I Just Want Your Professional Take On How Many Things In My Dream Symbolise Dicks.

[rionaleonhart]

I’m up to the start of January in Persona 4 Golden, appropriately enough!



I'm probably going to check out Persona 3 at some point once I've finished this. If there's a character whose name begins with A and ends with -chi, I am going to be extremely suspicious.

Adachi's motive for persuading Namatame to put people in the television being 'lol, murder is fun' feels a bit silly; it'd make a lot more sense for it to be 'he'd become the natural suspect for the murders I committed'.

Everyone turning up for Shu's birthday is deeply charming.

I watched the ending you get if you agree to push Namatame into the television, and it's really intriguing! Even the characters who are unhappy with the decision commit to staying. If they're killing someone, they're all going to be complicit together; they're not going to walk away and try to tell themselves their hands are clean.

And then, just before you leave Inaba, Dojima says something that implies he suspects that you were the one behind Namatame's death. I'm fascinated by this.

(Nanako dies in the 'kill Namatame' timeline, which makes it a bad ending. I... I mean, I suppose technically it was probably a bad ending already. 'A group of good-hearted teenagers murder an innocent man because of a misunderstanding and then have to live with what they've done' just brings me so much joy that it's hard for me to remember it's objectively not great.)

I really like Naoki's social link; I'm a little sorry I took so long to start it!

The ferocity with which Yosuke says, 'You did that stuff knowing full well that those people were gonna die! If that's not a crime, then what is?' is interesting; is he thinking of how close he himself came to pushing Namatame into the television, knowing it would result in his death? (Still want to write fanfiction where Yosuke kills Namatame and then has a guilt-ridden psychological breakdown.)

Yosuke dealt the final blow when I fought Adachi, which feels like a nice touch, given that Yosuke's the person in our party who lost someone he loved to him.

Everyone putting their hands together in celebration and then getting awkward about it is pretty cute.



The protagonist was a bit grumpy after accepting Yosuke’s Christmas invitation. This was probably intended to be ‘no girlfriend to spend Christmas with’ grumpiness (this game did not have a Makoto to tempt me away from my boyfriend), but I am choosing to interpret it as ‘ugh, Teddie’s going to be there’, because Toya should be thrilled to be spending Christmas with Yosuke.

Yosuke's very well-meaning and compassionate, he has a good heart, and occasionally the game just forgets about that for comedic purposes. It's sort of frustrating that the writers learnt nothing from this; exactly the same thing happens with Ryuji in Persona 5. I still love these characters, but I feel they’re written inconsistently on occasion.

(For a less frustrating example of inconsistency: Yosuke is very inconsistent in how he writes his text messages. 'HEY party 2morow, my place. U in? Knji n TedD will B there, 2.' A week later, he's texting you in perfect full sentences about his ski trip plan.)

Comments

[wolfy_writing]

Yosuke's very well-meaning and compassionate, he has a good heart, and occasionally the game just forgets about that for comedic purposes.

I know that type of writing, and I find it annoying. There are plenty of ways to get characters who are well-meaning and have good hearts into comedic situations!

(For a less frustrating example of inconsistency: Yosuke is very inconsistent in how he writes his text messages. 'HEY party 2morow, my place. U in? Knji n TedD will B there, 2.' A week later, he's texting you in perfect full sentences about his ski trip plan.

That is amazing, and I want to start doing that now.

[rionaleonhart]

It really comes across like he's been kidnapped and he's trying to send out a coded cry for help by completely changing his texting style.

[bunnyboo]

Hey, found your journal through the latest things feature. (If you're not comfortable with me commenting, I'll delete. No worries!)

It's been a long, long time since I played Persona - I think I finished 5 and then never touched the series again - but I always wanted to play Golden. It's nice it's no longer exiled to the wasteland that is the Vita anymore.

Have you seen Hiimdaisy's Persona 4 comic? Someone did a dub of it on YouTube and it's great.

[rionaleonhart]

You're absolutely welcome to comment; it's nice to meet you! From a quick poke through your journal, I'd actually be interested in following you, if you'll have me. (Coincidentally, I've also been watching Buffy for the first time, although the watch has been delayed for pandemic-related reasons!)

I've just read a few pages of that Persona 4 comic at your recommendation, and it's already a masterpiece; thank you for pointing me towards it! I'm about to go to bed, but I'm looking forward to reading the rest in the morning.

[bunnyboo]

Nice to meet you too! Of course you're welcome to follow me. Let me add ya.

Have a good night!

[pict]

I'm probably going to check out Persona 3 at some point once I've finished this. If there's a character whose name begins with A and ends with -chi, I am going to be extremely suspicious.

I am extremely interested to see who in Persona 3 ticks your suspicion box. In fact, I may not move from my chair until you play it.

Re: the writers not learning anything — it's actually a shame, because I consider Persona 3 to be highly superior in this regard to its successors. There is no "comedic" homophobia or sexism (other than a brief scene where an implied trans character is treated pretty rudely); gender rarely plays a role in how the main characters are written. And the motivation for growth (both character- and Persona-growth) isn't protagonist-centric, but inspired by their relationships with other party members, a detail I adored and deeply miss in latter games. There is a character who occupies the same tropes as Yosuke/Ryuji, but he gets some of the best and most thorough development through-out the game and the extended epilogue.

I think the minimalism may play a role, as 3 is significantly smaller than 4 or 5, due to the PS2 restraints of 2005; but it had a long story to tell, so there wasn't time to get bogged down with character indiscrepancies.

... thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[bunnyboo]

Persona 3 is my favorite of the series and probably one of my top ten games of all time. I think the characters are excellent, the themes strong, and the imagery top notch. There's some uncomfortable, how can I put this, stereotypical "anime" moments and decisions that the translation rightly downplayed (why would I want to romance a 10 year old, game).

...thank you for your TED Talk.

[pict]

Yeah, I just pretend the Ken romance in P3P doesn't exist. Because no. He's ten. No. Bad game!

[rionaleonhart]

There is a character who occupies the same tropes as Yosuke/Ryuji

Is... is this likely to include the 'causing me endless despair that I can't make out with him' aspect?

I've heard good things and bad about Persona 3, sometimes conflicting, and it's making me very curious about what actually playing it will be like!

[pict]

I cannot speak to your proclivity for endless despair that teenage boys can't kiss other teenage boys. I'm just here to watch you suffer.

[bunnyboo]

From a gameplay perspective, I would recommend Persona 3 Portable for the PSP. You can actually control your party members instead of relying on not so smart AI.

[lassarina]

I'm here to say that this comment is dead on; P3 is still my favorite of the series despite being less good gameplay-wise than the later two, purely on the writing. Also, Mitsuru, my queen. *swoons*

I also really want to know who ticks the suspicion box.

[(Anonymous)]

Yosuke's very well-meaning and compassionate, he has a good heart, and occasionally the game just forgets about that for comedic purposes. It's sort of frustrating that the writers learnt nothing from this; exactly the same thing happens with Ryuji in Persona 5. I still love these characters, but I feel they’re written inconsistently on occasion.

I am very interested in what you will make of the Persona 3 character who fills the Yosuke/Ryuji spot. (I'm actually very interested in what you'll make of the P3 team dynamics in general.)

(For a less frustrating example of inconsistency: Yosuke is very inconsistent in how he writes his text messages. 'HEY party 2morow, my place. U in? Knji n TedD will B there, 2.' A week later, he's texting you in perfect full sentences about his ski trip plan.)

I wonder if this is a case of additional content? The skip trip is not in the base game, so if the first text is, might just be a matter of them not checking it for consistency. (I can't remember if the first text is in the original version of Persona 4, though.)

(An unrelated thought: the captcha here was to write a number in the ten thousands, given in words, into numbers. I bet there's a bunch of people who don't remember place value enough to do that accurately; seems a bit harsh!)

-timydamonkey

[rionaleonhart]

I am very interested in what you will make of the Persona 3 character who fills the Yosuke/Ryuji spot.

I'm also curious! I ship both Yosuke and Ryuji pretty hard with the protagonist; we'll see if the pattern continues. I'll probably take a couple of weeks off from Persona after finishing this game, rather than launching straight into Persona 3, but I'm definitely hoping to give it a go.

[batman]

I honestly just assumed that Chie got on Yosuke's case for his texting habits, so that for one (terrified) moment he writes in perfect full sentences ... and then the following week he's forgotten all about the trial of the Chie-dragon and so goes back to writing like a gremlin.

I really liked the cast's friendship. Except for Teddie. Teddie can go jump in a dumpster fire like the trash he is.

[rionaleonhart]

I don't think Chie's particularly diligent in her texting habits either, but I can absolutely see her giving Yosuke a hard time for it anyway. I accept this headcanon.

I really liked the cast's friendship. Except for Teddie. Teddie can go jump in a dumpster fire like the trash he is.

Agreed on all counts.

[samuraiter]

P3 is a different beast. IMO, it has aged a bit better than P4 due to its themes and character dynamics, but ... I am slightly biased because I really like P3.

Congrats on making it through the difficult decision tree! Seeing Yosuke in that sequence ... made me really not like him.

[rionaleonhart]

Seeing Yosuke in that sequence ... made me really not like him.

I can understand this, but I've got such a fondness for fictional characters who make catastrophically terrible decisions and are then overwhelmed by guilt, so I was delighted by Yosuke's impulsive, passionate determination to carry out a murder. Lots of interesting potential there!