Dating and Hack-&-Slashing: the Peanut Butter and Chocolate of Persona 3
Due to the Christmas holiday break, I've had more time to play through some more games. I absolutely prefer playing games to going out during this time since I don't have to spend money to play games. I mean that I can't spend money while I'm playing (until some brilliant executive figures out how to make me buy DLC without knowing it).
Strangely, I've found myself playing more portable games than console or PC games. Especially RPGs. Grinding is so much easier when you can just whip out your portable system at any time. Sleep mode is the greatest portable gaming innovation since the Game & Watch. One of the grindfests on my playlist is the sublime Persona 3 Portable.
I've always been fascinated by the dating sims so prevalent in the Japanese market. In Japan, it's classified under the 'adventure' genre, which may explain why the developers represent dating a girl (or boy) as a series of puzzles (e.g., if this girl loves fantasy, do you take her to a romantic movie, or a sci-fi movie?). Oh, if only real life were as simple...
There have been attempts to mesh the RPG with dating sim elements since the PSOne and Saturn days (probably because JRPG designers couldn't think of any new gimmicks in the mid to late 90's and it was one of the cheapest to implement), notably Sakura Wars. Sakura Wars implemented the system as a way to build up characters and unlock new techniques if you were intimate enough with a teammate. Most RPG's since have just done the same (although probably in a shallower way than in Sakura Wars).
Persona 3, though, melds Dating Sim(tm) with Hardcore Dungeon Crawling(tm). Persona titles have always taken place in the present day, so taking the stereotypical teenage hero from other JRPGs means that your character is a High School student in Persona 3 (Persona 3 Portable, or P3P, gives you a choice of male or female avatars).
During the day, you engage in typical Dating Sim High School activities, like attending classes, choosing which club to join, and choosing who you want to walk home with. For your entertainment, I was 'seeing' 3 different girls and one day, they all came to visit me when I came back to school after I got sick. It was wonderfully awkward (just like High School!).
By night, though Persona 3 turns into Wizardry, with the game giving you an option to plumb a dungeon (or in this case, climb a tower called Tartarus) to grind out levels. The tower serves no purpose other than to make you level up.
This fact bears repeating, there is only 1 dungeon in the game and your only reason for going there is level grinding and loot collecting. Even your party members mention this ("We should go to Tartarus for training while we're on vacation."). I have never seen an RPG so honest with itself in attempting to trim the fat that RPGs have accumulated, and for this alone I give P3P my utmost recommendation.
How does the story advance? Well, every full moon, crap happens. That's about it. No way am I spoiling stuff.
Wait, how does Dating Sim(tm) relate to Hardcore Dungeon Crawling(tm)? Your relationships with other people (not just other students) you mingle with during the day affect how well your Persona levels up. Personas are like ethereal familiars that you use to perform techniques in battle (A-ha! A Sakura Wars influence yet again). Some skills are only available with certain Personas, which you can get by either random roulette after some battles, or by fusing 2 or more Personas, the starting level of which is affected by the corresponding relationship. But building relationships (referred to in-game as Social Links) also opens up the story, revealing minor plots that can be surprisingly deep. Or at least, deep for a high school drama. Even better, if you have a Persona equipped that is the same type of the Social Link that you want to pursue, you get bonus intimacy points for that.
So in P3P, Dating Sim(tm) is dependent upon Hardcore Dungeon Crawling(tm) and vice-versa. This at least means they put in more effort to fuse the 2 elements than other developers so as to make one aspect work for the other.
Not to mention that Persona 3 has one of the most stupefyingly awesome RPG soundtracks ever. Let the other swords and sorcery games have their grand fanfares and sweeping overtures, in Persona 3, we have jazz beats and rock riffs. You can sample some of the tracks from the Girl's side on the official site (the soundtrack changes if you choose the guy).
If there's a drawback, it's that the game is a bit streamlined for the portable format, but that depends on your taste entirely. I personally like how it feels even more visual-novel-like with the cursor-based school exploration bits.
So, Persona 3 Portable is a fat-free RPG (don't confuse 'fat-free' with 'short', this is one long game) with lots of grinding, loot collecting, nice graphics (oh 2D art, how I miss seeing you in modern games) and a rocking soundtrack. It reminds me of a scene in Disney's Enchanted between Prince Edward and Nathaniel.
Nathaniel: "Do you like yourself, sir?"
Prince Edward: "What's not to like?"
If you placed yourself in Nathaniel's shoes, and P3P in Edward's, the conversation would still go the same way. What's not to like in Persona 3 Portable?
Strangely, I've found myself playing more portable games than console or PC games. Especially RPGs. Grinding is so much easier when you can just whip out your portable system at any time. Sleep mode is the greatest portable gaming innovation since the Game & Watch. One of the grindfests on my playlist is the sublime Persona 3 Portable.
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| Persona 3 Portable's Male & Female Protagonists |
There have been attempts to mesh the RPG with dating sim elements since the PSOne and Saturn days (probably because JRPG designers couldn't think of any new gimmicks in the mid to late 90's and it was one of the cheapest to implement), notably Sakura Wars. Sakura Wars implemented the system as a way to build up characters and unlock new techniques if you were intimate enough with a teammate. Most RPG's since have just done the same (although probably in a shallower way than in Sakura Wars).
Persona 3, though, melds Dating Sim(tm) with Hardcore Dungeon Crawling(tm). Persona titles have always taken place in the present day, so taking the stereotypical teenage hero from other JRPGs means that your character is a High School student in Persona 3 (Persona 3 Portable, or P3P, gives you a choice of male or female avatars).
During the day, you engage in typical Dating Sim High School activities, like attending classes, choosing which club to join, and choosing who you want to walk home with. For your entertainment, I was 'seeing' 3 different girls and one day, they all came to visit me when I came back to school after I got sick. It was wonderfully awkward (just like High School!).
By night, though Persona 3 turns into Wizardry, with the game giving you an option to plumb a dungeon (or in this case, climb a tower called Tartarus) to grind out levels. The tower serves no purpose other than to make you level up.
This fact bears repeating, there is only 1 dungeon in the game and your only reason for going there is level grinding and loot collecting. Even your party members mention this ("We should go to Tartarus for training while we're on vacation."). I have never seen an RPG so honest with itself in attempting to trim the fat that RPGs have accumulated, and for this alone I give P3P my utmost recommendation.
How does the story advance? Well, every full moon, crap happens. That's about it. No way am I spoiling stuff.
Wait, how does Dating Sim(tm) relate to Hardcore Dungeon Crawling(tm)? Your relationships with other people (not just other students) you mingle with during the day affect how well your Persona levels up. Personas are like ethereal familiars that you use to perform techniques in battle (A-ha! A Sakura Wars influence yet again). Some skills are only available with certain Personas, which you can get by either random roulette after some battles, or by fusing 2 or more Personas, the starting level of which is affected by the corresponding relationship. But building relationships (referred to in-game as Social Links) also opens up the story, revealing minor plots that can be surprisingly deep. Or at least, deep for a high school drama. Even better, if you have a Persona equipped that is the same type of the Social Link that you want to pursue, you get bonus intimacy points for that.
So in P3P, Dating Sim(tm) is dependent upon Hardcore Dungeon Crawling(tm) and vice-versa. This at least means they put in more effort to fuse the 2 elements than other developers so as to make one aspect work for the other.
Not to mention that Persona 3 has one of the most stupefyingly awesome RPG soundtracks ever. Let the other swords and sorcery games have their grand fanfares and sweeping overtures, in Persona 3, we have jazz beats and rock riffs. You can sample some of the tracks from the Girl's side on the official site (the soundtrack changes if you choose the guy).
If there's a drawback, it's that the game is a bit streamlined for the portable format, but that depends on your taste entirely. I personally like how it feels even more visual-novel-like with the cursor-based school exploration bits.
So, Persona 3 Portable is a fat-free RPG (don't confuse 'fat-free' with 'short', this is one long game) with lots of grinding, loot collecting, nice graphics (oh 2D art, how I miss seeing you in modern games) and a rocking soundtrack. It reminds me of a scene in Disney's Enchanted between Prince Edward and Nathaniel.
Nathaniel: "Do you like yourself, sir?"
Prince Edward: "What's not to like?"
If you placed yourself in Nathaniel's shoes, and P3P in Edward's, the conversation would still go the same way. What's not to like in Persona 3 Portable?
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