I took a break from exploring and raiding labyrinths and just enjoyed Yasogami's school festival while trying out the new features of the game introduced after clearing You in Wonderland.
Stroll
I was excited to try out this new main hub option the most seeing as it is the closest thing Persona Q has to the numbered titles' Social Link system. In the Social Link system players have the option to interact with any available character to improve their relationship, occasionally leveling up the Major Arcana that the Social Link represents. When a Social Link is maxed out the strongest Persona of the Arcana that it represents can then be obtained through Persona fusion. It seems simple enough but not if you have more than 20 of those friggin' relationships. Each of those Social Links have subplots that can more or less influence the main story and affect how the main protagonist's character grow. It's the very core of the latter Persona titles' dating sim element, and well as it cool as it sounds Persona Q's Stroll is far from my initial expectations.
So far with my current progress, Persona Q's Stroll is just a list of events. You don't go anywhere. You select an event from a list and watch the characters involved talk to each other or establish some kind of connection. It's far from dating simulation I tell you. It's more of an automatic command to breeze through a scenario in a visual novel.
What's interesting though is it's not just the usual Persona 3 character to Persona 3 character. We've already seen that in their respective games. In Persona Q it's Persona 3 x Persona 4. Ever dreamt about having Minato Arisato (Makoto Yuki) and Yu Narukami in the same room? Well now there's not just doujins of those there's also chibi scenarios involving them. Have fun!
Requests
Relieved from her duties in the Velvet Room, Elizabeth now has full time control of the Nurse's office and she didn't waste any time redecorating what previously appeared as a dull clinic into a haven of Jack Frost enthusiasts (it's probably just her). Aside from healing the party to full health, they can also take on requests now. There are four types of Requests: Find, Meet, Hunt, and Get.
The first request the player can take on and immediately complete without fail is a Meet up with Zen. The scenario is Teddie is still wooing Rei, and Zen doesn't like it. Elizabeth establishes herself as the middleman by declaring that the first person to bring what Rei wants will be the winner and companion to Rei, Elizabeth also made it a perfect opportunity to be the first request for the player. There is a catch, though, Rei wants something big and edible but in order to obtain that something Zen and Teddie must do it in a trading showdown. Similar to the idea of the story of the Straw Millionaire the two competitors start of with a pair of chopsticks and must trade with a maximum of three people.
The main protagonist, in this case Minato Arisato will Meet up with Zen via the Stroll option before Elizabeth officially starts the competition. Teddie will run off immediately to some place and you'll have the option to Follow Teddie or go to the Cafeteria (or food stalls, I forgot). In the place where food is passed around (I really forgot what the game called the place) Aigis, Ken, Yosuke and Kanji, Fuuka, and Junpei will be there. Each will have a particular item in hand and it's up to you how you'll trade with them to get the big and edible something that Rei wants.
Aigis needs chopsticks in order to eat Takoyaki.
Ken has coffee in hand but wants something sweet.
Yosuke and Kanji have a jumbo parfait ready to chow down.
Fuuka, I think, is also in need of chopsticks but I can't remember what item she has.
Junpei has ice cream and ramen but is in need of chopsticks.
I'm pretty sure there are other ways to win Rei's favor in this competition but I went with this route: Clearly the jumbo parfait will guarantee victory no matter what that bear has in store but the thing is Yosuke and Kanji don't want anything for the moment. So for the mean time trade the chopsticks for Junpei's ice cream. Trade the ice cream for Ken's cup of coffee. Then go back to Kanji and Yosuke. The two knuckleheads are so determined in finishing the jumbo parfait because there is a supposed prize if they do. Midway, though their determination starts to crumble but giving them the cup of coffee will replenish their motivation. They complete the challenge only to be given a meal ticket for another jumbo parfait as a prize. Disappointed, Yosuke and Kanji leaves the meal ticket behind allowing Zen to seize it. Zen then gets a jumbo parfait for Rei.
Zen wins. Everyone is happy! Well not everyone, Teddie is not at least. Turns out there's no way of losing the competition because Teddie ends up cheating by using the same chopsticks to make a blue colored cotton candy out of his own fur...yuck.
Giving Ken's ice cream to Rei will also merit a victory but I'm not quite sure about the reward at the end after completing the request. Aside from the listed rewards the party also get an XP boost, all my unused P3 characters suddenly jumped from level 1 to level 6 in three seconds flat.
The Clock Tower of Yasogami
All the dilly dallying around left me craving for more labyrinth raids so I decided to move on to the the 2nd labyrinth, the Group Date Cafe. But before actually moving on to the labyrinth the party decide to take a look at the clock tower standing pretty outside of Yasogami. The P4 cast were quick point out that there's no such clock tower in the Yasogami they came from. Naoto on the other hand mentions that a clock tower did exist in Yasogami but that was years before they became students there.
Their brief investigation of the clock tower led them to more questions than answers, and they all agree to leave it a mystery for now. The group also talk about the differences between their encounters with the Shadows. Apparently The Dark Hour is a completely different concept to the Midnight Channel raising curiosity in an extra hour after midnight, and crawling inside a TV. I think Rei also gives some hint on who she really is. I mean, didn't she lose her memories?
Why this sudden statement in conjunction with Teddy crawling out of the Shadow wordl?
Back in the Velvet Room the siblings talk about their respective guests with Margaret asking about how the Wild Card ability of the P3 Protagonist ended up getting distorted.
Curious but with a hint of caution, Margaret leaves it alone for now and Elizabeth agrees not to ask any further question about the two Protagonists. Afterwards, we finally get a glimpse of who (or what) may be the main antagonist of Persona Q.
Hell yeah + Damn straight = HELL STRAIGHT!
Now back to the Group Date Cafe! The cast of P4 seem awfully familiar with this class attraction, I have a slight idea why but I still feel the need to rewatch even just the first anime series of Persona 4. Entering the labyrinth for the first time will trigger a remarkably hilarious event focusing on Kanji and his GIRL POWER!
I'm not exactly sure why the sudden focus on the series' feminine tough guy but I love how they poked fun and appreciate Kanji's traits in relation to how he handles himself. Yukari has girl power?
Nope. Akihiko is the manliest? Hell no. Is Kanji the sassiest? Hell Yeah! Is Kanji the husbando we all need? Damn straight!
Who's got the most man power and girl power in the Persona series? Kanji! HELL STRAIGHT!
...and then it's Mitsuru "Killjoy" Kirijo's turn to spoil all the fun yet again. Alpha b*tch.
Gotta go!
Stroll
I was excited to try out this new main hub option the most seeing as it is the closest thing Persona Q has to the numbered titles' Social Link system. In the Social Link system players have the option to interact with any available character to improve their relationship, occasionally leveling up the Major Arcana that the Social Link represents. When a Social Link is maxed out the strongest Persona of the Arcana that it represents can then be obtained through Persona fusion. It seems simple enough but not if you have more than 20 of those friggin' relationships. Each of those Social Links have subplots that can more or less influence the main story and affect how the main protagonist's character grow. It's the very core of the latter Persona titles' dating sim element, and well as it cool as it sounds Persona Q's Stroll is far from my initial expectations.
 |
| they're basically character or group-specific events |
So far with my current progress, Persona Q's Stroll is just a list of events. You don't go anywhere. You select an event from a list and watch the characters involved talk to each other or establish some kind of connection. It's far from dating simulation I tell you. It's more of an automatic command to breeze through a scenario in a visual novel.
 |
| it's like Navi and Tatl together in human form |
Requests
Relieved from her duties in the Velvet Room, Elizabeth now has full time control of the Nurse's office and she didn't waste any time redecorating what previously appeared as a dull clinic into a haven of Jack Frost enthusiasts (it's probably just her). Aside from healing the party to full health, they can also take on requests now. There are four types of Requests: Find, Meet, Hunt, and Get.
The first request the player can take on and immediately complete without fail is a Meet up with Zen. The scenario is Teddie is still wooing Rei, and Zen doesn't like it. Elizabeth establishes herself as the middleman by declaring that the first person to bring what Rei wants will be the winner and companion to Rei, Elizabeth also made it a perfect opportunity to be the first request for the player. There is a catch, though, Rei wants something big and edible but in order to obtain that something Zen and Teddie must do it in a trading showdown. Similar to the idea of the story of the Straw Millionaire the two competitors start of with a pair of chopsticks and must trade with a maximum of three people.
The main protagonist, in this case Minato Arisato will Meet up with Zen via the Stroll option before Elizabeth officially starts the competition. Teddie will run off immediately to some place and you'll have the option to Follow Teddie or go to the Cafeteria (or food stalls, I forgot). In the place where food is passed around (I really forgot what the game called the place) Aigis, Ken, Yosuke and Kanji, Fuuka, and Junpei will be there. Each will have a particular item in hand and it's up to you how you'll trade with them to get the big and edible something that Rei wants.
Aigis needs chopsticks in order to eat Takoyaki.
Ken has coffee in hand but wants something sweet.
Yosuke and Kanji have a jumbo parfait ready to chow down.
Junpei has ice cream and ramen but is in need of chopsticks.
I'm pretty sure there are other ways to win Rei's favor in this competition but I went with this route: Clearly the jumbo parfait will guarantee victory no matter what that bear has in store but the thing is Yosuke and Kanji don't want anything for the moment. So for the mean time trade the chopsticks for Junpei's ice cream. Trade the ice cream for Ken's cup of coffee. Then go back to Kanji and Yosuke. The two knuckleheads are so determined in finishing the jumbo parfait because there is a supposed prize if they do. Midway, though their determination starts to crumble but giving them the cup of coffee will replenish their motivation. They complete the challenge only to be given a meal ticket for another jumbo parfait as a prize. Disappointed, Yosuke and Kanji leaves the meal ticket behind allowing Zen to seize it. Zen then gets a jumbo parfait for Rei.
Giving Ken's ice cream to Rei will also merit a victory but I'm not quite sure about the reward at the end after completing the request. Aside from the listed rewards the party also get an XP boost, all my unused P3 characters suddenly jumped from level 1 to level 6 in three seconds flat.
The Clock Tower of Yasogami
All the dilly dallying around left me craving for more labyrinth raids so I decided to move on to the the 2nd labyrinth, the Group Date Cafe. But before actually moving on to the labyrinth the party decide to take a look at the clock tower standing pretty outside of Yasogami. The P4 cast were quick point out that there's no such clock tower in the Yasogami they came from. Naoto on the other hand mentions that a clock tower did exist in Yasogami but that was years before they became students there.
Back in the Velvet Room the siblings talk about their respective guests with Margaret asking about how the Wild Card ability of the P3 Protagonist ended up getting distorted.
Hell yeah + Damn straight = HELL STRAIGHT!
Now back to the Group Date Cafe! The cast of P4 seem awfully familiar with this class attraction, I have a slight idea why but I still feel the need to rewatch even just the first anime series of Persona 4. Entering the labyrinth for the first time will trigger a remarkably hilarious event focusing on Kanji and his GIRL POWER!
Who's got the most man power and girl power in the Persona series? Kanji! HELL STRAIGHT!
Gotta go!
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