Persona 3: It is all-consuming
As I wrote last week, I picked up Persona 3. It's about all I've been doing in my spare time since. It's too damn fun to put down. It's also probably the best RPG released so far all year, and given the odd nature of the game and its intelligently mature content, I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be the best RPG of the year. It takes a lot of risks while higher profile games like Blue Dragon are playing it safe almost to a fault, and not just because the Persona 3 characters summon their Personae by putting gun-shaped devices to their heads and pulling the triggers.
The game is essentially a dungeon-crawler combined with a life-management/dating sim. The main character is a Japanese high school student who spends his days going to class like any other teenager. He can join various campus clubs, meet interesting friends in school and around the city, and basically does what any high school student in Japan (or at least, any student in a high school-based anime) would do. However, at night during a special hour, he and some other students infiltrate a mysterious tower and fight monsters in an effort to climb as high as possible as they try to find the source of a mysterious Apathy Syndrome that makes a person with Mono look like Robin Williams on a Red Bull bender.
What makes the game work is that it's based on the Japanese school year calendar. While it's important to make progress up the tower, there's a certain balance that enters into play, in that sometimes party members won't be available to enter the tower for various reasons, or the tower might be off limits completely. If midterms are coming up, for example, characters may feel more inclined to take time off to study. They can also get sick or tired, which affects their fighting performance and is best treated with a day or two of rest. Also, you can't just ignore your time at school because the relationships and bonds that the main character forms with others are tied to the various arcana that govern the Personae. The stronger a relationship, the stronger a Persona linked to that arcana becomes during the fusion process. And without strong Personae, you're pretty much screwed.
I could probably keep blabbing on and on about the game like this, but I can just summarize my feelings by saying that this game is awesome, and if you have a PS2 and like RPGs, you should play this game. Just be aware that the teachers might call on you during class and ask you questions about Japanese culture that the average American brain wouldn't know, like which yen denomination features a picture of author Murasaki Shikibu.
The game is essentially a dungeon-crawler combined with a life-management/dating sim. The main character is a Japanese high school student who spends his days going to class like any other teenager. He can join various campus clubs, meet interesting friends in school and around the city, and basically does what any high school student in Japan (or at least, any student in a high school-based anime) would do. However, at night during a special hour, he and some other students infiltrate a mysterious tower and fight monsters in an effort to climb as high as possible as they try to find the source of a mysterious Apathy Syndrome that makes a person with Mono look like Robin Williams on a Red Bull bender.
What makes the game work is that it's based on the Japanese school year calendar. While it's important to make progress up the tower, there's a certain balance that enters into play, in that sometimes party members won't be available to enter the tower for various reasons, or the tower might be off limits completely. If midterms are coming up, for example, characters may feel more inclined to take time off to study. They can also get sick or tired, which affects their fighting performance and is best treated with a day or two of rest. Also, you can't just ignore your time at school because the relationships and bonds that the main character forms with others are tied to the various arcana that govern the Personae. The stronger a relationship, the stronger a Persona linked to that arcana becomes during the fusion process. And without strong Personae, you're pretty much screwed.
I could probably keep blabbing on and on about the game like this, but I can just summarize my feelings by saying that this game is awesome, and if you have a PS2 and like RPGs, you should play this game. Just be aware that the teachers might call on you during class and ask you questions about Japanese culture that the average American brain wouldn't know, like which yen denomination features a picture of author Murasaki Shikibu.