More Persona

Okay, so I need to get back to the Persona topic. I apologize if my last post seemed brief when discussing the game, as I was just dead tired after running, and couldn't stay awake for the life of me. But I didn't want to have a complete post talking about GameStop without covering any actual gameplay. Tonight's full post will be completely about gameplay in games, and no buying or stores.

I want to go into more detail about my Persona 3 FES goings. I find it refreshing to be playing an RPG that has two types of gameplay. On one hand, it has actual RPG elements, such as turn-based combat, leveling up, grinding (when needed), and other common RPG themes. And then on the other hand, a completely different social aspect to the game, such as making friends, hanging out with different people, and just doing things like a normal teenager would do. It's nice being able to do one if the other becomes a little boring. And just when that gets boring, it's time to switch back to doing the other aspect of the game. Fighting at night, and being social during the day.

While there's only one dungeon, I find that to be okay. Normally I like to have very different dungeons to explore, to keep things changing and interesting. Maybe it's the fact that every floor is a different layout every time one enters the dungeon. I'm on the 38th floor right now (I believe?), though I cannot progress any further due to another barrier. So it looks as though I've only beaten one story boss, with the next one coming up in about 8 days.

That's another part that's interesting, that the story automatically progresses, no matter how far along one has leveled up the characters. I was very nervous at first that I wouldn't level them up enough to be able to beat the boss/story scene, and would get stuck on that day of the month. But I've learned how to level up my characters enough, when it's normal to grind a bit, and when my characters are probably strong enough for that cutscene. Either way, I go to Tartarus almost every night to level up at least a little bit. Plus I've got to consider my Personae (?) alongside my characters, which are just as if not more important than the main characters. Oh the Personae!

The Persona fusing becomes much more fun as the game progresses, since with higher character levels means more Personae are available to use. And with more Personae, more fusing options become available. I would almost say that using and fusing the Personae is more fun than Pokemon leveling. Yeah leveling Pokemon is addicting, trying to gain more abilities and evolving them, but Pokemon can't be fused. It would be awesome if one could fuse Pokemon to gain abilities from each other, and change forms. But until then, Persona does this in a more unique way. So they each have their addicting gameplays. I'd put down what Personae I'm currently using, but I honestly can't remember, and they switch every few days or week in the game. So by next post, I'll already be using different Personae...which is awesome, totally different from every RPG I've played. I can say, however, that between all my Personae that I'm actively using in battles (which is actually only like 3 or 4 right now), I have Zio, Agi, Bufu, Garu, Mabufu, Hami (my only light skill, kinda sucks), among other non-magical or non-fighting skills. So I've been making sure that when I fuse, I keep the four main magical skills somewhere within my active Personae, which has been extremely helpful. About a week ago game-time wise I didn't have Zio, which was very frustrating, because I didn't have Akihiko yet, and when I did, he didn't always use Zio at the best times. Oh and before I switch subjects, I also love being able to knock down enemies, a very fun and strategic battle consideration.

I don't take the social gameplay very seriously, but it can be a fun distraction when I get bored of fighting. Plus fighting still gets stressful when I have teammates who get tired. Happens less often, but it's still there. But anyways, I think I have found 7 or 8 different social links, and leveled each of those up to level 2. I have leveled three of them up to level 3, being the Fool, Justice and one other Arcana. It can become addictive, however, on those days when I spend quite a bit of time looking at Personae and fusing possibilities. Then I start to think of who I should be hanging out within the next week, to level up the social link. I'll continue to blog about Persona 3, though I doubt the posts will be this in depth. This one was long because I haven't really posted about the game yet.

I also popped in NCAA Football 08 yesterday, just to play something different for an hour. Wasn't in the mood for Persona or Futurama, and c'mon, it's almost football season! I played as Michigan State (obviously) at a home game against Central Michigan. Ya know, kinda like a rematch from last year. While nothing will ever change the embarrassing home loss against Central Michigan last season, it felt good to win a rematch 70-10. Even the commentators were saying such things as "This coach should really start acting like he's been here before," as I ran up the score in the final minutes. Well you know what, it was a well deserved beating, those fake commentators have no idea. Last year was just painful.