Board 8 > Anagram Plays Persona 4 (spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Yeah, if you feel like romancing Naoto, just pick all the worst answers and you'll probably get it.
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profDEADPOOL posted...

Anagram posted...

but I'm curious what a trans person would think of situation.

https://gamecola.net/2014/02/disregard-canon-acquire-representation-naoto-shirogane-is-a-transman/

http://www.mattiebrice.com/its-time-to-talk-about-it-atlus-naoto-and-transphobia/

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wjpnam/atlus-we-havent-forgotten-your-mishandling-of-lgbtq-characters-catherine-full-body

(the answer is they are usually not fans in the slightest)

Yeah, that's about what I would have expected.

- "Greg Carlson and Margaret... What do those names have in common? Oh, there's nothing in common."
- Chie social link beated. I like how her new persona has Darth Maul's double-bladed lightsaber.
- How was I supposed to know where to find the old lady's letters? I eventually just looked it up.
- Yukiko social link beated. I know it's really my own fault, but whenever I see a portrayal of Amaterasu that isn't a white wolf with red markings, I just feel wrong.
- Nanako gives me a "parent survey regarding scheduling of parent-teacher schedules" to determine when her parents can meet with the school, but she's worried her dad won't be able to make it. This is what she's been worried about for like the two months it took me to get to rank 5 Expression, huh? Don't worry, Nanako, I'm sure this expired over summer break.
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Anagram posted...

- How was I supposed to know where to find the old lady's letters? I eventually just looked it up.

I guess they're just counting on you to be thorough and talk to everyone on a regular basis.
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Anagram posted...

I like how her new persona has Darth Maul's double-bladed lightsaber.

yes

Anagram posted...

- How was I supposed to know where to find the old lady's letters? I eventually just looked it up.

I could have sworn it pointed you in the right direction if you tried to talk to her or something. But maybe I'm mis-remembering.
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LeonhartFour posted...

Anagram posted...

- How was I supposed to know where to find the old lady's letters? I eventually just looked it up.

I guess they're just counting on you to be thorough and talk to everyone on a regular basis.

Man, who talks to the shopkeepers?
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- Fox social link beated.
- After Naoto recovers, she tells us about how she remembers everything because she took precautions since she expected to be kidnapped. Hey, uh... Did you consider installing a secret camera or something in your house? Just saying.
- Bunch of detective stuff, no one yet explains how Mitsuo knew about the TV world, though.
- "Don't forget that Naoto-kun is younger than us, and she's a girl, too." - Yukiko's explanation for why Naoto couldn't handle the killer on her own.
- Naoto says "Let's have a doctor examine us to if the TV world has negative effects on our health, and also find out what Teddie is." That's a clever idea, but uh, what if it does? Wouldn't the doctor then start asking questions? Anyway, the only interesting thing to happen is that Teddie's X-rays are always blurry.
- I wonder what these voice actresses thought as they read a script about teenagers comparing breast size measurements from a medical examination. Also, I knew immediately that the joke would end with Naoto turning out to have the biggest boobs, I've played way too many of these games.
- Sayako social link beated.
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I liked the attention to detail about how Rise comments that the shadow isn't her because it has bigger boobs, but then later says she lied about her boob size on her official profile, thus her shadow actually embodies her fake measurements.

Gotta be serious about boobies
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Then00bAvenger posted...

I liked the attention to detail about how Rise comments that the shadow isn't her because it has bigger boobs, but then later says she lied about her boob size on her official profile, thus her shadow actually embodies her fake measurements.

Gotta be serious about boobies

You know what, I'm afraid I missed that part.
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Anagram posted...

- I wonder what these voice actresses thought as they read a script about teenagers comparing breast size measurements from a medical examination.

Pretty much all those VAs are famous anime VAs, too, so P4 is probably fairly tame for them.
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LeonhartFour posted...

Anagram posted...

- I wonder what these voice actresses thought as they read a script about teenagers comparing breast size measurements from a medical examination.

Pretty much all those VAs are famous anime VAs, too, so P4 is probably fairly tame for them.

Didnt know that, makes sense.

Nothing today.
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Longtime anime voice actors have seen some shit.
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- Old Lady social link beated. I don't even remember her name.
- I just realized how odd it is that Aigis had to go to school when Teddie doesn't. I realize she was there protect Frank Svensson, but still.
- I like how they just openly talk about the TV world and Teddie in front of Nanako. Anyway, Teddie tells us the TV world was born from the minds of people in the real world, and so were the shadows and himself, and he thinks he's some kind of "special being." Nanako speculates that Teddie might be a king.
- "Mwahaha, if I am a king, I get to smooch girls every day!" - Unfortunately the most accurate line of the game so far.
- Nanako runs out of the house in full view of Dojima and Greg, and five seconds later Dojima is like "I'll go check Junes, you look around the shopping district."
- Had to waste an afternoon because it was rainy, before the midterms, I'd already finished the Fox link, and the diner wouldn't give me diligence, so there was literally nothing to do other than explore the TV world.
- 10/13 and I only just established the Tower social link.
- I get a letter that says only "dont rescue anymore." Nanako asks who it's from, then immediately runs off to the TV because "my show is almost on!" I said it before, but that girl watches way too many quiz shows.
- An anime cutscene plays of a crazy guy scribbling in a messy room talking about peace and madness. He's probably not a friend who joins the party soon.
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Teddie shows up at school in Golden.

Nanako loves Jeopardy.
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Leonhart4 posted...

Nanako loves Jeopardy.

She must be crushed by the news about Alex Trebeck.
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Wonder what she thinks of the gambler guy on this winning streak right now.
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- Rise social linked beated. She has me take her to my room. Thankfully, she doesn't mention the nerdy anime robots I have on the shelf. She's like "I want to go back to being an idol even though I totally burned that bridge with my manager, it's strange how both Yukiko and my social links are about rejecting what we were originally going to do then realizing that we want to do it anyway."
- "There's no such thing as a me who isn't me." - from the people who brought you "People die when they are killed."
- I love how Rise hugs Greg and he has zero reaction to it because they didn't want to model him hugging her back.
- Yosuke enters all of the girls into a school beauty pageant without their permission, Kanji dances around saying that he might be gay to Naoto, the girls revenge enter the boys into a crossdressing competition.
- Random Girl: "But what if they signed up themselves?" Other Random Girl: "Ewwww, what a disturbing thought! Seriously, that's really wrong."
- Yosuke: "There's nothing manly about being a woman."
- Am I insane for thinking this game has more weird sex stuff in it than the game with the chariot green mouth penis shadow and an evil rape teacher?
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"People die when they are killed" made sense in context!
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KamikazePotato posted...

"People die when they are killed" made sense in context!

"Just because you're correct doesn't mean you're right."
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KamikazePotato posted...

"People die when they are killed" made sense in context!

They both make sense in context, but are still funny to laugh at.
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- I enjoyed the first day of the little school pageant well enough.
- The crossdressing contest begins. Marilyn Manson Kanji is the highlight of this entire character. Too bad we don't get a portrait of Greg in whatever gear that is, but it doesn't matter since Alice in Teddieland sweeps the competition. Boy in Audience: "I'd hit it."
- Ah, the subtle humor of this game involves the adult teacher and the fat girl also entering the beauty pageant with swimsuits.
- I was certain that the winner would be the fat girl as a joke. Instead it was Naoto for being so androgynous that she won the female vote.
- Ms. Kashiwagi is upset over losing the competition. Sorry to tell you this, but of the three 'main' teachers from the games, you're easily the weakest in every regard. Kawakami's messy bed hair is the stuff legends are made of.
- After this, we go to Yukiko's inn. I'll say this now: the game establishes the inn in the first like five minutes, and then it puts off showing us the inn for soooooo long that I was absolutely certain there'd be a huge plot revelation when we finally visited it at the end of the game. Instead nothing of importance happens.
- Man, this game really loves putting Naoto in embarrassing situations, huh? There's another hot springs scene. I said this in the Persona 3 playthrough, but what is Japan's deal with boys barging in on girls in hot springs?
- The boys realize they're in the room where the announcer was killed that set off the events of the game. When a ghost starts crying, they decide to secretly sleep in the girls' room. They choose the wrong room with the teacher and the fat girl, who are just amused by their presence and invite them into bed. Man, Kawakami at least pretends to feel bad about banging a student.
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Yeah you know, I really do like P4, but some of the joke scenes have not aged well.
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That's a bad stretch for P4 there on multiple levels, really.
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- Floor 7 of redoing Naoto's dungeon and I realize I can press R1 to learn the next person up. Welp.
- Opulent Hand ambushes me and runs off. Why even ambush me, dammit?
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Anagram posted...

Marilyn Manson Kanji is the highlight of this entire character.

...you know now I'd actually rather see this than Marilyn Monroe Kanji

Anagram posted...

Kawakami's messy bed hair is the stuff legends are made of.

And that crooked smile

I feel like the anime handled this part of the game better, honestly. There are a few parts that the anime did better, actually.
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... I don't remember those scenes from p4 at all. Yikes
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Peace___Frog posted...

... I don't remember those scenes from p4 at all. Yikes

meanwhile they're the exact sort of scenes that a certain segment of the community cites when claiming P4 > P5...

Well P4 is better than P5 for a lot of other reasons so that feels unnecessary
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LeonhartFour posted...

Anagram posted...

Marilyn Manson Kanji is the highlight of this entire character.

...you know now I'd actually rather see this than Marilyn Monroe Kanji

Damn you
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- Almost got the bonus boss down, when it was at maybe 5% health it killed me from near full health. Ah, Persona.
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I had planned to stop playing right as a thirty minute cutscene started. Just my luck.

- Finish Naoto's bonus boss. It would've been cleverer if Naoto used male-only equipment.
- There's a news report about a scientist interviewing elementary school students about the fog. For a second, I thought we'd get an interview with Nanako who'd become our next victim, but it was not to be.
- "You need to put her to bed!" One second later: Nanako laying on the couch.
- Finished all of the Naoto dungeon side quests.
- Wait, the reward for beating the rainy day food challenge is a boost to stats that you need maxed in order to beat it? That's either disappointing or brilliant, I can't tell which.
- Nanako social link beated.
- We watch the Midnight Channel. There is indeed a figure on it, but it's too dark to make out. And this time it's not just Greg Carlson who's bad at identifying figures, I actually can't tell.
- Greg gets another mysterious letter and cleverly opens it with Dojima literally looking down over his shoulder. The letter warns that if he doesn't stop rescuing people this time, someone close to him will be put into the TV and killed. Dojima takes the letter and asks what it is. I mean, honestly, Greg. At least when Sojiro discovers who Joker is, he does it by searching Futaba's room when she isn't around after he gets suspicious that her entire personality changed in one day. This is 100% your own fault.
- I select "Tell him the truth," and surprisingly, he doesn't believe. He takes me to an interrogation room with Adachi in it. I tell the truth again because of course Adachi can't be evil. Dojima assumes I'm lying, gets upset, and leaves. Adachi is all "don't worry about it bro."
- A whole bunch of stuff happens, but the important part is that Nanako is on the Midnight Channel (I can't believe I called that - also, I finished Nanako's social link on the last possible day, awesome) that Greg watches with on the interrogation room TV (standard in Japan). Naoto realizes she was on TV by way of being quoted by a politician.
- Dojima gets angry that his daughter has been kidnapped (what a drama queen) and leaves Adachi in charge of the heroes. Naoto is like "It must be someone Nanako knows" literally two feet from Adachi.
- Naoto is all "I bet the kidnapper is taking a TV with him as he goes because the victims get thrown into a TV immediately," but I mean... Their houses have TVs, right? She later turns out to be correct, but am I wrong in assuming that he could have just used the house TVs?
- We quickly piece together that the kidnapper is using a delivery truck. Adachi points us to info about how the councilman involved in the first case became a deliveryman and lets us go. I should say that I actually do remember seeing the councilman wandering around the town occasionally throughout the game. I remember him specifically because I was shocked a random NPC had a portrait and figured he must be important later.
- Then there's an an anime cutscene of Dojima driving crazy fast across town chasing the deliveryman and getting into a car accident with him. We show up a minute later and find the councilman gone, Dojima injured, and a TV inside of the truck. Inside of the truck is a diary with a list of the victims' addresses and crazy scribblings about saving people. Dojima goes to the hospital and says "Greg, go rescue Nanako."
- The next day at the mall, Chie is all "I wonder where the killer escaped to." Gee, maybe into the TV in the back of his truck?
- We go into the TV world, Rise tracks her down (what, no tediously going around the town asking people about her?), and find Nanako's dungeon looks like heaven because she thinks about her dead mother. I also like the minor detail that the entrance to Heaven is called the Pearly Gates.
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Anagram posted...

She later turns out to be correct, but am I wrong in assuming that he could have just used the house TVs?

I mean, with other people in the house? The risk of being spotted would be pretty high.

Anagram posted...

(what, no tediously going around the town asking people about her?)

well nobody knows her better than the protagonist at this point

also Heaven best dungeon and best dungeon theme
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I thought the school festival pageant scenes were hilarious even when I saw them again in Golden

LeonhartFour posted...

Anagram posted...

(what, no tediously going around the town asking people about her?)

well nobody knows her better than the protagonist at this point

I knowww, Im just riffing on the game for that nonsense.
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Anagram posted...

but am I wrong in assuming that he could have just used the house TVs?

I mean, hypothetically yes, but as Leon points out the risk of detection would be really high. Especially for Yukiko who lives in an Inn and to a lesser extent Kanji and Rise who both live in shops. Also there would always be the risk that the protagonist learned at the very beginning - the TV not being big enough.
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- I really like the aesthetics of Heaven. It nails what a little kid would imagine Heaven as, right down to giant rainbows in the background of the fights. I even like the light blue fog and how the staircases are like beanstalks.
- "Hey, the enemy's weak to fire! That's hot." Thank you, Rise.
- Rise is all "This is Nanako's dungeon alright, but there's something weird about it." Later she's like "Someone's here besides Nanako." To their credit, they immediately figure out it's the councilman, if only because there's no one else it could be.
- Died on Floor 6 to some megidola-spamming enemies, decided that's enough for now.
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LeonhartFour posted...

Heaven best dungeon and best dungeon theme

QFT
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Yup yup. In the base game anyway. The Hollow Forest theme is the true best.

Though I will say the Striptease theme was way better than I remembered when I replayed Golden a few months ago, too.
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Striptease theme is rough to listen to.

Hollow Forest theme is 3rd best.
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MrSmartGuy posted...

Yup yup. In the base game anyway. The Hollow Forest theme is the true best.

this is exactly right

Hollow Forest best, Heaven 2nd best (but best in vanilla)
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- Get to the top floor, enter the doors. Namatame is holding Nanako hostage, and I note there are no shadows here.
- The game gives me three options of dialogue and says to be careful which I choose. I choose the two least confrontational, he answers my questions crazily, and then the three options return, forcing me to pick the third. I love this game and its choices.
- He's all 'you couldn't have faced yourselves if I hadn't thrown you into the TV so that means I saved you,' then he reveals he's a shadow.
- An anime cutscene starts. Teddie speaks without moving his mouth, and at first I was going to mock that, then I realized he's inside of the costume so it does make sense, but if that's the case, then his eyes shouldn't also be expressive, so I'd say it's a wash.
- Namatame is like 'yo dawg i'm gonna turn into an angel-jesus boss named after Japanese mythology and make two peace signs at you.'
- I do well at first, but then he uses an attack that boosts the effectiveness of a random element and one-shots Greg with maziodyne. I look up the recommended level to fight him and see 60, and I'm 59, so I guess I'm boned.

Any particular advice for him? I can envision this being a problem.
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Anagram posted...

I love this game and its choices.

you say that now
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Anagram posted...

Any particular advice for him? I can envision this being a problem.

There's a few things you can do with Quad Converge. The 4x boost to that element can be quite formidable. (Also other elements are nerfed hard.) But it works both ways so you can really wreck him if you play it right.

Safest play is probably to command everyone to guard when you see it come up. Unless you have Magic Mirrors/Makarakan, in which case, use them and watch the magic happen. Assuming you don't though and just guard, once you know the element he's using, ideally switch to a Persona that Reflects it or failing that is good against it. Fire back with that element too if you don't need to do emergency healing.

Once you get him down further he busts out some more moves which I'll drop in spoilers in case boss mechanics is something you want to stay in the dark on until you experience them: He hijacks your party members. It's basically a charm, but you can't dispel it - they run over to his side and are his temp allies. At first he only takes one of them, but when he's near death he takes everyone but MC. It doesn't last too long, but when he takes everyone focus on survival. Null/Resist Physical is probably best here though I think they can still use skills so it's not like it'll solve everything.

Also the boiler-plate maintain buffs/debuffs stuff that is standard SMT boss strategy. You should have the full party versions by now I think. He can dispel them but any turn he does that is one you're not getting attacked so it's all good, just reapply them.
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- Grinded to level 62 while watching Game Grumps videos from 2013, because this is what my life is now.
- Defeat my second enemy out of three in a random battle. Rise: "Enemy defeated! You're off to a good start!
- Man, the Jinn persona looks exactly like Genie from Aladdin.
- Fused two personas solely because they reflect things and aren't weak to any main element.
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- Straight-up grinded to 64 so I can fuse Thor.
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- Finally just gave in and fused a level 70 Thor with Repel Wind and Repel Ice. Thor's been my boy in each game so far, so I'm glad he's back.
- When Shadow Namatame mind controlled Yukiko, I briefly had a fear that this would be a repeat of the final boss in P3 mind controlling an ally into full healing her.
- Would've been funny if he somehow mind controlled Rise and she gave him completely useless advice like "Greg-kun is immune to physical attacks!"
- Even with my fancy new Thor, it still takes forever to kill him. It's not really hard, it's more just that he had a ton of HP.
- We take both Namatame and Nanako to the hospital. Adachi is all "Both of them are zonked out, so head home. Who knows when they'll recover, it might even be when the next fog rolls it that would have been your deadline to rescue her."
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- Yumi: "No one will say my name!" Greg: Remain silent.
- I have to admit, coming back to the empty house with no one there to greet me was actually startling.
- Yumi social link beated. She kind of makes you feel guilty for rejecting her, honestly.
- Kanji social link beated.
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- 11/15 and I only just now start Saki's brother's social link. Guess who's not getting finished!
- Naoto: "The man is most likely still here in Inaba. I cannot drag you further into this." Greg: "I gotta help. You're a girl."
- 11/20, the newscaster is like "GONNA BE FOG LOL." I check the weather before going upstairs and it's just fog for the rest of the week. I guess she didn't lie.
- That night, Greg checks the Midnight Channel. No one's on it, but the next day, the fog is still around town. The heroes gather and look at Namatame in the newspaper. Look, game. Even in 2008, no teenagers still read newspapers.
- I like how only Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko show up. It's like the game is admitting that Kanji and Rise are basically not important for the story other than to provide more murders for us to thwart. Honestly, maybe even Naoto, too, you could've given all of her detective stuff to Yosuke and not much would have changed. That's not a criticism, by the way, almost every RPG has party members who aren't really important.
- "I never thought I'd say this as a doctor, but we still can't figure out the cause of Nanako-chan's symptoms." Dude, doctors have trouble figuring out the causes of medical conditions all the time. Get it together, nameless Japanese writer from 2008. The doctor also tells us that the fog has been affecting people's health, and people are speculating that it's poisonous. Gotta be honest, that seems like something that would be really easy to prove or disprove.
- Dojima: "I'm going to ask about sensitive murder investigation information in front of all of these high schoolers." I guess he knows we're involved, but still.
- Random NPC: "An old man got into an accident in the fog, but he'd never gotten into any accidents before! The fog must be eeeeevvvviiiillll"
- Heaven Bonus boss beated.
- Margaret social link beated. I just realized she has yellow eyes. I remember Elizabeth also had yellow eyes, and obviously so do the shadows. Is this meaningful? Probably not.
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- Tanaka wasn't selling real items on Sunday, only gas masks for people in the fog. But wasn't that only in Inaba? Because I thought Tanaka's program was Japan-wide.
- During finals, Greg hears girls talking about how the Midnight Channel now shows Inaba being destroyed. That night, he doesn't watch the Midnight Channel. This makes complete sense is 100% believable.
- The next day, everyone is like "Dude the fog is still really thick." Kanji puts on his TV World anti-fog glasses and is all "dude it lifts the fog." Chie's like "dude the fog is coming into the real world," and I'm like "is that too many uses of the word 'dude?'" Also, I'll say that the VA does a great job sounding scared as she realizes what's happening.
- Again with the oranges, what is with Asian countries and oranges?
- Adachi is like "Nanako's condition's gotten worse, the doctor needs to come right now."
- Later, he's like "It's impossible to charge Namatame because he's got an alibi for one of the killings and his story is too crazy." Everyone is upset that he won't be charged, but like... He'd still go to a mental asylum, right? Because later they're like "I can't believe he's going to walk free!"
- Nanako dies. The doctor doesn't even like check her pulse or anything, the machine beeping is enough. Dojima shambles off to Namatame's room. The heroes run ahead of Adachi, but Adachi somehow arrives in front of them. He and the cops leave with Dojima, leaving the room with no guards.
- The heroes hear a window open inside and go in. Namatame is on his knees. By chance, there's a huge TV nearby. The Midnight Channel comes on. Shadow Namatame shows up and complains that we got in his way, then is all "lol the real me is gonna keep killing people I guess."
- Yosuke, Naoto, and Kanji want to chuck him into the TV and let him get killed by shadows, but Greg convinces them not to because there are still unanswered questions.
- Teddie hangs out by himself and suddenly finds himself in the fog. He's like 'what's happening.'
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- A nurse shows up and is like "come with me," and we learn Nanako is fine. Thanks for dragging us here instead of just saying it, lady. Look, I once got called by a hospital in real life and listened to a nurse say "uhhh we lost your blood sample, please come back and give us another," but Inaba Hospital is even worse than that. I'm going to count all of the reasons why this is a bad hospital:
1. The nurse walks a crippled, barely mobile Dojima to his daughter's room instead of using a wheelchair.
2. Dojima shambles through the hospital apparently unstopped until he reaches Namatame's room. No doctor or nurse goes with him even though they see him leave the room angrily.
3. A bunch of high schoolers unrelated to the family are allowed to stay in the hospital and invited to Nanako's room after midnight, which I assume is well after visiting hours.
4. The doctor doesn't even try to resuscitate Nanako when she dies, or even check her pulse. Apparently he does so off-screen? Even that isn't made clear, for all I know Nanako dies and then just comes back to life on her own.
5. The nurses are catty and mistreat the nurse confidant, whatever the hell her name is, Sayoko?
6. At night, a crazy old lady calling herself Death wanders through the hallways and says hello to teenage janitors.
7. The hospital repeatedly tells Adachi to contact Greg instead of contacting him directly or through Dojima.
8. A crazy murderer is left in a room at the top of the hospital with openable windows and no handcuffs on his bed, and later the only guard is asleep (admittedly, that part is the police's fault).
Overall, 1/10, would not be treated at.
- Later, we go looking for Teddie. Greg gets some messages on his phone about Nanako, and it's supposed to be touching as all of the people you know offer to help, but for me it's only three people: Kou, Daisuke, and Yumi. I guess none of the grown-ups I befriended care. Dicks.
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Good job if you navigated the "Half the team wants to throw Namatame into a TV" convo without a guide blind there. There are two (slightly) different bad ends if you don't pick the correct dialogue options there.

If you agree with team "throw him in" you well... throw him in. Nanako stays dead. Teddie stays missing. Worst end (in Vanilla.)

If you agree with team "don't throw him in" or don't convince the group there are still unanswered questions they leave Namatame in the room. Nanako revives. Teddie still missing. Bad end.

Both skip from that day all the way to March with a short dialogue with Dojima and a TV Report before ending.
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