Persona series

The fact that Kubo managed to actually managed to toss Morooka up there is slightly mindboggling, really.

There's a ladder leading to where Morooka's body was dumped though that still implies he climbed while carrying an adult man's worth of dead weight. No wonder his Shadow's so tough, the kid's jacked.

A growing faction online is commenting on how horrid at worst and utterly unfaithful at best the localization of the Persona series is despite keeping honorifics, which one would THINK would indicate a more "Faithful" approach.

Persona can be very inconsistent at times on being faithful, like Akihiko in P3 was nothing like his Japanese self.

And the honorifics... are very hit or miss on their consistency. P3 and P4 were pretty good at it but P5 was very VERY bad at it, like they were mostly missing aside from like a couple scenes.

I remember reading this site right after P5 came out, listing several examples of lines in the game's translation that come off as straight up nonsensical in English.

I only played Royal, which I'm told cleaned up a bunch of the more awkwardly worded lines.

Funnily the translation for Reload was generally more faithful to the original Japanese but since many EN fans were fans of the OG they were kinda disappointed at changes made to revert to a more faithful localization.

Assorted P4 notes.

- I was expecting Void Quest to be a lot creepier than it actually was. Other than the color tints and voiceovers, the castle was pretty cozy. I am glad my mum didn't notice the "fight against a baby (?)" part, though.

- I feel such hope when they say the word "magatama". Every damn time.

- Summer vacation took FOREVER. I wish there was a way to cash in my quests with the students when school isn't running. Everyone was nicer on the beach trip than the camping trip, though, so that was good.

- I didn't expect they'd try to include Naoto! That was nice.

- Naoto's speech was so cool and the act that accompanied it so stupid.

- Is the gem exchange ever useful? It's always stuff that's underleveled or stuff I can't afford.

- Oh, the stairs in this dungeon lead DOWN. That's comforting.

Edited by Argon2 on Apr 23rd 2024 at 6:02:18 AM

For the newest trope, Last Moment Together, would the Junpei and Chidori scene in base P3 and the Rooftop scene with Minato and Aigis count for it? Given some of the particularities of both scenes, I'm not 100% sure. (Both are Persona 3 spoiler, so beware)

I can see the second one being a viable example for the trope, not 100% on the other though.

Definitely for the latter. For the former, not quite given that Ultimax kinda hints that Chidori's revival is canon and that she and Junpei get back together.

On an unrelated note, anyone else feel Persona 4 is very different from Persona 3 and Persona 5 and wishes it were more like the other two sometimes?

No and no. While all three have similarities and differences from each other, I do think that it's actually Persona 3 is the most different from the other two.

Probably because Persona 4 is slightly lighter than what came before & after. Just my guess.

I can definitely see that. P3 has a more serious theme, a more bittersweet ending given said theme, and it does have a few holdovers from the previous games as well. Not to mention a somewhat different story structure.

But at the same time P4 is the only game where the Student Council President isn't relevant at all, let alone a playable character. The only game where there are no researchers into the cognitive world present in the narrative. The only game where your class advisor isn't a Social Link because the first one dies and the second one is a walking class action lawsuit waiting to happen. The only one where the MC doesn't have a tragic backstory. The only one where the MC only has two unique Personas.

Just a few thoughts I've had about the overlapping things between the various games.

Persona 3 and 4 have a protagonist who have starting Persona that went to the underworld in their myths (Orpheus and Izanagi respectively, I don't think Arsene ever did that), a fairly active school social life for their protags, wacky teachers, friendly cops, and Shadows that are largely original enemies (rather than being recycled SMT Demons).

Persona 3 and 5 have a general plot and aesthetic that is more dark and edgy, an orphaned character named Makoto, party members that aren't usable for a long stretch of time permanently in Persona 3's case, the ability to seduce a teacher, and non-Persona users who are semi-aware of the party's abilities and support them for the duration of the game

Persona 4 and 5 have a world they can physically enter whenever they want (so long as they have the right tech), protagonists with living parents, a troublemaking party member that dies their hair, a martial arts chick party member, a cast that is more centered around the MC because they're the first (human) to get their Persona on the team and founded the team the story is based around, Shadow Selves, a mascot character that is non-human and specifically created in mystical ways by non-humans and their final boss is a manifestation of human desires, as opposed to being an ancient alien like Nyx.

Also I guess Persona 4 and 5 share the token Atlus Re-Release Girl. Aigis was in base P3, but I don't think she was a Social Link until FES. Also, on the fandom side of things, Persona 3 lacks a main bro character that everyone ships with the MC. Fans really like the Yu/Yosuke and Ren/Ryuji parings, but people ship Junpei with either Chidori or rarely Kotone, not so much Makoto.

As you can tell from the above, I'm of the belief that Persona 4 and 5 share more design DNA than any other two games of the modern trilogy. Persona 3 is very different, not just from old Persona, but also from its new Persona brethren.

Edited by Nofix on Apr 25th 2024 at 12:15:04 PM

Makoto not getting a social link with Junpei is one thing. Another is that Junpei is the only bro character with a canon romance. And finally Junpei doesn't really check all the bro character check marks, given that some of the story beats associated with the archetype go towards Yukari instead.

Yeah, it takes most of the story (at least in FES, not sure about Reload), before him and Makoto have a one-on-one heart-to-heart, something Junpei even lampshades.

Even with the Linked Episodes in Reload it still takes them a long while to really have a heart-to-heart and one of them is dedicated towards the "revive Chidori" flag. Reload!Junpei at least is less antagonistic towards Makoto.

I officially made up my mind. I'm gonna buy P5 Royal soon.

Also, I would like my MC to romance Makoto but I'm afraid of accidentally cheating on her with another woman. Anyways to avoid that?

You're given an option in their rank 9 social link if you want to romance them or not.

Even if it's framed as breaking their heart, you HAVE to click no. Just mentally prepare yourself for Ann and Haru.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Apr 27th 2024 at 8:18:30 PM

It's pretty easy to avoid.

You don't have to break Ann and Haru's hearts if you never get to Rank 9.

Yeah but I like those characters so I have to go through the scenes where I reject them and break their hearts.

I always fast forward Haru’s dialogue afterwards, considering her character.

So I’m thinking of getting Persona 3 reload. I have finished the PSP game back when I was like 13. How is the remake?

Pretty much the definitive version P3 original. Episode Aigis will be out sometime in September, if you want to wait for it.

Am I still forced to romance the girls and be a cheating scumbag?