Jun 25

Can’t We All Just Get Along?

by saru in Analysis Add Comment (2)

Increasingly, I am growing tired of the predominance of combat in games. Specifically, RPGs.

In some genres, it’s necessary — even the point. What’s a first person shooter without combat? Or a real time strategy game? But even with genres where it’s more of an aside, like RPGs, combat is becoming more and more the main focus. No longer is story and character what people want from an RPG, but now a unique, interesting, most of all new combat system. And what for? So they can spend untold hours grinding away in dark dungeons to get a high enough level to take on the next boss that has little to do with the actual story.

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Jun 16

Suicide is Sexy

by saru in Analysis Add Comment (0)

Writing a game with mature themes, as Persona 3 has, is a dual-edged blade. On the one hand, you’re able to explore situations and characterizations that touch on things ranging from teenage social awkwardness to self-mutilation to alien sex (no, really) to death…oh, so much death.

On the other hand, by embracing such a mature theme as suicide into the combat system, you inspire the entire LiveJournal-obsessed angst-ridden mascara-drowned groups (whom I lovingly refer to as ‘emo-fucks’) to gush and squeal about how cool this game is, because it’s all about shooting yourself in the head and people with hair fashionably and annoyingly draped over half their face (you are exempt from this, Mitsuru). Glamorizing such a tiny part of such a huge game that deals with so many deeper things is just as ridiculous and inexcusable as blaming it for an increase in actual suicides.

But teenage fascination aside, why is this unique method used to summon Persona?

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