Latest / The Long and Short of It / Persona 4 Golden
Transcript
- 0:00Thanks for checking out the long and short of it podcast.
- 0:03You can find us on all good podcast platforms.
- 0:05Please consider following or subscribing.
- 0:07We hope you enjoy the show. Hello and welcome to the long
- 0:17and short of it. The podcast where we discuss
- 0:19each of the games on the Metacritic top 100 list.
- 0:23My name is Dan and I'm joined by.
- 0:24I'm Lawrence. Welcome to the podcast.
- 0:27Welcome indeed. So we had a bit of a first, just
- 0:29a moment ago, didn't we? We did.
- 0:32We got confused. Yes.
- 0:35First time ever, we both Prepared a list in the belief
- 0:40that we were hosting the episode.
- 0:42So yes, I will be hosting this time but yeah.
- 0:47Next time we'll be actually given.
- 0:51I know next time you will be hosting.
- 0:53Yes. And then the game afterwards I
- 0:54will be hosting. That's right, isn't it?
- 0:56Yes, but I am ready to be a backup host today if needed.
- 0:58I do have pain. Yes, I'm sure you've got your
- 1:01commentary on this game. That's right.
- 1:02So if something happens to you I can take over.
- 1:06I'm hoping that doesn't happen to you but just Case a one-man
- 1:09podcast. That's right, I'll talk to
- 1:11myself, I'll get the cat involved.
- 1:14Nice. It's probably better
- 1:16conversation than me. Sometimes maybe maybe a lot
- 1:19meowing. So the same is really similar
- 1:22conversation, really? Yeah, that's right.
- 1:25Today we are here to discuss Persona 4, Golden now, I'm not
- 1:30quite sure how Persona 4 Golden ended ended up on the list
- 1:37because It wasn't part of the original list, but it also
- 1:43wasn't added as a newer game on the list.
- 1:46So the version that's on the list came out in 2012, so I
- 1:49don't know. Sometimes might be similar to
- 1:53like when code Veronica got put on we.
- 1:54Yeah, just in case it may be, they found an old review from
- 1:57the time that they just counted it then it up there matter
- 1:59school maybe. Yeah.
- 2:01So we don't have an official placing for the list Bay is that
- 2:05the very tail end of the list, So, the score that Persona 4,
- 2:11Golden received was 93 as an average and it was released on
- 2:16the PlayStation Vita in the year 2012.
- 2:20And I'm pretty sure this is the only Vita game on the list as
- 2:23well, isn't it? Yeah, it is.
- 2:26Well, there are some games that also were on these.
- 2:28Yes, whiter. But yeah, it's, it's the only
- 2:34exclusive I think. Well, that's not really
- 2:37exclusive anymore because It's now out everywhere else, isn't
- 2:39it? Yeah, got it.
- 2:41Got re-released about maybe four or five months ago, didn't it on
- 2:46switch, PS, 4 and 5 and then Xbox One series X and stuff.
- 2:52Yeah, I thought it's worth noting.
- 2:54I've got a bit of background here.
- 2:55So Persona, 3 released in the year, 2006, and the highest
- 3:02average score for that highest Metascore for that is 89.
- 3:07And that's also available But at the moment as well as in it
- 3:09along with Persona 4 and Persona 5.
- 3:12Yeah, that's right. Yeah.
- 3:14And Persona 4 was originally released on the PS2 in 2008.
- 3:20Oh and don't know that. Yeah, so and obviously the
- 3:24highest Metascore for that game is 93.
- 3:26So I got a pretty good score there and then I also wanted to
- 3:31mention the release date of Persona 5 just a pain.
- 3:34A bit of a picture about the release schedule.
- 3:36Yeah these games. So Persona 5 came out in 2016.
- 3:40And the highest Metascore for that game was 95, but across the
- 3:44games, you got a bit of a spread of meta scores depending on the
- 3:47platform. So, yeah, it's an interesting
- 3:50one, and the release schedule to me is quite interesting as well
- 3:54and I'm sure you may get into that in a bit more detail.
- 3:58Okay. So do you have any history with
- 4:00Persona 4 Golden? No the same as when we went into
- 4:04Persona 5 I've got no history with the Persona games.
- 4:08The only Persona game I've played before this is Persona 5
- 4:12Royal which we played relatively early doors in the podcast.
- 4:16I think it was probably in the first 25 that we covered and
- 4:20anyone that's been listening to the podcast Enough for lesson.
- 4:23Two episodes know that it's probably one of my favorite
- 4:28games that we've covered for the podcast so far.
- 4:30So going into this, I had the same feeling I had before going
- 4:36into Persona 5, I knew that it was going to be big and I was
- 4:39very much in a really don't want to have to spend all that time
- 4:44going into a game again. So yeah, this is the first time
- 4:48I played Persona 4 and to this date only Persona 4.
- 4:52And sine of 50 games. I've played from the series, how
- 4:54about you, I actually bought Persona 4 on the PS2 years ago.
- 5:00I think I've still got a copy of it somewhere because it was
- 5:02worth quite a bit of money at some point.
- 5:05Yeah, and there is obviously the review scores for the game were
- 5:09very high. So I was intrigued, but I never
- 5:10actually started it. So it's a game that's been
- 5:14sitting in my collection for many years.
- 5:16And again, I've never played but I was, I was Curiously excited
- 5:23to play this game. I've heard very good things
- 5:26about it. And amongst Persona fans, it's
- 5:30either Persona 4 or 5. That tends to be people's
- 5:34favorites. And I think there's a reason for
- 5:37that and I think both the games really have their strengths and
- 5:40they both have their weaknesses as well.
- 5:42So I describe my feelings towards this game as mixed
- 5:47positive. I think I'd probably use that
- 5:50that phrase to describe Persona 5 as well.
- 5:52Well, okay, so where did you play Persona 4?
- 5:56Golden plate on a switch. So it's probably not dissimilar
- 6:01from what it was like to play this on the Vita.
- 6:03When it first came out which, you know, since they've made the
- 6:06Persona games, a bit more accessible because they were
- 6:09exclusive to Sony up until relatively recently.
- 6:14So, I played it on a handheld and I'd pretty much played 99%
- 6:18of this game in handheld mode. I didn't really do docked with
- 6:22it, although When I did, plug it into the actual dock, it did
- 6:25look quite good on the TV. But yes, I played this on
- 6:28switch, which personally, I think is the best way to play
- 6:31this game. Same with Persona 5 and I think
- 6:34I said at the time that that game would have been ideal for
- 6:37switch and since then, obviously it is come out on switch.
- 6:41But yes, I was a switch man for this.
- 6:43What about you? Yeah, also on the switch and for
- 6:46me as with most of my switch playing these days, it was 100%
- 6:51in handheld. I've got two years of the
- 6:54kingdom and I think I'll play that in docked for a good amount
- 6:58of it. But yeah, most games these days
- 7:00are playing handheld. Um I've started breath of the
- 7:03wild for when we cover it or the listen.
- 7:05I'm literally only playing that and docked mode but yeah, I'm
- 7:08staying awake, smart night so maybe I'll take in play and hand
- 7:11held in the hotel. We'll see ya.
- 7:14Those games really look amazing on a big screen but also in
- 7:19handheld. So yeah.
- 7:23So to kick off, let's talk about what is the same / difference
- 7:29between Persona 4 and Persona 5? Do you have any comments about
- 7:33that? And they are both games set in
- 7:37Japan where you play as a transfer student.
- 7:41And each of the games focuses on part of it is like a
- 7:47relationship Simulator part of. It is a RPG combat.
- 7:53Combat game. And the other part of it is,
- 7:57Something else but go see. Mm.
- 8:01Yeah. School Sim there.
- 8:02They're both persona for a sign of 5 are both very Japanese and
- 8:08they are very much covered in Japanese culture, particularly
- 8:13of the time that they were released.
- 8:15I think so no for being based in 2011, in the countryside, in
- 8:20Japan, and Persona 5, being set in like 2016, 2017.
- 8:27Like Tokyo. So they're very much products of
- 8:30their time and their environment.
- 8:32I feel and don't forget this game was actually released in
- 8:342008 as well. Of course, of course course.
- 8:37Yeah. So it's a few years in the
- 8:39future Yeah. So what's different because
- 8:44actually I think the vast majority of these games are very
- 8:48similar and it makes for quite an interesting conversation but
- 8:51what's different to be honest with you?
- 8:54They are very, very similar. In fact, I think it's the case
- 8:58that with Persona 4 because it is an older title.
- 9:01It feel it's the kind of vibe where and neither of us have
- 9:05played Persona 3, but it feels like Persona 4 walked so person.
- 9:10So so Persona 5 could run particularly with things like
- 9:14it's dungeon design and the in-depth nature of it, but it's
- 9:20hard to say what's different and what's the same?
- 9:22Because they are very, very similar games with a somewhat
- 9:26similar story. I suppose.
- 9:28What would you say aesthetically?
- 9:30You've got ya, you've got slightly different visuals, but
- 9:36Having played a lot of both games.
- 9:39It really doesn't feel like such a big deal after you've been
- 9:43playing it for a couple of hours because you've got this really
- 9:47nice overlay. This really nice interface in
- 9:50Persona 4. There is very reminiscent of
- 9:53Persona 5 and it makes it look very pretty even even though the
- 9:58graphics on screen aren't necessarily.
- 10:01As polished as Persona 5, you've got another great soundtrack.
- 10:07That's not really a difference. You've got the countryside
- 10:10versus the city and that that creates some quite interesting
- 10:13parallels. You quite like guarding you?
- 10:16Yeah, I did like that. And I've got that as a point.
- 10:20That I wanted to make. I would say also In some ways I
- 10:26think Persona 4 is a bit darker than Persona 5.
- 10:29Yes, you agree with that. Yeah, I think so, Persona 5 has
- 10:34its moments for sure. You know, you've got some
- 10:38relatively heavy subject matter in Persona 5 particularly at the
- 10:41start of the game. When you know you've got the
- 10:45first first person who you tackle come Ishida is the she's
- 10:50actually the darkest I would say.
- 10:52Yeah I'd say so you know he's basically a A predatory teacher
- 10:56whose advances make a girl, jump off a roof and try to, you know,
- 11:00try to kill herself and I'd say that there are elements of
- 11:05darkness in Persona 5 as it goes through, but it never really
- 11:07gets to that level. Again, whereas Persona 4 is, is
- 11:13about a serial killer, who is You know, targeting mostly
- 11:20people that have had media coverage and that's it.
- 11:25Murders a high school student. Yeah, yeah.
- 11:28And that's the main plot of the game really isn't.
- 11:31It's kind of like a whodunit I suppose that's for other things
- 11:36that are different as you say that dungeons have evolved in
- 11:40Persona 5. Yeah.
- 11:43The storylines are a bit different.
- 11:45We'll get into that though. I'm sure we'll uncover more.
- 11:47About some of the differences as we go along.
- 11:49So let's talk about the storyline.
- 11:53What happens in this game? Yeah, if you've played Persona 5
- 11:56and maybe Persona 3, like I said, neither me or done of
- 11:58played that one, but it's a similar similar scenario that
- 12:02you're an exchange student who goes to stay in this case with
- 12:07it with a relative. Obviously in Persona 5 its with
- 12:10with it, with a stranger soujiro, but in Persona 4 you go
- 12:14to the countryside in Arbor To stay with your uncle, a guy
- 12:21called dojima and his daughter nanako for a year while I can't
- 12:27remember, the reason for the why the character goes to state that
- 12:31your parents have gone abroad. Or yeah, something like that but
- 12:37basically not long after you not long after you arrived.
- 12:40In in Arbor, there were a couple of murders that kind of spark,
- 12:46spark the interest and And, you know, in in Persona 5, it's the
- 12:50case that you go into people's castles to change their hearts,
- 12:53whereas, in Persona 4, it's a bit more of a literal entrance
- 12:57into a metal world, because you go through a TV, effectively
- 13:02into what they call the TV world and the plot of the game is that
- 13:06every few weeks or so. There is a, the next victim or
- 13:13the next potential victim of the murder shows up on something
- 13:16called the midnight Channel. And from there it's your job to
- 13:19work out who the next victim is identify them.
- 13:23And then go into the TV world and confront their Shadow
- 13:26version of themselves before the time runs out because if it gets
- 13:31to a certain point in the calendar and some fog comes down
- 13:36on Ann Arbor then you run out of time and the target gets killed.
- 13:40So it is about building up your crew as it was in Persona 5.
- 13:46But instead of it being the Phantom Thief, Thieves this
- 13:48time. It is the investigative team and
- 13:51going into the metaverse to try and save people and find out who
- 13:55the who the murderer is as well as, you know, juggling being a
- 14:01student and trying to get good grades joining after school
- 14:04clubs. Working on your relationships,
- 14:07with the different characters juggling.
- 14:10The relationships getting into romantic relationships with some
- 14:12of the girls. If you want to, there's all the
- 14:16girls in my case as it was The same Persona 5, but yeah, it's
- 14:22effectively a murder mystery with a bit of a Sci-Fi element,
- 14:26going into a metaverse through a TV, into the TV world and all
- 14:31all the same characters that are in Persona 5 are in Persona 4,
- 14:35but just different, if you know what I mean.
- 14:37Like, you can draw what you mean, is there's a tight,
- 14:40they're all time. Yes.
- 14:41And up there all the different types show up.
- 14:43Yeah. So, you know, 44, For Teddy, who
- 14:49is this big teddy creature that lives in the metaverse?
- 14:53The comparison for Persona 5 would be Morgana or third, Yuki
- 14:59who is one of the First characters you get the
- 15:01comparison for her and Persona 5 I'd say will be Makoto or your
- 15:06scale would be, is it ryuji? Yes region, isn't it?
- 15:11So you know there's there's one of those characters.
- 15:14In every game like that their character type, as you say I
- 15:17suppose is, is in the game and then secure or less be amount of
- 15:21Chima. Let's talk about the characters.
- 15:24So, are there any standards for you?
- 15:26Yeah, I really like the Jima who and also like to do.
- 15:30Yeah. So anyone that hasn't played it,
- 15:32the Jima is the, the players Uncle, who is a, he's a
- 15:37detective, and he is put on the case of trying to figure out who
- 15:42the murderer is. And it was funny because I
- 15:46remember saying to you, I watched a review of this game
- 15:48before I played it, and I'm not sure if it was a IGN review, or
- 15:52it was someone else. But they're effectively saying,
- 15:54oh, yeah, Persona 4 is one of my favorite games of all time, you
- 15:58know. And you go and stay with your
- 15:58abuse of Uncle. As I, there is a nose part of
- 16:02the game. Where did you move comes?
- 16:03Across as inclusive Uncle. So, yeah, I really like the Jima
- 16:08quite a lot. I like the family dynamic in
- 16:12Persona 4 even? Yes, sir.
- 16:14So than the one in Persona 5. Mmm.
- 16:17Yeah, definitely. And the thing with this game, I
- 16:22found differently from Persona 5, maybe or maybe.
- 16:26It's because I've not played Persona 5 in quite a while, but
- 16:29each of the characters Journeys. If you decide to build the
- 16:34relationships with them, feels quite quite deep.
- 16:38So dejima, if you spend time with with him and your cousin is
- 16:44To nanako. It's his obsession with trying
- 16:48to find out a drunk driver that ran over his wife, five years or
- 16:53so ago. Then with characters.
- 16:55Like Yuki it's the fact that she is expected to take over her
- 17:00family's in one day, but she's not sure if she wants to do it.
- 17:03And you know, riding with expectation on her shoulders or
- 17:07with, you know, your Sky who is also from the city like the
- 17:13player character. But his family, run, the big
- 17:17kind of War, Mark, Walmart esque store, jeunesse and it's him
- 17:23kind of coming to terms with the fact that a, the first victim of
- 17:27the murderer is someone that he knew, and someone that he liked
- 17:29to be finds out, she didn't really like him very much and
- 17:32he's resting. Yeah.
- 17:34And, you know, his guilt of You know whether or not he could
- 17:40have tried to save her or whatever.
- 17:42You know it's it's definitely interesting and I quite like
- 17:49Reese a resize character as well.
- 17:52Who's the idol? Yeah.
- 17:54Is you know trying to come to terms with the fact that she
- 17:56want to be famous anymore? Does she want to be this model
- 18:01that people fall over? Or does she just want to be a
- 18:03normal girl? And ultimately she decides that
- 18:06she does want to go back to Being an idol.
- 18:08But she also wants to take a break and take some time for
- 18:11yourself. And one more that I'll point
- 18:14out, I don't know if it's someone that you put the time
- 18:20into him terms of relationships, it was an optional one, I think
- 18:22is it her name's Rd? Maybe the, the one who becomes a
- 18:26manager for the after-school club like the soccer or the
- 18:29basketball team? So I did, I did the the guys the
- 18:34basketball. Yeah, guys, can't can't remember
- 18:38his name and I also did the drama club.
- 18:43Yeah, with you me me? Yeah, there's, I can't remember
- 18:47her name but there's there's a character things in.
- 18:49Yeah, I know. She is, she comes in and she's
- 18:51yeah, she's a bit rude at first, yes.
- 18:54So her story is effectively that she's very well-off.
- 18:57She's very, she's very rich and very wealthy and she's not very
- 19:00well liked, and she comes He's across as a bit snobbish, but as
- 19:03you kind of get to know her, you find out that she's got quite
- 19:07quite heavy self-confidence issues because she used to look
- 19:12a lot different used to be a lot bigger.
- 19:13She used to think that she was uglier and she trying to trying
- 19:17to come to terms with the fact that, you know, it's hard to let
- 19:20someone into love you or whatever.
- 19:24It's interesting. And there are some really,
- 19:26really strong characters in this game.
- 19:28So how would you describe them compared to Out of 5 I'd say I
- 19:33don't know. It's I'd like to say they feel
- 19:36more grounded but I don't well I don't know because it's been a
- 19:42long time since I played Persona 5 and you know watching a few
- 19:48comparison videos between four and five.
- 19:50Playing Persona 5 back then I was actually yeah there's some
- 19:53good stories with some of these characters but when you really
- 19:56think of it Makoto in Persona, 5 who's probably my favorite
- 20:00female, Actor in the game. But lunch.
- 20:02Oh, so you did as well. But really her entire Arc in
- 20:08Persona 5. If you choose to push on her
- 20:11relationship is, you know. Oh, my friend is dating a bad
- 20:17guy. How do I get involved with this
- 20:20and fix it? Yeah.
- 20:21Whereas for their sister, doesn't she yet to some extent
- 20:25with sigh? But I would say, the most
- 20:29grounded and the deepest relationship Action ship that
- 20:31you can build in Persona 5 is with Kasumi or or some mirror
- 20:37because you know as you play through the extra semester in
- 20:42Royal you realize that she's got like a lot going on in her head
- 20:46and basically she's the reason I her sister died and she couldn't
- 20:50live with herself. So she then picked up the mantle
- 20:52of being her sister until it kind of overtook her personality
- 20:56like some really deep stuff. But yeah, maybe the Sona for
- 21:01cohort are a bit more grounded. There are obviously some
- 21:05exceptions to that with, you know, characters like Teddy.
- 21:08And I'd say kanji isn't really handled that well, but overall,
- 21:13it feels like they're a lot more grounded in reality facing
- 21:15similar problems to what, you know, maybe I thought was we're
- 21:20issues for myself when I was a teenager, you know.
- 21:23Yeah, I think that they are based on types as you say, but I
- 21:29think persona, for personally, I think does more with those types
- 21:34than so Sona. Five does.
- 21:36There's more depth more layers in them, which is funny because
- 21:39Persona 5 is a longer game. Yeah, and I think I said, at the
- 21:43time, with Persona 5, the particularly two characters
- 21:46started to really annoy me and at first, they didn't at first,
- 21:50I found them quite likeable. But the more I saw of them the
- 21:53Knowing I found them he was at on a Yugi and I just found them
- 21:58to be very, very shallow in the end.
- 22:02And I think there are some standout characters in Persona
- 22:055, but they are examples of their types.
- 22:09Whereas, I feel like the types here, obviously ons I would say,
- 22:14so yeah, it is thought the one that all the guys want is the
- 22:20idea the, the former Idol, but I feel There's a bit more depth
- 22:24here but there are some good ones in Persona 5 as well.
- 22:29And there are some some less good ones here as you say.
- 22:31But just generally speaking. I feel like they're a bit more
- 22:34interesting as you say. So let's talk about in
- 22:39comparison to one another the storylines.
- 22:42So, I I'm going to, I'm going to make a claim here about a
- 22:47persona for story. I feel like it's a bit more
- 22:51consistent all the way through, so that in Persona 5, it feels
- 22:56like you go for you. Do one castle and then you go
- 22:59off in a completely different direction, and a new character
- 23:02is introduced at random, and then you go to their castle and
- 23:06then another character. And then it turns out that
- 23:10They're all sort of loosely linked whereas I feel like
- 23:13Persona 4 does a much better job of tying it all together.
- 23:17You know, there's going to be another potential victim and you
- 23:23can kind of I don't know I just felt a bit more grounded to me
- 23:26and a bit more, not always, but a bit more real to me.
- 23:31I don't know what you think about that.
- 23:34Yes. But there are problems with it.
- 23:36So I'm going to get to some of the themes if that's what.
- 23:39Yeah, no. No.
- 23:39Not-not-not, the themes. I knew you were going to, I
- 23:41know, you are going to touch on that anyway, but I think that my
- 23:45main problem with Persona 4 is that it is very much, right?
- 23:51This person is going to get murdered.
- 23:53Okay, you have saved them now, you've got to wait for the next
- 23:56person to come up with murder and you sent it to me the other
- 24:00day that some of the wait times between the castles and dungeons
- 24:03is excessive, and I think they were quite long waits in Persona
- 24:085 as well, but because there was so much More to do in Persona 5,
- 24:12it didn't feel as bad. Maybe it's because there are
- 24:16more areas as well. Yeah, I'd agree with that but
- 24:22you know it is a pretty consistent story and you know,
- 24:26there are there are Parts where because you're obviously trying
- 24:30to work out who the murderer is and you worked out pretty fast.
- 24:34Yeah, I think I worked out before even the first, the first
- 24:38castle. Yeah.
- 24:39Where His. I thought it was someone else
- 24:42and then that someone else died and I was like, okay, maybe not,
- 24:44maybe Dan's, right and then you turned out to be correct.
- 24:48It's because at Jedi way is because so spoilers for anyone
- 24:51that hasn't played this game, it's a character called at that
- 24:54she who is the GM has psychic sort of like a - yeah,
- 25:00secondhand detective trainer? Yeah and the reason number one,
- 25:06he was always around and I thought why?
- 25:10Always around. He doesn't really seem to have
- 25:11much relevance, based always around number two, his character
- 25:15design, screamed, that there was something wrong.
- 25:20He was always disheveled. And there was something about
- 25:23his face, he was tired and and know I've played classic
- 25:27japanese design. Yeah, I've played enough
- 25:30Japanese games to know their tells and it just I just thought
- 25:35and I said, I sent you a message saying, I don't know for certain
- 25:39I guess that he's going to be this guy.
- 25:42Yeah, it was it turned out to be him and I feel like a lot of the
- 25:47stories were working towards that review and it really does
- 25:50pick up when you do find out. It's him.
- 25:52So I haven't completed the game yet.
- 25:54I've you know I'm I'm doing there's the boss after it.
- 25:59That Chi. Yeah, which I got to last night
- 26:02and it was very late and I thought I better turn this off
- 26:05now. So I'm there.
- 26:08So I'm fairly Eyes to the end I think, but not.
- 26:11Not there yet. You still got another like whole
- 26:13semester and a half to do yet. Yeah, yeah.
- 26:16So I know there's another couple of know, there's potentially to
- 26:19jump dungeons, but one of them you can miss, because it's a,
- 26:24it's part of Sona for Golden. So saying Whispers.
- 26:27Yeah. Five.
- 26:29Yeah, yeah. I just feel like it's more
- 26:32consistent in working towards that goal and at times, it feels
- 26:35more focused, but at times you're right.
- 26:37It does feel unfocused because when you I tend to do what I did
- 26:43in Persona 5, which is complete, the dungeons very quickly.
- 26:46Yeah, then I'm just left waiting around for yeah, like three
- 26:49times on end whereas Persona 5 does a smart thing with this.
- 26:53Let's call them dungeons because I know that they have different
- 26:56names in both games sign of five forces you out of the dungeon
- 27:02about a third of the way through.
- 27:03Yeah. When you leave your calling
- 27:04card. Yeah.
- 27:06And then like two thirds of the way through.
- 27:07It does the same thing again and it keeps It keeps doing that and
- 27:13because of that, you're forced to go out and take a break from
- 27:16the dungeon, where as there was one dungeon where I got all the
- 27:20way through to the boss door. And I thought, okay, I'm gonna
- 27:22go out here and replenish my health and SP and then come back
- 27:27and just do the boss and did it with into two days.
- 27:30And then I had a, I think that was probably the one that was
- 27:32complaining saying I've got, I think, I think one of the big
- 27:36things would Persona 5 and I know, really, we shouldn't be
- 27:39talking about comparing. When we just talked very hard,
- 27:42not, but it's hard not to. I think the thing with Persona 5
- 27:46is that you can get quite, it's good that they like throw you
- 27:51out of the dungeons in Persona 5.
- 27:52Because I think particularly, when you look back to a Kimora's
- 27:56Palace, which, you know, we everyone agrees that is the
- 28:00worst one because the boss fight, and that is so broken and
- 28:04almost made me stop playing. But the, the length of the
- 28:09dungeons in Persona 4. I feel so much longer and I
- 28:13think it's because better balance there's a better balance
- 28:16because of that, they're all specifically designed to be
- 28:20something different. Whereas Persona Falls, dungeons
- 28:24are okay, you're on the first floor, follow a corridor around.
- 28:27Try and work out a way to the stairs go up and I said to you
- 28:31that Persona Falls, dungeons feel exactly like what mementos
- 28:34was in Persona 5. And I think that's why that the
- 28:38dungeons in Persona 4 5 so much easier to just do Do and get out
- 28:41the way because it was literally like follow a corridor.
- 28:44Follow a corridor follow a corridor mini-boss follow
- 28:46exactly the same pattern. Yeah.
- 28:49And it's why when there were backtracking moments in the
- 28:52Persona 4 dungeons, it did my head in a little bit because,
- 28:55you know, backtracking in the dungeons in Persona 5 it would
- 28:59be a little bit interesting, whereas backtracking to the
- 29:02dungeons in Persona 4 is very much just, all right, okay, so
- 29:07I've got to go all the way back through here and go down these
- 29:10corridors. Find this specific thing in this
- 29:12specific area on one Corridor which is just down a load of
- 29:15different lines. You know it was more like
- 29:19padding, doesn't it? Yeah it does.
- 29:21And you know some games can do backtracking whereas others
- 29:24can't and you know it's no secret that MGS is one of my
- 29:29favorite games ever. But the backtracking and that
- 29:31game to go and get the sniper to fight sniper or for the first
- 29:34time is padding and that b does my head in.
- 29:39So some games can do padding well, And hide it.
- 29:42But some don't I think this might be one of them.
- 29:45Yeah, we're going to get on to the dungeons a bit more cuz I
- 29:47want to, I want to dig a bit deeper into that.
- 29:49Okay. So before we blow open the
- 29:52entire game, let's go onto our ever-present feature gameplay is
- 29:55King. It's Persona 4, Golden fun to
- 29:59play. Yeah, it's the same as 5.
- 30:01I think if you get into it you can really lose yourself in this
- 30:04game and I certainly did I think I've got maybe about 40 45 hours
- 30:10in it, I'm on. The hours.
- 30:12Are you even playing it alot playing a lot slower than me?
- 30:16Maybe I've been a I was going back through the dungeons.
- 30:18First of all, in doing the, the many bosses afterwards, ditional
- 30:22Shadows? Yeah, yeah.
- 30:24So I do think this games fun. There's a lot here.
- 30:28Not as much as you know, it's equal but enough to keep it
- 30:33exciting. And I really liked following
- 30:35through with the relationship quests and seeing where they
- 30:38went. So, if you're someone that is
- 30:40into, A good narrative and a good story then.
- 30:43Yes. I think this is fun.
- 30:45There are elements where there isn't very much gameplay and you
- 30:49know, that was a big issue with the start this game.
- 30:51I know you said the same the first hour or two, it's very
- 30:53slow. So yeah, but it just takes time
- 30:58to get to. It is what I would say about how
- 31:00fun this game is. What do you think?
- 31:02Yeah, it definitely is. This got a really satisfying
- 31:05gameplay, Loop if you can get into it.
- 31:09I think in terms of the gameplay There's not a whole lot to it.
- 31:14No, you're basica for a lot of this game for probably half of
- 31:19this game. You're advancing conversations.
- 31:21Yeah, that's that's what you're doing for half of this game.
- 31:24You've got another part of the game, where you're running
- 31:27around small areas and you're talking to people and then the
- 31:32rest of the game is dedicated to the dungeons that we've already
- 31:34mentioned. And it's very similar to Persona
- 31:375 these games on. They're not really heavy
- 31:43gameplay games. This is not no Dark Souls or
- 31:46anything like that and it it's very relaxed and I think that's
- 31:52part of its appeal, for me is very relaxed yest.
- 31:55It's he had that there's something about getting lost in
- 31:57this world and just chilling out and then you've got the very
- 31:59good soundtrack. Once again, it's the same stuff
- 32:02that popped in Persona 5, that pops here and there isn't the
- 32:08there's nothing quite like these games, they are.
- 32:10Unique. And in a way, I wish I had
- 32:13experienced this back in 2008 because I think this would have
- 32:17felt very modern and very fresh in 2008 because it felt very
- 32:22rushed when we play Persona 5, when we did mmm.
- 32:26So yeah, it definitely is fun. Do you have a favorite move
- 32:30within the combat or any comments about a favorite move?
- 32:37I suppose like getting the when you've managed to knock down an
- 32:40entire group of enemies and getting all over me.
- 32:42Yeah. You know, getting the whole gang
- 32:45to beat him up is quite satisfying.
- 32:47But this isn't really a game based on moves is it.
- 32:50So, it's hard to say. But yeah, that would be the
- 32:52standout one because that's the main one that kind of sticks out
- 32:54I suppose seconded, okay? I want to talk about the themes
- 33:01of this game, some of the, some of which it does well, some it
- 33:05doesn't frankly. Okay, I'm just deciding from my
- 33:10list of my short list of themes. Jeweler, what were you looking
- 33:14at that? You want me to provide some some
- 33:17mid episode entertainment while you're having a look at that?
- 33:21Yeah, you go for it. That's fine.
- 33:23Everything's great. Your June, as Mega little song
- 33:28for you son. Before I hope you like that as
- 33:31my pressure nanika. You sounded exactly like thank
- 33:35you very much big bro. Okay, the first one I'm gonna
- 33:41get the elephant in the room out the way sexuality.
- 33:44Yeah, it's not one that we usually end up talking about in
- 33:48games but it's one that to me has to be discussed when talking
- 33:51about this game, I'm going to let you start and just give us a
- 33:55bit of a description as to what this is, I'm just going to run
- 33:57down and get my laptop charger. Charger.
- 34:00Yep. So it was something that we
- 34:03discussed. Probably not too in-depth in
- 34:07Persona 5 because you often find it with with Japanese games that
- 34:16a lot of the women will be designed in specific ways to
- 34:20overly sexualized them and the main You know, example of that
- 34:25and Persona 5 will be on the guys will often kind of stare
- 34:29and layer and make comments at her but it didn't seem too
- 34:32intrusive. Whereas in this game it's a lot
- 34:37more prominent and you know the the player character can be as
- 34:43involved or not involved as you want like that's fine.
- 34:47But the third dungeon I think is it sorry sir who's the idol and
- 34:53her Her her kind of Palace or dungeon or whatever it is a
- 34:57strip club. And she's talking about how
- 34:59she's going to take off all her clothes and like the middle-aged
- 35:02man or leering at her and all the other boys are leering at
- 35:05her. And it just seems a bit kind of
- 35:08like a ham-fisted. And as you go through the game,
- 35:13there's like quite a lot of elements of the guys, just being
- 35:15really creepy and trying to kind of get in with the girls
- 35:20wherever possible and the worst the worst person for it.
- 35:24Person is Teddy and it's played for laughs and Teddy is quite a
- 35:29funny character but also the same time.
- 35:33He is incredibly weird and just this incredibly horny weird kid.
- 35:39So yeah. And you know that there's That
- 35:44they have this weird thing with kanji as well where it's kind of
- 35:48hinted for a while that comes you might be gay.
- 35:51You never really kind of find out if he is or not.
- 35:56And, you know, he seems to have a thing for naoto the detective
- 36:03and she's she's female but at the same time wants to be a guy.
- 36:07So there's touches of, you know, Trans in there as well, but
- 36:13yeah. A kanji, just feels very poorly
- 36:17handled in terms of ye could be gay or that's really weird.
- 36:21Let's not hang around kanji. That's really weird man, isn't
- 36:23it? I think having him be confused
- 36:27about his sexuality, it's fine. Yeah.
- 36:31Yeah, that's fine. And that's what this a
- 36:35interesting because it's not something too.
- 36:39To assessing that way. But interesting in the fact that
- 36:42you didn't really often see I suppose in games and nozzle, I
- 36:46think for that. Yeah, the problem is the
- 36:48commentary that the other characters provide which is just
- 36:53cringy. Yeah.
- 36:55It in this day and age and similarly with naoto again the
- 37:01fact that They were born a girl and they now had want, it's
- 37:10never quite made clear, but they now want to be a boy, there's
- 37:16nothing wrong with that. And the way this is handled is
- 37:18fine. But again, it's the way that the
- 37:21characters are like that cringey Spar scene.
- 37:27Yes, that was one. I was telling you about the
- 37:29prepare for us, like, yet gets weirder.
- 37:31Yeah, it's I don't even, I'm not even, well, well, versed to
- 37:37comment on it but it's basically wrong.
- 37:40Yeah, for anyone that hasn't played, it naoto is a detective
- 37:45who like, Dan says was born female, she would rather, what
- 37:50they would rather be a boy. It's never really kind of pushed
- 37:53on what their the pronouns are, because it wasn't really a
- 37:56conversation that was had I suppose in the late naughties
- 37:59and few like a few specific points in the game.
- 38:02She kind of Is to, you know, be around the guys and she doesn't
- 38:06take take part in a fashion show which Teddy stipulates, there
- 38:11has to be a section where the girls were in swimsuits and
- 38:13naoto wins but doesn't take part.
- 38:16And then, later in the game, they go to the adame and which
- 38:19is the hotel owned by Yuki's family and there is a hot spring
- 38:24in there and all the girls going in towels and then eventually
- 38:26naoto comes out and all the girls make a really big fuss
- 38:29about the fact that she's got quite big boobs.
- 38:33Which Which, you know, you can't really see in our toes normal
- 38:37clothes. And you can tell that she's
- 38:39really kind of humiliated by it and doesn't really want any
- 38:42attention and it's just a bit awkward and it's kind of just
- 38:45there for. There's really just there for
- 38:47the guys. Really, isn't it?
- 38:48Yeah it's fanservice isn't it? Yeah weird sort of fanservice.
- 38:52Yeah the whole thing would conjure the whole thing with
- 38:55naoto and just you know average sexism in this game is a bit
- 39:02heavy I suppose. Yes, it's just it's cringy at
- 39:07times. It's going to be like, none of
- 39:09it. Made me feel uncomfortable, none
- 39:10of it was like, I don't know how I feel about this, but it was
- 39:13just a bit. Like, I think I could
- 39:16understand. I read something before, I
- 39:18briefly, read something before. I played this game which
- 39:22commented on the themes within this game and how they put the
- 39:26writer of this article off the game, they said that they were,
- 39:30I don't know if they I think they played it before and it was
- 39:33fine but they played it again. then this time, and those things
- 39:37were just so obvious and yeah, it's it's it's a small dish were
- 39:45either. Well I don't know your mileage
- 39:48may vary on it you might find it very uncomfortable but I found
- 39:51it cringy. Yeah.
- 39:53Same way that we talked about Metal Gear Solid 5 and quiet and
- 39:57yeah just just cringy. Yeah I'm okay.
- 40:01So let's talk about the way that this game handles Fame.
- 40:09So you touched on it with Reese a and these characters are
- 40:15getting their targeted because they have appeared in a TV
- 40:20interview. What do you think this game
- 40:21saying about Fame? Mom.
- 40:27I don't know because personify focuses on a lot, doesn't it?
- 40:31Because it's the group of the Phantom thieves and as they do
- 40:35more of their work, they get more famous until it kind of
- 40:39Tears them apart a little bit and is their downfall to some
- 40:43extent of the game. Whereas yeah like you say here
- 40:47that the targets for the murders people that have been have been
- 40:51on TV no matter how briefly even if they're just mentioned and
- 40:56they haven't actually showed up. Up.
- 40:58I don't know what it says about Fame, really?
- 41:03I don't know. I've not thought that much into
- 41:05it. What do you reckon?
- 41:06It talks about public perception and they're appearing on the TV
- 41:11because they've appeared in these interviews on TV somewhere
- 41:16and because of that, they've got into the public Consciousness
- 41:20and it's the Public's. This is my understanding of it,
- 41:24I might be wrong, but it the way that they appear on the midnight
- 41:28Channel, which is the weird TV dungeon world that they've
- 41:32appear in the way that they appear on that midnight Channel.
- 41:37Show is the way that the public perceives them.
- 41:40And I don't think it's quite that though.
- 41:43I think there's a bit that I'm missing there because Kanji, for
- 41:46example, appears a certain way but I don't get the impression
- 41:51that that is the way that he's publicly perceived.
- 41:53So it's Yakutsk on. Geez.
- 41:56Yeah, congees. I mean, kanji is a very
- 42:00aggressive kind of Rebel Without a, Cause kind of guy Wears Like
- 42:05a skull t-shirt and a leather jacket and he's got piercings
- 42:08and scars. Where is his perception on the
- 42:11midnight channel? Is someone that is very camp and
- 42:15it's hard. And to kind of get that Vibe of
- 42:17Hawaii. People think then that way in
- 42:19the real world. So I know where you're coming
- 42:22from, but I'm with you, I kind of could put the pieces
- 42:24together, but at the same time, there's something missing.
- 42:26Yeah, so that that because I was waiting for that explanation
- 42:32because They were appearing on the midnight Channel and that's
- 42:36how they were targeted. But why are they appearing on
- 42:38the midnight channel in the first place?
- 42:40So I was waiting for an explanation and then it came and
- 42:42then it didn't quite answer my questions and I thought there
- 42:46might be something afterwards that does delve into it, maybe
- 42:49there isn't okay. So next topic that I think, what
- 42:54do you why do you think it's relevant that the game is set in
- 42:56the countryside. I suppose, because all of this
- 43:00crazy stuff that's going on, like serial killers and crazy,
- 43:03fog and stuff isn't really. Something that's happened to the
- 43:06place before where, as you know, every game, I dunno episode a
- 43:10three-set, but Sona fives. Obviously in Tokyo, and I
- 43:15suppose, maybe it's just like a little bit of a change, whereas,
- 43:17if there's a serial killer in a city.
- 43:19So okay, this is bad, but it's kind of business as usual,
- 43:22whereas in the country, nothing really happens.
- 43:24In Ann Arbor in this game. It's very much a quiet town.
- 43:28Town where nothing goes on until these murders start and it's
- 43:34been you know, it really shakes the community.
- 43:37Yeah and I think that's a big element of this game.
- 43:40Is that the fact that it's such a close-knit community?
- 43:44Where you know, they've got their problems, they've got
- 43:46their, you know, issues with Juniors closing down the
- 43:49shopping district. And you know, everyone knows
- 43:53each other's business and all of a sudden this serial killer
- 43:56turns up and It's really freaking people out, you know?
- 44:01Yeah. And there's also the idea that
- 44:03the law enforcement can't quite cope with what's going on.
- 44:06And yeah, especially in forces us to be called from elsewhere.
- 44:10And just the idea that there's not much to do in this town and
- 44:16sometimes when you're playing it, I don't know if this is
- 44:19intended or not. You feel you feel like?
- 44:21Yeah, there's not much to do between the dungeons.
- 44:24Sometimes you, there's no one that you can talk to you to
- 44:28advance on the rainy days and stuff.
- 44:30Yeah. And you just end up finding
- 44:33something Buddy. Awesome Iowa.
- 44:35Yeah. Or for the 40th time going to
- 44:39try that Big Bowl challenge. Yeah.
- 44:42Just to get your understanding up in your courage and yeah.
- 44:44Just to pass the time. And I would say yeah, just to
- 44:46increase your courage. Ending perception.
- 44:51One of the other things that I think there is a bit of
- 44:53commentary on. I don't think this game does
- 44:56incredibly well, with any of them, maybe, with the exception
- 44:59of the countryside, which I think it does quite nicely is
- 45:04now I called this topic nihilism so I'd actually in his
- 45:08conversation at the end. The reason he's doing what he's
- 45:10doing. Is he describes it as being?
- 45:13He's bored. And he's angry that he was and
- 45:18out to this Countryside town and the way that he's getting
- 45:22vengeance is to create chaos and cause these murders to happen,
- 45:29and He also basically describes how whatever the, whatever the
- 45:38team does will amount to nothing, and their lives will be
- 45:42meaningless. And the reason that they're
- 45:44chasing this answer, this truth is because they've got nothing
- 45:49else to look for or to look forward to and I think it
- 45:53touches upon it and you definitely get the feel of that
- 45:56in the game. But I don't know if it Does it
- 46:00justice? I don't know if you've got any
- 46:03feelings about that. Not that I've thought of ahead
- 46:10of time. So I don't really have any funny
- 46:11form for some but it's an interesting point.
- 46:14And yeah, I'd actually does this because he's bored and because
- 46:17he's lonely. And he's just in the middle of
- 46:19nowhere. When he, you know, he thought
- 46:21he'd be a big shot officer and he's like a 26 year old doing
- 46:25nothing really. So he just gets poured inside.
- 46:27Stock, having people killed, which is, you know, she can get
- 46:31away with it. He does.
- 46:32The first one is like, oh wow, I can get away with this and then
- 46:34all of a sudden he's killed like Five people or something?
- 46:38Yeah, it's an interesting one that there's another element of
- 46:41the story that I wanted to touch on as well.
- 46:44Before we move on. Yeah, I really liked and then I
- 46:49thought oh wow, they've actually done that and then they reversed
- 46:52it which I thought was a shame and about three-quarters of the
- 46:58way through the game nanako dies and yeah nanako is the cousin.
- 47:03She's like this 56 year old girl that You live with and like
- 47:08she's a really sweet kid and then she gets she gets kidnapped
- 47:13and taken to the TV world and you go into her dungeon which
- 47:16you know, it's a cold dungeon. And yeah, you bring her back and
- 47:22she gets hooked up to a hospital ventilation.
- 47:23You think she's getting better than all of a sudden?
- 47:25She just, just like dies and everyone is absolutely
- 47:28distraught and, you know, dejima is ruined.
- 47:32But then about five minutes later they're like, oh no, she's
- 47:36fine. We brought her back to life.
- 47:37It's all good and I really wish that they stuck with killing
- 47:42off. Interesting.
- 47:43Yeah. And because it, literally, when
- 47:45it happened, I was like, no way. Like they actually do that.
- 47:48What? And I was really surprised.
- 47:52And then within five minutes it's all absolutely final so
- 47:56it's such a good opportunity. I don't know what it was an
- 47:58opportunity for but I thought it would take real balls to do
- 48:02something like that and they did.
- 48:03It could then they step back. Yeah.
- 48:06See a different side of the characters but it's one of those
- 48:08paths that I can understand why they backtrack, because think of
- 48:13The Last of Us, don't think of the last was part one.
- 48:18When you go down that route, Route.
- 48:20It defines the rest of the game and you can't walk it back
- 48:24whereas that if they walked it back very quickly and then the
- 48:28characters could be merry and a team working to basically what
- 48:33the Persona series is about. Whereas it I think it would have
- 48:36turned into a very different game had they walked that route.
- 48:39It would have been interesting no doubt the thing is they did
- 48:44it with a catchy didn't a and Persona 5 but because at that
- 48:48point could touchy Kotetsu. Sorry catchy was an antagonist.
- 48:54It's it didn't really hold as heavy but like the scene where a
- 48:58catch. He's basically giving you the
- 49:00reason why he's done everything, and it's because, you know, his
- 49:03dad was horrendous to him and you know, you get a reason
- 49:08behind it and then he just dies, I was like, oh man, because like
- 49:11a catchy was really interesting character and I like the fact
- 49:15that they got rid of him even though they're kind of bringing
- 49:18back in the final semester, stir just for him to kind of go
- 49:20again. But yeah, I like it when games
- 49:24do that and they take a risk and get rid of someone that you
- 49:27weren't really expecting. It would rise when sucky the go.
- 49:36Yeah, I was surprised when she was dead.
- 49:39Yeah. The, the second victim that hit
- 49:41quite hard because You just it's like with with Sona five.
- 49:48You said that almost causes the girl to commit suicide.
- 49:52She doesn't she do? She didn't die.
- 49:56She and you Yeah, and it's like a line that games don't really
- 50:02cross where is Sona for very quickly jumps over that line.
- 50:06And yeah, never really walked it back from that and it's always
- 50:11She's never forgotten. No, particularly for you.
- 50:14Ask a. Yeah, and she's brought up all
- 50:17the way, certainly up to the point where I am.
- 50:19Now she comes up in a lot of conversations, and that's really
- 50:24interesting. Because, if you're at a school,
- 50:30And whether you're close to that person or not, if another
- 50:33student dies, it's it's really hard hitting.
- 50:39So yeah, it's a really interesting thing that they do
- 50:41there, okay. I want to talk a bit more about
- 50:43the dungeons before we move on to something else.
- 50:47So, We've talked about the structure of the dungeons.
- 50:52What they what to me, what they do is, you're right there
- 50:55corridors, but they have a different paint job, one of them
- 50:58and some of the paint jobs are more appealing than other ones.
- 51:01Were there any ones that you thought?
- 51:02Stood out to you as in like the my favorite dungeons?
- 51:06Yeah I like the last one quite a lot with a duchy was good.
- 51:13Yeah I thought that was quite cool and I'd say nanako's as
- 51:17well-being, heaven. Because that's quite heavily
- 51:20linked with her character of, never really understanding why
- 51:23her mom died. Yeah, I thought the heaven one
- 51:27was quite good and maybe congees perhaps the bath house but a lot
- 51:41of them syncing with each other. I mean, like the video game me
- 51:44one was interesting. But it also did my head in a
- 51:49little bit but that was like a proper Minecraft world before my
- 51:52last Leaf existed. Yeah I do.
- 51:55Nice art style. Yeah.
- 51:57But now I'd say heaven and then in Arbor for a Dutch in nanako.
- 52:02What about you? Yeah, I'd agree with those
- 52:06Turner that I put in the, the video game one as well.
- 52:12The game doesn't do dungeons as well as Persona 5, know, but I
- 52:17also felt with Persona 5 and I think I don't know if you agree
- 52:21with this. It's nowhere near achieves, what
- 52:26he could do with those dungeons. It still feels at times like a
- 52:30dungeon with some intervals and some bits in between, what was
- 52:38some of the Palaces of Persona, 5 have quite cool gaming
- 52:43mechanics. Put into them like, my from
- 52:46memory, my favorite Palace in Persona 5, was the art gallery.
- 52:51And there were section of the Gallery where to get through you
- 52:54had to jump into paintings and you know, hop around.
- 52:57But some of the policies in that games what bigger?
- 53:01Like we're too big, I think then they were so big to a point
- 53:05where it kind of Drew away from them a little bit.
- 53:07Like, if this Palace was a little bit smaller, it will be
- 53:09better. But because you've added so much
- 53:12volume and size to this thing to make it feel Grand.
- 53:17It feels a bit empty and it feels like it's padding.
- 53:19You know what I mean? Yeah, that's um, I definitely
- 53:23preferred some to others and some were better than others.
- 53:28But They won. I think I've played RPGs that do
- 53:35dungeons better, and I think that's that's what I think.
- 53:39I was getting out there. I feel like this, there's some
- 53:42way to go to make them even better, like, with the art
- 53:45gallery. I see that they kind of touch on
- 53:47this Heist that you're doing to steal the the calling card and I
- 53:53wanted it to go. Full-blown Heist.
- 53:56You are you really planning it out?
- 53:58And it's just stuff like that. They could have take it further
- 54:02for me, but don't get me wrong. I think there are, there are
- 54:06quite significantly farther ahead than Persona 4.
- 54:13Okay, audio for this game, we touched briefly on it, but
- 54:16anything you want to say about the audio but I think the, I
- 54:20think the music in Persona 5 is better.
- 54:23But I think the music in this game is still very, very good
- 54:27particularly opening theme, you know, the opening cutscene.
- 54:31I think it works really well and I don't know what style, I would
- 54:38give Persona 5. It kind of feels like a weird
- 54:44element of Jazzy Funk whereas Persona 4.
- 54:51I don't know how you put your finger on it, but it is very,
- 54:57very catchy, very viable, very upbeat.
- 54:59And, you know, the color palette of this game, like, Persona 5,
- 55:01it's like a red and black color theme wearers Persona 4 is like
- 55:07multicolored. It feels very like, something
- 55:10very much out of the 70s, which were yellow, isn't there?
- 55:14Yeah, a lot of yellow. And it is a, I mean, they're
- 55:17both very colorful games Persona 4 doesn't pop as much as I've
- 55:21just because of, you know, the times that they were released,
- 55:25but yeah, the music in this game is good.
- 55:26The American voice acting. I did it 50/50.
- 55:29So the first half the game, I did the Japanese voice acting
- 55:32and the second half of the game. I did the English.
- 55:38And the voice acting is okay. It's very much like an
- 55:41Americanized Japanese RPG, the voice actors sounded very
- 55:46similar. So yeah, massively massively.
- 55:51But yeah, the the standout on the audio side would probably be
- 55:54the music which is very good but not quite up to levels of
- 55:57Persona 5, I don't think. Yeah, I would agree with that.
- 56:01Don't really have anything to add visuals, anything else to
- 56:05say about those again. See, it's a game of its time.
- 56:10It still looks like it still looks good, but it is very
- 56:12obviously. Now that you say, it's a PS2
- 56:15game online our K. Yeah.
- 56:16I can see that. Now, you know, the character
- 56:19models are very obviously from that generation.
- 56:25The, the cutscenes is, like, just watching like a Japanese
- 56:29anime and it looks really good done.
- 56:32Mmm, but yeah, the the overall look of the game is is good
- 56:35again, doesn't pop. Quite as much as Persona 5.
- 56:38Like I said, it's hard to not compare these two games which is
- 56:43probably somewhat unfair, but yeah, it looks, it looks good
- 56:46for its age. I think particularly with the
- 56:48new up scales on the switch and the PS4 and 5 and the Xbox.
- 56:52Yeah, I think I take it further, I think it looks very good for
- 56:55its age. 2008, I mean for a PS4, the PS2.
- 56:59Mmm. I think it was very good for its
- 57:02age. The fact that it's still quite
- 57:03quite nice to look at anyways. Very colorful pops a lot.
- 57:09And a lot of what Persona 5 does, right is here, which is
- 57:14present and correct in Persona 4 Golden, okay?
- 57:18So, onto the question of the week.
- 57:22What direction would you like to see the next Persona game?
- 57:25Going in terms of setting terms of story in terms of maturity,
- 57:33in terms of where you want to see the dungeons, go where you
- 57:37want? See the characters go?
- 57:38It will any thoughts about that? I don't know.
- 57:43I suppose. Persona 5 was our first one and
- 57:49I was very surprised with how much I liked it because I love
- 57:52that game as brilliant and Persona 4.
- 57:57I was expecting it to be long as it's back to be good.
- 57:59I don't think it exceeded expectations but it met my
- 58:02expectations. And the one thing that would be
- 58:05interested to see if a Persona 6 comes out because you are bear
- 58:10in mind. These games are all part of
- 58:12Shimmer. Got me Sensei, and I think
- 58:13there's like 14 or 15 enters into that series.
- 58:16It's crazy. So the, the main line games is,
- 58:19they've just they really well couple of years ago.
- 58:21I think. Now they release five on the
- 58:23switch but there are more other spin-offs.
- 58:26Yeah. She loads of them, but I'd be
- 58:29interested to see if they do another one, what the themes
- 58:32would be in it and how differently they're treated
- 58:34because you've gone from very humble fisted in Persona 4 to
- 58:39not amazing and Persona 5, and I'll be interesting to see if
- 58:42their hand or a lot better. And Persona 6 in terms of
- 58:46setting, I like the Tokyo setting, I like the city setting
- 58:50and I think that works quite well, but in terms of anything
- 58:52else, I don't really know. I'd probably need a lot longer
- 58:55to think about that. At but seeing as it was your
- 58:58question, I imagine you probably got a better answer than I have,
- 59:02I don't want. I've seen Tokyo in many other
- 59:08games and the accuser games have done Tokyo very well.
- 59:17And a lot and they use, they started branching out to
- 59:20different cities and I always preferred the entries where you
- 59:24go to a different city, other than Tokyo.
- 59:26I'm just because it felt different.
- 59:29Yeah. And I don't want to go back to
- 59:30Tokyo. I'd like to see another city in
- 59:32Japan, maybe one. Which I mean there are so many
- 59:35diverse cities in Japan and I would like to see maybe
- 59:42somewhere different maybe with a touch of Countryside as well.
- 59:45I really like the countryside setting here.
- 59:48I think it could be explored more.
- 59:49As you said that there aren't a great deal of locations to
- 59:52actually go to so though I like the atmosphere in the setting If
- 59:57you don't, you don't really get to properly, explore it not.
- 59:59And I would also like to see I don't want to say open world so
- 1:00:05don't I don't agree with that but a bit more open, more
- 1:00:10location, the game. Yeah, but also maybe the ability
- 1:00:14to walk between them, right? Whereas in this game and in
- 1:00:20Persona 5, you kind of go between them via a menu.
- 1:00:23Yeah. And it doesn't mean I want to
- 1:00:25see persona persona 6 Oblivion, I don't want to see that but but
- 1:00:32just something a bit more. Our open where you can do a bit
- 1:00:35more exploring and maybe a bit more variety in the gameplay.
- 1:00:39I would also like to see a more mature story where they do the
- 1:00:44stuff that they were doing in for, but take it even further
- 1:00:49because And commit to it because I although as I said they do
- 1:00:54backtrack and it would have changed the game fundamentally.
- 1:00:58I still think it's a bit of a tangent that I'd like to go on
- 1:01:01out of curiosity. See, ya.
- 1:01:05And that would be where, and I think?
- 1:01:10A lot of the, a lot of the monsters and that they seem to
- 1:01:14be quite similar between the games, a lot of the personas and
- 1:01:17the Shadows. So maybe it needs a bit of a
- 1:01:20refresh in terms of that like inclusion of mr.
- 1:01:24Blobby maybe yeah, as a Shadows characters.
- 1:01:29Yeah, I'd like to go to Noel's house party.
- 1:01:32Yes, that'll be an interesting worm, her way through the floors
- 1:01:35and then yes, have a sub-bosses Noel Edmonds.
- 1:01:38And then the final boss as mr. Blobby Be what a haunting idea
- 1:01:42that is make it right. You know, that game and you can
- 1:01:47throw your money at whatever company decides to do it.
- 1:01:50There you go. There you go.
- 1:01:51Atlas. Yeah.
- 1:01:54Yeah, I'm interested to see what they do next.
- 1:01:58I think. Yeah, I don't know where they're
- 1:02:00going to go and I think, well, if they will, so I think it will
- 1:02:04happen. Seven years since Persona 5 now.
- 1:02:09So, Maybe the next couple of years.
- 1:02:11Eight years, between Persona 4 and 5, other 92 years between
- 1:02:16three and four. Well, they've just put it beside
- 1:02:20of 5 over 2, all the console's having a so they'll probably
- 1:02:23want to make some more money off that for a couple of years
- 1:02:27before they start doing other stuff.
- 1:02:29Maybe and bear in mind as well. You've got other persona games
- 1:02:33that have come out in that time I Persona 5 Strikers.
- 1:02:37Yeah, that I've I mean I've got access to I've not played It.
- 1:02:42But I think it's from what I've seen is.
- 1:02:43All right? I think it's in the same kind of
- 1:02:45vain as Hyrule Warriors for the Wii U.
- 1:02:48Is that kind of vibe but yeah so they're still making money off
- 1:02:52the Persona 5 games so yeah but maybe in the next few years
- 1:02:59perhaps we'll see. Okay.
- 1:03:01So onto our wrap-up does Persona 4 Golden deserve to be on the
- 1:03:05Metacritic top 100 list? Yes.
- 1:03:08I think it does. I I think it's probably well
- 1:03:12well positioned because I think this probably comes in at about
- 1:03:15maybe halfway 3/4 away down the list of the inclusion since
- 1:03:19being put in since we started the list and I think right near
- 1:03:22the end it's right on the on the cusp.
- 1:03:25Well, I think Persona 5 deserves its spot more than Persona 4
- 1:03:29does. But I think they both have that.
- 1:03:31Isaiah. And by saying that, I mean
- 1:03:35Persona 5 deserves to be higher up the list.
- 1:03:37Like I said, it feels like persona for walked.
- 1:03:39So Persona 5 could run and about both games.
- 1:03:43There are elements to it, which make it better than the other.
- 1:03:46But overall I think the personify was a better game but
- 1:03:51persona for definitely has its place in the list.
- 1:03:53I think it definitely deserves to be here.
- 1:03:55What do you think? yeah, I I think sign of five
- 1:04:01taken as a total package is a better game but there are
- 1:04:06elements of persona for that I do prefer the story characters,
- 1:04:10like the characters setting, the family dynamic, but the Dungeons
- 1:04:18and that side of thing is a lot better in Persona 5 and you're
- 1:04:22right. It does have more to do.
- 1:04:24It's got a bit more style. It's got a better soundtrack.
- 1:04:27Yep. Then Persona 4 but your mileage
- 1:04:31may vary on these games. Some people prefer persona for
- 1:04:34Some people prefer Persona 5 and I do think given all the
- 1:04:39similarities that these games have a really big compliment
- 1:04:43that you can pay either of them really is that they have their
- 1:04:46own identity. And they have a unique story to
- 1:04:49tell. So yeah.
- 1:04:52I think it's supposed to be here and yeah, somewhere near the end
- 1:04:58of the list but I think it deserves to be here.
- 1:05:00Yeah. Still a big compliment.
- 1:05:03You can pay the Persona series is that there are still not many
- 1:05:07other games, quite like them. No, do really unique.
- 1:05:11Yeah, absolutely. Did you ever?
- 1:05:14Encounter. I don't know if it's called the
- 1:05:15Grim Reaper in this game or death or did you ever encounter
- 1:05:19them? No, I wasn't sure if they
- 1:05:21existed but I did. I did wonder because obviously
- 1:05:26it's mentioned in mementos episode of five but I wasn't
- 1:05:29sure if it was going to be an inclusion.
- 1:05:31But there were a few dungeons, I was running around where I could
- 1:05:34hear like the clinking of chains which is obviously the same as
- 1:05:38what happens in Persona 5 and mementos with a grim reaper, but
- 1:05:42I didn't think it was actually Going to be a thing in there.
- 1:05:44So no, I didn't ever come across.
- 1:05:46I didn't know it was there. I had a feeling so I heard the
- 1:05:48chains but now I'm here. So in the, you know, in the
- 1:05:53video game dungeon. Yeah, I opened a chest and I got
- 1:05:59a warning saying, are you sure you want to open this chest?
- 1:06:03You really don't want to open it, right?
- 1:06:05And then I clicked. Yes.
- 1:06:07Yeah, open it. And I got second warning.
- 1:06:10You really shouldn't open this chest and I click yes.
- 1:06:13And I open the chest and then I had a fight with the Grim Reaper
- 1:06:18or death and Andy just obliterated me.
- 1:06:21Mm-hmm. So, yeah, that was my experience
- 1:06:24there. That's what I thought was quite
- 1:06:25a nice touch that it was there. Yeah.
- 1:06:28Yeah, I think it was random because I retried that floor and
- 1:06:31they weren't there that next time.
- 1:06:32That's cool. That's cool.
- 1:06:35Good inclusion. Okay, what we got coming up on
- 1:06:39the list. Yeah, we did.
- 1:06:41We did mention this in the last episode, but the last kind of 20
- 1:06:45minutes of the recording, got that got skewed, didn't they?
- 1:06:49So we will reiterate Because we had technical issues on that
- 1:06:54episode. So next game we're doing which
- 1:06:56will be in two weeks time I think is going to be Tetris
- 1:07:01effect connected the game that we are saying for ages that
- 1:07:04we're going to do that we've been looking forward to
- 1:07:06massively and you know we're both very much looking forward
- 1:07:09to spending 30 pounds on Tetris. So there's that and then so
- 1:07:14that's in two weeks time and then the week after that, we are
- 1:07:16going to be doing breath of the wild finally Which I have
- 1:07:22started. I haven't started Tetris yet
- 1:07:24because, you know, is Tetris, but I have started breath of the
- 1:07:26wild. So we've got one game where we
- 1:07:31don't really know what it's going to be like.
- 1:07:33And then one game where it's probably going to be quite an
- 1:07:35interesting episode. Yes.
- 1:07:37Not that any of our episodes are not interesting.
- 1:07:40You understand, they're all equally as interesting, but yes,
- 1:07:43I feel more people will be excited by Zelda than they might
- 1:07:45be about Tetris, but you never know.
- 1:07:48You never know, never know. So yes as usual find us on
- 1:07:53social media, long short podcast, you can email us at the
- 1:07:55long and short of it podcast at hotmail.com.
- 1:07:58If you like this episode, you know, please share it with
- 1:08:01someone that might also enjoy it.
- 1:08:03Talk to your friends about it, start a blog call someone and
- 1:08:08tell them about it. Maybe call the pizza man,
- 1:08:12perhaps, but yes, that is all from us for this week.
- 1:08:18There, anything else from you please.
- 1:08:19And thank you. That's it.
- 1:08:21Lovely. Well, we will see you in two
- 1:08:23weeks time for Tetris effect connected.
- 1:08:26And in the meantime, take care cheerio.
- 1:08:29See you on the next one.