A Persona 5 trailer came out a couple of months back. It’s a
really good trailer and you should check it out if you haven’t yet. However,
I’ve noticed some… division… from fans about it, namely over a few small
aspects. Particularly, this:
On a lighter note: How fabulous is this menu, huh? |
You see it yet? There’s something missing from the menu that
many people have fallen in love with over the last few games and that’s the
Social Link system. The Social Links, known as “Community” in Japan, basically
give you something to do outside of Dungeon Crawling. You chat with NPCs or
Party Members. As you do so, you learn more about them and their life, while
also gaining a Rank in that social link. By levelling them up, you power up
your ability to create Persona of that Arcana and eventually unlock an Ultimate
Persona of that Arcana. It’s a pretty neat system and I personally love it. It
fleshed out the world and made you remember that there are people outside of
your little group that made up it up. It was cool. It also functioned as a sort
of dating mechanic but if we start talking about that, I’ll get a load of “Chie
is Best Girl” comments, so whatever.
The Social Links were added into Persona 3 and then refined
in Persona 4 (To make them slightly more useful) but that’s a point of
contention between fans of the franchise. There are some who think the games
should return to their roots and those who believe that the games are fine as
they are. The wake of the Persona 5 trailer has left the internet in a state of
dispute. I’ve seen comments from both sides saying things like “Yay! The P3 and
4 babies can shut up because that horrible social link system is gone! Also
Demons and Dual Weapons and yay!” and “I hope they have some form of social
links in there, otherwise I probably won’t play it”.
The social links thing is far from the biggest talking point
however. A lot of people are either celebrating or lamenting the fact that
Demons are now back in the game. (Possibly, it looks that way but to be honest
there’s so little information out there that there’s no way of knowing one
hundred percent) This has led many to believe that the Negotiation System from
P1 and 2 will make a return and for some reason, this has rustled the fanbase’s
collective jimmies with similar comments.
This whole thing made me notice something.
The Persona Fanbase, more than any other fanbase I am a part
of, is incredibly fucking elitist.
The thing that kicked off me writing this was a Facebook
comment that I saw just today regarding the state of Persona and Shin Megami
Tensei as a whole. Effectively, it was saying that people who have only played
Persona 3 and 4 cannot call themselves “Fans”, of either Persona or Shin Megami
Tensei since they haven’t experienced games like Devil Survivor or Raidou Kuzunoha. This argument, is fucking
bullshit.
Full confession here: I have never played Persona 1 and 2. I
prefer English Dubs in my anime, and as such, in my Persona. I have never
played a previous Megaten game, nor do I ever intend to. I love Persona 3 and 4
as two of my favourite games of all time. I love everything about them. Social
Links? Love ‘em. The simplistic yet somewhat intricate combat? Love it. The
streamlined gameplay lets you be as complex or as casual as you want? Love it more
than anything.
I feel these are the “Wrong” choices. I feel that by not
playing Persona 1 or 2 that I’m not doing right by the franchise I love so
much. I feel that by not demanding dual-audio that I’m somehow limiting the
games I long to play. I feel by not playing a previous Megaten game that I’m
not a real Persona fan.
This is a flawed fucking argument.
For one thing, it’s difficult for me to get copies of Atlus
games in general, since I’m a filthy European not worthy of Atlus-Senpai’s love
and I know all the other EU Atlus Fans out there feel this sting as well. I
mean, we just got SMT4 less than 4
months ago. Some of the SMT games aren’t even available over here. Hell, I know
I’m importing Persona 5 simply because it’ll be closer to 2016 when it actually
arrives on European shores. But that isn’t really an excuse. Did it ever occur
to people that I don’t want to be an
SMT fan? Shocking, I know.
I have little to no interest in playing the Shin Megami
Tensei games, I can say that flat out, since I just do not give a single fuck
about it. If I’d stumbled across them on my own, I might have enjoyed them. But
since I can’t even look at Persona fanpages on Facebook without seeing someone
bring it up and then say that you don’t truly love the games if you haven’t
played it or whatever, I associate it with negative feelings. For me, playing a
core SMT game is now a chore, something I have
to do to prove my worth over something I want to do for fun and enjoyment. The
same thing happens whenever someone tells me to listen to an album by band
d’jour and I’ve only listened to their newest stuff. Maybe I really like the
new stuff and am more than happy listening to that? I don’t have to prove
anything to you.
Also, it’s not just my peers, its people I respect doing
this too. I follow a number of Persona fanpages on the internet. They post some
funny Persona related content and that’s great. However, some select admins on
those pages are so steeped in this SMT elitism that they end up ragging on
games that they supposedly love.
The worst thing is that I’m getting called a Weeaboo by
people. People who clearly love Japan and it’s products or they wouldn’t be
getting this pissed off about it.
But I digress, again. When all’s said and done, I’m a fan of
Persona. So I should focus on that rather than SMT, right?
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you’ve only
played P3 and 4, if you’ve played every single Megaten game to date, if you
hate the very idea of Dancing All Night, if you prefer P1 and 2 to 3 and 4 or,
hell, if you’ve only watched the hiimdaisy Comic Dub. You are still a fan.
You still love something. The franchise, at some point, made
you happy.
We need to get over this attitude that if you really like a
certain feature or haven’t played certain games that you’re not a real fan. You
can be critical of something without ragging on those that like it. If you hate
the Social Link system, that’s fine! Just don’t tell others that they’re dumb
for liking it and wanting it in the next instalment.
P1 and 2 fans. I want to play with you. Yeah, your games
have been ignored recently, but that’s because Atlus feels that they can’t do
right by them and they don’t want to accidentally fuck up something that the
original creator loved so much (He’s since left Atlus). I feel that. Don’t get
butthurt, however, that the series is going in a new direction. That is going
to happen. I mean, just look at all the new fans that P3 and 4 have cultivated!
Surely, some of those guys are going to go back and play the games that you
hold so near and dear and that has to be a good thing, yeah?
P3 and 4 fans. You and I are of the same kin. We like the
newer games and will buy the P4 spinoffs until they make “Persona 4 Arena 12:
Teddie goes to Bangkok” or whatever. They’re great games and that’s awesome.
But, just because P5 seems to be going back to its earlier days, don’t get
upset. Nobody’s taking P3 and 4 away from you, they’re still there. You can
still fight over Best P4 Waifu if you so desire. Just maybe, if you haven’t,
give P1 and 2 a chance. I know I’m going to, before Persona 5 comes out (Albeit
with a Strategy Guide by my side. From what I’ve heard the games do less Hand
Holding and more Throwing you into a well which houses a tiger and expects you
to fight it off with no knowledge of how to fight tigers. I mean that’s fine,
but at least give me the basics of tiger pressure points…)
I honestly don’t know why I feel compelled to write this
one. I just feel like it needed to be said.
In short: Let’s just love the franchise without insulting
one another’s opinions of the games. They’re all awesome, for various different reasons.
No comments:
Post a Comment