Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth - The Wild Cards Premium Edition, Nintendo 3DS

Persona is easily one of my favorite RPG Series and for a good reason even if this game in gameplay is more like a Ethrian Odyssey i know for sure that it will not disappoint any Persona fan here.The GameThe gameplay as i just said is a Ethrian Odyssey with a Persona skin, a little slow paced compare with a Persona 4 or 3 game, its also more difficult but to solve that you just have to move the difficulty so it is not a big deal.In graphics the game looks worse than Persona 3 or 4 but that is because is on 3DS and still the videos managed to look pretty colorful and nice. The character designs were changed to pseudochibi style characters but their personalities stayed pretty much the same so it is only a cosmetic change.The music is as gorgeous as always, Light The Fire Up in the Night, Maze of Life, Laser Beam are all great songs and the background music is pretty good too.The story might be a little bit forced but thats just because it was pretty hard to make a believable story in which Persona 3 and 4 merge, but still it has great dialogs and good interaction between both parties.SummaryA great RPG overall and a must have for any Persona fan or even a Ethrian Odyssey fan.The Limited EditionThe box was pretty good looking with hologram and all, the design was really cool to have in your collection.The soundtrack mix was excellent i have both the official soundtrack and this but still prefer the Mix of Laser Beam.The 3DS case is nice looking and feel quite sturdy (not enough to drop the 3DS on the ground).The cards were awesome, just perfect to complete my collection from the Persona 4 Ultimax Set.Great for Persona fans.

Honestly, I wasn't even going to get this game; but when Atlus said that its story was cannon...then I just had to buy it in hopes that there will be some easter eggs for P4A and P5. I had my expectations low for this game as well. Haven't played any game with this kind of dungeon crawling, so I was going in blind. The "chibi" art style was also something new, since, if you played other persona games, this was change was pretty big. Getting the common stuff out of the way, here is the real deal.General...This game was better than I thought. The dungeon crawling is nicely paced, the story is pretty good (despite it having a few generic elements), the art isn't much of a problem, the music is amazing, and the gameplay is just like an old school Persona game. This being a Persona game, you would already expect the story, music, and voice acting to be good, so rest assured that it is true with this title.Specific... The art is a bit tricky to tell others about, since the "chibi" art style is an "acquired affinity". Meaning that not everyone will like it. So, I will leave that to the player. Same goes for gameplay as well, but there is one thing that old Persona fans might like out of it...it is incredibly hard. This is a game that will make you think of strategies and force to leave the dungeon just because you don't have any more items. I would say that it is very old school RPG when it comes to its game mechanics. The bloated cast makes it hard to create a part too. Limited to only 4 characters + the protagonist that you choose at the beginning (cannot be removed from party), the choice is hard. You will be forced to choose between a party of you favorites or an effective party. Not to mention that only you party and navigators get exp, so everyone else gets the short stick. The music, although really good, gets repetitive in the dungeon crawl; but those boss battles at the end of every dungeon make up for that. The story is good. Not great, not bad, just good. It doesn't matter which protagonists you start out with, the story will still be great. The P3 perspective does have a bit more comedy at the start though.All in all it is a great game. It is a new take on the Persona series, and worth every penny I spent. The gameplay is a bit harder than I would like it to be though.

Cast:If you are a Persona fan, do not pass this game up. There is no calender or social decisions that have impact on the story/relationships, but it is just as fun watching the main cast of both games interact with each other! I always felt that Persona 3's cast didn't get a lot of character development and it was nice to see them connect with each other and form bonds with Persona 4's outgoing cast. Zen and Rei were cute characters too!Dungeons:The dungeon crawling, map drawing, and puzzles were fun as well. There are 5 and each is unique in it's own way. HOWEVER, I recommend breaks between each floor or complete Elizabeth's quests just so it doesn't get tiring. The game easily hits 100+ hours.TONS of Customization:The fusion system in Persona Q might be my favorite system in the Persona series. I've played tons of SMT games and have certain demons/personas that I love to create and use. Most of the time I only end up using my favs for a short period before I or the enemies out level them making them obsolete. With the sacrificial system you can add tons of exp to a persona so that you can keep them for as long as you want. I loved Orpheus Telos so much that I kept him the whole game (level 26 to 99)! With the Healing Harp skill, I freed up the need for healing/status cure skills and was able to focus on many other cool skills or magic. Leveling up personas in this game does not make the stats increase. It only increases the HP & SP they give to the character they are equipped to.Each character (MC included) has their main persona, but is able to equip one other persona. It gives each character tons of skills to access per turn. No member in your party will ever be useless in any turn (i.e. Yukiko & Yukari are only good for healing and using their element).The boost system in Persona Q is by far more OP than just simple all out attack in the other games. It also helps your team sustain in dungeons. They are long, sometimes hard, and can even drain your HP/SP significantly in just one enemy encounter.Accessories and skill cards allow you to further customize characters. There are only 2 things you cannot customize in this game lol.The Extras:The CD & case were ok. I liked the art book and the cards.