Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden both dropped on Modern consoles the same day as Fire Emblem Engage. As was previously revealed, both games are on sale digitally for $20 each or $39.99 as a bundle on all platforms. P4G was previously released on Steam a few years ago–which I have obviously–and was given a free update to include some quality of life additions the console releases would have.
Most notably, a Quick Save feature was added to both P4G and P3P. What it does is it allows you to suspend the game in the middle of a dungeon and exit the game. Since dungeon floors in both P3/P3P and P4/P4G are randomly generated each time you change floors, when you resume your Quick Save you will start from the beginning of the floor you Quick Saved on. It makes sense to add this for most of the consoles and the Steam versions where you might want to take a break without first exiting the dungeon floor you’re currently on. I never had this problem when I played the games on the PSP and Vita personally and those releases didn’t have Quick Save. I simply exited the dungeon, hard saved and resumed the floor from there when I returned. Quick Save simply lets you save your game without first exiting a dungeon is all.
I saw one person on Twitter note an interesting text and audio gaffe in P3P involving the FeMC near the beginning of the game is apparently fixed on modern platforms. Without getting into story spoilers, during a certain scene the FeMC is referred to by Yukari with Male pronouns. This is apparently corrected in the modern release. I started P3P on my Switch as the Male MC but will switch on my second playthrough, allowing me to personally check that. I mentioned this on Twitter the other day but as of the release of Persona Q2 (Nintendo 3DS), the FeMC IS considered canon by virtue of her inclusion. Theodore, who players can choose instead of Elizabeth while playing as the FeMC is also in Persona Q1 which makes her exclusion from that game pretty odd. Atlus added additional flavor text to the Gender Selection screen to emphasize the fact the is to be considered Canon moving forward. She’s the main reason we got P3P on modern consoles so…yeah.
Before I continue, I figure I take a moment to comment on the recent controversy around Nanako’s voice actress Karen Staussman. For those who may not know, Straussman took a lot of public backlash due to her expressing and sharing anti-vaccine conspiracy theories online during the pandemic. More recently, she was replaced by Monica Rial (famously known as the voice of Bulma in Dragonball Z/Super/GT and Winry in Fullmetal Alchemist/FMA Brotherhood) as the voice of Anna in Fire Emblem Engage. Anna is a recurring character in the Fire Emblem games and was voiced by Strauss starting in Awakening up to now. Straussman also voices Chromie in World of Warcraft, who plays a significant role in the current expansion Dragonflight.
While I can understand Nintendo wanting to distance themselves from her because of her anti-vaccine views, I also believe she is entitled to her opinion. I don’t think she should lose her livelihood because of her views. It’s not the same as Vic Mignogna (famously known as the voice of Edward Elric in FMA and FMA:B). For those who don’t know, Vic Mignogna got himself into some hot water a few years ago within the industry and damn-near lost his livelihood because of it which he would have deserved. You can get a rundown on that here and here. Oh and Mignogna lost his lawsuits against Funimation and Monica Rial on that note.
As for Straussman. Like was the case with Mignogna, some people suggested both anime and video game companies should redub all the characters she ever voiced so she can no longer collect royalties. First of all, that would be VERY expensive to do per media (video game, anime, cartoon, etc.). We’re talking hundreds of thousands of lines PER MEDIA that would need to be redubbed. It’s not worth the time and money that would require just to stick it to one voice actress. As for Anna getting a different voice actress in Fire Emblem Engage, Intellgent Systems explained this version of Anna is younger and edgier than the other versions we’ve come to know and love. So, they can get away with getting a different voice actress for her. Weather or not this will be permanent remains to be seen. We’ll also have to wait and see if Anna in Fire Emblem Heroes (mobile game) is redubbed as well. At this point, I doubt it personally. It is possible Rial will be tapped to voice Anna again in future Fire Emblem games though.
I understand some might not feel comfortable playing Persona 4 Golden (or the other games Nanoko appears in) and more so those who strongly disagree with Straussman’s anti-vaccine views. I disagree with her views on the COVID-19 vaccines but I am mindful of the fact she is entitled to her opinion. There’s more I could and would say on that but if you really want to know, read my blog on politics and current events. Now that the world has mostly moved past the Pandemic, I have heard some of Straussman’s colleagues in the industry did make some progress talking to her about her anti-vaccine views. I assume that’s also why Blizzard brought her back to voice Chromie in Dragonflight as well. If Blizzard wanted to replace her, it wouldn’t be hard for them to do so…yeah.
Getting back to P3P and P4G.
I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the fact both did get anime adaptations. P4 got a 25-episode anime adaptation though episode 25 (features the True Ending) seems to be exclusive to the Blu Ray release which I have (as well as the digital release on iTunes and Playstation Network). P4G got a 12-episode Japan-only anime adaptation that focused on Marie and Adachi’s Social Links. Yes. really. P3 got a Japan-only anime adaptation spread across 4 movies. That was where the P3 Male protagonist’s name is officially revealed to be Makoto Yuki. The Female version would be Miyako Yuki. Officially, the P4 main protagonist’s name is Yu Narukami and in P5 it’s Ren Amaiya. In all three games (as well as P3P, P4G and P4R) you can name them whatever you want though. Oh and of course P5 got an anime adaptation as well. You can watch it on Crunchyroll Subbed or Dubbed but if you have the money, you can buy it on Blu Ray.
P3/P3P is widely considered the first and blueprint of the modern Persona games. It’s rough around the edges especially compared to P5/P5R but’s also where a lot of its charm is. It was quite the departure to the first three games in the series–Persona 1 and both Persona 2 games–which many fans rightfully feel should get the SMTIII Remake treatment at least. The only way to play those three games now is to try to buy a Vita online, buy and it download it. This is a huge spoiler but P3’s main theme is Death. I won’t reveal any more than that but let’s just say this is also why the P3 Protagonist is absent from Persona 4 Arena Ultimax.
P4/P4G is quite the contrast from P3/P3P due to the heavy anime-style storytelling. Some fans of P3, P5 and the earlier games are critical of P4/P4G because they feel the game is “tame” in presentation due to its presentation. I don’t know how you can play through the dungeon involving Nanako and what happens to her after that but still call this game “tame”. I’m holding back due to spoilers obviously but the post dungeon events involving Nanako and another character the team confronts are easily the darkest in the entire series. Period. That’s not debatable and I know which scenes in P5 some would claim top it.
P5/P5G took the series back to its roots in some regards with the return of the negotiation mechanics that were absent from P3/P3P and P4/P4G. Also unlike the last two games, P5’s main dungeons have linear progression. They’re not randomly generated each time you enter them. Also unlike the last two games, once you clear one of the main dungeons you could never enter it again (you do have the opportunity to get any Personas you missed later though). Each member of the cast has pretty messed up circumstances but none more missed up than Main Protagonist obviously. The opening scenes and the “Bad Ending” are the highlights I referenced earlier on that note.
Honestly I’m pretty surprised Atlus hasn’t offered game and anime bundles at this point. Obviously not for free but for a fee, you could download the complete anime series per game and watch them from within the games. I can confirm you can get the complete soundtrack for all three games on iTunes though. I forgot to say this earlier but Yu Narukami is voiced by Johnn Young Bosch. Anyone over 30 should remember him from Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers but most anime fans know him as the voices of Ichigo, from Bleach, Lelouch from Code Geass and Vash the Stampede from Trigun. I saw him in person at Anime Boston once several years back.
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