Persona 3; FES

[Evil Tofu]

About two weeks ago, I started playing Persona 3; FES. I already know a few people on the guild who are fans of the Persona series, but I wanted to see if there were any more.

So yeah, just a few questions to any fans of the game;

1. What got you into it? Not just Persona 3, but any of the Persona games. For me, it'd have to be the whole "Sims + Pokemon" thing it has going on. I saw my friend playing Persona 4 when I went over his house and then I saw it on a shelf at the local Game Traders. Curiosity got the best of me and I ended up loving it. The battle system isn't the best, but I like it's simplicity. I like how you can't control the other members of your party and how you have to rely on careful strategies to make sure the AI's do as their told.

2. What's your main party in Persona 3, and why do you use them? Or are you the type of person who likes to get all characters to the max level? With me, I'm too lazy do get everyone to level 99, with the best weapons and what not. The party I have right now are;

Main Character - Basically for anything I need done; Healing, Attacking, Support. I chose to go with Boxing Gloves as his weapon since they rarely ever miss and I critical quite often with them.

Yukari Takeba - Healing and Wind Magic. However, I'm not fond of her because of her bow. It always seems to miss and doesn't do much damage. Once I obtain Ken Amada, I'll swap out Yukari with him. The only bad thing about Ken is his Light Magic, which always seems to miss. But other than that, skills like Cruel Attack and Vile Assault are quite useful. And he does learn Ziodyne eventually.

Mitsuru Kirijo - What can I say? She's a really well rounded character. Her Persona uses Ice Magic, Healing and Status Ailments (Despite everyone arguing about how 'Marin Karin' always seems to miss, it actually works quite well for me). Her Persona has the highest Magic Stat and is the only character of the main cast who ends up learning Mind Charge.

Aigis - I'm considering swapping her out with Koromaru. Koromaru may not have the best techniques, but he deals critical damage a lot. Plus, he's a puppy ;D
But I just can't get rid of Aigis. Her Persona learns mainly physical attacks, but they're good physical attacks. And she also learns great support skills which increase Attack, Defence and Agility. I can't really remember, but I think she learns healing and resurrection spells as well :/

3. What's your favourite Social Link? For me, it's definitely the Online Game Social Link. I'll put the rest of my opinion in a Hider so I don't ruin anything towards the end...

I love this social link because it's hilarious. It starts out by you playing an online game that was given to you by friend, and meeting this girl on there. Later on in the Social Link, you realise that this girl is actually your teacher, and what's more she admits her love to you (As in you in real life) without realising that it's actually you. I kept cracking up during this Social Link, mainly because the Main Character remains unfazed through it all, despite his teacher admitting that she loves him :/

4. What would you rate the game out of 10 and why? I'd probably give it an 8/10. I love this game, it's emotional and funny and entertaining. But the AI's can get annoying, as well as some of the battle themes. And the voice acting is a double edged sword; characters like Mitsuru and Aigis on the sharp side, and Fuuka on the other end :/

[Alphakoka]

1. I think it was my friend that suggested it to me when I was looking for new games. But then, well, with the sheer number of personas, good story and OST, I'm hooked soon after.

2. I forgot the exact party but in the end it was:
MC/Minato Arisato (according to fandom), Aigis for her physical and support skills, Yukari for healing, and then Akihiko for his attacks. Sometimes I switch Aigis with Mitsuru or Ken.

3. I forgot what, but I think the one with the girl in the park.

4. 8/10. It's nice, but the fusion system is sometime just frustrating.

[Dudel]

I still want to play FES! D:

1. What got you into it? Not just Persona 3, but any of the Persona games.

Uh... well I'm never really "into" a series, but I like the general idea behind most of the Shin Megami Tensei games. I've only played a few, P3 being one of them, and they were just kinda awesome.

Curiosity, mostly. The social aspect with the "demon collecting" are the main draws, especially since they are the main aspect of the game.

Turns out I liked the story, too.

2. What's your main party in Persona 3, and why do you use them? Or are you the type of person who likes to get all characters to the max level?

While I did get all my characters up to level 99, that was because I had several in-game months to kill and an extra dungeon already finished. I was kinda "Meh, whatever," and maxed everyone out.

That said, my party was Junpei, Yukari & Mitsuru.

Just seemed like the most balanced party to me. Sometimes I'd swap Junpei out with Akihiko. Mostly for element reasons. Yukari and Mitsuru stuck around mainly for healing purposes.

3. What's your favourite Social Link?

Empress, because how can you not crush on Mitsuru? I maxed out my character's Knowledge as fast as possible, just so I could start the social link the first time I played. XD

What can I say? Got a soft spot for assertive women, especially assertive women with red hair.

4. What would you rate the game out of 10 and why?

I wont do out of 10, because that's too variable. I'll do like I do everything else, out of 5.

P3 at a solid 4. (On a 10 Point scale that vote seems far more drastic, as I'd put it around a 6 or a 7.)

[Smooth]

Did some say Persona?

1. What got you into it?

The feel of the game, the story (it isn't even that good, but I still like it a lot), the characters, and THE MUSIC. OMFG. SUCH A GOOD OST. The gameplay was interesting, I liked not having to deal with controlling the rest of your party. (Even though for a lot of my playthroughs I was playing P3P where you can actually control the others), and excellent replayability

Pretty much fell in love with Persona 3, which led me some of the other MegaTen games. Like Persona 4. It's better than P3 in every aspect except music but I still like P3 better. XD

2. What's your main party in Persona 3, and why do you use them? Or are you the type of person who likes to get all characters to the max level?

I did a lot of playthroughs, and only the MC keeps his level so I never bother to max out the rest of the crew.

My main party? I can't really say. Unlike a lot of other people who choose to neglect certain characters simply because they don't like that particular character, I don't stick to one party. I like to keep things varied and adjust the party to the situation.

3. What's your favourite Social Link?

Well, I am a guy, so I immensely enjoyed all the romance Social Links, especially the fact that MC dated nearly every single girl. Man, that stuff always had me laughing.

So aside from all those... it's hard to pick out just one. The ones that really stand out in my mind are Sun (This one was just too beautiful), Star (Pretty touching, even though the circumstances leading to this link was laughable), and Tower. That being said, all of the Links have their own good points. The ones I mentioned are just the ones that stood out most to me.

4. What would you rate the game out of 10 and why?

As a video game player? An eight. As a Persona fan? Nine.

There's a lot to be enjoyed about the game and I already listed why I like it, so I'll point out some flaws. Most of which were rectified in P4. Seriously, P4 wouldn't have been the game it was without P3. The dev team learned.

Voice acting. There was absolutely horrendous voice acting, but there was a lot of top-notch voice acting as well.

Enemy models/ Dungeons being repetitive. Yeah, it isn't so bad at first, but as you progress into the game you'll start to notice that you're fighting the same Shadows under different names and colors. The dungeons aren't much better either.

Some parts of the plot feel horribly cliché or downright ridiculous. I mean, come on. A policeman selling a bunch of teenagers weapons? And why bother with that? Isn't Mitsuru supposed to be the heiress of some ultra-rich family?

Spoiler

Speaking of which, wasn't SEES created because of the Kirijos' mistakes. Even Mitsuru's dad admitted this. You'd think they'd at least cover SEES's expenses

[Evil Tofu]

Is your Avatar and Signature set a reference between the MC of Persona 3 and Naoto from Persona 4? o_O"

I agree with Alpha; the fusion system was annoying D:
I did love the fusion spells, especially Frolic. If you were really lucky, Frolic would be the best healing spell early game. I've been pretty lucky, so it's only backfired on me a few times. What I don't like is how over powered Armageddon is. If your persona has Victory Cry, that spell becomes a Game Breaker. Not even the final boss has enough HP to survive Armageddon :/

[Alphakoka]

Is your Avatar and Signature set a reference between the MC of Persona 3 and Naoto from Persona 4? o_O"

I agree with Alpha; the fusion system was annoying D:
I did love the fusion spells, especially Frolic. If you were really lucky, Frolic would be the best healing spell early game. I've been pretty lucky, so it's only backfired on me a few times. What I don't like is how over powered Armageddon is. If your persona has Victory Cry, that spell becomes a Game Breaker. Not even the final boss has enough HP to survive Armageddon :/

Given what you have to do to have them? I think that's cool and suitable.

[Evil Tofu]

Put up with the Star Social Link and get to like level 90? I dunno, I kinda like the Star Social Link, and it seems pretty easy to grind in Persona 3. Then again, I guess you could always add Victory Cry to either Helel or Satan to balance out the 100% SP cost of using Armageddon. I guess that makes it a Game Breaker? o_O

[Smooth]

Is your Avatar and Signature set a reference between the MC of Persona 3 and Naoto from Persona 4? o_O

Well, Naoto is the one who uses a revolver, not Minato...

[The Jest]

1. After being such a fan of Persona 4, I went into studying the rest of the Persona series. (So I pretty much spoiled myself to ther main elements of the plot.) However, "things" were in my favor one day, and I decided to buy FES. I chose FES in particular because 1. My PSP is lost, and 2. Why buy the original when I could have an expansion of it instead?

2. I am indeed the Type who'd rather give everyone a chance, and yes everyone's at max last I checked. As such, I don't have a "Main" party. In terms of a final party, however, I go with Dudel's party. Not really just because of balance, but because....It just feels right to end it with them.

3. Death, Hand-down, I loved Death. Even as Fortune in female P3P he's my favorite character in the game. ...Of course it's auto, so if he doesn't count, ...Then Hands-down, Sun. The Sun guy is just amazing.

4. ....8/10, 4/5. I'll elaborate later since I have no time now.

[Evil Tofu]

Lots of interesting answers. Forgive the revival of a dead thread but I kinda have some questions on the secret boss Elizabeth.

A lot of people say Orpheus Telos is a must have for this boss. I disagree. I just think having Telos would make it easier, so I'll be using him. In terms of his skills, I have a feeling I'll have a lot of trouble getting every skill I'd like onto him.

Skills I want;
- Spell Master - Elec Amp
- Mind Charge - Elec Boost
- Salvation - Thunder Reign
- High Counter* - Unshaken Will

* I actually want this to be 'Fist Master', but unless I can find a shoe armour which has High Counter (I know there is one, I just can't recall the name), then I must have it equipped on Telos.

The Equiptment I plan to bring;

Weapon; Fused Gloves (I can't remember the Persona I needed in order to fuse the weapon, but it offered a High Physical Resistance)

Armour; Armour of Light (Messiah's Heart Item) - High Magic Resistance

Shoes; Unnamed Shoe which offers High Counter. If I can't find it, then most likely I'll go with some random shoe

Accessory; Divine Pillar (Allilats heart item) - Half damage taken, but can never dodge.

That's basically what I plan to obtain for the Elizabeth Boss Battle. Has anyone else fought Elizabeth? If so, what were your strategies? Also, if you know the name of some of the Personas and items I'm trying to find, I'd really appreciate it if you could let me know ^^