Persona Q2 Review - A Love-Hate Relationship

[@NamsCompendium]

The first 1,000 people to use the link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare: skl.sh/namscompendium06221

[@the-network]

Q2 was my first persona game. I wish it got more attention. Thank you!

[@MR.BONES007]

Persona q was my first persona game i never got to finish it I accidentally deleted my save then cried for a hour in front of my grandma😂 8/10 experience

[@Joker3180Z]

While I agree on how Hikari could've been used more, I didn't feel the 4th dungeon was expedition, I felt it tied both dialogue and theme together in the altogether narrative

[@dachking6657]

Regardless of opinions on this game, I’m pretty sure we all have to agree that the opening is pretty awesome

[@nicktoons125]

Road Less Taken is legit one of the best Persona songs.

[@alcoop74]

I will never be able to get a rapping kamoshida out of my head anymore

[@boredgamer181]

I think Q2 has such a strong soundtrack because it mixes together the music of all 3 games, and the results are fire

[@rivp]

@@alcoop74 whatchu gonna do?

[@unitl3mn1-cte90]

@@rivp whatchu gonna do?

[@mortomultiverse8778]

Honestly, during the story I wanted to follow Akechi's perspective in all of this. Like, what is he thinking over the fact that he's stuck with the Phantom Thieves in an unexpected location that goes way over his control, and what's his real opinion on the other characters. That would be hilarious

[@InstaCody]

Huge missed opportunity

[@dragonballoblivion8273]

Read fanfiction or something

[@LunaticFullMoon]

I can only imagine how hellish fighting Kamoshidaman must've been for someone who benched Ryuji early. His unique skill was the only reason I was even able to get through that fight without having to grind for a while, and it still took a looot of tries because he could only protect one row of people.

[@tatsuyasuou3368]

You can get line guard from early personas with a bit of fusion, but he does have other skills that help. He’s really tanky early on anyways.

[@isenokami7810]

19:23 Yeah, the inventory limit is an Etrain Odyssey thing, and I kind of understand it. The limit encourages you to return to town regularly: EO and Persona are both dungeon crawlers, but EO isn’t designed around doing its levels in one go. It treats each floor of a level as a mini level in itself, with things like the inventory limit and expensive spells encouraging trips back to town after each floor. The limit’s just enough to be full by the end of a single floor exploration, at which point you drop the stuff off, unlock new gear upgrades after just the one floor, and check out new side quests as the list updates with each floor cleared. Point is, what you see as limitations are there to encourage a certain gameplay loop, one you might dislike because Persona is far looser on it. If I have one thing to say from my experience with this loop in EO proper, it’s that money kind of suffers with this loop. Constant unlocks of gear upgrades, only enough cash to maybe get one every trip or so.

[@philiphunt-bull5817]

I mean, I played q2 this way, and I hadn't play Etrian Odessy before.

[@zephaniahgreenwell8151]

This is true. Returning to the Theater often is the best way to play this game but is entirely counter to the strategy for playing Persona 5.

[@isenokami7810]

@@zephaniahgreenwell8151 Pretty much, yeah. I don’t judge Nam for not being familiar with EO, but this particular opinion of his comes from only playing Persona. Would love to see him do Etrian Odyssey videos somewhere down the line. Not to fix this, they just seem like good games for him to cover.

[@Cloudchaser_K]

Not to mention, certain usable items can be pretty strong in EO- making a limit on your total inventory space include those encourages a risk vs reward decision making while prepping. Kinda Darkest Dungeon-y: "Packs laden with loot are oft low on supplies." Can't speak to how well it works in Q2 though, having not played it.

[@crosswingdoublezerox3372]

I personally think you shouldn't be buying new gear each time you get a new one because you'll never save money that way. Especially when changes between can be quite minor. That said, I never bought accessories in Q2. The Power Spot accessories are just so much more powerful that there wasn't a point to it.

[@BOREDGAMERGAMING]

Chibi FeMC is the most adorable thing only second to chibi naoto

[@PinClockFuntime]

I found Hikari very relatable and enjoyed the scenes where she's there and involved. One thing that wasn't mentioned was the evolution of the main menu, which showed not only growth of the party as more singers joined the more casts you got, even becoming a different song at the end and more interactions, but Hikari becomes less shut out in them as you progress. It's a nice touch. I also prefer her to Rei because while she isn't as talkative as Rei she at least doesn't suffer from the infamous one personality trait syndrome the PQ cast suffered for most of a game where Rei was just food before getting a tragic backstory. Meanwhile Enlil is one of the least interesting villains in the series, and with Kaneshiro existing that's saying something. And Kamoshidaman was much harder than the rest of the game but Mother Computer is one of the worst designed bosses in all of Persona.

[@zenchantrelle9779]

I agree with alot of what you just said.

[@flyingpiggles1034]

Hikari was what got me through alot of the lacking aspects of the game, she's probably one of my favorite characters in persona both personality an design-wise.

[@Windermed]

agreed. if i gotta be honest both FeMC and Hikari were really relatable to me and their screentime in Q2 is probably one of my most favorite parts of the entire game. and yeah i agree with you there.. personally i like both Zen/Rei and Hikari but i do see myself preferring Hikari a bit more just because i love how she’s developed throughout the game and (although this is more of a personal reason to me) i just saw alot about myself within her character and her struggles and in a way.. the way Q2 presents her Arc even inspires me to do the same as well. (and funny enough.. it seems like i have the same personality type as her since she’s apparently an INFP like myself)

[@autocorrect5456]

as much as i like hikari, she isn't anywhere near as developed as rei. she barely gets to speak throughout the entire game. it's hard to even connect with her until as you say, tragic backstory occurs. all she's doing most of the game is watching the persona characters fight on a screen. it's kind of depressing, really.

[@PinClockFuntime]

@@autocorrect5456Because the two go about it in opposite order. Rei is a supportive power and active in the group as you slowly uncover her trauma, until she is revealed to be denying her own death and ultimately accepts it after everyone else defeats Chronos. Meanwhile with Hikari the weight of the world leaves her pretty much dead inside until she connects with Futaba, FeMC, and everyone else, and later finds her problems and faces them head on with a newfound lease on life.

[@gamefreakDX]

I like Hikari a bit, but I was more interested in Minako/Kotone's story, which basically ends mid way through the game. I was sorta surprised you didn't at all mention the fact that the game was only dubbed in Japanese, or maybe that whole topic wasn't worth the energy.

[@YoshiONE2ONE]

One thing that probably doesn't need to be mentioned since this is a Persona game; the soundtrack is filled with absolute bangers.

[@littlegreycats]

i wish that persona 1 and 2 (IS more so than EP) characters are included if q3 gets made, imagine chie and ginko talking about kung fu together or eikichi and kanji wondering why they have the same voice actor

[@jaidens.g.1920]

I really wanna see Baofu and Futaba interact

[@shaunfrost720]

Or in jp's va' case Eikichi wondering why junpei has the same voice XD

[@larkilanders]

I feel like persona q3 could change to a musou style game to be able to include every character

[@dljb7463]

Persona Q.5

[@zenderas1434]

Honestly? Even if it killed the sales i would rather it be only P! and 2 characters. In these kinda games you dont really get to experiment that much with party comps so having even more characters would not be that good.

[@scopez7203]

So fun fact about damage With how buffs are limited aigis it's actually the hardest hitting character in the game. Because everyone's limited the 3 buffs besides her Since she gets her own orgia mode with a hikari cheer chage and attack with defence down on the enemy you can one shot the reaper with a Hassou Tobi.

[@shaunfrost720]

"interactions in q2 is better than q" Bruh.. even if i like q2 There are literally forum discussions about this, and q won unanimously every single time. q2's issue was that since the POV permanently sticks to p5mc, fans expected way more development with p5 cast like how q handled your chosen group when you picked a respective MC. Instead we got a more very thinned out distribution of spotlight, there were nice interactions like ken, shinji, and akechi but it instantly fizzled out after. Same thing with other interactions, they just die out after a few lines later. Also the constant "PT soo cool" was really annoying and took way much text boxes, for something that can be done with 3 text boxes or a well placed timeskip. They kept the charade waaaay longer than it should've been.

[@qwertyman7564]

I’m glad someone else shares my opinion on Kamoshidaman. That boss was so frustratingly difficult, and it definitely was the hardest part of the game(as far as I’ve gotten, anyway). Haven’t fully completed the game yet, but this video made me go back and pick it up again. Glad you went over this game, amazing video!

[@pokelogikx]

Thats more the EO dna the first stratum boss of each game is usually on the harder side, its designed as a mini check to see if you have the tools necessary to protect yourself and deal damage.

[@notafalconsfan7897]

I agree, it was surprisingly hard for the very first boss.

[@zephaniahgreenwell8151]

The game does a terrible job at teaching the mechanic. You 100% must use poison and even if you decide to try it unprompted he could completely dodge it, leaving a player to think it is ineffective.

[@pokelogikx]

@@zephaniahgreenwell8151 So first of all no, poison is unnecessary, I dont really use it most of my runs. Second of all, Etrian odyssey games are built around learning boss patterns through repeated attempts, and SMT has this going to a lesser extent through out some of its games. So in the end, the game isn't meant to teach you anything other than what tools you have and it does that well, you are meant to figure out the way to use those tools effectively through the tried and true unga bunga method.

[@Namingway248]

imo kamoshidaman is an unfair slog for no reason that ultimately asks you to have entirely separate priorities than anything else up to that point has required. There was a boss in smt if that took me like an hour and a half to kill (and had instant kill spells that more than once made me start all over) and I still look back at that with more fondness than kamoshidaman. if you need to lose to a boss (possibly) multiple times to even comprehend how you should be dealing with them then the game has failed at conveyance somewhere along the line and I think that is a bigger sin than simply making a boss really hard.

[@nicktoons125]

I also need to say - Thank you Nam for the amount of work that goes into making these great videos!

[@ZenKrio]

I dunno what people mean about Rei in Q1, her info dump is one of the saddest stories in a video game, so much so I found a vid of it and downloaded it so that anytime I need to cry, I can just watch it.

[@ICgay4]

Yasss Rei is beautiful also love when you're party alerts there's an FOE. I still say it like Aigis, all robotic lol 😂

[@KenBladehart]

Rei situation is very hard to relate, unless you have someone is suffering from terminal illness Hikari is very related because of society in general Also, Rei is very flat with her constant food and eating. Its gets extremely boring really fast

[@ZenKrio]

@@KenBladehart she's flat mainly because she never got a chance to actually live a life though, and that's sad and very relatable, I was able to relate easily and I didn't have cancer... She eats because she's repressing a sadness that she's unaware of because death removed her memories of why she's sad at all, but her soul still knows she's unhappy. I dunno, I've always been able to relate to the question of "why was I born when this is all my life was?", and I'm 35, still asking why I was even born if this was all my life was, and she never got to live one because she had cancer since she was like 5 iirc correctly. Her family left her there to die alone and any friends she had recovered and got to live a life she never could. I thought her character was very well done for a DS game.

[@KenBladehart]

@@ZenKrio 1. Thats completely false. Japanese media (manga, anime, novels etc) always paint it like that when its flat out wrong 2. She's exhibiting an eating disorder than anything else 3. Get a hold of yourself. Life is always unfair, not everyone get a good life

[@ZenKrio]

@@KenBladehart 1. What part of what I said is wrong, I am rarely wrong, and when I am I'd like to understand why and how. 2. I mean, that's sort of a reason eating disorders become a thing, almost seems like you don't understand that sort of subject. Eating disorders often stem from a void in one's life, be it from not eating or from eating too much. In her case as well, she never got to eat anything good because she lived in a hospital all her life, and on top of that she's depressed and doesn't know why, it's only as she gets more treasures does she start to remember. 3. I mean, good for you? Doesn't take away the relateability and the real world truth that life isn't fair. This is actually a big part of why I want anti suicide laws removed, because if people don't wanna live that is entirely understandable.

[@RaspyCh]

To talk about the story, in person 5 a twist in p5 is that the PTs know about akechi and what he's up too. Unless my memory isnt good, doesn't that mean in Q2 the PTs are faking how they act around akechi the whole time? Maybe im reading too much into it

[@sdbzfan1]

Considering everybody seems be taken when they have full parties, yes the PT would know akechi is the traitor aince they knew from the moment he wanted to join

[@OmniTehDragon]

They knew after he mentioned delicious pankecakes, but played along, even after he joins during Sae's palace, though at the ending, you can tell Akechi has regrets for not being friends with them earlier, even if everyone loses their memories after PQ2, it's sad but the P5/R events must remain the same

[@RaspyCh]

@@OmniTehDragon I find the whole twist and them acting like they’re buddy buddy with Akechi dumb just my opinion I didn’t really care for it but then here in pq2 (yes they lose their memories so it doesn’t really matter in the end but still) it’s just weird having this knowledge and playing pq2 it’s dumb

[@OmniTehDragon]

@@RaspyCh one must fool their friends before they fool their enemies, so Morgana and Futaba were the only two planning to get back at Akechi, everyone else wasn't as proactive, but its even dumber in P5R, since they team up again...

[@zephaniahgreenwell8151]

I love Akechi and am happy he is included. I would have liked him to have a happier ending in P5 or P5R. Still, it is also important to remember that he kills an untold number of people by causing the mental shutdowns and, given the opportunity, shoots Joker point-blank in the face. So, maybe it is best that the Phantom Thieves were never really friends with him.

[@jasonblundelldobebussing]

PQ2 - the first ever game to sell 1 persobillion units. (It's about 5$ converted)

[@Mr_bukowski4435]

I absolutely love this game, the interactions, the combat the side quest, and the mind blowingly stunning music I mean, Invitation to Freedom made me cry the first time I heard it! It’s THAT magical! Except Yoskesaurus he’s impossible

[@spinballproduction9678]

I’m so glad I found someone that found Yosukesaurus impossible bruh

[@Mr_bukowski4435]

@@spinballproduction9678 I still can’t beat him bruh 😩

[@spinballproduction9678]

@@Mr_bukowski4435 i personally had to switch to safety mode honestly

[@Mr_bukowski4435]

@@spinballproduction9678 good idea

[@Yoshemo1]

I liked Q2's gameplay just fine, but I just couldn't get myself to finish it. I didn't care one bit about the new characters. With Rei and Zan, every level finished unraveled their mystery more, with the characters caring for each other and relating monsters with Rei's past. In Q2, you finish a level and Hikari goes "you shouldn't do things that hurt you just because others say to? Whaaaaat?" While Nagi smiles along. It felt waaay dumbed down.

[@neolight5673]

It’s probably my favorite 3DS game. I couldn’t finish Q1, but Q2 kept me going because the gameplay felt just a little smoother. Plus I loved the movie theatre aspect

[@demi-femme4821]

So, my main critique is the presence of SEES. They're kind of just rushed in, and P3's themes don't tie into Hikari's story the way they tied in to Rei and Zen's. They're in the game for the sake of marketing. Handling two Persona casts is a lot, handling three is just asking for trouble. Again, it feels like SEES is there for the cash grab, which kind of leaves its mark on the game as a whole. Considering Hikari's relationship with her father, I think the P2IS cast would be best and it'd mean that they'd only have to balance 15 characters-which is about the same party size as Q2-but ATLUS pretends that the Satomi Persona games do not exist unless it's for an anniversary event.

[@KenBladehart]

_"P3's themes don't tie into Hikari's story"_ What the hell you mean? The whole deal with Persona 3 was life your life to the fullest, and Hikari is not doing that

[@isenokami7810]

25:40 Again only speaking from my experience with proper EO, not Q. EO missions have more special than standard overall, which you’d probably like. However, this can lead to proper EO quests risking going the way of Q1 dungeons, taking the uniqueness too far and creating something stupid. Here’s an example from Etrian Odyssey 2’s fourth stratum, Petal Bridge (also my favorite level in the series so far) that might be a problem. In one of the later floors, you find a rhino FOE. Dangerous as usual, and it charges toward you one step after you get in line with it. So if you have it charge into the sky (you’re that high up), you remove it from play. One quest gives you a certain amount of in game time to kill as many of them as possible as part of a contest, giving you better rewards the better you rank, and the contest ends the second you leave the floor. So not only do you now have to take them out without going back to heal, but each one that charges into the abyss is one less rhino you can take out for the quest. Another example from the same area, less stupid depending on your actions: find some soldiers who got stuck there. Not from being dumb: for the duration of the quest only, a certain section gets spatially distorted and warps you out unless you take a specific path. Annoying, but not too bad…except succeeding and saving the guards also gives you a shot at one of the postgame bosses, who will probably wipe the floor with you at that point. On the other hand, this only makes the quest potentially stupid: you’re only given a chance to fight the superboss early, not forced to. You can also just leave, at which point the boss heads off to the postgame and the level goes back to normal.

[@FreyOdyssey]

happy to see I'm not the only one who gets the EO angle the Q games are going for. Sad that Nam has no idea....

[@RigalicReign]

I'm the opposite on this note because I preferred q1 to Q2 because I actually at least finish the first one I was literally so bored out of my mind playing the second one that on three separate occasions I have tried to beat it and never completed it I kept restarting it similar to what I did with persona 3 portable because I just could not find the motivation to keep going any further I was just not having fun. But the main reason I didn't like Q2 was because of the oversimplification of a lot of the mechanics due to the expansion of a whole other cast a party members to carry around and it felt like the dialogue between the two groups which was now expanded to three became even more dumb down as well so I wasn't even getting quality fan service compared to the first one.

[@korvvus]

Gotta say, this review is a pretty good wrapup for what the game was like. It's always cool to see characters from different games interact, and although the game had a few questionable choices here and there, I'd say it was a nice supplement for people looking for more Persona content. Good review, keep up the good work :)

[@michhitstheroad4734]

One criticism I have is that it doesn't feel like a true crossover. The P5 cast sort of outshines the cast of P4 and especially P3(except FEMC). I know it's a crossover but I'd be nice to have more scenes where it's just P4 and P3 characters just talking. At the end, it felt like 'Great adventure of the Phantom Thieves!' Ft. Others

[@the-network]

Q2 was my first persona game. I wish it got more attention. Thank you!

[@scottallen4569]

It was difficult to even play the persona games at all before, as they were playstation exclusives on outdated consoles. The Q games bridged that game. They are releasing the 3-5 persona games on all consoles in the winter, which is a godsend.

[@the-network]

@@scottallen4569 I heard! I cannot wait!

[@takemi_ree]

Personally, I prefer PQ1 for the story and soundtrack but I like the gameplay and dungeons in Q2. The story for Q2 felt a bit too in your face and I prefer Zen and Rei more than Hikari. I think it’s because Zen and Rei can be your party members and they’re a lot more involved in the story than Hikari. I like Hikari’s design tho

[@bubbletea_]

friendship over. i can't respect anyone who thinks Q2's dungeons are better than Q1's.

[@NamsCompendium]

sorry bro

[@DaTanMan01]

I haven't beat Q2 yet, but I stopped playing Q1 for months over The Festival

[@wwhatsthis4168]

Same it’s way too frustrating for me

[@orangeslash1667]

@@wwhatsthis4168 Sakurai said that this game is the biggest reason why Joker's in Smash Bros.

[@Windermed]

i’ll take Q2’s dungeons over the Joke of an excuse that’s the Inaba Pride Exhibit from Persona Q

[@krisisgod666]

I’ll be completely honest…I HATE puzzle dungeons😅 So PQ2s dungeons were a very welcome difference over PQ1s (and some SMT dungeons). Personal preference😅

[@JejjyGoodboy]

Kamoshidaman was balanced and fair. He was Q2's Matador/Minotaur, testing your knowledge of party formation and ailments (ailments are encouraged during both main bossfights in the dungeon by the game).

[@Windermed]

Kamoshidaman was the Matador/Minotaur? i thought that was the Parody YHVH boss fight in the 3rd dungeon

[@johtojunkie7190]

I do like this game a lot, and the soundtrack is probably one of the only game soundtracks where I’ve enjoyed every song.

[@kirbykraver8792]

Me personally, while I do like Q more (probably due to nostalgia sake, but also due to some aspects just being better imo), I can't deny that Q2 for the most part is the better game overall. But now I have to hope and pray that a Q3 gets made, or just a new Etrian Odyssey game in general, its been 4 years.

[@nicktoons125]

Atlus wants to make a new EO game for Switch! Just need to figure out how.

[@gaiko804]

@@nicktoons125 still waiting for that new EO entry though :((

[@d4c_reznor470]

It probably gets bonus points for being the final game released for the 3DS, so what a way to go out.

[@infinitezion2029]

When it comes to PQ I absolutely love it, instead of feeling like a cashgrab it felt like a story worth being told, and celebrated the characters of both p3 and p4 without leaving the new original characters in the dust. When it comes to PQ2 tho I it just feels somewhat like a cashgrab to bank on p5s popularity more than anything else imo. Yea Qol choices were improved from PQ and the interactions are fun but it really feels less like a story about p3, 4, and 5 coming together and more about jamming the p5 cast in whacky hijinks while the 3 and 4 cast just kinda exist nearby. It's just not as charming. It reminds me of how p4 dancing was a game with an actual compelling story that tied into the main game despite being a spin off, compared to p3 and 5 dancing which are just non apologetic cashgrabs that gave an overall worse experience than their predecessor.

[@ClassyCorgi]

Weirdly enough, I feel the opposite about the Dancing games. P4 Dancing’s story also suffered from bad characterization and a simplistic story that dragged on for too long, while 5 and 3 got right to the point of fun rhythm games and had much better character interactions and banter

[@Oliver-ld3ei]

Personally I find the music in this game to be some of the best in the series.

[@Oop..]

Great content as always

[@emmebearpaw7343]

I suppose my connection with Hikari’s story in this game was very much a, it happened just then and wouldn’t have before or after like, a 2 week time period when I needed that moral beaten into my head with 4 musical numbers and then all the characters I know and love going “wow that’s wrong actually”. But because I found it in that perfect moment persona q2 is going to be a game that sticks with me for years to come. Persona q2, come because the persona 3 femc is finally in a game again, stay for the Aesop being beaten into your skull and adopting a side character who will never be seen again!

[@alpsi285]

preferred PQ. better dungeons, better story, better themes

[@sourmilkandcereal]

That's what I thought about PQ2. Thought it had better dungeons, better story, and better themes.

[@Windermed]

@@sourmilkandcerealame here. although i so think PQ’s story is still very good. i like Q2’s a bit better due to it’s plot leaving more of a personal impact in myself and it’s dungeons feel much better designed than Q2’s

[@tomo8940]

Oddly enough this game needed a lot of fan service. Idk why they don't want spoil specific parts for P3 - P5.

[@Blarglesnarfe]

It's a mixed bag, overall I still really like it. Magic characters and Teddie got big boosts to usability! I love the refinements to the battle system, like the Boost system, and Links! Unison Attacks are a neat idea! There's WAY less flanderization of characters like Teddie, Akihiko, etc. Like, Teddie is really likeable in this game! You can choose what skills are overwritten in this game! Way lower magic skill cost! But holy shit the dungeons and map designs suuuuck. It's so much less interesting, with less puzzles or things to do. The Special Features aspect of the game is pretty lame. A LOT of characters get absolutely nothing to do. The villian and main girl of the game are so much worse than the original. The story is much less emotional or interesting compared to the previous game, with a pretty 'whatever' theme. You can't reorder skills. And Unison Attacks aren't really as good or usable as they should be.

[@loren5432]

As someone who literally finished PQ for the first time two days ago (P3 side, currently doing NG+ P4 side on Risky): * The game has a bias towards meele characters (SP consumption is insane, especially early on). Initially I wanted Yukari on my party, but setting her up turned to be a hassle compared to other characters, so instead I just threw her on the bench. * The game has a bias towards Yu instead of Makoto/Minato. I know it's reflected in their games, but Orpheus has more weaknesses than Izanagi (and Messiah is still weak to Mudo). One would expect some sort of even footing (with their pros and cons cancelling the other out), seeing how both are selectable MC this time around. *P3 has better battle music. P4's isn't that bad, but the vocals seem...off? (As in, they're too low to be heard, or maybe I got used to P3's). * Naoto makes everything (besides bosses and FOEs) a literal joke. * The puzzles are interesting, but seriously fuck that Clock Tower dungeon, it completely kills the pace of the game (9 floors AND the last two are insanely huge, not to mention they're connected due to that dumb gondola puzzle). * The flanderization isn't that bad. I mean, everyone should've known it was a fanservice game, what were you guys expecting? At least we got a decent story out of it for what it's worth. * Rei and Zen are interesting, too bad they are never mentioned again ever outside PQ. Speaking of Rei, she's not really an "info dump" as people say; I mean yeah, you get spoon fed facts near the end, but you can more or less piece her backstory by the dungeons and bosses themselves (seriously, by the 3rd dungeon it was pretty much obvious she died due to a terminal illness, so the "reveal" wasn't shocking, it was just depressing). I'm not really looking forward to PQ2 to be honest. The fact the P5 cast gets thrown in makes me think that no one gets fleshed out due to the insane amount of characters that the game has to juggle around. The better battle mechanics seem interesting (especially due to how easy it is to break PQ), but I've peeked at the dungeons and...eh.

[@claraclenky9843]

I like the game but holy shit the constant enemies is soooo annoying

[@Blarglesnarfe]

​@@loren5432 * So! A *big* part of Q2 is not nerfing the melee characters, but instead *buffing* the *fuck* out of the magic characters. All of them shoot up multiple tiers, and it's best to have a mix of both in Q2. Like, Mitsuru goes from one of the worst to being in the top, so does Yukari and Yukiko. And the physical characters are still great, so it's really enjoyable with the difficulty curve IMO. *Really? I felt the inverse. Once you're past the early game, I find Makoto to be better because while he does focus on magic, he has great luck, attacks, and debilitate. Mid to late game, he's one of the *only* good magic users alongside Naoto, and I find him much more useful than Yu's more balanced stats. P3 on risky was way easier that P4 on risky to me. *Yup, I find P3 side's music to be better. *Yup, Naoto is outstanding. In Q2, she's still extremely good, but everybody else gets bumped up so it's much less noticeable. *Yeah, that's fair. There's not really much like it or the festival in Q2. *It's... not great, and it still bothers me. It's trying to tell a story, but I find it tiring when you know how every scene will turn out because it's just repeating punchlines. Teddie is incredibly grating, Akihiko is one-note, Shinji's hidden character traits just... become his character, Chie likes meat, Yukiko laughs and burns people, etc. I find it to be pretty disappointing, and Q2 does a lot to reverse it. Like, Teddie is really enjoyable in Q2. You can have fan-service and still have the characters act like themselves. *Yeah, I'm very fond of Rei and Zen. I find them to be pretty rad, and I don't really have a lot of complaints with them. True that though. You're partially correct. It's more that... a different selection get some focus, and have different relationships with each other. Some characters have nothing to do, but I find the battle system to be up there as one of my favorites in the whole SMT library. It's somewhat on par with Q for me, but for surprisingly different reasons.

[@loren5432]

@@Blarglesnarfe Makoto's mudo weakness on Risky is awful, especially early on when you have no Personas to help him with that. He's best in the back row (even though the game suggests you to place him at front) due to his "squishy mage" status. Yu, on the other side, can shurg off most stuff like nothing.

[@orangeslash1667]

@@claraclenky9843 Sakurai said that this game is the biggest reason why Joker's in Smash Bros.

[@drowzee6076]

i love both q games so much and i like q1 a little more but q2 was really nice and a refresher in the series it just got a bit repetitive but at least the ending carried it all, similar to how i felt to q1, but i think all q1 dungeons are really fun and i loved it all throughout

[@MrBolioman]

I´m still in the middle of my playtrough of PQ2. While yeah, there is still a lot of room for improvement, I´m enjoying my experience so far. I do believe that the exp share mechanic would make the experience a LOT more manageable. I don´t mind the gameplay mechanics and combat system. So grinding is not much of a problem for me. Otherwhise! 10/10 video! thanks for your time! I hope the subsecuential PQ3 can adress a lot of the criticism here.

[@mhicorivera7802]

what i hate in this game is they only put emphasis to joker and not the other two wild card unlike the first one

[@richardx1157]

I really loved the game. I didn't play 1, but my thoughts on the game are: 1. I struggled with Kamoshidaman but not as much as Nam BUT, I had DLC so his point probably stands. 2. Since I haven't played 1, getting all the party members was a good experience for me, I loved those 3 first dungeons. 3. That said, I HATED the 4th dungeon, it was so boring and long and I also didn't cared for Hikari. Once I got all the party members the story as a whole became way less interesting for me. 4. And unlike Nam, I didn't knew how to abuse the fusion system, so I couldn't get OP personas besides the DLC ones so unlike him I STRUGGLED the last 2 dungeons pretty heavily. Overall, I loved the game, but I admit it has some really big issues, still I highly recommend it.

[@richardx1157]

Side note, I LOVED the detail on the menu theme, where the singers for persona 3, 4 and 5 sing together but starts solo at first and 4's and 3's singers appear when you unlock their respective cast of characters.

[@orangeslash1667]

@@richardx1157 Sakurai said that this game is the biggest reason why Joker's in Smash Bros.

[@richardx1157]

@@orangeslash1667 Q2 and not p5? really? well I didn't know that, huh.

[@orangeslash1667]

@@richardx1157 Sakurai has a strict rule that only characters that have been on Nintendo consoles at least once can join Smash. Cloud also counts because did appear in Nintendo handheld spin offs. Even Tekken was released on 3ds.

[@letthewindsblow3067]

I ADORE the Etrian games I often boot my my Ds on break at work just to play it, but the Persona Q games never just hit the same as the Etrian games and I can't really explain why... I guess cause the formula's don't exactly mix like the limited inventory and not shared space not being a problem in Etrian due to the games design.

[@jasonblundelldobebussing]

Do RAIDOU next. He deserves some love and recognition. Yeah, do some needed justice to Kuzunohas

[@vinella_project7258]

In France, the current price for persona q is around a 100€ from what I've seen and about 80€ for Q2

[@Slenderquil]

I had a real rough time with this game, quitting in the middle of the 4th dungeon. I just started the original PQ and somehow I'm expecting it to be a lot more enjoyable.

[@thomasrink2469]

Just started playing this game. I love it so far.

[@HosJ32]

YES! I have been waiting for this video for months now, and I'm so happy its finally out now!

[@riz3778]

Lore accurate Makoto Yuki

[@marshtomp8]

I agree with the conclusion. Very good game and glad I played it... but I don't think I'd ever replay it, if only because of that first dungeon and the absolute pain that is Kamoshidaman.

[@althalosthedancemachine7764]

It kinda bugged me that Makoto Yuki doesn’t get Messiah as his ultimate persona. In general Atlus is inconsistent with him and his personas. Like in the anniversary festival where they have the statues of Arsene, Izanagi, and Thanatos instead of Orpheus.

[@MatsuyoRific]

As a Pokemon player who's been hearing the community whine for years about not being able to turn off EXP Share, it's kind of funny to me to hear someone complaining about not having one.

[@BiggMatt183]

I've grown to like EXP share in Pokemon it cuts down on the grind of leveling Pokemon up

[@MatsuyoRific]

@@BiggMatt183 Agreed, though I do agree that there should at least be a way to turn it off, for the people who don't like it

[@BussiDestroyer]

Mostly because forced party wide EXP ruins EV spreads in Pokemon

[@RainyDaiz69]

Aigis with shura tensei, boosted, orgia mode, and crit is absolutely devastating

[@cryguy0000]

I thought Hikari was a good character, but I do agree that her backstory was more or less dumped on us. It would've been nice to have her speak in some conversations and leave clues towards it, or perhaps have a sidequest or two involving her, and maybe other shy characters to give her time to shine. I still find her a pretty sad and relatable character, my mom made me believe that a writing career would be impractical and growing up generally no one cared about me. I just wish she had more time to be fleshed out

[@DragonArbock]

I am watching this in awe as I have never seen such big numbers.

[@Godspeeds]

8:28 pretty sure is because you end turn and the leader protagonist you chose wasn't in boost mode, you can only all out attack if you end turn with the leader and at less 2 more characters in boost

[@zenderas1434]

Hikari should have been a double wildcard party member towards the latter half or something.

[@JasmineV9]

I guess I'm one of the few people that preferred the dungeons in Q than Q2. Aside from that I mostly agreed with this

[@IFCLeon]

"I like big Numbers and the game gives me the tools needed to see even bigger numbers" is pretty much why I played Persona 5 Strikers so much.

[@Alex_Barbosa]

I'm surprised no one ever mentions the parallel between the themes of the 2 Q games and the themes of Persona 3 and 4. Q1 is an extension of P3 and Q2 is an extension of P4. I just thought that was neat.

[@Akechi_The_Phantom_Detective]

That's probably because not quite the case at all. Persona Q's core themes are written around P3/P4 being "Finding Meaning in Death". Q2's on the other hand is Persona 3 and 5 being "Individuality" and Persona 4 really doesn't fit well into that theme most especially because they used Yosuke for that role and... P4 has way better cast members who could've fit that theme like Naoto.

[@gex_6920]

I just wish there was English voice acting, which was the only reason why I didn’t play this game, but it’s not a surprise considering they released this game at a time when no one cares about the 3ds

[@bryanmartinez7063]

This is my first Persona Q2 ang I'm 55+ hrs and I'm loving this. I love how the gameplay is and the ost are really great

[@jf4132]

So no comment on the fact that the game didn’t get an English dub? I’m surprised that was left out since it’s one of the more controversial aspects of the game

[@mortiphasm5597]

It's definitely a shame, but I don't think they could get all three games' VAs together for a game that might not sell well in the US.

[@PinClockFuntime]

It's definitely more of a "that's understandable" thing, demanding that many VAs for a 2019 3DS game is a little too much, hell I'm amazed they had the budget for that in Japan.

[@spinballproduction9678]

I'm fine with it because I prefer the Japanese VA's anyway

[@jf4132]

@@spinballproduction9678 I on the other hand, do not. I grew up with the English voice actors so to just have them taken away like that is just BS to me. Heck even if you do prefer the Japanese voice acting there was always the option to switch, here though nothing. It would’ve been nice to have the option at least

[@spinballproduction9678]

@@jf4132 it wasn’t always an option in all the games P3 FES didn’t have it as an option nor did P4 OG nor did PQ1 idk if PS Vita Golden had it as an option since I don’t own a Vita but is an option in the PSP port.

[@arareshinygardevoir]

As much as a I understand not being able to insert these characters in a spin off like this with how their stories went I wish they stopped with pulling the characters mid adventure in their own times and all that. Like it would’ve been cool if the Phantom thieves would’ve been after the final boss in the original game and Akechi was there akin to what we had in royal final dungeon. Maybe P4 something similiar but right after Yu left to go back home and ended up here. SEES could’ve been really interesting in that maybe the female protag is from after NYX knowing what fate awaits the male protag but not wanting to say anything out of fear cause it could screw things up and just happy to see all her friends again.

[@Andorzsiac]

I never gave the Q series a chance, I played all the main persona games, but Q never caught my attention, I still decided to watch this video just to atleast have a surface level understanding of the series, but when he got to Kamoshidaman, I had to do a double take, it legit gave me whiplash

[@pichugirl6]

I really like the theme of this game, but goddamn do these bosses really like to kick you so hard even if your not playing on the hard difficulty.

[@bZman]

The OP for this game is badass as all hell. I am such a sucker for anything Persona though.

[@blank4986]

Played Q1 and despite not loving it and the endgame dungeons being a pain for me to navigate, the story involving zen and rei was what kept me going by the end of it. It was also far easier to grind up different characters by the end of it in my opinion. It's been 3 years since I started q2 and I still haven't completed it because I don't really care about HIkari or the villain and the pain of having to grind if I wanna use different party members has prevented me from going back and completing it.

[@isenokami7810]

19:45 Good news for me, since, like you, I found some of the dungeons to be a headache in Q1. Not all of them, mainly just the Pride Exhibit, but still. Even so, now I’m just wondering what you’d think of proper Etrian Odyssey dungeons, having played the Persona Q games first. Q and Q2 have puzzles alongside the FOEs, whereas EO proper relies mainly on the FOEs to mix up navigation. Any gimmicks beyond that are rudimentary, with their most difficult puzzle uses still involving FOEs. I think the third stratum from Etrian Odyssey 2 is a good example piece. It’s an ice level, so the gimmicks involve slippery floors and ice blocks you have to push along them. In terms of non-hostile gimmicks, that’s it. However, throughout the level, you encounter different FOEs that MAKE these interesting by how the monsters interact with them. Nocturnal dragons that still block your path in the day, pairing with the ice to make certain paths one way or make areas inaccessible until night. Flying eyeballs that move freely over the ice and can intercept you if you don’t plan your route ahead of time, but that can also be insta-killed by pushing ice blocks into them. Slimes that, conversely, bounce blocks back if sent their way. See what I mean? The puzzles are interesting, but are overly reliant on the FOEs compared to Q’s gimmicks. Good thing FOEs in proper EO games are generally tougher than in the Q games (at least from my experience with Q1), because being able to just kill them breaks their puzzles.

[@gwendolyndunn8021]

Unrelated to the video, but your friend on the channel Trash or Treasure wants you to review 13 Sentinnels' story. Main reason is that he would be unable to do it justice himself. Said channel already has a review up, but it only covers the main summary and gameplay, not the main details on the game (not that I need any since loads of complex time travel's involved).

[@ballmonokuma6482]

I recently began playing this game agian after 2 years of putting it off. And I find my self constantly playing it and putting it off. So I agree with the title. There is a Love Hate Relationship. PQ2 is fun. But it doesn’t have the same charm as PQ1. PQ1 had a better execution of putting the 2 games themes together. Accepting death and moving on to a new tomorrow, and Pursuing the Truth of who one is. Those themes really worked well with PQ1. While in PQ2, it feels like there is too much. How am I supposed to put all the themes into one game. How am I supposed to Rebel? In the game, the theme is to Rebel against the status quo, go with your gut and have high hopes for what happens next. They put the 3 themes like that and it some-what worked. Its a both Love-Hate relationship.

[@taschtasch]

Yeah, the first dungeon is absolutely brutal compared to the rest of the game I did a NG Risky run with the self imposed rule of not equipping sub-Personas, and the first dungeon was definitely the worst. Run is possible, and I think it gets more fun near the end, but the beginning is pretty rough.

[@hoives4086]

for clarification, the wild level isn’t jokers level, it's whatever your highest party member's level is

[@ItsShaz1]

Love your videos!

[@PokemonaMoni]

Overall I feel like I enjoyed PQ2 more than PQ1. My problem with PQ1 was the dungeon design, I'm one of the people who found some puzzles hard without a guide, I felt lost many times especially in the 3rd dungeon and it made me drop the game for a few months. So while PQ2's design was simple I found it more enjoyable. My problem with PQ2 was the main story and Hikari, I got a strong connection with Rei and her story but not so much with Hikari. Also, the final dungeon is fun but there's almost no plot in it so it felt a little boring sometimes. I just wanted to reach the end, while PQ1's final dungeon was my favourite of the two games, it was long but with great puzzles and the narrative motivated me to continue.

[@mortiphasm5597]

I agree. While I enjoyed Hikari's story, it felt as though her arc had ended after her dungeon. Meanwhile, the fourth dungeon in the original game ended with the shocking reveal that Rei was actually dead, and ends with her being abducted. The mood of the endgame in PQ1 is much darker, and the ending was more satisfyingly bittersweet.

[@PokemonaMoni]

@@mortiphasm5597 Yeah exactly. That's why the final dungeon in PQ2 was disappointing for me, there was no actual motivation, just reach the end and defeat the final boss. While in PQ1 Rei's climax was in that final dungeon so it was engaging.

[@orangeslash1667]

@@mortiphasm5597 Sakurai said that this game is the biggest reason why Joker's in Smash Bros.

[@Akechi_The_Phantom_Detective]

Honestly, if there's one thing I appreciate it's an in-depth review of the game at depth for as divisive as it maybe. I do completely agree the absence of a EXP scaling system which is baffling considering P5 the core team in this game had that exact system. I think the biggest drawback of your review though relates to the story, not so much in regards to the amount of time (or lack of time) given to Hikari but rather glossing over the the core themes of the game and how it relates to the Persona 3 Female Protagonist, even if the game does do the mind wipe thing odds are any Persona fan diving into this is doing it for the character interaction and both The Phantom Thieves, FEMC and the SEES team are used to establish the core themes of the game (that being having a place to belong much the same as Hikari) . Given the fact I didn't mention the Investigation Team you can probably tell they got the short end of the stick when trying to establish these themes primarily because the character used to establish them "Yosuke" doesn't really fit that theme to well as opposed to Naoto who literally hid her own identity which prevented her from fitting in. If I do give this game credit anywhere it's replay value it sure has it's faults but overall I do consider it far better than Q purely because of how well the character interactions are handled.

[@Jargonloster]

So I started playing PQ2 directly after finishing PQ and I decided to play on hard difficulty...and Kamoshidaman kicked my ass. I ended up grinding a bit, figured out his weaknesses and attacks, and came up with a strategy to beat him. Which was sick and felt pretty good, but probably wasn't worth it overall. I ended up dropping the game and, on a whim, I began playing Strange Journey redux. It was my first non-persona megaten game and I could not put it down for a second because it was so good. I don't really have a way to end this comment, but I'll just say that I'm glad I played SJ because it led me to play SMT4 and now I'm about 40 hours into apocalypse as well. Probably gonna try Nocturne after finishing apocalypse if I somehow don't get completely burnt out.

[@AlexGalaxy14]

Okay but despite all that, this has probably my favorite Vocal soundtrack in the Persona series

[@TylerA52903]

Another great video. Thanks for all that you do. I can’t wait for the Soul Hackers video as I’m playing through the game now. You should also review the other 3ds SMT games (strange journey, devil survivor 1 & 2) when you get a chance. I wish you the best of luck.

[@Mr_Meo]

I have to say this game does have some of the best battle music in the franchise

[@hcorvnov6732]

I was thinking of starting to play persona Q after just recently finishing strange journey

[@MrJayWaffles]

Keep up with the great videos homie!

[@edophoenix92]

I still disappointed that there's not enough characters to fit Yu Narukami in as P4 hero's name.

[@temerianlillies]

oh i just started replaying q2 as well, fantastic timing lol

[@geoshmeo1900]

Idk if its mentioned at any point but the levels you can acquire fusion personas is attached to any protag, it just depends on who has the highest level.

[@RPGchallengeruns]

Never played these games but they look intriguing... Are they worth a shot in 2022 ?

[@chickennugget6684]

I know it's a nitpick and story-wise it wouldn't make the most sense (even though it would make what happened more sensical?) but at the end of the game Hikari got completely scammed out of a Persona, atleast for Persona 5 acquisition rules, as she rebelled against greater authority. And by Persona 4 rules, does Doe count?? For Persona 3 rules.. i'm not sure Whatever it is, Hikari deserved a lot more, especially in the final dungeon which would've been the perfect spot to learn more about her instead of dead silence for like 2 floors (iirc)

[@moop1684]

If there’s something that I think almost everyone can agree on at least it’s that the music in this game is phenomenal

[@yunfanz]

I don’t really agree with your opinion however I do agree with you insight. To me, I really enjoyed the first Persona Q game. As a spin-off game, it really surprised me of how it much it captures the core feel of the mainstream Persona games. The story was incredible and I really enjoyed the intermingling of the P3 and P4 casts. I also really enjoyed the random events you find in dungeons like for example the box that duplicates things but if you use it too much you’ll have to fight a mob of enemies or finding a sword and given the option to take it and having to fight a mob or leaving it. These events I feel really immersed me in the game as opposed to the events of Q2 where they only falls in certain categories. For Q2 the cast got too big and the interactions between characters felt somewhat watered down. Lastly the dungeons were too easy and also somewhat boring. Lastly I was really hoping for PQ2 to be a sequel to PQ. Where P3 and P4 casts still had they’re connections to each other then adding the casts from P5. It was kinda a letdown having everyone going back to a clean slate.

[@outofideas6243]

No if this game didn’t have the best music of all time it would be a 5/10 but since it does it’s a 7/10 for me. Like seriously this game has some of my favorite tracks in the whole series

[@nicktoons125]

Been excited for this! I really like this game!

[@NotLukeSky]

It took me an hour and a half to beat the final boss and Nam did more damage than a move that is set to do 9999 damage

[@Miunim]

This game would be many times more popular if it was released on Consoles/PC and on Atlus' latest engine

[@DragonArbock]

Never used the baton pass because 2 bars of the support is way too hefty a cost.

[@ericolivares.t]

Wake up Babe new Nam's Compendium video dropped

[@linklinklink323]

This was my first Etrian Odyssey like game. I hate it. I went in blind and everything was immediately bad. Difficulty: horrible, lore: pure fanservice, the cast: unplayable since u have to stick to only 5 of them. I went in the second boss fight and since I've been leveling up different members it was IMPOSSIBLE even with the super easy mode. And not to talk about the HORRIBLE entry point. Like we're talking about completing 3 games about 100hrs EACH. If you go in without those even the fan service isn't worth it... I didn't want to start the 3rd dungeon... The one good thing was music. The game made me play 'til that point just because music IS SO GOOD. All 4 OG singers, putting all their souls into each and every piece of music, THAT was the only high point about this game

[@ajflink]

There is a reason why Kamoshida transforms from a stereotypical Superman like hero into a huge muscular anthropomorphic rabbit. The prior is Kamoshida's delusional mental image of himself. As for the latter...No, I am not going to explain. I will hint that it deals with the fact that rabbits have an infamous reputation of being able to multiply quickly. Also, there are many instances where rabbits are used to imply or symbolize sinful/hedonistic desire/lust.

[@aaronkidd8072]

😂

[@octave772]

Ah, so Kamoshida-man is a more tolerable Wakaba Sphinx