Review: Persona 3 (PS2)

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Review: Persona 3 (PS2)

I've erased nine or ten openings for this review because I don't really know where to begin. I'm not going to say Persona 3 is completely unique, because it isn't. I'm not going to say it's going to redefine the genre or change the way I look at video games. I feel the need to approach the title a little differently though because it is different. At it's core, it's a straight-up JRPG. The battles can drag, the music can get repetitive, and the graphics, while incredibly nice, suffer a bit in comparison to the large, incredibly well-drawn conversation portraits. It's very anime in everything it does. It's exaggerated and ridiculous. It's one part relationship simulator, one part school-life simulator, one part dungeon crawler (with battles being turn-based JRPG style), and one part demon-crafting. And taken separately, these parts aren't very exciting. In fact, I'd probably hesitate to call them good. But when expertly put together and lovingly localized, this game can't be called anything less than a masterpiece.

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[schild]

I really didn't want to go too in-depth as certain things are revealed over the course of time and rightly so. But if you REALLY NEED some shit answered, go ahead and ask. Also, if you want to start a thread for story/quest help, go ahead and do it in PC/Gaming, I'd rather keep this one spoiler-free.

[Amaron]

It sounds interesting.  I'm a bit curious about the social simulator part though.  How involved is it?  Is it mostly minigame stuff to raise social levels?  If it's more involved with some good story and branching dialog between characters then that has an entirely different appeal than some sort of social mini game.

[LagunaZero]

I've been intrigued with Persona 3 for a long time now, and you're not making me anticipate it any less.

Which tattoo did you get? Seeing how ridiculously awesome SMT2 is, I can fully understand you! >.>

[schild]

It sounds interesting.  I'm a bit curious about the social simulator part though.  How involved is it?  Is it mostly minigame stuff to raise social levels?  If it's more involved with some good story and branching dialog between characters then that has an entirely different appeal than some sort of social mini game.

It's not minigame based or anything. It's actually more a - here's a number of options for clubs, friends and such. You can choose to pursue them or you can choose not to. Each one will teach you more about your character and the people in the world, but it's up to you to take advantage of them. Why is it that free? Because you have lots to gain from taking advantage of them. Not joining them for a certain amount of time opens up other options. When I say there's a Lot to this game, I mean it.

I've been intrigued with Persona 3 for a long time now, and you're not making me anticipate it any less.

Which tattoo did you get? Seeing how ridiculously awesome SMT2 is, I can fully understand you! >.>

DDS2 (Digital Devil Saga), not SMT2 - which we never got. Though Aeon Genesis is working on translating Megami Tensei. Anyway, I got Roald's tattoo. Here's a link to a picture of my arm.

[Murgos]

Two things.

First is a typo:

the relationship and school-life simulator parts are to heads

and the second is that you compare the length of this game to Dragon Quest VIII but that needs some clarification.  I, and I am sure many others, never played DQVIII and would like to know what kind of an undertaking picking this game up would be.  From the sounds of it I would think that at my play rate it would take months to finish.

[schild]

DQVII is 80 hours. If you really, really took the dungeon crawling seriously, you could easily spend 80 hours in Persona land. As it is, I think 45-50 is the bare minimum if you blew through the game.

Thanks for catching the typo.

[Yoru]

Now, I have this on preorder after seeing it at the F13 meetup, but this little line gives me pause.

It's a game that isn't scared to tackle religion and the concept of right and wrong.

That just sets of sirens and red lights all over the place, because every JRPG I've seen could technically have that quote grafted into a review. It wouldn't be inaccurate, but the level of discourse provided is universally mediocre. On the level of high-school discussions on the subject, or, at best, a rudimentary reading of an introductory text. Too often it seems to get crammed into the title in order to make the story and concepts within it seem deep.

Oh well, guess I'll find out the hard way.

[schild]

When I say that, I mean the following: The game presents you with options, particularly in the relationship bits and then lets you decide what you think of them. It isn't right and wrong in the Peter Molyneux presents Fable sense, or KOTOR for that matter, so much as, you can probably learn a little bit about yourself by how things end up at the end of the game.

And when I say tackle religion, well, it's Atlus/R&D1. When they tackle religion, they fucking spread it on thick. There's a character, who, without getting into details, is quite goddamn creepy and could very well be Death. Which character is that, well, you'll find out. But they don't play no games when it comes to heavy influence from nearly every world religion. Hell, Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2 were nearly all about religion when it came down to it.

In neither case, however, do they beat you over the head with What you Should think. So, uhm, don't be worried.

[Yoru]

I'm less worried about the game being preachy and more about it invoking "grand concepts" in order to attempt to seem deep. See Xenosaga for a glaring example of misappropriated material.

Either way, still going to play it.

[schild]

I'm less worried about the game being preachy and more about it invoking "grand concepts" in order to attempt to seem deep. See Xenosaga for a glaring example of misappropriated material.

It doesn't really do that, no.

[schild]

Due to a manufacturing error with regard to the Persona 3 Art Book, the title will regretfully narrowly miss its scheduled ship date of July 24th, 2007.  This was an unforeseen scenario, and one regretfully out of our control.

Presented with the choice of compromising on the quality of the art book, or shipping the game without said extra, we decided to have the art book redone with a higher quality binding, which will cause a very short delay in the ship date of the title.

While all other materials and packaging related to the game are complete, we were unwilling to sacrifice the art book, and as such will expedite the manufacturing process to the best of our ability in order to release the title as soon as is possible.

We appreciate your understanding and will release a formal announcement when Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 ships.

Eek.

[Rasix]

Anger. I care not for art books.

[Yoru]

Fuckers, ship the game. Fuck the art book, ship it and sell it separately.

[Ookii]

Presented with the choice of compromising on the quality of the art book, or shipping the game without said extra, we decided to have the art book redone with a higher quality binding, which will cause a very short delay in the ship date of the title.

This is the funniest thing I've read all month.

[Phildo]

Wait... there's only one dungeon?

[Morfiend]

Is there tentacle rape of school girls?

[Yoru]

Probably. He was only a few hours in when he was showing me his shiny new bondage angel.

[Moaner]

Great review.  I'm so god damn excited for this game and I really don't know why.  I haven't thought about Persona in years.

The delay sucks.  Send me my art book later on in the month, that's fine!  I've been frothing at the mouth for this game since January now.

[Amaron]

It's not minigame based or anything. It's actually more a - here's a number of options for clubs, friends and such. You can choose to pursue them or you can choose not to. Each one will teach you more about your character and the people in the world, but it's up to you to take advantage of them. Why is it that free? Because you have lots to gain from taking advantage of them. Not joining them for a certain amount of time opens up other options. When I say there's a Lot to this game, I mean it.

So you'd like join a club and add it's members to your buddy list or something?  Maybe have a scene or two with them?  I'd like to see deep dialog trees and some dating sim style gameplay but it doesn't sound like that.

[squirrel]

I'm pretty much sold on this game. And ironically that means I'm sold on a PS3 as I gave my last PS2 to some friends to play with (sold one, gave my slimline to a buddy). So I'm not buying another PS2. And I want this game. And I want Little Big Planet, Assassins Creed and FolkSoul on the PS3. Fuckers.

But in all seriousness I watched schild play Persona 3 for as long as I could when semi-sober and it totally grabbed me. In this case I thought the whole was definitely greater than the sum of parts. And c'mon. It's a got schoolgirls who shoot themselves in the head to combat demons. (Hope that wasn't any kinda spoiler.) So fucking sold.

[schild]

So. Uhm. You guys have a month to ask me questions about this. That sucks. The websphere froth for this game is going to hit critical mass. Man, delays suck.

[schild]

This is from the Gamespot review:

Most of the game's other annoyances are simple things that could have been avoided. You can gain the upper hand on the enemies that wander about by attacking them first to initiate the battle, which requires a well-timed button press. However, with your whole party squeezed together, it's easy to select one of them instead, which throws off the timing and tosses you into a battle in which the enemy has the upper hand. Additionally, you cannot cycle through your party's inventory very easily because you are required to walk up to each one and swap out any armor or weapons. It's made doubly silly by the fact that you are all clumped together, so it's easy to select the wrong party member. This would have been alleviated by the standard setup in which you can just enter your own inventory and cycle through the party from there.

Ok. I've never by mistake clicked and ended up selecting a party member. And as for cycling through the other characters stuff... Well, they're supposed to be other PEOPLE. You have to gift them stuff, the only character you control is you. It's a neat way to do it. I don't know why these are the complaints I had, there are much better ones. But...whatever. Don't listen to Gamespots complaints of the game. They're off-base.

[Rasix]

So. Uhm. You guys have a month to ask me questions about this. That sucks. The websphere froth for this game is going to hit critical mass. Man, delays suck.

RAGE.

At least now I can pick up a game with the intent of finishing it now.  This delay puts it 1 week before Bioshock and 2 weeks before Blue Dragon.   

[Yegolev]

This delay puts it 1 week before Bioshock and 2 weeks before Blue Dragon.   

Jeez, I need to put some money in my sock drawer.  Not good at saving.  I'm at least getting Blue Dragon, probably Bioshock as well.

[Rasix]

I'm going to have to be a finance ninja.

[schild]

I'm going to have to drive to a store and swipe my credit card since I'm smart enough to not get married before 40.

[Yegolev]

HEY-O!

[Phildo]

I'm going to have to drive to a store and swipe my credit card since I'm smart enough to not get married before 40.

So you ARE considering dating, eventually?

[Quinton]

Did they leave the option of using the original japanese voice track or is it english only?

Listening to the audio in the clips on the jp and en websites for P3 leaves me dreading the localization.

- Q

[Moaner]

Schild obviously knows for certain (ya bastard), but I believe it's english sub only. 

This delay pains me.  I'm so ready for some japanese high school madness.

[schild]

English only.

After the first hour, I found myself not caring too much about the Japanese VO. When it's not an option, you simply cope. The English isn't great if only because the voices themselves aren't great, but the actual quality of the voiceover artists is more than fine.

[Quinton]

Bah.

Stupid american gamers (and/or publishers), unable to cope with subtitled foreign audio.

Not like I'm canceling my order or anything, but I look forward to FF X levels of cringing at the audio track.

- Q

[schild]

Bah.

Stupid american gamers (and/or publishers), unable to cope with subtitled foreign audio.

Not like I'm canceling my order or anything, but I look forward to FF X levels of cringing at the audio track.

- Q

The Japanese track actually didn't fit on the disc.

[Quinton]

Bah.
Stupid american gamers (and/or publishers), unable to cope with subtitled foreign audio.
Not like I'm canceling my order or anything, but I look forward to FF X levels of cringing at the audio track.
- Q

The Japanese track actually didn't fit on the disc.

Thus my point stands!  If American audiences (or publishers) weren't so obsessive about localized audio it would not be a problem.  Also it'd save the publishers a bunch of money and time.

Hell, leaving the original audio track intact is worth a lot more to me than a silly artbook (which supposedly is the cause of the delay shipping this stuff).

- Q