Persona 3 FES: Skip The Journey to play The Answer?

[RackGaki]

Hating the story in an RPG is like hating the combat mechanics of a FPS. In other words, don't bother with The Answer if you don't like The Journey.

It's an incredibly different route for a jRPG to take, and obviously ain't for everyone. Some FPS fans love Gears, some love Halo, some both, some neither. And to tell you the truth, ten hours is the absolute longest I will give an RPG to see if I like it or not. Time is precious, if I'm not captivated in three to five hours, I stop wasting my time.

Better to quit now, methinks.

[the7k]

Man, it confuses me all the P3 hate going on. Sure, it might not be for everybody, but jeez, it's the first RPG I've actually completed since the early PS1 era (not counting Tactical RPGs). No Tales, Star Ocean, Shadow Hearts, and especially no Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest has been able to keep me entertained for more than 5 hours, yet I've put somewhere around 200+ into this one (hard to put my finger on the exact time, seeing as I lost my memory card once).

I'm glad you mention liking the battle system, because I consider it the most important part of any RPG, seeing as it represents the only real gameplay in any RPG. Tired of the endless grinding involved in practically every RPG imaginable? Tired of using your regular attack constantly, only breaking when healing is necessary? Then this is the RPG for you. The story may be cliched, but what RPG story isn't cliched as all hell? Anybody who raves about any story in an RPG needs to read a good book. The closest an RPG can come to a good story is character development, and I'd say this RPG has plenty of that.

If you do really hate the sim segments, then I guess this isn't the game for you. You could try skipping through the sim segments as fast as possible, but then the game becomes nothing but a dungeon crawler, and what fun is that? Even though the battle system is great, you may as well be playing an MMO.

By the way, I tend to get through P3 in about 50 hours. That's kinda the reason I like it, it doesn't demand a huge amount of time. That may change when playing in hard mode, though.

[Mozgus]

Man, it confuses me all the P3 hate going on.

Oh yeah, all this hate. All this hate from two, count em, two people. Everyone but two people like your game, and that's still not good enough for you.

No Tales, Star Ocean, Shadow Hearts, and especially no Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest has been able to keep me entertained for more than 5 hours, yet I've put somewhere around 200+ into this one (hard to put my finger on the exact time, seeing as I lost my memory card once).

By the way, I tend to get through P3 in about 50 hours. That's kinda the reason I like it, it doesn't demand a huge amount of time. That may change when playing in hard mode, though.

50 hours = huge amount of time.
200+ hours = psychotic addiction.

[Flak Beard]

Better BETTER yet, skip to a good RPG that doesn't get enough love, like Vagrant Story, Legend of Mana, Tales of Eternia, Terranigma, or Valkyrie Profile.

Ah, that reminds me. I should get back to Vagrant Story sometime soon.

Glad to hear someone else likes Legend of Mana as I hear it get ragged on a lot. Awesome game with a PHENOMENAL soundtrack.

[marurun]

I really tried to like Vagrant Story, but I just couldn't take it. The whole combo system and weapon construction system was too much. It wasn't compelling enough for me to want to both think AND pay that much attention to my button presses and decisions.

Either make me think OR pay attention, not both.

[ott0bot]

I really tried to like Vagrant Story, but I just couldn't take it. The whole combo system and weapon construction system was too much. It wasn't compelling enough for me to want to both think AND pay that much attention to my button presses and decisions.

Either make me think OR pay attention, not both.

i tend to agree, i like the game and I like having a more interactive battle. but sometimes it's really taxing.

at least it's less frustrating then Legend of the Dragoon, the "Simon" (or DDR if you're not an old fart) of a battle system drives me nuts. at first it's a challange and you want to learn the attacks...then it's just a chore and I just use spells to avoid the rythmic taps.

but anyway....Persona 3 & 4 are pretty much praised by eveyone and there mother right now, so I don't see what's the big deal about a few people not liking the game. Especailly on a retro-centic site, especailly when it's Mozgus, who will find the flaws in any game, even Dragon Force! haha. Seriosly every has opinons...so who cares if everyone likes it or dislikes it. If you like it then thats all that matters.

Persona 3 is a decent, but not great, just like most rpg's. I like the battle system but dislike random dungeons. I like good dialog but find the whole high school aspect very un-appealing. It feels immature, but does have some "adult" moments. I don't know about you guys but i find most rpg's aren't perfect. But some I really love despite their flaws. Persona 3 just isn't one of them for me either.

[Mozgus]

Better BETTER yet, skip to a good RPG that doesn't get enough love, like Vagrant Story, Legend of Mana, Tales of Eternia, Terranigma, or Valkyrie Profile.

Ah, that reminds me. I should get back to Vagrant Story sometime soon.

Glad to hear someone else likes Legend of Mana as I hear it get ragged on a lot. Awesome game with a PHENOMENAL soundtrack.

Legend of Mana has only one real flaw: complete lack of difficulty. I beat it so fast, and without trying, that I was absolutely shocked. But when you have the points you mentioned already, coupled with absolutely beautiful dynamic backgrounds (tile-based shit was supposed to end with SNES), you have a big winner. I need to get back into it. I'm pretty sure I got some kind of premature ending or something, like SOTN. The game must go past that point.

[Flak Beard]

I sat down and tried once more today to get into P3. I just finished the first full moon segment and took the next day off because my character was tired and went to sleep early. Anyway, the following day my two teammates were too tired to go to Tartarus. So I decided to stay in and study and guess what? My character became too tired again just from studying!

Seriously, this crap is lame. A game that supposed to be about choices, shouldn't create such linear conditioning for you. Also, the "social interactivity" is nothing but text. You don't actually swim on the swim team, it just says you did and then bumps your stats. I feel like this game is just one big menu with avatars popping up along the way.

I'm done, and screw The Answer. I popped in DQVII today and had more excitement in the first 30 minutes than I have in the past five hours of P3. At least I can say I gave it a fair chance before dismissing it.

[Mozgus]

I sat down and tried once more today to get into P3. I just finished the first full moon segment and took the next day off because my character was tired and went to sleep early. Anyway, the following day my two teammates were too tired to go to Tartarus. So I decided to stay in and study and guess what? My character became too tired again just from studying!

Seriously, this crap is lame. A game that supposed to be about choices, shouldn't create such linear conditioning for you. Also, the "social interactivity" is nothing but text. You don't actually swim on the swim team, it just says you did and then bumps your stats. I feel like this game is just one big menu with avatars popping up along the way.

You're so right. Everything about Persona 3 seems like it's a strict graphics remake from some NES RPG. I can't state that enough. It's ludicrous how much of that game's story and events are just pure text with no emotion behind any of it. The game took the Resident Evil joke of "Are you sure you want to ___? Yes/No", and applied it to fucking EVERYTHING! I think you honestly spend 10-15% of your game time hitting "Yes" selections, or substitutions of them. Wow, best game, evar.

I want to point out one thing though. The Persona soundtracks are consistently good. The problem is, these games are structured to ruin them, by making you listen to every track 400 times. I find that the less I play of a persona game, the more I enjoy its album. 3 does have some annoying pop stuff, but there's still some gems in there.