Parallel Worlds: Let's Play Persona 2 and Persona 2!

As long as it doesn't have Moxie.

The emoticon thing made me laugh because I did that in P3 once, surnaming the guy "=(" for Mitsuru's dialogue. "Steve" or something similar is also a good one, because I'm pretty sure Lisa is the one who uses it.

But "PANTS." PANTS is good too.

Round 1 incoming tonight, maybe late.

I'd avoid Steve specifically because that's also Lisa's father's name. Her father is Steven Segal.

I respectfully disagree with the PANTS sentiment.

PUBES

KUNTZ

I like HERPS or PANTS. You can change the given and surname too, right? I vote HAT GOD.

I was hoping to do that with "The Dude".

Pants is more space friendly.

I'm willing to accept that.

Alright then, shall we?

The game begins as Pants tinkers with his motorcycle.


That's no good! It was working fine when he got here this morning.


These two troublemakers wander over to laugh at him. Pants acts cool and unfazed. And if you're wondering what he's holding, it's a little metal lighter. It shows up in some of the artwork. And since I'm drawing attention to it it probably has some significance! But for now, he just flicks it a couple times instead of talking to people (it happens repeatedly here in the first ten minutes of the game, but I didn't take pictures every time). It's the sort of thing that makes me feel good about my social skills.

However, after a moment of passive-aggresion, Pants finds that his mind is starting to hurt. Is he angry?

Before anything bad happens, he just kind of slumps down in front of the bike, and the door opens.


This is Principal Hannya, Sevens' principal. Everybody hates him, but they still talk about how awesome he is...even when he's not around. After he tells off the jerks over here, they head off, returning an invisible yet necessary part of the motorcycle. Guess that's that!


...until he asks for Pants' name.

This part doesn't take very long, so I'm willing to change his name again until we get back to SSHS in part 3 or 4. Here's one idea I had based on some things that were said, although I don't claim that it's very good.

Anyway, Hannya wanders off, good. Finally time to go...

Dammit. What do you want?

Oh, somebody's looking for Pants? Time to use the good ol' RPG method.

Since school just got out, there are a lot of students in the Sevens building, and most of them fail to be interesting. It's also not necessary to talk to most of them, so I'll just cut to the highlights of the search.


Here in the Teacher's room, a student is being grilled, for his performance in class has risen suspiciously. He claims that thanks to the "Joker," he's now a genius, and proceeds to recite Pi...

for a very, very long time. I saw no reason to take pictures of the next three (!) boxes as he goes on and on..."But I'm an English teacher, so I have no idea if that was right or not. So how'd you cheat?"


1,000 Yen, sitting in a box in the hallway. Fancy that. Only in videogames, folks, you just can't find this sort of nonsense anywhere else.


This woman gets a character portrait, and multiple names! I guess this means that Maya Okamura (aka Ideal-sensei) is probably a relatively important character. For now she just stands out here, making strange "measurements" on this rock.

Anyway, now that we've had some "conversations" (since of course, Pants doesn't say anything) with the locals, time to see if anything has happened yet.


You know how the old trope goes, the game starts with the hero's mom telling him to get out of bed, sleepyhead. Well Persona 2 takes this in a more figurative direction. Saeko-sensei here is practically a mother-figure (since you never meet the Suou parents) and she asks Pants a few questions about his future, you know, the kind you never want to hear. "Yeah, I don't really know about my future. I have some ideas, but I'd rather not talk about them. I'll work on it. Just leave me alone." Technically this is actually a dialogue tree, but since it only affects a few rare bits of text in the game I'm calling executive privilege here.


For the first time, I think Pants is relieved to have someone else show up, if only to escape this rather humiliating conversation. This is Lisa Silverman, and she serves roughly the same narrative purpose as Penelo in Final Fantasy XII: i.e. "misappropriated teenaged female companion." She acts as a foil sometimes and other than that, she gets out and pushes when the plot stalls for a bit. Like right now.


Violently deface Pants' clothes first, ask questions later.

*(Pants:"Have I heard about the curse? No, I've actually been kind of busy this afternoon, and I don't have time for your silly gossip.")


"Also we got this letter. (I already read it, but I'll go ahead and pretend to be just as surprised as you when it makes threats against a girl from our school!) Please let me go with you to Sumaru Prison (I haven't been planning this all along)!"

Next time: The Joker and Something You've Never Seen Before in a JRPG, Seriously.

*(parentheses for this whole "reading between the lines" thing, yeah?)

...and this is how Sho Minamimoto got his start.

I didn't play that much of P2 but...man, JOKER was pretty cool.

Don't get your hopes down, but the IS ジョーカー様 and EP JOKER are not the same. I don't think you'll be disappointed by his dramatic entrance, though!

Also, looks like I'm already running into problems with the dummy yahoo account I set up for this purpose. While not surprising...I'd better work on that.

Yeah, I know. I was talking about the EP JOKER. I just mentioned it since you brought up the other one in your post. Paper bag Joker is way more awesome than stupid actually-looks-like-a-clown-Joker.

According to some sources, the official spelling is PANTS, in all caps. Also, I think his first and last names should be ぱんつ and パンツ, respectively. Or the other way around, that works too.

You might also consider "焼かれ カエル"

"パンツ" as the last name is actually pretty hilarious in the next scene-I have four consecutive shots with "パンツ" in the dialogue box and they don't all refer to the same person.

But I'm redoing the whole sequence, because I just discovered an easier way to take all the screenshots. Applied over the stuff I was doing today, it'll be quicker than working the thirty-some pictures I had taken (and I wasn't even quite done!). But since I had to go through everything multiple times just for those pictures (savestates are a life-saver on this part) I don't feel like doing it again tonight. Which is a disappointment, because the first round was really insubstantial and I wanted to jump into the game for real by now. (Once again, I'm glad this game's opening does not take 90 minutes before you really get to do anything.)

I'm ashamed to be asking this, but...huh? My Japanese sucks something fierce.

Google says that it's "The Frog is Burned" so translating that from Google Engrish would probably make it somewhere close to "Toasty Frog".

That's the closest we can fit "Toasty Frog" into the space given.

I have to second the name ぱんつ�パンツ。Sheer hilarity!

I third ぱんつ•パンツ。With gusto.

Inside Baseball.

Ahh. I tried this as well, but wasn't clever enough to make the connection.

Anyway, last time was just a warm-up. This is when things actually pick up!

(Not pictured: a three-second FMV of the motorcycle taking off)

Sumaru Prison:

One of these people...is not like the others. Sumaru Prison is a bit of a dump, but there's nothing especially "prisony" about it. It just happens to be the hangout for a small group of Kasugayama High School (you know, that "other" high school in Sumaru City) students.

The girl is Miyabi Hanakouji, who works on Sevens' newspaper. There's not a whole lot to say else to say about her. Yet.

This punk is Eikichi Mishina, aka "ミシェル" which I've seen translated as "Michelle" or "Michel" depending on how manly you want to think of him as. His signature was on the letter PANTS and Lisa received but he apparently has no idea what the hell is going on.

The other three guys in Kasugayama High uniforms are his bandmates, Ken, Shogo, and Takeshi. They begin to explain what's going on, but are cut short by the arrival of...


...and Lisa, of course. Since she's the action-taker here, she calls out Eikichi. Who is, as he knows, beautiful and talented and oh so humble! He also uses a lot of Engrish.


Anyway, with all that out of the way, Michelle's sidekicks apparently fess up to their plan...unnecessarily elaborate and foolish as it is, they just wanted PANTS to join the band! Because everyone likes him!

Hanakouji gets ready to leave, as she was apparently promised to be told about the Joker, and that doesn't seem to be happening. Lisa and PANTS prepare to head out too. But wait!

Eikichi is offering PANTS a spot in the band. Because letting him just go after wasting his time like that would be way too uncool for "Captain Death."

Lisa, however, is familiar with a slightly different nickname. Apparently she's heard that he's infamous for...de-pants-ing people. I think she hit a nerve...

Eikichi's friends try to hold him back and calm him down, but it's too late. You don't piss off Captain Death...


(Yes, I really just wanted to get as many instances of "パンツ" into this post as possible)

Continued below

Eikichi starts by calling on his "Death spirit." It is, in fact, the Persona DEATH Rhadamanthus.

As the first one to actually use his Persona in the game, it may be slightly obvious that Eikichi is actually one of the main party members.


The attack causes Lisa's Persona, LOVERS Eros to appear. Eikichi is a little surprised.


Finally, PANTS' Persona SUN Volcanus appears and takes Eikichi out. Then he falls over, too.

Soon, they all find themselves here, in a strange room.

(Damn, this picture didn't turn out well-it's pretty hard to see the golden butterfly in the middle.)

The butterfly takes a human form, and introduces himself as "Philemon." He's brought them here, to his room, in their dreams, to briefly explain the nature of their Personas. They are "masks"-elements of their personalities, as much as their current appearances are. (This is one of many things which are pretty disappointingly downplayed in P3, at least with respect to all of the not-main characters).

Philemon's comment is especially true in Eikichi's case considering all the makeup he wears.

Then he warns them that "rumors are becoming reality" in Sumaru City. They'll have to use their powers to prevent terrible things from happening.


Back in the "real" world, everyone else is kind of worried-I mean, they all just passed out after beating on each other with magic spirits!

And as it turns out, they're all confirmed to have had the same dream. With Personas and ominous warnings! So now to see if it's actually true...


The biggest rumor going around right now is about the "Joker." Supposedly, if you dial your own cell phone number, he'll appear to grant wishes. Lisa suggests they test whether or not rumors are really becoming real by trying the Joker Charm...

Continued below

After a little while, Eikichi's cohorts and Lisa line up in this neat little square formation to prepare for the Joker Charm. I don't know why they bother, except that it looks kind of cool, I guess. They all split up, and dial their numbers...


Sure enough, the Joker appears behind each of them, asking that they state their wish. Hanakouji warns that they need to hurry-supposedly those who fail to wish when they call the Joker become "Shadow People."


So then he pulls out these ominous looking Crystal Skulls...(there's probably a setup for a great joke here but I haven't seen the movie yet. Sorry.)


and zaps Eikichi's friends. He tells everyone that those who cannot realize their dreams are better off without them, and that he has done them a favor by taking them away. Then he says he's been waiting a long time to meet Lisa, Eikichi, and PANTS again, at which point he attacks.

This still isn't a real battle, though. He summons a couple of demons, who are easily defeated, then the three team up in an attempt to bring him down by combining their powers.

But of course, the Joker isn't that weak.

He reveals his own persona, and then knocks everyone down with a huge wind attack.

ジョーカーさま? More like チーター様.

At this point, he starts laughing maniacally and monologuing.

He really, really hates our trio of heroes for something that happened in the past. But none of them know what it is! Hell, we don't even recognize the guy, in that ridiculous costume. The Joker becomes dejected, and promises to kill PANTS and friends one day, when they remember.

He leaves them with this Iris, symbolizing his inevitable "revenge," then disappears.

Between the lipstick, the skirt he wears over his pants, and this gesture:

...I think we all know which is the right choice, here.



Ha--hassen ijou da!! *smash*

Surely the "Michelle" guy's name, if it's gonna be male, should be "Mitchell"?

Other than that, amusing what little sense I can make from Japanese text in a game I don't understand most of regardless!

Mitchell doesn't match pronunciations with Michelle, though. Michel is the French form of Michael.

Mitchell is pretty much the same sound. How would you go about differentiating the two in katakana? ミチェル　vs　ミシェル?
I suppose the fact that Michel is a French male name clinches it anyway, though.

In the aftermath of the Joker, Eikichi spends a moment mourning his friends. But as PANTS starts to leave, he holds him up.

It's decided that they're all going to go together to battle the Joker. But first, they need to find weapons to defend themselves. This could be a huge conundrum, but Hanakouji seems to have the answer.

Word on the street is, the lady who runs the nearby Ramen shop is also a secret weapons dealer. Time to check it out!

Shiraishi Ramen:

Turns out, there's already someone here trying to order off a "secret menu." But the owner denies any involvement in arms dealing. Apparently he works at the detective agency down the street and heard his boss mention it...So over there then.

Kuzunoha Detective Agency

After being greeted by a large cat, we have the opportunity to inquire about this "secret menu" business. Unsurprisingly, Chief Todoroki and his assistant Tamaki were just teasing the guy. But they've also been investigating the Joker, and rumors, so Todoroki suggests that they do start a rumor about a secret menu.


This rumor, like all the others, involves talking to the Chief and telling him what the rumor is about and what it says (usually, you also have to pay to spread rumors, but this one is complimentary). Then it becomes "true." There are a lot of rumors-some about dungeons and monsters, and others about shops and items.

Shiraishi Ramen:

In order to access the secret menu, PANTS and his friends just need to order a "banana chashu." So we make Eikichi do it.


Sure enough, it works, and we get our shiny new weapons from the lady here! Then she tells us we have to eat the banana ramen. Again, Eikichi's job.


And luckily, now that we have weapons, we also get a lead from Hanakouji. Principal Hannya has been seen at Sevens with a masked person! Could it be the Joker? We'd better head over there...

Next time: Saving Seven Sisters!

Whew, finally this intro is pretty much over. I've been trying to find the right mix of paraphrasing and whatnot, and a good balance of pictures and words, and I'm not sure it worked out so well. But I'm also a little less worried about that once I have more to write about than the plot. Which is right after the next scene!