Persona Q: Looking Back At My Memories Of The Persona Series

I am incredibly stoked for upcoming dungeon crawler Persona Q: Shadow of Labyrinth a 3DS exclusive released on June 5th 2014 in Japan, and coming out in North America on November 25th 2014 as well as in Europe on November 28th 2014. It may appear outwardly as another JRPG to some, but I have a great deal of respect for the often innovative gameplay additions brought to the Shin Megami Tensei series, of which Persona belongs to.

However, given that Persona Q itself has yet to be released, I figured I would explore my time with Persona 3, which represented a radical change from previous Persona titles, and which captivated me for all of its 100 hours of gameplay.

Three’s A Crowd

My time with Persona 3 was long-winded, yet enjoyable overall. At its core, Persona 3 is a dungeon crawler, which means that the majority of the player’s time is spent aimlessly shuffling through long corridors, fighting enemies of varying forms, and then eventually beating a boss. This cycle livened by the occasional story bits which help motivate the player to continue the gameplay loop all over again. And as drab as this all sounds, I enjoyed a great deal of the time that I spent with Persona 3.

From the social links that the player formed with his classmates, to the rhythmic passing of the seasons, Persona 3’s very essence was shaped by repetition. Which I suppose is at the core of most any RPG; though Persona 3 seemed to wear this design troupe proudly, walking with just enough confidence and swagger to posture this repetition nicely.

That said, as with most RPGs, I ended up losing steam with Persona 3. I recall it being around the 80 hour mark. I simply could not force myself to play the game any longer. And so I quit. For 3 months. For whatever reason, I felt compelled to pick up the game for a second time, but instead of restarting, I was drawn to seeing the game through to its end.

Having been away from the game’s story for 3 months, I was doing myself very little favour by jumping back into Persona 3. But when I lost sight of who anyone was, and why they were all fighting the good fight, I began the simple act of allowing myself to become re-involved in the game’s repetition. And like a slipstream, the social links, changing seasons, and dungeon crawling, in their collective familiarity, glided me forward for the next 20 hours; at which point, having beat the final boss, I felt relief.  The cycle was broken, and I managed to finish the game while admiring the craftsmanship that went into shaping what made it a great video game, instead of what made it a great story.

Final Thoughts

And really, isn’t that why we play RPGs? Sure, the writing, localization (if applicable), voice work and storytelling are all important. And sure, I actually hold a well-written story in a video game in high regards. But I’ve also come to appreciate the beauty found in the careful and thoughtful repetition unique to RPGs. Does anyone else view RPGs in this manner, or do you typically prefer an RPG’s story to its gameplay?