I'm baaaaaaaaaack.
I got back to playing Persona 3: FES. I'm not stuck on the Answer like I am on the Journey. I started leveling up my party, and lo and behold, I'm actually making progress. In The Answer, after you beat the first boss, you can access the mall to buy stuff. How this is possible, it's explained in the story, however, the story in P3 is too beautiful to spoil, so I can't say anymore. Story-wise, it's still top-notch.
My preferred party in the Answer is a little different. In the Journey, my preferred companions were Yukari, Akihiko, and Ken. In the Answer, I still have Ken-kun, because he has lightning, one-hit kill light, and healing magics. I don't use Akihiko-sempai anymore, but rather Mitsuru-sempai. And my last party member . . . go on, guess who it is.
"Uh, Metis? The new character?"
Nah. She's just like how Aigis was in the Journey, except Metis has more elemental attacks. Come on, you know who it is.
"Oh. It's . . . oh geeze;
OH NO! NOT YUKARI!"
Why yes! I'm using her again, too! I just love how immune she is to wind magic!
"Liar! You're just bringing her along because you love her!"
. . . So what if I do? I never opted Arche out of my party in Tales of Phantasia, why should it be any different with Yukari-chan?
"Okay, fair's fair. So long as you aren't, you know, obsessive about it, I guess it's alright."
So yeah, my party is a robot girl, a boy with a spear, a cute brunette, and a sultry redhead. It's fun. Yeah, I do think Mitsuru looks better than Yukari, and that's really weird considering that I never would take a red-haired woman over a brown-eyed brunette, but I like Yukari's personality more. You see, ladies? If you wanna win over someone like me, then be very mature, and intelligent, like . . . oh wait, Yukari and Mitsuru are both smart and mature, huh? Whatever.
Since I'm on the subject, a little voiceover trivia. Ken-kun in English is played by Mona Marshall. It's tricky having an actress doing a boy's voice, because too often, the boy ends up souding like a girl. Not with her portrayals. Most of the time, her boy characters actually sound like . . . preteen boys, including Ken-kun. The only time he sounds overly girlish is whenever he screams, although, when I was a little boy, I could scream like a girl. True story. So maybe . . . she's that good. Also, in the original Japanese, Ken-kun is played by Megumi Ogata. Oh my God, I know a Japanese VA by name! If you don't know, Ogata was the orginal voice of Shinji in Evangelion, who, in my opinion, sounds much better than her English dubbed counterpart. I'm sure Ken-kun sounded the part in Japanese also*.
I know some of the characters in P3 sound flat, but overall, it has much better voice-acting than PS1-era games.
*Just to let you know, my knowledge of actors and actresses who act mostly in voice roles isn't limited to dub actors. I am also quite knowledgeable of VA stars of American animation. I respect Billy West, Jim Cummings, and Maurice LaMarche as much as I do Crispin Freeman, Johnny Yong Bosch, and Steven Blum. And I respect Tress Macneille, Kath Soucie, and Nancy Cartwright as much as I do Wendee Lee, Michelle Ruff, and Kari Wahlgren.
