the gift of more time

Squad

they definitely explored eachother’s bodies after this

i knew it

I just finished persona 3 for the first time, I was so invested in Kotone x Akihiko….I was so invested you guys and I feel like I just RUINED this man’s LIFE

every time i think of operation babe hunt i get so so nauseous and ill but it's not even solely bc of the obviously egregious things about it (although like. that certainly contributes) but rather bc i am reminded of the fact that aki canonically found aigis hot at one point in time

been playing through p3 fes and… i genuinely love that maxxing out minato’s social stats ended up coinciding with the “ryoji is the appriser" reveal on december 2nd. so here’s a tangent about some hcs / thoughts i have surrounding december as prompted by gameplay experiences.

i feel that the reveal as is, already hits hard, given the moral and existential question that ryoji’s proposal raises. SEES are forced to reevaluate their actions under perceived hopelessness and it’s!! good shit!

but there’s an added layer of depression when you think about the player choices during the afternoon and nighttime segments of the game, and what that implies for minato’s mental state.

since i had minato’s social stats maxxed out (and already completed the tower and devil SLs)... during december, i ended up sending minato to game panic EVERY single night since there’s… not as much left to do. the idea of minato constantly engaging with repetitive activity at game panic just to burn time gets me fucked up. the weight of the decision he has to make by the 31st leaves this suffocating silence that’s hard to push away. and he can’t completely turn away from the impending feeling of “doom” looming over him- during december there’s fliers all over paulownia mall for strega’s cult to worship nyx and antagonize SEES.

hell, you could also just… send minato to bed early and not bother to do anything for the night given that gameplay-wise it’s not “productive” for the player to visit the social stat raising places. december feels extra fucked up when you experience it in-game because it almost feels that minato is just going through the motions of Life™ while trying to grapple with a heavy decision and the existential dread that comes with it. i also think minato could have insomnia- and it just gets WORSE this month.

the dorm’s atmosphere also completely shifts this month as well. aigis is out-of-commission, and each member of SEES is attempting to process the information that ryoji dropped on them- making sense of it in their own ways. when they do join together to talk about it- it’s messy, and emotionally charged by this imminent threat. i love how well the gravity of this situation is reflected in-game, and how SEES musters the resolve to fight nyx, no matter what the future may hold for them.

ANYWAY. i love december in p3- getting a chance to experience it in-game and translating gameplay experiences to the protagonist has really heightened my appreciation for it! even if the protagonists are ‘intended’ to be blank slates… there is so much that you can infer and piece together from the gameplay and AUGH! i love the MCs 😭

this is going to take like 2 hours

I hate the fact that Persona 3 reload is a remake of base p3 so you can't have Junpei's social link

I swore to myself I wouldn’t date anyone in Persona 3 Portable unless it’s Theo (the love of my life), then Akihiko comes in with his “is it true you’re dating Junpei? 🥺” thing and my world flips upside down

psst, I just got pcsx2 up and running and I booted up dds and it seems to work fine so pretty much as soon as I'm done with strange journey I'm gonna be playing that

Him…

[image description: a screenshot of persona 3 portable, featuring yukari takeba and junpei iori standing together in class. the date displayed is 5/30, and yukari is shown saying, "more like stupei, ace defective." in the dialogue box accompanying the two of them. end i.d.]

Oh a whim, I loaded up my psp... just to see. p3p was already in the thing, so I looked at my save files, and... 🥺

Never did finish the minako game but I got further than I thought, considering I'd been suffering by missing minato So bad. Stopped playing I think bc I got into smt iv apocalypse late 2016, then tales of xillia (1 and 2), then fire emblem echoes, THEN persona 5 came out & consumed my life for several months.

God, it's so retro. I vaguely remember starting a ng+ in 2018, but since it's been so long I think I'm just gonna start a whole new one. Experience the game from the start again :')

I got the platinum trophy for P5 Strikers.

Honestly the Bond Levels weren’t the worst part because I do well at turning my brain off for grinding.

Where I did mess up though was I accidentally overwrote my only clear data with a merciless NG+ save and had to struggle and cry my way to the point where I could fuse Lucifer.

me: omg i am going to be so annoyed if i finish up everything in tartarus for this deadline and then i'm just. able to use shinji the next day

shinji, the day after i finish everything in tartarus for this deadline: ok fine i'll join sees

I love how many people have the same headcanon as me that Makoto/Minato and Kotone/Minako are twins.