Persona 4 - US Release Announced

[Timber]

Ok, I really want to play either this or FES but I doubt I'll have time to play both anywhere near each other. Which should I pick up?

There's a coupon to get 25% off used PS2 games right now at Gamestop and it stacks with the edge card so I can pick up FES for $16 or 4 for $23. And a store not too far from school has them both in stock so I was going to get one or the other tomorrow.

[Finch]

P3 was a generic post-Evangelion animé in videogame form. P4 is Twin Peaks in videogame form.

One of them is good until you realize that you're pretending to go on dates and one is actually good.

[mollipen]

Just a warning - that video contains a MAJOR spoiler. Don't watch it if you haven't finished or played the game yet. (Or, just watch up to the 1 minute mark, then either stop or jump ahead by about 30 seconds.)

[RedCoKid]

Do you mean something not already shown in the artbook? Maybe I didn't realize what I was watching. I set aside P4 after the first dungeon. Hopefully, I'll have time to get back into it soon.

Hm, I have a few questions as long as I'm here...
- Can I beat the game fusing stuff at random for fun?
- How many game overs should I expect (i.e., total hours lost), or how far will 10 of those full-party-HP-SP-rescue-charms last?
- How easy is it to permanently mess up your save file?

Edit: it was a cute video although probably best deleted. search "caramelldansen" "persona 4" on youtube if anyone's interested.

[Mikhal]

Just a warning - that video contains a MAJOR spoiler. Don't watch it if you haven't finished or played the game yet. (Or, just watch up to the 1 minute mark, then either stop or jump ahead by about 30 seconds.)

This is one case where it might have been best not saying anything at all. Sure, there's some spoilers but it was rather subtle (and probably why RedCoKid probably didn't notice) so I wasn't going to mention anything. Now that the cat is out of the bag, I suggest nobody watch it if they didn't beat the game yet. Unless you were just talking about the rest of the party members being spoilers when you mentioned jumping 30 seconds... which I don't consider a spoiler as they're in the intro of the game.

Hm, I have a few questions as long as I'm here...
- Can I beat the game fusing stuff at random for fun?
- How many game overs should I expect (i.e., total hours lost), or how far will 10 of those full-party-HP-SP-rescue-charms last?
- How easy is it to permanently mess up your save file?

You should be able to beat the game fusing randomly. Just have at least one Persona to cover an elemental skill that isn't covered by another party member.

Hours lost is mainly tied to the S-Links and how OCD you are in getting every answer right to level up S-Links (I lost a shitload of hours because of this). I've died a few times in dungeons playing on normal, but as long as you stock up on Goho-Ms so you can warp out of a dungeon to save periodically you shouldn't lose too much progress. You'll get a few game overs from bosses, too. Also, you can't mess up your save file as long as you save the victims before the fog sets in. If that happens, they die and you'll get a game over. You have PLENTY of time to do that stuff though.

[mollipen]

Do you mean something not already shown in the artbook? Maybe I didn't realize what I was watching. I set aside P4 after the first dungeon. Hopefully, I'll have time to get back into it soon.

In reference in Mikhal said, you may either watch that video and not at all realize what you've seen, or you may watch it and noticed something you absolutely shouldn't have. And the spoiler is kind of hinted at in the art book.

- Can I beat the game fusing stuff at random for fun?
- How many game overs should I expect (i.e., total hours lost), or how far will 10 of those full-party-HP-SP-rescue-charms last?
- How easy is it to permanently mess up your save file?

To be honest, I've never been hardcore into persona fusion. If you're doing it completely randomly, then you probably won't get far, but if you try to get the best out of what you are fusing* and work on having "core" persona, you should be fine. I always have one good persona for each element, and then one "healer / stat skill" persona. I only really went for specifically-targeted persona on a few occasions.

*For the skills that a persona will inherit, the selection changes every time you re-select the persona you want to fuse in case you didn't already know that. So, if you're fusing three persona, but the added skills aren't exactly what you want, back out, de-select all but the first, and then select them again. As long as you've re-select a majority of the involved persona, the skills will shuffle (of course based on what the resulting persona can accept). In P3, you had to completely back out of the fusion menu to get a new shuffle, but thankfully in P4 you don't.

I haven't had as many game overs as I did in Persona 3, but the ones I've had in P4 have been far worse (time-loss wise), due to how less convenient it is now for exiting dungeons and getting your health back. I tend to do more "just a bit more" exploring in P4, which ends up screwing me.

Absolutely positively don't have just one save file, at least once you hit November or so. The path when it comes to what ending you get is so totally arbitrary that it's a bit stupid.

Edit: Oh yeah, I wasn't thinking about the revision to monthly timing. Yeah, there is a bit of concern if you suddenly find yourself with like only two days left to save a victim, but the solution to that is just to go hardcore on saving a victim once you're able to, and then not having that worry anymore.

[Finch]

TNL. I AM DISAPPOINTED IN YOU.

So Persona 4 The Golden is for PSP Vita and there's a PERSONA FIGHTING GAME DEVELOPED BY BLAZBLUE PEOPLE. WHAT. TNL. HOLY SHIT. WHAT THE FUCK, EVEN I AM EXCITED.

[Thief Silver]

WHY AM I EXCITED FOR THIS

[Finch]

BECAUSE IT'S

[Tain]

i see a lot of people freaking out over Persona 4 for the Vita but of course the fighting game is the important news.

i'm glad finch Got It Right