Persona 1 Remake for PSP

[Auragaea]

Some info from the official Atlus website, plus a trailer:

Official Site: http://persona.atlusnet.jp/
Trailer: http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/1221862_1124.html

- All the original FMVs will be remade by Kamikaze Douga, and there will be many brand new FMVs as well to enhance the storytelling.

- Shoji Meguro will be arranging all the original BGM and the vocal tracks will feature Yumi Kawamura, the vocalist for the Persona 3 tracks.

- The interface has been fully revamped to take advantage of the full widescreen view for the benefit of all users.

- Both the original scenario and the Snow Queen scenario will contain additional dungeon floors not found in the original. The new dungeon elements will also contain tricky puzzles and extra content for the player to unravel.

- The game has been fully rebalanced to enhance the playing experience from the original version. The encounter rate and dungeon designs have been tweaked as well. There will also be multiple difficulty settings to more player choice.

- Battle animations can now be skipped entirely, and the battle load times have been decreased to 2/3 the rate of the original game.

- There will be many more save points available throughout the game, and for portable fans the game will also feature a quicksave feature.

- A beautiful 2D town map has been created for the game to bring it up to the standard of the rest of the series.

[patapi]

I don't have a PSP (yet) and I never did get into the Persona subseries of SMT until the days of P3 and P4, but my experience with recent Persona titles do get my hopes up for this remake. P1's localisation is horrid enough to keep me away from paying its cutthroat second-hand price tag.

Contrary to Persona vets however, I do hope they upgrade the battle system to the no-random-encounter approach of P3/P4. It's tiring running around looking specific demon to contact in P2 Innocent Sin, and apparently P1 also has a similar system. Having the 1-More system back would be desirable as well, to speed up these battles.

That said, Atlus sure is on a roll these days. Between this, Devil Survivor and the upcoming Raidou Kuzunoha 2; perhaps too much of SMT is a good thing after all.

[suikodian]

Atlus announcement on February 24

PERSONA ® FOR PSP® (PlayStation®Portable)
Yes, it's coming. Yes, it's fully remastered. And no, it wasn't leaked first.

In the weeks to come, we'll share more about what's new in this full restoration of the original Revelations: Persona. In the meantime, we can say that that which was not carried over the first time around is restored. The game is fully rebalanced, visually enhanced, and completely relocalized.

This Fall, an old chapter begins anew.

I have not played any of the SMT/Persona games before. Persona on PSP is going to be my first , another decent series to enjoy

[patapi]

Last gen's SMT offerings are pretty enjoyable, like DDS and Persona 4. Why not check them out while waiting for this enhanced port?

[suikodian]

I have Persona 3 and 4 but did not play them yet since I want to play the early releases first. DDS/2 are in my list but I am waiting for Atlus to reprint them. Amazon had a reprint of DDS a while back but I was too lazy to get one .

[patapi]

There's no reason to wait though. In my mind, P4's atmosphere and interactions pretty much outweigh anything that the DDS duology brought to the table.

[suikodian]

I heard that Persona 3 and 4 were good but did not expect them to set the standard that high . The only reason I did not play the games yet is that I do not want to ruin the experience of playing the PSX and DDS releases. I ruined my Suikoden II experience as I played the third before it. I do not want to repeat the same mistake with the SMT series.

[Haroth]

Ruined the S2 experience? I played the first and third games seriously before I ever got far in the second game. My experience was never ruined.

Anyway, about Persona itself. I've been wanting to pick up the P3 FES and P4, but my sudden addiction to Street Fighter really kills my spending money. Arcade sticks cost a lot. @_@

[suikodian]

Sorry I did not proofread my post, I played Suikoden III, II, IV and then I. As you see I missed the enjoyment of returning characters in Suikoden II and the bonus that is carried from Suikoden I. Also, for Suikoden III being my first, revealing the identity of the masked bishop was not a big surprise.

Sometimes it is better to play the games in the order they were released. That's why I kept Persona 3 and 4 intact till I play the first two.

[patapi]

If it's about continuity, don't worry. DDS and Persona are independent SMT spin-off series that there's no story relations. But, yeah, if you want to experience all the references made in Persona, playing according to the chronological order of 1, 2 IS, 2 EP, 3 Journey, 3 Answer and finally 4 is most recommended.

[suikodian]

If it's about continuity, don't worry. DDS and Persona are independent SMT spin-off series that there's no story relations. But, yeah, if you want to experience all the references made in Persona, playing according to the chronological order of 1, 2 IS, 2 EP, 3 Journey, 3 Answer and finally 4 is most recommended.

That's a relief, so I don't have to get the expensive DDS spin-off series
Did Atlus localize the innocent sin chapter? As far as I know only the eternal punishment chapter got localized.
I got P3FES, does it have the journey and answer chapters?

[patapi]

Yeah, Atlus never translated it, but there's a fan translation of Innocent Sin going around on the intarweb though.

And, yes, P3 FES has both The Journey and The Answer in there.

[TenkaiStar108]

I'm such a huge fan of the SMT series, especially their Persona branch. 4 was my favorite overall. I can't wait until Persona 2: innocent sins comes out this september!

[Ernst]

There's no reason to wait though. In my mind, P4's atmosphere and interactions pretty much outweigh anything that the DDS duology brought to the table.

I couldn't disagree with that more. The atmosphere in DDS is so heady and dead, Persona 4 is a slightly vitalised 3. I love Persona, but no, for atmosphere, DDS kills it.

When it comes down to it though, Nocturne kills both of them. The grim, relentless battle system, the never-ending maze dungeons, the flat dialogue all create such a macabre tone in that game. It really grips you. It's hell to get through, but you become really invested in it. All games that wave the SMT banner are brilliant though, Persona... just a little more superficially.

[patapi]

It's probably just me, but Nocturne feels so lonely and flat.