Persona 3: FES - YAY!

[Mzo]

I don't understand when people talk about grinding this or grinding that and getting this to whatever level... I found that I barely had time to do what needed to be done in the dungeon for the month and still keep up with increasing my stats as well as keeping up with the social links. When do you have the time to just grind in Tartarus? It's not like a FF game where you get to the last dungeon and can spend infinite hours leveling up while the story waits for you. You definitely build up a huge tolerance for fighting in Tartarus but it's never infinite, right?

[Finch]

It's not that you have to grind in the game, it's that the game is a grind. Playing it is like doing charity work for a make-believe organization.

[Fe 26]

I liked the idea of the social aspect of the game. And the way they connected to your mental health and personas. It was nice that the game's mechanics kind of had a message/story all their own.

But I didn't care a whole lot about everyone.

If it was up to me the game would be about the nerdy girl and aegis

[Bacon McShig]

I don't understand when people talk about grinding this or grinding that and getting this to whatever level... I found that I barely had time to do what needed to be done in the dungeon for the month and still keep up with increasing my stats as well as keeping up with the social links. When do you have the time to just grind in Tartarus?

Hm, if you found your back to the wall in P3P, you'd really be fucked by the original and FES. In those, your status becomes 'tired' while exploring Tartarus insanely quick.

In P3P you can knock out whole sections in one (game) day. What I'd do is get as far as I could as soon as the next section opened up, restart the section the next day and beat the boss, then just fuck around with social links the rest of the month without the "oh shit gotta get to Tartarus" monkey on my back. Maybe revisit once or twice to level and item hunt in that period if I felt like it.

And if you beat Death pretty early and open the bonus dungeon, that place totally minimizes any grind. The dudes in that dungeon give mad EXP, level a little bit in there and you can roll wherever you are in Tartarus no problem.

[Mzo]

I did the same thing, I'm just wondering when people have the time to get to level 99 and make all the personas, do the optional fights, etc.

I guess they do it during that final, kind of empty month? I didn't even finish a lot of the social links =[

[Mzo]

Sweet Jesus it's finally over.

Time to play FES as a dude!

[MechDeus]

I don't understand when people talk about grinding this or grinding that and getting this to whatever level... I found that I barely had time to do what needed to be done in the dungeon for the month and still keep up with increasing my stats as well as keeping up with the social links. When do you have the time to just grind in Tartarus?

I had a number of times where I had cleared the current Tartarus section, done social links for the day, and then just had plenty of nights in the month where I could choose if I wanted to dungeon grind. I did once encounter a miniboss where I was underleveled, where he was so minor FAQs barely mentioned him but my guys were getting crushed like he was some super-secret thing. I knew I had to grind out a few levels and easily could've, but the thought of having to do more Tartarus than the bare minimum is what finally caused me to wander off.

The battle system just isn't compelling enough to justify the amount of combat needed, which falls in line with your Pokemon comparisons. Which I guess sums up all the SMT games that I've played, really.

[ChaoofNee]

Hm, if you found your back to the wall in P3P, you'd really be fucked by the original and FES. In those, your status becomes 'tired' while exploring Tartarus insanely quick.

This is the issue I'm having in PS2 FES right now. I get too tired way too soon. It's the end of April and I'm not past floor 3 yet without someone getting tired and me having to leave. I wanna get to the end of the block to get that document! Is there a way to keep my party jackasses from being pansies or do I just have to run away from battles?

[Compass]

IPlaying it is like doing charity work for a make-believe organization.

The Church of Chan?

[Mzo]

I'm torn between moving on and starting a NG+ on this. Not having to study or do any of the other actions required to increase your stats would give me plenty of time to work on all the Social Links as well as spending plenty of time in Tartarus, which would lead to me being able to craft every Persona ever and putting in some time with the optional bosses.

The problem is I kind of want my 2nd playthrough to be as the male MC in FES, which means I wouldn't have any of the 2nd playthrough bonuses and it would just be another run through the game where I don't feel as if I can complete everything.

I might do it anyway. Or move on to P4.