Golden

Me:

 

 

Me:

 

Paul: Hahaha

Paul: What's up with that second image?

Paul: I don't remember that.

Paul: I'm surprised you liked something so anime, even so.

Me: I loved it.

Me: Also made me incurably sad so

Me: Six of one, half dozen of the other.

Me: Like all games are fantasy, right?

Me: Being a badass space marine flying around the galaxy banging blue space babes and punching machine gods, pretty obvious.

Me: What’s the fantasy here, having friends who’ll hang out at the mall with you?

Me: Yet both seem equally fantastical now.

Me: Do you ever feel too old to play high school slice of life dating simulators? After a certain point, there's no way that the Persona games were meant to appeal to you. This game came out in 2008, so like 12 and a half years already. That's more than three times the amount of time it takes to finish high school. Even if you were around high school age in 2008, there's no way you still are now. Does the high school aspect ever feel juvenile to you as you grow older? Do certain aspects seem rather childish and not like something you should consume if you've already been out of high school for over a decade? I don't mean to be overly self-conscious, but playing as teenagers who are going through teen drama seems out of place for middle-aged adults.

Paul: Nope. I'm thirty-eight, and Persona 4 remains one of my all-time favorites. Just went through a couple months ago, in fact.

Paul: Most persona fans are pedos anyway.

Me:

Me: Did you play the vanilla version? The Golden rerelease for the PS Vita has an epilogue cutscene where you go back to visit like six months later and retake the photo.

Me: That’s the only version you can get on Xbox, Switch, and PS Whatever Number They’re On Now.

Paul: Oh woooow! Feelings for anime.

Paul: Yeah I got it for the PS2.

Paul: P3 is good but I haven't finished it so if you play it, no spoilers.

Paul: But it takes place in an Elite Private High School that is on an island for some reason IIRC...so what it really lacks is that feeling of the postindustrial boonies, the laziness and open spaces of a mid-sized town full of normal people in an out-of-the-way part of a country.

Paul: Yeah childhood was something else.

Paul: That being said I hated the mall and just stayed inside reading.

Paul: It has an Animorphs feel, yeah.

Me: Can high schoolers even appreciate games that are largely about living your youth to the fullest? They're too busy stumbling through and wasting it, like we all did.

Me: Jake and Marco would have only grudgingly befriended you after finding your head in a toilet.

Paul: Roadkill is delicious.

Paul: Umm so in the Golden version there's bikes?? and bikins??

Paul: Sounds totally worth it.

Me: Idk what all was not in the original version but there are social links for Adachi and a new character called Marie who is revealed to be the embodiment of an ancient Japanese deity in the body of a teenage goth girl.

Me: You can ride scooters to new areas and explore Okina City and the beach on foot when I guess they were only in cutscenes before.

Paul: Oh damn you got a beach!! Congrats.

Me: Postgame you go on a ski trip!!!

Me:

Paul: What a fascist.

Me: I can’t believe Chie decided to become a cop.

Me: Just like Harvey Potter.

Me: It was a pre-ACAB world.

Me: Good thing I didn’t follow that romance path, I guess you could say I “dodged a bullet”!!!

Paul: A hot cop.

Paul: Dude whatever that's hot.

Paul: So what, did you used to hang out at the mall?

Paul: I was basically a hermit as a teenager.

Me: No, that’s why it’s a fantasy lol.

Me: She was cool but every time I’d try to compliment her she’d blow me off like “Oh Roger-kun, you’re so funny, I know you don’t mean that” so I went for the Instagram influencer who couldn’t shut up about how much she wanted to blow me.

Paul: She was a lil minx.

Paul: No mixed signals there.

Paul: The other girls were a little scared of how open she was to romance and sex, like, they were nervous teenagers and a little prudish (makes sense!)

 

Paul: But she was dtf like a 30-something single mother.

Paul: IMO she was the most sexually mature of those teenage girls.

Paul: "Most persona fans are pedos anyway."

Me:

 

Paul: I liked how shy Chie was, and how hard-working and straightforward.

Me: They were all good characters.

Me: Well Yukiko was a little boring.

Me: My heart went out to Rise’s story about being shy and awkward at school and her only goal in becoming famous was to make people like her, but even then they only liked her celebrity PersonaTM.

Paul: Ahahaha

Paul: It's the Great Gatsby once more.

Me: It’s masks all the way down, old sport-san

Me: But she was sweet and genuinely liked spending time with your personality-less blank-slate avatar, what more can you ask for?

 

Paul: The blank-slate avatar character in JP games has admittedly always been kind of creepy.

Paul: I'm not making fun of you, I genuinely like the parallel you found there.

Me: The character needs to be an empty vessel for you to inhabit, like when the Ellimist put an aspect of himself into a mindless clone body to bring thought-speak to the Andalites.

Me: It’s actually more offensive to me that they gave the P4 protagonist a “canon” name and voice so they could put him in spin-off media lol.

Me: Somebody is probably still mad that Gold and Silver named the RBY protagonist, but at least he still didn’t talk.

Paul: I haven't played any other games in the series much tbh.

Paul: P4 seems to have done the small town vibe really well, doesn't seem like P5 or P3 nail it.

Paul: I was thinking about P1 and P2 but they're hard to emulate and really annoyingly difficult it seems.

Paul: Dude we should play Terranigma, I own it on repro cart but I haven't played it.

Paul: I think it's about teenage boys on an adventure through time or whatever.

Paul: I love the other games the creators have made.

Me:

 

Me: How did 5 “jump the shark” in your words?

Me: Promotional web editorials say that it’s the best one!

Paul: The main villain is about as likeable as Adachi but he joins your party for a time and explains things, and you're supposed to sympathize with him.

Paul: Main plot doesn't make sense.

Paul: Then again the music and visuals are incredible.

Paul: Honestly

Paul: I want you to play it and tell me if and why you hate it.

Me: I’ll give it a shot!

Me: You didn’t sympathize with Adachi’s tale of being a studious and promising young person who became jaded and embittered by getting less out of life than he put in and was driven to villainy because it was the only way he could effect any control over his life?

Paul: I guess. Idk he just took it way too far. But it's true that high schoolers are spoiled shits who don't yet know how good they have it.

Me: Also being a misogynist creep who sexually harassed and murdered women with his magical powers?

Paul: well when you put it that way.....
 
Paul: Dude the soundtracks to 4 and 5 I have on my phone.

Paul: They're just incredible.

Paul: I should check out 1's and 2's.

Me: This is my fight song:

Paul: I had forgotten that one!

Me: YES TEDDIE I KNOW CHIE-CHAN IS HURT I’LL HEAL HER IN A MINUTE
 
Paul: So....did you beat the secret final boss and get the secret final ending?

Paul: Not that I myself would ever had known it existed if I hadn't seen it in a guide lol.

Me: I got the Golden Ending, which is the truer ending than the original True Ending.

Me: Yeah I had to follow a guide, it’s even more involved than the original ending. Besides choosing the correct sequence of dialogue options you also have to max Marie’s social links before fighting the final boss to unlock a new postgame dungeon with another secret boss which precedes the original secret postgame dungeon with the true secret final boss.

Me: Golden Ending = True Ending + new penultimate dungeon and epilogue
True Ending = secret final boss fight
Normal Ending = beat Adachi and go home
Bad Ending = push Nametame into TV, Nanako stays dead
Accomplice Ending = help Adachi get away with his crimes

Paul: I loved the music during that last boss fight.

Me: I DONT REMBER

Me: I liked Marie’s dungeon theme though

 

Me: I read the Battle Royale manga about a dozen years ago and the final battle lasted like 100 pages, they kept killing the villain and he’d just self-resurrect and keep coming after them despite being a normal high school student, there was like an extended car chase and fighting in all these different locations, it was absurd.

Me: I was like why is this taking so long, just get to the ending already.

Me: This game had like a 10-hour denouement though so maybe that’s just how the Japanese tell stories?

Me: Ah, we’re finally facing the villain who orchestrated the plot of this whole game, surely this is the final boss battle. But wait, it was really this giant eyeball god who was manipulating everything this whole time, now we have to fight him. But wait, now you have to fight yet another boss to prevent the fog from returning in spite of your accomplishments. But wait, now you have to fight the gas station attendant from the beginning of the game, who was actually the real puppet master behind everything! BUT WAIT, THIS ISN’T EVEN ITS FINAL FORM! Also here are like four different gameplay sequences where all you do is go around saying goodbye to your party.

Paul: Gratuitous.
 
Paul: I like how all the end bosses are gods from Japanese folklore.

Paul: The fucking eyeball mist god hahaha??

Paul: I found the gas station bullshit already really gratuitous, can't believe you had to fight Marie's mom or whatever as well.

Me: Those are completely optional postgame fights though.

Me: UNLESS YOU WANT TO SEE THE TRUE ENDING

Paul: Yes.

Me: I think you do have to do the Marie story to get the ski trip scene though.

Me: I wondered if they animated different cutscenes depending on how you played the game because it’s pretty Protag/Rise-heavy but I think it’s just that one.

Me: I take this as confirmation that my ship is canon.

Paul: lol probably.

Paul: In retrospect you're right, the fox is the best character.