Persona Qsday #13 (Contains Persona Q Spoilers)

We're back with week thirteen of my Persona Q coverage!

Remember, only plot spoilers from P3/P4 will be tagged! Character names from both games and plot details specific to Persona Q will NOT be tagged. Proceed at your own risk.

When last we left off, I'd just defeated the guardian of the third labyrinth, and am now ready to tackle the fourth and final labyrinth.

Let's plunge back in!

Before proceeding to the fourth labyrinth, I took care of a particularly vexing request:

To defeat the Old Doll FOE. The unkillable one that chases you all over ESC4F.

Yeah I killed it. I'm awesome.

(Actually I'm LUCKY. But anyway.)

INABA PRIDE EXHIBIT

1st Night

The final labyrinth is based on a street festival. You know the kind if you've watched any anime, read any manga, or played either of the Persona games this is a spinoff of.

By this point, Rei's food-obsessed schtick is getting REALLY old. For those who are just joining us, or need a reminder: A party member will describe or explain something, usually related to the theme of the current labyrinth. Rei will respond with an excited, startled rant that parrots back a...massively garbled, food-related version of whatever was actually said.

Yosuke: "Like the one where guys in loincloths throw water around, climb up poles, and dance on top of the mikoshi?"

Rei: "Guys in loincloths throw syrup around, climb up chocolate bananas, and dance on top of kosher food?!"

Yeah, I'm almost as sick of Rei as I am of Teddie now.

Anyway, the first floor of this labyrinth has puzzles that involve carrying a lit torch to a sealed door that will only open if you're carrying "the Holy Flame". Of course, your torch goes out after a certain number of steps, and most of the bonfires you run into aren't lit. The obvious puzzle here is to find the shortest path to each unlit bonfire and light it, thereby giving yourself a fresh supply of Holy Flame. The puzzle also pretty much runs the entire circuit of the floor, and in a lot of places you have to use the torch to move certain FOEs out of your way to get to chests or block FOEs that will chase you while you have a lit torch. It takes a lot of sideways logic, twisty pathfinding, and sheer dumb luck to get through to...

INABA PRIDE EXHIBIT

2nd Night

Things are heating up...literally. And there are lots of CHOANIKI shadows dancing on the walls...

The Holy Fire puzzle from the previous floor continues here. And I don't mean that in the sense that "there's another puzzle exactly like it", I mean it LITERALLY continues. As in, there are no lit bonfires on the second floor, and you have to find the stairs to a secret room on 1F that doubles back onto a secret passage you could never access before, then light your torch on 1F and take it back down to 2F to start the bonfire chain.

Also, this floor has a CHOANIKI FOE that chases you around and is gay. And shows up all over the place. Combining this with the torch puzzle, this floor is excessively frustrating. As of this writing, my progress on this floor is about 33%.

BIZARRE BATTLE QUOTE TIME!

(On encountering a Happy Gene)
Chie: "I feel like I've seen this in a biology book."

(On encountering an Okina type Shadow)
Naoto: "We should respect our elders...but that doesn't apply to Shadows!"
Yukiko: "Excuse me, sir? You shouldn't go wandering off like that..."

(On encountering a Gigas)
Yukiko: *gasp* "He's practically naked!"
Mitsuru: "He's practically naked! This is OUTRAGEOUS!"

NEXT TIME: Even in the gayest dungeon, F.O.E.! Surviving the big scary FOEs that want to rape us?!