LOCATION NAME: Metaverse: Center of Melancholy (Maruki's Palace)
WORLD SHARD LOCATION: The Palace's Treasure Room, dropped as loot upon defeating Maruki's Persona
DREAMER SHARD LOCATION: This Stargazer Shard will also be in the same room, having replaced the Treasure.
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION: In the sea of hearts/souls where Personas exist, a person's twisted cognition of their own world will manifest as a Palace. This one is a deep look into Takuto Maruki's heart, a man granted god-like powers to actualize his distorted wishes and create an ideal world where everyone can find easy happiness-- by means of robbing them of their agency and effectively brainwashing them. It's free therapy for all!
WHAT TO DO IN THIS WORLD: • The exam room is where characters will go through a psych ward evaluation: when posed with hypothetical problems, they'll be heavily encouraged to take the easy way out, seek their own happiness and avoid getting hurt. (One canon example is "what should you do if you can't accomplish your dream no matter how hard you try?" to which the right answer is "give up and find a new dream!" but you're free to spin these moral dilemmas to better match your character!)
• Take the elevators up and make it to the Twilight Corridors, a Garden of Eden-inspired area symbolizing an ideal world of happiness. It's filled with people who have passed the previous evaluation and... some of them are floating away as though heaven has beamed them up. A very trippy experience, but visitors will be greeted with a fabrication of their happiest reality: tragedies are altered and softened, strained relationships are fixed, and even their dearly departed may have never died at all. Please, don't throw away your happiness!!
• But if you insist on rebelling out against the Palace Ruler's control, you may transform into a Phantom Thief for (half) a day! That means characters will be perceived as an active threat, and Shadows guarding the area will become hostile. At least you get a cool leather outfit and mask to match your spirit of rebellion? Maybe your own Persona, too?
• Once you fight your way through, you'll stumble upon the Treasure Room! Take the very, very long stairway up and the Dreamer's Shard will be primed and waiting for the ultimate heist! If you want the World's Shard, though, you'd better be ready for one last fight.
More Info—
Here's a more detailed walkthrough of Maruki's palace, including major Shadow fights that characters could run into.
As for the final boss fight (and the World's Shard), here's a youtube link if you want to get deep, but the TL;DR version is: big tentacle monster, each tentacle is weak to one element at a time, can regenerate and heal. May require Power of Teamwork. High-fives will power-up coordinated attacks, no I don't make the rules.
Finally, if you want your character to have a Persona, don't forget your cool, bloody awakening sequence:
no subject
WORLD SHARD LOCATION: The Palace's Treasure Room, dropped as loot upon defeating Maruki's Persona
DREAMER SHARD LOCATION: This Stargazer Shard will also be in the same room, having replaced the Treasure.
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION: In the sea of hearts/souls where Personas exist, a person's twisted cognition of their own world will manifest as a Palace. This one is a deep look into Takuto Maruki's heart, a man granted god-like powers to actualize his distorted wishes and create an ideal world where everyone can find easy happiness-- by means of robbing them of their agency and effectively brainwashing them. It's free therapy for all!
WHAT TO DO IN THIS WORLD:
• The exam room is where characters will go through a psych ward evaluation: when posed with hypothetical problems, they'll be heavily encouraged to take the easy way out, seek their own happiness and avoid getting hurt. (One canon example is "what should you do if you can't accomplish your dream no matter how hard you try?" to which the right answer is "give up and find a new dream!" but you're free to spin these moral dilemmas to better match your character!)
• Take the elevators up and make it to the Twilight Corridors, a Garden of Eden-inspired area symbolizing an ideal world of happiness. It's filled with people who have passed the previous evaluation and... some of them are floating away as though heaven has beamed them up. A very trippy experience, but visitors will be greeted with a fabrication of their happiest reality: tragedies are altered and softened, strained relationships are fixed, and even their dearly departed may have never died at all. Please, don't throw away your happiness!!
• But if you insist on rebelling out against the Palace Ruler's control, you may transform into a Phantom Thief for (half) a day! That means characters will be perceived as an active threat, and Shadows guarding the area will become hostile. At least you get a cool leather outfit and mask to match your spirit of rebellion? Maybe your own Persona, too?
• Once you fight your way through, you'll stumble upon the Treasure Room! Take the very, very long stairway up and the Dreamer's Shard will be primed and waiting for the ultimate heist! If you want the World's Shard, though, you'd better be ready for one last fight.
More Info—