Truth be told, those cracks about Lyn were my way of padding myself before shoulder checking the hull of the ship. It still hurt, though. And Yukiko will definitely find someone eventually. After all, she has the leggiest wing-girl around on her side. (I usually go into that boss with Yukiko (heals), Kanji (raw damage), and Teddie (moral support). That isn't to say I never use Chie, but her two things, ice magic and physical damage, are done by other party members better at this point.)
I think the game's big problem in exploring Kanji's deal is that it isn't allowed to follow through on the sexuality front. It's obvious he has a thing for Naoto, but he isn't allowed to pursue it because she's on the handsome potato's bachelorette list. It's like a barrier that cuts this really interesting plotline off by virtue of not stealing a romance option from the player. Personally, I can't bring myself to romance Naoto, not because she's a bad choice, but because I don't want to do my bro dirty like that. (And only minorly because Rise needs hugs.)
Rise, who's struggling with finding where her own masks begin and end, is unknowingly running up against someone else's false self. The questions, then, are thus; how much of Yu's front is false, how much is real, and how much does he think is one when it's really the other? In any case, one of these kids is going to have to grow up real fast, otherwise the handsome potato will be mashed into a fine paste. Perhaps a team effort is called for.
Fair enough. Chie doesn't become really good until she learns her ultimate skill, which is OPAF. It's honestly bullshit too, because we've seen that they are willing to make a Social Link unromanceable if the story actually gives them a canonical love interest. Junpei isn't romanceable in the FeMC route because he already has a love interest in "the red-headed stepdaughter with an axe and a taste for suicide". Because if you think Yosuke's love life is tragic, then you should know that the Magician Arcana having no luck in romance is a trend, and it only becomes worse the farther back you go. Well, at least as far as P3. Yuka Ayase is more of a heartbreaker than a heartbroken.
Most of the ultimate skills fall into the awesome, but impractical camp. Chie's most definitely doesn't, because there's never a bad time to buff your entire party, barring an enemy that can instantly debuff it.
I think with Junpei they were backed into a corner. P3 originally launched with only the male protagonist, so the characters were written with that in mind, allowing Junpei to romance someone so long as that someone wasn't also a Social Link (still not that far into P3 yet, for the record. I know nothing about his romance plot yet.)
When they added the FeMC in Portable, Junpei already had an established relationship, which they couldn't retroactively nullify without uprooting something that appears to be a central plotline in the game, at least if his swooning over her in PQ is any indicator. The only thing that stopped FeMC from stealing the entire male Social Link roster was a lack of foresight into her eventual existence on the writers' part. Let that stand as evidence of how much of a Casanova all of these protagonists are. (At least until the Valentine's Day Massacre that befalls the unfaithful.)
I'd actually say it's about 50/50, with Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko's all being practical, while Kanji, Teddie, and Naoto's being awesome but impractical. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, the Valentine's Day Massacre. Which the FeMC totally experiences because otherwise that would send the message that it's okay for girls to be unfaithful, but for guys to not. Totally...
Yukiko's is good, but Yosuke's is debatable. I prefer having each character fill a very particular role in the party. By the time Yosuke gets his skill, Yukiko already has healing on lock. A moderate health restore from him is useless when she's already healing all of the party's HP and status effects at once, making it effectively just a Masukukaja that costs one more SP. Maybe if you're doing a challenge run without using either of the preexisting medics, but that's a thin margin of usefulness for a supposed ultimate ability.
Now now, I already know exactly why the P3 MC's escape consequences for their undisclosed polygamy. They don't make it to Valentine's Day. (And even if they did, I heard that FeMC is the only one of the two that has the option to not romance her opposite sex Social Links. If you're looking for a double standard, it's right there. Fight for Minato's right to not be a man whore.)
HeroofFire101 (Guest)
on Chapter 29
Wed 02
Jan 201910:10PM UTC
FeMC, or as I call her, Minako Arisato, has three possible lovers relationships that actually works(four if you count Ryoji, however disturbing I think it to be because of the context he says about being inside her), and Hidetoshi Odagiri and Bebe falls in love with her but doesn't see himself worthy of her love, or simply just cannot because of distance. We also have Theodore falling in love with her as well. Shinjiro lovers path is heartbreaking, Ken's is somewhat disturbing, and Akihiko's is not as heartbreaking as Shinjiro's but still heartbreaking because of the fate of the MC, either one. I am a lover of the Akihiko/FeMC ship, and Akihiko in my opinion has been through some deep shit throughout his life, he deserves to be happy, at least for a little while. While I understand that Shinjiro can be saved by the FeMC, IF YOU FIND THE ONE THING TO SAVE HIM IN TIME FOR HIM TO LIVE, you don't have to romance him to save him. Tanaka just takes the MCs under his wing, and Mutatsu just sees them as his child, as shown with one of the social link events. And, as a little hint, Orpheus is weak to both Zio and Mudo skills. The Mudo weakness can be interpreted as a more feminine element, and with the MaleMC, this weakness can hint that Minato can't say no to a girl who wants to date him. Since we have a FeMC, the Mudo weakness
And yes I managed to get a PS4 and got Persona 5, also got myself a PSN account and bought P3P, and I'm having an easier time with P3P than P5. FEMALE PLAYTHROUGH FOR THE WIN.
Ah, thanks for the comprehensive list! I still think it's odd that one protagonist can say no while the other can't, considering the only conceptual difference between them is their gender and how that makes the world respond to them, but it does say something about perceived gender roles in Japan if you think about it. (Good eye for the elemental weakness part, by the way.)
The early game of P3 does feel a good bit easier than that of P5. The latter requires you to be sneaky and tricky to get by like a proper rogue, while the former can be bulldozed through by the Persona Friendship Train!
HeroofFire101 (Guest)
on Chapter 29
Wed 02
Jan 201911:08PM UTC
You're welcome. I got the weakness interpretations from the consumer of time, Tv Tropes for Persona 4, specifically the WMG subpage. I spend too much time on that site. I also want your Many Quirks of Phantom Thievery on P5's Tv Tropes Fanfics/Fanworks page, just because I think it would be awesome. As an added fact, Izanagi's odd immunity to Mudo can be also interpreted as how Yu can date however many girls he wants without getting into major trouble.
Same, honestly, though that's not necessarily a bad thing. I found out about Ao3 because a story I wanted to read based on its TV Tropes listing linked to this site. In a way, I have TV Tropes to thank for helping me find a platform for my stories in the first place. I think that's a fair trade for the chunk of my soul I lost while reading all of the tropes on record.
I suppose so, but I think Yosuke is a good back-up healer. Like, Yukiko has a lot of spells that take up a lot of SP, and no way to recover it outside of items like Naoto does. And sometimes, not being able to heal for one turn can decide whether you win or lose. So Yosuke's Youthful Wind is good because when both Chie and Yukiko don't have enough SP, he can come in and make sure that the party can dodge or at least survive. It's part of Yosuke's Jack-Of-All-Trades schtick. He has a variety of things he can do that don't take too much of a toll on his HP or SP while still being useful. P3MC's romance routes are kind of like your Akira's stance on romance. He has no real interest, but can't stand to disappont anyone who asks him. Unfortunately, he lacks the confidence to explain this to anyone. And as for FeMC, unlike her male counterpart, the narrative never seems to punish her for it. Like there are times when the P3MC almost gets caught, and it's only because of his male Confidants and teammates that he gets out unscathed.
Yosuke is a good multi-situation utility, but like I said, I prefer strong singular units filling those roles. I always keep a backup stock of items to take over when Yukiko runs low on SP, including SP restoration items to get her right back in the game. With items filling his role as the backup plan, I would rather hand Yosuke's party slot to someone who can dish out more raw damage like Kanji or Naoto, who usually comprise the rest of my endgame party in P4G. I love the guy, but his utility runs dry for me fairly quickly.
I guess there are some design differences between the male and female paths that can only be accounted for with a change in design philosophy or style between the original game's scripting and the rework done for Portable. It's kind of disappointing that the game all about reading into human interaction didn't do more to directly address the topic, but for an early game after the reworking of the Persona series, I'll take the rudimentary hinting towards a point.
Although, it sort of hints at how her playthrough is made to be all around more upbeat than the original. She can save characters he can't. Her UI is highlighted in bright colors where his is accented by a cooler, more somber palette. She can walk the doggo when he can't. It would make sense that they scrubbed some of the relationship drama for her as well, though what it implicitly says in terms of the narrative and themes can be taken as a mite awkward, to say the least.
That's fair. I guess I tend to judge a character's usability on a team based on how well they could work on their own, and you have to admit that besides Yu, Yosuke is probably the one who could survive on his own for the longest without help from his team. Chie would lose health fast, Yukiko would lose SP even faster, Kanji and Naoto don't know any good healing spells, and Rise is obviously a navigator, even if she has a battle form in Arena Ultimax. The only other character who could survive in a dungeon on their own longer would be Teddie, and that's only because he's a native. None of them could get to a boss and beat them on their own, but the Prince and Mascot of Junes could certainly get the farthest. The P3MC and FeMC are two sides of the same coin, or in this case, two different ways to deal with same trauma. The male protag prefers to stew in his depression and go along with life with minimal effort, only doing things to please other people. The female protag on the other hand tries to cover up her own trauma by being ceaselessly optimistic and cheerful and ignore negativity. Both are unhealthy ways of dealing with their traumas, and Persona 3, at least part of it, is about them learning this, and to accept not only death, but life as well, coming to terms with what happened to them in the past. At least, that's the general concensus when it comes to the fandom.
A lot of what I'm saying for P3 right now is based on conjecture from what little I know of it from random hearsay and what I gleamed off of the cast in PQ. I'll have to get through the game on my own, both paths, before saying for certain what my read of the thing is. Thus far, what you're saying sounds pretty accurate, but you never know. I've done weird takes on stuff before.
Side note, I managed to nab a download copy of PQ, so now it's permanently in my library. Heck if I know when I'll get around to playing it again, but it's there.
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