If you were to ask for the value of the plot of Persona Q: Shadow Of The Labyrinth, the answer would be "not very high". That is because this isn't what this game is about.
Persona Q's plot serves as nothing other than a vessel to carry the character interactions, their developments and the game's themes and in doing so, it serves its purpose perfectly; This game provides one with hours over hours of new insights into characters we have already known before, exploring sides of them that were previously only touched upon in Japan only material and allowing for interactions that couldn't be shown in Persona 4 Arena and its sequel for timeline placement reasons. The dialogue writing is superb; the only blunders come in the form of the occasional Flanderization of character traits for the sake of making the 20+ characters more distinguishable from each other for newcomers to either of the two involved Persona installments, which can admittedly get grating after a while if you're not especially keen on having Akihiko and Chie discuss protein-based nutrition for half an hour.
The writing is at its best when it goes for heartfelt moments rather than just comedy and there are fortunately plenty of such heartfelt moment in the game, many of them hidden in diverse sidequests or "Stroll"-skits that have to be accessed optionally. Whether it is Yosuke and Ken discussing the ethics of dealing with a Persona-using criminal or Yukari opening her heart about her doubtful feelings towards Mitsuru to Rise, there is much to be found in terms of emotional depth. As usual for the series, very real issues are being addressed and discussed intelligently, even if this is not as supported by the plot as in the main titles. Additionally, the two newcomer characters serve their purpose of illustrating the games' themes wonderfully, both in their own ways, and will leave the player thinking for a long while. Add the fantastic gameplay of the Etrian Odyssey Series and none of the usual flaws involved in the dungeon crawling of the main series Persona Games, and you get a Nintendo 3DS gem that is a must play for anyone who enjoyed either Persona3 or Persona4 in any form.
60-100 Hours Of Character Exploration, Spiced Up With Dungeon Crawling Fun
If you were to ask for the value of the plot of Persona Q: Shadow Of The Labyrinth, the answer would be "not very high". That is because this isn't what this game is about.
Persona Q's plot serves as nothing other than a vessel to carry the character interactions, their developments and the game's themes and in doing so, it serves its purpose perfectly; This game provides one with hours over hours of new insights into characters we have already known before, exploring sides of them that were previously only touched upon in Japan only material and allowing for interactions that couldn't be shown in Persona 4 Arena and its sequel for timeline placement reasons. The dialogue writing is superb; the only blunders come in the form of the occasional Flanderization of character traits for the sake of making the 20+ characters more distinguishable from each other for newcomers to either of the two involved Persona installments, which can admittedly get grating after a while if you're not especially keen on having Akihiko and Chie discuss protein-based nutrition for half an hour.
The writing is at its best when it goes for heartfelt moments rather than just comedy and there are fortunately plenty of such heartfelt moment in the game, many of them hidden in diverse sidequests or "Stroll"-skits that have to be accessed optionally. Whether it is Yosuke and Ken discussing the ethics of dealing with a Persona-using criminal or Yukari opening her heart about her doubtful feelings towards Mitsuru to Rise, there is much to be found in terms of emotional depth. As usual for the series, very real issues are being addressed and discussed intelligently, even if this is not as supported by the plot as in the main titles. Additionally, the two newcomer characters serve their purpose of illustrating the games' themes wonderfully, both in their own ways, and will leave the player thinking for a long while. Add the fantastic gameplay of the Etrian Odyssey Series and none of the usual flaws involved in the dungeon crawling of the main series Persona Games, and you get a Nintendo 3DS gem that is a must play for anyone who enjoyed either Persona3 or Persona4 in any form.