I'm a big persona fan and its the only spin off game i have not played yet. My only problem is i'm not a big fan of the mapping in the Etrian Odyssey series. Would you say its worth getting for the fan service? I watched some videos and it seems like a really fun game story wise.

The mapping stuff isn't mandatory, but you miss out on some rewards if you ignore it, AND it makes your life a hell of a lot easier for making second trips into the dungeons for sidequests.

If you're into the fan service, then yes, it's a pretty good reason to pick up the game anyways and try to tough it out. But the game can get real hard, even on normal, so maybe bump it down one to easy.

Persona Q is much more an Etrian Odyssey game with Persona trappings than a Persona game with Etrian Odyssey trappings. There should be a demo iirc, so go check that out?

If you like seeing great characters condensed to the most basic, one-note caricatures of their original versions, then yeah it's great?

I'll likely just play on the easiest difficulty since i'm playing mostly for the storyline.

I don't think there is a demo for persona q, only for Etrian Odyssey games.

Well the game is considered pure fan fiction, but i can see why some fans are angry. They sort of remove the fact that character changed in Persona q and even dancing all night. Just so they could make some more money off your attachment.

@teddie said:

Yeah... As much as I'm also a carnivore that enjoys action movies...

If you want half-decent Persona fanservice it's okay, but honestly I don't think it's that great of a dungeon crawler, in contrast to the Etrian Odyssey games.

I didn't like it. The two games don't really mesh that well, especially if you like them on their own. I love Persona, and the way I play Persona certainly isn't viable in Q (Very weakness based. Exploiting weaknesses in Q doesn't guarantee a knockdown, nor does having all enemies down guarantee an all-out attack). I thought then that maybe I should buy the first Etrian game (I don't know WHY, given how much I wasn't into Q) and found that I was also really into that as well. The games just aren't compatible. If you like Etrian for it's almost pure gameplay focus, you're going to hate all the vignettes that is necessary in a Persona title, and if you like Persona you're going to hate how dumbed-down all the fleshed out characters are and the complete lack of anything consequential for experiencing those interactions (no Social Links).

Not really a big fan of Etrian Odyssey. I like some dungeon crawlers, but they need to have a good story to them. I found Etrian Odyssey lacking in that department and i don't like the gameplay on its own.

Yeah, if you want to see the casts of Persona 3 and Persona 4 interact, well... maybe look elsewhere, because these are just unflattering impersonations. Chie isn't some insane meat monster, okay??

You will probably not like this game. Even when I gave up and put it on easy and used a guide for the dungeons (they get super puzzly, which is a terrible combination with the high random encounter rate), it wound up taking me over 50 hours, and the story really only gets going in the last 10 or so. Mostly it's just the aforementioned fanservice where the characters say something, then select characters respond to the statement by playing up their stereotype.

If only I could draw...

I enjoyed my time with it back when it came out. I actually ended up playing through the entirety (of the P4 side) of the story.

The battle system's fun, and the map stuff isn't a big deal, especially if you have auto-mapping turned on. The story's alright and it's fun to see the cast interact at times, but I won't defend how they turn some characters (like Teddie, who is literally my favorite character between both casts) into one-dimensional caricatures of themselves.

Also, the puzzles in some of the later dungeons drove me insane since I'm terrible when it comes to puzzles.

Yeah, then maybe consider watching a LP or something instead of playing the game yourself. The parts where the P3 and P4 casts bounce off one another are alright (with the aforementioned caveat that some members of both casts have been reduced to one-note caricatures), but if you don't like the Etrian Odyssey gameplay on its own then you're going to be gritting your teeth through most of Persona Q. Even as someone who likes him some Etrian Odyssey, the later dungeons in PQ get really puzzle-y and drag in a way I found super obnoxious.

It's a great game and you should play it

Personas 3/4 and Etrian Oddysey 4 are easily my favorite RPG's since I was a little kid, and honestly even I burned out on Persona Q during only the second dungeon. The writing is bad, the characters are nothing like what I remember from their original games, the combat system is simple, and the sense of progression felt like a real slog.

I expected to come in here and say "nah", but it looks like everyone else has done that for me.

I like Etrian Odyssey. I like Persona. But I couldn't get into this game.

Play it for the soundtrack, at least.

I mean listen to this.

It's not as good of a dungeon crawler as actual Etrian Odyssey games, but it has a decent story, cool art style, and a great soundtrack going for it, plus the voice acting.

I liked the character designs a lot and the interactions were mostly pretty fun, but the combat and over-arching story never clicked with me. I think my love of Rise held my interest for about 30 hours, after which I gave it up. Soundtrack is A+ tho.

@clairvoyantvibrations: The soundtrack is pretty boss. And that one there is probably in my top 5 Persona tracks.