Update

Something really extraordinary has occurred. To explain it, I'd better give a little background. I bought Persona back in 1996 and played it, but never finished it. In my mind, I had gotten to Deva Yuga and just stopped. And here, 10 years later, after buying Final Fantasy XII, I was instead drawn to replay Persona. I can't explain it. Phase of the Moon? In any case, instead of loading up my ancient save game, I started over, knowing I had forgotten most of what had happened. Boy, did I ever. After getting the bad ending, I went through my save game archive, just to see my party make-up all those years ago. Looking at the save description: 40 hours of gameplay, main was level 57… hmm. My recent, bad-ending party had 23 hours of gameplay, main was level was around 40. Was I really that slow back then? Was I wasting time power leveling? Well, I loaded it up. I did not recognize where I was, some place called "Avidea World".

...

Oh, crap. I was in the last dungeon, on my way to the good ending. I wasn't slower back then, I was better! I could think my way to the good ending. Oh how the faculties go with age! Ever scarier, how come I didn't remember any of this? Reading the description of events between Super Guido and Avidea World, none of it rang a bell. Attempting to mentally oil the rusted cogs and brush away the dusty spider webs yielded no recollection. I guess 10 years is sort of a long time…

So here I was, a few dungeon levels away from the good ending. I would not see the events that lead up to this moment, but at the same time, I would not have to play those first 23 hours again just to see a proper conclusion. A gift, in a way. I still didn't know why I would just stop playing, when so close. I saw that the path through the dungeon had already been traversed… it was clear, there on my map. Intrigued, I followed the breadcrumbs and eventually it was revealed: pit trap. Ten years ago, I had gotten to the second level of Avidea World, decided to explore a rectagonal room, and fallen into a pit trap. "Goddamn it!" I imagine I had said. At that point, I walked back to the Augustus Tree and saved. And am I ever glad I did, because now, in 2006, half the work of getting through was already done for me. Thanks, 1996 me!

I pressed on, trailblazing new territory. A level with a misty floor, that's a good sign, I must be close. And there, the lone door in the middle of the level… what else could it be but Pandora? So it was. The 1996 me was also smart enough to purchase 50 M-Guards, which made winning this battle possible. Form one went down without too much fanfare, M-Guards reflecting ParaPins that would have certainly endangered my prospects. Form two… what a bitch. A whole bunch of STRDowns on my party and DEFUps on her later, and we were doing a whopping 20 or points of damage a round, as whole. She would playfully heal her self for 350 or so points periodically. I was running out of M-Guards. But, I estimated we had done well over 5000 points of damage by that point. Must press on. Must hang on to last shining glimmer of hope. I ready Sad Attack, but she dyes her hair blue, raising her DEF by 10x. Damn her black heart! Her hair goes red. Then it happens: two GlacierAlls in a row, both reflected by M-Guard! My only hope of doing real damage realized! 253 points, 196 points, she disappears, and my heart is like a soaring eagle.

Is Persona 2 in my future? I don't know, I don't think my completionist nature will allow it. Persona 2 came in two volumes: Innocent Sin and its second half, Eternal Punishment. Innocent Sin was never released state-side… Eternal Punishment was. How can I play part 2 of part 2 without playing part 1 of part 2? Check back in 2016, I may have worked it out by then.