NSSKG151

I guess that depends if you have PS2/PSP/PSVita. I say Persona 4 Golden is the best starting point since it is beginner friendly yet provides a fair challenge but playing that game requires having a PSVita or Vita TV and I think both of those are hard to come by these days. If you have a PSP then Persona 3 Portable is also an option especially if you prefer a female protagonist. It removed most of the problems from the original Persona 3 such as AI controlled allies however there is no free roaming since everything is point and click outside of the main dungeon. For PS2 I still say Persona 4 is better. It is just more beginner friendly and really I just hate AI controlled allies. Plus I felt the characters you interact with in the social link events were more likeable than the ones in Persona 3. I remember disliking the majority of Persona 3's characters but loved the interaction I had with most of Persona 4's though but I suppose that's purely subjective. (Persona 5's social link characters outdo both of them though you questions). But really if you don't own a PS2 or the Playstation handhelds Persona 5 is the best place to start. The beginning of the game provides plenty of tutorials to ease you into the game plus each Persona game tells its own story so you are not missing out on anything besides random call back/references in the background. But really no matter which game you start with early game dungeons can be really tough for first timers due to limited healing items to restore SP so you have to make sure to manage your magic skills well since figuring out the enemies weaknesses isn't always obvious. I will also say there is also always the chance Atlus will port Persona 4 Golden and remake Persona 3 for PS4/Switch just to keep in mind.

Ah yes, truly the best information to come out for Three Houses this week for me is seeing Anna's Three Houses appearance. Design wise it seems to be a new take from past incarnations of Anna what with the longer yet slightly thinner ponytail and her red hair not being as dark but I will probably get used to the design in time since most of the character designs for this game is different from what I have seen in past entries. All I need to hear now is that she is at least an optional unit you can recruit and I am sold on this game.

I don't know, her phantom thief outfit just bothers me. Kasumi shows more skin in her phantom thief outfit than resident poster fanservice girl Ann. Maybe sexualized was the wrong word for me to use and instead should have just said obvious fanservice design that typically shows up in Japan's media. It still looks out of place to me compared to the phantom thief outfits for the other girls that mostly have them covered up. Again, that is just from my initial impression.

Since the banner had Valentian/Fates characters I figured I put half and half on my TT team with Alm, Kliff, Elise and Picnic Leo. Feels great to use a team of characters I actually like and not be forced to use characters like S!Loki just I didn't feel like being force to pull on seasonal banners.

Can't wait to see people on the internet complain and say Persona 5 isn't cool anymore because Atlus is milking the game and its characters now just like Persona 3 and Persona 4 before it. Still, I don't know how I feel about this. It pretty much has everything I expected a Persona 5 remake to have. Hopefully the missing Persona/Demons from previous games are added back in but for the story though I see retcons incoming especially considering what happens after the final boss was defeated. Also don't like Kasumi based on first impressions. She seems way too much like Marie 2.0 (as in new girl added in just for the remake), especially with designed love interest trait attached to her. Her thieve outfit also seems too sexualized for my tastes. I am actually more interested in that new school consultant than her. Don't know what I think of potential human Morgana either since that was the joke of the original game. And the final thing is this game being PS4 exclusive (from my understanding anyways) so I couldn't play it even if I wanted to since I don't have a PS4 nor do I intend to get one. Didn't want to sound so negative since I liked the original but this remake just isn't for me. My original PS3 copy is good enough. But man I skipped the dancing game, plan to skip Persona q2 and now this game. Hopefully their next Persona 5 spinoff interests me more.

Death Blow so Eliwood can ascend to the Death Blow 10 memes. But really I would like to see Steady Stance 3 and Atk/Res Bond 3 to round those skills out. Infantry Pulse would be nice too so I have the skill on other units without sacrificing Marisa plus the majority of units prefer to have a different c-slot skill. Personally would like Brazen Atk/Spd 3 to come so that my Celica plus 3 dancers Abyssal map clears become even easier but I wouldn't be surprised if that seal doesn't come out anytime soon.

Been on Robin's team all three rounds. Don't really mind since I was okay with all three characters but Robin's team has been the 'losing' team all three times for me. So much for being an expert tactician. I am curious how they will do Fates in the next Grand Conquest. Will it just be Corrin, Xander and Ryoma or will they split it up between Birthright, Conquest and Revelation with Birthright having Ryoma, Hinoka and Takumi, Conquest having Xander, Camilla and Leo and ending with Revelation having M!Corrin, F!Corrin and Azura.

Still under the impression that remaining DLC will each get a rep from Capcom, Square, Bandai Namco and the final being one of Nintendo's own characters, probably from Pokémon or Fire Emblem. This is all assuming the missing third party Mii fighter costume come back the same time a character from that third party company gets announced. All I ask for is that they are not all RPG protagonists. Joker was good since at least he had a knife, a gun and his Persona to differentiate himself from the typical RPG sword wielding main character. To update my previous prediction I could see something like this. Capcom- Phoenix Wright from the Ace Attorney series. Really the only third party character left that I want to see in Smash Bros. I suppose Amaterasu from Okami is a possibility as well. Still don't see a Resident Evil character happening despite what I hear people say. Bandai Namco- Nightmare from the Soul series. Warmed up to the idea of how cool it would be to have a franchise represented by its villain. Would accept him over Lloyd/Yuri from Tales of series and Heihachi from Tekken is probably still off the table. Also, would still be okay with KOS-MOS from Xenosaga to add more Xeno series stuff that isn't Xenoblade Chronicles 2 into Smash. Square- Someone from Dragon Quest seems to be the obvious answer though I wonder if Square will actually get another rep considering how Final Fantasy is 'well represented' in the game. Wouldn't be surprised if instead of another Square rep we get a Microsoft or Ubisoft rep instead. Ubisoft- In the event Square doesn't get a second rep (or Capcom and Bandai Namco for that matter) I could see Ubisoft getting one but instead of saying Rayman I will actually predict an Assassin Creed's rep instead, probably Ezio since I believe he is the most well known character from that franchise. I could see it happening since it seems Ubisoft is trying to push Assassin Creed on the Switch plus it wouldn't be the first time Sakurai chose a more well known tougher looking character over the kid-friendly mascot (Joker over Jack Frost for Atlas). Nintendo- Could come from any of their franchises but Pokémon and Fire Emblem seem the most likely despite complaints from the more hardcore Smash fans and their delusion of equal representation amongst all franchises. But I am actually going to say it won't be a Gen 8 or Three Houses rep outside a hypothetical season two pass. For this season pass if one of these two franchises is picked the character chosen will be from an older game. For Pokémon I'm guessing Eevee or Lycanroc have good odds. I guess you can say those two are still relevant to Pokémon fans and we are suspiciously missing a stage based on the Alolan region. And for Fire Emblem I am going to actually guess a Fire Emblem Heroes character since it would be a good chance to represent Nintendo entering the mobile market and Heroes is their most successful game in that area. FEH's iteration of Anna would be a good pick for this and this is totally not me looking for an excuse to fit Anna into Smash's roster. She is the first character you meet and the first unit you obtain so everyone who tried the app out should recognize her. Plus she wield an axe in that game (and we all know how Smash fans hate seeing too many sword characters) and she was a main story character using axes for at least a year being Edelgard made it cool. So the remaining DLC picks being Phoenix Wright (Capcom), Nightmare (Namco), Ezio (Ubisoft) and Eevee/Anna (Nintendo) would definitely make me want to buy the remaining DLC packs but I am honestly expecting the remaining picks to be characters I don't care about. Getting Joker already made me more than satisfied so the rest can be whoever and I wouldn't mind that much since nothing requires me to get them.

Spent the last few days playing Joker. Gotta say he is a fun character to play as. Has great air game though he does have trouble getting knockouts when Arsene isn't out. Sadly probably won't main him over Zelda or Pokémon Trainer at my single player local tournaments but I think he would be great to use in a team player match with friendly fire turned off. Stage music for Mementos was pretty much on point too though I question their decision to have Our Beginnings over more boss battle music like Keeper of Lust, Will Power and Blooming Villian. Also noticed Life Will Change is strangely missing though I understand they could only put so many songs in the DLC pack.

I want to believe that colorless bow Alm will be this month's legendary hero but I don't know if IS would consider him a big enough deal to release on Golden Week. A think a girl is more likely to hype up Golden Week like they did last year with Lyn so I am going to guess Celica, Micaiah or some other big name female character who could be colorless instead. An outside the box idea I have though is cavalry colorless bow Chrom since identical to how Lucina could class change into the Archer class he could class change into Bow Knight Speaking of Golden Week, anyone think it is possible they release the trailer early like they did last year? I think last year it was up five days before the banner came out.

Valentines, Christmas (minus everyone being armors) and strangely enough Bridal. Picnic also seems like it is going to be rather tame compared to some of the other seasonal banners.

Interesting banner theme. Vastly prefer this type of seasonal over the likes of Summer swimsuits, spring rabbits and hot springs. At least all the characters on the banner are popular characters who don't have an alt yet. Free green tome Leo is also nice (please don't have a bad statline). Still not pulling on this banner though. I would rather wait and see if something more interesting happens next month with the New Heroes banner and the Bridal Seasonal.

Yeah, I knew Jane was datamined but there were way too many people on the internet who jumped the ship and assumed Jane had to be related to Joker when it is more likely this codename is related to one of the other DLC characters.

Just now thought about it but I guess the whole Jane/female alt with ponytail thing is deconfirmed now too since it turns out Joker's alternate costume is just him in his Shujin Academy uniform. Personally thought the rumors behind that was bogus anyways and didn't really wanted a female Joker or the P5R girl anyways.

Was kind of concerned they were going to wait until the end of the month to release Joker but I am happy to see him coming out tomorrow, definitely want to try him out. Nice to see them add music and costumes from Persona 4 and 3 as well (fans of Persona 1 and 2 still left out in the dust). Mementos was obviously going to be the stage especially since anywhere else would either go too far into spoiler territory or would be too mature to put into Smash. Stage Builder still continues to look uninteresting to me. Guess some people like it though. Not going to say much more about it. Was kind of surprised they didn't even hint at who will be DLC character #2. Oh well, maybe they are saving them to be a big reveal at E3. I'm most likely only going to buy Joker's DLC pack since I doubt the other 4 DLC characters will be anyone I care about. I'm just happy to have an Atlus rep in Smash.

I guess the DS and 3DS era for me. 3DS because I felt they were simple and beginner friendly enough for me to get into and had some memorable characters. However, I liked the story of the DS game (Archanea) more since it felt like a classic medieval fantasy story whose plot wasn't too contrived or overcomplicated. I also don't think the gameplay is as bad as people make it out to be either. Sure, it's missing several features people like in later installments but I still had fun with Shadow Dragon and hope to try out New Mystery someday.

Silhouettes are usually shown three days before the banner releases so it probably won't be until tomorrow.

Don't forget Surtr because you know everyone is waiting for an alt of him.

And then the Tempest Trial freebie character is Xander or Azura as the Ice Cream shop owner? I honestly would be okay with another Leo. Tied with Takumi as the most popular male Fates royal yet gets outclassed in every game he is in whether its Fates, Warriors or Heroes. He deserves at least one alt where he isn't mediocre.

Who's ready for more made up Seasonal Banners featuring everyone's favorite batch of characters, the Fates Royals? No one? Me neither. Granted we don't know who is going to be on the banner yet but really, are we going to get a seasonal banner every month now? At this point they might as well call them 'The Monthly Special Heroes' instead of seasonals. And I was really hopeful there would be another New Heroes banner with a slim chance of new characters from Archanea or Valentia. Oh well, a new banner with 'seasonal' alts only makes it that much easier for me to ignore the banner and save orbs. Edit: Could be the Bridal Banner coming earlier this year but who knows. Also, why bother putting Garon's GHB revival on the schedule when it is going to be over in a couple hours?

Alm definitely needs another alt besides the one the fans voted for but I think it is very likely he is going to be a Legendary Hero at some point with his Hero or Conqueror outfit. Could even be this month's Legendary Hero to hype up Golden Week but lets be honest they are totally going to tick off Alm fans and use Celica for that aren't they.

Ah yes, I can't wait to see a green tome cavalry with Dire Bouquet as a prf brave weapon in the game. Conversely, if it was Groom Reinhardt he would instead be an axe cavalry with Meister Service instead of Ardent Service.

Obligatory Bridal Anna alt please! Other than that I would say Felicia and Cherche would be nice to have as well. They are both popular girls who have yet to receive an alt. Groom Eliwood would be neat as well and would follow up with Ninian's alt last year in the same way Groom Marth happened a year after we got Bridal Caeda. Actually, I think the bridal banner is the best way to put Rinea in the game since she was never shown to be combat proficient and they wouldn't have to resort to her witch form either. Also, joke idea but Bridal Ayra. Another popular lady who has yet to receive alts as well as the joy of hearing her reaction to wearing a bridal outfit but also it would be a way to give Jugdral fans something. Really, as long as it is not a character who is already bloated with alts I am fine with anyone.

Looking back at the newest banner we definitely will need beast effective weapons eventually however I think IS wants beast units to dominate the meta for awhile before introducing skills to counter them because look how long it took them to introduce more dragon effective weapons (even though most of them are seasonal locked) and other anti-breath skills like what Eir has and Julia's refine. But who knows what IS got planned for this year. I do hope Jill comes sooner rather and later.

Trust me, I would like to be wrong too but we have already seen with Micaiah and Selkie that IS is fine with skipping over a character for farfetched heroes if they show up a few months later on a different banner. Another Tellius banner without beasts would be nice but I think it is unlikely Tellius will get a third New Heroes banner dedicated to itself this year.