Persona- BOSS

[Vivian_Bloom]

Elizabeth is coming to Inaba? Either she must be there for Izanagi's (aka the MC) help, or the local steaks. It's got to be the steaks.

P4: Arena is getting close! Does anyone know who they're going to main? I'll side with Labrys thanks to her theme song.

I-Is that Thanatos? ...She's broke already. I didn't think she was tied to just one Persona. Elizabeth basically fought you with the whole compendium in P3.

They still need playable Nanako, and Funky Afro Student DLC, on release day. Throw in Fox and his healing leaves too for a support character.

EDIT: What do you guys usually do around Halloween? We might be too old for Trick-or-Treatin', so, there's always haunted houses, right?

 

[MarbleZone]

Too bad I'm likely the worst person alive at playing this sort of game. Looks awesome if you know how to pull all the snazzy stuff.

 

[Niihyl]

Holy s***! It's Elizabeth! Wait... she's the Death Arcana? And she has Thanatos? What. Elizabeth was super-hardcore. But still not as hardcore as Hito-Shura.

There are three characters with Wheel of Fortune... that's Naoto, and I assume Labrys + Shadow Labrys. Ngh, August seems so far away... hope it releases for Vita though. BlazBlue did, after all. And I still need a Persona 5 announcement. But then again, there's an Atlus PSN sale now, so I can go and finally play Persona 1 (Revelations?)! Hooray! And maybe Persona 2 Innocent Sin, since the PSP version is apparently better than the original.

 

[Zincspider]

Eh, I'm not a fan of the Persona games before 3... the battle system was way to slow.

 

[Son_of_Shadows]

And I'm not really a fan of 3 because of tiredness and the inability to control your allies. I haven't played P3P though, is it different there?

I am god-awful at fighting games apart from Smash Bros. (and even then I'm iffy), so in all likelihood, I'll give the Arena a miss.

 

[Vivian_Bloom]

You do get direct control of your party. Now you can actually strategize and guard now!

Atlus is doing a Persona sale on PSN? Neat.

 

[MarbleZone]

I actually felt a lot more thinking was necessary in P3 because you didn't have full control and all you could set up were tactics. I mean, I know I can do the same in P4 if I want to, but not having an alternative at all made P3 more challenging.

 

[Niihyl]

P3P brings in P4's 'control your party' feature. Thank god, although it's not default, and apparently you can't make it default either. So before every fight you have to go into Tactics and change to 'Direct Control'.

Assuming direct control.

Also, you only get 'Tired' if you get KO'd and you don't revive by the end of battle. And there are cheap items that cure Tiredness, so you can pretty much grind forever now. You have to pay for healing, but it's a hell of a lot cheaper than that bastard fox. Actually, it makes the game kind of too easy now.

I love Super Smash Bros.! No quarter turns, z-motions, circles, charges... just direction B or direction A.

Ngh, have to reply to Golden and Sofiya madness. I need to think of a way to keep Mana in those ears for the rest of the day.

 

[InnerFlame]

Your characters do get tire but as VB said you can now control your characters. Though I tend to only do it when I fight bosses. I'm lazy don't like giving everyone a command. Also you a get a girl version!

Edit: What Nii-san, who ninja'd me, said is also true. I found it much easier than the original; without my friends throwing himself into death arms.

 

[Wordy]

But it is default. You only need to do it the first time. I went Direct Commands the whole game, and the only time I needed to change it back again from 'Do Anything' was after Orgia Mode or when a new party member joined for the first time. Also, the addition of a Defend command made P3P easier than it probably should have been. Combat wasn't balanced for me to be able to do that. Hermit boss was way easier when Yukari could just defend whenever after being abused for Mediarama.

But in any case, Nyx took forever. Jeez gurl/man, how long are you going to keep shifting Arcana for? And then the final stage was just resistant to everything and I was like NOOOO.

Shadow Labrys's familiar is the best thing ever:

Also, don't be too quick. P4A has been specifically designed for RPG fans coming in from the main Persona series as well as fans of fighting games, so it's very easy to get into! It doesn't have a high execution requirement and you can still enjoy yourself if you... aren't so good.

 

[Zincspider]

There was so much derp a few posts up, I'm glad it was cleared up.
But that's done and done.
Everyone may continue their daily Zinc Worship Hour.

 

[Niihyl]

Maybe mine's just screwed up? I have to change it to Direct Commands every. single. battle. On the bright side, FeMC (girl ver.) is much better, in my opinion, since you get Social Links will all the male members of SEES. Akihiko, Shinjiro, Ken, etc., they're all just as important as the girls, and definitely more important than random music club members.

~~

Derp? What derp?

All hail Zinc! May his name live on in glory forever.

 

[Zincspider]

Dammit Niihyl.
You were late by a single minute.
The Zinc Worship Hour starts at 5 and ends at 6.
Dummkopf.

 

[Ysavvryl]

I actually liked the lack of direct control in P3. It was different and interesting. I didn't find it too frustrating either (at least not frustrating as trying to max all social links in the original version... but most have you have heard that from me before).

Started playing FFXII recently myself (more AI allies! I think I find it endearing because I love Star Ocean 2 as well...). Watched the opening and thought 'This is like Star Wars plus FF2'. I'm still thinking that several hours into the game. At least it doesn't have FF2's wonky leveling system.

 

[InnerFlame]

Same here Ysa; it only made me mad when they did stupid things that got themselves killed; like fighting the last boss. Omigosh there a way to max all the social links!? [/joking... slightly] I've have fail to figure how to do it on my own. I'm not a good at organizing and know when to meet people and what's the right things to say (most of the time). I enjoy Persona 3 for the PS2 just the way it is, but that just my opinion.

 

[Son_of_Shadows]

Eh, that's probably just my personal taste, I like to have control. That's why I suck at The World Ends With You, I hate auto-play, but am very bad at controlling both screens at once.

 

[niedude]

Im among the ones who liked no control, since that increases immersion and makes things more interesting. I usually only put in direct Control in P4 when going against a difficult boss that requires a particular strategy that I can't convey with simple tactics (like the Lego Shadow, for example) or when I'm underleveled.

Though I hate that in P3 and P4 the team members you dont use dont level with you. Yeah, its logical and all that, but it means that after lvl 30 or 40 I have to resort to using the same team through all dungeons, because my other allies are dangerously underleveled and I cant bring myself to waste 2 hours training them. This problem happens to me everytime I reach the Naoto dungeon (looking at you, Chie, who only stays in my team if I need Galactic Punting.)

 

[TheSequelReturns]

As someone who has played both, I have to say that the original P3 was a lot more challenging. It made the tactics menu something you have to actually use. With the P4 battle system implemented in P3P, it just became too easy since the enemies themselves remained balanced for the original P3 system. I will say that I ran direct control all the way through P3P and P4 however.

Also @niedude, P3 and P4 have a neat little feature of their EXP system. The larger the level difference between a party member and an enemy, the larger of a multiplier the EXP gets multiplied by. So at the same level, its a x1. But if you're lover leveled than the enemy you get a boosted amount of EXP, while if you're higher leveled than the enemy, you earn less. Also, the less party members you have, the more EXP each member gets. The EXP it displays on the after-battle screen is simply the MC's personal share of the total EXP, which gets divided evenly between the party members then gets each members individual level multiplier applied.

In short, the bigger the level gap, the faster they'll catch up if you just slot them into your party. With dedicated training, you can have them up to speed pretty quickly.

@Ysa, I freaking love FFXII. My favorite of the whole series. I hope you enjoy it. ^^

 

[niedude]

As someone who has played both, I have to say that the original P3 was a lot more challenging. It made the tactics menu something you have to actually use. With the P4 battle system implemented in P3P, it just became too easy since the enemies themselves remained balanced for the original P3 system. I will say that I ran direct control all the way through P3P and P4 however.

Also @niedude, P3 and P4 have a neat little feature of their EXP system. The larger the level difference between a party member and an enemy, the larger of a multiplier the EXP gets multiplied by. So at the same level, its a x1. But if you're lover leveled than the enemy you get a boosted amount of EXP, while if you're higher leveled than the enemy, you earn less. Also, the less party members you have, the more EXP each member gets. The EXP it displays on the after-battle screen is simply the MC's personal share of the total EXP, which gets divided evenly between the party members then gets each members individual level multiplier applied.


In short, the bigger the level gap, the faster they'll catch up if you just slot them into your party. With dedicated training, you can have them up to speed pretty quickly.

I always did notice the level multiplier, but I didn't know that it scaled to the point you are suggesting. Its good to know, since I think this time around (Im going through new playthroughs on both P games) I think Ill be diversifying my team a lot more. Especially since I never got to use Ken and the dog in P3 that much, nor did I use Naoto barely at all in P4. (mostly because my first ever playthrough of P4 culminated in me finishing a P game for the first time with P4 Bad Ending. I also tried to have some immersion and cleared the Heaven dungeon in one single in game day... Meaning I didn't use any other team besides my standart Mc + Yusuke + Yukiki + Teddie/Chie)

@Ysa, I freaking love FFXII. My favorite of the whole series. I hope you enjoy it. ^^

I love FF12 too, its just a shame that the game's plot is so disinteresting.

I also wish the remake (forget the name) and its changes were implemented in the original. Controlling your summons and a less abusive leveling system would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Vivian_Bloom]

Anyone ever try a three-party run? I'm trying it for the next playthrough.

Bear-sona run? You can only choose two people to go with you through the dungeons/bosses.

Teddy and Yukiko all the way from start to finish might be possible. I'll use Chie until I get the bear.

Back OT: So, following the Phantom Of the Opera dude's lead (Joshua?), we don't have to be in costume for the party, right?
Back up costumes even crazier than what we got on now?! This would be a good time to change outfits, or...evening wear? Around when the dance starts. Hope everyone makes it back to the dorms.