Persona 5 - Nijima’s Casino

            I am about to close the framing narrative loop. The story is about to catch up to the time when Joker got caught. As we get closer to the end, railroading has become more blatant. I got a little frustrated with not being able to use the days as I want, especially since I am so close to maxing out so many of my confidants. First the game kept trying to push me into the Mementos. Since I did not have any requests, I’m not sure what the game wanted me to do in there. Once I got about five requests, I went in to complete all of them at the same time. This is when the game decided it did not want me to go to the Mementos anymore. Instead, I got pushed towards the Casino.

            Akechi has finally joined the party. He has figured out who the Phantom Thieves are. He decides to help the Thieves as long as they promise to hang up their lockpicks after defeating Sae. Considering Akechi is threatening to tell the police about the Phantom Thieves if they don’t, Joker really does not have much of a choice. Either way, Sae Nijima’s palace is a priority right now. We will worry about Akechi after we are done with this. Sae is Mokoto’s older sister and the prosecutor leading the Phantom Thieves investigation. Which is why she is interrogating Joker in the present. Her palace is a Casino, where all the games are rigged. Only the house wins. It is symbolic of the justice system in Japan. Those who have been accused of a crime have the whole system rigged against them. When the prosecution brings a case against someone, it is a slam dunk. Always. Even though the defendant has recourse in theory, to be acquitted if they are innocent, it is almost never possible in reality. These poor people end up, at best ostracized, more commonly ostracized and in jail.

            No one knows this better than Joker. He was trying to save a person from being raped. Instead, he ended up in the criminal justice system because the assailant was a powerful man. To add insult to injury, the woman he saved testified against him. His family abandoned him and forced him to go live with a stranger in a different city. Joker has seen the vagaries if Japanese criminal justice system firsthand. Sae Nijima is a tool of this rigged system. Bringing down her palace is more personal to Joker.

            Makoto also has personal stakes in this heist. Sae is her sister. She raised Makoto after the father died. She has pushed Makoto to study hard and become a successful person. She has been harsh on her and told her Makoto has been holding her back. Even then, she is family. Makoto would very much like to save her. But her moral compass will not allow her to do so at the expense of justice.

            Akechi is very strong. Stronger than someone who is coming here for the first time. He is also very good at understanding the nuances of the Metaverse for someone who is completely new to this place. Maybe he has not been honest with us all along. The palace itself did not give me too much trouble, although I have not finished it yet. The puzzles are really fresh in my mind since I had just played through this one not that long ago. The only area I had trouble with was the one without any light.

            I don’t think I have enough time left to max out my confidants. I will most likely play one more time just to max those out. If so, I want to do separate entries on each confidant. They are interesting short stories that explain the motivations of Joker’s friends.

            The flu season is about to start in-game. I want to use the flu-exploit on that one enemy who only shows up when you stay on one mementos level for too long.

            This is the palace we see in the intro sequence of the game. I like everything about this dungeon. The design is great. It has lights and gaudiness which reminds me of Vegas. The music is infectious. The traversal is ok but still better than some of the previous dungeons. There are multiple minigames. The design of the dungeon is different enough to feel fresh compared to some of the previous ones, too. This place invokes the memories of Ocean’s Eleven for me. When I think of Persona 5, this is the place I think of.

5-18-2020