The Persona series has always been filled with heart breaking moments. Its one of the few games that I feel earns those moments due to the care they give to their characters. However with Persona 4 Arena I wasn't really expecting much. Its just more Persona 4 with some P3 characters. Its basically just fan-service with some contrived story right? I mean they do add new interesting ideas about the universe, and you learn more about the P3 characters which is nice. Like I said, some nice fan-service.

But then you get to Labrys' Story...

Let me start by saying I was unsure of Labrys as a character. She seemed like an Aigis clone. I thought her choice of accent was weird. I didn't really care about her, I just wanted to see the characters I love.

ALL OF THAT SHIT I TAKE BACK! In the hour or so of her story I not only grew attached to her, but I felt so emotional about her. Like Nanako dying level of emotion! The converations with #24, the little girl she wanted to meet, finding out the reason she was Student Council President; All heartbreak! She is so far from an Aigis clone. I even dig her accent now.

Atlus, you are masters of your craft.

I thought it was pretty corny

Yeah that was definitely the best story of the lot. I liked Elizabeths, Kanji's and Teddie's was pretty funny, but damn, made me cry ;_;

Also, I can't imagine that girl is still alive. I hope she is, but I have my doubts.

I thought it was pretty corny

Also apparently one of the researchers is suspected of being Mr. Edogawa from persona 3 (same japanese voice actors, even)

Also apparently one of the researchers is suspected of being Mr. Edogawa from persona 3 (same japanese voice actors, even)

@mutha3 said:

@Bocam said:

I thought it was pretty corny

Kind of, yeah. It wasn't terrible, though. It was OK.

Really though, all the Persona games are like this. If you thought this was corny then you had to think the same about some of the scenes in P3 and P4.

@mutha3 said:

@Animasta said:

Also apparently one of the researchers is suspected of being Mr. Edogawa from persona 3 (same japanese voice actors, even)

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's Edogawa, too. The faces are so similar. Soejima is good at making distinct anime faces. Is it confirmed that they got the same voices? Then its definitely Edogawa, in my book.

So then Edogawa needs to get offed in the next Persona game, right? Because those researchers all need to take a bullet to the chin. Dudes were fucked up.

@mutha3 said:

@Animasta said:

Also apparently one of the researchers is suspected of being Mr. Edogawa from persona 3 (same japanese voice actors, even)

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's Edogawa, too. The faces are so similar. Soejima is good at making distinct anime faces. Is it confirmed that they got the same voices? Then its definitely Edogawa, in my book.

I just checked by watching the P4 anime clip of him and the japanese clip (I originally just took this information from a gamefaqs forum post which is obviously the most truthful source there is) and they sound really similar. In the clip from the P4 Anime Edogawa sounds more... burnt out, but as far as I can tell they're the same voice actor.

I have no idea where to check for sure though

@mutha3 said:

@Animasta said:

Also apparently one of the researchers is suspected of being Mr. Edogawa from persona 3 (same japanese voice actors, even)

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's Edogawa, too. The faces are so similar. Soejima is good at making distinct anime faces. Is it confirmed that they got the same voices? Then its definitely Edogawa, in my book.

I just checked by watching the P4 anime clip of him and the japanese clip (I originally just took this information from a gamefaqs forum post which is obviously the most truthful source there is) and they sound really similar. In the clip from the P4 Anime Edogawa sounds more... burnt out, but as far as I can tell they're the same voice actor.

I have no idea where to check for sure though

@mutha3 said:

@Animasta said:

Also apparently one of the researchers is suspected of being Mr. Edogawa from persona 3 (same japanese voice actors, even)

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's Edogawa, too. The faces are so similar. Soejima is good at making distinct anime faces. Is it confirmed that they got the same voices? Then its definitely Edogawa, in my book.

So then Edogawa needs to get offed in the next Persona game, right? Because those researchers all need to take a bullet to the chin. Dudes were fucked up.

apparently not! I mean, them having hte same VA or not doesn't necessarily mean anything (the first time he has a voice was in the anime, after all, and he was a bit character anyway) but yeah. I still say they sound similar though.

@Animasta said:

Yeah that was definitely the best story of the lot. I liked Elizabeths, Kanji's and Teddie's was pretty funny, but damn, made me cry ;_;

Also, I can't imagine that girl is still alive. I hope she is, but I have my doubts.

Yeah, I really teared up at parts, too. Poor Labrys. I knew where the story seemed to be headed, but even so, it was still painful to see her go through all of that.

@Hailinel said:

@Animasta said:

Yeah that was definitely the best story of the lot. I liked Elizabeths, Kanji's and Teddie's was pretty funny, but damn, made me cry ;_;

Also, I can't imagine that girl is still alive. I hope she is, but I have my doubts.

Yeah, I really teared up at parts, too. Poor Labrys. I knew where the story seemed to be headed, but even so, it was still painful to see her go through all of that.

It shows Atlus still has their story chops so I feel very confident about Persona 5. I myself didn't really care for Labrys and her accent, but everything changed toward the end. The part with 24's memories and the little girl was some heavy stuff. I found myself cheering when she rejected their attempts to delete her memory and Heartful Cry started playing.

I definitely teared up. It got a predictable at points, but damn, ATLUS was top-notch in their delivery. ATLUS did a great job with Labrys.

I won't be doubting ATLUS' story writing prowess ever again.

It was predictable and kind of corny but done it a high quality way that attached me to the character. It's what I expect out of Persona at this point though.

It was alright, but it didn't make me cry. Aigis's story is still way better and the ending pay off is something to cry about.

@Animasta said:

Yeah that was definitely the best story of the lot. I liked Elizabeths, Kanji's and Teddie's was pretty funny, but damn, made me cry ;_;

Also, I can't imagine that girl is still alive. I hope she is, but I have my doubts.

Yeah, I really teared up at parts, too. Poor Labrys. I knew where the story seemed to be headed, but even so, it was still painful to see her go through all of that.

I thought she was interesting from the beginning, but Labrys' story had me completely shocked through most of the time. I'm surprised that it didn't even make me cry.

I agree, I kinda went into the game not expecting a whole lot. I had a lot of arcade time with the game, but hadn't got a chance to really play Story mode at all til I got the console version. My initial reaction was "Eh, new character made for the game. Sorta an Aigis clone, doubt she'll have any real development. I mean a fighting game with a story? Pft, it's just fan service anyway".

Boy was I wrong, a bit into her story I was totally oblivious to the fact that were virtually no fights in it, because I just wanted to see what happened next (and how exactly she got to be where she was). It may not have been the most original story, but it was delivered so well that it didn't matter. Enough work went into her that I hope she makes it into something in the future, and not just confined to this one game.

@mutha3 said:

@Animasta said:

@mutha3 said:

@Animasta said:

Also apparently one of the researchers is suspected of being Mr. Edogawa from persona 3 (same japanese voice actors, even)

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's Edogawa, too. The faces are so similar. Soejima is good at making distinct anime faces. Is it confirmed that they got the same voices? Then its definitely Edogawa, in my book.

I just checked by watching the P4 anime clip of him and the japanese clip (I originally just took this information from a gamefaqs forum post which is obviously the most truthful source there is) and they sound really similar. In the clip from the P4 Anime Edogawa sounds more... burnt out, but as far as I can tell they're the same voice actor.

I have no idea where to check for sure though

SMT wiki lists a VA for Edogawa. The science man doesn't have a page, though.

And I don't have anything to compare the P4 anime clip with:(

@Make_Me_Mad said:

@mutha3 said:

@Animasta said:

Also apparently one of the researchers is suspected of being Mr. Edogawa from persona 3 (same japanese voice actors, even)

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's Edogawa, too. The faces are so similar. Soejima is good at making distinct anime faces. Is it confirmed that they got the same voices? Then its definitely Edogawa, in my book.

So then Edogawa needs to get offed in the next Persona game, right? Because those researchers all need to take a bullet to the chin. Dudes were fucked up.

I suppose! I gotta admit, though, the idea that Edogawa has secretly been some sort of evil scientist all along is kind of ridiculous.

Huh, I always thought it was a bit weird that Edogawa was the one in Persona 4 who gave you the backstory of P4's True Ending final boss. I just thought he was being used to fill in a plot point and fan service for P3 players. Maybe it is something more.

Also I completely agree with the sentiment that Labrys didn't seem at all important until her story and I saw her story and did a 180 on her.

Call me a big baby, but I cried. I knew what was gonna happen, but damn the delivery was near perfect. I seriously was not expecting to like Labrys or her story.

So... am I a jerk for saying, that if her story mode was gonna be all story... should of it just been animated. There were alot of cool scene reading it, that would of been awesome animated.

I dug her story, but it kinda just takes the wind out of the sails for a fighting game.

@OneManX said:

So... am I a jerk for saying, that if her story mode was gonna be all story... should of it just been animated. There were alot of cool scene reading it, that would of been awesome animated.

I dug her story, but it kinda just takes the wind out of the sails for a fighting game.

I definitely see where you're coming from and I do agree (here comes the but) but, for a Persona game I found it acceptable. Any non-Persona game and I would've called it lazy and lacking, but the walls of text are just how the Atlus style is and after P3, P4 and P4A I can't see myself playing P5 or P4A2/P5A (if they turn out to be things) any differently. Just like MGS game with their hours of cut-scenes, it's become part of the games' personalities.

Not a jerk for bringing this up either, I'm sure you're not the only one who's considered it.

@FLStyle said:

Huh, I always thought it was a bit weird that Edogawa was the one in Persona 4 who gave you the backstory of P4's True Ending final boss. I just thought he was being used to fill in a plot point and fan service for P3 players. Maybe it is something more.

Also I completely agree with the sentiment that Labrys didn't seem at all important until her story and I saw her story and did a 180 on her.

Edogawa did a similar thing in P3 when he explained the roles of the tarot arcana, which played not only a heavily thematic role throughout he game, but was central to the final boss, as well.

@Hailinel said:

@FLStyle said:

Huh, I always thought it was a bit weird that Edogawa was the one in Persona 4 who gave you the backstory of P4's True Ending final boss. I just thought he was being used to fill in a plot point and fan service for P3 players. Maybe it is something more.

Also I completely agree with the sentiment that Labrys didn't seem at all important until her story and I saw her story and did a 180 on her.

Edogawa did a similar thing in P3 when he explained the roles of the tarot arcana, which played not only a heavily thematic role throughout he game, but was central to the final boss, as well.

If "Eerie Voice" doesn't turn out to be Edogawa now I will be really disappointed. It's like the indoctrination Theory all over again!