Spoiler

Eh, these bittersweet endings are pretty much Persona tradition, so it doesn't surprise or bother me that Joker goes back home. It's not nearly as tragic an end as what some of the earlier games in the series gave us (looking at you especially, P3), and it's not necessarily a forever goodbye. Nothing to stop him from coming back to Tokyo for university after a year, unless there's something else added to him just going back to his parents. I think the friendships he builds in the game would easily survive that, and it's easy enough to keep in touch at a distance these days.

 

*cough*

Plot bunnies hopping everywhere.

 

Now entering into the final dungeon. Level 64 at the moment, used up a good bit of my funds to fuse both Kohryu and Yoshitsune. Will prolly make Mother Harlot for Debilitate as well, and should have a good half a million yen still in the bank once that's done.

Hifumi eventually supplanted Makoto as Best Girl for me, will be dating her on NG+.

 

Same, going for Hifumi in ng+, but whenever I do an all-out-attack and see Makoto's 'bamf' face...





She's gonna kick my ass for AU cheating, I know! (and she's hot AF...)


Btw, I totally didn't know going to the gym increases your max hp and sp... Take protein shakes with you for double effect. Didn't really use in first run, gonna probably have a lot of free time in ng+...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KukSVxgsQkg

This sound track is intoxicating. Honestly might make an actual purchase of it to support the company.

 

On the bright side though, thanks to your new waifu you can instantly escape any time she tries. At least until that try happens inside the Metaverse and you have to outrun her motorbike.

 

So this was the first Persona game I played...which of the earlier ones should I start with?

 

Probably 3 or 4, assuming you like stuff like social links, personal skill stats, et cetera. AFAIK the first two games didn't have any of that stuff.

Full disclosure: I still haven't ever played P4. Going to have to remedy that once I get done with my NG+ of 5.

 

If you don't have a vita, get a pstv for like nothing and play it on that. Golden is far superior.

 

Whew, finished. 103 hours. Man, that's long for a single player rpg. Out of memory, only Witcher 3 beats that, and that's only with the DLC installed. What a ride. I'll probably have to take a break before ng+.

I managed to accomplish my goals in one playthrough though. By abusing the fortune teller, I managed to complete every confidant. For a blind playthrough, that was a first. Also created a trio of super Personas that steamrolled the game.

Spoiler

I liked the twist near the end - not that Akechi was a traitor, that was obvious, but that everyone already figured it out and had a plan going on. That was an awesome reveal. Igor reveal was a big surprise too. And here I liked his new voice.

Dunno about the final boss. I mean, Holy Grail? Did they rip that off from Fate? And it feels like the same plot as P3 - fighting against the desires of humanity and so on. Well, that's SMT gods for you.

Why did I have to go back to hometown to my nonexistent parents again though? It's P4 all over again. At least this time they made it clear you're staying together with your girlfriend. That kinda ending annoys me.

Speaking of girlfriends. Futaba was hilarious and cute, and Haru grew on me, especially some of her lines near the end of the game, but the winner of the waifu wars is clear - Lavenza.

 

Likewise done, clocked in at just under 90 hours. Level 75-ish I think. Final boss might have gotten a bit bothersome without Yoshitsune, just due to all his adds. Pretty happy with the ending overall, though of course

Spoiler

I'd have liked the option to remain in Tokyo. Still a pretty happy ending all things considered. After all, it's only a year until college.

Waifu War Final Rankings (descending order): Hifumi, Makoto, Tae, Ann, Chihaya, Haru, Futaba, Ohya, Kawakami.

 

Mine's probably

Makoto/Chihaya/Hifumi (all interchangeable), Ann, Tae, Haru Kawakami, Futaba, Ohya

Chihaya and Hifumi kept growing on me the further into their arcs I got while Makoto stayed sorta stagnant. Replaying early parts of the game has me leaning further to Ann. Rest are just complete no goes for me except for Haru since I only got to Rank 1 on her Link before endgame.

Discussion about Goro though

Spoiler

So of we assume his Persona's were a result of his links, was Robin Hood a creation based on his relationship with the MC?

 

Spoiler

I though it was said that he made no links, his power was all himself, was in fact distorted since he had nobody? He was granted the wild card though, therefore multiple Persona.

I lied. I started a ng+ right away lol.

Waifu lists, huh?

Lavenza > Makoto > Hifumi > Haru > Tae > Futaba > Ann > Kawakami > Chihaya > Oya.

 

Waifu list after one playthough:

Makoto: Despite the character development growing a bit stale near end game, she's still my favorite. The game makes it pretty clear she is canon waifu. My personal OTP.

Haru: Initially irritated me, but ultimately grew on me as the game progressed. Also...I'm a gold digger.

Ann: Ann...is ann. She's attractive and seems a bit shallow, but not terrible.

Tae: Reminds me of a less insane Anko Mitarashi. Like the doctor aspect. Plus older woman.

Hifumi: Maxed out her confidant. Not sure why so many say she beat out Makoto near end game. She was quite boring to me in comparison.

Chihaya: Didn't do too much with her, but seemed interesting. Maybe third or fourth playthrough romance.

Oya: Kinda interesting, but not a fan of the Drinking vibe.

Kawakmi: I'm sorry, but she's basically a prostitute and money grubber.

Futaba: *Sigh*....I -love- this character. Her personality is one I would date....if it didn't feel like I was molesting a child. The animation and her age...ehhhh...SHe's a great little sister. THere is no way I could romance her though because I feel like a pedophile. Hence while being a better character than several people on this list I could not romance her as waifu.

 

Lavenza? Wtf? Ok... Lol

Agreed with Futaba. She was my favourite character, but i wouldn't ever even put her on the waifu list. She's your little otaku gamer sis, you sickos.

Hifumi is a weird one. I seriously get the feeling that she was meant to be a payable character, part of the team, but was ultimately cut. Especially with her being a shogi pro. She makes much more sense for the role Makoto ends up taking. It's why I also think her s-link was rather dull by confidant standards - like the rest of the main cast (i.e. You can't leave important main character story arcs to optional content).

 

I mean, she is a romance option whether you like it or not. No sense in pretending that she doesn't exist there, regardless of whether you'd ever pursue it (I wouldn't either). I agree with everything else, and it's really just a testament to how much I dislike Ohya and Kawakami as options that Futaba didn't end up in last place on my listing.

 

You can walk outside right now and kill a dozen people, if you like. Doesn't make it right though LT.

Just doesn't make it right.

Seriously though, I don't get the Kawakami hate...

Spoiler

She was being extorted for money, and instead of just quitting, she busted her ass (wrongly) to pay the scumbags just so she could keep doing what she loved.

.

Honestly, maids just aren't my kink. If she was in a cocktail dress or a kimono or something, the waifu wars would have been a lot more interesting...

But yeah. Not a fan of alcohol, so Ohya is second last. Haru isn't someone, personality wise, I find interesting in a partner either.

 

Not sure if you know, but Hifumi was designed to actually be in the main cast then got dumped because of Time constraints.

 

... That makes so much sense.

 

For me, it's not about the extortion or her Confidant storyline in general. I just think that she was intentionally designed to be pure fetish bait between the 'hot teacher' and 'hot maid' things simultaneously. For me, that's a hard pass.

I do think she's a little dumb to allow herself to be extorted over her particular circumstances, but that's whatever. I also find the idea of a high school teacher dating/banging with one of her students to be highly objectionable. It bothered me with Kamoshida too, but at least he's supposed to be taken as a bad person. Perhaps there's a little bit of cultural dissonance at play here, but it's how I feel nonetheless.

I don't hate Kawakami. I hate Kawakami as a romance partner for Kurusu, like with Futaba. Ohya I just have an aversion to in general (the alcoholism is a major turn-off, girlfriend or otherwise) and perhaps I should have put her last.