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Emu · #1

There's not a thread about this game. For how many RPG fags we have here I'm surprised by that.

I picked this game up back in November-ish and I have yet to beat it. The game is long as hell and can only be described as possibly the most grind-tastic RPG I've played in a while. This isn't a bad thing necessarily but it's definitely a departure from more recent RPG titles.

Basically the entire game plays like a bizarre mix of Pokemon, Diablo and one of those dating sim games. During the day hours, you spend time in high school, making friends (referred to as "social links"), taking tests, and being emo. During the night time, your school becomes a hideous shifting dungeon filled with cocaine hallucination monsters and an inexplicably large amount of randomly generated money. I say the game has elements from Diablo because the dungeon changes every time you enter it. This makes for an element of luck in that you can't memorize a dungeon's pattern, but it also doesn't leave much for the dungeons to work with graphically, so you kind of have to get used to seeing the same patterns over and over again.

The graphics are overall nothing spectacular for a game released in late 2007, but it's made up for by the richly detailed anime cutscenes, the emotive character portraits, and the excellent voice acting. The music is J-pop hipster stuff that isn't bad but gets very repetitive.

Persona 3: FES is slated to come out on the 22nd of this month, and it adds an extra 30 hours of gameplay and an extra chapter to an already atrociously long game. I'm buying it.

RaNkeri · #2

Don't forget that to fight the enemies you shoot yourself in the head

Emu · #3

Oh yeah, there is that.

Watching them shoot themselves over and over again gives me a headache

Asila · #4

How much like Persona 1 is it? I loved that game up until the point where I was attacked by a giant mechanical rat that I couldn't kill.

BurntToShreds · #5

I want to try persona 2, even if just to see Nyarlathotep.

Emu · #6

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asila

How much like Persona 1 is it? I loved that game up until the point where I was attacked by a giant mechanical rat that I couldn't kill.

I haven't played P1, so I can't speak from experience, but from what I've heard from others, P3 is a serious departure from the previous games in gameplay and storyline.

Emu · #7

Apparently Persona 3: FES is the hot item at Gamestop. I'm buying 2

Softix · #8

Definatly going to get it played at friends house and slept over he kicked me out soon after

Emu · #9

Got FES today. I'm still worming my way through the original game though :<

Emu · #10

http://P4.atlusnet.jp/

Persona 4 is slated for a July release in Japan on the PS2.

Fucking Atlus, making me buy shit

Phoenix Gamma · #11

I really loved P3. I spent over 80 hours on it; it was a nice part of my night where I'd sit on the couch and play a few hours before I hit the sack. The story was great and the gameplay was addictive.

That said, I was worried when I heard FES probably wasn't coming stateside, and elated when I heard it was coming after all. I'm gonna boot up "The Answer" tonight just like old times. Hopefully people who missed the boat the first time pick this up.

Emu · #12

FES's combat is significantly improved. Your allies will spread out their attacks to knock down all vulnerable enemies instead of picking one and attacking it twice.

Phoenix Gamma · #13

They did that anyways if you told them to "Knock Down". It's under the tactics menu. Unless you're saying they do that automatically now, which is certainly nice, since "Knock Down" means they stand there picking their nose if they don't have an attack that's strong against an enemy.

Also, I hear stuff like donating money to the shrine takes up a time slot now. Lame. Thank god I already maxed out my stats. Can't wait to place first in all of the exams.

Emu · #14

I mean they do it under Act Freely now, yeah.

Phoenix Gamma · #15

Well that's swell. I didn't actually have a beef with the AI, but I tell you, this one time, Aigis almost ruined a 15 minute battle I trudged through. She's adorable, but Jesus Christ, she should have warned me that she was going to use a normal, weak attack instead of healing me. Me, the hero, whose death causes everyone else to die for no reason.

THAT is something I hope is addressed in P4. My party member has a revive spell, and her turn is next; there's no reason why she can't bring me back immediately.

ziggytrix · #16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emu

I haven't played P1, so I can't speak from experience

have you ever ingested ridiculously large quantities of dextromethorphan hydrobromide? it's a lot like that, except with obnoxious teenagers yelling "PERSONA!" every 10 seconds.

god, i loved that game!