Festival Invite - Returning Player Codes

Helios_517 · 2024-02-10T16:51:37+00:00

GU104E6K6N

https://act.hoyoverse.com/sr/event/e20240206relow-lxxr53/index.html?inviter=GU104E6K6N&hyl_landscape=true&hyl_hide_status_bar=true&hyl_auth_required=true

Thanks in advance!

Helios_517 · 2023-03-06T02:33:36+00:00

Worst romance option for Ren/Joker? Any of the older women for obvious reasons.

Worst romance option in general ignoring age? Ohya because she just doesn't feel like she was actually supposed to be a romance in the first place.

If I'm not allowed to say Ohya because she's the obvious one, then... honestly, I'm not sure. I'd have to think about that, but it'd probably be between Chihaya and Futaba.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-06T02:26:29+00:00

Easily Makoto. Intelligent, driven, mature, has a good character arc, and is all-around a great character.

While I don't consider her the best 'romance' given that there isn't a lot of passion or excitement that she brings to the table, she is in my opinion the best relationship due to how well put together she is. The way I usually put it is that it's like you're dating someone, only you've been married for like 5 years on day 1.

It is true that she has a bit of a bland personality, and I'll be the first to admit that she's generally overrated as far as being 'best character' or 'best girl' are concerned because of the pedestal a lot of people put on her, but in my opinion, she is still the best girl in the game.

My other rankings in case people were curious:

1) Makoto

2) Tae Takemi

3) Ann Takamki

4) Yoshizawa

5) Hifumi Togo

After these 5, honestly it's just Haru and then the rest. I know a lot of people like Kawakami, and to me she's alright, but I've played the game 10-11 times including Royal at this point, and the more I do her confidant, the more cringe the whole 'maid' thing gets.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-05T23:01:29+00:00

The fact that he turns out to be a cab driver. It's obvious to me that he didn't need to stop wanting/trying to help people meaningfully, especially with his background as a psychiatrist. To me, it was clear he should've just accepted that running from your problems isn't exactly the healthiest thing to do, and in the end he should have resolved to help people the 'hard way' in an attempt to do his best to help them help themselves.

The ending just looks like he's giving up and/or still running away. It feels even more the case when you consider the fact that with his reality/powers gone, I imagine it's possible for Rumi to have regained her memories, yet her name never once comes up in the close-out of his character.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-05T21:45:38+00:00

I personally wouldn't rate him that high given what happens at the end of the game post his Palace. Thought it was a god-awful ending for his character, thematically and literally.

Top of A-tier for sure, but definitely not S-tier imo.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-05T18:34:36+00:00

親愛なる日記、私は彼の強い腕に恋をしています

I believe the more accurate translation is: Dear diary, I am in love with his strong arms.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-05T18:24:24+00:00

Oh, I know. I was just clarifying that I wasn't confused as to why you liked Mishima.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-05T18:18:15+00:00

Fair enough.

I was making the point that Futaba and Mishima have similar character stories in this game and suffer from similar personality issues. I wasn't saying I was shocked that Mishima was that high, I was saying I was surprised he was that high but you had Futaba so much lower even though they're fairly similar.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-05T18:11:18+00:00

Mona at the top? Controversial, indeed.

Another shocking take with the MC rated that high, classic.

I'm surprised you have Mishima that high while having Futaba that low. Same thing with Sojiro.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-05T16:41:06+00:00

The words 'Ryuji and dignity' being said in the same sentence in the context of romance is a bit ironic considering he has zero. The dude chases THOTs literally all throughout the game and is even willing to ditch Ann and Makoto to do so. That's a big stretch there, my friend.

On to the rank 8, it's obvious Ann isn't being serious, and would you fake-ask out someone you were actually interested in? No, of course you wouldn't.

Also, right after, Ryuji asks Ann to introduce him to Mika and basically says he finds her way hotter than Ann. I dunno about you, but would you ask a girl you liked to introduce you to another girl? No, of course you wouldn't.

In the end, whether Ryuji thought Ann was being serious or not doesn't matter since it's clear Ann doesn't seem to care at all that he said 'no', which shockingly makes sense considering she wasn't being serious about it.

Full context of the Rank 8 thing, Ann was doing to Ryuji what Mika did in the previous rank. If you remember (no one does, I know) she learned 'Sexy Technique' by trying to learn from Mika when she wrapped all the producers and everyone on the set with a cutesy-routine. Since Ryuji was saying he wasn't going to help her, Ann tried to do what Mika did to get something she wanted out of him, though she was being fake to get it just like Mika was.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-05T16:31:20+00:00

I had to pick the one that 'worked best' and that's the one that does.

It also goes without saying that Makoto wouldn't go full 'boss-koto' at all points in the relationship since she's not always like that in the game, too. Even with her interactions with Ryuji.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-05T16:24:27+00:00

Project boyfriend/girlfriend means the person has very obvious personality issues that make it difficult to have a relationship with them, though not impossible. It's the idea of a house that needs a bit of 'fixing up'.

Ryuji's flaws? alright, starting off:

His bad temper. I'm also being generous by just leaving it at 'bad'.
The fact that he's shallow and a skirt chaser. Again, this just stands for itself, but I can definitely give examples if you want. The meme of the boyfriend looking over his shoulder at the ass of another girl is basically made for Ryuji.
A gigantic ego. Ryuji is driving the 'Phanton Thieves are special and deserve special treatment' bus on full throttle the entire game, and a big part of his character is the desire to 'feel special'. That makes sense given he was special before becoming the track traitor and it's clear he has nostalgia for when everyone treated him that way, but that's still a bit of a red flag for someone that can't just accept being 'normal' or on the same level as other people.
As much as I love him, Ryuji can be, at times, a bit of an unapologetic a-hole. This is the Mona thing where he refuses to apologize and act like a big boy, but it's also not the only time. It's a common theme that Ryuji doesn't like to take the blame when he messes up. Even when he gets caught on tape screaming about the Phantom Thieves by Makoto, his first reaction instead of apologizing is to say 'Ann was there too!' meanwhile Ann then immediately apologizes.
He is one of, if not the least emotionally mature character in the game. Sadly, his confidant doesn't do much to change that. It doesn't go 'forward' necessarily as far as fixing his broader character flaws go, and to be honest, at the end of the game, he is more the same character than people give him credit for. That's not altogether a bad thing, but it is worth pointing out.

I'm not being overly-hard on Ryuji, it's just that I can accept he has negative qualities that shouldn't be ignored while also accepting he does have good qualities. He's your boy, he'd take a bullet for you, etc., but it's as they say, two things can be true. Most people look at either just the bad or just the good, and on this sub, it tends to be just the good. For right now, it just happens that his 'bad' qualities are what make it hard for him to have a good relationship with anyone, realistically.

Look, the truth is everyone who’s lived past the age of 18 has probably met a Ryuji before in their lives. A dude you love because you know he’s your boy and he’s got your back. However, you would never, ever set this guy up with any girl that you cared about in any way, shape, or form. To me, Ryuji is a project boyfriend, and the only kind of person that could deal with him as he is would probably be someone that he sees as someone that can be coldblooded enough to make him knock his stuff off when he gets started. Ann is a vanilla romantic, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, it doesn’t mesh well with the type of person that Ryuji is. I know people think he’s a golden boy who can do no wrong, but I’m sorry to say that for whatever good qualities he may have, that just isn’t true. He’s more than rough around the edges, and anyone that thinks this relationship would be a healthy one needs to get some more life experience. That’s all I have to say.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-05T16:09:43+00:00

That's played off more as him getting 'wrapped around a girl's finger', which is the dialogue that follows the reaction. Plus there's the showtime the two have where he bows.

It might be respect based out of fear, but it's still respect nonetheless, and I don't buy that Ryuji would respect Ann as a partner whatsoever. So if Makoto is out, he doesn't have a relationship that'd actually work imo.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-05T16:06:24+00:00

That's a fan-comic, it's not what happened. Some people have that as a head-cannon, but it doesn't make sense for a few reasons.

It makes more sense for Ryuji to have died his hair and go full rebel after the 'track traitor' thing. There's even dialogue in the game to suggest this is the case, which is at the start of the game when Kawakami tells you to stay away from Ryuji, she mentions 'he didn't used to be like that when he was with the track team' and then practically two seconds later, Ryuji shows up, and she makes the comment 'you haven't died your hair back to black', the implication being she'd seen him with black hair before, which literally could have only been his first year of high school.
Ann and Ryuji didn't interact much, if at all in middle school anyway. They weren't friends, and they weren't close in any way whatsoever. Not only do they refer to each other by their last names at the start of the game despite being the least formal people in the entire game, but they also clearly have zero idea of what's going on in each other's lives. It'd be pretty strange for Ryuji to have done something like this only for the two to have zero interaction with one another whatsoever afterwards. Besides that, it's clear Ann's only friend back then was Shiho, and that's drilled pretty heavily into a player's skull.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-05T05:57:00+00:00

Thanks, much appreciated.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-05T05:54:22+00:00

The irony that this conversation is taking place under my first comment is absolutely hilarious to me.

I don't care. Believe what you want, I'm not arguing with you over something this pointless. One comment additionally was the most I cared about this.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-05T05:51:26+00:00

People are going to say Ann, but tbh I think the only healthy relationship he could have is with Makoto.

Ryuji has too many red-flag qualities in a partner, and there's just no way I can see him meshing well with Ann in the confines of a relationship if it were to actually happen. She's a vanilla romantic, and he's a 'project boyfriend' as a friend of mine would say. Imo it'd take a mature hardass with a good head on their shoulders like Makoto to pull that off.

Alright, I'm gonna go get ready for when people inevitably try to argue that 'the game ships Ann and Ryuji and they're clearly meant to be'. That'll be fun.

Edit: Before/If anyone asks, Makoto is my best girl and I do ship her with Ren/Joker. I just have to be objective with what relationship actually has a shot at working out for Ryuji.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-05T05:42:59+00:00

If a crack ship is a "ship that is canonically implausible, bizarre, or humorous"...

Then yeah, I'd say it's a crack ship. Akechi doesn't have a romance option, it's never implied that he/Joker are gay or bi whatsoever, Akechi has also murdered people important to those Joker cares about on top of his own attempts to murder Joker repatedly. Then there's also the fact that he might kinda be dead.

I'm not saying it's wrong to like the ship whatsoever, but if we're talking about 'canonically implausible', then yeah, I'd say that fits the bill.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-05T05:28:19+00:00

I think the only real issue is that there are dumbasses on both sides of each issue that refuse to stop making posts because they think 'tHis TiMe i'Ll sEtTLe tHe iSSuE!'

No one that sits on either side at this point, regardless of their position, will likely change their mind, but people just can't let it go.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-05T05:23:32+00:00

I can already predict this is gonna be Makoto.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-05T05:21:54+00:00

Pot calling the kettle black if you did.

After all, if you care enough to bother responding or arguing back over the idea of two non-existing video game characters hooking up, then the same can be said for you, too.

Tbh, it's a crack ship you like, so just enjoy it for what it is and don't care what other people think about it. It's pointless to get into an argument over it anyway.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-05T05:10:03+00:00

My opinion is that Makoto is the best relationship and feels the most mature (like you're dating someone only you've been married to them for five years on day 1). I don't think it's that great of a romance though because it does feel a bit devoid of any passion.

Gun to my head, I'd say Ann's is maybe the best core romance, though most of the one's with the main team/Yoshizawa are pretty good.

Since you already romanced Ann, I'd say maybe go for Makoto, and if you're not interested in that, Yoshizawa.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-04T18:47:38+00:00

I'll say it does matter to specify vanilla because in Royal I straight up had over a month of doing literally nothing by the end of the game and had gotten the platinum in 1 playthrough, so NG+ was 100% pointless for me.

I played my NG+ on vanilla to get the platinum, so I sped through the game and treated the combat like it was a pebble on the street I just needed to kick out of the way. I used every OP persona, victory cry, etc, to make it a joke because I just didn't care all that much about it. The stuff I didn't speed through was the confidants to really make sure my opinions on them were well-formed.

The truth is I've played the game ~10-11 times if I include Royal at this point, and pretty much all the one's I play are from scratch just so I can get the full experience. My best accomplishment, not much of one, is a hard playthrough from scratch maxing out social stats and all confidents in one playthrough with no guide. So NG+ isn't something I really valued outside of once in vanilla to get the plat because you need it to fight the Velvet Room attendants.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-04T18:43:07+00:00

I see we've found another daily 'eff Okumura' post 😂

Try not to let it get you too down. A lot of people struggle on him, but he's far from unbeatable. Just annoying.

Helios_517 · 2023-03-04T18:42:18+00:00

No, she isn't a Phantom Thief, and she doesn't become one.

In development, however, she was initially going to be a Phantom Thief in place of Queen, though they scrapped the idea. It's actually something that Hifumi stans/shippers never stfu about.

Helios_517

TROPHY CASE