Persona Rant

So I drafted a very long-winded post on Friday about all the backseat moderators on the Aeria forums and how much I dislike them; then I realized I could sum it up with just that-- I hate backseat moderators.

For those who are unaware, I went Neutral. People seem to obsess over the Law/Chaos doramaz still, so between wanting to not be a part of that anymore, and wanting to abuse a new crystal setup, going Neutral was the best option for me.

In unrelated-to-Imagine-news, I got a PSP for myself as well. So far I've picked up Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles, Patapon, and Persona. I have to say, I'm overall pleased with Persona; I don't see the point in complaining about the music, considering up until this updated remake came out all we had was Persona: Black Mark Edition for the PSX... Anything is better than that.

Mark --><-- Black Mark

It could have been worse...
we could have had Blackface Mark D:

I still think the battle system should have been remade, but maybe some people enjoy feeling like they're really living in 1996 again. I've never had particularly fond feelings for the first Persona title; though I'm rather indifferent towards the Persona series as a whole. In the wide spectrum of RPGs available on the market, I will play any Shin Megami Tensei-spinoff game before I'll pick up any other series (save for another Mother/Earthbound game or Phantasy Star 5 if it ever gets made). Anything made by Square-Enix (save for a few games, like Final Fantasy Tactics, Star Ocean or Valkyrie Profile) is just going to be another cliche' game, and once you've played one N.I.S. tactical RPG you've played the other 5000 they've made. However, I have a love-hate relationship with Persona. It teeters on that fine-line of being a SMT game and not being a SMT game. It has the same demons, same sort of battle system nowadays, and same sort of questionable imagery/subject matter... but it just doesn't feel SMT enough for me. Lately I feel like it's just Teenage Angst: The Video Game. Bring back the SMT games of dystopian, post-apocalyptic worlds with man vs. God conflicts, and a little less of the high school setting of Persona. They're still good games; I'd just rather see the original series pick back up. SMT4 needs to happen; I'm hoping Strange Journey is a step in the right direction.