P3P, Persona 4 Golden. I need more money and more time!

@Neurotic said:

@dvdhaus said:

@Marino said:

Also, just for the record... #TeamYukiko

Yeah! #TeamYukiko we are a rare breed on this site.

Solidarity, my brothers!

I'd totally make a poll about if I knew how. The main thing would be to keep it non-weird, maybe something like "Favourite Female Character" along with a separate "Favourite Male Character". If anyone would do this, I'd be fascinated by the results (aside from the clear appreciation in these forums for the many things Chie has going for her, or maybe the hilarious ER moments with her) - oh, and #TeamNaoto .

But yes, I just wanted to say, I happily welcome @Marino to the fold : D

We'll be shipping your robes to you shortly, and meetings are generally on Tuesdays fortnightly. Make sure you subscribe to our Twitter in case there are any changes to the usual schedule, or to be updated if there are any group events on the horizon.

@selfconfessedcynic: Yeah, a 'Favourite P4 love interest' poll would be as much a forgone conclusion as a 'Favourite GB staff member' poll. A 'Favourite P3 love interest' one would probably be more competitive though (#TeamFuuka here, for the record). I don't know how to make polls either. I'm also lazy.

I'd buy a persona remake for the Xbox or ps3. Also can't stand the new voice actress for Chie sounds like a Canadian Fargo talk with a lisp

@Neurotic: Man, P3 was harder since it was way more strict on everything to do with s-linking.

I really can't pick a favourite of the P3 cast, mainly because none of them really spoke to me. I'm a person who's on the side of how P4 handles party members, where they're the most prominent s-links, whereas in P3 they were kindof just amongst the crowd. In the end I'd say it'd be between Yukari, Fuuka, Mitsuru and Aegis, with no real inclination in my part towards any of them in particular - a non-answer if there ever was one, since that's pretty much all of the most popular answers. If I were to just pick character design, it'd be Aegis, but she isn't even human.

Anyway.

I really hope that this game does eventually come to PS3/4 or the 360/720 - megadeth above is definitely not alone.

Persona 4 is the reason I came to Giant Bomb in the first place. I had heard of this game but never got around to playing it. After watching a few episodes of the Endurance Run, I got hooked and knew that this was a game I needed to play. I have fond memories of winter 2009, it was snowing like crazy, couldn't get out of the house so played persona 4 all day for like 2 weeks.

Anyways, I must admit that epilogue photo in Golden was kinda hard to swallow at first. I felt that they changed the characters too much. But after reading your article it kinda makes sense. Everyone just grew up. Except the protagonist, each of the main characters had some stuff they were dealing with when you met them (Yukiko not wanting to inherit the inn, Teddie unsure of his origins, Kanji affraid to show his sensitive side, etc.). By helping them accept their other selves and completing their social links, the protagonist is a catalyst for change. It's good to see that this change doesn't stop with the end of the game. Maybe we'll get to see these guys again? Maybe in college?

Anyways, good game, glad you loved it. Looking forward to Persona 5.

@selfconfessedcynic said:

oh, and #TeamNaoto

I like Naoto, but it became pretty clear, especially on the ski trip that Kanji was interested in her. So, I wasn't going to do that to him.

@neoneoane said:

Anyways, I must admit that epilogue photo in Golden was kinda hard to swallow at first. I felt that they changed the characters too much. But after reading your article it kinda makes sense. Everyone just grew up. Except the protagonist, each of the main characters had some stuff they were dealing with when you met them (Yukiko not wanting to inherit the inn, Teddie unsure of his origins, Kanji affraid to show his sensitive side, etc.). By helping them accept their other selves and completing their social links, the protagonist is a catalyst for change. It's good to see that this change doesn't stop with the end of the game. Maybe we'll get to see these guys again? Maybe in college?

This guy gets it.

@Marino said:

@selfconfessedcynic said:

oh, and #TeamNaoto

I like Naoto, but it became pretty clear, especially on the ski trip that Kanji was interested in her. So, I wasn't going to do that to him.

Kanji is my #1 bro in P4, even though I prefer Yosuke in dungeons - I hate stealing his girl every time I play through the game, but Naoto is pretty much exactly my type, uno, in an unrealistic anime-girl kind of way.

Sigh, I wish there was a way to have a talk with him in the game. The closest you come is if you skip Valentines day with Naoto to hang with the guys, but I only did that once and hated myself for doing it so will never do it again (and reloaded that save on the spot).

@selfconfessedcynic said:

@Marino said:

@selfconfessedcynic said:

oh, and #TeamNaoto

I like Naoto, but it became pretty clear, especially on the ski trip that Kanji was interested in her. So, I wasn't going to do that to him.

Kanji is my #1 bro in P4, even though I prefer Yosuke in dungeons - I hate stealing his girl every time I play through the game, but Naoto is pretty much exactly my type, uno, in an unrealistic anime-girl kind of way.

Sigh, I wish there was a way to have a talk with him in the game. The closest you come is if you skip Valentines day with Naoto to hang with the guys, but I only did that once and hated myself for doing it so will never do it again (and reloaded that save on the spot).

I don't know if it could actually be called "stealing his girl", especially since no matter what he doesn't do anything to get with her. Sure, he shows interest in her but if he never does anything then I don't think you should feel at all guilty if your friendship turns to romance. Also Naoto, who is the most important factor in this equation, doesn't really ever show much interest in Kanji which would kind of be needed if they were to become a couple.

Anyway, #TeamPimp here. Well, at least until Golden decided to play 3-4 guilt cards in a row and thoroughly cured me of my Casanova ways.

@OmegaChosen said:

@selfconfessedcynic said:

@Marino said:

@selfconfessedcynic said:

oh, and #TeamNaoto

I like Naoto, but it became pretty clear, especially on the ski trip that Kanji was interested in her. So, I wasn't going to do that to him.

Kanji is my #1 bro in P4, even though I prefer Yosuke in dungeons - I hate stealing his girl every time I play through the game, but Naoto is pretty much exactly my type, uno, in an unrealistic anime-girl kind of way.

Sigh, I wish there was a way to have a talk with him in the game. The closest you come is if you skip Valentines day with Naoto to hang with the guys, but I only did that once and hated myself for doing it so will never do it again (and reloaded that save on the spot).

I don't know if it could actually be called "stealing his girl", especially since no matter what he doesn't do anything to get with her. Sure, he shows interest in her but if he never does anything then I don't think you should feel at all guilty if your friendship turns to romance. Also Naoto, who is the most important factor in this equation, doesn't really ever show much interest in Kanji which would kind of be needed if they were to become a couple.

Anyway, #TeamPimp here. Well, at least until Golden decided to play 3-4 guilt cards in a row and thoroughly cured me of my Casanova ways.

Naoto doesn't really show an interest in anyone. I didn't really get a sense during her S. Link that she's into you. Dunno, it just doesn't feel like a natural relationship to me, at least not in the way the others are.

I'm glad that Valentine's Day verbally kicks you in the balls for being a playa. It's a better form of the jealousy mechanic from P3, way more impactful, much less annoying gameplay-wise.

@Neurotic said:

@OmegaChosen said:

@selfconfessedcynic said:

@Marino said:

@selfconfessedcynic said:

oh, and #TeamNaoto

I like Naoto, but it became pretty clear, especially on the ski trip that Kanji was interested in her. So, I wasn't going to do that to him.

Kanji is my #1 bro in P4, even though I prefer Yosuke in dungeons - I hate stealing his girl every time I play through the game, but Naoto is pretty much exactly my type, uno, in an unrealistic anime-girl kind of way.

Sigh, I wish there was a way to have a talk with him in the game. The closest you come is if you skip Valentines day with Naoto to hang with the guys, but I only did that once and hated myself for doing it so will never do it again (and reloaded that save on the spot).

I don't know if it could actually be called "stealing his girl", especially since no matter what he doesn't do anything to get with her. Sure, he shows interest in her but if he never does anything then I don't think you should feel at all guilty if your friendship turns to romance. Also Naoto, who is the most important factor in this equation, doesn't really ever show much interest in Kanji which would kind of be needed if they were to become a couple.

Anyway, #TeamPimp here. Well, at least until Golden decided to play 3-4 guilt cards in a row and thoroughly cured me of my Casanova ways.

Naoto doesn't really show an interest in anyone. I didn't really get a sense during her S. Link that she's into you. Dunno, it just doesn't feel like a natural relationship to me, at least not in the way the others are.

I'm glad that Valentine's Day verbally kicks you in the balls for being a playa. It's a better form of the jealousy mechanic from P3, way more impactful, much less annoying gameplay-wise.

She shows a bit of interest from what I remember. Nothing overt but she does get blushy at points. I understand how you'd think it wasn't "natural" though because in essence it kinda isn't. You have to be looking to get with her really, seeing as you need to pick two specific options in order to even get the option to confess your affection for her. It's kind of a reversal of how the other relationships in the game work, in that the MC has be pursuing Naoto instead of the girl growing closer and eventually wanting to be more. Naoto doesn't confront that aspect of herself on her own and it takes the MC bringing it up to her face to get her thinking about it. Though again, I understand how you might see it as a bit forced.

Yeah, ol' Vale's day. It hurt the first time. It hurt just as much the next five times (I wanted to see each girl's date/eternally punish my not so innocent sin). By the seventh-eighth time I kinda became numb but Atlus had convinced to never be a pimp in any game ever again, which is quite an accomplishment all things considered.

Side note: Brad's advice to not admit fault actually pays dividends in P3's jealously mechanic, because in order to fix your relationship with Yuko when she's jealous you actually got say "you've got it totally wrong" instead of "I'm so sorry" when she accuses you of seeing another girl. It just stuck out in my mind how messed that was.

Let's just say I don't think that the Mass Effect 3 analogy holds up. Because even without the content in Golden, Persona 4 is easily one of the best games ever made.

Christ, I really want to play the Golden. That new ending sequence and those photos just gave me all the feels.

@OmegaChosen said:

I don't know if it could actually be called "stealing his girl", especially since no matter what he doesn't do anything to get with her. Sure, he shows interest in her but if he never does anything then I don't think you should feel at all guilty if your friendship turns to romance. Also Naoto, who is the most important factor in this equation, doesn't really ever show much interest in Kanji which would kind of be needed if they were to become a couple.

Anyway, #TeamPimp here. Well, at least until Golden decided to play 3-4 guilt cards in a row and thoroughly cured me of my Casanova ways.

All valid points, but if the game was real life I would at least have a long talk to him about it. I wouldn't do anything else differently, but having a heart to heart and getting all that baggage out of the way is the right thing to do, and considering all I'd want from it would be like one scene, I really do wish they put that in there. It's a small complaint and doesn't effect my feelings about the game considering how much IS in there, but yeah.

The first time through the game, for Kanji's January persona evolution, I felt legitimately uncomfortable when he talks about making a present for a woman special to him. I stared at the dialogue options for a solid minute before it thankfully turns out to be his mother and not Naoto. Same for some of the dialogue around Valentine's day where he talks about being asked about what kind of chocolate Naoto likes. Gah, yeah, I didn't do anything wrong but I did feel guilty.

@Neurotic said:

Naoto doesn't really show an interest in anyone. I didn't really get a sense during her S. Link that she's into you. Dunno, it just doesn't feel like a natural relationship to me, at least not in the way the others are.

I'm glad that Valentine's Day verbally kicks you in the balls for being a playa. It's a better form of the jealousy mechanic from P3, way more impactful, much less annoying gameplay-wise.

For Naoto, if you follow the romance path I thought it actually forms are really nice, subtle arc. She doesn't launch herself at you or put any pressure on you - but all the small shifts in the dialogue after the first flag are totally meaningful in a way respectful to the character's position in life. I mean, the woman has spent most of her teens pretending to be a man and distancing herself from people because of that secret and various other factors surrounding her vocation - if it had been a more every-day romance it wouldn't have been true to the character. Heck, even though she's a blushing violet around Kanji, she vocalises no interest in him either - and the fact she gets muddled up and tongue tied around the MC during her s-link scenes is all the clue you get there in the opening stages as well. The second flag is a little extreme but is totally what I would hope I would do in that situation, and her reaction was fitting. After that it kindof transforms into standard stuff, which is perhaps the most unnatural part about it, but I have no idea if that digression is realistic or not - the tom boys I know are totally softies like that, but I would never generalise when it comes to women.

Anyway, man, I don't want to start a P3 vs P4 fight as both games are great for their own reasons, but again, yes I vastly prefer how P4 handles relationships, and love Valentines day as a nuclear-deterrent. It was a master-stroke for them to put it in.

@OmegaChosen: @selfconfessedcynic: Hm, when both of you put it like that it doesn't sound that bad. I think it's the time frame that kinda ruins it for me too. You have like a month to do Naoto's S. Link and you're (as the MC) supposed to believably fall for her and vice versa in that space of time? Or at least fall for each other to the point where she says all that mushy, romantic stuff at Christmas and Valentine's? Especially when you spent a much longer time thinking she was a dude and, presumably, you (again, as MC) had no interest in 'him' then. I dunno, just never felt right for me. Of course, this all just me rationalising that I simply don't like Naoto as much as Yukiko. Or Chie for that matter. She's better than Rise and the non-party love interests though.

@Neurotic said:

@OmegaChosen: @selfconfessedcynic: Hm, when both of you put it like that it doesn't sound that bad. I think it's the time frame that kinda ruins it for me too. You have like a month to do Naoto's S. Link and you're (as the MC) supposed to believably fall for her and vice versa in that space of time? Or at least fall for each other to the point where she says all that mushy, romantic stuff at Christmas and Valentine's? Especially when you spent a much longer time thinking she was a dude and, presumably, you (again, as MC) had no interest in 'him' then. I dunno, just never felt right for me. Of course, this all just me rationalising that I simply don't like Naoto as much as Yukiko. Or Chie for that matter. She's better than Rise and the non-party love interests though.

How long did you take you to fall for a girl in high school? for me personally, it took a lot less time then a month before we where saying all kinds of embarrassing shit to each other.

@OmegaChosen said:

Side note: Brad's advice to not admit fault actually pays dividends in P3's jealously mechanic, because in order to fix your relationship with Yuko when she's jealous you actually got say "you've got it totally wrong" instead of "I'm so sorry" when she accuses you of seeing another girl. It just stuck out in my mind how messed that was.

That makes me sudder. I don't think I could do that - even to a video game lady.

@Neurotic:

One of the best things about the Persona games is that though none of the characters are realistic, they all are somehow convincing and highly endearing - but everyone is free to have their own opinions and interpretations of any of them, just like in real life. At least in many of our cases the characterisation is so good that they really do forge an emotional attachment with the player, but what is even better is that every player finds themselves drawn to different characters for their own reasons. That's the power of good fiction in general, and that is exactly what the Persona series is - very good fiction, in any context.

This extends to the relationships, and I think that there is something in there for everyone when it comes to the women of P4 - and I love that about the game.

So yeah - all power to y'all and I don't think I can judge any choice of romance in P4 - except maybe the music club chick. That shit was wack.

@TechHits: That's a good point. Thankfully though, Persona 4 (or 3 for that matter) is hardly an accurate representation of high-schoolers otherwise every character would be a hateful scumbag as well :P

@Marino said:

@SmasheControllers said:

The Persona series is one of the best, it's a time commitment but you should check out P3 Fes and both Persona 2s. I personally suggest against P3P. Sure it's a better game, but I don't think better combat is enough to make up for the gimped social interactions.

Without spoiling anything, could you explain the "gimped social interactions." I'm thinking about doing P3, and the most convenient way for me to do that is P3P on my Vita from PSN.

Playing through both Persona 3 FES and Persona 3 Portable, I would definitely recommend FES to anyone who's playing the game first time through. Certainly there were many improvements made to the gameplay in P3P, including incorporating elements of P4 into it, but the exclusion of characters actually interacting with one another really takes some of the punch out of it.

Needless to say I will go into some P4 spoilers here, so anyone who hasn't played the game should stop here, but could you imagine scenes like when Nanako is in the hospital or when you're thinking of exacting revenge on Namatame without the characters moving and emoting, but instead be presented with ONLY static backgrounds and the character portraits? Sure, the underlying emotion and attachment is there, but it just lacks the same amount of gravitas, ESPECIALLY when directly compared.

The other big change is that instead of walking through towns, you just control an on-screen cursor/circle and move over points of interest to interact with them. In P3P, they also added the "fast travel" system in P4 in that you could hit the square button and a menu pops up letting you pick a location you would like to visit (an option missing from original P3 and P3 FES.) This part I didn't mind so much as the cursor obviously moves much faster than your on-screen avatar and isn't bound by the laws of gravity or physics.

Then of course there's the battle system, where in vanilla P3 and FES you had no direct control over your party, whereas P3P added this. It seems like it could be a huge detriment and it definitely takes some getting used to, but eventually I got used to it and didn't give it a second thought. Also, you know how in P4 if you cast a ma- spell and it knocks one enemy down, you get another turn? Not that case in P3; that only happens if you cast a single target spell and knock the enemy down, or you knock the whole group down. So whereas in P4 you could do extra damage by casting a spell one mob in the group is weak to, do damage to all and get another turn, the same doesn't happen in vanilla P3 and FES.

There's many other changes that I won't get into as the post is getting long-winded already, but those are some of the bigger ones. If you were to ask me, I would suggest playing through vanilla P3 or FES first and for subsequent playthroughs, going through P3P as it's much more streamlined. However, if one only had the ability to experience P3 through the PSP version, I would still say go for it but just know that in some respects, you're getting a "lesser" experience in respect to the story.

Also, #TeamRise and #TeamMitsuru represent! When I first started the game I was definitely on #TeamYukiko, but as the game wore on I definitely felt more towards our beloved idol. None of the other possible love interests like Ai, Yumi and Ayane were even REMOTELY in the running, which I felt was a far cry from some of the supporting cast of P3, most notably Yuko. In P3 I was probably #TeamYukari for most of the game but something about Mitsuru being so strong, yet so vulnerable, really spoke to me. I know she didn't need me to protect her, but I *wanted* to protect her.

@wchigo: #TeamChie, #TeamChihrio and #TeamLisa... My love for Chie definitely start as simply "because Jeff and Vinny likes her" but after spending so much time with those characters, it's more the fact she fits my type more than any of the other girls... well beside Naoto, but Kanji likes her so I'm not getting in the way of that. Rise's annoying but I don't hate her and as for Yukiko I really can't explain my hate for her, it's similar to my dislike for Tali in ME, I understand why people like her but she is the exact opposite of my type, also she's the least attractive in my opinion.

@wchigo said:

Also, #TeamRise and #TeamMitsuru represent! When I first started the game I was definitely on #TeamYukiko, but as the game wore on I definitely felt more towards our beloved idol.

I think, at least for me, this was a flaw in the mechanics of the game. I decided early on that I was only going to pick one. The problem is, I maxed out Yukiko's social link relatively early. So, for the rest of the game, there's really nothing else to do with her even if I wanted to. The mechanics of the game encourage you to spend time with everyone, especially those in your party, to maximize their effectiveness in combat and whatnot. It makes sense that you would kind of forget about (for lack of a better description) Yukiko later in the game.

@SmasheControllers: Fair enough... I don't remember who Lisa is though. I mean, I probably liked all the girls in one way or another, but personally I just felt greater emotion towards Rise. Granted, vanilla P4 allowed you to be a player with no downsides, so I romanced everyone. But to me personally, Rise was my girl.

@Marino: Aye, it definitely would've been nice to have more options to pass the time with people you've already maxed your Social Link with. For me, I still usually spent lunch with Rise even after her SL was maxed when I probably should've used it on other people to gain more points and more easily rank up with others. However, Rise was my girlfriend, so I still wanted to spend my lunch times with her.

It's not that I forgot about her per se, it's just that as time wore on I began to find myself attracted to (as much as one can be attracted to a fictional character without it getting out of hand) Rise more than the other girls. I gotta say that from what I've heard of how P4G treats you, as a player, when you decide to be a player and have all the girls as your girlfriends... well, I definitely could not go down that route. But damn, if it didn't break my heart when I was given the option to have Yukiko become my girlfriend, and I told her that she was simply a great friend. She agreed... then had to excuse herself and took off. It broke my heart a little to know how much I hurt her, but I felt it was better than the alternative.

It's damn good writing and acting when you can feel that much towards simple polygons and 1s and 0s.

@wchigo: Lisa was Persona 2 IS and Chihrio was Persona 3.

@SmasheControllers: Oh, okay, that's why. I never played any other SMT related games aside from P3 and P4. For a while there, Chihiro was probably my favourite non-SEES female for a good bit, but then an event in the later part of her S. Link really turned me off to her. Yuko ended up taking over that spot for me, with Mitsuru still being my overall favourite female from P3.

I might get P4G when it comes out.