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| The Persona series.; insight? recommendations? | |
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| Topic Started: Dec 13 2006, 09:00 AM (306 Views) | |
| Grey | Dec 13 2006, 09:00 AM Post #1 |
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I <3 GA#42
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I've been interested in this branch of MegaTen for some time now; well, ever since I pre-ordered my copy of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne a long time back. I did a little research on the series but never got any opinions or learned exactly how it played. With the announcement of Persona 3 Fes (thanks Deiser!) I've become increasingly more curious about the Persona games. Anyone wanna give me some insight into the gameplay, story, etc, etc.? Also, I heard the Persona games were quite difficult. How difficult? |
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| Darkstalker | Dec 13 2006, 09:07 AM Post #2 |
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~ The QUEEN ~
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I was going through Persona 2 again the other day, and now, I hate it. Repetitive dungeons, waaay too high of an encounter rate, bloody hard battles that as far as I'm concerned is concerned too much with leveling... On the other hand, the atmosphere is top notch, and battling (as in actual battling) is pretty fun. Just not the leveling part. PS - By Persona 2 of course I mean Eternal Punishment. |
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| RiotGrrl | Dec 13 2006, 11:42 AM Post #3 |
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Errant Dreamer
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Dammit, Darkstalker. I'm assuming I should play this before Nocturne, then, so as I don't absolutely loathe P2... Grey, I can't really say much other than what I've read/heard. Revelations: Persona, as it was localized here (aka Persona) I know has all first-person dungeons, similar to the MegaTen games from the SNES and beyond. The entire series takes place in a modern-day, demon-filled Japan, instead of in post-apocalyptic settings like Nocturne and DDS. Other than that, I've heard that P2 is pretty damn hard. Some people insist that it's harder than Nocturne. Also, the translation between the demons and your party are very poor, so it makes it a crapshoot to recruit them to join you sometimes. That's enough for now... I'm anticipating everyone's opinions as much as Grey. |
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| Pervan | Dec 13 2006, 04:25 PM Post #4 |
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Genetic Failure
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To clear some stuff up... I found Persona 2 very, very easy outside of the first several bosses. The game has some really broken mechanics that can easily be abused (i.e., fusion spells). I guess the game will either be really hard or really easy mattering on how much you abuse fusion spells and whether you get the Solving Orb so you can actually find them. I never had to do any forced leveling, but there was a boss that I had to essentially cheat to get past (the defend command is abusable in a way that probably wasn't intended). Anyway, I enjoyed the game quite a bit. The battle system itself can be a little bland (though some of that may be the mapping sidequest, which turns dungeons into hellish nightmares. Word of advice: the mapping sidequest isn't worth it.), but the outside of battle stuff is quite satisfying. The contact system is very interesting, and there are all sorts of sidequests. The game also contains massive amounts of dialogue and character development. After virtually every scene, you can go to every location in the game for unique dialogue from your characters, and oftentimes all the NPCs' dialogue will change as well. The plot is somewhat typical of JRPGs but with a unique setting and done much better than usual--kind of like DDS2. Most of the plot is contained outside of cutscenes. You'll find that much of the story comes from talking to your characters and NPCs between dungeons. The game does a good job of developing the NPCs. Also, the game has the longest main quest I've ever seen. If I remember correctly, it took me 75 hours to finish the game. All in all, it's a pretty satisfying game but can get bland in some places; it's a little long for its own good. It's well worth playing, especially because you can pick it up for $20 new now. |
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| Killer Kitty | Dec 13 2006, 04:44 PM Post #5 |
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Wizardry 9
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Persona 2's biggest problem is that it's 40 hours too long. |
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| Runeslash | Dec 13 2006, 05:24 PM Post #6 |
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109th Star of Destiny
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I didn't really start to like the SMT universe until Nocturne for reasons that shall be explained directly... Revelations: Persona: Great game with one major, major, MAJOR, problem... the dungeons are too long and there are no save points outside of cities. I quit after losing an hour and 45 minutes of progress because after I finished the dungeon I was on, I still had to work my way back out, and the bad guys got lucky in one encounter when I was half-way back to the top. I think they could hear me scream in agony next door. Persona 2: Eternal Punishment Well, they fixed the stupid problem of the last game by letting you save anywhere now and the story and atmosphere are still top notch. However, this is offset by an extreme increase in overall difficulty. Leveling AND negotiating for cards for hours on end is now mandatory. I quit after I reached a big dog boss that I couldn't beat even after two solid hours of leveling. The good news is that I still preordered Nocturne years later despite these disappointments and have since gone on to log over 120 blissful hours into it. The Matador and Dante have got nothing on the fiendishly hard Persona games. Hopefully, Persona 3 will get everything right this time. |
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| Carbunkle Flux | Dec 13 2006, 06:32 PM Post #7 |
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Abyssian Legend
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Persona 1. I love Persona 1 to death; it's a very engaging little dungeon crawler with atmosphere in spades. Its battle system is also quite strategic and rewarding. However, you have to be a very patient person to play the original Revelations: Persona. You have to be willing to experiment, you have to be willing to endure hours of dungeon with no save, you have to be willing to stand the abysmally slow speed of the battle system. I dunno how I had the patience to do it, but I managed to beat P1 five times. My last run got me the best ending at last and I was happy ever after. Persona 2 Innocent Sin improves the formula substantially by speeding everything up. Its battle system is a bit more shallow, but in turn everything is a lot more intuitive and easier to set up. It's also abysmally easy if you know what you're doing and the dungeons are nowhere near as hellish (especially with the ability to save anywhere). It's fairly short, but it has semi-multiple paths which are supposed to help a little. IS also has quite the atmosphere. Eternal Punishment is basically a psuedo-sequel to IS, so it heavily reuses everything; including most of the OST. It kinda lacks the same kind of heavy atmosphere the first two games have due to the way it tells its story, the lack of really atmospheric music that isn't used from IS and the fact that you're really only being given a secondhand experience; the game expects you to have played IS first, so it doesn't really go into the same level of detail in its events. And you get the feeling that, until you do play IS, the events and overarching plot seems a bit thrown together (and that is and isn't because of Innocent Sin at the same time. It's REALLY hard to put this kind of thing into words). It's quite a bit harder than Innocent Sin is (In IS you could survive a good bit of the game on your starter personae :P), but not enough to be a grind. In EP, you're expected to balance your card farming and exp farming with each encounter. Your persona is actually much more important than your levels are and that is often the error people make. If you're leveling in Persona 2 and it's not to access certain new personae, then you're only wasting your time because leveling doesn't affect your overall performance as much as it should. Another problem with EP is, as Killer Kitty points out, it's way too long with not enough events of actual interest going on in its plot. That said, I do love it. But I think I like Innocent Sin better despite its flaws. Overall, your best bet is with Eternal Punishment since Innocent Sin is in Japanese. I would absolutely love to recommend Revelations: Persona to you, as it's a fantastic game but whether or not you will actually enjoy it due to its time-consuming and incredibly slow nature is the question. |
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| Grey | Dec 14 2006, 09:24 AM Post #8 |
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I <3 GA#42
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Honestly, neither of the two games seem to appeal to me.
With Revelations: Persona, I wouldn't be able to take slow battles and not being able to save during a dungeon. Maybe if I had the time to do such a thing I would consider it, but with a daughter, work, and going back to college next semester I'll definitely need a game with more frequent saves. The atmosphere and stories (the thing that made me interested in the Persona series) of the MegaTen universe have always been the most interesting to me. Since I first learned of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne getting a release in the U.S. I've done some researching on the MegaTen games and their stories, and how it relates to culture and religion. I even got my hands on a Super Famicom copy of Shin Megami Tensei II. Although I can't read Japanese, I managed to recognize some of the symbols while also reading a FAQ to play a good bit of the game...Okay, I'm done with that tangent. Anyway, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment appeals to me in all but one way. The save anywhere function. Perfect! The faster paced battles. Perfect! Dark atmosphere/story. Perfect! Challenging difficulty? The difficulty of Persona 2 is a little offsetting but I could manage with that. Learn and adapt. Over 75 hours long...? No. Yet again, here is where time plays a part in what I end up gaming and it sucks! I still may try to track down a copy if I can actually find it for the $20 that it's supposed to be, but I doubt I'd be able to truly get into it like I did with Nocturne. 75 hours is a tad too long for me I'm afraid. |
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| Carbunkle Flux | Dec 14 2006, 06:22 PM Post #9 |
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Abyssian Legend
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75 hours is a large overstatement. It's around 50 at most, but similar difference. It IS a long RPG, so I won't fault you that. Just take it in short bursts and IMO it'll be fine. I just wish its events were anywhere near as interesting as IS' @_o. I figured about Persona. That game could really use a remake to take care of its glaring flaws so more people can play and enjoy its awesomeness ;_;. |
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| Pervan | Dec 14 2006, 10:38 PM Post #10 |
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Genetic Failure
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Persona 2 really did take me 75 hours to finish. Keep in mind I'm very thorough, though. I did the mapping sidequest and talked to everyone every time there was new dialogue. |
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| Carbunkle Flux | Dec 14 2006, 11:03 PM Post #11 |
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Abyssian Legend
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The mapping sidequest will do it @_@. Personally, I didn't have the patience for that. I did go beat Alice, though. |
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| Pervan | Dec 15 2006, 06:48 PM Post #12 |
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Genetic Failure
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Yeah @_@ There are two things you must do to enjoy Persona 2: get the Solving Orb and, for the love of every sacred thing in existence, SKIP THE DAMN MAPPING SIDEQUEST. I did it once, and then I just kept doing it because it does give good rewards and I just felt that compulsion to finish everything. I don't know what I was thinking. It truly makes the dungeons hell >_> |
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1:26 PM Jul 11
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With Revelations: Persona, I wouldn't be able to take slow battles and not being able to save during a dungeon. Maybe if I had the time to do such a thing I would consider it, but with a daughter, work, and going back to college next semester I'll definitely need a game with more frequent saves. The atmosphere and stories (the thing that made me interested in the Persona series) of the MegaTen universe have always been the most interesting to me. Since I first learned of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne getting a release in the U.S. I've done some researching on the MegaTen games and their stories, and how it relates to culture and religion. I even got my hands on a Super Famicom copy of Shin Megami Tensei II. Although I can't read Japanese, I managed to recognize some of the symbols while also reading a FAQ to play a good bit of the game...
1:26 PM Jul 11