I’ve been bingeing Persona 3 playing, because I finally got to the part I was up to before. And then, advancing a few days in the game, I discovered I was SO CLOSE to finding out how the game might end. Wow. I’ve read a lot that there’s a “good” ending and a “bad” ending and that I’d have a clear choice between them, but I was never exposed to exactly what would happen or what the twist would be. It’s a good thing, too. How you start the game and what your goals are really dramatically change about halfway through.

I say halfway because even though there’s only a month left to the game (before the expansion), that month is going to spent almost entirely grinding (leveling) my characters to the point where I won’t get totally owned in the final battle. The game really forces you to level, because the enemies don’t just learn new spells, they have higher magic stats and can kill me in one go if I’m even two levels lower than I should be. I’m afraid I’m going to spend another 20 hours on leveling up my people. Jeez… it’s been a fun ride, though.

The weirdest part of the game, I think, is the bizarre people you talk to outside of fighting. I’m finishing up a relationship with this fat kid that’s trying to talk me into joining his cult… and the little girl that wants to marry me someday… and the high school kid dating his teacher… and the really really depressing guy that’s dying and talks about dying ALL THE TIME… and the businessman that conned me into giving him 40,000 yen, then proceeded to just generally insult me then take off with no real wisdom imparted… and you pretty much NEED a walkthrough just for talking to them, or else you answer their questions incorrectly and have to spend a ton more time with them. At least during your last conversation with them, it doesn’t matter what you say, and you can insult them as much as you want Bwahahaha