I would almost feel bad for her if I had any context or had any knowledge of Imagine's plot after your character is rescued from the facility by some dilf dude with a big dog demon, but I don't
I never got all the way through the game either, BUT...the context is pretty much this: Kuroe was originally showing you the ropes of being a Demon Buster at the beginning of the game, protecting the human population from the influx of Demons whose presence threatens to wipe humanity off the face of the Earth. During an investigation of one of the Home shelters, a stronger Demon appears and Kuroe takes a lethal blow for the player, sacrificing herself. Somehow, before the Demon can execute the player and Kuroe's partner, Cerberus, they are rescued and brought to another Home shelter, where an injured Cerberus will help you fight until you find the Demon that killed Kuroe (early missions of the game). The context of this fight here is that after many long missions, you have the opportunity to return to the scene of Kuroe's death and discover that she has been resurrected as a Fiend, SMT's top-notch dangerous foe in their games. Her years of dedication, protecting human and her last act of saving the player's life is what keeps her going in this state. Seeing you able to overcome her in a berserk state is what allows her to let go.
@@FalloutJack Not even that, in the state she's in here, she thinks she's still protecting you. She doesn't even realize how much time has passed, and merely existing in that state is agonizingly painful. And even while you are actively fighting her, she still thinks she's protecting you. And once the fight is over, and she's laying on the ground mortally wounded, you are given two choices on what to do: put her out of her misery....or sit with her until her time comes. Kuroe deserved a far kinder fate than what she got.
@@FalloutJack Yep. This is something I always try to warn Persona fans about, that if they are going to try SMT, they should at least be aware that SMT is far darker and genuinely happy endings are few and far between. Usually the best you can hope for in SMT is a bittersweet ending. Also, this is my understanding of Kuroe's situation based on what I've heard from others who _have_ fought her. I never got to fight her myself either when the official servers were up and running or while playing Re:IMAGINE. I'd been working towards that point, but I never actually managed to get there. I was up to the point where you're getting ready to face Seth.
Kuroe is the player character's mentor during the tutorial who teaches them how to be a Demon Buster, and she dies at the end of the tutorial when she sacrifices her life to save yours, and her demon partner, Cerberus is severely wounded in the process as well. That's what makes it hurt so much to see Kuroe like this. Because even in the state she's in and the fact that merely _existing_ in that state is agonizingly painful to her, she keeps moving forward because in her warped and distorted condition, she still believes that she's _protecting you_ even as she fights you. And at the end of the fight you have to make a choice as she lay dying on the ground: either finish her off to end her suffering....or sit with her until her time comes.
