muladhara | (no subject)

The other day, I watched Aoife stream the first hour and a half (ish) of Persona 5 Strikers.

Two things:

1. Someone in the chat said Strikers takes ten to fifteen hours to get going, story-wise, and I just sat there with my mouth wide open, and my brain going, "what" repeatedly.

There was some follow up convo that said, oh well, it's a JRPG, you should expect that going in and...no? Please, for the love of frogs, no?

Also maybe I am old or whatever, but I don't want to invest fifteen hours in a game before it kicks off. I want it to grab me from the start, thanks all the same.

2. Hearing Aoife try to explain how Persona works for people who don't know was hilarious. Not because I'm mocking her, but because it IS weird/hard to explain! Especially since the main character can use any persona they like. I don't know that I would do any better, but I've never talked about it to anyone who doesn't know SMT games.

It didn't terribly grab me but: I haven't played P5 yet. I also, on gut reaction, don't like either Yusuke or Futaba. But I also realise that I'm not familiar with either of their characters again, because I haven't played P5 yet.

(They just seem like extreme stereotypes of the people they are? But that could also be the writing in Strikers? *shrug emoji* Also WTF is that voice, Matthew Mercer! That does not sound like a teenage boy!)

~

In other news, there is really not any other news. I keep thinking I should find myself something else to do besides drawing (especially since I accidentally donked up my weak wrist* by doing some intensive colouring. I had to rest it for most of yesterday and oooh boyyy did the day drag). But I don't really know what, right now. Even reading still feels like an insurmountable thing at the moment.

I'll figure something out eventually, I'm sure.

~

*I think my wrists are weak because I have hypermobile joints, but also I gave myself tendinitis in my right one five years ago, and it's been super sensitive ever since, yay.

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I... don't think Strikers takes 10-15 hours to get going. I mean, I'm pretty sure I haven't put in 10 hours in total yet and I'm already on to the second city, so... It does have very typical Persona pacing though, in that tutorials still pop up for a bit? Maybe that's where they're coming from?

Given yours and Nico's comments, I wonder if the person who said that is either well into grinding or it just took them a long time? It did sound kind of weird because I know other JRPGs I've played have been a bit slow off the ground (like, FFXII is my fave, but it takes till you get to Nalbina for things to really get going), but it's certainly not the case across the board from what I have experienced.

You're possibly right about the tutorial thing. Maybe that was what was slowing things down for them.

I disagree about the timing for Strikers. I'm thirty hours in and pretty dang far. You're in the first dungeon after an hour or so, and at that point the first arc has begun and you're ankle-deep in plot. I actually think Strikers is easily the quickest paced Persona story in a really long time.

Yusuke's Japanese Voice is ridiculously deep, so I think Mercer was sort of following it. It works for me. I had a few friends in high school with ridiculously deep voices, and they were twig-people like Yusuke so I guess I can ground it in wha I've experienced haha. Though Yusuke and Futuaba are my least favorites, I do really adore them. They're precious babies who go through a lot of development in the original game, especially Futaba. You might have a different opinion of them if you get a chance to play through P5 :). (100 hours with a a group of characters will do that to ya...or 130 hours, for Royal)

Hmm, interesting! As I said in the comment above, I wonder if it just took them some time to get to where they felt things were happening, and that's why they said what they did?

I see! I never knew any boys with especially deep voices when I was a teenager, which is possibly why it sticks out.

I'm definitely willing to give Yusuke and Futaba a chance if/when I get to playing P5. I think I was possibly expecting one thing with both of them and got a very condensed version of something else.

Edited 2021-03-08 10:25 (UTC)

Persona games have been leaning toward rather lengthy intros of late, but 15 hours sounds uhhhhhh. Too long. (I think I spent six or seven in Bravely Default 2's prologue but that was definitely Plot Moving and Things Happening so it didn't feel like it was wasting my time. Hm.)

Right? The more I think about it, the more ridiculous it seems. Who would spend 15 hours in a game before anything happened??