Topic: Persona 3/4/5 for Nintendo Switch

I think Royal made my V1 switch fan break or something, because ever since I started playing the game, my fan has been extremely loud and making grinding noises all the time. I guess Sega badly optimized the game because now I gotta send my system for repairs. Normally intensive games do make the fan a bit louder but now it’s constant even on the home menu.

I have a launch Switch and my system seems to be just fine with this game.

Gradually, over time, my launch switch fan started getting loud at times. I wouldn't blame any particular game for it. It started making a whirring sound. Don't know if that's the sound you developed. I gave my launch switch to my friend, and he replaced the fan. He said it's quiet now.

I noticed I cant enjoy this game without playing it perfectly after schedule because knowing I am missingall these optimal options is making me feel bad, but then working the list of that guide I found for what to do each day is just feeling like busy work and not like a game. I might just watch the cutscenes on youtube... (playing on Xbox Gamepass, was thinking about buying it on Switch). Also, I cant stop spamming the Screenshot button once Lady Ann is on screen... dumb habit of mine.

I'll be getting Persona 3 Portable for sure though, its my favorite game "ever".

For those who played both through...

Should I get SMT V or Persona 5? It seems Persona is easily the higher rated game, but some people seem to prefer Smt v. I'm only gonna get one of them.

@Cia depends, they are both top tier titles but think of them like night and day. Persona is more an anime slice of life JRPG whilst SMT is more nihilistic apocalyptic gamer's JRPG.

I find the gaming itself is better in SMT but the presentation in Persona is amazing which makes it more likable for people getting into it.

Personally I have tried to get into, and bounced off of, so many Persona titles. I just don’t like their presentation, pace or the slice of life elements but if you like those things, then you will probably love Persona 5 as everyone else does. It is a shame, as I have enjoyed the characters, stories, battle and Persona systems but I just feel like I need to wade through so much to get to the stuff I enjoy.

SMT games do away with most of that stuff I don’t like, and are more like grimdark Pokemon games with a Dark Souls level of difficulty (unless you play on one of their accessibility difficulty settings but they usually trivialise the experience and become not very fun in the other direction).

It reminds me, I still need to pick up FE Encore at some point and give that a go.

@Pizzamorg If you didn't like Persona you won't like FE Encore, it's Persona light with a J-pop and idol setting. You're likely to choke on the cheese of it!

I liked it enough as a fun lighter JRPG but it's not high on my list of games to ever play again.

@jump @Pizzamorg To be clear, Tokyo Mirage Sessions doesn't have any pronounced social simulation elements to it, as far as I could tell.

But yeah, you do have to have a certain level of tolerance for cringe to properly enjoy it.

@Cia They're both excellent for what they are. And also quite different.

SMT V is, as mentioned, sort of like a challenging Pokemon game, where you'll run around giant environments finding new demons to recruit, fighting bosses, doing side-quests, etc. Your demons are your team-mates. The amount of storytelling in the game is incredibly minimal (to the point where you'll go 10+ hours at a time without seeing any other humans, or any real story development happening), so if you're looking for a story-driven experience, you won't like it at all. The combat is extremely fun and well-balanced, though, and I absolutely loved exploring the game's massive, dense environments.

Persona 5 is a social simulation/dungeon crawler hybrid. Every day progresses according to a calendar system, and depending on what's happening in the plot, you'll be able to split your time between exploring said dungeons (which you'll need to complete by a certain in-game date) and engaging in real world activities: studying, going to movies, hanging out with friends to learn more about them, attending a part-time job, etc. The characters and plot are far more memorable than in SMT V, but it also has much more poorly-balanced combat (even on the highest difficulty setting, this game is way too easy), and while there is an element of monster-collecting, they exist purely to expand your main character's skillset, as your party members are other characters you pick up throughout the game. It's also worth mentioning that this game is EXTREMELY plot heavy. It'll sometimes throw hours of cutscenes, dialogue, etc. at you at a time.

The in-game musical styles are also quite different:

I really recommend trying both at some point. They're not really interchangeable experiences.

I'd second the above about Persona 5 being too easy, I had to bump it to merciless and I still breezed through it.

I've just started Persona 3! I've wanted to play this for years and years even before Persona blew up in popularity after I heard the bit about the characters shooting themselves in the head for symbolism reasons piqued my curiosity. My initial impression is that it does feel dated, hopefully I'll get use to it soon otherwise this 100+ hour game will feel impossibly too long.

Playing P3 right now. Just exploring Tartarus prior to the next story beat, and my Berith leveled up. When he did so, it said something was happening to the Tarukaja (attack up individual) skill, which I said yes to, and the skill changed to Revolution (crit up all)! Is this normal? It just feels very early in the game for this skill to me.

(EDIT: Revolution really means all, including enemies. My bad for misinterpreting I suppose.)

Aside from this, enjoying it so far, even if I am a bit bummed by the map traversal between areas.

I'm about 5-10 hours into P3P now, I am enjoying the game after being worried I'd be impeded with how dated the game is however it's not much of a concern as I thought it would be. Thing is though after playing P5R recently I really should have played a palate cleanser before playing another long arse JRPG. I think I may give Fez or Bayonetta a whirl before returning to it.

@Ralizah The best way to explain the difference between Persona and Shin Megami Tensei is this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nGWEb5QxGA

Got pretty decently far into the game. About two weeks into October so quite a lot has happened story wise, though I still have a lot of questions. Tanaka is a horrible person, but enjoying his social link regardless; no wonder he is "Shady" in P5.

Enjoying the social links and characters in general. The characters in the game all have their own reasons for fighting, and whilst they can be friends, it also feels that their are individuals who just happen to share the same space. I like the Dorm bringing playable characters together as you can see them generally react to things occurring in the story.
Tartarus is stupidly huge, and I am sure it will get even bigger before the end. I think Fuuka may have my favourite portrait in the game; the expression of disappointment is fantastic.

Not sure if it is due to portable specifically; Persona 3, or previous experience with Persona, but the boss fights don't feel that difficult. For reference, I am playing on normal, which is how I have played P4G, P5 and P5R.

So, update time. Now in the end game proper, currently leveling up everyone to 99. Fused about 95% of the compendium and done almost all the quests. Think I will finish with about 4 or 5 social links incomplete sadly.

Now that I have done most of the social links, I was watching someone play through P4G, and saw a cutscene with MC, Nanako and Adachi, discussing a book report, and noticed the book in question was very familiar. Guess the author left his mark in the world after all.

Welp, it's finished. The final boss was interesting. I did almost everything; all requests except 2, never fought Margaret, and all social links bar 5 (of which one I never found). Overall, very good game, I can see why people prefer P3 over 4 and 5. I like the themes explored and the character development. I also like how party member's personas evolve alongside the story rather than through social links. If they do remake this properly, I would like improvements to fusion and for romances to not be forced.

I might play through again for FemC but I will probably wait a while to do so; my final time in my first playthrough came to 145 hours, 12 minutes. I am sure a fair bit may have been idling, but I would say at least 120 hours was genuine gameplay.

So I'm at the final boss for persona 5...

I beat the third phase and now for some reason it's stuck on a loading screen. It's right after futaba says she found his weakness. Has this happened to anyone else? I genuinely don't want to refight the boss...

Edit: turns out this problem occurs if you have the network functions turned on. It's pretty irritating but I ended up switching to the easiest difficulty and re fought the whole boss again.

Preorders for Persona 3 Portable are live over at LRG. Unfortunately, folks are getting bent out of shape over the fact that the replica gun cannot be removed from its encasing. Purely display only, no touch. Don't get jebaited into believing you'll be holding that piece of swag.

@Magician I ordered the base game right at the time of preorder! I’m super hyped to play this game for the first time, even happier that I held out on buying the game, just to be rewarded with the option for physical!

I'd think it for the best that it's not a replica firearm, given that much of the world - Japan included - regulates them quite heavily. For a product that's shipping internationally, they absolutely don't want something that could even possibly be confused for a real weapon.

I'd be inclined to get the regular edition anyway.