God, Persona 1/2/2.5 elitists are the worst kinds of people, maybe even worse than SMT elitists. There's this FB page that shits on the people whose first Persona game is 4 or 5. Let people have fun, and don't be salty that dated games are dated.
Almost all of the social links in Persona 3 and Persona 4 relate to the game's themes, actually. Kenji stands out, because he's one of the few characters in Persona 3 whose social link doesn't relate to the theme of death, or trying to find a purpose within life. It's what makes Junpei's social link in Persona 3 Portable a whole lot better.
Some examines from Persona 4, and how they relate to the theme of truth:
Yosuke's social link deals with the truth of his resentment over living in a small town
and his secret jealousy over the protagonist
Yukiko's social link deals with the truth over how she really feels about the Amagi Inn
Hisano Kuroda's social link deals with the truth of aging (P4's theme), and the nature of transition that the Death Arcana represents.
Ai Ebihara's social link deals with the truth
about her past
while dealing with the two-faced nature that the Moon Arcana represents.
I'm only a little bit less then half way through, but Persona 5 already seems to continue this trend. Each confident is strongly associated with the main theme of the game, as well as the respective arcana. Tae Takemi's in particular, I really like.
Guys I never argued that none of them relate in great ways to their core themes. P3 Sun is a great link that does that for example. That doesn't change that both P3 and P4 have lots of stories that don't relate to the core theme in a meaningful and interesting way(that doesn't mean they're not interesting by themselves).
Take the elementary school kid from P3. Or in P5 every Mementos side quest is another take on the being chained thing. Compare to that the sidequest In P4. No competition. There are enough examples of that and that makes both games less coherent than Persona 5. Which is the only thing really that I've been saying which I think is pretty matter of fact.
Don't take that as P3 and P4 are noncoherent little pieces of shits as games. Lol again should be more a testament to the writers getting better at specifically that thing.
God, Persona 1/2/2.5 elitists are the worst kinds of people, maybe even worse than SMT elitists. There's this FB page that shits on the people whose first Persona game is 4 or 5. Let people have fun, and don't be salty that dated games are dated.
Guys I never argued that none of them relate in great ways to their core themes. P3 Sun is a great link that does that for example. That doesn't change that both P3 and P4 have lots of stories that don't relate to the core theme in a meaningful and interesting way(that doesn't mean they're not interesting by themselves). Take the elementary school kid from P3. Or in P5 every Mementos side quest is another take on the being chained thing. Compare to that the sidequest In P4. No competition. There are enough examples of that and that makes both games less coherent than Persona 5. Which is the only thing really that I've been saying which I think is pretty matter of fact.
Don't take that as P3 and P4 are noncoherent little pieces of shits as games. Lol
We'll have to agree to disagree then. Part of what makes Persona 3 so interesting to me is because of how well it's central theme resonates across almost every event and story that happens in the game.
Although I feel that Persona 5 has actually managed to surprass Persona 3 in this regard, so...
... also you're just asking me to write an entire paragraph on how Maiko's story relates to the theme of death, aren't you?
We'll have to agree to disagree then. Part of what makes Persona 3 so interesting to me is because of how well it's central theme resonates across almost every event and story that happens in the game.
Although I feel that Persona 5 has actually managed to surprass Persona 3 in this regard, so...
... also you're just asking me to write an entire paragraph on how Maiko's story relates to the theme of death, aren't you?
You can write that but I can write an entire paragraph about how Kenji ties into the theme too. It's just at some point you can concede anything to memento mori. I could argue the whole of P4 and P5 under that lens. What matters is in what ways it happens and what perspective any given story gives on the theme.
I can pretty much imagine what your angle will be.
It also doesn't really change that P5 does it better, more strongly and elegantly, because surprise surprise people get better at their jobs after doing it for 3.5 games(counting P3P and P4 as 0.25 each). Thus it's a more coherent game than P3 and P4.
Also why are we arguing then and where is the disagreement?
You already conceded that things like Kenji don't really fit and that P5 managed to surpass it + I haven't seen an argument about how P4 sidequest tie meaningfully into the truth theme. P4 Hermit is another one.
It seems like we're actually in agreement and you're maybe thinking about my statements too negatively. Just because I feel like it might be important to mention I've been the guy that has been saying for months now I would not be surprised that people might still end up preferring P3 or P4 because P5 being a better game by any reasonable measure does not make it automatically a more resonating game.
You can write that but I can write an entire paragraph about how Kenji ties into the theme too.
I can pretty much imagine what your angle will be.
It also doesn't really change that P5 does it better, more strongly and elegantly, because surprise surprise people get better at their jobs after doing it for 3.5 games(counting P3P and P4 as 0.25 each). Thus it's a more coherent game than P3 and P4.
Also why are we arguing then and where is the disagreement?
You already conceded that things like Kenji don't really fit and that P5 managed to surpass it + I haven't seen an argument about how P4 sidequest tie meaningfully into the truth theme. P4 Hermit is another one.
It seems like we're actually in agreement and you're maybe thinking about my statements too negatively. Just because I feel like it might be important to mention I've been the guy that has been saying for months now I would not be surprised that people might still end up preferring P3 or P4 because P5 being a better game by any reasonable measure does not make it automatically a more resonating game.
The Fox social link is actually an interesting one, as it relates pretty well to the concept of the Hermit arcana; that is, staying out of the spotlight and supporting people from the sidelines. It's probably the weakest in regards to the theme of truth tho.
I could write an entire paragraph about Kenji's social link too. I won't tho, because it's craaaaap. =p
And yes, there's some degree of agreement there. I mainly just took issue with how you seemed to be downplaying P3 and P4's narrative. There's little argument that Persona 5 is the accumulation of everything they learned in their previous games, applied masterfully across the board. Once I've finished the game, and it's been out for awhile, I'd like to go and analyze all the different themes of the game's confidants. They are downright fantastic.
The Fox social link is actually an interesting one, as it relates pretty well to the concept of the Hermit arcana; that is, staying out of the spotlight and supporting people from the sidelines. It's probably the weakest in regards to the theme of truth tho.
I could write an entire paragraph about Kenji's social link too. I won't tho, because it's craaaaap. =p
And yes, there's some degree of agreement there. I mainly just took issue with how you seem to be downplaying P3 and P4's narrative. There's little argument that Persona 5 is the accumulation of everything they learned in their previous games, applied masterfully across the board. Once I've finished the game, and it's been out for awhile, I'd like to go and analyze all the different themes of the game's confidants. They are downright fantastic.
I'm not talking about how they relate to their arcana. That I wouldn't disagree with that the series does well overall. I've only been referring to stories relating to the games main themes. Again you seem to be taking my comments as too negatively as I said.
You're aware we're talking about Persona and comparing Persona games against each other. I don't see how coming to the conclusion that a sequel in a fantastic series that happens to do lot of things better than it's predecessor titles is downplaying those(also mind you a sequel that is 8 years removed).
Acknowledging that Persona 5 has better writing shouldn't diminish P4 nor P3 nor should it be confused with making it automatically a game that would resonate more with everyone.
I'm not talking about how they relate to their arcana. That I wouldn't disagree with that the series does well overall. I've only been referring to stories relating to the games main themes. Again you seem to be taking my comments as too negatively as I said.
You're aware we're talking about Persona and comparing Persona games against each other. I don't see how coming to the conclusion that a sequel in a fantastic series that happens to do lot of things better than it's predecessor titles is downplaying those(also mind you a sequel that is 8 years removed).
Acknowledging that Persona 5 has better writing shouldn't diminish P4 nor P3 nor should it be confused with making it automatically a game that might resonate more with someone.
The only thing I am taking negatively is your increasing attempts to shove this narrative down my throat. Which is incredibly rude and disrespectful, as I was actually acknowledging one of your own points there as valid. Not trying to discredit you there by bringing up the arcana.
The only thing I am taking negatively is your increasing attempts to shove this narrative down my throat. Which is incredibly rude and disrespectful, as I was actually acknowledging one of your own points there as valid. Not trying to discredit you there by bringing up the arcana.
Sorry if that came over in that way not my intention.
I'm just generally confused about what points we're actually arguing right now and I'm not trying to shove a narrative down your throat I'm basically telling you how I interpreted your posts so you have perspective and can jump in and correct me on the points I misunderstood. That's why I used words like "seem" and such.
To me at this point it still isn't actually very clear in what way you're disagreeing with my statements given that all the points around the disagreement we actually seem to be in agreement with leaving just the notion of an argument motivated by a misinterpretation of my feelings about P3/P4 which I already tried to dissolve.
Also I really mean no offense. English is not my mother tongue so if I unintentionally am awkward expressing things I'm sorry.
Sorry if that came over in that way not my intention.
I'm just generally confused about what points we're actually arguing right now and I'm not trying to shove a narrative down your throat I'm basically telling you how I interpreted your posts so you have perspective and can jump in and correct me on the points I misunderstood. That's why I used words like "seem" and such.
To me at this point it still isn't actually very clear in what way you're disagreeing with my statements given that all the points around the disagreement we actually seem to be in agreement with leaving just the notion of an argument motivated by a misinterpretation of my feelings about P3/P4 which I already tried to dissolve.
A gameplay system fitting with the theme doesn't change that narratively P3 and P4 have a lot of stuff that is very much side story fluff not related to its core themes.
... this one. Specifically, the idea that a lot of the side story stuff in Persona 3 and Persona 4 doesn't relate to the core theme. Unless you're considering something like Elizabeth's requests and the like as "side story", then I very much disagree and find most of it is thematically appropriate in some way.
The rest of it was just me commenting on the specifics of one theme or another, such as expanding on how the Fox social link relates to it's Arcana, even if it's not the strongest in regards to Persona 4's main theme of seeking out the truth.
My apologizes if it seems like I was arguing with you on everything, as that wasn't my intent. I forgot English wasn't your first language.
Semi-related, but if you enjoy the themes of Persona 3 and Persona 4, I'd recommend reading some of Nietzsche's works. Persona 3 cribs a lot from Thus Spoke Zarathustra, while Persona 4 seems to take it's themes from one of his esseys: On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense. Persona 5 also seems to have heavy Nietzschean influences, but I'll save that for later to avoid accidentally spoiling stuff from the game.
I think the only point I was actually arguing was...
... this one. Specifically, the idea that a lot of the side story stuff in Persona 3 and Persona 4 doesn't relate to the core theme. Unless you're considering something like Elizabeth's requests and the like as "side story", then I very much disagree and find most of it is thematically appropriate in some way.
The rest of it was just me commenting on the specifics of one theme or another, such as expanding on how the Fox social link relates to it's Arcana, even if it's not the strongest in regards to Persona 4's main theme of seeking out the truth.
My apologizes if it seems like I was arguing with you on everything, as that wasn't my intent. I forgot English wasn't your first language.
Semi-related, but if you enjoy the themes of Persona 3 and Persona 4, I'd recommend reading some of Nietzsche's works. Persona 3 cribs a lot from Thus Spoke Zarathustra, while Persona 4 seems to take it's themes from one of his esseys: On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense. Persona 5 also seems to have heavy Nietzschean influences, but I'll save that for later to avoid accidentally spoiling stuff from the game.
I think this is where the confusion comes from you concede the fox, Kenji, Liz/MaggieP that's what I call her) and I assume you would also concede the Persona 4 side quest in relation to the core themes?
I mean I also would kind of extend the not super strong relevance in regards to P3 memento mori beyond the most superficial level to the food guy Slink, French exchange student, the hermit Slink, student council guy, Tanaka and elementary school girl. That is not an insignificant amount of content. (That doesn't make those stories boring or bad, except for Kenji that story is trash , they just don't reinforce the main theme in the same way almost everything in Persona 5 does.)
Maybe it also helps saying that I consider Sun and the monk Slink in P3 as great storylines reinforcing the main theme Aegis too.
P4 of course does it better than P3 and again to my original statement P5 does it better than both of them.
Once you finish the game please do join the spoiler discussion I too would love to have more indepth discussion breaking down each link and in what way they relate to the the main themes and what perspective they shine on it.
Of course in case you feel I'm still wrong I'd love to read indepth stuff on how the links listed do contextualize/showcase memento mori/or seeking the truth in interesting ways and reinforce it throughout those games.
A couple of weird things that happened to me tonight:
- I did a melee attack on an enemy that was Shocked in order to get a Technical Attack, and I got Shocked! So be careful when going for those! Morgana did not cover this in the tutorial. :O
- I discovered that you can sleep in the bed of the prison cell in the Velvet Room. I won't spoil what happens, but it's pretty weird and I wonder if it ties into the plot later in the game.
So does anyone know how many other status effects can be transferred by a melee attack in this way? Or is Shock a special one because it's electricity?
So does anyone know how many other status effects can be transferred by a melee attack in this way? Or is Shock a special one because it's electricity?
Thanks. I'd read it, but overlooked that part. I just noticed that they got rid of a Poisoned effect in this game. I guess Burn takes its place as an ongoing damage ailment.
You can get caught in a infinite Summon troll by that horse Persona in P5.... Always make sure Ryuji has SP when that horse jerk comes around....
I also got faced with my 1st hostage situation of a demon actually holding Ryuji hostage. I was like... "Uh...?" I tried to work with it.... but he killed beat up Ryuji regardless.
P5's writing is... good? I'm not convinced it beats the best writing in P3P and P4 though. Maybe it matches it, I dunno.
The writing is more grounded, but it's no where near as funny, and in my opinion a lot less emotional. Makoto is the only character I feel for so far (and Hifumi, I guess?), whereas I felt sympathetic to pretty much everyone in P4.
On top of that, the more emotional scenes that are in there are in the Metaverse, where nothing is remotely grounded, so that positive becomes kind of void in these situations.
The other thing is that I feel like the characters are a lot less likeable. As a group, I'm really enjoying them, but I'm not sure which characters I particularly like individually. Maybe Yusuke? None of them are overly nice, and all of them are definitely flawed.
I think that saying that P5's writing is objectively better is to reduce what P4 does well, and what P5 does not so well.
God, Persona 1/2/2.5 elitists are the worst kinds of people, maybe even worse than SMT elitists. There's this FB page that shits on the people whose first Persona game is 4 or 5. Let people have fun, and don't be salty that dated games are dated.
The games are still fantastic, some aspects are dated sure (P1 in particular), but they stand out as great. As an SMT fan, I understand the frustration people feel when the series roots gets ignored, because they're equally good. Though, I think people shitting on other people for their first game in the series or not having the means or knowledge to go back are dumb. Though I like Persona more than SMT and 4G was my favorite game of all time prior to P5.
P5's writing is... good? I'm not convinced it beats the best writing in P3P and P4 though. Maybe it matches it, I dunno.
The writing is more grounded, but it's no where near as funny, and in my opinion a lot less emotional. Makoto is the only character I feel for so far (and Hifumi, I guess?), whereas I felt sympathetic to pretty much everyone in P4.
On top of that, the more emotional scenes that are in there are in the Metaverse, where nothing is remotely grounded, so that positive becomes kind of void in these situations.
The other thing is that I feel like the characters are a lot less likeable. As a group, I'm really enjoying them, but I'm not sure which characters I particularly like individually. Maybe Yusuke? None of them are overly nice, and all of them are definitely flawed.
I think that saying that P5's writing is objectively better is to reduce what P4 does well, and what P5 does not so well.
See, for me, it took awhile for the Persona 4 cast to become sympathetic. Outside of Yukiko (who I can relate to because I'm a goofball), it didn't really hit until the later parts of the game and the story picked up. On the other hand, I've resonated with the Persona 5 cast almost immediately, especially Ann and Makoto.
(And on that note, someone on Discord just compared me with me Futaba. Well, I can't say it's entirely inaccurate... >.>)
See, for me, it took awhile for the Persona 4 cast to become sympathetic. Outside of Yukiko (who I can relate to because I'm a goofball), it didn't really hit until the later parts of the game and the story picked up. On the other hand, I've resonated with the Persona 5 cast almost immediately, especially Ann and Makoto.
(And on that note, someone on Discord just compared me with me Futaba. Well, I can't say it's entirely inaccurate... >.>)
I'm very early days in Persona 5, but I don't feel a connection with the characters as I did with Persona 3. Part of it I'm sure is the change of setting (all living together in P3), maybe part is the VA, but I hope I'll grow to feel affection for them the way I did with the P3 characters.
Part of me feels like this game is the opposite of P4, where I felt like I enjoyed the characters more in their social links more than I did in the main story. Here, I've actually found the party's social links to be a little lame and straight forward (particularly for Ann's so far, which is real goofy), but I've found their in-group dialogue to be exceedingly natural and pleasant.
The text messages, while often a bit redundant, feel especially fantastic and are a great way to pull the group together. So far, it feels like there's more of a group dynamic in this game, as opposed to 3's "everyone has their own shit to deal with" and 4's "Everyone is connected through Yu".
So is Atlus ever going to put the themes they released for a single day then took down or are we just getting Anne and that's that? Cause I missed the Yusuke one and really want it.
So is Atlus ever going to put the themes they released for a single day then took down or are we just getting Anne and that's that? Cause I missed the Yusuke one and really want it.
The other thing is that I feel like the characters are a lot less likeable. As a group, I'm really enjoying them, but I'm not sure which characters I particularly like individually. Maybe Yusuke? None of them are overly nice, and all of them are definitely flawed.
P5's writing is... good? I'm not convinced it beats the best writing in P3P and P4 though. Maybe it matches it, I dunno.
The writing is more grounded, but it's no where near as funny, and in my opinion a lot less emotional. Makoto is the only character I feel for so far (and Hifumi, I guess?), whereas I felt sympathetic to pretty much everyone in P4.
On top of that, the more emotional scenes that are in there are in the Metaverse, where nothing is remotely grounded, so that positive becomes kind of void in these situations.
The other thing is that I feel like the characters are a lot less likeable. As a group, I'm really enjoying them, but I'm not sure which characters I particularly like individually. Maybe Yusuke? None of them are overly nice, and all of them are definitely flawed.
I think that saying that P5's writing is objectively better is to reduce what P4 does well, and what P5 does not so well.
After grinding to level 10, I'm back in the first Palace. Got up to
where those scythes are, started the battle with the Keymaster and my MC got one-shotted.
This game is just punishing on Hard, especially without the ability to save anywhere in the dungeon.
Also, I only have 5 days left and am starting to feel like...maybe this game wasn't meant to be played on Hard the first time through? I have absolutely no time for SLinks or side activities. Maybe I just suck at this game more than I want to admit.
btw, is there any way to set the party's battle order?
After grinding to level 10, I'm back in the first Palace. Got up to
where those scythes are, started the battle with the Keymaster and my MC got one-shotted.
This game is just punishing on Hard, especially without the ability to save anywhere in the dungeon.
Also, I only have 5 days left and am starting to feel like...maybe this game wasn't meant to be played on Hard the first time through? I have absolutely no time for SLinks or side activities. Maybe I just suck at this game more than I want to admit.
btw, is there any way to set the party's battle order?
It's definitely a difficult game on hard, and as usual for a MegaTen game the beginning is especially punishing. Backtrack to the save rooms often, and learn to negotiate your way out of a fight, ideally in favor of money or items.
Also, going to warn you of this ahead of time:
You actually only have three days left. Sending the calling card to fight the boss takes a day up, and you enter in the dungeon the following day. If you send the calling card with one day remaining on the clock, you will fail.
I'm on the 4th dungeon, and while the regular encounters have gotten manageable, the mini-bosses and more powerful enemies are still quite the challenge.
...but why mention that there's one thing you really like about P5's cast without saying what it is? I'm genuinely curious, and the pants thing was just a dumb joke. If you don't want to get into it though, that's your prerogative.
I haven't had much time to play, so I just finished the second dungeon tonight. I really, really appreciate how much better the dungeons are this go around. I mean, I had fun prowling around Tartarus and the TV World hunting enemies, but this is so much better. There are some classic phantom thief moments in the dungeons that I hadn't expected;I was expecting the phantom thief motif to only really apply to the crews' outfits, and not action sequences.
The winter uniforms are pretty classy. However, the summer uniforms include a somewhat ugly polo shirt. Making a polo shirt fashionable can be difficult.
It's definitely a difficult game on hard, and as usual for a MegaTen game the beginning is especially punishing. Backtrack to the save rooms often, and learn to negotiate your way out of a fight, ideally in favor of money or items.
Also, going to warn you of this ahead of time:
You actually only have three days left. Sending the calling card to fight the boss takes a day up, and you enter in the dungeon the following day. If you send the calling card with one day remaining on the clock, you will fail.
Ah, thanks for that tip. Is that what "Treasure Room deadline" is referring to on the calendar?
And yeah...I don't have an issue with the difficulty on its own. I like that challenge in the SMT games, but in those games the non-combat activities and story take a backseat. In this game however I feel like the difficulty level is fighting the narrative elements for time. Maybe that becomes less so later on in the game, and maybe it's because I'm still a bit shellshocked from expecting a P3 experience and getting Nocturne instead.
Ah, thanks for that tip. Is that what "Treasure Room deadline" is referring to on the calendar?
And yeah...I don't have an issue with the difficulty on its own. I like that challenge in the SMT games, but in those games the non-combat activities and story take a backseat. In this game however I feel like the difficulty level is fighting the narrative elements for time. Maybe that becomes less so later on in the game, and maybe it's because I'm still a bit shellshocked from expecting a P3 experience and getting Nocturne instead.
See, for me, it took awhile for the Persona 4 cast to become sympathetic. Outside of Yukiko (who I can relate to because I'm a goofball), it didn't really hit until the later parts of the game and the story picked up. On the other hand, I've resonated with the Persona 5 cast almost immediately, especially Ann and Makoto.
(And on that note, someone on Discord just compared me with me Futaba. Well, I can't say it's entirely inaccurate... >.>)
The fact that Joker walks around school with people blatantly shunning him and assuming he's pathetic... automatically makes him awesome. Such a interesting dynamic that I can actually relate to somewhat. Not on a criminal point but walking around school and just knowing that people don't like you for incredibly stupid reasons.... is something I know all too well.
Ryuji is going through the same trash. Shunned and ignored....
...but why mention that there's one thing you really like about P5's cast without saying what it is? I'm genuinely curious, and the pants thing was just a dumb joke. If you don't want to get into it though, that's your prerogative.
I haven't had much time to play, so I just finished the second dungeon tonight. I really, really appreciate how much better the dungeons are this go around. I mean, I had fun prowling around Tartarus and the TV World hunting enemies, but this is so much better. There are some classic phantom thief moments in the dungeons that I hadn't expected;I was expecting the phantom thief motif to only really apply to the crews' outfits, and not action sequences.
I think it says a lot about my fashion sense that I unironically like their uniforms, haha.
Neat game; it was definitely worth the wait. It's funny rewatching PV03 and PV04 now, and realizing just how much they're deliberately directed as trailers, instead of just simply slapping a bunch of scenes together. That's why they were so good.
Neat game; it was definitely worth the wait. It's funny rewatching PV03 and PV04 now, and realizing just how much they're deliberately directed as trailers, instead of just simply slapping a bunch of scenes together. That's why they were so good.
I actually want to comb over the trailers because you can see a handful of things that were changed or didn't appear in the final game. PV01 in particular
shows them looking at a map of the first dungeon while in the cafe. That doesn't happen at any point in the game as far as I know.
Sure. I kinda have a duty to do so after getting a review copy, too. I don't know how interesting my views will be, especially since it'll go up some time after the actual release of the game where there are plenty of reviews up already, but I'll try.