Video Game Review: Persona Retrospective: Persona (PSP) Part 8: Blooming for me and you

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The team finally made it out of the Black Market and head to Kandori's castle in the third ward. However there is of course a catch. Aki meets them at the front door and says that they can't get in without "the one from the forest" there but she's too much of a chicken so that ain't gonna be happening anytime soon. She then runs inside and closes the door behind her. Mark tries to push open the door while Nanjo notices that Aki placed something in the pedestal and that they won't be getting inside without finding the second half of the key, and since she mentioned the one hiding in the forest on the west side of town that's where they've got to go now. Reiji tries to just bulldoze his way inside screw his BS but Mark tells him to calm down and that he completely loses it when Kandori is involved and that whatever it is he doesn't have to carry it all on his own. Reiji just says that they all make him sick with that kind of grade school crap. Maki tells him to knock it off but Mark says that whether he's disgusted or not, they all have the same goal anyway. So now they're off to the Lost Forest which means back through that stupid subway again.

Once they made it back they head off to the shops to get new equipment and then to the Velvet Room to see what new Personas they can get before finally heading off to the Forest. Once they finally made it through the forest they find a gingerbread house (seriously) where they find a little girl in a white dress, Mark recognizes her as being the ghost from the historical society and asks if she's allies with Aki. The girl starts sobbing at this accusation Maki goes to comfort her and asks if she's Mai, she says yes.

Is it just me or does she seem familiar? Nah probably just me.

Maki then notices that Mai has a half-moon shaped compact mirror that looks suspiciously like hers. They ask if Aki is Mai's friend. She then starts sobbing again saying that Aki is the evil her. She said that one day Kandori showed up and Aki just came out of Mai and went with him.

Mai also explains more about what the mirrors are, she claims that it has the power to grant wishes and that she was the one who created the town and everyone in it! Maki asks what Mai didn't just use her mirror to stop Kandori and Aki but she says it only works properly with the full mirror and Aki has the other half, with it she can just cancel out Mai's wishes and that's why she retreated to the Forest. Thus Kandori's trap, he knows that Mai would use whatever power she had left to keep him and Aki out, so he set it up so that Naoya and his group have no choice but to get the other half of the mirror for him, smart bastard. Mai knows this and tells the group they can't have the mirror and that she should keep hiding from Kandori. But the group tells her that hiding from her problems won't solve anything. Mai then asks the big question, what are they living for anyway that would make them try so hard in the first place? The rest of the group doesn't know but Naoya says that it's to find that reason that keeps him going. That convinces Mai to give the compact to him. And sure enough when the group makes it back to the castle and place the half inside of the pedestal it sinks into the ground and the door opens. So the sneaky jackass has both half's of the wish granting mirror and is just letting the heroes come up because he fell into one of the biggest evil villain cliches. He's being overconfident that nothing can stop his plans and is inviting the heroes up just so he can gloat. I'm pretty sure that's somewhere on the evil Overlord list, so yeah, dumb ass. So the group manages to make it to the fifth floor where sure enough Kandori is up there waiting for them just so he can gloat. But not before he reveals that Reiji is his,

Yep, and the reason why Reiji is so obsessed with killing Kandori is because Reiji's  Mother was their father's mistress who he just used and threw away like a dirty dishrag. And since their father is dead Reiji figures that Kandori is close enough, especially since he's as much of a scumbag as their father. Kandori just has Aki zap Reiji with a lightening attack to shut him up. Kandori then has Aki show the group his plans and ambitions by summoning a giant evil mirror called the Mirror of Chaos to show that he destroyed the hospital back in the real world and created his own castle in it's place called Deva Yuga. From there Kandori will begin his campaign to conquer the world, gain the power of a god and exterminate humanity using the power of his Mirror of Chaos to gain control of dimensions without the use of the Deva System. Kandori and Aki then head to the real world leaving a demon behind to stall for time. Saurva can cause some problems if you don't heal Reiji, Mark and Nanjo fast after Kandori's attacks, even then his Mamagnara attack will hit everyone with Earth damage so take that into consideration when equipping Personas, other then that he should go down faster from Fire, Ice and Wind attacks. Once he's dealt with the group try to find a way to chase after Kandori. Maki suggests the Old Mansion where there were rumors of people being spirited away. It could lead to a clue, especially since SEBEC HQ is located in the exact same place in the real world; there might be a tear or something that could lead back to their world. So off to the mansion they go and once they made it to the mansions top floor they find a device guarded by the demon Hariti. But something seems off since Hariti is speaking with the voice of Maki's mom. The group puts their weapons away and Hariti transforms back into Setsuko. Nanjo explains about this version of Maki to her and before any questions can be answered the portal starts to close so Setsuko stays behind to keep the portal stable while they stop Kandori. Once the group makes it back to the real world they find themselves back inside of the Deva System Chamber where they find Dr Nicholai where he's spouting about the destruction of mankind, letting judgement rain over all humanity and other such nihilistic evil BS. Kandori then teleports in and says that everyone on earth are little more then extensions of himself now and are praising his coming genocide of humanity. When Maki asks why he want to do this he says that that question sounds unlike her. He says that with the mirror he knows and sees all and he once again does the cliche thing and instead of killing them tells them to reach him at the top of Deva Yuga. So up to the top they go and GOOD GOD IS THIS PLACE BIG! No really this is one of the biggest areas in the game, filled to the brim with super strong enemies traps, pitfalls and various other nasty surprises. To all that are reading this and playing the game, good luck. Tune in next time on the Persona retrospective where after we fight Kandori we reveal a new twist!

Shin Megami Tensai Persona is owned by Atlus and Sega.
Superman III is owned by Warner Bros. Cantharus Productions N.V, and Dovemead Films.
Drawn Together is owned by Comedy Central, Dave Jeser, Matt Silverstein, Double Hemn, and Rough Draft Studios.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail is owned by Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Python (Monty) Pictures and EMI films.