April 15
At school, the rumors turn out to be true as the principal holds an assembly for the deceased Saki, and warns people to be careful what they say about her.
On a side note, I notice that high school age girls in Japan get a bit more respect than the guys do, typically being addressed as "-san" rather than "-kun" by teachers, senpais and schoolmates who decide to be polite. That sort of tendency is replicated as the principal refers to her as "Ms. Saki Konishi" or "Ms. Konishi", even though she's probably young enough for a "Miss."
After School. Some girls gossip about the case, and while Chie's somewhat disgusted, she points out that they can act like that because it has nothing to do with them (which probably applies to all the party members before they or someone they knew got kidnapped, or in Naoto's case, got hired). As such, Chie's hardly in the mood to hear Yosuke talk about the Midnight Channel until he points out that he thinks Saki was the victim, and that he believes that it's the reason she and Mayumi are dead. He then becomes dead-set on investigating the TV World again, and it's up to you whether you want to help him, stop him, or let him go, although it makes no difference in the end.
When you meet with Yosuke, you can say that you're worried about Chie for an Understanding increase, which can contradict your earlier responses to Chie. Yosuke hands you a golf club and some supplies, and hands Chie the other end of a rope that he tied to himself, for use as a lifeline. No sooner do you go in than the rope snaps, leaving Chie in despair.
Upon entering, you meet Teddie again, who's become suspicious of you and thinks you're the culprit who's throwing people in. He then demands that you prove yourselves by helping him find the culprit, not letting you leave until you agree. Once you do, he gives you some glasses to see though the fog, and you head toward an area modeled after the shopping district.
Once you arrive, you're attacked by monsters known as Shadows. You then hear the voice inside your head again and summon your Persona, based on the Japanese god Izanagi.
You then have a tutorial battle against two Shadows that serves as a demonstration of the game's combat system, although it's relatively easy to win by spamming Zio, even if it's impossible to win without taking any damage (Even if you knock down both Shadows and finish off one of them, the other will get up to attack).
Teddie, in awe of your skill, calls you "Sensei" from this point on (I'm not sure why he chose this term- perhaps he hopes you'll teach him your skill), much to the annoyance of Yosuke, who gets no such respect.
They're interrupted by the sound of various people complaining about Junes and Saki working there, among them Saki's father. Once you get inside, Yosuke sees a picture of Saki torn up, and hears what seem to be Saki's thoughts- that she always found Yosuke annoying and only put up with him because he was the manager's son. It's somewhat debatable as to whether this is how Saki really felt or it's how Yosuke thought she did, but I lean toward the latter interpretation, because...
Immediately afterward, another copy of Yosuke comes out and reveals that all this was a plan leading up to the main point- that even if Saki hated Yosuke and Yosuke knew this, he doesn't care. He simply wants to be a hero and have some relief from his Small Town Boredom. Understandably, Yosuke doesn't take being accused of having a selfish ulterior motive well, and angrily denies the other him. Unfortunately for him, his other self is also a Shadow from Jungian psychology, and denying it causes it to go One-Winged Angel and attack.
- BOSS: Shadow YosukeMy Party: Yu (1)Personas: Izanagi(1)
This battle's fairly easy, and you can almost get away with spamming Zio. Rakukaja seems to be a bit of a waste of a turn, though, since it only lasts three moves and doesn't increase your Defense enough to justify usingit.
After the battle, Yosuke, with some convincing from Teddie, accepts his Shadow, admitting that it's true even if he was only subconsciously aware of it. He then suspects that Saki and Mayumi likely were unable to accept their own Shadows, and so were killed.
Upon emerging from the TV world, Chie is relieved to see you, but also angry that she had to wait so long while assuming you and Yosuke were lost forever. As insensitive as Yosuke can often be, he realizes that he and you upset Chie, and decides to apologize.
Elsewhere, you find Yukiko, who's wearing a pink kimono as part of her duties for the inn (one of my favorite costumes for her), which can't run without her. She asks how you're doing in your new town (by contrast, she's never left Inaba) talks a little about how Chie has been very supportive of her. After a short conversation, she excuses herself, saying the inn can't function without her.
At home, you see Yukiko on the news, being interviewed by a reporter who's clearly distracted by her looks, while she politely tries to deflect the questions. Nanako, meanwhile, complains that it's boring, which comes off as a somewhat amusing reaction to it.
At midnight, you watch the Midnight Channel, and see someone who looks like Yukiko on it, but reaching out fails to do anything.
As you dream, you return to the Velvet Room, and get a contract asking you to take responsibility for your own decisions. You also hear about Social Links, which are ways by which you can enhance the power of the Personas you create.
April 16
On the way to school, you meet Yosuke, and promise to solve the case together, establishing Rank 1 in the Magician Social Link in the process.
At school, Chie's worried about Yukiko, who showed up on the Midnight Channel. Luckily, she gets ahold of Yukiko by calling the inn, and gets annoyed with Yosuke for making her worry. Yosuke apologizes, but says he thought Yukiko was already inside the TV
After school, you check out the TV again, with Chie and Yosuke serving as a "wall" so that no one sees what you're doing. After apparently getting bitten by Teddie, you learn that no one was thrown in since the last person died, and that Yukiko's safe for the moment.
Elsewhere, Dojima and Adachi are investigating, and rule out Namatame and Misuzu as suspects, suggesting that the killings weren't necessarily related to the Love Triangle or even an attempt to silence Saki. It's a good showing of Dojima's detective intuition, even though the case defies the normal rules.
In a cinematic, Yukiko shows up on the Midnight Channel once again, fully visible and even identifying herself by name as she openly and flirtatiously expresses her desire to get a harem full of hot guys and pick the best one for herself.
April 17
You and Yosuke set off for Junes, and he offers you a katana or a nata. The former happens to be your weapon, and the latter is his, but regardless of which one (or both) you choose, the result is the same. He starts brandishing the weapons, in full view of a police officer, getting both of you arrested- him for obvious reasons, and you just because you happened to be sitting around him.
Luckily, Dojima's there, and bails you out of trouble, but he's still more than a little annoyed at you. While at the police station, you and Yosuke overhear some rumors about Yukiko, and Adachi vaguely hints that she might have killed Mayumi out of anger over her causing her mother's collapse.
Chie finds the two of you and is beside herself, as Yukiko really is missing this time. She's utterly furious at even the suggestion that Yukiko's the culprit.
Chie takes you to Daidara, which is essentially a weapon and armor shop. Yosuke's against her coming, but she vehemently insists, since Yukiko might die.
After you leave the Weapons Shop, you see a door open, and take it to the Velvet Room, where you learn about your ability to fuse or summon Personas there, buy or give skill cards. Annoyingly enough, though, you can't actually use the Velvet Room just yet- Igor simply warns you that the catastrophe and mystery you have to solve are now upon you, and that it's possible to fail even if you don't get defeated.
At Junes, you meet up and go into the TV world. You then meet up with Teddie, who reveals that he's found Yukiko, and tracks her to the castle that's identical to the one shown on TV. Chie rushes off ahead by herself, heedless of the danger (although to be fair, Teddie didn't mention it). You then have to go after her, and can't even go back to save or use the Velvet Room.
One somewhat annoying thing about Very Hard mode is that if you die, you go back to the save point, so there aren't any checkpoints from now until you defeat Shadow Chie. The Shadows aren't all that bad, but if you let your guard down (even forgoing using an elemental attack so that you can strike an enemy's weakness), the enemy might survive long enough to get a devastating attack in.
On this floor, you get an introduction to moving about, avoiding battles or seizing the advantage, and the Shuffle Time system. It's an interesting system that forces you to weigh the pros and cons of certain benefits or penalties (the cards that penalize you compensate you with extra draws). One rule that they don't mention, though, is that if you get two of one card, it only takes effect once- for example, two half EXP cards will result in you getting half your base XP, as opposed to a quarter or none (but it does give you a net bonus of two extra draws).
One thing to note about Very Hard mode is that because you get much less experience and money, the Wand and Coin cards become less valuable, since their impact on the money you gain is significantly less, and you may have to choose between taking one and getting a Persona, Skill Card or chest key(which eventually leads to a rare item) that's worth thousands of gold.
Another thing is that you tend to make a lot of money selling items from enemies, since the amount you get isn't affected by the difficulty. Since it takes longer to get levels, you'll likely find yourself getting more drops and treasure chests during that time, eventually resulting in you being fairly wealthy.
Once you reach the second floor, Teddie suggests that because "Compared to you, Yosuke stinks" at fighting, you should give him orders, something that Yosuke reluctantly has to admit is true. This comes as a fairly amusing, if not entirely intentional, Take That! against Persona 3's AI-controlled party members.
Once you go through the door, you'll find Chie hearing what seems to be Yukiko's inner thoughts (or what Chie thinks are Yukiko's inner thoughts), revealing that she sees herself as worthless and believes Chie is the only one who gave her life meaning.
Yosuke tries to convince Chie not to deny her Shadow, but he fails. While he presumably forgot to tell her about the possibility of there being one, I suspect the more relevant reasons are that Chie's too emotionally distraught to listen to either him or her Shadow, and that it's not easy to accept the parts about yourself of which you're not completely aware, much less proud. Shadow Chie then turns into a Dominatrix like foe on top of two girls, and the fight begins.
BOSS: Shadow Chie Party: Yu(4), Yosuke (4) Persona: Izanagi(3)
This boss battle essentially serves as a tutorial to watch boss attack patterns. Shadow Chie's attack pattern is essentially as follows.
- Mazio, a Lightning attack that hits both party members (and Yosuke's weakness)
- Green Wall, which turns her weakness to wind into a resistance for as long as it's up.
- Physical attack
- Scornful look at Yosuke.
Later on in the fight, Shadow Chie stops telegraphing her Mazio attack (using Mabufu instead), and on multiple occasions, I've been thrown off guard, resulting in a dead Yosuke.
After the fight, Yosuke talks Chie into accepting her Shadow, and Chie does so, resulting in her acquiring the Persona Tomoe. While Chie admits that she was jealous of Yukiko, she also points out that she does want to save her, a touching reminder that they are friends in spite of their issues. Unfortunately, Chie's in no condition to continue, and on Yosuke's suggestion, she leaves.
On the way out, Chie asks why you and Yosuke are fine, and learns that it's because of the glasses. Yosuke decides to form the Investigation Team, and appoints you as the leader. With that, you begin the Fool Social Link, one that's automatically upgraded throughout the game.
Evening
At home, Dojima questions you about the incident earlier in the day, and you can't answer honestly, only choosing to respond evasively, downplay the issue or refuse to talk. Nanako asks if you're fighting, and things end on a bit of a tense note. If you talk to the Dojimas afterward, Nanako somehow thinks that you're both responsible in spite of not knowing what it was about, while Dojima seems apologetic.
When you try to go up to your room, you'll get a phone call from King Moron, who makes you come all the way to the gas station to pick up the school jersey. You have to talk Dojima (who won't let you go out at night if he's home and you don't have a job) into letting you go, and even then, he's fairly confused about why King Moron didn't give it to you in class. He gives you the jersey, the game's first costume, and insists that you go home. Unfortunately, since you can't do much else in town- the Shrioku pub hostess won't talk with you until you get a gem, and none of the other shops are open- all you can do is return home and rest to prepare for saving Yukiko tomorrow.
