Shadon1010

If you'd prefer the discussion be kept to the facts that's fine. Please note however that my intent was to discuss "How do they plan to pay off this setup appropriately?", as opposed to wish fulfilment. Anyways, moving on. In one of the earlier posts it was stated that it seems unlikely Ikutski is alive. Where does this info come from?

Ah of course! Shows what I get for doing bad napkin math. Otherwise, I'm pretty much in agreement, although my suggestion was based on the assumption that he would have to restart his life from where he left off, which would mean still being in school and such. The various responsibilities of the former SEES members have taken them elsewhere in the world, so my thinking was that societal demands and conventions (funnily enough part of the theme of P5 of all things) would mean as much as they would like to continue where they left off, that isn't so easy. But otherwise yes, I think you're pretty much spot on with those assessments.

I was referring to narrative time. In the plot, 3 years have passed between P3 and Arena. Given Elizabeth stated this would take so long that only Aigis, a chronologically (or is it circadian? Anyway...) immortal mechanoid, would be able to assist in her task, which you can take that to mean that it would take decades. If Makoto's salvation happened at the end of Climax without some sort of "price" this would be a rather weak pay off to what Liz has told us previously. I do agree that I think this arc should be resolved now so that P5 can be clear of baggage from the previous games and better stand on its own, perhaps limiting it to cameos or visiting familiar locations. I'll also comment briefly on the resurrection issue. There are two outcomes: either his soul is freed and just dissipates into the ether, or he returns to the land of the living. Both would be bittersweet as I think Atlus would intend, but the latter is the one I reckon would have the most weight assuming they take the logical route of having Makoto be the same as he was when he died, that is the same age, same knowledge, sort of like waking from a long coma. The P3 characters at this point in the story have grown older and wiser, they've buried him and grieved for him, and now having skipped ahead age and maturity wise their world is now alien to him. But, of course, we've already seen a similar group of friends (who just happen to be the same age as Makoto was when he gave up his life) come together through their acceptance of outsiders, including Labrys. Imagine the former SEES members leaving Makoto behind with the Investigation Team, to allow him to restart his life with a new group friends, but always knowing they'll be special to him (and vice versa). That's how I see it playing out anyway. Or his soul could just do a quick wave and smile at everyone and then pop like a soap bubble into nothingness. We'll have to wait and see.

Well, let's consider the candidates. We have Yu and Aigis and neither of them will fulfil this role as they're main characters and we'd be back at square one, ie, "We gotta save them next!" We have Elizabeth. This would make sense as she has pretty outright stated she would do anything for Makoto, so let's take "anything" to its extreme and consider that she might sacrifice herself to save him. The other would be Persona-free Sho, but given we know next to nothing about him I offer this only as a "You never know" possibility. Also, two other thoughts while I'm here: - Where was it outright stated that Ikutski is likely not to be alive? All signs point to him or a very good copycat being behind a part of this plot, and I can totally see him working in the same way as Crow did from Guilty Gear. - Here's hoping for P4U2 to have its own version of Highlander Assault Mode, with Yu (plus Izanagi-no-Okami) versus Erebus one on one. I'd be down with that. EDIT: Makoto is the name of the P3 Protagonist from the P3 movies. Minato I believe was from the manga. I'm going with Makoto rather than Minato as his canon name given Yu (Arena/Anime P4 Protag name) was chosen over Souji (Manga P4 Protag name), but we all know who I mean anyway.

Gonna throw in my two cents on the issue of Makoto coming back: If you've played Mass Effects 1 through 3, one of the problems I think that was present in the writing was that the Reapers were built up to be an impossible force to overcome conventionally, and then what followed in Mass Effect 3 was that the Reapers were shown to be just tough, rather than invincible (see how Sovereign trashed an entire fleet single handedly yet thousands of Reapers didn't curbstomp several fleets). The previous two games set up the Reapers as an unstoppable force, and then what we saw did not match that build up, at least in my opinion, and it resulted in it being very underwhelming as a result. It short changed the audience in a nutshell. I mention this because I fear this is the potential pitfall with Makoto being saved in the Persona franchise. Elizabeth's story in Arena established that this is a huge task that could take years, if not decades, hence why she suggests to Aigis that she might need her help as someone who is similarly not affected by aging or time. We have had the set up that makes it clear this objective, to save Makoto, is a massive undertaking. So the trap therefore is having Makoto be saved at the end of P4U2 without any consequences, as it will feel horribly underwhelming. To alleviate this, there are two things Atlus could do in my opinion: 1) Don't have Makoto be saved in P4U2. Have the story give Elizabeth further clues or ideas on how to proceed, but leave him where he currently is as the cockblock shield between Erebus and Nyx. 2) Have Makoto be saved, but as I mentioned, have consequences for his revival. By that I mean, have someone replace him as the seal. Of course, the possibility exists they'll just have him be saved and that'll be that, but I hope not as it'll just drain all of the weight and impact out of everything we've seen from Makoto's death onwards. Let there be consequences, or let it take more time to give it the satisfying payoff it deserves. /2cents

If I recall correctly Ragna says "plus that life link will make killing you a bitch" (paraphrased). So he could've done it, but it would've taken too long, and his priority was Noel. Besides, Terumi wasn't going anywhere, and Ragna had no idea Relius would turn up and do it for him (on account of Relius just being an NPC at the time, one possibility of the Continuum Shift indeed).

The irony is, in Continuum Shift Ragna himself said he was letting Terumi live because of the life-link, and that he had more pressing matters (saving Noel) to attend to. In Alter Memory, the life-link has not been mentioned once, and the reason Ragna leaves is because Gii, of all things, tells him to. This is like having Han Solo take orders from an Ewok. I'm all for jettisoning plot points in the name of streamlining a work for the medium in which it is adapted to, but that doesn't mean you should replace it with nonsense. EDIT: What Mac said.

I cannot recall a more severe instance of tonal whiplash in any work of fiction I've seen as this episodes switch from Lambda's tragic, maudlin death in Ragna's arms at the top of the Altar, to Ragna nonchalantly walking down a corridor and engaging in comic hijinks with Rachel, Gii and Nago about five minutes afterwards. Bravo Alter Memory writers, bravo.

They could also just alter the UI to allow more slots if needed. Not like it's set in stone.

You fight Unlimited Tager in Lambda's story arc. If I recall, his body was out of control as a result of Hazama's usual mischief but he was still in command of his mental faculties.

If I had to guess, the reason that neither the events of P4:G or P4:A are cross referenced is simply because of the difference in genres. RPG fans may not wish to play P4:A, nor may fighting game fans want to play P4:G. So, for the sake of not forcing players to do "homework" in a genre they don't care for in order to understand the overall plot, the references are minimal. This is also why P4:A goes out of its way to explain the plot of P4 (& P3 for the SEES members) at the start each character's story, even though you'd think most people playing the story would be familiar with P4's plot. It's a concession for players who have played one, but not the other. Admittedly, that doesn't offer evidence either way for the events of Golden being canon or not, but perhaps things will become clearer this Sunday when we get those Persona related announcements.

Shout out to Atma whom I played nearly 40 matches with this evening. Highlights include: - More excessive DP use than at Vivid Entertainment. - Ragna ID - Bang 5C clashes. - Ragna ID avoiding Ragna Astral. - Random Ragna Astral > Bang 6D. - DP clash -> j.C -> Rapid (for no reason). - Daifunkas only Jesus could do. And so on. Here's hoping to more insanity soon.

Thanks for the welcome everyone. And Krieg, errm, sorry about that. I know how you feel though, trying P4U netplay for the first time was like being inducted into the showers at Strangeways prison for me.

Not currently got it myself, but I find it amusing that my Facebook feed currently is either A) Pictures of a physical copy of GTA V B) Complaints of being a "GTA Widow" C) Adverts for Russian Girlfriends. These may or may not be related. Sure thing, fire me a PM over and I'll come on down. Sure thing. Not sure if I'll be on tonight as I've just spent nearly 30 minutes fighting the most slippery Yosuke I've faced in ages, but definitely tomorrow.

Evening all. Finally decided to end my many years of lurking and say hello. Probably shouldn't have tried to register while playing P4U at the same time but them's the breaks. If anyone fancies some P4U or BBCSEX (which I am incredibly rusty on, and also terrible), give me a holler. Assuming you're not all playing GTA V at present like most people are, of course.