#Akechi is my fave but /neg

[ghost-t-cryptids]

Sick and twisted justice

(My commissions are OPEN!)

#persona 5 #persona 5 royal #persona 5 fanart #persona 5 akechi #my art #this game doesnt have a grip on me like LoZ does but by the gods its still really good #Akechi is my fave but /neg

[huxianposts]

you finished royal 👀 thoughts?

I'm p sure i'll be parroting the same things that were echoed back when the FIRST round of p5r spoilers were circulating, so I'm going to put my thoughts under the read more just in case (also this is so long bc i have so much to say dslkfjasdlf). but yeah, while there ARE some positives, I'm warning y'all for the negatives-- so don't like don't read <3

1st thought: wow. so. That is ...a game, alright. Yeah.

2nd: how did a convoluted game become so much more nuts...?

3rd: I'm so damn sad lmao?

following the first thought: The UI was pretty neat and insane, I think the graphics were great and properly enhanced, the voice acting was PHENOMENAL, the music was pretty nice esp when vanilla was balls to the walls insane in its initial execution.

I was initially wary of the new characters, just bc it takes me a while to warm up to anyone new, ESP when it's from an already established game with its base plot and characters. I still wouldn't say Sumire/Maruki are my faves, but I also think if they were in any other game, I WOULD love them. I already think they're interesting, Maruki's characterization both vexes and fulfills me in the fact that the narrative really built him in a way that makes sense-- i was initially not a big fan of this guy bc he came off patronizing even tho he was clearly running away from his own pain-- BUT THE NARRATIVE ACKNOWLEDGED THAT and actually DID something about it, so honestly, yeah, that was fulfilling in the end just bc the bar is low and Atlus has dropped the ball so many times before lol I think Sumire is interesting. A lot of my initial wariness of her lied in the Kasumi-persona-- and when that was finally revealed that, hey! That's not really her! Yeah, I warmed up. Still think Atlus tremendously dropped the ball on her though, but I'll go into that in the second thought.

The new (needed) Akechi stuff was great. It was so fucking needed!!! That is the one area of this game that I will stand up and hoot for because it fleshed him out in a way that felt meaningful; I loved seeing his anger and the raw quality to his characterization. Not that there wasn't that in vanilla, but there was actually SPACE for him in this game, and that was soooooo good. He felt like a person full of literal depth that you can tangibly touch, rather than these flickers in vanilla that felt lacking. I was invested in his confidant in p5r, and while the 'feral' quality to him was kinda over the top in Maruki's dungeon-- his furious desire for autonomy was so in line with character trajectory from being manipulated and used by Shido-- like, wow, I AM OBSERVING, I AM SEEING, I AM LOOKING, I AM INTERESTED, I WANT BETTER FOR YOU. Yeah anyway, he was the one real good part in p5r, and that's why thoughts 2 and 3 are gonna be a thing.

going into the second thought: i seriously do NOT remember most of the spoilers from 2020, and I think that's a combination from naturally shit memory, 2021 being an extremely horrific year for me that impacted everything, and just the spoilers at the time being so insane I didn't want to truly believe it until I witnessed for myself. And well. I witnessed. Even if it took like, 2 years. lol. but how the hell did an already convoluted game become even more bloated and honestly... kind of unnecessary?

the trimester happened but IT DIDN'T REALLY? like, how roundabout do you have to go to just say, "nothing changed for MC in the end", like, bro??? I didn't spend an extra 30 ish hours just to end up back whence I came-- prison. The moment Lavenza said hey, all the work and pain and struggles you underwent will mean nothing because it WASN'T REAL IN THE REAL REALITY when you chose to fight the school counselor-- my god. My blood pressure. So. Akira still goes to prison. And now it's just, framed in such a nasty way of-- because everyone was essentially mind zombified by Maruki's tentacles (SERIOUSLY, ATLUS, SERIOUSLY?? I get he's a counselor BUT WHY), TECHNICALLY everyone and their mom left Akira to uh. Stagnate in prison. For almost 2 months. They essentially forgot him there. And yeah, I UNDERSTAND that everyone was mind zombified and weren't really acting in a way that was befitting of their care for p5 protag-- but how was it in vanilla, the moment the team finds out that Akira sacrificed himself, they spent the ensuing month advocating and finding evidence just to set him free!! Including his adult confidants!! And we somehow managed to set him free within 10 days of waking up in p5r??? It just feels shoehorned in, and again, kinda wtf bc Iwai's thing during Akira's imprisonment (if you max him out) is: "I have connections in the prison system that can ensure the teen that helped me can be safe and looked after." But uh. In p5r apparently, Akira doesn't get that protection for the apparent 1 ish months in prison. So. Again, I GET that Akira wasn't TECHNICALLY in prison the entire time, but reality bs aside where one's real or one's not-- it just leaves a nasty taste in my mouth about his situation.

going on the Sumire situation: why did Atlus. Do that. To her. In any other game, she would be my home slice, my baby girl, my rotten soldier, my sweet cheese-- but in this one.... what was her point? Besides being collateral for Maruki's story? It sounds really sucky of me to say it, and ofc no one has to agree with my opinions because they're just that-- but I am so resentful of the way Atlus utilized her. Like the OPENING scene where she somehow follows the team undetected into Sae's dungeon (not to mention, HOW THO, SHE JUST AWAKENED, SHE HAS NEVER REALLY PRACTICED, AND SHE'S FENDING OFF LEVEL 40-50 SHADOWS LIKE NOBODY'S BUSINESS??? BUT THEN GETS BODIED IN MARUKI'S DUNGEON? WHAT'S GOING ON HERE) and 'saves' Joker and then just. dips??? That scene.... did nothing for Joker in the end? He still gets captured, still gets the everloving shit beat out of him, interrogated, etc etc. And then comes Shido's palace, and the team. Just doesn't. Invite her along. Even though, JUDGING FROM HER SKILLS DEMONSTRATED IN SAE'S PALACE, she should be perfect for the Shido heist-- but bc Vanilla was so damn completed, Atlus couldn't bother to implement her meaningfully in that dungeon. And like, her confidant is honestly interesting-- I didn't MEAN to actually care about her, because again, it takes a lot for me to warm up to new characters-- I liked her exploration in grief, in being her own person, hell, I even GET her Minnie Mouse thing to Joker's Mickey Mouse. I get it. I just dislike Atlus implementing her in core scenes that narratively.... doesn't mean anything IF YOU DON'T ACCESS TRIMESTER.

And even when you do-- it's all about Maruki. His research. His powers. His own pain. Sumire was collateral in him realizing himself, his potential, his distortion. It feels like a disservice to her. Because if you take her out of the plot-- what impact was there? Joker still goes to jail. Maruki would've still distorted reality due to his own pains and Yaldabaoth giving him the juice to do magic hand wavey stuff. It just. Seems so ugh, and highlights Atlus pandering to dudebros wanting another 'waifu' to boost their self-insert's ego. And sure, Sumire ISN'T necessarily a phantom thief-- she doesn't identify as such-- but the way her everything is centered solely around interactions with joker feels aughhh, bc it's juxtaposed against scenes where everyone's involved and being friendly to someone they don't know/feel close to besides "oh hey, another student like us and she knows Joker so that's cool", I'm getting tone shift whiplash; it makes everyone feel somehow more shallow in their own interactions-- and that's painful bc for all its faults, vanilla at least emphasized the close energy the team had for each other (YES, AKECHI INCLUDED BC FOR ALL HIS ANIMOSITY WITH THE TEAM, TWAS KINDA FUNNY). For a character that was utilized in so many core scenes with no actual high stakes impact with her presence, the fact that so many of her scenes were unskippable made the pacing grating, because WHY. the one thing I remember the director(?) saying that royal was all about the new characters-- but damn, i didn't expect that to be true lmao. the cast was large enough, so how did adding more to the salad not make anyone think-- hey, this might be a bit much. esp if the things that happened to joker largely didn't change.

ALSO, AKECHI, MY FUCKING GOD. why did they DO that to him????? His confidant? fantastic. His increased presence in the game? Needed and also good. but then you end up with, "uwu he's actually still dead in reality.... or is he ;)" situation?? Like WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT ABOUT. it feels so disrespectful, and I honestly do not understand the direction they went with this besides kicking the protagonist down even more with emotional damage while also spitting MORE on Akechi's second apparent demise, like how the hell was this okay. yeah, no wonder the bad ending was so fucking juicy in comparison to the 'true' ending. miss me with that shit!!! nothing apparently changed!!!! why!!!!!! HE WANTED TO HAVE A CHOICE!!! BUT NOW WE DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THAT REALLY IS HIS CHOICE OR A FIGMENT OF AKIRA'S WISH, AND I'M SO GRATED

there are also other little tidbits that made go "why", like, the increased Morgana-Ryuji friendship scenes. Which, HELL YEAH??? FRIENDSHIP IN MY GAME? but then it's juxtaposed against OG vanilla scenes where they fight and split-- and it's so emotionally jarring and makes no fucking sense because in vanilla, it makes sense why Morgana would dip-- he and Ryuji had an unstable friendship fraught with self-doubt and projection on each other with no immediate desire to try to understand the other-- Vanilla made those ugh moments a whole ass point of Morgana feeling like he didn't belong, and giving him reason to leave. Now, in Royal, they have more friendship scenes that emotionally feels good, but narratively makes Morgana and Ryuji seem more dick-ish and irrational in the break up sequence. like, WHY ATLUS

going into my third thought: yeah, i'm so emotionally sad? About Akira? I don't even know how to articulate this properly, but. Again, it feels so nasty to see this character continue to go through it™, but it feels nastier to see how now in the end, the adults continue to fail him, and place the onus of responsibility on his shoulders.

the trimester was about helping Maruki and saving him.

Akira still goes to prison, and he CHOSE it, but did he really when his environment and the adults failed him into having to make that choice?

He's going back to his hometown, but the stereotypes will still persist, even with the new evidence of innocence, but hey, he can handle it.

and so much more. It's all about how "oh, akira is strong, he can handle it, he can get through this, he got this", but it feels so gross. Because he started the game alone, and in the end, he... leaves alone. Physically and emotionally, too.

Like i both LOVE and hate how everyone splits their own ways. I think, yeah, following the reality theme-- that IS realistic, and goal-wise, feels fulfilling in that regard. But in the other sense: this is a game about manifesting your soulsona into punching shitty adults, why tf are we leaving our MC alone again??? What drew me to vanilla p5 was just. How inherently alone everyone felt. Everyone was so damn alone, so damn lonely. And then they found each other. THEY FOUND EACH OTHER. the whole world might be against them, but that's okay because they're together. So now in the true ending of p5r, there's this... resigned feeling. Of accepting and moving away, of reintegrating in an unfair society that would look away from the most vulnerable and harmed. and it feels 'mature', it feels 'realistic', it feels 'normal'. And I both love and hate it. I love it for its acknowledgment of wanting to grow more than just being a phantom thief, but I hate it for how in the end, everyone felt so emotionally distant. I couldn't recognize them the same.

Akira started the story alone, and he somehow leaves more alone and distant. And again, it's that piece of "nothing changed". Akira might've changed, and I guess, that is the most important part bc his situation hasn't necessarily changed-- but why did it have to feel so much more lonely this time around? You give this boy a group of people he loves and who loves him back-- and suddenly, everyone's fucking gone. It just feels so painful, watching him board that damn train, still wearing glasses and smiling. a hundred plus hours of this game... and for what? his story was about pain, and now he gets more pain? who approved of this message?

overall: I think largely, p5r further highlighted the weaknesses shown in vanilla, and how convoluted and kinda stupid the plot was, i.e., society remaining largely the same even after Shido. Nothing really changed, besides MC's perception of the world-- and yes, I guess that's fine, that's powerful too in its way. But for a theme about "Rebellion™", p5r didn't.... have to keep hammering the WHY DEVIATING FROM SOCIETY IS BAD ACTUALLY message. That's so gross, man. I think p5r was fun to play and revisit, but ultimately the experience made me feel like a clown and made me lowkey hate the cast, and i never want to experience that split second of hate ever again <3

#thanks for the ask! #asks #anon #huxiantalks #p5r #i'm gonna tag this as #negative // #just in case #i mean i guess it IS largely negative but more like this is coming from a place of confusion and grief man #like the message somehow comes off as a punishment to 'individualism' when the whole point of og vanilla (and persona 3 & 4 even) was that #connection matters and is your real power #but why did it end like that why were they all left alone #anyway these are my own interpretations so take this opinion piece with a grain of salt #to you anon that asked this q i am so sorry for how long this is faklsjfaksld #you ask for thoughts and i gave my whole confusion i am sorry

[personashitposting-va4]

My tagging system

So, as I'm writing this I'm in the process of doing an overhaul of my tags on all of my posts on here. Yes, all of them. This post is mostly for me to remember what all tags I use (because GOD i've used several tags on here in the past and forgotten about them). However, if you'd like to use this to help navigate my blog, then be my guest!

Characters

So the way that I'll tag characters is pretty straightforward. I'll just use their name (e.g. Akechi will just be "#goro akechi").

For the characters that don't have a canon name/have more than one name that the fandom calls them, I will tag them as follows:

P3 protag (male): I forgor P3 protag (female): I forgor this one too oops P4 protag: Yu Narukami P5 protag: Ren Amamiya "Sumi" Yoshizawa: Sumire Yoshizawa (I know that tagging her like this is spoilers but shhh it's fine. This blog isn't exactly P5R spoiler-free anyways lol)

Tags involving 2+ characters

Sometimes, when I really like the dynamic between two or more characters, I'll make a tag dedicated specifically to said dynamic. Essentially, I'll just take the arcana of the characters involved in the dynamic, and combine them. For example, posts revolving around the Akechi/Futaba dynamic would be "#the hermit/the justice". The order that the arcana are in is decided by what order each arcana is in in a tarot deck (e.g. the Hermit comes before the Justice). Not every character dynamic will be tagged like this, only the ones that I personally enjoy enough to tag. Also, I will almost exclusively be using this tagging system for the P5 cast. Sorry P3/4 fans!

Other tags with 2+ characters

#pts - Posts involving several (or all) of the Phantom Thieves #other p5 characters - Catch-all tag for P5 characters that I don't post/care enough about to tag them individually

Games

#p1 #p2 #p3 #p4 #p5 #p5r #p5s

AUs, theories, meta, all that

#acau - For the P5 Adult Confidants AU #antithesis au - Art, writing, etc where the roles of Ren and Akechi switch (i.e. Akechi as the protag and Ren as the "detective prince") #futago siblings - Content where Akechi and Futaba are half-siblings. One of my personal favorite theories tbh #shuake art #akechi meta

Other media

#icons #wallpapers #edits and such - For edits that I don't really know how else to sort. Good examples are moodboards and pride flag edits

Artists

I have a small handful of P5 artists on here whose stuff I really like. I try tagging their stuff with their name so that I can find it easily in the future :)

#marudyne #doodleodds #scruffyturtles #vhvrs

Miscellaneous tags

#vu's posts - My posts #vu's rants/vents - More negative stuff. If you want to block this tag then I get it honestly, since not everyone wants to read more vent-like posts (even if the posts are related to Persona) #fav - My favorite posts. This tag is used for funny/lighthearted stuff #fave - My favorite posts. This is for more serious posts (e.g. an art piece that I really like) #end of previous tags - Sometimes I'll put the previous person's tags in my own. When I do that, I'll typically put this after their tags that I copied #va4 rambles in the tags - When I go on tangents and such in the tags. It's kinda fun to look through here sometimes and see what kinds of stuff I've tagged with this omg

#vu's posts #i'm not done with this post btw. just posting it now so that it doesn't get buried in my drafts omg

[sometipsygnostalgic]

Nearly done with Persona 4!

All the scenes in the hospital were outstanding.

Some of the fanservice is really getting on my nerves... girls NEVER compare boob sizes. Not any girls I’ve met at least. Perhaps things are different in Japan but I can’t expect a bunch of straight male hornyposting writers to know!!!

All the girls are ALSO really good though (apart from Rise who is 50% great and 50% kind of terrible... never a dull moment).

A discussion on the cast below the cut and why I think they feel different from P5:

[[MORE]]

I had Yu romance Yukiko because I thought it’d be nice, even though we all know Yukiko is married to Chie... my logic was Yukiko’s kind of bland and shy and she has a bad experience with boys, so pairing her with the shy bland protagonist would be positive for them both. Also I find her laughing adorable and hilarious. Reminds me of the squad days in high school. So she’s like a normal teenager.

Chie and Naoto are my fave in the cast. Chie has no brain cells, god bless, but she has a heart and is ready to throw down with anyone who hurts her friends or even that random jerk middle school ex friend. I liked her confidant and she was only removed from my team for two post dungeon bosses; her endgame moves are consistently doing more damage than my protagonist, even on foes that resist physical.

Sadly I only got halfway through Naoto’s social link before I had my free will removed (and I started after the new year event!) She’s the only one in the party I didn’t max out with (...a massive improvement on how i only maxed 2 optional links in p5). The bar is too high and I was already invested in completing some other lonks by the time i got that Courage stat up. However even though we only know her for a bit, as a character Naoto is way cooler than Akechi, and I found it unique that her shadow acted like a child with interests in goofy stuff. Then what little I saw of her confidant had her grandad playing a detective game with her using childhood mementos. It was fun. Anyway, Naoto has been a party stable due to that diverse moveset and those super effective insta kill moves.

Rise is nice when she’s being a navigator. She’s OP but not as broken as Futaba was (getting ambushed and immediately turning it into a Hold Up is too much power). She sometimes acts mature for her age, but she can be judgemental and childish. A good example is at the end of Kanji’s route where he says Rise thought him making dolls was creepy and he had to take time to get her to understand that it wasn’t. Rise made me laugh many times, even in her unlikable moments, so I was happy to max her out. I got her to max JUST in time for her to be able to get the Third persona. I liked her route, better than Ann’s in the next game, but other fans are mixed on it.

The boys are, in fact, alright in this game. Yosuke has the same problem as Rise where sometimes he acts like a turd, but despite his loserness and rampant homophobia (why atlus?) i find him a good friend character who thinks about the situation thoroughly, is usually borrowing the one brain cell Naoto hasn’t hoarded, and who has well written emotions in a lot of cutscenes. I think he is better written than Ryuji in p5, who - while being great at first - ultimately had less chemistry with the other characters and probably deserved to be booted from the team once or twice.

Kanji is best boy! He does nothing wrong, except for calling his mother names, which is pretty wrong. Kanji, stop that. I used him alongside Chie for that sexy physical damage at first, but sadly he became redundant as soon as Chie got more OP and I added Naoto to the team. Kanji’s constantly bullied by his teammates over his shadow self’s bicurious appearance, which is a major negative on the game actually. I maxed out his confidant JUST before free will was removed, but it was too late for him to have the 3rd persona conversation (at least a week later). Not that he’ll see any use.

And at last Teddie. Many people loathe him. In fact, he goes way too far in his newfound goal of “scoring with girls”. I found him adorable though, especially after he turned into a boy. I’m a sucker for those characters who know nothing about the world but are super enthusiastic to explore it. Despite being what Morgana (my avatar) would be based on, Teddie feels more likable, probably because he never picks fights with the other members and he doesn’t have a cocky attitude, but he still has plenty of flaws. I enjoyed how Teddie was accepted and embraced by Inaga as this weird but adorable kid.

On the other social links: Compared to P5 they are useless. I didnt max out anything in P5 apart from Ann and Ryuji’s, so I’m not sure if they all got great at the end. However the non-party SLs are useful in P5 for added perks like massages, dungeon alertness, sp adhesives... Unfortunately the side effect is the game throws sidequest roadblocks at you.

P5 has a formulaic progression where most confidants will have a problem caused by someone else, or occasionally themselves, and a change of heart is needed. I tired of this formula quickly. But it was more involved witg the core gameplay, whereas p4’s confidants - while each unique - only has fusion benefits.

I need to complete Marie’s dungeon and the final area. Wish me luck!

#persona #persona 4

[destined-partner]

So I'm thinking a little bit.

All this mental anguish over my not so nice discord server gas made me decide that I'm gonna focus more on other games like botw and fire emblem in the future.

Bc frankly,the server has almost convinced me to look at goroboys in a negative light (and they have definitely ruined akechis character by linking it all way too hard to Akira like he's not his own character.) Also it's was only about 3 of them so not all of them are awful,which is why I haven't left.

I didn't mean to drift from persona bc I've loved it for years,but since I was basically silenced by them since akechis not my complete and total fave like theirs. They would shit on my faves so hard despite me saying i love them,then call me cynical and overtly negative if I'm not 100% positive about akechi. Despite me not throwing a fit when they diss me for liking pegoryu and call Ryuji a fucking idiot,even after me saying I relate to him.

Now,I don't hate those that like akechi. I just feel...tired of it for the moment. I'm also not an anti. I still enjoy akechi,he's never been my fave however.

Sorry for those who follow me for persona stuff but this has been bugging me for like a month now.

Thank you.

#persona 5 #ugh how did i sit on all this for a month #this is totally why my depression has been getting worse

[queenxfjustice]

Shipping Info!!

Answer the following for your muse so people know how shipping works on your blog.

WHAT IS YOUR OTP FOR YOUR CHARACTER?: HNNNGH ok so if you know me you know i love RAREPAIRS. So uhhhh my BIG OTP for Mako is Ryukoto aka Ryuji and Makoto. But I also love Mako x Haru, Mako x Ann, Mako x Protagonist, Mako x Yusuke, and Makoto x Akechi. I’ll ship her with anyone as long as there’s chemistry.

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO WRITE WHEN IT COMES TO SHIPPING?: Anything really? I’ll write angst, smut, drama, fluff, whatever. I like shipping in general. I won’t do rape/non-con or dub-con though. I’m really not into that. I’m also not really into writing details about pregnancy? Just cause it creeps me out. I’ll vaguely talk about it or elude to it in my writing but never will i go into full detail.

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE?: Unpopular opinion here but I really don’t mind age gaps relationships and I’m okay with exploring them as long as both muns are consenting and are very aware of the implications and taboo-ness of it? I’ve even had a few age gap ships on this blog before. So how large of an age gap doesn’t really matter to me, just so long as the way the ship is played out isn’t predatory. That’s not to say I would encourage it though, as I know there is a negative connotation to have large gaps in age in a relationship and it can and does make some people uncomfortable. (Myself included in some contexts).

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING?: Yes.

HOW FAR DO STEAMY MOMENTS HAVE TO GO BEFORE THEY ARE CONSIDERED NSFW?: I would say the moment clothes are being removed or genitalia is being described or shown.

WHO ARE OTHER CHARACTERS YOU SHIP YOUR CHARACTER WITH?: I literally said nearly everyone in the first question.

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?: Yes, next question.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU LIKE TO SHIP?: Always?

ARE YOU SHIP OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS?: Ehhhh depends. Sometimes I am and other times I just wanna make Makoto have some good old funny shanaigans.

ARE YOU MULTISHIP?: Do bears shit in the woods? Yes of course I am.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SHIP IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?: If we’re talking about persona then RyujixMako and AkechixMako simply cause I’ve been reading a lot of fanfics about them recently. If you wanna know my fave ships in other fandoms tho y’all can just ask me cause like... that’s a lotta ships to cover...

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?: Just HMU my guys. Just.... Smack that motherfuckin like or like, send me nudes or idk fucking carrier pigeon me a request to ship. Just do it my guy. JUST ASK ME.

Tagged by: @glassesandmasks

Tagging: @attractdistract @hydrangeaguard @empereurvoleur @tenebrislegion @you my guy. Do it.

#ooc #headcanons

[nekkyousagi]

shiki--ryogi  asked:

Sengoku basara for the anime meme!

1. The first character I first fell in love with Like so many others, it was Date Masamune. I mean he’s the first thing you see in the anime, and made such an impression on me, it was love at first sight! Even though he’s got his flaws, he continues to be my favorite character in Sengoku Basara!

2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now Definitely Ishida Mitsunari!! When I first played Sengoku Basara 3: Samurai Heroes I did not understand him at all. Why he was so angry and violent? I really didn’t like him at all in the beginning. But after finishing and then playing the other games, he started to grow on me, and now I just love the poor man! He needs so many hugs!! Same with Hanbei and Hideyoshi. Playing SB2 and SB2 Heroes really enlightened me to their backstories and their reasons for the Toyotomi ambitions and their strange friendship. And maybe Katsuie, only because I feel so bad for the poor child.

3. The character everyone else loves that I don’t Akechi Mitsuhide :/

4. The character I love that everyone else hates I guess I have a few for this one. Hate is such a strong word...let’s go with ‘not many people like them as much as me’. But I really enjoy a bunch of side characters and ones who came from the earlier games. I LOVE Miyamoto Musashi!! Imagawa Yoshimoto is kinda funny, tho not my fave, he is fun to play as in the old games. Yoshiaki is funny too! And gosh I love Tadakatsu the big lug. I adore Kenshin and Shingen, and the random guys in SB3 like the tiger dude Utsunomiya and the Invincible Kanetsugu!  Also Ieyasu. Because so many seem to misunderstand him and his motives. But I have developed a lot of emotion for his character despite everything.

5. The character I used to love but don’t any longer Not sure. Everyone has pretty much stayed where they’ve been for me. Though maybe I have started to see Kojuro as more mature than Masamune, and thus cooler?? The One Eyed Dragon’s place at the top has been compromised a few times...

6. The character I would totally smooch (>//////////<) Oh no! I’m too embarrassed to say!!! (probably Masamune, or Kojuro, or maybe Keiji because he’s a sweetie!)

7. The character I’d want to be like Magoichi Saika, she’s so cool and strong!! I love her awesomeness! Though I would not use a gun ever.

8. The character I’d slap Otomo Sorin (boy just calm down stop) and Mori (how dare you treat your people like garbage!!!)

9. A pairing that I love Nagamasa and Oichi (the happy ending)!! Kenshin and Kasuga (only because Kasuga’s route in SB4 Sumeragi gave me such a scare!)

10. A pairing that I despise Such strong words! I don’t really talk about negative thoughts on parings much.

Source: X

#usagi replies #anime ask #sengoku basara

[solidandsound]

I finished Persona 5! It took me ~140 hours and I ended it at level 81, with about 70% compendium completion. I don’t know if I can say it beats P3 as my fave Persona just because P3 holds a special place in my heart, but it is probably a better game and I most certainly liked it more than P4. More in depth, spoilery discussion under the read more!

I beat the final boss primarily with Satan and Beelzebub, which felt really satisfying considering that I was using them to kill God. I also thought it was interesting that you literally use the seven deadly sins to defeat the final boss. I mean, it uses them to try and keep you down, but you in turn use them as your strength. I love the final boss for having battle mechanics that are ideologically significant, and everything taken together at the end, I think the game gives a very clear thesis. It reframes the seven deadly sins as seven core desires, and states that, even though they can lead to terrible things (ie the palace rulers who are all based on the sins themselves), we should be free to feel them, and that freedom is the most important thing. It’s a very American ideology, and for that reason I think P5 will probably resonate more strongly with a western audience than previous Persona games (the Bible belt notwithstanding, perhaps?). It’s also way cleaner and easier to play, which will help a lot.

I finished all but three confidants. The video game kid and Iwai I got to rank 9 and the fortune teller I got to rank 8. I probably could have finished them all if I focused on the fortune teller sooner since her abilities are so kickass, but she’s such a pain to get started. I also probably could have done Kawakami sooner to make the most of her abilities. The one I most regret not finishing is Iwai. I didn’t expect him to become such an awesome dad figure for the player. Oh yeah, and that’s one way P5 trumps P4: two cool dads instead of just one!

I ended up dating Hifumi. I liked her design, and I liked that she was willing to put herself at a disadvantage to do what’s right, which is something her and the protag have in common. Of course, my first choice was Ryuji, but alas, all teenage boys are straight I guess. I thought I would want to date Yusuke, but I ended up reading him as ace. Maybe I just wasn’t picking up on it, but nothing he said ever seemed like he was hitting on me. Protag and Akechi definitely had some tragic star-crossed lovers vibes, though. I thought about dating Futaba, but in the end she works better as a sister figure. In particular I didn’t want to interfere with her goal of being able to be okay on her own. I also see how Haru is a pretty good option, but I’m kind of turned off by how she’s the only one who has a strongly negative reaction to being turned down. Of course, I saw said reaction after already making the decision not to date her, and I can see how it could help someone’s argument that she is the best girl to date because she likes you more. Makoto was another girl I considered dating, mostly because I love a girl who can beat me up. I was not a big fan of how many adult women (four! four of them!) you are allowed to legitimately date. I don’t remember if there were any adults in P4 that were presented as date options the same way as the other characters. I only remember the nurse, who you can sleep with but not get romantically involved with, and IIRC she’s the devil arcana and the whole thing feels kind of intentionally shady. It seems like that was a gateway to just not caring at all about appropriate age differences. Thanks Persona! At least you can’t date Sae. When she comes up to you on Christmas I got really worried the game set that up for her to be a dating option, maybe just in case you hadn’t started dating anyone else yet by that point.

I like that the game is explicitly about social reform, and that it meaningfully discusses sexism and the Japanese justice system and how these things can be changed. At the same time, the game is shockingly tone deaf. Kamoshida treats Ann like a sexual object, and that’s bad, but somehow multiple anime shots panning over Ann’s boobs are fine? The maybe worst example is when they go to the beach (note: as soon as the beach was presented as a thing that exists I got ready to cringe. The beach is never fun in Persona) and the boys go off to get girls, because of course they do, and they approach and hit on a bunch of random girls, because who doesn’t want to be approached by a group of boys when you’re by yourself? And then when they fail they return to Makoto to see HER getting harassed by some dude, and when he finally leaves everyone agrees that he was a bad guy and what he was doing was shitty, with no self-awareness that that was what they were just doing to other girls. I can say, at least, that the sexism and fanservicey garbage seems to have been toned way down from the last two games. I can only hope this downward trend continues.

Of course, my biggest objection is to the two stereotypical gay dudes whose only traits are that they’re really into teenage boys and are really creepy about it. Nothing about their portrayal is okay, which should be really obvious to literally everyone.

The gameplay itself is really good this time around. I love the new dungeon designs, though I still love the randomly generated dungeon crawling as well and am glad the game has both. I also feel like I benefited a lot from having played not only P3 and P4 but also SMT Nocturne. I was really bad at P3 when I played it, and I thought I was pretty good at P4 but I’ve improved even more. I did not feel this powerful with this cool of a Persona set at the end of either of those games. Nocturne also made me appreciate how much more like SMT this game is compared to P3 and P4, particularly the last stretch of the game, as well as all the stuff around demon negotiation and whatnot. If you’re up for a more traditional RPG experience, I’d recommend playing Nocturne. You’ll appreciate P5 more for it.

In the end, I’d probably give P5 a 9/10. I think the series is (mostly) moving in the right direction, and I’m excited for P6, though I guess we won’t see it until they’re done milking the P5 cash cow. I wouldn’t mind a sequel starring Morgana, though. With the hints at the end about how if Morgana became a human he’d be a lot like protag, I can see Morgana achieving that dream and becoming a resident of the velvet room himself ala Aigis in The Answer.

Now that I’m done this long, long adventure I should take some time to do actual life stuff, but there are still more games on the horizon. I’m still not done Persona Q, though I am trucking along slowly but surely. I also have Tokyo Mirage Sessions waiting for me, and I can get SMT 1 on my phone, so I’d like to play that at some point, too.

#Persona #Persona 5 #Persona 5 spoilers #big sigh #it's over for now #maybe in a couple years I'll do new game plus #I'd like to revisit P3 first though