Atlus Summons Persona Sequel, Update, and 2D Brawler

[mireko]

I've heard a lot of great things about the Persona series (besides in this thread) and I'm looking into picking them up on PS2. Do I need to play them in order? I've only seen a few copies of 3 & 4 floating around and don't have much $ at the moment.

But they are definitely worth the investment right?

1, 2, 3 & 4 are not connected. Persona 2 technically consists of two games, but you won't get those confused. Last I saw, Eternal Punishment (Persona 2: Part 2) was practically impossible to get ahold of and Innocent Sin (Part 1) is only now being released in English later this month.

There are one or two (very) brief references to Persona 3 in Persona 4, and the PSP remake of P3 contains a brief reference to P4 again. That's pretty much it. Although they are considered to be set in the same universe, the stories, setting and characters are completely different.

But yes. They are worth the investment. You can safely skip the first game. The combat is kind of slow and it's less exciting than any of the PS2-era MegaTen or Persona games. If you complete all of those, feel free to play P1 (but by then you will be probably be playing P5).

I meant Aeon, the arcana Aigis got in FES.

Hang on, if they give her that one then doesn't it imply she'll be fairly important to the story? Moreso than an ordinary social link, anyway. Could be interesting.

Not that I need any *more* reasons to buy this, it's a pre-order already.

Well, the big thing with P3P was a whole new main character, Mari should damn well be important lol.


I remembered something, you know that question Nanako asks you during her Slink about having siblings that you can answer with a "yes" too? What if she's the Souji's sister, maybe adopted or something and ends up living in Dojima's place too. That would set up a myriad of epic anime scenarios and would make her both important to the plot and give it a bit of sense.


I'm pretty sure she's a playable character in any case, not just an Slink.

That would be very.. convenient. Anyway, point taken. We'll be seeing a lot of her, which is a very promising start for this remake/port/thing.

Also kneesocks.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Zettai ryoiki is well-represented in P4. Now Rise will have some competition. I bet it's going to be funny if she ends up with a brother complex of some sort, cat-fight incoming .

 

[antipunt]

Screens of the fighting game:

Spoiler

By the makers of Blazblue indeed .



Scans of The Golden and Ultimate Mayonaka from Famitsu:

Spoiler

The Golden will have a new character named Mari (she is the girl with the striped knee-socks in the scans), 50% more voice acting, more anime cut scenes, customizable outfits (you can see Yukiko wearing a Santa hood in one of the scans) and other epic stuff.


GET HYPE! XD

I want all of it. I want all of it RIGHT FUCKING NOW! AHHHHH! MUST HAVE, MUST BUY!

^Without any hint of sarcasm, this is 100% of what I felt when I read this article.

Obligatory celebration pic:

Spoiler

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

I meant Aeon, the arcana Aigis got in FES.

Hang on, if they give her that one then doesn't it imply she'll be fairly important to the story? Moreso than an ordinary social link, anyway. Could be interesting.

Not that I need any *more* reasons to buy this, it's a pre-order already.

Well, the big thing with P3P was a whole new main character, Mari should damn well be important lol.


I remembered something, you know that question Nanako asks you during her Slink about having siblings that you can answer with a "yes" too? What if she's the Souji's sister, maybe adopted or something and ends up living in Dojima's place too. That would set up a myriad of epic anime scenarios and would make her both important to the plot and give it a bit of sense.


I'm pretty sure she's a playable character in any case, not just an Slink.

Wouldn't work. Takes away from (a) the protagonist being the only new kid there, and (b) the protagonist having to leave everyone behind when the game ends.

What do you mean the only new kid there? Half the usable characters arrived at Inaba after him.

Obviously the game will end differently to a degree, that's like a given. They will retain the same idea of finding the truth but all the events won't be a carbon copy or anything. You know, sorta like how someone who dies in p3 can be alive in p3p's ending.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

I meant Aeon, the arcana Aigis got in FES.

Hang on, if they give her that one then doesn't it imply she'll be fairly important to the story? Moreso than an ordinary social link, anyway. Could be interesting.

Not that I need any *more* reasons to buy this, it's a pre-order already.

Well, the big thing with P3P was a whole new main character, Mari should damn well be important lol.


I remembered something, you know that question Nanako asks you during her Slink about having siblings that you can answer with a "yes" too? What if she's the Souji's sister, maybe adopted or something and ends up living in Dojima's place too. That would set up a myriad of epic anime scenarios and would make her both important to the plot and give it a bit of sense.


I'm pretty sure she's a playable character in any case, not just an Slink.

Wouldn't work. Takes away from (a) the protagonist being the only new kid there, and (b) the protagonist having to leave everyone behind when the game ends.

What do you mean the only new kid there? Half the usable characters arrived at Inaba after him.

Obviously the game will end differently to a degree, that's like a given. They will retain the same idea of finding the truth but all the events won't be a carbon copy or anything. You know, sorta like how someone who dies in p3 can be alive in p3p's ending.

Yes, but ending without the main character leaving everyone behind would ruin the thematic perfection and fourth wall acknowledging brilliance of the ending.

Unless Mari is played by someone on your friends list.....

Ah, my head hurts.

As for "only new kid", I meant at that time, you know? He couldn't arrive with his sister and maintain the whole thing of being alone at first in it, that takes away from the first friendship with Yosuke, of two dissafected souls who find each other. Also, making his sister a main character means we're going to see her persona. Which means we'll see her Shadow, which would be all kinds of impossible to do without direct mention of the Protagonists past behaviour, which in turn would limit the blank slate nature of the character, limitting our ability to project onto him.

There's more than one way for the ending to be perfect so I wouldn't doubt them, I don't know why you would judging from their history. Fact of the matter is, they'll prolly do something new so might as well be optimistic.


Oh and I never said they'd arrive together, that wouldn't make sense indeed, she would probably end up coming later on, maybe she studies in America and comes over during summer vacation to visit only to end up staying, who knows, there can be a ton of ways for it to make sense.


Her shadow doesn't necessarily have to be about Souji's identity either, in P3 we learn quite a bit about Minato's past but that doesn't detract from our ability to get in his shoes. It's an "if it's done right then it's fine" thing here...and I fully believe they can do it right.

 

[Abedeus]

(Your images don't wanna show for some reason!)

OT: This is a good time for Atlus-lovers everywhere.

None of them? I'll reupload and try again.

edit:

I think he meant the non-fighting screens don't work, at least for me.


OT: I was just hitting few last Mantras on Digital Devil Saga 1... holy crap, did I mention that there are no Atlus games that I played and didn't like so far? Oo Or at least no Shin Megami Tensei (except for the MMO, too clunky and the UI is killing the game for me...) that were bad.

Ok, I reuploaded everything else, check again ^^.

Thanks a bunch, awesome screens.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I'm...pleased with this news. Pleased as in so pumped up that I just ran out and punched a bear.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

-wonders how many people who bitched about the 3DS getting ports claim the Persona 4 port makes the Vita a must buy-

Anyway, I'm looking forward to what Arc and Atlus will be cooking up with the fighting game. Blazblue is my favorite 2D fighting series and I can only imagine what the mechanics will be like.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Folks, apparently we may be getting gameplay of the fighting game soon, keep tuned.


http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/09/01/persona_4_at_tgs/

I love TGS ^^.

-wonders how many people who bitched about the 3DS getting ports claim the Persona 4 port makes the Vita a must buy-

Anyway, I'm looking forward to what Arc and Atlus will be cooking up with the fighting game. Blazblue is my favorite 2D fighting series and I can only imagine what the mechanics will be like.

P4 isn't a port, it has a bunch of new content. It's an updated version. Sorta like those fighting games get. It's for the fans.

OoT doesn't do anything new that age-old zelda fans will appreciate out of liking zelda so much...unless they had a weird fetish for neck strain.

 

[GeorgW]

Well, seems like I've found my entry to the persona series. I've been interested in a while and a re-release for the vita would be great.

 

[Podunk]

More unexpected is Persona 4 The Ultimate In Mayonaka Arena, which pits various Persona 3 and 4 characters against each other in two-dimensional brawls. This type of game represents new ground for the series, but Atlus has entrusted its development to the team behind cult favorite BlazBlue.

THIS IS THE BEST NEWS I HAVE EVER GOTTEN IN MY LIFE. I HAVE TO TYPE IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE I CANNOT CONTROL MY SHRILL, GIRLISH SCREAMS OF EXCITEMENT.