I've finished Persona 3 FES! (The main game, at least; I haven't attempted The Answer.)



Everyone in the dorms is waiting around for the end of humanity, the only ones who know about it, and I can't believe it's only just occurred to me that this is the perfect setup for fanfiction where everyone sadly bangs.

(...except... except Ken and Koromaru.)

Junpei's reaction to all this is making me like him a little more, just because it's so human and understandable. He's freaking out! Of course he's freaking out!

Turns out Elizabeth's the one character you actually have the option of turning down when she makes a move on you! (I accepted without hesitation. Elizabeth's the best.)

Akihiko talking about how Shinji's going to punch him in the face in Heaven is strangely charming.

W-wait, was Akinari a ghost? I feel being a ghost sort of damages the impact of his social link. Maybe he just flickered out of existence to symbolically represent the fact that he wouldn't survive long enough for us to meet again? I'm very confused.

'As long as there are people left in the world, no one can truly be alone' is a rather lovely sentiment from this nameless NPC.

Everyone goes for a walk with Koromaru just before the final battle and hangs out at the shrine playground! This is very endearing.

I barely managed to max Mitsuru, which by necessity involved romancing her, and I find myself feeling slightly bad for Akihiko. Not that Akihiko/Mitsuru could ever actually happen. Imagine either of them making the first move, or even realising that they wanted to. Ridiculous.

'To be honest, I'm scared,' Ken says, if you speak to him just before fighting Nyx. Poor kid.

'Dammit! Not again!' - nooooo, Akihiko isn't prepared to lose Kosuke after losing Shinji!

If it's any consolation, Kosuke spent his last day doing what he loved: singing karaoke solo for hours.

In a game that puts so much emphasis on the ultimate inevitability of death, it seems strange that Kosuke sacrifices himself and then comes back.

The characters losing their memories of being friends is HEARTBREAKING. 'Akihiko-senpai's moving out. You know, the captain of the boxing team?' Noooooo!

Akihiko does at least remember that he and Kosuke went to the cinema and walked Koromaru together. But he's also grieving Shinji and no longer remembers how or why he died! 'There was a bad accident... I still don't understand.' These poor kids.

Everyone keeps telling me I look ill even though I had a great piss.

Interesting (and distressing) touch in this ending sequence: Kosuke no longer remembers who lives in each dorm room by heart and has to check the nameplates. He doesn't remember that Shinjiro used to occupy the empty room at all.

They got their memories back! I'm delighted! I've got a huge weakness for weird memory stuff in fiction (as you may suspect from the amount of weird memory stuff I write).

Kosuke lying with his head in Aigis's lap is pretty cute.

(Unless he's dying? I suppose in that case it's still pretty cute, but also extremely sad. I was actually spoiled before I started this game for the fact that the protagonist dies, but now I'm in a weird state of uncertainty because I don't know whether that referred to the earlier point where he sacrificed himself and then came back!)

WAIT, DID HE DIE, DID HE DIE JUST BEFORE BEING REUNITED WITH THE FRIENDS WHO NEWLY GOT BACK THEIR MEMORIES TOGETHER, THAT'S INCREDIBLY UPSETTING

Was the fact that they didn't remember his death somehow keeping him alive? I am confused and distressed!


I think Persona 3 is where my reverse rampage through the Persona series comes to an end, alas; I don't have any way of playing the earlier games, and in any case I've heard Persona 3 is where the series really found its format. I don't love it quite as much as I love its sequels, but I've still had a good time.

I'm very glad I got into this series! We're living in a strange time when there's not much to do and effective distractions are extremely valuable, so I'm grateful to Persona 5, Persona 4 and Persona 3, each of which managed to keep me occupied for over a month.