SMT: Persona 4 Arriving this winter

[Gilghamut]

Atlus has announced a release date for the North American release of Persona 4, it will be coming out on Dec. 9th.

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[Karellen]

Meh. Having control over your party members sounds like it will be an improvement over Persona 3 already but I just can't muster any enthusiasm for this game. I just hope this whole "Shigenori Soejima" thing is just a fad and they aren't seriously thinking about replacing Kazuma Kaneko.

[Vermachtnis]

That's going to be my chirstmas present from me to me! I dunno I like how you controlled only the main character in P3. It added to the difficulty. Of course if MC dies it'll probably be Game Over no matter how much you have controll.

[Dreddz]

Cool. This gives me enough time to finish Persona 3.

[Wolf Kanno]

I adore P3 and though the game is pretty flawless, I saw many possibilities for further improvement and customization in it. P4 looks like it might be fulfilling some of those. Hopefully if it does well, maybe they will release an anthology with a proper localization of P1 and actually give us Innocent Sin... No? Well I can dream can't I?

Overall, this is really good news and I'm surprised its being released (outside of Japan) so quickly.

[Zeromus_X]

I need to beat all my games before December, now...

[Mirage]

P3 is far from flawless. I think it leaves too much to depend on luck, rather than stats and tactics. A more customizable AI would be good, or just like they're doing in P4, let all characters be controllable. I died a lot of times in P3 just because the AI didn't do the smart thing, of while i was waiting for my turn so i could issue them new commands. Oh also, last boss that can charm you and make you use diarahan, that's just a huge smurf you right in the face from the developers.

Then there's also the stupid idea of making it an automatic game over when the main character dies, rather than letting the AI controlled characters try to use a life recovery item or magic. I've entered a battle in great condition, without being ambushed, and see the main character die from two critical/weakness hits from two enemies. There's no way to stop that from happening other than being insanely overleveled, and that's just poor game design.

[Zeromus_X]

P3 is far from flawless. I think it leaves too much to depend on luck, rather than stats and tactics. A more customizable AI would be good, or just like they're doing in P4, let all characters be controllable. I died a lot of times in P3 just because the AI didn't do the smart thing, of while i was waiting for my turn so i could issue them new commands. Oh also, last boss that can charm you and make you use diarahan, that's just a huge smurf you right in the face from the developers.

Tactics really make a big difference in how the AI acts; you just have to know what they'll do on each setting and change it accordingly. I almost always have everyone on Knock Down or Heal/Support depending on the situation because they act too undesirably on Act Freely. But yes, it is nice that they'll give the option of manually controlling the party in P4.

I don't agree that the game is devoid of strategy, though. There are plenty of accessories you can use to give yourself the edge, along with using the right Persona. Narcissus Flower and Tome of the Void (Narcissus/Abaddon's heart items) can protect you from Charm. I know I'd never enter that last battle without four of them for everyone because I'd never want to experience that whole Diarahan thing.

Then there's also the stupid idea of making it an automatic game over when the main character dies, rather than letting the AI controlled characters try to use a life recovery item or magic. I've entered a battle in great condition, without being ambushed, and see the main character die from two critical/weakness hits from two enemies. There's no way to stop that from happening other than being insanely overleveled, and that's just poor game design.

Overeveling isn't really necessary to avoid those types of things with the right setup (which really just boils down to covering your own weaknesses and exploiting the enemies', along with the right skills). You should always do your best to try and get the Player Advantage, too, that way you don't have to worry about anything going wrong all of the sudden.

[Mirage]

I dont think heart items were part of the original game. Also, Please don't assume that I don't do my best to equip the most beneficial personas. YOu can't *always* exploit the enemy's weakness and finish the battle with an all out attack. Sometimes your magic misses, sometimes the all out attack doesn't even finish them all off. Sometimes you simply don't have an attack of the right property. And with several different enemies in one battle, it is sometimes hard to find a persona that is strong against every attack the enemies can throw at you.

The Answer episode is a nice example. Before I even have a chance to get any good personas or items, I can get game over in two attacks, and this has happened to me even after I've done an all out attack, because none of the four enemies were dead after it. There was not really anything I could have done to prevent it, except skipping the fight all together, but doing that over and over again would leave me soft and squishy forever.

[Alucard von Elru]

I just hope this whole "Shigenori Soejima" thing is just a fad and they aren't seriously thinking about replacing Kazuma Kaneko.

I keep hoping that Kaneko is working on something else, like SMTIV or something. I'm beginning to doubt it though. When Nocturne and the DDS titles came out, I was absolutely glued to them. I replayed them constantly and was more addicted to them than to any other RPGs of the past generation. P3? It certainly seems okay, but what I played didn't "hook" me in a way reminiscent of its predecessors, and even though I've picked up FES I STILL haven't felt a strong urge to "get around to it."

In spite of its creative set up, the indefinable "spark" that attracts me so strongly to certain games doesn't seem to be present in P3. I'm hoping that it's just buried, and that whenever I DO get around to seriously playing P3 I'll find it.

So as far as P4 goes, I can't say I'm thrilled. At the same time, however, I'll probably end up picking it up just in case. I still find it difficult to NOT support Atlus.

[Karellen]

SMT without Kaneko is like Dragon Quest without Toriyama. I too hope he's been a no-show for these games because he's working on SMT4.

[LunarWeaver]

I loved me some Persona 3. I'll definitely pick this one up if I can gather the funds. My Ps2 has been clickity lately, though. I hope it doesn't break down right when I buy this. I can't be deprived delicious things.

P3? It certainly seems okay, but what I played didn't "hook" me in a way reminiscent of its predecessors, and even though I've picked up FES I STILL haven't felt a strong urge to "get around to it."

I always feel bad because I'm the one that raved a ton about Persona 3 to you, and when you got it there was no hippity ho over it. Oh well D:

[Zeromus_X]

I dont think heart items were part of the original game. Also, Please don't assume that I don't do my best to equip the most beneficial personas. YOu can't *always* exploit the enemy's weakness and finish the battle with an all out attack. Sometimes your magic misses, sometimes the all out attack doesn't even finish them all off. Sometimes you simply don't have an attack of the right property. And with several different enemies in one battle, it is sometimes hard to find a persona that is strong against every attack the enemies can throw at you.

They are very much in both versions of the game.

Of course there are a handful of bosses that have no weaknesses to exploit (the dice and table bosses come to mind), but for the majority of them, you can easily cripple them with either an elemental weakness or a status ailment. If none of these apply usually you can still Critical them with Rebellion/Revolution and later on Thunder Reign. If your attacks miss alot, use the right buff/debuff spell (they're insanely helpful).

But yeah, my point was that there is strategy in this game, it's not like the whole game is based on luck. I wasn't trying to assume anything about your play style.

[Mirage]

Strange, I don't remember Elizabeth ever telling me about those items in the original game, and i never got one either. While in FES i got a few pretty early on.

And actually, i died from random encounters more than from bosses. And dying from a random encounter is much more of a bitch, because it could have been ages since you last saved.

[Zeromus_X]

I used them alot in original P3. Igor tells you about them early on. Or maybe you have to have a Persona that carries one before he tells you about them.

Yeah, random encounters are usually much more of a problem, especially because those SP restoring items are so hard to come across. I made it a point to always get the player advantage, or just let my teammates do the dirty work in order to avoid them if they catch me. It is pretty much up to luck if they ambush you, especially if it's four enemies spamming instant death spells.