Ain't No Way I'm Gonna Bail On Him.
I drifted away from Persona 5 Royal for a while, but I've fallen back into it now! I'm now in early January, which means I'm in brand new territory.
I'd forgotten how into me Haru is! She's definitely the confidant who comes across as most romantically interested in the protagonist even if you don't romance her. (You know, apart from Ryuji.)
'How've you been?' 'I mean, I died...'
It's still impossible for me to interpret 'Hey, Rei. Once we change Shido's heart... No, never mind. Forget it' as anything other than Ryuji backing down from confessing his love.
Ryuji, when I decided to go into Mementos at a plot-critical moment: 'I can't believe you want to help people in trouble even now. You're seriously a stand-up dude.'
'Would you join the Phantom Thieves?' 'I have too much homework.'
WHO IS THIS MAN WHOSE NAME BOX SAYS 'STUDLY GUY'
Apparently I've fallen into some sort of AU where I have a boyfriend and, outrageously, it's not Ryuji.
MORGANA IS MY AU BOYFRIEND?????
I'm enjoying Akechi a lot more now that he's dropped the mask and he's free to act like the ruthless bastard he is. His incredibly vicious navigation is a lot of fun! I also enjoy his evil laughter when I make him perform a strong attack.
'I'm getting this strange feeling in my chest... I do hope it's just my nerves about this place,' Kasumi says in the safe room. Given that this comes right after her disconcerted reaction to Akechi's ruthlessness, I deduce that she's attracted to ruthless bastards and she's not very happy about it.
I was dismayed at first when I saw I was infiltrating this Palace with just Akechi and Kasumi - I wanted my Phantom Thieves pals! - but actually I'm having a blast.
This is pretty clearly Maruki's Palace. I didn't trust Maruki from the start, but I'm getting the impression from this Palace that he may genuinely be trying to make people happy, even if it's in a messed-up way, which is really interesting!
Playing this while also replaying Umineko is a disconcerting experience. In Umineko, the correct course of action would, of course, be to accept the rewritten reality where everyone's happy.
WAIT A SECOND, is Akechi only alive because we're in the magical wish-granting reality?
Oh, God, it's giving me the choice. What if I accept Maruki's offer? It's obviously not going to be the right answer from the game's perspective, but I can't just dismiss 'what if we can rewrite our situation to be better?' when I've been replaying Umineko, a game that went to great lengths to teach me that things don't have to be real in order to be valuable. (I would love to know whether people who've played Umineko choose that option more frequently than other players.)
omg, in the perfect happiness world Sojiro arranges for me to stay at the café. Is that his wish? Is it mine? Both?
This is all pretty cute. Very disconcerting to see Akechi getting along with everyone, though!
I love that that ending was an option, and I love that, in the credits pictures with people living their best lives, Akechi was just playing chess with me. I kept expecting things to turn outright sinister, but no; we all live happily every after, even if there's a vague sense that something's a bit off! I suppose Maruki really did just want to help people, after all.
Okay, let's go back and play this game as it's presumably meant to be played.
I felt slightly bad that Kasumi didn't stand a chance against me. She only had light attacks, which I'm immune to, and physical attacks, which I reflect. I tried to refuse to fight her at first, just guarding every turn, but she was just beating herself up by attacking me physically and getting countered.
I love Futaba, but I would absolutely put Akechi on permanent navigation duty if I could. He's hilarious.
For a long time, I was puzzled by the fact that I wasn't really into Akechi despite the fact that he's a terrible shit, and I love terrible shits. Turns out he just wasn't being a terrible shit openly enough. I thoroughly embrace Goro 'Hi, I'm Awful' Akechi.
I'm really excited to be playing through the new material in this game!
I'd forgotten how into me Haru is! She's definitely the confidant who comes across as most romantically interested in the protagonist even if you don't romance her. (You know, apart from Ryuji.)
'How've you been?' 'I mean, I died...'
It's still impossible for me to interpret 'Hey, Rei. Once we change Shido's heart... No, never mind. Forget it' as anything other than Ryuji backing down from confessing his love.
Ryuji, when I decided to go into Mementos at a plot-critical moment: 'I can't believe you want to help people in trouble even now. You're seriously a stand-up dude.'
'Would you join the Phantom Thieves?' 'I have too much homework.'
WHO IS THIS MAN WHOSE NAME BOX SAYS 'STUDLY GUY'
Apparently I've fallen into some sort of AU where I have a boyfriend and, outrageously, it's not Ryuji.
MORGANA IS MY AU BOYFRIEND?????
I'm enjoying Akechi a lot more now that he's dropped the mask and he's free to act like the ruthless bastard he is. His incredibly vicious navigation is a lot of fun! I also enjoy his evil laughter when I make him perform a strong attack.
'I'm getting this strange feeling in my chest... I do hope it's just my nerves about this place,' Kasumi says in the safe room. Given that this comes right after her disconcerted reaction to Akechi's ruthlessness, I deduce that she's attracted to ruthless bastards and she's not very happy about it.
I was dismayed at first when I saw I was infiltrating this Palace with just Akechi and Kasumi - I wanted my Phantom Thieves pals! - but actually I'm having a blast.
This is pretty clearly Maruki's Palace. I didn't trust Maruki from the start, but I'm getting the impression from this Palace that he may genuinely be trying to make people happy, even if it's in a messed-up way, which is really interesting!
Playing this while also replaying Umineko is a disconcerting experience. In Umineko, the correct course of action would, of course, be to accept the rewritten reality where everyone's happy.
WAIT A SECOND, is Akechi only alive because we're in the magical wish-granting reality?
Oh, God, it's giving me the choice. What if I accept Maruki's offer? It's obviously not going to be the right answer from the game's perspective, but I can't just dismiss 'what if we can rewrite our situation to be better?' when I've been replaying Umineko, a game that went to great lengths to teach me that things don't have to be real in order to be valuable. (I would love to know whether people who've played Umineko choose that option more frequently than other players.)
omg, in the perfect happiness world Sojiro arranges for me to stay at the café. Is that his wish? Is it mine? Both?
This is all pretty cute. Very disconcerting to see Akechi getting along with everyone, though!
I love that that ending was an option, and I love that, in the credits pictures with people living their best lives, Akechi was just playing chess with me. I kept expecting things to turn outright sinister, but no; we all live happily every after, even if there's a vague sense that something's a bit off! I suppose Maruki really did just want to help people, after all.
Okay, let's go back and play this game as it's presumably meant to be played.
I felt slightly bad that Kasumi didn't stand a chance against me. She only had light attacks, which I'm immune to, and physical attacks, which I reflect. I tried to refuse to fight her at first, just guarding every turn, but she was just beating herself up by attacking me physically and getting countered.
I love Futaba, but I would absolutely put Akechi on permanent navigation duty if I could. He's hilarious.
For a long time, I was puzzled by the fact that I wasn't really into Akechi despite the fact that he's a terrible shit, and I love terrible shits. Turns out he just wasn't being a terrible shit openly enough. I thoroughly embrace Goro 'Hi, I'm Awful' Akechi.
I'm really excited to be playing through the new material in this game!