I still haven't finished Persona 4 (though I know the spoilers, shame on me), but I played P3 Portable and most of P2:IS. My favorite part is how deep I can dig when nerding out about symbolism, especially because I really like tarot symbolism and Persona tends to nail it. (The boss shadows in P3 are all reversed versions of their arcana, it makes me so happy. Hanged Man and Magician are especially brilliant.)
I have so many feels about Persona 5 right now. Just the newest trailer and seeing the new kids has me so excited I could scream, and I am already adoring all of them. And I really hope the current translation for the scanner/hacker girl's name is correct, because 'Futaba Sakura' would be hilarious and basically the Japanese equivalent to naming a character 'Susan Fourchan.'
I can't get over that her persona is THE NECRONOMICON. And it's a UFO. I don't want to be hype, but. I am so hype in spite of myself.
Do you think this (and a lot of other things like the darker, angrier Igor and the constant red motifs) might be signs we'll be seeing a return of a couple of characters? Spoiler: Persona 4 Ultimax 2 and Persona 2 IS/EP spoilers It seems like things are implying a return of Nyarlethotep and Philemon. At the same time, I'm worried to just assume this will be the case because a lot of the build-up for P4U2 did seem like a return of Nyarlethotep as a reoccuring villain and instead we basically got Kentucky Fried Caliborn Kagutsuchi, so I'm a little worried about getting amped up for that only to have it something different.
I have been SUPER HYPE for P5 but haven't been keeping up with news... I AM EXCITE. I have played through persona 3 FES to the first major boss... and then we got a ps3... so I am starting over with Persona 3 Portable... and apparently decided to name the protagonist Hideo Kojima at some point. Why. I'm running through P4 Golden as well, and am about to reach the.... fourth dungeon, I am? Been meaning to download P1 and P2 from the Play store, but haven't done so quite yet. ( I did start SMT soul hackers... but I'm a little iffy on that one... )
I... haven't played past P2... :') Lack of console access has been a real bummer, but what with the emulators available I should be able to catch up (and then paw sadly at the screen when P5 comes out). Hell, I never got around to finishing Eternal Punishment, and then I lost my savefile. >_< I really, really need to do a replay of that and IS. I love the aesthetic and feel of those games so much.
I will say this, the feel changes quite a bit for P3 and P4. They're still good games, and there's reasons why things feel different both because of the plot and because of meta reasons (the writers switch between P2Duology and P3/P4/P5), but even then they try connecting the two halves of the series together again especially with the spinoffs. I feel like Persona Q does the most with this?
I MADE A PERSONASTUCK AND DIRK WAS OUR FOOL AND I MADE ARANEA THE EMPEROR BECAUSE FUCK IT. Also Porrim was the Empress and her shadow was basically a 50's housewife. THERE WAS A THEATRE INVOLVED AND CULT LEADER SCRATCH. It was never finished. I LIKE PERSONA. Also other SMT things. Those are good too.
I confess to having read LPs because I don't have access to a console to play them on. I got P3, and it's at the friend's place who has a PS2. Played just past the first boss iirc. Been a few years.
Nyarly is best villain and I want him back. P2 is pretty different in tone and style from P3 and 4, but I really enjoyed how much more open the world was and the way you could change it with rumor mechanics. I wasn't particularly enthused about the harsh split between gameplay modes in 3 and 4, and I'd be happy if they changed the dynamics to be a little less "spend weeks in the real world doing normal stuff to prepare for dungeon-spelunking in the otherworld."
I will be forever salty that the female protagonist from P3P never got integrated with all the other Persona stuff.
THAT. The male protag can fucking bite me. I am forever going to view the protag as that girl with the cute little XXII hairpins. Who I headcanoned as being super into both Mitsuri and Yukari. She also spent a good deal of time broing it up with Junpei. Also making fun of him but no they totally were both like YEAH BABES. Among other things. BEST BRO FRIENDS FOREVER.
F!MC route is objectively better except for one social link. And the aggressively pink interface, which kinda hurt my eyes.
I wanted to boost this because we're getting a lot of P5 information this week at E3 and so far we got a gameplay demo and the first english VA casting. Cassandra Lee Morris, the English VA for Kyubey, will be voicing Morgana and she's got the perfect tone of 'shitlord brat-cat' to her voicing already. Plus I feel like this might add credence to my 'Morgana is the true villain of the game' theory, or at least 'Morgana is being played for a chump by the main villain and is going to need to be rescued by one of the later dungeons after backstabbing the party and making them all upset'. As far as my guess for the rest of E3, I'm hoping we get a full English trailer, even if it's just one with only like Morgana and Igor's narration. But at the same time, please Ryuji and Anne VAs. I don't expect any of the others yet, but let me have proper voices for them.
Started up on the third game again just now. It's been years since I've played it. Also never played as the male mc. Thinking of picking up either SMT 4 or DeSu too. I really liked DeSu but I just kind of got out of the groove with it? SMT 4 meanwhile is just a lovely sort of...rage game? Like I have to stop every now and then because I get fucking pissed off at it. I do make progress each time but URGH.
Playing P5 now.... Spoiler: Some thoughts, minor spoilers for early game) Hmmm. Not super fond of the "all of this is just recollection" setup that's happening right now. Makes me/us feel like we don't have choices, even though obviously we do? Also it interrupts the flow of the game. Poor MC. "EVERYONE FINDS YOU A PROBLEM/ANNOYING/A HUGE BURDEN AND WE'RE GONNA GO TO GREAT LENGTHS TO EMPHASIZE THAT!" I reallllly hope Morgana stops calling people amateurs. Damnit, I want to like the kitty character! Don't do this to me! "SaKAmoto" >:0 the pronunciation is relatively okay but for whatever reason that name is just super mis-emphasized and it rankles I like the cut-in reactions, husband doesn't I'm interested to see what the Persona theme is going to be. 3 was Greek/Roman mythology (maybe others?), 4 was Japanese mythology, and I thought 5 was literature theives, but now I'm not sure, with Ryuji having Captain Kidd. Like having the gun attacks too, reminds me of Strange Journey and the other SMT games. Hoping to get more freedom soon to do stuff, we've played almost 4 hours and we're still very scripted and can't do much yet.
oh hey we do have a Persona thread I AM PLAYING PERSONA 5 AND IT IS AMAZING AND I LOVE IT @Saro Spoiler re: the MC: oh my god I know right, his backstory is just depressing and all the adults treat him like such shit at the beginning. I think the Persona theme is just "rogues" in general, rather than literary thieves specifically. Which would account for Captain Kidd and also Ann's Persona. It does get much less railroady after a few hours! There's a lot of introductory stuff at the beginning, but it gives you the normal freedom to run around and do stuff... about halfway through April, I think?
