You know, Yukiko, we really are the Persona 4 Golden
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Persona Community Thread |OT7| P5 is nyaow. (Mark all PQ and P4U spoilers!)
- Thread starter Dantis
- Start date
- Status
You know, Yukiko, we really are the Persona 4 Golden
snow in jamaica
Member
This made me giggle.
Aww so young.
I'm pretty sure there are plenty of people that are older than you
Yeah, I joined gaf when I was barely 15 >.>
Ganzlinger
Member
If it is not, it is along with gameplay as another key component.
But overall I prefer story and characters over gameplay on RPGs.
I agree, and will also throw in the characters are, by far, the most important element. You can have a great story, but if you don't give a shit about anything that happens to the cast in the story, I find little reason to play it. On the other hand, if there's a so-so story, but the cast of characters is just flat out enjoyable to see interact with the world around them, it can carry me through a mediocre game.
CrimsonFist
Member
Disagree, but RPG is such a vague genre and can include so many different types of games.
Some RPGs, like Persona, Final Fantasy, Trails, ect are generally worth playing for the story and characters, whilst not having the strongest mechanics in the genre.
Others like SMT IV and Nocturne's strengths lie in the world building and atmosphere rather than the characters and plot, which works just as well.
Then you have games like Ys or Etrian Odyssey, where I don't care at all about the plot, but it doesn't need it because the gameplay is the focus and that's all that they need. They get by fine without a good story.
Basically, a good story can make up for not having the best mechanics, and if you have good mechanics then you don't need a good story. Of course, there are plenty of games that do both well too.
Xenoflare
Member
Stahp you are making me feel old XD
TurnipFritters
Member
The most important things are Number Go Up and Bath Scenes.
GamingBird
Member
what is the BEST way to not see any persona 5 spoilers yet still be able to find out if theres any social links and happy endings?
I see. It depends on the type of RPG, certainly, but I'm also in agreement with Ganzlinger and Meia with the sentiment that story and, especially, characters are the key aspects of an RPG for me, and they ultimately determine my enjoyment of one.
I asked this, by the way, because the sentiment was expressed by P Studio themselves:
I asked this, by the way, because the sentiment was expressed by P Studio themselves:
TurnipFritters
Member
There's this monastery in the Himalayas you should check out.
Cannon_Fodder
Member
Disagree. Those things are very important, obviously, but if they were by far the most important more people would have played P1 & P2.
Plus, I agree with CrimsonFist's post.
Nah. Customization and Combat are the two key characteristics of an RPG for me. Games like D&D onward you make up your own character, but customization is vital. Like, collecting armor, raising stats, learning abilities that sort of thing. Combat is where my customization comes into play. It's where my set ups and strategies count, so to speak.
If those are engaging, I can have a cast of 4 nameless onion kids and a story about restoring light to bobliums and I'll do just fine.
As to the two qualities listed, I'd say characters matter more than story to me. I can deal with kind of empty plots, but bad characters make life miserable no matter how interesting the story is.
GamingBird
Member
because i don't want this to be another
p3p scenario when i got to the final fight and then heard about that depressing ending.
but things should be ok this time round, since p studios know only alive characters and happy endings sell games and merchandise and spinoffs
the director did say himself he wants players to feel elated and enjoy the game (sounds happy to be)
BassForever
Member
This
A more interesting question would be which do you prefer? A stronger story with weaker mechanics or a weak story with stronger mechanics? Personally I'm more likely to keep playing a game with a great story then one that has really good gameplay but a boring or bad plot.
Jawmuncher
Member
Going through the story mode on P4A before I get to Ultimax.
Man I really wish they would have done a better job on this. The beginning and the end of each character's story is really the only worthwhile content. Aside from some fun interactions between the characters. I have yet to get anything worthwhile reading the none dialog box text after I finished the main stories and pieced everything together. Really just feels like a longer arcade mode whenever they're in the arena setting.
Oh well I heard that Ultimax does a way better job with the story and the way i'm going at it now. Doesn't take me longer than 30 minutes for 1 character if that.
Man I really wish they would have done a better job on this. The beginning and the end of each character's story is really the only worthwhile content. Aside from some fun interactions between the characters. I have yet to get anything worthwhile reading the none dialog box text after I finished the main stories and pieced everything together. Really just feels like a longer arcade mode whenever they're in the arena setting.
Oh well I heard that Ultimax does a way better job with the story and the way i'm going at it now. Doesn't take me longer than 30 minutes for 1 character if that.
A Dead Diehard
Member
Nope. You have to play through all the characters' parts to get to the end of each side's story.
P4U:
And you have to do the last part of each story twice to get the true path. Once for each of the dialog options before the final boss.
EDIT: To be more specific. Each character makes up smaller parts of each side's story.
Jawmuncher
Member
Wait so Ultimax does the repeat stuff as well.
wth.
No. "P4U" is the Japanese abbreviation for "P4A." People keep mixing them up all over the place, but the abbreviations for Ultimax are "P4AU" and "P4U2", nothing else.
A Dead Diehard
Member
That's what I meant. I was referring to Ultimax and only Ultimax.
Jawmuncher
Member
Ahhh ok makes sense now after this and reading a guide on how to unlock endings.
Cannon_Fodder
Member
Oh, then I still don't understand why people use "P4U." Atlus never used that, and it just confuses everything.
I don't know what you're talking about concerning dialog options, then. I went through the game in Japanese, not understanding text, only going Episode P4 > Episode P3 > True Ending without having to repeat anything.
Ultimax has a much better layout than P4A's story mode, you heard correctly. It's all straightforward and linear as opposed to the mess it was in the first game, which makes it a better experience.
CrimsonFist
Member
I think you just have to pick the correct option, but it has to have been the option you picked the last time you went through that scene. I had to go through that scene three times to get it to work. And you can quit at the boss point and it will still count.
The option before you fight the boss. You have to pick the pro bonds option on both routes to unlock the true ending. It's obvious which is correct, but if like me you replayed it and picked the other option in order to get 100%, that will overwrite the fact that you picked the correct one the first time, at least that was how it seemed to work for me.
A Dead Diehard
Member
Really? Curious.
I was confused when the True ending didn't unlock for me, then I tried both the 'bond' and 'solitude' options for each path, and it was unlocked. I remember picking different choices for each path, so did I just choose the wrong one for each?
Ganzlinger
Member
Wait, there is only one true ending in P4AU, right?
The one which Narukami fights Sho with blue scar after defeating Kagutsuchi, right? I finished P4 story mode then went to finish P3 and chose the line of bonds with Labrys thus unlocking the "true ending". But I wasn't sure If I missed something because both paths are at 99% and I was wondering if P3 path would have a true ending as well.
A Dead Diehard
Member
Weird. I remember having a hard time with that.
s'where I'm at, too.
CrimsonFist
Member
I'll be pretty disappointed if we don't get a multi form final boss.
I can't think of any Persona game that hasn't had a multiform final boss. But I admit that all I remember about Persona 1's final boss is screaming and throwing my PSP across the universe whenever I read the words "Butterfly Storm".
Also P3 and P4 are the only Persona games where the protag is a transfer student. I dunno.
EDIT:
Also, is it Friendship Ex Machina when the game spends the entire game explaining and building to that? I feel like P3 and P4's "Friendship Ex Machina" moments were sort of explained to no end in their games.
Pfff yeah from games 6 / 8 years old.
Er, yeah.
Heh, well I'm not going to engage here, I'm not the one who enforces the rules for our community threads.
Green Mamba
Member
Believe it or not the two games have Social Links too. And a calendar system. And Personas.
Who knows how deep this rabbit hole goes?
EDIT: Unmarked Persona spoilers are technically against the rules in this topic, just sayin'. It's right there in the first post. Remove it or link it or something.
Who knows how deep this rabbit hole goes?
EDIT: Unmarked Persona spoilers are technically against the rules in this topic, just sayin'. It's right there in the first post. Remove it or link it or something.
Cannon_Fodder
Member
That's not really a defense at all. It just shows a lack of consideration for people who have not yet beat these games.
EDIT: Nevermind, ya beat me to it.
Should have expected that considering where we are.
CrimsonFist
Member
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVJGC_QDuGE there's a subbed version, not that there is much to sub.
snow in jamaica
Member
Innocent Sin?
A Dead Diehard
Member
Was that only a one form boss? I guess I just forgot because it's multi-part and because Xibalba takes for fucking ever when you're getting attacked every goddamn step.
i haven't played that, so i just kinda forgot all about it.
come to think on it, I could be way off base, since I don't even know if Eternal Punishment's final boss was multi phase.
A Dead Diehard
Member
Pretty sure it is. Found that out when browsing for the final boss music.
snow in jamaica
Member
Yeah. Eternal Punishment's is multi-form.
Calling them the "key components" is a bit strong. Like, if I was in charge of the Video Game Dictionary, I'm doubtful that I would define RPGs by their approach towards characters and story.
But, for whatever reason, its turned out that RPGs often have strong characters and stories. The way the games are built isn't very conducive to an eight-to-twelve-hour game, and they often take much longer to fully roll out their systems and mechanics and give them room to breathe. Which means a lot more story content, which (usually) means a lot more character development. Since it falls on the story and characters to carry the length of the game, it becomes a key component in an RPG's relative value, but not a key component to its RPG-ness.
Thus, when I think of my favorite RPGs, I often turn to ones with strong stories or characters. There are other things that I like from my RPGs too, though. On a narrative front, I find Sense of Place to be very important in an RPG. The world needs to be interesting and feel lived-in. Strong game mechanics are also always nice. I'd like to be engaging with it as a video game on a level beyond "hammer the attack command as fast as the menus will allow" whenever possible, and the more neat out-of-combat stuff I get to do, the better. On the Japanese side of things in particular, my opinion on a JRPG also has some sort of relationship with its soundtrack. Is it Hot Jamz or Lame Tuneless Garbage?
Incidentally, the Persona games have strong narratives backed by strong characters with cool game mechanics both in-and-out of combat, are set in a cool universe and frequently have nice, cozy non-dungeon environments that are engaging to run around in thanks to a soundtrack comprised exclusively of Hot Jamz. So those games are pretty cool.
- Status