Topic: The Definitive Best Game of All Time Forum Megapoll!

One thing I've taken away from this is that I should probably find time to play the Persona games at some point. They were doing well all the way through the competition but I thought they would fall away towards the end. Those games seem to really resonate with people

Persona 3 and 4 are good on the narrative and social sim front, but they're subpar dungeon crawlers otherwise.

Persona 5 made a lot of positive strides on the gameplay front. I still wouldn't hold it up to the best SMT games in that regard, but the excellent dungeons, narrative, characters, and themes come together to make a really fantastic JRPG.

No idea what people see in Persona. Tried 4 and 5, that's 40 hours I won't get back.

@KratosMD yeah just not my jam to be honest. Unrelatable characters, annoying restricted mechanics, poor (imo) writing. Just all a bit unlikeable. I appreciate I didn't see all of either game though.

I thought the gym teacher in 5 was pretty cool.

@kyleforrester87 @kratos_md @ralizah For me Dojima, Kanji and chie (even with her annoying voice) stood out. My best friends mum had to bring him up on her own and had to work and I thought his character and writing were amazing. Really really hit home. I think the writing was so good as this happens to a lot of Japanese with dads working away. Kanji was absolutely brilliant also a real mix of emotions like Ive rarely seen in gaming. Initially a bully character, once you delve a little deeper hes completely different. Chie was like a girl version of me growing up wanting to do martial arts and being poorer than her best friend.

But you do need to buy into it. I moved from the city to the relative countryside (before moving back 4 and a bit years ago) and the small town with only a few shops and everyone knowing each other was done so well. I think the voice acting in both games is great, in comparison to most other games bar the latest AAA releases.

That said I dont really want to play another diary driven game again for a while. Theres an underlying stress to them all - will you see everything? The answer to that for me was a resounding No in Persona 5. That left a bitter aftertaste. I got nowhere with the politician and fortune teller leaving a potential gaping hole of information.

The dungeons are too mundane in P4g and could have been made half the size and been too long and some of the mechanics in the better P5 dungeons was cliche (find the security card etc).

But yeah P4G 10/10 for me even with the rubbish dungeons, P5 8/10 even though its the better game, as I didnt enjoy or relate to the characters - maybe the coffee shop owner at a push. Its very much if you like the characters I suppose.

I've played 32 from the 50 and finished 26 of them. Numbers 16, 47 and 1 would be my top three games respectively.

Yes @kyleforrester87 how dare you not like a Persona game! Now go back and play them until you enjoy them!

@JohnnyShoulder I think Persona is a great game. But with the wrong set of characters it can become a real grind. Kudos to @kyleforrester87 for giving them a go but its a real marmite game. The basic turn based fighting isnt exactly ground breaking and the actual persona collecting is a bit hit and miss and the graphics are functional at best in P4g so from that stand point its not a great game. The game is all about the over arching narrative, individual characters, style through the amazing fonts, breakaway conversations, menus and most importantly Persona throws up loads of questions like - just imagine if that was happening to you - as the games based in a modern day place with real moral and ethical questions raised.

The game requires a lot of buy in, if you do you will be rewarded. Its not for everyone though as P5 was a proper grind for me and without playing p4g first and knowing how good the story can get, would have quit halfway.

P4G seemed more a game about discovering who you really are at your core. Your true self. And finding others true self. P5 (although I’m not finished with it yet) is less about that. The whole ‘stealing hearts’ idea is good, but it’s more about the dungeons showing the antagonists personalities, rather than the protagonists finding themselves and coming together to solve a mystery. Both are good, but the self discovery resonated with me a lot more. I dare say I learned quite a bit about myself and about social interaction when I played it. P5 is definitely much more polished and stylized though.
@Kidfried I vote Nier Automata for you to try next on that list though. That games oozes coolness.
My top few from the list that I have yet to play and want to experience includes also Yakuza 0, and Dark Souls, but also Witcher 3, FF6, Chrono Trigger, and MGS2 (I never really finished that one)

Man, I've only played 9 out of the fifty games...

@Scrummer Maaaaaaaaaan, what are you doing with your life?!

Something productive?

Psssh!