This is not my first contact with the Persona series, because I tried “Persona 2: Eternal Punishment” on the PS1, but I didn’t really connect with it. The graphics were cool, for a PS1 game though.
Then this Christmas I remembered that one year ago we were really into Final Fantasy IX and I checked again to confirm that there’s nothing like it in the PS1: the previous entries in 2D didn’t work for us –playing with my sons, lots to read– and the ones starting with 3D on the PS1 look way worse than FF IX (e.g. the models on FF VIII are just LOL).
So, what about the PS2? I have to confess that I had never tried to emulate it, and turns out that –without being perfect– the emulation is pretty good in my modest PC!
I don’t really understand how the emulator can play for example Final Fantasy XII without breaking a sweat, and when I run anything remotely 3D native, it uses a lot of CPU and the fans are on all the time –so my PC doesn’t melt–. Same happens with anything running on the browser, including Canvas 2D.
But then we tried FF X and FF XII on the PS2 and, for different reasons, we didn’t connect. So, what about Persona 4? I recall a friend really enjoying Persona 5 on the PS4.
Discussing with the party
And I have fallen in love! The game is just plainly cool. It has a mix of social simulator and JRPG that is very a appealing –even if sometimes you would prefer to go and fight, but instead you have to go to school and care about social interactions to get your stats up–. The graphics are pretty good, and the voice acting is outstanding!
It is a long game and I’m not sure how far I’ll stay hooked, because I have other things to do in my free time and the game is not always OK to play with the boys around.
Chie is my favourite character so far
The story is complicated, as you may expect on a JRPG, and after enjoying watching Summer Time Rendering early this year –that quickly jumped to my top 5 anime series ever–, this “Persona 4” reminds me of the mood perfectly.
I’m about 13 hours in, and its depth is sometimes a bit overwhelming. Fortunately it includes some “quality of life” features that I would have loved in FF IX –for example: it has contextual help for all the items, so no more using items in combat to see what happens–.
The game has been OK so far, we will see when things get more challenging!