I hated that game, gave it a solid 8 hours, but I was just so damn bored. I hated how I could finish all the levels in the tower a week before the in game event happened, so I would find myself going to school, making really boring interactions with people, and then working at a coffee shop.

This game to be had the worst plot ever.

However I have to admit that the character animations, and voice acting were top notch. Still this game made me want to break my PSP. Maybe it's just a game targeted at youth, because at 24 I can't stand high school anime, and I couldn't stand this game.

There's a reason.

Bleh....compared to Drakengard, Nier was trash. I bought the game, ignoring the reviews, but I have to say....outside of Emil's story-arch (which is awesome, especially his cutscenes), the plot was bland.

You can play XenoGears on PSP if you mod it.

Not sure about Vita, but damn......I own every game mentioned on this thread, but only played half of them....I gotta get into the PS1 era of JRPG's.

Yeah, there's your problem.

You probably didn't even let the game introduce the entire cast of characters because some of the later characters in your party probably come in around 10-15 hours into the game iirc. Even more so than that is the fact that all the character's backstories aren't fully developed until they start getting their evolved Persona (and you do their social links that for some characters is in the later half of the game), which happens well past 30 hours lol. So yeah, this is one game where you really have to hunker down to get to the real meat and bones, which I can definitely see not suiting everyone. Plus I understand some people don't like the high school setting, but I personally extremely enjoyed the social sim by day and dungeon crawler by night aspect of the game. In that case, different strokes for different blokes I guess. But in terms of difficulty, if normal feels too easy, crank the game up on hard or maniac (if you are a maniac) and feel the pain. Persona is no stranger to punishing its players (good god the Elizabeth battle in maniac has to be one of the hardest RPG battles in history).

For me personally, although I enjoyed the PSP version, the real version to play has to be Persona 3 FES. The extra 40 hour "The Answer" story on top of the 80 hour standard mode was just mind boggling. The characters just hit you in the face with their personalities and the story just left my jaws wide open. I don't think any ending has ever made me want a sequel so bad, but Atlus being Atlus had to tease a little secret message about the P3FES ending in Persona 4 and P4A, giving me hope. That's in fact one of the reasons as to why I'm so looking forward to Persona Q on 3DS, as I want to see what exactly happened, if anything happened at all after the Answer to a certain someone.

Crono Triger for me is the best story, and in a second place i pick Earthbound :)

As soon as I saw your thread title, I was all ready to come in here and shun you for nog choosing Xenogears. I guess that's not necessary because you sir, have chosen the only correct answer.

I could've sworn you could play it on PSP by just downloading it off PSN.

Konami....I am dissapoint. Well for more than that. We just had the longest console generation ever and still no Suikoden VI -_-

I think the biggest problem with Persona for me was that I don't like Dungeon Crawlers, and given the opportunity to push forward and really challenge myself I will. So with Persona, I can't go up 5 levels and not reach a checkpoint, I hate replaying levels (i.e. grinding) so I'm the type of person who gets to the end of the allowed stage.

This causes a problem for the game because not only are the AI annoying when they keep telling me to go to the tower (even though I'm not allowed to advance), but the fact that I can't skip the whole high school sim part is really annoying.

I also really hate the high school sim part, a lot of the design choices I just don't agree with, and I find it repetative. Like why is there no social benefit gained by slacking off in class? Why can't I make my character a whore (PSP version I played)? Why can't I make rude comments, etc.

So, while the gameplay itself is fun, the genre (Dungeon Crawler and High School Sim) really kill it for me. I wouldn't have minded it if I could just fly up the tower (I played on Hard, which still feels too easy), and skip repetative, uneventful days, but I can't.....

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I'm more into traditional JRPG's I find, that or WRPG's which emphasis lots of choice. In general, I don't find that I enjoy what I call "Modern" JRPG's like Persona and The World Ends With You. However, it's like you said different strokes for different blokes.

I feel 8 hours was enough to judge weather or not I like the gameplay mechanics in this game, maybe it gets better after 10-15 or 30 hours, but it's still a Dungeon Crawler/High School Dating game. I do have to give it credit for great voice acting and animations, it really makes me want to like this game.

I would probably go with Parasite Eve as well. Being actually based off a novel and not falling into the many standard tropes of JRPG genre helped the storyline to be more unique than the standard JRPG fare.

I don't agree at all. Are you aware of what happens during subsequent playthroughs?