Persona 3 Spoilers - Blog Posts

Oh I can tell you how they reacted (source: new player)

I didn't actually think the protag died. It took me starting Episode Aigis and hearing them talk about me in the past tense to actually realize- "oh wait shit, the Internet wasn't lying to me, Makoto just fuckin DIED"

And then I watched the Persona 3 movies and cried

Main problem with Persona 3 Reload: opening movie doesn't hit the player over and over with "YOU WILL DIE REMEMBER YOU WILL DIE MOMENTO MORI MOTHERFUCKER YOU'RE GONNA DIE GONNA DIE AT THE END OF THIS GAME BE PREPARED TO DIE YOU WILL DIE REMEMBER YOU WILL DIE REMEMBER YOU WILL MEMENTO MORI DON'T FORGET THE DYING THING DEATH DEATH DEATH"

I need more people to write Aigis and Ryoji as friends, post-game or in some canon divergence au. They are made to be opposing forces, to clash for the fate of the world, but the purpose designated for them by their creators is not the purpose they chose to follow. They become friends in both because and in spite of what they are, because who would better understand their struggles? Neither is truly human, but they are both people. People who doubt their own humanity. They validate each other's struggles in a way no one else could, before affirming that yes, you are a person, you worked so very hard to be a person and I recognize that struggle and say that it is ok if you don't understand all the nuances of humanity right away, I won't judge you, because I am the exact same way.

Yes, Aigis initially saw Ryoji as dangerous, and he was, but I want them to grow past that. I want them to be able to look back at their first clash and think about how much they've grown since then. I want them to tell each other that the fact that they feel remorse for the lives lost is a clear sign of their newfound empathy for others, and that yes it's difficult, grappling with those feelings, but they should face them head on for the sake of those lost lives. I want them to come to see the other as one of their closest friends, the one they can turn to whenever they need.

Aigis and Ryoji should be friends, because they chose to be more than the enemies they were when they first met.

Ok but what if when you tried to summon Thanatos during the fight against the Nyx Avatar instead of appearing normally Thanatos would rip its way out of the Nyx Avatar Orpheus-style. And then even that didn't kill the Avatar, not even a piece of itself tearing its way back to Makoto could kill that thing. I think that would be a really powerful scene actually.

You guys have no idea how upset I am that we didn't get a Thanatos theurgy.

Pair him up with Saturnus, have a theurgy where the culminations of your bonds with Death work together to wreak absolute havoc.

Or maybe leave him alone, unlock the theurgy through story events and let Ryoji's ghost appear Chidori-style, because even if he's no longer present in the world, there's still a piece of him left behind within your soul.

It would be especially poignant in Episode Aigis, where after such a long period of hostility Ryoji always remembers her final words, that he was her friend. There is no longer any bad blood between them, they will fight side-by-side even after Makoto is gone.

We deserved a Thanatos theurgy is what I'm saying

Ryoji Mochizuki palace where it's not Tartarus but actually a Cathedral.

Everywhere you look, it's dedicated to the Great Seal. Stained glass windows made in their image line the walls, statues carved into a familiar teenager hung by chains. Their story is depicted like a religious text, with Ryoji himself as the devil. There to trick the seal into pursuing the full moon shadows, to lie his way into being the seal's friend, to tempt the Great Seal away from delivering salvation to the world. It does not matter that Ryoji was missing his memories, that he was doing whatever he could to help his dearest friend, he was always a monster. One that was unworthy of the Seal's forgiveness, of their mercy.

Ryoji's shadow can always be found crying in front of a depiction of the Great Seal. He begs for someone to please take their revenge, to punish him for what he's done, it's all his fault, he killed the Great Seal, they would still be alive if not for him. He cannot let you take his treasure, he cannot let you take away his guilt. When you fight Ryoji, he appears as a grotesque replica of the Nyx Avatar. There is no more elegance, no more ethereal beauty to be found in Nyx's Appraiser, he is simply a monster.

Ryoji's treasure is the protagonist's evoker. A representation of how they fought to save the world, and how they accepted death to do so. Ryoji could not accept that death, so he clung to it. He clung to their memory instead of facing them himself, because he felt too much guilt.

Name: Ryoji Mochizuki

Location: Gekkoukan High School's rooftop

Distortion: Cathedral of Grief

Various persons 3 reload prompts and things I want more of because I have been inhaling persona 3 fics at the speed of light and I have ideas even if I don't want to be the one to write them (yet, maybe I'll get around to it, don't worry about that.) May include crossover suggestions because those are half my life.

Nyx isn't necessarily a bad mom per say, she's just.. a goddess. She neither understands nor tries to understand humanity in all its intricacies, being so above them all. But.. she did try to offer Ryoji some small kindness as he existed as human. (We're basically going so hard on the strange family?? dynamics between the weird god-things. I think it'd be fun!)

Ryoji and Minato couldn't really claim to be gods, (well, maybe Ryoji could - Thanatos was the Greek god of death after all) but they're definitely not mortals anymore. They're.. powerful, otherworldly. (Potential badassery or potential angst, depending on how you interpret that. There are some fics that touch on this but not nearly enough)

Minato Arisato had existed during the dark hour for ten years after the accident. Every day at midnight, the world would be enveloped in green and shadows would roam the world. After living through the horrors of the dark hour, it only made sense that Minato would have something to show for it. (More slightly op Minato fics please. Again, I've read a few but not nearly enough! It doesn't help that none of them were finished 😔)

Percy Jackson crossover y'all. Come onnn, it's too easy and I have only found 2 so far. Isekai persona characters in or let Minato and Ryoji be kinda gods.

Follow up to that, it's so easy and fun to chuck characters into unsuspecting worlds via the power of I'm the author and I can do what I want. Isekai the shit out of your favorite characters. BNHA is my go-to because it's such a fun place to chuck people but like,, why not Undertale? Why not pokemon? Just fuckin yeet them into your favorite media franchise.

Ah. Nevermind. Started episode Aigis.

Smh I thought I was supposed to die at the end of the game, credits are rolling and I am not, in fact, dead. How dare I be misled so, either by the game faking me out or by the internet.

Smh I thought I was supposed to die at the end of the game, credits are rolling and I am not, in fact, dead. How dare I be misled so, either by the game faking me out or by the internet.

Sooo.. I got to January 1st in P3R. Man the music and atmosphere suddenly just,, wow. Is that the Tartarus theme I hear? Everything is slightly desaturated, it seriously feels incredible. I'm just taking a moment to hang out in the lobby, listening and exploring the slightly dreary grey world I live in. People may not know the end is coming, but the world feels it. The only spot of color I've found is the Velvet Room, the one place unaffected by Nyx's approach.

It was a bit hard to take the jumble of vocab words that got spit at me seriously, but the art and music really know how to make me care, to make me take this seriously.