cw: depression
The Persona series is a strange beast. It falls into a really specific but fascinating sub-genre that I like to call "homophobic gay content." Maybe its simply a common occurrence in Coming of Age stories, but I think Metal Gear Solid, Jojo, and Ace Attorney fall into that genre too. How each Persona game accidentally trips into gay themes is always really compelling. They ultimately stumble or make major missteps in this messaging, but they're still something people in gay corners of fandom can project on pretty easily, even with all the frustration that comes with it. Persona 4 is about the internal struggle, trying to figure out your own identity, defying the perception of you that others are enforcing. Persona 5 is about the external struggle, focusing on oppressive systems and how one can defy them for a greater good.
Persona 3 is about fucking depression.
You can definitely feel this as the transitional game as they rapidly change the franchise format. The social links are short and paper-thin, the dungeon is.... a bit exhausting. But there's an oppressive tone and aesthetic to this game where it really excels. A melancholy pain and angst as these teens try to avoid thinking about the depression and death around them. There's a sense of inevitability to nearly everything. The monthly boss fight feels so much less triumphant than in later games. You train, you fight, you prepare to overcome this huge hurdle. You did it, no you can't celebrate. Go do it again. No matter how exhausting the journey, its just surviving until the next challenge. While Persona always involves balancing your schedule, you feel the weight of balancing your energy too. You get the sense that everyone in this story is putting on a mask of cheerfulness to get through the day. Time clocking down as their future approaches. Its a fascinating core dynamic and it elevates what could be a more generic jrpg story.
That said, not a great cast. While its easy to project gayness onto P4 and 5, even when its actively against gay content, I lot of the P3 cast just.... doesn't work for me. Aigis is by far the most interesting social link and I understand P3 Portable offers her as a gay option to the fem!protag. The girls are all basically pleasant and fine. But the men other than Ken are either kinda boring or aggressively bad.
Still, I can see why this is so beloved. Its got a lot of charm and ambition, even if it doesn't always reach the heights its aiming for. The ending and its build-up created some INTENSE feelings in me that an rpg rarely pulls off. Its a good ride.
The Persona series is a strange beast. It falls into a really specific but fascinating sub-genre that I like to call "homophobic gay content." Maybe its simply a common occurrence in Coming of Age stories, but I think Metal Gear Solid, Jojo, and Ace Attorney fall into that genre too. How each Persona game accidentally trips into gay themes is always really compelling. They ultimately stumble or make major missteps in this messaging, but they're still something people in gay corners of fandom can project on pretty easily, even with all the frustration that comes with it. Persona 4 is about the internal struggle, trying to figure out your own identity, defying the perception of you that others are enforcing. Persona 5 is about the external struggle, focusing on oppressive systems and how one can defy them for a greater good.
Persona 3 is about fucking depression.
You can definitely feel this as the transitional game as they rapidly change the franchise format. The social links are short and paper-thin, the dungeon is.... a bit exhausting. But there's an oppressive tone and aesthetic to this game where it really excels. A melancholy pain and angst as these teens try to avoid thinking about the depression and death around them. There's a sense of inevitability to nearly everything. The monthly boss fight feels so much less triumphant than in later games. You train, you fight, you prepare to overcome this huge hurdle. You did it, no you can't celebrate. Go do it again. No matter how exhausting the journey, its just surviving until the next challenge. While Persona always involves balancing your schedule, you feel the weight of balancing your energy too. You get the sense that everyone in this story is putting on a mask of cheerfulness to get through the day. Time clocking down as their future approaches. Its a fascinating core dynamic and it elevates what could be a more generic jrpg story.
That said, not a great cast. While its easy to project gayness onto P4 and 5, even when its actively against gay content, I lot of the P3 cast just.... doesn't work for me. Aigis is by far the most interesting social link and I understand P3 Portable offers her as a gay option to the fem!protag. The girls are all basically pleasant and fine. But the men other than Ken are either kinda boring or aggressively bad.
Still, I can see why this is so beloved. Its got a lot of charm and ambition, even if it doesn't always reach the heights its aiming for. The ending and its build-up created some INTENSE feelings in me that an rpg rarely pulls off. Its a good ride.
5 Comments
There's a lot more old arguments on gamefaqs forums regarding the exact nature of Revolver's feelings for Big Boss than you might think.
I read him gay or gay coded. The way both of them relate and talk about guns and stuff in general does too though in addition to all the stuff ocelot does. But I mean how does it reach homophobic lol
Ahhh, hm. That's harder to pin down with Metal Gear. Its... a vibe. The best concrete example I have is like what Solid Snake says "Vamp isn't for vampire. It's because he's bisexual." in MGS 2
RIGHT and Dr. Strangelove exists, named as such because she's a lesbian.
Kojima's Just Weird.
Kojima's Just Weird.
This comment was deleted
dwardman
2 years ago