#but it handles it's content A LOT BETTER than P4

[charles-leclerc-official]

2024 China Grand Prix Race Analysis

Here is my full analysis of the 2024 Chinese Grand prix. I already covered the sprint in a separate post here.

The important thing to keep in mind about this weekend is that the Chinese track was a very unique surface. It caused a lot of unusual grip problems for many of the top teams. I think as a whole that this race saw some outlier results as far as car behavior goes.

Table of Contents Stake - Zhou - Valtteri Ferrari - Start - Charles: his race, vs Lando - Carlos - Data Analysis Mclaren - Lando - Oscar - Data Analysis Penalties - Logan - Kevin - Daniel - Lance VCARB Aston Martin Red Bull - Checo Final Thoughts

Stake

Zhou

I usually start these with Ferrari. However this is a special occasion. So we are starting the analysis by celebrating Zhou and his performance this weekend.

This was the first Chinese Grand Prix in Formula 1 history with a Chinese driver racing on track. Zhou Guanyu made history and considering the car he's in he gave a good performance for the home crowd. Between qualifying 10th in the sprint, making some pretty good overtakes during the race, and carrying his team after Valtteri's DNF it was a pretty good weekend all around.

It was so nice to see all of the home support for Zhou. He was given an honorary spot at parc fermé after the race, and I am so glad they did something special to highlight this moment for him and the country he is representing in F1.

Zhou driving this weekend really was the highlight. This was only ever going to happen once in F1. Glad I was here to see it.

Valtteri unfortunately suffered a power unit failure and had to retire from the race. No damage to the car. This did bring out the yellow flag and a VSC. And when the marshals were unable to roll the car off the track quickly enough it upgraded to a full safety car(don’t worry we will be coming back to this)

He was looking pretty good in the car until that point, actually getting close to the points. I think we might see Stake in the points this year if they ever get their pit stops under control.

Ferrari

Ferrari's race was probably the weakest for the team so far this season. It wasn't really a surprise though. The cooler temperatures and inconsistent track surface were not ideal for the SF24.

Charles started in P6 and finished P4, Carlos started P7 and finished P5.

I do consider this not to be indicative of any downward trend for Ferrari. It was pretty predictable and it did not reveal any issues in the SF-24 we weren't already aware of (tyre warming)

Ferrari did say that they sacrificed more in qualifying in favor of a better race setup. And I don't think this was necessarily a bad idea. It's impossible to say if a different setup might have put them higher and if they have been able to defend with that setup. Going for a more race focused setup and relying on the better tyre deg to be able to allow for overtaking is a pretty good plan, especially if they didn't think they could get much more out of qualifying.

This did mean that we got to see some proper overtakes in the SF-24 from Charles and that is something we just haven't seen a lot of this season so far. So seeing how it handles in that regard was good.

So the big question is, why did Ferrari suddenly end up behind a Mclaren when Ferrari have been easily beating them all season?

Well there are a few factors:

- Ferrari struggled this weekend with grip and failed to find the best balance in the car to maximize top speeds. They did sacrifice some downforce in favor of speed during the race but I don't think it was enough. It didn't do enough to help the top speeds and it sacrificed grip so we ended up a weird middle ground that didn't optimize either problem. This track surface really made it so hard to figure out the right direction for setup.

- Mclaren(Lando) were stronger than expected. Lando was really the one pulling performance out of that car.

I will point out some key areas on this in the data analysis section as well.

Race Start

The most notable thing about Ferrari’s race was the start, when Carlos compromised his and Charles’ start by attacking right into turn 1. This forced Charles to have to defend(something he should not have to do right off the race start from his own teammate who started behind) and this resulted in them both immediately losing a place to Russell. This was a place they both had to fight to make up.

Again, this kind of thing isn’t good when compromising the results for the whole team is the result.

Footage Analysis

Just so we are clear about who is responsible for the loss of placement I want to show the footage from this start. This is from Carlos' driver cam footage as it most clearly shows what happened.

Charles starts P6 with Carlos behind him in P7. George is behind them in P8.

Into turn 1 Charles has the inside line, very clearly. Carlos has the outside line into the turn, this is fine. Charles is also clearly ahead.

Carlos pushes inside more, putting pressure on Charles. Notice how much closer Carlos got and how much space he left on the outside(another vulnerability he left open)

Charles pushes Carlos back(to defend which he has to do if attacked especially into a crowded corner like that a the race start)

Charles then took full position in front of Carlos, and this allowed George to slip past both of them on the inside line.

Because Carlos forced Charles to defend George was able to take that inside line that Charles had and passed both of them, dropping Charles and Carlos down a place.

Charles cannot defend both the outside and inside line on his own. He defended against the car that put pressure on him first. His teammate should not be the main one he has to defend team track position against.

Carlos compromised Charles' ability to defend position against George(which is the priority, he's on a rival team that is more important than racing between teammates)

Again if he is attacked Charles has to defend, why would he give up the place to the teammate he was faster than? Nothing would have happened if Carlos hadn’t pulled this move. Charles would have kept George behind and they might have been able to overtake earlier in the race and gain one more position, because they lost a full position to George this early they had to take that back before they could make progress climbing further up the field.

Carlos

This was Carlos' weakest performance so far this year. He compromised the race start for himself and Ferrari causing them both to lose placement immediately. Then he was unable to overtake. The only real overtakes he's pulled off were on cars with seriously compromised brakes.

He struggled with grip and tyres more than Charles. They both had issues in this area but it was more noticeable in his performance.

Charles finished 10.36 seconds ahead of his teammate who was directly behind him in the final 13 laps this race. And that gap can be explained by the fact Carlos was stuck behind Fernando for more laps(as well as a pit stop), however once he got into clean air he did not make up any time at all, his pace didn’t gain on Charles at all with the clean air. A gap in pace that big between teammates is concerning(at least for Carlos) It may be due to his personal choice of setup, or tyre management, or grip in the track. Given that he had more issues with grip on this track I am thinking that was a factor. He lost most of his time on turns 1, 5, 7, 8, and 10.

Edit: also Carlos did pit under normal conditions while Charles pitted under the safety car, this saved Charles some time(aprox 7-8 seconds), however the main point stands that Carlos did not make any progress closing the gap between them.

Charles

Charles' overtakes climbing up the field really saved Ferrari's race. Starting off by losing a position he climbed up places pulling some really clean overtakes and also helping his teammate through.

It was great to see him doing some overtaking in this car, he hasn't been in the position to do much of that due to track position etc in previous races. SF-24 looked good on that front in his hands.

Charles mentioned the lack of speed on straights, and this is due to the fact he wasn't able to gain on Lando in those sections(when he should have) this is due to the less than optimal downforce balance Ferrari went with this weekend(again I don't this is anything terribly concerning, this was a hard track to get that right on)

Overall Charles ran a really good race, obviously not the results he wanted but he extremely optimistic about the upgrades and that they will address some of the current limitations of the SF-24.

Data Analysis

I want to compare Charles and Lando's pace to highlight where Mclaren had the edge on Ferrari in this race. Charles was the fastest Ferrari this weekend and Lando was the fastest Mclaren.

First here is a breakdown of the fastest lap both driver's set.

Lando's straight line speed was really a big factor in keeping him ahead. That plus the fact he was consistently strong in sector 2.

And here is a look at the overall race pace between the two.

Ignore the mess in the middle, that curve is just correcting a slope for the outlier laps due to yellow flag and safety car conditions. It's not important here.

Lando had the edge on Charles almost the entire race. Until the end on the old hards.

What is important is that Lando had the pace on the new hards. Charles didn’t have the time to catch Lando once he managed to gain the places. He probably would have without the yellow flags and if track placement was better. The point being that Ferrari’s pace was off this weekend but it wasn’t as bad as it looked on track, there were other factors at play.

I think this result was a combination of a sub-optimal setup for this track on Ferrari's part on top of the fact this wasn't Ferrari’s strongest track, and Mclaren getting things right for Lando. Also some fairly solid driving from Lando.

Now I want to compare Charles' and Carlos' fastest laps and pace. This was the biggest gap in performance we've seen so far this year between the two Ferraris. Some of that I will attribute to the fact this track was weird as far as track surface goes, but such a big difference between teammates like this means it wasn't just the car or the track surface. While both were not great with grip or setup this weekend one outperformed the other by a decent margin.

Here is a look at Charles' and Carlos' fastest laps.

Charles having better straight line speed consistently and putting in a strong sector three is what put him ahead of Carlos and kept him there for the entire race.

Now here is the full race pace.

Again remember to ignore the weird lines in the middle that is just the graphing tool not able to create a good slope for all the safety car laps.

But you can see that Charles' pace was better the entire race, on both the medium and the hard tyres.

I don't think there was a lot more to get out of this weekend for Ferrari. It's possible managing the pits a little differently would have gotten Charles up to third but with the yellow flag chaos It was really difficult to gauge in real time when the best time to pit was. I think the pit management was good. We can look back and go "oh we could have gained a place here" So I have no issues there.

Hopefully that clears up some questions about Ferrari's overall race and car performance this weekend.

Overall this was still decent points for the constructors’ and we saw some good racing from Charles. I do fully believe we will be seeing Ferrari come back stronger in Miami.

Mclaren

Why was Mclaren, specifically Lando, so strong this weekend?

Well it's unclear.

They have had the clear #3 car so far this season. So I think that it's a combination of this not being a strong track for Ferrari and some conditions that favored their car that put them ahead.

No one, not even Mclaren expected this so I really think it seems like it comes down to this track being better for them than expected and Lando specifically being tuned into the track. Like after practice Lando was not feeling confident(his words) and the team were also not making any promises. I don’t think they were sandbagging, I think this genuinely all came together for them. 

Now it’s clear that Lando would have finished P3 behind Checo if it were not for the luck/strategy(a little of both they timed that well, but also had to get lucky with Red Bull timing) with the pits. Red Bull lost track position to Lando when they pitted Checo and they were unable to take it back. If Red Bull had timed their stop better Lando would have been P3 because his pace was not going to catch Checo if he was ahead.

So the P2 is due to some good driving on Lando’s part and Red Bull giving up track position and failing to recover it.

Oscar struggled more on this track. However he wasn't far outside where we've seen him in other races and for Mclaren in general. So he wasn’t under-performing, Lando was over performing. I also want to note that Oscar was slightly damaged during the crash between Lance and Dani, Dani's front wing tapped the rear of his car and there may have been a small amount of damage, important to note as he may have been compromised on pace due to this.

Data Analysis

Comparison of Lando and Checo’s pace

The first half of the race isn’t as important, the graph is very odd in the middle due to all of the outlier laps caused by the yellow flags, so that is not important. What I want to point out is that Lando was on the same pace as Checo(or slightly better) for those first 6 laps after the race started again when all the yellow flags were done, but after that Checo was faster until the end of the race. Not enough to catch Lando, but enough that Lando would not have been able to pass him if he hadn’t had track position.

Now here is a quick look at Lando and Oscar's pace.

There isn't a ton to dissect here, Lando was faster the entire race, by a pretty big margin on the hards especially. Given that a lot of drivers this race had issues managing deg on the hards I think that second stint gap really came down to tyre management, an area where Oscar is still improving.

Here is a look at their fastest laps to really see where Lando was making those bigger gains and where Oscar was struggling.

One thing that I find interesting is that Oscar's fastest lap had a section of DRS, Lando's didn't and Lando was still a full second faster. Just a really solid lap from Lando all around. His strength in sector 2 is what really gave him an edge all race.

Overall this was Mclaren’s best finish, but their strongest weekend overall so far this season is still Australia(because both drivers had a strong finish not just one)

Penalties and Incidents

Welcome to the “everyone gets a penalty!” section of the analysis. This was a mess to unravel. After reviewing the footage and reading the stewards judgements as well as the driver and teams statements I have come to a lot of the same conclusions as the stewards. 

The middle of this race was a mess. One yellow flag had just ended before another had to be brought out again. 

There were two yellow flags this race, the first after Valtteri DNF'ed and the second due to multiple incidents right after the end of the first yellow flag. 

My biggest critique is that the VSC was deployed weirdly late. They seemed about 10 to 20 seconds off in calling for one, and that is concerning. A driver on the side of the track is at risk, so it’s important to make sure a race is slowed immediately.

Logan: overtook under safety car conditions after the VSC was enacted when Valtteri’s power unit failed. Nico was coming out of the pitlane as Logan was coming down the straight, Nico managed to barely exit in front of Logan, but Logan’s faster momentum into turn 1 put him ahead of Nico, and thus he overtook under a yellow flag. Time penalty and license points is an appropriate penalty. I have no idea why his team didn’t get him to slow down more. They said they missed Nico, which I really don't know how. Lack of track observation. This was a failure of the team as much as it was sloppy on Logan's part. I think he would have slowed more had the team actually noticed this sooner.

Kevin: Kevin made contact with Yuki going out of turn 6 right after the race restart. He broke late and made contact with Yuki’s rear wheel and this led to a tyre puncture. Yuki had to retire from the race. Kevin was clearly at fault here, he failed to brake when catching Yuki.

Daniel: Dani was penalized for overtaking under a yellow flag and a safety car. He did this deliberately because Nico took a place from him and he thought it was okay to take that spot back. However he should have waited for the race to resume under green light conditions before doing that. He knows better. What happened with Nico is a little murky as far as why he took a position and why he did not get penalized. I think it's because it was right before the safety car but the FIA reporting on that isn't clear.

Lance: At turn 14 Lance rear ended Daniel after the first safety car had ended they were waiting on Max to restart the race. Max was leading the race and setting the pace until proper racing speeds could resume. Lance is at fault here, it’s that simple. This was seriously negligent driving on his part. I really have no idea what he was doing but no competent driver does this. I will agree with Oscar in the sentiment that everyone was crowded together, only one person crashed into another car in that scenario. 

“Yes, but not everyone decided to crash into each other.” - Oscar 

Lance argued that it was the concertina effect, and said the stewards should account for that. This is a weak argument at best. The concertina effect is to describe car behavior on track, it isn’t an excuse. Going into a corner a driver who is supposedly one of the best in the world should know how to account for that effect. The fact is that he was going too fast into that corner and not paying attention to the car in front of him.  

Furthermore his lack of accountability and attempts to blame everyone but himself for the incident is not a good look. He is very clearly in the wrong here. I think that the penalty he received might be on the gentle side of things as well. Personally I would have liked to see a 20 second time penalty for that, or a grid penalty. 

I agree with Dani’s statement that Lance should have only been paying attention to the car in front of him. He clearly wasn’t doing that, or at least not well enough. He appears to be looking at Max and Oscar waiting for Max to restart the race. But that is not where he should have been looking. Additionally Dani pointed out that Lance’s speed there was too much, he put half his car under Dani, that’s not the concertina effect, that is going too fast. 

Dani of course is heated, and I feel that for him, he DNF'ed because of the carelessness of another driver through no real fault of his own. I don’t think continuing to argue is good on either side, but he has every right to be mad, especially when the offending driver refuses to admit his fault. Two DNFs in a row is hard for any driver. Lance really cost him a lot. 

This isn’t just sloppy driving on Lance’s part, it's outright negligent.

VCARB

Quick note about VCARB. Dani was on track for his best performance all year this weekend. Which makes the DNF all the more upsetting. Yuki struggled with this track all weekend, seems he was not feeling this track or that car. I will say his performance seems like an anomaly compared with the rest of his season so far so I don’t think it’s cause for concern for future races. 

VCARB as a team were obviously the worst off this weekend with both driver’s DNF'ing at no fault of their own.

Aston Martin

I already covered Lance, so I want to just quickly mention that Fernando was on fire this weekend. He was defending, and had that car in places it really had no business being. His recovery from the close spin, the defending, the overtakes. He really is just continuing to show his skill and experience, and he overall had one of the best drives of the entire race.

Red Bull

Max won the race, and it was a pretty clean race for him, which is amusing due to the utter chaos happening behind him. First time he has won at this track, so that is another track conquered by Max. Well done Max!

Sergio

Checo’s race wasn’t actually that bad. He was comfortably in P2 until Red Bull gave up track position and he wasn’t able to recover the place from Lando. I already compared the pace between those two. But I think it’s pretty clear that he would have been P2 were it not for the pits. If he has position he has the pace to keep the spot. However he does not have the same pace Max has in the RB20 to take lost positions back if the car ahead has similar pace. 

I also want to note here that there were a few corners where it was pointed out that Alpine and Williams were outperforming Ferrari on. However taking a look at the data it wasn’t just Ferrari. Pierre was literally faster than Max in that corner consistently. What this tells me is that something about the unusual grip of this track was not suited to any of the fastest cars. So it’s not a Ferrari problem, or a Red Bull problem, it’s just highlighting an unusual quirk of the track that no one really figured out this weekend.

Here is a fastest lap comparison of Pierre and Max. Obviously Max is the best driver in the best car, so I think this just highlights my point about certain corners especially turns 1, 2, and 3. There was something off there that gave the edge to some midfield cars are far as grip goes. All top cars struggled for speed on those turns and I think it was due to weird track surface conditions.

Final Thoughts

This was the most chaotic race of the season. Hopefully we have a penalty free race next time.

See you when I return with Miami GP analysis!

[p5x-theories]

How would a "full deck" of Social Links work?

If they actually did decide to go for a plan of having a huge cast themed around the entire Tarot deck it would probably make the most sense for the Major Arcana to be reserved for the important story characters, while the Phantom Idol/Confidant-only characters would use the Minor Arcana.  This would make the distinction between main and side content clear.

Having 20 story party members might seem like a lot, but this is a live service game that ideally will keep going for years, and I’ve theorized that instead of wrapping up in winter the story will keep going.  If the plan is to fully cover Wonder’s final two years of high school 20 party members seems about right or maybe a little bit short (time to break out the alternative decks?)

It would also be neat to follow the Fool’s Journey more closely than in previous games and have the numbers of the Arcana be the introduction order of the characters.  I don’t know if they’d actually do this or if they’ve even planned that far ahead, but it would be cool to watch unfold if they did pull it off.

If they wanted to make it clear that some Confidants are more important than others will still firmly being part of the supporting cast instead of the main cast they could use the court cards (Kings/Queens/Knights/Pages) for them.

(Not part of the theory but also worth noting: P5’s Major Arcana is patterned after the Tarot de Marseilles, but P5X’s Minor Arcana seems to be based on the Thoth Tarot.)

Boring but More Likely Theory: Major Arcana and the Large Cast

So how are they going to handle the Arcana if Wonder has more Confidants than Tarot has Major Arcana?  Pulling cards from alternate decks has precedent, but it’s usually more of a spin-off/rerelease thing and there are only so many unless you go really obscure.  Minor Arcana links would be fun, but it hasn’t been done before.  And I really hope they don’t get rid of the Tarot theming altogether.

But maybe the most likely solution is taking a different path: Not limiting the game to only having one character per Arcana.  Maybe Wonder has the ability to meet multiple Magicians, High Priestesses, etc.

This may not be the most interesting option, but it’s the simplest that doesn’t involve discarding the Arcana.

And this way if they do take the option of making Social Link Idols they don’t stand out against the P5X characters.  If Wonder’s Confidants are using increasingly obscure cards it’s a bit weird for random school and job friends of previous protagonists to show up rocking the familiar and iconic ones.  But if it’s standard for everyone to just be assigned a Major Arcana it’s business as usual.  Players brand new to the series won’t even ask about P4 having multiple Strength and Sun representatives, or P3 having both story Persona users and random side characters for some slots.

I’m combining both halves of this theory into one post in order to keep them together!

Having multiple characters per Arcana would make some sense, though I’d argue it’s a little different from previous games having multiple options for some Arcana, because in that case, the protagonist themselves still only picks one of those characters to form a bond with, who then represents that Arcana for them. I do agree it sets the precedent that could make this possible, I just wanted to clarify my thoughts on that because I can’t tell if you were equating that as 1:1 or just saying what I’m saying here in a shorter way, haha. Still, definitely better than not having Arcana at all!

I could also see them using minor Arcana for the Phantom Idols, although that would get a little strange too, since the minor Arcana are also used as items to power up teammates. I suppose there’s really no reason the cards couldn’t have multiple ways they’re featured in-game- Chihaya obviously uses tarot cards for her readings, and what she draws isn’t typically meant to be taken as relating to the characters who represent those Arcana- but it does feel relevant to the discussion here.

That said, I think you’re right that multiple characters per Arcana is probably the easiest way to go about it, especially as they continue to expand the cast. It’s certainly preferable to not having Arcana at all, hah.

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

I mean, given that P5D flopped and Atlus stopped making dancing games but kept/keeps on making P5 spinoffs I'm doubtful that Atlus would make tactics games whether P5T does good or bad (plus I feel like its every other time I hear about it I hear a persona fan mentioning they're not a fan of tactics games so it's def not just a thing on this blog)

Hahahaaaaaa......yeah............

Tbf I don't see a REASON for a dancing game atm. That's more of a game to celebrate the music (or throw it in the trash and set it on fire like P5D did, RIP to P5D you shouldn't have come out when you did)

Also tbf PQ2 didn't sell THAT much better (I think the sales were fairly within what Atlus is/was used to tho? only like 20000 less....then again that might've been OLD data I was looking at). And there hasn't been a Q game since....but tbf Atlus isn't popping them out AS FAST as when they were having their P4 era. (we almost got like 3 games in one year? TT0TT god everything was moving so fast in that era)

Probably cause of quality contr-I can't even finish that sentence.

Ahem. Probably cause of scope maybe.........except PQ2 was roughly the same story length as PQ1......or at least ONE SIDE of a PQ1 playthrough (tho some bits of PQ1 did repeat on each side, A LOT didn't). (there's also the fact they released it on a dying/dead console ahhhhhh, unrelated to scope but still TT0TT)

Uhhhh ummmmm, oh! P3/5D! Right- no I notoriously lambast them for CUTTING content that a single P4D could handle. Half the "story" and less songs. (of course this is considering P3D, P5D, and P4D all separate games on their own....which they are....and were sold as...................separate games......full price....games.....)

Ok ok Strikers! Yes Strikers. That had the scope that matched/exceeded Arena/Ultimax.... at least story wise. But....no one talks about Strikers for some reason. I thought y'all where hyped??????? It seemed to have sold well, but I dunno if that means it's liked..... (I have a VERY small sample size, but outside myself, all the people I've talked to IRL said they hated P5S TT0TT)

Wait why am I bringing this up? Maybe it's cause I miss the P4 era. TT0TT ajfksjf;d

Oh! No no, it's that, P5S is like the most successful P5 spinoff imo (didn't look at the sales but I think it might be the best selling Persona spinoff in general)....but we also haven't had a P5S2, or DLC for it (surprisingly/unfortunately), or another Persona game just like it (like P1S or Raidou S or yadda yadda).

That being said.......P5S was made with another company so....yeah...... that could be why jfsdljafdsakj

Unlike P5S, Dancing and Qs are made in house, P5T is too? I haven't been paying attention. TT0TT It could be they are just focused on T and...."Asa"? and P3R and/or something else. So that could explain the lack of another dancing game (or Q). Plus, again, the dancing games are more of a celebration. I can see a P5D2 happening as we get closer to P6 tbh (if not a P3/4/5D PS5+others port). (and I'm sure they are figuring out how to port Q to other places now they don't have the dual screen). I dunno, this part went on longer than I thought @_@ Just woke up and I'm rambly sorry

I mean Atlus has had the chance to do another Tactics game for years with the DeSu franchise, and those aren't even connected/have to be connected in a single timeline! And people are still waiting on 3! TT0TT So yeah I can see them just dropping it orz

(Yeah I've asked others IRL and they weren't exactly excited either TT0TT Tbh as long as I get another version of this artstyle again I'm fine with that, doesn't need to be a Tactics game.)

[tumbling-odyssey]

Games I played in 2020

Just felt like getting my thoughts out on all the games I played this year. I’ve been wanting to do something like this for years but I always let it pass me by. Well not this year! Fuck you laziness! 

I played the first half in 2019 but finished it in 2020 so I guess I'll count it. DQ11 was my intro to Dragon Quest and what a good starting point. I'm not exaggerating when I say this is one of the best traditional JRPGs on the market. Characters, story, combat, it all clicks in just the right way to make a flawless game... until the end credits roll that is. 

I have no idea what happened with the post game but by god does it dive off a cliff. It undermines everything you worked to do in the main plot. The characters act brain dead and it shamelessly reuses events from the main game. Please pick up and play DQ11 but for the love of god just stop when the credits roll.

Doom is a game I knew I'd like. The heavy metal ascetic and soundtrack were right up my alley, but I just never found the time. With Eternal on the way though and having found it on the cheap at a pawn shop I figured there was no time like the present. Needless to say but I was right. I loved everything about this game. The thrill of combat, the screech of the guitars, and the silent take no shit attitude of Doomguy. Make no mistake though, I SUCK at this game. I played on easy but still got my ass handed to me on the regular. But I don't care, I was having way to much fun.

I flipped my shit when this game got leaked at the tail end of 2019. Zero 3 is my all time favourite game. To celebrate this getting announced I went and 100% Zero 3 as I hadn't done it on my current cart, and Zero 3 was still the first thing I played when I got this collection! I love that game to death and I’m glad to have it on modern consoles again. As I was under a bit of time crunch with other games releasing soon I only played 2 other games in the collection Zero 4 and ZX Advent. Until the DS collection those and 3 were the only Zero/ZX games I had so I have a lot of nostalgia for them. 

Zero 4 hold ups better then I remember. Not as good as 3 but a damn solid game with tweaks I honestly wish hit the series before its end. I remember having issues with the stage design and ya it’s not perfect, but it’s far from as bad as I thought. For ZXA this was the first time I beat the game on normal difficulty. For some reason the ZX games have always given me more trouble than the Zero games, so finally beating one on normal was very exciting. Maybe I can now finally go and beat ZX for the first time...

The Mystery Dungeon series rising from the depth to punch all those unexpecting in the face was a very welcome surprise. I had a lot of hype going into this one as I have very fond memories of my time with Red Rescue Team and even more with Explorers of Darkness. And the game lived up to it! The remastered music is great and crazy nostalgic, the 3D models are well used and don't feel as stiff as they do in the core series, and the QOL changes are near perfect... So why did I drop this game like a rock once I finished the main quest? 

Anyone familiar with Mystery Dungeon will know that the post game is the real meat of it. The story is short and all the really cool shit comes in after it's done. But I just couldn't bring myself to put more time in after I finished said story mode. I'm definitely chocking that up to me just not being in the mood then an issue with the game. Here's hoping we get an Explorers DX sometime soon. That will fucking hook me for all it's got.

Second verse same as the first. I loved this game and sucked at it horribly. Out of all the games I've played this year Doom Eternal is the one I want to go back to the most. I was not the hugest fan of some of the changes made and retained a stance that I liked 2016 better. First person platforming has never been a fun experience in my opinion and Eternal did little to change that. And I know this a lukewarm take at best but fuck Marauders!. They are so unfun to fight and ruin the pace. The Marauder in the last mook wave took me so long I was worried I wouldn’t be able to finish the game. But the more I've seen of Eternal after my playthrough makes me think I was being far to harsh. I haven't played the DLC yet either. Mostly cuss I haven't heard great things about it. Gonna wait for the rest of it to come out to see if it's worth getting. Might just replay to whole game at that point to see if it clicks with me better.

This was my second favourite game of the year, and was going to take the top slot until a certain other game came out. Addressing the elephant in room right away, I hated the ending. But I was expecting something like that, I think we all were. I won't let the ending ruin the rest of the game though. Not gonna let 1 segment colour everything that came before it. We have to see how the later parts play out to truly see if this ending was trash or not anyway. 

It took Square over a decade but they finally got an action RPG battle system that works and feels good to play. This may be my favourite battle system in an RPG period honestly. All four characters are a blast and it only gets better the more time you spend with it. Figuring out the nuances of each character’s skills and how to combine them not only with the skills of the others but how to enhance them with the right Materia set. This makes fights thrilling and satisfying when you finally best whatever was giving you trouble. Tis was the best way to bring 7′s mechanics into the modern landscape while also fixing the BIGGEST issue the OG had. The fact every character feels the same aside from Limit Breaks. 

All this on top of graphics that just look fucking stunning, a few glitched out doors aside. Fuck I still feel blown away looking at the characters models (mostly Tifa) and see how god damn pretty everyone is. Also Tifa’s Chinese dress is gift from the Gods and I still haven’t picked my jaw up from the floor after I first saw it.

In my circle of the internet there was a lot of hype for this game. So much so that I ended up buying it to see what all the hubbub was about. I had never played a Streets of Rage game before and my only experience with beat'em ups was playing a LOT of Scott Pilgrim and last year's River City Girls. Turns out Streets of Rage plays quite a bit different and it kicked my ass! So sadly I had to switch to easy to make it through but I still had a fun time with it. 

I started playing mostly as Blaze but once Adam hit the scene oooooh fucking boy. I didn’t play anyone else. There's a deceptive amount of content in this game. You can unlock almost every character from the previous games and all of them rocking their original sprites and moves. If I had more of a connection with this series I'm sure I would have gone nuts on unlocking everything. I stopped after my one playthrough and I was happy with that. Always glad to support a long overdue franchise revival.

To properly talk about P5R I think I need to air a lot of my feelings on the original game and the importance it has to me. You see, prior to 2017 I barely played games, only sticking to specific franchises. AKA Pokemon and Mega Man/Mega Man like games. Until 2016 though I still bought a lot of games. Eating up Steam sales and deals I found at pawn shops. This lead to a Steam library and shelf filled with games I've never touched outside of maybe an hour or 2. So in 2016 when I took interest in the newly released Kirby Planet Robobot I made a deal with myself. I could get the game but I HAD to beat it.  And I did just that, gaining not just a new fav Kirby game but a new rule for game purchases. If I knew I wouldn't beat a game I was not aloud to buy it. Now what does ANY of this have to do with P5 you may ask? Well... almost everything.

 I was immediately interested in P5 when it hit the west in 2017. I loved the 20 or so hours I but into P3 years ago and really liked the P4 anime I had watched around the same time. So of course with all the hype around it I wanted to dive into the series full force with P5. But I knew myself. Putting over 100 hours into a game was beyond me and I had a weird relationship with home console games as I was predominately a handheld gamer. Add in the fact I didn't even have a PS4 and I was convinced P5 would be something I always wanted to play, but never would. So when I went to the mall with a few friends and they showed me that P5 had a PS3 version, I had a dilemma on my hands. I knew I wanted to play it and I now had a way to do so. But doing that would require me to change 2 HUGE hang ups I had with games. Would I being willing to waste 60 bucks with so much working against me? Apparently I was. I immediately started going to town on this game. Making sure I spent no less then 2 hours a day playing NO MATTER WHAT. Which may not seem like a lot but it was to me... at the time.. I also had just moved to my current house, so coming home from my still relatively new job and going straight into P5 was the first real routine I formed during this heavily transitional part of my life. 

I of course ended up loving P5 and put 200 hours into it. As such my outlook on gaming was forever changed. Console games were no longer out of reach and I knew I could handle playing monster length game. I started playing way more games then I ever did before and trying out generas I never thought I would play. P5 is the main reason for this and why I'm able to make a post like this. To actually touch on Royal though? It's unarguably the better version of the game and Atlus learned all the right lessons from P4G. The new characters are great and the added section at the end is possibly the best shit Atlus has ever written. I only wish Yoshizawa joined the party sooner so I could play as her more. 

The release of this really came out of nowhere huh? Wayforward announced it was being made mid way through 2019, then there was its weird half release on the Apple store... and then suddenly it was out! Very little fanfare for this one. Is that indicative of the games quality? Luckily no. Seven Sirens is a solid addition to the series and follows up Half Genies Hero nicely. The game goes back to Shantae's Metroidvania roots and makes a TON of improvements. 

Transformations are now instant instead of having to dance for them (don't worry dancing is still in the game) making the game feel more like Pirates Curse in its fast flow. They also added the Monster Cards which take heavy inspiration from Aria of Sorrow's Soul system. A feature I'm happy to see in any Metroidvania since Aria is one of my all time favourite games. Sadly though the game does not take the best advantage of these improvements. 

Over all the game feels kinda empty. The dungeons aren't super exciting to explore nor are they challenging in any way. And the plot is very repetitive, with each dungeon repeating the same beats. Really this game feels more like set up for a better game down the line. The mechanics are all here and Wayforward has a solid art style with the sprites from Half Genie Hero. Hopefully they capitalizes on this for Shantae 6 and we get the best game in the series.

While it may not have been the most thrilling game, Seven Sirens really put me into a Shantae mood. So much so that I went back to play the 2 games in the series I had never touched. This being the first game and Risky's Revenge. Shantae 1 really is a hidden gem in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, it's the definition of jank, but there's a lot of heart to this game. The sprites are great, the soundtrack is good, and the characters are funny... but it's still on the OG Gameboy and that's a massive hindrance for any game. I'm hard pressed to recommend this with how poorly its aged but I think it's better then it looks. 

Risky's Revenge on the other hand was a game that shocked me by how little it had to offer. I know this game went through a hellish development and what we got was far from what Wayforward planned to make, but it's hard to imagine a world where this was the technical BEST Shantae game. It's not a bad game by any stretch... just a boring one.

For the record my ranking of the games goes Pirates Curse>Half Genie Hero>Seven Sirens>Original>Risky’s Revenge

Sword and Shield are mediocre games at best. I know, real steaming hot take there. I managed to make my Sword playthrough a lot more fun by not spoiling myself on the new Pokemon designs for the first time since Gen 3. Either way, I enjoyed myself enough that I didn't mind playing more of it with these DLC campaigns. Plus I love the idea of Game Freak switching over to this method as apposed to making a third version, so I wanted to support it. 

Klara is a fucking top tier Poke Girl both in design and personality and is probably the highlight of Isle of Armour. GF actually went out of their way to give her multiple expressions to sell her toxic bitch personality and I love every minute of it. She sadly drifts into the background for the second half of the DLC’s story which hurts an already rough section even more. Not more then having to grind Kubfuu all the way to fucking level 70 though! That put a serious hamper on my motivation to finish the story but I pushed through anyway. Having to solo the tower with Kubfuu was at least a fun challenge though, as was the final fight with Mustard. Fuck the Diglett hunt though. Ain’t no one got time for that.

Crown Tundra may be my fav of the 2 though even if there isn't a character as good as Klara in it. The hunt for the legendaries was just pure adventure and I had a fucking blast doing it. The joy I felt when I figured out Registeel’s puzzle put a smile on my face unlike any Pokemon game since I was a kid. The whole Regi stuff was honestly a nice Nostalgia trip to my times with Emerald. The story around Calyrex was enjoyable, even if I still hate its design. Not revealing the horses before release was a good call to as it gave an honest surprise. Having to chase down the Galar forme Birds in the overworld is a great way to evolve the roaming legendaries idea and I hope GF sticks to this. Plus the Galar forme birds are some of the best legendary designs since Gen 5 and I love Chocodos way to fucking much. 

Here we are folks, my GotY. I love Panzer Paladin so fucking much. A combination of mechanics from Mega Man, Castlevania, and Blaster Master? Sign me the fuck up! This game is tailored made for me and I knew I had to play it once it started making the rounds on social media. I'll admit though, I was a bit worried when the the first full trailer dropped and showed the weapon mechanics. Breakable weapons that you have to sacrifice for checkpoints and power ups? I'm not sure about that.... Luckily I was being a complete moron and those mechanics are near perfect. 

I love the set up of each boss being a mythological creature from different cultures. They didn’t just pull the easy ones either. A lot of these things I learned of for the first time here. I love how Grit controls. Using the upward stab as a double jump and being able to pogo off enemies Shovel Knight style just felt great and satisfying. Flame was limited but it made her sections feel tense. She does more damage then you think she could at first glance. Also the only way to heal Grit being to use pods that only Flame could access was a cool idea. 

I am begging you Tribute Games, you have to make more Panzer Paladin games. Slap some new upgrades on Grit and expand what Flame can do and you have an even better sequel  on your hands. Also maybe not have so many 'gotcha' moments with enemy placement. That's really my only complaint about the game. Great music, great sprites, giant robots, unique premise, and a reference to Canadian legends. The ultimate self indulgent game for me.

It felt super out of left field for Curse of the Moon to be getting a sequel. The games fucking amazing but it was really just a tie in for the main Bloodstained product. Not something I expect to get a continuation. Either way I was pumped. If this was even half as good as the original then I was in for a great time. Which held true... cuss this legitimately is only half as good as Curse of the Moon. I still like the game, quite a lot actually. I mean how could I not with a fucking Corgi piloting a Death Train Mech. 

Something was just missing here that never made this click like the first game. Maybe it was the stage design, maybe the bosses, maybe the fact that it's a bit to long. I'm not sure. All I know is I couldn't bring myself to play all the modes like I did in the original. . Stopping part way in to the one where you can get the first games characters. I want to go back some day... I just don’t know when someday is.

This was an announcement I never saw coming. A Gundam Verses game coming to the west? That hasn't happened in the entire time I've been a Gundam fan. I had played a bit of Full Boost on my old roommates PS3 thanks to him having a Japanese account and I played Force on the Vita a few years ago. But to have the latest version fully translated with open servers? Holy hell that's a dream come true. 

Having the open betas every weekend leading up to launch was some much needed fun during this shit hole year. I had a lot of fun just fucking around with different suits and seeing what I could do with 'em. Absolutely trashing two Bael players as the Kapool is a memory I'll keep with me for a long time. Fucking danced on their graves. This gave me some new appreciation for suits like the Baund Doc and Hambrabi, the later becoming a lowkey fav as it was my main.

I've fallen off with the game in the last few months but I definitely want to go back. I hope to start learning the game and take parts in tourneys when cons aren’t death sentences anymore.

It felt like everything in my life was SCREAMING at me to start the Yakuza series. From 2 of my friends playing 0 recently, a youtuber I following live tweeting as he played through the WHOLE series back-to-back, and Yakuza 2 having a run at AGDQ 2020. Plus the constant pleas to play this series you get from following Little Kuriboh on Twitter. I finally broke and picked up 0 in the middle of August. Boooooooooy howdy did I not know what I was getting in to. And no I don't mean the content. I knew Yakuza was a series of wildly conflicting tones between the main story and side quests. What I mean is the length. I legit thought this was gonna be a 20-30 hour game. When i reached hour 30 of my playthrough and realized I wasn't even close to a conclusion, I think I knew I had bitten off more then I was planning. That misstep aside I ended up loving this game and want to play the rest of the series.... I just need to rest up first before I dive into Kiwami 1.

 Let's actually talk about the game for a moment here. Kiryu and Majima quickly clicked as likeable characters to me and I cared about their stories. Combat is fun and the multiple styles are all great.... though both the default styles take a while to get there. The mad rush I felt at the end was fantastic and the last bosses are a joy to fight. Only real complaint is the pacing of the side stories. I loved being able to just stumble into various different events while on route to the next plot objective. But this became less common as the game went on and side stories started getting more tucked away. Also hot take here, the host club mingame is more tedious then fun and I like Kiryu’s business stuff as I could do that in the background. I’m excited to dive into Kiwami and probably Kiwami 2 this year... Though I’m not sure when just yet.

Just gonna say it flat out, I think this is better the the 2018 game. The smaller scale helps in this style of game and Miles just naturally has a better move set then Peter. I'm not sure if they actually tightened up the combat system or if they just threw less bullshit enemies at you but fighting feels so much better in this one. Traversal is better too,  simply because they changed the button for tricks. In the original you have to hold down 2 face buttons to enter trick mode??? In hindsight that was such a bad call. 

Having both the heal and venom powers run off the same meter was a good idea. Making the choice between keeping yourself alive guaranteed or potentially ending a fight quicker/disposing of a problem enemy is super fun. The player having to make small choices like this during combat is what helps it not be brainless. I love all the different venom skills you get. While they all achieve the same thing in stunning opponents, how you achieve that goal is up to you. Do you want to just slug the bastard, throw 'em up in the air, tackle the shit out of them? The choice is yours. 

Only real big complaint is certain upgrades being NG+ locked. I know you want to encourage replays, but this is a shitty way to do it I feel. Also can we retire Rhino for the next game. Man has had 2 shitty boss fights now and I need a break. Between this and Spider-Verse, I'm honestly starting to like Miles as Spider-Man more then Peter.

I got this game more on a whim then anything. I was definitely interested when it was first announced for the west. Vanillaware's beautiful art style in a story about giant robots beating the shit out of Kaijus? Sign me the fuck uuuuuu-oh wait it's an RTS? I had never played an RTS's before, mainly due to the sheer concept stressing me out. So I let it fall to the wayside. The game started coming up again though towards the end of the year with GotY on everyone's minds.  This revived my interest, especially as what I HAD planned to be playing around that time was... well. Cyberpunk. Don't think I need to say much more. Also I had worried for nothing as the Real Time Strategy was not that Real Time. 

This game really lays on the analysis paralysis once you're out of the tutorial. Do you want to fight, do you want to do story, who's story do you want to do, what branch should you follow, how much should you play with this one character? It's very overwhelming at first. I decided to not go ham on just one character and swap around all the time. The twists in this game are equal parts exciting and infuriating. Learning something new always came with the caveat of more questions, or something you knew 'for sure' being disproven. Like when I learned 1 characters was actually 4 separate ones! Anyone that's played knows exactly what I'm talking about. 

Natsuno ended up being my fav and not just because of.... obvious reasons. BJ was cute if unfortunately named and her relationship with Mirua was my favourite in the game. Not that there was much competition except for maybe Ogata and Tomi. I ended up really liking the combat but I can see why RTS fans say it's the weakest part. It's far from complex and I had a winning strat by the third or so real fight. Aka spam turrets and have the Gen 1′s gank all the bosses.

One quick thing I want to share was how I beat the boss at the end of Area 2. The one where Inaba is singing. I had Hijiyama use the limit break skill to bum rush the boss right off the hop. I took out half its health in one hit but Hijiyama’s Sentinel was on death’s door. Only thing that saved him was sending in Amaguchi to blow up a bunch of missiles. Hijiyama took it out on his next attack but lost his Sentinel at the same time. It was a real clutch victory and crazy fucking anime. 

The best way to really describe Carrion is that it's a fantastic proof of concept. Can you make a game where you play as The Thing? Why yes, yes you can. Carrion just needed a bit more tweaking to really bring this concept home and be the A+ game I know it can be. As it is now the game is a bit empty. The level design is super samey and the lack of a map is fucking brutal at points. I know it would make no sense for a blob monster to have a map but somethings you just have to gameify for convenience. The level design must have done something right as even though I was completely lost I still moved from area to area properly. Hell by the time I actually looked up a map I had 1 more item to get and I learned I was one door away from beating the game. 

I love the idea of losing mass as you take damage and gaining more by eating people, but having abilities tied to size was a terrible idea. It just leads to tedium as I have to go and shed myself to the right size, do the puzzle, then of course I'm going to go back and rebuild myself to see if I can do the next segment at full power. Just make it so you can swap between abilities using the d-pad or something. I hope this game gets a sequel just so this sick ass concept can be fully realized.

[doktorpeace]

coffee emoji + Persona

I’m a big fan of Persona as an overall series, I actually just started Innocent Sin the other day so I can finally get P2 under my belt. As a whole the mainline franchise does a great job writing meaningful stories full of great character interactions which all serve to accent each entry’s core themes. Persona 3 has some of the strongest and most consistent writing of any RPG I've ever played with regards to quality and execution on its themes, which is a big part of why it's my favorite one. All of the members of SEES change meaningfully as characters by the end of just the base game, not to mention additional content like The Answer, or the Persona 4 Arena Duology (which, funnily, are way better through the lenses of the P3 cast than the P4 cast), and especially more niche but still canon content like the Drama CDs which do a great job of filling the listener in on what the other members do while Minato is away or sick or asleep. Spoilers: They're really gay and not in a queerbaiting way either. Did you ever think it's out of nowhere that Yukari and Mitsuru are dating at the end of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax? These explain how they started dating and also talk about Akihiko and Shinjiro's relationship in romantic terms, comparing it directly to Junpei and Chidori's. Basically, Junpei is canonically the Token Straight of SEES and I think that's wonderful.That said the franchise really botches it at times. Persona 4 especially fucks up by directly undermining its own core theme of ‘Be true to yourself’ with its treatment of almost every playable character. Like, seriously: Yukiko decides to abandon her dreams to do what she's told when that's what her whole social link is about not doing. Kanji is openly bisexual now but his sexuality still treated as a joke by Yosuke and Teddie. Rise decides to abandon her beliefs and just keep working in the idol industry because other people want her to. Yosuke was written as a closeted gay teenager but had all of his gay content locked away from access despite being finished and on the disc. And most especially Naoto, who they build up as a very good representation of a trans man with a strong personal narrative arc but the INSTANT he joins your party everyone's like "But you're really a girl, right?" and then in order to get him to date you you have to CONSTANTLY undermine his gender identity and what he's comfortable with. It's shitty content and really inexcusable regardless of what game it were to be in but ESPECIALLY because of this game's core themes.And that all is genuinely really sad and infuriating because 4′s plot and all of its NPC social links are REALLY good! There’s still a lot to enjoy there but like, damn if it isn’t disheartening how they got so scared to letting characters meaningfully change and/or be gay that they were actively willing to ruin the main theme of the game. The franchise after 3 really kind of has an issue with letting playable characters meaningfully grow and change and also with LGBT content in general, with some minor examples being good like Lala Escargot, but otherwise just removing it altogether unless it's for Jokes™ which aren't funny and are based on annoying stereotypes. Not even 3 is perfect about this but at least almost every adult member of SEES is canonically LGBT and good representation so I can kind of excuse how bad that one scene is. I've heard 2 is actually quite progressive even by today's standards and from what I know about it it is, so I'm excited to see how it handles this kind of content.Honestly, Atlus used to be really cutting edge and daring with the kinds of themes and content they were willing to put into Persona but ever since 4 hit it big and the franchise got mainstream attention they've been kind of cowardly about it. P5 is a big step up from P4 in terms of overall writing quality, the party members are more interesting and are allowed to change at least a little bit by the game's end but it still fucks up more than I'd like. Its representation of mental illness and people on the spectrum are quite nice in my opinion but it still won't let you be gay even though Yusuke has the most unique dates of any character in the game! Come on, AT LEAST let us date Yusuke who already reads VERY MUCH as more than friends. Also make Ryuji a romance option and don't make Akechi a romance option because I don't want that shit. I want good characters to be romanceable.The spinoffs are all kinda just there to me. Like, they're a decent enough distraction but they absolutely do not have the love and quality put into the writing for me to really have much fun with them. Characters who were already kind of flat like Chie become really annoying and characters who WERE really well developed and three dimensional like Akihiko still get reduced to just 'Musclehead Protein Man' which is fucking stupid. Only P4A and P4AU really do any of the characters justice in terms of writing quality but even then only really the P3 Cast and Naoto get good and interesting story content. Everyone else just get schlock. So whatever. P4A and P4AU are super fun to play though, mechanically they did an excellent job realizing each character in a way that feels authentic to their personality, if not their gameplay niche, in their home games. I can only hope P5A doesn't have some bullshit timeline thing to get the P4 characters out of aging and advancing as people. They NEED the treatment P4A gave SEES. Show me out of shape middle manager at Junes 24 year old Yosuke, Atlus you fucking cowards. There's so much room for advancement and growth with these characters but at the same time I know they either won't do it by introducing some dumb timeline bullshit OR they'll fuck it up and like, make Naoto a big tiddie ultra femme looking person to REALLY try and tell us "NO REALLY NAOTO IS CIS IGNORE HIS ENTIRE CHARACTER ARC AND ALL OF HIS WRITING IN PERSONA 4 AND ALSO HOW IN PERSONA 4 GOLDEN WE LEANED EVEN HARDER INTO THE TRANS NARRATIVE WITH HIS ADDITIONAL CONTENT"You can always count on the gameplay to advance and get better at least, so that's nice. I'm not really gonna discuss that though other than to say P3 not letting you directly control party members serves its themes and writing well and isn't even hard to play around if you just use the Command Wheel to issue orders to your party members, the AI is pretty smart. Not Xenoblade Chronicles 1 smart, but still pretty fuckin' smart.Anyway, basically, I like Persona a lot as a franchise. It's a flawed franchise that I want and expect better out of than what it delivers in some aspects but on the whole it's hard to deny the quality of the overall products. I just hope that Atlus listens to the kind of feedback they've been getting in the last few years and really start becoming more daring again with the kind of content they put into the games again. Go harder on those themes and really challenge people's mindsets, this franchise has so much potential for that and it just scratches the surface really.Oh, also, Persona fans on the whole are some of the absolute dumbest motherfuckers I've ever seen on the internet. They'll really ignore blatant shit that's extremely clear just because it wasn't said in such plain wording a child would understand it while jumping through 70 mental rings to try and explain how Kanji isn't REALLY gay or how Naoto is ACTUALLY cis or how Akechi is actually the deepest most amazing character in the franchise, or whatever. That and/or they're just straight men who use the term 'waifu' and just reduce all of the female characters to 'which one do I want to fuck most' while ignoring everything else about the games because all they value these for are as dating simulators to try and fill the sad, gaping hole that is their social life. Some of them will actually get mad at people for discussing the psychological or political aspects of the series as if that's not what this IP is founded on because they're too stupid to think of anything other than which fictional underaged girl they want to fuck. Persona fans are fucking stupid and really make it embarrassing to like this franchise at times.This basically turned into me yelling about LGBT content in Persona but honestly that’s like, the aspect that needs the most constructive criticism. The psychological, theological, and political themes are generally really well handled. Worth discussion for sure but not what I want to talk about right now.

[scatteredmartianthoughts]

Why Persona 5/Royal means so much to me and how I view my bonds (ADDENDUM: SPOILERS WILL BE INCLUDED - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED)

As I am writing this, I am 7 years past from conventional Australian high school life and just about a year past from graduating from university life. With adult life, it is tough to create time for yourself, let alone for your friends. Each and every one of us have different priorities: work, further studies, family, kids, bills to pay, etc. In addition, an actual health crisis in COVID-19 on top of the already giant wave of cynicism that we’re facing about the world from years prior makes the future seem pretty bleak. Wearing masks, following proper hygiene and especially social distancing is consistent globally (or at least should be while we’re still dealing with COVID-19). Sure, we can use technology as a way to connect, and it undeniably helps in maintaining our bonds, but it is not the same as actually being in person and spending time with them. With the epidemic putting a worldwide stranglehold on everyone, along with the stresses of growing up, creating and maintaining our bonds became a lot more difficult. So random question: What do you think of when someone brings up Persona 5 (P5) or Persona 5 Royal (P5R)? A masterclass of dynamic visuals and flair that is distinctive and aesthetically and thematically fitting our striking and rebellious protagonists in the Phantom Thieves? Top tier soundtrack? A fantastic turn based RPG system based on combos, follow-ups and support? Or maybe the personas themselves being the manifestations of the inner self and reflecting one’s inner strife and turmoil like dealing with death and grief (P3), or handling and understanding our true self (P4) or rebelling against corruption as we mature in an unjust world (P5)? All legitimate answers. Just a small addendum: P5R is an enhanced version of vanilla P5 that adds more personas, tweaks the combat and level up system to make it more seamless but compensates it with more intelligent A.I. and especially added story content (we’ll especially get to this part later). Yet, when I think about this game, I think about the social simulator aspect that works in tandem and beautifully complements the RPG gameplay where we explore the supernatural world of that particular Persona game. In both games, it acts as a way to worldbuild the busy streets and areas in and near Shibuya. You’ll encounter many different key support characters, within and outside the main cast of your group, the Phantom Thieves of Heart. By getting to know these characters and ranking up each confidant (maximum rank is 10 for each), you will be able to access a whole plethora of special abilities such as: learning new methods to down opponents instantaneously, access to personas only available by maximising each confidant’s rank, access to immensely helpful combat and support items and methods and especially the transforming your team member’s initial Personas into stronger forms. From a narrative perspective, you will get to know each character better, as they vent and confide their hopes, dreams, fears and desires whilst each of their stories fit with the major themes of maturation, finding your own road, rebellion and corruption. Yet, you can’t just immediately get to know all of them at once. In game, you’re just a transfer high school student. While you have free time, similar to real life, you have to make a choice on how to use it. Should you spend time getting to know a person? Or maybe level up one of your social stats like knowledge or kindness? Or working a casual job to get money? Maybe tackle one of those side missions?  There’s no “correct” choice on how you spend your time. Heck, it is even more interesting that these are all optional. It is up to you whether or not you get to learn these characters and get to know them. Some are completely missable if you don’t explore hard enough. Essentially, on one side, you’re just a normal high student that unfortunately was dealt a terrible hand and on the other, you’re the leader of the Phantom Thieves. Codename: Joker. Since P3, the social link/confidant system I just described uses a very interesting motif: the tarot card system. As the protagonist of your story, you are the Wild Card - Arcana Number 0: The Fool. In order to attain a form of enlightenment at journey’s end, also referred to as the World Arcana, you will encounter many other Arcana before reaching said end. Each significant social link/confidant you meet in-game, regardless if they become a party member or NPC, are each represented by one part of the Arcana series.  This is due to symbolsing on what kind of individual and personality they have but also what challenges they need help overcoming and what they represent to the in-game protagonist of each game. Mind you, it has been stressed that any character that fits any of the arcana cannot be those who will only be friends or acquaintances within a superficial nature. It has to be a close, trusting friendship that grows with effort and time. Here are some examples. Those who represent the Emperor are often male characters who try to control their own surroundings but are troubled by something(s) very personal and don’t know how to deal with it. Characters that fit the Temperance are those who struggle to find the harmony and balance that they desire. And those who suit the Hermit arcana tend to the smartest people that you will meet but tend to be introverts or those who desire more supportive roles. We’ve definitely met people within our lives that fit the criteria of the noted examples. Yet, by meeting these types of interesting people within our lives, through that time and effort, both sides can attain a form of wisdom and learn from each other. I’ll use an in-game example: Toranosuke Yoshida. To Joker, this confidant is represented by the Sun Arcana. Anyone from this group tends to be people who are on the surface have a sense of confidence, hope and optimism but ironically find themselves in terrible situations that constantly hurts their self-esteem, self worth and constantly questions their own purpose in life. For this game, he is an optional social link that can only be unlocked after taking on two shifts within the Beef Bowl job at Shibuya’s Central Street. He is an eldery gentleman and a politician who hopes to make amends for his terrible and corrupt mistakes of the past but also to make a positive change in a stagnant Japanese political system. He is seen making an earnest effort in giving speeches in front of a crowd near a subway’s gateway. Although demonstrating impressive speech-giving skills, as soon as a critical voice in the crowd shouts out “No-Good Tora”, his past regrets and lack of self-esteem shows and loses the crowd’s attention as he cracks under negative pressure. By meeting him, he found a youth who is willing to believe in his message, support him in his live speeches and also a hope of a younger generation that is willing to make a change. While the MC found a redeemed adult, after dealing with corrupt adults, and who is willing to learn about his diplomatic and speech-giving skills. As you rank up his confidant, you get to learn to negotiate with downed enemies for more money, rarer items and to possibly join your team, alongside unlocking the fusion recipe for the strongest Persona you can obtain from this Arcana: Asura. In the narrative sense, he starts to gain his confidence and learn on dealing with voices that are critical or even adverse to his live speeches and even flip the momentum back into his favour, while still being respectful and charismatic. In the conclusion of his confidant link (Rank 10), after several distinct story content relegated to his arc (which I won’t spoil), Yoshida gives a heartfelt speech in front of a larger, excited, more supportive crowd than from the past. Not about the current government. Not about his desire to be a part of the Diet Building. But about how he met this young man, although with different methodologies, is trying to reform the world. Yoshida admits that it seems like a tough mountain to cross. His anecdote gives an impression to the audience that this young man reinspired him to go for his aspirations and reminds them to go for it as well. Even though they can’t share the same path, Yoshida confidently states that they “will surely meet at the peak”. He admits from a previous speech that his efforts may not be heeded now but will hopefully be a stepping stone for future generations. Before that final speech, in private, he deduced that you were a member of the Phantom Thieves but won’t meddle in your affairs. If anything, he respects their tenacity and vision. It’s not even the most emotional nor most dramatically interesting confidant or story. Yet, it left me with an amazing impression that through weird, random scenarios and situations, you can meet people who are worth meeting and understanding. In greater reflection, although I am blessed to have both quality and quantity in terms of my major friends, if I were to apply this motif in how I view my bonds, I could say that each of their personalities and stories can represent each part of the arcana, with definitie overlap in notable places. With just some examples, with the people I’ve met, I’ve learned to be a bit more confident in my skills, embrace my tastes and hobbies and understand from their faults and failures as they have from learning from my own errors and mistakes. You could say that in my journey through life, to evolve from the Fool and learn some knowledge of the World, I encountered and befriended many people from many different backgrounds, cultures, tastes, personalities and worldviews and appreciated every single one of them. I hope that maybe by spending their time with me, they gained some sort of food-for-thought advice that may help them moving forward in conjunction with knowing they have a friend in me.

Then there is the ending of P5R’s 3rd semester. Exclusive to P5R, it can only be unlocked after meeting certain criteria. What I loved about this arc would be that it was largely teased and set up from previous moments in the game. Without spoiling the meat of the story of this arc, it added an intriguing layer of nuance and depth to the aforementioned themes surrounding the game and also added one more thought-provoking theme to the mix: stagnation. Before continuing, I think it is best to first address vanilla P5’s ending. Joker and the rest of the main cast finally helped stop a potentially world-ending crisis and retire from being Phantom Thieves. With the MC moving back home, instead of just saying one final goodbye, the group of friends offered to drive him back. On a near empty highway, the clear skies and the open breeze. The future doesn’t belong to anyone but ourselves and we can see how bright it is, together. Now let’s go to P5R’s two major endings. Yes, you heard me right. The final antagonist essentially created a world where the deepest wishes that a character has is granted and the greatest regret and/or wrong is corrected. For example: Haru has the close relationship with her father she always wanted...even though he died during the main story via previous events. Morgana finally got to be a human...even though it spits on his previous acceptance on what he actually is and his true role to the main cast. Essentially, everything seems so perfect yet everything feels so wrong. Before the final confrontation/boss battle, the final antagonist offers one final choice to the MC. Will you allow them to take over the world and allow yourself to live in their version of “paradise”? Or will you reject it, willing to go on and continue onwards and forge the path that you desire, even with problems persisting throughout? Let’s say you choose the former option, what happens? In summary, whilst on the surface seems like a joyous ending, is actually quite haunting on closer analysis. While the crew can still stay together, the MC doesn’t need to leave Shibuya, Akechi is alive and Kasumi is happy, it still seems off. Yes, the main cast gets their wishes but it also ignores the challenges and tribulations each member went through that built their inner strength and ideals. There's a group shot at the end at LeBlanc’s with everyone in frame. Everything feels right but the MC and Akechi are looking at you: the player. In this arc, they were the ones who, plotwise, were against the entire idea of submitting their future, morals and ideals for an easy way out. You gave up. Notice it says “END” at the bottom right? You chose a stagnant future. Nothing goes wrong but nothing progresses. A beautiful lie. There’s nothing beyond this. But what happens when you choose the latter option to reject? Post final battle, it is not only the final disbandment of the Phantom Thieves but also a parting of ways for the main cast. Ryuji is moving away in order to return back to the track team and have rehabilitation for his injured knee. Ann is planning to do some studying abroad for her future career. Yusuke has greater inspiration and motivation to return to painting. Makoto and Haru are planning to move away as well for their own higher education and individual career aspirations. Futaba finally breaks out of her shell and plans to enter high school and research cognitive psience in college. In his rejection of a false paradise, Akechi is finally able to rest in peace. Sumire, with a renewed heart, will no longer linger behind in her late sister’s accomplishments but achieve her own feats and achieve her and her own sister’s connected dreams. And finally, Joker will return to his hometown, with Morgana joining him. Instead of one final car ride together, Joker and Morgana, after saying their final goodbyes, take the bullet train home. To say that it is bittersweet and left me in shambles is an understatement. But yet, it is the perfect ending and an interesting twist to the original P5’s ending. It redefined the major theme of freedom. P5R took a bold approach in saying that we each have our unique path in life and must walk it, even if it may be “alone”. However, with the bonds that we’ve beautifully weaved, those that are true will always return to each other one day. In P5R’s true ending, it closes with “FIN”. Although it is finishing this story, there will be another tale right around the corner for us. It further re-emphasised and reminded me of my current viewpoint and situations with all of my friends as someone removed from both high school and university life and made their way into the real world. As I’ve explained before, it is nowhere near as easy as it once was. We are all no longer connected by a mutual place where we can easily just hang out and create random memories, where creating time is not a worry. That each of my closest friends, even with similar interests or dreams, have their own distinct aspirations and futures. Hell, I’ve made a lot of great friends but because of a number of reasons, I just felt time made us further distant from each other and making those fun times feel like several lifetimes ago. It feels disheartening and cruel but those who matter will find a way back or remain in contact. I want to share a small anecdote. I just randomly messaged one of my old childhood, primary school friends to see how they are going with life. What was supposed to be just a quick checkup between two old friends ended up being an impromptu, primary school reunion of up to 7 people (including myself). Mind you, I haven’t seen some of them in person for 5+ years. And yet, it is one of my favourite memories as of yet. We’re all walking different paths but felt amazing to see how each of them are going with their own personal journey and their growth. Just with this group, I have no clue when we’ll have something similar to this again but even if time may separate us for years, we’ll find a way back to hang out once more.

Another thing that this game helped reminded and re-emphasised me of, would be how important YOU play a part in your friend’s lives as they have to you. It sounds narcissistic but let me explain. In the game, at the very last day, you will say your final farewells to your teammates and all others who played a part within your journey. If you max ranked the confidants outside of the main cast, you definitely feel  the greater impact and appreciation of your effort. Kawakami is no longer bound to a double life and has her passion to teach again. Iwai doesn’t need to hide his Yakuza past nor how he brought in his adopted son and finally has a new chance to be the father he always wanted to be. Yoshida finally has the confidence to not only acknowledge and learn from his corrupt political past but also has the greater confidence to move forward and stand for the younger generation who aspire for a bright future. These are just some of the examples of your effort bearing fruit.  I will admit to doubting that my efforts are really helpful at all. I think for the most part, at best, I’ll just contribute a minor part to their happiness and/or growth. Yet, similar to the game, you will meet people that are legitimately grateful for your presence, time, effort and love. It is still crazy to me when someone affirms me and is grateful for my efforts when I spend time with them. That especially goes both ways as I feel immensely happy that there are those who are willing to take a risk and make time for some random idiot like myself and get to know me and who I am. Mind you, my love languages are Words of Affirmation and Quality Time. Regardless of whatever you believe in, may it be God, the universe or coincidence or dumb luck, it genuinely warms my heart and soul and eases my mind to know that effort to make time is worthwhile and to be acknowledged for my efforts; as if I met these people, and maybe even more, at the right place and at the right stage of my life. Regardless of when you met a close friend, do not underestimate your impact (something I still need to learn myself). You never know if what you do for them may be one of the things they need to see and hear.

Friendships and bonds are important.  It sounds so overly played that the moral goes beyond a cliche’ and became a meme. Yet, both iterations of Persona 5 was a game I needed for my post education life - entering the real/full time working world. In an era where the world seems so divided and that time has separated each of us to our unique paths and made each other so distant, P5 and P5R allowed me to reflect on how I viewed my own bonds with closest friends in a new era of my life. It made me appreciate my current bonds on a whole new level. I don’t know who needs to read this right now, but thank you for being there. Even if I just met you just the other day or we’ve been friends for many years, please know that I appreciate you for who you are and what you mean to me. Thank you for giving some part of your time to make mine feel just a bit more timeless. I hope, even in our twilight years, that we continue to make many memories and grow within our bonds. To those who I’ve failed, I apologise. I have no idea if we can reconnect and make it the way things as they were before or allow time to walk our own paths but I hope you will find the happiness you deserve. If we do reconnect, I’ll do my best to keep improving as a person and as a friend. Just know that you are not worthless and you’ll always have people that do desire to be with you. Even with more grim scenarios, I know you’ll meet people who WILL be there for you. It’s tough to execute in practice as we go forward but not impossible to make the time and effort. I want to end this blog with a quote from Ann to the player as the MC prepares to say goodbye to all his closest friends and confidants (via the new true ending from P5R): “I’ve gotta reach people. I wanna give someone hope - like you did for me. Thank you for all you’ve done. The days I spent with you were some of the brightest in my life. Once I’m a star, I’m gonna shine even brighter, though - so watch out for me!”

Addendum: Sorry for being so late on this post. A lot of stuff was happening on my end and I wanted to make sure whenever I write a blog post, I write with the right mindset as I want to make it as genuine as possible and speak from the heart. I hope you enjoyed reading through this one. Next to Super Mario Galaxy, Persona 5 (more so the Royal version) is one of my favourite games of all time (currently my 2nd at the time I’m writing this). I definitely wanted to discuss its impact on me, similar to Galaxy. Hope you guys are doing well and will look forward to my next discussion topics that lie ahead.

[thran-duils]

Take Your Time

TITLE: Take Your Time (Rise For Your King P4) PAIRING: READER/AU KING!CASTIEL SUMMARY:  THE READER WAS BETROTHED TO THE PRINCE BUT WHEN A NEIGHBORING KING DECIDES TO DOLE OUT JUSTICE TO YOUR FUTURE FATHER IN LAW, HE DESTROYS THE ROYAL FAMILY, LEAVING YOU WITH THE TWO YOUNGEST PRINCESSES. THE MAGE KING TAKES AN IMMEDIATE LIKING TO YOU, LETTING YOU LIVE. WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH THIS OPPORTUNITY? WORDS: 2,281

PART 3 || Part 5 || MASTERPOST  || Fanfic masterpost

“I am ready to go,” you had told Reyvin only an hour and a half before Castiel had woken from his dream about her.

Reyvin had answered his door, looking surprised to see you at his door, covered in a cape, hiding your face. He ushered you in quickly. He was shirtless and quickly moved to get a shirt. You had averted your eyes out of politeness and had only turned your attention to him again when he had spoken.

“My lady, do you know what rumors it would spring for someone to see you coming to my room so late at night?”

You pushed the hood off your head and informed him, “I was quiet.”

He looked unconvinced. “Still. You know there are eyes. There always are. Even beforehand. But I believe even more so under Castiel.”

“I believe it. But, I made sure I left in between shift changes. They won’t enter my chambers. I know the next shift change and I will be careful upon returning.”

Reyvin nodded before moving to his desk and pulling out the chair, offering it to you. You declined with a shake of your head. He sat down himself and inquired, “What made you come to this decision, my lady?”

You decided to not beat around the bush. “The king asked me to marry him.”

This seemed to stall Reyvin and he was slack jawed for a moment before clearing his throat. Starting off, he tried, “Perhaps… perhaps it is best you do not leave.”

What?

Cocking your head, you asked, “Why?”

“That is a… an important request.”

“Do you think its best? I am not royalty. And he claims the people love me – and I know, they do” you started in noticing Reyvin had opened his mouth to defend what Castiel had said. He closed his mouth upon your comment. “But, I am not the rightful royalty. And what happens when Gwyinth and Oriana become of age? Or old enough to know what happened to their family? And begin to resent me?”

Reyvin said nothing to this.

You continued, “I couldn’t stand that.”

“You have no want to be with him? To be queen?”

Choosing your next words carefully, you stated, “I don’t wish to be queen, no. But…” You trailed off, not being able to finish your sentence.

Reyvin reassured you, “I do not blame you, my lady. He is not hard on the eyes.” Your face flushed with embarrassment and Reyvin added, “I imagine it is hard.”

Exhaling sharply, you stated, “My feelings for the girls are more important – although, just as strong – than my feelings and… want…” again your face flushed. “For the king.”

Shifting back in the seat and leaning against the desk, Reyvin studied you for a few moments. “So, your plan is to leave with them as well?” You nodded. “What if they begin to ask questions?”

“They can be told differently. They are young. They can still… forget.” It hurt for you to say that. You didn’t want to deceive the girls but it seemed the best option at this point to keep your relationship with them intact and protect them.

“And if they ever happen to find out who they really are? Do you not think the resentment would be as bad or even worse? Considering you tore them from a life of luxury?”

You had considered this as well. “I will deal with it if it ever arises. I would rather them hate me for taking them away than for taking their place and pushing them off to the sidelines while I took what was rightfully theirs.”

Reyvin again considered this. “If it’s what you believe is the right thing to do, then I will go with you.”

Balking a bit, you stammered, “You only need to show us the way, Sir.”

“No, I will go with. To make sure you remain safe.”

“If they ever find you, you will be hanged. For treason.”

“What do you think will happen of you?”

“I can handle me dying. I can’t have someone else’s blood on my hands because of my choices.”

Reyvin gave you a small smile. “I would not have offered the thing in the first place, my lady, if I didn’t expect to be a part of it. Some of this is for me as well. I do not wish to stay here under this new leadership. I have no allegiance to them and I wish not to. I was too close to King Orin.”

“I know, sir.”

“So, we will go together.”

It was better to have someone else besides you and the twins – and you assumed Aideen, she would not let you leave alone – to go into hiding. You nodded and gave him a small smile.

Reyvin looked pleased. “I am glad to hear it, my lady.” He paused before adding. “When would you like to leave?”

“As soon as possible. The king expects an answer from me.”

“The soonest I believe I could get us out would be tomorrow night,” Reyvin admitted.

You concluded, “That is more than acceptable, Sir. Where would we be going?”

“The country side. There is a place where King Orin had set aside in case anything happened. Trust me. They will be prepared for us and will be welcoming. No matter the time or circumstance.”

You would just have to trust him on this. You were putting a lot into his hands.

<> <> <>

You had to pat yourself on the back mentally. You were acting completely calm at lunch with Castiel. You had opted out of breakfast, going to the twins instead and hanging out with them. As they played, you had nonchalantly packed essentials for them. They had not noticed amongst their play and you were thankful. You could only imagine later tonight would be more difficult to get them to move. You surmised you would have to carry one and someone else carry another in their sleep and pray that they didn’t wake up until you were far from the castle.

Castiel had been making small talk all through lunch and you had been responding properly. You couldn’t help but notice the pleased expression on his face every time you answered him. You didn’t know if it was from the conversation itself or the fact he thought you were polished ‘perfectly’ or a combination of both.

When he requested a walk through the garden after lunch, you had accepted, despite your anxiousness to get back to your chambers and finish the final touches on the things you had packed. You knew Aideen wouldn’t have time today considering she was taking extra time to set up meals for the next few days to take burden off of the other servants since she would be absent. She still cared about them and that warmed your heart. You had not been surprised she had immediately agreed to go with you and Reyvin.

The warm day was a comfort and you held your hands across your waist, walking close enough but not too close to Castiel.

“Would you be opposed to a revamp to this part of the garden?”

“Is it up to me, my king?”

You felt his eyes on you with you trying out this new title for him. You did it on purpose, trying to gauge his reaction. You felt a surge of his power come off of him for a second, as if he had lost control momentarily before it was sucked back away from you. You weren’t naïve enough to not realize that it had most likely been the ‘my’ that had worked him up so much.

Castiel regained his ground quickly. “I would like your opinion on it.”

“I would not be opposed. As long as it didn’t lose its original beauty.”

“I would never allow such a thing to happen.”

And you believed him when he said that. He kept asking you questions about the garden and what you enjoyed most about it. You were calm, letting the answers come to you freely. There was no way you were going to give yourself away with uneasiness.

That is… until you found the two of you alone. Somehow the guards behind you had drifted off, leaving the two of you alone. You felt alarmed for a moment, not having been alone for a long while without guards attending you.

Castiel, on the other hand, seemed content. “Have you thought anymore on what I proposed, Y/N?”

He had planned this. Being alone.

Pushing your tense feelings away, you forced yourself to answer, “Yes.”

“And?”

“I haven’t come to a decision.”

There was a fleeting look of disappointment across his face before he took your hand in his. “It is a lot to ask of you as of late, my lady. I know. But, I know you are also concerned with the kingdom. And what I stated was true. Peace would be easier with a union between the two of us.” He paused before adding, “Plus, I admit I would rest easier with someone by my side.”

The way he said rest made you believe he didn’t just mean recreationally or emotionally.

“I understand,” you told him, letting his hand caress yours. You wouldn’t pull away from it. “I have just… I haven’t come to terms and gathered my feelings completely. Just a couple of weeks ago I was engaged to someone else.”

His free hand moved up to touch your cheek and you inhaled sharply as his skin brushed yours. His hands were so soft and smelled calming…

“It is hard,” he agreed. “But thus is the life of someone bound to royalty by one means or another.” His eyes ran over you and you watched the care and concern behind his own. “I think you would make a fine queen, Y/N. You have the makings of a great queen, starting with your diplomatic approach. And there’s too much to be said about the beauty you would bring to a royal painting added to the Grand Hall.”

You shivered, uneasy to be in such close proximity to him. Especially with him confiding this personal information to you. He, on the other hand still, did not seem uncomfortable in the slightest.

“Do you feel it?”

Being so close to him, hearing him praise you like he was… of course you did. How could you not? Even if for some reason it wasn’t true, he made you believe it was.

“Yes,” you breathed. “I feel it.”

His lips fell on yours and you did nothing to stop it. At least for a few seconds.

You pulled away abruptly and couldn’t miss the look of annoyance that flashed across his features before he masked it with concern.

“I… I need to leave.”

“Y/N.” His voice was firm and stopped you from doing so. “You do not have to be ashamed.”

Swallowing sharply, you responded, “I am not. I just think there are – is a way to do things. And this is not the right order.”

Castiel smirked at you and commented, “Do you believe everything happens in a linear order, my lady?”

He was teasing you.

“No, your majesty. But, I will try my hardest to stick to it.” He pondered on that for a moment and you added, “I would appreciate it if you would keep this… between us.”

Castiel’s expression softened and he cooed, “Of course, sweetheart.” The pet name sent flutters through you and you tried your hardest to hide your reaction. He reached out and you refused to flinch under his touch. He brushed a stray hair and tucked it behind your ear. “Your – our – secret is safe with me.”

Nodding, you stated quietly, “Thank you, your majesty. I just… I need another day. At most.”

Something flinched in Castiel’s features but it was gone in a second. He was all smiles. “You take your time, my lady.”

“Thank you,” you commented before adding, “And thank you for breakfast. It was delightful.”

Turning, you walked away from him and couldn’t push away the nagging feeling of wanting to stay. He was quite irresistible to you but… you still felt you needed to leave. For the girls’ sake.

<> <> <>

“She is not in the castle.”

Castiel had sent for Y/N the next morning at breakfast when she had not arrived. He wouldn’t be denied her presence at this meal two days in a row, no matter the excuse. Instead of getting her back to him for the meal, he had been presented with this rotten piece of information, which instantly made him furious and lose his appetite.

“You’ve searched the entire castle?”

“No, sir,” Samuel reported, shifting. “But, we noticed the twins are gone as well. And… Sir Reyvin.” Something crossed Castiel’s face and Sam added quickly, “We didn’t think it necessary to search the whole castle with that many missing. It seems… well… they’re gone.”

Anger immediately coursed through Castiel’s veins, his power threatening to explode outside of him in an outburst to relieve some energy and anger. How dare she. He shook slightly, trying to control himself. He had been generous… understanding. Given gifts. And to lead him on as if she had meant to stay with him…

(gif)

A small growl almost escaped Castiel’s throat but he held it back. Swallowing his anger, he adjusted his collar, the slightest twitch crossing his face.

His eyes landed on Samuel and he snapped, “Fetch me my horse. And get a small brigade together. With your brother. He is a good tracker.”

“Yes, sir.”

Castiel refused to believe the kiss – and the look in her eyes – meant nothing.

~~~

CASTIEL TAGS: @prince-halfblood, @splendidcas, @klaineaholic, @letsthedogpackandthecats, @alexastacio, @winchesterforever12 @seirensou  @tacos-and-trenchcoats @the-amaranthine @intheir-dreams @study-me-misha @marisayouass @demonicguardianangel @afanofmanystuffs @holyheadharpies-quidditch-blog @misscherryberry @too-lazy-for-this-world @dragonchantant @morbid-apricots 

[prowlpetrex]

P4

underestimated the danger the prank represented after they’d watched stuntmen on tv walk away from the trap without breaking a sweat when the original prank idea was deemed boring by the group. In short, the entire lot of them were all children who had acted without truly thinking about the repercussions of what they had signed up for before they’d acted. In their favor, they had at least substituted fire ants for carpenter ants who were less likely to intentionally sting someone if they could get away from them first. Still, if it were possible to die from mortification, he would have surely been in danger of passing at that moment. Shere Khan had stared down at them, dark eyes imperious, he had opened his mouth, but whatever he had been about to say was interrupted by the Doctor’s arrival, and he’d diverted his attention to the medical professional. Donald had been administered a series of drugs to help him with his body’s response to the stings, and while they’d prefer to keep him overnight for observation, they were confident he would be well enough to go home the next day. He’d heaved an internal sigh of relief then, glad to see one problem resolved safely. Shere Khan had nodded and thanked the man. then those eyes had settled back on him, he was close enough for Scrooge to see how very red the man’s eyes were, the kind of deep red it would be impossible to remove from a man’s feathers, bold and overpowering, the stain would remain long after the attempts to scrub them clean had been surrendered. He’d asked then if he could be content to rely on him to ensure proper punishment was meted out, as he would rather not go to court over the issue if it could just as easily be settled out of it. He’d stared at the man for a moment, realizing he had been waiting for an official medical report to be issued before deciding how seriously he would be taking the prank gone horribly wrong. He’d decided, likely because Donald was set to make a clean recovery, it was best to leave the punishments to the family. It was a logical way of assessing the situation, and for a moment he’d envied him for his ability to keep rational in an emergency. He’d wondered for a moment, what would have happened had Donald’s recovery taken a turn for the worse. He’d cut off that line of thinking at the root, not at all comfortable where it lead. He’d nodded to the tiger, and assured him he would be taking the matter very seriously indeed. The man had caught his eyes for a moment, quietly judging his words, before he’d nodded, accepting what he’d said at his word. He’d departed then, removing himself from the chair with what he could now admit in the privacy of his own mind, was a grace owned by few. They’d snuck in to visit Donald for a moment, none of them content to leave without visiting the patient, and then they’d headed home in silence, the children wondering what he planned to do to them, and he exhausted beyond words by the entire mess the evening had been. He had left the actual punishment to Beakley as he’d never been good at that end of guardianship. Part of him always felt it was either too lenient or harsher than the situation required, but he fully embraced the “it takes a village” approach his family took to child rearing and felt her to be the better judge of what should be done. It had been her to suggest going on outings away from home (weeks before the incident, but he’d ignored her, not wanting to be anywhere near Khan in an environment where he did not have the home field advantage), and they had begun finding places for their child to visit. Paradoxically he’d felt more comfortable around the man after his nephews had made their misguided attempt to remove him from their lives. Maybe it was the fact that he had kept his head after learning what the children had attempted to do to him, but he no longer seemed quite as threatening as he had before the event. It had caused him to do a reassessment and what he’d found had made him feel uncomfortable. The man had unnerved him, and on an instinctual level, this made sense. His ancestors had been hunted by animals very like the cat himself, and, typically speaking, even in more modern times the individual peoples, Avians, Felids, Canids, lapins, Ursi, and the many many many others that coexisted in the beautiful world they lived, tended to stick to their own. Truth be told Donald had been the only one he had known who had actively sought the company of a Dog and a Mouse with any degree of frequency. Even that had seemed to drop off after the boys had hatched as he’d yet to hear the slightest mention of either Mickey or George in his presence since Donald had arrived. He had, without meaning to, approached the man as one would a dangerous predator, and the children in all likelihood taken note of his behavior and decided he should be treated accordingly. Which in all honesty was not fair to the man in question. Shere Khan was by no means a “people” person, but he had been making more attempts at cordiality since the second meeting. He’d certainly never threatened him or his family physical harm, unlike Flintheart, who was still planning out his demise, even after being made Godfather(he would always regret the decision to cave to his nemesis’ demands. Glomgold’s attempt at an Italian-American accent was absolutely atrocious). So, with that in mind, he’d set out to be…nice. To his surprise, after the inevitable awkwardness that came from tearing off the plastic of a new idea, meeting with Shere Khan, actually enjoying himself rather than being content to remain stonily civil, had become surprisingly easy to do. And, most surprising of all, he had begun to look forward to the play dates the two men scheduled for their child. There was something about being with someone who remembered historical events you’d lived through who was neither related to you nor has pledged their life to ending yours that he would found somehow freeing in a way he’d only found before with Goldie. Even better was that it had none of the heavy emotional complexities that would always exist between himself and the woman who was, he admitted to himself, the great love of his life. Instead, he’d found an intelligent conversationalist and occasional debate partner to discuss current events and frequently laugh over what the modern Americans felt were “traditional values” that had in no way been present when either of them had been children. Khan was close-mouthed about the events of his childhood, but he suspected from the way the man carried himself, calm and poised, never too angry or too pleased, never allowing himself to seem too emotionally vested in things he cared about lest they were potentially used against him, that it had not been a good one. These were all signs of emotional abuse, of that he knew. What little Scrooge did know was that the man was an Indian Immigrant who had been born during the time of the English occupation of India, but after the revolution that had ended the control of the East Indian Trade Company. It was not an easy time for anyone to have grown up in and he did not press his… friend to share information he did not wish to give. Instead, he did what he usually did when faced with a person of interest with a complicated and potentially traumatic backstory he knew nothing about and suspected asking outright could cause more trouble than it was worth, he had paid an aide to look into the subject’s history behind his back. He was bad enough at handling interactions between himself and people he knew had sensitive sides best not prodded. A clear example of this could be seen in the relationship he shared with Donald. (though he suspected there might have been something psychological in that. his nephew reminded him far too strongly of people he had also shared a problematic relationship with and at times it had unintentionally bled through without his notice), he did not want to accidentally fumble over some old hurt and set Khan off, especially now that things were surprisingly pleasant between them. Irritatingly the search had given him absolutely nothing to work with. The name “Shere Khan” had been present in the birth records recording the birth of Indian tiger cubs but none had matched his description. This had left him to conclude that either the status of Khan’s parents had been so low his birth would not have been recorded, or the name everyone knew him by was a pseudonym. It would certainly explain why the name “Shere Khan” hadn’t appeared till a certain entrepreneur had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Either option, he knew would not be welcomed as a topic for casual conversation, so he had resigned himself to doing what he had initially pretended to do and “let things be.” Moreover, no what he had done after making that decision was not in fact pouting, no matter how many people had rudely asked him why he was supposedly doing it. This meant they had needed to find out for themselves what they considered to be “safe” topics to argue over. Furthermore, neither of them had been willing to let social etiquette dictate what they discussed, so everything short of Khan’s childhood seemed fair game. And so, it was politics had been the first topic they had ever argued over since he’d unofficially called a truce. Specifically FDR, Khan was surprisingly enamored with what he remembered of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Scrooge had nearly spat out his drink at that revelation. Yes, he’d managed to make a successful political comeback in the face of a debilitating illness(whether it was poliomyelitis or Guillain–Barré syndrome) that had left him paralyzed from the waist down, but his memories of the man were not as positive, and the faults he had found in his personality only began with his infuriating ego. This had been the same ego that had Roosevelt confident enough to order then vice president Truman to use the servant’s door simply because he had not liked him. They had eventually agreed to differ, realizing each was very set in

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

silly: everyone's so mean to P4... :((( also silly: i hate P5 specifically with every fiber of my being

Yeah! You got me anon. 030 ~<3 kljfdaklsfdj You know me so well~! =////=

But for reals, it's not like I don't have/give my reasoning for liking one thing and disliking another. I have actually explained why I dislike P5, I'm very up front and have gone into extensive detail so it's not like blind hatred or even misinformation.

The thing with P4 was.... P4 was.....a punching bag....for a long time (and it didn't deserve a lot of it). Just because it was "happier" than other games in the MegaTen franchise (THAT ENTIRE FRANCHISE, not just the Persona side). P5 might be getting shit for maybe not going as far as it could've gone, but it's not the fandom punching bag like P4. At least for the sole reason of it's main color being YELLOW. "Persona sucks because it's not as dark as Megaten!" "No it's not Persona it's just P4! P4 is to blame for people thinking we aren't dark!" "Modern Persona (at the time P3/4) sucks because it's not dark!" "No it's just P4!" "God of course P4 has a dancing game, cause it's the silliest and not dark game of the entire franchise >_>" "Well thank god P5 looks like it's going to be much darker than P4! Hate how light and cheery P4 is! >.>"

Like the issue, at least back in the day, dark=better/mature/serious, light hearted=worse/immature/silly

That's just how the MegaTen fandom is, or was. There's a reason why there's a joke about the fandom being "how many Persona fans does it take to screw in a lightbulb? One, but in the mean time MegaTen fans will be complaining about how it isn't dark enough." Ironically they forget all the dark moments P4 had, and all the silly moments other games had.

Yes P4 has issues.....but there's a lot that either was because of the anime, or misinformation (at least with P5 everyone knows it's anime is crap and doesn't have to deal with it the same way P4 does):

"Yosuke is horribly homophobic!" He's uncomfortable but he's nowhere near as cartoonishly bad as the anime portrays him (also the anime erases his growth). Like the dude isn't perfect, but he's not horrible like the anime made him out to be. DX

"Chie is a physically abusive friend!" The sheer utter character assassination here omg. True she kicked Kanji but....SHE DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS HIM AND HE WAS SNEAKING INTO HER TENT! But no we focus on Yosuke, except she never touches Yosuke (outside of pushing him into the water but YUKIKO DOES IT TOO so.....I guess that extends to Yukiko? No? Oh well....hypocritical >.>). Like she's not Makoto. No I don't think Makoto is meant to be seen as abusive towards her friends, but I think the writing accidentally did that (we only see her ever raise her hand/threaten violence towards her friends, outside of the dungeon setting that is)

Yadda yadda (won't go into Naoto cause I know people be crazy and will still flame others and I don't want to deal with that).

P4 has a few hiccups in logic (mostly why don't they just go to the police right off the bat or why didn't Naoto hide hidden cameras to catch the perp? That being said you could still reason they think the police are useless or will get hurt and maybe Naoto's it was 2008 and maybe that wasn't something she could do at the time and place but I dunno enough about Japan's 2008 hidden/security camera market to really see if it's a cultural/time thing....or if Naoto is an idiot sometimes). But not nearly as bad as P5's logical inconsistencies *gestures to my blog*

I'm not saying that jumping into a TV is logical, I mean P4 does a good job setting up it's magical setting and the rules behind it so it doesn't break in on itself. P5 doesn't. P4's characters and narrative don't break in on itself. P5 does.

Also while I hate P5 with every fiber of my being, I say leave the poor fans alone. If they aren't harming anyone it's whatever. That being said I can still bitch about it without dragging the fans into it (by bitching on my blog or in the correct space, not like on someone's P5 fanart).

With P4, I know it's not perfect, but I still am reeling over old takes I've seen since around 2012. If there's been new ones, that flew past me. I haven't been super involved with the P4 fandom since 2014 due to how toxic it got (so if I've missed some then I'd love to hear them cause I was getting tired of the same old bs takes that kept happening every month). And I'm just addressing the old stuff. It also really sucks cause P4.....kinda saved Atlus. If not for it, we wouldn't have gotten more.....any games from them because they were in dire straights. It it stinks that while it was popular, it was getting shit on while it was saving that company (and still had good quality spinoff titles! can't say that about P5 era spinoffs! 8U)

Tho that being said, I do think P5 does get some unfair shit, partially cause of the Nintendo/Smash community (or really that's the only thing that pops into my head). "Fans of a character of a game they haven't played" bs or whatever. Like I do think if you wanna discuss the finer details of P5 you should probs play it, but hey if you just think Joker is cool then more power to you. Or people that have P5 icons are given shit for being "oh it's a Persona fan you don't get to have an opinion!" Like????? I don't like that. As much as I give P5 shit, I want it to stay within the issues of the game not....whatever vibe those jerks are throwing out outside the game. >.>

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Not to sound too depressing, but I get the feeling p3d and p5d turned out the way they did bc they were less for those that played p4d for the plot and more for those who played for the "plot" if ya get me (also didn't they both start development before p5 released?)

Ya all good anon. By any chance do you mean a cash grab that takes advantage of its super lore audience (aka me, little Miss Lore Whore)? Yeah. It def does. 

Which is a shame, if they had just combined what they had released as one game, then it wouldn’t have been as much of an issue (would’ve had more gameplay to compensate the lack of plot). And it would’ve appealed to the super lore audience, and fans of rhythm games in general. 

I really don’t like how spinoff games have been handled in the P5 generation. By which I mean how Atlus has handled these releases and timing.......also the content, tbh I think the content of all the spinoff games post P5 have been bleh 

Like there’s upsides, P3D had some good dances and remixes and Sho, PQ2 has FeMC and pretty great characterization again for P3/4 casts and it esp did Yosuke/Teddie justice, and P5S has interesting gameplay, story/plot? bleh bleh bleh not a fan (that’s for another time, it ranges from passable at best and disappointing at worse). 

But yeah the development and releases of these games have been so jank. There’s no direction like the P4 spinoffs were. At best we have a “dreams” theme going on....which is like.....the thinnest threat linking them together, that a passing fart could make it fall apart (unless there is something deeply connected with all of them, which there doesn’t seem to be since it’s just....even the word “dream” being mentioned is like the link, let alone it being implemented, I doubt there’s anything REALLY connecting them). 

I really don’t know what Atlus was thinking or why they did what they did. BUT, if I was them, which I’m sure some of you are probably happy I’m not klfjdksla;fjajf, regardless this is how I would’ve possibly done a release(tbh I’ve changed my mind on this a few times, just depends on how they want to approach it):

After P5->P5S->P3Remake(w/ P4G port if possible)->PQ2->P3D/P5R(explained below)->next P5 spinoff->maybe a few more->P5D(/P3D)

(my thought process) So P5S and P3Remake could switch, depends on if they want to springboard off of P5′s popularity with reintroducing fans to old characters, or right into the PT’s next adventure (P4 technically did remakes after vanilla, but did spinoff after golden). I think P5S would be better, follows P4/Arena style of release which was solid. We also don’t have people confused over canon in the game and it can literally just act like the P5′s Arena 1 (aka it can serve as canon for both P5 vanilla and the later P5R game)

After their adventure, we use the popularity to reintroduce to old fans/introduce to new fans the P3/4 cast with a remake and port (P3 is in need of a “complete” ver which is why it’s getting remade). Maybe add little content that could foreshadow PQ2 events and would you look at that, it all leads into PQ2! And hey look PQ2 has more impact now! As well as appropriate hype built up that might lead people into buying a game on a dead console! Now P3D/P5R.....how P3D is handled can go a different way, in this case we can use P3 remake/PQ2 to build up to P3D (which would have it’s own unique story) or save it for later. P5R but P5R would release around now which would lead up to another spinoff game or two. And then end it with P5D (which, depending on how P3D was handled, can either be grouped together, ooooooorrrrr it’s own thing). 

It’s at least a lot more planned out and connects the dots more than just going “Uhhhhh P3/5D dancing!!!!!! Uhhhhh PQ2!!! Uhhhh P5R! Now a proper P5 Spinoff as P5S! Uhhhh?????” I feel like P3/5D (with the triple pack of P4D) was supposed to try to build up PQ2 but like?????? You don’t get to know the chars like you do in the base game, you’re missing key people (Goro, Shinji, Koro, FeMC) esp if it’s to tie into PQ2.....it’s just a mess.

Sorry you brought up development and it made me go on a tangent. Yeah I think the development did start a little early. It just feels like a not well thought out cash grab. Very upset. DX

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

so apparently P5R just usurped P4G and is now the best selling Persona remake/remaster/whatever; how do ya feel?

Dunno why I didn’t see this, phone’s not giving me updates it seems. ;w; Anyway.... Short Answer: Meh, I really don’t care, I’m more interested in Scramble/Strikers numbers. Long answer tho....(gonna be long, not a rant just I’ve had A LOT of thoughts about sales numbers since P3/5D’s and PQ2′s releases).

I’m not surprised, I mean it’s a remake on a mainline console, combined the fact that it was popular too (I’ll come back to this when I talk about the other Persona games but for now put a pin in that). But there are two things I’m more interested in, 1) P5R’s lifetime sales, and 2) Scramble/Striker’s numbers.

1) Will possibly show how many newcomers we’ve retained. And I’m interested in that because....P5 sold a few million right? If Atlus can retain that that’d be amazing! We won’t know till the Western releases tho. But if it doesn’t, and sells say.....as much as P4G’s life time sales, then....all P5 did was retain the hardcore original audience, it didn’t win over as many new people as we thought it did. Which isn’t a failure, but it’s.....a crude way to say it (sorry I just woke up words are hard), it’s that P5 isn’t as really as hot shit as we all thought it was (and it probably just sold well due to timing and crazy marketing). 

2) What I REALLY want to know is P5S’ sales tho, even more than P5R’s. Since I think that might indicate P5′s standing if it’s as much as a fan favorite as P5 vanilla′s sales show. And it might be the first time we have a clearish answer without any other possibility being the reason for sales numbers. Lemme explain, P5R might do well because is a mainline game instead of a spinoff (but it could do meh compared to P3P and P4G in terms of lifetime sales due to the new comers not wanting to rebuy the game for whatever reason: Same console [which is a double edge sword, PS4 is popular but also people might not want to buy the same game for the same console twice], not worth the price, not enough new changes in their eyes). P5D did poorly, but is it because it was just bad, was it cause of the shitty DLC practices, was it because it didn’t have a lot of content (aka no real plot like P4D)? We don’t know. PQ2? Was it cause it was bad, was it cause it was released on a dying console (as opposed to PQ1 being released at the peak popularity of that console), was it on a console that P5 was it released on, was it cause it featured P3/4 cast and it was aimed at P5 audiences who have no idea who those people are? We don’t really know (this one is probably the dying console tho, which means could it have done well/better if released on the Switch instead?). Did both do bad cause they weren’t really sequels (both technically take place during P5 so yeah)? But P5S? It’s releasing on two very popular consoles, and it’s set as a sequel, so far doesn’t look like there’s a lot of scummy practices going on, actually looks like it has content (so if there are some scummy DLC practices, at least that’s not the ONLY thing you can think about, like with P3/5D). It has A LOT going for it in terms of a spinoff, that even non hardcore/new fans can get into. And I want to know what kind of impact P5 left on the fanbase as a whole and so far it’s not doing so hot spinoff wise (maybe anime too, when the anime was still in the middle of it’s run it wasn’t doing as hot as P4′s first anime or P3′s movies....at least sales wise I found, but that was in the middle maybe it got better), merch sales are probably doing fine tho (since they keep announcing new things). So to me P5′s......all over the gd place. 

tldr; I think P5S will show us a decent idea on how P5 as a series is doing compared to P3/4, it started off strong with it’s main game but has struggled with it’s spinoffs which might be because of other reasons than people just being “meh” on it. P5R will be a good chance to see how many people stayed. 

Now let’s look at the other games. You should know, considering hurdles P5 didn’t have (except maybe P3P, but on the other hand it probs could’ve excelled more on a home console), the modern day Persona games (Tadashi/Old games got screwed and I’ll explain but it’s probably for the same reason as PQ2, or at least for P2EP) did well despite these hurdles, well both original and remakes but I’mma focus on the remakes (all you need to know about P3 Vanilla and FES and P4 vanilla is that they were both released post PS3 and/or towards the end PS2′s life cycle and still did great).

Now P3P probably had the easiest, released during a very popular time for the PSP, and it ended up selling better than EITHER of it’s two PS2 counterparts Life to date (now if you cheated and combined Vanilla and FES, then yeah P3P sold 80,000 less than those two/all their versions, but that’s 2V1 and it’s still amazing how well it did).There was def an uptick in sales, maybe it was all newcomers or maybe it was half old and half new people, but it still resulted in more people buying it than it’s original (which is why I still wanted to talk about it despite it not having the same hurdles as P4G). 

P4G however, that’s where the biggest hurdle comes in (and why I really bring this up). The Vita. A console that sold peanuts compared to the PSP, PS2, PS3, and PS4. No, less than peanuts. 10/15 Million compared to the 80-150 million the other 4 ranged from. I mean yeah a million is a lot, but now you need to market to those million, no, you need to get people to BUY this console first (it was released roughly when the Vita dropped). You need to convince people to ditch their PSP, for a console that isn’t backwards compatible, for this semi-obscure Japanese title. But god damn it did, it almost got all it’s sales from the PS2 back. Hell it exceeded it’s original run L-t-D if you don’t count “The Best” re-releases (Vanilla’s cheaper re-release sold more than P4G’s cheaper re-release). I don’t know if these are also new people, or all hardcore fans, but it did really damn well! It got people hyped and it got people to buy this game AND console! (tho I wouldn’t be surprised if it was at the sacrifice of poor P2:EP, may you rest in peace ;w;). And that was a BIG hurdle for it to overcome! 

Like P3P and P4G really make me wonder how well they’d do with a real remake on the PS4/PS5. Like a port would probs do well, but imagine if they actually improved the graphics and changed/added new things, I think it’d sell about as well as P5 vanilla. 

P5R’s biggest hurdle is justifying itself as a full price game remake on the same console. But like FES could do that (so I think P5R’s outlook is fine, no real hurdles like P4G had to go through)....and just for fun cause I hate myself (jk I dunno I just wanna see if I can take a guess at JPN’s possible sales based off of numbers of past re-releases). And FES’ first week compared to it’s vanilla is 10% higher than Royal, but Royal has more units sold obvie, FES sold about 80% the total the vanilla did, Royal did 70%, L-t-D for FES was 78% not counting cheaper-re-releases, 82% counting re-releases...but I think that’s because P3 Vanilla didn’t have a re-release cause of FES. If I use that as a base.......P5R’s numbers (going off of the graphs from Personacentral like this one and of course the P5R one, which I think are all Japanese sales). If P5R follows a similar patter to FES’ sales %.... I’ll give P5R 72%-82% of Vanilla’s sales (including the cheaper re-release), and we’re looking at maybe L-t-D sales of Royal ranging from about 334,955 to 381,476 units sold. 

If Royal follows a similar pattern to P4G however (cause P5R is more similar to FES and P4G, I’ll do P4G’s too for fun, but I won’t do P3P’s). So there are two life to date numbers, one before factoring in P4/P4G’s re-releases and one after. Before P4G sold about 111% more than vanilla, after re-releases it sold about 96% of Vanilla’s total units. So a low ball and high ball of Royal with P4G’s % would be.....446,606 to 516,389 units sold. 

So combining those two together, I predict (aka this is a theory that I wanted to do for fun for WHATEVER reason, made by someone that JUST woke up and trying to get my math out as quickly as possible, maybe if I have time next week I’ll go back and check my work....I’m very busy this week sadly ;w;) P5R’s L-t-D (pre- cheaper re-release)sales to be somewhere to be 334,955 to 516,389 for Japan. 

But that’s Japan, Japan it feels like they’re more willing to re-buy games on the same console, the West might not be as inclined tho (if we re-buy something, it’s because it’s on a different console). So while P5R could sell about as well as Vanilla did in Japan, I dunno so much about the west. 

tldr; P5R did about as well as I thought in Japan, but not sure about the West. Some number predictions for P5R. If P5R does poorly in the West it could be because it’s was released on the PS4 instead of a different system. P5S I think will give us a better idea on how P5 is doing as a franchise compared to P4.

(also I should note, I prefer vanilla P4 over P4G, there’s some good stuff in P4G, but 1) I prefer Tracey Rooney as Chie, I prefer her down to earth approach more, and 2) there’s some things in P4G that ruins my enjoyment and outweighs the new positive stuff. I like all the remakes barring the guy who directed P4G/P5R, I haven’t finalized my thoughts on P5R yet tho. I do like Kasumi more than Marie tho just on a personality level, still thinking over how they handled her tho. I will say P5R has a lot of gameplay improvements that fixed a lot of gameplay gripes I had so like that’s all I feel like saying/can say about P5R, gameplays better!). 

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Rank the Persona games? + What do you think of ulala?

(edit forgot about ulala thought it was a diff ask. I love her)I’mma just rank what I prefer rather than numbers like with Zero Escape. Focusing on the story (gameplay wise I prefer P3/4/5 to P1/2 and I prefer P2 to P1, and I like all the spinoff games)

P2(both)/P4>P3P (FeMC)>P3MaleSide>>>P1>>>>>P5

P4D>PQ1>Arena>P3D/Ultimax>P5D (PQ2 isn’t out yet but I expect it to be on the higher end just cause the FeMC is there and yeah I’ll be like that 8U)

(reasoning below)

P2 has a great balance of characters and plot, P4 I just love the characters and how they handle them and flesh them out (not so surprisingly they both have Shadow Selves and I just loooooooove me those Shadow Selves, it’s what drew me into the series to begin with).

FeMC I rank above Male just cause how a few changes (such as being closer to SEES) helped with some of my issues with P3 (esp since the game is like “oh you are all closer now” and I was like “how? why?). MaleMC for the manga/anime/spinoffs is tied with the FeMC since they do develop that aspect I felt they lacked in the base game. I’ll boost Game!MaleMC up to tying with the FeMC when they fix his side tho. 106th time is the charm but damn it they’ll get it right. 8V jk jk

P1 has a fine story, the only thing holding it back is it’s characters imo. They aren’t bad but…..they are a bit shallow (by which I mean they aren’t as fleshed out as they could be), and they are a bit….relient on tropes of that time period. Instead of giving more info on the characters sayyyyyy Ayase, you just kinda know she’s just one of those Kogal girls rather then explain why and go into it. If you just know of the kogal girl trope during that time period, then you are good on her character. If you don’t then….rip. 

P5, we all know how I feel. Also as someone who loves the shadow selves…..yeah….was very….very upset with how they handled them in this game.

P4D, fun gameplay (includes greate music and choreo), good story, and best characterization.

PQ1, fun gameplay, good story, characterization isn’t…..the best…. but damn if those stroll events weren’t fun. Group Date Cafe is god-like too.

Arena, good story, half good characterization (some characters are great, some are getting into flanderization territory…..mostly the characters with a joke end)….I always forget Liz has a route in this game too….dunno why, just a fun fact. XD

P3D, fun gameplay (same as P4D), characterization I think is fine (aka I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary when playing the Japanese ver, which is a good thing), sadly….it lacks a “real” story mode…..that being said it could’ve been sooooooooo much better. It’s a shame it got held back by P5D. I had the most fun between this one and P5D tbh. I do wish they had more tracks and had more variety like P4D did, but it still had variety so that’s good.

Ultimax, good gameplay, characterization went down the crapper sadly, bungled mess of a story…..that being said the contents of the story (past the BS) is really interesting and it’s a shame it got bungled the way it did. 

P5D, gameplay is good but…..the choreo and music is….less than stellar sadly. I already had an issue with P5′s music, but the less than stellar remixes, the lack of variety in music genre (unlike P4D or P3D), and the lack in variety of even tracks to choose from (P3/4D could pick from a bunch of different games, and P5 only had one hence a lot of Wake Ups and Last Surprises). Not actually sure about the characterization….mostly cause P5′s characterization is a bungled mess (example Anne’s not an airhead in the main story but the make her an OOC one in her CoOp, and I feel like they keep her CoOp airheadedness in this). Kind of a quandary since….P5 isn’t consistent…and thus I dunno how to gauge P5D cause of this. I hated the choreo too, I don’t care if “oh they don’t know how to dance” like it’s a dream world they can do whatever don’t give me this BS. With pretty much everyone….their first dance was at best really good or at worst passable, with their 2nd dance being of lower quality to their 1st dance. It was painful to play. (I did think some of the remixes were good….when they were being original and didn’t sound like their source….which….isn’t good cause…as soon as it went back to resembling the base song I was like “oh welp there goes that good time”). This game deserved better too, they should’ve waited as to give it more songs to choose from. More dances. It sucks it lost content for P3D to exist at the same time too. 

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

what're your thoughts on Nier/Nier Automata? i figured you'd love that game since...well... everybody loves that game

you ever played Nier? I hear it has better writing then P5. 

@tehsharkster why didn’t you want Nier to win anything? I thought you liked it o3o;; (At least liked it more than P5) 

Sorry I wanted to wait on answering these questions after I had played the PS3!Nier and after I had finished my finals (still have one more to go but hey procrastination is my middle name, and it’s 4 am so it’s time to make bad decisions I’m gonna regret as soon as I wake up haha 8U). Anyway since I broke one rule for myself might as well break the other, since I haven’t played the PS3!Nier yet (our copy got sold before I could get it ;w;). Haha.... (also sorry Tehsharkster I’ve been meaning to reply, again wanted to wait to play OG!Nier I just didn’t think it’d take this long to get a copy).

So as for PS3!Nier (which I’ll just call Nier from now on, and Automata for Nier Automata)......I want to play it. I didn’t even realize Automata was even coming out when I finally came across Nier (for a Laura Bailey video). In all honesty if I didn’t see Laura Bailey cursing up a storm I probs wouldn’t have even cared to want to try it tbh. So yeah....I plan on playing this. 

As for Automata....haha.....oh.......yeah no I hated it. Go ahead, burn me at the stake....... Trust me I “got it” but I didn’t like what I got (well more like I didn’t like how it was handled). No it’s not too zany for me (I loooooooove Suda51 and I like Metal Gear Solid, or at least of the games I’ve played so far....slowly making my way through that series ;w;). The reason why I wanted to wait to say this is cause......I’m judging the game as a standalone game. Like if when I first played P4 back in 2009 before playing the other games.....because everyone kept saying “Oh you don’t need to play the original Nier to understand Automata, some of the cameos might go over your head but that’s ok!” And no.....no it’s not.....it’s not ok. The reason why Persona fans can say “oh yeah if it’s a mainline game you can jump in anywhere. Tho I recommend playing P1 before P2 and P2IS before P2EP but you know it’s not like it won’t kill you if you don’t.” it’s because it’s true. Automata? For me it felt like I was missing a lot of key information that I possibly could’ve gotten from Nier....and from what I’ve spoiled for myself that seems to be the case..... It also doesn’t help that apparently this is a sequel to a play we never got so whatever I guess. >.>

As for Automata vs P5.............I dunno.....I think I dislike P5 more, but it doesn’t mean that I like Automata. P5 had a really good first arc with Kamoshida.....and Automata’s route A was a good opening......but it’s what follows after those two that it just......does a nose dive. I think Automata.......tried more (they seem to be more consistent with their philosophy....even tho they shoved it down your throat every 5 seconds iirc).....They just didn’t do enough.....it felt vacant of content..... P5 it felt like they just didn’t care and were just going to go with whatever they wanted regardless of structure or consistency.....but it feels more fuller than Automata did (which is kinda bad since I think P5 is pretty vacant for a Persona game)..... It’s just they have different pros and cons. With both games....cons outweighed any and all pros I guess...... 

I will say this. I liked Ending E a lot. Do I think the game deserves it? No. It’s like how I feel with the DR3 anime ending. Good ending, bad journey. The journey didn’t deserve the ending. (tho for DR3 Chiaki should’ve totally been alive and the actual mastermind and the DR2 kids should’ve been more mutilated you know add some dark stuff to that happy ending but all in all even with that it’s still happy but whatever DR3 was a mess so I dunno what I was expecting anyway that’s besides the point. 8V actually if someone has a good fanfic of the DR3 anime where they fix all the issues with both sides I’d be happy to read it). Also the ending music is leaps and bounds better than P5′s ending song, the rest of the soundtrack was “yeah that’s pretty” but there were only a few songs I liked. I’d rather have given Cuphead Best Soundtrack of the Year (cause I just didn’t want either Automata or P5 getting any awards), but Automata def deserves it more than P5′s soundtrack so I’m chill with Automata winning it. (also I didn’t hate it right off the bat, I was fine with it till route B and was livid by route C......so....yeah.....)

So yeah......Also another reason I want to play Nier is cause I heard from some people who didn’t like Automata (I KNOW! I was surprised too *insert M&Ms commercial “They do exist” gif), they said that Nier had a better story....worse gameplay tho of course (but hey if it’s serviceable, which is what I’ve heard, I’m not too picky)....so.....*shrugs*

Also, question, I can’t for the life of me figure out why on earth 2B has Kaine’s(? Laura Bailey’s character?) costume for the DLC....... Isn’t A2 based off Kaine?????? I thought she had Kaine’s memories implanted into her (unless the wiki is lying to me). I mean yeah A2 is the prototype model for 2B iirc.....but.......A2 has Kaine’s memories I thought............WHY???? WHY IS IT LIKE THIS???? ;W; (I’d also complain about why A2 doesn’t have Kaine’s VA in either English or Japanese, but I mean Labrys doesn’t have Rei’s voice in either English or Japanese.......but that’s cause Labrys was based off Rei when she was a little girl and Rei we see in PQ is grown up and has lost the accent so I get it..... And I could buy the same for A2 if she was based of little!Kaine but.........that’s only if Little!Kaine isn’t voiced by Laura Bailey too in Nier and kalsfda;nfdkal I guess I’ll just find out but it’s been ticking me off...... ;w;)

Sorry if this is a messy ramble......I don’t want to go too in depth cause I want to judge it as a sequel which means waiting till I get Nier (and also cause it’s 4 am)...but.....sigh....Didn’t even have any hopes up and yet still came out disappointed.......On the bright side I didn’t have to pay (or really I got a refund since I finished it in 7 days) and I got a plat so it all works out I suppose.....

[doktorpeace]

in Persona 5 for me it’s July 11th, meaning I’m exactly 3 months into the game. I’m going to assume I’m getting to about the third way point, both previous games lasted 9-10 months and I’ll assume this one will last until January on the end game Calendar. Here’s my thoughts so far, spoilers inside:

Well I’ve spent a clean 44 hours on the game already so there’s that. I haven’t even been fucking around a lot, I completed Madarame’s Palace in just the 3 required visits and I completely cleaned out Kaneshiro’s Palace in just one discounting Makoto’s joining visit and the re-visit to defeat the boss. I’m really digging the story so far, it feels well paced and everything’s progressing at a reasonable, steady rate but the tension keeps building. It also REALLY breaks tradition, but in ways I’m finding refreshing. I’ve already formed my Judgement Confidant in spite of being only a third(ish?) of the way into the game, and I’ve formed a Confidant relationship with someone I know WILL be a party member even when he’s not a party member yet. Though I don’t trust Akechi as far as I could throw him. I’ll have to play farther into the story to write a real feeling piece about it, I’ll probably do that once I complete the game. Igor’s got me scared though, and I really loved and trusted Igor wholly in the last two games. My social stats are progressing well, I’m at rank 4 on Knowledge, 3 on Guts (promoting to 4 soon I think), 3 on Charm, 2 on Kindness, and 2 on Proficiency (also promoting soon). I knew Knowledge and Guts would be the most important ones going in, they always are so I’ve given them a special priority. So far I love this game, it’s really stellar and it’ll be my game of the year for certain. Everything works really well, my sole complaint at this point is that one time I had a shadow not join me after giving two good answers to its questions during a negotiation and I wasn’t told why not, but whatever it’s fine. The dungeons are getting steadily tougher and I really like the variety in design approaches they take. Kaneshiro’s was incredibly long but could be done all at once if you had enough items and good enough pacing, Madarame’s required more involvement and opting into scripted events since you had to get stuff done in the real world as well, and given it was a tutorial dungeon Kamoshida’s was also good. Honestly the level design in the Palaces has all been really good and I’ve liked each more than the last by quite a bit. I even got unlucky with some Onis getting crits and hitting my whole party with Rampage near the beginning of my run through Kaneshiro’s Palace and I still made it through so I was pretty happy with that. The main plot and characters are very much enjoying that the game, while fairly lighthearted so far, takes itself seriously and handles its themes maturely. They don’t make jokes about serious things and they let things have the weight that they should. The Party Member’s social links going on lockdown if you advance them too fast to wait for another moment in the plot is also a great idea since it means they can build in some of the character’s development from the plot into the social link and vice versa. This, combined with how the social links each focus on them growing as a person from the issue that caused them to be socially outcast and ostracized in the first place gives it a more down to earth feel. The party members have noticeable growths of character and mindset in both components of the game’s writing side by side, and it’s good to see them finally address this issue the series had been having. Rather than being like Persona 4 and making each of them a HUGE LIFE CHANGING EVENT THAT HAS A MASSIVE EFFECT ON THEIR PERSONALITY but then that having no bearing on the plot so the whiplash of maturity is really immersion breaking, this game’s focus on a more personal push towards growth and change. Be it making amends for past mistakes like Ryuji, finding a new source of strength with Ann, or pushing forward and grasping his future in spite of his situation like Yusuke, they all have to deal directly with what caused them to become an outcast in the first place, and feel like strong bits of development that don’t completely change them as people. I personally like and relate to Makoto’s being about being more honest with oneself and living for you, and not for the expectations others have for you. This sense of giving situations the gravitas and seriousness they require extends to side social links as well, of which I’ve liked all the ones I’ve found. One that sticks out to me is Kawakami’s social link. She is your teacher and you happen to hire her through a maid service because Ryuji and Mishima are fucking dumbasses who want to see a hot maid do chores for them and the situation you find yourselves in is naturally a little sexually charged, something which the game does not ignore or distract from. It owns up to the awkwardness of the situation it sets up. As the social link progresses (without Ryuji and Mishima there) it even gives the player the option to try and hit on her in a sexual manner, but she turns you down on the grounds that A) You’re her student B) the age gap is gross and C) specifically sites it would make her no better than Kamoshida, who was your first target as the Phantom Thieves in no small part because he sexually harassed and in one case raped a student. The fact that the game doesn’t just walk the walk of saying ‘oh yeah sexually assaulting minors is bad’ which is obvious to anyone of decent moral standing, but further drives the point home and WON’T make an exception for you because you’re the player is very good and not something many games are willing to do.  The variety of characters you encounter during social links is also nice, from a washed up politician genuinely trying to improve the world after learning from his mistakes, to the owner of a model weapon shop doing illicit business, to just the guy who runs the Phantom Thieves’ Forum they’ve all got a charm to them and feel well written. One that worried me initially was one where you meet a news reporter in a bar and the bar happens to be run by a drag queen. I was worried cause I had heard this content was transphobic, but seemingly that was a misunderstanding from someone playing the japanese version with less than a perfect understanding of the language. Lala Escargot as she goes by, is voiced by a man in both versions and is referred to with ‘-chan’ and female pronouns, however this is proper etiquette for drag queens while playing their stage persona. Further, Lala Escargot is shown to be of good moral standing and isn’t made out to be a joke, two things I was glad to see happen. This game’s schedule also feels good. Like I said, I’m about a third of the way in and I feel like I’ve been able to make comfortable growth with both social stats and social links, and I was worried about that because the game really railroads you a lot in the first two plot arcs, but it’s working out comfortably. Combat feels really good, while spell animations feel a tiny bit less flashy than previous games I’ve still only seen a handful of them, and the combat animations are all still really good. The balance is great, I feel challenged but not overwhelmed, but it is noticeably getting a lot harder with each main palace. Your Teammate’s in combat abilities they gain from social links are definitely nerfed compared to P4 or P3 Portable, but honestly that’s welcome in my opinion. In the previous games they were flat out overpowered and could carry you through the game. As is they feel like nice bonuses that happen just often enough you don’t forget they’re there, but not so often that they take away any feeling of depth or strategy, particularly in P4 where they were extremely ‘Win More’ mechanics. Particularly the ‘Save the main character from death once per battle’ is reduced to a chance, but can happen more than once per battle if you’re lucky, and requires the relationship be at rank 9 instead of rank 5. A hefty but welcomed nerf that doesn’t eliminate any feeling of danger. Oh also! The fact that your non-party member Confidants confer permanent benefits, some in combat, some out of combat is a GREAT incentive to level them up. I know that I’m focusing on Kawakami’s so hard because it frees up so many phases in the game, not having to waste my own time brewing coffee or doing laundry is a huge boon, plus 1 point in knowledge from lecture (assuming I get the answer right) can be exchanged for two lockpicks and two points in proficiency, or a book read and its bonuses which is a great bonus effect. Eventually she even gives you the ability to go out at night after going dungeon crawling which in and of itself is an ENORMOUS benefit. Finally, as for the party members it’s really cool the variety this party has and their variety of motivations. They’re a very fun group whose personalities work together dynamically an in a fun way, I know I still have 3 party members left to get, so we’ll see how they affect things. I’m just loving how much we get to see them all interact, between how many plot events there are and that there’s at least one text chatlog a day with everyone talking together, it gives you a ton of dialogue with them and time to see their party dynamic.  Ryuji’s a good boy. I like him a lot, he reminds me a lot of myself in terms of behavior. His social link has been a little slow, but cute, and his date sequences when you aren’t actively going up ranks are also cool. One big improvement he has over Yosuke in particular is that after being hit on by a couple of gay guys he just expresses distaste for the situation and leaves it at that. He was uncomfortable with it, but he doesn’t hark on it and veer off into being a homophobic shitbag like Yosuke. But Atlas, blease let him be gay in the expansion I know you’re going to make. Let me date the vulgar boy he’s such a cute good boy. Really though his growth as a person is already tangible, he’s gone from feeling like a total outsider with nothing to work for and nothing to lose to being a fairly responsible guy who owns up to his mistakes. He’s still not smart but he’s grown enough that he’s the party member to remind the others to keep it calm and lay low after a major operation, which is a really cool role for him to play. Ann is fucking great, her force of personality and strength as a character is immediate right from the start. I was worried for her, but she’s an explosive character, a lot of facets to her personality and situation are revealed to you quickly and then elaborated on over the course of her social link and when you hang out with her or go on sunday dates together. She’s obviously a kind, strong individual but she questions her own genuinity and strength as a person, and is exploring different ways to broaden her horizons and improve. I was a little worried she’d be a generic spitfire angry girl, but really she’s only super pissed off at injustice and sexual harassment. A big part of her character comes from her staunch hatred and opposition ‘of men who treat women as sexual outlets’ (literally word for word something she says) and it’s a really strong, cool way for her to be. I’m very grateful for the game’s writing for having such a staunch, unmoving stance in opposition of treating women like objects especially in a series like Persona where fans have an extremely gross tendency to do just that. It’s a good lesson and message to put out there. In other cases she’s actually really level headed and willing to admit when she was wrong or when someone’s outplayed her. I like Ann a lot. Yusuke’s a really deep and interesting character who I sadly keep blowing off for Makoto and Ryuji, but I’ll hang out with him more soon. His circumstances are really fucking difficult, first of all he’s an orphan, which sucks. Secondly his adoptive father is abusive, which really sucks. Third off he’s autistic. Seriously, think on his dialogue and tell me I’m wrong. We directly get the line ‘not many people will deal with my eccentricities’ which is as close as Japanese media ever gets to saying ‘yes I’m autistic.’ His dialogue often hints to how people ostracize him for being autistic even though he’s a great guy and I’m sure it’ll come up in his social link in the future. I’m glad the game paints it as a negative thing for society to treat him bad and not that it’s bad he’s autistic, it’d be very easy to slip into that but they haven’t fucked up yet. And finally, he’s fuckin gay dude. Don’t fight me on this one, I know a gay when I see one. He specifically dodges the idea of being attracted to Ann ‘as a member of the opposite sex’ and the way he says it isn’t ‘oh I’m interesting in girls, just not Ann’ it’s much more ‘I’m not interested in girl, and thus not interested in Ann.’ He’s got a lot going against him, but unlike with Kanji nobody acts like it’s weird he isn’t attracted to Ann (though Ryuji will rib the player for saying the same thing) and everybody’s doing their best to be supportive of him. I’m excited to see more of his character and see how he overcomes the ways society is stacked against him. You can even take him on dates and he comments that it looks like you’re lovers. I hope he gets a nice boyfriend. (also atlus please make him a romance option in the expansion as well.) Finally Makoto is the character I’ve most been suspicious of how she fits in. She’s an honor student, lives in a nice house, has a sister in a high paying job, was born into a good family, what’s bad about her life? Well, she’s outcast from the average student because she’s ‘just a robot’ and she has these obscene expectations thrust upon her, yet people still call her useless. She has to constantly wear a face and be who people expect her to be and not who she really is. It’s a more subtle kind of outcasting and she certainly doesn’t face the negatives the other members do like being an orphan or having their best friend hospitalized after a suicide attempt, but she’s got her own set of issues which are playing out alongside these things. The game also doesn’t frame her situation as equally bad, it’s just a very stressful, difficult situation for her and she really needs an outlet and somewhere she can genuinely just be herself. The fact that her rebellion is just having a space to express herself normally in is kind of fucked up, she had a really suffocating life and now she doesn’t and I like that. Her Confidant relationship is also really fun so far, I like Makoto even if she’s not an outcast in as strong or the same kind of way as everyone else. I don’t have a lot to say about Morgana so far. I like him, he’s an enormous step up from Teddie, but I think I’ll only be able to write how I really feel about him once the game is over. All in all I fucking love this game and it’s a huge improvement over all of Atlus’ old products in all the ways I’d hope it would be. I’d still prefer there be a gay romance option in the game, but the fact that you can take guys on dates and that you have a gay party member who isn’t treated as weird for it is great. 10/10, my personal game of the year already.