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My Top 10 of 2008 in No Particular Order: Persona 3: FES

Posted by Bob Mackey

It's the end of another year, and that can only mean one thing: it's list season. Inevitably, you're going to see top ten lists by the thousands; and, as an official member of the enthusiast press, I'm afraid I can't violate my directive. But, to make things a little more interesting, I've decided to assemble my 10 favorite games of this year in non-hierarchical form because--let's face facts--it's hard to pick a favorite. And unlike other top 10 lists, this one will be doled out to you in piecemeal over the next several excruciating days! Please enjoy.



I really didn't know what to expect when I picked up Persona 3: FES; I was initially drawn to the game by its budget price of 30 bucks, and the fact that I was about to have a lot of free time on my hands.  My brief flirtations with the Shin Megami Tensei series usually ended in frustration--chalk that up to the fact that I only started messing around with the franchise with SMT: Nocturne, which was notoriously difficult.  But Persona 3 was a pleasant surprise, aside from its typically slow JRPG start where you're not actually allowed to do anything for several hours.  I wasted over 100 hours of my late spring/early summer 2008 time on this game, but that's really nothing to be ashamed of; Persona is a pretty good way to waste your life.

I've been doing my best to avoid Persona 4; as I've blogged in the past, I know that it'll take up most of my well-deserved multiple-week break from academia.  But, since writing that initial post, I've been growing weaker and weaker.  And I know what's going to happen.  The rational part of my brain will say, "Yes, but you still need to finish the bonus content of Persona 3!"  Then, after succumbing to my desires, Ol' Mr. Rational will spout, "But Bobbbbb, it's an Atlus game!  You need to get a copy before you can't get one at all anymore!"  Then, when my copy arrives in the mail, I'll say, "Hey, no harm in checking it out for just a few minutes, right?"

In other words, please stay tuned for my Best of 2009 list, where Persona 4 will undoubtedly make an appearance.

:(

Related Links

My Top 10 of 2008 in No Particular Order: Audiosurf

My Top 10 of 2008 in No Particular Order: Braid
My Top 10 of 2008 in No Particular Order: Grand Theft Auto IV
My Top 10 of 2008 in No Particular Order: Fable 2
My Top 10 of 2008 in No Particular Order: Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney


+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT

Comments

epenthesis said:

To be fair, the bonus content of FES is for all intents and purposes unfinishable. The Answer is essentially The Journey with the fun parts removed.

December 18, 2008 1:11 PM

About Bob Mackey

For a brief period of time I was Bull from TV's Night Court, but some of you may know me from the humor column I wrote for Youngstown State University's The Jambar, Kent State University's The Stater, and Youngstown's alternative newspaper, The Walruss. I'm perhaps most well-known for my bi-weekly pieces on Something Awful. I've also blogged for Valley24.com and have written articles for EGM, 1UP, GameSpite and Cracked. For all of my writing over the years, I have made a total of twenty American dollars. It's also said that I draw cartoons, which people have described with words such as "legible." I kidnapped the Lindbergh Baby and am looking to do so again in the future.

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John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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