Persona 3 Portable, Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley
Finally in the game proper, running around good old Tartarus again, and they really improved the experience. The NPCs are no longer a bag of jerks, but are now fully controllable, which is a great option (the fact that they default to doing what they want is kinda annoying, but I guess some people like the luck), and I have full control over how they are equipped and what skills they use, so they aren’t changing gear between fights and won’t constantly do something stupid like try to cast charm. Also, you can start over from the floor you were on if you leave; you don’t have to push on to the gate and put yourself in needless danger because you’re afraid of wasting time. However, you also don’t autoheal when you hit the first floor anymore…you have to pay like in Persona 4, and it doesn’t appear there is a way to reduce this cost, as there was in P4. My dudes also don’t seem to get tired in the dungeon proper, instead getting tuckered out when they go home for the night. I’m also having a slight problem with the camera, even though the set-up they went with works pretty well (using the shoulder buttons), I’m just not used to it.
They also did some slight script adjustments, I think. For example, I never was given a justification for why Ikutsuki, the team dad, could experience the Dark Hour; he wasn’t a Persona-user, so what the hell? Well, he actually states the evil corporation trained him to be able to enter the Dark Hour. Maybe I missed it the first time, but it was good to hear a reason. Anyway, it proves to be just as addictive as it was the first time I played it, because I’ve apparently already logged three hours of play in what I know is only the first 3% of the game. That might be the gameclock still running when I put the game on hold, but it still seems like a lot, since I don’t feel like I played that much.
Also put in a few days in Harvest Moon, got a couple of potatoes and some flowers, caught a couple of fish. I like the fishing system in this game a lot. When you fish, you look out and actually see the fish moving in the water. You then throw out your line and are giving a sliding scale to determine how deep you throw it, with helpful fish icons showing you when to stop. Once you get a bite (fairly quickly if you aimed right), a circle appears on the water, with another circle slowly growing inside it. Just hit the button when the circles overlap, and you’re one step close to the fish. It’s really simple, with a lot of indicators telling you how close you are to making a catch, and is a lot more intuitive than most fishing mini-games. Sure, with someone used to rhythm mechanics, there’s no real challenge, but I don’t really care, I just want to catch a fish and not waste my time waiting for a tiny bob taking up less than 1% to move slightly. It’s nice to see a fishing game that doesn’t make me want to punch myself.
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