Hey PersonaGAF.
I'm fairly new to the Persona craze.
Long story short: Bought Persona 4 Golden 2 years ago when it was on sale for a cool $14. Played 15 hours, was hooked during that time, but ended up putting it down for whatever reason and left it at the Kanji situation. Here I am, two years later, and I've resumed my first play-through and nearly 40 hours in. I've been enjoying it enough I decided to preorder P5 when it gets it's English release in April.
No self-respecting newcomer should post in a community OT without some questions for you, so here it goes...
Persona 4 is, overall, quite good. This is largely due to the characters and the compellingly bizarre story. I find, however, that there's a lot of times when I wish it would just "get to the point". A lot of the dialogue is superfluous, but I imagine this is what you get with a game that comes from heavy translation.
The story has been running the same beats, repeatedly, and now I'm desperately waiting for a change of pace. Having just saved Rise and now moving into this retro RPG-styled dungeon, is something going to change? (No detailed spoilers, of course)
As for the dungeons, I don't find them to be a complete slog, and the turn-based RPG combat is fun, for the most part. However, I can't help but feel they're more of an endurance test or battle of attrition than anything else. I often find myself throwing tons of resources at these things to complete them. The procedural generation tells me I'm probably wasting my time trying to fully explore each floor. Am I wrong? I spend more SP and items trying to completely map it out for the chests; the risk is too great for very little reward. How should I go about tackling dungeons so they're not a drain on my resources and my patience? Is it okay to leave and come back the next day or is that risking the fog and a game over?
Am I consuming HP/SP when the opportunity to "pile on" for an all-out attack appears?
About Persona 5, I'm sure there are plenty of you here who have played the Japanese import already. What can I expect from it? How much better is it than P4? Is there a lot more variation in the story and gameplay mechanics? One thing I do love about P4 is the choices I'm given in a particular day, especially when it comes to high school, but I'm somewhat annoyed by how often that choice is stripped from me so that the game can move things along automatically. Does P5 offer more leeway in that regard?
Sorry for the wall of text. I'm happy to drop in and chew the fat with you/pick your brains on this very intriguing series.
