Video Game Review: Persona Retrospective: Persona (PSP) Part 7: Red Roses.

In case anyone forgot our group has to find the Expel Mirror, but where is it? Well if anyone did some exploration in the beginning of the game they'd know it was on display at the historical society. Once they reached the Historical Society the group used the Old Bronze Key that they found near the statue of Jenifer Carrol to open the door. Inside they see a painting of the creature that was stalking them in the apartment building.

While they looked at this painting they wondered, why was it so determined to find them, what did it want? Why did looking at it give them such feelings of hatred, horror and revulsion?

 Wait, oops sorry wrong Historical Society, this one is far less terrifying, no they just go inside and find the mirror straight away. The mirror shows a hologram of the girl in white who tells them not to take the mirror. But since they have no other way to beat the subway guardian they have no choice but to take it. So they make their way through the tunnel and use the mirror to defeat the guardian Yog Sothoth Jr. Be warned if you go into this fight under leveled, under equipped and with weak Personas you might have more then a few problems with this guy. Luckily there's a Save point and Trish's spring near by before the boss room, all you have to do is hit him with Nuclear, Blast and Gravity spells, 1 handed weapon attacks and you should be fine. Just keep in mind that he likes to lower your teams attack and hit rate, inflict sleep and that his other spells have an area range and may inflict status effects and you should be okay. Once the thing that should not be is no more Aki will show up again for another taunting session and warn that she has another game set up for them. Once the group hits top side the only way to get to the rest of the east side of town is through a building called the black market. This place is evil, evil, evil, evil, evil! Once people step inside this place they become trapped by a spell cast by the boss of this place; the "Harem Queen" which means that nobody can leave unless she says so. But of course she isn't the type to let her playthings go that easily and nobody can ever leave so you have to find this queen at the bottom of her lair, the Karma Palace and kick her ass. Now this isn't too bad since all the stores and shops are still open inside the black market, including a hospital, a Satomi Tadashi, the Rosa Candida shop and an entrance to the Velvet Room so if you need some new equipment, now's the time to stock up and upgrade. Now the gang needs to gets some info on their new enemy so their first stop is the Peace Dinner, there they learn that this whole building is under the iron fisted rule of the Harem Queen who has apparently taken over the building in the last month where she forces her subjects to continuously praise her art work and serve her every whim. Once they get the info from the Diner's Master the gang heads off to the palace next to the casino. Be warned, this place is a maze and there are several powerful demons in this place so if you haven't powered up, you're going to be in a world of pain. But just because you're in a maze doesn't mean you shouldn't explore everything, in several rooms there are totems for fusing Personas so definitely get them. Once the gang reaches the 8th floor art gallery Maki notices that the displayed painting belongs to Chisato, Yosuke's girlfriend. They believe that the Queen has taken Chisato prisoner since everyone says that her painting is the Queens. But when the gang reaches the Queen's room they find out that Chisato is the Queen!

Yeah it turns out that Aki decided to give Chisato a magic mirror that grants any wish she makes on it. However she forgot to mention that whenever Chisato makes a wish on the mirror she gets; well a certain something on her face.
                                  
Which coupled with her anger towards Maki and her own low self-esteem drove her to go crazy and down the route of a narcissistic megalomaniac. Maki tries to reason with Chisato but she's not having it, even going so far as to say that the only reason why she even dated Yosuke in the first place was because she knew Maki liked him. And she just keeps going on and on about how everybody liked Maki more, they all loved her art more then hers even though she was prettier then her and.

EVERYTHING WAS BETTER ON MY EARTH!

 Yeah pretty much. Mark of course calls her out; figuring out why he didn't like her art, Chisato is ugly through and through and it's reflected in her art work. Nanjo pours more salt on the wounds saying that the only reason people praise her artwork is because they're scared to death of her. Mark then adds the cherry on top by summing up her artwork.
                           
Close enough. With that statement Chisato wishes with the mirror to teleport the bungholes out of her castle. So the true evil comes into the light, they have to go through the whole palace all over again just to get back to her.

Needless to say this place can go to hell on a golden chariot shaped like a toilet. So the gang then restock their supplies, equipment and get new Personas then they make their way back to the palace to confront Supergirl-Prime. Once they made it back to Chisato they find that she has even more moles then last time and is even more crazed. She asks Naoya to decide which is better, Maki's paintings or hers. To sway his opinion she then uses the mirror to turn Nanjo, Mark and Reiji to stone, she says that she'll change them back once Naoya says her paintings are better, but of course he says that Maki's are better because he won't be intimidated by someone like her. (Besides if you did say that her's was better the next fight will be more difficult. You may have your full party but the boss will have far more HP and stats then if you said no.) Aki then shows up to make things worse by saying that if she kills Naoya and the rest of the group she'll fix her face with no strings attached. So Chisato makes another wish on the mirror to give her the strength to kill Naoya and Maki. The Harem Queen shouldn't be too much of a problem, even with only Naoya and Maki, the only problem to worry about is her Petra Eye ability, which has a chance of turning a party member to stone, so bring some Dis-Stone items before you head down to the Karma Palace, she also has Dia, which she can use to heal herself a little bit, just stick to ice and Wind attacks and you should be fine. Once the Queen is knocked off her throne Aki pours salt in her wounds saying that she wouldn't fix Chisato's face even if she did kill them and all that Kandori thought of her as a guinea pig and a useless pawn and that "Even if Chisato loses she's not worth our trouble." They were just going to let Chisato live the rest of her life with a mole ridden face with the knowledge that she killed her best friend and her friends because of her jealousy and selfishness. Wow, that's just plain old fashioned cruel. Aki then teleports out laughing her ass off all the while. Maki, despite everything Chisato said and did is still going to try and help her; because she still considers Chisato a friend. Chisato then breaks down and says that everyone will hate her now. Maki says that isn't true and Yosuke teleports in (seriously) and confesses his love for her. And with that confession the mirror shatters, everyone is returned to normal and Chisato loses all the moles covering her face. Happy Endings for everyone!

Chisato tells the group that she knows that Aki lives in a castle. So next time it's time to raid Kandori's castle!

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Shin Megami Tensai Persona is owned by Atlus and Sega.
Silent Hill 2 is owned by Konami Computer Entertainment and Team Silent.
Austin Powers: Goldmember is owned by Gratitude International, Team Todd, Moving Pictures, and New Line Cinema.
Superboy-Prime is owned by DC Comics, Elliot S! Maggin ad Curt Swan (based off the original character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. 
Beavis and Butthead is owned by MTV Networks and Mike Judge.
Deadfall is owned by Tristar Pictures and Christopher Coppola.
The Simpsons are owned by Matt Groening, Gracie Films, and 20th Century Fox Television.