Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth *SPOILERS AHEAD*

Now that I think about it, none of the F.O.E., or bosses, in the game have masks. Well, Shadow masks. One of the F.O.E. has some type of tengu mask and Queen of Heart's face looks like it is modelled after ko-omote mask. However, I think it makes sense. If you recall back to Persona 4, not only do none of the Shadow Selves have Shadow masks, none of their mooks have them (Charming Prince, Nice and Gentle Guy). So it could be that Shadows created by specific people don't have masks, since they have their own identity, in sense.

All three major shadows look like they are wearing masks to me. The Queen of Hearts, the priest looks like his mask is a human face, and the doctor/surgeon has a pink stitched face on his purple body.

Edit:Ken and MC one, Yosuke and MC, Kanji and MC, and Teddie and MC.

edited 23rd Sep '14 9:26:29 PM by OmegaRadiance

Bringing this back I guess, since it's finally out in the US and EU. Anyone like me and not spoiled by the liveblog earlier in the thread? I'm in the second labyrinth and enjoying how well the Etrian Odyssey element mesh with Persona. Though binds are absolutely destroying me, since I don't have nearly enough Mutudi users >_>.

I vastly prefer sub-Personas and fusion as a means of customization compared to EOU's Grimoires, but the lack of a fusion guide for the game is irritating me. How am I supposed to plan out my stupidly-overpowered Personas if I don't know what fuses to what?!

Trial, error, and vast reams of money?

Eh, I just fuse based off of "these Personas are not in use. LET'S FUSE!"

Fusing is really devalued in this game, at least for me.

Alright. You can re-do the Group Date Cafe questions anytime you want. It led me to finding out that there are basically two subsets of answers. One puts you into either guys or girls and then there's a further subdivison between those.

Guys have if you want a passionate response or reserved with ladies being outdoorsy or indoorsy. There are answers that have tells towards people and if you avoid answering those tells, you are forced straight up to pick a "type."

edited 29th Nov '14 3:01:22 PM by phoenixdaughterAM

The third floor of You in Wonderland should've had a "the real Persona Q starts here" sign at the entrance, because things are really ramping up now with those Burning Beetle enemies and the Heat Balances that spam Mind Charge and Ma- spells. But oh my god, Naoto is stupidly useful - so many enemies are weak to Hama and Mudo, it's crazy!

My new favorite set of in-battle banter is the "Kanji just got a big boo-boo!/Yeah, my boo-boo's...wait, SHUT UP!" exchange between Teddie and Kanji.

Yeah, pretty much. Though said sign should also say "Bring Disarm and Makajam", as being able to Strength Bind and Magic Bind enemies can save you a lot of pain.

Coindicentally, the "exploration chest" for YIW 3 has a skill card that teaches Makajam - at least, it did for me when I played through that floor with the P3 crew, dunno if your choice of hero makes any difference Nevermind, I'm dumb, that card didn't come from that chest :p

edited 30th Nov '14 7:10:20 AM by Reflextion

Phew, dropped the first major boss. I wish I'd gotten the Plum Potpourri from the flower pot before I fought the boss, though; would've made things a lot easier. Curse actually did a good chunk of the damage.

Bunch of fun scenes afterwards and then you unlock Triangle fusions, requests, and the Stroll option.

The Queen of Hearts wasn't too much trouble for me; her only real dangerous phase was when she sits behind the Card Soldiers and uses second-tier spells, which were powerful enough to fully one-hit-KO anyone who'd already taken damage. But I'm past that now and it looks like the game's really opened up now with the addition of the Persona 3 cast - so now I can agonize over who to put in my team even more!

I hope that they bring back the card soldiers for P5. I just like their design. Plus they are based on a demon.

What level were you? Also, what difficulty are you playing on? I was level 9, on Risky difficulty, and I was quite surprised when the P4 crew joined up at level 12. I wonder if maybe that was supposed to be a hint.

I'm playing on Normal so I guess yeah, it wouldn't quite stack up to Risky. My team was Yu and Kanji in front, Zen/Rei, Yukiko, and Naoto in back and everyone was Lv. 10-11. Strategy was basically Yu and Kanji going to town with Twin Slash while Zen used Bane Slice to inflict Curse and the girls were support.

I would really like more Ma- spells in the second labyrinth so far, at least Naoto should learn Megido on her next level up.

edited 30th Nov '14 10:15:18 PM by ComicX6

Since I was also on Normal, Queen of Hearts was straightforward for me, though my SP basically ran out by the end. Burning down the Card Soldiers with spells was a huge SP drain, since I hadn't gotten any Ma- spells from my sub-Persona fusions.

I have a feeling that the combination of Risky and level 9 would have been pretty bad for my sanity, though I think I would have been smart enough to grind up just a bit after a few losses. I beat her on my second try, but I got a big lucky too in that I was able to keep her Cursed for long chunks of the fight.

So, about the Trading Showdown. I messed up the trading sequence and ended up with a huge bag of chopsticks, but it turned out that Teddie cheated so the contest was a draw and I got the reward from completing the quest anyway. Can you actually win the contest, and if so, does it affect your reward for completing the quest?

Evidently, you needed to trade with Junpei and Ken instead.

Yeah, the coffee from Ken will energize Yosuke and Kanji to finish the parfait and they'll give you the reward, which is a free parfait. Either way, you'll get the request's listed reward, but winning the showdown will get you something extra—I forget what exactly. Many of the conversation-only quests are like that; just doing them will get the reward, but doing it correctly will net you a bonus, like an extra healing item or skill card.

"No more beasts! We've already got a dog, a bear, and a Chie!"

...Yosuke, this is only the second floor of the first dungeon. How do you know about the dog you haven't met yet?

(Also, someone at the local Hastings screwed up and put out my copy of the special edition with the regular merchandise, instead of keeping with all the other game special orders and preorders. I could have been playing this last week if that hadn't happened...)

P3 plot report!

At the end of the third level of the fourth dungeon, (the last puzzle reaaaaaaaaally frustrated me), Yukari straight up told a tired and testy Mitsuru and Shinjiro and Akihiko that the seniors should be allowed to show their weaknesses and trust the middle-classmen more. Yu then spoke up and talked about The Power of Friendship and how he fights because of a promise between him and Teddie and Yosuke to catch the killer. Shinjiro concours with all of this, (of course he would) and Rise suggests that the team would throw a party. (HA. Of course she would be the one to) And then she and Fuuka went off to plan a menu.

And so, the group vows to be friends after all of this. And Mitsuru tells of how she gained her Persona abilities.

Ha. Ha. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

And on a completly unrelated note, Minato's next Persona is gonna be Mara. Mwehehehe.

edited 4th Dec '14 10:11:10 PM by phoenixdaughterAM