Girls Like to Kill Shadows Too!

When I bought my PSP two years ago, I was a bit late to the party. My reason for doing so was three games I desperately wanted to play. They were Valkyria Chronicles 2 (the first is still one of my favorite video games of all time), Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (which I never actually played through, whoops), and Persona 3 Portable. Persona 3, part of Atlus' Shin Megami Tensei series, was originally released on PS2 featuring a male protagonist. Persona's gameplay style is Japanese high school sim by day, deceptively intricate JRPG by night (literally). It's a mix between Tokimeki Memorial, Pokemon, and Final Fantasy X. What made Persona 3 Portable so appealing was that it was a remake from a girl's perspective. That means instead of being a broody teenage boy and spending my afternoons trying to get into Yukari's pants (a fade to black scene, don't get to excited hentai fans) I could go eat ramen with Akihiko and Junpei. And believe me, I stalked Akihiko at the risk of hanging my other social links out to dry. Let me back up for a second. Social links are your relationships that go through different phases, not dissimilar to the different heart colors in games like Harvest Moon. Higher social links grant significant gameplay perks, like faster leveling of Personas (a loose analog to Pokemon) and unlocking that Arcana's ultimate Persona. Each Persona belongs to one of the Arcana, which you may be familiar with if you've ever seen a set of Tarot cards. For example, Persona from the Lovers Arcana are mainly support based with numerous healing abilities and Yukari Takeba represents the Lovers social link. If none of this makes sense, don't worry, I'm getting to the sexy men. Just like in the original Persona 3 featuring a male protagonist, your Minako can make friends and more with her social links. However, the options are much more limited in P3P. Without spoiling too much, you only have two or three options when it comes to choosing your boyfriend. One option isn't a full length romance, another was taken out of the game at the last minute leaving you with only a friend option, and the other I can't even consider romantically. Nonetheless, my romance with Akihiko was satisfactory but left me wanting more from Atlus. I played Persona 3 and also played Persona 4 as a guy, and you can romance nearly every girl short of your eight year old cousin. Adorkable and sweetly sexy as Akihiko is, I want more. I want to play Persona 5 as a girl. So come on Atlus, give the people (aka me) what they want.

I found this picture on Google images so I don't have the actual artist to credit. If you do know who's responsible for this awesome fanart, please let me know! It may actually be Atlus' property, looks really professional and in line with the rest of the character art.

Harvest Moon is sometimes too realistic :(

Sexy fanart of Vaughn by http://supermellowoman.deviantart.com/

Everyone knows a first impression can make or break a relationship. This is true of not only people but everything we encounter in life. My first forte in otome games was Harvest Moon. I bought Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life when I was in fifth grade. I believe my first crush on a non-living being was Cliff (More Friends of Mineral Town). Harvest Moon and I have shared a complex relationship ever since. I must admit, I kinda suck at video games. For people like me, there are walkthroughs. If you’ve ever played a Harvest Moon game you know the name Freyashawk. She is an angel sent from heaven (or the just the Harvest Goddess) for us less adept players. My current DS affliction is Harvest Moon: Sunshine Islands. I am currently in year four and married to Vaughnie-poo. He kicks all the other HM bachelors’ asses, sorry Cliff. He’s a silver haired tsundere. Oh yeah, and he wears a cowboy hat. Before I gush too much I need to warn you. Vaughn and I... we’ve been having some marital problems recently. Despite talking to him daily and his heart being full red, I’ve been feeling like there was something missing. Exhibit A: Vaughn’s birthday. According to Freya’s guide, I should enter my farmhouse after six p.m to trigger an event with my hubby. I enter, nothing happens. Thinking I screwed up earlier by giving Vaughn a birthday gift, I restart from the beginning of that day. By the way, Vaughn’s birthday was on the first day of Spring when Chen’s shop was open. That means I resowed all of my seeds all for an event where, I’m sure, Vaughn might have two lines of text. This isn’t called “commitment”, it’s called “stupidity”. By the way, I never got an event with Vaughn. I pouted for a while but soon forgot. Then came Spring Harmony Day. I did my business and entered my house around 6:30 pm. Shockingly, Vaughn didn’t acknowledge the occasion. I even checked the fridge to see if some cookies mysteriously showed up. No dice. I finally gave up and went to my bed. And, lo and behold, I got some text from Vaughn. When I woke up, I immediately checked my rucksack. Cookies. Vaughn has redeemed himself and we won’t have to attend marriage counseling with Dr. Trent.