Post by boogieknight on Jan 3, 2009 23:10:28 GMT -5
I vaguely recall the time I was a young boy and was first introduced to video games. They were evil, quarter gobbling machines, but there was a certain magic to it that I've longed for ever since. To put it plain, playing Persona 4 reminds me of why I started playing video games in the first place. As mechanics go, this is an almost perfect game, and don't let me go off completely on the content. From the start of the intro movie, this game just radiates with cool.
While this may not be too much of a big step for those who've played an SMT game before, but the battle system is fine tuned and engaging in ways that make me wish other companies would take the damn training wheels of their games. Even those who played Persona 3 may be a little surprised how they upped the ante in terms of battle. Pretty early on, enemies that can deflect certain elements, even physical attacks pop up, but it's balanced out by access to Personas with skills and alignments early on that can compensate for this.
Oh yeah, in short, a Persona is an alternate self that manifests to aid in battle against supernatural enemies. Each Persona has its own elemental alignment, stats, and set of learnable skills. Only the main character can switch out Personas freely, but overtime, your party increases to include a balanced roster of allies to choose from and adapt to the situation. Unlike certain RPGs were you can coast on picking favorites and slugging it out, the right choice of allies is very important. Most importantly, the main can fuse Personas together to create new, more powerful ones which can inherit skills that the Persona otherwise couldn't get (more on this later).
Some might feel intimidated when they learn about a time limit to completing the dungeons, about three weeks ingame I think. However, if you don't goof around it is usually possible to complete these dungeons in two or three days ingame. I advise completing them as soon as possible, because allies are pretty diligent when it comes to finishing them and you can't advance in ally Social Links while uncompleted.
The Social Links were first introduced during Persona 3, and I think that it's been tweaked just right for this game. The basic idea is that every Persona is affiliated to one Arcana of the Tarot, and so is every individual. By getting close to certain people, the main character derives bonuses in experience points. The main levels up, but the Personas level up separately from him. Once a Social Link reaches its max, an "ultimate" Persona of that Arcana is accessible. In my opinion, this is an essential tool that saves time and makes you able to handle some bosses more easily. In the last game, only the female members could form Social Links with the main character, but this time it's possible to do so with all party members. As the Links become stronger, the allies also gain certain abilities that make them better fighters, and once you max out the Social Links with an ally is when the real goodies come.
Let me say one thing about the allies, this is the best ensemble cast I've seen in a long time. Every RPG has all sorts of characters, but one or two tend to dominate. The party members just mesh together so well that I'm at a loss for words to adequately describe it. That and one party member looks vaguely like Velma from Scooby Doo, and that's awesome on so many levels in my book.
The plot in general, about a serial killer with a curious MO, excellent. RPGs are long overdue to grow out of the infantile plotlines that aren't terrible, but have been leaned on for far too long. Let me put it like this, after one scene in which logistics are being handled, the rare combination of comedy and common sense pretty much killed my ability to put up with the laziness that other RPGs put thier world together. Even the NPCs have story arcs, not supporting characters, I mean the people who just mill around in town! It makes me start to think that maybe certain high end RPG makers just can't world build worth crap.
One thing that may be important, since Nocturne, SMT has always petitioned for an M rating in its games, even if the content may not really warrant it (like in Persona 3). This time, they are in it to win it when it comes to the M rating. They don't get too graphic, but they weren't fooling around this time. Especially with one character who has certain feelings that confuse him, he's depicted in a sympathetic light and I think that overall his character and his conflict had been handled well (certain people would have pushed him waaaay over the edge and made him a villian).
I love this game, I'm still waiting for Atlus to release it's next apocolyptic epic, but this game holds a special place in my heart and I think it's a shining example of not only what RPGs can be, but of what games in general can be.
While this may not be too much of a big step for those who've played an SMT game before, but the battle system is fine tuned and engaging in ways that make me wish other companies would take the damn training wheels of their games. Even those who played Persona 3 may be a little surprised how they upped the ante in terms of battle. Pretty early on, enemies that can deflect certain elements, even physical attacks pop up, but it's balanced out by access to Personas with skills and alignments early on that can compensate for this.
Oh yeah, in short, a Persona is an alternate self that manifests to aid in battle against supernatural enemies. Each Persona has its own elemental alignment, stats, and set of learnable skills. Only the main character can switch out Personas freely, but overtime, your party increases to include a balanced roster of allies to choose from and adapt to the situation. Unlike certain RPGs were you can coast on picking favorites and slugging it out, the right choice of allies is very important. Most importantly, the main can fuse Personas together to create new, more powerful ones which can inherit skills that the Persona otherwise couldn't get (more on this later).
Some might feel intimidated when they learn about a time limit to completing the dungeons, about three weeks ingame I think. However, if you don't goof around it is usually possible to complete these dungeons in two or three days ingame. I advise completing them as soon as possible, because allies are pretty diligent when it comes to finishing them and you can't advance in ally Social Links while uncompleted.
The Social Links were first introduced during Persona 3, and I think that it's been tweaked just right for this game. The basic idea is that every Persona is affiliated to one Arcana of the Tarot, and so is every individual. By getting close to certain people, the main character derives bonuses in experience points. The main levels up, but the Personas level up separately from him. Once a Social Link reaches its max, an "ultimate" Persona of that Arcana is accessible. In my opinion, this is an essential tool that saves time and makes you able to handle some bosses more easily. In the last game, only the female members could form Social Links with the main character, but this time it's possible to do so with all party members. As the Links become stronger, the allies also gain certain abilities that make them better fighters, and once you max out the Social Links with an ally is when the real goodies come.
Let me say one thing about the allies, this is the best ensemble cast I've seen in a long time. Every RPG has all sorts of characters, but one or two tend to dominate. The party members just mesh together so well that I'm at a loss for words to adequately describe it. That and one party member looks vaguely like Velma from Scooby Doo, and that's awesome on so many levels in my book.
The plot in general, about a serial killer with a curious MO, excellent. RPGs are long overdue to grow out of the infantile plotlines that aren't terrible, but have been leaned on for far too long. Let me put it like this, after one scene in which logistics are being handled, the rare combination of comedy and common sense pretty much killed my ability to put up with the laziness that other RPGs put thier world together. Even the NPCs have story arcs, not supporting characters, I mean the people who just mill around in town! It makes me start to think that maybe certain high end RPG makers just can't world build worth crap.
One thing that may be important, since Nocturne, SMT has always petitioned for an M rating in its games, even if the content may not really warrant it (like in Persona 3). This time, they are in it to win it when it comes to the M rating. They don't get too graphic, but they weren't fooling around this time. Especially with one character who has certain feelings that confuse him, he's depicted in a sympathetic light and I think that overall his character and his conflict had been handled well (certain people would have pushed him waaaay over the edge and made him a villian).
I love this game, I'm still waiting for Atlus to release it's next apocolyptic epic, but this game holds a special place in my heart and I think it's a shining example of not only what RPGs can be, but of what games in general can be.