Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 is a role-playing game developed and published by Atlus for the PlayStation 2. It is chronologically the fifth installment in the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona series. Like its predecessor, its gameplay combines a traditional role-playing game with elements of a social simulation. Its critical and commercial success spawned a sizable media empire, including several spinoff titles.
The Re-Endurance Run has entered its third incarnation with Episode 71! Hard to think of a better way to start. Anyone who feels like it is still welcome to jump in, rewatch, and comment, even if you're not planning to sit through the entire thing again. Just make sure the big spoilers are marked as such! There are still some people watching for the first time, after all.
The Re-Endurance Run has entered its third incarnation with Episode 71! Hard to think of a better way to start. Anyone who feels like it is still welcome to jump in, rewatch, and comment, even if you're not planning to sit through the entire thing again. Just make sure the big spoilers are marked as such! There are still some people watching for the first time, after all.
"Oh, I get it. What you're really asking is, will you please beat the shit out of me, Kanji?" That quote, to me, kinda feels like the best summary you could come up with for Yosuke and Kanji. Yosuke ultimately means well enough, but takes his joking well into "Dude, not funny" territory, while Kanji always seems down for a fight no matter the circumstances.
Man, I'm starting to get that itch to go play Persona 4 again.
Episode 72! Compared to that last one everything feels low-key.
Jeff and Nanako recap, so for anyone who just stopped in, you're covered. Looming tests force some intense studying with Chie, Jeff finds a way to pass the classes, and Funky Student still doesn't have a new riddle. When they inevitably remake Persona 4, he'd better come up with those things faster. Dave checks in just in time for Nanako to get incredibly sickly, which leads to Dojima running out instead of taking responsibility, which leads to Charlie getting in trouble, like always.
Imagine my surprise when Kashiwagi shows up in P3P as "woman of questionable age".
"
Wait she pops up in P3P? When playing as a female MC right? Haven't run into her yet but running into Yukiko was awesome "
No, its when you are the Male MC during 'Operation: Babe Hunt'. Its worth seeking it out on Youtube, a small cameo but funny nonetheless. New thread! Excuse me while I track back to watch the epic bufu incident.
Dave always seems to drop in at pivotal moments, I seem to remember he appears during the Heaven dungeon and is shocked when Vinny and Jeff inform him that they are dating EVERYONE!
Episode 73! I'm going to assume that "Donned the Panda Costume and transformed into the hellbeast" is an Onimusha reference, because you can totally do just that.
Studying and the finals dominate most of this episode. Fortunately hanging out with Kou and Daisuke leads to someone more interesting showing up (Jeff muttering "Back off" under his breath = priceless) and they're soon back to training with Chie. Takeshi shows up and continues to be lame as hell, though Jeff at least gets a good insult to add to his repertoire. Rise's Social Link officially gets started, Teddie gets a job, and finals took just long enough for Charlie to get the Tanaka fix he missed thanks to the sports guys.
Jeff and Vinny finally break down and use the menus, finding a surprisingly helpful one that not only tells them when they can get used by the nurse, it doubles as a status checker for social links! Turns out, Yumi is still weird. Shocking. Still, huge developments in this episode! I don't want to spoil it too much, but Chie proves she's got more stones than any other two people in the game combined and Charlie officially gets a girlfriend. After that, the Midnight Channel shows that it's got a few tricks up its metaphoric sleeves and shows an old face. I'm honestly surprised that Vinny and Jeff even remembered that guy, considering how hard it is for them to remember pretty much everything else.
Episode 75! This has to be some kind of sick joke... we come back from the site's downtime... to an investigation episode? With fishing?
I was considering having a double episode, but hey, the site just came back to life and there's a lot of video content for some people to catch up on. We'll ease back into it... with 19 minutes worth of investigation. Actually, as far as investigation sequences go, this one is pretty entertaining. Half-completing a fox quest by giving questionable stickers to kids, running into Dojima and being forced to wait out the days until Adachi shows up, being denied access to the TV World, and finally giving into despair and deciding to go fishing. Rough day for Charlie, but a night in the hospital will probably cheer him up.
Oh Re-ER, how I've missed you this weekend, haha. The weird thing is though, I've been too busy the last few days to watch these, but "conveniently" I find that the site's been down.
Episode 76! Investigation section again, but mercifully cut short by finishing the damn investigation section.
Despite forcing some information out of Adachi and finding out where the suspect used to work, they've still got to waste another day to finish out the investigation! Still, the wait gives Charlie access to both The Ramen Way and The Punk's Way, and it gives him a chance to be accosted by a creepy old lady at the hospital before he can see the Devil Nurse. In typical fashion, though, what started out as good times and fun quickly takes a turn for the melodramatic. Talk about a buzz kill... still, the Investigation finally comes to an end, and they even get the suspect's name in the process! One quick trip through the television, and it's off to the next dungeon, which I don't think anyone was ready for. It only gets weirder from here on out, folks. @Devoid: If you just noticed the site was down all weekend, man, do you have some catching up to do. Whiskey Media, as it turns out, is a lot like the Jedi in that if you strike them down they spend all day live-streaming Mortal Kombat tournaments and potato batteries from a couch.
Gah, Hard Boots.. The bane of my questing experience. I also love this dungeon; it's like 3D Dot Game Heroes, but before that. @Make_Me_Mad: I noticed the live steam link thingo on Saturday night when I got home, but didn't think anything would be on (because timezones). Something I'll be regretting, I'm sure.
Whoa! I just now discovered this. I'm on my second run, episode 154... I'll finish it today. I'm also near the end of the next-to-last dungeon on my Persona 4 game, but I'd prefer to finish the ER and the actual game separately to keep them "pure," I guess.
After a period of recuperation, I'll definitely be up for another round, though. If someone makes a Re-Re-Endure, I'll get in on it... or I could make one myself, if it comes to that. Thanks for making this! It's a shame I didn't know about it, but it's epic nonetheless!
Episode 77! That visceral reaction to Rise's announcing is pretty common... on the upside, no more bear puns.
Vinny and Jeff have their first run in with the new and improved Velvet Room, and we get a sneak peak of the real MVP of this Endurance Run. As much as they were worried about the advanced fusions they seem far better suited to it than the normal version. The A-Team heads into Void Quest for the first time, and some menu confusion aside they get off to a pretty decent start. I do absolutely love the contrast between their mock-horror at the Reversed Moon card and the absolutely real horror when they remember what it does. They have the worst luck with that card that I have ever seen. Still, they replace it before too much damage is done, and Void Quest continues! Awesome doors and a few not so awesome teleportations and mazes await. @Devoid: Most of it is on the site now. Might have to head to Justin.tv to catch Dave Snider, Leader of the Resistance though. @Serket: If it were to ever happen again, hopefully there would be a long lull between occurrences. Long. Like, at least another two years, seriously.
@Make_Me_Mad: My second run was actually maybe only a few weeks after my first run through the Persona and Deadly Premonition ERs, heh. I got a craving for more ER after I finished, so I couldn't resist going for a second helping... I can definitely see why most people would want to take a break between runs, though - it's usually not much fun to watch a movie twice in a row and so on. Oh well. I guess I can join in on discussion.
I actually didn't find Rise's "tips" that annoying, though I agree that they're incredibly useless (except for when she tells me a weakness I didn't know yet or sometimes when I forget to heal up after a battle and she reminds me). I didn't really understand the rage until one time when I was in a battle and Yosuke got poisoned (I didn't want to heal him immediately for one reason or another), and Rise proceeded to say "Yosuke's poisoned!" every turn for four or five turns. I was raging so hard I was yelling at the screen for Rise to shut up. Hah, it's pretty funny in retrospect.
Episode 78! Vinny's gotten a lot more confident about smacking shadows around.
Vinny brings up a good point about burning through their SP pretty fast in this dungeon. If only they had some kind of skills that didn't take SP to cast... still! Tearing through these enemies and floors with some surprising ease, and even getting caught by surprise doesn't slow them down all that much. Rise's commentary still hasn't quite grown on the guys yet, Chie slaps some people, and the dungeon narration makes some awesome references. Floor 3! They better enjoy these simple ones while they last...
Man i really enjoy the void quest dungeon. Also its pretty funny how much the hate rise taking over for teddie so much, i never really minded her to me nothing was worse than fuuka in p3 :(
Episode 79! It's Bear and/or Go Time, the B-Team gets a day in the spotlight, and Teddie goes full auto on the dungeon... for a little while.
The guys are in sword-arm and snake territory for most of the episode but the Teddie/Kanji team has enthusiasm to spare, and it seems like they finally got used to Rise. Teleportation proves itself not to be a problem, monsters are fought, and 2 year old internet memes are mocked mercilessly. That whole Joker thing really did get old fast. Still, it's not too many floors later when things start to get messy, probably best exemplified by Vinny and Jeff assuming the battle was over after an all-out attack and getting worked over by Megido while they weren't looking. The entire team does, in fact, have the ability to take a mortal blow for Charlie, but I support the decision to retreat regardless. Those beetles don't mess around. Next time, Social linking!
Shopping and the Velvet Room finally start making a dent in Charlie's funds, but you'd have to be crazy to pass up on Tanaka's deals. After that the normal plan of hanging out with Chie is interrupted by Chie constantly being unavailable, so it's time instead to complete quests for Fox and hang out with the rest of the Investigation Team. Kanji's got some interesting issues, and his mom is significantly less kind than her first appearances would have suggested. Yukiko and Rise are having significantly fewer problems, but they're both gunning for Charlie's affections pretty quickly out the gate. On top of that, hanging out with the nurse is now several times less appealing than it was before all this personal stuff started.
At least all this work they did for Fox is going to pay off when they make it back to the Midnight Channel.
Episode 81! The ending really has to be seen to be believed. And then re-watched several times, to really soak up the despair.
After the first twenty or so minutes, this episode becomes standard grinding fare right up until the end. Those last few minutes really are required viewing for the ER, but be aware that most of what happens in this episode won't matter from a gameplay or progress perspective. If you just want that scene, head to almost exactly an hour in. You'll know it's the right spot when Vinny asks a monster if they know where the exit is (It turns out that yes, they do). Still, wow, that ending... there's something really sadistic about watching it over and over, but I can't help myself.
Episode 82! A startling comeback after yesterday's Retcon via Hama.
Some Persona fusing and an afternoon with Death precede Charlie's triumphant return to the first floor of Void Quest. Yosuke has shockingly been the LVP thus far, getting almost-killed in just about every fight they had, a big turnaround from the last few dungeons. Jeff makes a nice point about the experience discrepancy between this place and the Striptease, and if I remember correctly the lesson sticks this time. The mission now is to get to level 38 and make that awesome Black Frost, which means the guys finally have to buckle down and let Ghoul into their roster. The sudden death last time still weighs pretty heavily on the team, causing a little more attention to the weaknesses of their Persona and driving Jeff into a (hilarious) anti-Rise rant later on. Also, I still find it pretty hilarious when they debate on the merits of fusing a new persona and working on the skills it will inherit, only to realize it was always too high of a level for them to get.
@Underachiever007: I think it has to be that. I'm pretty sure that's the only way they won't take a hit for you, outside of being incapacitated or the attack hitting everyone on the team. Having recently gotten Ghastly Wailed in the Bathhouse, I can't give them too much trouble for it. Everyone gets insta-killed at some point in a Shin Megami Tensei game.
For all of their procrastinating and fudging of the fusions and various other mechanics, they discovered the Death S-link a lot sooner than I did! I had no chance to make any progress with that.
I always thought that this dungeon was a rare mis-step musically. Considering the normal music evokes retro nostalgia, I'm surprised the same wasn't done for the boss itself.
Most people share the opinion that Black Frost is what really turned things around for Jeff and Vinny, putting them on the path to Midnight Channel dominance. Looking back at this episode, it seems like even the process of reaching a high enough level to fuse Black Frost was somewhat blessed. Things go better in this episode than they ever have before! Talk about a theoretical alternate Giant Bomb (Which now exists), Jeff uses Peer Pressure to try and make Vinny buy questionable services from Fox which leads directly into some discussion of Larry Litter, and some downright fantastic crisis management in the middle of a rough fight. Also, I think I have to agree with Vinny about Ganga's arm/wing things being kind of super creepy if you look at them too long. Ryan drops by with some Fruitella, Jeff comes up with some great product possibilities and a damn fine band name, Drew is consulted more than once and gets in on the excitement at the miraculous Mothman pull that starts at about 40 minutes in, and then Fox comes into the dungeon. I really don't think the day could have gone any better, but next time? Black Frost. Don't miss it!
@skippyscissors: Having these running in the background is the only way I've ever been able to play PSP games. They're also now the only thing I can listen to when I want to draw, which is weird. @WatanabeKazuma: They did surprisingly well for a first run through the game. Hell, I still manage to get rocked by Yukiko's Shadow on occasion, if I don't lame it out with a New Game+ Compendium pull, and I can never figure out how they managed to boost all of their Social Stats so fast.
If it helps, I was trying to look at their daily activities in order to find out how to max S-links, etc. So I have a complete list of what they did every day and night. I could post it, if that's useful?
Yeah, I'm not really into a lot of those big fusions or even the max S-Link fusions, but Black Frost's magic boosters and high magic stats are the bomb. I'm near the end of the game and he's 20 or so levels less than the rest of my team, but he's still keeping up with an absolutely devastating Agidyne.
They could have stopped fusing from this point onward. You can seriously finish the game on any difficulty level by using BF exclusively. He's seriously that good. Even when he starts lagging behind the party in levels, his ridiculous magic stats makes it so that's he's totally viable even in the endgame.
Episode 84. It's only the best 26 minutes of fusing ever.
Before any Black Frosts can get made, Charlie needs to clear out some room in his mind, which means a lot of fusing. Luckily, there are a bunch of never-before-seen and really weird Persona for Vinny and Jeff to mock relentlessly, which can make anything entertaining. I have no idea how Jeff thinks Flauros looks less freaky post-fusing, though. It's still a goddamn giant leopard head with bionic arms added on. Him and Yamata-no-Orochi were the only persona that ever actually creeped me out, but it seems like Fortuna's torso-wheel did the trick for Jeff. "Who draws that?!" There seem to be an awful lot of snake-bodied ladies around this level of the game, too. Still, once enough room is made, it's time to decide on the skills Black Frost gets, and despite the severe lack of quality skills on most of the guys getting fused they manage to make him pretty awesome. Giving him Invigorate 2 was probably one of the most important decisions of the entire ER, and in the next episode, he's going to take Void Quest apart piece by piece. ...As soon as he learns his Agidyne to actually go with that Fire Amp.
@Serket:@Devoid: I almost wish that the guys would have played Devil Survivor, because I'd love to see their reactions to
" 3 AM in the morning! That's my excuse for every joke I don't get for the next couple of hours. Also, I'm not sure but I think someone just spoiled the end of Catherine for me. "
Uh where did you get spoiled? NOW I'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO CLICK A GB THREAD EVER AGAIN "
Don't worry, it wasn't on GB. One of my friends sent me a link to some really neat fan art that just so happens to spoil the friggin' game. Although, apparently, it's not the ending it spoils, but one of the mid game twists. I am not happy right now.
" 3 AM in the morning! That's my excuse for every joke I don't get for the next couple of hours. Also, I'm not sure but I think someone just spoiled the end of Catherine for me. "
Uh where did you get spoiled? NOW I'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO CLICK A GB THREAD EVER AGAIN "
Don't worry, it wasn't on GB. One of my friends sent me a link to some really neat fan art that just so happens to spoil the friggin' game. Although, apparently, it's not the ending it spoils, but one of the mid game twists. I am not happy right now. "
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