Finally beat Yosuke >.>. I suck at these kinds of game xD

Yeah I used Senri (absorbs fire I think) to dust her off but that's not the problem, the problem is Chie getting constantly knocked down by fire attacks.

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That's why I got Slime to learn Red Wall. Cast that on Chie and she's good for a few turns. Sure it wastes a turn of yours, but it's better than Yukiko getting two attacks which could potentially kill your party. Outside that battle though, I rarely used any of the elemental walls.

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Think I just made Chie guard a bunch and finished the fight without her.

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Tip for the battle system: Fight Smart.
Of course, you have to find the weakness yourself at first (unless you use some logic... Yukiko's Castle has some monsters that are weak to Ice or Wind) While you can later on punch your way through a lot of stuff, your skills are important. SP is difficult to keep and heal at first, so watch out with that.

Then again, I didn't play Golden, maybe they made healing your SP easier. And yeah, Yukiko and the next boss got nerfed... I hate it. They actually were a fun enough challenge! As for the Yukiko fight... I personally went the Slime route once. Used Red Wall. Slime is a good persona for a bit. ESPECIALLY against the bonus boss there afterwards.

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I agree with Cat. Even in Golden, if you don't fight smart, the game will punish you. Just as you can get an advantage on an enemy, they can also get advantages on you. What might start out as a battle that you're owning could easily end in a game over. Also, always ALWAYS prioritize keeping your main character alive. If he dies, it's automatic game over. The other characters can get revived. He can't. As early as I can, I always try to get some personas who resist or are immune to dark and light either with their innate abilities or adding abilities to them so I don't get killed easily by instant death attacks later on. Since you're playing Golden, it's easier to customize Personas this way instead of spending hours upon hours getting the one you want. This game is easier than most Atlus games, but just like other Atlus games, if you don't play smart, you will pay for it dearly.

I loved Persona 4 on the PS2, but I had many a night where I just spend one to two hours trying to get the exact Persona with the abilities I wanted. Taking away that randomness was one change I'm glad they made to Golden.

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I dunno, I think Persona 3/Portable is still easier than P4, even the Golden version with all its stuff added. Speaking of Persona 3 Portable, I got past the Kyoto field trip for the LP and got the following scene, which I can no longer take serious because of the following reason...



Okay, just to say, even if I didn't like the characters in that scene, I still took it a bit seriously before. But when I just saw that sprite, I just couldn't take it seriously anymore. It just looks so silly. Sure, technically that sprite is no different from the default, but the angle just makes me laugh too much.

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So far I finished beating Chie's shadow and got her Persona. I saw that you guys mentioned that its smart to have the slime persona to use red wall for Chie and I remember getting it so what level does it need to be for it to learn red wall?

I think it learns Red Wall at level 12... or was that Resist Physical and it learns Red Wall at level 7?

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Well i guess ill level it up until it does. How hard is the next boss gonna be?

The one after Yukiko? Difficult, but easier in Golden because - once again - actually got a weakness added, instead of being, well, not-weak to anything specific. And there is a suggested Level to be for the end of each dungeon. For Yukiko's, it's Level 15ish. And from there, simply add +10 for the next dungeon. So the next is 25, 35, etc.

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Also try to kill every Golden Hand you see, they give insane amounts of XP and pretty much eliminate the need for grinding!

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Hey, at least Laura's got range. Wendee Lee's done more characters than Laura could ever hope to, and every one of hers sound EXACTLY THE SAME.

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*shrug* No matter what I hear Laura Bailey in, it sounds the same. I could switch her dialogue from various games and it would barely make any difference.

Also, in P3P, I was running around from Floor 118 - 132 in Tartarus, trying to spawn that stupid Rare Chest that has the Mikazuki Whatever weapon that Theodore wants. After a while of that, I tried to do what else was suggested: go higher and try to get it from a Level 7 Sword Card...... after a few hours of THAT (which included save stating before defeating the last monster and re-loading, if I didn't get a Shuffle Time) I still don't have it. I hate that thing.

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How could you forget her sexiest performance? Especially those moans and grunts.

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Memory lapse, getting old sucks.

And I really can't believe anyone thinks Rise sounds the same as Lust.

And yeah, the rare katana quests in P3 were the worst; to this day I've still never picked up the one in Monad.

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Yeah, all the currently available ones I got, except for Mikazuki. The shuffle time isn't helping. And I only want to do it cause it gives me 15 Malachites - and those aren't dropping decently enough, no matter which floor I am on. And I can't seem to get Gabriel appear in Shuffle Time, either, putting a damper on getting that fucking Lilith with Mabufudyne.

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Just watched a playthrough of Persona 4 Golden. Damn, I never knew I had missed out on such an amazing game. Too bad I don't have a PS Vita so I could play it for myself. After immediately regret buying Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor - Soul Hackers or whatever it was called, I couldn't have guessed Persona would be so much better.

The only things I didn't really like was the designs of the monsters (even though they were creative) and the fact that they were all high school students, which is a recurring theme in Japanese media I know, but it still makes it less believable to me when they don't sound, act or look like teenagers. The one who suffered the most from this was Naoto, in my opinion; I simply can't take a 15-year-old detective seriously, especially not one who would be recruited by the police when they need help.

Also the ending was a bit weird, but whatever, it was great fun to just watch a playthrough of it; had I known the game was that good, I would have considered buying a Vita.

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You could buy the PS2 version. Less extra stuff, but still a damn good game.

As for P3P, I am currently in the most boring month of the game before making that decision that I technically come to a conclusion to long before I am allowed to.

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Yeah, I still remember being surprised when I found out that Keiko from Yu Yu Hakusho and Lust were voiced by the same person. She really has quite a range in vocals and I personally think she does a fantastic job. As for Wendee Lee, I don't mind her that much, but I do get tired of hearing the same voice over and over again.

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Recording the (non-)events of December for my LP, you know that scene in the beginning of December, where Yukari does that jokey tone to Junpei, all, "What~ could it be, Junpei, that you're sca~red~?" and she says she was only trying to make a joke to lighten the mood? Yeah, great move, bitch. You know, I'm all for inappropriate humor, it's part of what I enjoy, and I tend to not take things seriously - but even I, inappropriate as I can be, know to not make a joke in such a situation. Just one more moment of Yukari's that makes me hate her.

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How long is Persona 4 game?

Depending on how much you want to do, I'd say it's equivalent to the length of an RPG, about 50 or so hours roughly. If it's Golden, you'll probably have more if you try to 100% the story. I had about 70-80 hours on the PS2 version, but that was due to the time consuming Persona fusion.

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Hmm well that's good. I like games that have lots of stuff to do and high reply value.

He lies you can easily hit well into 70 to 90 or beyond hours in a regular play through if you do sidequests.

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Feels pretty small compared to the Disgaea games I play xD.

No joke. I've only played Disgaea 1. So many hours used up for grinding up insane amounts of levels.

@Pierre: That was roughly how my first play through came to be in Persona 4 when I did everything, but I think a lot of it had to do with getting the drops I needed right away, so a lot of it was luck. I remember clocking in close to 90 hours in Persona 3, but I think it was just more from the fact of being bored, so I'd spend hours upon hours just level grinding in the dungeon since there was so little to do.

Like I said though, 50 hours is very reasonable if you just play straight through the game, no side quests or anything. Still, with as many hours as you'll clock in on this game, it's definitely worth the money.

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Watching a walkthrough of Persona 3 now since Persona 4 sparked such an interest for me. Would've preferred playing it by myself, but I don't have a playstation console and I don't have the money to buy one right now (and I'm still in Japan at the moment).

I must say, after hearing how many people praised it far higher than Persona 4, I'm surprised it's not easier to get into. Sure, an extra hour every day which few people know about is a very cool idea and makes for an interesting setting, but the writing, voice acting and music just feel...off, and I think I have a pretty good idea already as to who (one of?) the bad guy(s) is.

As more veteran fans, what is your take on Persona 3 vs Persona 4?

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People praise Persona 3 over 4? Why? Everything in Persona 4 is superior to Persona 3 in every way. 3 is VERY lackluster on a lot of fronts. The only good thing it did was introduce a successful system of game play and social linking that Persona 4 vastly improved upon. Most of the characters in 3 are uninteresting, the plot drags out soooo slow. I like some of the music in the game, but you're pretty much spending the vast majority of the time level grinding because there's nothing else to do. While, all in all, it's not a bad game, it's definitely not something I'd hold in high regards. My guess as to why people might put it over 3 is because of the darker tones the game has, but that doesn't really do it for me.

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P4 wasn't bogged down by Yukari Takeba. P4 is clearly the better game.
If you asked my thoughts, Persona 4 had a more consistent atmosphere, more interesting characters, lack of horrible people whom the game wants us to like, controllable party members (seriously, go from playing 3 to 4 and this feels like a godsend), the option to actually choose whether or not you pursue a romance with a female character during a social link, and a setting which the game succeeded in making me care about it rather than simply being the place where the main characters live.
I might be biased though, I played P4 first, so I might have set my expectations for P3 too high.

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Similar to sumguy, I played Persona 4 first, so my view may be skewered in regards to Persona 3. I also only played Persona 3 Portable, as I read that the portable version allowed for controlling the characters - and that it had taken some other aspects of Persona 4 and I wanted to go with that, since I knew the battle mechanics better.

For me... Persona 3 is... not a very good game. I've said it before, I find the Visual Novel style they went for in Portable - whether it's because the system couldn't handle the images like in FES or other reasons - just sucks all the emotion out of potential scenes. Especially because VNs are based on long descriptions of things happening. And that's not how it's done in P3P. It's one, maybe two short sentences of what a character may do and that's it. Hang on, let me check one of my P3P LP videos, I had a rather... spur-of-the-moment emotional way of explaining what the VN style is like.

"It's just... no! This doesn't have any emotion for me. This is just... pictures talking without moving their lips, nothing that makes me really think 'Aww, this is so emotional. I feel really bad (about this).' No, I just see what is shown to me, not something that really grips me. It just fails! Can you imagine Aerith's death in Final Fantasy VII to be done this way? You don't actually see Sephiroth stabbing her, you just see her 'praying anime sprite' and then it switches to a 'pained anime sprite' and a 'grinning Sephiroth sprite'. Oooh how tragic, Oooh how emotional, that's not how it works. This is like... really badly written fanfiction, just with a cheap budget motion background added to the tiny text that you add into your fanfiction.
Edited slightly to avoid spoilers

Another problem with the game is the music... compared to P4, I think it's absolutely forgettable. I may remember When The Moon Reaches The Stars, but that's about it. And that song isn't even in the Female Route. The only other one I like or remember is Heartful Cry, and that's only cause I listened to it on YouTube, since it isn't in the Journey itself. Also, I have a love-hate relationship with Kimi no Kioku. The battle feels slower compared to P4, which really annoys me, it almost makes me hope that I don't get criticals or hit physical weaknesses, as it results in the critical hit animation which feels too long for me.

Speaking of Female route, it's nice that they give you an option and changed things. Like in the Female route, you can choose whether you want to get romantically involved with a guy or just remain friends with him, Junpei being the exception. So I'm not forced to turn myself into a man-whore, like in the Male route. They also made every SEES member a Social Link, which is kind of cool, as it lets you get to know more about your party members... but as dullahan says, most of the Social Links are very boring. There's also no real incentive for me to increase them, as maxing them doesn't really do much.
In Persona 4, it made their Persona involve, which removed weakness and made them null their strength element. Teddie and Yukiko being the exception. Here, while it's kind of cool that they evolve their Persona after personal growth, it doesn't change anything. Only makes the Persona look differently from before and gives you a few new skills. Even a Level 99 Mitsuru will stumble if she gets hit by Fire. What?

The Tartarus is boring. Every block is basically the same, except with some different wallpaper - and boy, do not go into the fifth block if you're high. The block's appearance will make you high on its own. The music never changes - with Fuuka, you can pick between four different tracks, but even that gets boring. There's no variety in it, it's always get up there until you hit the roadblock, then wait until after the next Fullmoon and the roadblock will disappear.

Also, finding those people who get lost in the Tartarus! I read that this was only put into the Portable version...? If so, or even if it is in the other versions, what's the freaking point of this? I'm already bored to death from going into the Tartarus over and over and now I'm supposed to go in there and look for people on a certain range of floors to get them out? I may understand that if it's a Social Link I haven't maxed yet, and two or three of my Social Links end up in there, but it's still annoying!

And compared to Persona 4, you only have 2 options to do something during the day. You either talk to a Social Link. Or you go to one of the stores to increase a parameter. At night, you have a bit more to do, but not that much either, considering you only have 4 Social Links at night, 5 for a while, that can be finished easily. And by the time you have your parameters maxed, you either have to go to bed early or waste more time in the Tartarus. Persona 4 gave me more stuff to do. Pick up a sidequest or finish one, do a job, go fishing, etc.

One thing that makes it difficult for me to get invested in Persona 3... is the English dub. Particularly Fuuka and Aigis, although some of the other ones, too, have an English voice that feels... mildly surprised what is happening. If that, at all. They feel so bored with what they have to say. If they aren't excited about what is going on, why should I be? Also, several of the characters in P3 are just annoying. Okay, there's a difference between being annoying, but still likeable... or being downright annoying and a pain in the ass, like Yukari - who is a terrible, TERRIBLE person and I hate how she's supposedly the main love interest (next to Aigis) - or Junpei - who WHINES the entire time in the game, even later when he's supposedly "matured"... I got so annoyed with them, I banned them from my party for story purposes. (Except for Yukari ONCE during November, when all four female party members were wearing the Maid Uniforms and I felt like doing a Battle Maid party)

The pacing is terrible, too. You start the game - and while the introduction phase is slightly shorter than Persona 4 (there it's 2 hours, here it was about 1 1/2 hours), the first thing you do is see a big scene... and then skip three weeks. Great, already a great start. Then there's the summer vacation, where you can't increase any social link you may encounter in school. So the only social link you can increase are the Hierophant or the night ones. Which is okay in the male route, you only had the female SEES members as social links and the rest were all in school, but it made no sense - even if it's just the girls, why can't I increase their social link? Even worse in the female route where, as I said, every SEES member is a social link and you still can't do anything with them. Sure, you could go to a movie festival with them and gain some points... but those points don't help. They just accumulate, more than you need, by the time you can do something with them. Just a waste of time. And then December doesn't happen much and even January is basically waiting until the fullmoon happens for the final events. It's like the game developers knew that November onwards, there isn't much left to do and just... kind of gave up themselves.

Then there's the Reaper. I know people keep saying the P3 one was more challenging and difficult than the P4 one, but I heavily disagree. Not because in my LP I decided to go the Armageddon route with him. No, the first time I fought and won against the P3P Reaper, was the "legit" route, by properly fighting him with my party and personae. And I still think the P4 one was more difficult! Probably because it's not so freaking easy to get to Level 99 in Persona 4.

And that's a giant problem with P3/P3P for me. The bosses are so freaking easy! I could be underleveled for a Fullmoon boss, but who cares, I can still defeat them just fine. Even the final boss - and I mean the final one, not the event-boss that happens afterwards where you can't really lose - is such a pushover. Even without being Level 99, so easy to defeat. All of its forms, in fact. Where's the damn challenge in Persona 3? Oh, in the superboss. Yeah, that's great. One challenging boss in the entire game, it totally makes me re-think my opinion on the game's difficulty!

The game's story isn't mature. It's depressing and dark. And depressing and dark does not make a good game. Making it dark and be about death doesn't make it a mature game. It just makes it dark and depressing, which is already difficult for people like me, who are emotionally unstable to begin with. I had to force myself to play through Persona 3 Portable twice - once as the Girl and once as the Boy, cause I wanted to know both sides of the game. And now I notice that my Let's Play is me forcing myself to finish the game, again. Around December, which is properly labelled as the Most Boring Month In The Game in Hii'mdaisy's Ryojiventures comicstrip, I just get too bored with the game and want it to end already.

No. Persona 3 overstayed its welcome in terms of gameplay for me and just feels inferior in practically every section next to Persona 4. The good thing is, I guess, is that Atlus noticed its mistakes in Persona 3 and rectified them in Persona 4 and made a damn good game.
For me, Persona 4 is better than Persona 3. And I am referring to the PS2 Persona 4, not Golden.
I just feel like pointing that last bit out.

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Again really where do people praise persona 3 over 4?

3 is OK but its really just a prototype for 4 once you've played them. Better allies better mechanics better plot.

The only thing I think 3 has over 4 is the different types of physical damage you get to allow for weaknesses to physical attacks.

It really just becomes a magic game in 4 otherwise. I also liked using a greater variety of party members in persona 3 because people get tired in the dungeon you go back to base and swap them out so if you are fighting smart you should get a wide variety of team members involved in the combat. I like using a variety in RPGs means you get to see more personalities on offer.

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Well I finished my P3P LP recordings. I JUST missed maxing Mitsuru's link. Shouldn't have gotten Aigis up at all... *sigh* By the way, where is Ken in March, just before the end of the game? I maxed his link, why can't I find him anywhere?

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I've been watching the playthrough for a while now, and I believe I've seen more than a fourth of the game now (I skip the grindier parts) and I don't like any character, nor am I interested in any development they may have, and the story is basically on stand-still - what the hell? I really am surprised as to how some people can prefer this game over the fourth.

The voice acting is still just bland, and the characters just drop exposition on you at every turn. Akihiro has basically only mentioned training and once feeling powerless, which probably means someone close to him died, Junpei still looks like a 30-something truck driver and has the most nasal voice ever, and I can't even remember the names of the two women.

Sorry, I don't mean to whine, I'm just incredibly surprised by the difference in overall quality, particularly the writing and pacing.

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Yeah...it's why we were all surprised that you said you'd heard P3 was the superior one.

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Oh it was just on a youtube video somewhere, but a lot of people seemed to agree. I'm now inclined to believe it was a vocal minority, however, or at the very least people who hadn't actually played/watched Persona 4, choosing instead to believe the game they played to be the superior one.

Then again, I guess one should never take youtube comments seriously.

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"30-something truck driver" is probably the most accurate description of Junpei's appearance I've seen so far. You can thank Vic Mignogna for that nasal voice of his. And the less you remember about the girl in pink, the better.

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cuz p4 is happy and lame and p3 is grimdark AWESOME AND SRS

But really, don't be too hard on P3, guys; it was fairly revolutionary at the time and helped Atlus learn what didn't work out too well so they could make P4 better.

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Yeah, but it hasn't aged too well. Granted, I'm probably judgmental as I played 4 before 3. While I think the game has a great concept with the whole midnight hour motif, the horrible pace of the game just kills it for me. People will probably kill me for this statement, but I at least like the characters in this game compared to Final Fantasy 8.

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A~nd that pretty much sums up the problems I had in the LP. (And I was kind enough to cut out all the grinding I did - partly cause I didn't want to bore the viewers with walking around the Tartarus every other freaking day and also cause, at first, my recording lagged during the Tartarus and in-battle moments)

I AM tempted to play P3P again, just to try to max all the Social Links - didn't do it in the LP cause I didn't care and also cause I was busy increasing parameters. But when I think of the bore-fest ahead of me to do that... I think I also just looked up images of Orpheus Thelos.

By the way, are you watching a P3 or P3P version?



Ocarina of Time was revolutionary when it originally came out; has it aged well to this date? No. (At least not for me) As dullahan says, the game didn't age well. Even looking at the Tales of Symphonia Unisonant that came out, one reviewer - who didn't play the original release - said the dubbing is pretty old-school and not up to today's standards. Which I agree with, it was a good dub job in 2003 when it originally came out, but they didn't really update the game much. (One reason I'm not getting it, the other is that it contains Knight of Ratatosk and that didn't get changed a lot, either - and that game needed some drastic changes)

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