07-01-2009, 11:32 PM
At the request of one Mr. Zargon, here is my rant about why I dislike Persona 4's ending so much. Perhaps someday I'll add pictures and turn it into a cblog proper, but for now it's just as it is; an inane rant XD Enjoy (the two of you who have beaten it ;3)
Before I start, I gotta make sure I say that I absolutely adored the rest of the game, and thought it was all near perfect, save the end game.
My problems started with Adachi. I LOVED the idea of him as the killer all along. The twists with Namatame were brilliant, and everything fit together so perfectly, so when I thought about it, it made so perfect sense. There were enough clues you could look back at and make it all plausible. Confronting him was great, and I was so tense and excited to hear the master criminals' evil monologue explaining his dastardly plan, his motive and reason for creating the games main conflict were basically "Yeah, I did it for the lulz," which work wonderfully for characters like Kefka and Porky, but only when there backstories, and thus the reason for their immature nihilism are properly explained. With Adachi were just presented with a one dimensional schmuck whose potentially fascinating backstory is never even hinted at. Hell, Persona 3's Strega had their entire history summed up in some pre- and post- fight dialogue, and it not only managed to be satisfying, but utterly horrifying and tragic as well. (It's hard to top Revolver Jesuselot and Bomberman though
)
After he's defeated though, things start to get interesting, as the true (well for now) mastermind is revealed. Excited, I wrung my hands in anticipation over what horrible do-badder this could be. Adachi may have been flat, but this newcomer would surely prove a fascinating and sufficiently complex villain!
...
Or it could just be a Rainbow Deathstar... That works too...
Jokes aside, his design did grow on me as the fight went on, and I ended up rather digging it. The problem was that Amigo-Senpai (or at least that's how my phonetically deficient mind read it) turned out to be nothing more then a decidedly less awesome rip off of Persona 3's Nyx. A godly being misinterprets a flaw present in humanity as a whole as a universal desire for life to be extinguished (in the literal sense for Nyx and in the sense of Amigoâs (I can't help but imagine him chilling with Samba de Amigoâs monkey star now XD) plan for a shadow world) only to be trounced by our beloved heroes(and I don't mean that in any sarcastic way whatsoever, I genuinely adore both 3 and 4's cast in ways that almost no other game characters can garner :3) who throw a wench in their belief through there sheer determination and heart, which the villain now begrudgingly respects. It worked perfectly in 3, but doing it over again just seemed so stale, and it wasn't even that good of a ripoff. Nyx is introduced far earlier, and while there are certainly twists when you meet her face to "face", she and her basic motives are explained sufficiently early enough so that you have enough time to lament the upcoming doom, and prepare yourself to do the impossible and pierce the heavens with your drill, because I believe in you who believes in me, and me who believes in myself! ... *ahem* My apologies, that just slipped in there >.< Back on topic, but Amigo didn't do that at all, he just appears in the 11th hour to explain the secret master plan behind everything, in a frankly unsatisfying and disappointing way, There was no build up and it came out of nowhere, which might have worked had the conclusion been a wholly new one, but since it wasn't even that I just had to sigh and shake my head in it's direction.
With the good ending out of the way (I can't say I liked the whole "good" and "gooder" ending system, but that's a whole different rant,) there was the d'aww worthy chats with each of the s-links (which is completely exempt from scorn and was just as moving as 3's :3) and then the awesome "It's not over yet!" moment, with such a great reveal (the gas station clerk! It's right at the point of being "ok, that's just absurd," but not quite there and as such, incredibly epic) Who the hell is Izinaga and why does she look so much like Magus from Chrono Trigger? Who cares! At last a satisfying explanation of all the shenanigans! The puppet master had been unveiled and it was time to get some answers! Only, they were the exact same ones as Amigoâs. And P4 just took even more from it's predecessor, the main character fuses an ultimate Persona from the power granted by his s-link bonds, that is finally capable of defeating the unstoppable being, and while it was still a great moment, it was undoubtedly tainted by the fact that it's exactly what Minato did to the t.
As promising as she looked, Izinaga was just another Nyx wanabee, which doesn't work firstly on the merit of being unoriginal, but doubly so when she's introduced at the last possible hour, with the player expected to form some kind of emotional response far to soon. The more I think about it, the more bummed I get. It really was a blatant redoing of 3, which is really rather tragic, since they were both such different games, and fantastic because of it, but seeing 4 get a cookie cutter mold ending slapped on just made me sad. Theirs a fine line between a recurring theme and unoriginality, and sadly, I felt like the final act of 4 isn't even close to the middle. Which I feel horrible saying, as I still adore the game and think on the whole it's utterly fantastic. The rest of the ending with the remade TV World and the main characters departure were all great, but I can't help but rage over what comes before. As much as I want Persona 5 to be made, I can't help but fear a similar fate will befall it. On the plus side though, if it ever happens It'll give them a chance to redeem themselves, and prove once again that Atlus can do no wrong ^__^
Before I start, I gotta make sure I say that I absolutely adored the rest of the game, and thought it was all near perfect, save the end game.
My problems started with Adachi. I LOVED the idea of him as the killer all along. The twists with Namatame were brilliant, and everything fit together so perfectly, so when I thought about it, it made so perfect sense. There were enough clues you could look back at and make it all plausible. Confronting him was great, and I was so tense and excited to hear the master criminals' evil monologue explaining his dastardly plan, his motive and reason for creating the games main conflict were basically "Yeah, I did it for the lulz," which work wonderfully for characters like Kefka and Porky, but only when there backstories, and thus the reason for their immature nihilism are properly explained. With Adachi were just presented with a one dimensional schmuck whose potentially fascinating backstory is never even hinted at. Hell, Persona 3's Strega had their entire history summed up in some pre- and post- fight dialogue, and it not only managed to be satisfying, but utterly horrifying and tragic as well. (It's hard to top Revolver Jesuselot and Bomberman though
)After he's defeated though, things start to get interesting, as the true (well for now) mastermind is revealed. Excited, I wrung my hands in anticipation over what horrible do-badder this could be. Adachi may have been flat, but this newcomer would surely prove a fascinating and sufficiently complex villain!
...
Or it could just be a Rainbow Deathstar... That works too...
Jokes aside, his design did grow on me as the fight went on, and I ended up rather digging it. The problem was that Amigo-Senpai (or at least that's how my phonetically deficient mind read it
) turned out to be nothing more then a decidedly less awesome rip off of Persona 3's Nyx. A godly being misinterprets a flaw present in humanity as a whole as a universal desire for life to be extinguished (in the literal sense for Nyx and in the sense of Amigoâs (I can't help but imagine him chilling with Samba de Amigoâs monkey star now XD) plan for a shadow world) only to be trounced by our beloved heroes(and I don't mean that in any sarcastic way whatsoever, I genuinely adore both 3 and 4's cast in ways that almost no other game characters can garner :3) who throw a wench in their belief through there sheer determination and heart, which the villain now begrudgingly respects. It worked perfectly in 3, but doing it over again just seemed so stale, and it wasn't even that good of a ripoff. Nyx is introduced far earlier, and while there are certainly twists when you meet her face to "face", she and her basic motives are explained sufficiently early enough so that you have enough time to lament the upcoming doom, and prepare yourself to do the impossible and pierce the heavens with your drill, because I believe in you who believes in me, and me who believes in myself! ... *ahem* My apologies, that just slipped in there >.< Back on topic, but Amigo didn't do that at all, he just appears in the 11th hour to explain the secret master plan behind everything, in a frankly unsatisfying and disappointing way, There was no build up and it came out of nowhere, which might have worked had the conclusion been a wholly new one, but since it wasn't even that I just had to sigh and shake my head in it's direction.With the good ending out of the way (I can't say I liked the whole "good" and "gooder" ending system, but that's a whole different rant,) there was the d'aww worthy chats with each of the s-links (which is completely exempt from scorn and was just as moving as 3's :3) and then the awesome "It's not over yet!" moment, with such a great reveal (the gas station clerk! It's right at the point of being "ok, that's just absurd," but not quite there and as such, incredibly epic) Who the hell is Izinaga and why does she look so much like Magus from Chrono Trigger? Who cares! At last a satisfying explanation of all the shenanigans! The puppet master had been unveiled and it was time to get some answers! Only, they were the exact same ones as Amigoâs. And P4 just took even more from it's predecessor, the main character fuses an ultimate Persona from the power granted by his s-link bonds, that is finally capable of defeating the unstoppable being, and while it was still a great moment, it was undoubtedly tainted by the fact that it's exactly what Minato did to the t.
As promising as she looked, Izinaga was just another Nyx wanabee, which doesn't work firstly on the merit of being unoriginal, but doubly so when she's introduced at the last possible hour, with the player expected to form some kind of emotional response far to soon. The more I think about it, the more bummed I get. It really was a blatant redoing of 3, which is really rather tragic, since they were both such different games, and fantastic because of it, but seeing 4 get a cookie cutter mold ending slapped on just made me sad. Theirs a fine line between a recurring theme and unoriginality, and sadly, I felt like the final act of 4 isn't even close to the middle. Which I feel horrible saying, as I still adore the game and think on the whole it's utterly fantastic. The rest of the ending with the remade TV World and the main characters departure were all great, but I can't help but rage over what comes before. As much as I want Persona 5 to be made, I can't help but fear a similar fate will befall it. On the plus side though, if it ever happens It'll give them a chance to redeem themselves, and prove once again that Atlus can do no wrong ^__^
I put spoiler tags on it... And definitely keep playing it! I think it's just me who felt this way.