Absolutely pick up: Persona 3

I had it preordered for months. I am just waiting for it to ship >_>

I decided last week to preorder it. Since my 20th birthday is tomorrow, I’m thinking of it as a present to myself :p

On a related note, I feel very hardcore because I’ve been following this game since its announcement. All these Johnny-Come-Latelys who only heard about it this summer have got nothing on me. By all means, buy the game, but don’t think you’re on the same level as me because you bought the game :P

In all seriousness though, I can’t wait. I need something like this to reignite my passion for PS2 gaming (after long breaks, it gets hard to justify playing it).

Ninjeff, play the older Persona games and Devil Summoners.

I can’t put this game down! I thought I would get bored of just having one dungeon to return to over and over, but now, I’m all “OMG, gotta go higher in Tartarus, gotta go higher!” I think the elemental weakness aspect of SMT is represented well here. It’s not too hard to fuse a Persona for a specific strength, but at the same time, the bosses aren’t easy even if you do have the “right” Persona to fight it with, since you can’t exactly control your teammates.

The last thing I need is yet another RPG in my backlog, but everything I see and read about this game screams BUY IT! BUY IT! BUY IT! I ended up ordering it because the limited edition stuff sounds like a cool deal too. I think I’m gonna have to put off Bioshock for a little bit now…

I pretty pumped about this game, as well. I’ve been waiting on it since I heard the rumors for it last year. Doesn’t hurt that I’m a fan of the series as a whole. I have to say, though, that it would’ve been sweet to see the rumor system in this one as well. If Square-Enix isn’t careful, Atlus is going to steal their high horse.

Been waiting 8 years for another Persona. The delay was just a drop in my ocean of desire… can’t wait to snag this one tomorrow.

I was gonna pick up a new game tonight, can’t decide between this and odin sphere. Thoughts, suggestions? :p

“Since Personas are the source of skills and magic you’re going to want to go around town building as many social links as you can. The concept is clearly different from other RPGs, which only rely on enemy encounters to strengthen the team.”

Man thank goodness that how it works out now. My biggest gripe with Persona 2 was the amount of time in battle I had to spend to level up my Personae. Luckily they approached it with a more interactive option.

Can’t wait until Wednesday, next 48 hours are going to be damn fun.

Yup, can’t wait to pick this up after work on wednsday.

Is this fairly standalone plotwise, or should I play through at least Persona 2 before I start this?

Going to get it either way, the question is when I should play it :)

I refuse to pick up this game! the moral frivolity of suicide as a major theme is just appalling! Think of the children! Why won’t anyone think of the CHILDREN!?!?!?

sinergy: Pick up Persona 3. Odin Sphere is a button mashing artfest. It is a perfect example of all that’s wrong with the modern North America video game market.

@Alex - it’s standalone although there are some references for fans of the series in the game.

get persona before it fades

but i advise to get odin sphere as well
-yes its a beautiful artfest
-the music is fabulous
-it is a button masher..with good controls..and simple yet complex character growth
-story much ? yes lots of story..ive been too busy to finish it
–but many twists and turns..as the multiple stories connect and nexus

do not miss odin sphere

dammit. now i’m conflicted :p maybe I’ll get both ;)

zoglog: is that sarcasm? :/

sinergy: If you want to get both, then you should probably get Odin Sphere tonight. The first shipment of Persona 3 will most likely be snatched up by pre-orders. Chances are you won’t see a copy on the shelf for a few weeks. Better to play a game tonight than to wait for another.

Odin Sphere is not really a button-mashing game. There IS a stamina-like meter, so it forces you to NOT button mash throughout and take breaks to recover and use items. Actually just finished it recently, and it’s a very beautiful game not to be missed (despite its poor slowdowns w/ multiple enemies on-screen). Probably will pick up Persona 3, what with all the glowing reviews and all…

Having a stamina gauge which refills incredibly fast does not mean the game isn’t a button masher. I played through the game running forward in one direction and hitting square (except with the fairy) and got through all the levels except the boss. The game itself is very shallow. Anyone who’s ever played some RPGs could figure out to absorb phozons into weapon to level it up, then release using the skill to grow fruits for the cafe/kitchen. That’s about as deep as the game gets unfortunately. I had high hopes for Odin Sphere. In the end, I enjoyed the pet project GrimGimoire more.

Well I picked up Odin Sphere since Persona 3 wasn’t there :/ Played OS for a couple of hours last night. Nice looking game indeed :p

Persona 3 likely wouldn’t have been in any of those shops last night anyway. I’d expect most of them to get it today or even tomorrow.

Personally, I love Persona 3 (I’ve put in around 50 hours) and I just do not like Odin Sphere. It just becomes insanely repetitive and some of the systems (such as alchemy) are just not very well explained.

“I played through the game running forward in one direction and hitting square (except with the fairy) and got through all the levels except the boss.”

This pretty much fully explains my thoughts on it as well. I really think some people just can’t get past the “OMG 2D LIVES!” qualities of it or something.

Couldn’t agree more with Tony. I heard rave reviews of OS, picked it up, and after five minutes of being wowed by the 2d graphics (which is beautiful, by the way), the gameplay started, and it had all the depth of a Paris Hilton interview. Couldn’t get past the first fifteen minutes. I know there’re people who love that game and the story looked promising indeed, but I expect a lil more meat from my RPGs. Which brings me to Persona 3…and after salivating over that game since it was first announced around three years ago at TGS or some other Japanese game show, I can finally get my hands on it. As the Guinness guys would say, “BRILLIANT!”

Well, I´ve had this on preorder for months, yesterday it was finally shipped and next week I´ll be holding it in my hands, and probably won´t go out of my room for a couple of days :)

I´m looking forward to this game!!

I’ve been playing Persona every chance I get lately. This weekend has pretty much been devoted to the game, which is significant since I haven’t played much in the way of console games for several months (my DS received a lot of attention after I got it in May). Everything I’ve heard about the game held true. The combat, though perhaps not as great as it could be, is still engaging (made even better by a fantastic battle theme). The translation is excellent, as is the voice work and music. The graphics aren’t great by even PS2 standards, but I love their simplicity. By far though, I’m spending most of my time enjoying the dating sim aspects. Right now I’m working on Chihiro, though I should probably balance out my other S.Links.

I’d love to play the game with English text and Japanese voices. Of all the games, it would work best in this one.

With regard to Odin Sphere, I have to agree with people like Tony. Though I really tried, I simply never gleaned much enjoyment from the game. The story wasn’t that interesting in my estimation, and the combat wasn’t engaging (I’d much rather play Viewtiful Joe). I’m thinking I’ll sell it to Gamestop sometime soon.

Persona 3 though? That’s a keeper!

Man I had the game reserved the instant Reserves were available. I love it and I am planning on getting a seconf copy for keeps.