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Persona Community Thread |OT4| The Golden Number

K

Kazzy

Member
Sophia said:
I guess if you live in a world where the game doesn't exist, maybe. :p
Click to expand...

For a series that is usually effective at how it expounds its characterization, often by virtue of confounding the very archetypes in which its cast dwells in, Mitsuru feels conspicuously hackneyed.
 
P

PK Gaming

Member
Watanabe Kazuma said:
For a series that is usually effective at how it expounds its characterization, often by virtue of confounding the very archetypes in which its cast dwells in, Mitsuru feels conspicuously hackneyed.
Click to expand...

She gets significantly more development in P3P(female path) and the drama CDs.

500px-P3_Full_Moon_Cover.jpg
Click to expand...

Full Moon is pretty much all about her, and it's awesome.
 
L

Lollipop Dave

Member
Sophia said:
Persona 4 has the same problem as Persona 3 with characters falling out of importance once their story arc is over, but it's backed by much stronger writing.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. I'm just going to play the shallow card and say I only care about the characters with an attractive appearance.
 
S

Sophia

Member
I can't even agree with the statement that Mitsuru's characterization feels "hackneyed", if only because I've seen millions of actual hackneyed examples of the character type previously. :\

And yes, New Moon as well as Full Moon are utterly awesome in ways that cannot be comprehended in words. They should absolutely be listened to by any fans of the series. Or at least read a translation.
 
Xenoflare

Xenoflare

Member
Sophia said:
It's more really that their scenario writing skills improved a bit after vanilla Persona 3. Not helped because Persona 3 was clearly far too ambitious of a project for the team.
Click to expand...

I think that would also explain why S.links are generally better in P4 rather than P3. I hated a good chunk of the Social links in P3, and more so when I revisited P3P after P4G.

Although P4 is not immune to bad social links, I never really found the drive to complete Temperance, but overall I liked the characters in P4 than P3. Even though the story is kinda stupid when you strip away the charm of the characters.
 
P

PK Gaming

Member
Sophia said:
I can't even agree with the statement that Mitsuru's characterization feels "hackneyed", if only because I've seen millions of actual hackneyed examples of the character type previously. :\

And yes, New Moon as well as Full Moon are utterly awesome in ways that cannot be comprehended in words. They should absolutely be listened to by any fans of the series. Or at least read a translation.
Click to expand...

If they ever do remake P3 (god forbid), most of the elements from the drama CD need to be incorporated into the main game.

P3 honestly feels incomplete without it, since quite a bit happens.
 
S

Sophia

Member
PK Gaming said:
If they ever do remake P3 (god forbid), most of the elements from the drama CD need to be incorporated into the main game.

P3 honestly feels incomplete without it, since quite a bit happens.
Click to expand...

I think the only way they could really do a fourth version of Persona 3 justice is re-imagining the game in a manner to how Capcom handled the Resident Evil remake for the Gamecube. Anything less then that would come across as disappointing and halfhearted.

Unfortunately, I think Atlus has realized that too, which is why we probably won't get a fourth version anytime soon.

CrazyTank940 said:
Seriously, this. All the development in here IMO should have been in game. Both New Moon and Full Moon are great.
Click to expand...

To give you an idea of how awesome New Moon and Full Moon are: Aigis is my favorite character, and the drama CDs for Daylight and Moonlight focus mostly on her. Yet New Moon and Full Moon are easily way better then those drama CDs, or anything they've written for Aigis really.... They're THAT good.
 
V

Vox Chaotica

Member
Lollipop Dave said:
I like slicing up a gherkin and putting that on a pizza, along with jalapenos. Pineapple should be on every pizza! I have a vague idea what ranch is but I don't think I've ever had it.
Click to expand...

This is the glory that is ranch dressing, and it is meant to be put on Pizza. Or maybe that's just a Minnesota thing, I don't know.

That Hanako though. 0/10 would not main.
 
C

CorvoSol

Member
P1

SHIT WHAT REIJI IS KANDORI'S BROTHER!?


Anyway, I think you guys are selling Aki and Aigis short. The Aeon social link does wonders for her, and the Star does a lot for Akihiko.
 
B

BumblebeeCody

Member
Currently playing through Persona 4: Golden on the VITA. It's a pretty damn good JRPG but it's far to overhyped. Way to many flaws with this game, but it's still a very good JRPG. I'm 40+ hours in and just finished "The Game Dungeon".
 
B

buddha0991

Member
BumblebeeCody said:
Currently playing through Persona 4: Golden on the VITA. It's a pretty damn good JRPG but it's far to overhyped. Way to many flaws with this game, but it's still a very good JRPG. I'm 40+ hours in and just finished "The Game Dungeon".
Click to expand...

Yep, its a great game, but it has its flaws, it is not the perfect game like many say. I am curious thought, what is your flaws with the game?
 
J

Jinto

Member
Just finished P4G. I've been meaning to post thoughts as I play, but I couldn't tear myself away from my Vita long enough . I thought playing through both FES and this back to back would be too much. That wasn't the case at all. I want more! Both games are now among my all time favs.

Even though the gameplay was pretty similar, I'm glad they didn't just retread the same story. Everything was improved in P4G. Mostly for the best. Akinari's S-Link is still my favorite, but on the whole, P4G's links were done better.

Having said all that,
I still have a bitter taste left in my mouth from Valentine's day. I only dated Mitsuru in FES, but I wasn't really enamored with any of the female characters early on, so I just decided to date everyone this time around. Especially since I heard there were no repercussions as there were in FES. I ended up really liking Naoto's and Marie's characters later on though. I hate and love the fact that the game made you feel like at a complete asshole. It's the way it should be. Just wish I knew that sooner. Besides that, the ending was really satisfying.

I had my suspicions early on that Adachi was the culprit. His motives ended up being kinda weak. Good thing the game didn't end there, because everything after was definitely a welcome surprise. Most of it made sense in the end.

I had some gripes early on. I think it was just because I was so used to FES; therefore, it took some getting used to. I played on normal. It started off pretty hard, because of the lack of SP, but ended up being ridiculously easy. Like FES, P4G isn't perfect, but I can't stress how much fun I had playing this. Great story, awesome characters, fun battle system, and seriously funny too.

Best part is I can read through this thread and know what everyone is talking about now. Well, most of the time at least. :D

So, guys, what should I play next? Is P4A worth playing? I suck at fighting games. I also have all the Shin Megami Tensei games, but haven't played any of them.
 
M

Meia

Member
Jinto said:
Just finished P4G. I've been meaning to post thoughts as I play, but I couldn't tear myself away from my Vita long enough . I thought playing through both FES and this back to back would be too much. That wasn't the case at all. I want more! Both games are now among my all time favs.

Even though the gameplay was pretty similar, I'm glad they didn't just retread the same story. Everything was improved in P4G. Mostly for the best. Akinari's S-Link is still my favorite, but on the whole, P4G's links were done better.

Having said all that,
I still have a bitter taste left in my mouth from Valentine's day. I only dated Mitsuru in FES, but I wasn't really enamored with any of the female characters early on, so I just decided to date everyone this time around. Especially since I heard there were no repercussions as there were in FES. I ended up really liking Naoto's and Marie's characters later on though. I hate and love the fact that the game made you feel like at a complete asshole. It's the way it should be. Just wish I knew that sooner. Besides that, the ending was really satisfying.

I had my suspicions early on that Adachi was the culprit. His motives ended up being kinda weak. Good thing the game didn't end there, because everything after was definitely a welcome surprise. Most of it made sense in the end.

I had some gripes early on. I think it was just because I was so used to FES; therefore, it took some getting used to. I played on normal. It started off pretty hard, because of the lack of SP, but ended up being ridiculously easy. Like FES, P4G isn't perfect, but I can't stress how much fun I had playing this. Great story, awesome characters, fun battle system, and seriously funny too.

Best part is I can read through this thread and know what everyone is talking about now. Well, most of the time at least. :D

So, guys, what should I play next? Is P4A worth playing? I suck at fighting games. I also have all the Shin Megami Tensei games, but haven't played any of them.
Click to expand...



Well, Persona 4 Arena continues the story of both Persona 3 and Persona 4, so there's that to think about. Even if you suck at fighting games, you don't have to do much of it to see all the story has to offer. It's probably worth doing since the fighting game is getting a sequel in a few months for home release(probably), and peeps on PGaf play it from time to time(usually when I'm sleeping *grumble*).



The tricky thing about the SMT games is the older ones the story is more in the background, so if character focus or story focus is more of something that you crave in an JRPG, you probably will be left wanting. Others will be better for that suggestion. :p



Yeah, P4's hardest moments are always the very beginning of the game, pre-fox. I only ever take one day to do a dungeon, and the very first one is the biggest challenge in this. You can buy like 5 TaP sodas from one machine(10 SP per) and 5 drinks from another one(5 SP per) in the shopping district once a week, so I usually stock up on them. The tomatoes in Golden are good to stock up on as well for the early months.


And you should have asked if there was any repercussions about a harem route in 4G, we all would have said there was. :p
 
B

buddha0991

Member
Jinto said:
Just finished P4G. I've been meaning to post thoughts as I play, but I couldn't tear myself away from my Vita long enough . I thought playing through both FES and this back to back would be too much. That wasn't the case at all. I want more! Both games are now among my all time favs.

Even though the gameplay was pretty similar, I'm glad they didn't just retread the same story. Everything was improved in P4G. Mostly for the best. Akinari's S-Link is still my favorite, but on the whole, P4G's links were done better.

Having said all that,
I still have a bitter taste left in my mouth from Valentine's day. I only dated Mitsuru in FES, but I wasn't really enamored with any of the female characters early on, so I just decided to date everyone this time around. Especially since I heard there were no repercussions as there were in FES. I ended up really liking Naoto's and Marie's characters later on though. I hate and love the fact that the game made you feel like at a complete asshole. It's the way it should be. Just wish I knew that sooner. Besides that, the ending was really satisfying.

I had my suspicions early on that Adachi was the culprit. His motives ended up being kinda weak. Good thing the game didn't end there, because everything after was definitely a welcome surprise. Most of it made sense in the end.

I had some gripes early on. I think it was just because I was so used to FES; therefore, it took some getting used to. I played on normal. It started off pretty hard, because of the lack of SP, but ended up being ridiculously easy. Like FES, P4G isn't perfect, but I can't stress how much fun I had playing this. Great story, awesome characters, fun battle system, and seriously funny too.

Best part is I can read through this thread and know what everyone is talking about now. Well, most of the time at least. :D

So, guys, what should I play next? Is P4A worth playing? I suck at fighting games. I also have all the Shin Megami Tensei games, but haven't played any of them.
Click to expand...

In OG P4 there WAS no repercussions. those scenes where there now is, were added to P4G.

Tell me, in spoiler tags, what ending did you get?
Did you rescue Marie? Did you fight Izanami? Did you get the epilogue where everyone is a little bit older and different looking?

You could play P4A, but reception to that story mode is mixed. It is not that bad though, bad repetition in the story mode for the main 4 P4 characters aside. I have high hopes for P4A2 though!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKZJL1X75Xw
 
B

BumblebeeCody

Member
buddha0991 said:
Yep, its a great game, but it has its flaws, it is not the perfect game like many say. I am curious thought, what is your flaws with the game?
Click to expand...

It's surprising how much of the game is pointless and repetitive.
The fusion feature didn't need to be in the game at all. It adds nothing necessary.
Quests give you items you never use and barely any money that one enemy in the dungeon can give.
Those two seem to be a large part of the game yet you can go through the game without needing to do a single fusions or quest. Making me think there's no reason at all to do them (outside of trophies).

Dungeons can really play with your patience. When I was doing The Club Dungeon, having to move yet another floor was getting pretty annoying. It's padding for the sake of padding in an already long game. They should've just made all dungeons 7 floors. Adding an additional 1 more floor for each new character adds nothing to the story. Take out those additional floors and nothing in the game is lost.

On the flip side, the fact that so much of the floors, quests and fusions aren't necessary, its hard to say it's a negative. Because it's optional there' no need to grind for a quest. They're both unintrusive and never force you into the mechanics of fusion or quests. SO it's unnecessary...but the good kind.

Lastly I feel disjointed to the rest of the group. I still don't feel like I'm friends with any of them despite everyone being at 5 rank minimum and going through all the story. I still feel like the protagonist isn't a part of the social group.

That being said, still enjoying the game. I've never played anything like it. This game has far too much character and flair with an interesting style to dismiss. I can't stop playing it even after a week and nearly 50 hours of playing with still plenty of gameplay left.

Jinto said:
So, guys, what should I play next? Is P4A worth playing? I suck at fighting games. I also have all the Shin Megami Tensei games, but haven't played any of them.
Click to expand...

P4:A but it has a niche community.
 
B

buddha0991

Member
I would disagree that fusion is unneeded, it is in fact, one of, if not THE reason I am so into Shin Megami Tensei. Persona 4 Golden trivializes it due to the redone Shuffle Time in which you can just pick what you get, plus skill cards are not in P4 normal, and the shuffle time that raises the level of a magic/attack skill, from like zio to zionga is not in P4 normal either. Actually, it is, but it is much rarer to find.
 
J

Jinto

Member
Meia said:
Well, Persona 4 Arena continues the story of both Persona 3 and Persona 4, so there's that to think about. Even if you suck at fighting games, you don't have to do much of it to see all the story has to offer. It's probably worth doing since the fighting game is getting a sequel in a few months for home release(probably), and peeps on PGaf play it from time to time(usually when I'm sleeping *grumble*).



The tricky thing about the SMT games is the older ones the story is more in the background, so if character focus or story focus is more of something that you crave in an JRPG, you probably will be left wanting. Others will be better for that suggestion. :p



Yeah, P4's hardest moments are always the very beginning of the game, pre-fox. I only ever take one day to do a dungeon, and the very first one is the biggest challenge in this. You can buy like 5 TaP sodas from one machine(10 SP per) and 5 drinks from another one(5 SP per) in the shopping district once a week, so I usually stock up on them. The tomatoes in Golden are good to stock up on as well for the early months.


And you should have asked if there was any repercussions about a harem route in 4G, we all would have said there was. :p
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was attempting to complete dungeons in one day too. The lack of SP was really frustrating on normal. Once I got a Persona with invigorate it made it more tolerable. Still, going into older dungeons just to guard and build up SP was a pain. I was severely under leveled for the first part of the game because of it. I was cursing the people who recommended I play on normal because it was so easy. lol

Hm, story is usually the most important thing to me when it comes to JRPG's, but I'm willing to let it slide for awesome gameplay.

buddha0991 said:
In OG P4 there WAS no repercussions. those scenes where there now is, were added to P4G.

Tell me, in spoiler tags, what ending did you get?
Did you rescue Marie? Did you fight Izanami? Did you get the epilogue where everyone is a little bit older and different looking?

You could play P4A, but reception to that story mode is mixed, I have high hopes for P4A2 though!
Click to expand...

Not gonna lie,
I needed a guide to get the true ending, so yeah, I got all that. So glad I did too. Seeing Naoto dressed as a girl, and Kanji were so worth it. I also got the ending where you throw Namatame into the TV just because I wanted to see what happens. I searched for the accomplice ending after I was done. The normal ending is just the true ending without the epilogue, right?

I think I'll start on P4A later today just for the story, if nothing else.
 
B

buddha0991

Member
Jinto said:
Yeah, I was attempting to complete dungeons in one day too. The lack of SP was really frustrating on normal. Once I got a Persona with invigorate it made it more tolerable. Still, going into older dungeons just to guard and build up SP was a pain. I was severely under leveled for the first part of the game because of it. I was cursing the people who recommended I play on normal because it was so easy. lol

Hm, story is usually the most important thing to me when it comes to JRPG's, but I'm willing to let it slide for awesome gameplay.



Not gonna lie,
I needed a guide to get the true ending, so yeah, I got all that. So glad I did too. Seeing Naoto dressed as a girl, and Kanji were so worth it. I also got the ending where you throw Namatame into the TV just because I wanted to see what happens. I searched for the accomplice ending after I was done. The normal ending is just the true ending without the epilogue, right?

I think I'll start on P4A later today just for the story, if nothing else.
Click to expand...

P4A takes place before
the epilogue at the end of P4G. That "craziness last may" is P4A and P4A2. I see P4A as actually being P3A Featuring Persona 4, the main 4 P4 character stories are all very repetitive and such, and the P3 stories are much more interesting.
P4A2 is looking really good though!
 
M

Meia

Member
buddha0991 said:
I would disagree that fusion is unneeded, it is in fact, one of, if not THE reason I am so into Shin Megami Tensei. Persona 4 Golden trivializes it due to the redone Shuffle Time in which you can just pick what you get, plus skill cards are not in P4 normal, and the shuffle time that raises the level of a magic/attack skill, from like zio to zionga is not in P4 normal either. Actually, it is, but it is much rarer to find.
Click to expand...


Well, to be fair on the last point, you can't level a zio to a zionga. A single target will become a multi-target, but won't go up a tier. So it can become a Mazio, but never a Zionga.

...of course, a Resist Physical you can get in the first dungeon can become a NULL Physical, which is all kinds of silly.



But yeah, fusions are required, for many reasons. A Persona's level for the MC is the level of the stats he has, and if you're playing on anything on Normal and have a Persona equipped that's 10 levels lower than your party, rip. Persona's for the MC naturally need 2.5x the exp per level as the rest of the party does, so they level slower on purpose to require the use of fusion. As buddha said though, it's less needed in Golden due to skill cards and even cards easily raising a Persona's stats.
 
S

Sophia

Member
BumblebeeCody said:
The fusion feature didn't need to be in the game at all. It adds nothing necessary.
Click to expand...
BumblebeeCody said:
Dungeons can really play with your patience. When I was doing The Club Dungeon, having to move yet another floor was getting pretty annoying. It's padding for the sake of padding in an already long game. They should've just made all dungeons 7 floors. Adding an additional 1 more floor for each new character adds nothing to the story. Take out those additional floors and nothing in the game is lost.
Click to expand...

Floor count by dungeon, in order of appearance: 8 -> 11 -> 11 -> 10 -> 9 -> 10 -> 9 -> 10 -> 9

How is that adding one more floor if the amount of floors stays relatively the same throughout the game...?

Also, it takes a significant amount of skill to beat the game without fusing or abusing Shuffle Time, especially vanilla P4. I'm surprised you'd think it unnecessary
 
Xenoflare

Xenoflare

Member
BumblebeeCody said:
Those two seem to be a large part of the game yet you can go through the game without needing to do a single fusions or quest.
Click to expand...

Quest yeah, but fusion? Really?

Even if the game doesn't force you to do it doesn't mean it's not needed, it expects you to.

How many fusions have you really done so far and what is your difficulty level? I understand that new game+ tends to render fusions obsolete due to the buyback feature of the compendium, but playing a new game without fusion is a severe handicap as the MC's personas requires much, much more exp to level up and they all have a limited amount of skills. The personas you gain from shuffle time are only fusion materials at best because they usually only comes with 3 or 4 skills, using fusion to manage skill inheritance to make personas for various situation is the fun and flesh of the game. Especially some of the most powerful personas can only be obtained from special fusion.


Fusion is the one feature that sets Persona and the entire SMT franchise apart from the other JRPGs, Persona 4 seems to be a weaker representative due to the fact that you have controllable human team members, but I don't think it's fair to say fusion is unnecessary.
 
J

Jinto

Member
Almost forgot to mention how many times I smiled everytime they referenced P3. :D

BumblebeeCody said:
It's surprising how much of the game is pointless and repetitive.
The fusion feature didn't need to be in the game at all. It adds nothing necessary.
Click to expand...

Fusions were definitely necessary for me. Plus, they go hand in hand with social links. The reason for building your S-Links is so you can fuse stronger persona.

Dungeons can really play with your patience. When I was doing The Club Dungeon, having to move yet another floor was getting pretty annoying. It's padding for the sake of padding in an already long game. They should've just made all dungeons 7 floors. Adding an additional 1 more floor for each new character adds nothing to the story. Take out those additional floors and nothing in the game is lost.
Click to expand...

Unlike most other JRPG's I've played, you can tackle the dungeons almost whenever you want while still progressing the story, so they didn't seem long to me at all. You can go hours in real time or weeks in game time without having to go to any dungeons. I would have preferred longer dungeons with easier access to more SP. Sorta like P3.

Lastly I feel disjointed to the rest of the group. I still don't feel like I'm friends with any of them despite everyone being at 5 rank minimum and going through all the story. I still feel like the protagonist isn't a part of the social group.
Click to expand...

This I can sort of agree with. It took me awhile to take a liking to the characters early on. I found Chie adorable, but I didn't really like her VA until I got used to it.

P4:A but it has a niche community.
Click to expand...

I'll try it out, thanks. :)
 
J

Jinto

Member
Just booted up P4A. Now I know who Yu is. He sounds like Adachi. It's all really weird. I guess you have to unlock the P3 character story modes?
 
B

buddha0991

Member
Jinto said:
Just booted up P4A. Now I know who Yu is. He sounds like Adachi. It's all really weird. I guess you have to unlock the P3 character story modes?
Click to expand...

Yep! and Yu was always voiced by the same guy as Adachi. I will be curious to see your thoughts on the game as you play it. GET PREPARED FOR A LOT OF READING AND EASY ONE ROUND FIGHTS!
 
S

Squire

Banned
We obviously have fun with the topic, so S. Link FM is going to do a podcast to discuss/debate what actually constitutes "mature" story-telling. Recording should be around the 18th of this month. If you're interested in being on that episode, holla back young'n.
 
S

ScraftyDevil

Banned
Inorigo said:
We obviously have fun with the topic, so S. Link FM is going to do a podcast to discuss/debate what actually constitutes "mature" story-telling. Recording should be around the 18th of this month. If you're interested in being on that episode, holla back young'n.
Click to expand...

Holla!
 
C

CorvoSol

Member
PK Gaming said:
But Kanji is like, the only party member who doesn't want to jump Yu's bones.



Their relationship is kind of adorable, tbh.
Click to expand...

If Persona 4 has taught me anything, it is that there is no single person who does not actually crave the chance to jump Yu Narukami's bones.
 
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