http://akayuki.com/2008/03/18/weekly-fa … d-scans-3/

Interesting. Is it bad that all I care about is how the OST will sound?

its not bad, but i care for both. bring em atlus!

but for now, ill be fine with FES.

To each his own, but I would honestly answer that question with a "yes" (if said question implies that you haven't played Persona before). Persona 3 was the best and most innovative RPG of the 128-bit generation (IMO, even beating out the Shadow Hearts', and that comes from a huge SH-fan), and if you haven't given it a chance yet you've really missed out on a great experience.

As for P4, I'm definitely hyped (as much as I can be about a game these days, anyway). The soundtrack is actually the aspect of the project that I'm looking forward to least if it turns out to be another Meguro solo-thing. The guy isn't as good as he used to be (definitely overworked), and P3's soundtrack only became really good after experiencing the game (talk about a U-turn experience! When I got it it really underwhelmed me, but now - after playing the game - I love it. Some soundtracks just are like that.).

This is going to sound bad, but I just can't do RPGs anymore. All the text, the random battles, the grinding... I'm burnt out completely. Shadow Hearts was the only series I could keep up with, and I totally lost interested by the time I fired up FTNW. I may try to check out P3 FES when it hits the states based on a bunch of recommendations not unlike your own, but I don't know if I'll be able to enjoy another turn-based RPG. We'll see.

Dude, that is exactly why the doctor recommends a big old dose of P3. There are few people on this planet more RPG-jaded than I, and based on the initial press the game received I thought it was gonna turn out to be a flop, but it proved to be anything but. Definitely one of the best RPG experiences I've had, and a game that is a godsend to people tired of typical JRPGs. P3 does for the RPG genre what it's soundtrack does for VGM: creates something totally unique that hasn't been seen/heard in the format before. Only difference is the game is actually awesome, while the soundtrack is only so-so.

Can't blame you there. They should've just stopped the series after SH2. Gamewise SH3 was OK, but the plot and the characters were just so bad I wanted to puke.

Consider me very intrigued. I'll definitely check out FES once it hits - that's the best thing to do, right? Or should I find a copy of the original P3?

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Zane,
Persona 3 does not have random battles.  All enemies are visible and generally avoidable.  However, that does not remove the grind.

It is a long and intricate game with fantastic production values.
But, the game is not for everybody.

A trailer has appeared.

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=GJt2ZnL9eTQ

im so looking forward to that battle theme. its going to pump up my enjoyment of battle x200.

its good they decided to be in line with the boss battle themes of the predecessor.

Personally, I found the "grind" to be almost non-existent in P3. As long as you don't run away from too many fights you won't have many problems cruising through the game and enjoying the story. As for the fighting you do have to go through, I found it to be a pure pleasure. P3 has the best combat system I've ever experienced in a non-action RPG, it's so prefect and smooth that I never got tired of it, despite clocking in 96 hours on my first run through the game.

And FYI, no, I'm not hired by Atlus to promote this game. I just happen to like it a lot.

  Even on my best RPG run, I clocked it around 85 hours.  Bravo sir, bravo.

Yes, Persona 3 is one of the few MegaTen games (if we wanna talk grind: let's talk SMT3!) with very little grinding in it. Besides after the initial first run you never have to level up in new game+ except a few runs through monad to level your classmates. I've managed 4 playthroughs in 130 hrs and I have a half finished 5th playthrough I'm working on. Trying to max all social links without cheating and using a guide.

Happy to hear P4 will be on PS2, I'll definitely be first in line for this.

Didn't know if I should resurrect this thread or make a different one entirely, but who else got Persona 4?  I gave it about an hour yesterday and so far it feels pretty much the same, but you can't really judge a JRPG in an hour.  Looking forward to more playtime tonight.

I got the game, and the disc was defective!  The PS2 would not recognize it as a PS2 disc (but it was not a "Disc Read Error").  I returned it and exchanged it for another one, and it worked.  However, gamefaqs has a couple of threads in the P4 section about bad discs.

I saw those threads - glad mine worked   (I'm playing it on my 80gig PS3 so we'll see if I run into any issues)

mine shipped. ill start playing sometime next week.

Is this the model with PS2 software emulation?

Yes, it does the PS2 emulation thingy.  As a reference, I never finished Persona 3 because the game froze on me at some point and I refuse to bring out the PS2 again.

sounds lazy

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Just picked up FES today as well as Persona 4 (with that swanky artbook) just an hour ago. Chillin' wi' me mates later on in the eve, but will definitely rip these open.

Thanks, McCall. I'd been wanting to try these out (on your recommendation, of course), but only now have I been able to do so.

Those character designs are great.

I miss Junpei and Yukari.

Man, the intro scenes in the game are so long...it took forever just to finally gain full control. With that said, I can't wait to sink another 70+ hours into this game...

Amen.  I also miss Kenji