Gamer Sites Return to Criticize Persona 3 and Persona 4
On the last 19th of this month, the classics Persona 3 and Persona 4 were re-released in improved versions for absolutely all platforms. In the case of Persona 3 we had the Persona 3 Portable version being re-released, Persona 4 was the Persona 4 Golden version.
I myself quite like the series as well as the mother series, Shin Megami Tensei (I beat Strange Journey but I already played Soul Hackers and Shin Megami Tensei IV to some extent), regarding Persona, I already beat the original Persona 3, Persona 1, the two Persona 2 games and Persona 5 Royal, only Persona 4 is missing for me to have closed all the main ones.
However, “gamer sites” decided to attack both games kind of at the same time, with their relaunch, articles attacking what they think is wrong were published and it’s clear that the online crowd did not forgive them.
Gamer Sites Return to Criticize Persona 3 and Persona 4
Let’s understand the criticisms, first starting with Persona 3, which is my favorite game in the series. What happens here is that the Persona 3 Portable version lets you choose your character’s gender.
Want to play as the male character? Okay, want to play with the female character? Okay, and in this game, choosing the boy or girl changes many aspects of the game’s story, it’s not just a visual thing.
Certain interactions and events only occur with the male protagonist and other situations and events only occur with the female protagonist, but what have some sites complained about the game?
The Gamer said Persona 3 is misogynistic, Paste said Persona 3 failed in its female perspective, and why? Because if you choose the girl, the game’s menu is all pink:
If you choose the male protagonist, all the menu and buttons are blue, if you choose the female protagonist, it’s all pink, and some sites see a problem with that and even expected Atlus to change it in the relaunch, which didn’t happen.
See what The Gamer writes about the female protagonist of Persona 3 Portable:
“The first thing you notice when choosing the female lead is how pink everything is, you know, the color that girls are legally required to love and have in all their stuff. I have nothing against aesthetics, but in Persona 3 Portable is stereotypical, gaudy, and covers every aspect of the menu.
The character in the corner of the screen and the ancient dialogue do a solid job of defining her identity anyway, so I bet Atlus didn’t want us to forget we have a vagina.”
Complaints against Persona 4
Persona 4 Golden was much more criticized than Persona 3 Portable, I haven’t beaten the game yet and I’m still seeing the story, so I’m sorry but I’ll have to kind of guess as to why these sites are complaining.
Basically from what I can understand (since I haven’t beaten the game yet and I haven’t reached Naoto’s dungeon yet). the complaint here is basically about the Kanji and Naoto characters.
Kanji is a boy who for several moments in the game hints that he is interested in men, but in many moments he denies this and tries to get close to girls as well.
What actually happens and what I understood and also something he said, is that he is afraid/difficult to make friends, and girls are complicated to get along with, but he starts to have more friendships and he does find some girls that he sees around pretty pretty even blushing.
And Naoto is a girl who dresses and acts like a man, but if I’m not wrong, I saw a spoiler that Naoto ends up accepting that he is actually a woman and that she would never become a man, so she accepts herself like a woman.
Let’s see what some sites said?
EuroGamer said that:
Polygon said the following:
reactions
Let’s see how some people reacted to these “articles” from these gamer sites coming out at the same time?
“Lovely bloggers, fake pixels in video games are not toys for your personal politics. They are entertainment products that can describe anyone. Thank you”
“So the script and dialogue is the same and it hasn’t been “updated for modern audiences”? COOL”
“Looks like I’ll have to play this”
“I don’t understand how they expected Atlus to change something in a port”
“Hard to swallow”… I wonder how these people go into the real world if a game is hard to swallow”
“Persona 4 Content has not been updated… umm, that’s a GOOD thing”
“Oh cool, more confusion about the Kanji character because reading and paying attention to what he says doesn’t line up with what they want”
“It makes me want to play Persona 3, I loved 4 and 5”
“God, I forgot Polygon existed”
“Hate clicks pay the bills”
“Old games are popular again
Gaming News: Why This Game Isn’t Forced Inclusion”
“They really are desperate to start a controversy”
Anyway, that’s it for now, Persona 5 also received complaints like because there’s a part of the game where two men forcefully approach Ryuji at one point in the game, which turns out to be a scene for comedy.