sincere | Persona 5 LIVEBLOG (COMPLETE)

All of this was played last night, but I took notes.

The opening sequence is very pretty! Persona is all about these sylized intros. As should be obvious because I am a huge fan of The World Ends With You, I love super stylized shit.

(lol Igor, are you in jail now)

Anyway, everyone looks very interesting and I know very little about any of it.

I like that they narrated the fiction disclaimer. Really brings it home that these aren't people I know. Although it's a little weird that they ask me to agree to it, since it isn't really a consent situation? They're fictional whether I like it or not. I think they'd rather I acknowledge it.

what happens if I don't agree

omg, the game is like, seriously, you think this is real? uh... and kicks me out.

I AGREE the second time.

People who oppose fate are called "Tricksters". And that's me! Now Imma fix shit, I guess.

In a casino in what I must assume to be Las Vegas because of its EXTREMELY accurate depiction of glowy casinos with halogen cowgirls, some phantom thieves arrive to make trouble! My player character called Joker darts around the rafters. We have started right in the middle of his criminal career. Also, there are monsters.

...I didn't notice in any of the artwork but in the game I'm a little uncomfortable about the Clockwork Orange-style eyelashes on Joker's mask.

Edited 2018-08-08 19:30 (UTC)

Joker seems pretty cool in the controlled sense of the word -- he has a badass level of comfort with his criminality here, and keeps composed even in the face of crazy odds.

But he has been betrayed! And he ends up surrounded by police and arrested.

In interrogation--

Yikes, our game starts out torturing our teenage protagonist, cool, cool. He's been drugged up and also seems to have some fuzzy memories. But, um, he's still pretty composed and badass!

Choosing a difficulty level is always a federal ordeal for me. And choosing a name......

/googles the name of the protag

Ren Amamiya is seriously meh for me, and I like "Akira Kurusu" better, continuing my trend of using the manga name forever. Still, I found it weird to imagine people calling him "Kurusu"... But I don't love "Amamiya" either???

But it doesn't matter, because this character already has a name, and that name is Joker. HOORAY, SOMETHING I CAN COMFORTABLY CALL HIM.

Team Akira forever!

(no subject)

sincere - 2018-08-09 00:27 (UTC) - Expand

A lady from the prosecutor's office (Sae) with the most ASS-KICKING professional black blazer I've ever seen tries to get in to see Joker, but the detectives slash child abusers aren't thrilled. She stands her ground and gets in. I want to be her when I grow up.

She's surprised to see Joker's identity, so she knows him from somewhere. She says some of the accounts that she's been able to gather about the whole affair have been unbelievable. "How is it possible to steal someone's heart?"

She wants to hear everything from him, starting from the beginning. Varric-style.

But before he can launch into his flashback, he first has to hallucinate a shimmering butterfly. The Velvet Room music begins~! A woman's voice speaks to him gently about how totally screwed he is. Victory lies in remembering what he experienced with his friends... "The game that started six months ago..."

FUCK SAE.

She's the WORST.

(no subject)

sincere - 2018-08-09 00:28 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

pict - 2018-08-09 00:33 (UTC) - Expand

Joker wakes up in a flashback on a train to Shibuya, which no English-speaking person has ever pronounced correctly. Then he has a flashback flashback! It seems like a woman was being attacked and he tried to come to her rescue, and ended up harming her dickbag attacker, who sued him. So maybe he transferred schools?

Anyway, once in Shibuya he heads out. At the Scramble Crossing he has an out of body experience related to a mysterious app that appeared on his phone... He deletes it.

He's meeting up with his new caretaker, Sojiro Sakura, who manages a cafe and also moonlights as Doctor Venture.

Exposition o'clock: When Joker tried to help some lady like a chump, he shamed everyone in his life and got shunned from society. Typical Japan! No high school wanted a student with an arrest record and assault charges, and frankly his parents weren't up to dealing with him, so they sent him here to Doctor Venture.

He's got a year of parole to serve and a new school to attend, although no one is quite sure why this school was willing to accept a problem child like him. Everyone assumes the worst of him -- that he's a thug always getting in fights etc -- including Sakura-san.

But Sakura-san is just like, "This is the attic of my cafe. It's your new room. Don't make trouble. I'm going home, bye!"

I have to question his effectiveness as a parole officer.

After cleaning out his new attic, Joker sprawls on his bed and contemplates his life. Another flashback flashback makes it sound like the drunk wannabe-rapist is some sort of important politician, oh geez.

The weird app is back on his phone, so he deletes it again. I've had that happen to me too, buddy. You've got to delete it from all your devices or it'll just come back!

He falls asleep and dreams that he's in prison...

He's even wearing the stripey jumpsuit and manacles complete with a ball and chain. His prison guards are two unexpected little girls in uniform, and beyond them is Igor--

HOLY FUCK IS THAT WHAT IGOR'S VOICE SOUNDS LIKE???? DID I KNOW THAT???? THAT FEELS SO WRONG

I mean. Igor says that the Velvet Room reflects what's in your heart, so you, Trickster, really must be a prisoner of fate... He offers Joker the chance to change his fate by challenging the distortion of the world, and Joker's just like, "Uh, do I have to?"

(no subject)

pict - 2018-08-09 00:06 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

sincere - 2018-08-09 00:31 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

ang3lsh1 - 2018-08-09 14:38 (UTC) - Expand

The next morning, Doctor Venture takes him to his new school. "Men aren't usually allowed in my passenger seat," he grumbles. lol, you wish, Doc

The school staff assumes he's a delinquent and the reason this is the only stain on his record is because he's never been caught before. The principal is firm on a zero tolerance policy, although Joker's teacher-to-be, Kawakami-sensei, doesn't seem entirely into it. Or anything. Later on, she gripes about why they assigned a student with criminal assault on his record to a female teacher.

Sakura-san gripes about the traffic, and like. You have a car in Tokyo, dude. You should be used to this. Why do you even drive. Anyway, Sakura-san is starting to realize that having a kid with a bad reputation like this will reflect poorly on him, but he's already been paid for it, so. There we go.

For the 9000th time in the last twenty minutes, we are reminded that there has been a series of mysterious accidents where psychos derail subway trains and then don't remember doing it, but I assume that this is probably insignificant.

But Sae makes her first appearance in this time period! She is concerned about these accidents and has a vague conversation with her boss, and then some student in fancy clothes who I might vaguely recognize from a different phone game I played that had an inexplicable tie-in with the Persona series. The conversations are too vague for me to derive much information from them.

Now for the real substance of this game: Exciting, realistic high school simulation of a Japanese student's long and complicated public transit commute to school!!! Along the way it starts raining and back at the cafe, Sakura-san frets about Joker not having an umbrella. Aww, he cares!

Joker takes shelter from the rain and a female student joins him. She takes down her hood and Joker stares at her, starstruck. I assume he thinks she's pretty. Do I get to pick a girlfriend? Maybe I'll get you a date, Joker my boy! She smiles at him, but a car pulls up.

It's the volleyball team teacher from the school, Kamoshida-sensei, who we met briefly. He offers her a ride to school, and this other kid too why not. For some reason Joker turns it down, but as the girl gets in the car and they drive away we both notice that she seems kind of muted and not entirely happy.

That seems like a problem.

Then another student comes racing up after the car, cursing "that pervy teacher".

Uh-oh. It does seem like a problem.

After a brief flashforward to the interrogation room, we return to our regularly scheduled school day, except that it's not! Joker's evil app is back and somehow it has taken Joker and the other student to a castle where the school used to be. (Right after accusing the volleyball teacher of thinking he's "the king in a castle".)

Some armored monsters imprison them both, leaving them to panic while listening to screaming from presumably tortured people.

The king of this castle is -- wait for it......... -- Kamoshida-sensei the pervy volleyball king! He is wearing fuzzy slippers and a too-short bathrobe with a heart pattern and not much underneath it. Like, a thong? I guess it's good to be the king.

Anyway, we're going to be executed, after some more child abuse.

Joker hears some hallucinations -- the same butterfly voice from the present day (maybe saying the same thing), and a dude (maybe the dude from the intro?) talking to him about whether or not he'll allow our student buddy to be killed... whether saving that woman was just a mistake.

It wasn't! We are the kind of person who rescues strangers! TIME FOR A PERSONA.

Yiiiikes, Joker finds the phantom-thief mask on his face, and literally tears it off, blood pouring down his face. Then he's grinny and there's surging power and he's wearing the phantom-thief outfit he was wearing in his present-day escapades, with a persona looming over him -- Arsene, "pillager of twilight", who is a gentlemanly disco fallen angel of some sort.

Joker locks Kamoshida-sensei into the cell he and his student buddy just escaped from and try to escape. Along the way they meet a weird catlike creature that does not want to be called a cat. Its name is Morgana. There are plenty of human-looking prisoners around that we just left there but the mutant noncat, that one we save!

I think it's cute that right now we don't know demons' names, so Pyro Jack is "Crypt-dwelling Pyromaniac", Pixie is "Beguiling Girl", and Incubus is "Bedside Brute" (eurgh, not so cute).

Morgana also has a persona, which appears to be a cartoon weight-lifter version of Zorro, so she and Joker are fighting together to free ourselves and our dead weight friend, whose name btw is Ryuji Sakamoto.

Morgana approves of Joker's general competence and suspects he'll be useful in the future, but she stays behind after helping us escape. She still has something to do here...

Edited 2018-08-09 00:37 (UTC)

Back in the real world, Joker and Ryuji only have a few seconds to pant breathlessly before they are found by police who are annoyed to find students playing hooky. They are suuuuuuuper late.

At the school, which is totally normal, we meet Kamoshida-sensei, who is also totally normal. He even seems perfectly congenial and non-villainous -- Ryuji is ranting at him angrily and the administrator was about to punish him for being a disrespectful jackass, but Kamoshida-sensei goes out of his way to talk the administrator down. Ryuji is not appreciative of this favor.

Kamoshida-sensei: ...have I met you before? You look familiar.
Joker: I saw you drive off with a female student earlier this morning.
Kamoshida-sensei: Ha ha... ha ha... I see.

Back in the present day-- err, forward in the present day, Sae does not believe any of this nonsense about castles and monsters. But she does acknowledge that Kamoshida-sensei is a former Olympic medalist who worked at the school and he has confessed to a bunch of distasteful shit.

So why did you kill him, Joker?!?!?

Everyone in the school is whispering about the psycho who was arrested for assault and who not only transferred in, but is suuuuuuper late on his first day. When Joker is introduced to the class they're skeptical because he looks so normal, but concludes he's probably one of those quiet psychos.

He's seated behind the girl that Kamoshida-sensei picked up this morning, whose last name is Takamaki. She hisses at him because she knows that the story the teacher made up about why he's late is a lie, and the class immediately starts whispering about their relationship. Do they know each other? Are they dating? Is Takamaki cheating on Kamoshida-sensei with this guy? Aaaawkward.

Some abuse victim named "Well-behaved Student" is also here.

Joker is shanghaied after school by our castle pal Ryuji. He wants Joker to know that he's heard about his criminal record, and he's impressed. But also, DID WE ALMOST GET KILLED AT A CASTLE THIS MORNING?

He mentions but doesn't elaborate on the rumors about Kamoshida-sensei, and then leaves. So that was a good use of my time when my guardian is pissed off. But Sakura-san just sends Joker off to bed with a scowl. (And then leaves, of course.)

That night Joker wakes up back in the Velvet Penitentiary, and Igor splains him what a Persona is. He also mentions that the app we keep trying to delete is called Metaverse Navigator and it is what lets him go between reality and "Palaces".

IGOR: I bestowed it to you to train you as a thief.

Interesting. Anyway, Igor offers to give the app to all Joker's friends so he won't be lonely while he's thieving. Cool.

The next morning, Joker actually makes it to school on time. That's a relief. I'm very concerned about him getting in trouble with his school!

Hahahaha the little animation after getting a question right and receiving knowledge +1 is adorable

After school, Joker witnesses Kamoshida-sensei attempting to offer the girl another ride. Uh-huh, I bet. Takamaki says she has a modeling photoshoot and she can't miss it, and he's like, "Didn't you just have appendicitis or something?" Take a hint, dude.

Edited 2018-08-09 00:47 (UTC)

Ryuji ambushes Joker outside the school to try and find the castle, but he doesn't have much luck until he remembers that "navigation app" that Joker was using... and then using it causes the school to warp and twist and the castle/Palace to appear. Joker's in his costume again!

Morgana appears to tell Ryuji to stop his stunned squawking. She informs us that this is how Kamoshida-sensei's twisted heart views the school. (And you need a strong will to rebel against the ruler's worldview -- Joker's costume is a reflection of that rebellion!) Ryuji wants to investigate the people who used to be here, and Morgana is here to find out how she can become human again.

Ryuji brought a toy gun. Will that help?

Morgana: NO, MORON

idk man maybe we'll shoot ourselves with it, sometimes that helps

But Morgana decides we can use the toy gun after all! She claims that because this is a perception-based world, if the opponent believes the toy gun is real, it functions as if it's real.

Apparently, however, my opponent CANNOT perceive that my toy gun has imaginary bullets in it if I have previously used all my imaginary bullets.

--Wait, is Morgana supposed to be a dude? I mean, the voice is androgynous enough, but what the hell is the name "Morgana" about, then. JAPAN!

Awww. I liked it better when Morgana was a girl. /shuffles

In, uh, Kamoshida-sensei's Training Hall of Love, some volleyball players are getting waled on by monsters. (I'm apparently supposed to be surprised when Ryuji reveals they're members of the volleyball team.) Ryuji is furious, but some of the captive students come up to him and urge him to stop -- if they don't make trouble, at least they won't be executed like you guys.

Ryuji is stunned to hear that they might not want to be broken out, and Morgana is stunned to hear that he was planning to break people out. These aren't real people! They're just part of Kamoshida-sensei's imagination.

But he is probably treating their human counterparts with as little regard, and/or physical abuse.

(Joker keeps saying "What's this?" and looking at his hands as if he's suuuuper high and doesn't recognize them. He'd better stop doing it after the first palace because I'm annoyed. Don't say "What's this?" unless there's something you want me to look at!!)

On the way out, we run into Shadow Kamoshida-sensei and his goons. There's a plot battle, with the Bicorns easily beating Joker and Morgana because that's what the script says. Ryuji is off to one side being totally useless and frustrated, but Kamoshida-sensei takes extra time to taunt him. Ryuji used to be the star of the track team, but his leg was broken and now he can't run anymore, and the team was ruined because he did something selfish and violent... And/or maybe Kamoshida-sensei got the track team disbanded? Or something? They'll probably elaborate on this in plainer language.

Anyway, Ryuji finds the strength to stand up for himself against the man who took everything from him. IT'S PERSONA TIME! Man, forming a pact with a persona seems really awful in this canon. His mask is shaped like a freaking skull fragment, it's kind of gruesome, and his persona is a skeletal hard rock ghost pirate named Captain Kidd! Good for you, buddy.

Yikes. Takamaki arrives, in a bikini and cat ears, and snuggles up to Kamoshida-sensei as he stands off against our protagonists. Ryuji finds it difficult to understand that this isn't the real Takamaki and is super skeeved by Kamoshida-sensei touching her and stuff.

Anyway, we're outnumbered quickly and have to retreat.

Morgana attempts to get help with investigating a return to human form, but Ryuji is like, "Who said we were gonna do that?" and Morgana is horrified. HORRIFIED!! At this uncharitable behavior. Ryuji takes off, though, and Joker follows him.

Boo, Joker. There's no reason not to help. And Morgana has already made you part of the master plan!!! (I think that's adorable.)

Back in the real world, the boys are exhausted for now. But they agree to meet up again and uncover evidence of Kamoshida-sensei's abusive behavior. Ryuji assures Joker that there's no point in trying not to get in trouble because everybody already assumes he's a criminal.

According to Ryuji, Kamoshida-sensei has already leaked to everyone the information about Joker's criminal record. I didn't think it was that weird that everyone would've already heard about it, since this is high school in Japan, but okay, I guess.

They are now conspirators!

The Chariot: Rank 1!! Shhhhink

Ryuji will now die for you, etc.

Ryuji is sort of adorable over supper getting all agitated about Joker's explanation about the "criminal record" situation and putting more stuff in Joker's bowl to try and feed him. I still can't get him to talk about his stupid track team business though...

At school, Takamaki, whose name is also Ann, and a girl whose name is Shiho are hanging out. Shiho seems to be a volleyball abuse victim, although we only saw male ones in the castle. Kamoshida-sensei sends someone to go get her and she seems slightly terrified, and Ann is troubled.

This seems like a really dramatic and obvious abuse campaign to go unnoticed? I feel like in America, openly bruised and battered athletes who are clearly depressed and frightened would be, like. Noteworthy. I'd assume this sort of abuse is a little more psychological and that maybe the volleyball team really would be sort of Stockholmed about their coach.

But it is Japan and I don't know what's acceptable there or what people will let slide under the radar... And Kamoshida-sensei is an Olympian who's led his team to some victories. Although I also can't imagine why a docile and submissive volleyball team would be winning championships. Even in America people would want to let him get away with a certain amount of child abuse!

Anyway, the point is just that I'm surprised if it's actually this obvious, but there are a lot of mitigating factors helping my suspension of disbelief so I'm not really bothered by it.