Let it be said, in case you haven't heard it from me before, that I love Persona 3. I'm not usually one to make grand statements, but I'll say it's the last great RPG in the genre's current incarnation. If you have any appetite for RPGs at all, don't miss it, and even if you don't, give the FES edition a try. It might surprise you.
We'll still have RPGs, of course, but my guess is they'll look more like Lost Odyssey or or Mass Effect or even FFXII than the formats with which we were raised. Even now, Persona 3 feels neoclassical, in a way -- as innovative as it is, I can't help but get a "they don't make them like this anymore" kind of feeling from it.
Which is not working in its favor right now, actually. I have FES and can't wait to dig into the extra episode and additional content, but I'd like to finish the main game first -- after getting trounced in a partially luck-based battle with the October boss, I went back to an earlier save to try and gain a few levels in Tartarus before the full moon. I spent some 45 minutes grinding before taking a one-hit KO in another stroke of ill fortune -- and lost it all. Altogether I'd been playing for an hour and a half without making a tick of forward progress.
I've made the case in the past that new games have spoiled us against frustrations that were par for the course in a previous era. Part of me doesn't like the fact that if this were any other game but Persona 3, this type of frustration would make me ditch the game.
Is sparing us this type of frustration necessary progress in the evolution of game development? Or should I embrace occasional frustration and lament the loss of my attention span?
Anyway, I'm not giving up, even though my GTA IV progress is slowed and I've barely scratched The World Ends With You, which I hear nothing but good things about (hence the new banner).
In other news, I'm still following the EA-Take-Two saga over at Kotaku. Record launch numbers for GTA IV were announced this morning -- it soundly whupped the record's precedent in Halo 3 -- and the stock failed to budge even a tick. This morning I explored the impact -- or lack thereof -- on the ongoing acquisition bid. Stay tuned!
Finally, for Nifflas fans, some adorable tiny-size minigame goodness for those eagerly awaiting Night Game.
What've you all been up to, o smartest, coolest commenters on the entire internet?
