For anyone who didn't know, Persona 3 FES was released yesterday. It is the expansion to Persona 3. Persona 3 is probably one of the best RPGs I've played to date, and I can't wait to get started of P3F. I was wondering if anyone else had played the original version, or was thinking of buying P3F.

 

I'd hardly call it an expansion if it's the same version that I'm thinking about. One more female lead, minor gameplay changes and some dialogue. As great as the original was I'm not going to replay all that tedious dungeon crawling just for this..

 

They added an entire game segment after the ending that features Aegis as the main character. Supposedly it's 30+ hours of gameplay. You also don't have to replay the entire game to get to it. You can just choose to play the second part (known as The Answer). There's also a hard mode, which is a big improvement to me.

 

I just got back from playing a bit of it, and I have to say...

God damn that intro is long. I do not remember the intro being that fucking long.

Anyways, yeah. It's going to be a fun ride, with the added features (I mostly just want to see the Aeon S-Link and the epilogues they made, really. Though, I will play Episode Aigis, as well). On the other hand, I'm pretty peeved that I didn't get to keep my levels and gear when I transferred to FES.

 

Shame to let a thread about this great game die though and as such, for those who don't know about this game;

Yes, you release your power by shooting yourself in the head with a gun. How this passed american censors is beyond me.





-- Yeah... that pic was way too big. I deleted it. Protip: If it makes me have to scroll sideways on a 22' widescreen monitor, it's going to get deleted.

 

Probably should have left that second image as a link. If I remember correctly, this board doesn't really take too well to breaking the table.

But yeah, it's not a real gun...

 

Since,

Spoiler

the protagonist is dead

it seems silly for me to play anymore. It doesn't help that I hadn't anticipated the game's release (I doubted they'd translate it) so I spoiled the ending for myself anyway.

The game is pretty good... if a little obnoxious (I don't like how the designers reduced boss fights to "lol immune to everything but one element/attack").

The upgrading of persona via character interaction was a good break from the monotony. I especially liked the "Sun" persona (sick man) and the Drunken ex-Monk. The music was also good. The atmosphere is very sobering at times.

Mitsuru and Aikihiko constitute a majority of the win, of course.

 

To be fair, this really shouldn't surprise you. If a game is named "Shin Megami Tensei," you should always, always expect the ending to be tragic. That company just does not do happy endings.

Oddly enough, this didn't really bother me. It made things more challenging - and hard mode makes it even worse.

The sick man S-Link is just downright depressing. On that note, FES has epilogues, and I really find it hard to imagine how they're going to pull that off with this one, considering

Spoiler

the sick guy died at Sun level 10.

Of course. In regards to story, I rather liked Junpei and Jin. Junpei, though, has what I like to call the "Flonne effect:" great character, but stay the fuck out of my battles.

 

Junpei was pure gold when it came to comedy but yeah, I booted his ass as soon as possible. One letdown was how plastic the relationships were, sure they were awesome while you were out socializing with the girls but once you hit level 10 it's suddenly like you never had one in the first place. I mean why bother with all the jealousy if you're dating two at a time when you can just take them all for a spin one after another without breaing up?

 

Junpei isn't bad. He's just weak to fire... which, ahh, makes up like half of the bosses in the early game? I mean, he's needed for some of the later bosses (though I never did use him myself).

It would have been great if the other party members leveled up even if you didn't use them... it was too much of a bother for me to level up Junpei/dog/Robot (I forget her name). They also could have warned you not to put expensive equipment on Jin... *cough*

Anyway, Persona 3 is the first SMT game that I've ever actually finished, so the ending was a surprise for me.

 

No, he really is terrible. Once you get Akihiko and Mitsuru, he needs to be out of your party. By the time he becomes useful again, he's already got a replacement that's just...better at what he does. You didn't level up Koromaru, so you have no idea just how fucking strong that dog is.

Aside from Junpei, that was a mistake. Aigis is pretty damn useful for buffs and her persona upgrade makes her a decent healer (that and she beats the living hell out of enemies at her own expense), and again, Koromaru is just godly.

[quoteThey also could have warned you not to put expensive equipment on Jin... *cough*[/quote]

Jin is a villain, actually; he's the guy in my avatar. The character you're thinking of is Shinjiro. Honestly, I can't wait until I get Shinjiro again (not to use him, but instead so I can start picking up axes. Minato just doesn't feel right without an axe in his hand anymore).

It was actually the first one I'd completed, too, but I'd been spoiled for the endings of several other SMT games, so for me, not really all that surprising. Just out of curiosity, did you find out about the, ahem, ending, from Episode Aigis, or did you figure it out yourself?

 

Quoted for fucking truth. Right now I'm in June, and I already have 30+ hours. I being my perfectionist self and spending to much time in tartaros, though I always keep up with the requests. Hard mode is worth paying another $30 for this game. And I still think Maya is one of the best S-Links.

 

I would love Maya to death if it weren't for her horrendous netspeak. Still, I'm rushing through that S-Link because god damn it I need to see the Epilogue for that one. Srsly. I will die if I don't see that epilogue.

Also, GOD FUCKING DAMN IT WHY THE HELL IS KOHRYU SO FUCKING EXPENSIVE!? I need my healdragon back...the weapon it would make would be pretty badass, too. Come back to me, Healdragon!

 

I know in advance I'm necroing this. But I do have something to add as I am currently playing this game.

How useful are the weapon fusions? And I think in FES, your team mates DO level a bit without you. Not as fast, but I'd left them alone for a long bit, and the last time I used them was at level 6, and I leveled to 20, and they'd made it to 10.

Basically I've resigned myself to just setting them on Kill: Shadoes, and jumping in when they look like they're getting pwned. I just wish they didn't get so tired so easily. Bunch of punks.

I'm up to the Second Full moon (where I have control... June 8 I think) and I've maxed Courage, which was a pain. So far my favorite is Alp, as she had every elemental attack through fusion save Zio.

 

Weapon fusions will get you the strongest weapons in the game. Some specific Persona will grant you "special" weapons from fusion. These weapons are extremely powerful.

For example, if you can get the Persona Thor, you can get a weapon with 350 attack power and a lightning attack, called "Mjolnir." I got that shortly after the second full moon (took a while to build up the funds necessary to pull him from the compendium).

Other Persona will do this for other weapon types if you don't like axes/hammers.

 

Good lord. You were already level 53 by the second full moon?

I'm only at 22. Of course, every persona I get, I max out its skills so I have a better shot at transferring when I fuse.

 

No, of course not. I was playing a new game plus, meaning I had my compendium from my file that had beaten the game.

I was around level 20 or so, but I pulled together a good million yen and had Elizabeth pull it from the compendium.

 

Ah. I was wondering if you were just THAT much into grinding.

Did you do much the same thing? Max all of the skills for each Persona?

Right now I've got the trusty Spiked Bat on the main character, and the Toy Bow on the girl with Io.

 

I didn't. I just used the Persona as they became useful.

 

I've gotten some pretty sweet combinations from doing it the way I'm doing, and have discovered some great techniques.

So when you do a new game +, do you keep your level, or just the compendium, and items for making an S. Level. And if you don't keep your level, can you summon a higher level persona than you currently are?