And so we finish our coverage of Persona 5 Royal, with the final boss -- Takuto Maruki and his Personas -- as well the third-tier Personas of the party members I haven't covered yet. It's been a wild, wild ride! I actually kind of lost interest in Maruki as a character around halfway through this final semester, though they did a great job at trying to make him basically the antithesis of literally every other antagonist we've faced before in being a well-meaning man who's just utterly deluded. The third semester is... interesting? Part of my playthrough of it is basically trying to make sure I get all my confidants to rank 10, and to finish as much of the game as possible... and that did sour my enjoyment of the part of the game between the cutscenes that heralded the start of Royal and the end. The fact that there really wasn't much to do in the night segment is almost a mockery of the sheer amount of stuff piling up waiting for me to do in the day, too.
But overall? Overall, I do think that Persona 5 Royal will go down as one of my all-time favourite games. And perhaps that was why I was a bit iffy about Royal, because the 'altered reality' stuff that's been extending since the end of the Shido plot really was kind of divorced from the 'secretly fighting the society's evil people that is untouchable by regular civilians' setup with all the villains from Kamoshida all the way to Shido. Maruki was at least a fair bit more grounded compared to Yaldabaoth, and I do think it's a brilliant idea to tie him into Sumire's story.
Not the biggest fan of how the story awkwardly does a weird cosmic retcon to keep both the original Persona 5 ending events from going on, and if they were going to do that anyway I honestly would've rather the original prison stuff from vanilla Persona 5 was kept and this Royal semester happened afterwards. Eh.
Still... it's been a really fun ride. I could go on and on about things I wish the game could improve (lesser confidants having something to do/say after their rank 10's, for example, or more enemy variety in dungeons), but considering that it's been out for a while and provided me with so much content to talk about in terms of monster design, I'd say that this is a successful game all around.
What next? I know Persona 5 Strikers exists, but I'm not that too keen on playing a musou game so quickly. I think there's only a couple of extra new Personas and bosses there anyway, too. Meanwhile, Persona 3 and 4 would be such a gigantic time-sink, and I am planning on doing a different game. Next up, I think I'll play a couple of shorter games first before jumping into something huge like Final Fantasy XII or the entire Metroid Prime trilogy or maybe the Persona 3 remaster?
Either way... it's been a blast playing through this game, a massive experience with a great soundtrack and a stylish UI. It really did 'take my heart', so to speak.
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Ella
"I want to show him that I found a way to face reality.
- Arcana: Faith
Sumire/Kasumi's story is modelled a lot around Cinderella, except a Cinderella that didn't realize that she was adopting a different identity. It's overall a pretty interesting storyline. I do also like that the Persona is actually just called 'Ella'. Unlike what Disney's extremely well-known adaptation indicates, Cinderella -- or rather, Cinder Ella -- is actually a derisive nickname in the original story, where her evil stepmother and stepsisters mocked her for being always dusty and sooty from all the work she did, and how she's forced to sleep next to a fireplace, hence Ella is always covered in cinders.
Again, Sumire's story isn't exactly a one-to-one with that of the Cinderella myth (I do really like her initial awakening's line of comparing her 'false glory' to 'living in ashes'), but the idea of Sumire finally deciding to accept her true self and move forwards as Sumire instead of emulating her dead sister all the time -- despite the severe grief, depression and impostor's syndrome -- is pretty nice. The real Cinder Ella also ends up marrying the prince without the enchantment of the gown and the glass slippers, but rather as her true self.
Design-wise, it's basically a 'wedding dress' remix of Cendrillon. I very much think this one is a bit more of a boring design compared to either Vanadis and especially Cendrillon, but I can get what they were going for. I think what gets me to not like Ella quite as much is her attack animation, which is entirely just her throwing that bouquet of flowers behind her like a bride... which I felt is kind of a step-down from her previous animations.
Gorokichi
"I've found my teacher. And with him, the path to truly grasping my mother's art. I will not lose my way again."
- Arcana: Emperor
Gorokichi is the birth name of Ishikawa Goemon. The historical Gorokichi is mentioned in two sources, though the accuracy of these sources are rather questionable. Again, it's more or less the same story as Goemon that I covered so many months ago.
And... Yusuke's third-tier Persona here is... certainly a look. He's my least favourite out of the final Personas, but he's at least flashy and I actually do really respect what they are going for here. For the most part, the designs of Celestine, Lucy, William, Diego and even Ella go for a 'what would these characters look with a modern-themed design', and Gorokichi takes Goemon's traditional Japanese samurai look and... goes in hard with the pompadour. Gorokichi looks like a flamboyant gang leader, with a big-ass pimpin' pink and Dalmatian skin cloak, fancy pointy shoes, skin-tight leather pants, a bright blue pompadour, golden chains and he's swapped his traditional pipe with a big-ass cigar. I'm not sure how it fits with Yusuke, who is the epitome of being the most traditional character of the cast... but Yusuke is also easily the kookiest member of the main cast, so maybe him adapting the modern world does fit with this look? Again, I respect what they were going for here.
Also... Gorokichi here is not to be confused with Goro Akechi!
Al Azif
"Let's go take back our own reality. The reality where we can beat anything the world throws at us, as long as we have each other."
- Arcana: Hermit
Futaba getting a brand-new Persona is kind of interesting, even if, again, she's not a fully-playable character. Al Azif goes back to a UFO, but where the original Necronomicon was a cartoonish, dome-shaped UFO, Al Azif looks far more like a UFO that a modern-day sci-fi setting would imagine. Sleek, angular, and... it still has a whole lot of random equations and symbols at the bottom. That's neat! It's really kind of a shame that Futaba's Persona wasn't allowed to really do much beyond brief cameos whenever her all-out attack triggers, though. I couldn't even tell if Al Azif has the same tentacles that Necronomicon has!
The name 'Al Azif' is, in the Cthulhu Mythos stories, the original Arabic name for the Necronomicon, so it's even another 'true identity' or 'original identity' of a first-tier Persona.
Hereward
"Do you think I'll be happy with this? Being shown mercy now, of all times? I don't want to be pitied -- this isn't something I'm debating with you!"
- Arcana: Justice
All the third-tier Personas emulate the original, but Hereward, delightfully, only really does so by being based on a superhero and wielding a big-ass bow. I absolutely love this design from a thematic standpoint, by the way. Akechi was always hiding his true, bloodthirsty and manic self under a veneer of being a gentlemanly detective prince. And as such, his 'original' Persona was Robin Hood, which had a very Superman-themed build and a lot of heroic wings and feathers -- like you'd find in superheroes like Thor, Flash or Captain America.
Hereward, on the other hand, goes to being a bow-themed superhero... but a darker vigilante superhero in the vein of Batman, Daredevil, Vigilante or Punisher. Blacks and reds, a somewhat more 'realistic' and 'modern' set of armour. It's got devil bat wings for ears, an almost robotic or mechanical faceplate, and even the giant, impractical bow is a more realistic compound bow instead of the fantastical one that Robin Hood had. A fair amount of the third-tier Personas just modernize the original one without really having much of a thematic cohesion with the character development of the character, and I'm glad that Akechi did!
Azathoth
- Arcana: Councillor
Now, the final villain of the Royal story is Azathoth! Keeping up with Byakhee and Hastur, it is nice that a reality-warping plot ends up being one of the elder gods in the Cthulhu Mythos. I am somewhat disappointed that we didn't get more Cthulhu Mythos characters as minibosses in Maruki's Palace, however, especially since we've already had some Cthulhu characters appear in previous entries! But no, the miniboss in this dungeon is... Siegfried? Eh.
Azathoth is Maruki's Persona, and we fight him alongside Maruki himself (though I don't think he has any offensive attacks) dressed up in a rather ridiculous-looking golden outfit topped with a cape. In typical Cthulhu Mythos monster fashion, Azathoth also continually summons three tentacles with claws -- each claw having a different effect. One tentacle attacks, one shields, and one heals. They also have completely different resistances, forcing you to not just spam area attacks.
(Though since this is the final battle, any sufficiently powerful Persona with an AoE Almighty attack can just rampage through this fight. I could've done it with the Izanagi-no-Okami Picaro I have, but that would ruin the spirit of a boss fight)
Not really going to talk too much about the boss fight, which really just feels like a drawn-out boss sink. I do think Maruki's taunting to our heroes is far more personal compared to Yaldabaoth. The design of Azathoth is... an interesting one? We really only see the central golden segment of the Persona whenever it manifests next to Maruki, but the tentacles ending in jagged, spindly fingers appear all throughout the dungeon itself. I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't a bit more of a tree/vine motif since that seemed to be what the dungeon was initially going for, though.
The shadowy black tentacles are kind of obvious, and I do like how they coil around Azathoth's central form, but I also really do like the golden shape of Azathoth itself. A golden cross with spiky edges, as well as a carving of a nervous system? It's just the brains, the spinal cord and two creepy eyes, connected to the glorping black tentacles. It's not the most elaborate design compared to designs like Yaldabaoth or Satan, but I do feel like it's a pretty interesting take on an eldritch being.
In the Cthulhu Mythos, Azathoth is the most powerful god in the mythos, residing at the exact center of the universe. Also known as the Nuclear Chaos, the Daemon Sultan, the Deep Dark... and most importantly, the 'Blind Idiot God'. Azathoth is the ancestor of most of the other deities, such as Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth and Nyarlathotep. Azathoth, while being the creator god of the universe, is a 'blind idiot' who created the universe from an accident. Reality itself is caused by Azathoth dreaming and manifesting it into reality, which fits with how Maruki is using his brand-new Persona powers to position himself as the locus of the altered reality... but it's ultimately just a flawed dream.
Adam Kadmon
- Arcana: Councillor
I am rather disappointed, however, that there were only two fights to the Azathoth/Adam Kadmon sequence. With there being pointedly three degrees of Persona for all of our playable characters, I really thought that there was going to be three phases to this fight... and they even modeled in a half-formed, skeletal version of Adam Kadmon in the cutscene, so I thought it was a bit weird. (Instead, Adam's glowing parts just glow blue and red differently in the sub-phases of this fight) Adam Kadmon is formed when Azathoth consumes Maruki and fuses with him, a process that's actually voluntary on Maruki's part. Due to the sheer size of Adam Kadmon, it's shown that Maruki's basically controlling this gigantic being Attack on Titan style, where he's nestled safely in the head wrapped by Azathoth's tendrils.
We jump from Cthulhu Mythos to the Kabbalah. Adam Kadmon, meaning 'Primordial Man', is the original, perfect prototype man, created directly from God's Infinite Light. Thus, Adam Kadmon is paradoxically both 'Adam' (man) and 'Kadmon' (divine). In the teachings of the Kabbalah, Adam Kadmon stands in contrast to Adam Ha-Rishon ('First Man'), or the Adam of Eden, made from earthly clay. Adam Kadmon is symbolized by the Sephiroth, the Ten Circles of Creation. 
The design of Adam Kadmon is... interesting. The most important thing to note about this thing is that it's a big boy, towering over skyscrapers. I don't think it's quite as big as Yaldabaoth, but I do think that there's a special degree of creepiness with Adam Kadmon being so humanoid. Sure, he's robotic and he's got a creepy human skull (we get to see the 'nervous system' of Azathoth get layers of robotic 'flesh' form around it) but the end result does remind me of the giant human Reaper from Mass Effect 2 or the Titans from Attack on Titan. There is a lot of contrast between the creepy, writhing black-and-blue innards of Adam Kadmon and the similarly-coloured tentacles of Azathoth, with the very bright and prominent golden plating. Maruki also wears a full suit of golden armour, but he's lacking the black-and-blue creepiness, which I think is meant to represent Maruki himself, who is so driven by his own grief and personal demons that he's projecting the toxic, unhealthy escapism to everyone in the form of the golden sheen of 'salvation'. Or something along thsoe lines.
...again, I honestly would've rather the final boss actually be the Sefirot tree or the Garden of Eden tree that the dungeon and honestly even Azathoth's design itself has been hinting, but as far as giant humanoids go, Adam Kadmon here isn't the worst thing out there.
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