In the end the secret is befriend just a demon for dungeon (or just when you want), because free card grind are the optimal way to get new Persona. Even I would turn crazy to try every demon contact.
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Is Persona 2 worth it?
- Thread starter JayWood2010
- Start date
In the end the secret is befriend just a demon for dungeon (or just when you want), because free card grind are the optimal way to get new Persona. Even I would turn crazy to try every demon contact.
Befriending them and doing the Commo to make them happy is slow, but it also means you don't have to battle them. It's what I did until I stopped in my EP run. I need to go back and finish that. But I'm trying to wait for the PSP version since the Atlus translation on the PSX version is hard to go back to after IS's fantranslation and Atlus official translation on the PSP release.
But yeah, grinding Free cards for fusion was the way to go from what I remember in both outings.
Makoto Yuki
Banned
If you really want to play all the Persona games and can stand the tedious nature of the gameplay, sure.
If you liked Persona 3 and 4, wait till 5.
If you liked Persona 3 and 4, wait till 5.
SturokBGD
Member
Soul Hackers is excellent, definitely one of the best SMT games. $10 for the 3DS version is a steal.
I really didn't care Innocent Sin a few years ago when I played through it. Story had a few nice moments, and the ending was pretty interesting, but I had my fill and could not justify jumping right into the supposedly superior P2 sequel(mostly because the gameplay was so horrible).
I recommend switching to FF9 post-haste.
Glass Rebel
Member
I'd personally advise against it even though Persona 2 was my entry point into the franchise. The story and characters are good but as others have mentioned, the gameplay can be a hurdle. Not that I think P3 and P4 have particularly great gameplay, the random dungeons are pretty ass and Press Turn isn't a super compelling system either as far as SMT games go.
Final Fantasy IX is the best PSone FF but boy is it slow. It can be difficult for a first time player to get into.
If you want an older JRPG there are certainly better options:
Suikoden II
Xenogears
Chrono Trigger or Chrono Cross, don't bother with the PSone version of CT though
Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre both have PSP ports that work on your Vita, FFT has a fantastic iOS port
Breath of Fire IV is a fairly short but beautiful JRPG with an interesting story
Vagrant Story is Matsuno & Alexander O. Smith so you know it's good
Final Fantasy IX is the best PSone FF but boy is it slow. It can be difficult for a first time player to get into.
If you want an older JRPG there are certainly better options:
Suikoden II
Xenogears
Chrono Trigger or Chrono Cross, don't bother with the PSone version of CT though
Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre both have PSP ports that work on your Vita, FFT has a fantastic iOS port
Breath of Fire IV is a fairly short but beautiful JRPG with an interesting story
Vagrant Story is Matsuno & Alexander O. Smith so you know it's good
Lunarwhale
Member
I love both Persona 2 and Final Fantasy IX personally. I think P2's gameplay gets a bit of a bad rap - it's a little slow, but it's not completely unbearable or anything. Dungeons kinda suck (clearly an early effort 3rd person dungeons after mostly doing 1st person and layouts feel really janky as a result). Demon conversations are fun at first, even if they do get repetitive with card grinding (stick to one or two demons per dungeon to forge a contract with). The story in the P2 duology is actually really solid. I place it pretty heavily above P3 and P4 in that respect.
That being said, Final Fantasy IX is one of my favorites in the series. It take a little bit to really pick up, and doesn't really forge its own sense of identity in terms of world building and story until the latter half, but it's a solid game and pretty fun. The PS1 version is slow though. Long battle transitions and the battle speed is fairly slow in general due to the animations. Nothing that's impossible to adjust to, but it hampered my enjoyment of the game a fair bit. I'd really recommend picking up the recent Steam port if you're okay with PC gaming instead of handheld. It fixes these issues.
That being said, Final Fantasy IX is one of my favorites in the series. It take a little bit to really pick up, and doesn't really forge its own sense of identity in terms of world building and story until the latter half, but it's a solid game and pretty fun. The PS1 version is slow though. Long battle transitions and the battle speed is fairly slow in general due to the animations. Nothing that's impossible to adjust to, but it hampered my enjoyment of the game a fair bit. I'd really recommend picking up the recent Steam port if you're okay with PC gaming instead of handheld. It fixes these issues.
Tyrant Rave
Banned
Story and characters are really good. Combat is generally clunky and slow. The PSP remakes do make it a bit more streamlined but I don't think it's very enjoyable to play. Worth trying at least.
Barrylocke
Member
If you honestly are not factoring gameplay into the equation then I'd definitely have to say keep going with Persona 2. I didn't dislike the gameplay as much as most seem to but it can definitely get tedious. That said I love the tone of the games. Innocent Sin can get really batshit at times but this is pretty intentional, and it had some touching plot moments too. I still think Maya, Lisa Silverman and another notable character that you meet later on have some of my storylines in Persona.
Eternal Punishment has a more mature tone that you don't see in the rest of the series, which is fitting since almost all the playable characters are over the age of 20 (unlike IS which has adults Maya and Yukino following the High school kids around). The music is phenomenal in the games as well. A remake that could keep the same tone of music and plot would be amazing but it seems unlikely. In the meantime, keep going with these. Ask about them in the Shin Megami Tensei community thread if you need advice or motivation!
Eternal Punishment has a more mature tone that you don't see in the rest of the series, which is fitting since almost all the playable characters are over the age of 20 (unlike IS which has adults Maya and Yukino following the High school kids around). The music is phenomenal in the games as well. A remake that could keep the same tone of music and plot would be amazing but it seems unlikely. In the meantime, keep going with these. Ask about them in the Shin Megami Tensei community thread if you need advice or motivation!
snow in jamaica
Member
Everyone zeroes in on how slow the combat is to the extent that a lot of what's worthwhile about the games goes overlooked. Try it yourself and get a feel for the various locales, characters, story, and themes first-hand. You can speed up battles significantly by turning off animations. If you lose patience you can always try again whenever you feel like it.
What the fuck.
What the fuck.
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
Stick with 6. It's a beloved game for good reason.
christaran
Member
Not even a little tiny bit. Maybe if both parts had been properly localised, but since they weren't, P2 is a waste of time and a pile of hot garbage.
Stormblessed
Member
I did not enjoy my time with Persona 2. I don't think the story's good enough to make up for how bad it plays. Unless Atlus revisits the duology again and makes a real effort to fix them, I don't think there'll be a better way to experience them than by watching playthroughs as was already recommended.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
Some people in this thread askin' for an Ulala haymaker.
Orrrrrrrrrrrrrrr he plays all of those and edjumacates himself on the classics real good.
Orrrrrrrrrrrrrrr he plays all of those and edjumacates himself on the classics real good.
Zombegoast
Member
Persona 2's gameplay was fine, but Revelation was fucking awful though. I didn't appreciated at first until I played Persona 3 as my first game in the series.
Eolz
Member
Persona 2 is definitely worth it, with the PSP remakes being better. Sure the gameplay and graphics are different, but it's like saying any old game is always worse than a successor, when it's not necessarily the case.
This.
This.
thepenguin55
Member
Is it weird then that I've been playing games since the late 80s and have played a TON of JRPGs but Persona 2: Innocent Sin is only the third JRPG that I've ever finished? (FF7 and Grandia 2 are the other two JRPGs)
From top to bottom I think that game is fantastic. I've played A LOT of P1 & P3 and enjoyed what I played of them but neither of them grabbed me quite like Innocent Sin. P1 definitely shows it's age but it's still a cool game that I'd like to finish some day. P3 is a great game that really wears out its welcome. The game reaches what felt like a logical conclusion but then it just kept going and the story kind of devolved from there.
It's been awhile since I played through Innocent Sin (and I still need to play through Eternal Punishment) but it's a fantastic game. Having said that, since OP is coming off of FF15 and wanting something similar to that I would argue that it may be difficult to find something similar. The "Tales of..." series may fit that bill as that's an action JRPG series centered around comradery.
P2 has the least trial & error negotiation system of the whole SMT franchises lol.
It's no more trial and error than finding the right "weakness" in P3-P4. Demons have fixed personality, so it's just a matter of understanding those.
You are supposed to make contracts for free tarots, not randomly grind normal ones.
It's no more trial and error than finding the right "weakness" in P3-P4. Demons have fixed personality, so it's just a matter of understanding those.
You are supposed to make contracts for free tarots, not randomly grind normal ones.
i've played persona 2 ~ 4 and i truly believe 2 has the best characters, the best storyline and it also seems like it's the most progressive game from the franchise(lgbt characters that are NOT comic relief, good female characters that don't become waifu material), i wasn't bothered at all by the game design because this one actually had REAL dungeons, and not that procedural generated stuff, really, if you could handle tartarus in p3, p2 looks like heaven in comparison :|, at least the room design changes... it also has a combo system where using magical spells creates awesome looking combos with your friends, and i always love demon negotiation, though smt series handles it better
Having said that, i would play it before ff9, but only because ff9 is a real gem and it would make other titles look just ok after playing it... the same goes for ffvi, don't let those pixels fool you
Having said that, i would play it before ff9, but only because ff9 is a real gem and it would make other titles look just ok after playing it... the same goes for ffvi, don't let those pixels fool you
Dragon1893
Member
P2's story is great. So are the characters. Just keep in mind that it hasn't aged exceptionally well, though personally I think it's fine. For me it's up there with P3&4 overall.
thepenguin55
Member
YES. Even though the combat in P3 is great the really bland, randomly generated dungeons make that game feel like a MASSIVE grind. I started playing Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE a while back and definitely like the dungeons in that game a bit more.
wastedyears
Member
I love SMT, but I think chore sums up the game nicely.
Glass Rebel
Member
That goes without saying but OP was asking for one game only and they have specific criteria.
cj_iwakura
Member
Yeah, I never understood the hate P2s gameplay gets. Hardly any worse than any other RPG of the era, and the story(and OST) is fantastic.
It's turn based system actually works better than psx ffs..., it has SOME strategy to it at least... and i always love how you can skip battles by talking when your team is almost dead, my only issue with the dungeons would be the encounter rate actually, it's too high :|
BasilZero
Member
I've only played Innocent sin out of the two Persona 2 games.
Have to say its my least favorite in the series but its still a great RPG.
I gave it a 85 out of 100.
Its not that its a bad game or anything, I just find P1, P3 and P4 to be better imo
I still need to play Eternal Punishment though.
Story and Characters are great , same with setting. The gameplay isnt as great which is where it lost points for me.
Have to say its my least favorite in the series but its still a great RPG.
I gave it a 85 out of 100.
Its not that its a bad game or anything, I just find P1, P3 and P4 to be better imo
I still need to play Eternal Punishment though.
Story and Characters are great , same with setting. The gameplay isnt as great which is where it lost points for me.
cj_iwakura
Member
People should see SMT1, lol. I'm numb to high encounter rates. You can use negotiate to end most battles in seconds.
Time being kind to P1 is hilarious. The PS1 version is a hot mess.
Barrylocke
Member
As a person whose playthrough of P1 was on the PSX, I agree. I think the difference is that the PSP version plays much faster and is less convoluted in the camp menus (god I hated navigating P1 PSXs main menu). Also it was WAY easier to get character positioning to work the way you wantedand the game was more clear on attack ranges than in the original release. This all made P1 feel more like a basic jrpg but with its unique twists instead of that hot mess.
Persona 2 on PSPs big change was cleaning up the "turn based" mode of the game and letting you program in spell fusions as one big lump. The awkwardness that many people seem to feel with the games autobattle system is still there. Honestly a lot of the game can feel more comfortable if you just leave it to run on its original autobattle, but people generally like to have more control in a turn based game.
SMT1 is generally able to fly without issues because the battles are pretty fast even without auto mode. And since most people know about "give all humans attack-all guns with sleep/charm/nerve bullets to win", you can just use the blazing fast auto battle to get through your entire playthrough.
StereoVsn
Gold Member
So Soul Hackers is very good. It has great gameplay (a bi aged but still very good), awesome 80s-90s cyberpunk feeling, and a good story. It's criminally heap at $10. This is one of my favorite games on 3DS.
For FF, yes, play FF VII PC, iOS or PS4 port or play FF IX iOS or PC ports. Especially with FF IX the new ports remove most of the slow down issues with the game combat system and let you focus on enjoying the thing vs waiting for 10 sec st each battle start/end. FF VII is a classic and a must play at least once, IMO. PC version has mods that make it a bit better graphically but really any of the ports work (even OG is ok but ports have some quality of life options).
I liked Persona 2 but it's a little slow and the gameplay is slightly old school (this you have to get through to get the story moving).
Love the concept and if I was younger and didn't work constantly I'd probably enjoy it more.
You mentioned FFIX though and I love the story and world in that game. So I'd get to that.
Love the concept and if I was younger and didn't work constantly I'd probably enjoy it more.
You mentioned FFIX though and I love the story and world in that game. So I'd get to that.
eyeball_kid
Member
Yeah, I can attest to this as someone who is currently playing through SMT1 (though it doesn't seem much higher than Nocturne's rate).
I've never played P2, but still hope that they'll re-release the duology in a single package (on a single platform) someday. At the very least, put them on mobile.
cj_iwakura
Member
It's not gonna happen.
I got 30 hours into the fan translation of Innocent Sin before I broke down and watched the rest of the cut-scenes on YouTube. The characters are fantastic (on par with P4 and easily better than P3), and the story has some of the most interesting moments of the whole series, but the game-play is a janky slog. Like a previous poster, I usually am against watching a playthrough of a game as a substitute for playing it, but P2 might be better experienced that way.
If you want something to play, grab a chair and play the waiting game with the rest of us for Persona 5 in spring. It looks real fucking good.
If you want something to play, grab a chair and play the waiting game with the rest of us for Persona 5 in spring. It looks real fucking good.
I don't understand the complains about the encounter rate, it didn't feel more crazy than most PS1/SNES RPG/Megaten to me. And even then, you have Estoma.
I don't have a particularly strong opinion about the gameplay, but the atmosphere and setting was great in EP. At least, without the boundaries of school and a timed schedule, there was something more cool and free as an adult wandering about a varied city.
I guess the appeal is in how the mundane can become sort of supernatural and fantastical.
I guess the appeal is in how the mundane can become sort of supernatural and fantastical.
eyeball_kid
Member
Eh, a few years ago we could've said the same thing about SMT1. But yeah, it's a long shot.
I'm surprised to see such negative impressions of P2 in this thread. When I've been in Persona threads in the past, P2 was always treated with high praise. But the slagging of the gameplay here makes me never want to even play it.
A couple dozen hours into the game and the umpteenth random battle broke me. I closed the game and checked the ending on a wiki.
I resumed weeks later just to say I beat the game, and only after learning about Estoma, something I hadn't. But I went nuclear and spent like 10h grinding at the same spot so I could get over the Estoma level limit and just walk through the dungeons.
I had purchased ES and was ready to go right into it, but after IS I didn't even start it. I just read its ending on a wiki as well.
I resumed weeks later just to say I beat the game, and only after learning about Estoma, something I hadn't. But I went nuclear and spent like 10h grinding at the same spot so I could get over the Estoma level limit and just walk through the dungeons.
I had purchased ES and was ready to go right into it, but after IS I didn't even start it. I just read its ending on a wiki as well.
Sumio Mondo
Member
Advice if you do get Persona 2: Innocent Sin - turn off battle animations in the options menu. You will be fighting a lot and it will speed things up much more for you. The game has a great story and music (possibly my favourite OST from a JRPG ever). If you end up loving it, then Eternal Punishment only came out on PSX, the PSP port for the English speaking markets got shitcanned, just so you know.
After you've finished these and if you like them enough, I'd recommend Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2 (pretty sure they're on PSN now) for more story focused SMT games. Soul Hackers too if you have a 3DS. Every game has different feels to them that deal with similar themes. Welcome to MegaTen, anywho.
After you've finished these and if you like them enough, I'd recommend Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2 (pretty sure they're on PSN now) for more story focused SMT games. Soul Hackers too if you have a 3DS. Every game has different feels to them that deal with similar themes. Welcome to MegaTen, anywho.
Lumpy Onion
Member
I quit the first P2 (PSP) when I had to go solo and run around the passages behind the shops of a mall. I think there was an alarm blaring constantly too. Haven't had the desire to go back, but I was finding the story and attention to detail in the game world to be interesting. Random encounters normally don't bother me but this game was something else. Especially obnoxious when the maps can be very maze-like.
hans_castorp
Member
You get aliens, absolutely-not-hitler and Maya.
I would yes. It's worth it
I would yes. It's worth it
Bardiche
Member
Sounds like you stopped at
Smile Hirasaka.
The P2 duology are the best in the series since the storyline and the characters are unmatched like the others have mentioned. I didn't think the battle system was as archaic for some reason, but then again, I am a fan of traditional gameplay mechanics to a fault.
cj_iwakura
Member
Not surprised, it's been a thing for years.
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