Post by Bytor on Jun 25, 2009 18:44:30 GMT -5
-Visuals- 8/10
The graphics, as is typical in Shin Megami games is not the strong point. The backgrounds and extras are adequate though. The strongest visual aspect of game is the various demons themselves. They are not obviously anything spectacular but over all they are rendered quite nicely.
-Sound- 7.5/10
The music tends to get very repetitive, especially when you play The Answer, however, it does fit the whimsical yet serious mood the game portrays. I imagine that to some people who are not used to the soundtracks which Japanese RPG games can have the music will seriously get annoying, but to be honest after a bit of playing the game I kind of ignored the music.
-Gameplay- 9/10
OK, the good and the bad. The bad first..the personas can get a tad confusing as to what powers/strengths/weaknesses each has. It takes either some time, or some note taking to keep up with what powers they have, and you must make sure you have a balance of strengths/weaknesses or some of the battles could be impossible. Another problem is while you do control which persona you use in battle you do not have full control of your allies, so occasionally they will either attack in a manner which is useless or they simply do things which make you go huh. This does not, however happen as often as it could, for the most part the allies AI is at least OK. Now the good parts. The game is in essence two games, one is a SIM type game while the other aspect is a RPG type game. In order to build your power for the RPG aspect you have to cultivate relationships, this requires a sometimes tough balancing act, for instance three different people might want you to do something on the same day and you have to decide which relationship is more important to build. This requires you do some planning, especially as the game is timed...for instance you have only so many days to accomplish set goals. If you are not at the required level and empowered with the correct personas you will have little or no chance of completing the goals. Now I am going to include this in the good part, although to some it should be a bad thing...there is certainly a certain amount of dungeon crawling required in order to get yourself to the levels you need in order to complete the boss battles especially. Each of your allies control powers which are called personas and each friend has it's individual strengths and weaknesses. You, on the other hand are a tad different, not only can you control personas but you have the ability to control varies different personas which each have different powers/strengths and weaknesses. The personas you can actually control are determined by your level and and their various strengths and weaknesses are determined in part by the relationships you have developed among your friends and the people with whom you interact throughout the game
-Story- 9/10
The story develops as you go, as in all good games, but in a nutshell you are a typical (or so you think) high school student who discovers that you and some of your class mates can see that at the hour of midnight, called the Dark Hour, most humans basically seem to turn into coffins, which are then in turn fed on by mysterious beings called Shadows. Your quest is to destroy these shadows and free the world of the Dark Hour. What makes the story so good is the relationships you develop, you will spend a lot of time getting to know your class mates as well as various people throughout the city. This certainly adds to the emotional aspect of the story. The game is divided into two parts, once you finish the Journey you will start The Answer, both are fun but be warned, the Answer is a serious dungeon crawling game, while The Journey is much more of an over all great game.
-Overall- 9/10
I would rate this higher but the problems with the gameplay mentioned above decrease the score somewhat. The ability to not control your allies and the confusion which will accompany the various personas make the over all aspect less than it could be. It is, however a game which could be played over again, because it is almost impossible to actually max out all of the social links and max every persona in one play.