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[birdchili]

smt3 really nailed the combat system, i think. they took the standard tropes of turn-based jrpg fare, and exaggerated it so that you *had* to pay attention to the elemental system.

p3 really hooked the conversation aspect of the genre into the combat gameplay. normally towns in jrpgs are all about talking/getting info/suiting up, but don't relate much to the battle system. persona 3 kept the safe town/dangerous elsewhere duality of jrpgs, but joined the gameplay together to make it feel more unified.

 

[Yaweee]

I'm not even sure how much P3 sold though.

For Japan, it turned around a long decline in SMT sales-- if I recall correctly, each of the PS2 games sold worse than the previous one, none of which matched their PSX efforts. However, P3, FES, P4, and now Raidou 2 have done substantially better.

As for the US, I'm damn near positive FES was the best selling of any game in the series. It was on the Amazon PS2 charts for a few months, and was actually on store shelves unlike the other games.

----

RPGamer, 4.5/5

While fans of Persona 3 can rest assured that they will find a thoroughly enjoyable experience in Persona 4, in many ways it feels like a move sideways for the series rather than a step forward. There are many players who will likely find it to be an overall better experience than Persona 3, while others, like myself, will find the game's weak ending and various grievances prevent it from truly surpassing last year's hit title. The game's difficulty falls right in line with Persona 3, and once again provides both easy and hard modes for those looking for less or additional challenge. However, the overall challenge actually begins to dwindle as the game progresses, and most players will probably find it more challenging in the early portions, and less challenging later on. Persona 4 is also slightly shorter than Persona 3, but still manages to last a whopping eighty hours, far more than most RPGs.

They had some complaints about the story, and absolutely hated the changes to shuffle time.

 

[crowphoenix]

RPGamer, 4.5/5

They had some complaints about the story, and absolutely hated the changes to shuffle time.

What where the changes to shuffle time?

 

[Yaweee]

What where the changes to shuffle time?

That they made it a giant piece of shit? :lol

Not only are there no longer exp, coin, or item bonuses, but there dummy cards that will actually negate whatever exp or yen you got during the battle. It looks more like Roulette than X-card Monty.

 

[Macstorm]

RPGamer, 4.5/5

They had some complaints about the story, and absolutely hated the changes to shuffle time.

Yeah, the biggest complaint he had was that the ending was not as solid as the rest of the awesome story. I think the new shuffle time is annoying, but that would be a minor complaint from me.

 

[zoku88]

That they made it a giant piece of shit? :lol

Not only are there no longer exp, coin, or item bonuses, but there dummy cards that will actually negate whatever exp or yen you got during the battle. It looks more like Roulette than X-card Monty.

Oh crap... T_T

I really lived for those exp ones.

 

[Fuu]

dummy cards that will actually negate whatever exp or yen you got during the battle.

Argh!

 

[Tenks]

smt3 really nailed the combat system, i think. they took the standard tropes of turn-based jrpg fare, and exaggerated it so that you *had* to pay attention to the elemental system.

p3 really hooked the conversation aspect of the genre into the combat gameplay. normally towns in jrpgs are all about talking/getting info/suiting up, but don't relate much to the battle system. persona 3 kept the safe town/dangerous elsewhere duality of jrpgs, but joined the gameplay together to make it feel more unified.

I think the main appeal of P3 was the fact that you did have this very distinct duality. Basically when the hour wasn't midnight you were just an everyday kid. You had to answer questions at school, juggle your free time and try to better yourself. Then during the dark hour you were a totally different person. The school day was very care free and it almost felt like the world wasn't coming to an end because of how happy the town was and all the jpop soundtrack just highlighted this fact. This is why I think if you chose the alternate ending of killing the child to forget all about what will happen is why it left such an impression on me. The SEES team was just going to school, just like every day, then boom. The world ended. It was very surreal and Persona 3 has left, by far, the largest impression on me of any game I've played in my entire life. The fact that Persona3 makes light of death and the realization that death is a reality everyone must face is something that is very challenging to take on for a game.

Persona3's storyline was not your typical "Teenagers save the world" story of every single trite and overused Final Fantasy game out there. The storyline was more an experience of seeing the characters grow up and realize their true potential as everyday human beings and coming to the realization that you only have one shot at life and you need to make it count. If it wasn't for the S.Link system and the town system the story could not have been told the way it was and the game would have been standard JRpg stuff. This is highlighted by the quote by Igor on the Game Over screen.

 

[birdchili]

they made shuffle-time *worse*?

i'm a bit concerned the whole too-much-like-p3 phenomenon that's surely going to kick in fast with this game, but there's so little else in the genre that i want/am able to play that i'm quite looking forward.

 

[Haeleos]

That they made it a giant piece of shit? :lol

Not only are there no longer exp, coin, or item bonuses...

What are there then?

 

[Volcynika]

That they made it a giant piece of shit? :lol

Not only are there no longer exp, coin, or item bonuses, but there dummy cards that will actually negate whatever exp or yen you got during the battle. It looks more like Roulette than X-card Monty.

Kinda reminds me of Lunar DS, since you had to CHOOSE whether you got items or experience. Only worse if you lose both.

 

[crowphoenix]

That they made it a giant piece of shit? :lol

Not only are there no longer exp, coin, or item bonuses, but there dummy cards that will actually negate whatever exp or yen you got during the battle. It looks more like Roulette than X-card Monty.

:lol Glad you're telling me this now so I have a day(Please?) or two to get ready for the changes.

 

[Fine]

Preordered this last night, so I'm really looking forward to it! I love the new setting and the plotline. MegaTen all the way!

 

[Metroidvania]

What are there then?

Just persona, nothing, or penalties, seems like.

I don't think I'm gonna like this particular change....and ditto on at no XP cards, that helped...a lot.

 

[birdchili]

i took xp cards 99% of the time in p3 (unless there was a persona there that i wasn't going to fuse manually).

it's like there's an unwritten rule that you need to throw a few minigames into every jrpg.

 

[Tamanon]

Yeah, I mean shuffle time basically boiled down to "take the XP card unless there's a persona you want"

So they just changed the system, modified the XP rate and made the cards have more variety, there's actually some cool stuff in there.

 

[Yaweee]

ALDJF;

FUCK

The null cards seem to have a chance to turn into a Major Arcana, though, which can be upright or reversed. Sometimes it can bring benefits, it seems, but the negatives are for greater than the positives.

 

[Tamanon]

I think if you don't want to(have all the Personas you need for now), you don't even have to do Shuffle Time/Arcana Chance.

 

[drtomoe123]

Mine shipped!

...too bad it's being shipped to my house so I don't screw up my finals...

GOD I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL FRIDAY!

 

[iconoclast]

Amazon just shipped my preorder, gonna have it by Dec 10 now

Can't wait. I hope the art book is nice.

 

[Guled]

I do like how the cards are shuffled now even though the choices are not as great

 

[Yaweee]

Gamestop is shipping, so stores will presumably have it tomorrow.

Now, do I drive to the store during a snow storm, or take the bus? Hmm....

 

[Volcynika]

Amazon just shipped my preorder, gonna have it by Dec 10 now

Can't wait. I hope the art book is nice.

It really is.

Also, I'm considering this a graduation present from Atlus. IT WILL BE AWESOME.

 

[kiryogi]

Looks like Amazon just shipped the design works... but where's the social pack expansion?

 

[Zzoram]

Is this really the best game on PS2? It is according to Metacritic.

 

[drtomoe123]

Is this really the best game on PS2? It is according to Metacritic.

It better be!

 

[Costanza]

Is this really the best game on PS2? It is according to Metacritic.

P3 was infuckingcredible, so probably.

 

[Costanza]

Constanza, you beat P3 FES? How'd you like the ending? What level were you man? You really hustled!

I spent like all day Saturday playing and finished the game at level 71 with 47 hours. Ending was pretty cool.

 

[Tamanon]

BTW, I'm still upset that I missed the big change from P3 to FES. I had to watch it on youtube.

*big spoilers for December*

Spoiler

Chidori's resurrection

It was so weird, but makes sense. It's not something the game tells you about, but if you actually act like a leader, it'll happen.

 

[crowphoenix]

BTW, I'm still upset that I missed the big change from P3 to FES. I had to watch it on youtube.

*big spoilers for December*

Spoiler

Chidori's resurrection

It was so weird, but makes sense. It's not something the game tells you about, but if you actually act like a leader, it'll happen.

Yeah. I was pissed at myself for not getting that one.

Spoiler

I saw three of the required four scenes, and I know I saw all four on my first run through.

Still, that is an extremely awesome addition.

 

[Guled]

BTW, I'm still upset that I missed the big change from P3 to FES. I had to watch it on youtube.

*big spoilers for December*

Spoiler

Chidori's resurrection

It was so weird, but makes sense. It's not something the game tells you about, but if you actually act like a leader, it'll happen.

wait what? How do you do that?

 

[Volcynika]

BTW, I'm still upset that I missed the big change from P3 to FES. I had to watch it on youtube.

*big spoilers for December*

Spoiler

Chidori's resurrection

It was so weird, but makes sense. It's not something the game tells you about, but if you actually act like a leader, it'll happen.

I totally missed that and had no idea that was possible.

 

[Costanza]

wait what? How do you do that?

.

 

[crowphoenix]

wait what? How do you do that?

Spoiler

After Chidori's death. See all four scene's with Junpei where you two discuss it. These take place across the month of December.

 

[baphometbones]

Ugh, those changes to shuffling sound like total ass but I'm still beyond excited. The amount of excellent changes far outweighs something as relatively minor as that and if you can actually skip the shuffles at some point then it's all good.

Now it's time to constantly toggle tabs between NeoGAF and gmail until I see my shipment confirmation

 

[Tamanon]

Also,

Spoiler

During those 4 times you talk to Junpei in the dorm afterwards, you have to give him the more upbeat, hopeful answer. Then in January, word will come in to Mitsuru that she's awake and a really emotional scene occurs

Definitely want to check it out on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B50mZ4rmoCk

The acting is pretty good.

 

[crowphoenix]

Also,

Spoiler

During those 4 times you talk to Junpei in the dorm afterwards, you have to give him the more upbeat, hopeful answer. Then in January, word will come in to Mitsuru that she's awake and a really emotional scene occurs

Definitely want to check it out on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B50mZ4rmoCk

The acting is pretty good.

I was impressed because it actually showed that

Spoiler

Mitsuru was friends with Junpei. That was one of the things that irked me about the characters were how distant Aki and Mitsuru seemed to the rest of the cast.

 

[Prime crotch]

Man, Junpei was such a whinny bitch sometimes, I could have hooked him up with one of my S. Links that wasn't a crazy gothic lolita.

 

[Tenks]

Yeah Junpei was actually my least favorite character in P3. I found his script fairly mundane and generally just annoying. If it wasn't for the beach scene with him and Aki I'd of totally hated him. I didn't really use him in my main party either who for the most part consisted only of MC, Mitsuru, Yuki, Aki

 

[crowphoenix]

Really? Aside from Yukari, Junpei was my favorite character in the game. The only time he left my party was when I put Aigis in for a bit.

 

[Tamanon]

Eh, Akihiko was much more of a one-note character than Junpei.

"I'm determined. I fight"

At least Junpei got moody randomly and into trouble!

 

[Guled]

wow, I wonder if there are any other scenes I missed

 

[Tenks]

Aki wasn't exactly one of my favorites either. Its just I had greater access to Agi skills early on than I did Zio skills so I stuck Aki in there as my Zio user (then Mitsuru for Bufu and Yuki for Guru.) It wasn't exactly a matter of character preference I just felt like that was the best line up.

In terms of memorable characters I thought Mitsuru was probably the best fleshed out. She seemed like such a snobby & cold elitist bitch until you really figured out her backstory and it made perfect sense why she acted the way she did.

 

[Tamanon]

I dunno, I mean Junpei was pretty dang fleshed out. He was carefree, then jealous, then questioning his existence and abilities, curious, lovestruck, determined, sorrowful, then finally determined to make someone proud. He ran the spectrum, IMO.

 

[Forkball]

The new Shuffle Time sucks. What's the point of changing that? Sometimes I want to just sit developers down and yell at them until they explain themselves.

 

[Guled]

Junpei is the best character in the game.

Haters don't recognize.

this

 

[crowphoenix]

Damn, I gotta play Fes sometime.

You haven't played Fes, man? You need to. It's a lot of fun and the little additions they added here and there are really awesome.

 

[Tamanon]

I particularly enjoyed the cleanup after the summer festival when the MC's proclivity for women catches up with him.:lol

 

[crowphoenix]

What? :lol I was only seeing one girl at the time, so MC and Magician boy put on a stand-up comedy routine.

 

[Tamanon]

What? :lol I was only seeing one girl at the time, so MC and Magician boy put on a stand-up comedy routine.

Oh, in mine, they did the routine. Yuko was there, and Chihiro came in acting kinda lovey-dovey. So the boys formed a barricade and got Chihiro out of there to look for supplies somewhere else. Good lookin' out money!