#persona 5 tactica is not great

[0heartangel0]

PERSONA 5 TACTICA IS NOT GREAT: A VERY ODDLY-CONSTRUCTED RANT

Okay, if you thought I was being controversial before, these last few parts are when I'm gonna lose some people. But bear with me!

I keep saying it, but there's a reason I do. I don't want people to get the wrong idea and that I'm not judging them for liking something, because a LOT of people on the internet tend to take an opinion way too personally. As a result, I keep having to tap the same sign over and over just to be safe, and right now is no different:

I just want to get my opinion out there to maybe get people to understand why I do feel the way I do about certain media and characters. So please keep that in mind for these last few parts, because I know for a fact that the last things I'm going to cover are actually stuff people liked about the game.

So, with that in mind:

Pt. 7: Erina/Eri/Ernesto Is A Nothing Character

NONONONO! DON'T GO, YET!! LET ME EXPLAIN!!

Just keep in mind what I said at the beginning of this post, and at least hear me out for a sec, okay? Okay.

To ease us into this, I'll get one positive out of the way, aside from her voice acting, which I talked about back in Part 1. I do really like her design. There, I said it.

The balancing of the colors red, black, and silver/grey is nothing short of phenomenal. Her outfit being ripped and tattered to show her history in battle is smart. The metal leg and hair covering her right eye alluding to her real life counterpart's injuries from her accident is genius.

And they seemed to have put a lot of thought into her design, because she has, like, 10 different concepts! I'll only show a couple that stuck out to me:

This first one actually has a neat idea behind it; since she's the leader of the Rebel Corp, why not make her look similar to them? They did something similar with Luca in the DLC, so why not in the main game? Would've made the hat people feel a bit more cohesive.

This one's just Yoshizawa, but made her into a cafe waitress(?). Maybe she was supposed to be a worker at the SafeHouse version of LeBlanc in an original draft of the game, but scrapped it (would add to the idea that the thought of Eri gives Toshiro comfort, much like LeBlanc)? It's a neat concept, and I do like her casual attire, but I would understand why they'd change it for story reasons.

This one just looks like if Mitsuru and Ann did a fusion dance. I do like the look, it just feels way too close to Ann and gives the impression that Eri was originally supposed to be a foreigner. Also, those feet! Dang!

This one's my favorite, mainly because of how funny the concept is. We have this cute little girl handling firearms and bazookas, painting herself in camouflage and wearing combat gear. I especially love the bush covering she wears at the top left; it's too adorable and funny.

Okay, okay! No more indulging in what could've been! Let's get into the meat and potatoes of what we got: her personality and role in the story.

And this is where my issues with Erina start to arise.

We'll start with her personality. I don't think everyone's gonna agree with me on this take, and you're free to refute me if you can, but simply put: she's very one-note.

I can only really name ONE personality trait that she exhibits: REVOLUTION.

No, that's it.

She is all about revolution. She eats it, she sleeps it, she bloody BREATHES it. She's like this at the beginning of the game, and she's like this at the end, making her feel very static.

Okay, she's also really reckless, but that comes with the revolution trait. In short, very basic.

Also, the game sometimes portrays her recklessness as more of a quirky thing about her, like when she shouts while sneaking into Marie's dungeons, forcing you into another battle (out of 22 in this Kingdom - still not over it). But, to me, it translates to her being kind of stupid, because who the Hell does that in the middle of a stealth mission?

And aside from Toshiro, no one really reprimands her for this trait, nor is she really punished for it, aside from the final flag scene.

SPEAKING OF THE FLAG SCENE, I have many issues with it, but among them is just how nothing really changes with either Erina OR Toshiro after this scene ends. Apart from us getting Makoto and Yusuke back, nothing exactly comes of it. She's still running headfirst into things without reconsidering, while Toshiro is still a wuss. There's not even a subtle change of their characters going forward that would indicate that this event affected them that would warrant a conversation and self-reflection later. The only commentary they have regarding it afterwards is them just bullying Toshiro by stating it wasn't really him that did anything, but simply, the flag itself.

And with that in mind, I know she's supposed to be Toshiro's foil, as in, she's more gung-ho to charge into battle, while he's more gung-ho to run away from battle. The issue is how the game never really gives any nuance to this opposition of personalities, or even commentary that would get you to consider both sides. Toshiro is always painted in the wrong for his mindset, while Erina is congratulated for hers. Once again, only Toshiro is against her mindset, but he never has any good comebacks to her argument, other than it's the safest option. And then she proceeds to destroy him.

Literally their first interaction is her giving him a grand speech on why it's wrong to run away, and is rewarded with a flag that automatically makes her win the fight once she plants it.

They're obviously supposed to have conflict with one another, but there's nothing challenging the conflict on equal parts, because we have to know Toshiro is the wrong one in the conflict.

I have more to go into here, but that would just be me slipping into talking about mainly Toshiro, so I'll leave it for now.

As I've mentioned before, she kind of comes across as stupid in some of her actions, and it's not just through her recklessness (although, that is a major part of it). After saving Joker and Morgana from Marie at the very beginning of the game, she makes an odd assumption that they're working for Marie and asks if they're even trustworthy, which....why would you think that?

You saw them getting dragged around the courtyard by their necks chained to Marie's bloody CAR! Marie herself even complains on how neither Morgana or Joker are submitting to her! You jump down from a roof soon after, implying you were there for quite some time to witness this!

Is this what being a pawn looks like to you?

She then does the EXACT SAME THING with Toshiro after they save him!

Erina's point of contention here is that he has no memory, other than his name and occupation, but that doesn't warrant you to think that he's a suspicious individual!

You found him in Marie's dungeons, being visually and verbally scared of the situation. He's obviously too confused to even understand what's going on. How is that evidence of him being untrustworthy?? Or even him being a potential pawn of Marie??? That makes no sense!

You could make the argument that she's just being very cautious, but A) Caution doesn't make you throw logic out the window, and B) I thought caution was Toshiro's trait, not Erina's! Aren't they supposed to be polar opposites? Erina is supposed to be the character that throws caution to the wind?? It's what leads her to getting shot???

Ugh!

....regardless, this is very dumb...

Now, the game tries to give her some form of a character arc by having her be very adamant on wanting a Persona like the thieves, and later question her very existence after finding out the Kingdoms are of Toshiro's cognition.

Here's my issues with this arc:

The Persona thing only lasts for about two scenes in the whole game, and they both happen at the very beginning. So when it's (technically) paid off at the end, you kind of forget this was even an arc. They could've expanded this to more scenes to really land it home. Speaking of,

The game never uses the irony of 'Person That Really Wanted A Persona Becomes A Persona Themselves' to its advantage. Not even in a joke! It was right there, but they never do anything with this!

Her questioning her existence never really comes up all that much until Kingdom 3, where at that point, it should be very obvious who she's supposed to be in context to this world, especially since they know they're in Toshiro's cognition.

Why isn't she more hung up on being someone's Persona? Their other self? There should at least be some form of questioning or bewilderment to this realization, but she's weirdly calm about this. Once again, they do nothing with this concept, despite how unique it is! We've gotten people's Personas fusing into one, thanks to the power of LUV~♡, a Shadow gaining a Persona, someone else's Shadow having a Persona of their own, separate from their counterpart's (I'm still trying to wrap my head around how Labrys works), but not someone just, BECOMING someone else's Persona! Bloody DO something with this!

And while I'm on the topic of her Persona identity, dear GOD, does it hurt my brain....

Actually, no. Before I discuss her Persona identity, let's discuss her real-world counterpart identity in order for the Persona argument to make sense.

Let's start by talking about the thing that peeved me off the moment I read it: her name......

Eri Natsuhara.

ERI NAtsuhara.....

ERI NAtsuhara................

.......I hate this game.......

Here's a clip of me realizing the name in real-time just to let you know how dumb I found/find this:

Game, why?

Anyway, back on topic. Eri was a transfer student who joined the student council, and became immediate friends with its president, Toshiro, after having witnessed him standing up to a bunch of bullies for a kid (why she just stood and watched him get beat up, only to later give him a measly bandage, I'll never know). They spent their school year basically trying to make their school a better place, with Eri rushing in to every situation with reckless abandon (sound familiar?).

One day, a girl by the name of Yuri Kurano came in, telling them that their Vice Principal, Nakabachi, had found out about her job working at a nightclub. He used this info to blackmail her into digging up information from students for him. He'd been apparently doing this with other students and staff once she got said information. Yuri then requested that Toshiro and Eri help her take down Nakabachi, to which Eri was obviously all in, while Toshiro was initially hesitant.

They later tried to confront Nakabachi, who instead taunted the two, explaining that if there were victims, why hasn't anyone come forward? They have no evidence! Eri was about to get physical, until Toshiro had to stop her. Nakabachi pointed out Toshiro's daddy issues, and he proceeded to flip off.

Going back to the student council room, Eri was still peeved, and Toshiro asked why she cared so much about this. She explained that back in her old school, she was accused of stealing something, and everyone shunned her for it. Her teacher then tried to motivate her by saying that you shouldn’t confront injustice through silence, which inspired Eri to be more active. This convinced Toshiro to help Eri with taking Nakabachi down once and for all.

They round up all of the students who were blackmailed, and confronted Nakabachi on the rooftop, where they recorded a confession out of him. This worked, and Nakabachi was finished.

One fateful day, though, as Eri and Toshiro were waiting for the train to arrive to take them home, Nakabachi, in an insane stupor thanks to the harassment he had to deal with following the fallout, tried to grab Eri, only for her to fall back and onto the tracks, getting hit by an oncoming train. This landed her in the hospital, having lost her eye and made her crippled, while Toshiro gained a scar on his right hand from his attempt at trying to pull her away from the train (which is why he wears a glove on that hand).

They stopped talking after that, with Eri moving away soon after, never seeing Toshiro again (until the ending, but SHHHHHH), while Toshiro got blamed for what happened with Nakabachi going insane, constantly getting bullied at school, until his dear ol' daddy put a stop to it.

At some point in his life (don't really know), Eri turned into an inspiration for Toshiro, becoming a representation of his rebellion in his cognition, thus creating Erina.

His Shadow, though, goes on to blame Eri for everything that went wrong in Toshiro's life, and thus, should kill off Erina once and for all to quash this "curse".

After some motivational speech from Erina and a flashback reminding him of Eri telling him to not lose his rebellion, or something, Toshiro finally stands up to his Shadow, leading to Erina remembering her purpose as his 'rebellion', and Toshiro to awaken to his Persona, Ernesto, who is just Erina.

......OKAY!! There' a LOT to unpack here, so let's do this step-by-step!

Why did they think it was a good idea to confront Nakabachi the first time 'round? Did they really expect him to stand down after just pointing out his wrongdoings? Even he points out how dumb that is! When Ryuji did it with Kamoshida, not only was said wrongdoing MUCH more concerning, but it was more or less the straw that broke the camel's back after having failed to gather information on Kamoshida. Also, Ryuji - being Ryuji - rushed in to the situation as he let his emotions get the better of him, while Joker and Mishima had to chase him down and physically stop him from throwing a punch. Meanwhile, both Eri AND Toshiro agreed upon confronting him. I get Eri, but why Toshiro? He's supposed to be the voice of reason, here!

I had to actively look back at footage to even remember Eri's dumb backstory, which doesn't exactly amount to anything, other than explaining why she's a transfer student and why she's all in for justice. What kind of Phoenix Wright bullcrap backstory is this? At least that was gay! The teacher chick never really comes back despite her supposed inspiration that's important for Eri's change here, nor does the backstory in general! Like, Nakabachi could've used that to threaten blackmail on her, possibly giving better foreshadowing to this reveal, as well as connect back to why he's even being confronted to begin with, making him much more of a threat to not just Toshiro! Also, that's why your parents transferred you? Because you allegedly stole something? And then they did it again after she was hit by a train?? Her parents must be getting sick and tired of this transferring at this point, and possibly concerned about their daughter's wellbeing if she keeps getting into stuff like this, to the point where it leaves her CRIPPLED!

How did the students agree to this uprising? We're never shown them being rounded up and convinced to do this, making it feel kind of out of nowhere! I guess it's in perspective of the numbers, and possibly the plan laid out to them, but once again, they should've showed this than imply it! Especially considering how EASY this was!

This one arguably baffles me the most-

How in the Flying Dutchman Hell did Eri survive getting hit point-blank by a TRAIN?? The cutscene showing it cuts off to when she's hit, implying to us the audience that she died. But then a cutscene later, we're immediately shown that she actually LIVED that crap, only losing an eye and ability to walk!

Bloody HOW???

Between this and the train accident in the opening to the original P5, trains must be made of cardboard in this universe! Meanwhile, tons of people are dying to cars left and right! Wakaba, Kasumi, Kobayakawa, and Aoi are probably doing cartwheels in their graves as we speak!

Wouldn't it have been more impactful if Eri just died, giving Toshiro more of a reason to feel guilt and regret over what happened? Would've made more sense then her LIVING THAT!

AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN TOSHIRO STILL HAS HIS HAND AFTER THAT-

Why were the kids bullying Nakabachi punished for what happened? While it's implied that they're responsible for him going insane, the fact that HE made the decision to attempt to kill Eri shouldn't be put on those kids! And how did the teachers know about this bullying to even warrant a punishment?

And on them blaming it on Toshiro as a "scapegoat", why didn’t they just go blame it on Nakabachi for making the choice of killing a CHILD?? And the fact that Nakabachi was clearly targeting both Eri and Toshiro should be punishment enough for what they supposedly did to Nakabachi! I just-

It doesn't make sense!

And how the Hell did Yoshiki get the kids at Toshiro's school to stop bullying him? What, did he slip them all twenties? I get the 'why', but not the 'how'!

Why is Shadow Toshiro blaming Eri for all the bad that happened to Toshiro? The only bad thing that happened was that Eri got ran over, leading to Toshiro getting bullied at school!

She didn't cause Toshiro's mom to die!

She didn't make Yoshiki into an abusive father!

She didn't set him up with Marie!

She didn't get him into politics!

What is his Shadow on about?

Apart from the previous point, Shadow Toshiro kind of has a point.

Why DOES Toshiro harp on Eri for so long, to the point where she becomes a whole bloody representation of his rebellion? It implies he's just been obsessively thinking about some random chick he met all the way back in high-school, but never bothered to get back into contact with her?

ALSO!

She becomes his Persona? Y'know, his other self? "I am thou, thou art I"? Does this imply he KINS Eri???? This makes people who ship Toshiro with this particular version of Eri kind of weird, especially since she takes on the appearance of her high-school self?

I can't with this!

Speaking of which, why does his COGNITION become his Persona, and not his SHADOW??? That's not how that works! In Persona, it's always the SHADOW that becomes the Persona! That's the BASIC RULE!

That'd be like if instead of Futaba's Shadow becoming Necronomicon, it was instead her cognition of WAKABA! It would make zero sense!!

And even then, once Erina becomes Ernesto, HIS SHADOW IS STILL THERE!!! A Shadow shouldn't be able to exist if he also has a Persona!

Flippin'-

Yu.....explain it for me.....

Thank you, Yu! This is why you're my favorite Persona protag!

This has always irked me, right from the beginning.....

And while I'm on Ernesto.......

ERNESTO "CHE" GUEVARA AS A PERSONA??????

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????????????

A REAL DUDE????????????????????

THAT'S GOT TO BE ONE OF THE DUMBEST PICKS FOR A PERSONA I'VE EVER SEEN IN THIS FRANCHISE SO FAR!!!!

Every other Persona we've gotten has been based off of characters/creatures that are either from myth, folktale, novels, or just people that were known from so long ago, that there's room for them to not even be real! Guevara was literally born in the 30s!! I don't know about you, but that's pretty recent! And everyone knows he was an actual existing person!

Why couldn't they have just picked someone from FICTION that still represents revolution?

I just-

It just baffles me....

Even if we were to ignore ALL of that,

They just made Guevara into an animoo waifu-

I'M DONE!!!!!!!!

The design is....fine, but it doesn't change how I feel about Ernesto as a whole.

I'm not gonna go into her moveset, because I'm actually gonna save that for when I talk about Toshiro, since it actually links back to something that I've been thinking about in regards to him since he was first introduced in the trailers. And....hoo boy.........that has not changed....

I'll just end things off by stating a pretty ironic thing about Erina:

She's actually pretty similar to that of Chidori from Persona 3; they both exist SOLELY for the more important male character and their development, and NOTHING MORE! Also, they become said male character's Personas, which doesn't exactly help with challenging that idea. It's even more ironic in Erina's case, since she is a character all about revolution and rebellion, only to realize at the end that she only exists to serve a man.

wow.

I'll.....just end it there, out of fear that people will attack me for this......

(Update: I just realized when Erina was manifested into Toshiro's brain. According to the Wiki, she was born on December 17th. Based on a Reddit post I found, the Thieves canonically changed Shido's heart (send the calling card) on the 17th. The calling card was supposed to be what ignited Toshiro's rebellion, which is what Erina is supposed to represent. I'll give the game that, not gonna lie. I just feel dumb for not realizing that.)

Pt. 1

Pt. 2

Pt. 3

Pt. 4

Pt. 4.5

Pt. 5

Pt. 6

(We're finally gonna get into what I've been waiting for!)

[velvet-gloom]

Why the Phantom Thieves are banned from Dave & Buster’s

(Don’t take these too seriously, I’m just shitposting with no serious thought or edits)

Makoto: Roundhouse kicked a 40-year-old guy who tried to hit on Futaba and sent him to the ER

Futaba: Hacked the speakers and played unhinged nightcore dubstep remixes, was asked to stop, and proceeded to bass boost them

Akechi: Was one point away from setting the record on their DDR machine before he fucked up and proceeded to punch the screen hard enough to break it

Haru: Got WAY too into a game of laser tag, several children left crying

Ryuji: You know that one clip of the dude letting go of the bowling ball way too late and hitting the ceiling and breaking the sprinklers, flooding the whole place? That. He did that.

Ren: Used his third eye to play the rigged claw machines and beat their 1 millimeter margin of error, emptying two full machines worth of prizes before being asked to leave

Morgana: Was a cat

Yusuke: Was so appalled by the food that he snuck into their kitchen to prove he could make something more appetizing and more aesthetically pleasing. Got halfway done before getting thrown out

Shiho, who’s totally a canon member of the Phantom Thieves and always has been: Immediately helped Yusuke break back into the kitchen to finish the food. Also befriended a heard of 12-year-olds and had them distract security to buy more time

Sumire: The only one who’s still allowed in, but hasn’t had much reason to go since Akechi broke the DDR machine

Ann: Tried convincing the manager to let everyone back in, which ended in a shouting match after the manager turned out to be an asshole

[lattedecoffee]

Why go to therapy when you can get teleported to the cognitive world and forced to process your trauma or die alongside some random high schoolers.

[glittergoats]

Kingdom 3...you literally had to be there

[cloudbends]

People finding p5t's approach to personas being weird and inconsistent with the worldbuilding is so baffling to me honestly. Not only does what they did conceptually make a lot of sense psychologically, and it's very neat and refreshing to see them playing around with what constitutes a persona, but also keep in mind persona 1 had nanjo's persona be his Butler. Not a cognitive or psychological representation, genuinely just his dead butler riding on a hoverboard.

[senblades]

Hi :)

I love your art and your writing, and you have such a great grasp of these characters that I was wondering if you have any fic recs? Rating doesn't matter ;)

boy do I! (and ty for the compliment <3 <3 <3)

[cracks knuckles] alrighty:

The Dissapearence of Goro Akechi by Kupowonders - Probably my favourite fic ever, honestly- it's like. derailing the plot of persona 5 post-medjed thanks to the persona 4 accomplice ending years prior. (So, spoilers for p4 in that, too) it's. very good.

Marigolds by Colbub - Akechi gets ng+'ed to right when he started working for Shido, and has to take a good look at the future to come and be like "Aight how the fuck do I fix this". Fun times!

Daredevil, You've hit the wall by ez_cookie. Essentially, p5 Strikers but Sumire and Goro get to be in on the fun, too. And, there's a direct sequel currently being updated that's a similar premise for p5 Tactica. very very good stuff

A Tale of Two Tricksters by Zoe2k8 - Murder boyfriends! ...sort of? Angst! Angst and murder boyfriends! An oversimplification, obviously, but I'm not kidding when I say this fic is amazing and is also over a million words holy shit-

Throw away your mask by MollyPollyKinz - Another ng+ situation for Akechi, but this time the poor guy gets thrown all the way to 2009. You can imagine how well that goes (For the audience, less so for Akechi himself.)

The Crow Cries at Midnight by Dorked. hehe this one is very fun. Basically, a series of coincedencs causes Akechi to get thrown into the plot of persona 4. No time travel here! Just a grumpy 12/13 year-old Akechi trying to solve a murder mystery

The entire Tales of Chaos series by Eternalmomentss (The first one is called Like sand between your fingers) Very very good stuff! Something of a character study, I would say, of Ren and Goro. Plus, all the funky plot stuff that comes from trickster-typical bad luck and poor descision making. I really love this series hehe

uhh this post is getting very long I need to make this less wordy- lightning round?

Hunger for a life by Leonawriter - do you like vampires? I sure do! Mix that and the p5 plot and you get shenanigins. [evil laughter] a lot of shenanigins

Fishbowl by KivaEmber - Akechi has a terrible time in Maruki's reality. And I mean a terrible time

You have a beautiful smile underneath that mask by Saposaki - Akechi has a crush on Akira and Joker has a crush on Crow. No one is aware of the other's secret identity. Dramatic irony and hilarity ensues.

MASTERMiND by StumblingBlock - No Metaverse au where Akira really doesn't want to follow in the footsteps of his crime family, and fails miserably

Rose and Rot by SixteenJuniper - Read this!! I'm serious!! "A fun fantasy adventure" don't listen to Juniper. You'll be in tears by chapter two. (/pos, of course) (Seriously this fic is incredible)

Redressing the Balance by Convocated - ...almost a ng+? Ng+, in the sense that shuake are getting funky visions that are very quickly derailing the standard plot of p5r. This causes problems of the "Someone get the popcorn and maybe the tissues" variety

She's got a heartbeat full of lead (And she's aiming straight for the head) by Dots - This fic haunts me, often. In the best way possible, of course; but seriously, read it

Cracked into by SydneyHorses - Ren makes bad descisions and it becomes Akechi's problem. 2/2 timeloop, perhaps most notably featuring HaruGoro friendship! Love love love this fic

Okay that wasn't as "less wordy" as I intended but it'll do

Aaaand that's a wrap! Sorry for the long post.. and this is by no means all of the fics that I've ever loved (nor are the ones here in any particular order) but I swear we'll be here all week if I keep going HAHA

ty for the ask (and again for the kind words), anon! Hope this was helpful and to your tastes! (I... hope you like Shuake HAHA it's present in most of these- I assume you do, since you came to me (points at literally everything shuake I've made) of all people, but uh. Some of these fics are gen if it's not to your liking?)

[dathen]

Blorbo Wrapped 2024

I had to do a trial run on bluesky because I could NOT parse the passage of time and kept forgetting very important characters. Once again, focusing on new/more intense than usual instances!

Once again in attempted chronological order:

Bertie Wooster (Jeeves & Wooster stories)

Wyll Ravengard (BG3)

Karlach (BG3)

Marcille (Dungeon Meshi)

Laois (Dungeon Meshi)

Tade (Dungeon Meshi)

Andreas Maler (Pentiment)

Catherine Moreland (Northanger Abbey)

Canas (Cafe Enchante)

Vincent (Hello from the Hallowoods)

Narrator (Piranesi)

Clara Entwhistle (Victoriocity)

Inspector Fleet (Victoriocity)

Julius Bell (Victoriocity)

Gorgug Thistlespring (Fantasy High)

Toshiro Kasukabe (Persona 5 Tactica)

Stanley Pines (Gravity Falls)

Stephen Black (Jonathan Strange)

John Segundus (Jonathan Strange)

John Childermass (Jonathan Strange)

Arabella Strange (Jonathan Strange)

Blorbos-in-law: I've looked up so much Victor Arcane content on my own that is it even 'in-law' anymore? Also maybe Mithrun from Dungeon Meshi counts bc I love him a great deal but ESPECIALLY love him through Helen's eyes

anyway tagging @tedkordisanasshole @marvelousmawn @voidbeantm and @organchordsandlightning given you're responsible for some of these :3

[flagwars]

Video Game Flag Wars: Round 1

Now that the National Pride Fusion Flag Wars has ended, we can return to the Video Game Flag Wars! The prelims decided which flag would represent each series, so now the tournament contains one flag per series. This does not include mods and fangames, as there are multiple flags from Hearts of Iron mods and Roblox games in the tournament. As there are so many flags even after the prelims, there will be 32 polls in the first round rather than the usual 16. Let me know what flag you want to win! See the brackets below.

Round 1:

1. Crimson Cult Banner (Thaumcraft) vs. Flag (Roblox BedWars) vs. Salmon Run Flag (Splatoon)

2. Unnamed Flag (Lego City Undercover) vs. Atlantic Federation (Valkyria Chronicles) vs. Homestead Banner (Palia)

3. Middle Eastern Alliance (Squad) vs. Shadowkin (Raid: Shadow Legends) vs Bilge Rat Adventures Flag (Sea of Thieves)

4. Saker’s Flag (Fable) vs. Novistrana (Republic: The Revolution) vs. Arstotzka (Papers, Please)

5. San Andreas (Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas) vs. Kirin Tor Offensive Banner (World of Warcraft) vs. Alliance of Galactic Travelers (No Man’s Sky)

6. Black Revolt (Kaiserredux) vs. Aquileian Republic (Supremacy) (Equestria at War) vs. Rescue Corps Flag (Pikmin 4)

7. Tropico (Tropico) vs. Sons of Liberty (Metal Gear Solid 2) vs. Commune of Revachol (Disco Elysium)

8. Mawkin Flag (Metroid: Dread) vs. Calchaqui (Europa Universalis 4) vs. Kazan Military Okrug (Thousand-Week Reich)

9. King Dedede’s Flag (Kirby: Triple Deluxe) vs. Meat Flag (Slime Rancher) vs. Flag of the Crown (Cult of the Lamb)

10. Communist Australia (Victoria II) vs. Delian League (Imperator: Rome) vs. Ominous Banner/Illager Banner (Minecraft)

11. Patagonian Worker’s Front (Kaiserreich) vs. Castle Siege (Super Smash Bros.) vs. Yara (Far Cry 6)

12. Stag Beetle Flag (Animal Crossing: New Leaf) vs. Fortnite (Fortnite) vs. Livonia (Arma)

13. Gaul Úr (Red Flood) vs. Strong Badia (Homestar Runner) vs. Super Earth (Helldivers)

14. Alam Melayu (Rise of Nations (Roblox)) vs. Tiki Tak Tribe (Donkey Kong Country Returns) vs. Sea Slide Galaxy (Super Mario Galaxy)

15. Great Lakes Government (Kalterkrieg: Shadow of the Weltkrieg) vs. Principality of Kemerovo (The New Order: Last Days of Europe) vs. Joker Banner (Balatro)

16. Shadow Isles Clash Banner (League of Legends) vs. Rebel Corps, Phantom Thieves Version (Persona 5 Tactica) vs. Antarctica (3D Atlas (1996))

17. Generic Flag (Roblox) vs. Standing Flag (Dragon Blade RPG (Roblox)) vs. Zhu Xi's Legacy (Age of Empires 4)

18. Kitakami (Pokémon Scarlet and Violet) vs. South California (Cyberpunk 2077) vs. Watchers (Overwatch)

19. Avalar (Spyro the Dragon) vs. Union of American People's Republics (Red World) vs. Grey Warden Heraldry (Dragon Age: Inquisition)

20. Eusan Nation (Signalis) vs. Aurelia (Ace Combat) vs. Outer Wilds Ventures (Outer Wilds)

21. Columbia (Bioshock Infinite) vs. Sickle Moon Flag (Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker) vs. Eggmanland (Sonic Unleashed)

22. The Allied Nations (Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3) vs. The Rebellion (Just Cause 3) vs. Federation of the Americas (Call of Duty: Ghosts)

23. Great Lake Revolutionary Council (Extremis Ultimis) vs. Courland (Empire: Total War) vs. Columbia (Crimson Skies)

24. Pontiac Province (Judgement Day: Aftermath of the Red Flood) vs. Communist Iberia (Hearts of Iron IV) vs. International Workers' Armed Forces (Krasnacht: Twilight of the Gods)

25. New California Republic (Fallout) vs. Deep Hollow Valley (Night in the Woods) vs. Victory Flag (Fall Guys)

26. Zheng Fa (Ace Attorney) vs. Golden Deer Banner (Fire Emblem: Three Houses) vs. Warbanner (Risk of Rain 2)

27. Blue Flag (Halo: Combat Evolved) vs. Wario’s House (WarioWare) vs. American Collective (Twilight of the Anthropocene)

28. Niflheim (Final Fantasy XV) vs. Republic of America (Dustborn) vs. American Empire (Pax Britannica)

29. Corvus (Dead Ahead (Roblox)) vs. Banner of the First Fleet (Monster Hunter)

30. Fillydelphia Contingent (Balefire Blues) vs. Federation of Anrakan Isles (Suzerain)

31. Yartar (Baldur’s Gate 3) vs. Hurons (American Conquest)

32. Falkreath Hold (Skyrim) vs. Assassin Jolly Roger (Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag)

[saikolikes]

“Si vis pacem, te ipsum vince”: the meaning behind Erina’s banner

I’m sure most people have noticed it, as it was shown firstly in the trailer and then in the opening: “Si vis pacem, te ipsum vince” seems to be the official motto of Persona 5 Tactica, and is indeed present on Erina’s banner when she uses Flag of Freedom.

The slogan is in latin, it roughly translates as “If you want peace, you must conquer yourself,” and it’s an alteration tailored to the game from the most commonly known “Si vis pacem, para bellum” (If you want peace, prepare for war).

What most don’t know (myself included before digging deeper to make this post), is that even the “original” phrase wasn’t exactly born as such and is itself an adaptation of a wider paragraph from a military treaty — Vegetius’ De Re Militari or “Epitome of military science” (the following quote comes from the beginning of Book 3):

Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum; qui uictoriam cupit, milites inbuat diligenter; qui secundos optat euentus, dimicet arte, non casu.

From what I read, the author does a sort of introduction by citing war masters from the past, including Athens and Sparta, and declares his task in compiling all their teachings in one place. Then, he concludes by saying “Therefore, the one who desires peace shall be ready for war; the one who longs for victory shall diligently instruct his soldiers; the one who’s after success shall fight following the art of war, not chance.”

The concept here is clear: you can’t search for and uphold peace without being skilled in battle and ready to fight for that peace if need be… which is a pretty interesting message in the wider scheme of Tactica.

(Warning for story spoilers from here onwards)

I didn’t reflect on it much as I was playing, especially because the game never gives you any “official” translation of what’s written on Erina’s banner. But as I went back to thinking about it, I realised just how fitting this alteration is. The whole deal with Salmael is peace should be the ultimate goal for mankind, a state of existence where no conflict is necessary—on the contrary, conflict is viewed as a bad thing, because it causes hurt and is ultimately harmful. So it makes perfect sense that “Si vis pacem, para bellum” is something that goes against Salmael’s philosophy.

What bothers me, instead, is that it perfectly fits what Erina represents, as is and without any alteration: she battles Marie like rebels do tyrants because the peace in the Kingdom has been disrupted and she wants it back. Putting metaphors aside, Toshiro is the one that realises that only by opposing his father and his fiancé he can right the wrongs that his family committed, and eventually find peace within himself. “Si vis pacem, para bellum” is actually already tailored on what the game is about, so thinking back about the alteration they made, I can’t quite explain it.

It has to be said, though, that “Si vis pacem, te ipsum vince” is also fitting. Reconciling with one’s Shadow self, tame it and embrace it is what awakening a Persona is all about and what Toshiro does later on in the story, so to have “If you want peace, you must conquer yourself�� written on Erina’s banner is also a really nice touch!

I guess my main point here is that both phrases go well with the story’s themes and plot, but I do have to say, removing “para bellum” kind of ends up reinforcing Salmael’s point, which is that war (=conflict) isn’t necessary. It ultimately serves P5’s whole narrative that puts individuals at the center of societal changes without questioning too much what role society at large plays: it is acknowledged society needs reform, but reforming passes through righteous people and removing bad apples rather than dismantling and rebuilding anew a system that is designed to be exploitative. More so that “te ipsum” is a bit like saying “you yourself” so I’d argue that a really great emphasis is put on the person/individual. Also worth noting that “te ipsum” is specifically male-gendered as “ipsum” is accusative cause (direct object) for both male (“ipse) and neutral (“ipsum”) pronouns, but “te” is accusative case for the pronoun “tu” which can only be used referring to a person; this means that if the phrase was to be female-gendered it would be “te ipsam vince”. So it really seems to be tailored to Toshiro.

I think what they did with Tactica’s motto is cool (if anything because it let me put my high school diploma at use again after 7 years lol) and definitely a nice addition that shows this game was made with a decent level of care for being a spinoff… at the same time, I can’t help but find a subtle contradiction in the alteration they made.

[incorrectallpersonaquotes]

OKAY, SO WE FINALLY BEAT PERSONA 5 TACTICA AND THE REPAINT YOUR HEART DLC, FULL SPOILER REVIEW AHEAD

- First of all, I think the game is very good. I rate it 9/10, because although there are some stuff I don’t like, the good stuff is SO good that it makes up for it perfectly. It is a great game, and I don’t regret at all buying the Deluxe Edition on release.

- The gameplay is VERY good, no doubt one of the greatest points in the game. As a fan of tactical RPG fan, it’s a system that is very different than the usual “your character’s turn, move these squares, do your action, proceed”. The fact that you freely move the characters makes for a very peculiar experience, and it makes for a very fun gameplay, with cool puzzles that, although I recognized may be annoying for some people, were very fun to me. Very cool!

- However, I think the gameplay lacked more Persona/SMT elements. For example, the lack of a system based on elemental weaknesses was something I didn’t like. Because of that, I spent 90% of the game’s battle with a party composed of Joker, Panther and Queen, without feeling any need to alternate between different characters. Sure, there’s this mechanic that the characters have better status if you let them rest, só it’s valid to alternate the party, but that was literally the only reason, the aspect of changing characters because of their strong or weak points was kinda lost. Also, no Social Links aside from the Quests and the Talk menu, that provide some fun scenes, but doesn’t replace the social aspect of the Persona games.

- That said, the Quests and Talk scenes were REALLY cool, it provided us with some awesome interactions between characters and did a wonderful job at including the newcomers Erina and Toshiro. Things like Yusuke wanting to see Legionnaires fall from the sky, Haru blowing up everything to let off steam, Erina trying to summon a Persona and being a worthy rival of Ryuji in the aspect of yelling at inappropriate times… it was all very cool. Also, the Quests were amazing in gameplay if you like puzzles. I don’t like it, but I had lots of fun with it.

- The game is kinda short, and it felt like a waste to have only two Kingdoms with a strong historical theme (the French Revolution and the Meiji Revolution), the other two Kingdoms felt kinda bland. I think it would have been nice to insert at least one or two other Kingdoms with strong revolution sceneries.

- The story itself is very cool. Erina is amazing since the start, but Toshiro is a character that really grows on you. He starts off being very annoying, but since the main story is all about his development, you end up liking him more, and the transition from “adult pain in the ass” to “honest man trying to do the right thing” is very nice, and his background is amazing.

- There’s a specific scene where you, as Joker, can pick someone on the Phantom Thieves you’d want to marry, and that includes Ryuji and Yusuke as well. I really loved that scene because, although Ryuji and Yusuke scenes are more inclined to comedy, in no moment it goes like “whaaaaat, you want to marry Ryuji, that’s weird man, no homo”, quite the opposite, in both Ryuji and Yusuke options the act of them marrying Joker is seen as totally normal, without making fun of it, and well, it’s not just the boys’ options that tend to comedy, if you pick Makoto the scene is also hilarious. Sure, it could have been better, but we’re talking about Atlus, every baby step is a reason to rejoice in that way. Who knows, maybe in Persona 6 we’ll FINALLY have a MLM romance option.

- LAVENZA IS BETTER THAN EVER, it’s her best version of all times, she radiates 1000000% of that Elizabeth and Margaret chaotic energy and I FUCKING SCREAMED WHEN VELVET ROOM TURNED INTO A FUCKING TRAIN OH MY GOD THAT WAS SO FUCKING AWESOME HELL YEAH

- Salmael is the generic god final boss, normal to every Persona game. But one thing I didn’t like is how it’s not directly based on any entity like Nyx, Izanami or Yaldabaoth. Sure, you can argue that it’s based on Samael, but it doesn’t make any sense, since it’s only in the name, nothing in Salmael’s motivations have anything to do with Samael. Aside from that, well, can’t say much about it, just the regular “god-that-looks-for-excuses-to-fuck-up-humanity-while-trying-to-justify-saying-they’re-actually-saving-it” that we have on every Persona game.

- I think the game is kinda easy. Sure, it’s a good thing for those who want to enjoy the story, but I beat the game on Medium and had literally no difficult whatsoever aside from some Quests (and in those cases, the difficulty is more related to solving a puzzle than facing actually difficult enemies). The damage input is mostly small, the AI is not really smart and you have access to very strong skills early on. Dunno how that would go if I tried on Hard, but Medium felt more like Easy to me. And I don’t mean that as “I’m too good for this game, it’s so easy for my standards”, but I really think the game difficulty is not that high, which can be good for some and disappointing for others.

Now about Repaint Your Heart, the DLC:

- CAN’T BELIEVE THEY ADDED SPLATOON TO THE PERSONA + FIRE EMBLEM MIX, THAT’S SO CREATIVE, SOUNDS REALLY DUMB AT FIRST BUT WORKED SO WELL

- The story itself is not that bad, but not that good either. Guernica is cool, Luca is cute, but their story wasn’t that touching for me, I couldn’t empathize with them properly.

- Still, the DLC was cool not only because of the Splatoon mechanics, but also because of Akechi and Kasumi interactions. If you play it knowing what is happening at that time (it’s before Sae’s calling card, so Akechi is already part of the Phantom Thieves, is in the middle of the plot to betray them and assassinate Joker, and Joker is fully aware of that), it’s awesome because you can clearly see the moments when Akechi’s figurative mask fells off, and you have many dialogue options made to provoke him.

- Don’t have much to say about Kasumi, she’s cute and nice as always. Also, THAT SCENE OF HER LEGIT WILLING TO PICK UP TRASH WITH LUCA, HOLY SHIT

- I want to turn Jerri into fried chicken, but her motivations seem kinda dumb, I mean, she’s a servant of Salmael, who wants to “save” mankind erasing all will of conflicts, then she brainwashes Guernica to kill all of manking using conflict? Makes no sense at all unless she was rebelling against him, and that’s clearly not the case.

Well… it was quite an experience. I loved it.

[cogandstar]

long and ramble-y post about persona 5 tactica and politics below the cut. spoilers and all that jazz, thou hast been warned.

persona 5 tactica has Interesting politics to me. because, well, it talks an awful lot about revolution and that jazz. and in the Kingdoms, you do a fair bit of revolution-esque stuff, complete with mass movements which are necessary for the overthrow of tyrannical rulers.

(the rebels are tbh one of my favorite parts of the game, especially with how they could very easily have been relegated completely to background noise, but instead at multiple points they are key for the success of the Phantom Thieves. it's great!)

in the cognitive realm, the game seems to come down pretty solidly on the side of "revolution is worth the accompanying violence" -- see the scene of Yoshiki presenting the Thieves with footage of the rebels suffering against the Aizen Squad, and, of course, the final boss being a god of peace who has decided to crush the revolutionary impulses within the hearts of humanity to ensure peace and tranquility.

Salmael is actually pretty interesting as a criticism of that general mindset of "peace over positive change." he's kinda (or at least can be read as) a symbol for the same thing Disco Elysium represents with the ideology of moralism. the thing that's most striking to me about him is his second form, wherein his appearance changes to be partially composed of bullets and other symbols of violence. with this, not only does p5t argue that the maintenance of peace over positive change is bad, but that it is, under the cover of gentility and nonviolence, itself fundamentally built upon violence and force.

it's not that hard to construct a leftist reading of this, even without the influences of Soviet constructivist art on the menus and UI, and the presence of Che Goddamn Guevara as a heroic Persona in the form of Ernesto. it's a game where the heroes organize mass movements to overthrow tyrannical rulers based on, respectively, a wealthy corporate heiress and a corrupt politician. (i'm not really counting nakabachi because he's not a real ruler and also Kingdom 3 is just less political than the others, it's very heavily focused on Toshiro as a person without really even a political surface level.) then, the heroes fight against the God of Liberalism, revealing the hidden violence underneath its guise of peace and moderation, and ultimately defeating it.

but you kind of run into an issue of like, what are the Thieves' revolutions for? ultimately, they're basically just all against what the tyrants do. in kingdom 1, they're against a wealthy aristocrat forcing people to set up a wedding for her and her forced-groom. in kingdom 2, they're against a ruler running an all encompassing surveillance system and forced labor camps. in kingdom 3 they're against school staff blackmailing students for personal gain.

and i think it's notable that both Marie and Yoshiki are mainly presented in settings that distance them and their wrongs from modern day capitalism. Marie's Kingdom is based on vaguely-revolutionary France, and she herself is fairly clearly based on the pop culture image of Marie Antoinette, from her name to her behavior and aesthetic in the Kingdom and even how in the real world, she makes reference to "the poors" and "commoners." if there's any class being criticized through the character of Marie Anto, it's not the bourgeoisie -- it's the old feudal aristocracy.

Yoshiki is also distanced from modern electoral politics by being predominantly shown in a world based on Bakumatsu-era Japan. it's also notable that, in the Kingdom, he is described as being a general, not in any way elected. so while in the real world, his power comes from the edifice of liberal democracy as it stands in Japan, the system that you actually lead a revolution against is a feudal-military dictatorship.

this is all without mentioning that, underneath the political veneer, the Kingdoms are all in-universe metaphors for what's going on in Toshiro's head. in the end, everything's very personal! and ultimately, after Toshiro has gone through all his character development and unleashed Che Goddamn Guevara as the manifestation of his true self, what does he do in the real world?

he gets two specific bad actors arrested, apologizes for his personal role in their corruption, and then restarts his career as an electoral politician.

as soon as p5t retreats from the cognitive world, so too does it retreat from the idea of revolution against prevailing power structures. i cannot recall a moment where anyone, really, even considers the thought of revolution against the systems that produced Marie and Yoshiki and Nakabachi; they have defeated Salmael and gotten the bad actors arrested, so it's all good.

so, i guess in summary, p5t presents pro-revolution (even pro-revolutionary violence!) and borrows aesthetically from communism, and though you can certainly read certain parts (i.e. Salmael) as fairly pointed criticisms of liberal capitalism, but. considering the game as a whole, it's structured in a way that distances its arguments in favor of revolution from those modern power structures both by limiting them to the metaphorical realm of cognition and by structuring the most political cognitive realms as historical oppressive structures.

[0heartangel0]

PERSONA 5 TACTICA IS NOT GREAT: A VERY ODDLY-CONSTRUCTED RANT

Pt. 3: This Is Not My Jam

Originally, I was gonna talk about the gameplay next, but I realized that in order for my argument of it to make sense, be accurate and fair, I'm currently stuck in a rather long bit of "research", so to speak. So, for the time being, I'll move on to my next complaint that doesn't require extensive comparisons, which I hope to be short and sweet: The music!

....it's very forgettable-

OKAY! Like I said from the beginning: I'm not here to judge people's tastes! If you enjoyed the music, that's great! Flippin', blast that crap while doing a power study at 3am all you want, I ain't stopping you (except for your neighbors likely filing noise complaints).

But, for me personally, they just didn't click with me.

As of me writing this, I had JUST listened to the full version of the opening theme ('Revolution In Your Heart'), and have immediately forgotten most of how it goes. Not to be harsh, but it sounds like someone trying to write what they think a Persona 5 song sounds like. It just doesn't have the *oomph* factor that would classify it as a Persona 5 song to me.

It doesn't have the high energy of 'Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There'.

It doesn't have the excitement of 'Colors Flying High'.

It doesn't have the motivational feeling of 'You Are Stronger'.

Unlike those openers, Tactica's opening theme doesn't give me that feeling - the feeling of wanting to move, and not just in dance. It doesn't get me hyped to play a game, where I'm overthrowing tyrants for the sake of

And the same is sadly true for the rest of the soundtrack.

(Update: Listening to Revolution In Your Heart again made me realize that in comparison to the other openings, Lyn here is getting drowned out by the music. The other openings leave her crisp and distinguishable from the instrumental. I haven't touched it, yet, but the mixing in this game is not very good....)

I'm glad almost everything is original music, apart from this one rendition of 'Beneath The Mask' at the very beginning of the game, as well as - of course - the Velvet Room theme. However, once again, almost none I remember too well and don't sound like Persona 5 songs. And yeah, I know that sounds contradictory to what I just said about liking that we're doing original music, but what I meant by it was that they don't sound like songs that would *come* from a Persona 5 game. It's just....eh.

What makes it most astonishing about all of this, mainly in regards to the battle music, is that unlike P5 or P5S, you'll be listening to these songs for about 5-10 minutes per level due to the nature of Tactica being a tactical rpg, so battles would run longer. And yet, despite P5's and P5S' battles running shorter (as a turn-based rpg and Musuo-styled rpg respectively), I still remember 'Last Surprise', 'Take Over', 'Axe To Grind', and 'What You Wish For'. Once again, I think it comes back to those songs having more energy and oomph in them by comparison.

You could try to make the argument that they probably wouldn't try as hard with the soundtrack due to it being a spinoff game, and to that, I say that that's a bad faith take to make, because A) that's a harsh assumption on the song writers for this game's soundtrack, as much as I dislike it. Looking it up, there's over a hundred tracks for this game, so they'd be obviously busting their butts on this soundtrack. It's just disappointing to me that I myself didn't find it worthwhile to listen to, personally. Besides, I already know there are people out there who disagree with me on this, so on that front, the songwriters succeeded.

And B) have you not listened to a single track from *any* Persona spinoff?

I already talked about some of Striker’s songs, both PQ and PQ2 have bangers in there, especially since they're balancing the song styles from all three modern Persona games due to the nature of them being crossovers, and Arena created themes for every fighter there, and they all fit them and *slap*! I don't include the Dancing games, since they're already based solely around the music, and most are just renditions or remixes of already existing songs.

(God, I just reminded myself of that terrible remix of 'Mass Destruction' they did in 'Dancing Moon Night', and now I have to apologize to the Tactica soundtrack, because its only crime is being just forgettable, unlike....that thing.)

There's only ONE song I remember, albeit, rather repetitive. It's called 'Abyss Of Despair', and it plays when you fight the Eri monster thing. However, there's only *one* reason I remember it: it reminds me SO much of 'Memory' from Undertale.

It's probably just me, but I just wanted to point it out.

But...I don't get it? Apart from the energy, I feel like there's this other "thing" that's missing in these songs. I've been trying to wrack my brain to come up with the explanation. What is the secret ingredient that makes a Persona 5 song *feel* like a Persona 5 song?

So, I've been listening to some tracks from P5, P5R, and P5S to maybe find that secret sauce. And after listening to the openings of all three back-to-back...it hit me.

It's.....

THE VIOLIN!!!

Think about it! A vast majority of P5 tracks have the violin as a major component in it. There are a few exceptions, mainly the palace and jail themes, but I let those pass because they're supposed to represent the rulers of those places, so they themselves would be given specific instruments ('Price's' zurna, my beloved). To me, I feel the Phantom Thieves themselves are represented by the violins in the music, which is why you mainly hear it in their battle tracks and infiltration themes.

You immediately hear it in 'Last Surprise:'

You hear it in 'Life Will Change' about 45 seconds in:

You can hear it in 'Daredevil' a few seconds in:

Hell, I got curious and looked at 'Counter Strike' to see if they had it (for I only recall the electric guitar), only to immediately be hit with that violin:

And going back to the beginning of this post, you can hear it in all of the openings.

All of them, except for Tactica's. And that's when the crux of my argument becomes realized.

I went back, and listened to random tracks on the Tactica soundtrack, and I didn't hear a *single* violin. No even a cello...

Even the songs done by Lyn don't have them ANYWHERE! Not 'Got Your Tail', not 'Inextinguishable', and definitely not 'Truth Or Dare' (I might do a reblog that adds these three Lyn tracks to show it, because I've run out of space, according to meany Tumblr....).

How could they forget the violins???

I get they're trying to go for a more "revolutionary" sound to the music (which is why you hear a lot of marching drums and guitars (mainly of the electric variety) in them. And a low synth, apparently...), but P5 was already about revolution in a sense. It's a bloody synonym to REBELLION, P5's main theme! And even then, they still could've kept the violins to keep the P5 sound. But, they chose not to for reasons that escape me.

So, in conclusion, I'm not big on the soundtrack to Tactica, and my findings have led me to conclude that it's because some lone bandit snuck into Atlus' headquarters, and stole all of their violins. The only thing they had left was little Ami's drumkit, so worked with that.

Pt. 1

Pt. 2

Pt. 4

Pt. 4.5

Pt. 5

Pt. 6

Pt. 7

[indagolive]

I forgot how much I just... loved playing games.

Like recently I've started/continued playing Persona 5 Tactica, Xenoblade Chronicals Definitive Edition, Paper Mario TTYD, Kirby Return to Dreamland, Legend Of Zelda a Link Between Worlds, Kid Icarus Uprising and Splatoon 3, ALONGSIDE my constants of playing Minecraft, Smash Ultimate and Pokemon

For a while I was trying to manage doing one game at a time, so I wouldn't have started a new game until I beat the one I was currently playing. But I think that just caused me to have less time ENJOYING each game, and just made playing the current one feel like something I HAD to do.

I'm not exactly super far in any of the games I mentioned, but I'm chipping away at all of them when I feel in the mood. and it feels great! Genuinely, if you've caught yourself in the mood of "I don't know what to play", I promise you just grab one thing from your "Backlog" and just start chipping away at it. Even if you have no intentions of finishing it for a long time there aren't rules to how you enjoy Video Games.

[moldsporr]

I can't stand the Persona fandom on twitter. I found out that in Persona 5 Tactica, you can pretend to marry all the Phantom thieves except Morgana, Akechi, and Sumire. And I was so excited!!! This is great!!! Then I see this article (linked so you can read the full thing yourself)

And like. Come ON. Is there anything "obsessive" about gay marriage here???

The way people are reacting to this post is insane. There is??? No sexualization here????? Gay people aren't inherently sexual. I thought people had moved past that.

Of course people were going to be worried about how they handled it. Did they forget about the gay couple/drag queen npcs??? That was fucking awful.

Twitter needs to implode

[akechi-stole-my-heart]

“We could give you a codename, if you want,” says Kurusu-senpai. “Just for while we’re here.” “That's a great idea!” says Luca-san, and Kasumi finds herself swayed by the younger girl. Though there's still one problem… “I have no idea what it'd be, though.” “Let's make this quick—the enemies are treading closer to our current hiding spot, and we wouldn't want to be ambushed,” says Akechi-san. “Maybe…Appetite?” suggests her senpai, and Kasumi feels her face flush slightly. “Senpai! I really don't eat that much…” “Leotard?” offers Luca-san. “Or is that too literal…?” Akechi-san sighs loudly, clearly unamused by their ideas. Kasumi finds herself grateful more than anything. “May I suggest Violet?”

A collection of scenes taking place during Persona 5 Tactica's DLC Repaint Your Heart

[p5x-theories]

So we now know that the only song on the P5X soundtrack to be composed by Atlus staff is the OP, Ambitions and Visions, which is a Kozuka (SMT4/5/5V, Devil Survivor 2) and the rest of the songs have been done in-house by Black Wings Studio staff. This is super impressive to me, they've really nailed the style of track that I would expect from Atlus composers like Kozuka and Konishi. Toshiki Konishi is one of my favourite composers, and just compare his tracks like 'Abyss of Despair' (Persona 5 Tactica) and 'Prison Labour' (Persona 5 Royal) to RageEducation, that new datamined track. They've really nailed one of the styles he uses, super cool stuff.

Yeah, the music in the game has all felt very Atlus, they're doing a great job!! I'm really looking forward to hearing more from them, all the music has been very fun so far.