The hill I die on - AI controlled characters made P3 special

[toddhunter]

At the risk of interrupting people pretending to be outraged... and I know I'm more or less alone here... but to me, one of the original things that made P3 great (still my favourite of the good persona games) was the AI controlled party members.

Yes Junpei tended to do really dumb things in battle. In an already hard game, this was often infuriating and could result in lost time. But just as often, a character like Yukari would do exactly what is required and save the day. Or crucially, everybody couldn't quite get the job done, leaving it to the MC to do pretty much everything.

Which is of course, thematic as hell. When everyone starts talking about how special the character is, you can't help but think "you are gd right".

I always felt the option to control everyone lost a certain something. The characters lost that personality and just become glorified elemental types to use at the right time.

I know you will not agree, but if you ever have the time, go back and try it. Yes you will die and lose some battles, but the victories will be much more rewarding and the bonds stronger because of it.

[Ronin Gamer]

No. That one feature made playing FES a pain in the ass and cost me some fights.
It also made the extra content after the main story an utter slog to try and get through to finish.
I want control of the characters in a fight, end of story.

[Stoibs]

/Marin Karin intensifies

[aurafarmer]

yeah portable was piss easy bc you could be able to control them, scanning + using the tactics worked more than well enough for the most part, the AI isnt completely stupid you gotta invest some time, its not like its a win button like the later games

[Shun]

The satisfaction of playing turn based games to me is learning which enemy is weak against what and using the right elements and moves on all my party members. When everything connects and i beat a strong foe it gives me a good dopamine rush.

When i first tried Persona 3 i felt no joy in watching my party members never do what i want. I got annoyed and that's pretty much it.

I emulated it with the party control mod and suddenly started having fun. Definitely the experience that felt best to me.

I agree that AI doing what it wants adds personality to the characters. But for people like me who love more control, the negatives of never feeling in control outweighs the nice touch of your party members seeming more "alive".

[vittau]

I can see where you're coming from, and I think this could actually work well with really good AI. That was definitely not the case in Persona 3 though.

[Icy1007]

You can still have them be AI controlled in P3R.

[Fizzy]

you are still able to have ai controlled party members, just don't just the 'direct commands' order like in persona 4 and 5

[toddhunter]

Originally posted by Icy1007:

You can still have them be AI controlled in P3R.

That is right, but it is never the same when you are forced to use it and have to make it work.

Better AI is possible now, but I still think you'd need AI that occasionally did the wrong thing and made mistakes. Because that is more or less the theme of the game.

[Taquaria]

This guy is not trolling and is very serious. The gamer gods will bless them in the afterlife.

[Ramune]

I think having a full AI party in an RPG can work, but I think the way Persona has done it was never enough to make it something most players want to engage with

[King Kilo]

alot of people complain about the lack of controllable party members and the grindy nature of tartarus. personally I've never had a problem with it but thats probably because it was where I started playing persona. I get it though, for someone that didn't start persona until 5, going back to the old system is rough. i'd imagine if someone's first experience with diablo was diablo IV and you told them to try diablo 2 they'd probably fling their controller against the wall lol.

old games, flaws and all, are really only enjoyed by those who were there since the beginning or those who are genuinely in love with the franchise and want to experience it to its fullest, even in its prehistoric days.

[PENZTRIKA]

they'll probably do what they did for P5 and give people the option to have AI controlled party members

[Luna]

I don't think the lack of MANDATORY AI-controlled characters is bad — it led to a lot of frustration when I played FES that could have been avoided. It's true that there were some cool moments, but it's not good game design to have such a large flaw that leads to player frustration.

For those who want to continue using AI-controlled characters, feel free to just not issue Direct Commands; it should be an available option, and you'll have the same experience while those who wish to avoid the frustrations can also do so.

The ability to issue commands is just the best of both worlds! I would understand your concern if they completely disallowed the AI commands, but they're still there :)

[Menagerie]

Is this really worth dying for?

Like... I think there's other things.

[toddhunter]

Originally posted by Menagerie:

Is this really worth dying for?

Like... I think there's other things.

Well it is an extreme overexaggeration over a video game issue. But this is the persona 3 remake discussion so ... fitting in with the kiddies.