Experiencing Persona 3

[katiuska]

Okay, I know that I'm way late to this particular train, but about the time I committed to buying it, they announced the PSP version and then I had to wait until I had a month of my life to lose.

So, Persona 3. I played the original male character version so I could see the original story, and then I immediately fired up the female version because I clearly have a problem.

I was wary for a long time for primarily two reasons; the first is that the description "part dating sim" will not sell a thing to me, but admittedly, I ended up getting pretty invested in not-Tartarus, which is more than I can say for the 250+ floors worth of dark corridors. So my concern was pretty unnecessary. The second reason is that the game gives you a million choices to make and they all have an effect on what the name becomes, so they need to be planned wisely. I don't have a good track record with that sort of thing, and it's more of a problem, but I'm learning.

Maybe it's just because I'm a girl and all, but I think I'm actually digging this version better, with a lot of social links revised to be with characters I can give half a damn about. Mostly I just really hated the original Moon social link, and the fact that it's now Shinjiro is just icing on the cake of not dealing with the fucking Gourmet King. I also like how girl!Protagonist has the option of taking the "just friends" route with would-be paramours, particularly since one of those is Ken oh my god what is wrong with you. I wish this option existed in the dude version, because I couldn't help but project my own apathy onto him, and combined with the fact that I was busily courting multiple ladies while they're all on about how I'm their one and only just left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

Or maybe there's just something about this face that really makes me want to punch it.

It's kind of nice that Junpei isn't a romantic option. It does seem a bit forced--if you can charm both Loner Guy and He Who Can't Be Bothered With Ladies, surely He Who Rarely Talks About Anything Else is open before he happens to meet someone else. But I'm glad that they did it this way, due to Chidori and the fact that it lets you see how Junpei relates to ladies when he's not constantly trying to hit on them. On the other end, Akihiko seems to be your primary candidate--he replaces Yukari in the skeevy love hotel and it's painfully obvious early in his s-link that he's developing feelings. I like how self-aware the game seems to be about his total dorkiness about the whole thing, too.



It's like it's making the jokes for me.

I'm not sure how I feel about this interpretation of his character, though to be fair, I think the original game established how hard he fails at girls when he actually tries in Operation Girl Hunt, so I guess it's pretty consistent with who he is.

For added pathos, if you've completed the game once, you can also choose which if any of the party members you've romanced will find you on the roof and say some words about how much you mean to them without noticing that you're busy dying. Major spoiler: one of those people is not-dead Shinjiro. Apparently, love doesn't stop him from still following Ken into a back alley, but it does grant him +3 against bullets. Your fate is the same as ever, though.

D:

Apparently, the ability to control your other characters in battle is new to Persona 3, and it's a godsend in a game where every turn matters. Also, it amuses me to watch Akihiko hop around like a sweater vest-wearing rabbit. The voice acting is pretty decent, but I kind of wish there was an option to silence Fuuka and only Fuuka; I kind of want to hear everyone else, but there's something about her voice combined with her habit of interrupting every few turns to state the obvious. Bitch, I've been playing for 40 hours, I know when someone's HP is low.

I'm going to have to take a break from this game, as I've reached a point where no amount of mentally replacing the poignant music with this will amelliorate the amount of sentiment in this game. But I still keep thinking about it, and I'm hoping there are still people who want to talk about it.