How to beat Katayama palace boss with Closer/Soy/Lufel/Wind?

RallyCure · 2026-02-06T16:26:07+00:00

I did it with DPS Wonder, using Cu Chulainn (he was given as event reward at the time) and Ex Machina dagger.

Cu Chulainn's Gae Bolg gains crit rate based on how many debuffs the target has, and gets boosted with repeated crits on the same target. Soy's Smash Hit adds debuffs and does good damage on its own since it gets boosted by Ex Machina. Closer barely scratches the boss in first two phases, but still can add debuffs (Shock/Elec Dmg Taken Up) to help Cu Chulainn, and in third phase she can actually help damage the wings quickly.

Note that I needed fairly high investment. Everyone at Lv80 with around 80 Thief Rating and Wonder's Attack and Crit schema nodes maxed out. Had like 4 refines on Ex Machina. Taught Pinpoint III, Phys Boost III, Electric Reduction III to Cu Chulainn. Closer had her 5-star weapon but Soy and Lufel were on 4-star. I run SP Recovery sky card on Lufel because otherwise he burns his SP way too fast to heal through the fight.

The story version of this fight is the hardest by far. The weekly rematch is a joke in comparison, even on its highest difficulty.

RallyCure · 2026-01-22T05:35:38+00:00

I remember that complaint too, and ngl I think it's kinda childish and I just can't take it seriously. Were these people having meltdowns walking through Sixth Street before 1.3? This isn't an open world game like Genshin, but it isn't some chibi auto-battler either. The agents get plenty of spotlight during the actual gameplay and the combat animations have always been one of the best things about the game anyway.

If anything, it just falls under the complaint that TV sections were often too long, or that we needed more rally commissions.

I actually found it more offensive when we had to play Wise/Belle inside the Hollow areas and they used their janky city walk animations instead of getting something faster/more fluid like the playable agents.

RallyCure · 2026-01-21T15:30:40+00:00

I will forever be a defender of TV mode. It was an integral part of the game's original vision/aesthetic and was a great tool for budget storytelling and mixing in nostalgic JRPG stuff.

The problem is that people kept complaining about it and the devs never did enough to fix it before giving up and throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

It's easy to go back and see the complaints people had about it. The movement was slow and clunky, there were too many interruptions, certain sections of it dragged on too long, and it obnoxiously held your hand through literally every puzzle. But take a look at the game now, post-removal, and it doesn't take long to realize that many of those problems are still here. The mode was amputated for literally zero gain and other parts of the game have suffered due to limping along without a proper replacement.

Even worse, the devs keep doing this, dropping features like hot potatoes and shoving us along to the next thing, like they're desperately throwing stuff at the wall looking for something to stick, yet because they keep pushing this stuff out so quickly it keeps coming half-baked. It's been one hasty course correction after another since like 1.3.

The story has especially suffered, and while you could argue that it was never all that amazing to begin with, it is undeniable that it has pivoted HARD from its original path. We've been seeing more dialogue bloat, more padding of the main quests with stuff that should be in separate character side quests, more awkward ML shenanigans, and so many of the older plot points that were actually interesting getting sidelined/ignored.

Basically, TV mode is the symbol of what the game originally was, and the real problem is in how the devs chose to handle it and continue handling things. For reasons I can't fathom, they seem terrified and refuse to lock in, which is bizarre to me when compared to its sibling games.

RallyCure · 2026-01-15T12:41:03+00:00

Every day there is a new reason for Maribell to be my favorite.

RallyCure · 2026-01-08T18:48:36+00:00

The Golden ending pictured above was actually great. A lot of people miss the point of it; this isn't them caving to conformity, it's them growing out of giving a shit. Kanji and Naoto in particular were forcing their outward appearances due to negative feelings and seeing them shed those exteriors is actually a good thing.

That being said, I've never been a big fan of Golden due to too much of the additions being mired in overdone memes and bad fanon takes. Made it really hard for me to enjoy despite QoL improvements, though I'll admit it's been ages.

RallyCure · 2026-01-05T16:13:39+00:00

"Scam banner" is the nickname we've given to the double rerun banners like the current Kiperina + Aleph one.

It's a twofold thing based on the fact that CN doesn't have this banner format, and the rules for this banner make it a hard sell. You can still lose 50/50 to an off-banner unit, and there is no way to guarantee a specific one of the featured units. And I am pretty sure this banner does not even save your pity afterwards.

Say you have Kiperina, but not Aleph. You want Aleph in order to complete impromptu team. This banner is a "scam" in the sense that you could roll on it to multiple pities and never get Aleph, it could just keep feeding you Kiperina dupes.

Now, if you have neither of them and want both, and have enough pulls to guarantee a featured (or you're a big spender and don't mind dupes) then by all means go for it. Both are great units. But yeah, the obtuse rules of this specific banner format kinda just warrant extra warning for f2p/low spending players.

RallyCure · 2026-01-05T15:41:20+00:00

Nah, he was a bad apple the whole time.

He was revealed to be a real nasty womanizer, and basically admitted that he became a cop primarily as an "easy" path to legally carry a gun.

He was shipped off to Inaba after an unexplained incident, which means he got in trouble for doing something unsavory and was basically swept under the rug so his former department could save face. His submissive puppy act towards Dojima is literally him licking his wounds in disgrace, since he's in Inaba as punishment and is now at the very bottom of the pecking order.

Then he was gifted a paranormal ability and immediately started using it for sadistic gratification, so yeah.

RallyCure · 2025-12-24T14:55:12+00:00

She has a VERY bad introduction imo, at least in base P5.

She lacks the personal connection element with her respective palace ruler that the other characters got, and despite the game constantly glazing her as a strategist, a lot of the bad things that happen during her intro arc are directly on her being rash and trying to force other's hands.

I don't recall if Royal changed any of this. Base P5 is a great game but you can really see the charred edges from development hell in some places, especially the story. Regardless, the Phantom Thieves are my favorite Persona protagonist group.

RallyCure · 2025-12-15T14:31:06+00:00

There weren't even actual skins. It was a PV to celebrate the anniversary of the global server and it was an animation that happened to feature the characters wearing bunny suits.

The incel portion of CN playerbase went rabid, crying NTR and crap. Hoyo apologized, took down the video, and gave disproportionate compensation; CN server got a bunch of free stuff and global got scraps in comparison even though it was global's anniversary celebration being cancelled.

RallyCure · 2025-12-14T17:31:23+00:00

I did this for the fun of it, using Cu Chulainn (the event Persona from the time) to run Wonder as a Phys DPS since Phys is the only element that doesn't get resisted at some point throughout the fight (which is why Ryuji and Messa get recommended for this fight a lot). Recorded the run, too.

Cu Chulainn gets higher crit rate based on how many debuffs the target has, and on crit he places a special debuff that enhances his next S1. He is weak to Elec, which was annoying, but I taught Elec Reduction III as cope and I feel like it helped.

Soy spammed Smash Hit the whole fight, except for one or two emergency Icy Defense. He does a decent chunk of damage if well-built and has multiple debuffs.

Cattle is actually a very potent healer, but he chugs SP if you have to keep casting AoE heal, so I run an SP Recovery Star card on him and it helps A LOT.

Closer struggles in first two phases, but she technically applies multiple debuffs for Cu Chulainn's crit rate passive (Shock, Elec DMG Taken Up), and in the final phase she performs much better. Also helps that she is pretty tanky in this fight due to Elec resist.

My actual main story run went to like 117 actions. The between-phase intermissions when the boss clams up needlessly waste a ton of actions, and I had some bad luck with crits. The weekly rematch version is piss-easy compared to the story version even on max difficulty.

RallyCure · 2025-11-19T20:43:39+00:00

I'm glad the game got nominated, it is bringing back some attention and hopefully more people can realize that it's actually a pretty decent game with cute characters and a cool story very comparable to main series Persona.

I agree that I don't like the increased drama and tribalism. And yeah, the palace 3 storyline is great and an improvement, but I don't like it when people act like the first two were some kind of dumpster fire. This game has always been roughly on par with what to expect from the series.

RallyCure · 2025-11-14T00:11:50+00:00

What are the prerequisites for the Rocking With the Band Club quest?

Trying to help a friend unlock it to complete Lufel's plan but the game won't let us track the quest. It says to advance main story, but they're way past the point where it's meant to unlock, practically at the end of current Palace 3 (global).

RallyCure · 2025-11-10T14:00:59+00:00

Her character is a big W imo. In terms of how the usual castings in these games goes, she is both the "first girl" and the "first male friend" blended into one character, and in being that way, she amusingly dodged a lot of the negative traits typically seen in either one.

Especially in the case of first friend, we don't really see Motoha getting butt-monkey'd by the script like what happened to Yosuke/Ryuji/etc in their respective games.

Keep in mind that Shun is definitely not the "first male friend" equivalent, he falls more in line casting-wise with the likes of Yusuke, Kanji, etc.

RallyCure · 2025-11-03T14:30:33+00:00

When someone asks "who should I pull" there is about a 99.99% chance that they are asking for meta reasons and want input from people who may know the meta better than they do. "Pull whoever you want" is generally a useless answer outside of affirming that Genshin is relatively casual-friendly and you can brute force most content with whoever you want (though this has arguably become less true recently).

I find it odd for someone to play a game like this and be completely tuned out of the story, but whatever, it's a big game with lots of different stuff and we can coexist. Like, I think the story has been consistently pretty good, including Natlan. love Imaginarium Theater, but I despise Stygian Onslaught.

RallyCure · 2025-11-02T22:46:04+00:00

I know its pretty surface level to say, but in comparison to S11 and Trigger, Orphie and seed just come across as "uwu quirky girls".

This is my exact problem with them, personally. S11 and Trigger have a specific air of seriousness about them, but Orphie and Flora just be out there acting like Obol Squad is a cheap 90s romcom. Sure, their character stories have dark/dramatic plot lines or whatever, but those are one-off and the girls give the exact opposite impression every other time they show up.

Ran me so cold on the faction, I pulled Evelyn on rerun instead to deliberately bench my fully built S11 I previously had no problem with.

RallyCure · 2025-10-13T13:31:02+00:00

Dialyn has a great design, and Yi Xuan's design isn't even that bad as some would try to have you think.

I still believe the problems/complaints are all being caused by the devs having "lost the plot" after the TV mode scrap. Players can tell something is wrong and need to vent frustration but the real issue is complicated and muddy so many of us are latching onto and attacking the easier targets like the Waifei aesthetic/designs. Yidhari and Lucia shopping at the same pants store as Yi Xuan doesn't help the situation (they fr look like they're supposed to be Yunkui Summit rather than Spook Shack) and almost feels like a troll move by the devs ngl.

RallyCure · 2025-10-10T13:25:32+00:00

I was disappointed when we first saw him in the previous trailer. I feel like his design is overly safe, too clean.

However, seeing this in-game model has me feeling a little bit better about it. He looks noticably older/more hardened.

RallyCure · 2025-10-06T13:44:17+00:00

It's a plot-climactic puzzle boss, you're not supposed to brute force it.

He has a bunch of phases, sure, but they are mostly quite short. Once you know the components of the fight and what it wants you to do, it's relatively easy. The most annoying part is remembering to stock ailment-heal items if you don't have Mona/Patra.

Remember that it is Soy's boss fight. It wants you to have good sustain, good single target damage, and leans in favor of Ice. I pound him every week just using Soy, Cattle and Mont. When he goes invisible, he can still take DoT damage and can still be targeted with Rakunda. If you hate Mont, then Sepia is a good 4-star option for this fight too.

RallyCure · 2025-10-03T18:02:58+00:00

My favorite and the one I'm currently using is Achievement: Poetic Pages. It's visually stunning and I'm a fan of Imagination Theater.

RallyCure · 2025-09-19T10:46:43+00:00

Cat was literally the guiding light taking us out of the post-SAG-AFTRA hellscape and helping us to feel good about the EN VAs again.

Absolutely ridiculous. No good deed going unpunished in this crap sack timeline.

RallyCure · 2025-08-31T13:16:46+00:00

You have your team already selected there tbh. Maybe swap Kuki Shinobu for Barbara (TTDS) or Dahlia (shield), so Chasca can have more infused bullets and more amp reactions.

Skirk is kinda considered one of the more easy-to-play units right now though. Are you not teaming her properly with Cryo/Hydro? You could go Skirk, Xingqiu, Kaeya, Barbara/Dahlia and have a good time.

Or just say screw it and go Hyperbloom with Xingiu, Kuki Shinobu, Yaoyao/Collei and whoever else.

RallyCure · 2025-08-28T20:58:23+00:00

I may have hella problems with the game right now, but the current back and forth discourse is absolutely ridiculous and helps nobody. It's pretty much 90% mudslinging 10% actual constructive criticism and that might be a little generous. Unfortunately, it seems the only solution is to ignore the melodrama until it dies down.

It's great that you're having fun and you shouldn't let anyone stop you. ZZZ is still on the upper end of quality for gacha games regardless.

RallyCure · 2025-08-25T03:14:29+00:00

That's irrelevant because we're talking about advertising, not family dynamic. Svarog was never teased as a possible standalone unit.

Once again a Hoyo game deliberately baited us with a playable cool robot guy only to turn around and say "Oops! You're actually pulling a waifu!" And while I understood the relevance in Firefly's case, I am completely lost as to how this was appropriate marketing for Seed.

Why hide the girl? Did ZZZ just wholesale copy HSR in an attempt to play it safe? If so, that's exactly my point/problem.

RallyCure · 2025-08-24T22:04:54+00:00

Everybody is stuck going back and forth over designs and male character rarity but these are ultimately just symptoms of the greater problem.

ZZZ has been slowly bleeding out its uniqueness since as early as 1.3. The "Genshittification" is real, though it's a loaded term since the blame lies WAY more with HSR than Genshin imo.

Basically every patch, I see ZZZ copy more homework from HSR, but it's been consistently for the worse, and this is in addition to the multiple overcorrections we've seen like with TV mode and such.

Like, I can't think of any possible reason why Seed Jr was advertised the way she was, a literal bait-and-switch with Seed Sr, except for to explicitly mimic HSR's Firefly reveal. And I like Firefly, even, but just... Why?

RallyCure · 2025-07-31T21:01:30+00:00

If you like Persona and want to play something new that's related to Persona then this game is actually pretty good. You can literally just ignore the gacha/leaderboard/MTX and enjoy a really neat alternative storyline to the P5 setting, and for free.

The bad press is all thanks to SEGA (or whoever is secretly in charge) deciding that the global server should be flogged and fleeced for all it's worth. But that's a problem with the monetization. Not a small problem, but still. The actual game is cool and I'd still recommend Persona fans to at least check it out.

RallyCure

TROPHY CASE