The feeling of finishing Persona 3 was almost the complete opposite of finishing Persona 4. When I finished my trip in Inaba, I felt nothing but joy, but when I finally destroyed Tartarus, I felt... sad!
And that felt surprisingly good!
Persona 3 seemed like a game on the verge of something incredible. It has all the right ingredients that would eventually make the franchise stunning, but its formula was still being worked upon, at the time.
But that's not to say that the game is bad! Because it's definitely not! While P3's gameplay may feel arcaic, the story and characters shines on the entire experience. The story does take A LONG time to actually develop and the pacing of progressing/leveling up does feel a little dull, but whenever something big happens, it floored me. Every character motivation is well written, dialogues are melancholic, they make you care about each person's tale, the protagonist has an actual interesting past in comparition to P4 and P5 and the ending... MY GOD, THAT ENDING IS PERFECT! Sad, sure... But superb.
I've also noticed that leveling up your social links in this game was simpler than the others. Side characters weren't as great as seen in future games, but they were nicely done, nonetheless. The soundtrack has fewer tracks, but they're VERY memorable and good to listen to. I am a sucker for every soundtrack that Shoji Meguro touches and this is no different. It perfectly captures the sorrow and urban distress of the game, making its atmosphere uneasy and unique.
As for the dungeon crawling aspect of P3, well... I don't like it too much. Fusing personas, managing the different and creative characters, exploiting weaknesses and making your party as tactical as possible is still fun and, honestly, the saving grace of P3's dated battle nuances - but DAMN, it is bland! - I didn't think this game was harder than P4, but leveling up here is A CHORE. The dungeons design sucks, enemy variety is a joke, traversing through Tartarus breaks the story's pacing and everything feels VERY slow. And the worst of all: Grinding might be boring, but it's a necessity. If your level is low when you're near a boss or mini-boss, than get your ass down to killing some shadows IMMEDIATELY!
ALSO, I WANT TO PERSONALLY PUNCH THE DUDE(S) THAT DECIDED TO TAKE AWAY THE POSSIBILITY OF CONTROLLING YOUR PARTY MEMBERS! FUCK THIS AND FUCK THAT A.I.!
It's sad that Tartarus sucks so bad, because that's the only negative thing I can think of. If it wasn't for Tartarus, even the story and character development would feel more natural and generally faster. I'm glad Atlus improved on their dungeons. Oh, one other thing, DO NOT play The Answer! It's unbalanced, ruins a perfect story and requires EVEN MORE GRIND!
While I wouldn't recommend P3 as your first Persona or JRPG, I'd definitely recommend to any fan of the franchise and genre. Especially if you crave a good, thoughtful, bleak story and atmosphere. It filled me with joy and then broke me. I loved it, despite its gameplay hindrances!
Memento Mori, everyone.
And that felt surprisingly good!
Persona 3 seemed like a game on the verge of something incredible. It has all the right ingredients that would eventually make the franchise stunning, but its formula was still being worked upon, at the time.
But that's not to say that the game is bad! Because it's definitely not! While P3's gameplay may feel arcaic, the story and characters shines on the entire experience. The story does take A LONG time to actually develop and the pacing of progressing/leveling up does feel a little dull, but whenever something big happens, it floored me. Every character motivation is well written, dialogues are melancholic, they make you care about each person's tale, the protagonist has an actual interesting past in comparition to P4 and P5 and the ending... MY GOD, THAT ENDING IS PERFECT! Sad, sure... But superb.
I've also noticed that leveling up your social links in this game was simpler than the others. Side characters weren't as great as seen in future games, but they were nicely done, nonetheless. The soundtrack has fewer tracks, but they're VERY memorable and good to listen to. I am a sucker for every soundtrack that Shoji Meguro touches and this is no different. It perfectly captures the sorrow and urban distress of the game, making its atmosphere uneasy and unique.
As for the dungeon crawling aspect of P3, well... I don't like it too much. Fusing personas, managing the different and creative characters, exploiting weaknesses and making your party as tactical as possible is still fun and, honestly, the saving grace of P3's dated battle nuances - but DAMN, it is bland! - I didn't think this game was harder than P4, but leveling up here is A CHORE. The dungeons design sucks, enemy variety is a joke, traversing through Tartarus breaks the story's pacing and everything feels VERY slow. And the worst of all: Grinding might be boring, but it's a necessity. If your level is low when you're near a boss or mini-boss, than get your ass down to killing some shadows IMMEDIATELY!
ALSO, I WANT TO PERSONALLY PUNCH THE DUDE(S) THAT DECIDED TO TAKE AWAY THE POSSIBILITY OF CONTROLLING YOUR PARTY MEMBERS! FUCK THIS AND FUCK THAT A.I.!
It's sad that Tartarus sucks so bad, because that's the only negative thing I can think of. If it wasn't for Tartarus, even the story and character development would feel more natural and generally faster. I'm glad Atlus improved on their dungeons. Oh, one other thing, DO NOT play The Answer! It's unbalanced, ruins a perfect story and requires EVEN MORE GRIND!
While I wouldn't recommend P3 as your first Persona or JRPG, I'd definitely recommend to any fan of the franchise and genre. Especially if you crave a good, thoughtful, bleak story and atmosphere. It filled me with joy and then broke me. I loved it, despite its gameplay hindrances!
Memento Mori, everyone.
3 Comments
That's my solution to most games with dull aspects like this. Or grinding, for example. But instead of podcast, it's usually just music haha
@guileffb
I guess I should have said good "audio" fodder, rather than "podcast" fodder, lol. Music, podcasts, lore videos, ambience, etc, it all really fits and serves a similar purpose.
I guess I should have said good "audio" fodder, rather than "podcast" fodder, lol. Music, podcasts, lore videos, ambience, etc, it all really fits and serves a similar purpose.
Nightmare_0mega
4 months ago