Persona 4

[EricMM 0]

Anyone else gonna pick this up next week?

 

[The Niggardly King 0]

Last great RPG for the PS2? Not with the Growlanser series kicking ass and taking names, pal.

 

I think I gave Persona 2 a try but I can't remember anything about it.

[YourKock'sReallyGreat 0]

I remember playing Persona 1 12 years ago. Does that count? I am pretty sure this game is on sale on Amazon. I think someone else pointed it out in the Black Friday deal thread.

[naiwf 0]

I pre-ordered it a couple of weeks ago. Persona 3 is one of my favorite games on the PS2 and this is supposed to be better in just about every way.

[devo 0]

Can't-hee wait, ho! I got the game and the Social Link Expansion Pack through Amazon. Opted for the free shipping so I probably won't have my copy for another ten days, but that's not a big deal. I've managed to avoid spoilers and be patient for this long so another week won't kill me. From the little bit of information I've allowed myself it seems like the game's going to be even better than Persona 3, which is my favorite RPG of all time.

[YourKock'sReallyGreat 0]

Can you please explain what is so great about Persona 3 and 4? I know very little about the series.

[devo 0]

Well, one of the main reasons I enjoyed Persona 3 so much is how different it is from most RPG experiences. The character the player controls is a normal high school student in a realistic world instead of some whiny big-haired creep exploring an overblown land of fairies and talking rodents. Much of the gameplay takes place in the day-to-day activities - going to school, socializing, deciding what to do with one's free time. I know that doesn't sound exciting but it's a surprising joy to unlock the storylines that come with making new friends at school and figuring out the most efficient way to relax (certain diversions help raise your stats or allow you to speak to otherwise inaccessible characters).

 

The combat is fairly unremarkable but loads of fun thanks to two unique elements. One is the All-Out attack, in which your party attacks all the enemies at once in a giant melee once you've exploited said enemies' weaknesses. The other is demons and demon fusion. The main character will, at times, have a chance to gain a new demon, whose powers he'll then be allowed to use. The demons you collect can be combined to create new demons, with completely new abilities. A lot of the game's fun comes in finding the combination that gives you the most powerful Persona possible.

 

There's more, but that's what I like best about P3. Oh, and the music is fantastic.

 

Oooh yeah!

Dunna dun dun, da dunna dun dun

Baby baby!

[naiwf 0]

Can you please explain what is so great about Persona 3 and 4? I know very little about the series.

 

I haven't played 4 since I don't import Japanese games, but 3 is almost universally regarded as a good to great RPG. It's got your typical RPG elements, but you also get stronger for interacting with specific friends, classmates and other people around the city by being able to create more advanced personae (sp?) in their selected arcana. It's a game that offered a good story (although the pacing was slow in the first half), interesting characters but also combined elements of the "gotta catch 'em all" type stuff by having over 100 persona in the game to work with and forcing you to choose which of 2 to 6 people you were going to hang out with after school to advance your relationship with them. Because you had to make specific choices about what you wanted to do on a daily basis, you could play the game a second time and end up with a completely different feel about your playthrough.

 

For example, the first time I played I only maxed out 13 of the 21 social links and didn't even get halfway through 6 of them. When FES came out, I played it again and ended up maxing out all 22 links (they added one) because my Courage, Strength and Charm were maxed and I didn't have to spend my nights building those stats up again. I guess it's the kind of game that allows you to play it the way you want to, while you also definitely feel like you're progressing every time you reach a new level and can fuse a new persona who has more advanced skills. In short, it's fun, addictive and requires very little level grinding like most RPG's do.

[fazzle 0]

If you're gonna try out the Persona series, jump straight to 3.

 

At this point Persona 1 and 2 have aged so horribly that they're practically unplayable. P3, however, is fucking fantastic. Best RPG of at least the last 5 years.

 

So yes, I do plan on picking up P4.

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

Damn it all this is getting me intrigued. With the finish of GTA IV, Fable 2 and Fallout 3 I'm a bit at odds with my gaming time (usually spent playing Guitar Hero or RB2). I may have to dust off (literally) my PS2 and see if P3 is in a bargain bin somewhere.

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

I downloaded Persona 3 UNDUB...Mainly because the idea of Undubbing fascinates me. The game is fun. I was having alot of fun with it. But early on, I had no idea WTF I was doing and by the time I was at, I was pretty under leveled. There's nothing worse in an RPG then that. Plus, that game had fatique systems, and day to day plots. I started to feel like I was about to be executed by the game if I didn't get leveled fast enough...but I wasn't strong enough to get past the boss of the level in...whatsthatplace. So...I was kind of stuck. Fight weaker enemies for small XP, or keep trying in a battle I couldn't fucking win. So, as usual, I just moved on.

 

What system is this for? If it was PS2 and an UNDUB came out, I'd probably give this a shot. I can't fucking stand English VA's most of the time though.

[devo 0]

It's PS2. You shouldn't be overly concerned about the voice acting, though, since the voices for P3 were great and I've heard the same about P4.

[fazzle 0]

Damn it all this is getting me intrigued. With the finish of GTA IV, Fable 2 and Fallout 3 I'm a bit at odds with my gaming time (usually spent playing Guitar Hero or RB2). I may have to dust off (literally) my PS2 and see if P3 is in a bargain bin somewhere.

 

 

You probably won't be able to find P3, nor should you want to. P3 FES however is the complete game, along with a completely new game mode, and it retails for $30.

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

It's PS2. You shouldn't be overly concerned about the voice acting, though, since the voices for P3 were great and I've heard the same about P4.

 

I'm incredibly anal about voice acting. I can't stand most English VA's at all. I'm one of those folks.

 

Original Japanese VA work just has more gravitas. It's a bigger industry, with more standards of what's expected. Here, it seems like anyone with a funky voice can do VA work.

 

This being PS2 basically makes it a lock I'll check it out at some point though.

[AndrewTS 0]

I have FES.

 

I haven't even gotten a chance to open it. =/

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

Damn it all this is getting me intrigued. With the finish of GTA IV, Fable 2 and Fallout 3 I'm a bit at odds with my gaming time (usually spent playing Guitar Hero or RB2). I may have to dust off (literally) my PS2 and see if P3 is in a bargain bin somewhere.

 

 

You probably won't be able to find P3, nor should you want to. P3 FES however is the complete game, along with a completely new game mode, and it retails for $30.

 

Amazon actually has both, but I got FES. I also placed a preorder for 4 just on faith and ya'lls word of mouth, so I hope you all don't fuck up.

[fazzle 0]

Well, if it helps, it's not JUST us. With 7 reviews in so far, P4 is averaging a fucking *96.6%* on gamerankings

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

I'll buy that for a dollar.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

I loved Persona 3, so this is definitely one of my most sought after games of the season. I really liked how open-ended it all was. You were more or less assigned a task that had to be completed by such and such a date, but the when and how was up to you. I had as much fun with the various after school activities as I did in Tartarus.

[Broward83 0]

Fuck, wish I had a car CV, we pennied out the SMT P3 strat guides today and I wound up taking one home still in the shrink wrap. I grabbed it cause I hate it when we throw shit out and figured I could give it to some one or just look thru for the art

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

Fuck, wish I had a car CV, we pennied out the SMT P3 strat guides today and I wound up taking one home still in the shrink wrap. I grabbed it cause I hate it when we throw shit out and figured I could give it to some one or just look thru for the art

 

Well I'll be in Missouri City working for the next few days. That's not really any closer though I realize. Hopefully I can find a way to grab it when you're done looking through it. I love playing through RPGs, but I'm never one to turn down any help with them.

[devo 0]

I've been playing this almost non-stop since receiving it in the mail two days ago. Thoughts copy and pasted from another board...

 

To begin with, the game takes a lot longer to get going than I would have liked. It wasn't boring or anything, but after an hour and a half I was saying to myself, "For Christ's sake, can't I just kill some Shadows now? Please?"

 

But that's my only complaint so far. Now that the game's gotten underway, I'm loving every second of it. The combat's even more fun than P3 thanks mostly to the catchy, driving battle themes and the ability to completely control your allies' actions. What's more, none of the characters (at least the ones I've encountered so far) are annoying in the slightest, which is astounding to me. And I love Kuma/Teddie, particularly his wide variety of goofy expressions and seemingly endless supply of terrible puns.

 

What I'm enjoying the most, though, is the little touches. Like the usage of a blue butterfly to mark a save point. Or the twist on "Shuffle Time!" and the overall cheerfulness of the post-battle ceremonies. It all adds up to a product that somehow seems more joyous than P3, more concerned with fun than with being important and philosophical. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the thoughtfulness of the last entry - to a point. But this is a nice change of pace.

[naiwf 0]

I have pretty much the same take on it that you do thus far. It does take a while to get started, but it wasn't as bad as Dragon Quest VII because at least there was a lot of character/plot development taking place in that time where you're not fighting. I think the choice to make this game more dialogue heavy was smart since you're supposed to be solving a mystery and don't have much in the way of clues. In P3 you were attempting to stop a catastrophe and the only way to do that was to beat up on the shadows and keep climbing Tartarus. Considering how highly I rate P3 (one of my top 5 games), I'm surprised that I actually like this one better in just about every way so far with the only exception being shuffle time doesn't seem to have weapons or healing factors this time around.

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

Yeah I started 3 but I got too curious and I put in 4 when Amazon delivered it. Like you all said, I was starting to get annoyed by the amount of setup going on. I just wanted to establish a Social Link, kill a Shadow, do SOMETHING. It did what it was supposed to do though: establish the plot and characters. Now I'm starting to get in to the battles and so far so good. Controlling the other characters is a big addition. I was getting tired of getting healed in even though my chracter had 1/3 of his life left and the bad guy only had one hit left in it, which happened a couple of times in 3. I'm not sold on the bear though. He can easily fall into the annoying catagory.

 

I love the cutscenes in 4. Really makes you feel like you're in an anime. The setup for Yukiko's Castle caught me off-guard.

[The Niggardly King 0]

I think I gave Persona 2 a try but I can't remember anything about it.

 

Yeah, I thought it sucked... but I played a bit of 3 last night which my bro has and I think it's a fucking masterpiece. I tried to buy both today, but no place around here carries 3 anymore, so I just got 4. Gonna pop it in after my workout and probably gush nothing but for it later on tonight.

[naiwf 0]

I love the cutscenes in 4. Really makes you feel like you're in an anime. The setup for Yukiko's Castle caught me off-guard.

 

I predict you'll be even more floored by the next dungeon's reveal. This game is awesome.

[AndrewTS 0]

I picked up the game and fear it will end up being in backlog like so many other RPGs I have to finish. Is there any particular reason I should play Persona 3 first or no?

[devo 0]

Not really. There are a few references made that you won't be able to pick up on but nothing that'll prevent you from enjoying the game to its fullest.

[naiwf 0]

I picked up the game and fear it will end up being in backlog like so many other RPGs I have to finish. Is there any particular reason I should play Persona 3 first or no?

 

The only reason I would say you should play 3 first is because 4 is better. If you play 4 first, you might not appreciate how good 3 actually is.

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

I love the cutscenes in 4. Really makes you feel like you're in an anime. The setup for Yukiko's Castle caught me off-guard.

 

I predict you'll be even more floored by the next dungeon's reveal. This game is awesome.

 

Wow. I'm surprised Atlus went with such an over-the-top reveal. I'm pretty sure the characterization of the biker's Shadow-self will offend SOMEONE.