Baal reviews the Persona Series

Okay so the story of Persona 1 and 2 is about as basic as it gets. Assholes unleash all hell into the world attempting to take it over and become a god. However in Persona 2 the bad guy is being possessed by a very evil god and is just destroying thing for shits and giggles. Both are handled very well and presented very well enough to make you forget that the premise is extremely basic and has been used. The pacing, characters, atmosphere all handled well. Now let's get onto the bitching and moaning. Persona 3 is dragged down by what I call "Anime Stagnation Syndrome" or just ASS. ASS is basically when a good Japanese series starts becoming more and more like an anime. The game's story is this, you have to go and beat up giant monsters because your boss says so and end up saving the day in the end from a murderous Goddess. Persona 3's pacing is horribly atrocious. This is mainly due to the calendar, dating sim and WORST OF ALL, THE FUCKING WRITERS PICKING SPECIFIC TIMES FOR SHIT TO HAPPEN! So because of this, not only does the story not flow well, it's never fucking consistent! And then the story finally gets good in the last month! THE LAST FUCKING MONTH! And the fucking bad guys aren't anything interesting until... once again, THE LAST FUCKING MONTH! The main bad guys, Strega are basically only there to annoy the Main Characters and the other bad guy comes completely out of nowhere. Hell, the story doesn't even explain some shit until P3 FES where the story is as slow as fuck until towards the end! The game is also really melodramatic and parents are one of a few things: Dead, Missing, or Awful. That's it, there are no good parents in Persona 3.

Then comes Persona 4's story where the pacing is fixed a bit, HOWEVER, the fucking newest method of getting shit done is utterly ridiculous. Just to summarize, Persona 4 is a story about you and a group of your pals trying to solve a murder case and save people who are thrown in TV's from getting killed. Now... why the story stops after some of these people get killed, I don't understand at all. There's a few points where it's understandable but you can live without some of these people ever getting into the team so it makes you wonder, WHY IN THE FUCK DO I NEED THESE PEOPLE TO LIVE?! But since Persona 4 is still suffering from ASS, then that means it's filled with Anime cliches but someone down at Atlus was apparently reading Detective Conan or Sherlock Holmes so they decided to also fill this with shitloads of Detective Cliche's! SO GUESS WHAT?! THE BAD GUY IS EITHER GOING TO BE THE NICE COP OR THE BUTLER! AND SINCE THERE'S NO BUTLER IN THIS GAME, IT WILL TAKE YOU ABOUT AN HOUR BEFORE YOU REALIZE WHO THE MURDERER IS! WAY TO GO ATLUS, YOU'VE PROVEN THAT YOU'VE GIVEN UP ON PERSONA FOR GOOD STORYTELLING! The game also has a lot of random comedy which isn't very funny nor does it even serve a purpose other than to get in the way of the plot. And forewarning, October and November are the worst months in the game. Because not only is October full of the most bullshit comedy you could ever see but it's also painful to watch and November is giant idiot ball. I would also include December but that's when the bad guy shows up to be hilarious so I'll give it a pass. Every scene in the hospital before interrogating the suspect is awful and terribly handled. For example: Nanako dies and this is a very emotional and dramatic (Although since Nanako is a shit character, I could care less) scene but then after the scene where Yosuke and Kanji attempt to kill the suspect SHE COMES BACK TO LIFE DUE TO SOME DEUS EX MACHINA BULLSHIT! SHAME ON YOU ATLUS! SHAME ON YOU! YOU KNOW BETTER THAN TO DO THIS, YOU FUCKING KNOW BETTER! What was the point of her death if she just comes back to life?! EXPLAIN THAT SHIT!

Although as I did dedicate an entire paragraph to bitching about P4's story, I'm going to say P3's is the worst due to how melodramatic it is, the fucking Diavolus Ex Machina, Strega just being there to annoy you and the fact that the pacing is horrible. Oh and it's unforgiveable how they just throw Shinjiro into a hospital for the rest of P3P after you do save him and the Female MC still dies so not only is Shinjiro denied a happy life with her after he gets out of the hospital, he's going to die soon due to the drugs therefore making Shinjiro the saddest character to ever grace an SMT game.

Story:
P2
P1
P4
P3

Onto the gameplay, this one's gonna be quick. Persona 1 and 2's gameplay is just dull. It's not unplayable but just dull. You have to set up your attacks for every teammate before it actually starts attacking and if the enemy has some sort of ability where they can change weaknesses and strengths, pull up a shield or self-destruct on contact and it happens in the middle of an attack then you're royally fucked. But P1's is better due to the fact that there's at least a speed up option. P3's is decent but the AI bullshit is annoying. P4's is the best due to full party control. P3 and P4 play just like a regular turn-based RPG, so they're automatically better.

Gameplay:
P4
P3
P1
P2

Now for the music. P1's is shit due to the J-Pop in it and there's only like 2 songs I actually liked. P2's is horribly generic. P3's is the best mainly because of the J-Rap, a genre of music I love listening to because it's so fucking catchy, the orchestrals are great and some of the rock is good. Although Battle For Everyone's Souls is overrated to all hell. P4's replaces the catchy J-Rap with J-Pop and J-Rock... FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Music:
P3
P4
P1
P2

Now for the characters. I would go on about how great P1 and P2's characters are but I've got too many complaints about P3 and P4's to do that so let's summarize it up. P1's cast consists of the MC, who is generally emotionless, Maki, a frail girl who has been sick for a good while, Mark, a troublemaker who is a genuinely trustworthy guy, Nanjo, an uptight friend of the MC who is a pretty cool guy, Brown, a jokester who is fucking cool, Elly, a genuinely nice girl who is interested in the occult which is what starts all of this shit, Yuka, your typical cheery girl, Reiji, a cold guy who wants to kill the big bad, and Yukino, the sort of mother figure. In P2 we have Tatsuya the MC, who actually has a personality and backstory, Maya, a reporter who is cheerful and compassionate, Lisa, the tomboy who is in love with Tatsuya, Eikichi, a troublemaker who is the bro character and a damned good one, Yukino, basically reprising her role from the first game, and Jun, the quiet mysterious guy. All of these characters are developed and well handled enough to love them no matter what there flaws which makes it a shame why I have to rag on a lot of the characters from P4 and P3.

P3's characters are half and half. Junpei is a bro and matures after the death of Chidori, Yukari is annoying at first but I grew to like her after her S. Link, Fuuka is also a bit annoying until her S. Link and Shinjiro is a fucking badass and cool guy. Akihiko and Mitsuru are bland. I don't have much of an opinion of Aegis and Koromaru is only there to be the mascot, he quite literally serves no purpose for the story. Ken is an annoying little shit who is responsible for Shinjiro's death, even after his development he's annoying and he's really only there to be a plot device. Then comes in (and I'm using this as loosely as possible) the Villains. Takaya is a whiny faggot who wants to destroy the world because one group experimented on him,, Jin is Takaya's Yes-Man with absolutely no personality, Chidori is the only good one and that's because she develops as a person after meeting Junpei, and Ikutsuki being evil come absolutely out of nowhere. Ryoji's a fag who overestimates Nyx and Nyx was cool until you see her true form and the goddamned avatar. The S.Links aren't all that great excluding Hidetoshi (Uptight Student Council Member), Tanaka (Corrupted President of TV Company), Mutatsu (Drunken Monk who bitches about life), Mamoru (Sports Star who's taking care of his siblings), Akinari (Dying Young man who wants to write a children's book before he dies) and Yukari and Fuuka's.

Then comes P4's shit main characters. I hate every last one of these bastards excluding Chie, Yukiko, Naoto and Teddie to an extent. Yosuke is downright evil, even more evil than the big bad, Kanji is a fag in both senses because he never stops yelling, is a pervert and a complete idiot, Rise is fucking annoying beyond all belief, and the human version of Teddie is absolutely annoying. Yukiko is bland but not unredeemable like the above. Chie is the tomboy and a cool girl who constantly abuses Yosuke, Naoto is an awesome reverse trap (I use that term loosely) detective that is the best character in the game, and Teddie in his bear costume is hilarious and likeable. Then we move on to the S. Links and Side characters and god damned this game had some good ones but I'm going to get the shitty ones out of the way first. Nanako is a mary sue, the two comedic villains are fucking idiots, Margaret is bland, Yumi is bleh, Ayane is annoying, and Eri is stupid. Now onto the good characters, Ryotaro is a very sympathetic father who you can feel for, Naoki is cool and very likeable despite how sad his story is, Kou and Daisuke are hilarious, Hisano is pretty sad, Sayoko is alright and ends up becoming a missionary pretty much, Ai is a bitch but a very likeable one, the Fox is pretty cool, and even the little kid Shu is a nice guy. Hell, even the villains are done better. Kubo is a fag but the villains after that are great, Nametame is a pretty sad guy you can feel sorry for, Adachi is hilarious, he's so fucking hilarious that he reminds me of Cobra Commander, and Izanami is a nice step up from Nyx. God damn, even the teacher you have for half of the game is fucking awesome.

Really while P1 and P2 had the best overall characters, P4 did a better job than P3 because even though the main cast was mostly crap the rest of the main cast that wasn't and the S. Links and villains were so well handled I couldn't help but like them.

Characters:
P2
P1
P4
P3

Designs, time. Now I can honestly say that the demon designs have always remained great but Persona 1 gets the most props because that's when the demons designs were at their most original and awesome. And hell, I love Kaneko's character designs too but P1's character designs are okay but not great. P3's were okay too and P4's would've been fantastic had they used the concept art instead of the final one. And what's worse about P4's is that Naoto is supposed to look like a guy but in-game she's obviously a chick to anyone with brains and in her official art... she looks like a guy, I mean look, compare all of her art.

Concept

Spoiler:

Official

Spoiler:

In-Game

Spoiler:

It's quite obvious that Soejima went fucknuts somewhere but what's worse about P3 and P4 is the enemy designs. You see, P3 and P4 stopped using demons as enemies and started using Shadows as enemies and as a result... the enemies look downright stupid. Especially Persona 3's Tarot Shadows and Persona 4's Self Shadows. Just fucking retarded and idiotic. But Persona 4 gets higher points because of Chie, Naoto, Shadow Teddie, Adachi, Ameno-Sagiri, Kunino-Sagiri and Izanami.

Designs:
P1
P2
P4
P3

Overall:
P2
P1
P4
P3

P3 is without a doubt the worst in the series, but it's certainly not bad, it's just dull for most of it. Persona 4 while being more like anime than P3 at least gave me full-party control and better characters. P1's characters and story don't quite match up to P2's. But P2 isn't without its flaws.

I'm not going to let Baal talk shit and say P3 is the worse in the series because it's a ridiculous thing to say. When Baal writes anything on the level or beyond the level of the script for P3, then I'll let him decide what's cliche or what's over done. The plot for P3 was pretty original.

He doesn't realize that P4 almost copies everything P3 did. The cast is almost exactly the same from the last game only watered down and more annoying.

All P4 has going for it is Adachi.

from watching baal play both p3 and p4, i prefer the characters of p3 and the story of p3--AND THE GAMEPLAY OF DDS2

Based on the cast
=================
1. Persona 2: IS: It's basically full of likeable characters. Not one party member is annoying or overly whiny.
2. Persona 1: You got a group full of badasses, the only problem is your restricted to which characters you get use depending on which story mode. So, chances are you won't get a party with all your favorite characters.
3. Persona 3: My only problem is that everyone's overly whiny or angsty. Strega was absolutely not needed. Maybe they had better plans for them during writing all that shit but, they were completely useless.
4. Persona 2 EP: Shit.
5. Persona 4: Utter Shit. Take person 3's cast and just dip it in shit, wash off all the coolness, keep the shit and up the angst level. The only thing they improved upon is the rival enemy. There's no doubt that Adachi is cooler than the entire Strega team. But that's all this game has going for it.


Based on story
==============
Persona 2 IS EP
Persona 3 FES
Persona 4
Persona 1

Quote :

The plot for P3 was pretty original.

My ass it was. A bunch of teenagers go out to kill a bunch of things because their boss says so, their boss turns out to be evil and then there's something even bigger behind that boss. And before you pull the shadow thing out of your ass, let me remind you that half of the shit that happens in Persona and Persona 2 is due to humans being giant fuck ups, so I suggest you learn what the fuck it is you're talking about before you come to saying I don't realize something, you whiny little bitch.

While the message is original, the story is handled in a such a shit manner that it doesn't matter.

Quote :

He doesn't realize that P4 almost copies everything P3 did.

Except I do realize this. And P4 did better on it than P3 did, you idiot.

Quote :

The cast is almost exactly the same from the last game only watered down and more annoying.

This I would agree with if it weren't for Naoto, Chie, Yukiko and Teddie (To an extent).

You're a faggot though.

And my opinion is superior to yours.

Not at all, half of the shit you spout you don't even know what you're talking about.

You're just pissed that someone doesn't agree with you.

Putting Persona over Persona 3 is faggotry.

Tobinator wrote:

from watching baal play both p3 and p4, i prefer the characters of p3 and the story of p3--AND THE GAMEPLAY OF DDS2

What you actually enjoyed the story of P3 and P4 more than DDS?

Fag.

Your Bro wrote:

Based on the cast
=================
1. Persona 2: IS: It's basically full of likeable characters. Not one party member is annoying or overly whiny.
2. Persona 1: You got a group full of badasses, the only problem is your restricted to which characters you get use depending on which story mode. So, chances are you won't get a party with all your favorite characters.
3. Persona 3: My only problem is that everyone's overly whiny or angsty. Strega was absolutely not needed. Maybe they had better plans for them during writing all that shit but, they were completely useless.
4. Persona 2 EP: Shit. Bland.
5. Persona 4: Utter Shit. Take person 3's cast and just dip it in shit, wash off all the coolness, keep the shit and up the angst level. The only thing they improved upon is the rival enemy. There's no doubt that Adachi is cooler than the entire Strega team. But that's all this game has going for it.


Based on story
==============
Persona 2 IS EP
Persona 3 FES
Persona 4
Persona 1

Look at this superior list. It's clearly superior because I made it and Baal did not.

Baal wrote:

Tobinator wrote:

from watching baal play both p3 and p4, i prefer the characters of p3 and the story of p3--AND THE GAMEPLAY OF DDS2

What you actually enjoyed the story of P3 and P4 more than DDS?

Fag.

i was throwing DDS in there for fun (and you say im a buzkill). DDS beats every persona game ive seen. it also beats the raidou kuzunoha games as well IMO.

Tobinator wrote:

Baal wrote:

Tobinator wrote:

from watching baal play both p3 and p4, i prefer the characters of p3 and the story of p3--AND THE GAMEPLAY OF DDS2

What you actually enjoyed the story of P3 and P4 more than DDS?

Fag.

i was throwing DDS in there for fun (and you say im a buzkill). DDS beats every persona game ive seen. it also beats the raidou kuzunoha games as well IMO.

Well, I was just being a bitch, I already knew you liked it more.

But hell, the Devil Summoner games are good too.

they are good, i just like the DDS games better.

I noticed, you only said it already.

*facepalm*