Persona series

I love Akechi, so the option of saving him and maybe making him a permanent party member would be very welcome in my eyes. Of course, I would like more fleshing out for his backstory, and since theoretically saving him would mean his last-minute redemption wouldn't have to be rushed, they could give him plenty of time more properly talk about his past and have somewhat of a better redemption arc, so to speak.

Please don't crucify me for saying I love Akechi

Edited by Konkfan7 on Dec 11th 2018 at 5:28:37 AM

If they fleshed out his backstory with flashbacks that would go a ways towards making him less terrible, but the issues still run deeper than just that.

That would be interesting to see how it plays out... Honestly, I would like to see the Justice Confidant not be largely plot-based but instead have a really short timeframe to get it as close to maxed out as possible (after Rank 6 it would increase based on plot progression) so that Akechi can permanently join the Thieves. This of course would mean that Akechi would be doomed if you don't take every chance to hang out with him as you can.

Edited by CybranGeneralSturm on Dec 11th 2018 at 2:36:00 AM

I don't particularly want Akechi to join. I can see them doing that but it would be too hard to swallow for me given how awful a person he is. If the game framed it as "we need all the help we can get, but you're still an awful person" then maybe but I don't think the game is going to walk back on that.

I mean, I'd go for the Adachi route of having him as a confidant like the other members of the team instead of like the other super important characters to the story so that his betrayal would be less predictable. That could help flesh out his character a lot.

The problem goes a bit further than that though. Akechi spends the vast majority of the story being self-righteous and fiercely opposing the Phantom Thieves, which makes him ultimately betraying them pretty easy to guess.

Akechi is a mass murderer. Before they do anything else, they would need a better reason why the Thieves would even want to work with him than "Aw poor Akechi was bullied".

They could also retcon a few bits as to who he killed to make it more believable as to why the Phantom Thieves would forgive him. I'm usually not fond of retcons, but one migjt be needed to salvage Akechi since I do think he had the potential to be a great character.

That would inquire creating other characters who can enter the Metaverse however, and from what I know, Yaldaboth only allowed Akechi and Joker (along with his allies) to play the game.

We have to assume that Akechi was the sole assassin for the conspiracy because he seems to be the only one of their number who could even enter the Metaverse. This might have been a precaution on his part to ensure he was too vital to get rid of right away.

True, which is why I don't think it would actually happen. It would be a lot of effort to rewrite parts of the story for this one character (though they could also use the opportunity to flesh out Shido), effort that I very much doubt Atlus would want to expend.

Also retconning who Akechi kills runs the risk of the whole thing turning into "Well you murdered a bunch of people but at least it wasn't anyone we cared about" which... yeah.

Giving Akechi the option to live and be a good guy would need incredibly rewrites, because he's crucial to all the twists of the story. Him being a bad guy MAKES the main plot of the game.

From what have been discussed, I like the "we still dislike you but we need all the help we can" option. It could lead to some interesting team dynamics. Like the Baton Pass animation being a reluctant handshake instead of a high-five. Or Futaba's lines being changed to something like "Crow, you're useful at least". Also, really really awkward discussion sessions in Leblanc.

Or if we want even less effort, just have him rejoin in the Velvet Room during the part after the Thieves are Ret-Gone'd. At that point it really doesn't matter if he's evil or not. Plus, having both Yaldy's pawns rebelling against him would be amusing to see.

Anyway, do we know if a cognitive person can become real if they got taken out of the Palace? Cause they could just snatch Sae's Cognitive Akechi

Edited by TrueShadow1 on Dec 11th 2018 at 5:17:27 AM

That's true but I also think Atlus might not understand what the problem is, or see it as one. From what I understand Akechi is well-regarded in Japan generally, so apparently his Freudian Excuse was enough for them, despite how badly it comes off to people overseas.

While the reasoning is fine on paper, they're still willingly working with a mass murderer and someone who betrayed them once already. Why would they put themselves at risk like that?

Well they could always threaten to change his heart to keep him in line.

Akechi's a pretty boy with a Freudian Excuse with some degree of Foe Yay towards the main character. That's an instant recipe for a Draco in Leather Pants. All he's missing is white hair.

Because they both have a common enemy in Shido. Really, Akechi's extra-convoluted revenge plan is the only reason why they're not on the same side. And if we go with the latter option, it's the goddamn end of the world. Working with a mass murderer is a tiny price to prevent that.

Edited by TrueShadow1 on Dec 11th 2018 at 5:29:32 AM

He's basically Diet-Jun Kurosu but not written well.

It's kinda annoying they do the whole foil deal but never really grab why Jun and Tatsuya were shadows to each other.

Oh yeah, P2 did it better

Except I don't think the game was really gunning for “oh man isn’t this guy totally like Joker, like he’s a fool wink wink”. More revealing just how much of a monster he turned himself into.

Being abandoned and thrust into an uncaring environment is one thing so I buy motivation against Shido. The dissonance is that he goes full psychopathic murder so .. he can be in a position where he can betray Shido at the very last moment? Most people aren’t gonna relate to that so it feels incomprehensible that you’d commit that much evil.

I’m fine with Akechi as he is. I hope they don’t go the route of keeping him alive and sort of part of the team. His fate in the game is already enough and could have been worse.

Obviously the solution is to let Joker romance Akechi. but only if they make other boys romancable too

I mean that's what a Shadow/Doppelganger in series is used for. To contrast each other and show their differences and where they are the same. Akechi is meant to be that, but it's done extremely poorly.

Maybe that's what is needed: Akechi is actually Doppelganger in a really clever disguise that we can't see through.

Abandon Akechi altogether and add a different counterpart character into the mix like an appropriately aged Naoto quietly moving and being Akechi rival, being a Persona user would be immune to Akechi.

Have them take over the last couple of months on the hunt.

I think Persona has run into the Marvel problem where being shared universe makes it harder to contrive plots where it won’t warrant reaction from characters that would be reasonable for them.

Like why the Shadow Operatives aren’t involved in Cognitive shit too, let alone Naoto. I guess a good excuse would be that they’re too small and they were tied up in another case not in Tokyo so I guess that works. Or go lol Arena was shit, SO shouldn’t have been a thing in the first place.

Don’t expect P4 peeps to be involved, so the cameos and mentions were enough.

Well, the assumption is that Yaldaboth wouldn't have even let them get involved.

He was controlling things pretty tightly. While it's possible that the SEES / The Investigation Team would have been able to enter Palaces, they needed the App to do so, and I'm assuming that our evil game-master made sure only those he wanted to be involved could play in the first pace.