rionaleonhart | Entries tagged with persona 4

When 2020 was looming, I posted an entry about the media that had made a real impact on me in the 2010s. I had fun with this, but it's hard to narrow things down across an entire decade! Maybe I should start doing these media roundups more frequently? Every half-decade, perhaps?

Oh, hey, it's 2025.

In alphabetical order, here are ten canons from the last five years that I think I'm going to remember! Note that this is media I originally experienced between 2020 and 2024, rather than necessarily being media that was originally released in that period.

1. Celeste. One of my absolute favourite games. Great music, charming characters, satisfying gameplay. It's tough, but I rarely found it frustrating, and I was delighted to realise how much I'd improved when I went back to replay from the beginning. Playing Celeste is a lot like playing the piano, learning the right pattern and timing of button presses through repetition until you can run smoothly through a level. I'll often find myself replaying Celeste levels when I've got a little time and nothing else is grabbing me, in the same way I'll often take a moment to sit at the piano and play a few pieces I know by heart.

2. The Coffin of Andy and Leyley. The relationship between these siblings is just so awful and intimate and fascinating; I can't get enough of it. I want to swim around in all this hideous codependency. When I first drafted this list at the start of the year, I noted, There's a chance I'm being too hasty with this one; I discovered it right before 2024 ended, so I haven't had time to be sure it's going to be a lasting interest. But, having had my mind obliterated by the latest chapter, I can now say with confidence that I am never going to stop thinking about this horrible game.

3. Lost. What an experience! I love it when characters are stranded together and forced to bond under high pressure, and this is an absolutely stellar example. Went in some wild directions, too; I said 'what the fuck' so many times while watching this show. Jack Shephard is a wreck of a man in a way that I find fascinating.

4. Omori. This game fucked me up. A lot of it is fun and charming! And then there are the parts that severely messed with my head. Two separate aspects gave me trouble sleeping. Some really interesting uses of gameplay, including one of the best-executed plot reveals I've ever seen.

5. Person of Interest. In a lot of case-of-the-week shows, the case itself is the least interesting part for me. In Person of Interest, I found the individual weekly cases absolutely gripping. The fact that the murders they're investigating haven't happened yet gives each case a living main character, usually the would-be victim, which makes them so much more fun to watch. I really enjoy Reese as a character, too.

6. Persona 5. I picked up Persona 5 in lockdown, when it was heavily discounted. I'd heard good things about the Persona series, but I'd always been intimidated by how long and complicated the games sounded. Still, it was 2020, and I wasn't able to leave the house, so it seemed like the right time for a hundred-hour RPG. It was an incredible decision. What a stylish, fun game! What great kids! I played it non-stop for a month and a half and had an absolute blast.

7. Persona 4. I was a little concerned about going back to Persona 4 after playing 5. I'd loved Persona 5 so much; what if the previous game was a disappointment? But I ended up loving Persona 4 just as passionately, largely because of Yosuke; he's a good-hearted but slightly shitty disaster of a teenage boy who's helplessly in love with the protagonist, and I find him endlessly endearing.

8. Severance. I've always been compelled by stories about weird things happening to people's memories, and by stories about people developing intense relationships while isolated together, so Severance is essentially the perfect canon for me. By a long way, it's the most gripping show I've ever watched. I'm so nervous when I sit down for a new episode; I never know what to expect!

9. Taskmaster. What a show. It makes me laugh like nothing else. The way it keeps a single set of contestants for each series adds a lot to the experience; you really get to know the contestants and their approaches to these ridiculous tasks over the course of a series. The New Zealand and Australian versions are just as great to watch; Greg Davies remains an unparalleled Taskmaster, but, if I'm honest, Paul Williams is my favourite assistant.

Wait, that's only nine! Okay, I'm going to add a tenth, but this is definitely cheating:

10. Death Note. I absolutely did not first experience Death Note between 2020 and 2024; I've enjoyed it since 2008! But I feel it sort of fits in my 'canons of the last five years' post because I got back into it in 2023 in a way I'd never been into it before. I watched the stage musical, absolutely lost my mind and spent months thinking about nothing but Light Yagami. Let's say the tenth canon here is Death Note: The Musical.

Honourable mention to The Quarry for the burst of intense ficwriting it inspired in me! I wasn't that drawn in by the canon itself, but the potential in Travis and Laura's relationship really grabbed me by the throat.

EDIT: WAIT, I just thought of a legitimate number ten!

10-2: Die Hard. We were locked down for Christmas in 2020, and I was sorry that I couldn't visit my family, but the upside was that I joined in my housemates' Christmas tradition of watching Die Hard. This film was such a delightful surprise for me! I went in expecting a badass, stoic action hero; I got a desperate, terrified mess. I found John McClane's suffering so compelling. What a blast.

I've been thinking recently about silent protagonists.

It tends to put me off trying a videogame if the protagonist is silent. I often find it hard to get invested in silent protagonists, and that can really impair my enjoyment of a game. If I'm going to spend hours inhabiting a particular character, I'd like to care about that character!

However, in recent years, I've discovered a couple of silent protagonists who really clicked for me. I thought it might be interesting - for me, if no one else - to consider which silent protagonists work for me, and what makes them work.

Therefore: here's a list of silent protagonists from games I've played, in roughly descending order of fondness!

I'm defining 'silent protagonist' here as a character who hits both of the following points:

a) They are unvoiced or minimally voiced. They might have voiced action grunts or brief battle quotes, but they're never going to say an eloquent line of dialogue aloud.
b) If they speak at all, it's exclusively or almost exclusively through occasional dialogue options chosen by the player. They don't paraphrase or elaborate on the dialogue option; the text in the option is all you get.

I've omitted characters from games I never really played enough of to form a strong impression of the protagonist, e.g. Bloodborne and the various Zelda games I've unsuccessfully attempted to get into. I've also probably omitted some characters just because they slipped my mind.

Silent protagonists I love:

Protagonist (Persona 5). I've never seen another silent protagonist with quite as much personality as Joker. Plenty of voiced protagonists don't have as much personality as Joker. His animations are stylish and distinctive; his dialogue options are frequently hilarious. He's a bold, playful, sarcastic little shit and I love him.

Sunny (Omori). The game really immerses you in Sunny's head, in a very literal way. Although he never speaks, I got a strong impression of his fears and delusions and psychological struggles, and I ended up getting very attached to this kid. Omori doesn't typically give you choices more complex than 'yes/no', but I found it interesting that the game would sometimes offer yes/no choices as a way of indicating hesitation, fear or reluctance; there are times when just the fact that you're being offered the choice tells you something about Sunny's character, because it means he's torn between the two options.

Kris (Deltarune). I find Kris fascinating. There's something so strange and dark and unsettling about them, and the glimpses we get of their character paint an interestingly complicated picture. They're lonely, they're bored, they're an outcast, they're sentimental, they have a cruel streak, their friends mean a lot to them. The player, in their role as the one controlling the protagonist, is able to make Kris do things against their will, but it's unclear how Kris feels about the player's presence overall. I'm so interested to see how the rest of Deltarune goes.

Silent protagonists I like:

Chell (Portal). Chell is truly silent, never gets so much as a dialogue option, but the gameplay conveys an impression of her character as relentlessly determined. She also stands out to me for being a female silent protagonist, which I haven't seen many of! It often feels like protagonists aren't allowed to be female unless there's somehow a reason for them to be female, so I appreciate the fact that Chell is a woman despite the fact that, if she were a man, pretty much nothing about the game would change. She's not a woman for plot purposes. She's not a woman for eye candy purposes; it's a first-person game and you almost never see her on screen. She just happens to be a woman.

Protagonist (Persona 3). I'm talking about the original game here, as I haven't yet played Reload. The Persona 3 protagonist doesn't have anywhere near the amount of personality that comes through in Persona 5's protagonist, but I still got a slight impression of his character. The Persona 3 protagonist generally comes across to me as clueless and eager to please, which is mildly endearing.

Protagonist (Persona 4). Again, I only got a faint sense of personality from Persona 4's protagonist, but there's still enough there for me to pick up on something: a quiet, serious, dedicated kid who cares very strongly about his friends. He also loves cats; that's important!

Sonic (Sonic the Hedgehog). Sonic gets an unfair advantage here because I used to watch The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and read Sonic the Comic! But his animations still give him some cute personality as a silent protagonist, e.g. the way he gets visibly impatient if you leave him motionless.

Amaterasu (Okami). I considered putting Amaterasu in the 'basically indifferent to, but they get points for being cute' tier below! But, in addition to being cute, she gets extra points for the touch of personality in her reactions, and in being able to bite anyone.

Stanley (The Stanley Parable). As with Chell, Stanley is truly and completely silent, but the nature of the gameplay gives you an impression of his character: rebellious, contrary, curious. He's really only made interesting by the narrator's obsession with him, though.

Silent protagonists I'm basically indifferent to, but they get points for being cute:

Ori (Ori and the Blind Forest). Ori is, to be fair, very cute, and a little personality comes across in the story cutscenes. It's possible I'm ranking Ori down slightly because I hated the ending of Ori and the Will of the Wisps so much that it impacted my feelings about the entire series.

Dixie/Donkey/Diddy Kong (Donkey Kong Country). There's some personality in their animations, but I never became invested in them as characters.

Silent protagonists I'm indifferent to:

Frisk (Undertale). There's some cute personality in some of the ACT options, but overall I didn't get especially attached to Frisk.

Jak (Jak & Daxter). In the first game, I had no real interest in Jak; the most interesting thing about him is probably the fact that this quiet kid is friends with the non-stop chatterbox Daxter. (Which works out pretty well; as a quiet kid, I found it comfortable to be friends with other kids who were happy to talk without much input from me!) In Jak II he gained the ability to talk (and a lot of trauma) and immediately became a lot more interesting to me!

Reycho (World's End Club). This kid has basically no personality, but he escapes last place because he joined in the stupid 'A human, a human, a human!' dance that made me crack up.

Mario (Super Mario series). Mario is, of course, a classic videogame protagonist who has starred in a lot of well-crafted games! But I do not care about him as a character.

Separately, there's a 'this isn't a character; this is just me' section that doesn't really fit into the fondness ranking:

Protagonist (Pokémon). The protagonist of Pokémon games is just me. It's a kid, and it's often a boy; in Pokémon games where you choose the protagonist's gender, I'll just go with whichever protagonist I prefer the design of. But it's still me.

When I'm playing as a boy in Pokémon games, I usually name the protagonist Rakuni. (If I'm playing as a girl, of course, I'll go with Riona.) But 'Bulby is the protagonist's Bulbasaur' or 'Bulby is Rakuni's Bulbasaur' would be an absolutely insane thing to say. Bulby is my Bulbasaur.

There are Pokémon protagonist designs I like more than others; my favourite is the male protagonist (Hilbert) in Pokémon Black and White. But I can't rank the characters by fondness; they're all just me.

I'm not sure what conclusions I can draw from this exercise!

I suppose, looking back over this list, I find it interesting that my three favourite silent protagonists each caught my attention in different ways. Joker's personality shines through in his charming animations and fun dialogue options. Sunny's trauma and inner thoughts are conveyed to the player through the game's environments and mechanics. Kris is a mystery who you learn about primarily through the way other characters react to or talk about them.

So I suppose there are multiple ways to create an interesting silent protagonist! It's still rare for games to present me with a silent protagonist who really catches my attention, but it's good to know that it can be done.

Here's the third instalment of these fandom questions from

trobadora!

A pairing – platonic, romantic or sexual – that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

I'd never thought about Kirigiri/Togami before, but

doreyg opened my eyes to the ways in which the characters echo Light and L, and that was all I could think about on my next Danganronpa playthrough. Before I knew it, I'd written a fic.

What was the first thing you ever contributed to a fandom?

A genuinely terrible Pokémon website, which I have since seen cited in multiple places as an example of bad website design. The first fic I contributed was Rachel's Pokémon Journey, a thinly veiled self-insert I started writing at the age of twelve; you can find an annotated version in my Old Fanfiction Book Club tag.

Do you remember your first OTP? Who was in it?

The first pairing I shipped was Squall/Zell from Final Fantasy VIII. The first pairing I got really invested in was probably James/Mary from Silent Hill 2, which absolutely broke my heart, although Satoshi/Daisuke from DN Angel might also be a candidate; I definitely shipped Satoshi/Daisuke earlier, but I can't remember quite how invested I was. The first pairing I wrote fanfiction for in large quantities, rather than just a fic or two, was the Ninth Doctor/Rose Tyler from Doctor Who.

What is your favourite source text for fandom stuff (e.g. TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?

Videogames! Most videogames contain a lot of detail that isn't strictly plot-relevant and let you personally explore the setting, meaning you can get to know the world very intimately. They also tend to be long, so you have plenty of time to get to know the characters. And the popularity of Let's Plays on platforms where it's easy to skip to a specific timestamp, such as YouTube, means it's often easier to double-check a canon detail in a game than in, say, a TV show.

All of this means that, when writing for videogames, I'll usually have a strong grasp of the required elements, and there's plenty of scope for fanfiction ideas. I've written about 1.25 million words of fanfiction in total, and over half of it is for videogames.

How many fandoms have you written for? How many have you been in, and how many are you still in?

Oh, God. The exact number depends on how you count, but I've definitely written for slightly over a hundred fandoms.

How many I've been in is trickier. Going by the 'five fics, or 10,000 words across three fics' criteria I use for 'my fandom history' writeups, I've been in about forty fandoms.

If we take 'being in a fandom' to mean 'belonging to and actively participating in spaces dedicated to discussion of a particular fandom', things narrow further: Pokémon, Final Fantasy, Red Dwarf, Jak and Daxter, Silent Hill, Doctor Who, Scrubs, Top Gear, Glee, British comedy RPF, Derren Brown RPF, Assassin's Creed (sort of; the fandom space in question was a series of Google Docs in which two fellow fans and I enthusiastically plotted out a lengthy cowritten AU), Life Is Strange, Your Turn to Die, Lost, The Quarry, Death Note and, weirdly, Lord of the Rings, a canon I enjoyed but have never actually been that into. And, uh, I went to a Supernatural convention, so that probably counts.

How many am I still in? I'm not actively in a community for any specific single fandom at the moment, but there are plenty of canons I still talk about and occasionally write about, and I'm always just a rewatch or replay away from flooding your reading page with rambling about something I haven't thought about in years. I am still in all and none of my fandoms.

Has social media caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

The author's social media has severely complicated my feelings about Harry Potter.

For the most part, social media doesn't usually harm my feelings about a canon. If I don't like what I'm seeing from fans on social media, I'll just seek out fans whose approach I prefer.

What fandom broke your heart?

Oh, dear. That would, of course, be Linkin Park. The lead singer died right when I was at the peak of fannish obsession, and I, er, didn't handle it very well. On reflection, I think my subsequent year-long mental breakdown would probably have happened sooner or later anyway, but that's what ended up breaking the dam.

Linkin Park recently reformed with a new singer, which I was excited to see! I think going with a female singer is a smart choice; any male singer would inevitably be compared to Chester constantly, whereas welcoming a woman to the band makes it clear that they're doing something new, rather than trying to replace him. Their new single, 'The Emptiness Machine', is pretty cool.

Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you dislike or even loathe.)

I'm going to stick specifically to characters I dislike so much I wish they weren't in the canon at all, which makes this a challenge!

I like the way that, after his time in prison, Sam Drake of Uncharted is a little out of step with modern technology; that's a fun little detail.

Pierce of Community has a few good lines; 'If it's so serious, why don't they call it meningitis?' really got me.

Teddie of Persona 4, er. Oh, God, I can't do it. I'm so sorry.

Probably one instalment of these questions to go!

abyssal_sylph did this fandom meme over the summer, and I thought it looked like fun! The full list of questions was originally compiled by

trobadora and can be found here. To keep my entries to a reasonable length, I'll just do a few questions at a time, rather than posting the entire thing at once.

What's changed about your fandom life in the last 365 days?

The biggest change is that I've got a website now! It's great to have a space on the Internet I can just talk about Final Fantasy VIII as much as I want (I say, as if I didn't already do that in this journal).

Your newest fandom.

In Stars and Time, maybe? I've written a couple of fics; does that make it one of my fandoms? It's a time loop game with a lot of charm; I had fun with it, but I don't really think of myself as in the fandom.

The last thing I got into and ended up thinking about a lot is Omori, a game that absolutely haunts me and will probably do so for a long time. I haven't actually written for it and don't have any fic ideas, but I found it fascinating and I often find myself seeking out fanart.

The last thing I got into so heavily that it qualified for a 'my fandom history' writeup was Severance, back in February. Such an interesting concept! One of the most absorbing shows I've ever watched.

Writing-wise, this year has been more about revisiting older fandoms than launching into new ones, now that I think about it.

You've got your OTP, you have to throw a third into the mix (from the same fandom), creating an OT3. Who is the OTP, and in your opinion, why would they make a perfect third for them?

The first pairing I thought of was Nate/Elena from Uncharted, and the ideal third - Victor 'Goddamn' Sullivan, the third point of their adventure trio - is so obvious that I've actually written that threesome already.

Some potential thirds for assorted other pairings that came to mind, discounting pairings (e.g. Sora/Riku) where the third is so obvious it goes without saying:

- Jeff/Annie from Community: I think Britta would probably be the best fit, but I strongly prefer Jeff/Annie on its own. Their chemistry is so weird and intense!

- Light/L from Death Note: Misa, obviously. Or some weird thing with Ryuk, where L is unaware that there's a third entity in their relationship. That had not occurred to me before this instant, but I'm sort of fascinated by the idea now. Ryuk joins Light and L in the bed, forcing Light to suppress his reactions in order to hide the fact that he's having a threesome when, from L's perspective, only the two of them are there. Someone please write this; it's not in my skillset!

- Kane/Abby from The 100: Jaha is the only option coming to mind. This could either sort of work or go very badly, depending on the point in canon that Jaha is coming from.

- Jack/Kate from Lost: Sawyer? Probably Sawyer, as if Jack and Kate don't have enough potential to crash and burn on their own. For less guaranteed disaster: Charlie. For even more guaranteed disaster: Locke.

- Hinata/Komaeda from Danganronpa: I know Hinata/Komaeda/Nanami is popular, but I think I might be more interested by the thought of Hinata/Komaeda/Kuzuryuu. WAIT, NO: there's a correct answer here, and it is Makoto Naegi. Hinata/Komaeda/Naegi would be incredible; Hinata/Naegi would be very cute, and then they'd both desperately have to try to cope with the presence of Komaeda.

- Travis/Laura from The Quarry: Max or Ryan, I suppose? I prefer Ryan, but Max has the fun 'Travis kept me imprisoned' aspect. Travis and Laura aren't great candidates for an OT3, though; they're at their best when they're isolated and weirdly fixated on each other.

- Keiji/Sara from Your Turn to Die: hard to envision, because Keiji has zero interest in anyone who isn't Sara. Maybe some sort of fucked-up situation with Sou?

- Yosuke/Yu from Persona 4: Chie's probably the most obvious candidate, but I think adding Kanji to the mix here would be very funny. Yosuke and Kanji are both disaster boys with a lot of anxiety about their sexuality; it'd be fun to throw them together!

- Zell/Squall from Final Fantasy VIII: Rinoa! Rinoa, no question. This would be adorable.

- Beatrice/Battler from Umineko: oh, God, there's no good answer here. Jessica? Shannon, Kanon? Ange??? (Teenage Ange, to be specific, which by no means prevents this from being a fucked-up relationship but does at least make things a little less fucked up.) There's a huge amount wrong with Beatrice/Battler already (I say, with deep fondness), and adding any possible third would only make things worse.

- Utena/Anthy from Revolutionary Girl Utena: again, there is no good answer here. I think the only way out is to accept that and pivot to choosing the worst possible answer: Akio. An Utena/Anthy/Akio scenario, focusing on how the girls eventually manage to escape him. Wait, that's just Revolutionary Girl Utena.

Oh, wow, I have gone severely overboard on this question. It's an interesting one to think about, though! Feel free to share your own answers in the comments, if you'd like.

When I have a fic idea, I’ll usually scribble it down in the back of my diary. It’s time to switch diaries again, so it’s time for the annual fic concept roundup!

This post lists all the fic ideas at the back of my 2023-24 diary. If I’ve written the fic, I’ll include a link to it. If I’ve started the fic, I’ll share a snippet. If I haven’t started it, I’ll write at least a hundred words on the spot.

First of all, here are the fics I’ve written in full. Fandoms: The Quarry, Death Note, Severance, Final Fantasy VII Remake. There may be spoilers for these canons below the cut.

( Written fics from my 2023-24 diary. )

Next, let’s look at the works in progress (or at least the works that were started; I’m not sure they’re actively progressing). Fandoms: Master Detective Archives: Rain Code, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (2023 game), Severance, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy XV, Uncharted. There may be spoilers for these canons below the cut.

( In-progress fics from my 2023-24 diary. )

Finally, it’s time for the fic ideas I haven’t touched and now have to write something for. Let’s see if I can do this.

Fandoms: The Quarry, Persona 4/Spider-Man (?), Kingdom Hearts/Silent Hill 2 (??), Final Fantasy XIII-2, In Stars and Time, Death Note. There may be spoilers for these canons below the cut.

( 2023-24 fics I hadn't started... until now. )

As ever, I have no idea whether any of these will end up becoming full fics, but I’m glad to have written at least a little for each concept!

The 2018 PS4 game Marvel's Spider-Man is one of my favourite videogames of all time, and I was delighted to receive the sequel Spider-Man 2 for Christmas!

I've just finished the Coney Island mission. Here are some early thoughts.

( Thoughts on Spider-Man 2 for PS5. )

There's a love for New York that comes through so intensely in Insomniac's Spider-Man games. It reminds me a little of the World Ends with You games, which are clearly brimming with love for Shibuya.

You can get a strong sense of place in other mediums as well, of course - Rivers of London comes to mind - but I'm fascinated by the way a game can let you immerse yourself in a location and explore it at your own pace. In his early teens, my brother learnt a lot about how to find his way around the real-life London by playing the PS2 game The Getaway.

I don't think I'll be able to navigate New York after playing the Spider-Man games, unless I happen to show up there with spider powers. I suspect that walking the streets of New York and swinging over the rooftops are slightly different experiences.

A few times over the years, I've tried to pin down my ten favourite fictional characters and have quickly given it up as an impossible exercise. I love so many characters! How can I possibly narrow it down?

At long last, though, I've actually managed to put a list together! The key was imposing a rule on myself: characters only qualify if I've loved them for at least ten years, so I can be sure that this is a long-lasting affection and I haven't just been blinded by something new and shiny. Sorry, Jack Shephard; you might have been a contender if I'd watched Lost when it first came out.

Fun fact: only one character on the final list has never intentionally killed anyone, and half the characters on the list are outright murderers, which I'm going to define as 'have intentionally killed someone who posed no immediate danger to them'. (Possibly more than half. There's one weird borderline case.)

I'm going to post a little writeup for each of the characters on my 'favourite characters' list, probably in three parts: one post with four characters, two posts with three. Here's the first set!

I'm not posting these in order of preference (I could not possibly pin down an order of preference); the four characters in this post are just the four whose writeups I finished first, and I've listed them in alphabetical order within the post itself.

Elena Fisher, Uncharted

Who is this character and why do you love them? It's strange to think back on it now that Nate and Sully have won me over, but, back when I played the first Uncharted game, I wasn't really a fan of any of the characters. I liked Elena a reasonable amount; I disliked Sully; I was uninterested in Nate. But then Elena kicked her kidnapper out of a helicopter, and I went from 'I like you okay' to 'I think you're wonderful'. And, having won my heart, she made me like everyone else through her interactions with them. She's bold, she's adventurous, she's playful, she refuses to take any shit, and she elevates any other character she's around. She reminds me a little of my sister-in-law, actually.
Do you ship this character with anyone? Elena/Nate is one of my absolute favourite pairings of all time. When I try to think of pairings I ship, my mind will usually go to them first. They play so well off each other, they have fun with each other, and I love how much Nate admires her. I really like that the games allow Nate to show vulnerability around Elena, too.
What's your favourite fic you've written about this character? Familiar and Strange. I enjoyed Uncharted 4, but I was hoping it'd focus more on the established characters rather than newcomer Sam. This fic envisions how Uncharted 4 might have played out if Elena had been more involved from the start.
Are there any similar characters you love? Teresa Lisbon of The Mentalist is very like Elena, I think. I was actually half-debating whether to put Lisbon or Elena on this list, but another character from The Mentalist was on the list already, and I thought it made sense to keep it to one character per canon. (Yes, I'm talking about Patrick Jane. I don't know why I'm trying to play coy. Of course I'm talking about Patrick Jane.)
Anything else you'd like to say about this character? Elena poking fun at you while you play Crash Bandicoot is my favourite moment in the entire Uncharted series, and I think Naughty Dog should come out with a full-length Elena Fisher Mocks Your Videogame Skills Simulator. I can tell you right now that it would be the best game ever made.

Joshua Kiryu, The World Ends with You

Who is this character and why do you love them? Joshua Kiryu is an obnoxious little shit who causes problems on purpose. When I first met him, I hated him; I just wanted Shiki back! But Joshua was just so unapologetically and gleefully awful that somehow he ended up winning me over. He's so much fun!
Do you ship this character with anyone? I'm a big fan of Neku/Joshua in which Joshua spends the entire time driving Neku up the wall. Neku's feelings for Joshua are so complicated and interesting.
What's your favourite fic you've written about this character? Select Player Two, in which Joshua drags Neku into another round of the Reapers' Game. It is a blast to write Joshua being as annoying as possible at all times.
Are there any similar characters you love? Like Joshua, Beatrice of Umineko: When They Cry gleefully launches herself into ensuring everyone has a terrible time. There's also Nagito Komaeda of Danganronpa 2; Komaeda isn't quite as intentionally awful as Joshua, but he definitely inspires similar 'holy shit, why are you like this and why do I have to put up with you?' feelings in the people around him.
Anything else you'd like to say about this character? My current laptop is named Joshua, after Joshua Kiryu, because it's tiny and silver and pissed me off the moment I met it. It made me jump through so many hoops if I wanted to save files onto the hard drive by default instead of onto the cloud!

Squall Leonhart, Final Fantasy VIII

Who is this character and why do you love them? Squall Leonhart was the first character I ever really connected with. As a deeply socially awkward thirteen-year-old, I was shocked to discover this character whose inner thoughts were just like mine; he didn't want to hurt other people, but he didn't know how to talk to them. I felt that this game understood me, and I wasn't used to feeling understood.
Do you ship this character with anyone? Squall/Zell was the first pairing I ever wrote fanfiction for, at the age of thirteen, and I'm fond of it to this day. There are echoes of Squall/Zell in Ryuji/Joker, Yu/Yosuke and Prompto/Noctis, all of which I ship enormously. Apparently I have a weakness for pairing the quiet protagonist up with his energetic, loyal, compassionate friend who very openly admires him.
What's your favourite fic you've written about this character? With These Signs Upon Our Souls, a Final Fantasy VIII/Final Fantasy XIII crossover, in which the characters of Final Fantasy VIII become l'Cie. It's the longest continuous story I've ever written, and I'm proud of myself for finishing it. (It's 26,000 words, which I know isn't actually that long in the grand scheme of things, but it's long for me!)
Are there any similar characters you love? Other characters who are socially inept in a way I find relatable include Noctis Lucis Caelum of Final Fantasy XV and Mark Corrigan of Peep Show. I also love Lightning of Final Fantasy XIII; I find her brand of social ineptitude less personally relatable, but I do think she's generally very similar to Squall.
Anything else you'd like to say about this character? If you were planning to erase my memories of every fictional character I'd ever loved and you were only letting me keep one, that would be a weird thing to do, but I'd keep Squall. I don't think I'd consider him my favourite character of all time, but he's definitely the character who's most important to me.

Light Yagami, Death Note

Who is this character and why do you love them? Light is a terrible kid who discovered an untraceable murder method and decided to kill off all the criminals to make the world worship him, and somehow I find everything about him enchanting. I love watching him come up with convoluted plots that screw over everyone around him, himself occasionally included. I love watching him firmly convince himself that he's totally, totally justified in the terrible things he does. I love that his ego will never let him resist a challenge or an opportunity to rub his victory in someone's face. I love the tiny hints of warmth that we occasionally catch glimpses of - his love for his family, his fondness for Ryuk - and I love that, even if that softer side exists, it's not enough to stop him from going too far; he's absolutely prepared to bury it if he has to.
Do you ship this character with anyone? I ship Light Yagami with himself, hard, in every possible variant. Light interacting with another version of himself in dreams or visions? Perfect. Light encountering an actual duplicate of himself, and the two of him attempting to seduce and murder each other, because they can't both be gods of the new world but they can't just write 'Light Yagami' in the Death Note? Magnificent. Light just masturbating while thinking about how great he is? Beautiful. I apologise for posting yet another entry about Light Yagami masturbating.
What's your favourite fic you've written about this character? Shackles, in which Light and L are toxic soulmates. 'They're both in love with each other, but they will not hesitate to destroy each other' turned out to be a fun dynamic to work with! I'm pleasantly surprised by how enthusiastically this fic was received, too; the Death Note fandom is remarkably active, considering that the canon ended over a decade ago.
Are there any similar characters you love? It's actually hard to think of anyone like Light. Light's not the sort of character you usually see committing atrocities. He's not an outcast, he hasn't had a hard life; he's a golden boy. He's smart, he's polite, he's popular; he's used to being praised and admired. He works hard, but he knows he'd still beat everyone without really trying. And, because he's gone through life without ever truly being challenged, he assumes he can murder thousands of people and get away with it. (EDIT: Wait, Akechi! Goro Akechi from Persona 5, particularly the expanded Royal edition, is very Light in both appearance and personality.)
Anything else you'd like to say about this character? It can be tricky to talk about liking Light Yagami, because some parts of the fandom can interpret 'Light is my favourite character' as 'I think Light was right'. No! Light was wrong! Everything he does is terrible! That's why I love him so much! I keep getting his musical song 'Where Is the Justice?' stuck in my head, because it's a banger, but it doesn't feel great when I catch myself singing 'where is the justice when the guilty all go free? why don't we lock them up and throw away the key?'

I've finished Persona 5 Strikers!

( Late-game notes on Persona 5 Strikers. )

That was good fun! Nothing life-changing, but I enjoyed playing it and it was good to spend more time with these characters. I don't think it needed to exist, but I'm glad it does.

If they made a sequel like this for Persona 4 - an action RPG about everyone having a post-game roadtrip together - I would buy it twice.

pict demanded to know all my ambitious fic ideas, which reminded me of something I've been thinking about doing for a while: archiving the fic ideas I've been scribbling down in my diaries.

Every year, I buy the same style of diary, which has a couple of blank pages at the back. I've been using these blank pages to note down fic concepts since 2013. Some of these get written! Many of them don't.

If I type up the unwritten concepts, maybe one of them will inspire me? (Or indeed inspire someone else? Feel free to let me know if you're interested in writing any of these!) At the very least, they'll no longer be languishing in old diaries I rarely look back at.

These are sorted in alphabetical order by fandom; the notes under any particular fandom may contain spoilers for the canon. Some ideas are extremely vague; some are very specific. Crossovers are filed haphazardly under whichever fandom feels right in the moment. The tags on this entry should give you an idea of which fandoms are represented, if you're wondering whether anything you know is in here!

( A huge pile of unwritten fanfiction ideas. )

I'm not sure this exercise has actually sparked any inspiration, but it's good to have all these ideas in one place. If any of these would particularly interest you, let me know!

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/572937.html

Glad that Makoto's now joined the team in Persona 5 Royal; I was missing her! Although, unfortunately, the aspects of the game that frustrate me also start showing up at around this point.

I love how much personality the protagonist has, despite communicating entirely through dialogue options. Delighted that he can run up to a shady recruiter and demand to be put in one of their porn videos.

'For the blond one, I can sense impending woman troubles. Or... perhaps it's something else?' It's man troubles, Chihaya. You're sensing that Ryuji's in love with the protagonist and is going to have an extremely hard time accepting it.

I can't believe I'm not suave enough for Akechi to spend time with me.

Ryuji's so endearingly awkward when he's asking Makoto about coming up with a new move together! I'm grinning extremely widely. (Ryuji's voice acting in this scene is a joy.) I already ship the protagonist with both Ryuji and Makoto; am I going to end up shipping all three of them?

To be honest, I'm not sure either Makoto or Ryuji would be particularly happy in an actual romantic relationship with each other. They have very different attitudes to life and planning that I feel would cause mutual frustration.

But Ryuji's friendship could be valuable to Makoto, if she can get over her 'you must be this smart to spend time with me' hangups. He's open and honest and compassionate in a way that I think Makoto, who's used to being devalued and manipulated, could really benefit from. I'm glad Royal added that conversation between them; I've never really contemplated the dynamic between Ryuji and Makoto before, and there's potential there!

'That dick ain't gonna stop us now that we've got our awesome new member.' Ryuji really admires her, and I think it's very sweet.

Goddammit, Makoto's so cute. I smiled all the way through her 'please take me to the arcade and teach me how people enjoy themselves when they're not just studying all the time' scene. There's a definite possibility I'm just going to end up romancing her again.

The new Akechi confidant scenes just let you flirt with him non-stop, and it's cracking me up.

Akechi's confidant is definitely much improved. His dynamic with the protagonist becomes more interesting if they actually spend substantial one-on-one time together. I love Akechi making a comment about shooting us and then going 'Only a joke.'

I'm still not a Mishima fan, but I'm hating him less fiercely this time around, perhaps because I've now met Teddie and realised it could be worse.

Ryuji invited me to a festival, and I'm annoyed that I didn't have the option to reply with anything more enthusiastic than 'Fine, fine.' There are points where the game just seems to assume that you don't like Ryuji! I love Ryuji and I won't accept these attempts to diminish our friendship.

Poor Kasumi. It's a shame, when she opens up to you about her loss, that you can't offer sympathy or express concern about the way she feels obliged to exhaust herself as a result; instead, your options are 'good work exhausting yourself' and 'have you considered exhausting yourself harder?'

My favourite thing I overheard after getting top of the class in the July exams: 'There's nothing scarier than a criminal mastermind.'

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/565124.html

I'm so glad Persona 5 Royal explained the logic behind negotiations. I no longer have to rely on a guide for all the answers! (One of the biggest issues with the Persona games is that they rely too heavily on trial and error. I don't think there's any other game series that sends me running to guides so often.)

Hey, Naoto got mentioned on the television! It's nice to have this reminder that we're still in the same universe as the other games. I wonder what Yosuke's doing right now.

I'm pleased to note they've changed Ryuji's portrait when he tells me, 'It's cute hearin' that from someone like you,' so now he looks happy rather than uncomfortable. Embrace how cute I am, Ryuji.

Delighted to announce the formation of my phantom thief organisation, Team Yosuke. I shouldn't be allowed to name things.

Ryuji took a photo of all of us at the buffet! That's an adorable Royal addition. I'm very pleased.

The new counsellor seems nice! I don't trust him.

Sort of want fanfiction where Ryuji opens up to the counsellor about his crush on the protagonist.

Ryuji's response to Maruki asking what he does in his free time: 'Uh, hang out with my buds, mostly - though I just started doin' that recently. Before that, I was just pissed all the time.' I'm so glad we could bring something positive into this angry teenager's life!

I laughed aloud at Ryuji responding to 'What do you want most out of life right now?' with 'Uh... I want somethin' to drink, I guess.'

Don't tell the student you're counselling that talking to him feels like talking to an old friend, Maruki.

I studied really hard and managed to get in the top ten in the first set of exams! TAKE THAT, EVERYONE WHO WROTE ME OFF AS A DELINQUENT. My favourite things I overheard when running around the school afterwards: 'It's kind of scary that a guy like that is also crazy smart,' 'Did he steal the test answers or something?' and 'He must have blackmailed them or something. How did he get those scores?'

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/564369.html

I finished Persona Q, if you hadn't deduced that from the fact that I wrote a fic about it!

At one point, Yosuke said he'd give me a shoulder massage later. I risked the Reaper to get that conversation, and it was worth it.

The trouble with Persona is that it's a really charming series of games about THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP, but occasionally it has strangely mean-spirited scenes that don't seem to fit the themes and tone at all. In particular, there are moments when a party member is upset or distressed and, rather than giving you the opportunity to intervene or comfort them, the game goes 'and then you just walked away and left them to it, it was hilarious.' When Yosuke's on the verge of tears because of a misunderstanding, please just let me explain it to him!

Having finished Persona Q, am I going to shut up about Persona for a while?

No. No, of course not. It's time for Persona 5 Royal.

After I finished Persona 5, my main thought was, Wow. That was incredible, but it was also vast and exhausting. I definitely want to play the Royal expanded edition, but I don't think I'll be ready for that for at least a couple of years.

Seven months later, here we are.

Now that I've played Persona Q and met the actual Persona character called Rei, I probably shouldn't name the Persona 5 protagonist Rei again; it was already confusing, given that that's my housemate's name, and is now doubly so. That said, I'm naming him Rei again and nobody can stop me.

( Rambling about the early hours of Persona 5 Royal. )

I'd forgotten how much Persona 5 makes me think of Final Fantasy VIII, between the school setting, the quiet protagonist and Ryuji 'Zell Dincht' Sakamoto. Ryuji and Zell aren't identical, but there's definitely enough similarity to call Zell to mind.

I dreamt a couple of nights ago about Squall and Zell kissing, and I'm blaming this game. (Maybe 'thanking' would be a better word than 'blaming'. Squall/Zell was my first ever ship, and I woke up reflecting very fondly on it.)

I just looked up the account of the dream I wrote when half-asleep, and I'm going to type it up because it made me smile:

Dreamt I was Squall Leonhart and kissed Zell after an intense foot race around a raised track. EXTREMELY GOOD. I think I was sort of trying to hint at it and he went 'yeah, you don't have to ask, you can absolutely kiss me' (because, as we all know, Zell is very in love with Squall).

Barret was annoyed with us for kissing on the track instead of continuing to race. Barret, the race was supposed to be seventy-two laps; it was lap five and we were all exhausted already. Making out with Zell was a much better conclusion to the race than actually seeing it through. Also, what are you doing here? You're a FFVII character.

Rinoa had previously suggested letting Zell win to make him feel better. Hopefully the kissing succeeded in making him feel good without having to compromise the race.

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/563893.html

If I've written at least ten thousand words of fanfiction for a particular canon, across at least three fics, I'll write an entry talking about how that canon fits into my fandom history. Clean Slate narrowly pushed Persona 4 across the threshold, so here we go!

(I mean, all right, Clean Slate is technically a Persona Q fic, but I'm counting it for Persona 4. It's about Persona 4 characters. It qualifies.)

Persona 4

I picked up Persona 5 out of idle curiosity in September 2020, when I saw it for £10 in a sale of Japanese games. All I really knew about the Persona series was that the games sounded intimidatingly long and complicated, but, hey, there was a pandemic raging and I had time to spare.

I absolutely loved it. I was left curious about the rest of the series, but Persona 4 seemed difficult to obtain in the UK. I'd only be able to get it on PC, and my laptop probably wouldn't be able to run it.

Then my laptop stopped working properly, and I had to get a new one. At least there was one upside!

I played Persona 4 Golden at the age of thirty-two, in the midst of lockdown. It saw me admirably through eighty hours of a period when there was very little to do. I was afraid it'd inevitably be a disappointment after Persona 5, but if anything I loved it more.

A large part of that love is due to Yosuke, who somehow hurtled straight into my heart, flaws and all. All my fanfiction is devoted to either embarrassing him or forcing him into a full-on psychological breakdown, because that's what I do when you're my favourite character.

Favourite character: Yosuke Hanamura! A well-meaning but flawed mess of a character whose foot lives perpetually in his mouth. A strange mixture of thoughtless and considerate. Wildly in love with the protagonist, but has far too many issues to consciously realise that. I love him an unreasonable amount and I am compelled to destroy him.
Favourite pairing: Yosuke/protagonist. I don't usually get invested in pairings involving silent protagonists, but Persona is an exception! Yosuke's just so in love, and I want him to get what he wants (and then flip out because he doesn't understand his own desires and he's terrified of what he wants).
Number of words written: 10,144

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/563666.html

Here are some teenage boys being terrible at feelings at the end of Persona Q. (It should be understandable if you're only familiar with Persona 4, though!)

Title: Clean Slate
Fandom: Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
Rating: G? I think this might actually be G-rated. Nobody bleeds or anything.
Pairing: Yosuke/Persona 4 protagonist
Wordcount: 2,000
Summary: If they're going to have their memories erased anyway, it's okay for Yosuke to kiss Yu, right? No consequences. The perfect plan.

( Clean Slate )

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/563342.html

Some more notes on Persona Q! These run from the Inaba Pride Exhibit up to the third floor of the clock tower.

Yukari's response to 'we should all go to a festival together!' is 'Oh, hmm. That does sound fun... But you'll be there, won't you, Teddie?' and I'm glad she understands my 'I love everyone here, EXCEPT TEDDIE, WHO I AM FORCED TO SIT THROUGH FOR TIME WITH THE CHARACTERS I LOVE' struggle.

Rise's disappointed that she wasn't in the party to see Kanji's bad bad bathhouse!

Akihiko's characterisation in this game is generally very poor, but it's cute to see him and Chie training together.

It's lovely to see everyone talking about the possibility of Kanji becoming a teacher. And Kanji actually starting to consider it!

Yosuke's canonically flustered by the giant sweaty muscular loincloth man monster. Sometimes I wonder whether 'Yosuke is very clearly into guys and repressed about it' is just in my head. It's not.

Chie: You don't use me enough in battle.
Riona: Oh, I'm sorry, Chie! Let's do some fighting together.
Teddie: You don't use me enough in battle.
Riona: Good.

Oh, wow, the game actually addresses the fact that the games these characters are from aren't set in the same year! (I'd be really interested to see the Persona 4 cast's reactions if they get home and try to look their new friends up online.)

Awww, seeing the Persona-users of the future gives Mitsuru hope!

Yukiko wants to see Akihiko in a skirt! I'm enjoying Yukiko in this game. (Yukari's also into the idea!)

I still don't understand how this game managed to get Akihiko so wrong. He's not stupid and he's not reckless, going by everything we see in Persona 3. Where has this characterisation come from?

Holy shit, I was not expecting this game's plot to be so devastating. I didn't know it had a plot beyond 'Persona characters from different games hang out'!

Also, I went 'oh, wow, I hadn't realised Rei's voice actor was this good' when the plot kicked in, and I looked her up; it's Ashly Burch, voice of Chloe Price and Aloy! Suddenly I can hear her so clearly. She's giving a very intense performance!

Tentarafoo continues to be phenomenally useful. I love you, Yosuke. I think you're wonderful.

It's nice that Yosuke's privately telling me how much he admires Kanji, but you could tell Kanji that once in a while, Yosuke, rather than just teasing him!

Yosuke really cares about the entire team! It's very sweet. It's nice to see him and Rise have a warm interaction, too!

I told Yosuke he's cool, and he went into a blushing panic. ('Yosuke is flustered,' the narration informed me.)

'Hey, maybe what's good about me is that I'm blessed with the friends I have.' You're so cute, Yosuke.

Protagonist: Say nice stuff about me!
Yosuke, blushing: Huh? Well, it's kinda tough saying it to your face... I can't say stuff like how you're reliable and cool and great at playing along, you know?

Yosuke's got it so bad. I love it. (RD's response to the screencaps I've been sending her: 'riona he's so extremely gay for you. every single one of his lines could have NO HOMO at the end of it and read the same.')

I just end up cooing over Yosuke whenever I try to talk about this game. I'm not sorry. I love this stupid in-denial kid more than he deserves.

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/563051.html

Here is a deeply, embarrassingly self-indulgent Persona 4 fic. Loosely inspired by Higurashi: When They Cry, but knowledge of Higurashi is not required at all; the concept just provided a helpful excuse to psychologically destroy Yosuke.

Title: Collapse
Fandom: Persona 4
Rating: 15
Pairing: Yosuke/protagonist
Wordcount: 3,300
Summary: Yosuke kind of wants to kiss Yu. He also kind of thinks Yu might be a murderer.
Warnings: Weird and dark.

( Collapse )

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/562815.html

I've now seen the first six episodes of the World Ends with You anime! It's not a bad adaptation, but it does feel very videogamey. This is because it's adapted from a videogame, of course, but seeing the characters completing obvious videogame missions does sometimes leave me wondering why I'm watching this, rather than playing it. It's a great story, but it's very much a story that works best in the original medium.

I also feel the anime waters down the characterisation slightly. Joshua, in particular, is not enough of an unbearable little shit. If I don't want to strangle him within sixty seconds of meeting him, he's not Joshua.

Also, Joshua is too tall! I always envisioned him as noticeably shorter than Neku; it's very weird to see them around the same height. Joshua's supposed to be tiny and frail!

I think Joshua may actually be taller than Neku in the anime, which is obviously illegal. In the game, Neku thinks 'this pipsqueak is my new partner?' when they first meet!

All that said, the anime does have some nice little additions, particularly with regard to Eri. And it's cool to see the characters in motion! I love how closely the art style matches the game. (The World Ends with You has a very distinctive graffiti-inspired visual style: bold designs, thick black lines.)

Plus there's some weird, sinister homoeroticism between Neku and Joshua, and that's very important.

More notes on Persona Q! I've just finished the Evil Spirit Club labyrinth. (The Evil Spirit Club is much more unsettling than I expected of a non-horror game on the 3DS and I do not like it at all. I slowed down on playing Persona Q for a while because it was entirely too scary.)

I'm glad this game gave me the opportunity to say that Yosuke is one-third handsomeness, but also why is it letting me flirt with Yosuke if it won't let me follow through?

('Whoa... C-c'mon, you're embarrassing me!' Yosuke responded, blushing.)

Holy shit, Tentarafoo is a lifesaver. I never realised how useful it was before. I've started using it at the beginning of every battle.

heck yeah, gonna hide from a cursed doll in a bathroom stall with my boyfriend

(and also Mitsuru and Ken I GUESS)

'Sorry, I was daydreaming, so I'm not sure what you asked me.' I'm glad Persona 3 protagonist Kosuke is living up to my 'clueless weirdo' headcanon characterisation now that he actually has dialogue.

It's lovely to see Kanji clumsily offering Ken advice and support!

'I'll show you what a man I am,' Kanji mumbles in his sleep. I love Kanji.

Elizabeth left me a secret message, and Yosuke was really unreasonably excited by the prospect that she might be confessing her love to me, just absolutely thrilled, and I felt pretty bad about having to tell him that the note said 'the price tag is still on your clothes'. It's okay, Yosuke; you don't have to settle for vicariously being with me.

I'm glad Persona Q has reminded me of how much I love Yosuke Hanamura (it's a lot), but now I'm torn between 'I should write more fanfiction about Yosuke!' and 'I don't have any inspiration'. I checked my list of unwritten fic ideas to see whether it had anything to offer, but the only Persona 4 concepts listed are unhelpfully vague:

- something about Persona 4 inspired by Higurashi (small towns!) or maybe Silent Hill (fog!)? Either of these would probably be a good opportunity to psychologically destroy Yosuke. (Or anyone else, but, let's be honest, it's going to be Yosuke.)
- Persona 4/FFXV: can you make Yosuke and Prompto meet? (Should you?)

Come to think of it, the Evil Spirit Club labyrinth makes a Silent Hill-esque Persona fic strangely plausible.

Yosuke meeting Prompto does sound potentially delightful, but I'm a little afraid that, if I attempted to write it, they'd end up sounding exactly the same and I'd be exposed as a fraud who can't differentiate characters.

Maybe at some point I should try to write a hundred words of every concept on my 'unwritten fic ideas' list and see whether any of them get a foothold. (Although I'm not sure about some of these ideas. 'Community/Utena. Jeff at Ohtori Academy. Meets Akio, goes "wow, so much better than the dean", gets banged.')

I think Persona 4 might be my favourite Persona game, which is impressive, because I played Persona 5 and went 'holy crap, I love this game, this is incredible. I suppose I'll check out Persona 4, but there's no way it won't be a disappointment after this.' And then I loved Persona 4, if possible, even more.

The Persona series isn't perfect by any means, but it's brought me so much joy during a worldwide joy shortage. Easily my best discovery of 2020.

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/562656.html

'I keep starting games and not getting anywhere with them. I need to stop jumping around and - ooh, Persona Q is on sale!'

I've just finished the Group Date Café! My notes are below, cut more for length than anything else; there's nothing particularly spoilery here. I'll be honest: I'm mostly just talking about my fondness for Yosuke.

( Rambling about Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth. )

'You fix Yosuke with a gentle gaze...' WHY CAN'T I KISS HIM

I was really hoping the mysterious matchmaker would pair me up with Yosuke, but it paired me up with Koromaru, who is admittedly a pretty strong choice.

(Turns out it was all just a setup for the clergyman to try to murder us, so I did not actually end up marrying the dog.)

Some of the characters in Persona Q have better portrayals than others. Akihiko's portrayal, in particular, is a shame; it feels like the game has forgotten everything that made him interesting and endearing in Persona 3. But, overall, this game is fun crossover nonsense and I'm having a good time.

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/562224.html

I’m into October in Persona 3!

Delighted by Cynical Tough Guy Shinjiro pretending to be asleep when people come into the room so they won't catch him watching cooking shows. I seem to be fondly going 'what a loser' a lot as I play this game, but, in my defence, it's full of losers.

Also endearing: how fond he is of the dog. He reassures Koromaru that he doesn't blame him! He makes him food!

Aigis sneaking into our room to watch us sleep, meanwhile, is TERRIFYING.

( Spoilers for Persona 3 (October) and Persona 4 (December). )

Uh, Nozomi, you okay, buddy?

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/553489.html

More Persona 3 FES!

I'm genuinely grateful for the existence of the Persona series. At a time when leisure options are severely limited, it's hard to overstate how valuable it's been to have these long, engaging games to get lost in.

Oh, damn, apparently I missed the chance to start Yuko's social link! Damn damn damn. She declined to walk home together the first time I asked her, so I didn't ask her at the second opportunity; I didn't realise you had to ask her both times if you wanted to become friends!

What a player-unfriendly game. I retract my gratitude.

I was worried when I heard about the jealousy mechanic in this game, meaning it's difficult to hang out with multiple female characters. Apparently I've dealt with that by completely failing to persuade any female characters to hang out with me. Your girlfriend can't get jealous if she doesn't exist!

My trust in Shuji has increased enormously now that I've learnt he spends his time alone coming up with terrible jokes to tell everyone.

Akihiko seems more friendly than I'd expected from his 'wait, aren't you Draco Malfoy?' appearance! Also, after Junpei went 'boo, Akihiko's joining the team? I wanted a girl instead,' Akihiko asked me whether I'd also prefer a girl to him and seemed reassured when I went 'what, no, glad to have you on board,' which is sort of endearing.

This is the first Persona game in which I haven't studied obsessively in the lead-up to exams, perhaps because I am headcanoning Kosuke as good-hearted but not at all smart. It wouldn't seem right if he got excellent exam scores straight out of the gate. Kid's a doofus who just wants to sing karaoke by himself and hang out with the nice old couple at the bookshop.

The Persona 4 protagonist was the responsible one, always helping everyone he came across. Kosuke 'you tell someone to cheer up if they're grieving, right?' Niwa tries, but I don't think he could help his way out of a paper bag.

Kosuke's courage level starts out as 'timid'. I would contest this, because, as a fairly timid person myself, I think I would baulk at the prospect of shooting myself in the head with a magic gun, even if it did summon a catgirl to destroy my enemies.

Crossposts: https://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/552066.html

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Entries tagged with persona 4

Let's Not Talk About How It Took Me Nearly Four Months To Get Around To This.

That's The Best Part.

I Only Wanted To Be Part Of Something.

It Appears We Are Both Falling.

Fic Concept Roundup 2024

You're Not Gonna Mess With My Bees.

Ten Favourite Characters, Part One.

Turn Me Back To How I Was.

I Do A Lot Of Writing Down Fic Ideas Instead Of Actually Writing Fanfiction.

omg they got the mafia lol

Anyone Ever Tell You You're Kinda Not Normal?

Your Companions Are Having Fun, And Seem Reluctant To Part.

Wreck This Boy.

Fanfiction: Clean Slate (Persona Q)

There's A Scary Takoyaki To My Left.

Fanfiction: Collapse (Persona 4)

Do Wrathful Gods Mend A Lot Of Shoelaces?

You Guys Are Screwing It Up Faster Than I Can Correct You.

I Think I May Have Joined A Cult.

That Was An Engine-ious Move.

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