Amagi Inn

Thoughts: Persona 4: The Animation episode 1

2011-10-06T23:20:00.006-05:00

Chie is the one who should be sorry.

If the title of this blog (which should be Amagi Inn, unless I changed it again) is not apparent enough, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 is one of my all-time favorite games. Subsequently the anime adaptation was essentially the only show I was looking forward to for the fall, anything involving ponies notwithstanding. Still, I will admit that my expectations for the show were not very high. Part of Persona 4's beauty is the way the player defines the main character and story, and having it spelled out in a "canon" way felt somewhat bothersome. On the other hand I'm apparently in the minority for choosing Yukiko over Rise, so maybe I was just preemptively fanboying out. Anyway, onto the thoughts!

The first episode neatly condenses the game's opening sequence. Of particular note is the choice to use quite a few assets from the game itself. The background music is directly from the game's catchy soundtrack, including a nice use of Reach Out to the Truth during the episode's sole battle. Also used is the game's calendar to keep track of what day it is in the story. While this is a clever idea, I can't help but think that it clashes due to the fact that the anime has already rearranged and condensed a few events. In this case, the protagonist Yu (also know as Seta if you went by the manga) discovers his persona the first day he enters the TV World. I'm not complaining. If there was anything about Persona 4 that needed to be fixed, it was it's overly long opening act. However it does feel off, but at the same time it makes the plot feel somewhat refreshing.

Personally, I believe that the biggest challenge with making a direct adaptation of a game is keeping the content fresh for the die-hard fans who have played the game several times. Granted some people will want the source material to be followed to a T, but other fans will grow tired if the animation just turns out to be the game without requiring player input. Thankfully I fall into the latter category, so I think I will find enjoyment in Persona 4: The Animation. That is until anyone who isn't Yukiko is made canon love interest and I lose a bet I made.

(By the way, I'm trying to write on a regular basis, so any constructive criticism helps. Thanks!)

Fun Factor

2011-08-02T11:39:00.003-05:00

Remember the old GamePro review format? It used four separate scores; Graphics, Sound, Control, and "FunFactor." There was also Challenge, but that typically didn't have a numerical rating. Typically fun factor tended to end up as an average of the other three scores, although I recall GamePro stating otherwise. I guess it was just how things worked. I mean if the graphics, control, and sound weren't up the par, you probably weren't having fun, right?

This is all conjecture, but I feel like these days most game reviews allow the other three to overshadow whether or not a game is fun. Not every game in existence has the budget of Infinity Ward or Nintendo. Graphics will not always be amazing, sound will not always have Nobuo Uematsu, and control will not always have Shigeru Miyamoto demonstrating it while at an overblown press conference. And yet it seems that any shortcomings in these three areas results in an immediate dismissal of a game's potential fun. Typically we let low budget independently developed titles to get away with those three shortcomings based on how charming or amazing it is, and that's perfectly fine. That being said, why do most gamers feel the need to not give mid size developers the same benefit?

It's not always the case. Even I know that. Oni controlled terribly and as a result I almost sold my PS2. (Thank the powers that never happened!) On the other hand, I've seen perfectly fun games ripped into by people for the silliest of reasons. One of my coworkers out right refused to even try Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon simply on the grounds that it didn't look like whatever brown shooter he was playing. I know that there are plenty of fair minded gamers out there. I've talked to quite a few of them on Twitter. So by no means is this any sort of blanket statement.

Still, everyone has an opinion. I've accepted that, although I also am allowed to have the opinion that some opinions are stupid. Just like how someone reading this is allowed to think that this post is stupid.

It's really hard to sum this up in some nice neat package, but next time you're validating a game's existence, ask yourself "Did you have fun?"

(I actually hate SpongeBob but even I couldn't resist this image)

Yes.

2011-07-29T16:25:00.002-05:00

Yes.

Hello!

2011-07-18T15:24:00.002-05:00

You've stumbled upon my personal blog! Notice how it's empty? I'll try to fix that soon.