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This week's Famitsu thread...(Persona 2 PSP)

Bebpo said:
Dude, I've been defending this game from the start. Who cares if the walking sound is GRIND GRIND GRIND and the animation/graphics are a little weak. The game mechanics are by the SMT SJ staff and if anyone thinks they'll make a bad game, they're nuts.

It'll be a fairly low budget title, but I think it'll be good. Time travel storylines (especially where you can change events) are fun and the battle system should be great.
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Hey, I've been optimistic, too. The sparing gameplay trailers and duckroll's negativity led me to believe that this was going to be a low-impact launch with mediocre results.
Refer to Blue Roses. I'm a Grandia fan (and others with similar timing-based gameplay), so, obviously, the battle system looks great to me.
 
GhaleonQ said:
Hey, I've been optimistic, too. The sparing gameplay trailers and duckroll's negativity led me to believe that this was going to be a low-impact launch with mediocre results.
Refer to Blue Roses. I'm a Grandia fan (and others with similar timing-based gameplay), so, obviously, the battle system looks great to me.
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duckroll is negative about a lot of things :P

canova said:
so anyone here excited for Way of Samurai 4?
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Definitely. WoTS1/2 were awesome experiences last gen. I still haven't gotten to #3 yet but I think most people liked it even if it wasn't the best in the series.
 
First Megaten game to be announced since Persona 3 Portable. Really great news too, I was worried they'd just skip the P2 games after P3P was announced.

Doesn't seem like there's a release date listed. But if it doesn't make it out by the end of the year, 2010 will be the first year no Megaten game has been released since 1989.
 
randomkid said:
First Megaten game to be announced since Persona 3 Portable. Really great news too, I was worried they'd just skip the P2 games after P3P was announced.

Doesn't seem like there's a release date listed. But if it doesn't make it out by the end of the year, 2010 will be the first year no Megaten game has been released since 1989.
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Do we count Catherine? The original reveal said Winter 2010, although I think it's been delayed at this point since there's no definitive date.
 
Bebpo said:
Do we count Catherine? The original reveal said Winter 2010, although I think it's been delayed at this point since there's no definitive date.
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Yeah Catherine was pushed to February 2011. Even still though, it doesn't count as a Megaten game, unless a future scan shows some traditional Megaten demons. And a hidden Jack Frost doll doesn't count, heh.
 
Would have bought P4P in a heartbeat. Really I want Catherine to come out because I want them to make P5 already.

What is P2 like in relation to the rest of the series.
 
Jeels said:
Would have bought P4P in a heartbeat. Really I want Catherine to come out because I want them to make P5 already.

What is P2 like in relation to the rest of the series.
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P2 is very similar to P2. It's more like P1 in that there's no social sim/calender system, and there is actual momentum propelling the plot forward. Characters have their own stats, and so do personas. Personas become stronger by being summoned in battle, and that will improve their stats/give them access to new abilities. You can also use fusion spells like Phantasy Star 4.

It's unique to the series (aside from P2) in that there is no fusion. Instead you collect tarot cards from demons by talking to them, and then use the tarot cards to buy personas from Igor's catalog.

It has a lot of flavor to it. Each section of the city has its own shopping center with different shops, restaurants and healing spots, and I personally find little touches like that neat.
 
Lard said:
Above the rest.
Fixed all the problems of P1, has an awesome soundtrack and a creepy ass story.

It's gold.
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I really am excited to play it, I adored P1 when it came out but for some inexplicable reason refused to pick up P2 back in the day. Now I'll finally get the chance to play both IS and EP. It's overshadowing the Venus and Braves news for me unfortunately, and I've been curious about that game for a while.

I've also sort of given up on evangelizing P1 to people. There's obviously a new fanbase that's much more interested in the post P3 style of game, and they really are completely different game types. Meguro's attempt to bridge the gap on the P1 remake didn't really serve the original game well, even if it was smart for marketing purposes.

It's all good though, every Persona game I've played has been excellent, I hope there's room for both old style and new style Persona in the future.
 
randomkid said:
I've also sort of given up on evangelizing P1 to people. There's obviously a new fanbase that's much more interested in the post P3 style of game, and they really are completely different game types. Meguro's attempt to bridge the gap on the P1 remake didn't really serve the original game well, even if it was smart for marketing purposes.
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It really depends on what element of the new Persona games the fanbase prefers. It's true that Social Links don't belong in P2 at all.

But why keep the clunky P2 battle system when you could throw in a masterpiece like Press Turn, which does everything the old system did while adding a new layer of complexity? Maybe I was spoiled due to Nocturne and P4 being my first Megaten experience but in those games, grinding was surprisingly fun. In P2 I wanted to fast-forward every single dungeon.
 
P1's problems have nothing to do with P3/P4 fans expectations and more to do with what people expect out of an rpg post the year 2000. An SMT3 fan would have the exact same problems with the game.

P1 has:
-Really bad art. Kaneko did not learn to draw humans until P2.
-A uninteresting battle system. The positioning and area attacks are kind of neat, but with no balance (PSP version) there's not much to do other than do the same spells over and over and stick with the same persona for long periods of time.
-weak story with very little plot and undeveloped/uninteresting characters
-the whole card collecting/fusion method is not so good compared to the last 6 years+ of megaten fusing
-awful balance in PSP version. Game is ridiculously easy for the majority of it and then it gets tough at the end and players have no idea how to handle it since they could just spam AoE spells the entire game and wipeout the enemy party before they could move every battle.

The only thing I liked about P1 was the music and the first person dungeon crawling (which was very smooth on PSP version). The underlying game itself was absolutely mediocre.
 
Bebpo said:
P1's problems have nothing to do with P3/P4 fans expectations and more to do with what people expect out of an rpg post the year 2000. An SMT3 fan would have the exact same problems with the game.
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I agree with this.

I love pretty much everything SMT, and I could barely stomach a few hours of P1 PSP. In all honesty, I don't feel like it was a very good game to begin with. Interesting as a historical/reference/collection piece maybe, but I sure as shit don't want to play it.
 
Heh, totally disagree Bebpo. What the hell, I'll try one last evangelism attempt for P1 since I tracked down an old post of mine from another thread.

randomkid said:
Well, Persona is basically one of my favorite games of all time, so I guess I'll offer a defense before you write it off completely. The setting and locations are really great and have some neat variety, and the demon negotiating is the most fun and interesting in all of Megaten as far as I can tell, with different voice samples and animations for each mood really bringing out each demon's personality. The fusion system might not be as awesome as Nocturne's, but it's still fun balancing out which Persona is worth fusing or equipping given battle needs.

Unlike Seks I think the atmosphere and story is actually one of the game's strongest suits, the game's got something to say about identity, loneliness and how we construct reality around us (all hinted at in the original intro, which is also nicely alluded to at the end of the remake's intro). The characters are all also iconic to me, and it's great to be able to chat with your party regularly in both dungeon rooms and town areas.

Battles are challenging and fun, it's true that the encounter rate is high but there are spells to reduce it. Honestly though I'm not going to recommend Persona to you without hesitation because I don't know what you prioritize in a Megaten game. I'm just offering a general defense for anyone interested and also pointing out that the game is freaking 15 dollars on Amazon right now.
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And the Kaneko art is fantastic! I like everyone's designs, both the original Japanese versions and the crazy racially questionable American versions.

Edit: Haha, yikes, the game is certainly no longer 15 bucks any more! Too bad.

Edit 2: Aaand intro link fixed.
 
guess i'm in the minority demanding an arranged OST by meguro. i'm already familiar with the old tunes and even own both soundtrack packages on CD. this is the perfect opportunity to add another breath of fresh air via music. perhaps they could add both if there's room, but if i could choose only one, i'd go for the arrangements.

please just don't cut any tracks out.
 
Augemitbutter said:
guess i'm in the minority demanding an arranged OST by meguro.
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I'm with you in that minority as well. I may be drinking the kool-aid, but I'm a big fan of Meguro's revisionist history thus far.
 
Killthee said:
Love P3P and will love P2P :D
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You might not. They're two completely different games. I've never seen such a radical shift in a series as when Persona 3 came out. Persona 3 really shouldn't even have the Persona name.
 
Bebpo said:
P1 has:
-Really bad art. Kaneko did not learn to draw humans until P2.
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Kaneko's designs are almost as bad in P2. It's Soejima Shigenori (P3/P4 designer and illustrator for P2's ingame designs.) that makes them look good, and thankfully, Soejima seems to be redrawing or re-illustrating all the characters. The art in the scans is new.

Hopefully, Kaneko will stick to monster designs. That is what he's good at.
 
Augemitbutter said:
please just don't cut any tracks out.
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That's the big issue isn't it? I liked P1 remake's soundtrack just fine for what it was, but it couldn't really hold a candle to the original. Even in just pure numerical terms, there were only 1/4 as many songs, which led to tons of repetition in-game, and the songs themselves all looped after a minute, unlike the original game's average 4-6 minute song length, leading to more repetition.

That's my only potential concern with the P2 remake. Everything else should be great.
 
Marrshu said:
Kaneko's designs are almost as bad in P2. It's Soejima Shigenori (P3/P4 designer and illustrator for P2's ingame designs.)) that makes them look good, and thankfully, Soejima seems to be redrawing or re-illustrating all the characters. The art in the scans is new.

Hopefully, Kaneko will stick to monster designs. That is what he's good at.
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Personally I like Kaneko's art, but that's a matter of opinion of course. I thought his art style gave the game some originality, character design wise.
 
Honestly, I've never liked Kaneko's designs. It's unique, yeah, but it's not really pleasing on my eyes. I'm glad to see that Soejima seems to be the sole designer on P2P.
 
B.K. said:
You might not. They're two completely different games. I've never seen such a radical shift in a series as when Persona 3 came out. Persona 3 really shouldn't even have the Persona name.
Click to expand...
Thematically, Persona 3 & 4 very much live up to the Persona name. Possibly more so than the earlier games.
 
Marrshu said:
Kaneko's designs are almost as bad in P2. It's Soejima Shigenori (P3/P4 designer and illustrator for P2's ingame designs.) that makes them look good, and thankfully, Soejima seems to be redrawing or re-illustrating all the characters. The art in the scans is new.

Hopefully, Kaneko will stick to monster designs. That is what he's good at.
Click to expand...

Nah. I prefer Kaneko to Soejima for humans these days. Nocturne, Raidou 1/2, Strange Journey, DDS 1/2, Maken X all had great human designs.

I never played P2 but the character art always looked good to me:
per281_2.jpg

per22_2.jpg


P1 characters though are just rough and amateurish
personapsp_characterart_protagonist.jpg
 
Meh, don't really like any of them. Except for Katsuya. He's pretty cool design wise, but thats maybe because he has Go Nagai style sideburns. :lol

You're right about the amateurish look of Persona 1 tho. I forgot how awful everyone looked in that game.

ninj4junpei said:
Thematically, Persona 3 & 4 very much live up to the Persona name. Possibly more so than the earlier games.
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Gameplay and Story wise, if anything, Persona 1 is the oddball out. It still reeks of SMT-style conventions with a modified SMT If... plot.
 
So, a question:

I heard that Persona 1 remake for the PSP is, unfortunately, not a good game? I am looking to buy that before this P2P arrives, because I am a sucker for story continuity.

Any fans/players P1P care to give me a short review for that game?
 
http://blog.livedoor.jp/od3/archives/51774996.html

- Coming this Winter
- Supports Media Install
- Soundtrack CD pre-order bonus

- It's a "remake" like Persona 1 with balance and control improvements while based on the original game
- The gameplay systems will be based on Eternal Punishment's refinements instead of just the original Innocent Sin
- Soejima will be doing brand new full body illustrations for the characters, while the art staff will implement new portraits and cut-ins based on his supervision

- When you move around you'll see status details and a minimap now, and there will be various UI improvements, etc
- In battles you'll see the affinity of your demons, as well as character turn orders

- Battle balance and time constrained events will be retuned to make it more user friendly
- Difficulty can be changed on the fly in the menu
- Voices will all be remastered, but not re-recorded

- Brand new opening anime FMV by Satelight
- The original opening FMV is also included
- Arranged and Original BGM can be selected in the config menu
 
Marrshu said:
Honestly, I've never liked Kaneko's designs. It's unique, yeah, but it's not really pleasing on my eyes. I'm glad to see that Soejima seems to be the sole designer on P2P.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty much the opposite. I think Soejima's characters look weird and awkward. The only time I've really enjoyed his work is when he's working from Kaneko's style (Persona 2/Soul Hackers).

- Arranged and Original BGM can be selected in the config menu
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Awesome.
 
Laughing Banana said:
So, a question:

I heard that Persona 1 remake for the PSP is, unfortunately, not a good game? I am looking to buy that before this P2P arrives, because I am a sucker for story continuity.

Any fans/players P1P care to give me a short review for that game?
Click to expand...

Well, uh, Bepbo and I have contrasting reviews literally a few posts up from here.

And duckroll brings the good news.
 
duckroll said:
http://blog.livedoor.jp/od3/archives/51774996.html

- Coming this Winter
- Supports Media Install
- Soundtrack CD pre-order bonus

- It's a "remake" like Persona 1 with balance and control improvements while based on the original game
- The gameplay systems will be based on Eternal Punishment's refinements instead of just the original Innocent Sin
- Soejima will be doing brand new full body illustrations for the characters, while the art staff will implement new portraits and cut-ins based on his supervision

- When you move around you'll see status details and a minimap now, and there will be various UI improvements, etc
- In battles you'll see the affinity of your demons, as well as character turn orders

- Battle balance and time constrained events will be retuned to make it more user friendly
- Difficulty can be changed on the fly in the menu
- Voices will all be remastered, but not re-recorded

- Brand new opening anime FMV by Satelight
- The original opening FMV is also included
- Arranged and Original BGM can be selected in the config menu
Click to expand...

Ok, I'll just add the few things you didn't mention.

-2d cut-ins added for all combination skills
-easier for combination skills to activate

the reason why they didn't record new voices is that some of the old character actors have retired and they didn't want to replace them.
 
-There's a list of what rumors are currently floating around the city when you're in it.
-There's more new features that will be announced later
-They originally planned to have it be IS+EP together, but it wouldn't fit on one UMD. They might do EP later (they will).
 
there's almost no room for complaints after the latest batch of news :D

also P2 had great in-game artwork. if soejima worked on that alone, he clearly aimed for kanekos style, which turned out great.

P2 EP was amazing with its mature cast. a rarity to this day.
 
Winter meaning December?

I was expecting a February release though.
 
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