Persona Q2 is the turn-based RPG with first-person dungeon crawler and mapmaking. This latest installment crossover character with Persona 3, 4 and 5. Being one of the last games 3DS and being from the critically acclaimed series, will Persona Q2 live up to the legacy of the series or has this franchise had too many installments in the past few years?
The Phantom Thieves from Persona 5, go on a mission to Mementos which takes a turn for the worst as they soon find out they are stuck in a mysterious movie theater with no way out. While trying to escape by going into different movies and changing them, they also run into other persona users trying to escape. (From Persona 3 and 4). It’s a pretty simple story that severs its purpose of being fan service for anyone that has played all 3 of the current mainline games. Some characters are stripped of their personality for the sake of a joke sometimes like in Persona Q1 but these moments are few and far between and don’t bog down the script like in the previous game. The script is serviceable but I felt that the pacing, especially in the latter half of this 80-hour game, dragged on and it became boring in parts. There a lot to like about the story in this game regardless if you played all 3 games or not but sticking through the whole affair might be hard for some.
Turn-based combat is something that most games just can’t make interesting but the Persona series continues to keep players engaged with multiple ways to tackle situations by switching Personas or through the cast of 28 characters. The visuals of things like all-out attacks and union attacks also help to make for some fun moment due to certain attacks like a character cross-dressing for an all-girl attack or someone getting stuck at the wheel of a car and running over an enemy. In-between combat, you’ll explore labyrinth that you have to map out on the touch screen which adds some strategy to the game. There’s also fun side missions where you see more character interactions outside of the main story. While all of this is great, there not much to do outside of this combat and it did get a bit stale in the latter half. The first half is the best part of this game but just like the story, it drags on due to artificial game lengthier that are added to the 3rd and 4th parts of the game. The 3rd part having bullet sponge robots that makes the part a bit longer then it needed to be. Most levels follow the formula of having 4 acts followed by a boss but the 4th part has 6 acts and 2 boss floors. This stops the story right in its tracks and due to the length, you end up fighting the same enemies over and over for 10 to 15 hours of the run time. I thought the 4th part was the end of the game but there is a 5th and final part that was normal length again, so I don’t understand why the 4th part was so long. If you’re willing to get past the overly long 4th part, the other parts are pretty good. Gameplay severs its purpose for a Persona game but filler hurts the experience.
The game looks great and union attacks steal the show when it comes to what you can graphically pull off on the 3DS. The soundtrack is amazing. New and old tracks are great. Nothing forgettable at all about this OST. A few framerate slowdowns but only in graphically intense scenes, nothing that takes away from the game.
Persona Q2 is a good RPG for fans of the series and a great 3DS sendoff but newcomers might want to start somewhere else. The slow pace and the abundance of Persona references will put off some people. Even fans of the series might need to be a bit patient with a dull 4th part and bullet sponges in the 3rd part. Underneath the problems this game has, there is still some fun to be had with the multiple characters of this series and the excellently executed first half and finale of the game.
Pros:
+Fun Crossover Story
+Amazing Presentation
+Great Soundtrack
+Almost Flawless First Half
Cons:
-Too Much Game Padding in Later Half
-Needs More to Do Outside Of Combat
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