Entry tags:
Persona 4
I'd originally started playing Persona 3 back in January 2012 while I was on medical leave. I liked it, but the game requires characters to shoot themselves in the head with a gun every time they summoned a Persona character. I wasn't in the best headspace, so I stopped playing it because I really did not need to see that so frequently. Maybe some day I'll return!
Anyway, I started playing this game courtesy of![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
the_andy.
Persona 4 is an RPG that takes place in modern-day Japan. My character and the other playable characters all attend the same high school in a small Japanese town.
The protagonist (in my game, "Kevin McHale," lol) moves to Inaba to live with his uncle and cousin for a year. He doesn't know his uncle very well, so things are a little awkward at first, both at home as well as at school, where he has to learn to make new friends.
As I manage the protagonist's social life (through a game system called "Socal Link"), I also work part-time jobs to earn money and life skills (Understanding, Expression, Courage, etc.) and try to do well in school.
A couple of gruesome murders happen about the same time the protagonist moves to town. His uncle is a detective for the police department, but the protagonist and his friends keep trying to solve the murders on their own: mostly because the protagonist has the ability to enter another world through television screens - a place where people are taken during the time when they disappear from the real world but before they are killed.
The protagonist and his friends are able to create and use their own personas to fight against enemies in this world only after they have "faced" their own shadow selves, and confronted some of the true feelings within themselves that they had previously tried to deny and ignore. (Examples: Yukiko doesn't really want to inherit her parents' famous inn; Kanji is bisexual.)
The opening that plays every time I turn on the PlayStation is totally boss, and it's pretty representative of the game. Since it plays every time, it always feels like I'm watching an episode of anime.
The music is great. The voice-acting is also great.
My character is better able to summon (adopt) and create different personas based on how strong his social links are with the people in his life in the real world. THIS UNSUBTLE METAPHOR AMIRITE?!
Things That Suck
The thing that prevents the game from being perfect for me is its treatment of women. The students' homeroom teacher and some of the boys (Yosuke especially) are constantly making comments about wanting to be with girls/being attracted to girls, and it is always played for laughs.
The only character who consistently refuses to play along is Yukiko, which is probably one of the reasons she's my fave (that and just about everything else makes her a dead ringer for Rei Hino/Sailor Mars; she's the person in the background of the DW icon on this post!).
Another thing that's awful was the inclusion of Teddie, an obnoxious blue bear, as a "cheerleader" in a corner of the screen during every battle in the "shadow world" of the TV. TV will yell at the protagonist when people's HP are low, when someone gets KO'ed, and also cheer everyone when they're doing well. IT'S SO OBNOXIOUS. I get tense during video game fights anyway and the last thing I need is a grating voice screaming at me.
At a certain point in the game, the cheerleader changes, though, thank God.
Future
I'm not finished yet with the game; I'm at the end of August right now.
I tweet about this game pretty frequently whenever I play it! Lately, there have been a couple of great plot twists, and I expect they'll only get bigger/more epic as the characters get closer to figuring out who the killer is (they'd briefly succeeded in preventing the murders, and then everything got blown to shit).
I suspect this will be a game I buy for myself and replay in years to come! It's rare for me to connect so deeply with a video game outside the Final Fantasy franchise.
If you don't do video games, there is also an anime helpfully titled: Persona 4: The Animation. If you live in the US, I believe you can watch it for free at Anime News Network (&/or Hulu?!) right now. I'm at work, otherwise I'd link.
Anyway, I started playing this game courtesy of
the_andy.Persona 4 is an RPG that takes place in modern-day Japan. My character and the other playable characters all attend the same high school in a small Japanese town.
The protagonist (in my game, "Kevin McHale," lol) moves to Inaba to live with his uncle and cousin for a year. He doesn't know his uncle very well, so things are a little awkward at first, both at home as well as at school, where he has to learn to make new friends.
As I manage the protagonist's social life (through a game system called "Socal Link"), I also work part-time jobs to earn money and life skills (Understanding, Expression, Courage, etc.) and try to do well in school.
A couple of gruesome murders happen about the same time the protagonist moves to town. His uncle is a detective for the police department, but the protagonist and his friends keep trying to solve the murders on their own: mostly because the protagonist has the ability to enter another world through television screens - a place where people are taken during the time when they disappear from the real world but before they are killed.
The protagonist and his friends are able to create and use their own personas to fight against enemies in this world only after they have "faced" their own shadow selves, and confronted some of the true feelings within themselves that they had previously tried to deny and ignore. (Examples: Yukiko doesn't really want to inherit her parents' famous inn; Kanji is bisexual.)
The opening that plays every time I turn on the PlayStation is totally boss, and it's pretty representative of the game. Since it plays every time, it always feels like I'm watching an episode of anime.
The music is great. The voice-acting is also great.
My character is better able to summon (adopt) and create different personas based on how strong his social links are with the people in his life in the real world. THIS UNSUBTLE METAPHOR AMIRITE?!
Things That Suck
The thing that prevents the game from being perfect for me is its treatment of women. The students' homeroom teacher and some of the boys (Yosuke especially) are constantly making comments about wanting to be with girls/being attracted to girls, and it is always played for laughs.
The only character who consistently refuses to play along is Yukiko, which is probably one of the reasons she's my fave (that and just about everything else makes her a dead ringer for Rei Hino/Sailor Mars; she's the person in the background of the DW icon on this post!).
Another thing that's awful was the inclusion of Teddie, an obnoxious blue bear, as a "cheerleader" in a corner of the screen during every battle in the "shadow world" of the TV. TV will yell at the protagonist when people's HP are low, when someone gets KO'ed, and also cheer everyone when they're doing well. IT'S SO OBNOXIOUS. I get tense during video game fights anyway and the last thing I need is a grating voice screaming at me.
At a certain point in the game, the cheerleader changes, though, thank God.
Future
I'm not finished yet with the game; I'm at the end of August right now.
I tweet about this game pretty frequently whenever I play it! Lately, there have been a couple of great plot twists, and I expect they'll only get bigger/more epic as the characters get closer to figuring out who the killer is (they'd briefly succeeded in preventing the murders, and then everything got blown to shit).
I suspect this will be a game I buy for myself and replay in years to come! It's rare for me to connect so deeply with a video game outside the Final Fantasy franchise.
If you don't do video games, there is also an anime helpfully titled: Persona 4: The Animation. If you live in the US, I believe you can watch it for free at Anime News Network (&/or Hulu?!) right now. I'm at work, otherwise I'd link.
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I heart Kanji forever. Yay queers. <3 He, and every other character for that matter, are really nicely rounded, which I deeply appreciate since it's so typical to just rely on queer caricatures. His dungeon is cringeworthy with the over-the-top homoeroticism, but the game somehow makes it work without feeling homophobic.
(Meanwhile, Cayz and I tried watching the anime episode about it, and it definitely failed. The characters were way shittier about what was happening around them and making gross homophobic comments. I was super excited for the show since it makes everyone look so awesome, but my interest flatlined after seeing that and I never went back. T_T)
Totally agree about the misogyny though. That teacher is completely awful, and not in the way they were going for. I recall some weird fat-shaming too later on. Persona 3 was slightly less misogynist, but its goodwill is lost in a gratuitously transphobic moment. Short story long, Atlus has got issues on that front. -_-
I think you'll like the last couple characters to join your party. At least, I hope so! It's damn solid the whole way through. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the final plot. :3
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And yeah. Maybe after P3 I'll look back at other Personas?! idk, I have a huge video game back log ;_; I'll have to re-assess after making it through the games
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Don't worry about playing P2, tbh. I never finished it. The non-combat mechanics are fantastic, and it's creepy as fuck, but the battle system is pretty awful.
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As it is, I can read Kanji three ways: homosexual, bisexual, or straight but getting messages from society that something must be wrong with him because he likes traditionally feminine hobbies.
And now I want to talk about some (what I think are) misreadings of Naoto, but I'll wait until after Laceblade gets that far.
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(I think they did the same for Naoto too, but details are withheld to spare the Laceblade.)
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Ugh, hate having to talk around the subject, Jackie, play faster!
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It is possible to miss the real ending of the game. Not just if you screw up the ID the killer part (that just gives you a bad ending). Just FYI.
Yukiko is awesome, but she's no Chie.
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In the meantime, I'm afraid imma run out of time to maximize all/any of my social links ;____;
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1) when you think you've caught the killer don't rush to judgement.
2) then you need to review the evidence and decide who the killer is.
That part isn't too hard, and I think if you screw it up you get an obviously crappy ending. So then:
3) after defeating the killer you get to walk around town for a bit. Talk to everyone you have a link with, then if you talk to the right person the last stage is revealed.
I think that's right. And I think the diferences between normal ending and really real ending are slight, but you don't want to miss any of the game, right?
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RIGHT??? GOD, ANDY.
I haven't seen MUCH Persona, but i've seen enough that when i have a positive interaction with someone, my brain can't help but narrate, "You feel your relationship with Jackie grow stronger." XD
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(I love Nanako. Her dad too. They're both super-great.)