#nothing made me think P5 or any persona

[ribbononline]

Oh yeah! Since I have no clue if/when I'm ever finishing these and I've had them laying around for forever by now- here's the adult IT metaverse outfits I've made! They're all based on their ultimate personas and the concept of heros! Since these were made for an aged up p4 cast, these aren't quite what I'd put their during p4 time selves in- some changing more then others- but if you wanna follow me into design details, that'll all be under the cut!

First off to get em out of the way- Teddie is very largely the same as his p4 time metaverse outfit I made for him back here . The design is still meant to be inspired by magical girls, but the biggest change is that while the old one was meant to look like a magical girl protagonists outfit, this one I tried to lean a bit more into the older/more experienced cast member of the magical girl group type design. Overall a pretty minor change (and I will admit, largely because I'm still incredibly happy with that old design) but it felt fitting!

Chie and Yukiko were, as always when I work on them, designed to match. Their masks specifically mirror eachother with the opposites sides sticking out, and they both have a golden dragon pattern on their clothes as a reference to the twin dragons move! Chie was... honestly one where I had to sacrifice my goals a bit. Like mentioned before, these were meant specifically for an aged up cast. And while p4 era Chie I would absolutely imagine in a kung fu Chung-Li type outfit, we know what a more mature version of her action hero dreams look like; the police! And I.... really did not want to put her in a cop outfit, Ill be real. Instead I just tried focusing on making the outfit look more mature. Also tried to combine a practical and strong look with a more feminine aesthetic, since she struggles pretty badly with her femininity in p4 and I like to think she'd grow more comfortable with her own brand of it over time!

Yukiko is perhaps one of the most drastic one for changes compared to her younger self- if you asked me to design a p4 era outfit for her, it would look nothing like this, hah. Anyways, she's definitely inspired by onna-musha! Compared to Tomoe who was a full on commander of an army going out there, for Yukiko the idea was more the women taking up arms to protect their home when the battle comes their way. Fully having embraced the role she has as the next owner of the Amagi Inn and the responsibility and want to protect it, it's meant to be somewhat of an outing of that!

Fun fact: She has two color schemes! Because uhh I did not know what to go for at all. Her ultimate persona is like a single solid color and I kind of panicked and just ended up winging the colorscheme. One is more red since, y'know, thats her color! The other is more white gold to match her actual persona better. Included at the end of this post for the curious

Rise was based on a greek goddess- though not any particular one, moreso how they're commonly depicteed in art and old statues. Pretty, holy, someone you'd go to for advice and help (someone just out of reach from the general public) It just felt like a good combination of something she'd like to be seen as and percieved as as well. She gets two outfits- for scan and fight mode! Kouzeon has no canon fight mode, thats just for Himiko, but man it exists in my heart. The transistion between the two is literally just her throwing off the long overskirt, hah.

How does her mask work? Excellent question. The p5 idea of having it there when vibing but gone when the persona is out feels a little awkward when her persona's whole thing is putting a visor over her face. Quite frankly I have no idea. Sorry folks. Have all concept sketches for the outfits I've done as compensation with a bonus Noot in there that I never continued on and finished.

[p5x-theories]

I dunno if it's because it is built on the foundation of Persona 5 and its in-universe rules and me not being too familiar with many gacha plots, but I've been finding it so much easier to follow what is going on in P5X compared to most other big gachas' stories.

Like in comparison I was watching a stream of somebody trying out that new miHoYo game Zenless Zone Zero, and despite my best efforts to pay attention I had such a tough time trying to understand what was going on that it was becoming too mentality taxing for me to continue further × ×

I personally found it relied too much on terminologies and less on what those exact things do that it made any attempts to be emotionally invested in its narrative difficult.

Do you think I'm too biased in what stories I prefer and I'm not being patient enough in its supposed long burn or is this like a fundamental problem that a lot of these types of games suffer with? ; ;

Hmm, that's a fair question, and I'll admit I'm not sure I'm qualified to answer it, since I don't play any other gacha games, heh!

That said, I think you're probably right that having a familiarity with P5 itself is helping you understand P5X's plot, whether you would have struggled to follow the plot without the prior P5 understanding or not. As much as P5X is meant to be for newcomers to the series too, it does often feel like it's built enough on P5 that you'd enjoy it more if you actually know P5 already, at least to me.

Without much knowledge of other gacha games, I can see how they might be overwhelming gameplay-wise, and cause you to lose the plot because of that, at the very least. I can't speak to their individual writing quality because I don't know them, but gacha games sort of have a lot going on, to my understanding! P5X, even, has a ton of different things and game modes and game mechanics to worry about (to the point that I made several posts about it, hah). I think what's helped there- besides familiarity with P5- is the fact that these game mechanics aren't really directly tied into the story, and usually aren't introduced at the same time as the story is progressing (or given to you in pieces, if they are). So maybe that's part of the difference? Admittedly, I also had a much easier time understanding how everything in P5X worked when I started playing it myself, rather than having to watch streamers play the beta tests I couldn't get into.

At least as for "not being patient enough in its supposed long burn", though, I think I have one piece of advice that I consider applicable even outside of gacha games: a "long burn" plot should still have a hook that draws you in, if it's good. Something that catches your attention and makes you want to learn more, even if you're missing some of the details and not understanding all the plot yet. If it feels like a chore to sit through the story up to the point where it'll start to make sense- especially if it gets mentally taxing to try to do so!- I think it's completely understandable that you don't want to keep trying. Because if the game (or whatever it is) can't even give you something to care about and hold onto, why should you sit around for however long it takes to get to the point?

Obviously there may be some exceptions, but that's kind of my personal metric to figuring out if I want to keep going with something. Is there a character, or an aspect of the worldbuilding, or something like that, that I want to learn more about and I'm willing to stick around for? Or does it just sort of feel like floating in the middle of the ocean with no life preserver, waiting for a ship to sail by? And there's nothing wrong with leaving if it's not clicking with you, even if other people really like it. Sometimes something just won't work for you, and that's okay! Worst case scenario, you can always come back to it later if you feel like giving it another shot.

[misty-wisp]

i uh. i voiced asuka's persona awakening for funsies since i have it written. it's a little awkward with the lack of sound effects but i like how it turned out...

transcript below the cut

[Asuka]: "...Yeah. I hear you clear as day. One full year of nothing but hard work from me, obedience to you and everything, and that's what I get...I should've known it'd turn out this way. Y'know, you wouldn't have said any of this a year ago. Or maybe you would if I just pushed your buttons...But I was too much of a coward for that, huh...? I guess this means I can be honest with you for once. Most of this is already pretty obvious, but..."

[a slight chuckle.]

[Asuka]: "I am so fucking sick and tired of you. I put myself through all of this pain and suffering, isolating myself for your shitty establishment, doing everything I could for you. I made your drugs, I sold them off, I stayed late hours, I kept quiet--I did all of your fucking dirty work! I'm the reason you're even here where you're at right now, and what do I get!? Death threats from you, bruises from you, and late nights where I'm not even sure if I'm going to be alive the next day, all because of you!"

[a sharp breath.]

[Asuka]: "You're so goddamn selfish, forcing me and all those other people to do everything for you without a single thought about us...And I have to keep working for another 10 days before you execute me!? How about I just quit while I'm ahead instead!? I already know you're gonna try to get rid of me any--Sh--Shit, my head--GAHHHH!"

[a cackle, coming from another voice. Asuka's pained cries can be heard in the background]

[Aradia]: "Have you finally realized what you truly want? I've been waiting so long...I've called you time and again, you know. To think you'd finally answer...!"

[Asuka]: "Ngh...Wh-Who--!?"

[Aradia]: "Tell me, shall you look past what those above you desire and chase the freedom you yearn for? Or will you sit and lie like the peasant they think you as?"

[Asuka]: "I-I..."

[another cackle.]

[Aradia]: "I'll be taking that as a yes! I am thou, thou art I...Go, allow yourself to savor the freedom you rightfully deserve!"

[Asuka]: "Ugh--NGAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

[moment of silence, bc. i don't have sound effects. aha.]

[Asuka]: "I've ignored you for so long, Aradia...But it's fine now. I'm done with being a punching bag to this bastard!"

[nirvanaida]

you should say the p5 take out loud

okay. it’s not gonna be what you think though. p5 mutuals please don’t kill me but here’s the take:

in general, what makes the characters of persona 5 and persona 5 royal so interesting is how they all try to shatter the status quo. this is the main theme of the game – people realising the injustices in their society and rising up against it, rejecting the idea of “this is just how it is”. the characters embody a desire to break free from the unbalanced conventions of society, from the protagonist to the minor social links. however, there is one character who fails to live up to the standard set by the other characters; they have a weak arc, are unreflective, serve no real purpose that couldn’t be replaced by another character, and ultimately undermine the themes that persona 5 tries so hard to emphasise. a lot of people might think they know who i’m talking about here, but i might surprise you. i am not talking akechi goro.

i’m talking about makoto nijima.

makoto is hands down the worst character in the game, in my opinion, because of the above reasons. now, most people who dislike her do not do so for fair reasons – let’s be honest, it usually boils down to misogny. but i’d like to present my ideas around why makoto is such an affront to the rest of the cast in a more fair manner, without focusing on the aspects of her character (like her attitude, her interestin more “masculine” activities, her mary-sueishness, etc) that the afformentioned people focus on.

spoilers under the cut

first, when compared to the other characters in the game, makoto contributes nothing to the narrative. morgana is the link between the velvet room and the metaverse. ann and ryuji are joker’s first comrades. yusuke is the first non-shujin phantom thief. futaba has practical functions as the navigator, a link to the mental shutdowns through wakaba, and explores the idea of a palace soawning from non-evil desire. haru is used to explore goodness through selfishness as well as emphasising okumura’s death, sumire cements the ideas of the third semester, and akechi is joker’s foil. makoto’s role is supposed to be that of the tactician – the “brains of the team”. however, unlike the other characters who actively fulfill their respective jobs in the story, makoto’s “necessity” is a forced contrivance. she never displays any intelligent or deductive reasoning besides pointing out the obvious. in order to make makoto’s input seem useful, the previously competent pts are suddenly made out to be so dumb that they are amazed when makoto suggests the basic idea of forming a strategy. it’s also worth noting that after futaba’s palace or so, makoto accomplishes nothing within infiltrations. the game insists that she is a brilliant mind, but never does anything to indicate to us that this is true.

in addition to their practical roles, the pts are also used to thematically delve into the various flaws of japanese society, all of them eventually coming to the conclusion that they must reject the idea of continuing on in complacancy. in their respective awakenings, ann and ryuji work up the courage to defy kamoshida, as does yusuke madarame, haru her father, futaba her delusions, and sumire her grief. when akechi dies in the engine room, he has a similar experience in that he comes to terms with the fact that his violent spiral has lead to his death. however, makoto’s awakening is a rejection of kaneshiro, which is hardly something that radical for her character. it could have had more effect if it were someone like kobayakawa and sae who she was defying, a respected figure of authority in her life. she’s not overcoming anything when she calls out kaneshiro for extorting children. in general, makoto is all over the place when it comes to theming. it seems like they want her to realise that complacent in the suffering of others by not calling out authority figures, but again, neither her awakening nor her later actions reflect this. similarly, they focus on her trying to be “useful”, which is completely dissonant from the rest of the characters’ motivations. i ask this: what does makoto’s awakening add to the themes of the game?

if your answer is indeed to focus on how sometimes we must disobey authority to do what’s right, i would like to point out that the game does not manage to convey this theme it refuses to explore the consequences of makoto’s noncompliance. Yes, she refuses to name the phantom thieves in her report to kobayakawa, but her life continues on as normal despite this. she keeps her high grades, her student council presidency, her university prospects, and we see no effect of her abandonment of the reference letter having a strain on makoto and sae’s relationship. yes, she champions the idea of changing sae’s heart (although… not really, akechi suggests it first), but there is no confronttion between the two sisters in the end. she has overcome a non-difficulty, so how has she overcome anything at all? when we compare this to what the other pts lose for their refusal of society – a working leg, a best friend, a guardian, a safety net, a father, vengence, peace of mind – makoto’s arc pales in comparison. so the fact that the narrative treats it with the same gravitas as the others’ is a travesty.

furthermore, in some ways makoto undermines the themes of the game. reflecting on oneself is something that is emphasised by the narrative – most of the character at somempoint realise that they have been lacking in some regard, both in the complacency to society and within their social link. makoto never really reflects on herself, however. she is an incredibly flawed character, but the game and herself refuse to acknowledge this. for example she appears as a character who finds satisfaction in being better than others. she is incredibly demeaning towards ryuji, she wishes to solve kaneshiro’s case by herself (or at least be the one to provide the crucial evidence), she emphasises her “mental superiority” at every chance possible, she is desperate to prove that she knows better than eiko in her social link, she delights in one-upping akechi in the interrogation room, etc. most attrociously, when ann suggests that makoto, as student council president and thus one responsible for student wellbeing, may share some blame for kamoshida’s abuse, makoto turns the blame on ann, saying that she should have known shiho would attempt suicide. most people say that makoto’s decision to become a cop is out of character, but it’s sadly not. makoto’s refusal to reflect on how the pts ended up where they were, her refusal to actually examine herself as a character, her insistence in her superiority that she can fix a broken system… it all leads to the same place. now, none of this makes makoto a “bad” character (aside from the cop part /hj) – if anything, it makes her more interesting. however, makoto is more often than not portrayed as in the right for her actions. aside from at the very beginning, she is never challenged, never reflects, never acknowledges her flaws.

makoto could so easily be replaced by a variety/combination of characters, and the game would be better. akechi would have been a better it for the kaneshiro arc, even if it may have been more difficult to incorporate. futaba or morgana could handle affinities. akechi could work as the connection to sae, or sae herself. and i wish it was different! i wish that makoto contributed something, i wish she was interesting, i wish she was more than what she is. but she’s not. and it annoys me when people insist otherwise.

[arcplaysgames]

Hewwo! I thought of a few things that weren't in your P5R review and I was curious about your take:

- Considering how much you disliked the P4G one and how much P3's objectively slaps, P5R's OST is ???

- How did you feel about having authored dungeons vs the random generation of previous games/Mementos?

Music

P5R was inoffensive. The only music that made me stop and go "oh wow" was the first time I heard the Heist Theme on my first Get The Treasure day, that was pretty cool. And I think the general wandering around town theme is very listenable for the hours on end that you're gonna be hearing it.

But nothing, like.... stopped me in my tracks like P3P's OST did. None of P5R's battle themes compete with either "Wiping All Out" OR "Mass Destruction", but they weren't offensively bad like P4G's. And gun to my head, I could not remember any of the boss themes or if they were even different.

P3P still blows everyone out of the water on music. Best overworld theme with the January overworld song, best battle theme with "Wiping All Out," and the final boss theme probably will never be beaten, they should just do remixes and reprisals of it.

Dungeons

The dungeon thing is difficult. This to me comes back to my structural gripes with P4 and P5.

Like, logically, yes, the authored dungeons are just better than the random gen. They are.

But I still never enjoyed doing them, and weirdly I feel like Persona is straying further and further away from the exploration/combat of their games being enjoyable. I'm not even sure why, and it's probably just me, but...

Tartarus was always kind of fun for me, it was mindless and quick and had the best Reaper of all the games. And when I got tired of doing it, I could just get to the next floor and stop.

For P5R, these big authored dungeons are... not fun to me personally. Every time I unlock one, I'm like "SIGH, okay, time to pause what I'm doing for X hours to do this Palace before I can optimally get back to everything else."

I think I just like how P3P does it better. I do not at all even remotely like this thing where you have a month to save the person from the TV or to get the Treasure, and then you do it and the game twiddles its fuckign thumbs for OVER TWENTY FUCKING DAYS before the plot advances, and your team every fucking day is like "gosh i guess all we can do is wait now" (in P5R, not P4G) (or at least worse in P5R due to the fucking smart phone alkdjflskafd).

In P3P, you should be working in Tartarus to get higher and to level up and make progress... but the full moon day is the fucking full moon day and on that day, you are GOING to do a mission and sink or swim. It makes P3P feel like there's a lot less time sitting around on your ass.

I don't know the solution, but I do know that I worked hard to make some overpowered fucking monstrous Personas (playing SMT-style) to blast through the Palaces as fast as I fucking could because the sooner, the better. Which is probably not a great sign. SHRUG

I'd take Tartarus over any Palace any day of the week.

[neomedievalist]

re:p1>p4: I just think p4 is the worst persona game having played them in order. It’s a huge drop from p3 and isn’t as fun as p5. The cast has literally no good characters. They’re all annoying (to me). I only kept playing because it’s fun, as you said. It’s also my least favorite story in the series including p5, has my least favorite cast(surprising when p5 has my two least favorite characters in the series), I dont think I found any of the SLs to have the highs of p3 sun or the consistency of p5… honestly there’s nothing in p4 that I enjoyed that I didn’t enjoy more in any of the other persona games. P1 is incredibly dated but I grew up playing dated games, so that could be why it hurts me less. I also like p1’s color scheme more than p4’s… lol.

yeah i see what you mean honestly. it legitimately is just fandom delusion that has gotten p4 this far despite incredibly bad writing, and it honestly ties into like. having popular ships that you completely warp and rewrite a character for. i mean, obviously, cut yosuke romance route, it's real, we can look it up and listen to the voicelines right now. but you have to admit most of the attatchment that people have to the characters of p4 is...stuff that is not in the game. its not to say that you cant read between the lines and look deeper into it, thats why yosuke IS so popular as a character. at a point though it really feels like closing your eyes to the truth (p4 reference, lol.) and i think a lot of p4 fans forget just how bad it gets.

and also, saying 'fuck atlus they should have let us date the boys!!!!' is not a nuanced take and to be honest im getting sick of seeing it. i hate atlus too im a smt fan. it just goes to show that what people got out of p4 was the shippable characters because there really isnt a lot of substance other than that, being character-driven as it is, with characters that are frequently unbearable to be around. in a way the fandom warping of characters and headcanons being accepted as gospel is natural considering the need to fill in gaps of bad writing in the game. it's honestly really frustrating to see people reblog that joke post about p4 being good if you throw out everything that makes it bad, and like, genuinely agreeing with it. im sorry but you dont like persona 4 you like the version you made up in your head

[petorahs]

i'm just gonna: ☀️ anon. There.

Anyway: I can see where you're coming from and like I said it has been forever since I played the Answer and I don't /hate/ it. But I guess I always had an issue with Yukari, because she seemed to me needlessly mean to others sometimes? Like she was right and others are wrong so its fine if she can be mean? But that is just what I /remember/. And while yeah, characters are allowed to be mean and not perfect and allways kind, especially female characters, because GOD FORBID women do anything- it also doesn't mean I have to LIKE her. I guess it's because to me Yukari felt like someone who would unironically call someone having fun "cringe", which for me personally is a dealbreaker. But Persona ALWAYS had this issue with having the male bestie be the buttmonkey of jokes, some kind of pervert and dunked on by the other characters and Junpei is still having it the best?? (Yosuke, Ryuji, you boys deserved so so much better).

In any case, I guess I couldnt give her as much leeway or credit because her personality didn't really mesh with me. But now being older I also think that it is BECAUSE of the writing. Persona Games have all extremely low points and extreme high points. The entire first palace is great in persona 5, Persona 4s social links with the Dojima family are really gripping and persona 3 is still one of my faves because it just came at the very right time in my life. (Who would've thought that a game about DEATH as its core theme would SAVE me.) But the writing is not always very consistent and the characters really suffer for it, usually for very stupid reasons like """""humor""""". I guess I am just trying to say that I get what you mean, but Yukari is just not my fave so I guess it is easier for me to lose patience. Like there are characters I'd go to war for in the persona series, so its easier for me to see the GOOD writing aspects, while others might greatly dislike them and therefore have a far easier time seeing the writing from more negative perspectives.

But your analysis has really given me some food for thought. I will definitely try to pay it more attention on a replay!

Oh ONE MORE THING!!!

It always felt like Yukari was pushed as a sort of "main love interest" which always kinda felt off to me when persona games do that. maybe its because i am gay and therefore see myself more representated by same sex couples/queer couples, maybe its because the persona developers believe men and women cant just be friends it always has to be something romantic, maybe its because the romantic writing always seemed forced and reliant on little events like in a romance shoujo manga- idk, but that was also something that rubbed me the wrong way. But that has been issues in P3-P5 throughout. And i feel like p3 got it the worst??? At least in later games you could opt for just a friendship even tho the writing still made it APPARENT THAT THE GIRLS ARE IN LOVE WITH YOU SPECIAL BOY!!! Sorry Yukari, that's not really your fault, thats a systemic fault.

yoo valid as hell though i get wym. if the character isnt for you then they arent for you and again, im not here to convince you otherwise of anything!

when you say it like that i can see why yukari's a bit of a mixed bag. i still like her tho she kinda a baddie and as a guy i like when girls are kinda mean to me so agree to disagree

ah yes the persona lovers arcana girl suffering from pushed "main love interest" syndrome.. i havent played any other aside from p3 and p5 but i heard rise gets worse. but like you said it is a systemic fault. to be real with you none of the romance options in p3 really enticed me despite 3 being hailed as ""the best dating sim"" out of all three modern games. maybe i just need to play portable. or be able to romance ryoji as makoto lmaoo (i saw a screenshot with ryoji saying he'd like you regardless of gender and. 😭 thanks for nothing i guess atlus?)

hard agree on the persona series as a whole having a tendency of doing something really good but then!!........ not. sticking the landing at all. theres so much to be said about it god these games are a hot mess on average its funny. as much as i adooore it, p3's pacing was so ass that i got severe tonal whiplash on oct 4. couldnt even begin to grieve cause i was so shocked

if you ever replay the answer (which. godspeed to you thats a whole grindfest i wouldnt wish on my worse enemy) i hope youre able to have fun and find new things about it to like! overall we can agree that its good so theres that. talk to you soon o7

[devinkrispy]

April 8th, the rain isn’t letting up, everyone is trapped in.

As I let this soothing song play in my ears it brings memories back to when I first heard it, my first playthrough in P5, it also brought back specific memories I had to the original thoughts to when I first made my channel, or any online presence for that matter. I simply wanted a community for people who were just as chronically online as I was. However looking back I searched the wrong areas.

As glad as I am now, I do wonder what would it be like if I Decided to just dive into the deep web of places like 4 Chan, or niche communities of tumblr.

Community is all I wanted, as of now I can say I have mine now. But the methods of getting here. Were they worth it? Was it worth going through the hell that was shokus, witnessing the hell of troupe, just for internet lore?

That’s all it is at the end of the day technically, if you turn your devices off and act like none of it happened you wouldn’t be technically wrong.

Shit Let’s take the one who shall not be named for example, they left and acted like we didn’t exist (at least I assume) then Beni followed shortly after.

That makes you think of what you could really do with your online persona. Which in itself is a weird concept. How does one make a persona strictly for the online space? How does one separate it from their IRL counterpart without any tension or trouble? Wouldn’t time be a significant factor here?

Then that makes me think of what could happen when I get my own crib, I’ll get the prolonged alone time I oh so yearn. But what’s to say I won’t fall back into the old habits that I did when I was chronically online?

Would I be wrong for being chronically online again? Would I be wrong to be less online? Does it really matter, does anything matter for that matter? Even when you think of everything going on at this exact moment would it even fucking matter?

What would everyone do if the earth explodes in 24 hours? Probably mayhem. But say that didn’t happen, how would everyone feel about their life?

If you 🫵🏾 were to be told your life ends in 24 hours would you be happy?

And if you say no, why? Is it something you can fix? If not why dwell on it? If you can fix it? What’s stopping you? Nothing.

Nothing stopped Beni and them from leaving, Nothing is stopping me from moving out,

Nothing is stopping you from transitioning in any stage of life, why are we as humans so afraid of change when we so desperately need it sometimes?

Of course this applies to me too. But then again who wouldn’t it apply to? Every second I’m awake I’m dedicated my life to change. I don’t care in what form or what way, weather I am changing my ideals, my clothes, my body, my life, my bank, it doesn’t matter what it is, I can no longer stay stagnant, nothing changes if nothing changes. So personally my mask needs to be taken off itself. I can no longer sit here and expect another life changing event to walk in my life like it’s been doing all my life ESPECIALLY since I am an adult now. I have to make change if I want change for the better or worse. I’m embracing the Bad now. I love it, confusing time in identity, that’s great that means something is changing. Financial struggles? That means something changing, friends leaving me? People I was close with not fucking with me? My favorite foods not hitting no more? My gaming hours go down? It all boils down to change and I need to stop resisting it. The only way to do so is to go about life and shut up. Whenever God, the universe, whatever you wanna call it is speaking I should listen. And that’s what I’ve been doing. My outlook on life has been changing recently. Way more than I originally expected, I’m way less strict about everything now. I don’t care what I’m doing in 10 years. What am I doing now ? I woke up, what am I doing with my life currently? I go to school, work, and I come home to game. Rinse and repeat, I’m not living IM just existing.

AND I REFUSE to simply exist when I can experience life and all it has out for me. What would be the point if I couldn’t go out and live my life the way I wanted to. Because at the end of the day we are shapeshifters too. It’s just not physical. We change so much as living beings that there’s no way we can be the same people for our entire lifetime, we probably live 7 lifetimes over, do you know how much can happen in 10 years, 5years, 1 year, 6 months? 2 weeks? Shit nigga A FUCKING DAY????! We have to be more aware of this ! They try to make us Goal driven, which don’t get me wrong is great! But we’re thinking of it all wrong! People think of goals as accomplishments when we should plan our goals based off experiences! My goal is to be a father and a wonderful teacher to three beautiful children so they can also experience life and spread knowledge.

That’s what it’s all about, experiencing life so you have a story to tell.

We are always caught up on what other people’s story is, what they are gonna do, what’s your story?

In story writing they have a term for when the character goes through a journey that teaches them a lesson, they call it an Arc,

What’s your Arc?

[callophelia-ailingamnemonic]

Persona 5 Tactica revived the Persona 5 fan in me and now I'm making it everyone's problem by rambling about this original Persona story idea I made some time ago

It's just as the title of this post says: I watched a playthrough of Persona 5 Tactica and fell in love with the Persona franchise again which sort of reignited my will to think about this original Persona story idea I've been cooking for some time now.

I call this story "Persona Crossroads" (title still work in progress)

The gist of it is that after the P5 cast's journeys, the real world has been merged with the Cognitive World so many times that the barriers between the two have become fatally weakened. This becomes a problem when humanity begins wishing once more, hoping and praying that they could become the heroes of their journeys, to embark on a great adventure, and to live in a world, unlike the one they live in now. This wish ended up creating a being known as Anansi, a non-malevolent deity who decides to assign themself the role of narrator, who creates another being named Eris to be the evil to oppose humanity.

As Eris does in Greek Mythology, this Eris creates sheer c h a o s. I don't have all the details yet, but what I have so far is that the wildcard of this journey and their team go to Eris' realm with the help of all the previous persona users to fight her off and return the world to normal, except this ends up being a trap that results in the Real World and the Cognitive World to be merged into one once more and there's nothing any of them can do about it as people get attacked by shadows on the streets.

One of these people getting attacked turns out to be the current wildcard's younger sibling who- in a twist of fate, awakens to her own persona! Except it's not a mythological figure or a character from literature! It's... Raiden Ei? As in the dango-loving Electro Archon from the video game 'Genshin Impact'??? (Originally I was gonna make it Bayonetta, and then I was going to make it Venti, but Ei made more sense for her) which is kind of funny since not long ago, the wildcard's own persona evolved into the rumoured Raiden Makoto from the same game... and then they have an epiphany or something where they realise that there's no way to separate the Cognitive World and the Real World at this point in time and the only way they can pull it off is to wait for the people's wish of peace and normalcy to become strong enough to summon another god to help them separate the two worlds. So what the Wildcard does next is put their sibling into a Sleeping Beauty-esque sleep where they will awaken once the time to reach out to this new god is right.

All of that... was just backstory stuff lol. The real story doesn't take place until... like... 200 years later. In the future, being a persona user that fights shadows is basically a profession now... albeit a bit of a rare one since it's still uncommon for people to awaken to one, so instead of opening schools solely dedicated to training persona users, pre-existing schools will offer Persona Programs to newly awakened Persona users to teach them the ropes.

One such school, Kousaten High, end up being the ones to find the new wildcard's body and once they awaken (with amnesia for plot convenience), they are enrolled into the school's Persona Program where shenanigans ensue.

The funkiest part about it all is that because their story takes place in the future, all the characters' personas are characters from modern media lol

I'll probably talk about the story idea more later lol

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

How are you going to handle SMT Nine protagonist's gender choice also swapping the roles of some supporting characters? Baraki & Sumire, Mubiora & Miranda. I know it's probably a long way off for the new wiki, but it's something to think about. I don't like the old wiki's solution of just making them share pages.

Ahhhhh NINE....... Oh! It looks like there's a "MOVIE" on youtube now (of the male side?) well at least that's more info than like a decade ago.

Yeaaaaaah, I hate these guys sharing pages. TT0TT Even if it's only minor differences, they each deserve their own page (or sub page, in terms of adaptations). Like imagine if they were making Hammy and Minty share a page???? I mean like, ignoring SLs and NPS, and just playing P3P barebones on her route, it's like 95-99% the same as the male's (assuming you are also making choices that are as close to him as possible). But that'd be INSANE to make them share lakdsjka *sobs*

So I made the pages now, info being put on there is going to be a bit scarce (unless other people do it first~! 030 Again my priorities are in what I know. So I'm prioritizing P4/3->Adaptations->Spinoffs->P5 related things->P1/2->DDS or Raidou is what we are looking at, and that includes things from chars to summaries to personas/enemies to items, but that's what I'M prioritizing to write because that's what I'm most comfortable with, I'm not against other's getting a jump on other things XD)

Anyway, as for the chars...... hmmmm. Basically my rule-well format is

For Chars: Character-Main Page, Adaptation of Char-Sub Page (that way you can always redirect back to the main page), if there are two (like male/female MCs) they both get a main page and are linked to each other (but only adaptations of that gender are linked)....

Here it's easier to show you, I did this for SMT if Hero/Heroine:

It's easy to get to the other MC easily, but this way it's not clogged up/confusing on which sub page is related to whom.

Only the Hero/Heroine are main pages, everything else is a sub page that links directly back to the main page.

With SMT NINE Keis tho.......they have a canon name like Tatsuya. In which they are default named Kei but can also be changed. So it looks like this:

as of right now, I don't know any adaptations, so no sub pages (besides a placeholder gallery)

I'm not sure if I should keep it Male/Female in the link, or if I should make it Hero/Heroine. They're like one of the few dual MCs, and the only ones with canon names that are the same (from what I can tell/remember at this moment).

As for Baraki, Sumire, Mubiora, and Miranda..... waaaaaaah. TT0TT They all get their own main page. u_u See below.

Good, now if there are differences......they can be sorted a lot better. If it really is just a copy paste job that Altus did with pretty much no differences? Then we'll make a note in the opening paragraph. (I wouldn't know, I know next to nothing about SMT NINE TT0TT) Or we can always merge pages (only if there is no difference tho, I'd rather have too many than too little but that's just me).

[shuttershocky]

Now that you’ve finished P5R what are your thoughts on the new characters? I really love seeing your analysis/takes, they’re so good! I love your blog and I hope you have a wonderful day :D

Aww, thank you!

I've got thoughts about the three. Spoiler warning.

Akechi - Let's be honest, he's a new character entirely in Royal. I'm amazed at how much Royal did to salvage his arc in the original P5. I love the idea of a social link built not necessarily on friendship, but tense camaraderie as Joker and Akechi both know what it means to keep your enemies closer. Akechi Rank 8 is one of my favorite social links in the entire franchise. The whole part where he goes "I'm going to be honest: I hate you" while Sunset Bridge is playing was nothing short of brilliant.

Sumire - I think she's the weakest of the new characters. That isn't to say that she's bad by any means (the other two are just really REALLY good while she's just very good. And cute.), I just have the most nitpicks to make with her.

She's very cute, but most of her appearances within the timeframe of the original Persona 5 feel disconnected from the rest of the game. If Akechi and Maruki didn't appear in her cutscenes, you might even have thought she was completely imaginary or a ghost until the Hawaii event. I also found it kind of unfortunate that after you finish her social link, she goes back to tying up her hair and using contacts instead of wearing her hair down and with glasses. Not only was that a better look for her *cough* Megane superiority *cough*, but I wasn't sold on her tying her hair back up again to honor Kasumi when we JUST had a terrifying fridge horror cutscene showing what led to her wearing her hair like that in the first place. That, along with her actual heartfelt goodbye to Joker being tied to her Valentines and White Day dates (meaning all you get is a curt take care if you dont romance her), make her into what I feel is the weakest of Royal's new cast.

I'm also kind of mad that she offers to join up vs Shido but Morgana shoots her down; I'm not a fan of only getting to play her on the very last month in the game, especially when she comes with some fun gimmicks and an EXTREMELY cool showtime. Imo since Shido's arc doesn't have any new additions at all, it would have helped to have "Kasumi" join up in December despite her lack of any connection to Shido. More time with her would have made the January twist hit even harder, and also would have made it so that every new month gave one new party member since Crow rejoins with a new skillset in January.

All that being said, once "Kasumi's" plot got going, it was real good. It was a nice callback to Persona 1's manga, while giving us some really great fridge horror moments with Dr. Maruki. The cutscene of her dad crying next to her sister's corpse was actually pretty unnerving, I think it was her head being shown but her face being covered that gave me the heebie-jeebies, though my favorite is still the aforementioned cutscene with Maruki.

Finally, I've said it once, I've said it twice, but it bears saying for a third time:

She is adorable. I love that whenever there's an option to tease her or flirt after Rank 6, it has the same social point weight as just being a regular supportive friend, and she actually takes some (nervous) time to respond rather than instantly calling it off as a joke. This lets Royal build an actual romantic arc for her, as Joker doesn't have to worry about sacrificing precious social link points to make her blush. She also breaks the mold of all other possible romantic partners by actually being the one to make the first move and confess her feelings, while Joker is asked to respond to them.

This, along with the excellent pacing of their relationship throughout her social link ranks, goes a long way towards making her possible romance feel a lot more grounded and organic. I think even the most diehard Makoto fans (of which I am one) have to admit that her social link romance was rather stiff, having a whole fake dating scheme with Joker and yet not showing the slightest bit of interest in him romantically until Rank 9 where he can grab her heart with a single pickup line. Ann's situation is similar, having her romance start with a single hug option (which I feel like is a shame because Ann is the most romantic of the Thieves overall—just look at her lines to Joker both as a romance and as a platonic friend!) while Futaba and Haru's preexisting interest in Joker sort of just pops up as soon as Rank 9 hits.

In short, I have the most complaints about Sumire, but also she is very cute and I like her a lot. I wish we had more of her as a playable character, and with more interactions with the rest of the Thieves. Damn you, Morgana.

Dr. Maruki - HE'S SO FUCKING GOOD. FUCK. FUCK. FUCK. FUCKING. FUCKITY FUCK FUCK GOOD. Maruki and the Third Semester represented what I was looking for in the original P5: an arc that really took full advantage of the Metaverse's narrative potential. I love how cheesy and yet heartfelt and unflinchingly raw his story got, how much he made the Phantom Thieves' question their ideals and reexamine their relationships to Joker, how a messianic complex on someone fully, truly, selfless and good and kind was still madness all the same. His response to all of his trauma, pain, and the realization that life is often cruel and unfair was to attain infinite power and MAKE it fair, because he would rather die than know he had the power to prevent someone from feeling the same pain and yet failed to save them.

Maruki's got a bit of that Seigi no Mikata in him. Fighting him isn't a matter of good vs evil, but saving a friend who's so deep in their own trauma and survivor's guilt that they truly believe the entire world is their responsibility, and they themselves are no longer human, no longer someone with the right to live and be happy.

You literally see the moment he kills his sense of self as a person and decides to live for the sake of the world when the camera angle changes so his shadow looks like it's hanging from a noose.

Joker defeating him and forcing him to finally voice a selfish thought ("I gave up everything! Why?!") as they fought barehanded on top of the crumbling metaverse was as heartbreaking as it was satisfying. I don't care if it was cheesy, it was the good cheese.

Though really, the most lovely part of his arc was his own goodbye to Joker when he had a change of heart and became a taxi driver. As a friend put it, he went from someone who planned to lead all of humanity into paradise, to someone who takes people to where they want to go. I love you, Mr. Gentle Madman. I hope whoever Persona 6's final boss is, they manage to be even half as amazing as you.

[magioftheseas]

Too bad persona 5 literally was "this character is a foil but meant to be punished and not as good as the mc", which looks worse when technically the foil character is in a worse disadvantaged position in society and p5 does the same thing other canons do by just demonizing the foil so no one can think their perspective is sympathetic.

The thing is that while Akechi is a villain, p5 reiterates over and over after the twist that he's still a victim and that he's meant to be sympathetic. I actually wouldn't SAY he's demonized, but... Honestly...

(Whoops, I super went on a rant. Read more time.)

Despite being the main foil, despite being the PRIME example of a victim used and discarded by a corrupt society, you could so easily remove him from the plot and NOTHING WOULD REALLY CHANGE.

I find that so much more fucking insulting. Why was his writing so fucking bad? Adachi was a scumbag but he wasn't written INCOMPETENTLY like Akechi was.

I will say that while Akechi's not so much demonized, the fact that he's a villain and he's the one making a solid fucking argument for why PTs shouldn't exist (one that is never fucking disproven btw His argument is "power like that is too dangerous" and their counter is "bro, just trust us") aaaaaand WOW is that not a good fucking look. Granted, this is part of the bigger problem of P5 being more about wish-fulfillment than "wow we really should fix society somewhat" although maybe that's for the better considering Makoto...

Y'know it really does piss me off though, the whole POINT of Akechi should be "we could've turned out like this" and while that does get across, it's "we could've turned out like this if not for our bonds with each other" and like, Akechi had a lot more fucking wrong with his situation than just a lack of friends. He was corrupted by MANY factors. Hell, by virtue of being in the foster system, he's far less privileged than any of the thieves. Only Yusuke comes a little close but I can't overstate just how AWFUL it is to be in the foster system. Those kids don't have any protection. There's no financial incentive for their so-called caretakers to look after them. It's an environment RIFE with neglect and abuse, be it from the "caretakers" or peers. That Akechi also gets the label of "bastard" (which is also a strike against him than if just both his parents were dead) would've made things even worse.

The point is that the issues and failings of society that resulted in Akechi were very complex and VERY deep-rooted with a multitude of factors as to why that environment was so horrible and it wouldn't have been fixed even if Shido wasn't a total scumbag. Rather than acknowledging any of that, however, they were sadly like "if only he had friends, he could've been better" and then just went on their happy way. And then they proceeded to act like taking down Shido would just solve EVERYTHING even though Shido's as much a byproduct of a fucked society as Akechi is... The PTs actually don't fix anything about society and by the end, their takeaway is "all you gotta do is change your perspective! And no one can stop you!" while literally driving away from all their problems and spoken like a genuine bunch of clueless kids with no real scope... I really hope this impulse road trip down WITHOUT consulting Akiren's parents doesn't super blow up in his face when he finally goes back to his hometown!

I digressed. Akechi deserved better. His storyline in the base game was terribly written and it should feel terrible. Hell, he could've been a better character if he hadn't been a villain but man there were just a lot of bad writing choices.

[casualotptrash]

Sorry, but [REDACTED] Doesn’t Matter

Spoilers for Persona 3 after October and the ending, and for P4 and P5 “choice moments” or endings

I’m keeping this intro very vague just in case this pops up for someone who hasn’t gotten to this point in the game, or beaten it, but I will go into full spoilers mode under the cut. To give the most basic overview of what this is, it pertains to the loss of a party member in Persona 3.

Now with that over with, welcome to me complaining about a really big issue I have with the whole debate between saving Shinji or letting him die.

Whenever this debate comes up, the number one complaint against the option to let him live is that it “goes against the meaning of the game.” Personally, I find this claim to be untrue for two major reasons. One is that I don’t think it really goes against the meaning of the game in the first place, and also that the game does a very bad job at...making any difference between the two at all?

For my first point, I’ll clarify what I believe the meaning of the game to be. Obviously there are tones of death, and moving past death. However, I don’t believe the message is just “Everyone will die one day, and we need to accept that.” The message is “Everyone will die one day, so we need to make the most of our lives.” This is why Akihiko and Ken find their resolve, because Shinji is gone but they can still continue living their lives for him. This is why SEES continues to live their life to the fullest, because it is what the MC allowed for when they sacrificed themselves. I’m not sure how some people seemed to miss this, or maybe they just didn’t make the same connection, but it seems like it would be hard to miss.

The reason that saving Shinji’s life does not go against this message is because he will still one day die, probably still young because of the drugs, so he still has time to live his life to the fullest. Perhaps you could connect it in a certain way that he is also living for the MC, because they saved his life. The fact that he didn’t die does not take away from the weight that he was willing to die, and thought he would, by saving Ken. It could even go to show that even if you are ready to die, and you somehow get a second chance, that second chance should not be squandered.

That being said, I find the second reason to be a bigger issue for me personally. Before I played P3P, I knew it was possible to save Shinji. I played the Male route first where you cannot save him, so I experienced his death. While I liked the impact, I decided to see the other side of the coin and saved him in my FeMC playthrough. When I actually got to the point where this happened, I was legitimately shocked by how....meaningless it all was?

What I mean by meaningless is that outside of the different scene with Akihiko mourning over his hospital bed instead of the tribute, and the very end of the game where one person who is optional to talk to who says Shinji woke up from his coma (also the NG+ scene but that’s only if it’s NG+ and you romanced him), all of the dialogue is the absolute same. Don’t get me wrong, the two mourning scenes do have a different “feel” to them and are both executed well, but legitimately there are no difference outside of those 2/3 instances, and 2 of those 3 are completely miss-able. Everyone else acts like he is dead. I don’t know how Atlus messed up so bad with not changing any of the dialogue (which is not even voice acted most of the time), but I’m guessing that they just didn’t want to spend the time on it. Even after one quick search on google, I found another person who asked if they actually saved him because everyone was talking the same.

As I mentioned earlier, I knew it was possible to save him and I also knew it was kind of a divisive topic in the fandom, so after figuring out the real “impact” of saving him I was....so confused. I thought “All of that discourse, over nothing?” I at least suspected that maybe the group would visit him, or he would show up in the base game at the end (not NG+ scene), or at the very least Akihiko or Ken would talk about him as if he was still alive, but nah there’s nothing like that. Obviously the player knows he survived and can imagine maybe what the rest of his life will be, but the game does a shit job at actually making the choice mean anything. Both scenes with Akihiko talking to him are sad and impactful, and the dialogue with Ken’s resolution doesn’t change in the slightest. Honestly, like I said outside of those 2/3 possible scenes, I see absolutely nothing to gain in doing one over the other unless you want to see Akihiko cry in an auditorium or in a hospital room.

On top of all of this, there is also the sentiment that this person wrote, and I believe many others also agree with (in relation to FeMC and P3P. I took out the rest of the post because it wasn’t relevant to this topic at all).

Now, they didn’t elaborate much on this, but after what I just said about how the game doesn’t really make any changes at all and sorting out the “meaning of the game” I’d be really interested to see what their reasoning is. Otherwise, it’s hard to imagine how this “literally ruins Akihiko and Ken” when their dialogue, cutscenes, and growth are 99.9% the same. That part alone is a bit frustrating, but what really gets me is how they don’t like the FeMC at all (or p3p, which was said earlier in another comment by them) because she can do this optional choice?

Obviously, anyone can dislike choices that are optional in a game. That’s just how it goes if you have multiple ways of doing things. Some you’ll like, and some you wont. However, why is it that basically every time I see someone say they don’t like the FeMC it’s because of a choice in the game and not something about her actual character? I really can’t stress enough how insane it is (to me) that people cannot disconnect what you as the player can choose in a game from the actual character. Because, do you know....believe it or not...there are people who play the FeMC route and don’t save Shinji? Or don’t romance Ken? Baffling, I know!

Is the FeMC somehow a better character if Shinji still dies or Ken isn’t romanced? Not to these people, I suppose. Somehow she’s still just as disliked, because the option was there in the first place. I honestly don’t know why this happens, but it’s also complete hypocrisy on their parts. Do they not like Yu for being able to murder Namatame? Or how about Joker, who can enslave all of Tokyo (the world? I don’t know if it’s made clear) if he accepts Yaldy’s deal? It’s very likely they still love those two, or at least one of them.

“But Casual, those don’t matter because they’re not canon!”

Neither is saving Shinji or romancing Ken, so kiss my ass :)

.

.

Anyway.

Just to make this clear, this post isn’t meant to bash people who dislike saving Shinji (or perhaps the implications of doing so) or dislike FeMC, but to point out how the game really takes none of this into consideration and that it’s a bit ridiculous for people to dislike FeMC for reasons that they seemingly don’t take into consideration for the other protagonists.

It’s kind of hard to put into words, but I’m just utterly baffled on how much trouble this causes when it’s really worth nothing. I can understand how people who only experienced his death could be affected, but only in the sense that they either think it goes against the “everyone will die” message and/or comprehend Shinji’s impact even after the game/story is over (which is done by their own volition and the game does not hint to at all).

However, at least as far as the game is concerned, both choices result in essentially the same outcome. Sorry, but Shinji’s death doesn’t matter (to the game).

[thatsadbietch]

A War Hero’s Cry (Persona 5/Royal)

Warning for some possible spoilers.  Nothing super important to the main plot but still, here’s the warning!

A/N: This is my very first P5 piece, I’m excited to share it! I love writing and want to get better at it, so I’m very open to suggestions or comments!

Warning for mild cursing.

Ships: None

Word count: 2,455

---

These were the types of mornings that kept him going.  The mornings where he didn’t have to shuttle into a cramped subway, only to arrive at his destination and listen to lectures about various topics on which he’d studied before.  It was also a time between targets, to play it safe and just wait for another shitty adult to show their true colors so their Palace and Treasure can be claimed by the Phantom Thieves.

These mornings, where Ren could enjoy the peace and tranquility that came with a skillfully made cup of coffee, the smell of curry preparation for the day’s customers, and the sound of Sojiro humming while he worked.  These mornings are where he draws that cool and collected mentality required to be the leader of such a talented group of thieves.

He inhaled, taking in all the sensations around him, but was slightly startled by the sound of the bell’s chime, signaling a customer.  Perplexed, as the store hadn’t opened yet, he turned to find Futaba wondering into the café.  He exhaled and grinned, able to tell right away she’d just woken up: her amber-orange hair was still disheveled from sleep and her eyes were still drowsy looking. Not to mention she strolled in with her slippers and a pair of plush-looking pajama pants, black with green stars printed on them.  They suited her.

She slumped up on the stool next to Ren and yawned in place of her usual loud and energetic “Good Morning!” while she rested her head on the bar.

“Well,” Sojiro started, not bothering to hold back a chuckle at the scene, “Look who’s decided to join us among the living.” Though teasing, there was a type of sincerity there that gave away the warmness he felt for his adopted daughter.  She groaned groggily in response, pulling her hood up over her head and face.

“Long night?” Ren asked casually.  He enjoyed Futaba’s company regardless; he’d grown fond of her quirks and eccentric nature, and became something of an older brother figure to her.  But he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t grateful that she was still calm and quiet at the moment.

“Mmmhmm…” she groaned in response.  Ren nodded and took a sip of his coffee, counting down mentally, “Three…two…one…” Sure enough, on “one” Futaba lifted her head, hood still lazily hanging onto the top, and she began to explain.

“Well last night I got bored, so I started browsing the Phan-site and looking around for potential targets and was trying to find out more about the mental shutdowns, but then I got a Discuss app notification from my Herd of Heroes team asking if I wanted to help them in a tournament.  Of course, I couldn’t just leave them, my strategy and expertise are the backbone of the team! So…”

Ren and Sojiro shared a knowing smirk.  Classic Futaba.  Sojiro shook his head in mock exasperation.

“Staying up all night isn’t healthy, you know,” Ren began, “You ought to think about fixing your sleep schedule.  For your sake and for your teammates, both on and offline.  Are you listening?” He asked, poking her side to make sure he had her attention.  But now she had his and Sojiro’s, as neither expected the high-pitched squeak she made.

Ren chuckled and raised an eyebrow.  “What was that?”

Futaba looked a lot more awake, now that her eyes were widened, almost panicked.  “N-Nothing! You just startled me, that’s all.  Don’t you know its rude to pick on people, especially when they’ve just conquered ten different Herds of Heroes? I’m a war hero!”

“You’re also a pain sometimes,” Ren teased, poking at her again and eliciting the same sound.

“Ren, quit it!” Futaba whined, wrapping her arms around her sides for protection.  But she was so preoccupied dealing with Ren’s antics, she didn’t notice Sojiro make his way around the bar and behind her stool, placing his hands threateningly on her sides.  She was already trying to hold back the titters that began bubbling up.

“Futaba, you’ve been kept up in your room so long, I forgot you were ticklish,” Sojiro started, swiftly willing his wiggling fingers up and down her sides. She couldn’t offer much resistance as she immediately burst out in giggles and tried to grab for his wrists.

“NOOHOHO, SOHOHJIROOHOHO!” Futaba whined, not being able to say much else. She helplessly cackled and tried to push his hands away, doing an awful lot of squirming in the process.

“I remember your mom telling me she’d chase you around the house sometimes,” he recalled.  While telling his story he wrapped his arms around her middle and held her back against is chest, both to better trap her in his ticklish hold and to ensure she didn’t fall off the stool.  Using this new leverage, he scurried lightly over her small belly and belly button, causing a shriek, another noise neither had heard from her.  Ren figured his peaceful morning was over at this point and just embraced the silly nature the room had adopted.

“SOHOOHOJIEHEROOHOO DOOHOHON’T!! BWAHAHA!” She continued to cackle and writhe while he nonchalantly continued his story. Ren could tell Sojiro was rather enjoying his position right now.

“You’d ask her to play so many times in a day, and when you wouldn’t let up she’d run around the house with you until she finally caught you. Then… she’d get you!” he finished, adopting a slightly more sinister tone for emphasis as he quickly shot his fingers up to the poor child’s underarms, switching rapidly from fluttering teasingly and vibrating his fingertips there. She jumped and squealed, but was unable to do much else in his hold.

“NOHAHAT THEERAAHEHEHAA! SOJIEHEEHAHA!” Futaba couldn’t even beg properly anymore as she threw her head back onto his shoulder, trying desperately to squirm her way out of his grip. “D’you have a strategy for getting out of this one, war hero?” Sojiro teased, causing a deeper blush on Futaba’s already reddened face.

“SOOOHOHOJEEEOROO, I CAHAHN’T!!” Not long after that did Sojiro let up, but held her still for a beat or two.  Again, to make sure she didn’t fall.  Futaba breathed rapidly and leaned back on Sojiro, who will never admit how much his heart swelled at the act. He chuckled again and released the child, ruffling her already messy hair.

Ren wasn’t quite sure what to do besides sit on the sidelines and watch the commotion unfold.  His own parents, while supportive and caring, were never really physically affectionate toward him. He couldn’t recall if he even was ticklish.  But he chuckled contently.  “So, about being a war hero…”

“YOU! Don’t even say anything! YOU started it and DIDN’T BOTHER TO HELP ME! Some leader you are!” Futaba exclaimed, clearly regaining her energy as she stood quickly and drilled quick and relentless pokes to his sides.  She’d only expected to get her point across but was so much more pleased when Ren sharply inhaled and flailed to keep her hands away from him.  Well, that answered his question.

“Mwehehehe… Perfect!” She snickered evilly.  Ren jumped back from his stool and realized he was cornered: Futaba stood between him and the front door, and the increasingly mischievous glare from Sojiro wasn’t at all comforting—it was clear he had no intention of helping Ren out of this.

Suddenly, the Phantom Thief leader did the unexpected: turned and fled up the stairs.

“HEY! Get back here, coward!” Futaba called after him, but wasn’t as fast, especially since Ren could easily climb two stairs at a time.

“I might be able to maneuver my way back down the stairs and out the door,” he thought, being sure to give himself some space as Futaba reached his room. Though he had the upper hand in skill, Futaba looked determined, almost as much as when she’s in a Palace.

“I’ll show you a war hero!” she declared, and lunged for the teen, who dodged her with relative ease. But it happened quickly: one minute he had a clear path to the stairs, and the next he was turned around with his arms pinned to his back.  Sojiro chuckled.

“I didn’t think the leader would be so predictable, but Futaba read you like a book.  I bet her team would be lost without her,” he commented.  “And don’t look so surprised.  I used to be with the Feds, remember? Catching runners just comes with the territory.” Ren swore there was some giddiness in Sojiro’s voice, he must be having fun with this. But the boy didn’t struggle against him.  In wit and leadership, Ren might have the upper hand. And he was strong, too, from all the training with Ryuji and previous missions. But in pure manpower, and given the position we was in, he hadn’t a chance against Sojiro.

“Hey, you’re being awful quiet for someone who just got captured,” Futaba remarked, getting Ren out of his head and back to the moment; the moment Sojiro lightheartedly pushed the boy onto his couch so Futaba could pounce and begin her ticklish assault, starting strong by pushing up the hem of his shirt and scurrying her fingers on his bare stomach.  Ren gritted his teeth, trying not to let out the giggles that were bubbling up. He went to grab at her wrists, only for Sojiro to grab his first and pin them over his head, allowing the redheaded tech-wiz full access to his torso.

“Damnhihit!” Ren muttered, trying to break Sojiro’s grip.

“Was that a laugh, mighty leader?” Futaba teased, sticking one wiggling finger in his belly button.  Ren inhaled sharply again and arched his back reflexively, ironically giving Futaba better access to the sensitive area.  But he shook his head violently and groaned to cover any indication of escaped giggles.

“Yeah, THAT’S convincing,” Futaba said with an eye roll, changing tactics by pinching along his sides until she reached his ribs.  The moment her fingers swiped along his bottom ribs, he twisted and struggled, trying desperately to throw her off of him.  But with her straddling his thighs and Sojiro holding his arms, that was not going to be an easy feat.  

“Well? Was it a laugh? Is the feared leader of the Phantom Thieves ticklish?”

“Doohoohn’t Futaba!” He muttered, unable to keep his giggling completely at bay anymore while he felt his face heat up in forming a blush.

“Now I think that was a laugh,” Sojiro teased, encouraging Futaba to go in for the kill.

“Dahahamit, let mehehe go, old maahan!”  Ren said.  Out loud. He did not mean to say that out loud.  He was trying so hard not to laugh that he didn’t (or rather, couldn’t) think, and the words just fell out.  Futaba stopped tickling and both children looked to Sojiro.  He just looked blankly at Ren, and took both his wrists into one hand.

“Oh ho, you’re about to get wrecked!” Futaba exclaimed giddily, waiting for Sojiro’s move.

“Sir, I didn’t mean that, I’m sorrEHEHEEHHEE! NOOHOHHOHAAHAHA!!”  With his free hand, Sojiro curled and wriggled his fingers into the teen’s rib cage, and the dam holding back Ren’s giggles burst into a loud, unhindered belly laugh. Neither Futaba nor Sojiro had ever heard their quiet and composed LeBlanc tenant laugh, not like this, and they both chuckled: it seemed it was contagious.

“S-STOOHOHOP LAHAHUGHING AT M-MMEEEHEHE! AHH! HAHAHA!” He begged, and screeched in surprise when he felt Futaba pinch and scratch his bottommost ribs on the side that Sojiro wasn’t absolutely tormenting.  

Sojiro switched up his methods a bit, now vibrating his fingertips in the space between Ren’s ribs and underarms, earning another shriek. “I can’t believe this guy is the one everyone’s fussing over.  He looks pretty harmless to me!” The caregiver taunted.  Ren shook his head, as if fighting the ever-darkening redness from appearing on his cheeks.

“So our fearless leader can be taken down with a couple good tickles, I see. Mwehehe, wait until I tell the others~” Futaba teased, and raked her nails from his ribs down his sides, and scurried them haphazardly all over his bare belly. Ren threw his head back in renewed cackles, his heels digging into the couch behind the sadistic girl.

“NOOHOO, DOHOHOHON’T T-TELL TH-THEEHEHEM! AHAHACK! SOJIHEHERO, I CAAHAHN’T AHAHA!” Ren begged as his guardian released his wrists, only to quickly attack the hollows of his underarms, kneading and vibrating in the region, and making the raven-haired boy go into hysterics, if he wasn’t already. He clamped his arms down quickly, trapping Sojiro’s hands.

“Well now my hands are stuck here.  I guess I’d better make the most of it,” he taunted further, snickering at the continuous stream of boyish laugher he was eliciting from the usually stoic kid.

“DOHOHN’T TEHEHEASE MEEHEEHE, PLEEHEEASE, NOOHOHOHO!”

“Oh, now he’s learned some manners!” Sojiro responded spiritedly. Futaba relented finally, figuring her request for revenge had been satisfied. Plus, Ren looked like he could use a little mercy right now.

“Ya know, you look kinda cute like this! Maybe if I can get a picture, or a video!-”

“DOHON’T YOU DAHAHARE!”

“I know they would enjoy this dirt I’ve got on you!”

“IHEHE’LL EHEHEND YOOHOHOU!”

“Ya know,” Sojiro started, “you aren’t in any place to be making threats. Or to be calling me old, only I can do that.”

“I SAIHEHED I’M SORRYEHEHE!” Ren spat out, his laughter starting to go silent. Sojiro chuckled again and finally released the teen from his grip.  They watched as Ren greedily gasped for air and rubbed his eyes to find he’d been crying mirthful tears.

“I guess I’m sorry too, I think I got carried away there.  You all right?” Sojiro asked, motioning for Futaba to get off of his legs.  He nodded, still breathing heavily, but starting steadying.

“Futaba was right, you are kinda cute like that,” Sojiro teased, and the teen covered his faced and groaned, followed by a muffled “I am NOT.”

“Don’t go pouting, you’re still in a pretty vulnerable position,” Sojiro replied, offering a quick poke to his side, causing a jolt and a lighter giggle. The guardian looked at his watch and sighed.

“Great, Ren, you made me late for opening up shop,” he muttered, but there was no malice behind it.

“Oh yeah, gotta open the doors for your daily swarm of customers,” Futaba commented half-heartedly.

“Hey! I have my morning regulars, young lady.” Sojiro retorted. “You need to watch your tone.  You saw what happened to the last guy that had something smart to say.”  Ren groaned, and finally sat up, looking at the other two people occupying his room.  He watched them continue their argument as he shook his head in exasperation with a grin.

[catherdrashepard]

If There is a Persona 3 Remake

So....recently, I read an article about the likelihood of a remake of Persona 3. As you all know, I’m a slut for Atlus and all their games. And this article got me thinking, if they remade Persona 3 (please), what would I hope for? So here’s a list of things I’d be excited to see again and changes that I’d hope for.

Things I’m Looking Forward to See Again:

1) The whole ass game. Even if Atlus barely made any changes, I would just be so EXCITED to play one of my absolute favourite games again. Persona 3 was my first introduction to the Atlus universe and you can see where that went. I love the plot of it so much, there’s not a single thing about it I would change.

2) Yuri Lowenthal!! I mean...I love the cast of Persona 5. They did a fabulous job and I wouldn’t trade them for anything. And while Yuri Lowenthal can be heard as background characters in P5....it’s not enough. His role as the protagonist in Persona 3 was so good I MISS HIM.

3) The music. Not that I don’t have it on my mp3 AND Atlus did a smart and let you play Mass Destruction during battles in P5 if you’re wearing the right costume....I like the whole soundtrack. If they decided to change it up at all, they better make sure Shoji Meguro is involved.

4) The whole ass game. Idk. I just think the plot is absolutely perfect. There is nothing wrong with the story in my opinion. I like that it centers around the full moon. I enjoy the standard turn based combat system, and I LOVE the Persona summoning style.

Changes I Would Hope For:

None. The end. Just kidding.

1) A couple gameplay mechanics I would like changed are the social link system. I would want it to be more like the Persona 5 one where you don’t make a decision about dating someone until you reach the end of their social link. It gives you freedom to talk to more than one girl at a time. It would also be nice to have the ability to manually control your party. Atlus could also add some extra variety in the full moon boss areas. Something I really liked about Persona 5 is how unique each of the palaces are and that they have interesting puzzles.

2) Speaking of social links, I think it would be nice if they fleshed out the characters more. I already like most of them, but it would be nice if they had a little more personality. And....I know this is an unpopular opinion but I really don’t like Yukari all that much. She feels kind of....tsundere and that’s not a personality I like....but that one is just personal preference. They should also get rid of Vic McVoldemort as Junpei.

3) An update of graphics would be nice as well. It’s a PS2 game so it could stand to be upgraded a little in that department.

In conclusion: My biggest complaint about Persona 3 is the characters (minus the protag and best boy Koro-chan). I feel like they could have more personality. And while there are gameplay changes that I think would be nice....none of them are game breaking. Persona 3 has a nice replay feature where you get to keep your levels, stats, items, money, and compendium so if you beat it once, you can focus on the social links you missed. All the social links reset but if you max them out, the Personas resulting from that you get to keep.

In my opinion, Persona 5 has the best balance of good plot and good characters. Persona 3 has the BEST plot but it has weaker characters. I feel like all Atlus really has to do is tweak the characters a little and it would be their best game to date.

[kareofbears]

persona 5 strikers thoughts and feelings

This is going to be a long post. Like, the type of post you’d only really have time to read when you’re trying to sleep but you’re not ready to be unconscious yet so you’re just looking for something to do to spend your time with minimal effort. 

So in 2018, a masterpiece was born into the world: Into the Spider-verse was released and it was amazing—it’s honestly the best spiderman movie we have without a doubt, and it’ll be very far into the future before Spider-verse is beaten as the best spiderman movie. Them’s the facts. Then in 2019, Spider-man: Far From Home was dropped. It’s a great movie! Great characters, great continuation of who these characters are and works fantastic as a continuation of a story. It’s really hard trying to take the torch of a previous movie (or in Marvel’s case, juggling twenty something movies) and come up with a new movie that both works on its own, as well as being the next step in this series of films. Thus, with that idea in mind, I think it’s kind of unfair to judge into the spiderverse and far from home, because these are two movies with two completely different objectives in mind. 

Okay, so this is still a persona 5 strikers post, I promise, but the idea is the same: Persona 5 could basically do whatever it wanted—new story, new characters, new everything, and it’s just plain old awesome. However, Persona 5 strikers did not have that sort of freedom. It was bound to the original game, and it had its own rules and stuff it had to keep intact, characters they had to work with, and on top of that, it had to justify its existence as a sequel (lets pretend money doesnt exist lmfao). 

SO, the big question is: did it do that? Did it justify its existence? 

And my answer: holy fuck did it ever do that

I came into this game knowing the extreme bare minimum. I knew there was someone named Sophia, and i knew there was roadtrip, and i knew there were Personas. That’s my knowledge of it before i played it on the Switch.  I should also clarify like, early on, that i was not expecting anything from this game. At all. I was the world’s biggest cynic of this game—if you scroll down my p5s tag far enough, youll just see me complaining about a game that hasn’t even come out yet. I was fully expecting to have this be a Waifu show, and any male character that isn’t Akira to just be shoved aside like some kind of nerd in a high school hallway, and i have never been more pleased to be wrong. In fact, i actually owe it an apology, because of how fucking rude i was for no reason!!! Because this game deserves everything to be honest. 

Persona 5 strikers is, frankly, insane. Insane in the sense that it got to pull shit off that just would never have existed in the original game, because the original game is scared. It had to be as impressive as possible and garner as much attention as possible. Strikers does not have that problem—every single person who bought that game does not need to be convinced that persona 5 is a good game. They already played it. That means Atlus can just fuck around and have a good time, and man did they have a good time. There’s still scenes that still shock me if i think about it too hard, because i’m used to atlus having to follow this sort of rule set when it comes to persona 5 (or any of the main games im assuming, but i havent played them.) And on top of that, there’s still shit that’s Atlus Trademarked Branded in a good way. The style of story of story telling, and revealing the mystery that is so integral to what p5 is, is still there. 

So, to make this even a little bit comprehensible, i will make a list! 

First of all, What is this game?

In short, this game is an OVA of an anime. It’s bonus side content that has one thing in mind: to showcase these lovable characters more by putting them in fun situations. That’s it, and it is just phenomenal. That was the main point of, i’d say, like forty hours of the game. It’s just fun times with fun characters. 

But to get deeper of what i think is happening, or what they were thinking during the development, is that this is a second opportunity. Persona 5 (as we all know) had a lot of problems, and we were not quiet about those problems. We yelled it all out, made posts, made complaints on every social media platform ever. And Atlus heard all of them, and Strikers is a way to mitigate those mistakes. Aside from being a fun OVA, Strikers also works to be a deeper exploration of these characters—more specifically, the characters that did not receive much in the original game. Creating this sequel is having the ability to redo what they felt (or to be more specific, we felt) in the original game while adding new ones. I will get to that in a second.  

The format of the game 

Absolutely brilliant to throw them on a road trip. P5V already forced us to experience Shibuya for 200+ hours, and im so glad that they didn’t do that again. Going from town to town, making us experience these new places alongside our favorite characters is so good, and it just makes sense. It’s fun, it’s lighthearted, and it’s actually shockingly good. But one thing i do want to talk about early on is the way the story unfolds and the villains that they use, and what they do with it because it’s very interesting. 

So as we explore japan and stuff, we encounter jails, and with those jails comes an antagonist. This antagonist works to be a parallel to one of our characters. That character will find it in their hearts to feel bad for the antagonist, because the antagonist could have been them had the original game not happen. At first I thought all of the thieves were gonna get an antagonist, and i was really hyped for the ryuji one. And then came to hour forty of the game where i realized “yeah that’s not gonna happen. There’s just not enough time.” And i was right, and the game ended. But i am not salty at all, honestly, because the people who got a direct antagonist were: Ann, Yusuke, and Haru. (we wont count zen and sophie). 

Is there a trend??? Yes. these are all characters in the original game that have received the worst treatment by atlus. The three of them are basically cast aside the minute they finished their original arc, and its horrible! BUT that’s why this is the path that atlus chose for them—to give them more depth, and screentime, and a way to show their inner self. That isn’t to say that the ones who aren’t those three (makoto, futaba, mona, akira, ryuji) didn’t get anything. Futaba still has her thing at the end with ichinose, and she was very prevalent and animated during the rest of the game. Mona and Akira have to be a focal points, that’s just the nature of the game. The other two though, I will talk about in depth in a second.  

Makoto

Y’all i poke fun at shumako fans sometimes cause its kind of easy and fun, but i honestly love makoto. In my very first playthrough of p5 (my first ever jrpg game, first persona game, i had no idea what i was doing), i had only maxed out two characters: ryuji and makoto. And i know she had a lot of screentime and love in the original game which is great, but i truly felt like she was dissed in this game. Her only roles were

A driver

Someone to tell them “we don’t have a choice. Let’s keep going and see where this takes us.” (seriously, if you replay this game, you will see how much she does this)

Idk, i just wish she had more to do, especially compared to how much love they gave the other characters. 

But let’s talk about some of the new characters! 

Zenkichi

Damn you atlus. Damn you and your insistence at bringing in cop characters. I was fully on board with hating zenkichi, i was fucking ready for it. I was convinced that there was nothing they could do convince to like zenkichi. I was immune to their copaganda. 

And then i ended up loving him, which makes me sad a little bit. I didn’t realize how desperate i was to have an adult who has a persona. Someone who wants the world to change just as much as they do, while still having that aspect of them that makes them adult. Like??? As someone who is technically an adult, its a breath of fresh air. An adult. Who fights. For justice. Using a persona. And god i love akane so much, and her obsession with the thieves (that scene is probably in my top ten fave scenes of the game). Also what i loved about zenkichi is that he fucking hates the cops!! He hates the system of the cops!! And thats why i actually really started to love him!! Because i thought it was atlus saying that the systematic problem of the police cannot be solved by one person, and zenkichi threw away his badge. I actually cried at that part!! 

But then he became a cop again, and i was just :/ but as a character, i really love him to bits and would love to do a study on him, or at least use him as an outside pov. But! i absolutely love his persona, since im a les miserables fan hehe

Sophia 

she’s probably my favorite new aspect of the game. I was ready to not like her—again, i just suck like that, lmfao—and when i saw her, i was scared that she was just another waifu. I mean, she was very cute after all. But then as the game went on, i thought she was a little too cute. And even further into the game, i finally slapped myself in the face and realized oh my god shes not a waifu. Shes a sister. 

That blew my mind, im ngl to you. A female character that isn’t supposed to be romanced? By jove, what a miracle! 

And she…is an amazing character. Im sorry, i just love her so much. I love her so much that she  probably ranks as my fifth or sixth favorite character which is surprising even to me. Everything about her is delightful and invigorating. She’s funny??? Her comedic timing is amazing, and she has such chemistry with the rest of the team. She’s actually useful to the plot, and while her character design is a little too on the nose for me in terms of cuteness (i mean, good god she’s wearing oversized sweater to show how cute and tiny she is, and her hair has literal hearts in it), she is absolutely lovable. 

But what i actually really wanna gush about for a second is sophia at the last stage of the game. You get the idea, i dont really like to get excited over things, so at this point i figured that there was nothing this game could do to shock me. 

And then sophia had a persona awakening. 

Like. holy fuck did i yell. I didnt realize what was happening until the music had already kicked in. and its just so fucking smart!!! Sophia??? The ai?? With no heart?? gOT A PERSONA???? AWAKENING??? BECAUSE SHE LEARNED WHAT THE HEART IS AND THE PASSION THAT YOU NEED IN ORDER TO GET A PERSONA??? I started crying honestly, because it was just so smart. And looking back on it now, its obvious!! Of course it would lead to this, it only made sense that the culmination of her character arc leads to her getting a persona, nothing else would have been as good. Also, her voice actor is just amazing?? When she was talking to ichinose at the end, i actually got incredibly emotional because of the line reads. Its just so spot on and it really captures the essence of sophia.

Muah. five stars Atlus. You got me. 

Ryuji <3!!!!

Oh man. Oh boy. Okay. so where do i start. 

Yall know i love him. Hes probably my favorite fictional male character of all time, and he is the one i was the absolute most cynical about in this game. I was expecting literally nothing. Nothing. Like. nothing. I thought he was just gonna keep being used as a joke, or a gag, and he’s gonna be super horny all the time for the other girls and it was gonna make me mad and there was gonna be some insane homophobic/queerphobic jokes in every other scene and i know i was being unfair, but i cant help it. 

And then i played the first two hours of the game, and i cried the entire time. Because ryuji has never been better than he is in this game. Its crazy. 

The ryuji in persona 5 strikers is who ryuji should have been/how he should have been treated this entire time. From the actual funny jokes (for example, the gold bar joke + his reaction to it in the beginning of the game), defending his female friends instead of being the one people need to defend from (natsume arc), and the fact that he was the one to be there with morgana and akira in the very beginning of the game. Its such a small thing that they didnt even need to do, but it was such an integral part of the original game for me, that i just was convinced that nothing like this was going to happen. But then it happened. Its just small stuff like that that could have been overlooked but it wasn’t because this game? Persona 5 strikers? Fucking loves ryuji. 

The actual respect they gave this boy is insane and i wasn't ready for it. Like, they gave the shujin trio lunch, they gave the little charm of the katana when they were in natsume’s jail, and, in my opinion this is the second-best thing that they could have given ryuji is sophia. Ryuji and sophia are the pinnacle of a brother & sister bonding relationship in the game that isn’t akira & futaba. And its really prevalent too?? Small stuff from the beginning of the game (pulling her out of a jail, calling her shorty), but then you have the iconic “shut the fuck up” scene, and that scene was so well characterized and written and voice acted, that somehow him saying “fuck” was the least exciting part of that scene to me. Ryuji is an older brother to her, like its undoubtable, and its only further cemented at the end of the game where Ryuji helps out ichinose because he knows how much sophia cares about her. This game. Love ryuji. And i love. This game. 

You know what else i love? Akiryu. 

Guys. i was fully prepared to starve in terms of akiryu. But theres just. So much of it. I wont get too deep into it, because i think this aspect of the game for me still needs marinate a little bit. Like, what was that last shot when EMMA died and Ryuji walked to approach Akira so they could relish in their victory together?? And the smile from both of them??? What the fuck. That was amazing. Also Joker being saved by Ryuji when he was about to fall from the cliff to save sophia??? WHAT. The LEADER AND HIS RIGHT HAND MAN? WHAT. anyway. If theres anything i want to keep for myself in my own brain, its the akiryu aspect of this game, so i wont talk too much about that part of things (instead, itll probably manifest in fic lmfaooo). 

Sure, there’s tidbits of stuff i dont like that they gave ryuji: sexualizing ann in that one cut scene and making him touch the jails even though it hurts, and i recognize those and frown at them, but for the most part, i am blown away with how they treated him.

Basically, Ryuji has never been better. From the opening of the game with him being the first text message and the one to sling his arm around akira, to the very last cut scene where it was ryuji wordlessly leaving because he’s so confident that they would never be separated for long, this game adores Ryuji and i am so so happy to say that.

The Royal aspect of things

Yeah, i had to talk about this, but itll be a short thing i just wanted to point out. Because the last part of this game...is persona 5 royal. Which is curious. Like taking reality and giving that power to someone else so you dont have to experience suffering anymore? And even like, the final section just looked a lot like the top half of maruki’s palace?? And whats even crazier is that we had a boss fight with sophia, just like how we had a boss fight with sumire? Royal and Strikers have like, the same thesis statement. It’s kind of uncanny.It’s interesting, it’s like atlus came up with these two ideas, and then just decided they liked both of them so much that they just did it twice. I don’t mind though—actually, in terms of how the last Palace/Jails go, i probably like them both about equally. 

Though i did love the final battle in this one more than i did in royal. Splitting into teams?? Thats cool as fuck, and really innovative and i didnt see it coming. It also kicked my ass. A lot. 

Now for the last stretch: the small stuff!

The music — bomb as fuck. In my heart, Daredevil is ranked the same as Rivers. Axe to grind is also amazing, but Daredevil owns me

Akechi — i really debated whether or not to talk about him, but i figured a bullet point should be enough. Im really shocked that he wasnt in this at all. Like not even a name drop. If this is an OVA, and the point of the game is to please the fans, and akechi is arguably the fan favorite character, i was really ready for something. But there was nothing, except for the pancake hallway if that even counts as a reference. Thats it. Thats all i wanted to say about him.

The humour — FUCKING HILARIOUS im convinced that in my fifty hour playtime, five of that is dedicated to me laughing and unable to continue the game 

Akira — so much personality! His lines of dialogue are crazy sometimes (like. Whats up with him saying Ryuji has ‘nice abs’ when they were in bath? Im crazy and even i dont know what the fuck that could mean) 

Battle system — oh my god i almost forgot to talk about this. I love it! I kind of miss the turn based aspect just because i found it very comforting for some reason, but this hack and slash style of gameplay is so invigorating because i do feel like it justifies shit like the baton pass and huge attacks.  This battle system fully encompases how the Phantom Thieves are supposed to fight, you know what i mean?

Anyway, thats my thoughts on strikers. Loved it. Amazing. 9.3/10, wouldve been higher but Konoe’s Jail almost bored me to death. Also im a monster and i didnt do any requests that isn’t a fun one, teehee. As if i play persona 5 for the persona aspect of things.