The standout part of this game is the party, this is one of the best parties I've ever seen in an RPG. Every character is likeable, even Teddy. The tonal shift from the older personas helps in this regard, seeing as the slice-of-life foundation makes character dynamics much more natural and present throughout the game.
Plays very close to Persona 3, so if you've ever played that game you know how it is, and fusing personas also needs no introduction. I didn't like the structure of the TV World compared to Tartarus, though. Like it or not, Tartarus actually had a big feeling of progression, while the TV World feels finnicky and disjointed. I would say that I enjoy the fact that there are more artstyles now that we have 10 mini-dungeons, but only a few of them were standouts, like Heaven. Some of them were just really boring, and I never liked the gimmick stages.
The plot takes a backseat for most of the game, but that's one of the sacrifices you have to make when your game has to be 110 hours long and take place over each day in a whole year. Another sacrifice that they had to make, an even bigger one at that, is a lot of plot and setting flexibility had to be given up due to the fact that your characters have to go to school every day. You could never write a story like Persona 2 with these restrictions, and this bothers me quite a bit, though obviously they did a phenomenal job with these restrictions in mind.
All in all, Persona 2 is still my favorite, but this comes in second place because of the fantastic cast of party members and the Dojima + Nanako combo. I'm writing this review months after having completed the game and I still remember their names, so that means something!
Plays very close to Persona 3, so if you've ever played that game you know how it is, and fusing personas also needs no introduction. I didn't like the structure of the TV World compared to Tartarus, though. Like it or not, Tartarus actually had a big feeling of progression, while the TV World feels finnicky and disjointed. I would say that I enjoy the fact that there are more artstyles now that we have 10 mini-dungeons, but only a few of them were standouts, like Heaven. Some of them were just really boring, and I never liked the gimmick stages.
The plot takes a backseat for most of the game, but that's one of the sacrifices you have to make when your game has to be 110 hours long and take place over each day in a whole year. Another sacrifice that they had to make, an even bigger one at that, is a lot of plot and setting flexibility had to be given up due to the fact that your characters have to go to school every day. You could never write a story like Persona 2 with these restrictions, and this bothers me quite a bit, though obviously they did a phenomenal job with these restrictions in mind.
All in all, Persona 2 is still my favorite, but this comes in second place because of the fantastic cast of party members and the Dojima + Nanako combo. I'm writing this review months after having completed the game and I still remember their names, so that means something!