Oh, hello, Sexy Videogameland is pink. This is because I'm in love. With a video game, naturally, because my heart is black and inaccessible to human beings.
You knew I'm a Persona person. In fact, many of you found my site because of a handful of series or genres I've written extensively about, and Persona 3 and 4 kind of fall into the "kinda wrote a lot about that" category. If you've always been curious about the games and own a PSP, there's no better time to get into it than with Persona 3 Portable. Hell, if you like RPGs and want something different, P3P is probably worth buying a PSP for, because you'll probably spend enough hours on it to justify the purchase.
Though readers of this site are probably the kind to know, I'm not going to assume you do: P3P Portable is a redux of P3 with several fine modifications aimed at portable platforms. Notably it's received the same kind of streamlining to the battle system that Persona 4 did, and there are some subtle modifications to the story that make it refreshing. Most notably, you can play as either a male or female protagonist (the original version allowed for only a male-focused story arc).
I hope I get some time to write more about how experiencing the game as a female character completely changes my experience. Characters I did not like when playing Persona 3 through the lens of a male seem much more sympathetic if I'm a female, for example. My gameplay preferences and priorities are different; the things I want for my character change.
There is a very specific gameplay framework that's capable of hooking me immediately; if you've heard about P3P, it's probably about how none of your friends can put it down. There really are few other games that tick all my boxes in quite this way (Pokemon does it, and so does a well-balanced iteration of Harvest Moon, but neither are this emotionally immersive). And yet I thought that I'd always gravitate toward managing the same elements the same way.
Not so. Maybe because I've played through P3 and P4 and I have a 'tactic' down that wasn't present when I first played P3 -- but there is something subtle nagging at me that tells me that changing my character's gender (and it's not just a palette swap; the story around her reacts) changes everything.
Anyhow, I'm not too far into things yet, I think I'm just in the second "chapter", so to speak, but I'm so glad to return to this game's world in such a well-done way. Like, seriously, I don't really write reviews these days and I don't ever tell you guys BUY THIS but buy this, unless you know a real reason why it ain't your thing.
SVGL's current theme comes courtesy of the lovely Sarah Becan, who was kind enough to make the banner for me. Clearly, she's as into Sanada as I am. Please check out her work.
Bonus Content: I was going to talk about the game's concept of 'personae', and how you have to be whatever your social partners are expecting in order to advance -- it gives the game a lovely, dark undertone. Then I realized I already wrote about that like three years ago. Still relevant!
[Today's Good Song: 'Road to Agartha', Herbcraft via Altered Zones]
21 comments:
I adore playing a heroine in P3P, moreso than I did in Bayonetta. I feel like I can project more easily onto this character—obviously the silent heroine leaves a lot more room for identification—whereas I felt somewhat ridiculous with Bayonetta's hypersexualization. The character interactions that they've written for the female experience feel well thought out too, making it one of the few times where I really enjoy being a girl.
I'm very curious as to how I'll feel when I play as a female protagonist. It's strange, but usually at games that are not heavy on plot and story (like fighting titles and such) I actually prefer to play as a woman. But when I have to commit to that world and the game demands that I feel much the same as my character, then I always have to play as a man. This is especially true to Harvest Moon titles, in which, even if I don't intend to marry someone, I HAVE to keep open the option of eventually having a bride.
Now, if I remember correctly, P3 does not develop a love commitment as much as P4 did. Still, I can't imagine how it would be to favor a male member of the group, which in turn makes me wonder how female players felt when they had no option but to play with a male protagonist. In a few weeks I'll be able to find out.
I agree with the change of perspective thing. Junpei, for example, was a character I really couldn't stand until the later third of the game on my original P3 playthough. Perhaps part of it is knowing where his story is going, but he seems so much more earnest and eager to please this time, playing as a female, rather than just brash and disagreeable.
(Also, I feel the urge to say this whenever I talk about P3P. I haven't taken my Junpei hat off except for when I sleep and shower. Even writing my last book in front of the computer, it has been firmly planted on my noggin)
@Heitor
Just one thing that made me smile: "Now, if I remember correctly, P3 does not develop a love commitment as much as P4 did."
I'm not sure it's a "love commitment" in P4 when your character can go out with about every high school girl in town who has a personality. It's less commitment and more free love if you see what I mean.
Maybe he meant that there was more gameplay focus, and more complex options, for romance in P4...
Apologies in advance for the super long comment, this opened up an opportunity for me to really think about what I got out of P3 a few years ago.
I remember that article you wrote about P3, it still makes me a bit uneasy. I always felt that being able to answer "correctly" was more about being able to emphasize with the character than it was about deceiving them. Else, how does a one-sided bond or relationship empower you?
What you wrote about does sound like a fascinating experience, very fitting of the dark hour and the overall conflict, it's just so opposite of what I had while playing it. And with Carl Jung's clenching definition of a Persona you make a very compelling argument that I was playing it wrong.
(implicit spoilers ahead)
But, the finale would feel a bit empty that way. And in The Answer of FES, where Igor tells you the MC found "the answer to life" I can't believe that this answer was to lie to everyone; either maliciously or simply to be on their good side. Initially, you might have to betray your genuine opinion in one of the relationships to gain their trust, but eventually.. don't all of those characters work something out inside of themselves that makes them a better person, because of your influence?
I cannot believe that every one of these results were an incidental by-product of your need to collect power. I can't see how that power could be anything /except/ your ability to genuinely emphasize with and understand that person and their own personas. This would also be evidenced by your ability to summon an "infinite" amount of persona, and the relative strength of each one: the persona being most true to a person being the most powerful, the ones you unlock at a Max Link. Although persona are described as masks, I think they are not separate from the individual. One might be able to shed weak personas, but the personas most true to that individual's beliefs and values cannot be discarded.
I do love this about P3 though. The game itself has such a rich narrative and can be interpreted so differently, while the core concept of Personas inherently brings so much depth and opportunity for the player to resonate with the game. I don't own a PSP... yet. This is difficult.
Hi there, I'm the one who managed to put this game down long enough to draw the banner. :) I have to say, I adored P3 and P4 and I played both of them through multiple times. I never thought I had a hard time identifying with the MC, but I second what Kim said, being able to play as a girl kind of changes everything. It's amazing how much closer I feel to the social links, how much more personal it feels, how much more real my level of emotional participation is.
I took an all-female party into Tartarus - not even on purpose, they were just the characters that needed levelling - and didn't realize how awesome it felt until the first "Shuffle Time," with the camera swinging around the four of us girls, relishing our victory. "Nice work, ladies," I found myself saying. Out loud.
I joke that I just wanted to date Akihiko, but it's really so much more. Is it too much to hope for a re-release of P4 with this option? Coz I'd play the crap out of that too.
Thanks for the game tip. I'll check it out. Was looking for something else to try on PSP.
If you have a minute place a vote for me on The Tester!
http://casting.thetester.com/anotherdae
Between this and Peace Walker, my PSP has seen a lot of love lately.
As a dude, I'm feeling a much greater disconnect between myself and the PC - I'm playing through it a la femme to see what's different - but I hope once the story kicks into medium-high gear I'll become involved again.
I own a PS2 and I do not own a PSP. Is Persona 4 as amazing?
P4 is a superior game to P3. But get both.
As for P3P, the new SLs on the female side seem a lot better. I think the writers have gotten down how to flesh out a full story in just 20 or so lines of dialog spaced over a random number of hours. That can't be an easy feat. Though I do miss Maya...
I have a friend who has P3:FES for the PS2, and I'm planning on buying the PSP version for the female character mode. Should I play the male main character's quest on the PS2 or the PSP?
Doug S., I'd recommend P3: FES because the animated bits are neat, and they had to cut those out on P3P for space reasons.
More generally, woo, P3P post. And are Minato and Minako pointing the guns at each other's heads? That's perfect!
...
I'm sort of having a weird time adjusting to Female Protagonist, because when I played P3 FES, I found that Minato was pretty strongly characterized in the first game as a sort of Utilitarian Sociopath Jesus. The headphones, the unreadable expression, the without-a-care hands-in-pockets walk, all combined to create an enigma of a character whose head I could barely get into even as I was playing him. It's hard to read the beginnings of the optimal path Chariot and Magician links as anything other than him not really caring about the world outside his head, and completely using everyone around him to power up his brain-demons. I still can't decide whether he actually starts forming genuine personal emotional connections halfway through the game or not.
(P3P makes this take on the character harder to maintain, because the cinematic of him blithely walking through the parking lot full of coffins at the beginning is replaced with a sideshow with narration: "You notice the parking lot is full of coffins," and I always assumed he, uh, didn't. Notice them. Or think them worth noticing.)
...Anyway. This is not going to work with Minako, because she's not characterized that way. Suddenly instead of playing an unknowable abstract I'm playing a human, and it makes the game feel really different. I actually have to think about what sort of person she is.
I really liked Persona 3: FES, where I spent over 120 hours on it, but the lack of depth in the battle system eventually caught up to my patience leading up to "the end."
I had nothing to do for most days, my characters were all superpowerful, I had claimed the whole tower, and the toughest enemies were easy to fight and did not give me enough XP. I had built all the relationships I could have, and I was just boringly killing time day after day, until I got tired and distracted by other games before reaching the fateful date in the game's schedule.
I still don't know the ending, and this has also prevented me from opening my copy of Persona 4 (I know the stories don't carry over, but I can't play the sequel if I have an almost-finished predecessor... it's a thing).
I suppose you could play the game as some sort of Machiavelli-lite politician simulator but if you don't (and this may be my current p4 infatuation coloring things, its been awhile since I've played p3) does the game actually punish you, or simply not reward you as much? Are you actually required to max out, or even start, the social links? The power you gain always seemed like a bonus, icing on the cake sort of thing, a peck on the cheek, a forget me not. Speaking of, the trinkets that cap each story don't open any dungeons or treasure chests, their uselessness being precisely what makes them precious. What I'm saying is that the utter lack of misanthropy is what makes these games so dear to me(and so unique). If I'm feeling whimsical, or mischievous, or earnest, or am just plain obtuse in picking the "right" response most of the characters just get kind of exasperated and sigh "ANYWAY THOUGH man, moving on"(just like in real life!). The one time I did reverse a card seems to have been justified in retrospect, callous assbutt that I was. Are the protagonists really blank slates? I kind of thought of them as zen no style dudes from nowhere(they can use multiple shadows because they have moved beyond their individual self), or are they acting as the player's persona and the games themselves as shadows? Cartesian Home Theater System. Maybe this impression only applies to p4 as well. ANYWAY THOUGH, point being, deception's efficacy is a function more of stat maxing than of lack of human empathy. The management of other character's is a challenge posed more by time than by power, as time is the true blight of all supernatural overachievers everywhere. However you are right, it is a system, rewarding some actions and punishing others, and all systems are at odds with the irreducible, the human(this is one of the challenges facing game designers) but by giving the option, I think the designers handle this about as well as they can, certainly better than anyone else out there. Not that you were suggesting otherwise.
Oh right, the actual point of the blog post (sorry, my bookish friends don't play video games, and my gamerish friends don't play persona games, so I don't get to talk about this much, could y'all tell?). Let me just add my full heart and throat to the chorus of people hoping for a more feminine redux to p4 (and perhaps p5!). It would be a real shame if one of the only series to actually engage ambiguity and encourage introspection would be alienating half of its audience right off the bat. And I grouse about the ash headed Justin Bieber I'm forced to play as! Clearly my privilege precedes me.
I suppose you could play the game as some sort of Machiavelli-lite politician simulator but if you don't (and this may be my current p4 infatuation coloring things, its been awhile since I've played p3) does the game actually punish you, or simply not reward you as much? Are you actually required to max out, or even start, the social links? The power you gain always seemed like a bonus, icing on the cake sort of thing, a peck on the cheek, a forget me not. Speaking of, the trinkets that cap each story don't open any dungeons or treasure chests, their uselessness being precisely what makes them precious. What I'm saying is that the utter lack of misanthropy is what makes these games so dear to me(and so unique). If I'm feeling whimsical, or mischievous, or earnest, or am just plain obtuse in picking the "right" response most of the characters just get kind of exasperated and sigh "ANYWAY THOUGH man, moving on"(just like in real life!). The one time I did reverse a card seems to have been justified in retrospect, callous assbutt that I was. Are the protagonists really blank slates? I kind of thought of them as zen no style dudes from nowhere(they can use multiple shadows because they have moved beyond their individual self), or are they acting as the player's persona and the games themselves as shadows? Cartesian Home Theater System. Maybe this impression only applies to p4 as well. ANYWAY THOUGH, point being, deception's efficacy is a function more of stat maxing than of lack of human empathy. The management of other character's is a challenge posed more by time than by power, as time is the true blight of all supernatural overachievers everywhere. However you are right, it is a system, rewarding some actions and punishing others, and all systems are at odds with the irreducible, the human(this is one of the challenges facing game designers) but by giving the option, I think the designers handle this about as well as they can, certainly better than anyone else out there. Not that you were suggesting otherwise.
Oh right, the actual point of the blog post (sorry, my bookish friends don't play video games, and my gamerish friends don't play persona games, so I don't get to talk about this much, could y'all tell?). Let me just add my full heart and throat to the chorus of people hoping for a more feminine redux to p4 (and perhaps p5!). It would be a real shame if one of the only series to actually engage ambiguity and encourage introspection would be alienating half of its audience right off the bat. And I grouse about the ash headed Justin Bieber I'm forced to play as! Clearly my privilege precedes me.
bucketful of ugh, sorry
I've never heard of the those Persona video games before. Maybe I'll check them out.
You have certainly peaked my interest. Thank you.
I've been a giant Persona nerd since I first played the original release of P3. Since then, I've bought all the import soundtracks, all the drama CDs (with more still being made), and the P3F art/character book. Getting to play as a female protagonist is a fresh way to play the game so far; Junpei doesn't whine about how you being the leader is so arbitrary, he instead complains you're a girl. I love the big and small changes they've made, and am looking forward to learning what other changes they've made to the game.
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