They say hell is for children. Let's find out if that's true or not with Persona 1!

Megidolaon is Gluon/Nuclear, not Almighty in this game, so it can be reflected. I mentioned earlier in the thread, I think, that despite this, it's still tons stronger than any of the Maha-dyne spells.

...but yeah, it's always an unwelcome surprise to have it reflected back at you.

I imagine it's the swish.

I know, right?

They're still complete tards about who the little girls are, though. I'll give them a pass on the Masked Boy, because they haven't met him yet.

Yeah, don't worry about that too much. The leveling curve in Persona 1 is just too weird to really do it. It's kind of cruel that they put in all of those level 80+ personas too, when anyone who can can make use of them should probably be locked up for being insane. You can't fight that many random battles in P1 with your sanity intact!

That... that's terrible. And amazing.

Amazingly terrible?

The worst part is that there's nothing at all interesting about the insanely high level ones. Look at Lucifer's skill set: Mahaeiha, an earth spell that's weaker than Mahamagdyne, Mahamudo, Hell's Eyes, and Judgment of Darkness. Yeah, he has abilities that are common to Personas that are a third of his level.

Well, I take that back. Some, like Athena, are interesting because they are so terrifically horrible.

That's... a lawsuit!

Megaten Wiki says Aki.

Mai and Aki. Maki. Not bad.

Part X: A Sincere Farewell

Back up on the 11th floor, I take some time to rearrange the team. Since Mara Ring has our only healing spell, he gets pushed to the back row, as does Ayase since she has Samrecarm. Nanjou has the highest regular attack potential, so he gets to go on point, as does Yukino because she has a Fool and a fuckton of HP. Ellie slides in between them.

Inside the classroom, which is actually outside, we're greeted with this monstrosity.


Queen of the Night: "Welcome, welcome. We became as one while you kept us waiting."

Masked Girl: "This school should just go away!"

Masked Boy: "Come now ladies and gentlemen, show us your true potential."

The battle music is kinda sucky, so let's pretend that it's something a bit more heart pounding and thematically appropriate.

Here's the battle plan:

• Ayase uses Makakaja, everyone else uses Megidolaon or Maharagidyne.

Simple simple!

But wait!


Our friend Queen Asura has three different "modes" that she has a chance of switching between every time she attacks. They don't actually tell the player, so it isn't like in other games where the boss uses an ability called "Wall Change" or something. Instead, you have to go by what kind of attacks she's using.

When she's casting Maharagidyne (マハラギダイン), Mahabufudyne (マハブフダイン), Mahazandyne (マハザンダイン), Mahaziodyne (マハジオダイン) or Diarama (ディアラマ), she's in Mode I. This Mode is weak to Attack, which means Ellie should be casting Tarukaja with Azrael, too.

When she starts using Decover (デカバー), Desanga (デサンガ), Petrama (ペトラマ), Shishirika (シシリッカ) and Symphony of Sighs (なげきのシンフォニー - 嘆きのシンフォニー）, it means she's in Mode II. Mode II is actually weak to Wonder-based spells, so if you have 'em, use 'em.

Mode III has her using Makakaja (マカカジャ), Rakukaja (ラクカジャ), Dekaja (デカジャ) and All Guard (オールガード). Mode III is weak to Elemental magic, Photon, Weak Boson, Graviton, Guns and Exorcism, apparently.

All the Modes can also use regular attacks, and can attack 1-to-3 times in a turn. So, it's probably a good idea to, once you've been properly Makakaja'd, have Ayase use Quicka on the front 3 so they can get counter attack status, which will allow them to attack Queen Asura back if she hits them with her regular attacks.

...plus, Quicka's spell animation makes it look like they're being anointed with blood.


Queen Asura has a couple of unique spells that we should talk about. Well, unique enough, the other final boss has them too.

The blue bubble up there isn't Ultima, it's All Guard. All Guard is sorta like Bewildering Fog in that it prevents the caster from being hit by anything for the remainder of the turn. It's kind of annoying since there's nothing you can do about it.

The white lights assaulting the party is Symphony of Sighs. It'll hit a cluster of characters and inflicts Guilt level 3. Guilt level 3 will prevent the characters from doing anything, at all. After a turn or two, it'll wear down to Guilt level 2, which'll keep them from using regular attacks or their Personas. Items are ok, so you can chunk lithographs at her or use Chewing Souls. Eventually, that'll go down to Guilt level 1, which only keeps you from using your weapons. It takes about 5~6 turns for this to wear off.

Symphony of Sighs cuts through defenses, so even Lilim can't protect you from the Guilt status.

There's not much else to say about this battle. You saw her spells, she can't really do much to us since we're mostly immune to magic. Ayase seemed to be taking a ton of damage, but that's because of her ridiculously low HP totals. Just keep using the kajas and your strongest magic and bitch'll go down.


Mara Ring had to use a Soma to replenish his SP, but shortly thereafter Ellie counter attacked Queen Asura and killed her.


Well done, Miss Ellie!


After the battle, the Queen has disappeared. The Masked Boy and Masked Girl are separate once again. The Queen's voice still echos:

Queen of the Night: "To be... to be defeated by children like you... how mortifying... Just remember, when the hearts of man lose hope, they cry out for despair and the Eternal Night will return..."

Masked Girl: "No.... how....? This is my world..."

Masked Boy: "Just as I expected. They say that might alone isn't enough... You've shown me that true strength comes from your deeds. Well done, LASTO. Perhaps we'll meet again..."

There's a flash of light and they disappear. Then there's a shitty FMV of the school unfreezing.


In the school's entryway:

Saeko: "You're really leaving?"

Nanjou: "Yes. I'm worried about Inaba and Sonomura. That girl in the white mask concerns me... I'm almost certain it was Sonomura under there."

Yukino: "We need to hurry and check on the others, right LASTO?"

>You have the option of selecting "Yes" or "No." Mara Ring says "Yes" because he knows those chowderheads are probably in over their heads.

Yukino: "We need to get to Sonomura. She seemed like she was really suffering, we need to help her..."

Saeko: " ....I see. You keep persevering and never look back. You've all grown so much. You don't stop and you don't hesitate to make your choices. This change..."

Ayase: "Change....?"

Saeko: "If this keeps up... Come back before they have to put you in a nursing home! When you get back, before you do anything else, you come report to me!"

Ayase: "No need to worry! We couldn't have made it this far if we hadn't studied under the amazing Saeko-sensei!"

Saeko: "Truly Amazing. I've managed to skirt nearly every violation in the school code! All thanks to the burning passion of being a homeroom teacher!! I've even been trying to crack the VP day in and day out..."

>Everyone sweat drops

Saeko: "Ehehe... That is... I've been trying to get the Vice Principal to change his attitude on a variety of subjects. He said to tell you all "Thank you," for everything. I think he might be willing to turn a blind eye to any school code violations, at least for a little while."

Ayase: "Whaaaaa? That cueball?" (Note: ハゲオヤジ)

Yukino: "Ok, let's go!"

>Ellie steps toward the doors

Ellie: "We've got the school back to normal.... But I get the feeling that this is only the beginning. To save the town, to take back our peaceful days... the real battle is just beginning! Even if I live a long, long life doing nothing but fighting, I'm gonna DO MY BEST with no regrets!"

>Nanjou steps toward the doors

Nanjou: "The measure of a man is by the company that he keeps. Saeko-sensei! We'll return with Inaba and Sonomura! LASTO! Let's go!!"

>Ayase steps toward the doors

Ayase says that she's going to keep fighting and save the town and some other stuff I don't really understand very well.

>Yukino steps toward the doors

Yukino: "After everything goes back to normal, I'm gonna study real hard so I can be a great teacher like you, Saeko-sensei! So this isn't goodbye, Sensei!"


Saeko: "LASTO! Listen to all these goodbyes! Everyone else's spilled their guts about what they want, so what about you? Do you have a dream?"

>Of course.

Saeko: "Is that right? You've accomplished something huge here, so don't you ever forget how you feel right now, and never give up!

>The five leave. A golden butterfly appears.

Saeko: "Hm? Where have I seen that before....? Ehehe... are you here to celebrate their victory little guy?"


By working together, the Frozen Castle that the school had transformed into returned to normal. The accursed mask disappeared, but the story is still passed on. "When the hearts of man lose hope, they cry out for despair and the Eternal Night will return." With those words of the Queen echoing in their mind, the boys and girls who stood against the Night shake off the darkness in their hearts and bravely march forward.

Credits time! The song is kinda neat, in that early 90s sorta way. The scenes they show are just bits of the FMVs through the quest... Except for the last image, which is of two masks on a desk in St. Ermine.

We're left with a quote:
"cogito ergosum"

Riveting.

But WAIT! There's more!


At the gates outside of school, Mark appears.

Nanjou: "Inaba!"

Ayase: "Huh? Where's Sonomura?"

Mark: "Oh man, you guys gotta help us out!"

Yukino: "What happened to Sonomura?!"

Mark: "We went to SEBEC, but the place was crawling with demons and armed guards! Me and Sonomura got separated and...."

Yukino: "You got what?!"

Ellie: "I guess we better hurry, then!"

Yukino: "Yeah."

Everyone: "Let's go!"

Alright, let's go everyone! We can't infiltrate SEBEC directly, which means we'll need to take the secret entrance in the abandoned factory. If we consult our handy dandy map, we see that the factory is that tiny red building at the far east end of the town.

But before we head over there, we'll need to make some choices. We have room for one more party member, but we've already used Ayase and Ellie, which means we should choose between Brown or a SECRET MYSTERY CHARACTER. I won't tell you who it is, but he's got abs of steel!

Then hopefully, I'll figure out a way to get Japanese cellphone service be able to do a Let's Play of Megami Ibunroku Person: The Tower in the Void!

But until then, let's just decide on our fifth wheel and...

....

I'm just kidding, really!

Let's just say that they're heading out to find Maki and save the town. And they do.


Time passes. Days become weeks, weeks become months, and before you know it, a whole year passes...

March 1997.

At the gates of St. Ermine, after Graduation:


>Maki comes running up to Mara Ring, Ellie and Nanjou.


Ellie: "MAKI, where are BROWN and MARK?"

Maki: "They're still with Saeko-sensei. Ayase started crying, and you know how that goes...."


Nanjou: "Today's the last day... There's never enough time, is there?"

Ellie: "So much has happened here..."

Maki: "And you're going all the way to England...."

Nanjou: "Yeah, I guess we won't be able to hang out for a while. But we're never really apart, right?"

Mara Ring: "...That's right."

>A limo pulls up

Butler: "I'm here to pick you up."


Maki: "Hey, let's make a pact! When we make our dreams come true, we'll all get together!"

Nanjou: "That's.... that's a good plan."


>Mara Ring and Nanjou shake on it.

Mara Ring: "Yeah, it's a promise."


>Maki waves good bye to Nanjou as he rides away.

Maki: "Nanjou...."


Mara Ring: "To tell you the truth, I won't be around for a while either..."

Maki: "Whaaaaa?"

Ellie: "W-why?"

>Mara Ring explains his plans for the future.

Ellie: "I see...."

Maki: "Hey! Guess what?! Ellie made it through a modeling audition! She's already a step closer to making her dream come true! How great is that? Go on, Ellie..."


Ellie: "I... I'm going to do my best.... So you do yours too. That way, we can... we can meet again. And I'll be... I'll be a great woman and you won't even be able to recognize me!"


>Ellie and Mara Ring make a pinkie swear.

Mara Ring: "I swear I'll do my best."




I suppose this is the end, but as Eternal Punishment has shown us, adults are pretty fucked up too, so it's really more like the the "and."

So what becomes of Mara Ring? Maybe he got married and had a son... then one night, while on the bridge to a man made island, there was this blonde girl and...

NO ABSOLUTELY NOT. What the hell are you thinking? The time line doesn't even remotely sync up with that! You should be ashamed for even considering it!

*applause*

I just uploaded the arranged version of Deva Yuga, which has totally different lyrics. (I also put up the arranged versions of the main theme, Poem for Everyone's Soul, and a crazy version of the pharmacy theme)

Yeah, I never really liked any of the arrange music besides the Poem of Everyone's Souls.

Although the Deva Yuga arrangement's female vocals sounds exactly like how Maki should sound in English, especially the way everything she says sounds like it's a question.

The Big Damn Mythological Reference Post:

I had meant to do this in a much more timely manner, but I forgot. Because of technical difficulties, Tamaki-chan's Wild Ride will not be featured.

• Shoumen Kongou
• Aizen Myouo
• Vesta
• Nike
• Houri
• Phaleg
• Ame-no-Uzume
• Urvashi
• Lilim
• Tenjiku Tokubei
• Azrael
• Narukami
• Armaiti

One thing I really liked about the first three of Persona games was that the Angel personas were far more interesting than the ones in 3 and 4. So much Zoroastrianism!

Man, and I was finally going to read this today, too :/

I had a massive spike (~4 GB between the 18th and the 19th) in bandwith this week, apparently. It'll be back the 28th, says Photobucket.

Or you could just wait and play the PSP version, but then you'd have to suffer through a professional translation/localization done by people who are fluent in Japanese/talented writers.