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Persona 3, my favorite game of last year, and my second favorite RPG of the generation, had an expansion of sorts by the name of Fes (for Festival) released in Japan as a “thank you” to its fans. Earlier in the week, a “mysterious” countdown banner appeared on the front page of Atlus’ website. The background and design of the countdown is taken directly from the opening sequence of Persona 3 (screenshot above).
Fes contains an entirely new epilogue chapter, new personae and reworked skill sets of old personae, brand new social links (including Elizabeth), multiple costumes for each character (prepare to see many a otaku dress up their Mitsuru in bondage gear), a new weapon synthesis system, and an option to play on Hard.
I grew up in Bayside, a small town of Northeast Queens, NYC. I live in a pretty good middle-class neighborhood, but since I still after all live in Queens, there are many characters. Here are some of the craziest people I have grew up with and my encounters with them.
When you talk about Bayside, Queens, most people know and think of Tyrone. He’s a middle aged black guy who’s lived here probably most of his life. He used to smoke dust and did a whole bunch of other drugs back in the day. His mind is fucked up and you can obviously notice he’s had a crazy past. He’s a little fucked in the head nowerdays, but he’s still a cool ass guy who for the most part understands what’s going on around him. I’ve known Tyrone since I was a little kid, and he’s a very nice guy. He’s the one person who would buy beers for EVERYONE, no matter how young you are. Supposedly, he studies ninja and samurai philosophy and claims to be a black belt. We call him the “shadowlord” because one minute he’s hanging out with you, and the next minute he’s disappeared into the thin air. He’s known by everyone in the neighborhood, and does jobs for everyone to make a quick buck whether it’s lawn work or building your stoop. This guy drinks so much Old English and Colt 45, i swear that he probably eats his cereal with malt liquor. What most people do not know, is this guy will beat the shit out of anyone in a split second. I have seen him drop kick people, knock people out with one hit, and otherwise make people like Chuck Norris and Van Damme look like pussy’s.
No More Heroes is a gem of a third party game on the Wii, a console that is generally starved for them. I’ve played through the game twice now, and debated for a significant amount of time with a number of other people about the themes and the “point” of the game. Debate about the themes of No More Heroes were much more in-depth than I had initially expected, and maybe the reason that these debates occurred at all is that nobody expected them. The game carries itself as a bizarre stylized videogame nostalgia filled beat-em-up, and it many ways, it is. Underneath the shmup dream sequences and the anime girl game over screen, there is commentary about various societal issues. Suda51 stated himself that while Killer 7 was primarily a commentary on politics in Japan, No More Heroes would be more focused on societal issues. These are seen most clearly in the assassins that Travis must kill. There is one theme beyond this that is also worth discussing: the sexual maturation of the protagonist Travis Touchdown.
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You know those moments in life where you don’t have anything or anyone to do, your ex-girlfriend keeps calling you telling you how many cocks she took last night, and you can’t even manage to ask out the adorably jewish girl who probably has a thing for you? Yeah, me too. But that’s alright, because you set up little projects to keep your mind off of these things, at least until the opportunity to get os fkucing durnk comes around. “What type of little projects will keep my mind off of the many times love has turned me away, yea, though I come a-knocking on its door every night, just to catch a glimpse of its shining face?” you ask. Well, how about hooking your Wii Remote up to your PC so you can enjoy the closest thing to affection you’ll ever know in the form of a wireless gamepad with motion-sensing and infrared-seeing support?
I know there are about twelve million sites out there that give tutorials on how to do so, but they are written by dumbfucks who have no concept of accessibility. Their instructions are usually along the lines of “Buy a Wiimote, express the value of Planck’s constant as a binary value, recite Pi to a million decimals, and make love to a beautiful woman. Simple.” But it’s not that simple, and no one will ever understand you, or how not-simple it is. But I do. I’m always here for you, and will hold your hand and snuggle with you through every step.
- Gila