2018 11:56
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ApplesandOranges posted:Let's give credit to Yusuke and Ann for being reasonable human beings worried about the sudden surge of popularity the group gets. Yeah, it seems like the Phantom Thieves have really been talked up in our absence. I wonder. Given cognition, if enough people think something about us, does that put up walls even stronger than something a single person's Palace can build?
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Mar 22, 2018 12:58
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Funky Valentine posted:Teddie is a much better mascot than Morgana because for all of Teddie's faults he was never this much of a loving rear end in a top hat to the team. Morgana's competence threshold is way higher than Teddie's starting out - in his mind he's pretty much the O.G. Phantom Thief with Joker as his highly competent apprentice, so he's understandably a lot more condescending to the rest of the group and a lot more panicked at the idea of losing face. This entire sequence is insufferable and the friction between Morgana and Ryuji is never properly explained or explored, but the difference in dynamics between him and the World's Horniest Bear is understandable enough. Oxxidation fucked around with this message at 13:58 on Mar 22, 2018 |
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Mar 22, 2018 13:53
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Arist posted:Hold up, I’m being told the coach will challenge, saying that semicolon here is technically not a violation because the two clauses are both independent. Let’s see what the referees have to say about this. I love you. Also, I hope Morgana and Ryuji at least have the requisite awkward anime making up scene. Otherwise this whole thing is even more bullshit than it is now.
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Mar 22, 2018 15:24
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You know... I do see where they were going with this sequence. While the conflict between Ryuji and Morgana hasn't really been built up to my satisfaction (again, I see where they're going- two people who are similar in terms of values and essential outlooks on the world who should be friends, but aren't due to clashing personalities and personal faults, see literally any "buddy cop" movie- but this translates in the game into them being pissy at each other and not really coming to any agreement, even in secret, and it doesn't really work), Morgana's doubts and insecurities... mostly have been? I mean, it's been well established by this point that he's a pompous tit who doesn't really talk about his emotions, because that would mean talking about how insecure and scared he is about being wrong, about being left out, about being neither human nor cat but... other. So yes, I can see why he'd do this, at this point too- it's obvious he's just using the current tiff as an excuse for leaving a group he has come to believe would kick him out soon anyway, because he doesn't really believe that he belongs there anymore, if he ever really did. And I mean, it's not like that plot-line doesn't work on its own merits- isn't there a plot-line like this in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol 2? But this iteration is doomed at the outset because we already feel detached from this entire conflict... and a lot of the reason why is found in this comment here:Really Pants posted:Why are any of these people friends again? The biggest problem I have with the Persona series is not really the plotlines or the characters, but the interaction between these characters, or more appropriately the lack thereof. In all 3 (main) games, you have disparate individuals who are drawn together by the weird poo poo going on and become fast friends by the end of the game, but it seems I'm left with a question every time: when did that happen, exactly? There's a lot of fighting Shadows and a lot of "dramatic" moments of tragedy and horror, and yes, camaraderie can be fostered by witnessing such events together, but what about the slow moments in between them? You know, just talking, finding common ground through discussion, engaging in leisure activities, sharing meals, just calling up to ask questions, figuring out boundaries and apologizing for mis-stepping, doing nice things for each other- all of the things that real life friendships are actually based on... where are they? Usually these games just have one such event, usually some kind of celebration, which is generally undercut by the plot or some writers ungodly attempt at humor, so it's like it never actually happens at all. P3 had most of the characters in a common room, usually sitting by themselves and doing, and P5 doesn't even have that: they just talk at each other over their phone, mostly. It seems that any sort of friendly interaction that happens at all is between the MC and the characters individually, through the social links, with sometimes the confidants in question asking "Hey, wanna hang out?" in return, but only to you, and never actually to each other, it seems, except in passing. It's... really very cold, and odd, and it'd be one thing if the game acknowledged it or used it to emphasize a point, but we are told that no, really, these people do like each other and would die for each other in the end. Yes, Yosuke might be a total douchenozzle that constantly objectifies and teases the women in our party, and once signed them up for a beauty pageant without their knowledge or consent and constantly needles another male party member about his issues for "teh lolz," but he's a good bro who would die for you, honest.  And it's not like there are ways to get around concerns of party gestalt, either: consider the Tales of... series, who have an entire system dedicated to putting the plot mostly aside and focusing solely on character interaction between party members through skits. I mean, god knows those games are mostly poorly written, cliche-riddled messes too, but I am much more inclined to believe that those teams actually have relationships with each other by the end.
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Mar 22, 2018 15:49
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as lovely as this sequence is, it doesn't drop morgana anywhere near to teddie levels gently caress teddie was the worst
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Mar 22, 2018 16:38
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I like how Morgana takes time during that rant to poo poo on Ryuji for no reason. Just "gently caress you especially" out of nowhere. I miss the Persona 4 cast. 
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Mar 22, 2018 17:05
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Hobgoblin2099 posted:I like how Morgana takes time during that rant to poo poo on Ryuji for no reason. Just "gently caress you especially" out of nowhere. if we want to be exceedingly charitable towards the writers here we could speculate that Morgana is trying to shore up his disintegrating self-esteem by doubling down on his abuse of Ryuji, with obvious results but in truth the whole thing is just miserably contrived
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Mar 22, 2018 17:14
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In fairness if anyone is going to randomly decide to be a raging rear end in a top hat and gently caress off for no good reason it'd be a cat.
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Mar 22, 2018 17:30
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I personally find the sequence fine, it's not great but the problem is less that it's a bad narrative beat and more that it's not got great writing for this narrative beat, so I don't mind that it happens I mind more that it isn't done as well as it could. I'd say if I was writing this I'd have the fight be before the trip, and combine the rest of the thieves leaving besides Futaba with Morgana's fears of being excluded, so you get the time in Hawaii, which is already kind of a downer, with this constant thought of what to do about Morgana when you get back, and you can't not go because the school/police might find it suspicious or something. Then come back and lead into the next bit with more time to breath. Also I'd argue in regards to small moments this game is the best at actually making your friends seem like friends, they tease and have fun with each-other in group chats. The mementos conversations are cute, usually, and tend towards working at making you believe the friendship. Mementos really does a lot to sell the party members liking and having fun with one another. Like, I fully think that Persona 5 actually has the party that is the most actually friendly to one another. From the way that the Hawaii trip goes to just a lot of little things, at no moment do I question that these people are friends, personally speaking, maybe not close friends but like, compared to Chie and Yosuke; Ryuji and Ann actually get along and I could see hanging out outside of the main character, as just an example. Except for Morgana and Ryuji, in this current narrative sequence, which is the point. The best bits are the confidant events where you go out with a person and a second person shows up though, which I believe can happen with party members and from memory do show off those party members being friends. Maybe I just am less critical as a person, admittedly I tend to ignore faults more often than not in works I enjoy. In any case I think that the other thing this game has going for it is that the party actually do have a reason to stand by one another and be friends outside the Persona and Phantom Thief stuff. Which is that they've all suffered at the hands of society and adults, they have shared experience and know what it is to be the outsider and the outcast. So even if they all have their own interests and lives they'll still stand by one another for that reason. Maybe the game isn't the greatest at selling this idea but I believe it. Lord_Magmar fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Mar 22, 2018 |
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Mar 22, 2018 17:39
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Closed-Down Pizza Parlor posted:as lovely as this sequence is, it doesn't drop morgana anywhere near to teddie levels Teddie is vastly preferable to Morgana imo. I can't imagine him pulling a stunt like this, and he had the same existential crisis. He also brought Nanako back to life, took care of Yu when he was sick, and actually worked in return for having a place to stay.
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Mar 22, 2018 17:40
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I wish it was Teddie, but rather than being a magical boy in a mascot costume Teddie was an actual Japanese murderbear.
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Mar 22, 2018 17:59
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Morgana is my least favorite character of the protagonist's party and I am not at all looking forward to an entire section dedicated to him.
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Mar 22, 2018 19:44
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This poo poo drags on a bit too long but IMO once it's over, the game gets good again until the end. Some people mentioned another bad scene? But I can't seem to recall it. Also Arist I just wanted to specifically thank you again for this LP. You're doing great and I can't imagine what a massive pain all the screencaps and transcriptions must be for you.
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Mar 22, 2018 20:14
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resurgam40 posted:The biggest problem I have with the Persona series is not really the plotlines or the characters, but the interaction between these characters, or more appropriately the lack thereof. In all 3 (main) games, you have disparate individuals who are drawn together by the weird poo poo going on and become fast friends by the end of the game, but it seems I'm left with a question every time: when did that happen, exactly? But you're right that it'd be nice if we could get more minor run-ins with other characters to cement that these teenagers are friends who sometimes just hang out and do teenager things. One thing that I'd really like to see in P6 (in 2025 or thereabouts) would be having SLink characters show up throughout the world doing their own thing, and if you run into them they could add a bonus of SLink points to whatever activity they're doing. Maybe you go to the cafeteria on a rainy day to study, and on some days Makoto is there with the same idea, and you can choose to study together to get both the usual Knowledge points and an SLink point for Makoto. Maybe Yusuke turns out to have taken a job at the flower shop to deal with his constant broke-ness and you can get points with him if you work there on the same days. You wouldn't be able to advance the links this way, but it would help show that these characters exist for reasons other than the MC helping them through their issues. The other thing that would be really helpful in this regard would be to be able to run into the characters hanging out with each other, in contexts where you can pass by and say hi but can't actually join in. Maybe Ann and Makoto are out clothes shopping, or you run into Yusuke in the city trying to teach Ann how to draw. Maybe one of the characters shows up at Leblanc in the evening to chat with Futaba, but can't stick around because they have another errand in the area. Little things like that would help flesh out the characters and show that they have relationships outside of the MC, and make it much more believable when your party members decide that they're willing to die for each other when the plot gets dramatic. TheOneAndOnlyT fucked around with this message at 20:34 on Mar 22, 2018 |
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Mar 22, 2018 20:17
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TheOneAndOnlyT posted:but all of it is undercut because the party can't shut the gently caress up about being the Phantom Thieves for a nanosecond. Everything has to tie back to the Phantom Thieves no matter where the party is, and it's really grating after awhile. Yeah, someone mentioned Persona 3 a little bit back? It kinda reminds me of S.E.E.S. in that regard, though the characters aren't quite as aloof as that bunch.
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Mar 22, 2018 20:40
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Golden did an amazing job of making the characters seem interconnected, the night conversations in particular. It helps that all of your party members and a good portion of your social links all go to the same school, which 5 is severely lacking. Half of your party members and all but one of your social links don't go to Shujin.
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Mar 22, 2018 21:15
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Kay Kessler posted:Golden did an amazing job of making the characters seem interconnected, the night conversations in particular. It helps that all of your party members and a good portion of your social links all go to the same school, which 5 is severely lacking. Half of your party members and all but one of your social links don't go to Shujin. The choice for this was clearly deliberate I presume the writers were going for what effects modern tech and networks has on communication, for better or worse
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Mar 22, 2018 23:14
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I like this game, but I want Persona 6 to be Even Better
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Mar 22, 2018 23:25
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This whole section of the game was definitely the worst and most forgettable part of the game for me. It just seemed like they needed just another zone so they could introduce another party character. Which sucks because if I recall correctly, this next section has important revelations about the plot. It's just packed between a lot of garbage.
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Mar 22, 2018 23:31
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I must've tried talking to that cat about his obvious self-esteem issues dozens of times before this inevitable plot development. Part of that might have been trying to ensure I didn't get a bad ending in a JRPG series that has had bad endings in the previous two iterations of its series (or maybe more, never played the earlier persona games), but part of it was just not wanting him to be sad. As for the inevitable plot development, that kind of railroading is understandable to an extent in any video game that can't afford to code things branching in dozens of ways, but it doesn't lead to a good payoff that really justifies it. I'll confess that I was surprised to learn I missed having Morgana around as my supernatural life coach 
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Mar 23, 2018 00:49
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It's from the previous update, but after thinking how gruesome the principal's death was, it dawned on me that Futaba must have seen her mother like that too right before she died.  To add to the discussion, what bugs me about Morgana going full rear end in a top hat now is that the scene had these instances: Arist posted:
I'm speculating that the party is being played here, so its bugs me that the party is actually being competent for once and that they might figure things out ahead of time, but nope! Got to focus everything on Morgana's existential crisis instead! It just reeks of awful plot contrivance to make them do this dungeon.
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Mar 23, 2018 08:33
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This is too suspicious though. Only one CEO is profiting from these seemingly accidental incidents. I think it’s natural to suspect he’s intentionally causing them. 
That’s right. Okumura is at the top of the rankings, after all.
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Closed-Down Pizza Parlor posted:as lovely as this sequence is, it doesn't drop morgana anywhere near to teddie levels Teddie was the worst. Agreed. He was annoying throughout the game, except for that one plot part, and Yosuke took one for the team by letting that annoyance stay with him. Hobgoblin2099 posted:I like how Morgana takes time during that rant to poo poo on Ryuji for no reason. Just "gently caress you especially" out of nowhere. I dislike the Persona 4 cast. Or more like they're all incredibly obnoxious to one another. The P5 cast stick together because of how society treats them.
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Mar 23, 2018 09:36
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Part 103: 9/15-9/16: When The Cat’s Away Music: Confession/Secret We don’t even get Beneath the Mask this morning, because we’re supposed to be ~all sad Morgana’s gone~. Peh.   I heard my sister’s boyfriend’s friend got a calling card!  Why don’t you put a request in to the Phantom Thieves?   All he does is dump overtime on me while he dashes off right at five. I wish the Phantom Thieves would work their magic on him…  What would that be like? If they changed his heart? Totally unrelated, but man, Stephen Root does not look 66 at all (and yes, I know he's only like 47 in this picture, shut up). Well, they say you become the opposite of how you normally are. It’s like they get hypnotized or something. So I guess he’d become more open-minded, communicate better, and start taking initiative. He’d basically be as awesome as the president of Okumura Foods. ...Please, Phantom Thieves! Please, make this happen! Music: Disquiet    If anything, getting into the real building is impossible…  Mona seriously went to a Palace based on somewhere like this…?  It’s definitely on a different scale than the ones we’ve dealt with previously… I searched Okumura online. He’s totally up to something. (to Maaku) Don’t you think he’s guilty too?  I’m positive I’m right! We’re here for Mona. I know, I know. We gotta make sure we squeeze the juice on those mental shutdown things outta him too. You said you found the Palace keywords, right, Futaba?Wait, what? We’re skipping the usual “figure out the distortion” scene? I mean, it was generally pretty pointless, but it’s weird that we’re just offscreening these now.  ...What!? How the gently caress did you figure that out!? We’re not even going to like, examine why he sees his workplace as outer freaking space?  And after a single line of mild confusion, no one ever questions Okumura’s distortion again. Hell, hilariously, I’m not even sure we’ve heard the dude’s first name spoken aloud yet, and I’m pretty certain not a one of us knows what he looks like. Not that it wouldn’t be simple enough to find out, I’m just saying we’ve never met this dude, know pretty much nothing about him, but somehow when coming up with guesses for how his hosed-up brain sees the world we immediately jump to “outer space!” Sure, why not?  Ohhh, so that’s why it’s called Big Bang Burger. Big bang is space lingo, y’know. Um, not necessarily… I was wondering what the hell Makoto meant by this because almost all the Wikipedia disambiguation results for “Big Bang” are after (and thus most likely in reference to) the adoption of the Big Bang Theory (Bazinga). Then I noticed a weird one:   There’s no goddamn way this was intentional, but it’s still pretty great. So the concept behind the store-branch name came from the CEO himself. Outer space, hm? How exciting… We better be able to breathe once we get in there.   Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh   Y’know, maybe doing this in a public-yet-sparsely-populated area where we’re fully visible from far away the day after the building gained news attention for being the target of vandalism was a bad idea. We probably could have gone somewhere a little more inconspicuous and just like, walked over. But, uh… I guess Akechi’s here now! Oh boy!  Music: Sweatshop Wait, oops, that’s not right. Music: Sweatshop (Listen to this) Eh, not Dutch enough.    President Okumura must be on guard, what with everything that’s been in the news.  That bastard! He’s just causin’ more trouble for us!  Wait, what? That’s… confusing.  It’s as though we’re in a film…   C’mon, we gotta get lookin’ for him.  Wait, we can see outside the front doors to a normal city, so we’re clearly in the lobby of the building. When did we get inside? Ann’s first line in the last cutscene would imply they teleported directly inside when they entered the Metaverse, which is… weird, because that’s never how it’s worked before. Also, if just being near the building is enough to suck us into the orbit (heh) of this Palace, where the hell did Akechi end up? Also, isn’t it like, really loving weird that we can enter the Metaverse from Tokyo, walk over to this building, go inside, and see the entire Earth from within it? Or, to rephrase that question, what the hell? It also probably goes without question that the building is almost certainly one of those “bigger on the inside” deals, because gently caress, is this place massive. That I have less of a problem with than the weird, mind-bending sense of geometry required to justify being able to walk from the Earth into outer space. Unless the front door to the Palace is like, a wormhole or something. Yeah, okay, let’s go with that. It’s pretty space-y. Also, since Morgana is obviously not here and thus has left my active party, I decide to sub in Yusuke for the sake of filling up the team. He will not see combat.  Yusuke’s big fat character portrait is completely obscuring Makoto in this image, for the record.  Let’s see here… Looks like a lever for the elevator to me. Aaand it should be working now! For real? You’re amazin’, Oracle. Mwehehe, that was nothing. It’s certainly reassuring having you with us. Anyway, let’s try using the elevator. First off, complimenting Futaba is how we got into this dumb Morgana mess in the first place, so maybe save it for now. Second, if Futaba had to jigger the elevator for it to operate, how could Morgana have possibly gotten any further than this? Shouldn’t we just assume he’s not here?    Oh yeah, I’m really feeling the space theme with this featureless grey hallway. Wait, that’s not fair. There’s like, a space tree or something. Not totally featureless.     They’re saying something… Music: Suspicion  If you don’t like it, you can quit… However, you will not be compensated… What’re they talkin’ about?    These robots are part of Okumura’s cognition, correct? That means they represent…  It’s really weird to me that for this dialogue option there’s no “serious” option. Both of them make you seem like a huge dumbass for not realizing what’s happening immediately. The reason it comes off so strangely is that Japan has a very real phenomenon of “occupational sudden mortality” or “overwork death,” also known as karōshi. Now, most of the time this is due to heart attack, but a lot of cases are just straight-up suicides, which is unfortunately not terribly surprising considering Japan’s high suicide rate. It’s also a widespread problem in South Korea and China, which probably won’t surprise you. From the Wikipedia page on the subject, one of the four “typical” cases of karōshi according to the International Labour Organization includes a nurse who died at the age of twenty-two after being forced to work thirty-four continuous hours… five times a month. It’s hosed up. It’s also worth noting that due to government “encouragement” (read: they’re barely doing poo poo) for companies to limit the amount of hours an employee is “allowed” to work per week in response to some of these deaths, a lot of these hours are classified as unpaid (and often unrecorded) overtime, which companies have gone even further to limit by placing a monthly cap on overtime hours. However, due to incredibly stringent quotas and overbearing workloads, even employees who work at some of these companies can’t afford to take advantage of this and end up working at home or secretly staying at the office with the lights turned off, known as “cloaked overtime.” In 2007, Mitsubishi (a banking corporation, not the car manufacturer) instituted a policy allowing employees to go home up to three hours early to care for their families, and two years later only thirty-four out of seven thousand workers had taken advantage of this. And all this isn’t even getting into the societal expectation that salarymen go out drinking with their coworkers constantly. Yeah, that’s a real thing, anime didn’t make that up. Also I thought it was a little weird that these overwork claims were being pointed at a food service company, as the immediate thought when they’re brought up is not “salarymen,” but sure enough, according to this Daily Beast article, one of the worst companies in the country, as selected by a group of journalist and labor activists for their prestigious “Most Evil Corporation of The Year Award” is Mister Donut (they didn’t actually win that award to my knowledge, but the article mentions them as a serious contender). So, when I say, “maybe there should be a serious option here,” it’s in full acknowledgment of just how pervasive and toxic overwork is in Japanese society. But, uh, maybe the video game industry isn’t really in a position to be throwing stones there, so I guess I understand. All this makes for a rather morbid and serious last four paragraphs, though, so here’s an adorable dog dressed as a police officer!  Aww! Isn’t he cute? And he’s got plenty of free time to play with you after being put on paid administrative leave following that “officer-involved shooting” of a man with “no active warrants”! Looks like this Crime Dog is gonna take a bite out of… (checks notes) ...black people. What were we talking about? Oh, right. True, that’s what they appear to be externally. However, this is most likely how the workers of Okumura Foods are viewed by their CEO. So he thinks they’re his robots!? If they’re being treated like this in reality as well… then the company truly is exploiting them. See!? Okumura IS a piece of poo poo! Just like I said. Mona is our main objective here. He doesn’t seem to be anywhere nearby. Let’s search further in.   Music: Sweatshop   Just up ahead, we come across a new room with some weird hologram in the center. We ignore it for now.  Instead, we head to the door on the far side.    The door has closed. Is there any way by which we can open it?  What does it mean by that?   ONLY REGISTERED PERSONNEL MAY PROCEED PAST THIS POINT. This security system might be a bit of a problem…  Ryuji throws himself against the reinforced metal door that doesn’t even open outwards and is protected by a force field. He also kicks it for good measure. Brilliant plan. The hell’s up with this!?Well, for starters, you’re an idiot. Music: Suspicion Look at it… There’s no way we can force that thing open.  Oh, that means Mona hasn’t been able to proceed any further either. So if he’s here in the Palace, he would have to be somewhere before this door…Okay, but what if he’s not in the Palace?   Music: Desire   ...What? Oh! Hey, it’s Girl With Watering Can/Well-Behaved Girl! What’re you up to, buddy? Almost didn’t recognize you because you actually have a portrait this time! Guess you got bumped up to “recurring,” huh? Good for you! Those clothes… Could she be…? A black mask!? Wait, is she the one Madarame and Kaneshiro were talking about…!? So… she’s the reason for all those people goin’ brain dead…!? It was a girl this whole time!? Oh, I guess… we don’t realize who it is yet? For some reason? Even though it’s totally obvious even from the second you first meet Girl With Watering Can that this character is going to be Important? Actually, scratch that, ever since the loving fireworks cutscene where we actually first saw her? The same fireworks cutscene that was immediately followed by an insinuation that Makoto knew who that girl was, which never pays off and is in fact actively contradicted by this segment of the game? Hello? Like, come on Ryuji, you’ve met this girl twice now.  Are you the one who has been following us!? Say something, dammit!  It says “Mysterious Voice” but I’m going to spoil the next five seconds for you: It’s loving Morgana’s voice. Sorry.  Mona! You’re OK!  Long time no see, Panther. Uh, it hasn’t been that long. If you came for the Treasure, you should just go home with your tail between your legs. Actually, we were looking for you. The Treasure will be taken by me and this…    That’s… well… really dumb-sounding. Like, you might call her “Beautiful Thief” or the “Thief of Beauty,” but using “Beauty” like that as a proper adjective sounds incredibly loving awkward, to the point I’m suspecting it’s yet another direct Japanese translation the localization team was forbidden from modifying. Upon my search, it turns out “Beauty Thief”’s Japanese pseudonym was “Bishoujo Kaitou,” bishoujo meaning roughly “beautiful girl” and Kaitou being the Japanese word for “phantom thief.” So yeah, it’s pretty literal. I’m still not sure why they didn’t choose “Beautiful,” an actual adjective, but whatever. Beauty Thief…? Music: Wicked Plan Oh hey, the goof-off music started. Guess the rest of this scene is gonna be one huge loving joke. I’ll have you know she’s a Persona-user too!  She really called herself that…? Any tension that was in the air has just gone out the window… You can say that again.  Mona already said that…   Do you even understand what it means to be a phantom thief? An admirable phantom thief is… Yeah, tell them!   Yes, that’s right…?This chick seems really good at this. Enough with the idle chitchat! You started it... Mona, who the hell is she?  Wait! I’ll fix this... Me? Learn to take a hint! Huh…?     So, I guess Morgana met up with this girl and not only told her about all of us, but has also been feeding her scripted insults to recite upon our meeting? That’s… real pathetic, bro.  I dunno… It kinda feels like she ain’t dangerous at all…  We will take the Treasure! You already said that… We don’t have time to chat!  No point, it won’t open-- Don’t underestimate us.  Music: Run, Run, Run! Behind you!  Here they come! Huh? Huh!? Snap out of it! We need to go! We’ll meet up later at our usual spot! Let’s hurry!  Music: Wicked Plan  Bet you’re tired… That was quite rough… I haven’t felt exhaustion like this since I first awakened to my Persona. What’ve you been looking at all this time…? Sorry. I just didn’t wanna stand around and wait. The burglary at Okumura Foods is circulating the news again. Uuugh! Dammit! Why’d they keep comin’ after only me!?  That door most likely had a biometric-authentication lock, so how’d she get it to open…? I wonder who that girl could be. We were told that she’s a Persona-user, correct? Do you believe it’s true? Well, she did look like one… Did Mona betray us…?  Yeah… I don’t think he’s betrayed us. If he had, it’d make more sense for him to directly threaten us, such as exposing our identities. Yeah, except for the fact that the only human beings who can understand him (not counting the one he somehow managed to shanghai into this) are all in this loving room. Maybe if he meows at the police long enough they’ll listen to him. Either way, how the hell’s Morgana related to that Beauty Thief? Considering her tone and physique, she looked about our age.This could be totally innocuous, but it’s Yusuke so I’m going to assume it’s creepy. ...I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere. For real? Where at!? “Oh, I dunno...”   “Did I really say that? It’s just so hard to remember.” At school… I think. But, now that you mention it… I feel like I’ve seen her too… Is she a student of Shujin? I just feel like that’s the case. She did have a mask on, after all. The registry in the student council room has photos of every student. Let’s check them all tomorrow. If we can figure out the identity of the Beauty Thief, that may help us regain contact with Morgana. *nods* Futaba and I should further probe into Okumura Foods then. It’d be best if we investigate how sudden mental shutdowns are connected to them. Sounds like a great idea, my man. I’m sure just poking your nose around will get you more information than the prosecutor we stole all that data from was able to uncover over a period of months. We’re gonna take them down…! Music: Beneath the Mask    People are going on and on bashing Okumura Foods. Apparently they’ve been secretly using low-quality ingredients brought in from overseas…  Furthermore, any employees who were suspicious of Okumura were let go without reason. That coupled with the mysterious death of a rival company’s CEO…  What’s this all of a sudden? Things are going up in flames. I don’t really get what kicked it off though.  They’re acting like spectators or something. It wasn’t like this just a few days ago though... Could there perhaps have been a whistle-blower from within? C’mon, we’ve got even more reason to take Okumura down now! Can we really accept all of this information as truth though? Either way, we need to do something about Morgana. Yup. Anyways, seeya all tomorrow!  “Witnesses report seeing a small black cat somehow manipulating a slingshot to shoot rocks into the glass.”  Police suspect that this is the work of a single criminal and are currently investigating. Okumura Foods released a statement, saying they have “no clue” who the vandal might be. It sounds like the police are investigating Okumura Foods.    They’re getting sued. Apparently they’re pretty shady. You mean how they screwed their employees for the sake of profit? If he’s that corrupt, then he deserves to be targeted. This is where the Phantom Thieves should come in!  Anon: Make him beg! Anon: corrupt companies suck rear end! Anon: they better not ignore this Anon: im getting so hype rn Oh, hey, the messages updated again. Looks like people are getting pretty impatient with us... Music: Confession/Secret   Whoa, the CEO of Big Bang Burger? Why? Apparently they’re really lovely to their employees. They never pay overtime, yet work people hard enough that one actually died… I also heard that a pissed-off former employee is the one who trashed their corporate entrance. There’s a lot of terrible rumors about them, including that they strong-arm their competitors… Yikes. I just ate there yesterday… I never really thought about how they make so much food for so cheap. I hope nothing weird’s mixed in...Music: So Boring  No. Next question. I bet Morgana made her say it… Uh, it’s still a weird thing to say, even if he told her to. Plus they lied about her being able to use a Persona too… We don’t know if that is indeed a lie though. Yeah, that’s gotta be it. Though that actually worries me more... We can’t take her lightly. She has Morgana on her side, remember? I agree with Futaba. At the very least, they’re one step ahead of us. True. An amateur would not have been able to open that gate. They’ve clearly figure out something we don’t know. We’ll need to uncover the identity of that masked girl... Music: Wicked Plan Man, this girl’s hot! Aww, but she’s younger than me. Ryuji!  Get back to work.   They’re all starting to look the same to me… Think we can really find her?  You can say that again.    Wait, what the gently caress? Okumura had a daughter the whole time and nobody even checked!? We’re the worst Phantom Thieves ever! You’d also think a prominent CEO’s daughter would draw at least a little attention, but what the hell do I know? Wasn’t the Beauty Thief like this too? Especially the fluffy hair. That’s gotta be her!  But why was she at the Palace? We could just make her spill the beans herself. She may have already gone home for the day, so let’s try tomorrow. I’m going to lock up. I’ll see you all tomorrow.   Well ain’t that a fine coinkydink. Music: Break it Down (Elp Version)     Girl, what’s up with your forehead?    If you could help me unload this... You’re a second-year, aren’t you? That makes me just a tad older. Um… Have we met somewhere before…? Oh, I haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m-- The only daughter of Kunikazu Okumura, CEO of Okumura Foods. Care to explain why you were inside your father’s Palace?   Wow, you’re remarkably chill about this. You looked really good in that biker gang outfit!  Makoto looks around for eavesdroppers before continuing. So why did you become a phantom thief?  Music: Suspicion  Things have grown quite serious lately… That’s why I want to make amends, even though it may only be for my own satisfaction. But I wonder if this is just running from the problem... Where did you meet Morgana? It was pure coincidence. I found a lonely-looking cat in front of our office building. And that was Morgana? Mm-hm. And when I followed him, I ended up in the Metaverse… So let me get this straight: After leaving the group in a huff, Morgana walked all the way to the Okumura Foods corporate headquarters in Roppongi. Not only did he somehow know exactly where this building was, he managed to get on and off the subway multiple times to get there. Then, by sheer magical loving coincidence, he happens to run into Haru, Okumura’s daughter and the only person who can get past the door in his Palace, who decides to follow him for pretty much no reason. Then, he enters the Palace, pulling Haru in with him, despite the fact that however the hell he manages to switch between the real world and the Metaverse without using the app, it has never been established that he can bring other people with him. Sure, sounds plausible. There’s no way for me to change my father’s company… But if I became a phantom thief, I thought I’d at least be able to change him... ...Isn’t there any way we can work together?Haru shakes her head.  What you’re doing is unnecessarily causing a stir among the public. Besides, the Phantom Thieves, who should be helping the weak, are not helping their own teammate.In our defense, he’s kind of an rear end in a top hat.   Maaku and Makoto share a glance. Also, where the hell are Ann and Ryuji? If they already left then they probably would have also seen Haru before I did, and if they’re still inside they’re taking forever.  And help Mona-chan, who gave me a chance to do just that. But aren’t our objectives the same? It’d be better if we work--  Maaku and Makoto look at each other… again. This game has a lot of really weirdly directed scenes.   It seems getting her cooperation won’t be possible. Let’s consult with the others on our next move. We shouldn’t ignore Morgana either. Music: Disquiet   Gah! Sweet merciful Shylock! That loving nose, dude! Should I… should I be showing this? Is this a hate crime? Man, this is unfortunate! Okay, yeah, I know this isn’t actually a Jewish thing, there’s no possible way it was intentional. But come on Soejima, this is just over-the-top. He looks like Robert De Niro in Raging Bull dressed up as Vincent Vega. He looks like Bucky Barnes, the suspicious new guardian of the Baudelaire orphans. gently caress it, he looks like Steve Carell in Foxcatcher trying to impersonate me, awful hair included. Also I looked up this dude’s VA because I didn’t recognize it and he’s done some notable stuff, like Kittan from Gurren Lagann, but most importantly, he’s motherfucking Spandam from One Piece.  You know, that dude whose entire character design was Mankind but a total wimp and with the serial numbers filed off? This isn’t important or relevant in any way, it’s just all I can loving hear now! This has been this update's installment of useless voice actor trivia only I care about!  ...That’s right. Make it a priority. Phantom Thieves? Hmph…!  No, not at all… Um, what’s this about Phantom Thieves?  It’s jealousy of the successful. Nothing but the barks of the masses who lack the resolve to sacrifice what’s needed for their well-being. Both the young and the old are overjoyed with some foolish idols. This country has no future.Okay, wow, this is certainly some dialogue.  Hashino-san, please let me go home, I need to see my family. Not until you finish writing the rest of Okumura’s lines. Oh god, this character is such a flat boring caricature, what the hell am I gonna do? Well, maybe if I half-rear end it he’ll just fire me. *bangs out the rest in two minutes* I’m done, sir. It’s not terribly subtle, but-- I love it! You’re promoted! Hot dog! Are you still having doubts about me? No… More importantly, I hope things are going well with that young man.  He may not seem like it, but he’s still the son of an influential politician. Be cordial with him. He’ll eventually become a necessary connection for this company—or rather, for me. I understand… I will do the best I can. Good. That’s how a daughter of Okumura should be. Remember how one scene ago I said this game’s cutscenes were weirdly directed? Well, in this scene Okumura sits down, crosses and uncrosses his legs multiple times, and then stands back up. It doesn’t really convey anything at all and kind of just seems like they thought the scene was too “static” so they had him move around pointlessly. Alternatively, it’s actually a really accurate and understated portrayal of ADHD, and I’m going to say it was absolutely intentional. Thank you, Katsura Hashino, for being such an understanding and empathetic artist. You’re welcome. Also, the gays are hilarious. Anon: we all agree on Okumura Anon: This should be easy~ Anon: Take down Okumura first! Anon: Annihilate all corruption! Anon: If they don’t, who will?  Why are the Phantom Thieves letting him go free? What’s the point of that poll!? Hurry up and take him out already! I’m disappointed. What kind of heroes are they? Just hurry up and send a calling card already.Music: Beneath the Mask   They were thanking us for resolving requests that we didn’t actually complete. It’s prolly just a prank. But those requests are indeed resolved. Someone must be going into Mementos other than us. I think it’s Morgana. Agreed. He’s probably taking the Beauty Thief with him too. We should look into this. I was thinking of persuading Okumura-san at school, but she’s been avoiding me.Wait, how is that possible? We confronted her today, and then we went home. How could she avoid you at school if she only met you at the end of the current school day? What the hell?  I’m not sure how I feel about you saying that. I mean, we’re the Phantom Thieves… The method is indeed a classic one, but it is a safe bet. Yeah, I think it’s better than just looking for them randomly. I’m gonna have all sorts of snacks! No teachers to stop me on this field trip! Welp, why don’t we get this over with? Let’s do it tomorrow.   Former Okumura Foods employees have begun raising their voices in protest. Their complaints include unpaid overtime and health problems caused by overwork. Some protestors started to get violent outside their headquarters in a fierce dispute with police. It’s highly suspected that this protest is related to the window vandalism incident a few days ago. It sounds like a lot of people are protesting Okumura Foods.Wait, so did Morgana not vandalize the windows? But the vandalism was the entire reason we went to Okumura’s Palace! He was just there by coincidence? That’s bad writing! Wait, poo poo, I think there’s a plot hole here… Hmm… gently caress it, I’ll just do some more coke.
Arist fucked around with this message at 19:53 on Aug 26, 2019 |
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Mar 24, 2018 03:01
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