Any impressions for the Japanse version of Persona 3?

[legendarypegasus]

With persona 3 nearing it release date, I was wondering if anyone whose played the Japanese version can share some of their impressions. I would be interested in hearing how this school sim thing turned out. It sounds like it could be a nice break from the dungeon crawling grind, but I can also see it getting real old, real quick. Also, how is the story and how are the characters? Any other thoughts are welcome, but please explain why you liked/disliked the game.

[Ashtrot]

Personally, I love it.

The only dungeon is a 200+ floor dungeon with very short floors and mid bosses every so often. What's the meat of the game is the 'daily life' parts where you go to school and interact with everyone. Getting increased relationship levels with other people allows you to create new, more powerful Personae. The story's okay, nothing to write home about, but I love the life sim aspect.

[Robert Boyd]

Visuals are okay, music is awesome (though very J-Popish so your mileage may vary), cutscenes are as good as you would expect in an A quality anime series.  Gameplay didn't interest me as much as past Personas, but that's because I'm more of a combat/stat oriented gamer than a simulation lover.

[wolfing]

How about random encounters? Are they too frequent (if they are random)?  I tried playing Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne, but abandoned it because there were just waaaaay too many random encounters.  I prefer when I can see (and avoid) enemies if I want to, but I can live with some random encounters.... but in the case of Nocturne it was just ridiculous.

[John]

There are no random encounters; all enemies are visible both in the dunegons and on the minimaps.  So if you want to avoid combat for seven floors, you can feel free to do so.

[MeshGearFox]

Nocturne's rate really wasn't any higher than any other RPG as far as random encounters go.

[Marshmallow]

How does not being able to control your party members factor in? I'd feel as though it would make combat extremely boring and possibly repetitive (provided your one controllable character had to constantly heal or cure status of party members who wouldn't/couldn't do it themselves).

This game really interests me for the simulation aspects; I'm just worried that it'll be a sim without enough story to keep me interested.

[Robert Boyd]

The combat automation does make things less interesting, however, on the plus side, it means combat moves at a good speed.  And you don't need to work too much about spamming healing spells with your main character as one of the first party members you get is good with healing magic.

[Ashtrot]

Regarding the battle system - The dynamic functions on only being able to control your character. It's actually quite intuitive, as combat flows very quickly and your computer partners are generally smart and will value your life above all else.

Regarding the sim aspect - Each character you deal with (there are like 20 in all) have their own unique backstories and stuff. People I found annoying as shit early on I gradually grew to like a lot. That, to me, is the epitome of good character development. So yeah, it's pretty damn good.