writing this immediately after finishing the game. i should have probably played this on the ps1 but the combat never really bothered me since my emulator came with speedup (if you play the psp version this is almost essential) which really helped my experience. the combat sucks, in comparison to persona 3+, and the game is extremely easy overall. i only had one boss fight that gave me trouble. its more akin to smt in that it centers around many small dungeons instead of one or many large ones, which i think the game benefits from.

maybe my expectations were too high going into it but i didnt connect with this game as much as i thought i would. the story is fucking batshit crazy but the ending saves it. really the ending saved this game from being a 7 and pushed it up to around an 8.5. some parts of the story my jaw was definitely glued to the floor and that includes the ending.

the characters are pretty good, but this game made me realize how the calendar and social link system reealllyyy fleshes out the characters to their best extent. while the story provided adequate character development and background for the main cast, the little moments in persona 3+ where the party is bantering and bickering really add to my connection with the characters in a way i hadn't realized. dont get me wrong the characters in this game are great, i just wish we had a chance to see more of them since most of the game revolves around dungeon crawling.

overall its a really good game, perhaps on par with 5 but i think 3 remains my favorite. maybe this review will change after i play eternal punishment. stay tuned