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[Majestad]

I was playing SMTIV the other day and it reminded me of how average (or below average) everything gameplay related in Persona 4 is.

I loved the game, but it is interesting to see how people on the Internet like to suck P4's yellow dick like there's no tomorrow.

The combat is average at best. It's very simple and there's not much variety, specially when you combine it with the poor dungeons and the generic enemies (shadows).

Other than the combat, there's barely any other gameplay mechanic in play in this game. The praised Social Links (which is surprisingly one of the things people like the most about the recent Persona games) take about the same skill as choosing what Youtube video you wanna see. There are no side-missions other than collecting random crap and going through the boring randomly generated dungeons again to fight giant versions of the same generic enemies you've already defeated.

So what is that people see in the game that makes them think is a top tier jrpg? I really like the story and the way the characters grow. But even then, I wouldn't put this game in the same pedestal as stuff like Chrono Trigger and The World Ends With You because, as with any game for me, nothing about the gameplay makes it deserving of that spot.

What about you GAF? Do you agree that Persona 4 has below average gameplay? do you even care?

 

[Terrified]

Love the life sim elements.
Hate the dungeon crawling.

The excellence of the former far outweighs the latter for me.

 

[Zeyphersan]

What does average mean in this context?

 

[Zalman]

I love Persona 4 and I will continue to praise this game, but I agree the gameplay isn't very good. The dungeons were mostly a distraction from the story to me. I had the same problem with Catherine.

 

[Trike]

Well at least you formulated your opinion in a way that will breed healthy debate about P4's yellow dick.

 

[bobawesome]

I genuinely enjoyed Persona 4's combat and gameplay more than SMT IV. Not sure what to say.

 

[disastermouse]

I was playing SMTIV the other day and it reminded me of how average (or below average) everything gameplay related in Persona 4 is.

I loved the game, but it is interesting to see how people on the Internet like to suck P4's yellow dick like there's no tomorrow.

The combat is average at best. It's very simple and there's not much variety, specially when you combine it with the poor dungeons and the generic enemies (shadows).

Other than the combat, there's barely any other gameplay mechanic in play in this game. The praised Social Links (which is surprisingly one of the things people like the most about the recent Persona games) take about the same skill as choosing what Youtube video you wanna see. There are no side-missions other than collecting random crap and going through the boring randomly generated dungeons again to fight giant versions of the same generic enemies you've already defeated.

So what is that people see in the game that makes them think is a top tier jrpg? I really like the story and the way the characters grow. But even then, I wouldn't put this game in the same pedestal as stuff like Chrono Trigger and The World Ends With You because, as with any game for me, nothing about the gameplay makes it deserving of that spot.

What about you GAF? Do you agree that Persona 4 has below average gameplay? do you even care?

Wow.

So edgy.

 

[Glass Rebel]

To me the game is like a visual novel with terrible dungeons and average combat thrown in. I still think it's a great game but I really wish they would improve these two things.

 

[Vylash]

The dungeon crawling is tedious and awful, but the characters and social links are so well done that i don't even care

 

[Lemstar]

majestad thread

 

[Aiii]

For a Role Playing Game it's surprisingly successful at the Role Playing part. Which I suppose is what I and lots of other people look for in Role Playing Games.

Also, sometimes it helps to play the game on a high difficulty level, I find that often complaints about tedious gameplay and lack of a challenge is due to players opting to play games at a low difficulty level to make their gaming lives less challenging, which is the exact opposite of what I should do.

But in the end, games like this are about the ride and Persona is pretty damn good at creating great and fun stories.

 

[Pappasman]

Once I got into the rest of the SMT series I realized that Persona probably has the worst gameplay out of any of the SMT spinoffs.

It does great with character, world, and story, but the battle mechanics themselves arent that great. "One more" is boring.

 

[Zephyx]

Social links, persona fusion are pretty much part of the gameplay. I guess what you meant here was the battle and dungeon mechanics.

 

[Love Deterrence]

people on the Internet like to suck P4's yellow dick like there's no tomorrow.

Spoiler

You got a problem with that?

 

[Corpekata]

I don't know if I'd classify "gameplay" as just the combat system. Like what makes the story elements and the student sim stuff not gameplay? Because you can't die?

 

[bigbaldwolf86]

I loved the game, but it is interesting to see how people on the Internet like to suck P4's yellow dick like there's no tomorrow.

What a fantastic way to start a thread and get some discussion going.

 

[Hugstable]

Social Links, Character Relationships, etc are the bigger highlight in Persona while the usual SMT highlights take a bit of a backseat to randomized hallway dungeon and the Once More Battle System (which while not as fun as Press Turn is still a great and fun system). Every SMT game and spinoff has their own thing going for it that the other series don't, and Persona tends to focus alot more on the character themselves and a bit more story than the other games usually do.

What a fantastic way to start a thread and get some discussion going.

lol this thread is going places >_>

 

[Zalman]

Also, sometimes it helps to play the game on a high difficulty level, I find that often complaints about tedious gameplay and lack of a challenge is due to players opting to play games at a low difficulty level to make their gaming lives less challenging, which is the exact opposite of what I should do.

I would argue the opposite. On the lowest difficulty setting, but minimize the amount of time you have to spend in the dungeons. No grinding is needed.

I agree with the rest of your points though.

 

[brickarts295]

 

[Majestad]

If someone wanted to play a game with an interesting story AND fantastic gameplay on top of that, you really should check the SMT Devil Survivor games.

 

[MSMrRound]

suck P4's yellow dick
What about you GAF? Do you agree that Persona 4 has below average gameplay? do you even care?

Bait thread can't be more obvious.

True, Persona 4's turn-based gameplay might turn some people off, but I think you are typing on a tangent here. I would have expected a better argument than what seems like a thread created just to incite anger from Persona fans.

Persona 4 is more about being a whole package, from the character design,social links, environment and the fantastic soundtrack composed by Shoji Meguro. It's about the journey as a whole, and it was something that many players could relate to.

I'll admit that the dungeons could be improved somewhat, but I'll wait for Persona 5 to be released before I can judge Atlus on that.

 

[Hugstable]

If someone wanted to play a game with an interesting story AND fantastic gameplay on top of that, you really should check the SMT Devil Survivor games.

Yes and you can also get cheaped out for days while restarting the same section over and over by the time you get to Belberith and Babel! Oh Yay! (I actually like Devil Survivor alot, but this seems like you are just trying to get a rise out of Persona fans, good thing I'm more mainline fan)

 

[Thoraxes]

For a Role Playing Game it's surprisingly successful at the Role Playing part. Which I suppose is what I and lots of other people look for in Role Playing Games.

Also, sometimes it helps to play the game on a high difficulty level, I find that often complaints about tedious gameplay and lack of a challenge is due to players opting to play games at a low difficulty level to make their gaming lives less challenging, which is the exact opposite of what I should do.

But in the end, games like this are about the ride and Persona is pretty damn good at creating great and fun stories.

If you want the definition of tedious, Persona 4 Golden's Very Hard difficulty fits the bill 100%. No interesting mechanics or encounters come out of it, and the difficulty is created by lowering money and XP, and increasing the damage and HP of enemies.

Monotonous is a good word to describe the game on the easier difficulties.

The game is nothing but grinding, and thanks to the simplified shuffle time and skill cards, you can avoid fusing any new personae (to use for combat; I still fused for compendium completion for the Platinum) for the entire game. Which is what I did. I literally played 80% of the game pressing triangle to auto-battle on Very Hard.

 

[Guess Who]

The randomly generated dungeons suck but I've always found the combat fun. Random mob fights can be repetitive and tedious but this is true of most RPGs. The actual mechanics of the battle system and Persona fusing seem interesting and thoughtful.

P3P and P4G removed a ton of difficulty from their original games, sadly.

 

[KainXVIII]

At least story is good (as i heard), unlike Persona 3 - i wonder how it pass as good jrpg back in the days..

 

[Hugstable]

If you want the definition of tedious, Persona 4 Golden's Very Hard difficulty fits the bill 100%. No interesting mechanics or encounters come out of it, and the difficulty is created by lowering money and XP, and increasing the damage and HP of enemies.

Monotonous is a good word to describe the game on the easier difficulties.

The game is nothing but grinding, and thanks to the simplified shuffle time and skill cards, you can avoid fusing any new personae (to use for combat; I still fused for compendium completion for the Platinum) for the entire game. Which is what I did.

This is why I prefer playing base Persona 4 much more compared to P4G lol.

 

[Alex]

I love the gameplay, I look forward to seeing how the reiteration and improvement goes in 5.

 

[Raytow]

If someone wanted to play a game with an interesting story AND fantastic gameplay on top of that, you really should check the SMT Devil Survivor games.

AHAHAHHAHAHAA your fanboy is showing OP.
To anyone taking the OP seriously just check his post history, I mean fuck the quote is enough already, but bringing SMTIV to the mix, when its the worst SMT to date, is hilarious as well.

 

[cajunator]

but Persona has rise in it doesnt it? anything with Rise in it is pretty damned great in my book.

 

[Hugstable]

I love the gameplay, I look forward to seeing how the reiteration and improvement goes in 5.

I wish they would use the style of dungeons that they had in Nocturne and apply that to the rest of the series. I really love SMT dungeon crawling roots, but Randomized dungeons just never do it for me.

 

[Thoraxes]

This is why I prefer playing base Persona 4 much more compared to P4G lol.

This was what I beat the game with on Very Hard lol

Also I can agree somewhat!

 

[Style]

This was what I beat the game with on Very Hard lol

Your choice of Persona... I like it!

 

[mocolostrocolos]

No, they're just different.

 

[Hugstable]

This was what I beat the game with on Very Hard lol



Also I can agree somewhat!

LOL Oberon so OP, and he's one of the earlier Emperor Pokemon

AHAHAHHAHAHAA your fanboy is showing OP.
To anyone taking the OP seriously just check his post history, I mean fuck the quote is enough already, but bringing SMTIV to the mix, when its the worst SMT to date, is hilarious as well.

You definitely have not played many SMT games then

 

[Majestad]

AHAHAHHAHAHAA your fanboy is showing OP.
To anyone taking the OP seriously just check his post history, I mean fuck the quote is enough already, but bringing SMTIV to the mix, when its the worst SMT to date, is hilarious as well.

Lol, in what universe?

 

[Daria Morgendorffer]

The gameplay might not be the best in the world but it isn't bad or below average, it's just not really special and as good as other parts of the game.

 

[Infinite_Daremo]

Its one of the few JRPG's I've enjoyed since the PS1 days.

I enjoyed the combat but the random dungeons were a bit boring and repetitive. The story and character development are where it shines. And the first time you double take the Mara persona fusion is a moment i'll never forget!

 

[maquiladora]

majestad thread

.

 

[Mortemis]

Gameplay isnt just combat, but there are definitely things that atlus should really aim on improving on. I didn't find the combat too bad but dungeons should be near the top of atlu's persona 5 area of improvement list. Combat can of course also be improved on too.

Whatever happens, I'm super excited to see what they do in Persona 5.

 

[Immaculate]

Smirk in SMTIV is a terrible mechanic that needs to be dropped in the next game. That was my only gripe with gameplay


EDIT: 1 more and press turn are pretty similar too

 

[Raytow]

LOL Oberon so OP, and he's one of the earlier Emperor Pokemon



You definitely have not played many SMT games then

All Persona games, SMT SJ,3 and 4, Devil Survivor, DDS, Raidou 1 and 2, and Soul Hackers.

 

[Pappasman]

but bringing SMTIV to the mix, when its the worst SMT to date, is hilarious as well.

What planet do you live on?

 

[Bam Bam Baklava]

I'm definitely interested to see if they did anything to the gameplay in Persona 5. It was acceptable in P4 considering how amazing the story, life sim, etc was.

But I do hope for something more modern and interesting.

 

[Holy Order Sol]

I took the ham out of my sandwich and now it's just bread wtf explain this shit GAF

 

[Massive Duck. C.M.]

Penisona 4

 

[Moaradin]

I actually loved the dungeon crawling and combat aspect of the game

 

[danmaku]

For a Role Playing Game it's surprisingly successful at the Role Playing part. Which I suppose is what I and lots of other people look for in Role Playing Games.

But in the end, games like this are about the ride and Persona is pretty damn good at creating great and fun stories.

Totally agree with that. Unfortunately, the notion that RPG = combat is so ingrained in CRPGs that a game without it would be classified as an adventure, not an RPG. I loved the role playing part of Persona 4, but the dungeons are boring as hell. Also, I hated that all personas shared the same spells, making them nothing more than a Pokemon collection. It would've been better if there were less of them, but more unique.

 

[Mortemis]

Smirk in SMTIV is a terrible mechanic that needs to be dropped in the next game. That was my only gripe with gameplay

I didn't mind it too much, but it did make shit so much easier at times. The random times a random enemy strings attacks on you and sends you off to Charon were something else though.

 

[Blusby]

P4 was pretty mediocre, lame dungeon design, easy as hell, generic cast of characters except for Kanji (he was muh bro), and a rather aimless plot.

 

[Freaky Fred]

P3 is better in terms of gameplay, but I still enjoyed P4 quite a bit.



isn't it a golden dick?