Reviews VideoGame / Persona Q Shadow Of The Labyrinth

An enjoyable, albeit frustrating, Persona crossover

As a crossover between Persona 3 and 4, Persona Q is well executed on most regards, save for the times when the gameplay seems overly difficult and less than completely fair.

The story involves the casts of P3 and P4 finding themselves in a mysterious school, and navigating various labyrinths along with the mysterious duo of Zen and Rei. The plot may seem like an excuse to get both games' casts together, but as you learn more about what is going on, it becomes fairly interesting in its own right.

The characters interact well with each other and undergo a good amount of Character Development as a result of their experiences, which also nicely ties in with the game's themes, including how people influence each other. The interactions between the characters from both games are also done quite well, which is quite important for any crossover.

The labyrinths are long, and generally well designed, although some of the puzzles can be frustrating and counterintuitive (particularly the ones where you must manipulate the patrol routes of FOEs- monsters too strong for you to feasibly defeat). The high encounter rate also doesn't help, especially on higher difficulties, when the random encounters can be quite dangerous, which brings me to my next point.

The combat is brutally difficult, and I say this as a veteran player of JRPGs, albeit as a newcomer to Shin Megami Tensei. On anything outside the easiest mode, you will have to do a great deal of Level Grinding to keep pace, and do it with the entire party (one member larger than that of both games combined).

One particular problem is the Boost system, in which hitting enemies with attacks they're weak against causes characters to become "Boosted," and attack first and for free the next turn, unless they get hit. As you can imagine, this bonus is quite fleeting against foes that are fast or use attacks that strike multiple targets, but also necessary given how expensive abilities are and how hard SP is to replenish. This, combined with most bosses having no weaknesses, unfortunately makes your magic-oriented members almost useless at times.

All in all, I recommend this game, but unless you're extraordinarily patient, I also recommend playing through on Safety so that you're spared the worst of the game's more frustrating aspects.