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Retro|Spective 112: Persona

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    Retro|Spective 112: Persona


    History in Games:
    1996 - Revelations: Persona
    1999 - Persona 2: Innocent Sin
    2000 - Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
    2006 - Persona 3
    2008 - Persona 3: The Night Before
    2008 - Persona 4
    2012 - Persona 4 Arena
    2013 - Persona 4 Arena Ultimax
    2014 - Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
    2015 - Persona 4: Dancing All Night
    2016 - Persona 5
    2018 - Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth
    2018 - Persona 3: Dancing In Moonlight
    2018 - Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight

    Overview:
    The JRPG series has now existed over four generations of consoles, existing as a spin-off from the Shin Megami Tensei series and now eclipsing it for popularity. Persona uses random/model encounter dungeon based battles following a group of high school students who's subsconsciousness manifest themselves as Persona, creatures used for battle. Each game follows its own stand alone story though there is some run throughout the series and its increasingly bold style and tone has helped the series find further success outside of Japan as the years have rolled on.








    Share your memories and thoughts of the Persona series

    #2
    I love this series. It’s got such a unique flavour and the writing in it is actually pretty decent for the most part.

    But the fifth game, hoo boy, was that a long game. It was at least 60 hours too long. It was simply mental, a test of endurance more than anything else by the end. Unsurprisingly the dungeon overload also went hand in hand with plot pacing issues, as it repeatedly appeared to veer towards a conclusion before swerving away at the last minute.

    It’s a good game but, yeah. WAY too long. And it’s a shame because the characters, ideas, and core gameplay are all terrific.

    The best IMO is the fourth. It’s about the half the length, well paced and with charming characters. If they could take the good stuff from the fifth game - increases areas for exploration in the real world, primarily - and blend that with the pacing of the fourth, they’d be onto a real winner.

    One other thing I would add - the anime art and the stylised menus and interface in these games are gorgeous, but the dungeon graphics increasingly leave a lot to be desired. They were fine on PS2, but the PS4 dungeons in 5 don’t look much different than the ones in the third game twelve years previously. Again an issue of scale I think - if they could just make a tighter, shorter game, I’d hope they’d have more budget for less basic identiket corridors and more interesting environments.

    It’s a wonderful series though. My favourite JRPGs.

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      #3
      Agreed that 4 is the best. Really want to play Golden but I don't own a Vita anymore. I've always preferred Digital Devil Saga over Persona though. They have some of the best writing/story in JRPG history.

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        #4
        I just cannot seem to get into this series at all. I bounced off 3, 4 and 5 and you can see that they're good games, it's just... they never hold my interest. It might be tied to my general dislike of anime teen protagonists.

        I did play through and finish Persona 1 PSP which was fun apart from the last dungeon where I kept getting lost and I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment as well.

        I still have my PS3 save for 5 which isn't too far (it's just after exposing the volleyball coach). I'll give it another shot eventually; it does ooze style (just like 3 and 4 tbf).

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          #5
          I've only dabbled with P3 and P4G on the Vita and I think my short patience for JRPGs got the better of me because there seemed to be such long stretches between action and the story bits felt dull or nonsensical so I abandoned both at what will no doubt be early on in.

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            #6
            I've played a few of them briefly (Innocent Sin, 3 Portable, 5...), but 4 Gold is the only one I've seen through to conclusion. I definitely agree that there are issues with length and pace in some of them, but there are plenty of great things to balance that against too. Visually, I love how it cohesive the design of each of them is, working with one colour in particular and designing such slick interfaces around them.

            That said - as much as I loved 4 to bits, I played Shin Megami Tensei 4 shortly after, and found that to be far more up my street. I'm not sure how badly I want to repeat the whole time-management side of things, and the darker, more mature storyline was a very welcome change.

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              #7
              Absolutely adore this series since playing P4. Can totally see why the length of P5 would frustrate people, but personally I loved the game so much I was pleasantly surprised that it went on for another probably 40 hours when I thought I was near the end.

              After revisiting the P4 soundtrack I found myself frustrated this week to remember that my PSP Go was stolen in a break in earlier this year, and so I couldn't play through the first game in my time off work

              (Edit: there's a happy ending though because I've been having a blast on Gran Turismo 2)

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                #8
                Avatar checks out.

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                  #9
                  Persona 4 Golden is my favourite, particularly for the soundtrack, but Persona 5 comes close. Two great stories beautifully told. Looking forward to the next mainline entry in the series.

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