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eternalfarnham · 1 year

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vague complaining about p5 that takes the shape of rewriting some in-setting metaphysics:

an individual's mind isn't powerful enough to rewrite cognition on its own no matter how strange their perceptions or desires. however, certain people have enough temporal power (social, economic etc.) that they can shape the mindshare of larger groups, influencing the way people think en masse; the collective will of many minds indoctrinated, abused or persuaded into sharing a single view, that of a single powerful figure, creates a Palace. each Palace is built around a particular worldview on the part of its ruler, something they're trying to "teach" others or that lies implicit in their actions. treasures are proof of their right-to-rule or instruments by which they demonstrate their power over the consensus; taking one means stealing the hearts of the people!

becoming a phantom thief is about reclaiming the right to decide what you believe, how you see the world, often from a palace ruler. a phantom thief's costume is a kind of miniaturized personal Palace of one: Palace rulers can't use their authority to rewrite your body and mind, because you rule yourself, and don't let your decisions get overruled by the consensus.

further blow-by-blow beneath the cut:

Kamoshida thinks that becoming an adult is about figuring out what you can get away with. In this there's a certain amount of arrested development. let's say he was a teen athletic star who peaked early on, desperately trying to relive his glory days by sticking around in high school and relitigating high school power games from a position of power and prestige as a teacher. he abuses students because he figures, if no one's stopping him, then it can't really be wrong, because on some level he still conceives of himself as a student whose teachers like him and bend rules for him; this must be what he deserves. ryuji could've lived respectably, too, but he childishly acted beyond his means, and ruined his future. (ryuji and ann rejecting this — rejecting the idea that they have to quietly live with what they're permitted to have, and be grateful for that much — is how they awaken their personas.) treasure probably still an olympic medal, proof that he has enough value to not be punished.

madarame's thing is adjusted to point at the art-over-all mindset Yusuke wound up with: ms. kitagawa was a no-name artist who managed to produce a masterpiece, but the Sayuri would languish in obscurity if it were hitched to her star. madarame had to take it for himself, and use his fame to give it the recognition it deserves! bring in something about "which would you save if the Louvre burned: an ordinary person, or the Mona Lisa?" with the clear implication (and twist in logic) that madarame has to curtail the futures of children who might dedicate themselves to other paths or stray or live on their own, because otherwise they might stop making art. better death than that! treasure is the sayuri, still, whose worth is what really made his name and in whose name he continues to torment children into becoming art factories.

fuck kaneshiro, absolutely the most boring palace owner, let's replace him with Jounodaira Tsukasa, "peace-castle instructor," a police sergeant or captain known for his love of teaching rookie officers, thoroughly in bed with the yakuza, to whom the precinct is a bank from which he can confiscate all the money he could ever need. plays directly into makoto's issues — he's already got his hooks in her because his ideology is that it's fine, they're criminals — human rights are for humans. it's how he teaches all his newbies; he would've tried to bring makoto in line with that thinking. it's fine to enrich yourself at the hands of criminals — and the yaks, why, they police themselves, and all they want is a little freedom to operate! isn't peace the point? didn't you stoop to blackmail to locate the Phantom Thieves, because you needed opportunities to live a decent life — such a respectable thing, and it's only lowly thieves who'll suffer! if you're conducting justice, why not enrich yourself — is that such a terrible thing? probably a badge for his treasure, or a gold-plated gun: symbol of his authority to project force.

also futaba gets to be a bastard like everyone else: having seen her family fold like a house of cards and the investigation conclude at "suicide" despite her mother's obviously aberrant behavior, complete with cops who berated her into claiming responsibility for her mom killing herself, futaba has concluded in her despair and frustration that justice is meaningless. it's all a game, a distraction, having fun with exercising power over others because real change is impossible — and if nothing can ever really change, well, she who dies with the most toys wins. hence the tomb: pharaohs were buried with their treasures, after all. futaba turned her hacker collective loose to fuck with people because she doesn't care any more, because every real change she tried to make as a hacktivist was undone by Anonymous going "lol" and amusing themselves. that's Medjed's ideology, the one she spreads. she's just idly looking for distractions from her neurosis, frustration and despair, and she'll die still distracting herself. (until she decides, no, even if it kills me i won't stop thinking — no, i can only die if i stop thinking — and pulls her own ideology, the foundational brick, out of her palace. she gives up power over Medjed and everything collapses.) her treasure is a top-of-the-line computer, one of those aforementioned toys, and a perfect distraction; she gives it up as unnecessary to the Thieves after her Palace is cleared. note the voluntary surrender of power to decide how others think! This Will Be On The Test!

Okumura's Palace is kind of thematically incoherent despite being cool, and also needs to be handwaved really hard with "futaba did research and figured out his keywords," so instead let's say that he's got a Lupin classic: the Okumura Foods corporate headquarters are a cult survivalist bunker in Kunikazu's head, sci-fi-inflected because that's still cool but still fundamentally about surviving what he thinks of as a coming economic apocalypse. you should be grateful for your spot (your job), even if maintaining the bunker means risking your life and you're constantly fighting and squabbling not to be booted out — out there, in the blasted, recessed jobless wasteland beyond the compound's walls, death is certain! only our supreme overseer Okumura can save us! for the sake of survival and safety, any price is justified! (this is how Okumura squares the circle on loving Haru and selling her off to her fiance: she should be grateful to be hitched to a safe bet, stored in a special well-appointed safety chamber even if it's agonizing to appease Sugimura, instead of risking it all for freedom in the world outside. and she reverses it on him: for the sake of her survival, her happiness, she can justify sacrificing him, too. if his betrayal of her is worthwhile, then so is hers of him. does he want to live in a world like that? or does he want to consider the possibility of another way?) His treasure... is probably some physical key to the okumura foods building, or a way of locking it down, or even a scale model of the building with plans to turn it into a sci-fi wonderland of safety come the end of times.

and of course Shido's thesis statement is obvious, and even vaguely pointed to in his Palace in canon: sacrifices don't matter. He can build a better society — he can save Japan from decay, economic degeneration, crime, whatever moral crisis he perceives, but only if he spends people, steps on their backs, rides his ship through a sea of frothing, half-liquidated bodies in pursuit of the Promised Land. include some elements of Arthuriana in his self-image here: Arthur chasing Avalon and, yes, the Grail. and the conceptual similarity here between his Palace's thesis and Okumura's, and to a lesser extent Madarame's and Jounodaira's, is because Shido's conspiracy is so powerful that he has a Palace of Palace-rulers: Shido moves the hearts of the powerful (who owe their power to him) and shapes how they think, such that everyone they rule over in their own Palaces ends up thinking like Shido, and winds up contributing another drop to his ocean and a little more power to his engine. Akechi himself has been taken in for some time as part of that Palace's walls, and even if he fights his father he replicates his methods and ideology unthinkingly: the sacrifices don't matter, as long as I can humiliate and kill Shido.

Also, if you're going to have an "await the change of heart" gun on the mantelpiece you had better damn well fire it eventually! So: Shido's change of heart doesn't take, exactly like everyone thought might happen every time. his Palace doesn't dissolve. he reaches Avalon, grounds his ark on the shores of the promised land — or, really, he sinks it and leaves its twisted, wrecked hull on the rocks, complete with a pile of Shadow corpses he literally steps on to get to the shore — and moves to claim the Grail. split up his boss fight: the Beast of Human Sacrifice happens on the Ark, but Senator Armstrong Shido fights you on the Isle of the Blest, instead, the grail a scant few feet away, granting him power. here Shido wears a robe and crown and carries an Excalibur which is thrown to him from a bloody Vivian residing in the sea of human sacrifices, and fancies himself True King, because all that matters is that this dissolute world have a ruler — someone to unite the countless, scattered, sinful hearts within it, instead of becoming satisfied with the lesser power and prestige of a Palace. the thing is that Shido's ark is the Titanic and he knows it — he's not just a grubby power-monger, he's a true idealist, passing himself off as corruptible, garnering information and getting the rich aboard his filthy party boat, so he can sink it with everybody onboard, wipe the slate clean of corruption, and rule over a reformed and united Japan with no crime and no disobedience. He's not going to rest on his laurels — he's planning a mass purge! Hence his retaining Akechi, not just his assassin and agent but his eventual kingslayer and executioner, the so-called Prince to Shido's own King.

the Trophy Room, incidentally, is diegetic rather than abstract and DLC-flavored here. the phantom thieves don't sell their treasures, they keep them — and the reality-distorting power of a Treasure, as wielded and directed by a proper Metaverse-user, expands Meta-Leblanc over time, forming a proper lair with individualized rooms for each Thief. (almost as if it were... a palace...) because as the Thieves decide how Palace rulers should think, changing their hearts, so too do they claim greater authority over how the Japanese public should think — until the Phantom Thieves' Trophy Room becomes Japan's single, unopposed ruling Palace, and its master, Joker, a single qualified candidate for the True King of all Humanity. hence the Grail's interest in him: out of all the possible kings it raised and discarded, of course it would eventually hit on one of humble origins. relying on pedigree, like it did with that Akechi kid, was always going to go wrong, in retrospect. the True King need only claim the Grail and be anointed, and the Thieves will be able to emerge from hiding to rule the world... and of course that's not a tolerable outcome, there are no virtuous kings who can rule unopposed, the Grail is only that desire to be ruled and freed from the agonies of making moral judgments for oneself, no single vision can unite everyone and if you meet the True King on the road, kill him.

and it all plays into the themes of control over public perception as an instrument of control more generally, of how the powerful curtail what possibilities seem available to the marginalized so that reclaiming power must happen on their terms, how power in the absence of accountability becomes monstrous even when wielded by virtuous people (not sure how I'd spin Maruki considering he's just objectively correct — the accountability thing is important but maybe we could stand to resurrect the dead sometimes instead of sticking to the status quo), how the phantom thieves' power is necessarily ambiguous and temporal and cannot become a governing principle, how believing in the phantom thieves isn't enough when what you need to do is believe in your own capacity to decide...

#persona 5 #complaining at length

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thebigpapilio · 6 months

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so everyone knows my ASAU of Persona 5 Royal, A Righteous Rebellion. right? And we're all also aware of @scruffyturtles' Adult Confidant AU?

well I sorta fused them? tldr: i made a (mostly) Adult Confidant AU for ARR! Details below, if you're interested - and if you have any questions about it, please ask @rollthedice-playthecards or this blog here!

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ARR! CANON-STANDARD TRIGGER WARNINGS!

The Fool and Strength (i.e. Igor & Caroline/Justine/Lavenza) are the same. Otherwise, everyone's changed.

The World (i.e. Protagonist) is Tae Takemi!

Her parents were abusive shitheads to her, and she got into a program that helped her escape for Tokyo.

Her first Persona is Merit-Ptah, a fictitious woman purported to be a chief physician of an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh and thus one of the oldest known women in medicine and science.

The Magician is Sadamu Niijima (transmasc!Sae)!

The home invasion that killed Mr. Niijima also led to his death, but Igor came upon his soul and reincarnated him into a hound (because of Shadow Sae's tattoos) for The Yaldabaoth Game™.

His first Persona is Turiddu, a Sicilian bandit whose gang was "legally held responsible" for a massacre, although the entirely of their role in it is disputed.

The Priestess is Sadayo Kawakami!

She was a member of Student Council, but when she brought up Kamoshida's abuse to Principal Omon "Bael" Kobayakawa, she lost her seat. Kobayakawa actually replaces Kaneshiro as the third major target.

Her first Persona is Elissa, legendary founder and queen of Carthage... oh, and I will be shipping her with Tae for my Kawakemi agenda. :)

The Empress is Chihaya Fukurai (Mifune)!

Yuichi "Mammon" Fukurai, her adoptive father, runs Fukurai Foods (Big Bang Burger's owner and more). Chihaya was setting up to inherit the business when Yuichi "changed his mind" and prepared to sell her off in an arranged marriage to Rikio Sugimura.

Her first Persona is Lakshmibai, an Indian rani who rebelled against the Bri'ish.

The Emperor is Sojiro Sakura!

He's a culinary prodigy studying under his adoptive parent (I haven't decided who yet, but they're Azazel) - a TV chef who runs a kids' competition a la Chopped Junior. They definitely abuse some of those kids.

His Initial Persona is Hamlet, the famous Shakespearean Prince of Denmark.

The Hierophant is Makoto Niijima, owner of Cafe Bianca.

She's been looking for her estranged younger "sister" for years now.

The Lovers is Munehisa Iwai!

Munehisa is Shujin’s star athlete. Excels in every sport in Shujin except volleyball, from which he was banned after standing up to Suguru "Asmodeus" Kamoshida.

Kaoru, his younger brother here, takes the role of Shiho, and Akimitsu Tsuda and Masa replace Nakaoka and Takeishi.

His Initial Persona is Barrow, a Great Depression-era criminal who robbed small stores, funeral homes and banks with his partner Ms. Parker.

The Chariot is Ichiko Ohya!

Leader of the photography club. She caught photos of Kamoshida’s dirty deeds in the past and is trying to find a way to expose them anonymously. Oh, and she has a long-distance girlfriend named Kayo.

Her Initial Persona is O'Malley, an Irish pirate queen so violent Elizabeth I considered sending the Royal Fleet after.

Justice is Toranosuke Yoshida!

I sort of split Goro's two roles in this AU. Toranosuke plays the Detective Prince trying to solve the case of mental shutdowns (+ the Phantom Thief case), but his brother-by-choice Benzo Kuramoto plays assassin and mental-shutdown-inducer for Masao Kuramoto, his grandfather. Tora joins the team in Oda's Palace, and they fight Benzo in Kuramoto's Palace - that's where Toranosuke achieves his Second Persona.

Speaking of Personas, his Initial one is Greenlefe, Robin Hood's second-in-command and the only one present at his death.

The Hermit is Takuto Niijima (Maruki)!

Makoto had a brief stint as a police officer, but after a influential asshole (Kuramoto) drove drunk and killed one Tomoyo Rumi, she attempted to dig into the situation and was dishonorably discharged. Soon after, she met Rumi's boyfriend, Takuto (an orphan with one shitty relative), and took him in.

He would be a third-year if he was still in school. He’s wasting away as he grieves Rumi's death. He can’t bring himself to kill himself, but he also doesn't want to be alive anymore.

His Initial Persona is Popol Vuh, a religious text of the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ Guatemalans.

The Fortune is Hifumi Hibino (Togo)!

After Mitsuyo disowned Hifumi for coming out as lesbian, Hifumi moved in with her wife Haru (they both end up with Makoto later). Hifumi took up busking/street shogi, not wanting to be reliant on Haru.

The Hanged Man is Akira Kurusu!

Not much for this guy right now - like Canon!Munehisa, he's an ex-yakuza who runs Indomptable, an airsoft store. Ren is his adoptive son.

Death is Sumire Yoshizawa!

A medical misdiagnosis (by her biological mother Yui, not that she knows it) left Sumire's sister in a coma. Ever since, Sumire can't see anyone unconscious without thinking of Kasumi.

Temperance is Ryuji Sakamoto!

An orphaned man who teaches PE at Shujin and moonlights in an escort service to take care of himself and his son Morgana.

Just after his college years, his mom's ex-husband killed her and then killed himself to escape the police, so he has no support system. Thus, he got himself into trouble with a duo of loan sharks so he could look presentable enough to replace Kamoshida.

He, Ann and Shiho were friends in high-school, but he never saw them again after graduating.

The Devil is Ann Takamaki!

An up-and-coming actress working hard to make it big. She's keeping her sexuality (and her girlfriends Shiho Suzui and Mika Abe) under wraps from everyone, including her manager.

At the end of the Confidant, she moves in with her old friend (and future boyfriend) Ryuji after Tae mentions him.

The Tower is Goro Shido (Akechi)!

Goro is a very temperamental young man with no methods of healthily and safely letting out his anger at the world and his shitty, abusive father.

After Shido's heart is changed, Ryuji (and Ann and Shiho) take Goro in.

The Star is Zenkichi Hasegawa!

Even if Zen doesn't know it, he's the best player in the shogi club at Kosei. It's discovered their "team" has been fixing matches, and Zenkichi is determined to find out who's cheating.

Jyun Owada, his senpai and club president, is jealous, and is trying to cause strife between him and his girlfriend Aoi to weaken him.

The Moon is Sophia Ichinose!

Sophia is a Greek immigrant who moved to Japan for work opportunities. She's Tae's science teacher, so Tae really likes her. Her daughter Kuon, however, has fallen in with a HORRIBLY nasty crowd - a bigoted group who hates (among other groups of people) Kuon's adoptive mother. Kuon, naturally, is conflicted, and this leads to conflict between her and Sophia.

The Sun is Haru Hibino!

A young politician whose bold eat-the-wealthy mentality does not sit well with older generations - for example, her father Kunikazu, who disowned her and silently smeared her campaigns so she'd waste her inheritance and never expose his criminality.

In the end of the whole story, Haru legalizes polyamorous marriage!

Judgement is Shinya Oda!

Uses they/them pronouns here.

After Shinya's mother Hanae was killed in cold blood, they joined the SIU to find the killer. She did something to piss off Kuramoto, though, so he and the director do everything they can to keep Shinya away from that.

The Faith is Wakaba Isshiki!

Daughter of Shujin's new counselor. A science prodigy.

I don't have much ideas for her yet, never mind her Personas.

The Councillor is Futaba Isshiki!

Shujin's aforementioned new counselor in the wake of Kamoshida's arrest. Believing the world to be "without life" without her deceased fiancee Kana, her Palace becomes a Graveyard, where she "raises the dead" by fixing their problems.

She only has one Persona - Chac Chel, an important Maya goddess of many things, most prominently both creation and destruction.

The Hope is Yuuki (Mishima)!

His ranged weapon is eye lasers. They use both he/him and they/them.

An A.I. made by Katsuo Akiyama, a regretful high-school bully who caused one of his victims to commit suicide.

Their first Persona is Thyrsus - a giant fennel staff that Yuuki uses like a weapon alongside the Persona aspect of it.

The Apostle is Yusuke Kitagawa!

The only original Phantom Thief to keep the power of Persona.

Ordered by Madarame Ichitaro (the killer of his mother and Police Commissioner) to investigate the Phantom Thieves after a series of mass heart-changings occur again.

Akane has a brother, Natsuhiko, and they share the Jail. Their mother, Takayo (Yusuke's beard) is still dead.

His Persona is Enjolras, and he later gets with Akira.

Lastly, a unique Arcana - The Actor, Morgana Sakamoto!

A theater prodigy at his school (not Shujin or Kosei) and Ryuji's son. He has no clues to his past before Ryuji, and he wants to know, but he also wants his dad to be happy. At the end of the Strikers arc, Lavenza becomes human, and he and Goro get the Sakamotos to adopt her as well.

Reminder once again to post any questions about this AU to @rollthedice-playthecards!

#thebigpapilio #adult confidant au #arcanaswap #arcana swap #arcana swap au #arcanaswap au #persona arcana swap #A Righteous Rebellion #Persona #Persona 5 #Persona 5 Royal #taewakami #kawakemi #makoharufumi #sojiro x wakaba #ichikayo #ryuannshiho #mikannshiho #sumire x sophia

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kirexa · 19 days

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I remember a fic with like ng+++++ Akira with like everything maxed out n shit so during kaneshiro arc he was just like "Y'know guys I can pay the 3mil if we don't do this on time I'm not that worried" and the chapter was called something like "The one where the thieves are convinced Akira robbed a bank" smth along those lines

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arcplaysgames · 1 year

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If the Fortune Arcana is literally a fortune teller, I am going to slash some tires. Especially since, like, the point of the fucking Wheel is that you are not in a position to see where it will turn.

Some journalist I've seen for like five minutes makes a deal with Reverie. She'll give a name of the criminal running the scams in Shibuya but she wants access to someone at Shujin who suffered under Kamoshida's abuse.

Which is a shitty deal, so calling it: Devil arcana.

Morgana suggests Mishima for the deal, so, uh

I hate Mishima but this feels terrible. 8C Come on, he's gonna think it's a date and instead someone is gonna ask him about the volleyball coach beating him. This sucks, Persona 5 Royal!!!! I hate this!

And Ryuji gets accosted by... drag performers??? Or are they just queer people? I am literally looking through my screencaps of this scene and I frankly don't get what it's trying to imply here???? I feel like it's a joke at my people's expense but I'm missing context, so. SHRUG.

Kaneshiro's palace seems to be the entirety of Shibuya's central street. Which made me think they just didn't want to make new assets but I'm proven wrong in a bit.

Seeing people as walking ATMs doesn't make sense to me, like, you withdraw from your own account with ATMs, not from the magical ATM fairy. I don't get this metaphor. Whatev!

TURNS OUT THE ACTUAL PALACE IS A FLYING BANK. Alright. That's sure a thing.

I feel like this was an incredibly valid question. Unfortunately, Morgana cannot turn into non-car things. Which really begs a lot of questions about why he can become specifically a van.

Ryuji when was the last time you were useful, homes, you are the one who got us into this fucking mess with Makoto because you kept screaming about being a Phantom Thief, you absolute dunderfuck. Don't insult Morgana.

Dinnertime at the Nijima Household.

This is a totally inappropriate reaction but I started laughing in disbelief because like. This turn is SO hard and SO sudden and came out of nowhere???? Sae, bruh, what the fuck, are you having a bad day?

OH MY GOD SHE IS LMAO THAT'S HER EXCUSE. And then she says she's going to stop coming home for dinner from now on???? Holy shit?

lmao as the main caretaker of a very frustrating person who drives me batshit, I am judging Sae so fucking hard right now. Remember the halcyon days when we first met Sae? God, I barely remember. Now she's interrogating our card collection and making Dojima look like Parent of the Year.

The Thieves meet up to talk about how to reach the Palace and Makoto just invites herself along again, and Ann happens to call her "useless" and oh my god is this like her trauma trigger?

ATLUS

WHO THE FUCK WAS YOUR SCENE COORDINATOR FOR THIS SEQUENCE

AM I SUPPOSED TO TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY?

YOU JUST FLASHED BACK TO A SCENE THAT LITERALLY JUST HAPPENED 40 SECONDS AGO.

Makoto completely loses her shit and is like "okay fine I will go find you Kaneshiro" and storms off

Gets shoved into the back of an unmarked car by two thugs

Everyone very reasonably flips their shit too and chases after her, including Ryuji throwing himself into the path of a speeding car to make it stop

which: is the most Chariot shit any Chariot has ever Charioted, but also if he got hit doing this, I would have deleted the game in a rage-blackout, i'm so furious with Makoto

and oh she leads them to Kaneshiro! and he immediately snaps a photo of them all for blackmail purposes. he wants 3 million yen in 3 weeks.

HEY YUSUKE?

THANK YOU

Everyone gets a shot of sympathy for Makoto because she's like super sorry that she flipped her shit and ran off and confronted some mafia dudes and got in their car and wound up needing a rescue and then got everyone on the hook for 3 million yen, which is about what I make in a fucking year (roughly)

whatever, they bring her into the Metaverse, she pops her Persona, it's a motorcycle, which is way more fucking cool than she deserves

you know what, same here. same here.

I think I feel comfortable saying, yeah, this is worse than Ryoji. If anyone is hoping I turn on Makoto later, do not hold your breath, because this is a staggeringly bad prolonged introduction to this character. I am to a point I want to sit down with the writers and just ask them to explain to me what impression they intended to leave on the player, taking a character who has thus far only been a stalker and harasser of the protagonists turned outright blackmailer turned into oh now someone else is blackmailing us bc of her? and then handing her off like "here's a new teammate"

what

the actual

fuck

thank you and good night. I'm going to bed.

#p5 #persona liveblog #can i just skip this palace #she is permanently on the bench i want nothing to do with her #holy SHIT

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midnight-light · 1 year

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My Persona 5 Royal Experience (Palaces!)

I FINALLY finished playing Persona 5 Royal today and decided to write my thoughts down in a post. I'll start with the Palaces/storyline and THEN get into the character stuff, because that's a lot of stuff to cover I'll split this into two posts, one for the palaces, one for the characters. We'll start with the Palaces. Note, with the palace talk I'll likely end up talking about each palace ruler anyways sooo, yeah. Also, these are just my opinions, I'm not saying you have to agree with me. you've been warned. (HUGE SPOILER WARNING FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T FINISHED PERSONA 5/ PERSONA 5 ROYAL DO NOT READ PAST THIS POINT IF YOUDO NOT WANT SPOILERS) Kamoshida's Palace!

-Okay, deep breath to contain the burning hatred I have for this man- - With this palace, it was the first palace so I wasn't sure what to expect... - And then I saw the eyesore that was the cognitive Kamoshida in nothing but a cloak and a pink speedo- My eyes have never been so offended by a sight. - Akiren's awakening was really epic though and really got me to start sinking into the game. - I loved the overall look of this palace, it was really good as a beginning palace but maaay have raised the bar a tad too high for the others with all the build up. - Shiho's suicide attempt had me prepping my shotgun in a hurry though, I wanted that man dead after that happened. - Alright time to get this infiltration route- annnnd there's Ann, god we're developing a bad habit of accidentally taking people to the metaverse with us aren't we? - Note, I also made a LOT of "We're in prison Vegeta" jokes during the entire playthrough. - The boss battle tho, THE ABOMINATION that Kamoshida's shadow turned into. - MY EYES, if I thought Shadow kamoshida was bad? THIS WAS WORSE. He was THE MOST disgusting shadow I'd ever SEEN. - Overall though loved this castle, it really set the stage for what was to come.

Madarame's Palace

-Alright onto Madarame, this one was...interesting.

-Getting it out of the way now, the nude painting incident had me in TEARS from how hard I was laughing.

-The sheer defiance of gravity that building displayed though certainlly left an impression.

-Unlike Kamoshida's palace, which quickly made me feel a burning need to destroy kamoshida almost immediately and increase as progression into the palace continued...

-This was a delayed urge to murder.

-I mean yes- he did plagarize and use his own students work, but by my standards, NOT the scummiest thing you can do. -Now when I learned about the stuff with YUSUKE'S mother, all bets were off, I was MAD after that. Not to the levels of Kamoshida, but mad nonetheless.

-Yusuke's drop in outta nowhere gave me a good giggle, particularly with him getting headshot by mona after managing to stick the landing. Also accidental team member count; 2 - The first treasure being a red herring was definitely a bit of a twist, but the bigger twist was seeing the true form of Sayuri because for me, that's what made the pieces fall into place. - Also shadow Madarame's transformation didn't freak me out as much as Kamoshida, probably because by that point my brain had become accustomed to weird sights at this point, but that's aside my point. - That point being that I just didn't find Madarame's shadow to be quite as freaky as the first.

Kaneshiro's Palace!

-Welcome to the bank folks! I'm starting straight off the bat with the fact that this palace automatically gets a thumbs up from me because we get Makoto here.

-Also I got one of my favourite personas here, Ame-no-uzume. I used her for quite a bit before I let her go for stronger personas because she had good elemental coverage.

-I found the bank asthetic fun becuase it kinda felt like I was doing an old fashioned bank robbery.

-between breaking security cams and stealing keycards it was pretty fun, until the large rotating lock right at the end of the palace.

-My saving grace is that I was using a guide when I played this game due to it being my first time with a persona game. That and I was recommended to use one while playing by my siblings who had either seen the gameplay and or played it themselves.

-the guide saved me a lot of time with the puzzles in general.

-Oh dear god the boss battle though, I think the piggytron bot gave me trauma.

-Hits like a semi truck and if you don't guard in time say goodbye to your team. - Overall it wasn't a bad palace, I just didn't have the same rage towards the shadow as I usually do. Futaba's Palace

-This palace-

-WHO GAVE THIS PALACE THE RIGHT TO MAKE ME ACTUALLY EMOTIONAL?!

-The fact that we were going into the palace of someone who was willingly let us change their heart was quite different

-but ohmygod the story hit me in my FEELERS

-When you start seeing the pieces of the story and how Futaba was gaslit into blaming herself for her mother's death

-How she sees her room as her tomb, and how heavy the guilt of her mothers death has weighed on her.

-Only for during the boss fight futaba comes INTO her own palace and faces the truth for herself

-Revealing that not only was it not futaba's fault, but that her mother's death wasn't even suicide.

-Seeing her finally face the truth and awaken her persona had me nearly crying

-Little lion girl got her fight back.

Okumura's Palace

-Oh boy, This palace... was a doozy.

-Once I had dealt with Mona having an emo phase this palace became much less stressful

-Holy shit Haru's awkening actually startled me though, I was not expecting CANNONS underneath her personas dress, in hindsight I should have.

-The fact that all of the 'workers' are robots in his cognition says something about how he saw them.

-though I found it so funny that the workers were so pissed with their higher ups that they gave away their bosses weakness and the others weaknesses.

-Dog eat dog work enviroment much?

-The boss fight took SEVERAL attempts for me unfortunately.

-Tbh though I half did NOT believe his apology when he started apologizing. Something just wasn't sitting right with me.

-Turned out THAT wasn't what I should have been worried about, it was the masked person showing up and well, killing Okumura.

-Well, if it isn't the consiquences of my actions?

Sae's Palace

-One of my favourites as the timeline was getting oh so close to the present~!

-I mean, I got to have Akechi in my party (Even if it IS the boring princely facade version) So that was an automatic win.

-Sae showing up basically off the bat and calling us down scared me half to death.

-Also fair my ass she rigged all the games-

-A lot of the games in the casino were interesting to play and simple enough that it wasn't hard to play.

-Though the dark maze was a bit of a pain, relying on the minimap was the easiest way I found to navigate in there.

-Sae: "The amount to cross the bridge is now one million chips!"

Me: BITCH MOVE SAE!!!

-I was mad for all of one minute though as Akechi just broke out the extra card he was told to dispose of.

-The boss battle was interesting, what with the roulette wheel of elements and CHRIST she hurts.

-Oh yes, did I forget to mention the police showing up after you defeat shadow Sae?

-Running from the police was so much fun despite the fact that you've technically already done it at the beginning of the game.

-and also despite the fact that you know in the end you'll just get caught.

-Overall love this palace.

Shido's Palace

-This palace was quite the experience for me.

-For some context, at an earlier point in the game I'd spitballed the idea that Akechi and Shido were perhaps related. Not thinking much of it because I didn't have alot of evidence at the time.

-I was also NOT expecting to get turned into a mouse but it was so cute and fun to run around as mice versions of the phantom thieves that it made up for not being able to defend myself or open doors in that form. At least for me.

-but then the AKECHI confrontation happened, and when he confirmed that Shido was his father, my brain BROKE. I had in no way thought my theory was correct.

-Also, I gotta say it, FERAL AKECHI! I LOVE HIM TO BITS!

-Seeing his second persona and outfit was so epic, I was screaming. DESPITE the fact that I knew Akechi was the one in the black mask for quite sometime thanks to the pancake conversation.

-and the fact that his persona is LOKI THE GODDAMNED TRICKSTER GOD was so perfect for his second persona!

-Then the waitohgodNO- hit as cognitive Akechi showed up, and the real one cuts us off from him.

-THE BOSS BATTLE OHMYGOD-

-I was headbopping the whole time I played that boss fight hearing Rivers in the desert SUCH A BANGER!

-The several different phases to the battle and me sitting there after the final stand like; "Is he down now? okay good."

-The escape had me momentairly scared, because OH GOD NO RYUJI NOT MY GOOD BOI!

Mementos Depths

-Getting it outta my system rq; YALDYBALDY.TM

-Full disclosure? If I saw one more floor puzzle in that place I was going to bash my head in.

-The palace itself was pretty linear and simple to get through, but the boss battle was where it was AT. - winding the way through the depths of mementos full of weird cells and and...zombie people? was strange enough.

-and then that's when I see the golden cuppie that can...talk??? Okay this got weirder, yet interesting.

-OH. Golden cuppie is god? Oh dear. I see how it is. *Pumps shotgun* Not the first time I've thrown hands with god.

-Mementos combining with the real world created what I could only describe as the elephant graveyard from lion king. It was disturbing yet epic.

-When I saw Yaldabaoth's full form though, HOLY SHIT that was actually intimidating!

-I failed this battle at least three times before I finally gave in and picked up a certain persona known for Myriad Of Truths-

-and then the grand finale when joker summons what is basically satan and SHOOTS YALDYBALDY STRAIGHT IN THE HEAD. Screaming went through the ROOF!

-Overall the palace was kinda meh for me, but the boss fight made it worth it.

Dr.Maruki's Palace

-Time to fite god again.tm

-This palace felt different because the palace owner was TRYING to make a positive change.

-But Maruki, being the blind idiot he is, seriously did not see how flawed his plan was.

-tbh though the first few days before I was even in the palace I thought I was on a crack trip. Much confusion. Such wow.

-Another Akechi appearing award. Third semester Akechi is SO good.

-Extra thumbs up for getting to travel through the palace with FERAL Akechi!

-Learning that Kasumi was actually Sumire though got me with my pants down.

-*Sweat drops as I see the large plant bridge maze*

-Surprisingly it wasn't that painful tho, I had expected worse.

-The puzzles in the palace weren't overly annoying and were kinda enjoyable tbh.

-Then there was the garden of eden at the top of Maruki's palace, that was a sight to behold.

-and it also ended up making me think of something else entirely unrelated to persona.

-As sad as Maruki's story was... all bets were off when he tried to make that deal mentioning what would happen to Akechi.

-Yeaaaah that made me mad.

-The boss was on point though, Azathoths appeance was disturbing yet felt kind of fitting in a way.

-and the way it transformed when Maruki managed to evolve his persona into Adam Kadmon

-Eventually followed up with a final bullet to the head, the build up was SO delicious and the ending was satisfying, even getting to physically punch the CRAP out of Maruki before you can escape the palace.

-It, and Persona 5 Royal, was an amazing game.

ALRIGHT FINALLY FINISHED THIS. This ended up way longer than I thought and makes me glad that I chose to put the characters in their own separate post. Hope y'all enjoyed.

#persona 5 royal #goro akechi #akechi goro #makoto nijima #sae nijima #nijima makoto #suguru kamoshida #ichiryusai madarame #junya kaneshiro #futaba sakura #Okumura Kunikazu #masayoshi shido #dr maruki #takuto maruki #p5r maruki #yaldabaoth #azathoth #phantom thieves #persona 5

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