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And so my other half looks at the game that started it all. Looking forward to this!

Yay!

Best of luck to you! I will be following this.

A game I've personally enjoyed, a player doing this for fun rather than attention, and a format that doesn't leave the eyes crossed? It sounds like a recipe for success, and I sincerely hope that your not-blind-but-mostly-undecided-when-it-comes-to-character-recruitment-and-Persona-choices playthrough goes well.

It's not mentioned unless you talk to them when they are NP Cs during these early stages of the game, but the reason Brown is so sure of his bet and the reason Eriko and Ayase support him is because they have done it before. This is also the reason why they don't join the rest when you go to the hospital, as they weren't knocked out by the lightning.

Tips? Uh...if you're going for the main story path instead of the titular 'icy mask' path, now's the time to start your preperations if you want a certain character to be available to join you. You've just begun, and already there's missable sidequesting to be done; such is the way of an Atlus title, I suppose. Oh, and when you reach the Arcade, I found it really easy to profit from Hi-Low as long as I didn't get too ambitious and go for a long win streak.

Other then that, may I once more wish you the best of luck on this journey!

Doing great so far. Really looking forward to more. Will you be taking on Persona 2 after this as well, or shall you just be going along with this one?

I plan on taking on Innocent Sin after this. Hopefully by then Eternal Punishment will be released and I'll take on Portable and then Golden after that.

Yep, I'm doing a handheld Persona series run. SPREAD THE WORD!

You didn't talk to Reiji's mom twice did you? If you did, you can't recruit Reiji. Of course, I want to say she says something that makes it clear (like saying "Oh, never mind, don't worry about Reiji" or something, but I never did it)

Don't worry about the gambling. I completely ignored it and made it through the game just fine. I think, at most, there are a few totems as prizes.

...What are totems? When the Velvet Room becomes unlocked (which is, for SEBEC, during the third dungeon I want to say? Could be the fourth. After the first boss.) you can fuse Personas using the spell cards you get from demons. Totems are things you can add to the fusion to make specific Personas that can't be gained in any other way. You get the Ultimates this way much later in the game, but you can also regain the Initials if you find their totems and can fuse fun stuff like Lucifer, Satan, Brahma, Nyarlathotep and so on.

I still find Blackjack fun so I will play on occasion. And yes, there are weapons for prizes but I can manage without them.

-laughs at fusing Nyarlathotep- Oh the irony!

Only Reiji can actually use him. This makes it doubly interesting, because Nyarly in this game is the Persona of Reiji's hated half brother.

...Are we hiding who the villain is? You already hinted at it not so subtly. And the game reveals it almost instantly after the first dungeon.

Hide it for now. There are some people who are unspoilered among us. But I was more thinking of Narly's role in Persona 2 but that is an interesting tidbit as well.

Just in case spoilers get out of hand, I'd like to remind everyone that the tedious and roundabout method of editing a comment is to go to the main Liveblog select screen, click on the number of comments your liveblog of choice has in total, and then find which comment of yours you would like to edit. Here's a quick link to all of this Liveblog's comments, by the way.

Getting back to the main matter, I found the casino to be quite handy when preparing for the Snow Queen plot, since you need every advantage you can get if you want every character to end up as excellent. And as for your continued progress in whatever path you choose, keep it up, because we're all rooting for you!

Ah, one of the mysteries of the Persona world. Why did Mark have that axe? He was apparently carrying it with him all along!

Also, I know the alternate file was for the SQQ. I'd grind a bit on that file before getting the free level up from Eriko's awakening. Even if you do the towers in order, the timed nature of the dungeons and the first boss's Wake Up Call Boss status might throw you off if you go in with the same levels you'd go into the SEBEC quest with.

Also, as for the Persona call out, you forgot that Shinji and Metis from P3 are Hierophants, and to properly introduce Nike, who is a Judgement (however, Eriko is the only Judgement party member who has it by default. The P3 guy has it as his ultimate Persona's arcana though)

So... dancing brings about fusion materials in this game? So glad Igor and Elizabeth don't demand that I dance like a monkey for their amusement before fusing stuff for me. That would make the process so much more demeaning...

There's a whole contact system for communicating with the demons. Depending on the person and the response, you can get the demons to be eager (netting us a Spell Card for fusions), happy (taken alone will just make the demon like you but combo it with an eager and you'll sometimes get something alongside the card), angry (yeah...they attack if they get mad) or scared. (Run away!) The object is to get them to be eager but it's easier said than done.

Improved in Persona 2 and done away with (in favor of Shadows and Social Links) in Persona 3.

Hey, a Shout Out to Strain42! I've been a fan of his ever since stumbling across FTW; others may diss the simplistic style, but I think it adds to the decent humour that's already there.

As for your liveblog, as always, I think that you're doing a great job and I hope you keep it up...though I must agree with Otherarrow about grinding if you're going through the sidepath. In my own playthrough, I may have overdone it with 15+ levels worth of pumping up the main character's magic stat, but it sure boosted my confidence.

Remember those weapons for Maki and Reiji I mentioned in the thread? Now is the time to get them, as once you leave, you can't go back (if I recall).

I think Setsuko is a Mrs., but I don't think a Mr. Sonomura is ever mentioned. I do think it's heavily implied that she is a single mom though (a lot of the later plot stuff around her doesn't make as much sense otherwise). Strangely enough, Setsuko shows up in both routes, though in the SQQ, all she does is worry about Maki and doesn't do anything of note.

OK, a word of advice. Double check the Reiji steps. Know that if you go to the Abandoned Factory without recruiting Brown or Eriko, and Ayase forces herself, you did it wrong.

Also, note that everyone has left your party. That means once they rejoin, their levels will be boosted to the MCs. For this reason, when grinding for the SQQ on the other file, use only the MC, as the others will be auto leveled up to his level anyway when they rejoin.

Maki's theme is I think the only of the character themes that is in the PSP version, though in fairness, I think it's the only one that is played with any frequency anyway. Maki is the main heroine after all.

I basically had Maki be my main healer. A lot of Priestesses and other Personas she has good affinity with are healers, and healing means she gets good EXP in just about every fight where she needs to use it.

Also, in response on you being happy that Nanjo got an offensive move other than Hama: Hama and Mudo actually don't suck in this game. Crazy, I know. However, it swings both ways, as the monsters can get pretty annoying with it.

Yeah. But Hama doesn't seem to do much damage here or else Nanjo is a weak attacker.

You don't need the initial Personas for the Ultimates. You fuse the Ultimates, not mutate others into them, as mutation doesn't exist in this one.

I didn't know you could access the Velvet Room already. I first noticed it open during the SEBEC dungeon.

The demons in SEBEC that always gave me trouble were the Angels and the Agents/Secret Police.

Yeah. Those Agents and Secret Police are what killed me here.

I don't know how I remembered that the Velvet Room was open now. -shrug- Lucky guess? Should remember to rotate the Persona when facing those Agents for I don't believe Frosty is weak to guns.

"Put a gun against my head, pulled the trigger and gained a Persona."

Sorry, couldn't resist. Anyway, continuing to love this. The plot, it is thickening!

If you already have a fifth party member, Reiji is offered a part of the team, but blows you off and vows to deal with Kandori himself. I don't think the chosen fifth party member drives him off like with the other fifth party member candidates. He just says "screw you guys" and leaves.

Reiji does have a minor role later on as a NPC though.

Get used to the subway dungeon, as it's the only way to go back and forth between the two sides, and if I recall, you have to go back and forth at least once.

Also, I am not sure if this wasn't already mentioned, but once you enter the Black Market, you can't leave until you complete the associated dungeon.

Reiji sounds like kinda a jerk. I think they are trying to go with a "loner who rejects the help of others learns the power of friendship" thing though. Check to see if his later lines improve, especially around/post Deva Yuga.

Also, just a warning, this next dungeon, specifically, it's end, can mess you up. Do you know what responses to give to avoid the bad ending? Remember, if you fight a boss, you are on the road to the bad ending.

Puns? Swearing? Who are you and what have you done with my girlfriend?

Just fooling. Great update as always. You'll probably surpass me at this rate.

"To find my reason" can be seen as a motto for the MC or really minor arc words, as to get the Ultimate Personas, you have to say the same thing to someone else later. I thought that was pretty neat.

I found the enemies in the upcoming dungeon to be pretty tough, noticably tougher than the ones before this, and did my first bit of grinding around this point in the game. But the dungeon layout isn't as bad as, say, the Kama Palace though.

So once again, grind up several levels. Got it.

Since you did some grinding before the Lost Forest, (which I didn't do) it might not be necessary, but it's your call. It can't hurt to be overleveled after all.

Better armed to the teeth than sorry, as they always say. Also I swear you're trying to get me to buy all these Persona OSTs.

I think P1 comes with a soundtrack CD, at least, the version I got did. Of course, I happened to randomly stumble on the Collector's Edition (which is just like the normal edition, but it has a soundtrack CD and comes in a bigger box)

Thanks to family circumstances, this liveblog has been put on hiatus. I'm very sorry for this and will try to start this up the first time the situation allows me.