Persona series

x3

I forget how I found him but I've been following his videos for awhile and they're great.

It's a lot less haunting but I dig the PSP version, too.

They really, really need to get on remaking these games in the style of 3-5, at least in terms of the combat system.

Speaking of the OP's, 3's is kinda interesting because it came at a time when they seemed like they really wanted to honor the earlier entries, since there was no way to know it would be such a massive success as to completely eclipse the earlier games. It's got the J-Pop, but a lot of the imagery and editing is still a lot more esoteric and dark than all the Persona openings after it.

edited 30th Jun '17 10:50:58 PM by Hashil

Definitely. I like 1 and love 2 for the story, characters, and general atmosphere, but you generally have to watch them on Youtube these days to enjoy them without pulling your hair out, because as games, they haven't aged well. It'd be great to be able to play these games and genuinely enjoy them, rather than putting them down after a while because they just aren't fun to play. I'm sure if they did a P2 remake with 4 or 5's combat but 2's story and feel, they'd have a masterpiece on their hands.

edited 1st Jul '17 7:07:51 AM by kkhohoho

I keep saying they might eventually remake those games.

It be the perfect way to pad out development for P6 & not have all the upcoming games just be P5 spin-offs.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."

@Openings: Original IS is my favourite too. I wish they did the remake opening more like it, instead of more like Golden. Luckily, they did it with EP, I like both versions of it.

@Romance: I'm the kind of person that needs to actually see romantic chemistry between characters to buy that they are in love, so the protagonist ships are generally a huge miss with me. Exception is Fe MC, I can actually feel like she has a thing for some of her options.

eh, i find P1 an P2's writing to be overrated, really.

As much as some praise the story writing, the actual character writing is just dull by comparison, especially in P1, and while P2 is better, i find Tatsuya and Maya to be the only interesting Characters out of their cast, and while Philemon and Nyarlathotep are cool, I find Nyarly's motivation to be rather generic, he only gets away with it because he does it so well.

If they were to get P3 through P5 remakes, the character writing needs to be made better alongside the gameplay.

Watch Symphogear

The character writing was great. IS and EP are also the only Persona games where the heroes have proper personalities and not just inferred, fanon ones, too.

The character writing was a little more grounded and subdued, but in battle and when things were getting crazy it was just as anime and over the top as the newer games.

And that's before we get into the negotiations and just how amazingly fun, varied, and entertaining everyone is during them. We had stuff like Ulala salsa dancing, Eikichi singing badly to the enemy, Maya and Yukino's boke and tsukommi sessions, Baofu and Katsuya's good cop, bad cop grilling....

I don't think any of the heroes that follow are as memorable or as full of personality as the Persona 2 set.

Well, different strokes for different folks. Question though. Did you talk to everyone at all the different shops after a dungeon or event? Because that really helps bring out the characters', well, character. Everyone has something different to say at every single shop and some other places after an event, and it really helps brings them to life. If you didn't really do that, then they're not going to seem as alive or fleshed out as they might otherwise be.

Same here. Echicki, Lisa, Tatuysa, Maya, Boaofu, (or whatever his name was,) Katsuya, Ulala, etc. I just love them all. They're still the best Persona cast to this day IMO.

edited 1st Jul '17 9:31:42 AM by kkhohoho

It also didn't ram characterization down your throat as hard as the newer games did. A lot of those filler scenes where characters talk about food or hanging out or whatever in 3-5 are optional bits of dialogue you can choose to read or skip in the game itself, so you get the best of both worlds: more than enough characterization in cutscenes to establish what everyone's about, with plenty more available in rooms and shops where you can talk to the whole party.

Cutscenes are snappier and able to get to the point, while the more subtle stuff is on the player to find, which I think is brilliant and helps with the pace.

My sentiments exactly. The way Persona does it now is sort of the worst of both worlds — it'd be one thing if there were no romantic relationships at all (but then people would flip out about losing their waifus), and it'd be another thing if there was any depth to the romance options (which wouldn't even be that hard — it'd mean splitting those social links into romance/non-romance routes and having other characters remark on it every so often, which does mean additional work for the staff but isn't exactly a serious technical hurdle), but as-is the romances are super shallow and the non-romances are awkward because they basically go "so uh hey I'm super into you" late in the social link and then it gets completely ignored if you shoot them down.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

On some level, I understand it for non-party memeber links. But there's no excuse why the girls in your party can't treat you any differently if you date them, and it wouldn't really be hard because there's usually only 3-4 girls in your party anyway.

Also, don't turn this into a P1/2 vs/ P3/4/5 debate, they're all good games.

A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.

Its a good thing Katsura Hoshino is leaving then. Someone else younger who might be more daring and progressive could do much better as a whole in character writing and getting the themes across better, too. P5 was already a step in the right direction from P4, though.

Watch Symphogear

I'm glad he's taking off but I don't expect his replacement to be any better. This series is gold, now, and they're not going to take it off into any controversial places for fear of losing that. If an IS remake ever happens I fully expect Jun to no longer be a serious romantic option.

edited 1st Jul '17 9:44:04 AM by Hashil

I've heard P1 and 2 have excellent stories but I'm hesitant to play them as I've heard even by Early Megaten standards the gameplay is cold molasses.

That would suck balls. Mind you, I'm a straight white man, so it's not as though I feel I wouldn't be represented, but still. You'd think keeping Jun's romance option or adding something like that into the newer games would be the way to go in this day and age, what with everyone being about progress and all that. If they never do something like that again, I'm gonna be pissed, and I don't think I'll be the only one.

Then don't. Just read the manga adaptation in 1's case and watch a Let's Play for 2. The story and characters are what matter about them anyway, so you might as well go that route. The only problem with just watching 2 is that whoever's playing might not go to all of the shops after dungeons and whatnot which might mean you'll lose out on all the extra characterization, but with any luck, you can find someone who will. It's still worth checking out regardless though.

edited 1st Jul '17 9:58:09 AM by kkhohoho

Given how one of the biggest sticking points for Persona 5 is the lack of gay options, I'm pretty sure they're gonna be pressured to adding them eventually.

A lazy millennial who's good at what he does.

They're pretty terrible in terms of gameplay, yeah, but just about everything else is phonemenal, art style of 1 aside. The Persona 2 EP cast is probably one of my favorite RPG teams, ever, and if you can find a good LP on youtube or elsewhere I highly recommend it.

In the west. Japan is still ass backwards when it comes to homosexuality, and it's a primarily Japanese game. They've even gone on record politely saying they don't give a fuck about what we in the west have to say about the franchise, so I'm not expecting their borderline anti-gay stance to soften any time soon.

edited 1st Jul '17 9:47:34 AM by Hashil

I've mentioned this before, but it feels like Japanese pop-culture's stance on gay characters has actually regressed in the new millennium, unfortunately. In the '90s you'd get sympathetic, non-stereotypical gay characters in mainstream stuff like Evangelion and Sailor Moon, but I've heard now that's mostly underground. If a gay character who isn't a stereotype appears in a mainstream work now, it's usually as fanservice for straight men or women.

edited 1st Jul '17 9:51:47 AM by HamburgerTime

Yeah, JRPG's in general tend to play it pretty safe when it comes to stuff like this. I don't think we have any reason to assume that whoever takes over is gonna be someone who'll push boundaries and court controversy. When it comes to LGBT stuff especially, 99% of the time you're only gonna see a nuanced portrayal in niche seinen or josei manga as far as japanese pop culture is concerned.

edited 1st Jul '17 9:57:19 AM by Draghinazzo

One thing to note is that it only seems to be more regressive because the old guard is in charge more then ever even as they keep aging.

Teen and young adult japanese people are more then willing to be accepting of LGBTQ people, but thats not who is in charge of the media and entertainment industry in Japan right now.

edited 1st Jul '17 10:07:58 AM by Demongodofchaos2

Watch Symphogear

Japan's kinda going through what much of the west did in the '60s in terms of the sheer level of disconnect between generations.

I sure said that!

Well then, the solution to this is pretty darn simple: Turn the entire older generation into Soylent Green and let the new generation take the helm. Problem solved!

They'll all die eventually.

Song of the Sirens

We all die eventually

"There's not a girl alive who wouldn't be happy being called cute." ~Tamamo-no-Mae

True, but they'll probably die sooner.

Song of the Sirens