Anyone playing through SMT: Persona 3?

[HiGHFLYiN9]

I know at least a few of you must, it was number 4 on Gamefaqs, right up there with FFXII. If you haven't, and are hungering for a semi-dark and very Japanese-style RPG, you should def give it a whirl.

The last Persona title that managed to make its way across the sea was Eternal Punishment for the original PSuno, a fantastic game in all regards and easily my favorite game of ALL TIME. Also easily worth the $60 or so dollars it garners on eBay at the moment. Persona 1 and 2 were quite dark, with a few comical points spread very few and far between. P3 manages to add some spice to not only to the art style, but to the formula as well. Yes, we've all come across countless RPGs ::cough::Romancing Saga::cough::Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter::cough:: that introduced not only a crappy/alienating formula but could send you straight to the doctor with whooping cough (dramatization). Rest assured that the new elements in P3 certifiably kick arse.

Rather than spending 95% percent of your time fighting and exploring, only about 50% of the time is spent in the dungeons. The other 50% is going to school. I know some of you are already reaching for the back button, and I was skeptical at first too, but this is quite an entertaining feature. Your character creates social links with people at the school and the surrounding shops which allow him to create more powerful spell casting personas. These are small episodes where you are encouraged to get to know the character and interact appropriately. You can also join after-school clubs, and do other various activities which grinds your social skills which opens you up to more social links. Also thrown in are five different girls for SIMULATION DATING. Good times, eh? If you had asked me after I finished P2 if the series would ever have a date-sim in it, the reply would be adamant and negative. However I guess we were all in for a surprise, and it's not quite as creepy as I would have imagined.

Anyway, I highly encourage you to check out Persona 3 (if you shop at Gamestop, be sure to say "Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3", no further comment needed). Not quite as amazing as Eternal Punishment so far, but still super good. If you are playing it at the moment, share some impressions.

 

[Kirosia]

I've been playing, I'm near the end of August. It's a fun game, but the sim/dungeon-crawling (both aspects) gets repetitive unless you play in short bursts. The battle system is addictive, even though it's turn-based and the enemies can be REAL cheap. And admittedly, the characters are quite charming. Hell, I wished I lives in a dorm with hot girls. The graphics are relatively bland, other than the nicely drawn character portraits. Overall it's a pretty damn good RPG, this coming from a guy who normally HATES date sims/dungeon crawlers.

(I still hope a true Persona game comes someday)

EDIT: As for FFXII, I thought it was overrated, the lackluster story and the boring MMORPG-style battles just didn't do anything for me.

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

You're right. If I tried to play it more than 2.5-3 hours at a time it would def get repetitive, but I don't think there's ever been an RPG that I didn't need a break from for that period of time. In re to the art, the gent who normally draws the series was busy with Devil Summoner when that was in dev IIRC, so another artist worked on this one. I certainly wouldn't mind another Persona in the same vein as Eternal Punishment, however I'll take what I can get ^_^

Haven't tried XII yet, and I probably won't assuming Eternal Sonata is worth playing ::crosses fingers:: I haven't really followed FF past VII, just don't really like them. Speaking of unlikable RPGs, Blue Dragon seems to be floundering in the reviews, which is pretty disappointing. Good RPGs on the next-gen systems (aside from Oblivion) are non-existent at the moment.