Together RPG - Persona 3 - 2/1 - 4/1

[TSTR]

If you already played P4, P3P is probably the way to go. The battle systems in the OG/FES would likely have frustrated the hell out of me if I hadn't played FES first.

I mean, they kinda did anyway. Stupid useless Mitsuru trying to charm everything.

[Exhuminator]

Stupid useless Mitsuru trying to charm everything.

Her analysis technique literally never works for me.

[MrPopo]

So the way analysis works is that it keeps track of the shit you try on the enemies. If you haven't analyzed an enemy yet you can't pull it up, though it does still keep track. Once an enemy is analyzed that also means the AI will realizes that hey, Wind spells won't work on this one and won't cast it. As I recall that behavior happens even if you haven't tried out Garu on the enemy; the AI is smart enough to know what elemental weaknesses an analyzed enemy has immediately.

[Exhuminator]

I guess that makes sense. I was hoping it would simply tell you what an enemy was weak against, but I guess that's just too easy.

Mitsuru's implementation as battle narrator is so damn goofy. "Two enemies remain!" Really? You don't say?

[TSTR]

The battle narration gets better, imo. You'll see why.

[laurenhiya21]

Sucks about your PSP battery, too bad the extended life ones are so hard to find these days. You could buy one of those USB battery banks and just plug it into your PSP, which makes it portable at least.

I think the battery is ok when I'm using it, but the annoying thing is that it won't hold charge for very long in between uses. I haven't timed how long it lasts for, but lately I haven't been able to turn it on without charging it for a while first

If it does become a problem when I'm using it, then a USB battery doesn't sound like a bad idea though.

[Exhuminator]

The battle narration gets better, imo. You'll see why.

Good to know, I've been tempted to turn voices off because her constant inane quips become grating after a while. That said, all of the voice acting in this game has been above par.

the annoying thing is that it won't hold charge for very long in between uses

Ah, yeah. That's a problem all three of my PSPs have. Even with extended batteries. If I leave a PSP fully charged, it doesn't take long before the battery is completely drained. That's in stark contrast to its competitor the DS which holds its charge for a long time. My point is I don't think there's anything wrong with your PSP, it just is what it is.

---

Made it to floor 40 tonight, and beat another mid boss. Also Akihiko Sanada finally healed up enough to join my team, so I've got four members in my party now. I think my main is at level 14 or so. Been fusing up some proper Personas, no problem there. Been trying to figure out if the full moon has any effect on Tartarus or fusing. (The full moon had a lot of effects in Nocturne.) I'm still enjoying the game at 8 hours in, though I won't lie; running through Tartarus does get old pretty fast, it's just a grinding box really. Waiting on the plot to get a bit more interesting and the difficulty to kick in. I'm pretty close to exiting the friendzone with Yuko Nishiwaki. Probably just need to take her to an all you can eat buffet, and I'll be all up in that.

[Exhuminator]

Last night I got to June 8th, which means I finally got Fuuka to join my party. Also battled the Empress & Emperor (kinda annoying fight, but not hard once you figure it out). Then made it to June 9th. I think my main is at level 17 now, something like that. Who cares?

-

At about 9 hours in, I'm starting to get really bored with P3P. TSTR LOOK AWAY

Plot: I have not yet taken a liking to any of the main characters, despite reams and reams of dialogue, nor has the story fleshed out enough to be meaningful or captivating. I do not feel emotionally invested in this game whatsoever, nor do I feel driven to see how it all ends. As a grown assed man I find it hard to relate to high school kids, even if these kids do act disingenuously more mature and serious than real high school kids do. I also haven't met a single waifu yet that I would even want to try and social-link-date.

Gameplay: Formulaic and repetitive in the extreme. First off, Tartarus is nothing but an aggressively redundant grinding chamber. Full of tedious battles which, while being brain dead easy, are still time consuming and unfulfilling (this goes for the bosses I've fought as well). I am A-OK with randomly generated dungeons, when they are interesting, but Tartarus is the opposite of interesting. Outside that, the "social life" simulation is a joke. You really don't have much control over interactions, with your choices simply limited to choosing a location and initiating a conversation with someone who may or may not improve your social links. I don't find improving my social links to be enthralling, and the social things you do (like eating ramen, watching a movie, or discussing swimming) aren't exactly mind blowing, let alone interesting. Again; this game is PISS EASY. As in, insulting the player easy. I find it hard to remain engaged because of the complete lack of challenge.

Graphics and music: The graphics get the job done, and little else. I've seen way better graphics from Atlus, even on the PSP. The audio really gets on my nerves. Yes the voice acting is great, no problem there. But the songs are furiously irritating because of two reasons. One; there aren't enough of them, and two; they have vocals. It's much easier to listen to instrumental music loop over and over, then it is music with vocals. I find myself muting the audio because I get so tired of hearing the same lyrics repeated ad nauseam in shops, locations, and battles. There needs to be a lot more variety than what Atlus provided.

Now it might sound like I hate P3P, but I don't. I'm just VERY BORED with it. I've given the game almost 10 hours to get its shit together and impress me, and it has not yet. So I'm moving on to something more interesting. Maybe I'm spoiled from having played SMT: Nocturne before this, I don't know. I now know why some people say Persona isn't real SMT, and yeah, they're right in my book. All I can say is Persona 4 must be dramatically better than Persona 3, or else everyone is crazy. Again, no offense to people who love Persona 3. It's just... so not the game for Exhuminator.

If I were a 15 year old kid in high school, with a lot of free time to kill, I'd probably like Persona 3. This fantasy game is indicative of the dream high school life a kid might want to have; cool places to hang out, cool friends, some pretty girls to chase, and a Scooby Doo mystery to solve. But as an adult, I find Persona 3 to be a vapid snooze fest not worth my decidedly limited free time.

Alright, nice to have that off my chest. Maybe I'll have a change of heart and come back to P3P and "get it". I don't know. For now I'm moving on to Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together.

[MrPopo]

I think you might just be too hooked on games taking a cheese grater to your nuts. Kings Field, Nocturne, etc.

[Exhuminator]

I think you might just be too hooked on games taking a cheese grater to your nuts.

You've discovered my fetish.