I love that game! I love it! I always say I don't give a crap about characters' personalities in my RPG, but
PQ2 might be the exception that proves the rule. I adore my crew, and I'd like nothing more than to see them strive, grow and prosper in the game they hail from. Given that
Persona 5 is still a PS4 exclusive and that the planned Switch port is shaping up to be a totally different game (which I'll probably buy anyway, let's face it), that probably won't happen any time soon. To compensate for that sorry state of affairs, I decided to stick dutifully with the
Persona 5 crew when characters from older
Persona entries started raining on me; I own all of said older
Persona entries and I'll play them in due time, so I'd rather enjoy the Phantom Thieves when I get to. And since
PQ2 won't let me run solo, I'll perform the next best thing to a solo run, i.e. an Initial Party Run: I'll stick with my original five fab through thick and thin, until the credits roll. I would gladly have played with the lovely Noire; but alas, she came too late into the mix, and with a giant five level-deficit to boot. Sure, I could use my Growth Incense on her for instant leveling-up and party integration; but let's face it, I'm just too used to my crew's dynamics to change anything now. And now that I unlocked Unison Skills, I have even less reason to ever want to switch party members. Sorry, not sorry!
Let's now talk about the famed Persona system, shall we? I love it! To pieces! It's so much fun, and so darn addictive! It took me quite a lot of time and experimentation to even get the gist of it; but I have a good grip on it now, and I'm succeeding more and more in crafting Personas that fit my fighting style. Since I'm playing on Safety Mode, and since I'm a brute that loves nothing more than to nuke everything on the battlefield, I'm favouring multi-hitting elemental attacks and strong physical attacks with a Boost bonus attached. And since I'm mentioning Boost... Oh, the glee! I know nothing more exhilarating than to surgically target all foes' weaknesses and wrap up the fight with a lovingly devastating All-Out Attack — and extra XP for the road. This is one of the most positive feedback loops I've ever encountered in an RPG fighting system, and it sure as heck encourages me to choose my skills wisely.
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| I'm smelling a whiff of yaoi fan service here. |
You might notice that I'm only raving about the
Persona side of things, dear fellow gamers, and rightfully ask "But what about da dungeon crawling?" Well, about that... The more I play
PQ2, the more I'm convinced that it didn't need to be a crossover at all. The
Etrian Odyssey side is so underrepresented and brings so little to the mix that it might as well not be there at all; the game could perfectly have taken place in regular dungeons and nothing of value would have been lost. In fact, I'll go further and say that the
Persona side saps the
EO side and makes it kinda pointless.
EO's two main assets, namely its immense crawling freedom and its autarkic crafting system, don't get to shine at all in
PQ2. The former is destroyed by the constant cutscenes, tutorials and narrative railing; and the latter is made redundant by the Boost system, which emphasizes elemental matching in battle rather than mere gear stats. I daresay that we're nearly dealing with a case of 'too much of a good thing' here: there's a mite too much to do and think of — draw maps, avoid FOEs, watch cutscenes, sell loot, find and manage Personas — and it can be overwhelming at times. Less is more indeed, especially as far as my RPG tastes are concerned.
Anyway, do you know what all that means, dear fellow gamers? It means that I'm gonna have a big fat blast when I finally decide to play a true blue
Persona game! In fact, I'd do just that right now, if not for the fear of overkill. Let's clear
PQ2 first, shall we? And since I'm mentioning this, I have a couple of Personas waiting to be fused. Back to da grind!
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