Review: Persona Q

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Persona Q is the inaugural Persona game for 3DS. The game takes the characters from Persona 3 and Persona 4, puts them into an all new adventure.

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Pros:

  • Graphics are really good, Keeping it every bit as good as the Vita version released earlier.
  • Choose your story protagonist from either Persona 3 or Persona 4.
  • Five difficulty options: Safety, Easy,Normal,Hard and risky.
  • Difficulty can be changed any time in game except when risky is selected.
  • Difficulty does not affect the story in any way.
  • Options allow you to change battle speed, Auto scroll,Language etc.
  • Name your character or use the name generator.
  • Full 3D implementation that looks brilliant and adds a lot to the game.
  • Controls are a mix of buttons and the touch screen.
  • You can skip and fast forward conversations.
  • High quality cut scenes.
  • Suspend save whenever you like.
  • Shop: Buy/sell items, accessories and weapons. Selling and buying stuff unlocks new stock.
  • When buying items you can equip and sell old items there and then on screen.
  • Central hub to manage party, enter labrinyth, shop and hard save.
  • Draw the map as you play. The bottom screen is a blank canvas. Use your stylus to draw the map as you discover it, add markers, mark shortcuts, doors and anything else you can possibly need.
  • FOE are big enemies who go by sight and once found, Will hunt you down! Other than that they will stick to a set path.
  • Random battles in dungeon.
  • Turn based combat.
  • Earn exp and level up to increase stats.
  • Tutorial throughout and detailed help section.
  • Map scribing help with temporary walls showing up as you move around. Simply trace the lines to mark them.
  • Auto walk ability. Draw a path and hit go. This allows you to traverse the land fast and direct with no need to do the movements by hand.
  • Power spots are rare spots on the map that can grant you special rare materials or drops.
  • Hours upon hours of game in each of the Persona stories.
  • Fast loading.

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Cons:

  • Slow starter with a lot of text to read, loading and introductions.
  • Learning curve to initially overcome.
  • the map feature is cool but is kind of awkward on long play throughs.
  • The novelty of everything soon outstays its welcome which in turn exposes the weak story.
  • More fiddly than fun.

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In Summary, The game is great for the most part. I loved the map drawing in Etrian so to hear its in a Persona game, I thought it would be a really good fit. For the most part it is but the same issues from Etrian start to show. Writing maps whilst still trying to look at the game screen is awkward and is just really uncomfartable. It is just Etrian with a better story. It is worth a look mind and is great for short burst plays as it doesnt something good with the map and the 3D and the fact its a Persona game on 3DS. Once your over the whole Persona thing, It just becomes a art attack dungeon crawler with more time spent drawing than actual fighting it feels.

Jim Smale

Gaming since the Atari 2600, I enjoy the weirdness in games counting Densha De Go and RC De Go as my favourite titles of all time. I prefer gaming of old where buying games from a shop was a thing, Being social in person was a thing. Join me as I attempt to adapt to this new digital age!