[Guest]

I was 100% happy with the "English" translation. Of course if I "was" Japanese I'd prefer the original but I'm not. What perplexes me is "Europeans or Americans" that rant how  the Japanese version rocks so much harder when in reality the quality is the same and the "original voice talent" is roughly equal to the dubs. Now I've played some "dubbed" games that were horrible but Persona 3 shines. The dubbing was great so I don't really understand any bitch fest people would have.

Guess my "Otaku " standing isn't at a perfect ten otherwise I'd wear Kanji covered shirts and lament how everyone in Persona 3 spoke English instead of the "beautiful musical language" of Japan.

In my humble opinion every cultural language is beautiful in its own way. No reason to try to put one culture above another. Every ethnic and national society has both merits and flaws.

The "Velvet room" track was beautiful this time around. A lot clearer and yet it kept to  the tradition of the other games. I enjoyed every score  which is strange because most of the genres of music in the game normally aren't my thing.

Some of the relationships are funny. My first best friend outside the SEES team was the guy that always had plans to get with older teachers. Can't say I blame him. Some of the teachers are pretty hot.

Nope and apologies for the misunderstanding Devilry. I  believe you do have good morals. But to me one's choices of having an "open sexuality"  doesn't way merits of good and evil. It is just one of those neutral choices sort of like being a taco fan instead of a spaghetti fan. Aka some people like sexually open relationships,some don't either way that doesn't measure them  as better or worse.

"Men without morals" doesn't include you. It includes guys that completely treat women like shit, beat on them, and mistreat them yet they have that odd magnetism that keeps chicks around in the false hope "they can be changed!"

Thanks Tony. In the future I'm going to be far more careful about this. A friend once said to assume is to make an ass of you and me. Just because we're all Megaten fans doesn't mean we all know the same things. I'll use censor bars in the future + my thoughts on Persona 3 are spoiler free!

Here are my spoiler free impressions. If you hate reading more then just a couple of paragraphs though you might want to steer clear. It is the main chunk of my ign review only better edited. lol.

http://www.digitaldevildb.com/bbs/showthread.php?p=4649#post4649

Got it yesterday and here is 100% spoiler free thoughts on it! It is the chunk of my ign reader review. Pardon any minor grammar errors.


Chances are your relationship is a love or hate affair with Atlus. They publish many of the most innovative  and  original rpgs to date but also some of the most frustrating challenging ones as well.

If you have no  idea "what" MegaTen is I'd say Persona 3 is one of the best introductions to the "goddess reborn" alternate universe you are going to get.

Imagine you are a transfer student coming to a new high school. Like anyone else your  age you like chilling with your head phones and having  a good time. The only problem is weird unexplainable deaths and occurences start happening around you. The cause of this is the "Dark hour" a hidden time in which most people go into stasis and demon-like "shadows" seep into our reality to prey on souls under spiritual and emotional pressure. As  expected for some reason your main character can be awake during this time thus he is recruited by a special squad of other "awakened teenagers" to dish out an ass kicking to the forces of evil like Ashe from Army of darkness. Oddly enough each character has a spiritual manifestation called a "persona" and the only  way to call your alter egos forth is by taking a hand gun looking magic expelling "evoker" and shooting yourself in the head with it. Sound emo inspired? Don't worry evokers aren't "real guns" and no brains get splattered all over upholstery.

The thing that stands  out from Persona 3 is you do have to live the life of  a normal  high school  student  and what friendships you make and clubs you join has a direct effect over the main Personas your character can create,how powerful they are, and what stat bonuses you get in battles. Want to be that angsty loner elitist type? Well unfortunately being a socialpathic invert isn't a good idea in Persona 3. You "need" to have good friends to get by and there's no shame in being a shoulder to lean on or lending a helping hand to others. Personally I liked this approach. It is a positive message and encourages you to give a damn about those around you.

At night your average high school turns into a dark tower called "Tautarus". This is where all the shadows emerge and the higher you get in the tower the more of its mysteries are exposed to you. Unlike random encounter rpgs you can see the enemies slogging around. If you attack them first it is an equal footing match. If you sneak up on them and bash them from behind you get the advantage then again if they do the same to you they get to go first. As expected every enemy has an elemental weakness to exploit and the rewards of winning include loot or more persona cards so you can fuse them later to create more powerful alter egos. Only your main character can access the Velvet room and this is where all your personas are stored and evolved.

All this would still be somewhat mediocre if the cast of heroes sucked but lucky for you the rag-tag group of  characters are lovable and have great voice talent behind them. Depending on your choices your romantic and friendly relations with your comrades will go in different directions so unlike the painfully Linear rpgs there is a feeling that "you" have control over your destiny.

The music is a mix of creepy goth techno, orchestra scores and opera vocals,as well as upbeat hip-hop. In any other game this would be off key but in Persona 3 an rpg that emphasizes being young, alive, and filled with energy the tacks are perfect.

Last of all and most important to any  of you that found other MegaTen games too hard with a focus only on level grinding fret not! There is an "easy" setting and even the "normal" mode has  a forgiving learning curve. True save points can be far between "but" any one with common sense can manuever around this hardship by stacking up items,making healing requests while having conversations with other friends during exploration,and taking quick "re-track portals" back to the safe zone when the adventure party starts getting tired.

There's so much more to this game I'm not telling you because I could  write a whole book on how wonderful,nostalgic,and fun it is to me. I played it the first night 12 whole hours without stopping. The only people that would hate Persona 3 are those that have forsaken rpgs all together or have some sort of weird bias against modern Japanese culture. For the rest of you enjoy! It was worth the wait!

I heard a few tracks that were very upbeat and hip hop. Normally I'd detest that in an rpg but Persona 3 is about being young,alive, and living it up in high-school so the sound-tracks go perfectly with the setting from my first impression.

It is well known you get Sera in the second game.(box cover art) I deleted the other bit though I figured most people could predict which ally would be "temporally" an enemy. It's hinted at in depth in DDS 1. Is there a point in being MegaTen fans if we cannot talk about Megaten games? Not trying to start something but I think  there is a difference between spoilers and common sense deductions.

On a positive non confrontational side note glad you've gotten so far in DDS 2 Neao. Good luck!

You have quite the resolve but I feel your point. I'm actually playing DDS 2 as well. I'm not that far but I'm psyched because I'm about to rescue Sera and get her in my group.

It's ok Neao. Tony was right I  should have been more  clear about my point in  the beginning. Overall  I'm just as much at fault. Sadly clear  ideas  in a mind don't always get conveyed as clearly in text.

I'll doubt I'll sleep tonight. My persona 3 is inward bound! I haven't been this excited since  I got Shadow hearts covenant and Resident evil 4!

It was like that for me too Tony. I loved FF 4-9 and both parasite eve games. And then when square fused with enix my interest gradually dwindled. I never developed "hatred" towards them but I do remember thinking how  their older games had more creativity and  pazzaz. It's as if their recent games can't  keep me enthralled. It took me almost a year to beat FF-10 and with Kingdom Hearts 2 I got pretty far then for some obscure reason just put it down.

I find Atlus,Nippon ecchi, and Nautilis are the only rare companies that make me excited about releases anymore. I know that is opinionated but alas I'm only human.

On a positive note tomorrow I get Persona 3. I feel like a kid right before Christmas. lol.

I confessed to enjoying kingdom hearts 2 and FF 12. Do those have a big "M" sticker on them? Mature means more then profane language  or  nudity. It also  deals with the complexities of the story-line. For example FF 12 and Kingdom Hearts have very iconic simple to understand plots whereas Nocturne or DDS is far more intellectually complex. So yes, I suppose I do commonly enjoy mature rated rpgs more then "teen rpgs" but there are "general audience rpgs" that surpass my bias.

Favorite Rpgs at moment

KH 2=Teen
Disgaea=teen
La  pucelle tactics=Teen
FF 12=Teen
Shadow hearts Covenant=Teen
Shadow Hearts 1=Mature
DDS saga=  Mature

If  in fact I'm biased and judging games solely on whether or not they have a mature tag  on them why do so many  of my top rpgs have a "teen" label?

The truth is SE "is" bucking trends and is trying to appeal to a very large fan-base of mostly young impressionable teens. While this  is a good business tactic I find that once in awhile I'm not psyched by a Charlie's Angels Final fantasy fusion (FFx-2) or will pick up a game just because it has cryptic tie ins to FF 7.

Espers turning into vehicles? Planning to make FF13 the first part of  a long  and expensive continual series? That is not the Square I grew up with so of course I have some hard feelings. For the record though I said SE is a good rpg company. Am I going to get scrutinized for not saying it is "the very best" rpg company? That's a bit harsh in my opinion.

I like more light hearted "tripping stuff" devilry. I think society today focuses too much on the dark side of things and even I'm guilty of that on occasion. I was thinking perhaps you could illustrate cd covers for bands or even create cool t-shirts. However  since you are busy with a comic book time might not be on your side for other pursuits.

I'm nightsavior (real name Ben). Ironically I'm posting an introduction after already conversing with you all in many posts but I figure it is good form.

I was hooked on MegaTen after playing Revelations Persona way back in the late 90's and since then have gotten DDS 1 and 2 for my PS-2. I wanted Nocturne but it became an obscure game  where I lived rather quickly.

I'm an artist that draws anime, comic book style characters, and even the left-hand dark "pervert" path of hentai. Guess I never saw sex as an "icky horrid sin".

I'm also into hiking,martial arts,reading,writing poetry,and practicing with a genuine samurai sword a friend gave me awhile back. I'm not going to say I'm a "Master" at any of these things but damn it I'm trying!