Why Persona 3 Is The Best JRPG on the PlayStation 2: Part 2

Default Prime guest writer Peter Tieryas gets into the second part of his Persona 3 retrospective where he discusses battles, personas and Tartarus.

"After decades of grinding in JRPG’s to gain experience and money, I’ve come to loathe turn-based combat and the thousands of battles against worthless minions (I could have learned two new languages with the time I spent earning experience points, something I’ve been struggling with as I’ve grappled with Mandarin!). Persona 3 went a long way to revamping the battle system while cutting away everything extraneous to make combat fun and smooth..."

[rataranian]

"Why Persona 3 Is The Best JRPG on the PlayStation 2"

...Because you haven't played 4?

[NewMonday]

agree with that, but Shadow Hearts 2 is also a contender

[Infernostew]

I was just going to say something about Shadow Hearts Covenant. Easily up there as one of the best rpgs I've ever played and my favorite on ps2.

[falloutx]

Yeah the Shadow Hearts series is very underrated, I'm still hoping it becomes a ps2 classic on the PS3.

[tieryas]

Hi @Rataranian, I did play Persona 4, and I thought it was an amazing game. I'd love to hear your thoughts on why you thought 4 was better. I found 3's story more compelling, though 4 was pretty great too. 4 also made some great updates to the gameplay and the music was a blast.

[AIndoria]

Haven't played P4, however, What're your thoughts about the ending? Nice ending, wasn't it?

Couldn't sleep after finishing the game at 4 in the morning though...didn't expect THAT ending :/

[PshycoNinja]

My personal favorites are Kingdom Hearts 1 & 2. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

[LightofDarkness]

Sorry, but I couldn't get into the school schedule/highschool dating aspects. I just don't care about teenager problems or awkward, melodramatic romantic advances any more.

[WildArmed]

Honestly, I think it depends how you wanna spend your time in persona.
I spent a lot more time w/ people outside of schools *cough* Sundays at the shrine *Cough*

Some of the stories were pretty sad, some were funny. I really couldn't care much for the dating aspects either. So I choose to spend most of my time outside talking to non-HSer and going to Tauturus.

I guess unless you wanna get the perfect char w/ all max socials.. XD

[Drabent]

Yea thats why I skipped....don't even watch those kind of anime.

[Hicken]

P3 is amazing, no doubt. But I'd say I still enjoy Xenosaga more... and maybe .hack, as well.

Then again, that entire era of JRPG gaming was pretty amazing, so I don't even mind not being able to have a definitve #1.

[Kyosukedanteyui]

Xenosaga is one hell of a game. I love the .Hack series as well but it gets a lot of hate unfortunately.

[LOGICWINS]

Funny, I have Persona 4 coming to me in the mail this week. Some people say P4 was better, some say P3 was better. But the general consensus is that P4 is the better option for new comers like me.

[r21]

for me, the best JRPG is Radiata Stories. why havent they made a sequel for this gen....

[sarabbc]

Radiata Stories was pretty cool!

[LiViNgLeGaCY]

I do agree that Radiata Stories was one of the best JRPG's for the PS2. A sequel would be pretty awesome. :D

[Redempteur]

I dunno about "the best" but it's one of the best no doubt.

Still there are some serious contenders for that title on PS2

[Chrono]

Final Fantasy X is best RPG on PS2.

[Drabent]

Well all know that-_-

[Dark_Overlord]

My personal fave on the PS2 was Digital Devil Saga (Part 1)

[TheTwelve]

AGREED.

[Skateboard]

FF XII. Suck it.

[LiViNgLeGaCY]

Dude I LOVED FF XII.

[josephayal]

Very repetititititititive Game

[AIndoria]

The ending was....mindF*ck. Also, loved the Nyx battle music. The battle of the souls music was excellent... :(

Loved the game.