I'm about 25 hours in. I'm enjoying it, but I'll share some gripes or difficulties I've had with the game.
Because I'm new to the series, I looked around for pointers (e.g., Kirk Hamilton's tips at Kotaku). My mistake. I got overwhelmed with all the stuff there is to keep track of -- all the different personas, confidantes, arcanas, affinities, different attack types, combining personas, the scheduling ... not to mention the books, the tests, the jobs, mementos, etc. ... all the stuff. I talked about my sense of confusion at GAF, and they advised me to not worry about all that, just do what I felt like doing. I've enjoyed it more since.
For a while, I was annoyed with the game, because it wouldn't let me off the leash. I wanted to wander the city, talk to people, stock up on stuff, make lockpicks, work to earn money, etc. -- you know, all the usual things I'd do in an RPG -- but the game wouldn't let me. It kept moving me from one scene to the next, ending my evenings early, making me go to sleep when I didn't want to, not allowing me to roam, etc.
Eventually I figured out that this was not an open world RPG, but rather a game that kept you on a string for a long time, then let you off for a limited time, with a deadline to get to the quest. That makes sense -- if you had unlimited freedom, you'd be able to cheese the system and over-level. But the lack of freedom was frustrating for a while. I've learned that a big part of Persona is just time management -- choosing how you will spend your limited time before the next deadline.
I suppose playing Persona after Horizon didn't do Persona any favors. I miss the fluid animations and movements of Aloy. Movement in Persona feels very clunky in comparison. And after the beauty of Horizon, the graphics of Persona are pretty underwhelming. I don't mean the visual style -- that is there in abundance -- I just mean the level of rendering. Also, I miss the wide-open nature in Horizon. Everything here is dungeons or narrow city streets. I feed the plant in my room every once in a while, and that's about it for nature.
Anyhow, now that I've made the adjustment to the type of game it is, I think I'm more in the groove. Still enjoying it. Just wanted to share those gripes/hurdles as a new Persona player.
Because I'm new to the series, I looked around for pointers (e.g., Kirk Hamilton's tips at Kotaku). My mistake. I got overwhelmed with all the stuff there is to keep track of -- all the different personas, confidantes, arcanas, affinities, different attack types, combining personas, the scheduling ... not to mention the books, the tests, the jobs, mementos, etc. ... all the stuff. I talked about my sense of confusion at GAF, and they advised me to not worry about all that, just do what I felt like doing. I've enjoyed it more since.
For a while, I was annoyed with the game, because it wouldn't let me off the leash. I wanted to wander the city, talk to people, stock up on stuff, make lockpicks, work to earn money, etc. -- you know, all the usual things I'd do in an RPG -- but the game wouldn't let me. It kept moving me from one scene to the next, ending my evenings early, making me go to sleep when I didn't want to, not allowing me to roam, etc.
Eventually I figured out that this was not an open world RPG, but rather a game that kept you on a string for a long time, then let you off for a limited time, with a deadline to get to the quest. That makes sense -- if you had unlimited freedom, you'd be able to cheese the system and over-level. But the lack of freedom was frustrating for a while. I've learned that a big part of Persona is just time management -- choosing how you will spend your limited time before the next deadline.
I suppose playing Persona after Horizon didn't do Persona any favors. I miss the fluid animations and movements of Aloy. Movement in Persona feels very clunky in comparison. And after the beauty of Horizon, the graphics of Persona are pretty underwhelming. I don't mean the visual style -- that is there in abundance -- I just mean the level of rendering. Also, I miss the wide-open nature in Horizon. Everything here is dungeons or narrow city streets. I feed the plant in my room every once in a while, and that's about it for nature.
Anyhow, now that I've made the adjustment to the type of game it is, I think I'm more in the groove. Still enjoying it. Just wanted to share those gripes/hurdles as a new Persona player.