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So a few days ago I got the Accomplice ending in P4G (super late to the party, I know) and I just do not know how to process all these feelings I am having.
word vomit about video game feels under the cut, major spoilers for Persona 4 Golden.
Initially, two things upset me about the ending—Adachi’s reaction after you burn the letter, and Souji/Yu’s reaction on the train after seeing Adachi by the tracks.
With Adachi, what specifically frustrated me was this line:
Do you understand what you just did? You destroyed evidence…that’s a crime, you know!
My initial reaction was OF COURSE I KNOW, YOU DIPSHIT. Do you even know what ‘I’m on your side’ means. I damn well know what I did, stop acting like I lit up that letter without knowing what it entailed—NO SERIOUSLY, DON’T GIVE ME THAT DOUCHEBAG GRIN. ACKNOWLEDGE THAT WE ARE NOW SHARING THE HUMAN GARBAGE AWARD. We’re partners, bitch.
Souji’s reaction on the train—when he grips his phone in anger, almost surprise, frustrated me for similar reasons. Like, geez, Souji, you’ve spent months considering what you would do, why are you acting so angry. You chose this ending. okay, technically, I chose it for you, but still. Adachi explicitly tells you that you’ll be partners in crime, and immediately after that, you’re given the option to burn the letter: you are actively choosing to reject every other relationship, everything good you’ve been working towards, in order to become partners with Adachi. Why are you so upset, Souji? It’s a little late to be acting outraged, man.
I haven’t had a chance to read many other reactions to the Accomplice ending, but the few I’ve come across expressed similar feelings of frustration—people complained about the ending being too abrupt and how it left them feeling unsatisfied, like me. I just couldn’t put my finger on why I felt so unsatisfied.
And then I realized—I’d deliberately chosen the Accomplice ending with the expectation that I’d be an accomplice. When Adachi says you’ll be partners in crime, it’s an invitation, and you burn the letter as an acceptance of that invitation. But immediately after you do that, Adachi doesn’t just mock you for that choice—he acts as if you didn’t even know what you were doing. He treats you like a criminal, but what’s worse is that he still acts as an agent of the law, giving you his number only so he can keep tabs on you as a police officer, not to keep in touch as partners. When Adachi does use the word partner, it’s an afterthought, tossed over his shoulder as he walks out and leaves you behind.
As for Souji clutching the phone in anger as he’s leaving Inaba—it’s just driving the point that you’re not really an accomplice home even harder. The way the scene unfolds, it almost seems as if the phone has to ring—but it doesn’t. Adachi doesn’t call Souji, doesn’t acknowledge what he’s done in any meaningful way. You’re not Adachi’s accomplice.
You’re just a criminal waiting for a call that’ll never come.
word vomit about video game feels under the cut, major spoilers for Persona 4 Golden.
Initially, two things upset me about the ending—Adachi’s reaction after you burn the letter, and Souji/Yu’s reaction on the train after seeing Adachi by the tracks.
With Adachi, what specifically frustrated me was this line:
Do you understand what you just did? You destroyed evidence…that’s a crime, you know!
My initial reaction was OF COURSE I KNOW, YOU DIPSHIT. Do you even know what ‘I’m on your side’ means. I damn well know what I did, stop acting like I lit up that letter without knowing what it entailed—NO SERIOUSLY, DON’T GIVE ME THAT DOUCHEBAG GRIN. ACKNOWLEDGE THAT WE ARE NOW SHARING THE HUMAN GARBAGE AWARD. We’re partners, bitch.
Souji’s reaction on the train—when he grips his phone in anger, almost surprise, frustrated me for similar reasons. Like, geez, Souji, you’ve spent months considering what you would do, why are you acting so angry. You chose this ending. okay, technically, I chose it for you, but still. Adachi explicitly tells you that you’ll be partners in crime, and immediately after that, you’re given the option to burn the letter: you are actively choosing to reject every other relationship, everything good you’ve been working towards, in order to become partners with Adachi. Why are you so upset, Souji? It’s a little late to be acting outraged, man.
I haven’t had a chance to read many other reactions to the Accomplice ending, but the few I’ve come across expressed similar feelings of frustration—people complained about the ending being too abrupt and how it left them feeling unsatisfied, like me. I just couldn’t put my finger on why I felt so unsatisfied.
And then I realized—I’d deliberately chosen the Accomplice ending with the expectation that I’d be an accomplice. When Adachi says you’ll be partners in crime, it’s an invitation, and you burn the letter as an acceptance of that invitation. But immediately after you do that, Adachi doesn’t just mock you for that choice—he acts as if you didn’t even know what you were doing. He treats you like a criminal, but what’s worse is that he still acts as an agent of the law, giving you his number only so he can keep tabs on you as a police officer, not to keep in touch as partners. When Adachi does use the word partner, it’s an afterthought, tossed over his shoulder as he walks out and leaves you behind.
As for Souji clutching the phone in anger as he’s leaving Inaba—it’s just driving the point that you’re not really an accomplice home even harder. The way the scene unfolds, it almost seems as if the phone has to ring—but it doesn’t. Adachi doesn’t call Souji, doesn’t acknowledge what he’s done in any meaningful way. You’re not Adachi’s accomplice.
You’re just a criminal waiting for a call that’ll never come.
