What games are you currently playing?

[Nestama]

I've had the game for three or four years (and have already finished The Answer), but I finally finished Persona 3 FES: The Journey. Also finished The Witcher 2, too... well, sort of. That game has a lot of choices I didn't make.

Now I patiently wait for Persona 4 Arena to come out in Australia :I

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Got three of the endings to Persona 4 Arena today. The game as a whole kinda reminds me of The Avengers in that there was a lot that could have gone wrong with throwing all these characters and their stories together but it hasn't once faltered on gameplay or story.

Now I'm really curious where they're going with Persona 5.

Elizabeth's ending pic and various P3, P4 and P4A spoilers

]


You have to finish Labrys' story and a P3 and P4 character's full story before you can unlock Elizabeth's rather amusing perspective on P4A. Since in terms of story mode, Labrys hasn't fully Awakened to her Persona ability, her story text-only, but of all the text bits in the game, her story was by far the most engaging because it was 100% new material that ties in rather beautifully to Persona 3's story and retcons a little of Aigis' P3 story as well. The retcon is done with class, complimenting Aigis' P4A and P3 story.

As those that have played P3 know, the protagonist - Minato - sacrifices himself to seal Nyx away forever. When this happened Aigis later inherited his Fool arcana and Elizabeth inherited his secondary Death Arcana. P4A makes no small secret she also gained his Thanatos Persona. In P4, Margaret tells the Protagonist (Yu Narukami) that Elizabeth left the Velvet Room on a personal journey. This apparent;y occurs after P3's The Answer.

So Elizabeth's story is about her search for the power Minato had that allowed him to seal Nyx away in P3. She learns what Minato, Aigis and Yu all knew - that it was the bonds of their relationships that gave them power and now she, too, has the power of The Fool arcana, replacing her Death arcana.

Pretty much everything in P4A points to a setup for Persona 5 in some respects. The mastermind of the P4A incident is still unknown, but those keen on the series think its Nyarlathotep and since what happens does follow some of his M.O. from Persona 2. The Shadows have always bore a common trait with him as well.

The ultimate ending has Mitsuru's Kirijo's Shadow Operatives return to Tatsumi Port Island, telling the P4 Investigation Team to not get involved further. Yu and Youske's endings make it clear they plan to meddle in their affairs anyway.

[Icemage]

Re: P4 Arena
The various storylines for each character intertwine, but they're not identical or concurrent. It does seem like some heavy Persona 5 foreshadowing, though.

As for me, I'm still playing Sleeping Dogs. Man, this game is so good. It's basically GTA4 with better gameplay, less tedium, and a tiny bit of parkour. I love it!


Icemage

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: P4 Arena
The various storylines for each character intertwine, but they're not identical or concurrent. It does seem like some heavy Persona 5 foreshadowing, though.

Well, in this case that's as it should be since:

P4A

The Mastermind was using Labrys' skills, likely to the very end of the encounters in the TV world, which clouded everyone's perception of events to an extent.

I'm inclined to take the most out Yu, Elizabeth and Labrys' perspectives, in addition to Rise's perspective. Much of what the first three see is rather consistent with each other's experiences and Rise is fairly consistent in all instances. I also have a hard time believing the party that threw Labrys into the TV also had the time to track down Rise and throw her in as well. So whoever this Mastermind really is, he has more than one human pawn.

[Icemage]

Well, in this case that's as it should be since:

Eh, I wouldn't read too much into any of it. At the end of the day, P4A is a brawler, and the storyline is set up as a bone to keep the fanboys from howling about having their precious RPG franchise besmirched by a spinoff.

I do like the direction that Elizabeth's story takes, but I think if the rest of the cast stories become canon, it's going to more or less lock those characters in to return in Persona 5. Not that I'd mind that happening (since I DO like the P4 cast quite a lot), but bringing in an established team with fully developed social links seems rather anathema to the concept of the Persona series and its gameplay.


Icemage

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

I don't think it locks much of anyone into anything. A few years pass, Yu and others are in ShadOps and recruiting people in college to fight Shadows. You, a new silent protagonist, is among the new recruits.

Though Atlus isn't really keen on repeating the same gameplay mechanics from game-to-game (barring core SMT mechanics like fusion). I fully expect a new combat system and if social links return, I expect they're going to go with a much less tedious system. I'd do away with calendar system, given it almost drove the Persona team mad with P4.

As loved as P3 and P4 may be, they can't risk repeating their systems again point-for-point.

[Yellow Mage]

And then suddenly Persona 4-2.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

And then suddenly Persona 4-2.

Atlus isn't Square-Enix.

Just a couple weeks back the Persona Team producer said the focus was on Persona 5 now and there was some other "surprising" collaboration project in the works (but no details or hint of what that project would be). A small part of the Persona team is also working on Shin Megami Tensei IV and as of August 30th, I think most of Atlus Japan is going to be centered on hyping that up once the the JP version of Soul Hackers is out.

[DakAttack]

This isn't game (well it has been......) but I'm reading Game of Thrones. I'm getting really into it, and I'm suddenly filled with this weird feeling. I want to buy the official framed map and find all the cast members at a convention and have them sign it. What do?

[Malacite]

Speaking of Atlus, whatever happened to the new Growlancer for PSP?

[Raydeus]

*coughP3HDcough*

Man, I hope at least the Movie is good. So little love for my favorite Persona game.

[Nandito]

This isn't game (well it has been......) but I'm reading Game of Thrones. I'm getting really into it, and I'm suddenly filled with this weird feeling. I want to buy the official framed map and find all the cast members at a convention and have them sign it. What do?

Wrong fandom, but I'm sure the quote fits anywhere;

Welcome to the herd.

[Malacite]

Yeah so, I was just playing some more ME3 and then I ran into an... interesting dialogue event. Then google churned up this as I wasn't sure if it might lead to this >_>

NSFW!!! Possibly even disturbing to some people

How very progressive of you Bioware.... @_@ (I'll be sticking with Liara though, thanks)

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Speaking of Atlus, whatever happened to the new Growlancer for PSP?

It came out weeks ago.

Man, I hope at least the Movie is good. So little love for my favorite Persona game.

Yeah, a manga, spin-off anime, PSP port with tons of extras, PSN rerelease, a movie and half the cast of P4A being from or based upon the P3 mythos is so little love

-------------------------

Also, here's Joystiq's console sales figures in Japan for the previous week

Stiq Figures, August 6 - 12: Ridiculously intense edition | Joystiq

3DS LL: 82,251 / 64,655 [DOWN] 17,596 (21.39%)
3DS: 42,164 / 37,991 [DOWN] 4,173 (9.90%)
Wii: 41,415 / 16,145 [DOWN] 25,270 (61.02%)
PS3: 13,944 /14,580 [UP] 636 (4.56%)
PSP: 11,824 / 12,018 [UP] 194 (1.64%)
Vita: 9,038 / 9,446 [UP] 408 (4.51%)
PS2: 1,154 / 1,187 [UP] 33 (2.86%)
Xbox 360: 981 / 998 [UP] 17 (1.73%)
Dsi: 637 / 525 [DOWN] 112 (17.58%)
Dsi LL: 405 / 427 [UP] 22 (5.43%)

Soooo... yeah. PS Vita sold like 1/13th what 3DS did. Ouch.

[Kailea]

Nintendo out selling everything in Japan? soooooo same old same old? ;p