Lucius

So I just found out that Izanagi no Okami requires you to see the True End on your prior playthrough before you could fuse him. That might not seem so bad since you could get the True End on the first run, but I didn't because I thought I could just grab the True End on my second run without consequence... Ugh. Shortly after my last post talking about putting P4G on hold for a while because I got burnt out, watching the anime got me playing again. But now, I've gotten to the November part of the game without triggering the True End flag... and I might have to replay this game in a third playthrough just to get Okami..................................................................... I hate my life. OTL Like, seriously, I just wanna put a noose around my neck right now, because all that hard work on this NG+, poosh, gone. Sigh. The worst part is, I'm probably crazy enough to do it, just because I'm a completionist... I mean, that's the main reason I bothered at all to pick up the game again despite my last post indicating my fatigue. But now that I bothered to put in effort to complete the game, I got f***ed over by this minor technicality. I know, I know, I'm whining. Sorry. Well, here goes a speedrun of Persona 4 Golden... See you, real life, in another month or more.

Began watching Persona 4: The Golden Animation alongside the 'main' non-Golden P4 anime (boy, that's confusing, ain't it?) due to the main anime not having the Marie social link event. Kinda disappointed that there's no dub for it, and I'm quite surprised too at said disappointment since I had often favored original audio over dub, being the filthy purist that I am. The Japanese voices are okay, nothing to complain about, but they don't stand out the way the English voices did, particularly the masculine kung-fu Chie (and yes, I meant "masculine" in a good way). My main peeve with the Golden anime is that it's basically a rehash of the first P4 anime but with mild alterations here and there. It's obviously based off NG+, since Yu has more courage now, and Izanagi is obviously more powerful, being able to use what I think was the almighty skill, Megidolaon, which he probably learned from a skill card from a prior playthrough (okay, getting way too meta now). Anyway, even though most of the plot is samey, I guess it couldn't be helped since the prologue doesn't exactly provide much variety in NG+. I wish they had used the opportunity to explore other social links though, like Daisuke's soccer or Yumi's drama club, which they left out in the first anime. I'm sure there were a couple of other stuff they missed out too; I know I did, having discovered certain night time slink events during my current NG+. Overall, not a very brilliant start to the series, but not too terrible either. It could've been worse, I guess.

Yeah, like I said, I couldn't do that with my region's PS Store. Might be able to purchase it if I create another account in the US store, but I doubt I can do that, having two accounts.

With the kind of hours you have to put into P4G's True End, it better not be better. lol

I gotta say, I didn't expect much when I decided to watch Persona 4: The Animation alongside my second playthrough of P4G. I mean, let's face it, visual novel and video game adaptations don't exactly have the greatest reputation for being quality content, despite the Oscar-winning exceptions like Clannad (lmao) and maybe Mortal Kombat (jeez, I'm really grasping at straws here), so I went into this anime with a 'meh' expectation. It didn't help that a review I read pointed out its pacing problems, squeezing dungeon events into 1-2 episodes while squeezing the other story events like the camping trip into other eps. So yeah, this anime isn't suitable for newcomers; play the game first, then watch the anime. Then again, if you've already played the game, then there's no reason to watch the anime, right? Surprisingly not in this case. I reached episode 12 just now, and I was mildly annoyed when they See, I totally didn't see that coming at all. Not only did the anime add new content to the story, it added character development and character depth to the MC, something which I didn't see so far in the game version of the MC (probably because I missed out on the True Ending), who's (understandably) a tabula rasa RPG character there. It also reconstructed (as opposed to deconstructing) the whole theme of 'friendship' I was mildly peeved about in the story by adding something more meaningful to the simple idea of friendship. I mean, So yes, the anime has renewed my interest in Persona 4, and I would definitely want to see this through the end. Seriously, just watch episode 12 if you wanna skip all the other episodes. It's pretty well-written. I think this episode encompassed Persona 4's realism the best in the series so far in its 12 episodes, being almost as good as the slice of life elements of K-On season 2.

I found it on my PSN Asia, but it's in Japanese... Oh well. There's always Trails of Cold Steel waiting for me next. lol

Whoa ho! That's something cool. It's a shame P4G didn't incorporate this two-gender options from P3P. I feel that FemShep was the best thing about Mass Effect games after all, so I would've been all over a FeMC. Well, this does make the P3P more appealing now... But I'd still have to buy a PSP since Vita couldn't run it, I think. I could use an emulator I guess, but using an emulator to play a game that has dumbed down gameplay from the PS2 version, I don't know. Playstation 2 aren't exactly expensive nowadays, nor is the backward-compatible PS3. Still, a well-crafted female protagonist is a very tempting option... I would still kinda like to see what the big deal about The Answer of FES is about though, if only for my own morbid curiosity.

Oh yeees, finally. Persona's returned to its dark roots.[/edgyaf] Don't think I'll be buying P3P considering the terrible things I heard about the port. I mean, even you said that it was bad enough that it put you off.

Speaking of Persona... Probably some of the funniest misheard lyrics ever.

Yeah, I thought I heard something like that. I doubt Persona 3 would be one of those exclusive games you could buy for the PS4 either. Oh well. There's always Persona 5.

I've tried that, after hearing how great P3 FES was. But P3 FES on an emulator is utterly broken, so it's a no-go. Still, if the PS4 has the backward compatibility for it, that's another reason to buy the console.

I don't own a PS2. Agreed, but I'd say Western RPGs aren't that far off either, albeit being slightly better than JRPGs in terms of variety. Comparing a JRPG like Persona 4 and a Western RPG like Mass Effect 3, I'd say both games face the problem of having the same story in NG+, particularly with ME3's notorious "three-colored ending". The one advantage ME3 has over P4G is that it offers a wider range of dialogues, especially due to the option of having gender options, something P4G would've been interesting to have (imagine a female romance option with Kanji or Yosuke). It doesn't help that ME3 never slapped a game mode called "NG+" on the main menu, even though carrying over stats from a prior playthrough is available. The fact that JRPGs blatantly placed such a option on the main menu but not adding any more variety in NG+ than WRPGs, it's kinda embarrassing.

Well, I got burnt out playing the NG+ of Persona 4 Golden. I had thought I could make it through the game again on a second playthrough, even though I have to grind through the same mediocre story with those same dungeons again, I just suddenly got fed up out of nowhere yesterday for some reason, just feeling very exhausted from playing through the game. Ironically, replaying Pokemon games wouldn't give me that same kind of fatigue, even though I'm really sick of those Pokegames as well. I think the main reason that got me so bored was the repetitive routine of the game in a replay. There's an 'optimal' way of playing it; you have to catch bugs, fish for guardians, complete the same quests, etc. There's no variety in the replay because I've already done almost everything that could be done (minus that one bonus dungeon and the 'secret boss', the latter of which I have to work my ass off to unlock), and having to follow the same exact routine all over again several hours per day isn't my idea of fun. I simply can't stand routines, not just in video games, and it really doesn't help that there's no additional flavors of bug-catching or fishing or side quests or shadow-grinding in NG+. I guess I'll just have to miss out on both the 'True Ending' and the 'Extended Ending' for now. I really don't want to spoil myself by watching both endings on YouTube because it would feel so cheap. I think I'll just reserve that experience for the (very) distant future, when I'm not so bored of the game anymore. This is the second game on Vita I've dropped without completing it in its entirety (Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth being the first). Not looking so good for my $300 purchase. I really don't feel like buying Trails of Cold Steel now either, considering the experiences I've had with Vita games so far, particularly the experience I've had with JRPGs. I'm not sure exactly what I want to do with my Vita for now, even though I just bought it only a month ago. I'm not sure "regret" is the correct term to describe my feelings about buying the Vita, just, "meh". If there is regret, it's regret not having to complete P4G during my first playthrough, when everything still felt fresh to me and not so 'routine'. I mean, I really dedicated myself to completing everything during that first playthrough (albeit having an epic fail), so it's kinda a shame that it all ends up like this, incomplete. Maybe I should just get back to visual novels. Less work, and more variety. Then again, I'm just really exhausted from putting in hundreds of hours into Persona, so I might just take a break for now and see how it goes.

It does seem like a profitable sale for newcomers, but personally, the Bioshock series just never had much replay value for me. Sure, there are two endings in the first game, but you could just watch the other one on YouTube. Infinite is a linear experience with a single ending, so again, no replay value for me. I don't really see much point in buying another copy of the game unless they add extra content. preferably a new route with a new heroine like a visual novel.

Given that though, the characters are good enough that I would consider buying Dancing All Night just to hang out with them more, even though I don't even like dancing/rhythm games at all.

^ Very tempting. But, I must persevere for now to not prioritize my life on getting a PS4 ASAP for the sake of P5. That being said... Just finished Persona 4 Golden on the "Good End", not "True End". I made a mistake clicking on the wrong option near the end, but honestly, by the time I found out that I had accidentally missed out on the bonus dungeon because I didn't rescue a certain character, I kinda just got fed up with this walkthrough I'm following on Gamefaq and just picked whatever, leaving the 'True End' for the NG+ I'm immediately doing right now, just minutes after I had completed the game. I still picked the "Easy" difficulty (as opposed to "Very Easy" previously) with the extra money option turned on in the difficulty because I really don't want to grind through those dungeons while having to at the same time grind through a story I already know about already. I left the "damage dealt" and "damage received" as "Normal" though, same with the "exp earned", so this shouldn't be too easy. Not gonna bother with Hardcore Risette Fan trophy because that just looks like a pain in the ass. As for my verdict of the game... eh, it's still a little too soon to say, especially when I haven't got the "True Ending Experience". Some threads are still hanging loose, so I'd have to reserve my judgment for now. I'd say that it's quite a solid story, but visual novels still got it beat in terms of the writing (specifically G-senjou, Umineko, and even euphoria - yes, even euphoria has a better story, IMO). I think the main factor weighing it down for me lies in its triteness. A lot of people praised the game for not being as dark as the previous games, and thus being more 'realistic', but I felt like it's the same ol', same ol', a story riddled with familiar anime tropes of friendship and determination, thrown in with a sprinkle of eldritch abomination. I mean, don't get me wrong, I do like the story. The emotional plot-twist leading to the Bad End did tug on my heartstrings, and the antagonist mastermind was indeed quite a character (albeit being a somewhat predictable copy of a certain famous DC Comics villain, among other 'trolls' like him), but I just felt like the story lacked that push, particularly with the villain. It felt... meh, like I've seen it before. When the antagonist revealed his true motives, it felt rather lackluster because it's such an overused villain archetype today. That being said, this game was released on the PS2 back then, so it's not exactly fair to judge it compared to today's stories. But even on its own without comparing to other stories, the villain's motives just feel like they weren't really explored that much. I was expecting something more epic, like a battle of wits, as if it came out of something like Death Note between L and Kira. Instead, what we got was a single dungeon and two disappointing boss battles that never really did much for the story other than wrap the 'mystery' up. There's not a lot of reflection on what the villain said about their foolish ideals (it's briefly mentioned again, very briefly, but that's it). He's just an end-boss to conclude the mystery. I understand that the charm of the game is the slice of life portion, the whole "hanging out with your friends and develop a bond with them" and stuff, but that kind of story never did much for me (maybe because I don't actually have friends ). Still, to throw in someone as twisted as the antagonist, you're practically baiting me with unrealistic expectations of something greater than it really was, and it just didn't live up to those expectations. He felt like an unnecessary villain, in fact, that conflicted with the light-hearted tone of the story without adding any meaningful insight into said light-hearted tone. The Accomplice Ending actually felt more interesting to me than the actual ending of the story, since it felt like a more engaging psychological story I would like to see. But like I said, I don't hate the story. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother doing it all over again in a NG+ just to get another waifu (I picked Chie for my first playthrough, of course). I could have just reloaded to my last save and pick the correct option to see the True End (and watch the Extended Ending on YouTube). So yes, I did enjoy most portions of the game, with emphasis on "most". The non-party social links are actually pretty well-written and encompass the 'realism' people praised this game for more than the main story itself (which is pretty much a generic whodunnit). You got people like a black widow of Death, a nurse facing adultery, etc. All pretty interesting side stories that kept me engaged for the most part. I'm gonna play NG+ as I watch the anime adaptation of the game, just to spice things up a little. I don't think Marie appears in that anime though, so I might have to also watch Persona Golden The Animation too if I want to synchronize my experience of the game with the anime. I did something similar with visual novels that had an anime adaptation like Clannad and Umineko; it's a weird habit of mine, just to keep myself from getting bored. With that said, however, it looks like Cold Steel will have to be put off for a little longer till I truly beat this game.

Well, considering what was said about the story in the 'Trails' franchise setting itself up over other games, I could somewhat understand why it might be boring in the first five hours. That being said, it would require a really amazing story to get me to play an isometric game.[/filthycasual]

Yeah, I've read about the pros in gameplay for P3P. For me, the director's cut of FES that gives you extra story content feels more interesting than 'better gameplay', and I hate missing out on a good story. Well, jeez, you couldn't let a boy dream?! lol I'm so not gonna buy a PS4 any time soon. I don't even have a proper television for it since my parents are using the only one in the house. And no, streaming the PS4 onto my iMac is not an option (I heard it's incredibly laggy/buggy). Huh. I didn't know they suck up all my XP. Freaking vultures. But seriously, the battles just don't feel as fun when I'm going solo. The dynamic atmosphere from being around those 'pathetic weaklings' keeps the constant grinding from causing me clinical depression. Like, I really hate grinding. It's such a chore.

Devoted tons of hours into Persona 4: Golden (as explained in my Persona thread) and also Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth over the past month. Both games are 'alright', and they do kinda merit my purchase of Vita. I think P4G was definitely worth my money more so than Digimon: CS just due to the lackluster story alone of "Digimon Story". Ironic. I mean, Cyber Sleuth's story wasn't terrible, but it felt like the same ol' stuff, a mishmash of the Royal Knights and Yggdrasil from Digimon Savers, and your typical Digidestined story that we're all so familiar with by now with every Digimon release. It's nice that they tried to incorporate certain philosophical/existential crisis elements into the story, but it just doesn't feel like anything special, especially with its price tag of $69.90 on PSN. The most atrocious part of the game, however, isn't the story itself. The story was mediocre, but I could suck it up regarding that. My real gripe is an ongoing problem a lot of video games suffer from today: F***ing. Pre-order. DLC. And not just any pre-order DLC. I mean, if it's just skins and extra content, I have not much justification for complaining about this since I wouldn't be forced to buy them. However, the DLCs here are exclusive Digimon that are probably some of the most powerful Digimon you're gonna get in the game, including but not limited to Beelzemon Blast Mode and BlackWarGreymon. Oh, but that's not all! Some of the bosses in the game REQUIRE these powerful Digimon to beat them! What the actual f***?! How low can you get?! I had an impossible time unlocking a Royal Knight (Duftmon) on Hard Mode because I don't have those DLC Digimon that would have made my life a little easier, so I had to give up and turn down the difficulty to Normal, which is pretty much "Easy Level" (there are only two difficulty settings in the game). The last time I played the game a few days ago, I was pretty much at the final chapter of the game, but I lost tremendous interest because of this dirty, dirty move where I couldn't beat the 'end-game' bosses because of a lack of those DLC Digimon, particularly BlackWarGreymon that will definitely help you out a lot due to his solid balance of defense and attack. So instead, I've switched back to playing P4G. Now, my experience with P4G was better expressed in my Persona thread, but one thing I would like to point out is that I got spoiled by a YouTube video regarding the bad end, and it's probably the most important spoiler in the entire game. The thing is, I didn't intentionally go out and search for "PERSONA SPOILERS" on Google like an idiot. The video was placed on my "Recommended Videos" list on YouTube, and I didn't even need to click on it because the thumbnail itself, combined with its spoiler title, were more than enough. What a jerk. Aside from that incredibly frustrating aspect of my experience, the game is, like I said, definitely worth the money. That being said, I wouldn't call it "Game of the Year" material. It's one of those "it's a good experience, just not great" kind of thing. The gameplay is my least favorite part of the game, but not unenjoyable (not any more than Digimon CS definitely), especially on Safety Mode. The alternate outfits are a lot of fun though, and I can't wait to unlock that Power Ranger one. The story itself is the second best part (the mystery stuff is alright, but the drama and heavy themes of the game are far more interesting), right after the best part of the game, the characters. Nanako is adorable, and her "Welcome home, big bro" is practically a ear-worm. Seriously, someone needs to make a mix-tape of Nanako sayings. "We've got veggies!" "C'mon, grow!" Seriously, she's definitely the best dub voice in the entire game. "Everyday is great at your Junes!" I'm not that attached to the main cast aside from Chie though. I mean, Yukiko is too much of a normal girl for me, and Yosuke, while a bro to the end, just didn't stand out much from the 'anime sidekick textbook'. Teddie gets points for being adorable as well. And as for Kanji... well, I would have picked him for best gurl if he had came earlier in the game. However, I can't really imagine replaying this game now that I've followed a walkthrough, so the NG+ is pretty much pointless unless I fail to max out my slinks on the first try or something. I'm not that interested in the NG+ bonus boss or the dungeon aspect of the game, to be honest, so there really isn't much merit going for me. As far as the dialogue is concerned, most of the dialogue in the story is going to be the same, so there's, again, not much merit for replaying the story for another 30 hours. There's some slight variety, but not much. I'm beginning to see a trend in JRPGs where the NG+ don't really have that much of a 'plus' (both Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth and Digimon World Re:Digitize suffer from this as well). Whereas with a visual novel or even Mass Effect, there are quite significant amount of different outcomes you can explore, including the different waifu scenarios you can play out in all three Mass Effect games, something that's reduced to a 5 minute clip in Persona 4 whenever you max someone's slink. Honestly, I'm just disappointed I didn't get to pork Chie. Overall, I give the game a solid 8/10, maybe even 8.5 by the time I finish the game. It's got so much content in the first playthrough (AFAIK), so it's definitely a huge bang for your buck. The only complaint I have is that Persona 5 might not be ported to Vita so this might be my first and final Persona experience, and the very popular P3 FES, claimed to have a better story than P4G, will never be ported to Vita either. Closing Thoughts: Cyber Sleuth was kinda a waste of money, and P4G was money well-spent. Slightly Off-Topic Note I might also buy Trails of Cold Steel in the near future. More slice of life story-driven goodness. I initially wanted to play Trails in the Sky, but being the graphicwhore that I am, the 8-bit isometric top-down perspective just put me off. Thankfully, Trails of Cold Steel was said to be playable on its own for newcomers, albeit remaining ignorant of the references to previous games. Here's hoping Trails of Cold Steel will be as satisfying as Persona 4 is so far. Aside from that, there's also Danganronpa 2 on Vita, which I had began to be on the fence less than a month ago when I was reminded of the story from the first game. I gave Danganronpa 1 a replay a few weeks back (this time on PC via Steam), and it was rather unpleasant because I found myself not really enjoying the writing. The comedy fell flat, the characters were not engaging. I remember that my first playthrough of Danganronpa a few years ago wasn't really satisfying either. Not only was the ending lackluster, but by the end of it, most of the characters just aren't that great, reduced to generic anime archetypes. So by the time I had wanted to buy Danganronpa 2, this distressing memory just put me off. That being said, I am still somewhat interested in this whole business about 'Despair Academy'. I read that there's a third game, and even an anime tie-in for that game. I read up on some of the lore, and it did catch my interest a little bit. At this point though, it's Trails of Cold Steel > Danganronpa games > Toukiden on Vita, maybe, the 'Monster Hunter copy'.

I've made it to September 20th in the game. Overall, the voice acting definitely got better down the story, and even Chie's voice was bear-able (had to make that Teddie-pun ). I find Teddie's voice kinda cute... that is, until then his voice just became downright inappropriate. I kinda wish they hired a voice actress whose voice resembles closer to Chie's original voice though. I mean, to be fair, Chie's English voice actress should be commemorated for blending a mix of the original chippy, high-spirited Japanese voice with a masculine, tomboyish kind of martial arts girl voice, producing a rather unique mixture. It's still off-putting and unattractive IMO, but hey, A+ for effort. Then again, I only find the Japanese voice attractive because I'm a weeb trash. I don't know, there's just something about Chie's English voice that made it somehow more cringey than the generic Japanese anime voice, especially whenever she tries to make those Bruce Lee martial arts outcry. And it really sucks, because I think that, her voice aside, she's probably the 'best gurl' for me since I like how she's flawed, but nonetheless retains that feminine side mixed with a tomboyish facade, and I do love tomboys... well, that was until the REAL best gurl showed up, making me wonder if I might have to cheat on Chie later on... Yeah, kinda wish I had referred back to this thread back then instead of blindly following the walkthrough. Oh well. I'm already late into September, and all of my slinks have already gotten to Level 4-8 (Chie's maxed) thanks to the walkthrough, so might as well follow it all the way through. About New Game+ and slinks, nope, they don't carry over. You restart from Level 1 in New Game+, making completing all slinks that much more valuable if you want that trophy... which now that I think about it, is a lot less valuable than the 'live with the consequences' experience you had described. Screw it. I think you're right about the consequences. The Mass Effect games had optimal/ideal choices too, but by choosing the bad choices that ultimately 'punish' you with bad ends, the game does feel more personal, and it's indeed a more enriching experience. I guess I'll try and pick the choices I like from now and not follow the walkthrough so much... But the thing is, it just nags at the back of my mind, you know? Knowing that there are 'better' choices in the game that reward you with stuff, so choosing otherwise makes me feel kinda weird. It goes against the whole idea of gaming and winning ingrained into our gaming culture, so it can be a bit challenging for me to just ignore the 'correct' choices altogether. I heard everyone a lot of players said that P3 FES was leagues better than P4. Most of the reasons given was that it's more 'mature', which I know can come off as edgy and pretentious, but sometimes, stories that are darker, or 'more mature' so-called, do tend to deal with more interesting subjects than say, something involving friendship and determination, a common trope in anime and anime-ish games like Persona. The problem with P3 FES is that... I don't have a Playstation 2. lol I mean, I wish that they would port the director's cut FES to Vita (not counting the terrible PSP port), but most Persona fans, if not all Persona fans, probably know that that is never gonna happen. Still, if FES does get ported to Vita, it's highly likely that I would buy it. The thing I didn't like about P3 was the hardcore dungeon-crawling gameplay because it was so repetitive. I mean, 200 odd floors, holy cow. But you know, if the story of P3 FES is truly better than P4, then it might be worth grinding through those 200 floors just to get to the heart of the story. And hey, I could always tone down the difficulty (like I'm currently doing with P4G... in safety mode ). But if P3 FES being ported to Vita is an absolute impossibility, then I have my fingers crossed for Persona 5 being ported to Vita. Like, seriously Atlus. Quit screwing around with us. Where's the P5 Vita-port news?! I mean, it only took me forever to buy a Vita. Can't exactly fork out another 400-450 bucks to buy a PS4 now...

I was worried it would be like that. Shit. Well, at least it was not that expensive ($39.90) compared to another game I wanted to buy (Digimon Cyber Sleuth at $69 on PSN). I guess I'll continue to play the game since I bought it. Wasn't really what I was expecting, but I guess I'll just have to hope that all those praises for the game are true. I got kinda bored for the first hour of the game or so because there was just long series of dialogues where I didn't get to do anything. It was like a visual novel. Which isn't bad... but when I go into a video game expecting a more 'mainstream' video game experience where I get to have more options, it was kinda daunting to spend a couple of hours doing nothing but listening to the characters talk, and then talk some more. Oh yeah, and it's in English dub, the copy I bought. Shit. The dub isn't too bad, but the voice-acting isn't very interesting. It's one of those generic dub-acting you'd hear from any anime dubs. There's nothing impressive or engaging about the voices, which adds to the humdrum. Or maybe I'm just a filthy weeb.

So I finally got my Vita and bought Persona 4: The Golden. Curious about the RPG elements of the game and how to survive it, I looked up the walkthrough and realized something - there's essentially a way to choose the 'best' dialogue options possible so that you could maxed out all the social links, as choosing options that don't increase your knowledge, courage, etc. don't seem to reward you with anything else. This presents a problem: there's no point in choosing the "wrong" choices. You can't choose to be a jerk or be selfish when choosing the dialogue options and has to always choose the 'right' option so that you could have better social links and win easier. I mean, that's the point of a game, right? To win? Why would I choose otherwise just to make it harder to win, or harder to earn social links? It doesn't make sense. Every playthrough, I would just be making the same dialogue option to increase the social link stats, and there won't be any variety. One great thing with conversation choices is that some games reward you regardless of which choice you make, and not with the same identical reward either. Choosing to be Paragon or Renegade comes with their own variation of different dialogues in Mass Effect, reflecting on the kind of character you've developed through the game thus far, making the game feel more personal and not just "choose A option to win and B and C options to lose" (or at least, lose out on certain social links because you don't have enough courage or knowledge, etc.). I've only played a bit of the game so far (I'm at April 16th), so I can't confirm if Persona 4 really has that formula, which is why I posted this thread to ask those who's played the game before to clarify this for me. Is there a point to choosing a dialogue option that doesn't increase your social link stat?