#like i know it comes from jokes from the previous persona games with chie and yukiko being awful

[mayadoesfandomstuff]

Thing that I feel like I need to bring up here about Persona 5: most of the girls are competent cooks.

This isn't headcanon, this is fully canon. They cook together pretty often during Strikers and have pretty good results.

This isn't just because they're being helped by the protagonist either by the way, Ann, Haru, and Makoto cook with Yusuke some pretty good curry of their own that Joker only helps with at the last minute, and Haru teaches Zenkichi how to cook to make better meals for his daughter since he's not a good one like at all.

The only one we don't see cooking among the thieves during the game is literally Futaba who is considered their resident taste tester. Futaba, however, is seen baking in the actual P5/R if you romance her, so she probably knows how to follow a recipe well.

I just need more people to know this because I know there's a side of the fandom that keeps making the girls (specifically Futaba, Ann, and even Haru sometimes) as horrible cooks coming from jokes from previous Persona games. I know it's a funny haha joke but it's a little iffy to try to push this idea about the girls just because of previous installments.

[allykakamatsu]

Hypothetical P5A

Okay, gonna make this clear right up front, I wanted to make this post for a while but the main reason I decided to do it now is because the Atlus announcement thing is almost here, and also cause I saw a video on this topic by Thorgi’s Arcade (go watch it btw it’s good) and while I agree with a lot of what he said, there’s also some things I’d change, not just cause I disagree, but also cause I think it would be fun. Anyway enough beating around the bush, let’s do this

Gameplay

I’m a firm believer in the phrase, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and the Arena games are already really good so not much to change. That being said, I still wanna change some things. First off though, we are keeping this 1 vs 1, no tag team matches. The arena games already have a lot of Mechanics going on and trying to keep everything as well as some new stuff WHILE adding a tag team button, yeah no let’s not outside of maybe a bonus mode.

This means I can’t add Batton Pass in as a new mechanic to represent P5, but I have a solution, that being Technicals. Status ailments already exist in this game, so how about when you inflict one and do a specific combo you do more damage, also providing risk vs reward as the player with the status will have a better idea of what the opponent will do making them more predictable. Also as for Persona’s, mostly everyone’s will be fully evolved, minus Yu cause him getting a final boss persona normally is a tad to OP, meanwhile the P5 characters will have their starting Persona’s, but they will evolve for big moves, like awakened mode supers and instant kills

I’m also borrowing Thorgi’s Arcade idea of having supports giving a slight buff in battle, like if you pick Fuuka your meter can build faster for a bit, meanwhile if you pick Futaba you’ll get an attack and defence buff. It’s the fairest way to include them without having to make them playable. I know Rise is already playable but this roster is going to have to be small as it is, and being a support doesn’t mean you can’t be DLC later.

Also, we’re not bringing back the Shadow Characters, just, we are not dealing with the likes of Shadow Naoto again.

:readmore:

Story

I am about to cop out a bit here, but Thorgi’s Arcade video had a really good idea for the story so I’ll just link it here https://youtu.be/yyB5rEM9UVU

To summarise for people who don’t want to watch, Nyarlathotep, the main villain from the Persona 2 games, has been gaining strength from all the suffering humanity has gone through due to 3, 4 and 5, and has gained enough strength to create a new Joker to try finish what he started and destroy the world. Mitsuru might think the Phantom Thieves are behind it cause this is clearly persona related and the fact that the leader of the PT’s is also named Joker is public knowledge, Naoto gets largely the same idea, Katsuya and Maya decide to have their own investigation, meanwhile the Phantom Thieves are trying to prove their innocence and help save the world. Nice excuse to bring everyone together, but who will the everyone be?

Base Roster

Okay, I know the dream is getting everyone from Ultimax back plus the new P5 characters, but given Arc System’s standard for small base rosters, I’m not holding my breath. The ideal would be everyone plus who I’m about to say for P2 and P5, but I’m keeping it… somewhat realistic. Anyway onto the actual size, 16 seems fair enough. One more than the most recent Guilty Gear game for a series that had pretty big success so that sound fair enough. Let’s get the obvious out of the way though, all the base 8 Phantom Thieves besides Futaba are making the cut

Okay so that’s obvious but how will they play? Starting off with Ren/Joker, Smash Bros already laid a great foundation with him being very fast on the ground and in the air plus being great at combos, so I see no reason to change that. Also no need for him to be a Jack of all trades either cause spoilers, Yu is coming back and he already fills that role.

As for the others, Ryuji I can see being a slugger charge hybrid. Basically starting out he hits pretty hard but is a bit on the slow side to compensate, but just like any good athlete, give him a chance to warm up, ie do a charge input, and he becomes a lot faster and has better combo potential. Or we could make him a toned down version of Little Mac where he’s great on the ground but he’s in trouble the second aerial combat is involved. Then there’s Morgana who with his ability to turn into cars and the fact he introduces thief tools like smoke bombs, I can see him being a faster but frailer successor to Teddie.

Then there’s Ann who, no doubt, she’s a Zoner, and with her fire she’ll be Yukiko’s sort of successor. However instead of healing, I’d implement the fact that she learns concentrate and have it so the more she charges it up, the stronger her attacks get, but the Meter will gradually go down over the match. Yusuke, as tempting as it is to cop out and say ‘have him play like Vergil in Marvel vs Capcom’, I have a different idea. Namely, take advantage of the fact that Yusuke can learn counter by having him be the defensive specialist, set up ice traps to freeze the opponent, and if they get close, he can either counter or go for some combos.

Then there’s Makoto who would definitely be a grappler. I mean, she practices Aikido and is really strong, she can 100% pull it off. Finally Haru…… TANK! I mean come on, Haru wields an axe, has a grenade launcher, and Melady is literally a dancing tank in a pink dress, it just makes too much sense. I’d also give her a bit of armor cause if she’s slow she at least needs a chance to get her attacks in.

Okay so that’s 7 out of our 16 slots down, and given that one slot will have to be saved for the Evil Joker who would be the villain, we’re halfway done with 3 games to go, lord help me.

Okay, starting this off with P4, I’m gonna give them more than the others purely because they were the focus of the originals and there’s less realistic cuts I can make compared to 2 and 3. To make things simple, every returning character would play the same, and as for the ones I’d bring back for the base roster, we’ve got Yu, Yosuke, Chie and Naoto. Why them specifically? Well Yu is the main character, Naoto being a detective would basically mean she’d be the one getting everyone involved in the first place, Chie is currently training to be a cop as confirmed in P5 so her getting called in makes sense, and Yosuke is the best investigator after Yu and Naoto, he’s always up for a mystery and the second he learns Yu is involved he’s joining in. I just couldn’t cut him.

Now before the really painful cuts, Persona 2 is really easy. Out of Innocent Sin party members, by the end of the series Maya is the only one left with a Persona, and Katsuya is not only older brother of Innocent Sin’s protag Tatsuya, but he’s also pretty important and a detective so he’s definetly the one Maya’s dragging into this. As for how they play, they both use guns like Naoto, but how I’d mix them up is with Katsuya, I’d let him attack while moving (unlike Naoto who has so stay still to fire) at the cost of less combo potential, meanwhile Maya dual wields her guns so she’ll probably play like Noel Vermillion from BlazBlue where she’d more or less just use the guns to get longer reach melee attacks instead of shooting.

Now, for the hard part. There’s only 2 slots left, one of them basically has to go to Mitsuru (not that I’m complaining I’d probably add her anyway) meaning now I have to choose between the rest of the Shadow Operatives/SEES for the last slot. I narrowed it down to the 3 that were in the original Arena cause they’re the most plot relevant, but that still meant I had to choose between Akihiko and Aigis. I ended up deciding on Aigis though cause A, with Labrys not making the base roster someone has to represent the robots of the series, and B, with Akihiko currently pulling a Ryu by travelling to get stronger, it makes more sense that Aigis would be closer and easier for Mitsuru to call up. Honestly I was tempted to bump the roster up to 17 so I could have both of them on the base roster, but this is ArcSystems, 16 is already kinda pushing it.

DLC

Given that this is a modern fighting game, DLC is inevitable. However since this DLC will likely be like Ultimax where the story acts to wrap up loose ends and have a new story, it’s going yo be big, especially since there’s going to be a fight with Nyaraloptep, so go big or go home in this case. Okay so first order of business, anyone who was in the previous arena games who wasn’t in the base roster is getting added back in, it’s only fair. That out of the way, the new faces I’d add are Futaba actually being playable now and the big 4 P5 characters I skipped, Akechi, Yoshizawa, and Sophie. Before anyone asks though, Sophie was added into a Dragalia Lost collab with Koei Techmo not being credited so she’s likely Atlus’s copyright so she's safe to add.

With that out of the way, how would they play? Starting with Futaba, I’d think she’d be the resident puppet fighter, sitting on top of Necinomicon and only occasionally adding in some of her own attacks like a projectile. Also she'd also probably act as a bit of a grappler cause her Persona has tentacles (no hentai jokes please) which have long reach so that'll be perfect for it. Next up is Akechi who I can see as semi being two characters in one. My basic idea is that at first Akechi will be fighting with Robin Hood and he'll be a solid jack of all trades with a slight focus on rush down. However once he goes into his awakened mode he'll gain Loki, which will increase his speed and attack strength, at the cost of his defence, turning him into a glass cannon.

Next is Yoshizawa, or 'Sumi as I like to call her, and her thing will be she's the mobility focused fighter, namely constantly moving around the stage and poking at her opponent while doing it, at the cost of being frail. Finally there’s Sophie who would be a combo focused zoner, as in her standard projectiles (the yo-yo’s) wouldn’t hurt that much on their own, but she can string them together into the fancy yo-yo tricks to potentially do big damage. As for how much this DLC would cost, it’s going to be very big, so €25 to €30 sounds fair

I think that more or less covers my thoughts. I could keep going on about this for a while, but I think this is a good place to stop. Hope you like my idea!

[soprone]

Some notes on my characterisation of Teddie

retreading some old ground from previous blogs but hopefully it’s better than before because i’m always getting better grasps on my muses as time goes on so pwease read with an open mind  .✫*ﾟ･ﾟ

So while my characterisation is mostly based on the english localisation of the games and anime because that’s what i’m most familiar with, i feel like teddie comes across differently than may have been intended due to dub changes. i kind of viewed him the way i do when i first played, learning about the dub changes mostly just confirmed some things about my interpretation. like of course i changed my mind about some things but so you know where I’m coming from

So something that didn’t translate very well was Teddie’s humor. He’s constantly making bad jokes that the rest of the Investigation Team doesn’t respond to. This isn’t because they’re uncomfortable with his jokes, even when they’re a bit perverted. He’s not a jerk who keeps making bad jokes that make people uncomfortable, and the Investigation Team aren’t jerks for not explaining to Teddie that it’s not okay or anything, since he’s new to human customs. It’s because he’s looking to bring others into his comedy routine with any kind of reaction, positive or negative, and the only way to discourage him is to not respond. When someone makes a bad pun, groaning and complaining about it is part of the humor they’re going for. It’s like that.

The reason this was translated poorly is because Teddie was specifically mimicking a Japanese comedy style. I kinda always saw it as dad jokes kind of humor, but learning about the original intentions made it click.

This isn’t to say Teddie never does anything perverted. Almost, honestly maybe every, Persona male acts like a pervert, contrives scenarios to provide fanservice to the player/viewer, sexually harrasses female characters for comedy or just because the writers think it’s normal. What I’m saying is, this isn’t a Teddie problem. It’s a Persona problem. I’m not excusing his actions but I don’t think he should be held to a different standard than other characters who do the exact same things. I also really hate when people call Chie (and/or the other girls) an abuser because she physically hurts the boys, because again that’s not a Chie (or other girl) problem, it’s a Persona problem with how the comedy tries to be this slapstick thing on occasion. Like I hope where I’m coming from makes sense when I say that?? No I’m not say it’s okay for Teddie to try to grope Rise, or for Chie to kick Yosuke, and similar moments. I’m acknowledging that these moments are part of the game’s humor, they’re anime characters engaging in anime nonsense in an 11 year old game. It’s bad faith criticism to judge a single piece of media or a single character by ignoring the tone of the work they’re in, holding them to the standards of the real world and also ignoring the same problems exist within similar works (for example w/ persona 4 you need to consider it within the context of other anime, other video games, all forms of media that may have directly influenced it, the state of the world (politically & pop culture wise) at the time (2008), etc., persona 4 does not exist in a vaccumn) and that exist in other characters within the same work. It’s not helpful in explaining why their behaviour and/or why making light of it/normalising it can be harmful because you aren’t examining why it’s written the way it is. Oof this bullet point got long sorry

Teddie’s character arc is not linear. He doesn’t consistently get better, and he is in fact at his most obnoxious in my opinion during the Yasogami High Culture Festival. Since his arc is about maturity, this is like his ‘rebellious stage’ where he’s a brat before growing up more, after having grown up a lot in the months before the festival. However, I can’t accept his characterisation in Persona Q. He’s pushed too far and ‘flanderized’ ike a lot of the Persona characters are in spinoffs. I adore his group date marriage event (&accept him believing he fell for the protag at first sight as a headcanon (it’s just a crush, not ‘true love’/’destiny’, though)), think the love potion quest where he downs some love potion believing it will make girls love him only to fall for Akihiko is hilarious, but that’s about it. I haven’t finished Persona Q2, but his characterization in that game is a lot better from what I’ve seen.

I believe that Teddie went through the events of Persona 4 believing that when the investigation was over, he was ‘supposed’ to go live in the midnight channel permenantly and say goodbye to his friends. A lot of his antics during the year are him pushing for some cliche high school fun experiences in order to make some memories to hold onto (he’s kind of like a player avatar in that way ?? this kind of thing is why the latest 3 Persona games are set during high school over just one year, right??). His perverted antics can be explained with the idea that he doesn’t actually expect any of these girls to fall in love with him, if he wants anything he wants a movie-style ‘summer romance’ so he doesn’t really take them / flirting with them seriously (I’m not justifying it, only providing a possible explanation). He may have just gotten lonely and came back to visit anyway, but his intention really was to leave the human world for good at the end of the game. It’s only when the IT laugh off the suggestion that he realises he was the only one who believed this, that they really think of him as part of the team and weren’t just humoring him this whole time. 

I headcanon that his perception of his friends changes and he starts to respect them (+Yosuke’s wallet) better over time after this. It’s gradual (old habits die hard!) but noticable if you pay attention. Naoto notices his maturing during the game, she’d probably be the first to catch on.

He’s bisexual and nonbinary. Though, his feelings on gender maybe can’t be compared to a normal human, he takes on an androgynous male body because he wants to be loved rather than because he feels like a man, dresses as a girl because again he wants to feel pretty and loved rather than because he feels like a woman... In Persona Q2 he volunteers himself and Chie for the power team despite struggling to lift the weights that team needs to, because Chie is insecure about being the only girl on the team and he wants to comfort her. So he’s not exactly bigender or gender fluid, he’s nonbinary and presents whichever way feels right at the time, and what feels right is based less on his own feelings and more what will hopefully make him loved or sometimes help/comfort his friends? He did not grow up like a human in a society of binary gender, it honestly doesn’t mean much to him.

He believes Kanji is attracted to him (which I see as untrue aha I sort of ship it but if he’s got a crush it’s not in the way Teddie thinks), &mimics Yosuke’s attitude about it, not seriously scared of him being predatory or anything (not realising the problem w/ Yosuke’s homophobic comments, which Yosuke quietly gets over later &is probably embarrassed about his own behaviour so he’s not gonna explain), just thinking it’s a funny way of teasing him, seeing Kanji denying him (or not knowing what the fuck Tedd’s talking about) as being tsundere. I feel like this would die down as he gets older

His one-sided rivalry with Akihiko in the Q games (ahh I know they have a hostile relationship in the Arena games but I haven’t played them so don’t know if I wanna make that canon to my Tedd, it seems like they’re too hostile) is because Akihiko is hot, has lots of fangirls, but it’s not just jealousy, he’s swooning too

I think he flirts with Goro in PQ2 because he’s told Goro is a detective prince like Naoto, it’s kinda similar to Akihiko, he follows the crowd and fangirls too. But also, Goro is a Wildcard, he doesn’t know it at this point but he may subconsciously sense it? I’ve always headcanoned him having an attraction to Wildcards, of course the P4 protag is his #1 but he’s pretty flirty with the others in the Q games

that’s it for now because this has gotten SO long, if you made it this far I love you. if you didn’t i still love you because i love humanity as a whole but i’m a little disappointed because i crave attention not gonna lie.

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: "Persona 5" Review

When it comes to JRPGs, the Persona series is in a class of its own. A spin-off of the ruthless-yet-addicting Shin Megami Tensei series, Persona splits SMT's dungeon-crawling and ability-focused combat (I always describe it as "Pokemon with demons") with VN-like segments of daily school life and building personal relationships. After several delays, I can finally, finally talk about the game that's been consuming my life for the last two months--and the one I was thinking about while playing Mass Effect: Andromeda a couple weeks ago.

    Persona always deals with two worlds--the "real" world where we go about our daily business, with school, work, friends, and day-to-day drama, and the other world (helpfully called "The Metaverse" this time around), where people's twisted desires come to life, creating distorted spaces known as Palaces. As a transfer student caught up in this very strange situation, you and your steadily-growing group of friends form a team of Phantom Thieves to break into Palaces, take down their evil masters, and restore justice to the world! Of course, it's not as easy as I'm making it sound, as everybody wants a piece of the Phantom Thieves, from corrupt teachers to gangsters to a group of hackers. While you're at it, what is the Metaverse? Does anyone else know about Palaces? And what happens if this knowledge falls into the wrong hands?

    P5's cast is familiar, but fresh: you'll see bits and pieces of past characters (i.e. Ryuji feels like a perfect fusion of Junpei and Chie, immediately making him my favorite), neatly fitting everybody into the previous boxes of "best friend," "the smart one," "the weird one" and more, but thankfully never feels tropey or overdone. You legitimately want to spend time with these guys, and they have their own individual charm and flaws--Ryuji shoots his mouth off and can come off as rude, but realizes when he's being an ass and can apologize. Yusuke lacks tact and thinks everybody should adhere to his sense of aesthetics, but also realizes that he's kind of an oddball and not everybody cares how beautiful a burger plate should look. Ann's confidence can come off as arrogance, but you see that her positive energy is there to help others feel strong and take care of themselves just as well as she does. And, just like past Persona games, spending time with characters and strengthening your bonds ("Social Links") pays off in-game: characters cure status ailments on their own, ambushing enemies can automatically add them to your Persona list, stores offer deep discounts, and you can get more free time in class to catch up on your reading or item crafting, among many others.

    When you're not in the real world spending time with your friends, you're in the Metaverse, tackling stylized, danger-filled Palaces created by humans' distorted desires. A simplified focus on stealth adds a new sense of tension to dungeon-crawling in P5--since you're infiltrating each Palace, you'll have to sneak around and ambush enemies in the hopes of not alerting the Palace's master to your presence. It really keeps you on your toes to have to check each corner and not just barrel down hallways, making the dungeon-crawling elements feel fresh. Also, in the moments when you have to work with a countdown, it makes everything much more frantic, as you tear through enemies trying to make a break for an exit. I know a few people who were turned off by previous games' long dungeon crawls, like Persona 3's Tartarus, but P5 kind of follows the P4 route--Palaces are unique, tailored to the individual you're facing, so you're always going to be going somewhere new (and yes, SMT purists, there is a single large, randomized dungeon to explore, but it's mostly optional).

    If you've ever played a Shin Megami Tensei or Persona game, you know what you're in for with the game's battle system, but if you haven't, it's a strictly turn-based system that encourages exploiting enemy weaknesses and setting them up for combos as you trade turns between teammates. There are lot of nice quality-of-life upgrades you can gain from Social Links, like pointing out discovered enemies' weaknesses and their item drops, making combat less of a grind and minimizing trial-and-error situations. Aside from a few hectic moments, you're welcome to take all the time you need in combat, but it's still not easy--mess up once, and you can get dogpiled. Persona is built around the concept of "One More," where if you strike an enemy with their weakness, you can get one more turn, or pass your turn on to a teammate so they can add to your attacks, but enemies can do the same. You're strong, but you're not invincible, and Persona 5 regularly reminds you of this.

    You're not just locked into dungeon-crawling and individual friend hangouts, either, as there's plenty to do on your own in Persona 5: hit the batting cages, play some video games, rent DVDs, get a part-time job, help your friends study for exams--nothing feels like wasted time, because everything gives you some kind of advantage. Persona 5 builds a deeper, taller world instead of a broader one--there's more to do in smaller spaces, instead of just having a huge open world full of nothing. How you use your time is all up to you, but the game does demand that you make clear choices of who and what is more important to you--every Palace is on a hard deadline, often with life-ruining consequences for you or your friends.

    The only real problem I had with Persona 5 came from getting screwed by the game's RNG: a "high chance to prevent" a status effect should actually prevent once in a while instead of failing ten times in a row (no joke), and enemies frequently know that killing the main character immediately causes a game over. Getting dogpiled, then one-shotted can lead to a number of frustrating reloads, no matter how good the rest of the game is. Persona 5 also has a fantastic dub, but Atlus Japan requested some name pronunciations that don't feel or sound natural (i.e. names like "Sakamoto" and "Takamaki" have the emphasis on the first syllable, not the second). Granted, I guarantee you'll hear the name "Ryuji" way more often than "Sakamoto," but the few times you hear names pronounced this way can be very jarring. There are a few repetitive sound bytes during battles, but switching up your party can prevent this from becoming a real dealbreaker.

    What Persona 5 brings most to the table is heart. It's obviously a very well-made game, but it wouldn't be anything special if it didn't make you feel anything. You always have a reason to keep going, a reason to keep taking the fight to the game's villains, and a reason to care about your friends' feelings beyond getting that sweet Social Link bonus. Yeah, I powered through Andromeda in a week and loved it, but coming back to P5 felt like coming back home. For one, it was nice to play a game that actually worked, and for another, it hit a very easy-to-miss sweet spot between demanding and relaxing. When you're attending Shujin High and living life in Yongen-Jaya, take your time and soak it all in. When you're assaulting a nefarious villain's Palace, take a breath, steel yourself, and dig into a challenging, satisfying, and demanding RPG experience. Finally, take heart: Persona 5 was absolutely worth the wait.

  REVIEW ROUNDUP

+ Story, characters, visuals, soundtrack: Persona 5 delivers on all fronts

+ Battle system is fast-paced while still being turn-based, encouraging decisive tactics and quick thinking

+ Nothing feels like filler, even side quests with minor characters: you always get something useful

+ You're always doing something new--fresh dungeon designs, new story goals, even the light stealth elements help

+ No real need to grind--boss fights still tend to be challenging in ways that bigger numbers won't solve

+/- Awesome dub, despite some jarring name pronunciation

- Absolutely ridiculous RNG in some later battles--can get frustrating from reloading due to constant instakills

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com