#this scene gets to me because it reveals how a lot of yosuke's talk about getting a gf or meeting a girl and all of that is just... talk | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

personuhh · 3 years

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okay so awhile ago you posted something about Yosuke (crazy, right?) and in the tags I believe you mentioned something about how you don’t like Yosukes parents? Could you elaborate? bc I have not stopped thinking about it since you mentioned it (sorry this is so vague my memory is horrid skjdjfjgj)

OYSUEJGHHBKEJHDSGVDH oh my god okay SO. At first I just got ~vibes~ from him... like, I couldn’t quite pin down what made me think he had abusive parents, because obviously he never says anything to indicate it explicitly, but then I started noticing... small things.

I don’t want to say outright that I think they’re abusive (physically or verbally) and I also don’t think that Yosuke hates them, or necessarily even sees anything wrong with how they treat him, but I do think that their behavior has severely impacted Yosuke and led to a lot of the negative traits he displays.

To me, the most telling example is this conversation where he talks about Teddie being praised by his parents for being “thoughtful” very pointedly in front of him. It seems to be a reoccurring thing where they compare him to other people (primarily Teddie) and make him feel inferior. Yosuke’s a bit of a pushover, and frequently gets taken advantage of monetarily, and in this case he’s caved and lent Teddie a significant chunk of his savings for their trip to Tatsumi Port Island... only for him to spend it on presents to suck up to Yosuke’s parents which makes Yosuke look unthoughtful. Yosuke clearly sees it that way, even if Teddie hadn’t intentionally planned it out from the start as such (he calls Teddie “surprisingly shrewd”).

Yosuke gets told off either because a) he didn’t want to fight back/argue, and instead just took a passive stance instead of telling his parents that he was the one to lend Teddie the money in the first place, and thus didn’t have any left to buy them gifts, or b) his parents think so little of him that they don’t believe him at all. He specifically says he doubts his parents understand, which makes me think that he did try to explain the situation.

There are also several instances of a large Junes event being Yosuke’s responsibility, or at least of him thinking that he has to scramble to make things work, like the Junes concert, where he says he’ll have to move away if it doesn’t pan out; maybe this is his own thinking, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if it was something his dad said to scare him into helping, especially considering he MUST know that Yosuke is friends with Rise, or the time during the summer where he calls Yu and begs him to help out. Yosuke isn’t a manager, but he’s still got all the responsibilities of one, and even tries his best to work out other employees’ problems as well (look at his SL).

The Junes concert in particular really sent up some red flags for me, especially because Yosuke says this.

“Awfully nice for some reason”?

Yosuke’s got terrible self-esteem, there are countless times where he’s shown to be overwhelmed and embarrassed by completely genuine praise from his friends. In one of the drama CDs he mentions that he intentionally doesn’t try his best in school because he doesn’t want to disappoint himself by doing poorly while also knowing that he gave his all. It really makes me think that his parents just have an abysmally low opinion of him, and he’s adopted that same view of himself.

There’s also several scenes where he talks about his parents finding his porn (or Teddie showing it to them) and in his SL he says his mom “read the title out loud to [his] family” which on top of obviously indicating his family is pretty conservative about that kind of thing, also means he’s had to learn to be secretive with them to some extent. In Arena, Yosuke’s mother goes as far as burning the porn Teddie finds. Even if it's meant to be humorous, Yosuke's property is still being destroyed.

Now these next few things are more... abstract and can definitely be argued, but personally I still find them important to point out when discussing the topic.

Yosuke obviously struggles with toxic masculinity, and similarly to Kanji, feels like he needs to be the ideal, strong man that protects the weak, etc. Even without looking at specific dialogue, you can tell that Yosuke’s been raised to think he needs to be a “real” man, that displaying more “feminine” behaviors is a sign of weakness; because that isn’t just subtextual, it’s something he very visibly displays, it’s part of his arc. He can’t mourn and cry, he has to get revenge (because he couldn’t protect Saki at the time and he watched helplessly as she died, it makes it his fault), he says hugs are for girls (a common sentiment, but he had to learn it from somewhere), and any time he slips up and reveals his actual feelings, he has to overcompensate, let everyone know that he’s just your average teenage boy who’s definitely interested in women. Yosuke’s not the most masculine guy, he likes fashion and cares about his appearance (the bar is so low) and I’d bet that if he were given space to explore his interests without any expectations, he might actually find he’s into stuff that goes against what he’s been taught. He admits to liking crossdressing, then walks it back; not because he’s ashamed of it (on the contrary, once he realizes people found him cute, he openly brags about it), but because he thinks he SHOULD be ashamed of it.

It’s why he feels so threatened by Kanji, who completely takes him by surprise when he realizes his outer appearance and interests don’t match up. Now Yosuke’s got to compete with Kanji over who’s the manliest, show that he’s not like Kanji, because Kanji’s already accepted that side of himself, and it totally goes against everything Yosuke’s been taught to think is “normal”.

So then we look at lines like this.

On its own it’s nothing special, but it’s not just the slogan itself, it’s the way that Yosuke specifically says that his dad is still saying it. Combining this with what I mentioned previously about Yosuke’s behavior, and a few other tidbits, like Teddie mentioning that he watches violent war movies with Yosuke’s dad, it definitely makes me think he’s the type of guy who’d try and push Yosuke into being more masculine, being a traditional, unshakable, unemotional man.

Lastly, there’s the recently identified album on Yosuke’s shelf in arena, and what do you know, one of the songs on it (The Chain, by Mr. Big) has these lyrics...

In my mind, I see Yosuke’s mother as an incredibly controlling, strict woman who expects her son to be utterly perfect, and even when he’s good, it’s never good enough. Yosuke’s father is busy with Junes, and while he isn’t around the house too often, Yosuke sees him at work quite a bit, large and in-charge, not allowing anyone to see weakness, he leans on his son because he can’t bring himself to ask for help. Yosuke’s left to pick up the slack, and he’s taught by example that relying on others is cowardly, that being intimidating gets you further than being “nice”. Even though Yosuke obviously goes against this, he can't fully commit for fear of standing out and disappointing his parents, and that makes him passive; he ends up being a pushover, and neither of his parents are happy about that. He’s a “disappointment” to them, it’s one of his defining traits that everyone loves to bring up. It's something that's shown to really get under his skin, but he can never do much more than get angry, because he truly thinks he is a disappointment, he doesn't think highly of himself, even if he protests.

Maybe I’m reading into all of these things a little too much, but... I don’t know, I’ve said it before, but I just don’t see how half of Yosuke’s personality would have been shaped by anything other than his parents being Not Great.

#ada's writing #yosuke's parents #yosuke hanamura #yosuke appreciation #WHEW. THIS WAS A LONG ONE.#i literally spent like 3 hours on this and i still couldn't find most of the examples i wanted to lol #mentions of abuse #mentions of neglect #official-redhood #ask ada #ada's analysis #yosuke meta

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layercake · 3 years

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Why Naoto is Heavily Trans Coded, and How The Discussion Surrounding Him Needs to Change

Hello, I’ve never written or posted anything like this before LOL so this is a bit daunting. But this subject is something that’s been bothering me for a long time, and I wanted to get it out somewhere. So let’s talk about how Naoto Shirogane is heavily trans coded, and how the fandom has a problematic culture surrounding the issue that really needs to change.

Tw // discussion of misogyny , transphobia , and mentions of harassment

Initial Shadow Confrontation

Since the discussion is most often about what’s “canon” and what’s not, let’s first take a look at what the game actually does give us about Naoto’s character. During the confrontation with Naoto’s shadow, we learn that Naoto idolized detectives as a kid, and wanted to be one himself when he was older.

However, this posed a problem for him in multiple ways. One, he was (is) still a child, and the people in his field don’t take him seriously because of it. He tries desperately to escape this fact, to try and act as mature as possible, but ultimately he can’t change how others will perceive him at his age.

This is what the shadow confrontation focuses on most heavily. But then it switches to discussing the other part of the issue-- the fact that Naoto’s ideal image of a detective is a man, and he “isn’t.”

At the end, Yukiko says “You must know already that what you yearn for isn’t to become an adult or to become a boy,” and Naoto accepts it. This is what most people point to when saying that Naoto can’t be trans, because he agrees that it wasn’t what he wished for. So, easy, right? If you take this as him telling the truth, then it looks like an open and shut case-- he isn’t trans. But Naoto’s actions don’t really fit what he says here.

The issue starts with these next lines (below) in particular. To me, Naoto’s tone in the first line is regretful, and doesn’t strike me as a sentiment someone who is cisgender would necessarily hold. Why would he want to “change into a man?” To fit his ideal image of a detective? As he says here, yes.

(Real quick before I continue, it’s not clear in the dialogue screenshot but it’s important to note that Naoto does say “yes” to Yukiko’s question about him not liking being a girl. He nods his head)

The narrative that the game tries to go with after this is that the “ideal image” Naoto wanted to live up to, including the male aspect of it, was unattainable and formed primarily because he felt that was the only way he could be a detective.

But, is this really that much of a problem? We all look up to certain types of people, people that we want to be like-- and for many, this can factor into gender identity as well. If Naoto really just wanted to be a cool, male detective, that doesn’t at all negate that being trans would be a part of that for him.

Naoto’s other words and actions, as well as the framing of this scene as a whole, make the scenario feel a lot less believable to me for multiple reasons. Naoto never initiates the conversation that him wanting to be a boy is incorrect-- Yukiko does. Naoto isn’t even the one to trigger his shadow-- Kanji does that. Naoto had a lot less agency in a lot of these decisions than the other characters did with their shadows.

Naoto’s Continued Actions

The fragility of the narrative Atlus put together for Naoto continues to grow throughout the rest of the game, due to the way he behaves after the initial shadow confrontation.

For starters, it’s implied that Naoto is not his birth name, something that i think a lot of people either miss or forget about-- and yet he continues to go by it throughout the course of the game. We never find out his deadname and he never expresses a desire to share it with anybody.

The day after the “reveal,” Naoto doesn’t change anything about his appearance, mannerisms, or how he presents himself. He honestly seems uncomfortable with the fact that everyone has found out, in a way that felt much like being outed to the whole school, as opposed to finally being seen and accepted for who you “really” are.

I understand that such a drastic shift in people’s perception of you would be overwhelming to anybody, no matter if you were cis or not. But if Atlus really wanted to hone in on the idea that Naoto was happy about this change, they could’ve at least made him…. Well, happy about it. Even if it was just a small smile, just a tiny indication of relief even despite how hard it will be to adjust, it would’ve made it at least a little more believable that this is what he really wanted.

But that’s not the case. Instead, he’s uncomfortable, he still binds, he still wears the school’s male uniform, and he still goes by Naoto. The only time any of this actually changes is if you as the protagonist push him to, which… is a whole other mess.

The fact that Naoto has even gotten to this point, though, speaks more volumes to me than anything else. Passing is not easy. Coming out is not easy. Naoto would have had to go through difficult lengths in order to get not only his school, but the country and media to see him as a man. He’s a well-known "detective prince".. someone was bound to look up his records and find out about it. That's a huge risk to take.

In addition to this, he binds. He goes by masculine pronouns and a masculine name. He very audibly changes his voice to be more masculine. I don’t know how to tell you this, but this is just…. not something cis people do? At least not comfortably.

In fact, doing all of this would have been incredibly uncomfortable for Naoto if he was cis. As someone who experiences dysphoria, looking like and being seen as a gender you are not can be really, really painful. If transitioning was something he really didn’t want, why would he put himself through all of that? Was it really to escape misogyny? Me asking this isn’t minimizing the issue at all, because I understand that it’s incredibly serious and hard for countless women. But I would generally think someone’s first reaction to facing misogyny isn’t to… completely change their identity and present as a different gender.

On top of being probably the hardest option of escaping misogyny available to him, and one of the most uncomfortable, presenting as a man doesn’t necessarily get rid of any prejudices Naoto may face. In fact, I would argue that it’s considerably more dangerous. Especially in a rural town like Inaba, where people seem to not really understand or approve of being LGBT. Naoto is smart, he would have thought of all of this. So why?

Inherent Transphobia of Naoto’s Arc

There is something to be said about how much misogyny is present in Japan’s workforce, especially in fields like Naoto’s, and the importance there is in discussing that. The base idea behind his struggles and message isn’t inherently a bad one, but the way the game went about it was problematic because it put down transgender identities in the process.

The first time I watched Naoto’s shadow confrontation, it was really distressing to me. The game continuously repeats the idea that you can’t “cross the barrier of the sexes,” that Naoto “can never really be a man,” and that “you can change your name, but you can never change who you “really” are.” I hope I don’t need to explain why this is a problem.

Naoto’s wish to be a man, regardless of what was driving it, is depicted as something temporary and childish. Something that Naoto “didn’t really want,” something that was just an excuse to run away from the misogyny he was facing. Even if it was unintentional, this message is incredibly harmful to transgender people.

It would have been a better and much more coherent message about misogyny if the writers had steered clear of trans themes entirely. In fact, I think they did so well with Sae’s character in Persona 5-- she’s in the same field of work, facing very similar struggles, but she doesn’t react in the same way as Naoto at all.

Kanji and Homophobia

It’s even worse that Naoto’s “reveal,” on top of being problematic by itself, is used as a method to bury Kanji’s exploration of his own sexuality. The problems with Kanji’s own shadow are bad enough to warrant their own long rant, but the reveal that Naoto was “really a girl” this whole time allows the story to completely wave off his gayness for good.

This isn’t something unique to this game-- the trope of “two boys fall in love, but one of them turns out to be a girl so it’s fine” has been used numerous times in other media to explore the topic half-assedly. It plays with the “exoticness” or “drama” of a gay romance, but backs off at the end in order to uphold societal norms and prevent backlash.

This doesn’t really give any kind of good commentary on gay relationships, nor does it depict them in a positive or helpful manner. It isn’t something that these games should be getting kudos for doing.

Misogyny?

I think there’s also something to be said about how poignantly bad Atlus is at really tackling the problem of misogyny. It tries, especially with characters like Ann and Sae, and in certain aspects it can succeed. But then they have scenes like the pageant and Every Beach Scene Ever, where the women are forced to wear swimsuits or revealing clothing against their will, or their bodies are talked about without their consent. There is consistently a character in each persona game who is forced to do the whole misogynistic dipshit gimmick that’s supposed to be funny-- Junpei, Yosuke, Teddie, Morgana, Ryuji-- and while this is obviously not a Persona specific problem by a longshot, it’s still indicative of how unsuccessful these games often are in delivering the message that society’s systemic misogyny is an issue.

This is something I think about a lot when people try and argue that Naoto’s story can’t be about him being trans because it’s “an important message about misogyny.” Atlus often doesn’t deliver on such stories already, and they certainly didn’t with Naoto. As soon as Naoto returns to “living as a woman” he’s subjected to the same misogyny that the other girls are. His chest is commented on, he’s forced to be in the beauty pageant, he’s made uncomfortable in the bath scenes-- really, all Atlus did after the reveal was make the problem worse for him.

On top of this, his story never actually meaningfully tackles the problem of misogyny in the detective force. It’s not a major part of his social link or the general plot of the game-- honestly, it’s barely even touched on at all after the initial confrontation. Thus, the idea that “Naoto can’t be trans because it erases a story about misogyny” is just plain untrue. There never was a coherent one in the first place.

Problems Within the Fandom

Despite all of this, there is such an intense backlash from the majority of the fandom if anybody dares to bring up these issues with Naoto’s story. Naoto being trans is generally seen as something ridiculous and stupid, or something to insult and mock people for.

I understand that there's always going to be people who say provocative stuff like this, no matter what anyone does, and that it’s not something exclusive to this particular fandom or character. But the problem is that this rhetoric isn't just from them anymore--the consensus among so much of the fandom seems to be either that Naoto absolutely cannot be trans, or that speaking about it at all is "annoying discourse" and taboo. Even from fans that are LGBT or allies themselves.

This in and of itself is such a telling thing to me. if you find yourself getting angry about the subject, really ask yourself why. Is it such a problem for people to reclaim a transphobic story? Is it such a problem for a character to be trans in the first place? There is room for discussion and nuance regarding this situation, but we have to make it for ourselves. We can accept that Atlus’s base game will never actually give us a coherent story about either misogyny nor being transgender with Naoto’s story. But petty arguments and insults thrown at people who bring up this topic isn’t any of that-- it’s just poorly masked transphobia.

So at the end of the day, no, Naoto being is trans is not “canon.” Of course Naoto would not actually be allowed to be trans, he is a main character in a game series where the only explicitly LGBT characters have been consistently buried, stereotyped, or demonized with only a few rare exceptions.

Yes, you’re allowed to headcanon whatever you want about him. I can’t stop you from wanting a story about misogyny, or from seeing Naoto’s gender as something more fluid than I do. But you can’t ignore the fact that his story, as written in canon, is laden with transphobia despite its intentions. It’s not a ridiculous or harmful thing for trans people to want to reclaim that.

There are still a lot more issues with how Naoto is treated in the game-- especially in his romance route-- but that’s a whole other can of worms I’m not ready to unpack today lol

Hopefully all of this made sense though, and feel free to bring up anything else I may have missed or point out any issues you might have with it :-) Thanks for reading!

#persona 4 #naoto shirogane #p4 #persona #naoto #trans naoto #meta #long post #discourse #misogyny #transphobia #god?? god!! help me #this is literally such a mess lol But #sorry for lack of pictures in the second half also

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metayos · 3 years

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this time on metayos: befriending yosuke & meeting saki konishi

yosuke has met souji previously, but this is the first time they've really talked, and right away he launches into discussion of the recent murder. this says it's been on his mind a LOT, which is normal -- it was a murder -- but so many other characters in the story have already dismissed it as something beyond them.

yosuke's from the city. it's not like this is rocking his tiny world. or maybe it is, maybe this is a first -- but i think it speaks to a level of empathy not usually exemplified in characters like this. for all the missteps taken with yosuke’s character, i think he’s still a pleasant example of the character archetype he is a part of.

according to a friend from brazil, it’s not uncommon for the “driver” to stand on the pedals while their “passenger” sits on the seat and holds their feet up. makes sense to me, but then, why did golden --

ah, fuck it. golden’s added story sucks and is inconsistent at best with yosuke’s character. let’s not ask a question whose answer is “they didn’t care”.

anyway, yosuke then invites souji out for steak, on him. yosuke’s frugal, as the game reveals down the line, but even so he offers “the local delicacy” to his new friend for the noble act of rescuing him from a trashcan. he’s pissy when chie hops on the bandwagon, because he has no interest in treating her, broken DVD or no. special treatment towards souji, and they’ve only just met. talk about gay, yosuke.

at junes, we meet saki konishi, yosuke’s co-worker and senpai. yosuke cares about saki, more of that sweet empathy from before. but let's talk about how many people, other characters included, interpret this as a romantic affection.

i posit this to you: it's not!

yosuke likes saki, yes, but he's not infatuated with her. he thinks she's really cool, and he seeks her approval, and she seems to care about him -- for a kid who reveals down the line that he's never had any real friends, someone like saki is special.

of course, i think a little puppy crush is also reasonable, but i prefer to think that yosuke’s feelings for saki were entirely platonic.

he worries about her. he's not the single-minded ladies man that golden tried to paint him as; far from it. he's a caring soul, and saki is probably, almost certainly, one of the only people he's ever gotten this close to. they have a dynamic, a brother/sister relationship that he (an only child) has never had.

he's obviously friends with chie, as well, but chie is his age, brash, and likes to play around. yosuke mimics that energy when he's with her. he does that a lot -- as an empath, he takes in and gives out the energy that surrounds him. (a good protagonist always says "calm down" when available, because yosuke is most likely to benefit from it.)

he's a good kid. people who dismiss him as an egocentric womanizer are missing the point. granted, i'm sure golden has painted that view of him, but even in golden we have scenes like this. he's a complex character, one often dismissed by the fandom (even the parts that like him). as someone who muses him, i can’t tell you how many group roleplays i’ve been in where he was constantly treated like the butt of a joke. fair, sometimes -- but he’s more than comic relief.

i honestly believe these are saki’s true feelings. she sees yosuke as a genuine, kind young boy who follows her around like a lost puppy. sometimes that probably gets annoying, but as an older sister, she’s generally capable of handling it.

i don’t think saki ever disliked him. but that’s for my next post...

stay tuned!

#yosuke hanamura #souyo #metayos yosuke analysis

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forkanna · 3 years

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[AO3] [WATTPAD]

WARNING: Rise's views and Ai's views on the LGBT community, and especially those of other characters in this work of fiction, do not always line up with those of the author. Please do your own research! The more you understand, the better our world will be.

CHAPTER WARNING: Bulimia.

NOTE: Happy New Year! Welcome to my particularly long and exhaustive crackship tome that literally no one asked for! What else is new, right? The first scene of this chapter is almost entirely copy-pasted from my other P4 fanfiction, "We'll Face Ourselves", though I tried to spruce it up and shift perspective so it doesn't feel like quite so much rehash. I thought it served as a nice lead-in to this story, with some added focus on the new ship. The second half of this chapter and the rest of the fic is all-new, don't worry. The "Golden" is more a reference to it being additional "dlc" for my other fic, not to me specifically focusing on Marie or any such content exclusive to P4G. Apologies if this dashes anyone's expectations but I hope you enjoy the fic regardless!

As for anyone wishing for that fic to debut... you know the one... well, all things in time. Soon, I promise. In the meantime, check me out at jxsleator dot carrd dot co !

Jessex

PROLOGUE

Once upon a time, in the quaint town of Inaba… a minstrel girl and a stubborn princess fought over a handsome prince. Very briefly.

"Can't you give me a little kiss goodbye?" the minstrel pulled back to look up into the boy's stoic face, her large doe eyes shining with tears — on purpose. She was a top notch minstrel, after all. "Something to keep me from… from dying from missing you?"

"Oh please," the quiet innkeeper muttered under her breath with a begrudging smile.

However, the prince obliged the minstrel girl with a kindly kiss upon the forehead. She was in awe of his tenderness. Right up until…

"Excuse me? What do you think you're doing, you bitch?!"

The others pulled back to see royalty approaching, hands on her hips. A truly glamorous princess indeed, even though her regal vestments weren't nearly as radiant as they had been in days past. The ever-present lacy pink turtleneck lived underneath a cardigan today rather than her school uniform.

"What is who doing?" the pouting siren protested, clinging a little tighter to her prince's arm.

"You! Little trollop!" The flawless beauty stomped over to the two of them, honey-brown waves bouncing as she got right up in the singer's face. "Take your greedy little paws off my boyfriend!"

The idol stamped her foot and snapped, "HEY! I don't see your name on him anywhere!"

The prince gulped and began to back away. "Uh…"

"Really?" the princess scoffed. "What makes you think you have any claim to him, slut puppy? He went to the festival with me — and spent Christmas Eve with me, too! And for your goddamn information, we got pretty close!"

Though the siren was comely, and manipulative toward many of the young suitors in the land, it was in playful jest; she did consider them friends but couldn't seem to suppress her womanly wiles, so she flirted for sport. Alas, the princess wounded her deeply with such words; her lip wobbled at the princess's declarations, even though that may have been for show.

"Senpai, say that's not true! How could you, when I… I let you… you know!"

"Hey, it doesn't count when I'm just sitting there and you plop your butt down on my hand," the prince said reasonably. "And Ai-chan, we hugged a little; please don't tease her by making it sound like more."

The prince's pair of suitresses were chagrined. The princess seemed a little more genuinely hurt than her rival for his attentions but neither were particularly happy with being called out.

"Whew," the flop-haired jester exhaled, wiping his brow. "Don't know how you get away with it, juggling two chicks like that."

"That's not…" The prince sighed, shaking his head as he facepalmed. "Maybe I'm glad to be leaving."

But in truth, he was not. Nor was anyone else present. As they alternately squabbled and lamented the prince's parting, other classmates and citizens of Inaba began to approach to wish him bon voyage. He really had left an impression in the short year he had lived there. When the train whistle signalled that it was about to pull away, the bickering came to an end so they could truly see their friend off. A lot of tearful hugs and well wishes were offered before the prince was inside, looking out the window at them as it pulled away from the station. They ran after him all the way to the end of the platform until they ran out of space, then stood waving after him until the train was completely out of sight.

And thus the prince's tale gave way to another. One about a minstrel who had lost her way and found it again, and a princess who had not always known she was a princess at all.

-------------------------------

CHAPTER ONE

"I just… he really left," Rise Kujikawa finally sobbed now that the click-clack sounds of the train had faded into the distance.

"Geez, turn it off already," Yosuke Hanamura sighed as he clasped his hands behind his neck, pressing his floppy hair hard against his neck. They turned away to start toward home or wherever the night might take them. "You don't have to keep up the act when he's not even here."

"Act?!" She shoved him from behind, and he stumbled a couple of steps as his arms windmilled out to the sides, attempting to regain his balance. "Not cool, Hanamura! I am grieving the death of my relationship!"

"What relationship?" Kanji Tatsumi grunted.

"Boys, you could be a little more sensitive," Yukiko Amagi told them in an even, reasonable tone. She was dabbing at her eyes like everyone else, and leaning a little more heavily than usual on her best friend, Chie Satonaka, but she seemed to be maintaining her composure better than Rise could manage. "We're all going to miss him so much."

"I'm just trying to get Rise to wake up," Yosuke persisted anyway. "She's delusional. We all know Nakamura was trying to scam on that chick at the hospital."

"What?"

"You know. The nurse. Though I think she moved away…"

Kanji cleared his throat. "Actually, I… thought that woman with the kid was his squeeze. Y'know, the one that came up to him a minute ago?"

Chie squeaked, "He was doing what with who?! That's… why? Why chase a married woman?!"

"Oh, I thought it was one of you girls."

The group of them turned to blink at the girl from the drama club. "Who are you again?" Yosuke asked — very rudely, even though they were all thinking it.

"Yumi Ozawa," she said softly with a slight bow. "He gave me a great deal of help when I was dealing with my own family problems, you know. And… well, I revealed I had feelings for him, and he shut me down. Just said he wanted to remain friends, and it's hard to argue with that, isn't it?"

While Chie and Yukiko were chattering to her about that, the boys suffering through a "girly" conversation they had no interest in, the slightly jealous Rise found herself momentarily distracted. Everyone kept moving along as she slowly came to a halt, turned her white sandals off to the side, and approached someone who looked like she could use her company. Even if she wasn't absolutely sure of that.

"You okay over here?"

"Oh… no, no, I'm fine. Mind your own goddamn business."

"Wooooow. I guess that's what I get for caring, huh?"

"Wait," Ebihara suddenly blurted, standing up from the bus stop bench and taking a couple of steps toward her. "All right, I may have been unnecessarily rude. I just have no idea why you would want to talk to me when I was your rival for Narukami's affections."

"Because you looked kind of pathetic over here, all by yourself."

"I did not! I'm not 'pathetic', I'm legitimately upset that my boyfriend left!"

"He wasn't your…" But at least she managed to cut herself off with a roll of her eyes, swallowing down the jab and instead moving to hold onto Ebihara's shoulder. Tears were already rolling down the teen queen's cheeks, and her voice was tight and strangled, as if she were fighting back tears — clearly a losing battle. "He could never stay here. We all kind of knew that, and just talked ourselves out of believing it. I'm so mad! But… I have to get over it."

Clearly shocked by her more reasonable response, the prissy girl took a moment longer to respond herself. By the time she did, she was looking down toward their shoes. "Completely ridiculous. Right? I should have known better, I… ugh, I'm so pissed at myself."

"Right?!" Rise still wanted to slap her for trying to steal the boy of her dreams, but it really felt irrelevant now. So instead she tried for her most convincing smile — which, considering her previous vocation, was extremely convincing — and said, "Hey, um, why don't you try getting to know us a little better? Might as well, since you'll have more time on your hands now."

"Sounds stupid." The words came out so fraught with emotion that they were nearly unintelligible, but Rise still understood. "But I have nothing better to do, so lead on."

However, the closer they drew to the remaining group of students, the more anxious the prima donna became. Rise didn't know why exactly — and she couldn't know until Ai cleared her throat to get their attention. She could tell Naoto had been deep in discussion with Yukiko and Chie, though not what about.

"Yes?" Yukiko prompted her in mild surprise.

"I… thought I should say… I am sorry." She swallowed hard, brows furrowed. The expression still made her look angry and snobby, despite her tone of voice being gentle now; she just had resting bitch face. "Probably too late. But I was really going through some things when I sidelined you two in Aiya, and being rude is second nature to me. Can't be the most stunning girl in school without it going to your head, can you?"

"You say that like I would ever know," Chie snorted.

"Right. And… normally I would be agreeing with you and belittling you, Bowl Cu- I mean, Satonaka. I have a lot of practice." Grimacing, she growled, "Got so used to being queen bitch that it's hard to just be nice."

After a brief silence, so awkward that it felt as if any sound would have been preferable, Yukiko laid a hand on Ai's arm, gentle and reassuring. "Please, Ai-san. We all have darkness inside of us; nobody is a perfect person. So I think it's very admirable you're seeing your flaws and that you're trying to improve. I am the same, and so are my friends."

"Oh yeah?" The girl let out a wet-sounding laugh; indeed, tears were budding at the corners of her eyes. "How the hell aren't you perfect, Miss Goody Two-Shoes? I mean… I've always been so jealous of how the boys talk about you. No 'buts'."

"No butts?!" Chie burst out. "What do you mean? She's got a GREAT butt!"

Ai chuckled a little more heartily at that. Naoto was the only one who tapped her chin while noticing Yukiko's slight blush from the compliment; the others weren't paying it any attention. "No, no, not her ass. Which — fine, sure, it's fantastic. I mean like, they describe both of us as really beautiful, or hot or whatever. Same words for both of us. But with me, it always had a 'but she's such a bitch', 'but she's stuck up', 'but she's psycho' attached. Yukiko… a couple of guys said you were snooty if you turned them down for a date, but the rest of them saw through that. You're a good woman and I'm just a good-looking woman. I did so much work to be beautiful so boys would like me, but I'm just… ugly on the inside."

Though clearly, Yukiko was about to speak up, Chie beat her to the punch. "So that's it, huh? You're pathetic."

"Excuse me?"

"C'mon, Ebihara. You're made of tougher stuff than that. Where's that girl who slammed her leg up on the table in Aiya and demanded we appreciate it?"

Though the teen queen had been firing up, being reminded of that moment in the diner made her squirm and fold her arms tightly over her chest. "That was stupid. Do you wanna know why I did that?" When Yukiko nodded, she pushed ahead, "Thing is, I was a... when I was little, I was nowhere near the adorable Ai you see before you now. Fat and hideous, got told I had pig hooves. So like, I'm sure it sounds really stupid to you guys, but having dainty little feet now is super amazing to me still."

"You were fat?!" Chie demanded, looking her up and down afresh. "No way! I call bullshit!"

"Yep, a total blimp. And I got hella teased because I didn't match up with their…" What a pregnant pause. "W-whatever. Yu already knows all this stuff, but pretty much I decided to reinvent myself when I found out we were moving to Inaba. Obviously it went to my head, but… at least I'm better now. Getting better all the time."

The rest of the Investigation Team was speechless. Rise, for her part, couldn't believe the superficial teen queen actually had some substance under that lip gloss. Certainly hadn't seemed that way when Ai basically bit her head off just for being at the shopping center with Narukami. Maybe he was the one responsible. After all, the stoic boy had touched all their lives, brought about an awakening of sorts to their inner beauty that they likely would never have found within themselves without him shedding that light. It just seemed to be one of his latent talents. Unsurprising that he had done the same for the entitled fashionista.

"There seems to be only one solution for this predicament," Naoto was stating firmly with a small nod, finger tapping her chin. "We must return to Aiya to remember our departed friend, and strengthen our bonds with each other."

"Oooh, a party!" Rise piped up with an excited little bounce, despite the light drizzle that was beginning to fall. "Yes please!"

"I guess that's a plan," Chie agreed as Rise, Kanji and Yosuke joined them. "What do you guys think? We catching the portal to the meat dimension?"

Grimacing, Yosuke demanded, "Do you have to call it that every time, Satonaka?! Geesh! Sounds super nasty."

"Bet you can't even handle it."

"Wha- OH YEAH?! BRING IT ON!"

~ o ~

"PHWOOOO! I can't even look at it anymore!"

The ragtag group of assorted teenagers, who would seemingly have nothing in common from an outsider's perspective, were all sitting back and holding their stomachs by now. It was almost painful how much meat was straining to escape the linings of their stomachs. Actually, it was painful for some of them.

"Yyyyeah," Rise groaned in agreement with Yukiko's statement, arms like wet noodles at her sides. "My… I'm pregnant… food baby…"

"Even I'm feeling it a little," Chie was chuckling as Rise staggered to her feet. "And normally I can demolish one of these no sweat!"

"Must be… getting old," Yosuke said as their voices began to fade into the background. She could hear Satonaka clapping back at him, but once the bathroom door shut she could no longer identify words, just noise.

In fact… there was a new noise filling the ladies' restroom. Not a pleasant one. Brow furrowing as her lip curled in disgust, she glanced at the bottoms of the stalls and saw a pair of designer shoes with their soles facing up.

"Is… are you okay… in there?"

"HRRK!" What a weird noise — but not nearly as weird as the sound of pronounced retching that followed. God, how disgusting! Maybe she should just backpedal out of the bathroom… but before she could act, there was some spitting, a clearing of the throat, and a strained tone calling out, "Mind your own business! Do you have to be so fucking nosey?!"

Oh no. "Wait — Ebihara?"

"Yes! And this isn't something I want anybody to…" Another gagging noise. "Ugh… you probably have an Aqua Balance on you, don't you, Risette?"

Her eye twitched. "Just because I did the commercials doesn't mean I have a bag full of them on me at all times, you know!" But she still hated to hear a girl in need, so she forced herself to continue, "Need me to hold your hair back?"

"No, I… I got it. Practice."

"Practice? Just how often do you toss your cookies?!"

Dead. Silence. When it had gone on for a few seconds too long to be normal, Rise began to sense she had broached a topic that Ebihara did not want broached. Her brow creased harder, and eventually she said in a meek voice, "I'll… go get you some water."

"Thanks."

She was so preoccupied as she hit the bar to get some ice water for the prissy girl that she didn't even comprehend the words of her friends calling out to her — though she couldn't even see Chie and Yukiko at the table anymore. The rest were probably asking her what she was doing. And what was she doing? Why was she helping this complete bitch who would never do the same thing for her? There was no doubt in her mind that Ebihara would have completely ignored her if she found her voiding her stomach in a public restroom. Might even have laughed at her. But she still remembered how distraught she looked when they said goodbye to their mutual love interest.

Maybe hanging out with the Investigation Team had revived the conscience of a jaded teen idol who had taken a brief hiatus from the spotlight. No, it definitely had done that; what was in question was whether or not the same could be said of Ebihara's willingness to open up to her peers.

"Okay, here," she sighed as she opened the door — and almost ran straight into the girl's face. "WHOA!"

"Shit!" Ai yelped as she took a step back, then patted down her chest. "You made my soul leave my body — what the hell are you doing?!"

"Bringing you water! Do you need to add a little ginkgo to your diet, Obaachan?! It's been like one minute since I told you!"

"Fuck your water! I'm gone, I don't need this!" And she actually tried to push past her.

"Wha- hey! No, you don't just get to run off like this!"

"Don't you tell me what I can and can't do, you cow! Now get your goddamn cankles and your crow's feet out of my fucking way!"

Holy shit. That was a lot of random venom. Rise knew already that she didn't have either of those things, but she still felt the sting regardless.

"I… was trying to help you, but fine. Go away." And she stepped to the side with a flip of one of her mauve-tinted pigtails. "Don't let the door hit you on the way out, brat."

What a mistake it had been to be nice to Ebihara. They were too much alike. Sure, Rise knew how to be polite, and was always warm and affectionate with her friends, but they both had the Bitch Gene and it ran strong through their veins. Ebi just led with that instead of saving it for people who deserved it.

She wasn't sure how long she had been standing there, looking stubbornly into the corner, before she felt the glass of water being taken from her fingers. She started to grab after it — instinct telling her she had dropped it and needed to catch it — until she saw Ai swishing it around in her mouth, then turning to spit into the sink.

"Oh," she breathed.

"What?" Ai grunted before she tipped the glass up again and started gulping it down. The lacy choker above her turtleneck bobbed with every swallow.

"Nothing, I just thought- I mean, did you leave and come back?"

Breathing a loud sigh as she set the glass down, she turned to glare at Rise. "Nosey. You ask too many questions all the time."

"I do not! They're really normal questions; you're just a bitch."

Her eyebrows furrowed, and her jaw tightened. Rise was absolutely positive she was about to give her a tongue lashing. But then she just snorted and shook her head, looking away.

"Wow. I don't know what I expected from Risette, but it wasn't you."

"I know," she began, making this up as she went along. "You either thought I would be completely spoiled and stuck up like you, or I would be such a goody-goody that I never had anything mean to say about anyone. Those are the two flavours of idols, right?"

Ebi smirked and pressed an open palm to the center of her chest. "I spoil myself. And I told you what I went through as a child; don't I deserve it? Isn't this my time to shine?"

"Not if it means you piss off everyone around you while shining. That's just selfish, you know. Don't you care about anyone but yourself?"

"No. Why should I? They don't care about me." Her haughty tone turned bitter. "Nobody in Inaba. Not anymore."

Most of her ire fading, she said, "You gotta put yourself out there. This whole time we've been at Aiya, you barely said a word. I actually forgot you were here until I heard you puking your guts out."

"See my point? The boys who idolize me are the only ones that remember I exist. And even them… I know they don't care about me as a person. They just keep hoping a strong breeze will show them a little flash of my panties."

"No, that's not right. I'm trying to tell you that it's your fault."

"Excuse me?"

"How are we supposed to get to know you if you just hang in the background and never say anything? That doesn't-"

"Look, I don't need to take this," Ebi sighed with a roll of her hazel eyes. "At this point, I just want to go home and be alone. Is that allowed? Or are you going to block the door again?"

Rise's lips thinned in frustration. It wasn't worth it. She didn't want to keep banging her head against this brick wall anymore. So she didn't even say a word; just turned her back on Ebi before she said something particularly nasty.

"Thanks for the water," the other girl offered shortly as she strode out through the door. And that really was it.

"At least she thanked me," she muttered to herself as she finally took her place in one of the stalls to do her business. But in the back of her mind, she couldn't help but replay those conversations over and over in her head.

Because none of that blustering truly hid the fact that Ai Ebihara was in pain. And if nobody did anything about it, Rise was almost dead certain she was heading for disaster.

-------------------------------

To Be Continued…

#We'll Face Ourselves #ai ebihara #rise kujikawa #rise/ai #forkanna writes #persona 4 fanfiction #p4 fanfic #persona 4 #jess the writer

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benisasoftboi · 4 years

Text

Unorganised thoughts on Trails in the Sky: Second Chapter:

Unorganised thoughts on the first game are here

No longer spoiler-free, sorry

So tl;dr I loved this game and I love these characters and this world and I’m so excited to play through the whole rest of the series. What an underrated gem

I liked that everyone’s status portraits were updated, FC’s were a little rough. Except Olivier’s - his original art is miles better, good lord. The updated one is so generic :(

Speaking of updates, here’s some on how I feel about the major characters:

Estelle: Estelle deserves the world. I love her and her development, she’s just so great. What I especially love is that I cannot think of any other JRPG hero I’ve seen who reacts to the villain’s grand monologue like she does. Most of the time it’s like, huge declarations of justice, and how evil will never win, but Estelle’s reaction to Weissmann ranting about the inherent evil of man was just, like, ‘nah, actually that’s stupid, I love my friends and we’re all nice people. You just suck dude’. And that works so well, and it was really refreshing, honestly. I just... love her. I really love her.

Joshua: This poor traumatised boy who also deserves the world, my god. His backstory was so much darker than I was expecting (if I understood right, there were some implications that sexual assaults occurred in the Hamel massacre!? And that it nearly happened to his sister!? Which made me have to sit back for a moment because I did not think this game was gonna go there and it threw me for a loop). I like how his whole arc is about learning to not define himself by his trauma, I haven’t really seen that in a game before. I also love him.

I think Estelle and Joshua cute together and I support their romance, but if the game could stop reminding me post-get together that they used to be pseudo-siblings that would be great thank you

Agate: I did the Agate route mostly because I prefer using him in combat, and goddamn if I thought I liked him before. I think his arc is one of the best in the game, and I love him, and are you seeing a pattern? His friendship with Tita is also so sweet. I want to be friends with Agate

Schera: Might have had more to say if I’d done her route. I appreciated getting her backstory, and I thought her relationship with Luciola was well done, if not incredibly fascinating. As it stands, I like her just fine, even if I’m not as passionate about her as I am some of the others

Olivier: I still love this guy. I had his twist spoiled, but let’s face, it wasn’t the hardest to guess anyway. His rivalry with Bleublanc was funny, as are most of his interactions with other characters. He’s good comic relief in general, and I love using him in combat - on that note, though, I’m very angry with him for leaving in chapter 8, because he was the character I had invested the most into arts-wise, so I had to go fix up Schera just for that chapter (and then swapped to Zin as we lost ZFGs, for obvious reasons). I will say that he seems to have become a little more... creepy feels like a strong word, but I don’t think he was so forwardly suggestive in FC. It felt to me like he sort of went from Yusuke Kitagawa to Yosuke Hanamura, in a sense. But all the same, I still like him

He should have stayed in his prince look at the end though, it suits him better

Side note, I really love Mueller, and I love his and Olivier’s interactions, and I want more Mueller, why does he have to be a minor character :(

Kloe: So I wasn’t super into Kloe in FC, but I actually really loved her this time around - I thought her arc about deciding whether or not to accept the crown was well done, and the little conversation she and Estelle can have on the stage at the academy is one of my favourite scenes in both games. Also GOOD LORD do I love her outfit change at the end, she’s so pretty I want to cry

Tita: Most of what I like about Tita is her friendship with Agate, and also how smart she is. I’d probably have more to say about her if I ever used her beyond when the plot forces me to (I don’t like using glass cannon characters in games), as the unfortunate nature of SC is that you don’t get much dialogue if you’re benched. But yeah, I still like her as a character

Zin: I don’t dislike Zin, but I still find him kind of dull compared to the others. He’s fine, he’s there, he’s got a backstory with Walter and Kilika and that’s neat. Honestly the main thing I remember about all that is Zin revealing that their master had terminal cancer because I kind of just... didn’t think cancer existed in this universe, I guess. It threw me

Kevin: Firstly, I find it really, really funny that such an important and mysterious character who looks the way he does is named ‘Kevin’. But yeah, I like Kevin, I’m excited to learn more about him in 3rd. I liked his relationship with Estelle (It’s nice to see a guy who’s capable of backing off without being an ass about it. Shame there’s such a low bar). I am, though, honestly very creeped out by the mere concept of the Gralsritters, ngl

Bleublanc and Campanella were easily my favourite Enforcers. Bleublanc especially gets points for keeping himself relevant for the entire game

Renne is a character who I think I’m probably meant to feel more sympathy for than I actually do, to be honest. You can’t make me like someone just by making them a cute little girl, Falcom, I’m sorry. Maybe I’ll feel differently after playing 3rd, I know she’s in it

I thought Loewe was well handled and I love that scene where he and Joshua hug at the end

I love the Ravens. I love that they got actual art. They’re amazing. I would play an entire spin-off game about the Ravens

And the Capuas! Can they all team up? Please?

Especially Josette, I came to really like her

A thing I’ve kind of realised about this game and its characters is that it’s a really good example of how tropes and cliches are not inherently bad - everyone in this game is based on some kind of mostly-unsubverted cliche, but they are incredibly well-executed cliches. You can have the most original characters in the world, but if they’re not written well, then what’s the point? I think a lot of writers conflate ‘unique’ and ‘surprising’ and (ugh) ‘subverting expectations’ with ‘good’. This game doesn’t make that mistake, and I appreciate that

Don’t get me wrong, unique and surprising and expectation subverting is also not inherently bad - just that it’s all in the execution

I like that Richard came back! And reformed! To be honest, though, (maybe this is controversial? idk), I thought he was a better antagonist than anyone in Ouroboros. His motivations made a lot more sense than those of most of the Enforcers

Honestly (excluding Renne and Campanella because those haven’t been fully revealed to me yet) Bleublanc was really the only one with a motivation I liked - I can respect a villain who does crimes just for the sake of being an asshole

Oh yeah, there’s also Anelace and her team - they’re all great. I would like to know more about Grant, he doesn’t get to do much

The side quest in chapter 8 at the academy where we get Kurt and Anelace is one of the best quests in the game

Oh, and that reminds me, Gilbert! I love Gilbert, he’s so lame. Fighting him is hilarious

I was very happy to see minor NPC Clive on the Arseille at the end. It’s what he deserves

I love that this game got me invested in the lives of the random NPCs

Screw that Abyss Worm bounty hunt, and also that fight with Renne on Ambryl Tower

I don’t know whose idea it was to fill this game, in this setting, with GIANT ROBOTS but it grew on me and I kind of love it now

I’ve decided Ruan is my favourite region, but Rolent is my favourite city

The Liber Ark is such a cool setting, I’m sad we only saw a tiny part of it for one chapter

I knew they weren’t going to kill off Joshua and Estelle, but I still cannot describe the rush of relief I felt when the dragon saved them at the end. I care about these kids, damnit!

There’s that one section in Grancel where everyone’s talking about Crossbell and then it never comes up again - set up the next arc of games a little less subtly, why don’t you?

(And then Cassius being like ‘the adventures will continue! But with other people!”)

I read all of The Doll Knight and I genuinely enjoyed it

This game has maybe the best end credits I’ve ever seen

...think that’s all my thoughts expunged! Now to play 3rd :D

#trails in the sky #trails series #trails in the sky sc #trails in the sky: second chapter #long post

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characteroulette · 5 years

Text

Hey PQ was pretty good!

so I’m having trouble getting into PQ2 because of several factors, so I thought I’d write a half-think piece, half-essay on why I think the first PQ gets more flak than it deserves. So here’s that.

------

I genuinely don't understand why, when talking about Persona Q, people are always saying things along the lines of, "The gameplay was good, but the characters were trite and the story wasn't that great." Like, as a fan of the Persona series, I genuinely don't understand that assessment.

Not saying PQ is flawless, oh no. There are PLENTY of things in PQ that I have an axe to grind with (the small door scene with the P4 gang, for one), but the overall story? The characters? They're both fine. Good, even, dare I say. And here's my argument as to why:

The returning Persona series characters (from 3 and 4) in PQ do a good job of representing their games and their own personalities, even if a little more light-hearted than their source material,

AND

The story is genuinely in-line with the rest of the Persona/SMT series, even if it ultimately doesn't matter due to time shenanigans (and I'm okay with that).

These are my two points. Just those two. Because these are the two most contested parts of PQ, as far as I can hear, since we all agree that the gameplay is the real breadwinner here hahaha

Anyway.

First, let's talk about the returning characters, since they seem to be the ones who matter most. The P4 cast are generally less griped about (save Chie and Teddie) and I believe this is largely due to the brighter, more hopeful tone of P4 as a whole. (Aaand, in my opinion, they're done a MUCH BIGGER disservice in the Arena games, but no one ever talks about that so let's not bother with those right now.)

P4 was a game about making friends, the hijinx that come from that, and finding the truth about a string of murders and confronting the worst parts of yourself in a harsher world in the process! And it executes this with the appropriate amount of balance between serious moments and comedic relief. The theme colour for the whole game is bright yellow/gold, a happier and more friendly colour which helps remind you that this game is all in good fun.

(Side note here: I honestly think that P5 really failed in this respect, despite my liking its tone slightly more. I just personally like darker-themed games, but P5 was a little too dark and oppressive right out the gate, with hardly a friendly face, which helps make your gradually growing group of friends much more appreciated but also a harder atmosphere for jokes to really land well. Most of the 'funny' sequences felt very undeserved and really dragged because uh guys we literally just fought a rapist, an abusive father figure, and some other fucked-up shit. Can we please acknowledge that a bit more instead of pretending it never happened by laughing at the expense of Ann's autonomy of her body? Especially when she was a target of said rapist??) But that's its own discussion for later.

Really, the fact that most of the P4 gang get out of this with little criticism shows how accepted their caricatures have become. I guess? At least, except for Teddie and Chie.

Teddie being a wannabe Casanova must've been a huge hit with the Japanese audience, because it's just the hill he's going to die on for the writers. There was more to Teddie than his hitting on the girls in P4, believe it or not! (And there's a whole thing about it being brought on by him mimicking the type of behaviour he saw Yukiko's shadow exhibiting, which has a lot of really interesting undertones, but it makes him more swappable with Junpei, so whatever, I guess.) Meanwhile, Chie's not as meat-crazy, either, but I guess it's a better trait for them to roll with than her (cut in the translation) glossed-over sexism.

Both work fine, however, and aren't really too annoying enough to be that egregious. (Though they both go right up to the line sometimes. Teddie more so, but none of the girls playing along really helps show how gross his actions are. Most of the time.)

No, the real complaints I see directed at the characters being 'too cartoonish' are usually reserved for the P3 gang.

P3 is, really, such a bizarre game to go back to now when compared to its two successors. It's dark and hopeless, like P5, but formulaic and mystery, like P4. It's actually a natural progression when looking at its two/three older siblings (both P2s are bleak. As. Hell!), but, at least to me, it's the odd duck of the bunch, being the first to implement this winning formula of being caught in a time limit of a school year and managing spending time exploring this other world. It adds Social Links and social stats with this new time limit and this idea that the Persona and Shadows you fight don't just happen out on the streets in 'normal' circumstances for everyone to see. It pretty much went from an RPG to a management game with RPG elements.

And its emotional, impactful story, like P5, had a lot of tonal whiplash due to the attempts at comedy!

I feel like a lot of people forget this about P3 (and maybe I think more about it because I haven't actually beaten the whole game yet myself), but the story is actually a goddamn mess of tonal confusion. You got kids shooting themselves in the heads and a Social Link dealing with a classmate's crush on his teacher. You got wacky foreign exchange student and kids taking experimental drugs to suppress their Persona and slowly poisoning themselves to death as a side effect. The protagonist is an orphan who lost his parents in a huge, plot-relevant accident... But he's able to date every single girl at the same time and be the most wish fulfillment charming guy if the player so desires.

P3 being messy isn't a bad thing. P4, P5, and even P2 and PQ are all a little messy in their own rights, too. But because P3 was a lot of fans' first in the series, and PQ is just a spin-off, it gets way more flak for this than I feel it deserves.

(I mean, hey. Both P3 and P4 have those classic anime scenes of the boys walking in on the girls while at a hot springs. All PQ's got is an awkward group date scene and the implication that Yosuke and Kanji kissed each other while getting knocked out.) (They all. Have. Problems.)

And I know a lot of this comes down to personal preference. I'm not saying you're wrong for liking P3 or P4 more than PQ. I'm just saying I feel like PQ is often wrongly accused of being worse and less well-written when, really, they're all pretty much on par with each other. (And someone on the team really doesn't understand how to handle large casts of characters sharing the same space...)

But, personally, from everything I've seen from P3, I don't like the way most of the characters get presented to me in the source material. Junpei is way more insufferable in P3 than in PQ and Yukari is way more uninteresting in P3 than in PQ. Really, PQ helped me appreciate these characters more than P3 itself did. And, yes, they're more funny when they're trying to be, too. Because PQ is set up better for comedy than the 'remember you are mortal' tone of P3.

(Which makes dramatic moments hit all the harder when they happen) HEY check that segue! It's time to talk about the story and the two original characters of the game!

So, second point: people say the story isn't very good. To which I wanna ask... "Did you stop playing before defeating the fourth Boss?" Because it really sounds like, to me, everyone who says that didn't actually finish the game and reach all that juicy character development that happens for both sides around the fourth dungeon, where all the issues they've been building up (like Yukari's issue with Mitsuru for the P3 side and Kanji and Ken's awkwardness in the P4 side) start getting resolved in a satisfying way. And it comes with a reveal for the two characters we've been getting to know, Zen and Rei, as well.

(And, from here on in, there be spoilers. You've been warned.)

The two new characters to this game are Zen and Rei, who were in this place before the P3 or P4 gangs were called to the scene. Zen is quiet and a bit unsettlingly dense, but devoted to Rei, who is bubbly and full of life, but terrified of the dungeons you have to traverse. The two have been in this place for (what's implied to be) a very long time and enlist the help of the P3 and P4 teams in order to find a way out through defeating the bosses of each Labyrinth/dungeon. Simple enough, as it also helps the P3 and P4 team's goal of getting out. With each new dungeon, it feels more and more like something about Zen and Rei aren't quite right, but the length of the dungeon and all the team chats help you put it out of your mind each time. Rei can even get kinda annoying with her loudness and big appetite if you don't find her cute (which: how dare you. But yeah, I get it).

And then, at the end of a fiery festival fourth dungeon, you find yourself in a dark tomb at the bottom level. The boss awaiting you is Rei's shadow (a nice callback to the way P4 works) whom she still doesn't accept after you defeat it.

All the locks are gone and the P3 and P4 teams can return to their worlds if they wanted. Except Rei gets kidnapped after Zen reveals that Rei has been dead all along and it was him who trapped them here. It was he who created this place and even he who called both teams here.

And this was a plot twist that I friggin' loved.

It definitely had more impact on me because Zen and Rei easily became my favourites out of the whole cast, to the point of having them on my team for the whole game, but to find out such a fucked up twist is wild! (Seriously! Go watch the cutscene and tell me it isn't super fucked up!) You can say the P3 and P4 twists were shocking (or P5s I guess), but for my money, this is the best reversal of expectations I'd ever seen in a Persona game. In any game, really!

Zen was, in effect, the villain the whole time. His true identity as Chronos, God of time, makes sense with displacing the teams from their own times and the time here being erased once you reach the end. His own power that he sealed away growing impatient and taking matters into its own hands by drawing the teams to this haven displaced from time also makes perfect sense! And the entire climb through the last dungeon is his redemption arc and it makes for a super emotionally investing final dungeon all the way. (Which is great, because I hate every single one of the enemies that appear in this god-forsaken place.) (Even P4 and P5 can't really boast that, I felt very little investment through Izanami's dungeon and Baldabaoth's distortion.)

Of course, if you found Zen and Rei to be annoying and pointless, I can see how this would fall flat for you. The fact that they hinged such an emotional climax on these new characters, characters that don't even matter outside of this game!, was such a risky move. Especially when you consider this is just a fanservice game made basically under the promise of seeing the P3 team interact with the P4 team. But, for me, it really paid off.

And whatever complaints you had with the P3 or P4 characters, I feel like the resolutions to those character moments I mentioned earlier get explored even further during the climb through the final dungeon. From the P3 gang coming together to finally communicate with one another to the P4 gang reconfirming their bonds with one another, it's a really investing and emotional journey. I do wish the writing had been this tight and impactful through more of the game, but I believe it's worth it in the end.

Perhaps this moment comes too late in the game, though. I can definitely see others giving up before reaching this point due to the repetitive nature of the dungeons and the tidbits of character development that are meant to build up to this moment that can be too sparsely placed. (But, really, it's the same from P3 to P5, Social Links don't really add much variety when they can be just as repetitive and boring, just saying. Especially when you get caught in waiting to rank up hell, ugh.) For me, however, this really sealed the deal on this game being an incredible experience that I adored from start to finish. 7/10. Final score.

....

(7 outta 10?? Not perfect??) Well, it's not perfect. Japan's blatant homophobia and sexism really ruins a lot of scenes for me. I'm super salty especially about how the fake marriage scenes are handled so differently from the girl choices to the boy choices. (But you just argued in its favour for 2000 words!) Listen. ALL the Persona games wouldn't receive perfect scores for me for this aspect alone. There are a lot of other factors as well, but they vary from title to title and PQ in particular is guilty of spending too much time focusing on Teddie and Junpei being girl-crazy. And Marie is in this game more than she really should be. UGH.

But I digress.

In conclusion, this game's story and characters are better than most give it credit for. Hopefully, my argument helped you see why I believe this and why I think claiming that both aspects are just 'bad' is lazy.

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 6 years

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Angolmois 8 - 10 | BnHA 59 - 60 | Cells at Work! 9 - 10 | Planet With 9 - 10 | Phantom in the Twilight 9 - 10

Angolmois 8

“Hey! Kuchii and the Toibarai are fighting!” – Geesh, this sounds like a schoolyard fight! And yet, it’s because we’re here that I’m just going to sit on the sidelines and yell, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” instead.

Even after the sparring match, Kuchii is still holding his bulrush, LOL.

Uh, dude? Even in 1274, breaking into a fishing house and suddenly molesting a woman (or whatever you call whatever he was doing to the woman) is not cool, y’know?

Teruhi hadn’t appeared for half an episode until now…which just shows how minor she really is in the scheme of things, sadly enough…

How is sulfur used as medicine…?

BnHA 59

“He can do things an orca can do even on land.” – At least there’s something to distinguish him from Asui. Asui’s frogginess makes her best in the water, after all.

I love how Mera emphasised “I can sleep soon!” as being his top priority.

“A hot wind prison of flame and wind…” – That sounds kind of redundant, y’know?

Cells at Work! 9

“You’re not cut out to be a T Cell.”

Hmm…this really says something about the Japanese education system, don’tcha think?

The deception of the cell panels reminds me of Who’s That Pokémon? segments…like the top of a Jigglypuff or something. By the way, a pickling stone is a tsukemono ishi.

Planet With 9

I wonder, why do Benika and Yosuke have each other on first name basis? Is it kind of like “I’m not calling you ‘Hitsujitani’ because that’s what I know your brother as”? Or is it actually because they are close?

It’s a sheep! But it’s also a huge cotton ball! But-oh whatever. I can’t make up my mind on this, can I?

*the sealing begins*…then of course they have to show the Statue of Liberty, the sphinx etc. to show the breadth of the world and the sealing device…*sigh* Visual shorthand…

Oh, I just realised it went from giga -> tera. Hahaha, it increased in size so it...oh. Sorry. Dumb joke.

Phantom 9

“What a pain in rear!” (sic) – For some reason, I find that typo so funny, I’m leaving it as it is!

For some reason, Haysin using an iPad to communicate with his behind-the-scenes boy is kinda novel. And funny.

Choose a 3rd option – jump out the window, even when you’re still on the mend. What a glorious show…*smirking, but trying to hide it*

I just realised Ton’s red hair is the same as Luke’s red stripe. Not that Luke’s gotten more than just the stripe, though…

They’re only dealing with Magic Mirror at this point in the story??? Wuh???

Seriously, what is Wayne, if he’s not a ghost?

Where’d Shinyao’s glasses go???

The one thing more blasphemous than having reincarnation thrown into the mix when it’s already really messy with supernatural beasties and tech (not that I minded either) is…that Chris made Shinyao cry!!! Boi, you gotta pay for that!

Angolmois 9

I think I’ve gotten used to the filter over time…LOL.

Seriously, is Kuchii also good at shooting arrows??? Wuh???

Hehehe…Nagamine’s so hot. I’ve completely fallen for him after watching for a while, although the only real reason for it is his looks. He hasn’t done too much in the show, even though he seems entirely capable (dangit, Jinzaburou).

Still shots are a curse upon action shows, but unfortunately…here we go again…

I still don’t remember any generals’ names aside from Uriyan Edei, the rotund one…that’s a bit of a problem, isn’t it?

Have you noticed their objective always tends to be “land, treasure and women”, often in that order? History’s an annoying thing from a feminist perspective, eh?

This horseriding scene reminds me of the reveal of the Dosanko Shiraishi rode…the one in Golden Kamuy, that is. Not Angolmois’s Shiraishi, haha.

I only just realised Shiraishi said “head on a stick” because he’s holding a naginata, LOL. But it’s one of those naginatas made for men…

BnHA 60

There isn’t much suspense around Deku getting his licence, but Bakugo was actually a bit of a nebulous one. It’s a shame Mineta passed though…

What sort of Quirk would Yusa Kaito have, though???

I find it interesting that the word used for “you” in the ep title is the rough “temee”, as opposed to another alternative.

Why does this hero exam remind me so much of driving exams??? “Responsibility towards society” and all that…

“…proof that I’ve matured and it makes me so happy.” – That’s why I’m saying it reminds me of a driving test! Graah!

Tartarus.

Iida and his huge snot bubble, LOL.

For some reason, Deku’s shirt says shi-tsu (sheets) rather than shatsu (shirt). During a tense confontation, no less…

To have the status quo of your world changed so suddenly…and then have to hide the ripples it makes, and then have to hide the origin of it, is hard. That’s part of One Wish They Never Wanted, and I’m seeing it here, loud and clear. Of course, that story’s a lot happier than this one (BnHA), so the fates of those involved won’t be the same in the end…

Cells at Work! 10

Wow, we’re so close to the end…

All those shots of the heart come from the circulation episode…geez, talk about recycling…

Platelets! 10/10!

When that guy in the hazmat suit showed up, I imagined Spanish guitars. Like Tuxedo Mask in the 90s Sailor Moon…

So many platelets! 100/10!

Even more platelets! 1000/10!

If the monocyte doesn’t finish this huge Staphylococcus Aureus off…then this show wouldn’t be Cells at Work, y’know? As much as I’d like the show to surprise me, it’s better to know the cells are working as they should be rather than having something abnormal for the sake of surprise (even though I’d prefer the latter on most occasions).

Recycling at its best…or maybe worst? Hard to tell with this show.

Planet With 10

This horn(?) track – the one as Souya and co give final stares to the Excellency and Shiraishi - sounds really nice.

I just noticed Ginko and Shiraishi are very formal when they quote Sensei and the Excellency’s words. Makes sense considering their titles…

Did you notice it looks as if the spaceships are crying?

Oh my gosh…I guess I knew it had to happen..but there goes anyone who shipped Shiraishi with Souya.

Azurabarakura seems to be the word for “dragon” in one of their languages…

Phantom 10

Was that door even slammed in Luke’s face??? It was so poorly animated…

Stop talking about saving Shinyao and just save her already!!!

As much as I get these guys care for Ton, this possessiveness seems a lil’ yandere-ish. It’s mixed signals from a feminist perspective. Also, they did all this stuff a few episodes ago, we don’t need it again.

Why is Shinyao in a black dress anyway? Probably because of Sailor Moon’s Black Lady, right?

So, as Karandi guessed, it’s Shinyao vs. Ton…

Vlad sleeping while waiting for the kettle…for some reason, that’s real amusing to see. Probably because it’s a still.

Even though there are clearly lip flaps at times, they didn’t even put voices on a few scenes…That’s disappointing, show. Real disappointing.

Seriously? Shouldn’t someone call the cops for vandalism?

Lord of Gluttony? Is that Wayne’s alter ego? Why does the Lord act so much like Black from Kekkai Sensen anyway…?

“I’m the genius engineer…” But seriously, his name really is Backup??? Wuh???

Oh my gosh, chibi Wayne’s actions are so adorbs!

The next episode’s name roughly means “The Final Battle is in the Dark”. It’s not a complete sentence, so I can see why the subbers chose what they did, but still…

Angolmois 10

Oh dear, this ain’t gonna end well for Shiraishi…

I wonder if the Princess has a spiritual role on the island as well as her ceremonial one…?

My gosh, Teruhi does a better scary face than Chizuru (ReLIFE), I swear!

Was that dude Hokusai around during 1274…? Talking of waves reminded me of him.

I feel like Nagamine has his own agenda at this point in time…hmm, sketchy. Why do I always fall for the evil ones these days? (SPOILERS!) First zaShunina(Kado), then Chrom and Narek (DamexPri) and now Nagamine…(Spoilers over.)

Oh great. Is this MORE Mongols??? Find out…after the ED.

I just realised, but Kuchii has the scar on his chin from his fight with Shiraishi in the ED.

…Oh dear. I guessed it without even watching ahead. This show’s probably become too predictable. Oh well, I still have Nagamine to hang around for.

#simulcast commentary #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #Angolmois #angolmois genkou kassenki #phantom in the twilight #cells at work #hataraku saibou #planet with #chesarka watches bnha #Chesarka watch PitW #Chesarka watches Hataraku Saibou #Chesarka watches Angolmois #Chesarka watches Planet With

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operationrainfall · 4 years

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Title Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris Developer Aquria Publisher BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Release Date July 10, 2020 Genre Action RPG Platforms PS4, PC, Xbox One Age Rating ESRB – Teen Official Website

Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris is Aquria’s fourth time developing a game for the franchise, the previous titles being Infinity Moment, Hollow Fragment, and Hollow Realization. According to Sword Art Online Game Series Producer Yosuke Futami, this game will be the last title in the SAO Gameverse for the foreseeable future. How well does Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris stack up to Hollow Realization, the game I consider to be the best in the franchise? Will the Gameverse end with a bang or a whimper? Well, let’s find out.

Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris starts off with a scene familiar to fans of the light novels and anime. Kirito wakes up in an unfamiliar land, with no memory of how he ended up there. He meets another boy named Eugeo underneath a giant tree known as the Gigas Cedar. From there, Kirito learns about the world around him, known as Underworld, and how Eugeo’s friend Alice was arrested by the Axiom Church (the governing body of the Human Empire) for breaking a law in the Taboo Index. Eugeo wants to search for Alice, but his Calling, which is like his life’s mission, prevents him from doing so. His Calling is to cut down the Gigas Cedar, but it seems impossible to do it in his lifetime. Kirito realizes this Axiom Church may have a way for him to escape this world, so he helps Eugeo complete his Calling, teaching him how to use a sword and helping him get stronger along the way. With Kirito’s help, Eugeo completes his Calling and is able to choose a new one, and he chooses to be a swordsman. Now that he has his new Calling, Eugeo sets off with Kirito to head to the capital of Centoria and bring Alice back home.

I cut a lot of stuff out, but that’s basically what happens in the beginning of the game. Now this is where I have to call Bandai Namco Entertainment America out on their false advertising. For as long as I can remember, Bandai Namco Entertainment America has promoted this game as following the storyline of the anime faithfully, and this is just not true. The game follows the general outline of the story shown in the anime, but certain events are changed and characters omitted from the story. For example, Volo Levantein, who is the top student at the North Empire Swordcraft Academy, is supposed to come into conflict with Kirito in the story. However, he is noticeably absent in the game’s story. They also introduce Medina Orthinanos during this storyline, a Gameverse original character who was not in the light novels and anime. Much of the events that occur at the Swordcraft Academy involve Medina, and these events definitely do not occur in the anime. Another thing I want to point out is that the anime storyline only occurs in the first chapter of the game. After Chapter 1, it’s all original story from there. There are 6 chapters in total. I don’t see how Bandai Namco Entertainment America thought it was okay to promote the game as only playing through the anime story when the anime story is only a small portion of the game.

While we’re still talking about the anime story, I need to point out the length of Chapter 1. That chapter is way too long, and it’s basically one big tutorial. It took me about 24 hours to complete the first chapter, and the problem is a majority of that time was just talking and no gameplay. You don’t unlock most of the gameplay aspects until Chapter 2. So until Chapter 2, there’s no multiplayer, character creation, and no freedom to travel to different maps. A majority of the chapter is talk to Eugeo, do a sword skill test, kill a monster and repeat. You can break up the monotony of things by doing the few side quests available at the time, but those can get boring due to them being either gathering quests or monster hunts. Also, some events that were very impactful in the anime, lose their effect because of the way they’re adapted in the game. There are four ways this game tells the story: visual novel style with animated character art, cutscenes using in-game movement, cutscenes using pre-defined movement, and CG animated cutscenes. In the first chapter, they even show stills from the anime. The worst of the storytelling options is the in-game movement cutscenes. The characters are stiff and their faces exude little emotion. And they used this specific style to adapt certain important scenes from the anime, like that infamous scene involving Raios, Humbert, Ronie, and Tiese. While the anime did a great job conveying the seriousness of this moment, the game made it less so with stiff movement, bad lighting and sad looking effects. I would’ve preferred if they went all-in with the original story instead of trying to adapt some of the anime.

The saving grace of this chapter are the events involving Medina. You get to see the discrimination she faces due to her family name, and how she’s working to overcome this. I felt so invested during her scenes that it felt like they passed by in a flash. Once her events in the first chapter were over, it was back to the usual boring routine.

After you finally finish the first chapter, the game original storyline starts in full gear. Certain events happen and now Kirito and his friends have to find a way to cut down a giant tree that sprouts in the capital. With this new tree comes a surge in monsters across the empire. Many friends join the Anti-Cedar Task Force (ACTF) in order to help quell the threat, including Medina. Medina joins so she can bring honor to her family name, and she’s willing to do anything to achieve this goal. She butts heads with Alice due to their differing methods in how to defeat monsters, and the mystery of why the Orthinanos are called defects still looms. Medina’s story takes center stage in these chapters, and her goal evens serves as a point of conflict between her and Kirito at a certain point.

It was interesting discovering what happened to the Orthinanos family and seeing Medina grow as a human being. I certainly enjoyed the original story more than the story in Chapter 1, and the ending was able to surprise me, which was a pleasant surprise. There are also supplemental events which you can view in Kirito’s Tent. Here, you can view events not shown in the main story. These events give more exposition to some characters and also give some more information on Underworld. I haven’t watched them all, but the few I’ve seen were interesting. Overall, I’d say the main story was decent. I enjoyed the addition of Medina Orthinanos, and certain characters like Kayode Norlangarth were very entertaining. It was also great how most of the cutscenes were fully voiced. But the slow pacing of Chapter 1 story takes a lot of willpower to get through.

Many fan favorite characters return in this game including Kirito, Asuna, Sinon, Leafa, Lisbeth, Silica, Alice and Eugeo. The game also introduces newcomers such as Medina, Bercouli, Ronie, Tiese and more. I liked how they introduced new characters while keeping some popular characters. I question some character omissions though. Yuuki, Klein, and Agil have been in almost every Sword Art Online game to date, and now they’re noticeably absent from Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris. They’re only mentioned in passing by other characters in the game. I understand the developers wanting to remain faithful to the source material, but I believe you should be able to make exceptions as the Gameverse is already very different from the light novels and anime. I think omitting a popular character like Yuuki was just a bad move, especially since they will most likely be adding her as DLC. Mainstay characters like Yuuki, Klein and Agil should never be an afterthought or DLC. I think this was just a bad decision.

In addition to the main story, you have Bond Events involving Kirito. These events have Kirito interacting with characters like Alice, Eugeo, and Asuna doing different things like training, killing monsters, having a picnic, looking for materials etc. I found these events quite enjoyable, and seeing certain characters interact with each other was a joy. I personally liked the scenes involving Alice and Asuna, as they were constantly at each other’s throats. Alice was ruthless with her insults. The events where the girls all cook a dish for Kirito were also very enjoyable. The nice event CGs that came with them were very nice too. Overall, I found more enjoyment with the Bond Events than the main story.

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You also have the option of completing requests given by people across the empire. These requests range from killing monsters to finding certain plants and so on. Performing some requests will reveal general areas where plants and animals appear on your map. I found some of the characters giving quests to be very entertaining. Notable ones include the man who has a strange infatuation with a statue, a woman who doesn’t understand why cats don’t love her, and the girl who wants a taste of city food. While some of these characters are interesting, the quests themselves can become quite a chore. At first, I tried to do the requests as I did the main story, but at a certain point they became so boring I stopped doing them altogether. I wish these requests were more interesting and had an actual impact on the world around you.

Once you’re partway through Chapter 1 you gain access to the hub city of North Centoria. Here is where you can access your Bond Events, have dates with your party members, purchase items and equipment needed for your journey, and craft new items. Once Chapter 2 starts, Kirito’s tent is located here, and is where you access Supplemental Events and Character Creation. Character Creation is a nice touch for people who don’t want to play as Kirito. My problem with Character Creation is that it has few customization options and even though you create your own character, you’re still Kirito in the story and in cutscenes. To me, it’s jarring if you have this created character and then you turn back into Kirito for story cutscenes. If they wanted to put Character Creation in the game, I think they should’ve made the created character the main character instead of Kirito like in Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet.

When you leave North Centoria, you have access to vast maps filled with enemies and nice landscapes. You can fight monsters here, go fishing, find materials for crafting, and even go camping. Throughout the map are Fast Travel Points. At these points you can save, access the tutorial and of course, fast travel to them. There are four empires you can travel through: Norlangarth, Sothercrois, Wesderath, and Eastavarieth. Each empire has their own geographical features, so travelling through each empire always feels like a different experience. As you travel, time will progress so daytime will turn to noon, noon to evening, and evening to night depending on how long you’re in an area. There is also a weather system so it can be cloudy, sunny, and rainy depending on what day or time it is. The weather and time of day affect what monsters appear in certain areas. The time of day can affect which villagers are around and if you can accept a request from them. If you don’t want to wait for the natural progression of time, you can rest at a campfire to fast forward to the time of day you need. There are also smaller villages located in some maps, so you can also restock on supplies there. By pressing the right directional button, you can open up a mini-map on the right side of the screen. Using this, you can see where Main Story objectives are, the location of villages, fishing point, monument locations, treasure chest locations and more.

While these maps are nice to explore, I have some gripes with them. First off, showing where the treasure chests are immediately takes the fun out of searching for them and discovering them. Second, fishing in the game is lame, there’s no mini-game involved with the activity. You just press a button and the fishing is done automatically. I think they could’ve done more with the mechanic but decided to go the easy route. My other problem involves the campsites and villages. I don’t like how you can only fast forward the time of day from campsites. It’s annoying having to fast travel to a monument close to a campsite and run there just so I can change the time of day. There should be a location in villages, like an inn, so you can also change the time of day there. But for some reason you can’t do that there, so really you only go to villages to get new requests and buy items. It would’ve been nice if you could sleep in an inn in the village to change the time of day, as there is always a fast travel point located near them. I also have an issue with the appearance of Fast Travel Points. Before you access them, they have little balls of light which float above them, making it easy to notice them. Once you unlock them the first time, the balls of light disappear. I wish they kept some type of light marker on the Fast Travel Points, even after unlocking them. Sometimes it’s hard to notice these points even with the mini-map. My final gripe with the exploration involves the mini-map. While it is helpful, there is no way to adjust the opacity and size of the mini-map. The mini-map isn’t transparent, so it can sully the appearance of the nice environments. It also takes up most of the right side of the screen, so for a mini-map, it isn’t really small. I’d like it more if the map was more transparent and it took up a smaller part of the screen.

Check out more Underworld on Page 2->

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The combat in this game is quite enjoyable. You perform regular attacks by pressing the square button, evade and perform aerial attacks by pressing the cross button, and press the circle button to guard attacks. If you input a direction at the same time as a guard, you can also parry attacks. In addition to regular attacks, you can perform powerful Sword Skills to help decimate your foes. In order to utilize these skills, you hold the R1 button and choose from the palette of skills you set. Using Sword Skills requires the use of SP, and there are 3 bars in the SP Gauge, each bar equaling 100 SP. This gauge replenishes over time, and also recovers much quicker while using regular attacks. You can unlock more Sword Skills by utilizing skill points in the Skill Tree of a certain weapon. Skill Points can be obtained by leveling up, killing certain enemies, and also by completing quests given by monuments throughout the empire. These quests are hunting quests, and can be redone. Note, that not all monument quests give skill points. There are multiple weapons to choose from such as One-Handed Swords, Bows, Dual Blades, Katanas, Maces etc. I ended up using Dual Blades most of the time. With the right timing, you can chain together Sword Skills with a Skill Connect and cause even more damage to enemies. If your party members use a sword skill after yours connects, a Chain Burst occurs. Chain Bursts have 3 levels (4 once you unlock a special skill). Each level causes more and more damage to your enemies and gives you a chance to put them in a Hazard state. When your foe is in this state, they’re stunned and take more damage. From there, there are three other states: Broken, Fatalized and Downed. You can put the enemy in those states by pressing the cross button or using certain sword skills. When the enemies are Broken and Fatalized, you can juggle them using regular attacks and Sword Skills. When they’re in a Downed state, it’s similar to the Hazard state, but they take more damage. It’s fun to take advantage of these weakened states and brutalize foes.

If you parry or evade attacks at the right time, you can fill up your Arts gauge. You can see the current capacity of your Arts gauge by pressing the triangle button. Once the gauge is full, you can perform three different options: Finishing Arts, Super Arts, and Ally Skills. Finishing Arts involve a special cutscene where the character attacks the enemy with a unique skill. Enemies are immediately put into a Hazard state after this, so you can take advantage of this and really put a hurt on your foes. Super Arts slow down time and allows you to utilize Sword Skills without consuming SP, so you can beat on enemies with multiple skills in a row. Just know that there is a cooldown time while doing this, so you can’t use skills like Starburst Stream multiple times in a row. Ally Skills requires there to be 3 or 4 members in the party. Each member of the party hits the enemy with a special skill, each time hitting them with a higher level Chain Burst. The final attack features Kirito and their partner which causes a level 3 Chain Burst. I tend to use this option whenever possible, as I found this did the most damage in the shortest amount of time. My problem with this option is that it doesn’t always work. When you use it on stationary enemies like a Clamp, it won’t activate cause the enemy has to be launched in the air for it to work. The Ally Skill will also cancel out if the enemy dies before it completes, so it feels like a waste when that occurs. Ally Skills are fantastic when they hit, but when they don’t activate it’s pretty devastating as you have to build the Arts gauge up all over again.

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You can also utilize abilities known as Sacred Arts which have a variety of different effects. These Sacred Arts can be used for attacks, healing, to increase movement speed and even to help platform in certain areas. The elements I used most were Light, Wind and Metal. Light is used for healing, Wind is used to increase your jump distance and Metal can be used to create platforms you can climb on. There are 3 levels of Sacred Arts for each element, and you unlock higher levels by finding certain monuments scattered across the Human Empire. There are still some Elements I haven’t fully upgraded.

Your party can consist of four characters: Kirito and 3 other members of your choosing. Each character has their own EX Skill. The EX Skill that’s set determines what support abilities the party member has. The three general roles are Attacker, Defender, and Supporter. After these are more specialized roles such as Tank, Healer, Berserker, Scout etc. In order to unlock these classes you need to find certain statues while exploring the world around you. I found the most useful setup was to always have a Healer and Defender / Tank in the party. The third party member can be whatever you want after that. I liked that you could change a party member’s EX Skill to fit your needs. For example, I changed Leafa to a Tank and Sinon to a Supporter. They were both originally Attackers.

The most interesting aspect of the combat is the Record system. With this system, your party members learn what to do in order to complement your play style. For example, I like using Chain Bursts, so whenever I used a Sword Skill, I would press the L1 button and switch to a party member and have them use a Sword Skill. After doing these actions enough times, the party member would record a tactic like “Never Miss a Chain Opportunity.” So now, whenever I would use a Sword Skill, I wouldn’t have to order the party member to use a skill anymore, as they would perform the action themselves. Once my party members learned what to do during fights, battles became a breeze. Note that if you switch party members, the tactics one character learned wouldn’t transfer to another character, so you’d have to teach the new character what to do all over again. This Record system has a lot of potential, and I think if you had enough time and patience, you could realistically teach your party members how to win fights by themselves. There’s a lot of depth to this system if you’re willing to really work with it.

There is also a Duel System in Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris. These are usually one-on-one duels between Kirito and other characters like Alice. These duels have modified mechanics such as forced lock-on. The enemy will mostly guard your attacks and you will have to find openings to damage them. While these duels seemed cool at first, they can get annoying because you can’t run during duels. So you’d try to chase down an opponent but they’d backflip away and you could only slowly plod toward them. You can dash at them by pressing the cross button, but doing so would cost SP you could be using for Sword Skills. So Duels are a hit and miss for me. The idea of it is great, the execution could use some work.

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While I really enjoyed the combat in Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris, I felt fights were too easy at times, especially the boss fights. Before in Hollow Realization, you’d need to devise plans and watch out for certain attacks if you wanted to win. In Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris, you could easily win so long as your Tank and Healer did their jobs and everyone used their Sword Skills when needed. The most difficulty I had was when certain party formations were forced on you, where sometimes a Tank and Healer were not available. There were also some boss fights that were immune to attacks until you put them in a Hazard state. There’s a lot to love about the combat in Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris, and I think Aquria did a great job with it.

The game’s graphics and art design are hit and miss. The character designs are great, especially for characters like Asuna, Sinon, Leafa, Silica and Medina. Their outfits are eye catching and memorable. However there is an awful lot of clipping, like hair going through clothing and arms. This is especially true for characters with long hair like Asuna and Administrator. It’s a minor issue, but one that bothers me still. The weapon designs in the game look great. I enjoyed how the recreated weapons from the light novel such as the Night Sky Blade, Blue Rose Sword and Osmanthus Blade. The weapons look memorable and are pleasing to the eye. The character models are done well, weapons look great and the environments you travel through look good. Some of my favorite parts of the game involve entering a new area and seeing previews of the new environment you’re going to explore. The normal enemy designs are forgettable. You’ve got giant lizards, giant bats, walking mushrooms, big birds etc. However, boss enemies like Commander Gunther and Kayode Norlangarth look very good and unique. I wish normal enemies had as much care put into their designs as the story bosses have.

It feels like the developers paid more attention to character models and the overall environment as certain other aspects feel neglected. The biggest example of this are torches. The flames the torches emit look something you’d see in a last generation game. I would hope they’d put a little more effort into the small things like that. It isn’t a Sword Art Online game without event CGs, and like previous games, this one is filled with them. You usually see event CGs during certain parts of the main story, and during Bond Events. These CGs are well drawn and pleasing to the eye. Seeing these are like rewards for actually doing Bond Events or getting to certain points in the story. I do wish there were more CGs with other characters interacting with each other and not just with Kirito, but they still look good. I think the game looks nice, but it does have some issues.

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Next, we have to talk about the music and sound design. While there aren’t any groundbreaking composed tracks, I believe they are all implemented well. The tracks that play during tense moments like an enemy attacking or very emotional scenes during the story really help to convey the urgency and the feelings of the scenes well. My personal favorite tracks are the game’s main theme, the arrangements of the main theme, and “Scar/let”, the game’s theme song, which is performed by ReoNa. “Scar/let” is definitely the standout song in the game, and when it finally plays in the story it’s a great moment. The sound effects in the game are well-done too. It’s very satisfying hearing the sound of your weapon hitting the enemy or a Sacred Art blasting a foe. I think the music and sound design were done well in this game, not groundbreaking, but done well.

The final verdict on Page 3->

SILICA HOW?!

Now I’ve been playing Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris since day one, so I’ve played the game when it was version 1.01 all the way to its current iteration of 1.05. This game had many technical issues when it first launched. There was a ridiculous lag when inputting actions, long loading screens, framerate issues, a wonky camera and even a game breaking bug (which has been fixed in the latest update). For example, when I tried to move Kirito forward before, there was maybe a 3-4 second delay between me moving the analog stick and the character actually moving. This would affect my timing with my Sword Skills too, so this type of input lag was unacceptable. In version 1.05, the input lag has been fixed, but I had to point out how bad it was when it first released. The long loading screens are still present in the game, even with the latest patch. They aren’t as long as before, but they’re still noticeable. The loading screens normally are longest when transferring from a map in one empire to another one, or during a transition in locations in a story event. The camera used to be very erratic when I first played the game. It would move around like crazy if I used certain Sword Skills and sometimes would make it very difficult to keep an eye on the enemy. As of version 1.05, the camera is much better and doesn’t go as crazy. However, it still goes slightly erratic when in tight spaces like a tunnel or if you’re fighting by a wall. The framerate in the game is still spotty, even with the latest update. The game tends to lag when running around in the field, when you’re fighting multiple enemies and during some story cutscenes. This issue was much more noticeable in version 1.01, and it has improved in the latest update. However, the framerate is still an issue that still needs to be addressed in the future. The game itself is pretty good, but it is definitely marred by some technical issues.

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We now come to one of the big issues with Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris, the CUBE shop. The CUBE shop was implemented in version 1.02 / 1.03 of the game, and is a gacha shop. You utilize a CUBE ticket to obtain a random item from a pre-determined line-up. These items range from clothing dyes to weapon skins and costumes. You can obtain CUBE tickets by completing Daily Missions which are updated every day. These missions are usually very easy such as deal a certain amount of damage or jump a certain amount of times. I don’t like how this is the way you can obtain unique outfits for your characters. In Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet, you could obtain outfits by crafting them using Asuna’s store, all you had to do was grind for materials. Now getting these outfits is left up to chance and I feel is just a horrible idea altogether. A gacha system like this has no business being in a full-priced, $60 game. Here’s the real kicker – if you’re not connected to the internet or if the Sword Art Online game server is down, you aren’t allowed to use the items you’ve obtained from the shop. I found this out by chance when I played the game while waiting for an update to download. They wouldn’t allow me to use the weapon skins and outfits I obtained from the shop. Not only did they implement a gacha system in a full-priced game, you can’t even use the items unless you’re connected to the internet. This was just a bad decision, and I hope they fix this system in the future.

Oh yes we did Sinon.

I enjoyed my time playing Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris, especially after all the recent updates. The game has a decent story, very fun combat, a well-implemented soundtrack, beautiful environments and great looking characters. However, it is still affected by technical issues, an absurdly long first chapter, a questionable use of character creation, the omission of characters such as Yuuki and the CUBE shop system which shouldn’t be there in the first place. It took me about 121 hours to beat the main story while doing side missions and Bond Events as well. Once you beat the story, you can tackle Raid Dungeons, try to test your mettle against high level foes, try to get high rarity weapons or even try to unlock all the event CGs. So there’s still some things to do even after beating the game. Would I recommend paying $60 for this game? I would only recommend doing that if you’re a hardcore Sword Art Online fan like me. If you’re not, I recommend waiting for a sale or waiting for the technical issues in the base game to be mostly fixed. If you do decide to take the dive, know there’s an immense amount of content waiting for you.

[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”3.0″]

Game copy purchased by the author.

REVIEW: Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris Title Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris

#Action RPG #Aquria #Bandai Namco Entertainment #PS4 #PS4 review #Review #Sword Art Online #Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris

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