ESRB is kinda dumb lol

[Taint Snorkeler]

how does this game get a T rating when its far more graphic and disturbing than persona 3-5 which iirc are m rated? is it really just the swearing that makes the difference?(p3 i get cause the swearing and focus on suicide) but p4-5 are tame as hell in comparison to this game. MR has gore, tons of blood, killing kids, suicide, etc etc.

[Doctrine Dark]

Persona 5 talks about literal rape

[Aldroen]

P5 covers way more heavier topics than metaphor does.

[Splinter of Chaos]

One of the greatest mysteries known to man.

[Xeyana]

Persona is rated M because it has penis monsters in it. That's basically it. I'm pretty sure that even Atlus forgets that Persona is M rated because they rarely take advantage of the rating, having their characters rarely swear or completely lack graphic violence/sexual content in most of their cutscenes. Ryuji saying "effin'" instead of "♥♥♥♥♥♥'" is probably one of the most notable instances of the game being largely T rated.

That being said it's still strange to me that Metaphor dodged an M rating, because the anime cutscenes frequently depict grizzly violence filled with blood and gore; they don't leave much unsaid in the visual department. The political subject matter that they cover as well and the way it's depicted also seems to be above what the T rating allows.

[Aldain]

The ESRB has always kind of been a bit of a joke from what I've seen.

Also most people don't pay any attention to it in the first place...for better or worse in some cases.

[fireheart126]

Originally posted by Xeyana:

Persona is rated M because it has penis monsters in it. That's basically it. I'm pretty sure that even Atlus forgets that Persona is M rated because they rarely take advantage of the rating, having their characters rarely swear or completely lack graphic violence/sexual content in most of their cutscenes. Ryuji saying "effin'" instead of "♥♥♥♥♥♥'" is probably one of the most notable instances of the game being largely T rated.

That being said it's still strange to me that Metaphor dodged an M rating, because the anime cutscenes frequently depict grizzly violence filled with blood and gore; they don't leave much unsaid in the visual department. The political subject matter that they cover as well and the way it's depicted also seems to be above what the T rating allows.

They let Ryuji say ♥♥♥♥ in Strikers.

[Fuhrer]

To be fair, you also need to bear in mind Japanese developers are also concerned with CERO's ratings. Just because you can push harder without affecting western ratings doesn't mean that won't cause problems with domestic releases. CERO is pretty stupid about a lot of things, from what I've heard.

[Null Winter]

Originally posted by Fuhrer:

To be fair, you also need to bear in mind Japanese developers are also concerned with CERO's ratings. Just because you can push harder without affecting western ratings doesn't mean that won't cause problems with domestic releases. CERO is pretty stupid about a lot of things, from what I've heard.

More of CERO is concerned with different things... that would actually get it a real heavy rating with Metaphor's social issues, compared to the ESRB's lack of care for anything that isn't language, glorified violence, or sex.

[REhorror]

I am surprised Metaphor even has the T rating.

It really is the whole violence being more acceptable than sexual contents, probably.

[Taint Snorkeler]

its goofy as hell.

[Griever]

I didn’t know about this rating, but tbh there’s some disturbing stuff IG in terms of gore that make it a M rated game imo. The monsters are disturbing. And you often have people getting killed like it’s berserk. Not that bloody but still.

But I guess there’s no romance or sex so that makes it rated for everyone. It’s funny. Because even I as an adult found some of the monsters unnerving like the baby with a joker smile eating people and children alive

[hewittlemming]

It's cause Persona has more sexual themes about teenagers, that's literally it.