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'Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight' damaged my fictional friendships
Finishing a Japanese role-playing game is always bittersweet. There's a feeling of euphoria, of course, that comes with beating a final boss and watching the credits roll. But it also means saying goodbye to party members that you've spent 30, 60 or potentially hundreds of hours with. The best games in this long-running genre make you truly care for their supporting characters. They flesh them out with interesting backstories and complex personalities that slowly change over time. By the end, they're friends first and damage-dealing lackeys second.
Three new 'Persona' spin-offs are coming, including 'Q2'
Atlus has just announced a trio of new Persona spin-offs. Following on from the 2015 PS Vita rhythm game Persona 4: Dancing All Night are a pair of new Dancing titles based on Persona 3 and Persona 5. A pair of trailers show Aigis and co. bopping to the Persona 3 soundtrack in Dancing Moon Night, while the Persona 5 team shows of its moves in Dancing Star Night. Both games will come to the PlayStation 4 as well as Vita.
Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine beta keys now available
If you've played Persona 3 or Digital Devil Saga, then you're already familiar with Atlus Games's Shin Megami Tensei line. While the laurels of that line lie in the many single player games, the Shin Megami Tensei series is going into the MMO realm with the new game, Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine.Imagine is being carried in the US region by Aeria Games, the people behind Shaiya and Dream of Mirror Online, and they've just started their beta test via Filefront. Just simply click on the link and you'll be given a key and a download link to the client. The game will be free to play, and supported by a microtransaction system.Also, as a small side note, Aeria is currently having trouble with the ImagineUpdate.exe file. If you download the client, run the ImagineClient.exe file without running the launcher shortcut. Otherwise, if the launcher is run, you corrupt the installation and have to re-install.Otherwise, happy demon hunting![Thanks Tony!]Update: Aeria Games has gotten the launcher back to normal. Double click it and run it to update properly!
Atlus announces Persona 3 FES for the US on April 22
True to its word (or at least to the word of a timer clicking down to zero), Atlus USA has lifted the shroud of secrecy off of its intentions surrounding Persona FES, announcing that it's bringing the RPG expansion to the US on April 22 for $29.99. The new package will feature both an "enhanced version" of Persona 3 with new bonus features alongside a new chapter -- promising an impressive 30+ hours of gameplay it says here. Even better, Atlus notes that the new chapter will be able to be played independently of the core game, though players with Persona 3 game saves will be able to use their save data in the new chapter. We'd like to come up with something witty with which to close out the story, but honestly we're too busy already plotting out how exactly we're going to get our hands on the game before it disappears forever. [UPDATE: Oops, looks like the game is coming one one disc instead of two as previously reported...blame it on lack of caffeine]
Best of the Rest: Scott's Picks of 2007
Odin Sphere (PS2) Vanillaware's side-scrolling action RPG caught me completely off guard when it came out, but I fell instantly in love with the game's style. Practically everything about Odin Sphere is unique: the circular levels; the gigantic, beautifully-drawn sprites; the bizarre food-crafting mechanics. Toss in a healthy amount of Norse mythology, and you've got one damn fine, under-appreciated game. Here's hoping Vanillaware's upcoming Wii title is up to snuff.
