Persona 3 is one of those games that I've been meaning to play for years now. My memory is that I actually discovered the Shin Megami Tensei series around 2009. That means that Persona 3 was still somewhat recent on the PS2 at the time. And I actually think that I picked up the FES re-release back then, but didn't actually get around to playing it. And then I intended to play the Portable re-release on PSP, but that never happened either.
In the years that followed, I managed to play a bunch of other SMT games, though. I spent time with Shin Megami Tensei III, IV and V. I played Persona 5 and Soul Hackers 2. I mean, it's a series that I care a lot about. And in 2023, Atlus finally brought Persona 3 and 4 to modern consoles so I figured well, maybe I'll play Persona 3 that way. But then not long after they also announced that they'd be putting out a complete remake of Persona 3 in 2024. So then I figured maybe it made sense to wait for that. This week Persona 3 Reload launched on PS5. The reviews are pretty much all glowing. And then I remembered that Reload was a full priced new release, and the port of Persona 3 Portable was a third of the price. So after all that waiting I just said whatever and went for the old school experience. It's only kind of old school, though. Persona 3 is generally considered one of the best in the series, and yet there's really no definitive edition. The original vanilla release on PS2 (2006) is the purest. The FES re-release on PS2 (2007) adds some extra content. The Portable version on PSP (2009) removes some of that content but adds a female protagonist option that works as sort of remix or new game plus. And the new Reload version on PS5 (2024) is complete remake but removes the added content from Portable. That said, this is all nit-picking. I basically just want to play through the original base game, so playing Portable's PS4 version is fine since I'm just sticking with the base game anyway. If you haven't played this series somehow, you're probably wondering what I'm going on about here. Shin Megami Tensei is a series about demons who come out of electronics. It's a JRPG series about a literal apocalypse that has to do with demons, gods and technology. It's deep stuff. The Persona games are a sub-series that ignores the post-apocalypse and instead focuses on teens in a modern setting who are fighting demons during the "dark hour" (midnight to one in the morning) where they can take on said demons using their Personas which are basically befriended demons. Think of it as Pokemon but with way more nudity and disturbing imagery. Personally, I've always preferred the mainline Shin Megami Tensei games as they incorporate demon summoning. You actually have to talk to your enemies and attempt to recruit them to you party. I like that stuff. In Persona, you have a player party and you earn Personas from successful battles. It's similar, but different. And I'm in the minority, because critics tend to like SMT but love Persona games. Which is not to say that I'm not a Persona fan, because I am. And in some ways, Persona can feel almost refreshing. Whereas the mainline SMT games are grim examinations of the apocalypse, Persona almost feels like Buffy The Vampire Slayer in tone. You've got teens dealing with demons. It's fun stuff. And I have to say that of the Persona games I've played (namely 2 and 5), Persona 3 is a revelation. Get it? Revelation? Ugh. At any rate, Persona 5 was absolutely praised in the gaming media. And while I enjoyed it, I often found it just too damn slow. Persona 3 is really well paced, though. There's just the right balance of dungeon crawling and socializing. It just has such a solid game loop that I find myself compelled to dump hours into it. The tower that you can visit at midnight is captivating. Don't get me wrong, it's a simple dungeon crawl. It's a set number of floors, with bosses on set levels. But it's also a randomly generated layout. And it's just crawling with enemies to fight and loot to find. This is a compelling way to grind for a dude like me. And I enjoy the idea that once you've leveled up enough, enemies on lower levels run from you, thus negating the need to grind on lesser enemies if you don't want. This being a SMT game, it means that demon-fusing is ever present. And it's also as fun as it always is. Or rather persona-fusing. Right. They're not demons here. But I mean. Anyway, you collect your personas and you upgrade them and then you fuse them with one or two others to make bigger and badder personas. It's a concept that flows through most entries in the series and it's always exciting. Maybe you make something incredible. Maybe you throw away two good personas to make a bad one. A lot gamers hate RNG, but I've always enjoyed it in this series. I guess you could study up and look at guides on how to make the best stuff... but that sucks some of the fun out of it in my book. I guess I enjoy the surprises that the game throws at me. Persona 3 is an easy game to get sucked into. The majority of SMT games tend to hit me this way. They're compelling. They make me want to see how far I can keep going, in spite of the repetitious nature of the gameplay. Admittedly, Persona 5 didn't sink its claws in so deep. But maybe that game was just too big for me and I knew I didn't have the time nor patience. But Persona 3? I don't know - this might be the best in the Persona series. I say this having not yet played all of them, of course. What this game really nails is the concept of time management. Six days a week you're in school. So you've got morning, lunch, after school, evening and night to figure out. There's so many decisions to be made in the micro. Do you pay attention in class and earn academic points, or do you doze off and prepare for fighting at night? What do you do after school? Bond with friends? Join a club? Go to the mall and buy equipment or fuse personas or play an MMO? Do you go to the tower and fight tonight to grind for XP and find loot but risk being too tired for school, or do you study all night and give up your actual JRPG progress for the night? Every minor decision has its pros and cons and the entire game is about balancing the minutiae of daily life with the huge responsibility of protecting the world from demons. It's awesome stuff that feels both huge and banal at the same time. If your party is too tired from the night before you can even be risky and attempt the tower solo. This isn't really suggested unless you're just grinding out lower levels. But then, why bother really? I've done it but it's both risky and stupid. Your other party members are all controlled by AI, but the AI does a pretty good job honestly. I found myself often healed when I needed to be healed, or impressed when they exploited enemy weaknesses so that I'd know what those were. Persona 3 is heaping with rock solid mechanics on every level. Over the many (many) hours of Persona 3, you will be fed a steady slow-drip of new party members. Around the twenty hour mark, I felt there were so many options that I didn't even feel a need to play with them all. MAKOTO - or, the protagonist. He's not actually given a name in the game proper. But if you're a total nerd like me, then you know that the manga does give him a name. So yeah. He's Makoto. He's actually the only party member you control directly in vanilla Persona 3. This was "fixed" in the FES version, but I actually find the simplicity of this set up really interesting in a sort of old school kind of way. In that sense, I find myself doing things like calling shots via commands, or playing healer as the other three in my party wipe the floor. YUKARI - she's the quiet one. And she's sick with a bow and arrow. I tried to ship her early on, but she's pretty reserved and worries about rumors being spread, so I guess we're in the friend zone. But she's also very dependable and throws out heals at the right time, so she generally stays in my party in a classic White Mage role. JUNPEI - I like this dude. I mean, not his character. He's actually kind of a jerk a lot of the time. But he fights hard. He rocks a big sword and seems to suffer from an inferiority complex, which makes him a total show-off when it comes to fight. He's a solid pick. MITSURU - I mean, she's got long red hair. I'm gonna be a fan. But she's also a badass. She comes across cold, but I think she's just a real Type-A overachiever. Which means she plays to win. Mitsuru is definitely worth having in your party, once Fuuka enters the pictures and allows her the freedom to fight. AKIHIKO - He's kind of a pretty boy. His character is very dry, but he seems committed to SEES. I don't use him much, but his brass knuckles to hit hard. AIGIS - She's the best. She's a friggin' android. She's a fan favorite. She's front and center on the box art for the remake, and for good reason. Aigis is basically Mega Man/Astro Boy in this game. She's got a gun-arm and she is an unstoppable killing machine that goes out of her way to protect Makoto. She's integral. KOROMARU - Alright, so eventually you get a dog. And he carries a knife in his mouth. If that's not cool enough, he's also really overpowered. I like this dog a lot. KEN - Also known as "the kid." I honestly didn't bother using him. I think you can, but I didn't because all of the above characters are already awesome enough options. SHINJIRO - This dude looks shady and is recruited later in the game. I never used him. I had no need. I had so many good options already. Shrug. And this is just the characters, never mind the personas. Obviously, the personas are analog to the demons in other SMT games. And they're just as cool. Early in the game I stuck with some series favorites like Pixie and Jack Frost. Later I did some fusion to make weirdos and odd experiments. I stuck with Angel for hours. Later on I managed to make Pyro Jack who ended up being my best for many hours. I was hoping to go for an entire set of Jack Bros, but alas I couldn't find a Jack Ripper. Oh well. At any rate, Persona 3 combines the best parts of dungeon crawlers and visual novels. As an RPG, there isn't a whole lot of overworld to explore, but instead streamlines the experience. But the story is riveting all while being built upon the super ordinary day-to-day of going to school and studying and playing computer games and bonding with your friends and joining clubs and trying to date... It's sort of like making the most banal and boring story you can just to add levity to the underlying story of demons invading this dimension. Once you get into the flow of things, there's an almost meditative zen to deciding whether to spend the night studying or grinding further into the demon tower. The dungeon exploration is addictive. It's got that one-more-floor thing happening. Battles are fast and flashy and utilize classic modern SMT rules. Bosses are huge and gross and funny and fun. While it's true that I tend to tap out of RPGs in the 20-30 hour mark these days, all of that has to do with my limited time and tendency to always have more games I want to find time for. That means it's pretty rare that I can find my way to the end of a SMT game, but 20-30 hours with Persona 3 have been beyond a joy. They've been a compulsion to be honest. Honestly, Persona 3 may well be one of the best Shin Megami Tensei games I've ever played. And beyond that, Persona 3 may even be within the highest tier of my all time favorite RPGs right now. This is just a really exceptional game and a reminder of why I love this series so much.
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