Brief thoughts on SMT: Persona PSP's SEBEC storyline

June 10, 2016

Ugh... ***SPOILERS***

I just finished Persona's main quest line, which involves battling the SEBEC company. Honestly, it was a bit of a slog.

1) I never really felt the level of wonder I should have. I mean, the entourage voyages into an alternate universe and somehow that's not interesting. Maybe it's the translation, but the characters seemed nonplussed about their intedimensional travel.

2) The story didn't pick up until it was nearly halfway through, when it revealed the truth about Maki. Then it kind of got interesting, plus you felt a little more for her as a character. It also explains why the story up to this point was so mundane. All Maki wanted was a simple life outside of her hospital room.

3) All of the other supporting cast got the shaft. Mainly, I wanted to know more about Mark and Nanjo. I can understand Brown (the recruitable character I settled on) no receiving much elaboration, but I think there should've been segments involving Mark and Nanjo. I had hoped such subplots would emerge, and I was disappointed to find out they weren't there.

4) The final boss, Pandora, was mostly a pushover. Her first form was a glorified enemy, for one thing. Her second form seemed to be holding back. There were a couple of times she hit me with butterfly cloud or whatever it's called twice in a row and nearly wiped me out, but I was able to easily recover (Maki had a spell that fully heals the entire group for a mere 20 SP) and lay the smack down. Not really what I would call a worthwhile final boss.

I restarted the game and am attempting the Snow Queen campaign. Hopefully this pans out to something better.

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Feedback

EmP - June 10, 2016 (12:14 PM)
How can you not like Nate? They turned his butler into a zombie!

JoeTheDestroyer - June 10, 2016 (12:50 PM)
I liked him, but I felt they could have done more with him. He was really useful in combat, what with powerful sniper rifles and multi-hitting swords. It seemed like they were going somewhere with his character in the early phases of the game, but dropped it after his butler died.

overdrive - June 10, 2016 (01:04 PM)
I remember playing the PS1 version and abandoning it shortly after the forest dungeon where you fight, I can't remember, an alternate version of Mary (who might be the Maki you mention...or maybe it was Maki there, too, and I just changed it to Mary in my mind). It just never truly grabbed my attention and came off as a more-or-less average game.

JoeTheDestroyer - June 10, 2016 (05:18 PM)
It is pretty average, but the US PS1 version was mossing half of the game. I omly hope the other half, which I'm going through right now, is actually worth it.

JoeTheDestroyer - June 11, 2016 (12:26 AM)
Ugh, my phone.
*Missing

LeVar_Ravel - June 13, 2016 (09:01 AM)
I played the 1996 PS1 version. Wasn't big on the gameplay but I thought the Mary story was cool. I'm guessing the story was also much more psychological, almost abstract, compared to most games c. 1996. And urban fantasy was still pretty new for the time.

Now, big question: do you prefer hip African-American teen Mark (PS1), or the original Japanese guy with the facepaint & big ol' yellow hat (PSP)?

Feedback
	EmP - June 10, 2016 (12:14 PM) How can you not like Nate? They turned his butler into a zombie!
	JoeTheDestroyer - June 10, 2016 (12:50 PM) I liked him, but I felt they could have done more with him. He was really useful in combat, what with powerful sniper rifles and multi-hitting swords. It seemed like they were going somewhere with his character in the early phases of the game, but dropped it after his butler died.
	overdrive - June 10, 2016 (01:04 PM) I remember playing the PS1 version and abandoning it shortly after the forest dungeon where you fight, I can't remember, an alternate version of Mary (who might be the Maki you mention...or maybe it was Maki there, too, and I just changed it to Mary in my mind). It just never truly grabbed my attention and came off as a more-or-less average game.
	JoeTheDestroyer - June 10, 2016 (05:18 PM) It is pretty average, but the US PS1 version was mossing half of the game. I omly hope the other half, which I'm going through right now, is actually worth it.
	JoeTheDestroyer - June 11, 2016 (12:26 AM) Ugh, my phone. *Missing
	LeVar_Ravel - June 13, 2016 (09:01 AM) I played the 1996 PS1 version. Wasn't big on the gameplay but I thought the Mary story was cool. I'm guessing the story was also much more psychological, almost abstract, compared to most games c. 1996. And urban fantasy was still pretty new for the time. Now, big question: do you prefer hip African-American teen Mark (PS1), or the original Japanese guy with the facepaint & big ol' yellow hat (PSP)?

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