ll_Exile_ll

@SpunkyHePanda: I played the Journey on normal. Early on I did get lucky with those Hama/Mudo assholes either missing or going for my party members. Once the antique shop opened up, I always had plenty of homunculus on hand to avoid those deaths. As for avoiding unlucky hits, I always took the time to get player advantage and made sure the persona I had in to start the fight was as weakness free as possible. I was also usually pretty on top of having at least one persona in my deck with each resistance at all times.

@TooWalrus:

Thanks for the response. Even though I keep trying to convince myself not to play it because of a lot of the negative reactions around it (particularly people saying it ruins the story), the fact that there exists more story content that is 100% canon means I can't really stop myself from playing it, even if it isn't as good as the core game. I'll never understand people that try to pretend episodes/sequels/spin offs don't exist simply because they don't like them. Good or bad, I always want to experience the full story.

I will probably take a bit a break before I dive in, considering I just finished The Journey and wound up playing for 90+ hours over the course of 2 weeks and the notion of tacking another 30 hours of combat on right away is not very appealing.

Ok, I know there have been tons of threads over the years (which i have just searched through and read most of) about the Answer and whether or not it is worth playing, but I just finished Persona 3 for the first time and I'd like a fresh perspective, mostly regarding P4 Arena, as to whether I should play the Answer or skip it. So, here are my questions:

• Is the Answer addressed or acknowledged in the stories for Mitsuru, Akihiko, Aigis, and Elizabeth in Persona 4 Arena?
• It's been made clear that the Answer isn't very compelling from a gameplay perspective, but is the story that is there interesting or meaningful?
• Setting aside amount of combat and lack of gameplay variety, is the supposed enhanced combat much better than the main game? (For the record I found Persona 3 way too easy, my only death the entire game was against the Reaper in Block 1.)

Thanks in advance.

EDIT:

Well, since this thread got bumped for some reason, I guess I'll update the first post. I did decide to go ahead and play the answer, only a few days after I made this thread. I enjoyed a lot of the character stuff and I really felt like it was a logical and believable direction for most of the characters to go after the events to end the main game. As for the titular answer, it didn't seem as revelatory as I was expecting. Sure, the finer details were filled in, but I had already inferred most of the broader picture of what happened at the end of the main game. Even so, I still enjoyed what little story there was.

I liked the grind far less, as one would expect, but I was able to power through mostly thanks to old bomcasts, which I played one after the other during the 20 hours straight of grinding that makes up the majority of this content. After playing Persona 4 Arena shortly after, I was definitely glad I decided not to skip the Answer. It wasn't referenced a whole lot, but Elizabeth's story in particular was better for having played the Answer. So, while not nearly as good as the main game, I still enjoyed the answer, and I would like to the thank everyone in this thread that helped me make what I now feel was the right the decision.

Point Lookout and Lair of the Shadow Broker. Shivering Isles was pretty good too.

@laserbolts said:

They are great together in the middle of watching the P4 ER for the third time. Still think its nuts they did 100+ hour ER.

I'd be interested to see exactly how long the P4 ER actually was, like the time of all the episodes added together. I know their final in game time was 99:59 (which is amazing considering that game goes over 100), but there were also times they left the game idle when they were recording episodes back to back, so that could have padded the game clock. Also, there were times where they died, so obviously that time wasn't counted on the game clock.

What I am getting at here, is that I think some industrious duder should add all the episode times together and get the final running time.

@laserbolts:

But this is the second generation in a row they have done that. Sure, the Wii had motion controls, but the technical specs and online features were on par with or in some cases worse than the original xbox.

@KevinK: Why do you feel the need to make the distinction between PC gamers and console gamers. Someone's platform of choice shouldn't define them. Anyone who is really a fan of games plays good games no matter platform they are released on. I'm not going to turn my nose up at Halo or Uncharted simply because they are only available on consoles, and those that do are simply depriving themselves of great experiences. Now, obviously the PC versions of multiplat games will always be the best, but only having or being able to afford a console doesn't make someone a lesser gamer.

@Sooty said:

I don't think any game beats out Mass Effect on 360 for framerate issues, that game shouldn't have been released in that state. Slideshow galore.

It wasn't bad that often, but when it was bad it was terrible. At the least the issues were limited mostly to the Citadel, so it didn't really affect action. The only time I noticed frame rate issue during action was the Cerberus Scientists mission, and is sure was rough.

Not to excuse ME3, AC3, or Far Cry 3, but at this point in the life cycle of the consoles, these types of things are to be expected.

@Largo6661:

It depends if you want something current or something classic.

If you want something current, anything from Wadjet Eye Games would be a great a choice. My personal favorites from them are the Blackwell games.

If you're looking for something classic, 80s/90s Lucas Arts is where it's at. Full Throttle, Monkey Island, Sam and Max; you can't go wrong.

I have been much a fan of fighting games. I like Super Smash Bros and I occasionally enjoy playing Mortal Kombat with friends (locally only), but other than that I don't really much care for fighting games. I do, however, love both Persona 3 and 4, so the notion of continuing the story of those games is something I absolutely want to experience.

So, my questions are:

• Is the fighting system such that I could just button mash my way through the single player fights to experience the story?
• Is the story even worth playing a genre that I don't really care for?
• Would watching the story parts on youtube take away from the experience?

Thanks for the help.