Rabbit Roundtable: Biased Motherfuckers (Part I – Game Edition)

Gaming in hard sex mode.

prettyprophet: We figured since we've done enough of these 'reviews', 'roundtables', and whatever, it's about time for us to tell everyone our basic biases and preferred genres through lists, because, you know, lists REALLY tell you everything you need to know about a person, right? This first one only applies to GAMES though; it's the only thing all of the Thousand Rabbits are actually interested in together. Yeah, I know, movies, comics, books...but those tend to get pretty specific. Anyways, now you can pick whoever to read and ignore all those other cunts.

Something you should remember though:

Lavie Rhap usually does 'purchase guides'. Basically she's just talking about whether or not it's a good buy.

prettyprophet, aka me, usually does 'roundtables'. I either sit down with a couple of the others and we talk about whatever.....or I just get random thoughts from everyone and stitch a post together from that. Kinda like this one.

funny_bunny usually does...something. Sometimes he'll do straight-up reviews, sometimes he'll do nonsensical writings. We have no fucking clue.

...While nde, Pat, Ed and Ink don't write anything.

Anyways, here:

prettyprophet
Will play: Anything
Will enjoy: No clue
Has: Atari, NES, GB, SNES, Genesis, Game Gear, PS1, N64, SS, GBA, DC, PS2, Xbox, DS, PSP, Wii, PS3, PC
Preferred system: DC
Preferred genre: None
Hated genre: None
Platformer: Sonic series (Sonic the Hedgehog 2)
Adventure: Phoenix Wright series (Ace Attorney)
Action-Adventure: Shadow of the Colossus
Fighter: Guilty Gear series (XX: The Midnight Carnival)
Shooter: Panzer Dragoon series (Saga)
Light-gun: House of the Dead series (House of the Dead II)
FPS: Almost anything by Valve (Half-Life 2)
RTS: Starcraft series
TBS: Total War series (Medieval II)
RPG: Baldur's Gate series (Baldur's Gate II)
JRPG: Megaten - Main line (Nocturne)
SRPG: Ogre series (Let Us Cling Together)
Scary: Hellnight aka Dark Messiah
MMO: None (default Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine)
Sim: Harvest Moon series (Whatever's recent, Tree of Tranquility)
Puzzle: Bomberman series (64: The Second Attack)
Rhythm: Audiosurf
Racing: Burnout series (Whatever's recent)
Sports: Whatever new and decent soccer game comes out
Visual Novel: Crescendo
Co-op: House of the Dead II
Co-hate: Super Smash (Brawl)
Music: Shoji Meguro (Megaten)
Art: Hyung-tae Kim (War of Genesis, Magna Carta)
Story: Megaten (Nocturne)
Most beloved: Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Starcraft, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne



prettyprophet: Sonic 2 was the first co-op game I played, Starcraft is the lifeline of any Asian who plays games, and Megaten, FUCK YES.

nde
Will play: Anything
Will enjoy: Indeterminable
Has: Anything Prophet has (owns most of them)
Preferred system: PS2
Preferred genre: None
Hated genre: None
Platformer: Sonic series (Sonic the Hedgehog 2)
Adventure: The Longest Journey
Action-Adventure: ICO
Fighter: Guilty Gear series (XX: The Midnight Carnival)
Shooter: Panzer Dragoon series (Saga)
Light-gun: House of the Dead series (House of the Dead II)
FPS: Breakdown
RTS: Starcraft series
TBS: Romance of the Three Kingdoms series (ROTK XI)
RPG: Baldur's Gate series (Baldur's Gate II)
JRPG: Megaten - Main line (Nocturne)
SRPG: Ogre series (Knights of Lodis)
Scary: Hellnight aka Dark Messiah
MMO: None
Sim: Harvest Moon series (A Wonderful Life)
Puzzle: Tetris (GB)
Rhythm: DJ Max series (DJ Max Portable 2)
Racing: Burnout series (Whatever's recent)
Sports: None
Visual Novel: None
Co-op: House of the Dead II
Co-hate: Super Smash (Brawl)
Music: Ko Otani (Shadow of the Colossus)
Art: Kazuma Kaneko (Megaten)
Story: Megaten (Nocturne)
Most beloved: Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Starcraft, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne



nde: My interests are similar to Prophet's.

Lavie Rhap
Will play: Anything
Will enjoy: Indeterminable
Has: Genesis, GBA, DC, DS, Wii, PC
Preferred system: PC
Preferred genre: Anything with historical background
Hated genre: None
Platformer: Mario series (Super Mario 3)
Adventure: The past glory of Lucasarts
Action-Adventure: Zelda series (Link's Awakening)
Fighter: The Last Blade series (The Last Blade 2)
Shooter: Karous
Light-gun: Time Crisis series (Time Crisis 2)
FPS: Halo series (Halo)
RTS: C&C (Red Alert 2)
TBS: Total War series (Rome)
RPG: Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
JRPG: Shadow Hearts series (Shadow Hearts: Covenant)
SRPG: Valkyria Chronicles
Scary: Hellnight aka Dark Messiah
MMO: None
Sim: Harvest Moon series (Friends of Mineral Town)
Puzzle: Brain Age
Rhythm: Guitar Hero series (first one)
Racing: None
Sports: Wii Sports
Visual Novel: None
Co-op: Trauma Center: New Blood
Co-hate: Super Smash (Brawl)
Music: Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Cross, Xenogears)
Art: Range Murata (Spy Fiction, Power Instinct)
Story: Grim Fandango
Most beloved: Grim Fandango, Rome: Total War, Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town



Lavie Rhap: I actually don't play games all that much; I must admit that my tastes have been somewhat shaped by Prophet, Pat, and nde.

Kawaii Pattycakes
Will play: Anything that's Asian
Will enjoy: Anything that's Asian
Has: NES, GB, SNES, GBC, Genesis, PS1, N64, SS, GBA, DC, PS2, GC, DS, PSP, Wii, PS3, PC
Preferred system: Asian ones
Preferred genre: JRPG
Hated genre: RPG
Platformer: Castlevania series (Symphony of the Night)
Adventure: Trace Memory
Action-Adventure: Ys series (Eternal)
Fighter: Super Smash (BRAWL)
Shooter: Rez
Light-gun: Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles
FPS: Dark Messiah aka Hellnight
RTS: GrimGrimoire
TBS: THAT'S THE SAME AS TACTICS...so I'll say Front Mission!
RPG: NOTHING...Sudeki!
JRPG: Megaten - Persona line (Persona 4)
SRPG: Anything from Nippon Ichi (Disgaea)
Scary: Fatal Frame series (Crimson Butterfly)
MMO: None (default Silkroad)
Sim: Harvest Moon series - Rune Factory line (Rune Factory)
Puzzle: Professor Layton (Curious Village)
Rhythm: DDR (ALL)
Racing: Initial D: Street Stage
Sports: Any Prince of Tennis
Visual Novel: ANY WITH BEAUTIFUL BOYS
Co-op: Super Smash (Brawl)
Co-hate: Super Smash (Brawl)
Music: Hitoshi Sakimoto (FFXII, Valkyria Chronicles)
Art: Shigenori Soejima (Stella Deus, Trauma Center: New Blood, Persona 4)
Story: Megaten (Persona 4)
Most beloved: Ys: I&II Eternal, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly



Kawaii Pattycakes: I dunno what to say! Games make everything happy!

edthefucker
Will play: Anything
Will enjoy: Nothing
Has: NES, GB, N64, DC, PS2, DS, 360, PS3, PC
Preferred system: PC
Preferred genre: FPS
Hated genre: Most RPGs and JRPGs
Platformer: Contra III
Adventure: None
Action-Adventure: X-Men Legends II
Fighter: Super Smash (N64)
Shooter: Cho Aniki
Light-gun: House of the Dead III (arcade only)
FPS: Quake III
RTS: Starcraft
TBS: Advance Wars (Dual Strike)
RPG: Diablo series (newest)
JRPG: Megaten (but not really)
SRPG: None
Scary: None (they aren't scary)
MMO: Silkroad
Sim: Cooking Mama
Puzzle: Big Brain Academy
Rhythm: DDR (ALL)
Racing: Cruis'n USA
Sports: Any NBA Street
Visual Novel: Name the most fucked up one you've seen
Co-op: Silk
Co-hate: Silk
Music: Silk
Art: Silk
Story: Silk
Most beloved: Silk



edthefucker: Silk, bitches.

Killer Ink
Will play: Stuff that has a distinct visual style
Will enjoy: Things that he can interpret
Has: PS2, PC
Preferred system: None
Preferred genre: ???
Hated genre: Sports
Platformer: Odin Sphere
Adventure: ICO
Action-Adventure: Okami
Fighter: None
Shooter: Ikaruga
Light-gun: None
FPS: killer7
RTS: None
TBS: None
RPG: None
JRPG: Megaten - Main line (Nocturne)
SRPG: None
Scary: The Lost Crown
MMO: None
Sim: Spore
Puzzle: None
Rhythm: Audiosurf
Racing: None
Sports: None
Visual Novel: None
Co-op: None
Co-hate: None
Music: Masafumi Takada (killer7, No More Heroes)
Art: Kazuma Kaneko (Megaten)
Story: ICO
Most beloved: ICO, No More Heroes, Okami



Killer Ink: As long as I want to look at it.

funny_bunny
Will play: Indeterminable
Will enjoy: Indeterminable
Has: Atari, NES, GB, Game Gear, N64, DC, PS2, Xbox, DS, PSP, Wii, PS3, PC
Preferred system: ALL
Preferred genre: ALL
Hated genre: ALL...especially VISUAL NOVELS
Platformer: Metal Slug series (ALL)
Adventure: Sam & Max (Hit the Road)
Action-Adventure: Disaster Report series (first one!)
Fighter: Capcom vs. SNK 2
Shooter: The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love?
Light-gun: House of the Dead series (House of the Dead II)
FPS: Oblivion
RTS: Starcraft
TBS: TOTAL WAR
RPG: Planescape: Torment
JRPG: MEGATEN
SRPG: BRING BACK THE SHINING
Scary: Rule of Rose
MMO:Granado Espada
Sim: Persona 4
Puzzle: DJ Max Portable 2
Rhythm: Saints Row 2
Racing: Ridge Racer PSP
Sports: THE IDOLM@STER: Missing Moon
Visual Novel: NEVER
Co-op: Left 4 Dead
Co-hate: BRAWL
Music: Shoji Meguro (MEGATEN)
Art: YOU ASK TOO MUCH [prophet edit: hey, fuck you. Even Pat had to choose.]
Story: Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard
Most beloved: Shin Megami Tensei, Shin Megami Tensei II, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne



funny_bunny: BE YOUR TRUE GAME.

++++++++

prettyprophet: And that's us. Course, these lists are prone to change at any given time, so.....yeah, have fun figuring that out.



Images from Be Your True Mind, Hyung-taekim.org, and Google. Sorry about the lack of Western artists; these were just easier to find.

Rabbit Roundtable: Persona 4 - Find Your True Pairing

"Heartbeat, Heartbeat, it keeps on pounding
Heartbreak, Heartbreak, you tell me goodbye
Heartbeat, Heartbeat, it keeps on pounding
Heartbreak, Heartbreak, you tell me goodbye"

We need some more girl protagonists, yo. MASSIVE SPOILERS INSIDE.

Wassup kids, it's Prophet and I am here to finally give you our thoughts on Persona 4. "Whoa, you guys are fucking late to the party. Half-assed Megaten fans you are." First of all, fuck you. As Ed says, "Any Megaten fan that likes Persona is a fake bitch." Therefore, none of us are really Megaten fans at all. Second of all, fuck Ed. The only reason it's taken this long for us (as in, me) to write anything is because we never would have written anything. What can we say? It's Persona 4, it's better than Persona 3 in...lots of levels, and I hope the next Megaten they're doing is part of the core series.

However, because I'm trying to avoid work (both school and Rabbit stuff) I'm going to personally write up some things. Expect random bits of input from random bits of Rabbits (the ones that cleared the game, that is). If for some reason the MASSIVE SPOILERS/TRUE ENDING tag hasn't scared you off and you haven't beat P4 yet...GET THE FUCK OUT.



They're gone? Alright, let's set this off:

Love. That's what we're going to talk about. To be precise...TRUE LOVE. As in, TRUE PAIRINGS. I know, this is kinda obsessive, this thing we have...but pairing people up is just NECESSARY. Don't ask why. But I'm not talking bullshit fan-fantasy pairings, like Koromaru and what's-her-face-teacher-Hermit-arcana. I'm talking actual "this is how it may as well be" ones. P3 was more rigid in this: obviously it was Yukari the Protagonist was supposed to go for; yeah, yeah, everyone fell in love with Mitsuru and Aigis but canon-wise, it's clearly Yukari. P4? Not so much...which is A LOT more fan-fantasy friendly and leaves it to your imagination. That said, I felt P4 was weaker on terms of "let's have a happy couple relationship" not because the Protagonist didn't click with X girl...but because there was someone BETTER for her to be with. Sidenote: we're ignoring most of the secondary characters for sake of focusing on the main ones. Anyways, we're going to get back to me and start off with nde:

nde's Perspective

Hetero
Chie and Yosuke: They meshed well.
Yukiko and Teddie: He'll be taken care of.
Naoto and Kanji: Fitting.
Rise and Protagonist: I ended up choosing this path.

Homo
Teddie and Protagonist: Blatant.

[prophet sez: He actually has some VERY risque things to add as well but he's a coward so he won't say it here. Funny will probably get to it.]



Lavie Rhap's Perspective

For the heterosexual relationships, I felt that the lack of a major plot point involving romances was a detriment, on terms of having a 'love story'. Persona 3's Yukari and Aigis especially stand out; Elizabeth's departure from the Velvet Room also stays with me. Persona 4 was more friendship-based, so I found it difficult to imagine 'proper' romances. Perhaps it was only me, but I saw much of our own interactions; to inexpertly shove a hackneyed 'epic' romance into Persona 4 would be folly. These are only teenagers, after all, within a period spanning one year. But since I am being pressed to provide my own interpretations on what may as well have occurred...

Naoto and Kanji are the most obvious of the pairings and provides the most humorous speculations of what may happen next in such a relationship. Yosuke and Chie's love-hate bickering was most enjoyable; I was reminded of Prophet and Ed (sorry, Pat!). Everything else is...rather open. I personally chose Ai to be with the main character; after all, who doesn't want to express their true self? Blending one's own experiences with gaming do make for a more interesting time. Now, while I can understand the undercurrent of homosexuality, only in Kanji's case does it become pronounced. As I've stated before, friendship takes priority over romance in Persona 4.



Kawaii Pattycakes' Perspective

[prophet sez: She doesn't get anything because she loves them all. ALL (with emphasis on Teddie and the Protagonist). So we'll let Funny handle this too, because as rambling as he can be, I'll make him be brief.

Oh, and she chose Naoto. "Because she's the closest to bish." Go figure.]



edthefucker's Perspective

That cousin and that uncle, where's the hentai for that shit? FUCKIN' A. [prophet/Pat/funny sez: DIE.]



Killer Ink's Perspective

I haven't played it. I'm not going to. [prophet/Pat/funny sez: LOSER.]



funny_bunny's Perspective

I wholeheartedly agree with nde! On the straight dealies, that is. Permit me to elaborate! Ok, see, Rise and the Protagonist are PERFECT for each other because they'll meet again MUCH easier! Yes, absence makes the heart grow fonder, but what of the star-crossed love of a STAR and a COMMONER? But of course, the TRUE LOVE is that between the Protagonist and...IZANAMI.

Fufufu, but can I neglect the HOMOEROTIC FUN? Nay, I shant...for I declare: ALL MALE SOCIAL LINKS ARE FILLED WITH SEXY.



prettyprophet's Perspective

The Protagonist of P4 is a total player. That said, my view on all this is more or less a mix of everyone else's views. Even though the 'love' deal is a pretty big part of this game, it's not; friendship, motherfuckers. Out of everyone, there is no 'this is our destiny' sorta shit. There's just a whole lotta implied and 'up-to-your-imagination'. I'm still going to put P4 above P3 because P3 played more to the stock types: Yukari = normal girl, Mitsuru = regal girl, Fuuka = gentle girl, Aigis = robot girl. Like, face it, P3's social links were all, "The fuck am I doing talking to this guy?" P4 got around this by having fewer non-essentials (Death link I'm not convinced on) and my personal favorite link, the Hanged Man. It wasn't just some random person; Naoki was and will be affected by you, the player. Now I'm not saying the P4 characters weren't all types...but we were technically getting two characters for every one: shadows, yo. Look at Kanji: he's a tough guy and a softie. Or Sayoko, crazy pervert nurse that's actually dedicated to her work. See? I'm not going to declare this the most realistic game since...Cho Aniki, but the characters are at least more believable. I will say this though: this is NOT the second coming of Christ for videogame characters. Just because they have shadow sides doesn't make P4 the equivalent of Godfather; hell, it's not even Fight Club. People have more than just a shadow. A lot more. Remember that shit.



All in all, I was very happy with P4 and I would seriously like to see doujinshi for every single pairing. Again, no bullshit pairings, just actual, 'this is what may as well have happened' pairings, like the Protagonist with...practically everyone. I will disagree with nde, Lavie, Pat, Funny...Chie and Yosuke don't work. Friends yeah, sexing each other up? I can't see it. Besides, we all know that Yosuke's had that thing for Saki, even if she never would've reciprocated. Naoto and Kanji are a given. But Lavie's right, it's all so open. And for the gay POV? Trojan finally got far enough to say something and here are his words of wisdom: "Hey, you know I love Ted...and Daisuke and Kou? Threesome time! But I liked the one with Naoki best. That was pretty sweet." Word up. I don't feel the sexual myself in that one, but I can understand it.

I ended up pairing together Yukiko and the Protagonist because...well, I got to see Naoto's and Rise's thanks to Pat and Funny. No one was doing Yukiko, so I was like, what the fuck, she's cool. I think she's the only girl character where the Protagonist actually gets to spend time alone with in story-related cutscenes...ok, maybe I'm mixing it up with social links, but I figure these two have the most potential for a long-term relationship. But ultimately...I'm going to have to go with Funny and restate the Protagonist x Izanami connection. Well...that's kinda TOO poetic, so fuck it.



So there, that's how we feel about a good number of the P4 relationships. I know, we didn't touch on everything. GO YELL ABOUT IT ON OUR FORUMS AKA THE REVOLUTION. Hey Atlus, next Persona, give us girl protagonists! Don't you think it's our turn to shop for some love? BRING ON THE BOYS.









All images from BE YOUR TRUE MIND.