The final segment of Shido's Palace, this one primarily features a bunch of Personas that I gained through fusion, as well as the final boss fight! Basically 90% of the dungeon is done before the Akechi fight, so...
The climax of this dungeon is a lot more bearable. It does help that it is up to the player to put some time/distance between the huge sequence of cutscenes in the Akechi sequence to the confrontation with Shido, and then we have the typical 'downtime until the deadline' after the Shido fight. I really did think that the sequence at the end of the Niijima Palace might be the weakest part of this game's pacing, as much as I did enjoy the story.
Anyway, the eyecatcher, for lack of a better choice (since I do want to use all the confidants before I use antagonists), is Yoshida Toranosuke, the Sun Arcana Confidant. He is a politician and his story revolves around politics, so I guess he fits here? I know people do complain about Yoshida's Confidant as being wordy, but I really do think the only big problem here is that the multiple parties trying to recruit Yoshida blur together, and there's always the frustration of Yoshida only being available on Sundays. I do like the vibe that he gives for being so different compared to the other Confidants, in just how mundane he really is design-wise. I think I have a soft spot for Toranosuke because he's a bit of a fuck-up but he owns it and is actively trying to be better. He's one of the few Confidants that Joker helps as his civilian identity exclusively, without any change-of-heart against an antagonist, which I didn't think much of when I did his confidant, but had an appreciation now after completing a lot of the others.
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Seiryu
- Monster Name: N/A
- Arcana: Councillor
The Qing Long, or Seiryu in Japanese, is the final member of the Four Symbols (Si Xiang in Chinese/Ssu-Ling in Japanese) after the Baihu/Byakko, Xuanwu/Genbu and Zhuque/Suzaku. The Wing Long is the Azure Dragon of the East, who also represents the East, spring, the element of wood, the colour azure (green and blue, which can share a character). The azure dragon is featured on the Chinese national flag in 1862-1912. In Japan, specifically, the Seiryu is noted to protect the city of Kyoto. He is represented in the Kiyomizu Temple in eastern kyoto, and the statue of the dragon there is said to drink from the waterfall within the temple complex at night.
And I really don't have a whole ton to say here. It's always cool to have an Eastern dragon be represented in these games, and the Seiryu is a pretty faithful design to the typical depictions of the Chinese Dragon. But there's really not a whole ton to say! The Seiryu sure is an azure dragon! One Piece fans (I know there's a lot of you that visit this blog!) know this very specific East-Asian dragon as the power of Kaido!
Bishamonten
- Monster Name: N/A
- Arcana: Hierophant
Another one that finishes up a 'quartet' is Bishamonten (毘沙門天), originally known as Vaiśravaṇa (वैश्रवण) in Sanskrit, and as 多闻天王 Duōwén Tiānwáng (All-Hearing Heavenly King) in Mandarin. He is founded upon the Hindu deity Kubera, but has since deviated significantly from him. This is the last of our Four Heavenly Kings, known as a god of warfare. Bishamonten represents the north, and leads the yaksa that dwell on Mount Sumeru's slopes. Vaiśravaṇa is usually portrayed with a yellow face, and carries an umbrella as a symbol of his sovereignty. He is sometimes depicted with a mongoose that disgorges jewels from its mouth, representing generosity and the enemy of greed. His name means 'listening to many teachings', because he guards the places where the Buddha teaches.
As with the other Four Heavenly Kings, in Chinese traditions, Duowen Tianwang is regarded as one of the Twenty-Four Devas that manifest to protect the Dharma. In Chinese Buddhist iconography, he wields a pagoda in his right hand, and a trident in his left hand. In Japan, Bishamonten holds a pagoda on one hand and a spear in the other, and is also considered as one of the Seven Lucky Gods. The pagoda represents the divine treasure house. Bishamonten guards the treasures within, and gives it away to those who needs it.
And, again, I don't really have much to say other than noting the myths of the origin story. Bishamonten is basically a pretty faithful depiction of the source myths, blending a couple of different versions (though understandably being a bit more Japanese-leaning). It is neat that they split up the Four Heavenly Kings, the Four Guardian Beasts, the Four Mitamas, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and even the Four Oni across different levels. While I tend to really not have much to say about them, I actually realize that this makes remembering the associated mythologies with these sets of guys a bit more easily.
Lilith
- Monster Name: Harlot of Desire
- Arcana: Moon
Many of the artwork of Lilith, like the main image on Wikipedia right now, depict her as a naked woman with a snake coiled around her, and Persona basically takes this and goes a bit more gothic with it, giving Lilith pale skin, a short cut hair, and patches of snake markings around her body to cover up the naughty bits. She also has only three fingers... and it was a bit baffling until I realized that the artist for Shin Megami Tensei designed her with a specific depiction of Lilith in mind, which is the 1990 movie Night Angel. I can respect that!
Quetzacoatl
- Monster Name: N/A
- Arcana: Sun
Oh! Quetzacoatl is perhaps the most famous figure from Aztec mythology, being an Aztec sky and creator god that represents the sun, the element of air, wind, and learning. The 'quetzal' is a bightly coloured bird, and 'coatl' is a serpent, causing many of Quetzaocatl's depictions to be that of a serpent with feathery wings. Persona went for a relatively mundane one, but I've seen depictions of Quetzacoatl that are a bit more over-the-top, particularly inspired by the Aztec artwork. Some Aztec artwork even have Quetzacoatl in a human form.
He's one of the most important gods in the Aztec pantheon, alongside Tlaloc, Huitzilopochtli and Tezcatlipoca. He is associated with the morning star and several animals, among them various birds and snakes, as well as spider-monkeys. One of his aspects is Ehecatl the wind god. Quetzacoatl is also a title assumed by many Aztec leaders and priests, which causes myth and history to be blended together, which is why there are many different myths of Quetzacoatl that contradict each other. Quetzacoatl is credited with the invention of books, the calendar, gave maize to mankind, and sometimes as a symbol of death and resurrection. Quetzacoatl is sometimes credited with going to Mictlan (the underworld), to create the fifth world cycle (which we are in right now, according to Aztec mythology) from the bones of the previous four cycles and blood that he drew from himself.
Shadow Shido / Samael
- Monster Name: Shido "Samael" Masayoshi
Quick run-down about the 'devil' name, though it's less a devil and more of an 'angel' this time. Shido Masayoshi represents what some people argue as the greatest or oldest sin, the sin of pride. Samael (sometimes Sammael or Samil, 'poison of God') is an archangel in Tamludic lore, known as a seducer, destroyer and accuser. He's revealed as the chief of Satan's armies, and angel of death. Some even suggested that Samael was the angelic name of Satan before he fell. Various Jewish lore stated that Samael rules over the Fifth heaven, while he resides in Seventh Heaven, and some people note that Samael seduced and impregnated Eve with Cain, or took Lilith as his bride. (Traditionally, the archdevil representing 'pride' is Lucifer, but we've broken from that whole pattern anyway with many of the previous bosses).
The leonine monster eventually transforms into the Tomb of Human Sacrifice, a gigantic pyramid made up of the same golden human bodies, which hilariously attacks by having tank turrets pop up from its side. After you defeat this initial 'sub-boss' that Shido rides around in, Shido dismisses it as being a necessary sacrifice and berates their uselessness, which is basically what Shido has been doing to all of his minions, especially Akechi and Okumura.
Other thank acknowledging the creativity of the designs, though, I don't really have a ton to say here. It sure is a giant metal monster made up of golden humans all piled up on top of each other.
And... I do appreciate these earlier forms, which does fill in the 'large, elaborate JRPG boss enemy' quota of the boss fight. Shido himself appears in a hilarious Char Aznable-esque outfit (his voice actor is Char's!) albeit spikier and fancier...
But the final, longest part of the Shido fight has him strip down to his pants, showing that in his cognition, Shido is jacked. There are some interesting mechanics, particularly once he rips off the training restraints, gains some Super Saiyan aura, and forces Joker to fight him one-on-one in the final phase of the fight... I suppose it is thematic that you basically strip down this guy who's hidden behind all of his minions both in the real world and in the cognitive palace, and that someone as egoistical as Shido would view himself as basically being the most physically powerful being in his world, but he's ultimately just a dude, so for the purposes of the monster review I definitely have more to say about the Beast of Human Sacrifice.
There's perhaps a bit more to say about his boss fight's mechanics, and I tend not to dwell too much on those things, but Shido basically swaps a lot on what he's resistant to (he never has weaknesses) and really likes to do charge attacks, and healing is very important. I had the fortune to have a nice variation of Persona resistances (Seiryu up above basically allowed me to solo Shido's final form) and a stockpile of SP recovery items, plus I quickly figured out that I needed Ann's Dekaja to constantly counter his abuse of the Heat Riser buff skill. But Shido is probably the second boss fight that I actually felt like 'man, this is challenging' after Okumura.
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