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Games => General Gaming => Topic started by: gpw11 on Thursday, November 20, 2008, 02:23:49 AM
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As you may know, I liked Persona 3 a lot. RPGs with me are very hit and miss. I think a lot of them blow, but for some reason like playing them. I'm not into any of the story conventions or characters generally, but do like the extremely plot driven game play. Like an adventure game with monotonous fights instead of illogical puzzles. Anyways, I had a lot of fun with P3, mainly because it was pretty unique and wasn't a Squaresoft emo bitch fest (ironically considering how emo the art style is).
So, I've been looking forward to Persona 4, which looks pretty similar but apparently lighter in atmosphere (I think) and more plot driven for the first 90% of the game. And then I saw this shit:
TWO ENEMIES LEFT. HANG IN THERE OKAY! (http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/22536). I don't think I can play this. That motherfucker's voice is going to drive me crazy. It's only like $35 on Amazon.com too...
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Yeah, that voice is pretty horrible. It's not bad enough to make me not want to play the game though, I've heard worse dubs. Hopefully there will be an option to switch to Japanese audio or to maybe turn him off. Seeing as how options like that weren't in the 3rd one though, it seems unlikely.
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Actually, I'm more alarmed that the awful looking character designs have me more turned off than the voice. I'm totally not going to judge the game just based on that, but still... it looks a hell of a lot less appealing than P3.
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How the hell do you guys watch stuff on gametrailers? It takes a half hour to load anything thats over 30 seconds over there. Gaaaawwwwwd.
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... it does? It's always been really fast for me. I don't use GSpot at all anymore because there new vid player doesn't work for me. Giant Bomb seems to have a good system for vids now, too, so I'll check their stuff out whenever they happen to have something up.
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So yeah, I preordered this online and it should be here Wednesday or Thursday at the latest, can't wait to jump into it.
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The preorder I got for Julia for Christmas arrived today. And I'm too fucking poor to go to the store to pay the rest of it.
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The preorder I got for Julia for Christmas arrived today. And I'm too fucking poor to go to the store to pay the rest of it.
How long do they hold those fuckers for?
On a side note, it doesn't arrive here until tomorrow (or today technically I guess). I'm going to try to pick my parents up a DS after work (those motherfuckers were sold out everywhere on the weekend) so I'll check around for it. I was initially going to get it off of Amazon, but fuck that.
I've been following the thread on something awful about it. Seems there are no Aigis-type characters....this makes me happy. It also seems like a small number of people have had problems with the disks, but this could very well be a case of otherwise out of use (And dusty) PS2s rather than the game itself. Either way, I'm pumped and all of the changes I've heard about seem like good ideas. I imagine I'll be throwing another 70+ hours over the next six months into this.
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So I've got about 5 hours play time into it right now and I'm liking it so far. Some of the new additions are nice so far and I'm liking the new style to everything, the game has some of the charm of Persona 3 but it does its own thing so it doesn't feel like a carbon copy of P3.
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Well, GSpot sure likes it (http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/rpg/persona4/review.html). 9, Editor's Choice. This is good news, since I'm sure Julia's going to dig it if I ever get enough money to, er, buy the rest of it. Though it's awfully nice that it's only $40.
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All the reviews I've seen of it are pretty high except for two from those blog-type sights. One of which couldn't seem to get over how it's a PS2 game, the other thought it was too bright or something. I picked it up today when I went to go buy a DS for the parents and I'm really liking it...probably far more than the first one so far. The plot development seems better, it seems fresher, and it looks like the scheduling won't be quite as tedious. The art style in general makes it feel like a lot more than just a repeat of P3, and it seems a little bit more twisted/disturbing so far. I'd say that from what I've seen so far it's an improvement in basically every way (which is saying quite a bit). I should note that I haven't gotten very far into it though.
On a side note, that squeeky voiced bear-thing isn't nearly as bad as I thought and it's actually kind of awesome at times. This is a huge feat for them because I took one look at that thing and was like "fuck....anime bullshit". It totally fits though.
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Julia should enjoy this game when you get it for her Que. This game is awesome. I have begun to get into the flow of the game and everything is shaping up nicely level and social link wise. Social links seem to be much easier to get up than in P3 but the dungeons are a little more harder now because you can't heal yourself every X number of floors like in P3 and save points don't restore your HP and SP either, so you have to be a little more prepared with items and personas before you head into a dungeon. The fact that your characters don't get tired anymore like in P3 makes leveling a bit nicer though. I am also enjoying the music on this a little more than P3, especially in the dungeons.
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Awesome. I'm actually playing P3 again and did manage to pay off the game, so she's got it now (or will at Christmas). I think she'll be happy with it, and at least might be expecting slightly higher difficulty after getting most of the way through The Answer.
I'm really digging the 3rd game. I liked it well enough before but didn't stick with it... now I'm for some reason really interested again. Hopefully I'll manage to get most of the way through it this time, if not all the way. P4 looks really interesting, and even if it's unrelated, I'd rather not go into it without giving P3 more of a chance.
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How far along are you Belmont? This game killed my social life this weekend. A few things have been changed slightly that end up altering the game drastically. For example:
-As Belmont said, you no longer get tired. To counter this, your HP and SP don't recover in dungeons when you leave to save. This might not seem like a big deal, but it's actually way more restrictive early game (for me at least). SP replenishing items are hard to come by (apparently throughout the whole game), and the only other option is expensive as hell. So now, instead of being artificially kicked out of the dungeon you have to decide if you want to keep on going and quite possibly die or call it quits early.
-There are more social links which auto-level, but there are also more with stat requirements to either initiate or to level up. There are also 5 stats now instead of three. As with the first game, focus on intelligence/knowledge early. You have exams a couple weeks in and a good score requires level three or higher knowledge + getting all the answers right. The bonus from this is that all your school related social links gain points if you get in the top ten.
-There is literally a shit ton more to do with your spare time, and from what I've seen all of it is useful. The side quest system is much better, fishing can get you some good items, and you will need the extra money and stats that part time jobs provide (plus they lead to new social links).
-Combat has been altered slightly and feels very different because of it. First of all, you have the option of controlling all the characters (but you don't have to). Second, analyze no longer reveals all the information on monsters, but rather just displays the info you've already discovered. Far more difficult. There is only one type of physical damage now, which kind of streamlines that whole thing. Finally, if a multi-targeted spell is cast and you manage to knock down one enemy out of however, you get another round. This means you have to be a shitload smarter defensively as an enemy or boss can just spam attacks over and over again.
I also highly suggest not using a guide. I've been reading a thread on SA on the game with some useful info, but their policy of spoiler-tagging tips has kind of lead me back into beliving that the fun of these games is making your own way and strategies (this is after I gave in on P3 and went to a fusion guide in order to improve my skills at the end). My overall strategy: Apart from items you find in the dungeons, the hermit S-link seems to be the only way to restore your SP without losing time. It's expensive as hell to do so, but gets cheaper as you go along. I'm maxing this ASAP so I can try to cut down three nights spend in dungeons down to one very very long night.
Overall, better game than Persona 3 in almost every way as far as I'm concerned.
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How far along are you Belmont?
I am in the second dungeon and right now I am doing some leveling (all of my characters are level 19) in the first dungeon so I can get my characters a bit stronger and get some more money. I mainly decided to do this since I barely beat the first dungeon boss on my 2nd try and because I wanted some more money. Repeating the 1st dungeon the way I am now is kind of efficient since I've got all my characters to the point where I can beat most of the monsters with physical attacks, thereby saving SP and making easy money/levels and only using my SP to heal or use the rare elemental attack. I've got the Hermit S-link at level 2 right now and the link's character charges me anywhere from 4100-6500 yen to restore my SP. This is sort of expensive but since I have been doing a little grinding (which probably wasn't necessary in the first place but has made things a lot easier now) I now have 55,000 yen so this option is a little more doable. I still have a ton of stuff in my inventory to sell too so I'll have even more money when I come out of the second dungeon. Hopefully this strategy I've developed doesn't blow up in my face, but I don't see how it could.
For anyone playing this game or thinking about it, have a backup save file or two to avoid insanity.
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For anyone playing this game or thinking about it, have a backup save file or two to avoid insanity.
Do you usually have a backup save in games?
I always have one, given the game type. Especially in RPG's, I always make sure to have a backup save file. It's part of the strategy - knowing when to save, when you are safe is just part of the game.
Sorry, off topic. Just wondering.
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Do you usually have a backup save in games?
I always have one, given the game type. Especially in RPG's, I always make sure to have a backup save file. It's part of the strategy - knowing when to save, when you are safe is just part of the game.
Sorry, off topic. Just wondering.
Yeah I will usually have one at least in almost any JRPG I play, but this is the first game in awhile that I have found myself with multiple backup saves.
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I am in the second dungeon and right now I am doing some leveling (all of my characters are level 19) in the first dungeon so I can get my characters a bit stronger and get some more money. I mainly decided to do this since I barely beat the first dungeon boss on my 2nd try and because I wanted some more money. Repeating the 1st dungeon the way I am now is kind of efficient since I've got all my characters to the point where I can beat most of the monsters with physical attacks, thereby saving SP and making easy money/levels and only using my SP to heal or use the rare elemental attack. I've got the Hermit S-link at level 2 right now and the link's character charges me anywhere from 4100-6500 yen to restore my SP. This is sort of expensive but since I have been doing a little grinding (which probably wasn't necessary in the first place but has made things a lot easier now) I now have 55,000 yen so this option is a little more doable. I still have a ton of stuff in my inventory to sell too so I'll have even more money when I come out of the second dungeon. Hopefully this strategy I've developed doesn't blow up in my face, but I don't see how it could.
For anyone playing this game or thinking about it, have a backup save file or two to avoid insanity.
That's roughly where I am, although I broke 20 a while ago. I just teleported out of the 8th or 9th level of the second dungeon because I ran out of SP after beating the mid boss. I would have had to leave way sooner, but I got a Death Arcana Chance and that helped out a lot. The fucking fox is pissing me off. I'm also at level two (although I have everything ready for level three), but he want's like 30,000 to heal me, which is just over what I have. Fuck it, I'm going to boost that as much as I can between this dungeon and the next and just try to one day all the ones after that. I also went in partially unprepared, still using all my old gear and with like no healing items.
Have you tried the bonus boss for the first dungeon yet?
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This game is sounding much more difficult than P3.
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That's crazy GPW, I've never had the fox charge me that much or even close to it. Are you patting his head before you ask for the heal? I don't know if that helps or not but maybe that's why I am getting much lower amounts or I am just lucky. Also those Death Arcana Chances are fucking awesome, I've gotten like 3 of them while I was leveling last night. My characters are now at 23 and I am actually about to try fighting that optional boss since I just had one of those Death Arcanas restore my SP. I tried fighting him once when I was at 18 and I almost beat him, but he did Rampage on me after a status spell I cast on him wore off and annihilated my party. Lowering his attack and hit rate with status spells helps out a ton.
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Yeah, I think Rampage is the only problem with that guy. I was extremely close to beating him when I was way underdeveloped and then he just annihilated me with it. I tried fighting him like three times and kind of noticed that the last two times he cast it he did so right after something wore off. I didn't notice if it was the same spell wearing off or not. It also could be pure coincidence.
As for the Fox, I think you pay by the SP point, so if all of your characters are empty it's going to cost a ton more than if just your MC is in need of SP. I think. But you're totally right, I may not have patted his head the second time, I'll look into that. Either way, something is up seeing as the first time I got the price for it I could cover it, and the second time when I was actually going to use it I couldn't even though I had twice as much money. This was later the same day.
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Ok my theory was totally wrong. I was broke in the real world and decided to go into the dungeon in order to make some coin. Literally the first shuffle I hit in the second dungeon was a reversed Fortune, which might be the worst thing ever as it cuts your SP in half. That, combined with the harder enemies on the floor I was on pretty much dictated that I'd make it two floors before being completely drained. So, I made it to the save right before the boss and teleported out of that bitch.
The fox is definitely at 30,000 when I'm completely drained (S.link 2 or 3). Damn. So I went back to the first dungeon and decided to try fighting that optional boss again. The good news is I hit an upright Fortune Chance card right before the boss so my SP is full, but all three times in a row I tried to fight him ended with him casting Rampage right away. Like, he casts Red Wall first move every time, I get three or four moves, and he casts Rampage. The one time the MC lived through it he cast it next turn as well. Something is up seeing as I was able to get way further before. Bad luck? Hopefully. I'm confident I can do it now if I can get it going enough to cast a few status spells on him (Ice is wicked, although he isn't actually weak to it), but I can't get to that point anymore.
Realistically, I'll probably return later.
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Ok my theory was totally wrong. I was broke in the real world and decided to go into the dungeon in order to make some coin. Literally the first shuffle I hit in the second dungeon was a reversed Fortune, which might be the worst thing ever as it cuts your SP in half. That, combined with the harder enemies on the floor I was on pretty much dictated that I'd make it two floors before being completely drained. So, I made it to the save right before the boss and teleported out of that bitch.
The fox is definitely at 30,000 when I'm completely drained (S.link 2 or 3). Damn. So I went back to the first dungeon and decided to try fighting that optional boss again. The good news is I hit an upright Fortune Chance card right before the boss so my SP is full, but all three times in a row I tried to fight him ended with him casting Rampage right away. Like, he casts Red Wall first move every time, I get three or four moves, and he casts Rampage. The one time the MC lived through it he cast it next turn as well. Something is up seeing as I was able to get way further before. Bad luck? Hopefully. I'm confident I can do it now if I can get it going enough to cast a few status spells on him (Ice is wicked, although he isn't actually weak to it), but I can't get to that point anymore.
Realistically, I'll probably return later.
I think you use your SP a little more than I do, I only use SP to heal and use elemental attacks ONLY if the monsters I am fighting have a weakness against them, but I rely on physical attacks as much as possible to conserve SP while leveling. I did a good amount of leveling in the 2nd dungeon from 19-23 in one go and only used the fox once and he only charged me about 17,000. I rarely get all 4 characters down to near or completely zero SP. When I was 23 and I was fully healed I went and fought the optional 1st dungeon boss and kicked his ass. I tried a different strategy of equipping a Persona that is strong against physical attacks, in this case, Eligor. Eligor also has a defense boost spell that I could cast on everyone to help me through Rampage, it worked out nicer than trying cast spells on the boss itself. You are right in using the ice spells, I had Chie doing that for about 100ish damage, then I had my main and Yosuke doing Bash and other special physical attacks in hopes of doing a crit which I did a few times, then I had Yukiko healing and doing attacks if everyone was healed.
Also I discovered something last night with the persona Saravasati, she has the Invigorate skill, which gives you 5 SP at the start of each round of battle, I ran into a battle with those dice monsters and just kept guarding while my main's SP would refill with that Persona equipped since the monsters will just Stand By until their health is low, if you are really hurting for SP, it works.
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Brilliant. Generally, I try to conserve as much SP as I can by only exploiting weaknesses and healing, but the last two floors of the second dungeon have these enemies which can summon another enemy which it turn casts whatever the multi-hit darkness spell is (mamudo). At that point the main priority becomes taking them out whenever possible. After recieving inversed Judgement that will kill your SP quickly. I, did, however just recently get into using the persona's physical attacks after finding them useless in P3.
Good tip for both Saravasati and Eligor. I'll have to try to level Eligor enough to ge this spell you speak of. I think I may have also just had some shitty luck when dealing with the King last night as well. Rampage first round followed by rampage spamming? Fuck no.
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So, it was bad luck. I tried again last night and just blew that motherfucker out of the water. After this I went to fight the second boss and hammered him...just hammered him (haha?). Now I'm just building stats and social links waiting for the third dungeon to open up. Have you been fishing at all?
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So, it was bad luck. I tried again last night and just blew that motherfucker out of the water. After this I went to fight the second boss and hammered him...just hammered him (haha?). Now I'm just building stats and social links waiting for the third dungeon to open up. Have you been fishing at all?
No, I haven't, I got the bait and hooks from the old man, but I haven't done it yet, I just finished the second dungeon and was probably going to do it soon.
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Did you guys preorder this and get an art book? I realized much too late that I didn't (because I didn't know it was supposed to come with one until the day after I picked it up), and I called my store and the guy said if he could track one down he'd call me. Which really surprised me at first until I realized that he probably threw my number in the trash right after I hung up and won't do anything he said he'd do.
... and now I'm sad.
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Did you guys preorder this and get an art book? I realized much too late that I didn't (because I didn't know it was supposed to come with one until the day after I picked it up), and I called my store and the guy said if he could track one down he'd call me. Which really surprised me at first until I realized that he probably threw my number in the trash right after I hung up and won't do anything he said he'd do.
... and now I'm sad.
Yeah, I got the artbook, I glanced through it but didn't look into it too much because there is a spoiler warning on the first page. Its pretty nice for a freebie and its 100 pages.
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Interested in selling it for when my Gamestop clerk inevitably fails me? I'm partially mad because I'm a completist, and partially because this was supposed to be a gift for Julia for Christmas. I'm also mad that I had no idea about the Amazon.com package that had the t-shirt, calendar, CD, and plushie for like 30 bucks or whatever it was. I'd totally have gotten her that but there's no way I can afford what they want for it on ebay now.
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Well, shit, I wish I had known about that Amazon package now too. FUUUUUUUUCK!
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I knew about it, but Amazon.ca doesn't have the shipping option to have it at your house on release day and I had a feeling that with the holidays coming up I'd be a week or so behind. I just picked it up instore, but no pre-order so no art book. I usually don't care about that kind of stuff, but the little one that came with non-FES P3 was actually pretty cool.
Aparently there are like 4 endings and the main choice for them is nowhere near as obvious as it was in P3.
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Man, the July/August dungeon has an AWESOME visual style and music.
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Man, the July/August dungeon has an AWESOME visual style and music.
Hahaha yeah, I just finished that dungeon myself (the boss for that dungeon is great too) and I'm now in early August with about 53 hours of playtime.
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I can't seem to stop listening to these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPawHQrZEAo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPawHQrZEAo)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKrPtx6LzrU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKrPtx6LzrU)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OcUy7s9vvE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OcUy7s9vvE)
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Yeah, the music is just as good as P3. Void Quest actually has my favorite dungeon soundtrack so far just because it's so freaking catchy.
Hahaha yeah, I just finished that dungeon myself (the boss for that dungeon is great too) and I'm now in early August with about 53 hours of playtime.
Wow, you're way ahead of me at this point. I'm just at the start of that dungeon with like 35 hours or so (I think). My hermit S-link is on level 9 now (hint: hold on to any huge fish you come across) and the SP healing costs nothing now. I think it was so high mid-link before because the price changes depending on the mood of the fox. If he growls at you, don't bother.
As for this game being harder than P3, I don't think so. I think it starts off harder, but things get stacked in your favor quickly. Has Julia started playing it at all?
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Sadly, no.
Ugh. The drama. So I told you that my clerk said he'd try to track down an art book for me, but of course I knew that was probably a lost cause, and it was. So I went online trying to see if I could find it for a reasonable price, and while I did find it for $10 one night, I fucking missed the end of the auction because of Guild Wars. So that was out. Eventually the only thing I really found was a new copy of the game with the art book and a fairly spiffy yellow promo t-shirt for $50 including shipping, which wasn't a bad deal at all considering. So now she's waiting for that to get delivered and then I'll take back the other game to the store. I'm pretty sure I could just let her open this copy and take back the other one, but I don't want to risk it since for all I know the wrap might be different or there might be something funny, so since she's got other stuff to try and finish up in the interim, it seems prudent to wait.
I did, however, get her the most... uh, awesomely unromantic anniversary present ever (http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10072856).
(http://kotaku.com/assets/images/kotaku/2008/06/alter_elizabeth.jpg)
(http://www.1999.co.jp/dbimages2/user/hobby/itbig/10072856a6.jpg)
A little on the expensive side, but considering it seems to be sold out most places hence generally going for... way too much, I managed to do well finding it on sale for like $60. It may not be the pinnacle of romance, but she's going to love it.
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God dammit, fuck you Que, why did you have to show me that? Now I have to get it.
Edit: Well shit, its sold out, so nevermind, and like you said other places are charging way too much for it.
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Well, they are kinda' still selling them here (http://www.kidnemo.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3395). So I don't know if that means you hate me more or less now.
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Rather than making a new thread about Person 3, I thought I'd just lump it in here:
I just started 3 today, finally, and I'm enjoying it, but there's quite a bit thrown at you at first.
You have any very general tips that might save me some hassle? (General, as in no spoilers.) For instance, should I try to fuse personas early on or get as many as I can and then decide?
And what about all this S.Link biz and its accompanying attributes (e.g. charm, courage, academics, etc.)
Not trying to cheat here, but there are a few things in these sorts of long games I wish I would have known early on.
But so far, about two hours in, it's pretty sweet.
Thanks, guys.
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I don't really know about general tips. You just have to balance everything. If you're tired, you need to rest (don't bother staying up to study when tired, you'll fail and gain nothing). If you don't hang out with a social link character for a month -- I think -- you'll piss them off and lose points. You don't have to rush through the dungeon, but you don't want to dick around too much because the game does ultimately have a time limit, so you want to make steady progress.
As for fusing... you'll get a feel for it. It's handy in the beginning, when you can fuse much better ones than what you find. And since you'll find those basic ones again as you go, you'll keep fusing here and there, get more, fuse more, get more, until you're basically out of valid combos. It won't take you very long. Then when you get to a new area and find a new persona, your opportunities open up again and you'll start fiddling with it again.
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Persona 3 was the first SMT game I really played except for a stint I had with Persona 2 on ePSXe before I decided it was totally retarded. As such, I kind of went in blind and tried to play it the same way you play every other RPG out there. This isn't really wrong, but it made things harder than they had to be. Things I learned from P3:
-Don't push the envelope, especially early in the game. If you're low on health, SP, and/or curative items just get the fuck out of the dungeon. Standard encounters can destroy you in these games if you're unlucky, fuck up, or just push yourself too far.
-Don't fuck with Death. Everytime I'd hit a floor of the dungeon I'd basically try to find the exit to the next floor right off the bat and then explore from there. The second you hear those chains run like a motherfucker.
-There will probably be varying opinions on this but persona fusing and social links are hands down the most important part of the game for survival. You share your stats, weaknesses, and attributes with your persona and the only thing that leveling directly affects (effects?) stats wise are your HP/SP. The only real way to get stronger in the game is to have better persona, and the best way to do that is through fusion. Why? Because your S-links add experience bonuses upon fusion, drastically cutting down the time it takes to level that persona. So, if you have an S-link level of 5 and fuse a persona of whatever arcana that S-link covers you get a tier 5 XP bonus upon fusion. This probably translates into 3 or so actual levels for that persona, which could cut down on an hour or so of actual grinding in the dungeon. Furthermore, it's the only way to hold Persona that are above your actual level, and the only way to get probably 70% of the persona in the game....some of which you'll definitely want.
-The downside is that (early game especially), fusing a lot of persona can be very cost restrictive. I actually wouldn't go too hardcore on it, but whenever you're done with one or figure out that you don't use one often, fuse it. It only really becomes important mid-game, when money is much less of an issue.
-This game is all about weaknesses, both offensively and defensively. Always scan enemies to find out what they're weak to, and try to have at least one spell for every element on you at all times. Likewise, if you know an enemy is prone to using a powerful fire attack, don't fight him using a persona weak to fire. As you can imagine, taking advantage of and defending weaknesses are another good reason to have a varied collection of persona available to you in the compendium. I also learned that mudo (dark) and hama (light) spells will kick your ass with instant death if you're rocking a persona weak to them. As such, switch off if you think the enemy you're fighting is going to be prone to using it, and if a lot of enemies of that type are around on whatever floor you're on, don't run around with that persona as your default in case they get the jump on you.
-There's a nurse's office in the school. Go there every time you're sick. There's a chance she can fix it, but it's also the only way to boost your courage stat without losing time. Also, if you can't find any S-links to do and don't really need to go to to the dungeon it's always a good idea to boost your charisma, courage, or intelligence. They do have benefits later (maybe focus on intelligence a bit first).
-Always try to watch TV on Sunday morning.
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To add to gpw and Que's good tips:
-Make multiple save states!!!!
-Get your stats (Courage, Academics, Charm) up to max as fast as possible because some of the social links and quests require them at a certain level and the earlier you have them maxed, the earlier you can max out social links and not having to play catch up in the endgame which you could use for the last bit of leveling and persona fusing. For example, go to the karaoke bar and then study late at night every night when the karaoke bar is open, this raises Courage and Academics in one night. When it is closed go to Tarturus, or go have a coffee to raise Charm and then study if you feel you don't need to go to Tarturus, because this once again raises two stats in one night.
-When you attempt to raise Social Links, always have a Persona on you that pertains to that link. For example, if you are going to do the Lovers social link, have a Lovers type persona on you to get a bonus.
-When exploring Tarturus, I personally had a strategy of getting to certain "checkpoint" floors in one go as fast as possible. By "checkpoint" floor I mean, the end of a section of the tower where you cannot progress any further because of the story or a floor with a boss, these checkpoint floors are floors that you can teleport to instantly from the bottom floor, because why there may be a teleporter on a floor to get you to the bottom, it doesn't mean you can start from there if you come down to save. I would basically run by enemies if possible to get to these floors as fast as possible and come back down and save. After saving with the checkpoints available to me, I would begin exploring the floors I rushed through. I came to this conclusion because I found that if I went up the floors, exploring them fully one at a time on the first run into them, if I died, I would have re-explore the floors all over again, or if I played it safe and went to the bottom floor to save on a random floor that wasn't a checkpoint in the tower, I would have to repeat floors, which isn't necessarily bad if you are wanting to level, but can be kind of annoying. Hopefully that makes sense.
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Wow, guys, thanks for the thorough responses. I'll definitely keep these suggestions in mind. It's just that the world finally opened up, and for me, in these instances, it's a little difficult to know where to start. And it's in these cases the game (or me, most likely) flounder. But so far so good.
Also, what everyone's said about the soundtrack I agree with 100%. It's slick.
I'm sure I'll have more specific questions as I progress.
Oh, and the friend who turned me on to the SMT world said something a little bizarre today: He said, "That game was a little problematic for me because I often found myself attracted to the female characters in the game." Ha, I guess that's just this side of being way into Hentai.
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I'm all about Chihiro over here.
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3241/2459483548_52cc7f5122.jpg?v=0)
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2030/2458652329_f80ed5d396.jpg?v=0)
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I look forward to meeting her.
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Ok, new rule: No pictures of anime girls in suggestive poses in any threads I'm likely to visit.
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I have to say, Persona 4 looks fucking amazing. Watching Julia play it is making me super jealous. They learned so many lessons from P3, that's really encouraging. Literally every last thing seems improved, even down to the camera angles and the way you explore the town. Great new features and all that rot too. Some things are a little... flamboyant for my tastes, shall we say, but on the whole even the art style is fantastic. I liked the cooler tones of P3 a little more on a personal level, but overall the game just looks sleek and beautiful. It's totally a show of how something can be technically uninteresting but artistically rich. It looks like a PS2 game, but it's a joy to watch in motion.
I wish I could play more of P3. I just haven't had enough time, and what time I have had has been dedicated to L4D...
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To be honest I'd say it's been improved in almost every way possible. Obviously it's subjective regarding things like the music and story, but the the technical design and stuff is much much better.
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Absolutely. Even little things like the menus are *vastly* improved.
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Just a bit of an update I guess since this game is consuming most of my spare time. I'm 86 hours in and in early November with all of my characters in their 70s (minus two who are just level 68). This game is awesome.
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So have you guys experienced any bugs? Julia got really pissed earlier because she couldn't get a quest. Basically, an NPC that was supposed to be there just disappeared and never came back, even though some other girl is standing there staring at the spot where she's supposed to be and is talking to the empty space. Searching around, I've found a couple instances where people had come across this and couldn't get full scores at the end of the game because they either couldn't get a quest or couldn't turn it in due to NPCs that vanished. Certainly not a huge deal as the quests aren't required stuff, but it really sucks bad for completionists.
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So have you guys experienced any bugs? Julia got really pissed earlier because she couldn't get a quest. Basically, an NPC that was supposed to be there just disappeared and never came back, even though some other girl is standing there staring at the spot where she's supposed to be and is talking to the empty space. Searching around, I've found a couple instances where people had come across this and couldn't get full scores at the end of the game because they either couldn't get a quest or couldn't turn it in due to NPCs that vanished. Certainly not a huge deal as the quests aren't required stuff, but it really sucks bad for completionists.
For which quest? You can give me the quest number to avoid spoilers. I'm curious though since I haven't run into any bugs and I have finished almost all of the quests except for about 7 of them I think.
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I think she said it was #12? I think?
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I think she said it was #12? I think?
That's the one where the girl is on the 2nd floor of the practice building and the same girl who gives you quest 7. Hmm, that's really weird that she would just disappear, I completed that one just fine. The only bugs I have heard of are on those small amount of botched copies where the game will not load at all, not weird NPC problems. I know sometimes certain NPCs will and will not show up when it rains but that shouldn't affect that NPC since she's inside.
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Yeah, and she said she's been missing consistently for over a week. And the other girl standing there acts like she should be there, or something, which is why we think it's a bug. I did run across one guy who mentioned this, and there's another thread I found where people can't figure out what spawns a girl that's supposed to start a particular social link (for some she's there, for some she's not... and sometimes she'll eventually show up, but nobody's confirmed why yet).
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Interesting. I haven`t run across anything like that as of yet. To be honest though, if I did miss a social link or something because of a bug I wouldn`t have any idea at this point. Now that I think of it, I`ve never seen Kanji at school....
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Now that I think of it, I`ve never seen Kanji at school....
He's in the practice building, 1st floor.
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Interesting, I'll check that out as soon as I clear up some s-links. I really like in this game how you can roll with a posse ten deep and still get points for them, but will they actually level up during those group hangouts?
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Interesting, I'll check that out as soon as I clear up some s-links. I really like in this game how you can roll with a posse ten deep and still get points for them, but will they actually level up during those group hangouts?
I never had them actually level up, but get that message saying that my social rank was going to go up soon with them.
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Yeah, okay. Same. I've actually fallen way behind in this game. I'm still just in the lull after the Void Quest dungeon. Fuck you school, work, and drinking.
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Well, I did it. I finally beat this game with a grand total of 110 hours. What an amazing game and story. I can't wait for another Persona game to be announced.
I won't go into any details about the ending, but I will tell anyone playing this game there are two VERY important days/events that effect the ending and based on some FAQs I looked at after I finished up, it looks like I got what is called the True ending. There is also a Good ending, which is very close to the True ending but a little bit of dialogue is not there and you miss out on a certain aspect of the story. There is also a Bad ending which is fairly easy to avoid. I ended up watching the Bad ending on YouTube and watching the Good ending on one of my save files. The True ending I got seems fairly straightforward to get, but I could see how someone could miss it and get the Good ending instead. I'll tell anyone who is interested how to get it without spoilers via PM, because the True ending is so much better than the other two and I'm glad I got it on my first playthrough.
I ended up getting all of my Social Links maxed except for 2, which I got up to Rank 9 (the two I got up to Rank 9 had a cut off date where I couldn't level them up anymore). I got 92% of the Personas and my main character was at level 92 with the rest of my characters in the 86 range and I annihilated the last boss.
So to anyone playing this game or planning on playing it, finish it!
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My bro and I dug out the PS2 from one of our storage closets and we started playing a whole buncha games again! I'm back to Okami (actually trying to finish it this time) and I found SMT Persona 4 at one of the little videogame shops for a steal! I got it for $5, so it may have been quite literally a steal. Just starting out with it and I'm finding it very funky!
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Roughly when does this game end? I'm kind of chipping away at it right now and am in early October. Somewhat close?
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The Persona fighting game topic really made me want to play this again so I dug this thread up. Man, if I only still had a PS2
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I would love to play this again sometime as well now that I have been watching the Persona 4 anime which has been great so far.
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Persona 4: Golden was on sale for Vita for $20 (this happens pretty much every second week) and I went for it. I'm glad I did - it's been since it first came out for me and feels fresh and fantastic.
The game is just so much more crisp and awesome on the Vita (higher res textures, better screen), and the gameplay really lends itself to the platform. There are some changes: New character (non playable), new social links, new ending, more activities to do, more areas, blah blah blah. Some of the best are subtle changes that just fix so much - you can now see every single fusion you're capable of when fusing on a single screen, among other little details.
Honestly, it's just awesome - haven't been able to put it down.
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Persona 4: Golden was on sale for Vita for $20 (this happens pretty much every second week) and I went for it. I'm glad I did - it's been since it first came out for me and feels fresh and fantastic.
The game is just so much more crisp and awesome on the Vita (higher res textures, better screen), and the gameplay really lends itself to the platform. There are some changes: New character (non playable), new social links, new ending, more activities to do, more areas, blah blah blah. Some of the best are subtle changes that just fix so much - you can now see every single fusion you're capable of when fusing on a single screen, among other little details.
Honestly, it's just awesome - haven't been able to put it down.
Oh yeah, it's great on the Vita! I feel bad I never brought it up before :P
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Persona 4: Golden released on Steam....with Denuvo:
https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/13/21279194/persona-4-golden-steam-pc-release
IGN Port Analysis on P4G PC version with Durante:
https://www.ign.com/articles/persona-4-golden-pc-port-analysis
Durante with a Steam-user Review on P4G PC version:
https://steamcommunity.com/id/duranteA/recommended/1113000/
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Persona 4: Golden PC sets a New Steam Record - Most Concurrent players playing in a Non-MMO JRPG on Steam:
https://www.vg247.com/2020/06/14/persona-4-golden-most-concurrent-players-steam/
Persona 4 Golden has already smashed the record for the most concurrently played JRPG on Steam – excluding MMOs – in the platform’s history.
The news originally appeared over on ResetEra, where a user shared current Persona 4 Golden analytics.
Apparently, Final Fantasy 15 previously held the record for most concurrent players in a non-MMO JRPG on Steam – according to Steam Charts, that was approximately 29,279 people.
At the time of the ResetEra post, Persona 4 Golden had 29,984 players – and the count keeps going up.
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I'm so tempted to buy this on Steam every time I see something about it. I played it both on the PS3 and the Vita twice. I think I only finished it once out of those three, which is just how I find these games go because they're so fucking long. I think I burnt out on the PS3 version and then the time I beat it on the Vita I got close to the end and just stopped for a year (same with both 3 and 5).
I'd love to get it again for PC and at least see it in high def but man, 100 hours is a lot of time.
I will say that this game was a lot more manageable on the Vita as you could just suspend between saves and I really hope the next Persona game has a save anywhere feature.
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For real. I don't have time or energy to play stuff the way I used to, and being able to suspend on Vita is a godsend. I've had the game asleep for weeks at a time sometimes when I was between saves but just couldn't finish something up.
Currently trying to sell my NA Vita copy since I have the JP version. No interest in the PC version, really. It does look nice, though!
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ORIGINAL POST - 06/29/2021:
So, I recently (i.e. last night) purchased this (Persona 4: Golden) for the PC. I have some thoughts on this legendary JRPG that is loved by fans & critics alike, after some say 4.2 hours in total here spent with it, so....let's begin.
A lot of games, they often take care one a certain thing, first and foremost: being a game. Often, games are more so built on game mechanics than actual focusing on storytelling, narrative, and character development. Well, enter Person 4: Golden here, as it definitely makes sure that storytelling, narrative, and character development is extremely important in this game. This game certainly takes its time with all of this stuff - and this is also for the best here, as it's great so far at all of this stuff. If this isn't enough, this game certainly takes its time to often develop all of this & litter the game with lots of details in this regard, too.
Then there's the voice-acting. A lot of the main story stuff is voice-acted here. While there is some stuff that isn't voice-acted here, it's often unimportant stuff period and/or NPC's who aren't main characters that isn't voice-acted, so this isn't a big deal and isn't even a matter at all. Also, what's here that is voice-acted is also great, for the most part.
Oh, and if this all isn't enough - there's plenty of world-building and Lore here, which will also keep the player immersed in the game & its actual world. Since the game is done on a daily schedule and in that matter, you will often be going around to the same places & areas often - you'll get to know the areas & learn the area, which will immerse the player into the place & give the player the feeling that they are also in a place that they can & will call home.
At 1080p on my old laptop (i7 4720HQ; 16 GB RAM; 4GB of GTX 960m; W10 x64), this game runs really well. At 60fps without any hitches & issues here, which is what's expected here as this game isn't really new or anything of that sort, this game runs just fine & flawless. Cranked-up to the max here and rendered at 200%, the game looks fine in the game-world. The character models have their own doll-like look & style, which is fine & nice. P4 (original) came out in 2008 and this Golden version hit the Vita in 2012, so I'm not expecting the moon here in technical graphics quality here - but what's here does look fine & probably is very much cleaned-up since its original release.
That isn't all, either. In conversation when in the game-world, the game has the character's head and its dialogue float-over part of the scene, all in its beautiful hand-drawn-looking style in all of its anime-style glory. If that also isn't enough, this game often has excellent full-blown anime-style sequences and cut-scenes, which also look great and make you feel like you're watching an episode of an anime TV show.
Combat is here is a turn-based affair, similar to that of older Final Fantasy games and even FF13. While I haven't run into a ton of dungeons and combat so far over the 4 hours of so of game-time here, what's here feels very old-school FF. You have a party, but so far...mainly you control your main character and the AI controls any other party members. You have attacks, items you can use, skills, and even Personas (i.e. Summons) that you can use for battles.
Combat here is often stylish in not just its look of combat & flashiness of it, but even in its UI and whatnot too; everything there is stylized and looks great - making even turn-based combat, which might not be everyone's cup of tea, even look like it could become your new cup of tea. Since there's constant bantering from your party members and Teddie (once Teddie watched over you), the game is constantly keeping things going, so that there is not a dead moment even during turn-based combat. Like most RPG's, you do have a weapon shop in town - so you can buy equipment, sell equipment, and the usual RPG stuff over there - so that you can be prepared for combat; and you'll also level-up from battles and from going into dungeons too.
So, here's the game's story so far: some people have been disappearing and some people have been murdered, as your new Guardian/father-figure is a detective trying to crack this case. You, as a High-Schooler in the year 2011, are trying to balance both school and solve these disappearances & murders, as you also get roped into this. This premise sounds like it's something right out of a modern "coming of age" high-school movie & noir-style murder-mystery, all thrown into a (somewhat) modern year & world of sorts. If this isn't enough - there's some cards of Fate being thrown around in a Tarot card style, a nightmare world/Shadow World, mirror-images of things, and whatnot - often feeling right out of some David Lynch movie or TV show and/or some horror movies. Of course, then you can throw a JRPG style game with turn-based combat on top of all of this...and you basically have Persona 4: Golden.
But, of course - that's certainly not everything, as I'm only 4 hours in or so; and this game often takes cliches, tropes, and whatnot - and then does something with them, whether expanding on them or doing something else with them. I don't know if this game opens up more & gets more free-form at times, at all, and/or whatever else. I don't know if these first few hours here are mostly tutorial and will stop a lot of the hand-holding and be more free-form. I don't know if there'll be more combat and/or grind, later on in the game...or not. I don't know who the killer is yet and why these people are disappearing - but I pretty much will guarantee you at some point, I want to find out & I'm going to find out all of this, at some point.
So far, this JRPG is great. Need to go play more.
ADDENDUM - 07-04-2021:
Almost some 20 hours into this...and I've certainly got a bit more to say about this game.
As if dealing w/ school isn't enough, you also have to spend time with your friends, so you can learn more Personas; level up friends' Personas; improve your skills w/ them and their skills; and a lot more. Besides being a School simulator; turn-based JRPG; part visual novel; and probably something else that I missed - this also feels like a Friend simulator. Not sure if this all will later turn into a Dating Simulator too - but you can also hang out with Friends in certain locations.
You can also get jobs and go to work too, to earn money. Besides sometimes getting an allowance, you'll also need money to buy equipment, items, books for studying & leveling-up skills & stats...and who knows what else.
So, after those first few hours - yes, the game does open-up a bit and feel a bit more free-form, in some ways. Though, you'll still have to often go to School and whatnot, but you also have Clubs you can join after-school too, which feels like something you'd deal with in real school. You can, for example, join the basketball club or soccer club (Sports clubs); and even some cultural clubs like music club or drama club - but you can only join one of each two types of club types (one sports club and one cultural club).
Often spending time with friends and whatnot, can help you gain Personas. And once you get further along, you can - and should - fuse Personas to quickly make stronger Personas, so that you can have multiple skills in one new persona & upgrade to stronger & more leveled-up Personas. You're certainly going to need these, for when you get into dungeons and get into combat.
Not only do you have to juggle your friendships, clubs, school, dungeon-battling, jobs and whatnot - but you have to juggle all of this on a Daily Schedule. All of the days of the week are here, so you have to juggle what to do & when to do certain things. Everything here is a typical Calendar year here, as there's Months here too. It's basically a real-life simulator in some ways here, too.
You can also change the game's Difficulty at anytime. There's a handful of Difficulty presets already - but you can Customize that even further, too. You can have more or less Damage Taken & Damage Given, for starters. When you die in a dungeon, you can also have it set that you Die in a Dungeon you can Restart the Floor Entirely, Restart A Battle, or even Restart The Entire Dungeon. Restarting A Battle doesn't feel like that entirely, as you basically just get revived in the middle of battle, which feels like this could be endless and a basic cheat code....just so you can push through a battle. Restarting A Floor, since these dungeons have multiple floors often, feels a bit more fair here, as you can just go back to the beginning of the floor and whatever you had for stats, equipment, HP, SP, etc etc. It's great to have this customizable for players, as it does ensure players who want to push the story forward - in which this story is great, BTW - can actually push the story forward and not get stuck in a rut & in a dungeon, since this game even on Normal can be difficult.
So far, I'm really enjoying this really unique JRPG a lot. So far, so great.