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Persona Community Thread: The Butterfly Effect

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FluxWaveZ

Member
hmmm so are any of them worth it? Or is it just P3 and p4?

Persona 1 (PSP): Everything about this game is pretty bland today except for the music, especially compared to the subsequent Persona games. The encounter rate is extremely high and the dungeons, as a result, are tedious. The difficulty, however, is quite easy and the actual battle mechanics are fine (though I'm not a fan of the emphasis on positional combat). Characters are boring, mostly due to a lack of interaction and aesthetic touches such as differing character portraits, and the story isn't all that compelling. If there was a reason for me to suggest playing this one, it would be to see where the series began firsthand and also because Persona 2 has a ton of significant callbacks to Persona 1.

Persona 2: Innocent Sin (PSP): Music's awesome, characters are awesome, story's awesome, theme is awesome. Encounter rate is still a bit high and the game's still easy, but at least the visual design of the dungeons is more interesting and it's less tedious to go through. If you play P1 before this game, it will be really cool to see immediate references and cameos to the previous game. Recommend this (by "this" I mean the P2 duology) wholeheartedly and I'd rate it higher than Persona 4 for me; right behind P3FES.

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment: Unfortunately, without knowing Japanese, you're limited to playing the PSX version. That's fine, though, because aside from a different style of localization coming immediately from IS (along with certain name changes for Persona 1 characters), it's still a fantastic game and it'd be weird to finish IS without then finishing its sequel. Game's more difficult than what you might be used to in the series, which I thought was a welcome change.
 

Sophia

Member
Everyone should play Persona 2, or at least read the story. Simply because it set the foundation for almost all future story elements in P3, P4, and P4A.

Persona 1, in contrast, is a bit of a black sheep. It's characters are not as fleshed out, it's gameplay not as good, it's story not as interesting, it's concepts not fully exploded, and it's plotlines unfinished. It has a few redeeming qualities that Flux mentioned, but it's by no means mandatory. There's a lot of holdovers from the classic SMT games. You do however get to see how plotlines in Persona 2 and Persona 3 began.
 

Jintor

Member
Yeah I kinda want to throw my copy of P1 at the wall right now lol

it's just... boring. Only thing keeping my interest is the Meguro sounds
 

PK Gaming

Member
Haha, I played through Persona 4 Arena from 1 AM > 3:30 AM ish

I ended up finished the first half (quarter?) of Chie's story in Arena, and I think it might be my favorite. Conversely, her "MEAT" ending is really depressing (and humorous hehe...)

I've been thinking about why I really like this game (I mean aside from the fact that I get to pit Persona users against OTHER Persona users) and I just now realized it. It's because the other characters get their chance to shine as the hero. I was glad to see Chie and Yosuke taking the lead and being the hero for once(I'LL ADMIT IT, I got emotional during the investigation team pep talk for Yosuke and Chie). The self narrations and other tidbits (i love seeing the other characters rooms) just seal the deal for me.

I wonder if I should tackle Aigis's story next or go with Kanji's.
 

Sophia

Member
I wonder if I should tackle Aigis's story next or go with Kanji's.

Kanji's story is all humor more or less. It's downright hilarious. Aigis's story is probably one of the most important to the main storyline, tied with Mitsuru's and Labrys's own.

My personal preference for story order is Yosuke > Yu > Teddie > Mitsuru > Aigis > Labrys > Yosuke/Yu true end > Mitusuru/Aigis true end > Finish up anything left in the order you please.

You know, we may have our conflicts with Atlus, but I am so glad SMT/Persona isn't a Namco game you guys.

Idolmaster sent to die. :(
 

Dantis

Member
Haha, I played through Persona 4 Arena from 1 AM > 3:30 AM ish

I ended up finished the first half (quarter?) of Chie's story in Arena, and I think it might be my favorite. Conversely, her "MEAT" ending is really depressing (and humorous hehe...)

I've been thinking about why I really like this game (I mean aside from the fact that I get to pit Persona users against OTHER Persona users) and I just now realized it. It's because the other characters get their chance to shine as the hero. I was glad to see Chie and Yosuke taking the lead and being the hero for once(I'LL ADMIT IT, I got emotional during the investigation team pep talk for Yosuke and Chie). The self narrations and other tidbits (i love seeing the other characters rooms) just seal the deal for me.

I wonder if I should tackle Aigis's story next or go with Kanji's.

Man, our opinions differ significantly.

Everything you just said, I hated.

You know, we may have our conflicts with Atlus, but I am so glad SMT/Persona isn't a Namco game you guys.

At least it got released...
 

Sophia

Member
TELL THAT TO MY NON EXISTANT COPY OF RAIDOU 2.

Raidou 2 was re-released and pretty cheap now. Import a copy and play by emulation if your PC is capable of it.

Sucks, but it no way compares to the issue the Idolmaster franchise is gonna have. :S

I need to get myself a new PS2 one of these days.
 

Dantis

Member
Raidou 2 was re-released and pretty cheap now. Import a copy and play by emulation if your PC is capable of it.

Sucks, but it no way compares to the issue the Idolmaster franchise is gonna have. :S

I need to get myself a new PS2 one of these days.

You're right, of course. I was actually just kidding.

I was thinking of importing Raidou, but I'm unsure of how worthwhile it would be. I found Raidou 1 to be quite average for an Atlus game.

He brings balance to this thread, indeed.

That's one way to look at it.

The way I look at it is that he's just wrong.
 

Sophia

Member
You're right, of course. I was actually just kidding.

I was thinking of importing Raidou, but I'm unsure of how worthwhile it would be. I found Raidou 1 to be quite average for an Atlus game.

I've never played either Raidou game, but my understanding is that Raidou 2 is a significantly better game than the first one.

That's one way to look at it.

The way I look at it is that he's just wrong.

I actually happen to agree with him on most accounts, and I know there's quite a few that agree with me too. It's entirely possible the one who is wrong is you. =P
 

Meia

Member
I liked getting into each of the heads of the persona characters from arena, was one of the things I liked best about the game. Only thing that got really old near the end was having the exact same story beats happening without much change between characters. Makes sense, doesn't make seeing almost the same scene with extremely similar dialogue happening for the 10th time.

Was a relief how during one of the samey segments with the 3's cast that it changed in a significant way with the addition of another person I didn't know was in the game at first. Awesome moment.

Also enough of an emotional sap to admit Labrys' story really got me.




Today shall be the day I beat Persona 1 finally and get one of the monkeys off my back. Thinking I'm looking forward to just playing Persona 2 more as a reward for this. Can't possibly imagine 2's gameplay being worse than 1, though 1 was fine after having every party member have a persona with Megido/la.
 

Onemic

Member
Persona 1 (PSP): Everything about this game is pretty bland today except for the music, especially compared to the subsequent Persona games. The encounter rate is extremely high and the dungeons, as a result, are tedious. The difficulty, however, is quite easy and the actual battle mechanics are fine (though I'm not a fan of the emphasis on positional combat). Characters are boring, mostly due to a lack of interaction and aesthetic touches such as differing character portraits, and the story isn't all that compelling. If there was a reason for me to suggest playing this one, it would be to see where the series began firsthand and also because Persona 2 has a ton of significant callbacks to Persona 1.

Persona 2: Innocent Sin (PSP): Music's awesome, characters are awesome, story's awesome, theme is awesome. Encounter rate is still a bit high and the game's still easy, but at least the visual design of the dungeons is more interesting and it's less tedious to go through. If you play P1 before this game, it will be really cool to see immediate references and cameos to the previous game. Recommend this (by "this" I mean the P2 duology) wholeheartedly and I'd rate it higher than Persona 4 for me; right behind P3FES.

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment: Unfortunately, without knowing Japanese, you're limited to playing the PSX version. That's fine, though, because aside from a different style of localization coming immediately from IS (along with certain name changes for Persona 1 characters), it's still a fantastic game and it'd be weird to finish IS without then finishing its sequel. Game's more difficult than what you might be used to in the series, which I thought was a welcome change.

Guess I'll get the two P2 games then. Have you played any of the SMT titles?(besides Nocturne, as I can't play that on vita) How good are they?
 

FluxWaveZ

Member
Guess I'll get the two P2 games then. Have you played any of the SMT titles?(besides Nocturne, as I can't play that on vita) How good are they?

Only 10 hours or so of Strange Journey. It was really enjoyable and it wasn't any fault of the game's that I stopped playing. From what I've seen, SMT: Nocturne would be really enjoyable as well and I plan to play it eventually.
 

Venfayth

Member
I actually happen to agree with him on most accounts, and I know there's quite a few that agree with me too. It's entirely possible the one who is wrong is you. =P

Oh, you think Dantis being wrong is upsetting to him? Dantis was born in it, molded by it.
 
hmmm so are any of them worth it? Or is it just P3 and p4?

Personally I wouldn't recommend either of the first 2 games. The battles in both games are slow, boring and overly easy. The random encounter rate is insane (worst I've ever seen), then the writing/characters are bland and lack any sort of personality whatsoever.

Been trying to force my way through them the last few weeks but.. it's just not happening. Has nothing to do with the age of them either because I couldn't imagine them being any fun even then they were originally released
 

Uncle AJ

Member
I'll get around to watching the P2 story at some point. 5 hours into IS and I knew I'd never continue playing because of that demon negotiation system.
 

Soriku

Junior Member
You're right, of course. I was actually just kidding.

I was thinking of importing Raidou, but I'm unsure of how worthwhile it would be. I found Raidou 1 to be quite average for an Atlus game.

Raidou 2 is sooooooo awesome. It's another Kaneko game and Meguro composed some new tracks for it so get it :p

Just...be sure to buy repulse water (or whatever it's called). The game has a worse encounter rate than DDS (Raidou 1 might be the same? IDK) but that repel item will bring encounters to 0, or maybe 1 for a full moon cycle.
 

Taruranto

Member
Personally I wouldn't recommend either of the first 2 games. The battles in both games are slow, boring and overly easy. The random encounter rate is insane (worst I've ever seen), then the writing/characters are bland and lack any sort of personality whatsoever.

Been trying to force my way through them the last few weeks but.. it's just not happening. Has nothing to do with the age of them either because I couldn't imagine them being any fun even then they were originally released

For someone with a DS avatar you sure have awful tastes.
 

Trigger

Member
Personally I wouldn't recommend either of the first 2 games. The battles in both games are slow, boring and overly easy. The random encounter rate is insane (worst I've ever seen), then the writing/characters are bland and lack any sort of personality whatsoever.

Been trying to force my way through them the last few weeks but.. it's just not happening. Has nothing to do with the age of them either because I couldn't imagine them being any fun even then they were originally released

Awful. The characters are probably the only thing I liked about P2 in hindsight.
 

Dantis

Member
Raidou 2 is sooooooo awesome. It's another Kaneko game and Meguro composed some new tracks for it so get it :p

Just...be sure to buy repulse water (or whatever it's called). The game has a worse encounter rate than DDS (Raidou 1 might be the same? IDK) but that repel item will bring encounters to 0, or maybe 1 for a full moon cycle.

Oh don't worry, I'm already familiar with the amazing soundtrack. Absolutely love Fiend Battle. :D

I might import it then. Not sure.

I believe his tag is ironic.

That's fine though. I actually love BioWare.

I feel like they're probably the single most unjustly hated developer out there right now.
 

Trigger

Member
I don't think Bioware is unjustly hated. The hate is just hyperbolic. It comes with the territory of being a big name.

Though I could never fully hate a company that gave me Wrex, Alistair, Morrigan, Garrus, Isabella, etc etc.
 

Soma

Member
Personally I wouldn't recommend either of the first 2 games. The battles in both games are slow, boring and overly easy. The random encounter rate is insane (worst I've ever seen), then the writing/characters are bland and lack any sort of personality whatsoever.

Been trying to force my way through them the last few weeks but.. it's just not happening. Has nothing to do with the age of them either because I couldn't imagine them being any fun even then they were originally released

ibvqCLqDkRVAJX.png
 

Necrovex

Member
I feel like they're probably the single most unjustly hated developer out there right now.

I don't think Bioware is unjustly hated. The hate is just hyperbolic. It comes with the territory of being a big name.

Though I could never fully hate a company that gave me Wrex, Alistair, Morrigan, Garrus, Isabella, etc etc.

I love Bioware talk!

Bioware is flawed, but the company isn't the worst thing ever. It created Citadel, which is superb. Bioware has taken a few missteps in the past few years, but I have faith that it will bounce back to being a 'great' company.
 

PK Gaming

Member
Man, our opinions differ significantly.

Everything you just said, I hated.

I guess I come across as a simple minded guy haha :(

I'm the type of person who's easy to please, and I LOVE learning more about my favorite characters. I just have a penchant for these fanservicey type games, and it helps that P4:A is really fun.

BTW, Yukiko's "joke" ending, is something straight out of a visual novel "BAD END"
seriously >_>

That's one way to look at it.

The way I look at it is that he's just wrong.

images
 

Venfayth

Member
I guess I come across as a simple minded guy haha :(

I'm the type of person who's easy to please, and I LOVE learning more about my favorite characters. I just have a penchant for these fanservicey type games, and it helps that P4:A is really fun.

BTW, Yukiko's "joke" ending, is something straight out of a visual novel "BAD END"
seriously >_>

I find it much more rewarding to just like a lot of things, as a gamer. Being wrapped up in cynicism just isn't good when your goal is to have fun. Unless you derive pleasure from complaining. In which case you would probably be great friends with a ton of SMT fans.
 
I guess I come across as a simple minded guy haha :(

Not at all. It's okay to like things, and I tend to be drawn to people who are positive and like a lot of things rather than those who are overtly negative and cynical. Arena's story definitely has some problems (most glaringly, in my opinion, its treatment of Yosuke and Kanji), but I feel the same way as you in regards to how I can't get enough of the Persona universe's characters and is even somewhat satisfied with comparitively weaker representations with them.

Plus Arena lets you Brofist people to instant-death. How. Awesome. Is. That.
 
For someone with a DS avatar you sure have awful tastes.

Awful. The characters are probably the only thing I liked about P2 in hindsight.

I haven't finished it yet, so maybe something happens later that would change my opinion, but so far the characters just show up, babble on about some stuff you don't care about then remain the same the entire time, talking about the same things in every single scene.
 
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