**SPOILERS**
Sheesh, where to begin?
Back when I bought a Vita in 2013, also the same year I joined GAF, I had been looking for games to play after finishing Dragon's Crown. I kept reading on here how people felt towards these games and figured I'd give it a shot once I read a comment that was along the lines of "it's like Pokemon but with demons". So I picked up P4G December 2013, started on hard difficulty, got up to Kanji's dungeon, was getting rolled over by shadows, and then I set the game down because I didn't feel like grinding. Fast forward to 2016 (Yeah I know lol). I picked up P3 in August because I figured I'd start over my P4G run and play this before doing that.
Persona 3
MAN THIS GAME IS SO DEPRESSING!
The Journey
The start of the game throws at you with what looked like a suicide attempt by Yukari. I know this wasn't the first thing that the game starts with, but when I saw this I had a feeling this game was going to be dark. It's also before the game tells you what an evoker is, which I think was a cooler way to use your Persona's abilities compared how it just happens in P4 after awakening to the power. Which makes sense since in P3 these people have "potential" and it gives reason to the evokers name and utility. A darker tone than P4 for sure, but nearly everyone in this game has gone/goes through tragedy. The social links that hit me hardest was Sun and hanged man. Mind you, I only got around to finishing those two plus Moon, Empress, Devil, and Magician. This was my first Persona playthrough so I had no idea how to optimally maximize social links in a single play through (like the fortune box) until almost 50 hours in. Even the ones that I couldn't finish was just sad to hear, like the reason why your track mate is running and ends up having an injury so it seems like he can't keep his promise. I also completely missed the Tower s. link because I had no idea how much these games makes you "dig" for stuff you can miss.
Despite a few okay characters, like Junpei, Fuuka, and Ken, I really liked the main cast. I would have liked Shinjiro to have been more fleshed out since I think he was killed off too early for me to care enough. Yukari has some moments where she's quite the prick, but her connection with Tartarus made me sympathize with her. Akihiko, for being "edgy", I found really likable because the guy is a softy behind his tough bravado. Mitsuru, aka best girl, was a strong character and felt more like the leader of the group than the MC. Aigis, as soon as this character was introduced I had an Ai the movie vibe coming from her and seeing her become "human" was really something. Elizabeth, meh. Her "dates" were fun to watch.
Villains, Strega was okay. Chidori was the only interesting one, and Takaya was punk Jesus. At least that's what I referred him to. Jin? Forgettable. What made the group interesting was their inability to control their personas. The chairman's betrayal was completely out of left field, but the guy was boring. Nyx, as you progress with his s.link I quickly caught on that this character was going to have some heavy significance and him being of the death arcana had me on the edge of my seat. I liked his final form (boss), the fight was definitely fun. In fact, most of the bosses where fun.
Once you save the world and all is back to normal. Seeing as how everyone had amnesia about the whole ordeal, it fucking hurt watching Aigis "stalk" the MC as he approached school with Junpei and Yukari. I had already got watery eyed during the cutscene when she shows emotion as the MC returns from his fight with Nyx but oof that was rough. Then the rest happens and the game ends beautifully. So I thought.
The Answer
OH COME THE FUCK ON!!!
After finishing the journey I was on quite the Persona high and jumped straight into this after the final cutscene and the MC is dead?
Despite how much I didn't like playing through this because of the ridiculous grinding and no compendium (seriously?), the answer felt like a double edged sword. It was a final farewell to the cast that you grew to care about and Aigis' completion to becoming human. I got less sad about the MC's death when you discover why and the final boss being people's "want for death" was interesting. Afterwards when Aigis wasn't waking up I was ready to have a fit if she died.
All in all, I love this game. I've never had an RPG take me for a ride like this one has and this game holds a special place in my heart due to my personal attachment to it. The year this game takes place in, 2009-2010, was one the best and worst years of my high school life. Coincidentally, I happened to have been in the same grade as the MC at the time and rocked a similar hair style lol
Persona 4
I'll get this out of the way, Chie is trash.
Seeing as how maxed s.links made an appearance during the Nyx fight in P3, I used a guide for P4 to make sure I maxed out as many as I could for my play through. That being said, the supporting cast s.link stories in P4 where less depressing and much more relatable. I also liked the P3 references made throughout the game, especially the pink alligator story and Elizabeth's relation to Margaret.
Man, I've never grown so attached to a main cast before as I did with P4. Yosuke, a clown, but a bro. Chie, obnoxiously loud and annoying, but she is a fellow broseph and I ended up liking her more in the end. Teddie, I love this guy. Despite some cringe worthy dialogue his comedic relief delivered every time. I felt like they were trying to recreate Aigis with Teddie, so the whole shadow thing didn't really have an impact for me. Yukiko, her laugh get up got annoying after a while, but she compliments Chie very well and is OP when it came to magic and healing. Kanji, best bro, how can you not like Kanji? The dude is very relatable on a personal level and I enjoyed his development. Also, his wardrobe change during the Golden ending? LOL. Rise, she was too much when it came to being on the MC's sac all the damn time, but I ended up going the lovers route with her since she was the only girl that was confident in herself. Atlus, why didn't you let me raise my hand? Naoto, most interesting female character in Persona so far and her s.link mysteries were fun. Only reason I didn't go for her lovers route was because I couldn't do Kanji wrong like that. Marie, pretty bland but had some funny scenes, and her true identity redeemed her as a character. I actually figured it out because of the special lecture the group got a Gekkouken High. I'm glad I decided to not skip the lecture as I usually do lol
The story, better than P3 and much more suspenseful. Funny thing is, I remember seeing this image on GAF years ago, but I don't remember what the thread was about and the context of the post. So going in P4 I just assumed Adachi was going to be a potential victim at some point. Ha, how wrong that was. After a while Adachi's "accidental" blabbering about the mystery had me cynical and I started to think that he might have been the killer. Then the whole Namatame thing happened and I was like never mind until the story ending choices started coming in. I didn't want to screw it up so I looked up a guide for Yosuke's dialogue options during the hospital scene. Wtf, I never would have gotten it right due to having to make five (six?) correct choices all in one go. Then when you get Namatame's side of the story, it became obvious that it was Adachi. Seeing Adachi go from the goof that he played off as into just some loser with an inferiority complex made me want to kick his ass all that much more.
Marie's dungeon and Izanami, Marie's dungeon is ass. I decided just to rush through the whole thing when I reached the second level since I was over-leveled and didn't want to deal with the SP BS. The boss fights, and music theme for the dungeon are good though. The realization that the gas attendant was the one behind the whole thing hit me like a truck during the Junes cutscene/dialogue with the group on the MC's last day. Admittely, I rushed that dungeon too, but the Izanami fight and the music was glorious.
Then there are the final cutscenes: as soon as I saw Yukiko and Teddie running after the train while crying, then the rest of the crew, I couldn't hold it and let loose a few bullets of tears. I don't ever recall a game making me tear up more than P4, most of the time it was because of Nanako. Which probably has to do with the fact that I have a little sister. Overall, I'm happy with this game's story
Persona As a Series
OST for both games = Fantastic
I've never experienced story telling the way Persona does it. I love the s.link system as it allows characters to be fleshed out and the daily living part was new and refreshing. Aesthetically, it is very stylish. The combat is okay, but fun enough to go through with it. In P4 I liked how there was more incentive to maxing s. links with party members with added skills. I don't understand why P4 restricted most of the analyzing abilities in P3 to Rise's s.link. I didn't like guessing for weaknesses before the analyze skill is fully upgraded. Since P5 is featuring teenagers again, I hope P6 uses an adult cast (college-age is fine too) to change things up a bit. Regardless, Persona is now in my top 5 series and I'm glad I gave these games a shot. I saw my first P5 trailer after finish 4 and I AM HYPED!
Sheesh, where to begin?
Back when I bought a Vita in 2013, also the same year I joined GAF, I had been looking for games to play after finishing Dragon's Crown. I kept reading on here how people felt towards these games and figured I'd give it a shot once I read a comment that was along the lines of "it's like Pokemon but with demons". So I picked up P4G December 2013, started on hard difficulty, got up to Kanji's dungeon, was getting rolled over by shadows, and then I set the game down because I didn't feel like grinding. Fast forward to 2016 (Yeah I know lol). I picked up P3 in August because I figured I'd start over my P4G run and play this before doing that.
Persona 3
MAN THIS GAME IS SO DEPRESSING!
The Journey
The start of the game throws at you with what looked like a suicide attempt by Yukari. I know this wasn't the first thing that the game starts with, but when I saw this I had a feeling this game was going to be dark. It's also before the game tells you what an evoker is, which I think was a cooler way to use your Persona's abilities compared how it just happens in P4 after awakening to the power. Which makes sense since in P3 these people have "potential" and it gives reason to the evokers name and utility. A darker tone than P4 for sure, but nearly everyone in this game has gone/goes through tragedy. The social links that hit me hardest was Sun and hanged man. Mind you, I only got around to finishing those two plus Moon, Empress, Devil, and Magician. This was my first Persona playthrough so I had no idea how to optimally maximize social links in a single play through (like the fortune box) until almost 50 hours in. Even the ones that I couldn't finish was just sad to hear, like the reason why your track mate is running and ends up having an injury so it seems like he can't keep his promise. I also completely missed the Tower s. link because I had no idea how much these games makes you "dig" for stuff you can miss.
Despite a few okay characters, like Junpei, Fuuka, and Ken, I really liked the main cast. I would have liked Shinjiro to have been more fleshed out since I think he was killed off too early for me to care enough. Yukari has some moments where she's quite the prick, but her connection with Tartarus made me sympathize with her. Akihiko, for being "edgy", I found really likable because the guy is a softy behind his tough bravado. Mitsuru, aka best girl, was a strong character and felt more like the leader of the group than the MC. Aigis, as soon as this character was introduced I had an Ai the movie vibe coming from her and seeing her become "human" was really something. Elizabeth, meh. Her "dates" were fun to watch.
Villains, Strega was okay. Chidori was the only interesting one, and Takaya was punk Jesus. At least that's what I referred him to. Jin? Forgettable. What made the group interesting was their inability to control their personas. The chairman's betrayal was completely out of left field, but the guy was boring. Nyx, as you progress with his s.link I quickly caught on that this character was going to have some heavy significance and him being of the death arcana had me on the edge of my seat. I liked his final form (boss), the fight was definitely fun. In fact, most of the bosses where fun.
Once you save the world and all is back to normal. Seeing as how everyone had amnesia about the whole ordeal, it fucking hurt watching Aigis "stalk" the MC as he approached school with Junpei and Yukari. I had already got watery eyed during the cutscene when she shows emotion as the MC returns from his fight with Nyx but oof that was rough. Then the rest happens and the game ends beautifully. So I thought.
The Answer
OH COME THE FUCK ON!!!
After finishing the journey I was on quite the Persona high and jumped straight into this after the final cutscene and the MC is dead?
Despite how much I didn't like playing through this because of the ridiculous grinding and no compendium (seriously?), the answer felt like a double edged sword. It was a final farewell to the cast that you grew to care about and Aigis' completion to becoming human. I got less sad about the MC's death when you discover why and the final boss being people's "want for death" was interesting. Afterwards when Aigis wasn't waking up I was ready to have a fit if she died.All in all, I love this game. I've never had an RPG take me for a ride like this one has and this game holds a special place in my heart due to my personal attachment to it. The year this game takes place in, 2009-2010, was one the best and worst years of my high school life. Coincidentally, I happened to have been in the same grade as the MC at the time and rocked a similar hair style lol
Persona 4
I'll get this out of the way, Chie is trash.
Seeing as how maxed s.links made an appearance during the Nyx fight in P3, I used a guide for P4 to make sure I maxed out as many as I could for my play through. That being said, the supporting cast s.link stories in P4 where less depressing and much more relatable. I also liked the P3 references made throughout the game, especially the pink alligator story and Elizabeth's relation to Margaret.
Man, I've never grown so attached to a main cast before as I did with P4. Yosuke, a clown, but a bro. Chie, obnoxiously loud and annoying, but she is a fellow broseph and I ended up liking her more in the end. Teddie, I love this guy. Despite some cringe worthy dialogue his comedic relief delivered every time. I felt like they were trying to recreate Aigis with Teddie, so the whole shadow thing didn't really have an impact for me. Yukiko, her laugh get up got annoying after a while, but she compliments Chie very well and is OP when it came to magic and healing. Kanji, best bro, how can you not like Kanji? The dude is very relatable on a personal level and I enjoyed his development. Also, his wardrobe change during the Golden ending? LOL. Rise, she was too much when it came to being on the MC's sac all the damn time, but I ended up going the lovers route with her since she was the only girl that was confident in herself. Atlus, why didn't you let me raise my hand? Naoto, most interesting female character in Persona so far and her s.link mysteries were fun. Only reason I didn't go for her lovers route was because I couldn't do Kanji wrong like that. Marie, pretty bland but had some funny scenes, and her true identity redeemed her as a character. I actually figured it out because of the special lecture the group got a Gekkouken High. I'm glad I decided to not skip the lecture as I usually do lol
The story, better than P3 and much more suspenseful. Funny thing is, I remember seeing this image on GAF years ago, but I don't remember what the thread was about and the context of the post. So going in P4 I just assumed Adachi was going to be a potential victim at some point. Ha, how wrong that was. After a while Adachi's "accidental" blabbering about the mystery had me cynical and I started to think that he might have been the killer. Then the whole Namatame thing happened and I was like never mind until the story ending choices started coming in. I didn't want to screw it up so I looked up a guide for Yosuke's dialogue options during the hospital scene. Wtf, I never would have gotten it right due to having to make five (six?) correct choices all in one go. Then when you get Namatame's side of the story, it became obvious that it was Adachi. Seeing Adachi go from the goof that he played off as into just some loser with an inferiority complex made me want to kick his ass all that much more.
Marie's dungeon and Izanami, Marie's dungeon is ass. I decided just to rush through the whole thing when I reached the second level since I was over-leveled and didn't want to deal with the SP BS. The boss fights, and music theme for the dungeon are good though. The realization that the gas attendant was the one behind the whole thing hit me like a truck during the Junes cutscene/dialogue with the group on the MC's last day. Admittely, I rushed that dungeon too, but the Izanami fight and the music was glorious.
Then there are the final cutscenes: as soon as I saw Yukiko and Teddie running after the train while crying, then the rest of the crew, I couldn't hold it and let loose a few bullets of tears. I don't ever recall a game making me tear up more than P4, most of the time it was because of Nanako. Which probably has to do with the fact that I have a little sister. Overall, I'm happy with this game's story
Persona As a Series
OST for both games = Fantastic
I've never experienced story telling the way Persona does it. I love the s.link system as it allows characters to be fleshed out and the daily living part was new and refreshing. Aesthetically, it is very stylish. The combat is okay, but fun enough to go through with it. In P4 I liked how there was more incentive to maxing s. links with party members with added skills. I don't understand why P4 restricted most of the analyzing abilities in P3 to Rise's s.link. I didn't like guessing for weaknesses before the analyze skill is fully upgraded. Since P5 is featuring teenagers again, I hope P6 uses an adult cast (college-age is fine too) to change things up a bit. Regardless, Persona is now in my top 5 series and I'm glad I gave these games a shot. I saw my first P5 trailer after finish 4 and I AM HYPED!
