I agree that Press Turn gets a lot of unnecessary flak over this supposed randomness and oversimplicity. The games definitely aren't as simple as exploiting weaknesses left and right unless you've never made it past the initial areas, and the impact of the RGN is overstated, as both criticals from enemies and insta kill moves can be avoided with the tools the games provide.
In most Megaten games once you make it to the second half the game starts throwing enemies with no weaknesses at you, and even the ones that have them are sturdy enough to survive your first round and give you a bad time unless you're prepared with good resistances and status effects.
That's another thing though, Megaten is like Pokemon in that the outcome of fights not only depends on your strategy but also in how well prepared you are. Figuring out how to build your demons to make the best out of every fusion is part of gameplay too and I feel like people often overlook this. Half of the fun is in the satisfaction of confirming that yes, that roundabout fusion path to get that one skill in the demon you wanted was absolutely worth it and made the difference in battle.
But yeah I'll agree that Persona 3 and especially 4 have poorer versions of Press Turn that are kind of shallow and way too easily exploitables. But we've made it to the point that even Persona 5 has genuinely great combat... You won't hear it often though because Normal mode is absurdly easy and badly balanced most of the time and battles end before you need to do much thinking.
But ANYWAY, my absolute favorite is Press Turn in general, preferably in its Nocturne form. Although Digital Devil Saga had a great variation of this that I enjoyed a lot too.
Persona Q had a fantastic combat system as well, but a bit too easy to exploit if you prepare your party well. Etrian Odyssey in general is pretty out there too, I had a blast with EO4.
After reading some impressions, I think I really need to try Dragon Quarter and Cosmic Star Heroine. I'm waiting for Vita for the latter though.
In most Megaten games once you make it to the second half the game starts throwing enemies with no weaknesses at you, and even the ones that have them are sturdy enough to survive your first round and give you a bad time unless you're prepared with good resistances and status effects.
That's another thing though, Megaten is like Pokemon in that the outcome of fights not only depends on your strategy but also in how well prepared you are. Figuring out how to build your demons to make the best out of every fusion is part of gameplay too and I feel like people often overlook this. Half of the fun is in the satisfaction of confirming that yes, that roundabout fusion path to get that one skill in the demon you wanted was absolutely worth it and made the difference in battle.
But yeah I'll agree that Persona 3 and especially 4 have poorer versions of Press Turn that are kind of shallow and way too easily exploitables. But we've made it to the point that even Persona 5 has genuinely great combat... You won't hear it often though because Normal mode is absurdly easy and badly balanced most of the time and battles end before you need to do much thinking.
But ANYWAY, my absolute favorite is Press Turn in general, preferably in its Nocturne form. Although Digital Devil Saga had a great variation of this that I enjoyed a lot too.
Persona Q had a fantastic combat system as well, but a bit too easy to exploit if you prepare your party well. Etrian Odyssey in general is pretty out there too, I had a blast with EO4.
After reading some impressions, I think I really need to try Dragon Quarter and Cosmic Star Heroine. I'm waiting for Vita for the latter though.