Persona 3 and 4

[das_boot]

So following from my thread about 5/5 Royal, these games were remastered and released for modern platforms about a month or so ago.

So far I’ve only played 3 (they are LONG games and at 80 hours in I think I’m only hitting the end game portion now). My overall opinion is that I can see why these games have such a strong fan base because this feels way ahead of it’s time in terms of themes and character beats. The characters are great and while I don’t understand the point of some of the non-party social links (and im also WAY behind on some of them despite following a guide that was terrible), the soundtrack is great and while this is a port of the PSP version of the game, and lacking the DLC from the original, it’s still pretty great and feels like something you’d expect from an Indie developer on this platform. Yeah the graphics are a bit dated and there are certainly a few of the social links that feel a bit dubious morally, but it adds to the charm of the game.

Anyone else playing this?

[WorldWideWade]

I devoured Royal half a year back and started Persona 4 a few weeks ago. I think I'm around halfway through and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. It has not grabbed me by the endorphins quite like Royal did but few games can match Royal's style. For a PS2 game though I am surprised just how much was retained between 4 and 5.

[Magnus]

P4 was my entry into the series, played it when it came out around 2009 and loved it. I've only played a small bit of P3, but one of these days I'll get around to it. I am a bit worried that it'll feel a bit regressive in terms of gameplay/features - I remember I found it quite annoying I couldn't control all the party members in P3 for example (though I think they changed that in one of the remasters?) Probably similar to how I would probably find P4's bland featureless dungeons weird if I had played P5 first. I hear P3 has the best characters/plot of the three games though.

[das_boot]

P3 you can change the settings so that you can control your characters manually I checked before I bought the game because under no circumstances would I have tolerated a long game where I couldn’t control the full party

Also, like I said, it feels like an indie game, which… hm. I guess for a PS2/PSP game that’s been ported to current/last Gen consoles? Isn’t exactly a shocking indictment or throwing shade, more of a… well, that’s the game aging better than it probably should/could have.

I kind of love most of the playable characters, but much like in P5/P5R, you’ll find that with the right combination of personas equipped to the silent protagonist, you can close any gaps in the party to cover party member weaknesses. (No spoilers but Throne and Samael become necessary additions around the third block of Tartarus for the amount of foes that are only weak to light/dark).

I feel like the social links are far less forgiving than in P5/P5R too— I’m definitely really far behind on several of mine so if you’re following a guide MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A PERSONA OF THE CORRECT ARCANA EQUIPPED

[das_boot]

Update: I finished P3 last night and oh god. What a gut punch of an ending.

No spoilers however— this game does seem slightly dated but it’s still playable and enjoyable. I think my only criticism is that there’s (what I feel) is a chunk of the plot regarding some of the antagonists that gets dropped in right before the final battle and while it makes them significantly more sympathetic, it’s just SO annoying that it was dropped in just at the end of the game. It could have made for such an interesting plot to follow for the last two months of the game on top of preparing for the “save the world” battle. Some of the social links didn’t quite work for me, but the ones that did, specifically “The Sun”, “The Aeon”, “The Empress”, “The Hanged Man”, “The Hierophant” and “The Lovers” just felt great. I can see why “The Chariot” SL was criticised as being near identical in P5 to this game. Ugh. Play it, nerds.

[Snowbrigade]

Im playing P4 now and am just past the third dungeon (Rises) and really enjoying the game so far!

Got into the Persona universe one year ago with P5 and was completely hooked. Was a bit worried that P4 would feel dated in comparison but pleasantly surprised that most if what i liked about P5 was already in P4!

Would you say that P3 is on a similar level to P4 and P5?

[das_boot]

I think P3 definitely lays the groundwork for P4 and 5. The combat’s very similar and the fact that you get new personae via “shuffle time” than by recruiting them from battle (something they brought over to p5 from the mainline SMT series I’ve been told). I’d say P3 feels a lot less personal, in that there’s only really two dungeons (with one being hundreds of floors and the main plot dungeon), and for some reason even though it sticks to the “silent protagonist” theme, I felt more attached to the protagonist in P5 and P4 than in P3. The cast in P4 just seem a lot more well-rounded and that could be due to the fact that

Spoiler: show

in P3 the main characters are all recruited in to a pseudo-military group, whereas in P4 and P5 there’s definitely more of a feel of “oh shit we stumbled across this situation and we kind of have a responsibility to resolve it”.

I enjoyed P3 but I think if I’d played it after P4 I’d probably have enjoyed it a little less. That’s not to say it’s not a great game because it is— it just certainly feels a lot more dated than p4

[Snowbrigade]

Ok thanks for the rundown! Think I will just take my time with p4 then and really explore everything rather than to rush it to do P3 as well.

[das_boot]

Update: it is literally absolutely impossible to 100% all social links within one run through of P4— regrettably because the spoiler-free guide that I’ve followed told me early on to not prioritise my party members, there are now three of them that I haven’t maxed out (and one happens as plot beats so that doesn’t count).

There is absolutely no way to 100% these social links without all of your stats maxed out, which doesn’t happen until fairly late in your first run through. I think after I finish P4, I’m going to re-do P3 as a female character on new game+ and PRAY for 100% social links and then come back to P4 and do the same.

The storyline in P4, certainly in the later stages, feels very similar to P5, so i can definitely see where the criticisms of P5’s plot from long-term fans of the franchise are coming from, but I think at the moment I’d say P4 and 5 are tied in terms of my favourites. Had I played P4 first, I DO think I’d have preferred it, but here we are in the year of our lord 2023.

[Magnus]

I think it is possible to max all social links on a first playthrough, it just requires following a very specific schedule to a tee, and doing some stuff that might be kinda arduous like clearing dungeons on one day as soon as they're available, and/or savescumming for RNG parts (like random stat increases from meals). That was for the original though, not sure if P4 Golden adds more links that makes it impossible to get all done the first time.

[das_boot]

I think it is possible to max all social links on a first playthrough, it just requires following a very specific schedule to a tee, and doing some stuff that might be kinda arduous like clearing dungeons on one day as soon as they're available, and/or savescumming for RNG parts (like random stat increases from meals). That was for the original though, not sure if P4 Golden adds more links that makes it impossible to get all done the first time.

From my understanding there’s only one extra SL. The SL where you have to fuse ten specific persona can be done in one session so that’s not an issue— for the stat increases I really struggled to get “understanding” high. I also feel like P3 and P4 both suffer a little from a lack of balance between SL you can complete during the day and night.

[Snowbrigade]

I’m still working on p4 but currently on the final boss-dungeon so guess I won’t have so much more time to spend working on the social links. I did the exact opposite of you Das and focused on the main group of friends first and have maxed out all of them. Other than that I have only completed the justice and devil social links and are very far away from completing any other. I did all of the dungeons in 1 day to save time but even doing this I have struggled a lot to find time for all of the social links and maxing out all the stats.

[das_boot]

I’m on December now. Once it hits December I’ve lost the opportunity to build Rise and Kanji any further but I’ve managed to finish Yosuke’s SL (the guide I’m following literally says the words “don’t worry too much about Yosuke and your other party members, you have until the end of December to finish ranking them up— LIES!!!!!).

I’m maxed out on…

The Fool, The Magician, The Priestess, The Hierophant, The Empress, The Hierophant, The Chariot, Fortune, Justice, the Devil, The Star and Aeon…

[das_boot]

EDIT— so for Golden… after the final dungeon you do actually get time to finish off any social links you might have missed— I was still WAY behind on some of the links so didn’t even bother attempting them, but got all of my party finished, as well as Death and Strength.

Sun, Moon, Temperance, Hermit and Tower are either too far off to complete or, in the case of Hermit, I haven’t done some of the prerequisite mini-games before hand in order to be able to complete it, especially as some of the tasks you have to complete for that SL take multiple days (although don’t take up time).

I still think I’ll be hitting up new game+ for this at some point, if just to max the social links without the time constraints of having to level up my stats etc, and being able to access the shrine fairly early to avoid having to spend time on hanging out with folk without advancing their link.

[Snowbrigade]

I just finished the game having spent roughly 90 hours in total. I didn’t complete the jester, sun, moon, hanged social links and were very far away from doing so. Was 3 ranks away from completing the temper and death social links and 1 rank from maxing out the hiero. With hindsight I probably spent way too many evenings hanging out with the core group and didn’t utilize the most efficient methods of increasing my skill points.

Got the most basic “good” ending since I missed the point in time after having defeated

Spoiler: show

Adachi

where you need to go back to the tv world and defeat the last boss.

In general I think I actually liked p4 even more than p5. I found the characters more to my liking and really liked the rural setting. Might pick up a save from the

Spoiler: show

Adachi

dungeon just to see the golden ending play out.

[das_boot]

Hey SB, I just edited your post to include spoiler tags in case anyone who wanted to pick this up had remained spoiler free

Like I said, I’m following a guide and it’s told me how to get the two secret dungeons (there’s one for

Spoiler: show

Marie too if you maxed out her social link but it’s BRUTAL, you have one day to complete it, and the boss battles are actually the easiest part of that dungeon

). I’m on the final final dungeon now which isn’t too bad with the right set-up (I’ve gone with MC, Yukiko, Naoto and Kanji so I have a mix of magic and brawler), and I have one of my Personae specifically set up for buffs and de-buffs because they are CLUTCH in this game. I still haven’t actually come across the Reaper yet though— I’ve heard the jangling chains a few times but it’s never actually spawned from a chest which I find so odd since Reaper appeared VERY often in P3 and P5.