I started writing a Father Paul/Reader oneshot where the reader is his thrall, and it's getting out of hand. This is staying a oneshot... this is definitely staying a oneshot...
This ending wraps up better than the original, but still leaves some things.
There is so much in this game that one loop is absolutely not enough to see and do it all.
Where last we left our intrepid idiot, he was buying flowers for his White Day dinner date.
Surely I will be allowed to leave the mall and sell my stuff and visit the Velvet Room. After all, what if I spent every last yen on items to use against the final boss? I would have no money for flowers!
But no. I am imprisoned in the mall and Morgana somehow pays for the flowers. Hanasaki has no comment on this except to wish me luck on my date. Wow.
Sojiro, who the heck do you know that your name got us a table at a fully booked formal restaurant??
Okay so this isnāt the Skytree restaurant, but SOJIRO??
....yep. Thatās me. Even when someone elseās wishes mean destroying my heart. Probably hypocritical to say that while Iām on a date, though.
So it feels like thereās more people you can talk to on the last walkaround. Not just your confidants, but random people in the street, and other named characters. Mikaās at Seaside Park, Takakura, from Haruās social link, is in Kichijoji, Dietman Matsushita is in the Scramble, the little girl from Takemiās social link is in Yongen with her dad...
.......youāre so poetic, Yusuke. Thatās lovely.
Finally, an ad perfectly tailored to me.
Marukiās friend is in Kichijoji, and wants to know if weāve heard from him. We have not. We are not friends. But apparently heās still alive, which... hm.
Iām tired of his crazy stuff, sir. I just want to see my friends and go on a roadtrip in peace, thank you.
Iād never noticed before that Morganaās eyes glow if you use third eye.
.......
So if you go to the jazz bar, you can basically have the conversation with the manager from Proof of Justice.
Heās surprised when Akira says he doesnāt know, because he never saw Goro with anyone else. Heās also worried, because he hasnāt seen Goro in a while, and wants Akira to tell him to stop by. Akira is briefly melancholy, thinking to himself, āBut Akechi is already...ā But then he finds Goroās glove, still safely in his pocket, and reminds himself that their fight isnāt over yet. The jazz manager says heās looking forward to seeing you both come in together again.
It is, Morgana! I really want this sofa. This is my sofa. It was made for me; just look at it!
ARSENE. IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, IāM SORRY FOR FORGETTING YOU IN LOCKDOWN. IT WOULD TAKE TEN HOURS TO REVERT TO A PRIOR SAVE AND COME BACK. LAVENZA GAVE ME A KEY AS A GIFT BUT WONāT LET ME IN. ITāS NOT MY FAULT.
....is this why Ryojiās Arcana is Fortune? XD
So you can talk to a random idol singer from a Mementos mission in Akihabara and
what the fuck is this. what bonus does this give me?
Sumire is not present for the final walkaround, which is...weird. No relationship trinket? Thatās disappointing. Especially considering I got a gift from some random idol.
And now itās time for the ending. The kids are worried about being watched/pursued by the suspicious black car, which honestly, Iāve had enough suspicious black cars in relation to Persona to know that whoever this is, is not good news, police or not. ;)
But instead of sabotaging their car, donāt worry, a taxi is here to take Akira to the train station while his friends distract the men in black!
......did you dye your hair??
Anyway Akira has no sense of self-preservation because here he goes getting in a car alone with this guy.
We are not friends. I am not fistbumping you.
He does drop Akira off safely. Akiraās friends swing by for one last speedy goodbye and then are off again on a merry chase, and Akira goes home alone except for Morgana, which I have...several feelings about. The game goes out of its way to demonstrate that Goro is still alive even if Akira misses seeing him, because the whole world is based on what each person sees and feels, and Akira fucking feels in his heart that Goro is still alive and will come back to him one day.
Time to open up the other save and burn two weeks to see the Palace failure condition!
...I still sort of want to do this over and rescue Arsene. Itās not like I have much else to do these days. I just want my unholy powerhouse Arsene for NG+...
Heck.
Anyway, Iāve also learned that having two weeks to burn with no other responsibilities is great for grinding stuff for the awards. I spent like a week straight at the fishing pond and have become a Fishing God. Did you know that thereās an even bigger fish than the Guardian? Fishing pond guy was like, āIn this weather, you might see...him.ā
Look at this ridiculous fucking fish. XDDDD
I also went to the batting cages and I still suck at batting, but I made it eventually. The home run award is terrifying.
Okay, still a few days left, lets go play billiards, since I never went and did that during the game. I guess Iāll pick up this billiards book this guy recommends, too. I dunno why I need to be better at billiards, though, it just gives everybody social link poi--
....what the fuck is this??? This only unlocks after you read the book? You can guarantee a knockdown if you have max technical rank?? You need at least four days, 2 books, and a really expensive pool cue for this??? Akechiās only response to you pulling off some ridiculous curved shot is, āThat was pretty goodā???? I made it through the whole game thinking billiards was just some way to increase everyoneās social link at once????? Aaaaaaaah??????
Morgana gets very upset the closer you get to the deadline. āWe HAVE to go to the Palace tomorrow!ā Okay, but have you considered...going to the temple for meditation?
...oops. Heās already mad. XāD Meditation?
Now, now, honey, donāt worry, we can technically still go tomorrow afternoon and just send the calling card when we get back. Itās fine. Today Iām gonna hang out with Shinya. Everything is under control.
....Akira, NO.
Anyway, for all of Goroās grumpiness, he doesnāt turn down an invitation to the jazz club. Hey, itās only fair, darling, you took me out for drinks the night before the interrogation room.
Itās only right that I return the favor the night before I betray you in return.
You showed me this place, dingus. XD
...I am. Sorry, Goro.
Akira goes to sleep the evening of 2/2 wondering if he made the right decision. Thatās the problem, āKira, you didnāt make a decision at all.
āI wanted you to accept my reality of your own free will.ā
DONāT LIKE THAT.
Lavenza trying to reach him and just...fading away is painful.
I will say without hesitation that this is the worst ending. To copy-paste what I said elsewhere:
Akira's sleeping in the attic. Presumably for months, given the cobwebs. Where are his friends? Fallen back into their own dreams? Did they just give in without him, forget about him, never wonder where he went, because they have what they wanted? And Goro didn't even have a dream, so he's presumably left alone in a world that he can't stand but can't do anything about because it's permanent now. Maruki can't even give him Akira, because Akira's asleep, and Goro probably feels betrayed anyway. Akira's going to sleep forever, forgotten by everyone who was supposed to care about him. Even if he regrets choosing the dream world in that ending, at least he's there.
I think what's throwing me off is Maruki's absolute insistence on not changing Akira and Goro's cognition without their consent. Putting Akira to sleep feels like a loophole, but if he really believes that Goro is just a creation of his power, maybe Akira's consent is the only one that actually matters to him.
He's only ever really concerned with asking Akira. He even says on 2/2 that he knows Goro's not going to be fazed by the idea of his life being in danger. But if Akira agrees to stay in the fake reality, Goro's happy along with the rest of them, even though there's no way he agreed with Akira's decision. Maybe Maruki's willing to alter Goro to match Akira's wishes because he thinks he's not the real one. As long as Akira wants the real Goro, he doesn't have to worry about being overwritten. But if Akira's sleeping...
Marukiās so kind, isnāt he?
The true ending feels so much more like it would lead into Scramble than vanilla. Still being chased by the police? Yeah. Everyone splitting up and therefore being out of touch for months? Yep. Seeing Joker in the window? Meta-space is still there and ready to warp into a Jail at the slightest nudge. I donāt understand Atlusās writing decisions.
That whole thing with Goro does mean they owe us an actual sequel. The game literally says their fight isnāt over.
Beating the game means everyone is in the Thieves Den now, so we get some lovely interactions like Sojiro contemplating the Mona copter, and Makoto warning Ann not to tell Goro that she thinks Loki looks like a zebra.
Also that idol CD is some kind of ridiculous bubblegum idol pop song on my music player now. For one coin. Oh my god.
So... I guess the last thing I want to mention is Maruki. Because heās a great character. I want to punch him more than I got to. But, and Iāve talked about this with a friend, I cannot wrap my head around how powerful he is. Takuto Maruki is a human being with a persona, just like the Thieves, and there is no explanation for how he got that strong. Yes, his persona is an elder god that evolves into some kind of creation deity, but itās still just his persona. Itās not like Nyarlathotep acting as someoneās persona while still being a separate, ridiculously powerful entity. Thereās no indication here that Azathoth or Adam are independent from their user. So Iām expected to believe that this man awoke to his persona and was able to use a power on-par with the God of Control...just from himself? No deity or monster backing him up? Really? I know he made a career studying cognitive psience, but this is...a little much. Having Nyar around would have cleared that up just from his general presence. XD
Anyway, I loved it. I loved absolutely all of it even if Okumuraās boss fight was a bitch. I think Iāve unfortunately made the decision to go back for Arsene, so Iām definitely going to play NG+ after I take a break to play something else first.
Thereās three bonus bosses and the Reaper left to fight, after all. ;)
Character: Knight borb or blue pingu? Which you would love more than the other....(you can't pick both, imsorry-)
Miro you sneaky little thing, you wanted to give me a hard time, eh? Well here you go, i drew both of them out of spite. Mwahaha you canāt hurt me! (no actually i just had this image in my mind of meta hugging a plush dedede and had to draw it)
Ok seriously now, it wasnāt actually that hard of a question, I do love Meta Knight quite a bit more.
Like, thereās characters I love, such as Dedede, Papyrus, Jolyne, Jonathan, Meiling and more, and then thereās characters I fell in love with at first sight and my love for them just continues to grow. (also drew them 1000+ times and have a bunch of headcanons for them) These being Meta Knight, Dio brando and Sakuya Izayoi. Just these three. Metaās (chronologically) the first one of the three, Iāve loved him since I was a kid so heās kind of my ultimate precious.
I just realized that the reason I havenāt been watching Disney Movies is because I feel like Iāve seen it way too much because of Kingdom Hearts. Well, except the others that arenāt there like Aristocats, Lady and the Tramp and a few others
Question about MaaTobi Week! On which day MadaTobi week do you "expect" you write the longest story?
That depends on whether you mean big overall or big in just one go. The largest overall will be the story for Day 1, which became a multi-chapter story and is already over 20k. The longest in one go would currently be Day 6, which reached a few hundred over 10k.
