#that's a lot of why i want a remake tbh i do think atlus has gotten better at that stuff. p4's beary much a product of its time

[kumakuma-circus]

honestly yosuke's romance being removed is kinda funny to me cuz like. obviously it sucks. but also i feel like they removed it in like THE most low-effort way possible and it's hilarious to me, he still says some of the gayest shit imaginable i feel like they barely changed his dialogue honestly. and they keep making him say gay shit in the spin-offs too from what i've seen??? p4's relationship with gay stuff is so all over the place it's kind of funny even if the homophobia does obviously suck-

[estercity]

catherine full body first impressions before i disappear again 👍

idk if so much has changed between catherine and full body because its been years since i played the first game but from what i'm seeing there's much more character focus this time. there's more context to vincent's relationships with both catherine's AND his friends which is nice to see, as well as more relationship mechanics to give them focus. there's a lot more inclusion of erica as well, she seems much more part of the friendgroup this time and it's missing that Hostility vincent had for her in the first game. there's also much less tongue in cheek about her gender which... thank god lmao.

i love the extra animated cutscenes showing flashbacks and bonus scenes which help explain why these relationships spiral so quickly. the animation is kind of... eh. like it's not awful but since those animated segmants were few and far between in the original game you really notice them now that there's so many. idk if it's me as well but i don't remember the 3d animation being so animated? like it was definately exaggerated because of atlus' distinct style but the voice acting just doesn't match the energy at all, which makes it weird to watch

i think they're trying to make katherine more 'likable' aka 'softer' than she was in the og game (they flat out call her maternal which is 😒 okay.) and... i don't hate it? because i get why they're doing it, it's to emphasise she's like the comfortable and safe option for vincent vs catherine but at the same time i LIKED how much of a hardened buisness-orienated woman she was in the first game. it really showed she represented the 'order' to catherine's 'chaos', but she's still that in a lot of ways so it's whatever.

they hint at catherine's two-faced nature much earlier on now, which again i understand but i don't love it. i guess it's a symptom of it being an atlus remake where they expect you to have played the first game before playing the remake, which i think is stupid but its whatever. either way i wish they'd let it build up more

overall vincent is just so much more likeable so far. idk if that's a symptom of including rin, which if it is things are going to get very rough. outside of him being the scumbag he is though, he seems way more pathetic than just actively dislikable... and that's also because of how the nightmare sequences are framed, but i don't really want to get into that rn until i've played some more and confirmed some things.

rin is a bit shoehorned in but i don't think there's any other way she could have been included tbh, she is a new character and atlus doesn't really know how to introduce new characters without it feeling disjointed lol.

anyway, i like it so far. i can't wait for it to all go wrong

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Not to sound too depressing, but I get the feeling p3d and p5d turned out the way they did bc they were less for those that played p4d for the plot and more for those who played for the "plot" if ya get me (also didn't they both start development before p5 released?)

Ya all good anon. By any chance do you mean a cash grab that takes advantage of its super lore audience (aka me, little Miss Lore Whore)? Yeah. It def does. 

Which is a shame, if they had just combined what they had released as one game, then it wouldn’t have been as much of an issue (would’ve had more gameplay to compensate the lack of plot). And it would’ve appealed to the super lore audience, and fans of rhythm games in general. 

I really don’t like how spinoff games have been handled in the P5 generation. By which I mean how Atlus has handled these releases and timing.......also the content, tbh I think the content of all the spinoff games post P5 have been bleh 

Like there’s upsides, P3D had some good dances and remixes and Sho, PQ2 has FeMC and pretty great characterization again for P3/4 casts and it esp did Yosuke/Teddie justice, and P5S has interesting gameplay, story/plot? bleh bleh bleh not a fan (that’s for another time, it ranges from passable at best and disappointing at worse). 

But yeah the development and releases of these games have been so jank. There’s no direction like the P4 spinoffs were. At best we have a “dreams” theme going on....which is like.....the thinnest threat linking them together, that a passing fart could make it fall apart (unless there is something deeply connected with all of them, which there doesn’t seem to be since it’s just....even the word “dream” being mentioned is like the link, let alone it being implemented, I doubt there’s anything REALLY connecting them). 

I really don’t know what Atlus was thinking or why they did what they did. BUT, if I was them, which I’m sure some of you are probably happy I’m not klfjdksla;fjajf, regardless this is how I would’ve possibly done a release(tbh I’ve changed my mind on this a few times, just depends on how they want to approach it):

After P5->P5S->P3Remake(w/ P4G port if possible)->PQ2->P3D/P5R(explained below)->next P5 spinoff->maybe a few more->P5D(/P3D)

(my thought process) So P5S and P3Remake could switch, depends on if they want to springboard off of P5′s popularity with reintroducing fans to old characters, or right into the PT’s next adventure (P4 technically did remakes after vanilla, but did spinoff after golden). I think P5S would be better, follows P4/Arena style of release which was solid. We also don’t have people confused over canon in the game and it can literally just act like the P5′s Arena 1 (aka it can serve as canon for both P5 vanilla and the later P5R game)

After their adventure, we use the popularity to reintroduce to old fans/introduce to new fans the P3/4 cast with a remake and port (P3 is in need of a “complete” ver which is why it’s getting remade). Maybe add little content that could foreshadow PQ2 events and would you look at that, it all leads into PQ2! And hey look PQ2 has more impact now! As well as appropriate hype built up that might lead people into buying a game on a dead console! Now P3D/P5R.....how P3D is handled can go a different way, in this case we can use P3 remake/PQ2 to build up to P3D (which would have it’s own unique story) or save it for later. P5R but P5R would release around now which would lead up to another spinoff game or two. And then end it with P5D (which, depending on how P3D was handled, can either be grouped together, ooooooorrrrr it’s own thing). 

It’s at least a lot more planned out and connects the dots more than just going “Uhhhhh P3/5D dancing!!!!!! Uhhhhh PQ2!!! Uhhhh P5R! Now a proper P5 Spinoff as P5S! Uhhhh?????” I feel like P3/5D (with the triple pack of P4D) was supposed to try to build up PQ2 but like?????? You don’t get to know the chars like you do in the base game, you’re missing key people (Goro, Shinji, Koro, FeMC) esp if it’s to tie into PQ2.....it’s just a mess.

Sorry you brought up development and it made me go on a tangent. Yeah I think the development did start a little early. It just feels like a not well thought out cash grab. Very upset. DX

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Persona Fandom Problems: Guide to legally buying Persona games so Atlus can see the money

So I guess I’ve heard this is a problem in the Persona fandom as a whole (aka both old and modern Persona fans) within the last few months (or at least I’ve seen complaints within the last few months)? So fans are demanding certain Persona *insert thing* but they don’t actually legally buy/support the thing when it comes out for....whatever reason. Is this really a thing? Like I don’t want to believe it (or at least believe it’s as rampant as it really is) but if that’s the case....well....now you know one of the reasons why I’m making this post. The other is that, more recently, I have seen people complain about how they can’t support these games so Atlus sees the money so they have to turn to emulation, which I’m not shaming you (you do you, I don’t know your situation), you can emulate but.....you can/have the ability to still buy these games in a way that Atlus (or I guess *insert game*) can still get the support. And fun fact, sometimes there are summer sales which can make the games go down in price even more, so yay you support the game and you save some money! So yeah not saying you HAVE to support them, but this is showing that you still have the ability to support them if you can......and tbh money speaks volumes for businesses so this is also to show how you can make your voice heard (aka if you want a P1/2 remake, you should probably buy the digital copies). (last note: inb4 someone says Atlus is financially alright now, yes that’s true but this is more for wanting your voice heard, not trying to keep Atlus from going under, financially they are fine but again.....you want remakes of a game you want? You probs should back it up by buying the game). 

Note if it’s bolded, it’s roughly how low the game has gone on sale on the PSN during an Atlus Summer day PSN sale(from what I can remember/find old archives of said sales) or other place if specified, otherwise the sale listed is the current price of the game digitally at the time of this posting. Also note this is mostly for the USA people (but I wouldn’t be surprised if the prices were translated to roughly the same amount outside the US), but since 90% of the stuff on this list is digital and Sony, and Play-Asia exists, it shouldn’t be that hard to make a USA account and get a USA PSN card off of Play-Asia (or other 3rd party website) so like it’s do-able outside the US....it’s a hassle but just an FYI that this post isn’t 100% alienating anyone outside the US. Anyway moving on. (Under the cut for the list)

If you have a PS3 only:

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (PS1 classic, $3.99/9.99)

Persona 3 FES (PS2 classic, $5.99/9.99)

Persona 4 (PS2 classic, $5.99/9.99)

Persona 4: Arena (PS3, $14.99)

Persona 4: Ultimax (PS3, $19.99, or if you have PS+ during the month it was free, then it is free for you and you save about $20).

Persona 4: Arena Story mode (Ultimax DLC, $9.99, aka you get the story of Arena and Ultimax for $29.98 instead of $34.98) 

Persona 5 (PS3, $19.99)

(PS3′s can cost around $80, rough total cost off all games[P4U+Arena DLC story only, aka not including P4A’s game itself)): $65.94/79.94 +$80= $145.94/159.94

If you have a PSP and a PS3 (*see explanation below, PSP games below listed only):

Persona 1 (PSP, $/19.99)

Persona 2: Innocent Sin (PSP, $/19.99 )

Persona 3 Portable (PSP, $/19.99 )

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (PS1 classic, $3.99/9.99)

(PSP’s can cost around $70+PS3′s $80..... All games together= $63.96/69.96+70+80= $213.96/219.96, a lot but on the bright side, you’d probs just need one P3 game and you’d have access to roughly most titles in Persona between the two consoles)

If you have a Vita or a VitaTV (and a PS4 or PS4 controller**):

Persona 1 (PSP, $/19.99)

Persona 2: Innocent Sin (PSP, $/19.99 )

Persona 3 Portable (PSP, $/19.99 )

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (PS1 classic, $3.99/9.99)

Persona 4 Golden (Vita, $/19.99 )

Persona 4: Dancing All Night (Vita, $/24.99 )

Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight (Vita, $39.99)

Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight (Vita, $39.99)

(Vitas are about $150 at gamestop, but you can maybe get them for under $100 online. Luckily the vita has access to almost all the Persona titles, and is probs one of the best consoles to invest in for Persona, of course the games will run up a decent penny until they either A) go down in price mainly P3/5D, or B) there’s a sale.....so what’s listed now might get cheaper later....also the fact you don’t need to buy all the games all at once. All the games+at max GameStop costs is...... $188.92/190.92+150=$338.92/340.92)

If you have a PS4

Persona 5 (PS4, $19.99)

Persona 4: Dancing All NIght (PS4, Bundle only it seems, $100 on PSN and has gone as low as $49.97 new at Gamestop, but for 3 games for about $50 that’s pretty good)

Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight (PS4, $59.99, individually it has gone on sale new at Gamestop but I don’t know how low)

Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight (PS4, $59.99, individually it has gone on sale new at Gamestop but I don’t know how low)

Persona 5: The Royal (coming soon)

PS1 retro console:

Revelations: Persona (has other games too, $19.99/59.99, the $19.99 price is at Best Buy at the time of this posting/making of posting). [probably the cheapest way to pick up P1 if you don’t mind playing the half finished butchered version......tho unlike the digital sales, I don’t know if Atlus is seeing royalties on sales of these]

For 3DS:

Persona Q1 (3DS, Nintendo Shop has it for $19.99)

Persona Q2 (3DS, $29.99/39.99

(I think the cheapest system is a 2DS Original preowned at Gamestop for $59.99....tho again you might find it cheaper online, with the games that’d be $49.98/59.98+59.99=$109.97/119.97)

*The reason you need a PS3 with your PSP, it is because Sony shut down the PSN shop for the PSP, BUT you can still get games digitally for those games via downloading it through your PS3 into your PSP. (also fun fact, the PSP games dropped from like $30-40 to $20 which used to be it’s summer day sale price but who knows it could go down more if Atlus feels like it).

**PSVita TV needs a PS4 controller

***Only did prices of PS3, PSP, PSV, and 3DS cause I know they are older and some people might not know the cheaper prices

*****I only listed the prices of consoles for people who might not own them, not saying you HAVE to buy the consoles but it’s there so you have an idea of what you are looking at (also not listed for the PS3, a bunch of MegaTen games are available in the PS2 classic store too: DDS1, DDS2, Raidou 1, Raidou 2, and SMT3 for about the same prices as the PS2 P3/4 games. So it’s a great way to get into the other MegaTen games too along with the 3DS). 

****** “I want to buy these games digitally but I don’t want to buy the console right now” fun fact, you can make a PSN account online and just buy the games from your computer! And if you ever get a console for said game, you can always log in with that account and ta-da you have a game to play! Not saying you HAVE to do that either, but in case people were wondering if they could.....well now they know. 8U

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

My stance on P5 (cause apparently I need to explain myself :/)

So someone just told me someone was vagueing about me on the confessions blog (can’t say my name cause it’s against the rules but they’ll try to get as specific as they can 🙃 if you have issues just be a real anon hater and send to my inbox directly you coward). And I’m not going to do a reblog to that post, because I’m pretty sure that person must be on my blog. Because the post they were vagueing me about was......not tagged.....in the P5 tagged (I did not tag it as P5 nor Persona 5), it was just a post that was on my blog (now if it showed up in the tag or search I dunno why but I didn’t tag it for P5 for a gd reason cause I keep it to my blog). The post was me pointing out how P5 when they first enter Futaba’s dungeon they didn’t have shoes on, but after the cutscene they DID. The post was more comical (with me getting salty in the tags, but then you’d have to go out of your way to read my tags). And tbh, I’m half and half, yeah I know it’s a nitpick, and I’d just chalk it up to an animation error and let it go usually, but it’s P5 and that game is already inconsistent with it’s plot/world building/characters/anything important that I’m like “nah I’mma rag on it cause it’s just one more thing they screwed up” so I’m like half let it go and half rag on it (fun fact, when I saw they didn’t have shoes on I was gonna make a post saying “hey look this is cool, nice attention to detail” and then they messed it up literally 2 seconds later so dklsjf;afa yeah). (oh and btw, it wasn’t just “one” character, it was the whole PT cast at the time 8U” at least get it right 8U)

But the thing is......that was just a post on my blog, I’m not me berating the P5 tag. So that means you, person who vagued me, tend to go on my PERSONAL BLOG. So like....why are you on here? No, don’t ask me about me and P5, I will answer that, but you answer why are you bothering looking at my personal blog? Is it cause of certain content I post? Then just blacklist certain tags (like my “silly plays” tag cause nothing really interesting happens in that tag, or my more negative “persona problems” type tags), I know I need to be better at tagging my asks, but if you like my original content then just.....go to the OG content tags (aka videos/pictures/edits/coloring)? That way you avoid anything not made by me? Or if you don’t have a reason and you’re just here to be mad cause someone doesn’t like your game, then block me. You don’t seem to like me, so just....why are you here? You seem to want to ask why I’m here with P5, and I have my reasons, but if you don’t have a reason to be on my blog then why are you on it?

I’m not saying this to be mean, but I don’t want to be policed, esp if someone is going to be hypocritical about it. And it’s annoying to see vaguing (cause imo you are as bad as someone who sends anon hate, but you don’t have the balls to just send it to me directly XP)

Ok now where’s my stance on P5? I don’t like it, but it’s a part of a larger series and lore which I do LOVE! Which means, considering I’m a LORE WHORE, it doesn’t feel right to just skip a game esp if it could contain info about the MegaTen/Persona lore (or even Character lore) I want to know. In fact, I really hate it when I’m talking lore with someone and if expanded info is brought up from a side game they are like “Oh I didn’t play that game so it’s not canon” No Bethany, just because YOU didn’t play a game doesn’t mean it’s not canon. And no, no one is bullying you over the fact you didn’t play it, you just don’t like being wrong and the person was like “Ok well it IS canon and it’s in the game, you don’t have to play it but you.....can’t ignore this fact, also why are you arguing this part of the lore when it’s heavily established in said game you ignored???? I mean you do you but don’t get mad when someone corrects you. No one’s forcing you to do anything.” Ahhhhrrrrgggh so many convos I’ve seen happen, I’m not going to be on the end that I hate. DX<

Also, P5 is not the entire Persona fandom, so while I put up with it and indulge in it by association, it doesn’t have the ownership of the fandom (like with all the original games+ spinoffs+all remakes/ports and P5S/P5R included, but not mobile games, it’s only 23% of all of Persona in terms of game entries, and that’s overlapping with crossover games, and if we included other stuff P5 is def a minor aspect in terms of entries). It’s not that hard, I’m just a bigger all around Persona fan than I am a Persona 5 critic (I don’t want to say hater, because it feels like it sounds like I’m hating it just to hate it, when really it was a game I was excited for and loved and then it just burned me bad and I’m just dealing with the scorn). Always keep in mind, I loved P5 before I hated it, it’s probably why I’m as salty about it as I am, because I love P5′s potential and....I was just let down (it wasn’t unrealistic expectations, like I said earlier, P5 contradicts itself.....all over the place, it’s hard to ignore and it’s not something that was as big of an issue, or even an issue at all, in other games). 

Why do I still post P5 stuff when I don’t like P5 (by which I mean...posting about the OG manga raws, or wanting to do a partial game to anime dub or even would be willing to help with editing a fandub for the anime)? Because I remember being a newbie Persona/Megaten fan, getting into the series, and wanting to know more about it and it’s side materials but then not being able to have access it any of it (because it was still prettty niche when I first joined and I had no money at the time). I want to give people access to it! Sure it’s harder for me to now to devote time to it (than it was a few years ago), but I want to help with giving access to this Persona/Megaten stuff now that I have some ability! And it also means P5 as well gets some of that love. 8U

As for why I was replaying P5, so this is one thing that’s making me wonder if you are a regular on my blog or not because I’ve been talking about playing the Korean version (but in my one post I forgot to type “silly plays P5/Persona 5 KOREAN” so yeah I forgot to specify Korean at the end). So tbh....I’m actually ignoring P5′s writing while I play (cause I’m just going through the gameplay motions), cause I don’t know korean. 8U And I’m mostly using that tag as a means to point out different things in the korean ver (no that much, but yes Ryu’s shoes ARE censored 8U). But why? Well.....I talk about it here and there but anon/person....1) I’m a trophy whore, I love plat trophies and P5′s is super easy I can get it (and I’m not above playing bad games, oh yeah burn, I’ve played a lot of bad games for plats, and I’ve also played the same games multiple times for plats, I do this to myself but really I don’t mind replaying P5 4+ times for 4+ plats esp since I don’t really have to pay attention). 2) I’m a big MegaTen/Persona collector, I want all the plats I can have (I plan on platting the other versions of the all the dancing games on Vita and PS4, P4G, and the versions of Catherine I don’t have, like I legit have a gd excel sheet keeping track of the versions of Megaten games I don’t have yet....I’m just doing P5 cause it’s 1) one of the easiest to do and 2) it was easier to get my hands on them atm). I don’t talk about my trophy hunting on here that much tbh, but that’s.....really a big reason why I’m doing it (plus with the Korean/CHinese ver I don’t have to pay attention to any story so it’s all good! :D) Yeah I do it to myself, but I don’t really mind. 8U And I mean I tend to keep most of my P5 issue on my blog too. I think the only two posts that I put in the P5 tag were 1) a few consistency issues I wanted to meme about (aka the I’m about to head out post, which was actually the 2nd post I made on that topic but I decided to just meme that one, so I thought it was better than me just bitching, at least I tried to make it a bit funny yet informational 8U), and 2) something that I tbh had an issue since I back when I liked P5 (aka wishing they worked on speeding up the loading times and the fast forward feature), so since I was playing the game I was like “That reminds me, man I hope they fix this in the re-release!”. As for english P5, the only reason I’ll be playing P5 OG in english is for either archiving reasons or research reasons (probably both at once so I don’t have to play through it more than once again).

As for P5R, uhhhhh I’m excited for Kasumi (Jose is cool too, and the new dungeon has me interested too, and all the P2 demons coming back to it makes me wonder what else is/if anything is coming back), she’s my main draw. Yeah it’s connected to P5R, but she looks so much like Hamuko I JUST HAVE TO KNOW WHAT’S UP WITH HER! Hamuko’s my girl, and I need to know if Atlus is going to do something with that, or if I need to be pissed for them literally lifting Hamu’s face! Am I gonna get pissy about P5R’s new add-ons (aka, I’m aware that P5R is probably going to keep the issues from OG P5, so I’mma just judge P5R based on it’s new content)? Yeah, if they kept up the same writing P5 OG had. So yeah, I’m probably going to get pissy if they eff it up, but I’m not going in pissy, going in with really low expectations tbh, but I’m giving it a chance. But if they don’t eff up the new stuff then......that’s good! It means they did something right. So far Kasumi is not Marie so we’re off to a good start. I’m hoping the keep that momentum. 8U

So yeah, I think I have valid reasons for staying, maybe you don’t like it anon/person, but they are there. 

tldr; someone feels like the need to police me despite the fact they could just ignore me (even tho it seems like they specifically came to my blog to get mad, rather than me clogging up the tag, like I post there maybe once or twice every 2 months). My stance on P5 is that I deal with it cause it’s part of a bigger fandom I’m a part of and the fact I love the lore of that bigger fandom so it’s not like I can ignore it. I also have a Playstation trophy problem. 8U And I’m excited for Kasumi is that so bad???? (also I didn’t mention it, but Anne/Haru are enough to keep me around 8U)

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Persona 5 Problems: Are the P5MC’s parents good/bad/abusive/grey?

Hoooo boy I dunno if this is happening anywhere besides the confessions blog (btw leave the mods alone, they are good people that have to deal with all of our salty butts) but...... I guess we need to talk about it. I should note this isn’t my own personal “Persona Problem” it’s more of a “Persona Fandom Problem” (which I haven’t done one yet, or at least published....still working on the FeMC one 8U but that’s off topic). 

So if you don’t know things have been getting heated in relation to if P5MC’s parents are good or bad/abusive or grey, and so on. Everyone raises good points tbh! Some.....not so good (on all sides) I should note I’m completely neutral tbh (I prefer a more grey backstory, but I can swing any which way with this interpretation tbh!), as long as the interpretation is well written (by which it addresses some of the grey ares the game left), be it positive or negative, I think it’s fine. So this isn’t someone who is....like....super biased to one side (not that anyone can be unbiased but concerning this topic I’m as close as I’ll ever be to it). 

Anyway what is the answer to this question? Well I have your answer guys! It’s open and to be left up to the interpretation to the player! :D DON’T GO-! ;w; I’ll explain myself under the cut, I figured you’d at least like to know my answer going in. Even if you don’t want to believe it, it’s very much the fact that it’s left up to interpretation due to the sole fact there’s not enough info to go on (even if we nitpick the living shit out of it we don’t know the parents’ motives). Anyway, I found there’s some key info people missed out on (blame Atlus for keeping that tidbit a bonus missable quiz show thing) and also looking into the real life JAPANESE juvenile law (just....cause I’m afraid people are trying to use their own country’s law and try to apply it to Japan, and this required some research, tho I feel like I still have more to learn this is what I could find 8U)

Last thing I should note, a lot of this might come off as “defense for good/neutral” parents, but there’s something you need to remember. WE KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THEM. Not their personal reasons or mindset as to why the MC was allowed to move to Tokyo. We don’t even know if they do or don’t call him because they are unimportant to the story. Everything is left up to the player’s interpretation, and regardless of what route you wanna take, it will require SOME explanation. Good/neutral parents, you’ll need to explain why they are absent or why they chose what the did during the course of the game, but you don’t really need to explain the MC’s choice to go back to them (cause in his mind they are good). Bad/abusive parents, you won’t need to explain their lack of presence during the game (cause it’s really easy ‘they’re just bad’ see? not a whole lotta thought needed), but you’ll run into some issues as to why the MC returning home is a good ending (so you’ll need to explain that). Grey parents, you have no choice but to explain things for legit everything they do/don’t do in the game. Regardless of what you subscribe to, you’ll need to explain something that isn’t explained in the game....and guess what? Regardless of your explanation....it’s not canon. Because the game itself doesn’t explain it. You can headcanon as much as you want, it’s encouraged, all of them are valid, but unless Atlus remakes the game where they give the parents actual personality/character, nothing will be canon. And that’s ok. You can explore a lot of different things thanks to this, it’s frustrating but you have to take the good with the bad. Now, why am I explaining stuff that is inconsiquential considering nothing is canon (and everything is permitted, ...no AC fans?...ok ;w;) regarding this? Well call me a devil’s advocate, but it also shows how someone can come up with a valid reason rather than ‘just cause.’ Ex: MC’s parents don’t give him any money, what’s their financial standing? Side A: They are well off and are just assholes who don’t want to help him. Side B: They aren’t well off, I have no reason just....because. Not the best comeback right? Well what if we changed Side B’s answer to: They aren’t well off, because he’s going to a private school in the city and that might be siphoning more of their money than they originally were doing before and thus might be struggling. Gives more weight to Side B no? Both interpretations are valid, because we don’t know the MC’s parent’s financial situations of course (please remember we know nothing as I bring up things people may have missed/overlooked/didn’t know), but Side B now doesn’t sound like it’s just saying stuff ‘just cause.’ 

Anyway, all that preface out of the way, actual analysis under the cut: 

So.....let’s start off with analyzing what we do know about the game! P5MC’s court case went by faster than an episode of Law and Order (very unusual, I think even mentioned by the game, so some of the “hmm but couldn’t they have done had the MC be in a different school in his hometown under probation” is just game going to game so we won’t worry about that too much, his sentence was to Tokyo so that’s what we are going with! tho tbh the game does kinda handwave a little explanation as to why he’s in Tokyo, Principal literally says they are the only one who would take him....and well rather that’s realistic or not game gonna game so yeah moving on 8U) 

We know the MC’s parents sent him to Sojiro. We know Sojiro is a probation officer (something I noticed people seem to forget in the confessions). MC was sentenced to live in Tokyo via the courts orders, the parent’s agreed, and the parents made arrangements to stay with Sojiro due to a connection with a shared friend of their’s (also probably cause he’s also a gd probation officer but that’s not stated as a reason, just want to make sure you are aware Sojiro is a probation officer). MC is accepted to the only school (in Tokyo, or maybe the country not specified) that will take him, and will presumably be able to integrated in the school due to no one knowing about his criminal record (aka he gets a clean slate). During this time Sojiro state’s to briefing the player on the MC’s situation "*laughs (I think only in the JP ver)* In other words, they got rid of you for being a pain in the ass" (there’s a few things about this line I can mean a lot of things and I’ll get into it later). He says if MC causes any trouble he’ll throw him out......And then later saying if he problems he’ll be sent to juvie (wait....so doesn’t that mean he’ll just send him to Juvie? Not on the street? Sojiro you make no sense....just gonna bring it up here, ‘throw you out’ seems more in line with Sojiro being ‘tough love’ than actually threatening while the juvie is a legit warning to the MC, only way I can reconcile why he’s saying that, esp since he’s a lot more serious voice acting wise when talking about juvie and the two times he uses ‘throw out’ in the first two days he’s a lot lighter/flabbergasted/not as serious sounding, just a thing to note). The next day the principal states that if he’s kicked out, he’d have nowhere to go. Sojiro also states the reason he took the MC in was for money (as well as being asked and accepting, but keep in mind with the money, he kind of slides that in at a last second, this is key). 

So yeah it seems that the parents might have had to dump him there and might not be happy with him......Key words: “might” and “it seems.”

Here’s a few things the game.....doesn’t make clear, Sojiro’s attitude during this time as well as some key info you’d miss unless you’d look into it.

Let’s start with Sojiro’s attitude, he’s def taking the “tough love” approach to the MC (I think a lot of people can agree he’s being a hardass cause that’s what he thinks the MC needs right now...dunno why but yeah), and he’s also lying to the MC on at least one thing. Wait what? Lying? About what? The money. Surprised? I know this info isn’t mandatory in the story, it’s easily missable! Anyway, it’s very likely Sojiro isn’t getting paid (and this can both hurt and support the parents so don’t think this is an execution for the parents), and so he just lied to the MC. If you don’t believe me, here’s the game stating that probation officers (and with Mona’s commentary, including Sojiro) don’t get paid.  So....why lie? Well again he’s taking the tough love approach, and he’s def faltering on the 2nd day, and the way he stumbles to answer the MC and adding the money at the end might show him trying to keep up with the tough love act by showing he’s only in it for the money even if he isn’t (and thus lying). He could also be lying about the pain in the ass thing too, either cause he’s already lying about one thing so what’s stopping him from lying about another thing, or the fact that that in the original Japanese, he laughs when he says the MC was kicked out for being a pain in the ass (as well as his portrait changing to the smiling one)....meaning he’s either lying or just joking (not the best time to make a joke like that Sojiro 8U). All that being said, his words do not imply the parents said that, it could be all Sojiro. So saying “he got it from the parents” isn’t supported, not saying it’s false or you can headcanon it, but the text does not support the parents said that to Sojiro. So you can’t outright claim that as fact. I’m not saying the parents didn’t say it, but there’s nothing proving that they did nor didn’t.

“Ok but why dump the MC with Sojiro? He’s just some rando right? A STRANGER! THEY DON’T EVEN KNOW HIM HE COULD BE A SERIAL KILLER-!” Ok let’s take a breath guys, yes Sojiro is only a friend of a friend but.....keep in mind....he’s a probation officer (hogoshi/保護司 specifically, ref original dialogue in this jp walkthrough/guide here) He’s not just “some rando” it’s his (volunteer) job (nonetheless it’s still a job) to look after kids like the MC. And not just any old job, the dude has to go through training for 2 years on top of having to take a test that’s looked over by the Japanese Supreme court it’s not something just ANYONE can be (source, pg 8, but also the wikipedia pages have shown this as well) Like 1) he’s qualified to take care of him, 2) MC needs an officer (or at least he’s getting one whether he wants one or not) tbh it’s kind of the thing I’ve found by via reading, 3) it really helps that he’s a friend of a friend that can vouch for him AND he’s an officer. There’s really nothing wrong sending the MC to Sojiro if he’s destined to go to Tokyo, Sojiro is literally better than sending him to a legit “some rando.” (I should note, while I can’t find the exact website that stated it, this one does also mention that there aren’t really enough probation officers atm, I dunno just something I came across so like that fact could’ve also played a role in the MC moving in with Sojiro due to not having a closer officer nearby but I dunno) (edit: also remember when I brought up the tough love thing in regards to throwing the MC out up top? I stated that because throwing him out would be.....well.....against his job, and unless he’s throwing him out to sending him to juvie, it would be....kind of unethical on his part to throw the MC out on the street and counterintuitive to rehabilitation that Japan really emphasizes).

But why send him to Tokyo? Well remember the court ruled it, I guess the ruling said “go to Tokyo” (probably cause there was a school and a probation officer that would make that possible). Sure his parents agreed, but can you really say no to a ruling? I guess you can, but let’s look at what they were probably facing. The courts probably ruled that they send him to Tokyo or to Juvie. Tokyo is def the better option (at least he’s not in basically jail, and Japanese juvie isn’t something to laugh at) so I can see why they’d say yes (Tokyo means he gets schooling and a clean slate and not in jail, and juvie means he’s in kid jail and....hooo boy not good and can screw him for a number of reasons). Or they could’ve appealed to the court instead.....except that Japan isn’t really.....all that great when it comes to appealing stuff, there’s also the fact the only school “nearby” that would/could take him was Syujin. As again, stated by the Principal that he’d have nowhere to go if kicked out of Syujin:

And considering how long the appeal process would be (like years), on top of the fact it would probably be fruitless due to how Japan is with this type of stuff (guilty until proven innocent), MC would miss out on an education. Which would be VERY BAD. So the parents probably were like, “Ok, clean slate in Tokyo, still gets to go to school and get an education, guardian seems good, and it’s only for one year.” It should be noted this was all done in a short amount of time (even mentioned in that very scene with the principal if you wanna cross reference). Regardless if they like their son or not at this point, this reasoning makes sense. They made lemons out of lemonade.

“Ok but why didn’t they contact him?” What makes you say that? It could happen off screen. “But that’s just such a bs explanation.” Yeah but they aren’t exactly super important to the story, no one really complained about the P4 MC’s parents doing that (I mean he has similar hc about neglectful parents, but not everyone subscribes to that), so does it matter? But....consider this, what if they COULDN’T call/contact him? By which I mean they legally couldn’t. This thought crossed my mind when reading about probation officers in the beginning pages of this pdf file. While it seems the probation officers will be in contact during an investigation period for a trial, we know the MC’s trial was very unique so they might’ve skipped/fast forward through it. But one of the things they do is investigate the home life situation. So consider this, what if the parents....were deemed the reason the MC got into that situation. I’m not saying they are violent, but maybe the MC got his mentality from his parents (aka, save the weak, or maybe a parent was an activist or an ex-delinquent but was a great parent) and the courts deemed that could’ve been why he got into trouble. Because from my research, Japan is about rehabilitating the youth/criminals. They want to find the source, and change it. If the courts decided he needed to get far from home and have limited contact with his family, that could be why. Not saying it is what happened, not saying it isn’t what happened. Not saying they didn’t call him, not saying they did call him. Again, this is grey area and open for interpretation. This is something that COULD happen irl, but I’m not saying it did happen in P5 (it could, you can headcanon it, there’s open room for it, but it’s a headcanon, not actual canon, and there’s not really anything that could....well.....oppose it but there’s nothing that outright supports it..... Again this thing is all grey and open 8U)

There is something else that had me wondering about something not explained in the game. It’s about the type of school the MC was going to.....and how much it costs. Because, in Japan you need to pay tuition to go to school! This is something I know from just....consuming media, it comes up, and after researching that’s kind of the norm. Why bring this up? Well...it’s because I want to explore the possibility of the MC’s financial situation (which, money is a whole freaking mess in P5, but one thing at a time). Anyway first we need to know what school the MC is going to. The Megaten Wiki (always take with a grain of salt keep in mind) states that it’s an “elite prep school.” Ok, well does that mean it’s a private school? Yes actually! It’s not going to outright say it in the speech bubble but the game does have a banner saying it:

Hidden but I found it gosh darn it! >:D As you can see, I was also researching what the tuition differences between public and private are....and well...it’s pretty big. There’s a few articles (here’s just one, mentions how lower income people can still attend, aka Ryuji and his Single mom....btw single moms are probably one of the poorest groups in Japan, also here’s another source) but it can double to quadruple depending on where you go. So if you want to go the “why aren’t they giving the MC more money” this might be why, because they are paying for the MC’s education. And/or maybe they are just paying Sojiro directly (we dunno if he’s telling the truth about that or not). Or MAYBE the parents aren’t exactly well off and are just trying their best. (of course maybe they just don’t give a shit and are footing the whole bill onto Sojiro, again we don’t know, there’s not enough info given about them or the financial situation, so....it shouldn’t be debated 8U).

“Ok but why aren’t they feeding the MC/taking care of him?” Why them? Right now it’s not their job, it’s Sojiro’s. It annoys me that no one blames Sojiro even tho THAT’S HIS JOB right now. “Sending only a small box of his stuff?” Can explain it as basic necessities, Japan tends to have small living spaces regardless so it could be just what the MC needs. “But can you argue that?” Yeah you can, but you can also argue that it’s not enough....but it’ll get us nowhere because there’s not enough info (which is pretty much this whole issue but yet here we are). (btw this is connected to another issue with how Persona, but specifically P5, handle money in the main story....which is poorly, esp since they are thieves and are earning money just.....sigh....that’s a separate issue but throwing that out there). Basically, anything aimed at the MC’s shitty living situation or poor health while in Tokyo can easily be pointed at Sojiro, because he is neglecting his duties to take care of the MC while he is in his ward. It’s not 100% the parents fault for not knowing Sojiro isn’t as great as they thought (it’s like thinking blaming them for sending MC to Kamo’s school, they didn’t know Kamo was a shit bag, maybe they didn’t even know who Kamo was or that he’s at the MC’s school, you can’t blame people who go info that this person is great and then they turn out that they aren’t behind closed doors). THAT BEING SAID, I’m not saying Sojiro is a shitbag or bad (if he is doing a bad job, it’s not the parents’ fault for like....believing the guy will do his job, it’s like expecting someone not to trust a doctor to do his job, but yeah I just want to specify when I said above “not their fault for not know Sojiro is doing a bad job” is for argument’s sake I don’t think Sojiro is), but if we ARE going to complain about the MC’s living situation....well....he’s the one to point fingers at. And are we going to complain that Sojiro doesn’t feed him? Actually I see that’s probably the next natural step as the next discourse, “He feeds the MC breakfast so we can assume he feeds him every day!” “Well Mona states the MC doesn’t eat well enough, so maybe Sojiro isn’t really doing that!” I personally think Sojiro feeds him, the game is just dumb with out it handles money and that’s a different argument for later, also please don’t make this the next discourse. 8U

So what have we learned from this? That the situation isn’t completely black and white, and that there’s not enough info from the parents to go on to be able to characterize them.

Basically you can have abusive/neglectful parents who are making Sojiro pay for everything and basically wanted to get rid of their kid ASAP. And only take him back because it’s proven he was innocent (I mean.....the game is a little weird and he basically got out by turning himself in as the leader as the PT but sure whatever game). 

Or you can have parents who are trying their best in a shitty situation (choosing the best option for him, while possibly being forbidden to contact him via the court), paying for his school (which either hurts them cause they are poor, or just because there’s just because school is so expensive) and assuming Sojiro is doing his job taking care of their kid. 

Either’s fine, as long as the grey area is explained it’s fine.

“But what about the roadtrip?!” Oh for the love of. Ok 1) Sojiro might’ve informed his parents (depends on if he was lying about not knowing where Futaba/Mona were at the beginning), 2) It’s probably not a roadtrip but a detour which isn’t a shocking thing by any account (reasons being a) Futaba didn’t tell Sojiro where she was going so she’d need to return at some point that day or else HE’LL be worried and are you going to argue Sojiro doesn’t care about Futaba too?, b) no one seems to be packed for anything longer than a day away from home), 3) and/or they could’ve texted them that he was going to be home a little late. 

Like train is def faster than car in Japan, but like......stopping to look at the ocean (or just drive by, or just taking the MC the long way home to spend a little more time with him).  It’s not anything scary, he’s getting to his destination. “But Ryuji said he wasn’t taking him straight home!” doesn’t mean it’s a roadtrip. Like calm down y’all. 

Also one last note, cause I feel like some people might bring it up, the anime, mangas, drama cds (at least P5′s atm), and anthologies aren’t outright canon, by canon I mean “the game is the main canon, everything else is just an outside interpretation.” In case people want to bring up P5′s one anthology chapter (that Saito made btw) where P5MC hints that the adults in his life didn’t believe him, or the P4 manga which actually goes into Souji’s backstory. Yeah those aren’t canon to the games. So don’t go using it as facts to back up your argument. Just....a warning. 

So yeah, tldr; everything is grey, it’s up to you! Don’t go around claiming your headcanon as canon, but your headcanon is valid! Also do go around shitting on other’s for having a different headcanon (esp if they aren’t going around claiming it as canon). And btw not saying I’m fool proof, if you guys have researched JJL and find something new that I missed, or just another side of the argument I didn’t address you can point it out and I’ll add it below this point! 

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Persona remakes from Greatest to Least likely to happen

Or remasters or ports or whatever you wanna call ‘em, thing is Atlus always calls them a “remake” even if they aren’t one by definition. Anyway my theory on how/why they’ll do it this way. Excluding P5, cause considering modern gaming right now, unless it’s being ported to the PSV people might throw a hissy fit which tbh they should if Atlus tries to pull that stunt. XP Again this is mainline games and not side games, tho I’m sure we’ll get some ports of those.....hopefully. Also don’t say “But I want Persona 6 or some other spinoff” cause Atlus has proven they can do two things and more at once (and it’s not like they have to make a lot of it from scratch so why not). 

P3>P4>P1>P2 (or they can mess with us and do the PSP/Vita release, which is P1>P3>P2IS>P2EP>P4 and the reasoning really just comes down to “same order as PSP/Vita remakes” so let’s ignore that)

P3: Listed first because it’ll have the most assets to work with thanks the the dancing game. It’ll have Persona Models (thanks to P5), most of the P3 Cast (mostly from P3D with P5 giving us random NPC, and Catherine for.....the cameo...hey maybe we’ll get to see 3D Not!Vincen/Mole!Vincent!), environments (P3D), and other environment models (like chairs n’ stuff, from P3D/P5). The timing for it would be perfect as well due to P3D’s release. Also I would not be surprised to see a MaleMC/FeMC appear in Catherine FullBodied (actually I’mma side post about that cause that would be cool).

P4: tbh this can be anywhere from first, second, or last to be released, mostly due to being the most popular of the 4 and Atlus either wanting to pimp it again ASAP or basically “save the best for last.” Anyway, it’s the same as above, minus the environments to be made. But, on the plus side, P3 remake will probably give us Shadow (both overworld and in battle) which is the same that P4 uses, so yeah. P3 will need to make it first, but P4 will be able to use that, so one less thing for P4 remake to make.

P1: Why put this above P2? Shouldn’t it not matter since they all need 3D Character models and will take a lot of time? Well other than probably wanting people to play a remake of P1 out first for the sake of order (I mean P1 characters do show up in P2). But....I mean....I think they do have character models for MC, Maki, Phil, Yuka, Elly, Nanjo, Brown, and Mark. Heck maybe even some environment models too! They were just in cutscenes from the PSP game. I mean it’s not like we can datamind it, cause it’s a cutscene not an actual model (and it’s pre-rendered) but.....Atlus should have those models. And they are pretty close to P5/Catherine’s models, maybe just some tweaking (aka they don’t need to start from scratch with P1). 

P2: If Atlus can use the stuff from the PSP, then P2 has less to work with than P1 had. It’s also best to save this one for last (or 2nd last if they want P4 to be last) because maybe they can even make it a 2 in 1 for once. If not EP will luckily have an easier development time than IS thanks for it’s stuff. XP

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

@tehsharkster Just going to show the one reply to save space, sorry ;w; Also under the cut cause long response=semi long reply and yeah 8U

Oh no I agree, there are times it’s hit or miss (I’m not saying it’s perfect, I was just defending the good parts of it cause you know....I enjoy it and I know other’s probably do as well, I didn’t mean to come off as the dungeon thing was inferior as I think P2/PQ did it really well but I do kind of lean towards the calendar system). Esp just P3 in general, not just November but night times are not utilized to their fullest potential, tho P3P FeMC route gave us more SLs during that time tho so that was a good improvement, but even before P3P, Atlus improved on the nightime with P4 (having 4 instead of P3′s 2, and then P4G adding more stuff to do in general so that was good). But P3P went a step farther with it’s SLs and force stopping the SL for the males before the plot thing happens, yeah it can break the flow but it’s the best way they’ve found so far that integrates side story and main story (tho tbh I prefer the SL stopping suddenly than waiting to be able to start the SL EVEN THO I ALREADY HAVE MAX CHARM OR KNOWLEDGE GDI YUKARI! MITSURU! ;W; Ahem, sorry, replaying P3 I realized Yukari won’t SL with you till after the Yakushima thing and it was frustrating me that other characters would say how close we are even tho we couldn’t SL with her and it feels like a bit of a continuity error or at least separation of main plot and gameplay esp with the responses you can choose from. ;w; But yeah I have a problem with having to wait to start SLing with people even tho they are technically available ;w;). And totally, I feel like a good handful of P3 characters were wasted/rushed (even tho I think P3P fixed most of it with how her story is structured, only having a month for Shinji and Ryoji is really stressful. ;w;) But in P3′s defense, it was their first hoorah into the fray so it’s obvs gonna be weaker/or messier compared to P4 and P5. 

No I agree, Naoto does come in pretty late, but I’m also no a fan that Mitsuru and Aigis won’t SL till late as well (tho at least we do talk to Naoto a few times prior to her joining the team, and Mitsuru and Aigis are more engaged from the beginning and I understand why we had to wait for all 3, they’re all handled better than poor Haru. :/) Oh yeah I agree P2 had a great narrative, the only possible breaks between the narrative I can think of is all the grinding/dungeon crawling (and depending how bad you are it might break the flow cause you’re grinding so much, but luckily even I haven’t run into this problem like I did with P1, and tbh I think P2 has the best flow so far). Then again it could have been because they had a smaller main cast at a time compared to P3/4/5 (5 party members at a time vs the 10/8/9 party members), which might be why they compensate with the calendar system to get all the characters the new games developed but it means it has to go on longer. And I totally agree, they should really fix some SLs that don’t really take that long of a time but yet you spend the whole day with them *looks at Fox as well* (at least have the option to go at night for him Atlus 8U). 

I agree, P5 is probably best structured for the calendar system (feeling like a Kaitou TV drama, tho tbh I always felt like P4 emulated a crime drama, ok Scooby Doo based crime drama but a crime drama nonetheless 8U, they both emulate tv shows so yeah that might be why I think they fit the best).

As for the Valentine day thing, haha, oh man. If you hated P4G’s you’re going to loathe P5′s. XD At that point in the ending, it’s been dragging on for like a while and it just adds to it (even tho I was personally waiting for the Valentine’s day and Christmas Eve thing, it still took too long even for me XP Sorry getting war flashbacks over how long it too @.@ XD). Anyways, P5 has the same thing, can’t remember if you can back out of it tho (tho if you don’t want to go with a girl I think Ryuji is your alternative option). What I didn’t like is how the game makes you interact with Marie and Nanako, even if you didn’t choose Marie (or no one so I guess Nanako would be default if you chose no one, but I’m mostly aiming at Marie since yeah....you can’t really avoid Nanako). Though I don’t think it’s just for Otaku/Waifu lovers but for shippers as well (speaking as a Persona shipper, I can totally tell you a lot of us wished that the game integrated the romance partner thing more in P3/4 story or at least give us more than just the rank 10 and christmas eve, which is probably why they added Valentine’s day tbh). But I do think you should be allowed to skip it if you so please (I know a few people who like to do the friendzone run and that’s completely fine, they should be allowed to do that), I mean if you’re able to do it for Christmas Eve you should be able to do it for Valentines day. 8U

But yes I agree with you, it’s not perfect, but there’s pros and cons for everything (and can see Atlus slowly getting better at their own formula with each game). And I don’t think it’s bad to prefer one over the other (even tho I might prefer the calendar system, doesn’t mean I suddenly want P1/2 to have that, cause those games were not made for that). Hopefully they can continue to improve their formula with each new mainline game and remake.