Reminded how in P5, it's ostensibly about social approval/rebellion dynamics, and your actions are constantly judged by an ever-present and genuinely uncomfortable Public Approval Meter
But then in the finale turns the meter is good and it goes to max coz everyone loves you and it powers a Big Beam
It was interesting in P5 how you were unwitting rebels. It was lashing out without a real structure that got out of hand. The characters acknowledge this, until the end. When you just decide no we are rebels fighting to resest things then give up our powers. Feel out a message in your own time.
Writing in a No-Kill clause into your election game, making like 0 commentary on democracy's function, and then just abandoning the conceit after realizing you need a Boss Battle is so baller though.
I always think about how p5's first arc is about a sex pest teacher but then you just get to date a teacher and it's chill. not even close to my biggest problem with that game but it tells the gist so quickly
always feeling bitter about the chie/yukiko subplot disappearing into smoke. there's a very interesting "to be free or to be loved" conflict that could've grown several heads; especially when media networks + social media promise both freedom and love but typically deliver neither
Think is a misread of P3's themes. Not about blaming people with apathy, game doesn't end on a sour note if you take early ending.
Perspective on P3 might be tainted by P4/P5's attempts to talk about Society; 3 much more about how different people tackle grief and mortality *on an individual level*
What might be missed by sequels copy pasting the formula is social sim/time management mechanics were uniquely created to suit specific themes of P3,how your time on earth with your loved ones is limited,up to you to figure out how to make the most of it. Not intended as social criticism in itself..
Heck I don't think the game actually features the theme of teen su*cide, though I understand the confusion at the first glance since it does borrow imagery... but it's made clear early on the point of the Evokers is about forcing people to confront their own mortality, not actual suic*dal intentions
hoshino can both be a coward and criminal and metaphor can have like four characters im ride or die for while 16 had zero and rebirth actively tore down some all time favs. AAA games all sorts of compromised lol
which one might ask is it low standards to just ask for the vague outline of character conflict compared to the absolute nothing disneyland of the last two ffs and yeah of course i’m playing big games it’s always low standards here
remake being this fascinating meditation on the concept of remaking such a cultural object and of revisiting an old work in that way I really find fascinating combined with really cool systems design and presentation just gave me exactly what I wanted out of it rebirth just seems like the-
I was feeling this way until I replayed 7 and 8 on a cheap crt I found via the mister and it fixed me. Those games really are that good in spite of the world trying to make me think otherwise for very different reasons between the two
Dang, well said, roast those weebs (i am one of those weebs). It was disappointing to essentially find those games only pay lip service to themes and complexity to find they're just Power of Friendship games in the end. Is Persona 2 different (if you've played it)? I've seen people say that
I had not considered that framing of the issue with Yukiko and Chie but once I read it I knew you were 100% correct. It's easy to look at the extremely obvious blunders/ideological bigotry (Naoto comes to mind) and forget that he just can't write People at all
comparing ffx to atlus parties in terms of worldbuilding and history and contrasting points of view is so hydrogen bomb/coughing baby lmao it’s just not fair
I think this is kinda the inevitable endpoint of a weird reactionary trying to write fiction built off of these ideas that are kinda alien to their worldview tbh, these sorts of problems are a fascinating insight into The Brainworms
totally agree. I felt so disappointed with the moral simplicity of ff16 compared to final fantasy tactics, a game i played for the first time a couple years ago and feel is far more mature in its storytelling and character motivations
Come on, that's not fair to Metaphor. I'll have you know there's one character in your party that makes a racist remark at about 80% into the story and has a generally disagreeable demeanor towards one race that you can sorta infer a couple times.
I did like the little detail that the reason said party member is Like That was because of a deliberate propaganda push to cover up state violence and inflame racial tension but uh hey maybe you want to elaborate on that story beat more...? (actually it's probably best that they didn't)
man,the fact that in P3 the answer to every teenager being dissatisfied with their status quo is "you dont need to change anything, just be happy with it!" pissed me off so much, they really set up all of that for literally no payoff
I think you're talking about P4
P3 isn't about dissatisfaction with the status quo at all. Out of all the Hashino games it's the one least interested in overt social or political commentary. It's mostly about how different people deal with mortality and grief in their lives
Basically every game has the same conclusion too: "The masses are all apathetic/lazy/stupid, and have brought the world to the brink of ruin. Only our beautiful ubermenschs can move the world forward. No, they will not be changing anything materially."
Tbf its not like the protagonist can try fix the core problem after the events of the game in 3 and i interpret his decision into becoming the great seal is about having faith in humanity to eventually get better over time sort of like most SMT neutral endings
That's kind of what happens when your story is at its core always the same old SMT story but you don't want to risk the players feeling bad about the ending.
whenever people got mad at me about kanji and naoto and went "but IN UNIVERSE-" the problem remains that they do the exact same shit in everybody else's arc too. yukiko's probably one of the most blatant examples, even
I think this is why despite whatever issue a mainline SMT game has, I end up thinking about it much more. The characters commit to the ideology they set up fully embracing the consequences.
Fight for your genocide skrunko, instead of arguing it's not pedophilia if your teacher is playing pretend.
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But then in the finale turns the meter is good and it goes to max coz everyone loves you and it powers a Big Beam
Perspective on P3 might be tainted by P4/P5's attempts to talk about Society; 3 much more about how different people tackle grief and mortality *on an individual level*
P3 isn't about dissatisfaction with the status quo at all. Out of all the Hashino games it's the one least interested in overt social or political commentary. It's mostly about how different people deal with mortality and grief in their lives
https://bsky.app/profile/dio777.bsky.social/post/3lpeuo637zc2x
Fight for your genocide skrunko, instead of arguing it's not pedophilia if your teacher is playing pretend.