Persona 5 Follow-Up—Combat Systems

I finally had time to take a bite into both Persona 5, and Persona 3 FES, that released quite a while back. But now I can say that I'm finally familiar with the Persona series! Enough so that I'm comfortable enough to talk about it.

Something that really stood out to me after playing Persona's 3-5 (and Shin Megami Tensei IV, to brag a little) were the subtle changes in combat between each game.

The systems overall are a feat to begin with, as with each iteration, combat was vicious and unforgiving, rewarding a player for strategy and well though out moves, and punishing them for being hasty. If one takes the time to wait on an enemy, sneak up behind it, and ambush it, they may finish the battle before the opponent even has time to react.

On the other hand, there are far two many times that you miss your initiating blow, and the opponent pummels you, and sends you to the grave faster then you could ever react. And oh boy, is that frustrating.

But this mechanic helps to immerse the player, giving them the idea that the shadow-filled dungeons they must traverse comprise of actual danger.

Lets start with Persona 3, and talk about the nuances that make it unique. The most stand-out quality of this installment compared to later games is the amount of independence one has from their team members. Members equip themselves, more or less, and make their own moves in combat (with intelligent characters making smart moves, and the less gifted AI throwing the matches far too often). Team members can wander dungeons on their own, have their own battles, and keep their stats to themselves, unless asked.

Persona 5 reflects the amount of balance and polish they have but on the battle system since then. Instead of a confusing, inverted wheel for a user-interface, they assign each button on the controller to an option.

 It looks beautiful, and most importantly, it is functional. The game still rewards and punishes based on the efficiency of your strategy, but if you die, you can start from a 'safe room,' or from the beginning of the level. Phew! The sense of danger may take a slight dip when a player realizes that they're going to have to attempt the same boss multiple times, but the frustration level goes down immensely when your game data is perfectly safe, and not lost to the void.

Storytelling Techniques (aka I'm still obsessed w/Yoko Taro)

The title says it all... I'm in love with this man.

My affinity for Yoko Taro, the eccentric, imaginative, and emotional creator of the Nier and Drakengard series, is driven by an appreciation for his outright subversion of happy endings and unhealthy Japanese cliches. I came across an interesting panel from GDC 2014, in which Taro gives us some insight on the method to his madness.

A timeline on the left, with the reasons and peaks laid out on the right.

He begins by explaining the ways in which he can create emotions from events. He starts with an emotional peak, "a girl dies." While this is sad on its own, he notes, the event could have more weight if there were reasons for us to care about this girl.

As the diagram below shows, Taro insists that we stack the reasons in an orderly fashion along the timeline.

He calls this method "Backwards Scriptwriting," and characterizes it by the method of writing the scenes before the forming of the overarching story. in tandem with this method, he utilizes "Photo-thinking," a process where he pictures the visual 'scene' of the emotional peak, and concentrates his thought on things that are exclusively a part of the emotional peak.

By combining these two methods, one can create the foundation for a larger story. He mentions how messy this process can be, as you layer reason after reason and peak after peak.

I think that Taro's method of scripting is brilliant in its uniqueness. In the beginning of the panel, he remissness about the many story/screenwriting books that he read, and how he didn't understand them. At all.

Video games are a difficult industry in terms of writing. They are enormous team efforts with skeletal budgets, and very few have a dedicated "story" person.

Taro's method of scripting is incredibly useful for those who are more visually creative, and less accustomed to intensive, formulaic writing. Because of the difficult medium of video games and their obtuse pacing, a more free-form style of writing is probably beneficial overall.

If you want to make interesting video games, go check out Yoko Taro's panel, "Making Weird Games for Weird People." Not only is it informative; Taro is a serious charmer.

Games to Check Out: Persona 5

Oh boy, here it is!

At long last, Atlus's long awaited sixth installment to the Persona series, known for its complex social system and the mechanic of conversing with your enemies—mid-battle.

In addition to the interesting battle-convo mechanic, the games are highly stylized, thematic, and have killer soundtracks.

Just a reminder here...

So how does this newest installment hold up?

After many many push-backs, I'd say YES!

The intro scene is enough to give you chills, and the beginning of the story sets up a compelling device—a betrayal.

From the start, you are on the constant lookout for the teammate that portrayed you. But at first, you are just a delinquent transfer student slowly making your way as a junior in high school.

These games have mechanics that I would love to see more often in American games. I feel like I can't think of any American RPGs that use a mechanic of friend making, except for Fallout, with its companion system. Even then, the connections that you make within the game lend to the theme of connections overall.

As I play through the game more, I'll follow-up on what went right and what went wrong with this game!

Endings

I hope you don't mind if I just let my mind wander for this post.

I recently played a game called Drakengard.


Drakengard was an interesting experience for me, as its the only game where I've seen endings get progressively worse as the game progresses.

The first ending of the game leaves something to be the desired, as your sister is murdered by the high priestess of a cult that is bringing about the destruction of the world. 

No matter how much you work, no matter how many soldiers you kill or bonus weapons you receive, there is no ending in which your sister is spared.

It makes me wonder— How does this detail affect the story of Drakengard?  How does it affect the theme of Drakengard overall?

I finished another game recently: Nier. Nier is the predecessor to Nier: Automata that came out earlier last month.

As the game progresses, and endings begin to be unlocked, a real theme of perspective arises. A player quickly realizes that a lack of information has led them to make mistakes throughout their journey.

Secretly, this article has just been about Yoko Taro, the director of both Nier, Drakengard, and Nier: Automata. Staples of Yoko Taro's work include subverting stereotypical Japanese tropes, rejecting "happy endings," and including characters with glaring flaws or abnormalities.

Every game that Yoko Taro puts out is fresh, cerebral, and interesting. If you're looking for a new story with rich characters, be on the lookout for his work.

SINoALICE is Taro's upcoming game for iPhone, though if you want to play it, you will have to go through the hassle of logging into the Japanese iTunes. Lets all hope for localization!