Notes can come as single notes, double notes spaced closely together, dual notes connected by pink lines across the screen, or scratches that use the analog stick. Under normal conditions, only Great and Excellent presses earn players important combos. Pressing the correct button as a note draws near can score players a Good, Great, Excellent, or Miss. Notes fly outward from the center of the screen toward three locations on either side that are linked to the Up, Left, and Down buttons on the D-pad and the Triangle, Circle, and X buttons. The gaming mechanic will be immediately identifiable to those that have played Persona 4: Dancing All Night as it’s virtually identical. It is surprisingly fun moving through and exploring every square inch of memorable locations from the original Persona 3.Īside from what’s described above, the remainder of the game is mostly rhythm and dancing, and this is where a game titled Dancing in Moonlight should and does deliver.
A hide-and-seek type mini-game is unlocked where players search the rooms for various playing cards hidden by Elizabeth that unlock even more costumes and accessories. The only mildly interesting element to the Social Link comes after characters’ sixth link is opened and players visit the characters’ dorm rooms. Watching each scene opens costumes and accessories to customize the SEES as they dance or unlocks various Support or Challenge options players can use to change the gameplay and affect the final score. The remaining bits of dialogue that are doled out to players are done so during the Social Link portions of Dancing in Moonlight. Each character has eight unlockable and unmemorable scenes that play out as players reach various goals during the rhythm and dancing portions of the game.
There’s a reason, Mitsuru, but it’s not a very good one. From this point on, all dialogue can be broken down into three categories: SEES members state how strange it is to be in the Velvet Room, they discuss practicing dancing to get better, or hint at their lives and experiences in the original Persona 3. This is a thin premise that gets the SEES dancing and quite literally discussing nothing of importance for the next dozen or so hours. It’s explained that time doesn’t pass in Club Velvet, and they’ll all awaken from sleep safe in their dorm rooms with no memories of what transpires. Elizabeth assures the startled members of the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (SEES) that they’ll all be able to dance splendidly just by thinking about doing so and to not worry about their current mission. She wishes to challenge her siblings, along with presumably the Persona 5 cast, to a dancing contest. The vast majority of the nearly non-existent story is presented in the first five minutes of Dancing in Moonlight. The cast of Persona 3 wakes up in the Velvet Room to find Elizabeth has turned it into Club Velvet, a dance hall. While Dancing in Moonlight feels like half a game, the half it presents is quite good. I settled on the more visually easy-to-digest Vita version. After playing the demo on a PlayStation 4 and large LCD screen, my eyeballs felt like they were bouncing back and forth like a tennis ball at Wimbledon. Dancing in Moonlight unabashedly offers little to no story, but does deliver on solid dancing and rhythm gameplay that seems best fit for a smaller screen. Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight became a litmus test that solidified my personal stance that mechanics outweigh story. In October, staff member Joshua Carpenter asked RPGamers to explore the balance of story and mechanics in RPGs.