Board 8 > ITT I ponder my Persona 3 experience while considering Persona 4.

(+) Yeah! (+)

So, I don't see myself playing Persona 4 anytime soon (especially not when there's going to be a newer, likely better, version coming out for a system I don't see myself buying for a while), but I figured now's as good a time as any to get some insight on whether I'd enjoy Persona 4 at all, while Persona 3 is still fresh in my mind. And Board 8 seems to have a lot of Persona fans, so it seems like a good place to start.

I got the PSP version of the game about a year ago when PSN was having that huge Atlus sale, didn't get around to playing it until last summer, almost completely forgot that I had played it soon afterward, picked it up again about a month ago, and recently finished a second playthrough. You'd think that if I spent fifty hours on my first playthrough and forty hours on a second that I was in love with this game and eager to play the next in its series, but I'm not entirely convinced, hence the topic.

The battle system, dungeon crawling, and persona fusing/customization were all solid. I hear Persona 4 has multiple small dungeons rather than one big one like in 3; does that change anything? The different segments of Tartarus may as well be different dungeons, so the only way I can see this change affecting the game is forcing the player to stick to one of these segments during one excursion. Am I missing something here?

Pacing-wise, it was hit-and-miss. I liked how open-ended most days were. It reminded me of my college days, when I'd have to decide whether I should spend my night studying or hanging out with depressed old monks in bars. I also liked being able to quick-jump to just about any location during the day (I hear Persona 4 introduced this feature). Apparently in the PS2 versions, you had to physically walk to each and every location. That probably would have grated my nerves by the time the game was a quarter of the way over. There were a couple lengthy periods of time in both of my playthroughs when I couldn't advance any further in Tartarus or do any Social Links, so I was stuck just killing time for a couple of in-game weeks. "Well, it looks like I can't do anything but go to the fortune box at the shrine over ten times in a row. This is so much fun."

The plot was mostly "meh." I wasn't a fan of the high school aesthetic or the use of Japanese stock phrases like "Let's do our best!" or "Let's work hard/together!" And while I appreciate that the game is supposed to take place in Japan, honorifics sound ridiculous to me when they're spoken in English ("Akihiko-senpai! Koro-chan! Junpei-kun! Yuka-tan! Cleese-san!"). I'd expect this from a fansub, not an official localization. This plus the stock phrases did a lot to take away from the immersion, since no one freakin' talks like that, at least no one I know. I didn't find any of the characters to be terribly interesting either (though I thought the ending was done well; it might have actually done something for me if I had cared about the characters before that point). Apparently Persona 4 has a greater emphasis on plot, and the thought of characters like these getting more screen time scares me.

Random musings:
Female MC > Male MC; naginatas for life
Apparently the PS2 versions of Persona 3 didn't let you directly control your non-MC party members. What's the point of not allowing direct control over your party in a turn-based game? Were they trying to emphasize the whole "this character is you and you alone" angle, or...?

TL;DR: I enjoyed P3's gameplay but was put off by the "anime"-esque atmosphere. Would I like P4?

"Yuka-tan" always made me think of the peninsula.

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naginatas for life

Aww yeah. Though really, any kind of pole-arm is preferable.

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My Little Phineas and Ferb: Summer is Magic!

The pacing being improved was one of the things Persona 4 was most highly praised for over P3 when it first came out, so if that's your issue you're fine.

Also the plot and characters are very different from Persona 3. You really can't use it as a base when looking at P4.

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http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/2664/7b7aaa038007832d461b28c.jpg

I heard P3P was sped up to match P4's pace.

I would hope and assume the plot and characters would be radically different, though I still have a couple of concerns. For one, the "high school anime" atmosphere and trends grated my nerves in P3, and P4 seems to have a similar setting. Also, assuming P4 has the same writing staff and director(s) as P3 did and knowing that this team believed the cast of P3 would be endearing and enjoyable to their audience is kind of "yikes," especially when P4 is supposedly more plot-heavy than P3 (can anyone confirm that?).

baron von toast posted...
"Yuka-tan" always made me think of the peninsula.

I thought I was the only one. Good to know I'm not crazy.

Unless we're both crazy.

i don't know who couldn't think of the peninsula when hearing it >_>

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~Acting on Impulse~
Black Turtle still didn't MAJORA'S MASK

Most people like the plot, pacing, boss battles and characters in P4 more than in P3. The multiple small dungeons are somewhat similar to Tartarus too I guess. They have their own unique setting relevant to stuff going on in the game instead of random designs like Tartarus blocks, but they're still randomly generated dungeon crawling maps.

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http://myanimelist.net/animelist/swordz9

baron von toast posted...
"Yuka-tan" always made me think of the peninsula.

Same here.

And P4 is way better than P3 in every way, except for the music.

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senorhousemouse

From: BerkeIium | #005
Also, assuming P4 has the same writing staff and director(s) as P3 did and knowing that this team believed the cast of P3 would be endearing and enjoyable to their audience is kind of "yikes,"

well this is completely anecdotal, but i hated, like, 95% of persona 3's core cast, but i love persona 4's core cast. so i wouldn't let being put off by one cast make you concerned about the other.

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"Oh God, maplejet's trying to be cool again. I'll call the ambulance." - Wylvane
[NO BARKLEY NO PEACE]

P4 is much better in general, but it does have the same high-school-anime atmosphere and the honorifics in dialogue. I do think the characters are better-developed and more likeable, though (because P4 is more about them than P3 was). I'm not a big fan of P3's cast myself.

Also, I thought Yuka-tan was a deliberate pun.

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"As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero." -Vaarsuvius, Order of the Stick

From: BerkeIium | #001
What's the point of not allowing direct control over your party in a turn-based game?

To make you die the most frustrating deaths ever.

TL;DR: I enjoyed P3's gameplay but was put off by the "anime"-esque atmosphere. Would I like P4?

Well it's got the same anime-esque atmosphere, I can tell you that much.

Definitely don't ever play them back to back. You could end up with diabetes.

I separated them with a nice post-apocalyptic tromp through SMT: Nocturne, which kept me sane and made it easier to like all three games.

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[NO BARKLEY NO PEACE] Ace Detective in Sir Charles's Police
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkOj5DAJu2A

P4 is better than P3 in most respects but it's still really anime so.... I'm gonna recommend it to you anyway because it's great.

If you don't like the "anime high school" style, then you're not going to like that in P4 either. Seems kind of obvious.

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Connecticut Huskies

From: BerkeIium | #001
Were they trying to emphasize the whole "this character is you and you alone" angle, or...?

They were emphasizing the "team" aspect of the story. You are the commander and you can give your team orders, but ultimately they make their own choices and you have to work around their mistakes. It makes a lot of sense story-wise, but gameplay-wise it's just frustrating.

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_foolmo_
'so I can potentially win the guru without getting the final right?' - BlAcK TuRtLe

Also



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[NO BARKLEY NO PEACE] Ace Detective in Sir Charles's Police
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkOj5DAJu2A

Seriously the characters in P4 are all actually good. They're well-acted and decently written. They're a lot more "all right, let's do it!" than the cast of P3. P3's cast is bad. P4's cast is good.

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senorhousemouse

Yeah, but that ONE time out of every 1000 Marin Karins that actually works on a boss or something is kind of fun.

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Connecticut Huskies

Things that are better in P3 than P4:
- Hotter girls
- Better non-battle music

THAT'S IT. Everything else is improved.

I liked P3's cast.

Didn't love them, but I liked them.

Didn't like most of P3's non-battle music, actually. There was that shopping channel theme, sure, and the dorm theme, and the Velvet Room remix, but at least two of those were in P4 anyway, I think.

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[NO BARKLEY NO PEACE] Ace Detective in Sir Charles's Police
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkOj5DAJu2A