Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth - Warning: This game is canon

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Cake Attack: Mar 26, 2010

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth is a three way crossover between Persona 3, Persona 4, and Etrian Odyssey. It combines Etrian Odyssey�s first person dungeon crawling with a crossover story between Persona 3 and 4. Persona Q was released November 25th in America and will be released November 28th in PAL regions.

Gameplay:

Persona Q is, much like the Etrian Odyssey games, a first person dungeon crawler. Players can choose up to five characters from the casts of Persona 3 and 4 (and one original character), to explore and map the labyrinth.

At the beginning of the game, you can choose to mainly follow the cast of Persona 3 or 4. This affects the main battle theme, the story (to a degree), and which party members you have access to for the first labyrinth (the parties merge at the end of the first labyrinth).

Unique Mechanics:

Much like in Persona, hitting weaknesses is a key part of the battle system. Hitting a weakness puts the character in Boost mode for their next turn, letting them use skills for free. Getting hit will knock them out of boost, however.

Sub Personas:

Like in Persona, characters learn skills as they level. However, they can also equip a subpersona, a secondary persona that teaches them various skills, and gives them a bonus pool of HP and SP which restores after each fight.

Other important stuff:

- For the time being, Kaguya and Orpheus Telos are sub personas available as free DLC

Cake Attack fucked around with this message at 23:15 on Nov 27, 2014

# ? Nov 27, 2014 23:06

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# ? Apr 24, 2024 18:09

Ibram Gaunt: Jul 22, 2009

Persona Q is a cool game for cool people.

# ? Nov 27, 2014 23:11

KingEffingFrost: Jul 9, 2011; Extreme corset action!

Regarding Boost, it's important to note that getting hit while Boosted knocks you out of boost. So if you need a character to keep chaining free skills together, you may want to have one character act as a tank with attack drawing skills.

# ? Nov 27, 2014 23:14

Strange Quark: Oct 15, 2012; I Failed At Anime 2022

Some general tips:

You can't buy SP restoring items until after the first labyrinth.
You should always have one ~~Ariadne Thread~~ Goho-M when going into a labyrinth. There's no point in having more than one at a time since you have limited bag space and you can easily buy another once you're act. The game will warn you if you try going in a labyrinth without any Goho-Ms, which is pretty nice.
The experience you get from battles and quests for your active party is a pool divided between everyone conscious in your party. If you want to level someone up faster, try bringing a smaller party. Everyone outside your active party will still gain some partial experience from completing quests.
You can get a reward from a chest on every floor if you walk on every tile possible on the floor. This includes damage tiles. You can also open the chest by forking over play coins, and the number of play coins you have to pay up is determined by the number of tiles you're missing.

# ? Nov 27, 2014 23:31

Zurai: Feb 13, 2012; Wait -- I haven't even voted in this game yet!

Strange Quark posted:

You can get a reward from a chest on every floor if you walk on every tile possible on the floor. This includes damage tiles. You can also open the chest by forking over play coins, and the number of play coins you have to pay up is determined by the number of tiles you're missing.

For the record, there are some levels where you don't have to walk on literally every tile. For example, on level 4 of the 2nd labyrinth I got a 100% even though there were a few FOEs I hadn't beaten to access their tiles. My guess is that the game rounds to the nearest percentage point, so if there are enough tiles that you can get to 99.5% completion, it'll round up to 100%.

# ? Nov 27, 2014 23:35

Yoya: Nov 6, 2009; I already bought the chicken

Protip: if you want to kill yourself listen to the velvet room theme song all the way through on your 3ds speakers.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 00:31

Artix: Apr 26, 2010; He's finally back, to kick some tail! And this time, he's goin' to jail!

Pro tip: instant death is hella broken and literally everything in the first labyrinth or two is weak to either Hama or Mudo. Never, ever be without at least one of them, and preferably keep both of them around on someone. Naoto is perfect for this.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 00:46

NickRoweFillea: Sep 27, 2012; doin thangs

This game is challenging, yet fair

Anyone have any good QR codes?

# ? Nov 28, 2014 00:54

precision: May 7, 2006; by VideoGames

Pro tip: pick a party and stay with it. Leveling everyone is a waste of time and unnecessary. Just use whoever you like.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 01:04

BottledBodhisvata: Jul 26, 2013; by Lowtax

Are the characters designed to the same basic styles as they are in their main games? I.E. Mitsuru gets ice magic, Yosuke gets wind and so on? Is anyone different? How does the new character play?

# ? Nov 28, 2014 01:11

DrManiac: Feb 29, 2012

BottledBodhisvata posted:

Are the characters designed to the same basic styles as they are in their main games? I.E. Mitsuru gets ice magic, Yosuke gets wind and so on? Is anyone different? How does the new character play?

Yup.

The new dudes are combined into one unit and basically plays like a etrian odyssey character (can't equip persona and don't have the temp hp/sp in battle). Zen gets elemental skills that are basically the runemaster spells from 4 and Rai gets support spells.

So far my only complaint is I don't like the persona art. It just looks bad in a way I can't explain.

DrManiac fucked around with this message at 01:20 on Nov 28, 2014

# ? Nov 28, 2014 01:18

Strange Quark: Oct 15, 2012; I Failed At Anime 2022

BottledBodhisvata posted:

Are the characters designed to the same basic styles as they are in their main games? I.E. Mitsuru gets ice magic, Yosuke gets wind and so on? Is anyone different? How does the new character play?

I want to say Rei & Zen are closest to a Runemaster from EO4. They're really well-rounded. They get access to all basic elemental damage types and good healing skills. They start off with a passive SP heal too, which is really nice.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 01:23

Philip Rivers: Mar 15, 2010

DrManiac posted:

Yup.

The new dudes are combined into one unit and basically plays like a etrian odyssey character (can't equip persona and don't have the temp hp/sp in battle). Zen gets elemental skills that are basically the runemaster spells from 4 and Rai gets support spells.

So far my only complaint is I don't like the persona art. It just looks bad in a way I can't explain.

Yeah, the screen in the OP looks really ugly to me. The UI looks like a mess.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 01:26

Zurai: Feb 13, 2012; Wait -- I haven't even voted in this game yet!

BottledBodhisvata posted:

Are the characters designed to the same basic styles as they are in their main games? I.E. Mitsuru gets ice magic, Yosuke gets wind and so on? Is anyone different? How does the new character play?

Yeah, they follow the same general pattern as in their own games. Nobody's significantly different except that every character has a vastly slimmed-down skillset; I'm half of the way through the third labyrinth and none of my characters have more than 3 skills on their main Persona (though most of those skills have auto-upgraded at least once). Sub-Personas are where the real skill variety comes in, the main Personas are really just to make sure you have access to all the basic essentials.

There are a lot of cool builds available through sub-Personas, including EO-esque things like links (attacks which do damage when they're used and then trigger additional attacks under certain situations, usually another ally hitting the same target), circles (3-turn battlefield spells that attempt to hit the entire enemy party with an ailment or bind effect every turn, and various abilities which only function while you have a circle active like passive healing, etc), and dealing extra damage to enemies with ailments.

Rei and Zen don't have Personas and so can't equip sub-Personas, but they have much higher stats and access to variety of useful abilities to make up for it. They get all four basic elements, a curse-causing physical attack, several different row-targeting heal spells (hp, status cure, bind cure, dekunda), and passively regenerate SP as you walk around. Their spells are a bit expensive at the beginning but where everyone else's spells auto-upgrade to higher forms that cost 5-10 times as much, Zen instead gets a passive ability that increases the damage his elemental spells do. They have the cheapest elemental attacks in my part at the moment.

A couple things I've noticed:

It's either very tricky or impossible to transfer Resist/Null/Absorb Element through fusion.
Fusion in general seems to follow the model where each Persona is assigned certain categories of abilities which can be fused onto it. It's impossible to get fancy physical attacks on Pyro Jack, for example.
Spells and abilities on primary Personas (Orpheus, etc) automatically upgrade even if you have open skill slots. This is really aggravating because the costs jump extreme amounts. Kanji's starting electric/bash physical attack costs 12 HP, but the upgraded medium-damage version costs 102 HP. I'd rather just have the light damage version, honestly.
There are skill cards to add skills to your primary Personas, but aside from a few quest rewards you don't get access to them until halfway through the 3rd Labyrinth. You can use skill cards to add lower-tier versions of skills you already have, though, so at least that's good.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 01:27

neongrey: Feb 28, 2007; Plaguing your posts with incidental music.

Strange Quark posted:

I want to say Rei & Zen are closest to a Runemaster from EO4. They're really well-rounded. They get access to all basic elemental damage types and good healing skills. They start off with a passive SP heal too, which is really nice.

Also a line heal really early on, which is also nice. I may swap them out when I start gaining media but they're great so far.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 01:29

Oxxidation: Jul 22, 2007

Between this game and the Ultimax series I think Yu Narukami and his intrepid Scooby Gang are getting a little sick of the metaphysical poo poo about now.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 01:30

Butt Ghost: Nov 23, 2013

Let's not forget about their upcoming metaphysical dance-off

# ? Nov 28, 2014 01:37

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Oxxidation posted:

Between this game and the Ultimax series I think Yu Narukami and his intrepid Scooby Gang are getting a little sick of the metaphysical poo poo about now.

Who? You mean Yu Naruka?

# ? Nov 28, 2014 01:39

Armor-Piercing: Sep 22, 2009; Nightly dance
of bleeding swords

Is the Spiral Sword you find in the first floor of the second dungeon worth using?

# ? Nov 28, 2014 01:49

Manatee Cannon: Aug 26, 2010

The new VA for Naoto weirds me out. At least Kanji is usually really close to Troy Baker.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 01:55

Blueberry Pancakes: Aug 18, 2012; Jack in!! MegaMan, Execute!

What would be a good level to kill the Card FOE on Floor 1 of Wonderland?

Also, is it just me, or does Rei make anyone else hungry?

# ? Nov 28, 2014 01:58

BottledBodhisvata: Jul 26, 2013; by Lowtax

Oxxidation posted:

Between this game and the Ultimax series I think Yu Narukami and his intrepid Scooby Gang are getting a little sick of the metaphysical poo poo about now.

Hell, the P3 kids killed DEATH ITSELF and they're still dealing with this poo poo. The Scoobies are gonna be Shadow-smashing until the day they die (or turn evil).

# ? Nov 28, 2014 01:58

Annointed: Mar 2, 2013

BottledBodhisvata posted:

Hell, the P3 kids killed DEATH ITSELF and they're still dealing with this poo poo. The Scoobies are gonna be Shadow-smashing until the day they die (or turn evil).

Nah no one in Persona ever turns to the dark side, they just turn into uber powerful demons to be controlled by the next batch of suckers.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 02:01

g0lbez: Dec 25, 2004; and then you'll beg

I guess this should be obvious but Risky difficulty is a loving bitch

# ? Nov 28, 2014 02:01

Inflammatory: Apr 22, 2014

Hobgoblin2099 posted:

What would be a good level to kill the Card FOE on Floor 1 of Wonderland?

Also, is it just me, or does Rei make anyone else hungry?

you get a request to kill one after completing the labyrinth, so i guess around then.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 02:04

Strange Quark: Oct 15, 2012; I Failed At Anime 2022

Hobgoblin2099 posted:

What would be a good level to kill the Card FOE on Floor 1 of Wonderland?

I took one down at around level 9 because the boss was giving me trouble, but it took a longass time. They're easier to deal with than the Burning Beetles, as long as your party can take a hit.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 02:08

Araxxor: Oct 20, 2012; My disdain for you all knows no bounds.

What triggers the all-out attacks? Is it based on boost? Seems like it asks you if you want to do one if enough of your party members get boosted.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 02:14

precision: May 7, 2006; by VideoGames

The first fusion I did let me transfer Resist Elec so I don't think it's impossible.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 02:14

Araxxor: Oct 20, 2012; My disdain for you all knows no bounds.

I think I just ran into this game's version of the Venomfly events. In hindsight, the sword thing was obvious. Still can't believe I made it through that. Status effects are really good in this game. Speaking of, is it like the EO games where it gets harder to inflict the same status effect on enemies over and over?

# ? Nov 28, 2014 02:16

Artix: Apr 26, 2010; He's finally back, to kick some tail! And this time, he's goin' to jail!

Hobgoblin2099 posted:

What would be a good level to kill the Card FOE on Floor 1 of Wonderland?

Also, is it just me, or does Rei make anyone else hungry?

You can do it around 8 or 9 if you're really determined, but I'd wait until 10-12 for best results. If you've made it to the second dungeon, you're more than ready to take on a Card Soldier.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 02:20

Argent Cinereus: Feb 25, 2013

precision posted:

The first fusion I did let me transfer Resist Elec so I don't think it's impossible.

It might depend on the result persona. Tried to get Oberon with Resist Elec, wouldn't let me. Tried with something not electric, went fine. Probably just doesn't let you put resists on something geared towards that element's opposite. Physical skills are proving more irritating to transfer for me at the moment. Apparently most of the personas I can make right now are too caster to punch things.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 02:20

Zurai: Feb 13, 2012; Wait -- I haven't even voted in this game yet!

Dr. Fetus posted:

Speaking of, is it like the EO games where it gets harder to inflict the same status effect on enemies over and over?

If it is, the scaling isn't as harsh. I've been able to inflict Curse 3 and 4 times on the same FOE/boss fairly easily.

Dr. Fetus posted:

What triggers the all-out attacks? Is it based on boost? Seems like it asks you if you want to do one if enough of your party members get boosted.

They won't trigger at all unless you end a round with 3 characters in Boost status, trigger more reliably with 4 characters Boosted, and are (almost?) guaranteed if everyone is Boosted. I think enemies being knocked down increases the chance of it happening at 3 and 4 Boosted characters, but I can't be certain.

EDIT: Oh, I have a question of my own. If anyone else is at the 3rd floor of the 3rd Labyrinth (yeah, I know, I've not done much but play this since I got it, thanks to Thanksgiving), how do you solve the clock puzzle? I've gotten the clues and I think I have the general concept, but the one explicit clue I've gotten (6 9 3 12 9, presumably indicating the order in which to go through the doors) doesn't seem like it's actually possible to do.

Zurai fucked around with this message at 02:25 on Nov 28, 2014

# ? Nov 28, 2014 02:21

Strange Quark: Oct 15, 2012; I Failed At Anime 2022

You can do the dating quiz thing after beating the labyrinth, yesss.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 02:39

Crabtree: Oct 17, 2012; ARRRGH! Get that wallet out!
Everybody: Lowtax in a Pickle!
Pickle! Pickle! Pickle! Pickle!; Dinosaur Gum

The only thing I don't like about this game is that its much more finicky about allowing you to all-out attack enemies, even if you hit all of them with their weakness, and its tendency to gently caress you early with a mass group status aliment spells.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 02:42

LordHippoman: May 30, 2013; I, frankly, want this smug Jagen to be my avatar on all forms of social media immediately.

Does this game feature my main lady, Mitsuru "Motherfucking" Kirijo, and her magic battery powered motorcycle?

# ? Nov 28, 2014 02:44

Worldwide Panther: Jul 20, 2010; Go see the stars!

The link skills seem pretty drat good in this game.

# ? Nov 28, 2014 02:46

Blueberry Pancakes: Aug 18, 2012; Jack in!! MegaMan, Execute!

Artix posted:

You can do it around 8 or 9 if you're really determined, but I'd wait until 10-12 for best results. If you've made it to the second dungeon, you're more than ready to take on a Card Soldier.

Thanks!

# ? Nov 28, 2014 02:54