I didn’t expect to get it release day. I actually don’t care that much when I get it, since I have a ton of other stuff I ought to be playing. I just wanted to make sure that I did in fact secure a copy and get the soundtrack and, especially, art book. SMT soundtracks aren’t bad, but the art, oh man! And Amazon seemed like the way since nobody appeared to be doing significant discounts or bonuses, and I pay neither sales tax nor shipping (thanks to Prime. It may not be worth $80 a year to me, but it sure is nice to ride along on someone else’s account).
And they shipped it today. Go figure. Messing with my head, I guess.
Well, I’m not sure I would go that far, but I played a few hours and enjoy the game so far. Various negative comments like annoying music and too many loading pauses are apt, but really don’t detract very much from the game as far as I’m concerned. The rather calculating approach to gaining favor with people at school is pretty funny, but not necessarily inaccurate.
One further negative I observe is that a lot of the tactical depth of SMT and DDS comes from the ability to choose “void”, “repel”, and “drain” defenses versus elemental attacks, but, at least at low level, this feature has been removed from the P3 combat system. Still, apart from that, it’s quite similar.
I played about an hour and a half last night…I hit x a gazillion times and accomplished nothing in the game so far.
Yep, it’s a jrpg!
The frontend is magical though. The menus and interface and occasional comic-panel emoticons succeeded at keeping my attention glued back onto the long opening narrative.
Maybe this weekend I’ll actually get to see the gameplay!
Edit: Oh and while Yukari is cute, I’m totally going to try to date that Kijiro chick!
Got it yesterday, ogled the artbook a bit and not much more. Rather disturbed by Messiah having arms growing out of its legs with hands linked cupping its groin.
Unfortunately this is why we have seen so little of the SMT series.
I’ve put in about 12 hours and it’s easily my favorite game this year (haven’t got to Bioshock yet). But then again, unlike most here, I love me some JRPGs.
If I understand your complaint, rest at ease. Within 4 - 6 hours the combat starts to feel much more familiar and complex. It’s still no Nocturne though.
Well, it’s getting great reviews. I may have to pick it up. Does it have as many random encounters as Nocturne? Because that annoyed me to the point that I didn’t get very far in Nocturne.
Technically there aren’t any random encounters. You see the enemies on the field before engaging in combat. Enemy frequency itself is also way down compared to other SMT games.
Alot of the reviews I’ve read say that it is easier to get into then DDS or Nocturne. For the press turn system, do you just have to have the defense for the attack, or do you cast protection spells like in DDS?
The thing about Nocturne’s encounters is you need the encounter rate high in that game in order to efficiently build up your characters and recruit/fuse more demons and then build those up, etc. Normally I am annoyed as all hell by high encounter rates (it’s the reason I have never finished Final Fantasy VI), but in Nocturne I actually regularly used the skill that makes it higher.
I played the first hour and a half of Persona 3 last night and saved, thirty minutes past my bedtime because that’s how much largely unnecessary talking they do between the point I’d gotten distracted (after like fifteen minutes of previous talking) and me actually getting control so I could fucking go and save. Visually, I love this game. But it had better get more evenly paced now that I’m getting my first crack at Tartarus or I am going to have to maim someone. (It’s quite a switch, I have to say. Usually SMT games are pretty story-light, beating-heavy.)
I’m a big fan of keeping things linear in favor of “nonlinear” wandering aimlessly to find the next story trigger. (Free-roaming can be done well, as it is in the Elder Scrolls and Gothic games, but the “nonlinear” parts of pre-X Final Fantasies, for example, were just excuses to get lost and fight a lot of random battles.) But I never before realized just how important at least getting to move my character between noninteractive events is to keep some sense of agency. :P
I’m sure this must have been obvious to everyone else, but it took me a little while to realize this was essentially a roguelike with very simple dungeons. Of course it has a ton of other things to do wrapped around it, plus all the stuff having to do with fusions and everything, but when you get right down to it, you’re trying to get to the bottom (top) of the randomly generated dungeon, (and once you’re there, I don’t doubt the object is to make it out with the amulet of yendor!)
Still having a lot of fun with the game. Level 20 now in early June. I think I may have to reroll my “art club” choice – not particularly interested in making friends with that geeky doctor kid, and fuuka is the least attractive of the girls… And such is life at Gekkoukan High.
Anyone figure out how to fuse the Pale Rider? He hasn’t shown up in any choices yet. I’m guessing that it may only be an option on the new moon, but now I have to actually remember to try it on that day…
If I didn’t like the Digital Devil Saga series but enjoyed Nocturne, will I like this?
I’ve heard that summoning your alter-ego calls for your characters to commit suicide. Is this graphic? I don’t mind satanic references or the resurrection of Hitler or whatnot, but the thought of a kid shooting himself in the head really makes me queasy.
I find it a bit disturbing – they do hold a gun up to their head and blue crystal spray comes out the far end. But so far at least there hasn’t been a lot of actual context to associate it other than visually with committing suicide. And you wind up doing it a lot during battles, and it’s a quick background animation thing, which for better or worse you stop looking at after a while.
Personally it seems unnecessary and in pretty poor taste. I’m enjoying the game but I’d enjoy it more without that element.
Yeah, I have to agree. I don’t care if it’s a “statement”, it’s profoundly disturbing having a cute Japanese girl thrust a revolver in her mouth and pull the trigger so that she can cast a heal spell.
The rest of the game is great, and it has style in spades (I especially love the “MMO” sequences, complete with kawaii emoticon-laden l33tspeak) but… I can do without the whole teen ritual suicide thing. Which if I’m not mistaken is even MORE of a problem in Japan.
I’m perfectly fine with the Atlus Happy Super Funtime Suicide Joy Extra. I like to see it as doubling down against Jack Thompson. If they’re right, we win big, if they’re wrong, then at least the species gets stronger.
