Persona 3- It is done. Involved summoning he who is called the Morning Star and evoking the dark powers of Satan, but the game is finally done!
On the whole, game's biggest strength, and therefore weakness, was the total control over pacing. Everything's just done up in small packets so you can really just play and lose track of the time. In the sim-mode. The trouble with the game is that Tartarus does not work this way at all, you HAVE to do a set of floors at once or you're wasting your time, nevermind that due to the time issue, you can't run out and resupply in the middle of a run should the need arise. You either have to waste another Evening going again or muddle through without, which at times is positively infuriating. The game just badly, badly needed something closer to Town Portal. Later on you do get Escape Route, which is really useful if you're into powerlevelling (or happen to be trapped by the Reaper or something), but even that's stupidly late. Also, Level being the most important stat induces head-desking. That said, there are definitely times that the battle system is fun, the whole "win fights by denying enemies turn" concept can be enjoyable, when the game lets you (hate for the last set of Tartarus bosses).
Story thoughts in more detail below for spoiler purposes. IN general? S.Links are entertaining on average, though certainly the dating ones are... not the standouts, shall we say. Even though Yuko kinda cracked me up. For the record... Magician, Emperor, Empress, Heirophant, Lover, Chariot, Hermit, Strength, Hanged Man, Devil, Tower, Star, Moon, and Sun. So... 17 for a first playthrough? Sadly I didn't have time left to finish up Aeon.
DL Stuffs-
Regular characters
Minato Arisato- Bluelike. Initiative, OVERNINETHOUSAAAAAAANNNDDD damage in a system where the next best is under 500 (and that's him too!), can mix and match for any resist ever, options for status immunity and auto-life... yeah. It's been said.
Yukari Tekaba- Middle/Light? I dunno, the speed/durability combo isn't favorable to healing, and no status blocking options or ability to blitz.
Junpei Iori- Low Middle. Regen can't hurt, but his real damage eating through his HP like nothing means he's not a great slugger, although not bad I guess.
Akihiko Sanada- Middle. healing, solid damage, just fairly solid.
Mitsuru Kojiro- Low Heavy? Really depends on if you use an average she 2HKOs in. Otherwise, just covers her bases.
Ken Amada- Middle. See Akihiko, ID isn't really accurate enough to kick him up a notch.
Koromaru- Middle. ID is scrubbish, but the durability and some evade kick him up a notch.
Aigis- Middle. She can put on pressure, but needs a while to get going. Durability helps though.
Irregular characters (Note that these are based off my own experiences and are more for fun >.>)
Shinjiro Aragaki- Middle? Didn't use him, but seems pretty average with some options should he need them.
Chidori- Light. Is awesome~
Jin- Puny, OHKO-bait~
Takaya- Puny, OHKO-bait~
Nyx Avatar- Middle/Heavy. HP buffering means he'll get some damage off, between the 13 forms he'll probably do enough to kill many non-healers, although defense is problematic.
Rambling
Here thar be spoilers
So, we'll set aside the whole Death thing. It's a non-spoiler, the opening video absolutely screams "by the way the hero is going to die" and it only gets more obvious from there.
No, Persona 3 is actually about the meaning of life. Here, too, it wields a heavy hammer, and the conclusion they intend you to reach (That it's all about making the world a better place, on person, one connection, at a time.) is again pretty straightforward. Despite being fairly heavy handed, though, being a great sap I still enjoyed it for what it was, although they could have focused on the PC cast more. I suppose that's what the Fuuka/Yukari/Mitsuru S.Links are for though. Well, that and making Yukari stutter about spending an afternoon away. But frankly, Yuko's way funnier about that, and laughing at how flustered the dates are is the primary value of those five links >.>
Nevermind that "Hello, Maya-san." totally owns everyone for humor. Honestly, hoping they eventually did the "oh shit, the guy I was talking to online was actually the student I had a crush on?!!?!" scene was my primary reward for beating the game. Totally a worthwhile payoff, too.
anyway, back on track, despite typical "Persona PCs are masses of daddy issues" being in full effect, Ryoji felt better pulled off than most of the cast. Granted, might just be amused by his Arcana rants, they were hilarious when each form lasted about two rounds for some reason.
Anyways... hmmm. 7/10 I guess? The game was engrossing at some points, enraging at others, and settled down into an enjoyable slaughterhouse in the endgame, more than some other games could say I guess.
