February 11
A cutscene shows you skiing with Rise, Chie and Yosuke snowboarding, Teddie and Yukiko speeding down the slopes, and Kanji trying to teach Naoto how to ski, resulting in Teddie jumping over those two, which in turn results in a hilarious accident.
The group considers getting dinner, and Chie, once again fixated on meat, complains that they only have fish in a "non-regional" style, which doesn't bode well for it. Kanji actually agrees, though, saying he wants protein, and everyone looks at Teddie, before ruling it out because bear meat is "gamey."
Evening
The group, sans Teddie, discusses what to do at night, and eventually decides on telling ghost stories, much to Chie, Rise and Naoto's dismay, and Yukiko's delight. Yosuke tells the story about how Fuuka disappeared in Tartarus, and offers to let you tell one- either one about going into the Velvet room, your accidentally sneaking into Hanako and Kashiwagi's room, or to decline (and be pressured into telling one anyway]). Suddenly, the lights go off, and Teddie eats the snacks, only to end up being ganged up on by Chie, Rise and Naoto, while Yukiko eagerly listens to the end of the story.
February 12
After an argument about whether Teddie was eavesdropping on the girls last night, Rise asks to ski with you again, prompting Chie to note that Rise has been monopolizing you the entire time. Rise points out that Chie and Yosuke have snowboards, Teddie and Yukiko ski fast, and Naoto and Kanji are together. Most of them are convinced, but Naoto reminds everyone that the point of the trip is to make memories with all of you.
You ski with the first-years, and watch as Naoto tries to learn how to ski. She's still a bit scared, and you can offer to catch her, Rise, or everyone.
Later on in the day, you're granted the opportunity to ski with someone and I chose Yukiko. She remarks that she's enjoying herself, and started to realize that she doesn't hate her name, which means "snow girl" any more. She wants to go back, but realizes that a year from now, you'll have exams.
As it's getting dark, you and Yukiko trudge through the snow, desperately trying to stay awake. You find yourselves in an abandoned shed, and Yukiko considers calling for help, but since her phone is wet, you'll have to use yours (by comparison, Chie forgot hers, Rise forgot her charger, Naoto's phone battery ran down, and the guys have multiple problems). Unfortunately, it's a moot point, since there's no service. How NOT to Write a Novel points out that the advent of cell phones kills many plot complications, but there are some workarounds, and this falls into several of them.
You and Yukiko start a fire in the hearth in the center, and snuggle together to get warm. At this point, the TV comes on, and as you run over to get a look, you end up falling on each other. The others come in at that point, and immediately jump to conclusions about what you were doing in there, not believing your completely honest statements, much to your embarrassment. The only exception is Kanji, who doesn't have any idea why you'd do something like this (Yukiko sometimes plays this role). It turns out that the building you're in is actually a storage shed just behind the lodge, and it isn't locked because workers often come here- in a bit of an unusual variation for Yukiko's version of this, it's Chie, not Yukiko or Naoto, who points this out.
Yosuke then wonders why the TV would turn on, since the case is over, but since Chie doesn't believe Yukiko would lie about this (while it makes sense that Chie would believe her best friend, it's always her), and tests the TV, resulting in Magaret pulling the entire party inside.
Inside the TV, Margaret greets you and tells you that she's finally come for you. She reveals that she's found Marie, but the bad news is that for some reason, Marie, who's regained her memory, has deliberately shut herself inside a place that will soon vanish, and once Marie does, it will be as though she never existed. Naturally, it's up to you to save her, but Margaret tells you that Marie doesn't want that. She then suggests that Marie would prefer that you go back to your daily lives, but you're not willing to accept that.
As you head outside, you realize that the problem is that while you don't know what to do, there's many unanswered questions and not much time.
February 13
You meet on the roof, and conclude that no one's seen Marie. You then head to the abandoned storage shed, and conclude that Margaret's right- you only have today to save Marie, and enter the dungeon.
You enter the dungeon, and find yourself on the first floor, "Memories of Parting." None of the floors are numbered. Here's a list of them, with various parts about them.
- Parting (Entrance)
- Pain
- Grief(Gorgeous King)
- Sorrow
- Love
- Suffering
- Anger(Scene with Marie, Heaven Giant)
- Loneliness
- Invitation
- Meeting (Marie)
As soon as you enter the Hollow Forest, you'll find that all your items have been removed from your inventory and your equipment has been replaced. All your armor is replaced with "Joues" that have no Defense, but can provide resistance to elements. All your accessories are replaced with Stones that restore your SP over time, with their strength based on the name- "Parting" is weakest and "Meeting" is strongest. Your weapons are replaced with generic weapons, and you won't find any that are stronger. One unfortunate side effect, though, is that everyone's stuck in their winter uniforms, so costumes don't do anything.
There are two different types of floors in the Hollow Forest. The first are randomly generated floors like you're used to by now. The second are set-pieces with no wandering Shadows, but with a twist- every time you open a door, you're likely to encounter enemies. The first floor is the latter kind, so you won't be able to proceed until you open the doors and defeat the Shadows. Since the first group of Shadows is weak against each of the four main elements, that's an easy task.
Of course, the second, and more annoying twist of this dungeon comes into play. Every time you finish a battle, your SP is halved. If you have 200 SP at the end of battle, it will be reduced to 100. If you use 20 SP in the next battle, it will be reduced from 80 to 40. Obviously, you'll run out very quickly, but for a few factors. First, you regenerate SP in battle, so long as you're willing to wait around and let your opponent attack. Second, skills such as Cool Breeze and Victory Cry, Rise's abilities and the Cups cards in Shuffle Time will restore SP out of battle, albeit with the penalty being imposed after they're restored. Third, you find various items in the dungeon that restore SP. Fourth, you can also go out of the dungeon with a Sacred Branch and use the fox's service with your usual stash of money. Fifth, the Spell Master skill (which Kaguya and Mada have) halves SP costs, and makes skills much easier to afford.
On the third floor, you fight a miniboss once you cut open a gate you'll need to get through in order to reach the stairs down.
- SUB-BOSS: Gorgeous KingParty: Yu(79), Yosuke(79), Chie(79), Yukiko(80), Rise(79)Personas: Mada(84)
Essentially, the only way to deal damage on this boss is to do All-Out Attacks- he's weak against Physical but hardly takes any damage from it. The good news is that he's weak against Physical attacks. The bad news is that he acts twice per turn (which is almost unheard of apart from bosses). The bad news is that he summons minions who must also be knocked down to damage him (although all of them have at least one exploitable elemental weakness).
It's a fun fight that's a bit of a change of pace, and also allows you to regenerate a lot of your SP.
Memories of Anger begins with a long hallway, and you find yourself face to face with Marie, who's wearing a white cloak, and has an odd design in her eye. Margaret's theory turns out to be correct, and Marie doesn't want to see you here. She reveals that she's Kusumi-no-Okami, and is similar to "the two Sagiri"- Kunino-sagiri and Ameno-sagiri- but with a special purpose. She, unbeknownst even to her, was used to spy on humans. She makes it clear that she doesn't want to see you anymore, but you press on- quitting is literally not an option at this point.
You press on, and much to Rise's irritation, the first gate is guarded by Shadows. So are most of the other doors, and there's a mini-boss behind one of the ones you need to go through to escape.
- SUB-BOSS: Heaven GiantParty and Personas: Same as Gorgeous King.
The boss is similar to the Order Giant in Magatsu Inaba, since it has high resistances and a counterattack to discourage you from using physical moves. This time, however, I removed its resistance to fire and wind, and since it has very low actual resistance to those attacks (in stark contrast to the Gorgeous King, who's weak against physical but takes little damage from it), it died in two rounds.
After a few more floors, you reach Marie. She reiterates that she's your enemy, but none of the Investigation Team believe that it's the full story. Unfortunately, their attempts at convincing Marie she doesn't need to die fall flat, since Marie sees her purpose as controlling the fog, and believes that she must disappear to remove the fog that threatens the world. Marie concludes that seeing you one last time only causes pain, and starts to fight you.
- BOSS: MarieParty: Yu(80), Yosuke(79), Chie(79), Yukiko(80), Rise(80)Personas: Mada (84)
Marie isn't that hard. Hot Lightning (which, contrary to what the name might suggest, is neither Fire nor Electricity, but Almighty), only targets two people, even if it knocks them down, and her Megidolaon isn't that strong.
Like Shadow Rise (I wonder how either would react to their similarity), after Marie loses a small portion of her health, she puts up a Shell of Denial that reflects all attacks, then stops attacking. After a few turns, the battle ends.
After this battle with Marie ends, Kanji is confident that he got through to her, but Marie insists that this changes nothing. Teddie points out that he was a Shadow, but he gained a purpose for living, but Marie reiterates that there's little point in living when her life means the end of their world. Suddenly, Marie starts being overpowered, and starts screaming that she hates all of you. Rise, the resident actress, sees through it, and Naoto realizes that the entire Hollow Forest, a collection of Marie's memories, doesn't look much like a grave.
After a little more talk, though, Marie reveals an alternative- defeating the fog within her. Of course, if you lose, the fog goes rampant again, and if you win, Marie might not emerge unharmed. Still, this is enough of an alternative to convince Marie to trust you, so after insisting that none of you die, she lets the fog out, transforming into Kusumi-no-Okami in the process.
- BOSS: Kusumi-no-OkamiParty and Personas: Same as Marie.
Kusumi-no-Okami isn't much harder, and is easier than the Sagiri, since she has few strong attacks. Run Amok and Brush Off do decent damage, but if you don't neglect your healing, they're not that bad.
The main trick, though, is that Kusumi-no-Okami reflects all attacks, so you need to use the Breakers in order to remove her resistances, before using the elements that she's vulnerable against (Incidentally, as a bit of trivia, if you repel an element onto someone that also repels it, they take no damage).
In addition to having few strong attacks, though, Kusumi-no-Okami doesn't have much health, so this is definitely easier than Ameno-Sagiri. As a bit of a minor bonus, when she sucks up the fog, she not only drains your SP(which you should be able to recover with your accessories), but she also takes 250 HP of damage in the process (small compared to one time, when I did 3,000 damage to her in a single round, but helpful).
After Kusumi-no-Okami is defeated, Marie slowly floats down, wearing her usual clothes once again. She's not moving, and the group fears the worst... until Teddie gets a bit too close, causing Marie to punch him away. After the group teases her a bit about "sleeping," Marie hugs you, and when Rise protests, Marie mocks the lines Rise said in the Quelorie Magic commercial at the start of the game. Chie's annoyed at how often all their friends bicker (which is funny, considering that she and Yosuke are a shining example of this), but Yukiko remarks that not many people "can really mess with Rise-chan." The Hollow forest begins to self-destruct, and the group panics. Marie notes that the place isn't needed any more, and the group gets annoyed at not being told, but focuses on escaping.
After you escape to the storage shed, the television suddenly breaks, and Marie reveals that it never was a television- whatever it is, it's served its purpose now. Marie hesitantly, albeit sincerely and politely, thanks and apologizes to everyone, but retracts both out of sheer embarrassment. Marie still doesn't get what friendship is all about, but the others tell her that it's simply about helping each other.
Once outside, Marie provides a hint that the game isn't over yet by saying that she heard someone's voice after Ameno-Sagiri's defeat. That conversation is interrupted, as Yosuke starts an impromptu snowball fight
Evening
The group goes to a hot spring, and the girls are amazed at Marie's looks. As the guys try to get a better look, they end up knocking down the wall, enraging Marie to the point at which she uses Hot Lightning on them. While some people complain about the girls actually being at fault in the Amagi inn, this time, it's entirely the guys' fault.
You get home, and Dojima notices that you smell a bit burnt. As for Nanako, she teasingly asks if you like chocolate, clearly intending on making some for you for Valentine's Day.
February 14
Valentine's Day is here, and as a cultural note, on today, girls get guys chocolate (for guys, their turn comes in a month). In the morning, Yukiko texted me, asking me to come with her. For me, this was a no-brainer, and I said yes, but if you made the mistake of going out with more than one girl, then you will be in for a nasty surprise, as you must reject all but one of them]].
You see the results of the exams one more time, even though there are no more opportunities to advance social links or collect rewards from the Dojimas. You can probably get the achievement for being top of the class, though, if you haven't already.
The boys hope to get some chocolate from girls, but largely in vain. Rise shows up, giving chocolate to her friends of both genders to avoid hard feelings, while Naoto doesn't give anyone chocolate.
Yukiko then puts a bag of candy on a table with a thump and orders everyone to take their candy and go home. Since I romanced her, she said that if there were any questions, we should speak to her... and then turned to me, noting that she had me in mind. Chie, a bit worried about her friend, dropped off her chocolates and ran after her, leaving the boys to hang out with each other.
At Shichiri Beach, Yukiko apologizes for her odd behavior, but says she was nervous. She offers you her chocolate, which is surprisingly good, since the chefs tasted it. She says she would've preferred to use squid ink, because it's black, but while she doesn't really mind being told that it's a terrible idea, she doesn't exactly get the point, either.
Yukiko thinks about her future life with you, imagining you running the inn together. Of course, it's a long way off, and will require many things, such as you marrying into the family and adopting the Amagi surname, as well as learning that you don't greet people by shouting "WELCOME!" like at Junes. For now, though, Yukiko's content with saying that she loves you with all that she is.
You get back home and Marie offers you chocolate that's somehow moving on its own, and which she made in the Velvet Room without "eclectic loutwits." She's naturally Tsundere as usual, and all this happens even if you didn't date her.
At home, Nanako offers you some store-bought chocolate. She tells you a little about how her teachers are proud of her for pulling through in December, before offering you the chocolate she made herself, featuring the worst of Yukiko, Chie and Rise's advice, combined all together, and without the cookbook that Naoto offered, resulting in a "chocolate" that looks uncannily like a purple Slime Persona. You're unable to refuse, and after one bite, you're struck down with the Fear status.
February 15
After recovering, you head to school with the others, and plan on making the most of your remaining time. A montage plays of you going on trips with the group, having dinner at the Dojima house, making chocolate for White Day (which might have made for a good event), giving out the chocolate, and finally, posing for the group photo you look at in the ending before packing it up with the rest of your stuff. This, like the preceding month and a half, is a nice buildup to the True Ending that wasn't present in the original.
