Ryan Mattich has reviewed Persona 4 for RPGFan. An interesting and informative review, the red thread seems to be that the game is very similar in style and play mechanics to P3, but with many enhancements and tweaks. It seems to confirm the initial impressions of many (myself included) that the game is "like P3, but better".

...a throwback to the controversial, risqué nature of Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, particularly in terms of its liberal take on sexuality...

Any thoughts?

Apparently there is a gay character in the game.

From impressions I've gotten from a gay gamer on another board, the portrayal of this gay character in P4 isn't exactly a progressive one.

There may be other things, but that's the only one I know of having not played the game yet.

Well, as the review mentions, homosexuality is viewed differently in Japan, so that is to be expected (as the game is Japanese). I think the term "progressive" is somewhat culturally dependent, and actually including a gay character in a game might be bold enough in Japan (although I admit I'm no expert on the subject, I might be wrong).

Well, the guy I heard from is a gay person living in Japan, so I think he was a bit more attuned and offended by how, as the review mentions, the game portrays homosexuality as something to resist and make fun of. But, he admits this is just something culturally different in Japan that will take a large effort to change. He still enjoyed the game immensely, so that should say a lot.

Personally, I was more expecting something along the lines that one of the S.Links this time around would focus on a teen pregnancy. It's been what, 14 years since Duane and Katarin from FF6?

lol.

I've always found it a little strange that there's such widespread acceptance of girls reading male/male love stories in Japan but putting actual gay characters into mainstream games usually ends up just being a mockery.  I'm curious to see how it's handled in P4.

...that said, I should probably at some point start that copy of P3 I have.  My PS2 is waiting to get hooked up again until I move into my new apartment.

Wait a minute. The review doesn't say that the game portrays it as something to "resist". It only says that the character in question struggles with the denial of his own sexuality. That isn't necessarily portraying it as wrong - its only portraying the fact that its more stigmatized in Japan, so its not unreasonable to assume that many Japanese homosexuals are afraid to "come out of the closet". I bet there still are many things in the portrayal that gays might be offended by, but, knowing the Persona series as well as I do, I would be very surprised if the game ends up condemning the character in an one-dimensional manner.

Anyway, all this is just speculation, we'll see when the game is out in English.

Whoops, I misread that part. But from the reactions of my aforementioned gay contact, the themes of insecurity and how it's all seemingly brushed under the rug for comedic effect later on are, well, just a typical portrayal in Japanese culture.

Anyway, as you mention, P2 had the whole Tatsuya and Jun thing going on, but I've never played Innocent Sin so I can't comment on it.

Well, I have played Innocent Sin, which is exactly why I'll wait till I actually play P4 myself to decide whether the portrayal is "progressive" or not. IS had none of the mocking aspect (hell, you could even decide late in the game if the main character was gay or not), which is why I suspect that people are overreacting over this P4 thing. A thought: maybe the portrayal of this gay character is so skillfully made that, rather than aiming to mock homosexuals, it made your gay friend feel the pressures and taboos he experiences everyday in Japanese society in a very explicit fashion? Good art can actually hurt sometimes. Maybe they don't mean to mock as much as raise awareness?

On the other hand, P3 and P4 are done by a mostly different team than P2 was. Seeing as how popular the series has become the last few years, maybe they went down the populist way and served the Japanese gamer masses the stereotypical, mocking view of homosexuals to ensure that the game would retain a "controversial" edge, while still keeping it "safe"...? That would really suck.

Anyway, I hope they didn't choose the latter. One of the Persona series' hallmarks has always been its deep and multi-faceted portrayal of human psychology and the fears and insecurities that lie under the surface, in ways which make most RPGs seem like Saturday morning cartoons in comparison. We'll see how P4 measures up to that tradition.

It's not terribly uncommon these days, from Shadow Hearts to Enchanted Arms. ... unfortunately, pretty much every example I can think of treats them as cliches.

From the way my friend is talking, it definitely sounded like the latter. However, despite that he was still incredibly addicted to the game, so it couldn't have been that offensive.

I also have full faith that Atlus USA will localize the issue with care. Though if they change around more offensive bits to something less homophobic, it might just be the first time I've seen a localization that in addition to cultural language differences also takes differing political and social views into play, instead of just censoring it outright. It's all conjecture of course, but...hey, if we can survive a giant penis riding a chariot over here, I think we'll be all right.

I still can't wait for this game to drop, though.

Didn't Suikoden and Star Ocean 2 do the same thing?  There was a comedic element in the way that you could *for example* tickle Gremio or share a sundae with Ashton.  The only thing is that they were more ambiguous than Joachim was.  Unless of course the way that Joachim was handled could be partly attributed to the comedic style of Shadow Hearts 2 in general.

Ha, this is making me think about how some of the past JRPG characters who were 'different' were handled.  Flea from Chrono Trigger comes to mind, though there was nothing said or implied about his sexuality.  Only that he looked like a female, which I suppose could be part of that 'brushed under the rug for comedic effect' thing, what with how he always insists that he's a guy.

Edit: I just remembered that one Honeybee Inn scene from FFVII.  Something to be made fun of indeed.  And I never saw the date scene when it's Barret.

One of the Odessa/Cocytus members (the main antagonists) in Wild Arms 2 was gay: Cania. Unfortunately, his sex was changed to female in the NSTC version because he looked so feminine; you have to read about it or have the Japanese original to actually know about it. At a certain point in the game he snaps when the object of his affection is killed even though it's obvious such feelings weren't mutual with the deceased.

Additionally, a lot of people believe Brad and his one war buddy to be homosexual but I think that's the result of misinterpreting some key scenes; I never thought of it that way until I read theories about it.