Yeah, there is.
“Why did Akihiko just punch himself to death?”
“Rassumfrassum strike reflection.”
The part of the game that inspires the most rage is whenever Yukari or another healer gets confused and then completely heals the boss you’ve been fighting for fifteen minutes. I actually shouted her last name at the screen, as if somehow if I scolded her she would come to her senses and, I don’t know, apologize or something. “TAKEBA! Think about what you’ve done!”
Heheh. They won’t learn from the situation then unless they have their noses rubbed in it. What you have to do then is go over to Rush mode, have the whole party killed off, turn off the console, and only come back to the game the next day. That’ll teach 'em!
Fucking. Sleeping. Table.
The fight was actually going pretty well, since everyone in the group had enough health to absorb all of the AE attacks at full health, so it was a pretty straightforward battle of attrition. And then, when he’s almost dead, the other group members decided that instead of healing themselves like they were set to do, they’d try to do finishing physical attacks.
Of course, they miss, leaving me to do the healing. And instead of taking care of myself first, I stupidly use a group heal that leaves me slightly short of full health. At which point the table unleases a Megidola that must have just barely knocked me below zero health. Dammit, its health bar wasn’t even visible anymore at that point…
(Edit: After a bunch of other attempts that went far more horribly (dammit Yukari, don’t use Media instead of Diarama!), I finally got him by using a few magic mirrors at the start of the fight, so that it kept damaging itself while the rest of the group was free to attack, softening it up a lot.)
Yeah, Sleeping Table sucked.
This game seems way too long for me and it really drags over summer break. I’m in October now and I think I’ll finish, but there’s a lot of filler they could have cut out.
You think summer break is cruel, wait until you get to winter and you are scrabbling for the last few s links you want.
I think that the game is too long, but I would hesitate to call it filler.
Yeah, I guess there isn’t really too much filler; it just starts getting a bit repetitive. But if they wanted to condense it, they could reduce the social events that just say “You hang out. You’re relationship could go stronger soon.”
And the boss after Sleeping Table is kicking my ass now too. The three Hell Knights or whatever. I can keep my main guy up, but two or three magic charged Maziodyne/Heat Wave pretty much wipes everyone else in my party.
And it would be nice if they’d let you know if the personas resulting from cross/penta fusions will end up being too high of a level for you to handle. End up just checking a guide beforehand.
Don’t they? I mean, in the grid, once you have the last one highlighted, it should tell you the level of the guy you’re trying to make.
I think he means being able to check without actually having the personas ready. You often have to go through a bunch of preparation to make the necessary prereq personas, and more than once it wasn’t until then that I discovered that what I was trying to make was going to be too high and I’d wasted my time.
But then again, I think those multi-persona combines were meant to be serendipitous discoveries, so having a list of them you could consult anytime would take that aspect away.
I don’t have a problem with not knowing what the result would be. When I first saw it, I was hoping they would do it so that if you can control the highest level Persona in the fusion, you would be able to control the result. The way it is now, after you fail once, the next time you either save before trying out a new formula or just check a guide beforehand so you don’t end up stuck with a bunch of personas you don’t need. And meta-gaming like that just takes you out of the game.
A certain Wikipedia page related to Greek Mythology kind of gives away the ending for Persona 3. Is there no rule for spoilers on Wikipedia? It’s not like I didn’t have a feeling that’s how it would end, but come on. I was just looking for a little backstory on some of the names of places and characters used. If I cared more, I’d probably go and figure out how to fix that myself.
Oh, and I’m at early December now. Just a little more to power through.
Wikipedia is pretty much spoiler central for everything.
I picked up Persona 3 FES yesterday. I’ve been following the GiantBomb Person 4 Endurance Run, and while I’m not really into its story, I’m liking everything else.
I just happened to see a used copy of FES at EB and decided to grab it. I’ve got a couple of questions I’m sure I could find the answer to in this thread, but I don’t really want to spoil the game.
I’ve heard FES is harder than P3 - should I be playing on easy if I’m not the strongest JRPG player?
The game gives you the option of turning on the new features when you start The Journey. Should I turn this stuff on, or would it be too much for a new player?
From what I’ve seen of it, I really like the combat in P4. Are there any other games that have a similar system, where you try to exploit weaknesses? I know the SMT and DDS games are kinda related to Persona, and I’m looking for something with a more sci-fi or fantasy-based setting and story.
Digital Devil Saga is pretty sci-fi. Nocturne is post-apocalyptic fantasy (but be warned, it’s probably the hardest and least accessible game in the series). Devil Summoner is fantasy, I guess. But you should probably know that the combat in DS is real time.
I’d recommend Digital Devil Saga for new players. It’s not as hard as Nocturne and has a more focused story and less annoying gameplay elements. The only problem is the game is in two parts, so it’ll be like buying two for one and these games are usually rare so you’ll be paying more. I only played the first part, which I enjoyed immensely, and then read a summary of the story for the second since I couldn’t find it for a reasonable price.
As for difficulty, do what you think you’d like. SMT games are harder than most RPGs, so if you’re new to them it’s not horrible to put it on easy. As for the new features in FES, I have no idea what they are.
Digital Devil Saga as mentioned above, pretty much fits the criteria. It’s more straightforward than the Persona or Nocturne games, but doesn’t sacrifice the depth of combat or customization. Really interesting setting and narrative too.
As for FES, just do normal difficulty. If you have watched the endurance run, you’ll get a good grasp as to how it functions. Persona 4 altered the scenario and setting and made some slight adjustments to the combat functionality, but overall its very similar. (I actually like the characters and setting more in P3 anyway, plus the whole ‘shoot self in head’ thing).
I’m still working through my copy of FES and loving it, its a long one though. I’m nearing the halfway point at just shy of 50 hours on the clock played over the past year. To compare, the first Digital Devil Saga game took me just under 40 to do everything it had to offer(haven’t played its sequel yet tho).
FES as in “The Answer” (ie the epilogue to P3) is harder than “The Journey” (main P3 campaign). However, for “The Journey” other than plugging a couple of exploits I don’t think they made any major changes to difficulty.
Just play on normal- P3 has a very, very generous learning curve.
Honestly, one of the biggest appeals of the SMT series is that they tend -not- to have traditional SF/fantasy settings, going for a more real-world-but-with-demons-and-magic approach. And I can’t immediately think of any other JRPGs that have a similar weakness exploitation combat system, although most of the modern, US-available SMT games use some variation on that.
Thanks for the answers. I’ll keep an eye out for DDS.
Okay, so I’ll play on normal, but should I enable those new features or just stick with the core game?
I can see that, the story in P4 does seem interesting. I just prefer fantastical, epic, escapist stuff in my RPGs.
I keep seeing you go back and forth between the names FES and PS4. FES is just Persona 3 with a small expansion pack and some gameplay tweaks.
Persona 4 is a separate game and a full sequel.
Just to clarify, if you’re somehow getting them mixed up.
edit: Or nevermind, I guess you’re playing Persona 4 before you start with 3? I got you.
I’ve been watching the GiantBomb P4 Endurance Run, where they’re attempting to play through and log the entire thing. I’m on episode 30, and I think they’re about seven or eight hours in.
I bought P3 FES, kinda knowing it was a re-release with some additional stuff. I just wasn’t sure if the new stuff added to the core game would make it too hard/confusing for new players.
The new stuff really only makes the game better- S. Links are spread out better and there is more stuff to do in the day and evenings. In vanilla P3 it’s quite easy to have absolutely nothing to do in the evenings for pretty much entire last half of the game while after school stuff is way too packed. FES bandages that a bit (P4 outright fixes it). They also added in S. Link “endings” for maxing different S. Links which provides a nice bit of closure lacking in the original.
The only way I think it’s really harder is that they removed the exploit that let you grind in Tartarus as much as you wanted the night before a full moon without getting tired. And I think they might have made the entrance requirement for the bonus dungeon (which nets you insane XP) n the final month harder but I might be incorrect about that.