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Persona Community Thread |OT2| Burn My Thread
- Thread starter Dantis
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cj_iwakura
Member
Different playable characters, aside from Tatsuya and Maya. The others are there, but not playable.
And just get a US PSN card, for EP it's worth it.
Ha!
I genuinely think that in a lot of ways, the title makes sense. The article itself is just nonsense, because they draw direct comparisons.
There's a lot of new major/playable characters in EP who were previously minor. Bafou and Katsuya are among the best in the series.
Give me your analysis dantis-kun. I fucking love Buffy.
Haha, I know!
I can't help but imagine so many here being like Nanako. Such delicate sensibilities.
RoninChaos
Member
Subbing.
buddha0991
Member
P2EP has mostly different party members, but you met most of them in Innocent Sin anyways. the P2IS crew still show up in the story though.
ShmeebAlina
Member
This sounds like such a pain in the arse, plus then there'd be leftover cash, unless EP is $20...
edit: Hold up, US store has Xenogears? Hm...
cj_iwakura
Member
I'm pretty sure there's sites you can buy them from where they email you the code. And it's $9.99, I think.
Oh please, I've seen shit that'll make your head spin.
Lewd.
CrazyTank940
Member
I mean, it depends how in depth you want to look at it, right?
So you start at a very surface level. Buffy is, in essence, a story about a group of teenagers who form an in-school investigation team to investigate supernatural goings-on, whilst juggling their day-to-day lives. The same can be said for Persona.
And then you look at the tone of the show: Buffy is funny, it has action, it has drama, , it has (Lite) horror, and the setting and structure very much caters to that. Again, the same can be said of Persona. It's this combination of something very down to Earth, and very memorable for virtually everyone who is going to watch the show/play the game; combined with something completely outlandish and supernatural that makes both Buffy and Persona work.
If Buffy wants to devote an episode to a giant praying mantis that's eating people, it can, because within the confines of the universe, it works. But then, if it wants a more serious scene involving the relationships between the characters, then it can do that too, because of the high school setting. And again, the same applies to Persona.
I think basically, they both follow the same concept, and weirdly, in both cases it's a concept that kind of isn't done elsewhere. People love to say "Oh, Persona is just typical anime tropes", but you know how many games are actually like Persona 3 and 4? Fucking none. If there were, I would play them, but there aren't.
I'd actually written a lot more about this, but I was rambling so I deleted it. The short version of it is that I feel that there are a lot of similarities.
Young Magus
Junior Member
There are a few. But they're not stuff made by companies like Gust. Nor are they Idea Factory shit games either. >_>
cj_iwakura
Member
Why stop at 3 and 4? There's no games quite like 1 or 2 either. At the time, I'd never seen a JRPG where you could use guns and swords with a modern day setting based around high school students.
In the sense of games that are often called anime, but don't use any of the typical anime tropes.
One of my favorite games (Xenogears) frequently gets that too, but its story is more in line with stuff like Arthur C Clark than anime.
Modern day settings are such untapped potential for roleplaying games. Be then in real life or a fictionalized version of it.
cj_iwakura
Member
I honestly believe the closest thing in terms of modern and occult sensibilities is the Shadow Hearts series.
Sure, this is true. But my thing was more the Buffy comparison.
To a large extent, the story that Persona 1 and 2 tells is just a very interesting JRPG story.
You would never normally get me to play a game that consisted of socialising with your friends, and you would never normally get me to watch a show about a girl at high-school who used to be cool but now hangs out with the outcasts.
And yet I play Persona and I watch Buffy, Their settings and executions offer them an unusual accessibility. Both are very much more than the sum of their parts.
I still have the second one, and haven't even touched it.
cj_iwakura
Member
That's really simplifying things. You could say that about P3 and P4 too.
And Shadow Hearts 2 is AMAZING. Go play it now.
I'll wait.
Not really. Everything I said about Persona 3 and 4 doesn't apply to Persona 1 and 2. None of it is believable, and there's no separation. It is literally a supernatural story that revolves around high school students. Their role within the world is superficial. It's neat, but ultimately meaningless.
Imagine that the Persona 2 characters are soldiers, rather than students. What has changed?
Now imagine the same for Persona 4.
And yes, I really should play Shadow Hearts.
...this is the stupidest comparison you've ever made, Dantis. Holy shit.
cj_iwakura
Member
I don't get how you say that. Everything the characters in P2 goes through revolves around Sumaru City, and it's full of locations and characters that revolve around the PCs. Heck, P2 arguably has more NPCs of note than P3 and P4 did, when you factor in the rumormongers and the Masquerade and their impact on the story.
It all begins because of a rumor spread at Seven Sisters high, no less. Your comparison makes no sense at all.
It really isn't. It's absolutely true.
I think you're missing the point. The fact that they're students is arbitrary.
Interesting point. I wouldn't say it would work in either game, however the characters being high school students in Persona 2: Innocent Sin certainly isn't as ingrained into the story and mechanics as Persona 4. I think this is what makes the Eternal Punishment cast more interesting to me (when looking at the series as a whole).
No. Really. It's not. The entire plot of Persona 2 is about the fact that it's normal students who have gotten in something over their head. Just like Persona 4.
Yeah, the cast of Eternal Punishment being adults and somewhat more experienced is what sets it apart from Innocent Sin. It's reflected in every aspect of the story. If the characters were trained soliders, then there wouldn't be a story.
cj_iwakura
Member
Their being students is absolutely crucial to Innocent Sin. The rumors spread about the emblems and the conflicts between Seven Sisters and Kasugayama, to name a few.
IS revolves around high school students, EP revolves around adults.
Ha!
No it isn't. At all.
Again, superficial. These are not key things. They are interchangable. The fact that people's faces are melting and the Joker rumour is what kicks everything off. The link to the school is arbitrary.
Persona 3 and 4 rely heavily on the fact that the social stuff takes place in a school.
This is true as well. Because of the nature of Persona 3/4's systems, though, it does put more of an emphasis on school life than Persona 2 does, making it more superficial in the latter's case. Though, I can't really agree with the fact that them being high school students in P2:IS is completely unimportant because many of the game's major themes revolve around that.
I'm comparing it to Persona 4; not just on its own. The fact that the casts are predominantly high school students is important in all of the games except for P2:EP, of course.
buddha0991
Member
Not even touching this argument but I will do this.
*Bops Dantis*
*Bops Dantis*
cj_iwakura
Member
I'd love to hear what you think the game IS about then. Sometimes I wonder if you even played the game, or just read a summary somewhere.
Perhaps instead of dragging this entire thread down with an illogical fallacy, you can try providing a counter example to refute my point, as I did for yours. Because your original point was one of the dumbest fucking things I've ever heard come out of your mouth.
Yeah, P3 and P4's systems do a good job helping the story in that respects. In contrast to P2 which takes place over a few days.
buddha0991
Member
Again, I don't even want to bother to counter argue with that stupidity. I can't even process it. Damn it Dantis, why you so Dantis?
cj_iwakura
Member
Perhaps instead of dragging this entire thread down with an illogical fallacy, you can try providing a counter example to refute my point. Because your original point was one of the dumbest fucking things I've ever heard come out of your mouth.
Yeah, P3 and P4's systems do a good job helping the story in that respects. In contrast to P2 which takes place over a few days.
One thing I'll say about P3 and P4, it does a better job of focusing on the core cast, while P2 is more about a big picture. It hardly neglects the core characters, but you do get the feeling they're very small cogs in an impossibly huge machine.
Heyo_Rockbreaker
Member
Well, this was a nice week. I leveled up some S-Links, increased my knowledge stat, and in the of my absence of creeping, my GAF account got activated. Nice to formally say hello to you guys! Hopefully I can contribute some to the discussions that you guys have in this thread.
From a characterization standpoint it makes all the difference. The group is ultimately a bunch of kids that get stuck in much much much much much much worse shit than they could possibly imagine. They have no experience with the trials and tragedies that regularly happen to a soldier; They have to grapple with death for the first time, they have to learn to make it on their own in a world that's suddenly become extremely dangerous and unpredictable, they're still grappling with problems that most adults would have gotten past or at least pushed to the back of their head, their childhoods are still fresh in their minds and they grapple with having to face the consequences of their actions when they never had to deal with them in earnest. You could swap around the occupations if you really wanted to, but the game feels a lot like a coming-of-age story, and making them adults of any kind would fundamentally change that dynamic.
And hullo tharr.
Perhaps instead of dragging this entire thread down with an illogical fallacy, you can try providing a counter example to refute my point, as I did for yours. Because your original point was one of the dumbest fucking things I've ever heard come out of your mouth.
ShmeebAlina
Member
Ah so it is, and Xenogears is too. Both that and EP for roughly £12 sounds like a good deal to me. Will definitely look into it when I actually have time to play them.
Perhaps instead of dragging this entire thread down with an illogical fallacy, you can try providing a counter example to refute my point. Because your original point was one of the dumbest fucking things I've ever heard come out of your mouth.
Let's say that IS takes place in a military camp of some manner. Instead of a school emblem, it's a military emblem. Hanya can be some kind of military head, as opposed to a headmaster. The students are soldiers. Maya is still a reporter. Etc. etc. etc.
The story still fits. The actual parts that matter in Persona 1 and 2 relate to the events surrounding the characters and their pasts. The school is a setting, and their role as students is arbitrary.
Persona 2 is about the past coming back to haunt you. The entire game revolves around an innocent mistake in youth that blew up to gigantic proportions. There's no indication that they're in over their heads until their shadows show up, and even then they handle it pretty darn well. The idea that the core plot of the game is 'kids in over their heads' is hilarious to me.
What's even more hilarious is that kids in over their heads if they were soldiers would actually really work. Because of war and the like. Funny, that.
cj_iwakura
Member
Just quit while you're ahead, this makes it sound more and more like you have no idea what IS is about. Eikichi is the leader of a high school gang. Lisa is a member of an idol group. Tatsuya is a student determining his future in life. Yukino is a reporter who also attended the same school.
Do yourself a favor and stick to talking about games you understand.
buddha0991
Member
might want to spoiler tag that
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