Well, back home for Thanksgiving break and time to get some long awaited R&R. Booted up Dragon Quest 7 from where I stopped last. I have a BIG pet peeve about stopping in a game and just picking it up again a few months later. I absolutely MUST start at the beginning. I don’t know why I do this, I just have this complex. Anyway, due to 7’s episodic type nature, I’ve let this starting over complex slide.

Currently, I’m at almost 20 hours in, which by the standard of this game is still relatively in the beginning. The first five hours of the game suck though and have absolutely no game play. They involve you going from the same 3 locations over and over. I tell you, out of Suikoden 5, Persona 4, and Persona 3. Dragon Quest 7 has one of the slowest beginnings I can recall off the top of my head. You really need patience to get through it. Also, be prepared for a long game, I say this because when DQ7 was released, it was advertised as having over a 100 hours of game play. Pretty ridiculous if you ask me because I usually just beat a game and maybe do a few side quests and that’s it. But it has like a village you can build, some kind of monster thing, a class building system, and a bunch of mini games. I probably won’t do most of this. But, who knows? Looking to get into the class system though. Why the hell does it appear so late in the game?

I must say that DQ7 sure is one of the most tedious JRPGs I have played just because of what you have to do to move on in the game. Like I mentioned earlier, it is rather episodic. You have to go around finding shards and then go to the past or something saving places of the world so they appear once again in the present. This is all fine and good but it sure gets annoying because that’s all it really is. It’s like one fetch quest after another. Not to mention you have to find these damned shards. If you miss one that you need to move on, you can’t do anything about it until you find it. What the hell? They really stressed exploration with this one to the point you need to explore towns and old dungeons twice. Once in the past and a second time when you restore it to the present. Like I said, tedious. Very repetitive game play here.

But, DW7 shines in terms of being true to classic game play. The graphics are horrid but capture that sprite flavor of the SNES, but even these 3D like sprites in 7 could have been a lot nicer for how long it took for the game to get made. The difficulty is very true to how I would imagine the older games to be like. It’s nothing like the DS ports which have just been a cakewalk. I’ve found myself having to grind occasionally because even fighting enemies I randomly encounter haven’t been enough on some bosses. The random encounters too can be tricky.

If you’re one of those players that likes to have the latest equipment for your characters, you might find it annoying how very rarely will you have the latest equipment in the beginning. It’s like the equipment have a price tag of 800 to 1000 gold while you’re still making chump change from random encounters. You’re better off not even grinding battles for the upgraded equipment anyway. I’ve fared pretty well so far from just things from chests and leveling. Besides, that +3 to STR from an Iron sword probably won’t make much of a difference down the road, and imagine all the time you wasted to get the gold for it. Not worth it.

I need to mention how for having horrid graphics, this is probably the first game to invoke a feeling of imagination. I can’t explain it. All I can say it’s like, “Whoa, they’re sprites and not detailed but these mini plots are serious business.” Maybe it’s because of the well written dialogue or pretty good localization it got? I dunno. I hate the fetch quest aspect of Dragon Quest 7, but the little plots to each land you save are actually kinda interesting occasionally. Makes you feel like you’re really a traveler because you have to go to each new land and save it. They’re not just their straight from the start. It’s a different kind of feeling than usual.

Other than these things, it’s pretty standard for a Dragon Quest game. Stale character development, crummy music, stale game play. I’d say that I’m enjoying it more that 4 and 5 though which are the only two other DQ games I have experience of playing. But it’s not as good as 8. 8 really set the bar for how a console Dragon Quest can get. I don’t know if I’ll be up for another Dragon Quest game after playing 7 but if I feel up for it, I’d surely go on to play 8. I’ve been hyped about playing it for a long time. I would have played it first but 7 has just been rusting in my game library unbeaten since its release in 2000.

Elizabeth from Persona 3 FES is now in stock in NZ!

Price: $140 NZD

Arrival Date: In Stock NOW!  -Last One-

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Please check the “Information” post for shipping costs and payment methods.

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PERSONA MUSIC LIVE DVD GET!

What a great day for Persona.. it’s Friday and…. cloudy outside. Okay, maybe the day isn’t so great, but the outside isn’t where it’s at today. Finally got around to finishing The Answer in Persona 3 FES, and what an epic ending that was. I kind of guessed some of the major plot points and twists before the game revealed them, but it definitely was a great ending nonetheless. All the questions I had about the ending of The Journey were definitely Answered. (haha, *gets shot for horrible pun*).

And just to make the day better, my copy of Persona Music Live DVD Limited Edition came this morning. Here are some pictures courtesy of my scanner. Uh… I lent my digital camera to my aunt, so I had to make do with the hardware I have >.>

There’s the front and the back with the cardboard slipcover on.

Front and back with slipcover off. The actual case is a nice translucent plastic. Very classy looking.

The DVD insert booklet is just a couple pages of pictures from the concert, credits, as well as some comments from Shoji Meguro (composer: P3, P3FES, P4), Yumi Kawamura (vocalist: P3, P3FES, PTS), Shihoko Hirata (vocalist: P4), and Lotus Juice (vocalist: P3, P3FES, PTS).

The Limited Edition bonus CD is a nice uniform black with diamond holes, whereas the DVD itself is blindingly white.
Please ignore the saran wrap.. I was thinking of a way I could easily pick up the discs from my scanner without scratching anything, and that’s the best idea I could think of in 10 seconds. OTL

There you have it. Persona Music Live! I’ll post screenshots of the actual DVD and my review a little bit later, once I have time to watch it. But for now, it’s past 3:30pm and I haven’t eaten lunch yet…. so hungry.

Oh, and if anybody was wondering, here are the tracklists for the CD and DVD.

CD Tracklist:
1- Battle For Everyone’s Soul (P3) [Instrumental]
2- Pursuing My True Self (P4) [Shihoko Hirata]
3- Burn My Dread (P3) [Yumi Kawamura]
4- Mass Destruction (P3) [Lotus Juice, Yumi Kawamura]

DVD Tracklist:
1- Battle For Everyone’s Soul (P3) [Instrumental]
2- Pursuing My True Self (P4) [Shihoko Hirata]
3- Signs of Love (P4) [Shihoko Hirata]
4- Heartbreak, Heartbreak (P4) [Shihoko Hirata]
5- Your Affection (P4) [Shihoko Hirata]
6- Unavoidable Battle (P3) [Instrumental]
7- Burn My Dread (P3) [Yumi Kawamura]
8- When The Moon’s Reaching Out Stars (P3) [Yumi Kawamura]
9- Want To Be Close (P3) [Yumi Kawamura]
10- Mellow Dream (PTS) [Yumi Kawamura]
11- Reverse the Destiny (PTS) [Lotus Juice]
12- Mass Destruction (P3) [Lotus Juice, Yumi Kawamura]
13- Deep Breath Deep Breath (P3) [Lotus Juice, Yumi Kawamura]
14- Breakin’ through (PTS) [Shuuhei Kita]
15- SUICIDES LOVE STORY (PTS) [Nana Kitade]
16- The Almighty (P4) [Instrumental]
17- Never More (P4) [Shihoko Hirata]
18- Heartful Cry (P3FES) [Instrumental]
19- Soul Drive (PTS) [Lotus Juice]
20- Burn My Dread -Last Battle- (P3) [Lotus Juice, Yumi Kawamura]
21- Heaven (P4) [Shihoko Hirata]
22- Found Me (PTS) [Yumi Kawamura]
23- Reach Out To The Truth (P4) [Shihoko Hirata]
24- Memories Of You (P3) [Yumi Kawamura]

These guys AGAIN?

It’s official. Atlus is milking the Persona franchise. I was so hyped about them polishing up Persona 1 on the PSP because that means they would maybe move on to Persona 2 next. You know, maybe give us English speakers a chance to see Part 1 of Persona 2. Well, that’s not going to happen I guess. Apparently they’ve just gone ahead and skipped 2 and moving on to a Persona 3 port on the PSP.

This is dumb. I would be more willing to buy it if it was released maybe more than 5 years ago and I had it beaten already. It’s getting released on November 1st in Japan too. Pretty fast release if you ask me.

The added content doesn’t seem to be anything really worth getting hyped over yet. A female protagonist you can play!? OMG! I wonder if they’re going to call this Persona 3: For Girls. The Magic Box says there will be added music, social links, game play tweaks that were used in Persona 4. Eh, I’ll just wait till more information comes out about it before I get super excited.

Source: RPGamer
The Magic Box

I recently stumbled upon the hilarious Persona 3 videos where someone drew pictures to go with one of the Persona 3 Drama CDs. They’re really nicely drawn and there are more then the one I’ve posted. You can find them on Youtube. Anyway, I like the original voices to Persona 3. They fit perfectly as always. These particalur videos I can understand the general meaning but man I can’t pick out some of the things. So while listening it hit me that drama CDs exist. I always ignored them because all they are is dialogue. None of which I could understand but now I can understand some of it and I’m looking to improve my listening comprehension skills. I think this might be the kind of thing that I’m looking for. Since I can never seem to get the will to watch unsubbed anime but this is like unsubbed anime but no pictures and listening. I guess I’ll just try it out from now on and see where that goes.

I should probably look into Japanese podcasts too. I’m sure I’ll have my hands full this final semester of college doing these gen ed classes. So if I can study Japanese passively I’m cool with that. Well, in before people criticize my study methods and saying bullshit like, “You can’t make that stuff out? That’s SOOooooOOO easy though!” Fuck you guys. It’s a language. Get off your high horse.

P.S I came every time Aigis ends with de arimasu.

Então, esse blog não era para virar um blog de humor como o La Firma Lol e Ñ.intendo, mas  como ultimamente eu só estava vendo besteirol na internet e jogando RPG com minhas amigas, não estava postando muita coisa nem pesquisando para fazer um post sobre Jogos, que era o que eu pretendia fazer no começo.

Também não venho jogando nada que não seja Persona 3 FES, então não tenho nenhuma novidade. Bem, tem novidades, mas eu estou evitando de postar coisas sobre o FES para que a minha amiga não ganhe spoilers do jogo, já que ela ainda não jogou, assim como ela não está me dando spoilers do Persona 4. =3

Uma coisa que também seria novidade seria que eu terminei o Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII, mas provavelmente muitas pessoas já jogaram esse jogo e já terminaram, então se eu viesse falar, eu acabaria falando do que o jogo me passou, mas como já fazia um tempo que tinha jogado, eu provavelmente não lembro tão bem. LOGO, irei jogar de novo para poder comentar \o\ hahaha

E logo eu estarei viajando para São Paulo, para o evento AnimeFriends onde venderei Adesivos e Fanzine com a minha amiga Giovana pela nossa lojinha, a Kupo Inc, então não ando pensando em muita coisa alem disso e provavelmente ficarei uma semana sem postar nada (novidade xD).

Em suma, eu não ando pensando muito em postagem de materias ou reviews de Jogos/Animes por enquanto. Quem sabe daqui a algum tempo.

Por enquanto, fiquem com as besteiras que eu acho na net xDDD

Ah, hoje eu vi os action figures de Final Fantasy 7 *Pausa dramatica* ifhosiufohmsoiucfhsoi *keyboard smash* EU QUERO A YUFFIE E O VINCENT BUÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁ~

Comprarei na AF, se estiverem mais baratos @____@ *torce*

Ultimamente ando com uma vontade louca de jogar alguns jogos que eu já terminei. O principal é o jogo Odin Sphere, um jogo que conta a história de 5 protagonistas e tem raízes na mitologia Nórdica. O jogo em si é 2D e o seu cenário lembra muito um quadro, uma pintura feita a mão.

Protagonistas de Odin Sphere

Alem de Odin Sphere, jogo o qual eu poderia passar dias falando, e provavelmente vou num futuro próximo, eu queria jogar Persona 4(P4). Esse eu ainda não joguei, mas minha amiga está jogando e isso está me dando muita vontade de jogar, já que o anterior, Persona 3(P3) é o meu xodó s2.

Persona 4

Mas eu não estou jogando P4 ou Odin Sphere por que eu tenho (e quero) terminar a versão estendida de P3, Persona 3 FES (FES, estando para Festival). Porem ultimamente eu ando com uma preguiça de jogá-lo… xD

Persona 3 FES

Todos os 3 jogos são bons a sua maneira. E eu gosto deles todos, e se eu pudesse, jogaria todos ao mesmo tempo, mas como só tenho um PS2 =/… xD

Tirando a parte de jogos de Console, ontem minha amiga falou sobre um jogo online: Bomberman Online!

Bomberman

Esse jogo não é um MMO oficial, mas sim feito por fãs (isso da para perceber assim que você entra no site deles). Pra mim, esse MMO parece um pouco um mod de Pangya+Bomberman World de PS1, mas mesmo assim eu achei legal, principalmente por que é bem mais divertido jogar Bomberman de galera do que sozinho =D. O unico problema é que se você quiser fazer outras coisas no pc alem de jogar o MMO, você vai ter que ficar entrando e saindo do jogo, já que ele não deixa você sair com Alt+Tab.

Bem, acho que é só isso =3.

Divirtam-se!

I’m so glad my brother bought Persona 4 for me as a coming home gift from Japan because I doubted I wouldn’t be able to play this for some time. I even got the visual data book that comes with it. So popping the game in I was really surprised with the level of detail Persona 4 has. Yeah, the graphics are nearly the same as 3 but it seems more detailed and refined kinda like the jump from Persona 1 to Persona 2 on the Playstation.

Persona 4 takes a turn in the right direction by going back to its roots plot wise. Mixing murder, intrigue, mystery and the supernatural in a modern present day setting. Honestly, Persona 3 is a good game, which I have yet to beat, but it was really lacking a lot of things that I think make the Persona series what it is. So great to hear talk about murder, and all that jazz again. Still Persona 4 seems a lot less bloody than Persona 2, but hey it is just the beginning of the game. Not to mention some of the things that are just said during the game are just as creepy like getting hung from a TV antenna and what not. So, I guess it is all about the implied violence.

I’m not really sure what to say about the characters. Unlike Persona 3, I’m not finding it so easy to like the characters right away. I found myself instantly liking the protagonist, Yukari, Junpei, Mitsuki and the gang right away, but these characters in Persona 4 are just a little iffy. I mean, they’re okay but I’m not getting very attached. Although, I like Yukiko, but that was a given from the start.

Shoji Meguro does an excellent score as always. I love his mix of rock, jazz, rap, RnB, electronica and such into everything he does. It’s very unique and catchy. He is definitely one of my favorite JRPG composers of late.

Atlus USA did an excellent job with the localization. It’s like they know exactly what the fans want with their English version. I found myself laughing a bunch of times over the dialogue so good job. Yes, sure I will say the honorifics and random Japanese inserts are a little weird but it is important I guess seeing how this is a Japanese game and some of it is essential for understanding things. The voice acting is give or take. I say this time and time again that I have no real experience with the anime/game dub scene much anymore but I would say that I guess this is pretty good for English standards. So far I haven’t really found any weird or out of line voices. I had heard Teddie’s voice from a video I watched on Youtube and found it horrid but actually playing the game it’s tolerable. I will say that I wish I could hear Rie Kugimiya as Rise though.

Now, this is the bad part. Gamplay where? This reminds me of the first few hours of Suikoden 5. What is it with JRPGs today with their long intros filled with hours of text/movies and almost zero gameplay. I had read Persona 4 was a more story driven game but this is ridiculous. I’d think after 5 hours of game play there would be at least some game play for maybe an hour or so. Still haven’t found anything about longer than 5 or 10 minutes.

Well, reading Persona 4 is some what enjoyable but it can really get boring after a while just text box after text box, but it does seem like it has some interesting concepts once the game really begins. The battles seem more polished from what I can see from the battles I fought. All 2 of them. Looking forward to delving more into these game elements when they becomes available.

ESta vez pondre otro “top” de mis temas de batalla preferidos, solo son los de las batallas normales, asi que nada de peleas de jefes o peleas finales, esas seran para otra entrada XD

Chrono trigger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHbF4t5Unrs
Me gusta mucho el trabajo de Yasunori Mitsuda, esta cancion va exageradamente acorde con el contexto del juego, es energetica y creo que es de esos clasicos instantaneos

Xenogears
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX5fRPBOtRg
probablemente el OST de xenogears es el mejor trabajo de mitsuda, este es el tema de las batallas normales, con los personajes, creo que tiene ese aire de solemnidad que rodea a todas las areas del juego, no es alarmista pero te impulsa a seguir echandole ganas

SMT: Digital Devil saga
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO5HL9×8gYQ
Este tal vez sea mi tema de batalla favorito de toodos, realmente me da la impresion de que ilustra el hecho de que ellos estan diseñados para pelear y que disfrutan haciendolo. Es marcadamente una pieza de rock, y creo que es completamente adecuada y disfrutable

Shadow Hearts Covenant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p_SFBS-UCc
Me encanta este OST completo, me encanta la experimentacion y la mezcla de sonidos, remarca mucho el sentimiento de misticismo del juego, es “caoticamente armonioso”. Un poco de electronica, un poco clasico, un poco vocal y tienes una excelente pieza ^__^

Xenosaga episode III
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ekfod1ut2X0
Si, no voy a negar que me hizo enojar muchisimo que mitsuda no regresara para el episodio II, y que la musica “in game” de ese episodio fuera malisima, pero las composiciones de Yuki no estaban del todo mal, creo que fue una gran decision que ella hiciera el OST completo para el epIII, esta cancion refleja ese sentimiento de estar cerca del final. Es algo calmada para ser un tema de batalla, pero tiene algo de tension e incertidumbre.

Final Fantasy IX
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MisQqT1IWIU
Esta es para mi una de las mejores obras de Mr. Uematsu, tiene ciertos toques de las versiones anteriores y me gusta bastante el hecho de que tiene ciertos altibajos en la melodia, como si ilustrara que no todo en las peleas puede ser miel sobre hojuelas

Wild Arms 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ABk6TdzoKo
Esta tambien tiene partes de las canciones anteriores de la serie, la musica en Wild Arms siempre ha sido uno de sus mejores elementos, todavia no juego el 5, pero este tema creo que esta muy apegado al concepto de la serie, es algo nostalgica y me gusta como progresa el ritmo y se mantiene.

Persona 3 FES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKy–iCDUNM
Repetire la sabia frase que me dijo mi novio cuando empezo a jugar P3 ” no se si tengo matar a los shadows o bailar con ellos ” el nuevo aire de persona usa musica tan bailable, tan pegajosa que no parece musica de batalla, pero es bastante agradable escucharla ^_^, la version de FES me parece que balancea un poco mejor las partes vocales y las instrumentales, ademas la inclusion de trompetas al inicio es un cambio muy bueno al original “baby!baby!baby!baby!baby!baby!baby!baby!baby!baby!baby!baby!baby!”

Esas son todas por el momento, ralmente podria hacer una lista algo larga, pero esas son mis favoritas, aun sigo pensando en que juego reseñar para mi siguiente entrada U_U

Baru-baru ini aku namatin game super keren, that’s Persona 3 FES.

1st time main ni game seneng bgt dhe. Mulai gameplaynya yg ok punya, apalagi sistem social link yang membedakan game ini dgn typical RPG lainnya. Beside, music2 soundtracknya juga TOP banget dhe. Tapi yg paling menunjang dari game ini tentu aja storyline nya yang bener2 apik.

Anyone have already finish this game? Kalo ada aku pgin banget ngomongin game keren ini ^^

Kalo belum, I highly recommend this game. Very worthed to try.

Here’s the pic

Persona 3

Now on HLJ it says this is a 1/7th scale figure, she seems too small to be 1/7th, I’d say 1/8th, I even calculated it, 162cm(the real height) divded by 20cm(figure height), which is 8.1. Making it 1/8th scale. It only says 1/7th on HLJ though, not on the box… I’m needlessly obsessing over this lol. Right. Stopped. She’s made from a combo of ABS and PVC, feels like its more ABS that PVC frankly, lighter thats for sure, but stronger.

I tried lighting it more, but as it turned out, looked better without the extra light.

There are a total of 5 extra parts, 2 hands, 2 magazines and 1 armband. I think I prefer her without the extra’s, maybe the magazines, but not the gun-fingers.

I like that you can move bits. The head especially, means you can display at different angles. Her eyes are slightly annoying because they’re not looking straight ahead, so if you have her head straight ahead, with the rest of her body, it looks a little strange.

She is a lovely figure, great workmanship, paintwork, sculpt etc. I know some will prefer the Alter version, which does look cool. But I think I prefer the face of this one. The hair on the Alter looks better, the Koto’s hair is flatter, but I don’t mind so much. The Alter would also take up more room on a shelf. lol

It was released back in August of 2007, the box was correct. Retailed at 5800 yen, I got it for £12.99 though. It’s the cheapest I’ve seen her for. Seconded cheapest is £22.99. Lovely figure, lovely Koto figure. The background I used was the one from the box. First time I’ve used the box background for a shoot lol.

Thats all for now! I would like an early night… but I can sleep in tomorrow, so theres very little point lol… So up till at least 1am :woop:

Today I got a suprise parcel. I didn’t expect a parcel, was expecting a book(Harvest Moon IOH guide). So when I went to get my package, I got a fairly large box instead of a padded jiffy-bag envelope.

Wassindabox?

I mail ordered a few things early January, didn’t expect it this soon. Only reason I mail ordered instead of doing it via the online shop was the price of the items. I got sent the post-xmas sale catalogue which had some great stuff in it. Though I only ordered 3 things… A Koto Aegis figure which I got for £12.99, going for £22.99 on the site, the Elizabeth Swan Aztec Gold Coin replica necklace for £4.99, on the site for about £7(rrp is like…£18 lol) I think… and a Heroes keyring, the gene-style  logo for £1.99, as opposed to £5.

Weirdest figure box I've ever opened... side opening.

The base is really quite clever. Its a box, with compartments to store the extra pieces of Aegis in.

She looks lovely. Doesn't say 1/8th scale, but I did the math, and she is. Real height 162cm, figure height 20cm. So 1/8 is pretty much about right.

The shading on her is lovely. She’s really nicely made. Released in August 2007 going by the back of the box. She has a second pair of hands, 2 bits that look like boosters to put on the side of the wrists. You also get an armband too, like Haruhi wears. Something else nice about this figure is, you can move her arms, just at the shoulders, forward and back movement, no in and out. But its nice, I like having both arms back a bit, her head moves too. They’re the only movable parts mind, don’t get any ideas about the legs lol. It’s a fairly plain pose, but nice. Not overstated. Alot of the seams are hidden nicely by the seams in her clothing. Being a kind of steampunk-looking-robot. Looks great, paintwork is pretty much spot on, no mistakes or sloppy workmanship to be seen. Only thing I worry about are the top of the arms, the majority of the arm is only connected to the top-shoulder joint by a piece of plastic much thinner than the actual arm. They seem sturdy enough though.

Getting this figure finally makes me wanna start playing Persona 3 Fes again…. but I just don’t have the time. :sob: I was almost at the part where Aegis is actually introduced…

Armored up Aegis! Click to go to the Moe Imouto page with the high res.

Nice fanart of Aegis. The hands shown in the pic come with the figure, same for the things on her wrists, ammo I guess lol.

Love replica's. They had Mal's gun in the catalogue too.. but it cost £70 lol. The Doctor's pocket watch is out/coming out soon too...expensive though.

Lovely lovely movie replica. Wearing it right now. It’s reassuringly weighty, not all light and cheap feeling. I spose the rrp retail price was about £18 when it was first out… So it should be good quality.

This is the last of my post-christmas ordering fandango, I promise. There shouldn’t be anymore suprise packages…

Title: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES

Genre: JRPG

Format: Playstation 2

Release: April 2007 (Japan) April 2008 (North America) October 2008 (Europe)

First of all, this review isn’t going to be in the usual format. It’ll still be a review, but I want to try a different style. The older one felt a bit rigid and I felt rather restricted in what I could say since I had to talk about a particular aspect. This is hard if I don’t have much to say, and it’s the reason I don’t do reviews as often as I thought I would. For an idea of what to expect, read my Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann review.

Starting Out

One day on MSN Messenger, hybridial and I were talking about Shin Megami Tensei, or rather, he was explaining why it’s such a great series. It just so happened that a Shin Megami Tensei (which I will call Megaten from now on) spinoff was going to be released soon. After reading up about it, it seemed rather cool and the first JRPG that made me interested in it. So I picked it up from Play.com.

I got playing as soon as it arrived, feeling oddly giddy. Perhaps it was because it was my first time being so interested in a JRPG, which as a genre has been something I stayed away from due to preferences and Square-Enix whoring themselves out to whatever is popular nowadays. Starting up the disc is awesome on its own. The pop-rap infusions of Persona 3 FES and Burn My Dread greeted me in the opening videos. The music that plays during the “Press Start” screen, Brand New Days ~The Beginning~ is the most beautiful piece of melancholic peaceful happiness (oxymoron, I know) I’ve had the pleasure of listening to. After all that great stuff, I finally got to start the game. I was able to choose between The Journey and The Answer, which is the extra game added onto the original; hence the name FES. Seeing as it was my first time playing this game, I chose The Journey.

Welcome to Gekkoukan High

From the game’s rather lengthy introduction, I instantly gathered that Persona 3 FES is aimed at the anime audience. The cut-scenes are done in an anime style, but not in the typical bug-eyed moe way. Also, the dub still used the Japanese honourifics, which is fine for me. As always I was a silent and very nearly mute main character. I still don’t understand why creators don’t give the VA for a main character in games more lines. You’re not alone, Link. After the usualy character and environment introductions, I was able to get on with some good ol’ battles.

The interesting thing about battles in P3 FES is the way the player can choose to attack or not and the way to attack. To attack an enemy, you just push X. However, attacking from behind gives the player an advantage over the enemy, so the entire team gets an extra turn, which is very handy later on in the game when some battles can get brutal. However, enemies can do this too. If an enemy catches you off guard, you’ll be in for a world of pain. I found it very frustrating to be on the receiving end of suck attacks, especially when the enemies would spam attacks that would Charm my team.

Let’s Climb Tartarus

“Tartarus? What’s that? Sounds like toothpaste!” - Junpei Iori

The main objective of the game is to climb a tower called Tartarus, which is a insanely high tower that appears during the Dark Hour (an hour that exists between two separate days that can only be experienced by a few people), and to defeat the enemies that dwell within the tower and threaten to take over the world, Shadows.

In order to fight them, the team uses their Persona (kind of a physical representation of their soul or inner self). These are called upon by the use of their Evokers. These are instruments that look like handguns, which are used by the user pointing the gun at their own head and pulling the trigger. Quite effective imagery to show the confronting of fears. Also, each person only has one person. Each, except for the main character that is. He has the ability to use multiple Personas. What that means is he can change Persona during the middle of battle, and he can fuse Personas together to create new ones. Be warned, there’s loads. After 70 hours of playing it, I only got about 47% of all the possible Personas to create.

Let’s Be Friends!

A new feature added to the game from the original Persona 3 is the ability to form Social Links. I found this to be quite a fun aspect to the game, and it was refreshing to take a break from battle and just chill. However the main point of Social Links is to increase the power (i.e. give more EXP) of a Persona that has the same Arcana type as the Social Link when it is created by fusion of other Persona. For example, the Emperor Arcana Social Link gives power to any Persona of the Emperor Arcana. A Social Link’s strength (the other person’s feelings towards you) is increased by spending time with them, and this determines how much power is given to a newly fused Persona. Each Social Link has 10 levels. Reaching level 10 allows creation of the most powerful Persona in each Arcana. Essentially, you’re recreating gods from various religions; mostly the Norse religion.

However, not seeing a person will make them start to dislike you, and this will cause the Social Link to go into reverse, which means you can’t level up that Social Link until you make amends. Remember, guys; you can’t cheat on your video game girlfriend anymore! If only making amends in real life was so simple.

At The End

So, after about 70 hours gameplay I finally finished it. Persona 3 is very close to being my most played game, and I’ve only played it once. The only games that can top it are Smash Bros Melee, Mario Kart 64, Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time and Perfect Dark. I’m planning to play it again with some added bonuses, like keeping the level I had at the end of the previous playthrough and some of the weapons.

Anyway, Persona 3 FES is one of my favourite games. Even though I have played JRPGs before, this game is my first introduction into real JRPGs. Regardless, Persona 3 FES is a fine game. Anyone with a PS2 should play it.

I’ll review The Answer, which is another game that’s on the disc, at a later date.

I’ve finally got round to spending some real time playing Persona 3 Fes. And I’m really enjoying it. All aspects of it. The battles, the sim, the dating sim part. So far I’ve got no female friends apart from the little girl, Maika. Which sucks! Because I’ve got a book cover that I wanna give someone! lol

(Click the image to go to Moe Imouto to get the fullsize version, will be the same for the rest.)

I’ve love to get Yukari…but I’ve got next to no clue how to woo the girls in this lol. It was easy in Harvest Moon lol. Chocolate, eggs and flowers worked just fine. I know quite a few people have played this, and I’m quite a late comer to the series. I only chose to buy it because someone said it was quite visual-novelesque in certain parts. Which tempted me… I called my character Kyle Kuroyama. Kuroyama is the Japanese name I’ve chosen to use for most things, and Kyle is the one I always use to Harvest Moon games, and male characters in games where I have to choose names. I was gonna spell it Kaioru as the phonetic katakana spelling of Kyle.

Click to the Moe Imouto image page.

I’m not sure how often I’m supposed to battle… I’ve been trying for every 2 days. Because if one of my team gets tired, I need to rest them, so having a lazy day works well. And I beat the first boss just fine. And I’m *almost* to the top of the first block…but I’ve missed a few deadlines…

I’m now gonna go play it for a bit… after this episode of Ally McBeal has finished. lol. I’ve got a New Years Sleepover to attend this evening too. I’ll be off for 7:30.

Click to go to the Moe Imouto image page.

The Shin Megami games have always been appealing to me -  I love a good horror story and these have always stood out to me as the video game equivalent of a good, scary, story (which isn’t to say there aren’t a couple of themes I could do without) wrapped up with impressive RPG game play mechanics.  And while I’ve only had a limited amount of time with any one of the games, I’ve came away from each of those experiences genuinely impressed with most of what I had played.  Well, a few weeks ago I  finally managed to track down a nice copy of the once rare Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne (PS2) and I had heard an awful lot about how good Atlus’ Persona 3 (PS2) was by RPG enthusiasts so I had that in the back of my head  to track down as well.  Fortune must have been smiling upon me because after purchasing a game for my girlfriend’s birthday online recently, I received $30 dollars in incentives to purchase other games at the same retailer.   Just the opportunity I needed to jump in and see what all the Persona fuss was about.  Using that special offer I was actually able to pick up the expanded version (Persona 3: FES) for ~ $18 dollars, and what’s more I was able to apply the rest to an already reduced offer on a Persona 4 (PS2) pre-order and was able to get that game for ~ $15 dollars when all was said and done.

Long story short, I ended up getting both of these critically acclaimed games almost free, and now that both have arrived I can safely say that it was one of the best entertainment decisions I’ve made all year.  These game drip with personality.  I’m only ~ 3 1/2 hours into P3: FES but after puttering around and getting the feeling of things its already proven to be an ultra-addictive game that I’m having to force myself to put down in order to get to other things around the house.  The story surrounds a small group of high school students with the ability to tap inner “personas” that they use to help fight deadly “shadows” during the “dark hour.”  This dangerous hour begins each evening at the stroke of midnight while, unbeknownst to them, most people are sleeping (in a manner of speaking) as the shadows prey on those unable to protect themselves.  Thus, a secret group of unique individuals band together as S.E.E.S., the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad in order to defeat them.   No doubt there’s more to it than this by the story’s end but I’m just getting started, so while I’m a little far removed from the high school setting given I’m in my early 30’s, I’m still managing to have a lot of fun with the “social links” aspect of the game and the exploration into the Tartarus Tower labrynth  in even more fun than I was anticipating.  I’ve been taking baby steps into the tower thus far, and I can’t keep my teammates from tiring out at the moment, but I’m rarin’ to get some time to plunge into the game further over the Christmas break!  I’m itching to throw in P4 as well, but I really do need to try and tackle this one first and I’ve obviously got a ton left to see so there’s no reason to let my impatience get the best of me.  Right?

For a look at the style of Persona 4, the art direction, and the great music involved, feel free to check the  video below for opening trailer.

Intro érdekes.

A Persona, az SMT egyik al-sorozata, talán a “legmainstrainesebb”: van “normálisan” elmesélt történet, több emberi csapatárs, karakterfejlődés és dráma. Két(és fél) rész után, megkell próbálni egy harmadikat is ugye? Az eredmény: elég nagy közönségi és kritikai siker, amit egy speciális bővített kiadást is szült. Na nézünk meg közelebbről!

A sztori: egy átlagos középiskolás vagy (fix név, ha kell neked: Minato Arisato), felvettek a Gekkohan közép iskolába és most igyekszel a koleszbe menni. A vonat késése miatt, egy furcsa élménybe részesülsz. Pár nap után, a beilleszkedés után kiderül, hogy mi volt az: amikor az éjfél beköszönt, akkor a Sötét óra jön elő. Nem mindenki éli át ezt az állapotot. Ekkor támadnak az árnyak is, és tulajdonképpen egy ilyen esemény közepette aktiváltad a Persona idézés képességét. Az a kolesz, amibe kerültél az valójában a S.E.E.S és ezek a teremtmények ellen harcolnak. És veled, Junpeijel és Yukarival elkezdhetik a rejtélyes torony, a Tartarosz felfedezését. Ad van a feladat: nap közben iskolába jársz, éjfélkor harcolsz. Izgi mi?

A sztori egész jóra sikerült. Mondjuk így utólag a negyedik rész után valami zavart egy kicsit: a társaid elvileg iskolás tinédzserek, de………..nem igazán viselkednek annyira, talán Junpei kivételével. Persze nem jelenti azt, hogy laposak lennének, mindenki kap karakterfejlődést, de olyan fura. (bár poén, hogy ezt a negyedik rész jobban teljesíti, de nem fogok szembe ütközni egy hotel menedzserrel, egy tini sztárral és egy detektív csoda gyerekkel a közelben.) És igen, ez az egyetlen(meg a folytatás) SMT játék, ahol a démonok az ellenségeink. Persze itt vannak ők is, de a csak a Personák képében. A plusz kiadás miatt két sztorink van, a második az elvarratlan szálakat igyekszik beforrni………….., de szerintem nem. Nem ad igazán plusz az eredeti sztorihoz és enyhén filler és fan-service (ebben nem a főszereplővel nyomulsz, hanem Aigisszel a robot lánykával) jellege van plusz a végjáték kifejezetten nem tetszett. (nekem valahogy nem tűnik logikusnak, ez az egész Abyss of Time balhé, vagy csak én nem figyeltem elégé) De én már mindenbe bele tudok kötni, szóval…:D. Még két apróság: néhány S.Link sztori kicsit gyenge és az egész barátnősdinek nem igazán látom az értelmét, amikor van egy hivatalos canon párosítás, amiben The Anwser-ben 100%-os is.(na vajon ki?) De megleszel elégedve az egésszel az biztos.

Emlegettem S.Linket és barátnőket, szóval  beszélnem kell a játékmenettől. Tulajdonképpen emiatt fura ez a rész: egy dating-sim, visual noveles JRPG gameplayyel van dolgod. Mondjuk hasonlót talán láttál az Ar Tonelicoban, de ott még hagyományos JRPG is akart lenni egyszerre, itt a játék menetét is befolyásolja. Napokra és napszakokra van osztva: reggel iskola, nap közben ismerkedés (vagy egyéb), este mész a toronyba harcolni (vagy másként töltöd el az időt). Az S.linkek a fúzió miatt kellenek, mert így erősebb Personákat hozhatsz létre. De néhány ilyenhez, valamelyik tulajdonságod (bátorság, karizma, tudás) szintje kell, hogy el kezd. Persze bizonyos napokon fix esemény van.

Valószínűleg kitaláltad, hogy a játékban, csak egy dungeon van: a Tartarosz torony (illetve a The Anwser Abyss of Time-ja). De random generált emeletekkel van dolgod, és vannak különböző szekciók is, hogy ne legyen totál egyforma az egész. Bizonyos emeletekként egy főellenségbe botlasz. Bizonyos szint megmászássasa után egy akadályba botlasz, ami egy bizonyos napig nem megy le, ami kicsit lassúvá teszi az egészet egy kicsit. Hogy ne végtelen időig bolyongass: bizonyos idő után ki fáradnak a karaktereid, így abba kell hagyni.(bár ez magasabb szinteken, már észre sem lehet venni)

A harcrendszer: Once more system, ami talán a Press Turn rendszer engedékenyebb tesójának tekinthetjük: megfelelő elementál=plusz kör és ez mindenkire vonatkozik. Akit így találtak el,  abból egy körből kimarad. Egyszerűnek hangzik, de ennél izgalmasabb akció közben. Még valami van, ami kicsit furává teszi az egészet: csak a főszereplőnek adhatsz direkt parancsot! Több az AI irányítja, ami nagy részben egész jól csinálja, de hajlamos hülyeségeket okozni. Az egyetlen negatívum az egészben és elég idegesítő. Csata után szerezhetsz Personákat és egyéb jutalmakat eseteként.

Van fúzió rendszer is, amit már elmondtam a Devil Summonernél is, most kihagyom, de többitől eltérően, nem csak kettőt, de többet is összefúziószhatsz, bár már azok fixek. A velvet roomban vehetsz fel mellékküldetéseket is, meg mehetsz “randira” Elizabethttel, ami külön poén.

Három nehézségi fokozat van, kellemes (bár a többi SMT játéktól könnyebb) kihívással. Bár furcsállom, hogy fix időpontos főellenségek könnyebbek, mint a toronyban lévők. Ja és van még egy dolog, ami sokaktól el megy kedve a másik sztoritól: ott, csak hard mód van, iszonyat főellenségekkel és a Compedium nélkül kell megcsinálnod!

A szavatossággal nincs problémánk: 70 óra az alap, 20-25 The Anwser minimum, sok érdekes extrával, ha a FES verziót vetted meg.

A tálalás: a grafika gyenge pontja. De egész jó a dizájn ennek ellenére. Az OST egész furcsa, mert sok a rap és egyéb vocal, így nem fog mindenkinek bejönni. Az angol szinkron jó, csak Fuuka sikerült katasztrófálisra, bár szerintem a P4 ebből is jobb.

Végszóként, így a negyedik után kicsit gyengébbnek hat, de így is szerintem egy PS2-es klasszikus JRPG, amit senki nem hagyhat ki!

9.5 pont

UI:Igen, borítót nem cseréltem, lusta vagyok!:D

So it came out on Friday in Eurofagland, and I got my copy. Where’s yours?

Honestly though, just put it in my PS2, I’ll probably play for a few hours then make a new video.. then go back to it for the rest of the day/night.

Also, Castlevania Order of Ecclessia is out. Great game, and good music too. Record 1 is a must play during every boss fight.