#someone stop me from thinking about how to fit the DLC into fic stuff X'D

[twilightknight17]

Today on P5T, we finish the DLC, get cranky at logistics, mentally subtract one from Akira’s assumed god-murder total, and I start gathering up everyone for a roadtrip to go lay on the floor of the Atlus Headquarters until they think about their writing choices.

Before we head off to the finale, we chat a little more about Luca and Guernica, as well as why Goro was investigating the graffiti in the first place. Apparently the police asked for his help to look into it because they were getting frustrated at their own lack of progress. It must suck for them, to not be able to find Guernica or the Phantom Thieves. XD Doesn’t explain how he knew about the Arsène mural in a back alley, tho. People in Yongen seem too chill to call the cops over that sort of thing.

I don’t actually remember what it was that he said, but I was given a dialogue option to agree with him, and when I took it…

Careful, Goro. You almost sound like your real self, there. ^_^

He also makes a comment about how, even if he didn’t want to help Luca, Akira would have made him anyway.

I wanted to be a little shit, but I opted for asking him to show off instead.

Now that the mural is complete, it’s actually really beautiful. The three pieces recombined, and dissolved into light, which was absorbed into Luca. We also learn Guernica’s real name, and Luca prepares to open a hole directly into the villains’ lair.

Meanwhile, in the lair itself, Jerri is still being a huge bitch, and also apparently hates art.

She’s trying her best to delete every memory of Luca from Guernica’s heart, so by the time we get there, things are very dire. The world took the thing Guernica loved most, and now she’s been fully warped into wanting to destroy the whole world as retribution.

We fight Guernica to a standstill, and Luca finally, finally gets through to her. Jerri tries to throw a fit, but Sumi is not letting anyone interrupt this moment between sisters.

Luca returns the light of Guernica’s first mural and restores her to normal, and then fades out, her task accomplished. That just leaves Guernica herself, who is pissed at Jerri.

And Jerri is doing herself no favors in response.

Goro… really shouldn’t know that the gods are real at this point, but he’s excused because it’s pretty badass to just flat-out say it to her face like that. XDDD

Jerri is not a god, Jerri is a minion at best, but she still transforms for one last final boss battle that makes it pretty obvious who her master is.

...I’m losing it a little over the fact that she’s still just named “Jerri”, though.

The paint mechanics shift again, this time introducing black paint that we’re not allowed to walk on at all. The whole battlefield is covered at the start, but as Jerri summons enemies, and Guernica backs us up with her paint gun to create a path, the boss is eventually within reach. After a certain amount of her health is depleted, she resets the battlefield to a new configuration and new black paint, and we go again.

Third battlefield is the charm, and despite Jerri’s claims that she’s in control, Guernica understands now that this is her world, and she’s the one with the power.

I’m not sure what I was expecting. Maybe something a little more dramatic, considering the full capabilities of imagination, but this works too! One last rainbow-painted battlefield where no one has any cover at all. Shoutout to Goro and World’s End for chewing through a ton of her hp. And so Jerri falls, and her giant mock-god form dissolves back to the bird.

Jerri vanishes, and dear god, are we really not getting any more than that regarding her identity?

...thanks for confirming, Sumi.

Guernica talks a little more about how she’s can feel Luca in her heart, and that she’ll always be with her. It makes Sumi tear up, but she’s not sure why it’s affecting her so much. How close was she to breaking through Maruki’s bullshit? Man, if we’d just kept this conversation going for a couple more minutes, we might have done it.

Akira gets a dialogue option to tell Guernica that he’s a fan of hers now, and she’s thrilled. Everyone promises to see each other again one day, and Guernica sends them back to the real world.

...she’s so pretty.

I have to wonder if this is a similar situation to Toshiro. Her eyes aren’t shadow-gold, so I’m assuming this is the real deal. In which case, she’s very chill about being in another world. I’m thinking this place is closest to a Stronghold. Something to protect the core of her heart. And Luca was part of that protection, when she couldn’t protect herself.

We get a brief confirmation that Jerri was in fact working for Salmael, and he’s sending her back to the void because no, Jerri, killing all of humanity is not the kind of tranquility he’s going for. We never actually see him or any of his dialogue, but this is definitely his weird clockwork kingdom.

So what you’re telling me, Atlus, is that there were two active gods in Tokyo in November. Plus Azathoth already actively screwing with Maruki’s head. PLUS Enlil’s cinema and all that nonsense that the Thieves don’t remember. November was an absolute fucking mess. It’s a wonder the whole city didn’t just poof out of existence from the strain.

My actual point here is that I’m trying to wrap my brain around how Salmael and Yaldabaoth are going to coexist ruling over humanity. I guess absolute control can mesh with self-preservation instincts, but it’s funnier to imagine God Wars. XD

Anyway, I wonder how long we’ve been gone this ti–

I want you all to understand that I blurted “NO” out loud.

This is CHEATING, Atlus, you damn cowards, you set this story in November and refuse to commit to the consequences of that. I loved this DLC, I loved the story and the music and the character interactions, but this last two minutes was just… complete disappointment. At least the games that involve the Abyss of Time are justified in no one remembering anything.

The graffiti Goro came to investigate is gone, so he decides to just leave. You came all the way here to Yongen and aren’t going to stick around for longer than two minutes (from your perspective)?

And what time is it? It was afternoon before, as far as I could tell, but Guernica’s done a whole new piece, and the news claims it appeared “overnight”. Is this a weird memory retcon thing on a massive scale, or have we been gone all night and just don’t notice that we’re missing like 12 hours? Morgana’s watching the news report when Akira gets back to Leblanc, but he doesn’t comment on Akira being gone, just implies that they’re running late need to leave, before Sojiro gets upset. So like… late for school? Is it the next morning???? Atlus I’m begging for just a crumb of a sense of time anywhere in this game.

It’s cool art, though. :)

The credits are cool, with little floating paint blobs, and afterwards, we get a brief scene of Toshiro watching the news. His father notes that he seems too interested in the graffiti, and he brushes it off as ‘petty vandalism’… before immediately going back to watching the news intently.

And that is the ending of the DLC! Now I can go get those last few personas for my compendium, and run NG+ merciless mode–

……….are you KIDDING ME, ATLUS.

Fine. Time to call down World’s End to just murder everything. Goro’s gonna be my strongest teammate forever.

It also unlocked challenge maps, with specific character and skill presets for each one. I tried the first one, and not only is it difficult, but all of a sudden, friendly fire is active for AOE spells, so that is bizarre. We’ll see if I can figure those out another day.

For now, time to go not think about how I’d change that ending. :P

#Li plays P5T #someone stop me from thinking about how to fit the DLC into fic stuff X'D