| Original message (2654 Views )
|
Replies: |
| Pollyanna 2533th Post
 
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
    
    
    
    
    
|  "Re(2):Dammit, Persona 4!!" , posted Fri 11 Jul 20:06
I dunno, I don't remember grinding hardly at all in Persona 3. I always thought it worked out well in Persona 1/2 though, because you had so much going on. You were figuring out how to negotiate with new monsters, leveling people to get new Persona, getting new Persona into working order, or in 2, making sure your combo move team dynamic was in order. It never FELT like grinding. (But then again, I never tried to get super high level. I never do.)
After a certain point EVERYTHING felt like a waste of time in P3, though. You hit 50 hours, feel like you've done everything you could possibly do 100 times over and then you realize you're only halfway through. Ridiculous.
Hopefully I'll get Persona 3 tomorrow and MAKE time to play it, so I'll post some impressions. The real test is going to be 30 or so hours in, though.
Either way, I wouldn't be too charmed by the beginning of the game. I thought Persona 3 started strong enough. I still love the first couple of cut scenes.
On a semi-related note, the Senko no Ronde artist does the art for the Persona 3 manga. I'd recommend checking it out if you're a fan of his, or P3.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
|
| Pollyanna 2536th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(5):Dammit, Persona 4!!" , posted Sat 12 Jul 21:29
(Sorry for the double post, but I wanted to split these up)
If you people have been watching it on Youtube, there's probably not much I can really contribute at this point, but I'll give my take on Persona 4 all the same.
I've only played a bit, which counts for even less since the game takes like...5 hours to get started, but so far...
Superior to P3 in every way!
I won't say something silly like "Persona is back!", but I do find myself saying "wow...this actually feels like Persona again" from time to time. I mean, it's still more like P3 than 1 or 2, but it doesn't feel quite as like..."stereotypical anime-type" game.
I like the characters, I like the soundtrack and I love the story so far.
So yeah...
PLUS
*Kuma is annoying, but less annoying than he could be.
*The characters have a little more subtlety than obvious stereotypes.
*It doesn't look like crap on an HDTV.
*The method of getting your (first) Persona is brilliant. In a way, facing your shadows so early in the game is a shame because it doesn't leave a trump card for character development later on, but on the upside you grow closer to the characters much faster.
*The ability to nullify your weakness by blocking is a BIG DEAL. Very niiiiice!
*Battle animations are fun. Attacks look much more dynamic, but the battles still move lightning fast.
*As long as you don't go back home, you can fiddle around town all you want without advancing time. The ability to "warp" from one location to another is nice, too.
*Sentai Jiraiya is cool, but looks less like a frog than Chie.
*Despite being silent, the main character still has an implied personality.
*The Mayonaka TV like...base area before you go to a dungeon has totally badass music.
*Commu management and personal stats seem MUCH less restrictive.
*When Nanako asked if the weather lady decides the weather, I cracked up.
*When Igor talks too much and you skip the dialogue (he never has anything good to say) pretend like he's calling your cell phone and you're hanging up on him. It's way funnier that way.
MINUS
*Kuma could still be less annoying.
*It's too early to say if the game is going to STAY good. It could collapse into boring repetition at any minute.
*It could do with a little less dialogue sometimes. Games in the past could create compelling characters with 1/4 this much text. Persona 4 could lose 10% and no one would notice.
*So far the commu scenarios still seem boring. Too early to tell for sure, though.
*Rise's voice is arguably more annoying than Kuma's. Why give your contact characters the annoying voices!? After hearing Fuuka's dub voice, I imagine American audiences are used to being annoyed, but I swear she was adorable in Japanese. I never got sick of...what was it? "Everyone's so powerful!" or something like that.
Conclusion
Too early for a verdict, but even if things go south, it still looks like it'll fare better than P3.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
|
| Pollyanna 2538th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(10):Dammit, Persona 4!!" , posted Sun 13 Jul 13:36
quote:
Hmm, I guess I wouldn't mind seeing new models with new animations(which are probably coming with SMT 4, which was announced.. some time ago now, they're probably doing the models that will be used for another few years afterwards) but I really enjoy the designs that Kaneko created, and indeed many of them have been being used since the 90's. I'd like to see them go back to the classic Moloch and Abaddon designs, which I prefer.
Since so many SMT fans seem to be attached to the old designs, I suppose we'll never see redesigns for ALL the demons, but I'm hoping Kaneko does new takes on some of them for SMT4. He's a much better artist than he used to be and I think some designs don't hold up as well as others.
Speaking of switching out designs, I'm glad we have "cool" Loki instead of "muscle" Loki in Persona 4.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
|
| Red Falcon 6035th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(2):Re(10):Dammit, Persona 4!!" , posted Sun 13 Jul 13:42:
quote:
Speaking of switching out designs, I'm glad we have "cool" Loki instead of "muscle" Loki in Persona 4.
The new Loki design is an example of a revision I prefer. Some (Like Choronzon) are just lazy, as he used to look different than Legion.
I still prefer many of his older designs in general though, and honestly, I like his older 1980's style.. style more, even if he wasn't technically "as good" (but that's all opinion now anyway, isn't it?) As a side note, I think Odin is somebody else who could do with an update. I like older Thor better, however. And despite Kaneko's attention to little details about these things, he still hasn't done a red-haired Thor, ha ha ha. Ambassador Thorman = rocks.
Also, this doesn't have anything to do with any of this, but... I almost blacked out because of this.
 Best site EVER:Link Here
[this message was edited by Red Falcon on Sun 13 Jul 13:54] |
| Red Falcon 6035th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(4):Re(10):Dammit, Persona 4!!" , posted Mon 14 Jul 12:01
quote:
Also, when it comes to designs, you're a total 80s fetishist. Did you like the SMT remake art?
Yes, I am, ha ha ha. I disliked some, liked some. Yuriko/Lilith is vastly superior now to her original version, that's probably one of my favourite changes (I really like Lilith's new design.)
And on a side note,
Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
classic Abaddon's design IS in P4, yaaay! (Oops, spoiler?)
End of Spoiler
Best site EVER:Link Here
|
| Pollyanna 2546th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(1):Difficulty?" , posted Thu 24 Jul 13:24
quote:
Polly: I've been meaning to ask you if P4 is more of a challenge than P3. I really loved the difficulty level in SMT3 (and thought the AT games were reasonably challenging from time to time) but find myself disappointed at how easy P3 is. I liked the more strategic aspects of the other recent SMT titles (need for buffs, dekaja/dekunda) and find that such tactics are largely if not entirely unnecessary in P3. Is the sequel any better?
Yes. It's definitely harder. Also, you can choose expert from the get-go and make it decidedly hard. On normal, the difficulty is pretty good. Gets kinda scary sometimes. I can think of 3 fights already that I probably could not have won without buffs/debuffs.
But like P3, some of it is about testing yourself. You have individual dungeons with much bigger floors (more like a normal RPG) so the challenge is to see how few days you can clear them in. Pushing yourself to clear a dungeon in 2 days makes it pretty difficult. Your "deadlines" are harsher as well (though totally reasonable).
Also, the arcana chances are insane. You can choose to take them or not, but sometimes they're "reverse", which can be bad bad bad. Like...teleport you to the beginning of the maze, or give you your HP back, but take away all your SP. Orrrr....permanently lower one of your Persona's stats.
Buuut...if it falls in your favor, you can get all your SP back (which is practically like gaining an extra day) or have a spell upgraded (like you would get the maha or higher level version).
So, there's a lot of like..."managing the big picture" and deciding which risks you can and can't take when you're playing. I mean, that was an element in Persona 3 as well, but the game wasn't hard enough to make it much of an issue.
There are like...100 things I'd like to babble about in reference to the game, because I'm really loving it, but again, I'm not super far into it and my P3 experience didn't really sour until halfway at least.
I can say with confidence, however, that the game is an improvement on P3 in every way. So far I really like the characters, so that's nice at least. I thought I would hate Kuma, but he's just too funny. His in-battle quotes never cease to make me laugh, no matter how many times I hear them. Actually, everyone's in-battle conversations are really nice. They did it in P3 as well, but in this one the group dynamic in battle is really fun.
So like, if someone doesn't finish off an enemy, they'll be like "damn, someone else finish him!" or "more! more!" when you get a critical hit. Then they say all kinds of things when people are low/down/healed etc. and there's commentary by Kuma the whole time (who freaks out any time anything happens ("Somebody! Do somethinnnnng!")). They say so many different things and they work together so well (almost like they're having a conversation) it's not annoying at all.
I'm scared to death for English version, though. I had that problem with P3 where people would say "Fuuka is annoying" and I'd be like "What!? Everyone else is annoying! Fuuka is adorable!" Then I heard her dub voice and...yeah...annoying.
The performances in the game are good to very good and are sculpting my impressions of the characters (especially Yukiko), so I'm afraid that when other people play the game in English, they'll have an experience I can't relate to.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
|
|
|
