Played the old localized ps1 version on my ps2 console, had to put it down near the end after an absent-minded loss to a boss after about a 4 hour run of playing where I couldn't make it to a save tree. Realized I had to move on if I ever want to get to the more intriguing Persona 2 games(Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment, both having either fan or official translations for ps1). Saw how the story finished out, and I'm curious now about the alternate storyline, which to complete I would have to pick up the PSP version of the game, so if I ever return to this that's probably how I'd do it.
The rest of this is very aesthetically pleasing. It's interesting how this was the evolution of the series after SMT If... the characterization was more ensemble and casual, something that would continue on with future Persona games and SMT as a whole. The town map was the only thing hard to navigate at the beginning for me, and the dungeons too strain you to go on a bit to long with that slow, flashy sprite combat(another reason I couldn't trudge through after losing so much progress). Despite the slow pace and combat which is so true-to-form for this series, the strengths of the world still came through here in the personality of the world, the characters, the monsters(including a basketball ghost and a demon toilet), the gambling minigames in the shady mall, the twin-peaks inspired velvet room(with one of the more interesting methods for fusion), the charm of the ps1 textured marble floors in the corporate building, the memorable soundtrack, and the hokey parallel-world story that's just campy and kindhearted enough for me to still look up the finish. Though I'm moving on in this series out of necessity I can say definitively that I did enjoy my time with this one, and I'd recommend it to all curious SMT fans, especially if you have the patience to get on board with the more dated elements.
The rest of this is very aesthetically pleasing. It's interesting how this was the evolution of the series after SMT If... the characterization was more ensemble and casual, something that would continue on with future Persona games and SMT as a whole. The town map was the only thing hard to navigate at the beginning for me, and the dungeons too strain you to go on a bit to long with that slow, flashy sprite combat(another reason I couldn't trudge through after losing so much progress). Despite the slow pace and combat which is so true-to-form for this series, the strengths of the world still came through here in the personality of the world, the characters, the monsters(including a basketball ghost and a demon toilet), the gambling minigames in the shady mall, the twin-peaks inspired velvet room(with one of the more interesting methods for fusion), the charm of the ps1 textured marble floors in the corporate building, the memorable soundtrack, and the hokey parallel-world story that's just campy and kindhearted enough for me to still look up the finish. Though I'm moving on in this series out of necessity I can say definitively that I did enjoy my time with this one, and I'd recommend it to all curious SMT fans, especially if you have the patience to get on board with the more dated elements.