regarding 2, wasn't the difficulty basically unchanged? there were some changes in Chronicles that never made it to the western ps2 copy we had as far as I can tell, but I don't think there was anything major there - normal is basically what you got those XX years ago

cool site :)

np. there are a few instances like that where you have to look up or down, keep that in mind. dpad up and down for both cases. also left and right change camera perspective i think?

NINE has different battle themes for different alignments, that alone makes it worthwhile experience in my opinion lol

honestly I was kind of miffed about all the persona stuff but after sleeping on it - I actually like the idea of Persona gameplay loop, and really hated mostly the kiddy shit "boy peep on girl in bath" filler garbage I had to endure in P4. This game seems to be more pompous, more "serious", on a grander scale. Not sure how to word it properly, but the "seriousness" scale seems to be closer to SMT than Persona.

This could be the closest we get to an "adult Persona" (p2ep does not count because it doesnt have muh slinks), without any generic teen comedy anime trash filler, and I think I like what I see.

There is a single ladder near the entrance/exit (which you can see on the map. You need to walk up to it and then press up on the d-pad to get the prompt.

regarding 1, since I've started going through nocturne myself recently - is there some sort of a trick for demon negotiation (i remember someone mentioning refusing a gift after giving two in smt4, and that seemed to work pretty well, not sure if i just got lucky), or is it basically just giving them what they want and hoping the random rolls dont fuck me this time?

that would arguably be a best fit for a questions & recommendations megathread thing.

also probably the game number 4 or 5, either smt or persona