Well, to follow up on my previous blog post, I've now put the finishing touches on a Persona 3 run, though I have yet to tackle the FES expansion chapter. While I still love these games more than almost any I've played in the last couple years, I've probably hit my limit on how much I can keep going with this. While this is my opinion, after 200 hours of Atlus RPG in the last month, I'm running low on the ability to grind out levels like coffee beans.
Looking at Personas 3 and 4 side-by-side (which, in all honesty, they're practically the same game), I have to declare four the winner, hands down. Simply put, Atlus fixed almost everything that was busted in 3, and, more importantly, greatly improved on the storytelling dynamics. It might seem trivial, but the ability to press the square button to navigate the game world, taken by itself, makes 4 a much more playable game.
However, technical details aside, it is the story improvements that make Persona 4 such a success. For one, each of the team members is more developed and relatable. Perhaps more relevant is the fact that the silent protagonist in 4 actually seems to matter the NPCs. Simply put, in 4 your guy is "the guy," and as the leader everyone responds to him directly. In 3, I felt as though I barely existed to anyone until the tail end of the game. I don't know if the FES chapter will change this (all signs point to no, considering the end of the game), but this is something I felt was lacking. The biggest disconnect in Persona 3 occurred when you would Social link some awkward situation with a teammate, only to have them talking about current events in the lobby two seconds later.
I suppose there will be those who argue differently- 3 certainly wins in terms of difficulty and complexity, to be sure- but I really want to revisit Inaba before too long, more than I want to restart the semester at Gekkoukan High. In my last blog post, I mentioned that persona 4 was good in the fact that it didn't make you grind yourself insane; I can't say as much for the previous game. As Yahtzee might say, the game is "grindtastic" in a way I've not seen since the SNES era. And, because the FES chapter is supposed to be way more difficult, I do not forsee this situation improving as I move forward. It did not help that I completed an almost "perfect" first playthrough of the game- maxing out all social links, fusing ALL personae, and leveling to 100.
Record-breaking fatigue aside, I've got a new favorite RPG series, and unless Square gets moving on Final Fantasy XIII, it seems to be Atlus FTW... So, while I still have to find the "answer" to persona 3, I think I should take a step back and maybe shoot some stuff. After all, my CoD clan has probably filed a missing persons report by now...
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