Weekly Gaming Blog · 7:55pm Apr 7th, 2017
Welcome to my Weekly Gaming Blog!
This week's coverage:
PERSONA 5!
Gonna say this upfront: Atlus' godawful PR nightmare concerning game spoilers and some issues with the game's localization have dulled the years of anticipation for some gamers.
I'm trying very hard to shove all that shit aside and just enjoy the game on its own merits.
All the same, it sucks that I can't offer up screenshots and videos to share with you all as I play through P5. 
Anyway, for today I'm just going to share some general thoughts. I'm only six hours into the game. For next week (and thereafter), I'm going to write up a "The Story So Far" thing in this space. I figure that'll be enough lead out time. A lot of you are WAY past me already because I've been trying to lock other things down this week so I can spend all weekend doing little else but P5, so...for both my sake and others', be mindful of plot spoilers in the comments, OK? OK! 
Newly acquired games this week:
Take a wild fucking guess.
Persona 5
Current Progress: 4/15 (After School)
I already posted some first impressions Tuesday night, but I have some other thoughts to share:
- Sojiro is a complete asshole, and the rationale behind him taking in the MC is shady as fuck. Every single interaction with him makes me want to punch him until his brain bursts.
- Holy fucking HELL this version of the Velvet Room. 
Also, I despise Igor's new voice.
- Sucky Moto? Sock Emoji? Suck A 'Modo? Sack Of Motors?
- So the central theme of Persona 5 seems to be social injustice: that those in positions of power and privilege can get away with damn near anything, and anyone who opposes them gets torn down and turned into a pariah.
- So uhh...this is awkward. 
Persona 5's Mementos/Metaverse Navigator App works so fucking much like Zodiac and the Zodiac App Zef and I came up with for Persona EG.
- It's interesting that Atlus replaced the Shadows from P3/P4 with standard SMT demons.
- P5's Persona Awakenings are the sickest and most awesome thing ever.
- There is too much interface noise in P5. Especially that loud sound the game makes every time you brush up against ANYTHING you can interact with. After a certain point, that just gets on your nerves.
- The interface in general has a shitload of detail and movement involved, though. I love the "run through the rewards" thing you see after most battles.
- Some pathfinding and objective markers would be nice, especially in the goddamn train station. 
- Not so much a fan of the forced Solid Snaking in this game, I never cared for stealth, but...eh.
- I miss P3/4's AOA dustball rushes. ;_;
- The whole "cognition" thing irritates me. It should be "perception".
- Morgana is a meowster manipawlator.
- Ushimaru reminds me of a hard-right conservative Bible-thumping fundie asshole. Like, one of those godawful "pray the gay away" fire and brimstone guys. Hell, he even LOOKS like...oh god, what's his name. Can't think of the son of a bitch's name right now, but you know who I mean.
Igor has a new voice due to his Japanese VA dying, so they changed it in conjunction. Though I´ve heard there´s a plot reason he has a new voice. Won´t spoilt it though. And Sojiro, right now in my 5/18 I wanna say, is a lot nicer. He seems to somewhat care about the protagonist, at least with boosting up his Social Link
You'll get used to these changes (probably), I've made it to 6/17, and it gets better. But yeah, Igors voice is not great.
Yeah, I miss Igor's old voice, but I understand they changed it to match the Japanese change. I've only made it to the first dungeon, so now I'm unsure about what to do first/next. There's an option to check what other people did, but early to mid-game is always hard (finally kind of done with intro cutscenes, so many things to choose from, like social links, or dungeon, or working on stats, etc.).
I just wish walking around the school building wasn't so annoying- hearing the same rumors over and over and over again gets boring fast. It'd be nice if someone could talk about something other than "criminal record" or a certain teacher. Sojiro ain't much help either.
Not too surprised about the Metaverse app thing- plenty of other modern shows use cellphones for these kinds of "magical" things. I remember sentai that had different transformation items, now these days everything looks like a cellphone.
So, what did think of the video I showed you on Twitter?
4487865 Didn't watch it then, not watching it now. I don't do Youtuber...stuff...sorry.
While I also miss the previous new Igor Voice, I do like the new VR. I'm kinda surprised there's no Lupin III reference or joke yet.
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4487879 I think it adds a sense of...horror to him. Igor always was kind of creepy
4487879 - The main characters persona IS Arsene Lupin...
4487901 I appreciate what they were going for, don't get me wrong. It's just not my cup of tea.
Does that mean you can talk to them again like in Persona 1 and 2?
4487875 Eh, doesn't matter, anyway.
4487973 Yeah, itś a game mechanic. A ¨Hold Up¨
Wait, the Zodiac app was an idea of yours and not something you took from a Persona game?!
Color me impressed.
You can actually pursue a romantic relationship with multiple women but it is not recommended for obvious reasons.
4488123 It gets pretty funny when Valentines Day comes around. Let´s say all but one gets pretty pissed and they team up to kick Akira´s ass. One, however, gets depressed, as she had made something for you
4488304 I've seen the vid. Soujiro doesn't count since he's a guy.
4488311
4488311 You know some controversy arose over there being no, as far as I can tell, gay options for the MC? Granted, Japan, from what I know, doesn´t really have a very good view of the gay community, seeing it as a ¨gateway¨ to a hetero relationship, yaoi and yuri in anime and whatnot aside
4487901 I kind of liked how he looked super creepy/evil but sounded a lot closer to a simple professor type character. Felt like just another way they were making P4/G's point of acceptance and not judging on appearances.
4487929 I mean the anime, Lupin III. Kinda surprised there's no reference to Zenigata or Fujiko, stuff like that.
4488374 Eh, I can see that. But well, the voice is different is that this Igor is a fake, an imposter
4488387 Yeah I wouldn't expect it since the Persona Arsene is based on the French character Arsene Lupin, so it would not be terribly appropriate to have Lupin III references.
Unsurprising, perhaps, but unlikely.
4488426 ....yeah, you're probably right. Just thought it would be kinda cool.
I tried to think of a way of telling you that it seems like someone at Atlus is reading P:EG regarding Zodiac/Metaverse Navigator in such a way that wouldn't have spoiled it for you if you had not gotten up to it.
I agree, SOME sort of pathfinding thing before you get Thieves Eye would have been nice for those of us who have not experienced the Japanese Train System. Thank Ame-No-Mikoto (Coolest Aunt To Us All) that my states train system is saner than "change trains three times just to get to where you want to go"
I'm waiting for most of the other DLC to drop. Hopefully, if it's gear DLC, it won't be "You received a package from Tanaka's Amazing Commodities. You found out that it isn't addressed to you. Before you can tell the delivery guy, he's left. You decided to keep it. You gained [ITEM]" but more like "A Godslayer Needs Macca/Apps/Jewels/Demons", where if you wanted the items, you had to EARN them.
I'm annoyed that the game forces you to fuse a persona when chances are, most of the fusions you can make are either doubles or use Arsene before he hits his eventual peak or are too high level with snarky comments from Sour and Sweet about how you can't handle it.
4489577
All DLC other than Language (found in the Load game option) and Merciless Difficulty (in the choose a difficulty option) are inside the storage box in your room. Just click on it, and you'll get it.
Honestly I bought the Japanese version months ago because I thought it'd be better to just learn a new language than wait for an even more ridiculous amount of time to play the game. I'm on the day before the school trip ... and damnit! The english version has a lot of things that suck (such as the Warden Twins ... Caroline used to be moe and adorable. But still semi-firm.). I really f'ing miss Futaba's puns, and Megido made a lot more sense (and had an awesome word pun for it in the Japanese version). Medjad sucks goat balls I have no idea why they changed it to something so gawdaweful.
But it does have some good moments ... and it's almost (like 65%) worth playing in English for the fact that I can understand what's being said without a mix of a transcripted partial translation of the game, Google Translate on my phone, a Japanese Dictionary, and gratuitous checking of the logs that I used when playing my Japanese version.
4490062
There was a rant here about Atlus selling power. It no longer exists. I am disappointed in Atlus, as they seemed to be one of the few game companies that didn't sell power directly.
In my view, you don't directly sell power. You sell it indirectly, so as to extend the amount of time the player plays the game trying to earn the shiny toy. Atlus did this with SMTIV and SMTIV:A, in that the most passive the player was with the DLC was to watch a video, which unlocked that video to watch at any time. Everything else kind of had to be earned in some way.
Mind you, since Persona differs quite a bit to vanilla SMT regarding time limits, they could have had the items locked behind the equivalent of side-quests. I'm hoping that they were retained for P5, but some NPCs looking for some sort of common drop item and hearing a rumor that you were into cosplay, thus giving you Seta's/Minato's/Naoya's/Tamaki's/Tatsuya's outfit and gear would not go astray.
4490637
Which sadly isn't the case. I mean sure there are armors you can wash in the laundromat to get better ones ... but it's nowhere near as cool as P4's side quests. And all of the cool armors and items are bought in the DLC. Although there are some good ones in the Electric Chair Itemization, they aren't as powerful as the DLC stuff T_T.
But yeah. A lot of players have been angry at the ATLUS Tax for years now Subpar English VA's, mispronounciation of names /places / items, and lack of things found in other modern JRPG's. But being charged higher prices as if they were a high end JRPG. Even with their older titles.. I mean. Personally I liked the Japanese version. Even with how difficult it was for me to play it (seeing as how my Japanese is pathetic XD.). But the English version, for how long they made people wait for it ... a part of me really hates the US ATLUS atm. and yeah. Them walling their good stuff behind DLC is a D-move. They did the same thing in Devil Survivor (and DS 2).