Cap'n Jack
I will burn my dread!
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2011
- Messages
- 6,965
- Reaction score
- 375
You see, I loved Persona 3. Really really enjoyed the characters, plot, atmosphere, tone, symbolism, and just about everything about the game. I'd say it trumps P4 as my favorite JRPG of all time if not for one thing.
I hated, absolutely despised the battle mechanics (FES). There were a few stand out moments where I lost hours of game play based on the partner AI. I could pretty much ignore it until the ten part final boss. During that fight, I think I was more frustrated than I've ever been with a video game. Combine Yukari, who healed no one despite given orders to, the boss itself, which had abilities ranging from taking control of your party to instant kill moves, to the fact that the battle lasts over an hour altogether to make a super frustrating fight. Though I can definitely respect your opinion, Jack.
Other than that though, the game is great. But, that personal problem gave Persona 4 a slight edge over 3 for me. I hope Persona 5 takes the best aspects of both and learns from the mistakes of both. From what I've seen so far, the game is looking great.
Sorry to rant or anything! I enjoy a good discussion.
Now that you mention it, I had pretty good luck with the party AI, based on some of the horror stories I've been told. The worst that ever happened to me was Aigis doing a single-target attack when I needed her to do a multi-target attack during a certain boss fight. If Akihiko hadn't picked up the slack immediately after that, I might understand your suffering more. ;P The big one I hear from people is when somebody gets Charmed during the final boss and uses Mediarahan on the final boss to heal it fully. That never happened to me, but man, I feel for the poor folks who went through that.
Honestly, from my perspective, I was pretty impressed with some of the things the AI was capable of. I don't remember too many examples where I was giving my TV screen a thumbs-up Top Gun-style, but it happened. By taking away the privilege of direct party control, those kids felt more like real individuals, in my opinion. I wonder if Persona 5 is gonna keep the choice available to the player whenever they want to do it that way, like 4 did. Based on what you said, though, I take it you like Portable the best, or you would if you played it?