I tend to enjoy games that take forever to complete. That means RPGs. I love dungeon crawling for hours, no matter how repetitive it can be, to level my character or characters. I can sit and have sat for 9 or so hours doing just that, without breaks just because I love to play those type of games. I enjoy games like Final Fantasy, though I prefer the older games and I am not in the camp that believes that Final Fantasy 7 is the best Final Fantasy ever or the best game ever for that matter. It's all right, but I wasn't really enthralled by the story like other people were. I felt that FF4 and FF6 were both superior games and would play them over FF7 any day of the week. Now I will admit that FF 7 is far superior to the steaming pile that is FF X-2, but that is neither here nor there.
I tend to enjoy games that are a little different too. Games that are a little different and RPGs are a bonus. My local game store is run by a pretty cool guy. You can call him up and say, "Hey Jeff, you got xxx in?". He'll tell you yes or no. Ask him to keep it for you and he'll put it under the counter, no questions asked. He's given me his own games to play from out of his DS until a copy comes in or to let me try it. He tried to give me a PSP without paying for it, just as long as I paid him, you know, sometime. I told him I'd have the cash for him, just hide that sucker under the counter and I'd be back for it in no time. He always suggests games that he knows you might be into. I like to look over the used games and saw an interesting boxed set that had been there for awhile. Unfortunately I never picked it up when I had the chance, but found a used copy of the second game at a later time at EB. I had never seen that particular series before and was intrigued. I was hooked on the game as soon as I played it.
The game was Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 2. It's going to take effort and possibly cash to track down the first game. Atlus tends to do limited runs on their games and when looking for older games, you may end up paying quite a bit of money for even a PS1 game. It's very different. Very, very different. Even without playing the first game I was hooked. What made it different than most cookie cutter RPGs? Well, for one thing, you are a cannibal. You eat your enemies to gain abilities. Yes. You eat your enemies. You can shift between human and demon, oh did I mention that you shape shift to demons? Yeah. The battle system is a bit different than most turn based systems in RPGs. It's not a typical fantasy environment, but rather technological. You come around from the last game in new place, finding out the world that you were living in was nothing more than a computer program. It gets more bizarre and interesting from there.
I had played a few other Atlus games, though none of the Shin Megami Tensei games. I was not disappointed by their offerings. My second foray into the MegaTen series was Persona 3 (which I still have not fully completed. I swear that freaking tower is like 5000 floors or something) My friend bought me the special edition with the artbook for my birthday when it came out and well... I've got over 130 hours on the game at this time. And there is immense grinding in the game to level your characters and gain more Personas. It isn't one of the core MegaTen games, but more of a spin-off of the main series. You don't fight using demons. You use the power of your Persona to fight enemies, in this case, Shadows. The shadows appear during the Dark Hour, an hour that appears only to those with the power of Persona. You hunt down boss Shadows that are wreaking havoc during the full moon and explore the dungeon, which is a tower Tartarus during the Dark Hour for clues as to why people are being attacked by the Shadows and at times taken into Tartarus itself. This is merely just a portion of the game because you also have to go to school, form relationships and actually have a life to gain more Personas. It's complex and not a game that you can bang through in a weekend. Not at all. You have to go through an entire school year for crying out loud! And you have abilities your team mates do not. And let's just say, regardless of how well you do... you have a somewhat not exactly happy end in store at the end of your ride with this game. It's a pretty dark game, despite some of the comic relief that the teammates provide. Death is ever present in the game and you do lose teammates. They die, not game die that you can revive later, but they die and do not come back at key points in the story. And summoning your Personas surprisingly did not cause an uproar. I think this is partially due to the fact that the games are pretty niche, although with this game and the next in the series more people took notice. How do you evoke your Persona? With an evoker. How does that work? It's best to just look and see, otherwise, you may not believe that parents everywhere did not throw a fit about their precious snowflakes playing a mature rated game and seeing such things.
So yeah. That's how you summon your Persona. You put a gun to your head and shoot. And you'll do it a lot. But as surprising as that is as a game mechanic, it isn't that relevant to the story itself. You don't notice that's what your character is doing over time as you get engrossed into the story. I was a sucker for this game the first half hour of playing it. It's very well done, mature and makes you think despite looking cartoonish. Everytime I hear the music I'm like "Fuck yeah!". There are two other Persona 3 games. Persona FES, which has the original game, with some game play tweaks and another game that occurs after P3 which concludes the story. If I elaborate more, I'll spoil the end. And a remake of P3 for the PSP that came out recently with more tweaks to the battle system and a choice of a male or female protaganist. The battle system tweaks are what interests me. I don't care about the sex of the protaganist though it does change some of the relationships in the game.
So of course I had to get Persona 4 when it came out. It was a little less dark, despite the fact that you and your friends are trying to hunt down a killer. The same school, social linking, and studying elements are present in P4 as are in P3, but tweaked slightly. You move in with your uncle and cousin for the school year. There's an urban legend about the Midnight Channel. If you watch your television at midnight during a rainstorm, you'll see your soul mate. Well... there is a reason that they're called Urban Legends.
Summoning your Persona is different too. You don't need an evoker nor do you shoot yourself in the head. The Midnight Channel only occurs on rainy nights and you only see other people on it when they are in danger of becoming the next victim. The people that appear on the Midnight Channel are a reflection of the self they show the real world. It's the self that they keep hidden. At the same time, the people are kidnapped and dumped into that TV world and the shadows within will kill them if they are not saved by the time the fog lifts in the TV world. There is grinding, and the battle system is superior to P3 due to the fact that you can control the other characters on your team. That means they won't inadvertantly stick a knife in your back because of hurr durr game AI. It makes coordinating attacks much easier and makes fights much smoother. Increasing your social links with your allies also gives them abilities in battle. After certain points they will dive in the way of your character to prevent you from being killed and ending the game. They will help characters that have been knocked down get back up and completing a social link with them gives them an upgrade to a newer, stronger Persona as the protaganist is the only one that can use more than one Persona.
There is no horribly depressing downer ending on P4 unless you don't save everyone. There is more than one ending as well. I got the best ending and am on a second playthrough to unlock the hidden dungeon that can only be opened after completing the game with the best ending. It's easier to get back into playing P4 after not having played it for awhile and I can turn on the game, grind for hours just leveling my characters and gaining new Personas, shut it down and never touch on the story part of the game itself, just the dungeon crawling elements and I'm okay with that. It's an enjoyable experience.
I've been over all impressed with Atlus Games and the quality and maturity of their titles. Unfortunately I can't afford to go back and buy the ones I've missed, especially the orignal PS1 Persona games. The first Digital Devil Saga is available still so I'll get it. And Atlus remade Persona 1 for the PSP, which I'm enjoying now. I'm hoping that they continue to re-release some of the older games for fans that missed them the first time. It would be nice to see both Persona 2 games release for the PSP or on PSN. I and many others would purchase them.
