This is somehow a more classic SMT experience than SMTV, it’s definitely not Persona despite the cast being very colorful.
It being a classic SMT means that the story took a backseat most of the time and you get more dungeon crawling goodness. So if you’re looking for a story-driven game, this ain’t it. It’s there, just sparsely spaced.
The story is that the world is going to end, so Aion, a super computer, created Ringo and Figue to save it. Ringo is the main character, and she will be accompanied by Arrow, Milady, and Saizo after saving each of them from death by Soul Hacking them. While Figue is more of a support character and the navigator that doesn’t fight, akin to Rise or Fuuka. You better get used to her voice, since she will be speaking A LOT in the dungeon, and I don’t think you can turn her off.
The story has some twists and turns toward the end, and it does get a little bit emotional by the end. Your party member also does have a pretty good development toward the end, but don’t expect it to be that complex. Ringo obviously has the most development, her being the main character.
As for the dungeon crawling, you either love it or hate it.
The dungeon in this game is huge and a literal maze, thankfully there are only a handful of them, but most of their designs are very uninspired, heck some of them are just a different dungeon but the same environment. There are 2 shipping crate dungeons and 3 or 4 subway dungeons (that’s very long). Some of the dungeons do have unique mechanics though. The worst dungeon is probably the last DLC dungeon, which is literally just a square for 15 floors, and then 16F to 20F are just a bunch of squares connected together by a short hallway.
No wait, the Soul Matrix is also very annoying, since it is just 15 floors of the same environment, but each floor is a very long maze with annoying teleporting mechanics in the later floor. Each floor also has a boss at the end of them. However, most of the Soul Matrix are technically optional, but I think you need to do them if you want the True Ending.
Thankfully there’s no random battle in this game, you can see the enemy on the map like SMTIV. You can slash at them and make them fall, except the big black enemy. Though your default running speed is very slow, and you only get the faster running speed on late game, or even 2nd playthrough.
For the difficulty. I played on Very Hard and just like most SMT games, it’s hard at the beginning and gradually becomes easier the longer you play, when you have more demons available at your disposal. Though some bosses are still pretty hard if you don’t prepare. The DLC super boss isn’t as hard as the other SMT super boss, but it requires a specific kind of party setup so it’s still annoying to beat. Not to mention it has a first form that’s laughably easy but you still have to beat it before you get to the second form which is the hard part, making retrying this fight annoying.
Lastly, the battle is very slow, at least compared to ATLUS latest game, Persona 5 or SMTV. This game copies Persona 5 style of battle UI, but none of the fast paced speed. If you’re fighting a lot of enemies, you will have to sit and do nothing as each of them cast their magic very slowly, you can speed it up by using auto battle on the enemy turn, but you have to do it before the enemy attack (get ready to turn it off on your turn). One pet peeves of mine is that the demon doesn’t appear when you use your skill unlike in Persona, they appear as silhouette and on Sabbath, but most likely you will skip the Sabbath because it’s the same stuff every time.
Overall, I still really like this game because I like the dungeon crawler. I just wish that they made your default running speed faster and made a more inspired and unique dungeon.
It being a classic SMT means that the story took a backseat most of the time and you get more dungeon crawling goodness. So if you’re looking for a story-driven game, this ain’t it. It’s there, just sparsely spaced.
The story is that the world is going to end, so Aion, a super computer, created Ringo and Figue to save it. Ringo is the main character, and she will be accompanied by Arrow, Milady, and Saizo after saving each of them from death by Soul Hacking them. While Figue is more of a support character and the navigator that doesn’t fight, akin to Rise or Fuuka. You better get used to her voice, since she will be speaking A LOT in the dungeon, and I don’t think you can turn her off.
The story has some twists and turns toward the end, and it does get a little bit emotional by the end. Your party member also does have a pretty good development toward the end, but don’t expect it to be that complex. Ringo obviously has the most development, her being the main character.
As for the dungeon crawling, you either love it or hate it.
The dungeon in this game is huge and a literal maze, thankfully there are only a handful of them, but most of their designs are very uninspired, heck some of them are just a different dungeon but the same environment. There are 2 shipping crate dungeons and 3 or 4 subway dungeons (that’s very long). Some of the dungeons do have unique mechanics though. The worst dungeon is probably the last DLC dungeon, which is literally just a square for 15 floors, and then 16F to 20F are just a bunch of squares connected together by a short hallway.
No wait, the Soul Matrix is also very annoying, since it is just 15 floors of the same environment, but each floor is a very long maze with annoying teleporting mechanics in the later floor. Each floor also has a boss at the end of them. However, most of the Soul Matrix are technically optional, but I think you need to do them if you want the True Ending.
Thankfully there’s no random battle in this game, you can see the enemy on the map like SMTIV. You can slash at them and make them fall, except the big black enemy. Though your default running speed is very slow, and you only get the faster running speed on late game, or even 2nd playthrough.
For the difficulty. I played on Very Hard and just like most SMT games, it’s hard at the beginning and gradually becomes easier the longer you play, when you have more demons available at your disposal. Though some bosses are still pretty hard if you don’t prepare. The DLC super boss isn’t as hard as the other SMT super boss, but it requires a specific kind of party setup so it’s still annoying to beat. Not to mention it has a first form that’s laughably easy but you still have to beat it before you get to the second form which is the hard part, making retrying this fight annoying.
Lastly, the battle is very slow, at least compared to ATLUS latest game, Persona 5 or SMTV. This game copies Persona 5 style of battle UI, but none of the fast paced speed. If you’re fighting a lot of enemies, you will have to sit and do nothing as each of them cast their magic very slowly, you can speed it up by using auto battle on the enemy turn, but you have to do it before the enemy attack (get ready to turn it off on your turn). One pet peeves of mine is that the demon doesn’t appear when you use your skill unlike in Persona, they appear as silhouette and on Sabbath, but most likely you will skip the Sabbath because it’s the same stuff every time.
Overall, I still really like this game because I like the dungeon crawler. I just wish that they made your default running speed faster and made a more inspired and unique dungeon.
16 Comments
I'm comparing it to modern Persona series mostly, the bonding is there just not as much as in Persona, but it's not as bare bone as SMTV. It's just that with the dungeon crawler nature of the game, unless you're skipping most fight (which I did by the end, because I got bored), the story to gameplay ratio is pretty far in my opinion.
My fault is that I didn't consider the fact that I'm playing on very hard, thus making the gameplay part longer than if you play on lower difficulty, my bad.
My fault is that I didn't consider the fact that I'm playing on very hard, thus making the gameplay part longer than if you play on lower difficulty, my bad.
p3 has a great gameplay to story ratio
I think so, but it's been a while since I played it last. I'm planning on getting the port later though.
“So if you’re looking for a story-driven game, this ain’t it. It’s there, just sparsely spaced.” is really misleading, most JRPGs are not Persona in terms of story to gameplay ratio. SH2 is definitely a story driven JRPG and if you look at most reviews the story and characters are the most praised aspect of the game.
@Ophelia: that is how I genuinely feel when playing SH2, I did say in my comment that it was my fault I didn't correlate it to me playing on Very Hard. I'm sorry about that, but it's still what I feel when I was playing. Most of my playtime is spent dungeon crawling instead of watching the story scenes, that's why I didn't call it story-driven.
I also now realize that I didn't mention questing in my review, that also contributes to the space between the main story scenes.
I feel like if they shorten the Soul Matrix and some of the main dungeon layout, I might call it story-driven then. But as the game now, it's mostly just dungeons and combat.
I also now realize that I didn't mention questing in my review, that also contributes to the space between the main story scenes.
I feel like if they shorten the Soul Matrix and some of the main dungeon layout, I might call it story-driven then. But as the game now, it's mostly just dungeons and combat.
Are you proposing a game has to be a pseudo visual novel where the majority of it is watching cutscenes to count as story driven? That’s not what story driven means. Most RPGs have side quests and long moments of gameplay but still have a strong focus on story and character development. If SH2 doesn’t count as that then most RPGs don’t and that just doesn’t feel right? The comparison to SMT doesn’t make sense either because SH2 has way more dialogue than them, I can try to count the lines it has if you really want me to for proving a point but that’d take a lot of digging.
It's just that SH2 story and character, in my opinion doesn't drive the game as much as the dungeon crawling aspect compared to some other JRPG. SH2 story just doesn't motivate me enough to keep playing it, especially when they gave you a super long dungeon before you get to the next story beat, by the time I get there I won't care as much.
I compare it to classic SMT because you mostly just explore dungeon there, which is what I mostly do in SH2. I think the exception to this is SMTIV and SMTIVA, those 2 are story-driven.
I compare it to classic SMT because you mostly just explore dungeon there, which is what I mostly do in SH2. I think the exception to this is SMTIV and SMTIVA, those 2 are story-driven.
Wait, I forgot to answer the question.
Yes, a little bit. It has to at least FEEL that it has more story than any other thing you do in the game, and this story and character need to be strong enough to balance out the long gameplay (if any).
Since you were bringing Trails, Sky 1 and 2 is definitely story-driven to me, it sometime has a long dungeon in between story but the story and character it has, makes up for it, while SH2 not. But Sky 3 is not, not really, because the game focus more on the dungeon crawling stuff, even if the characters are the same strong characters you know from the previous 2 games, and some of the story scenes can be pretty long. But I still feel that what you mostly do is dungeon crawl, and the time between each story beat is spaced sparsely enough to make me feel that way.
Yes, a little bit. It has to at least FEEL that it has more story than any other thing you do in the game, and this story and character need to be strong enough to balance out the long gameplay (if any).
Since you were bringing Trails, Sky 1 and 2 is definitely story-driven to me, it sometime has a long dungeon in between story but the story and character it has, makes up for it, while SH2 not. But Sky 3 is not, not really, because the game focus more on the dungeon crawling stuff, even if the characters are the same strong characters you know from the previous 2 games, and some of the story scenes can be pretty long. But I still feel that what you mostly do is dungeon crawl, and the time between each story beat is spaced sparsely enough to make me feel that way.
SH2 objectively has more narrative than SMT IV. It sounds more like you just don’t care much for SH2’s story but that doesn’t define whether it’s story driven or not.
huss be like the gameplay to story ratio of p3 is great even though nothing of note happens for 3/4 of it
@shu_watch you didnt get it, p3 clears every other persona game sadly (except maybe EP)
@shu_watch you unironically think p2 is good
@zarathusta problem?
Ophelia
1 year ago