Persona 3 exists in a little bit of a bizarre area the place there’s no single “greatest” model of the sport. I’ll clarify why in a while, however suffice to say that regardless of which model you play, and the way you play it, there’s going to be a little bit of a compromise concerned. Nonetheless, it’s very probably the most effective story within the sequence, and value taking part in for that alone.
Persona 3 has the player-named protagonist, both a boy or a woman in Transportable (the one Persona sport so far to supply this selection), transferring to a flowery faculty after ten years away from the town they grew up in. On this metropolis, for some motive, there’s a secret bonus hour at midnight, the place nearly all people turns right into a coffin besides a choose few.
Our protagonist joins a gaggle of non-coffin individuals known as SEES and vows to find the key behind the Darkish Hour, which can also be turning individuals into basically brainless zombies who don’t actually care about a lot in any respect, even life.
There’s a mysterious tower known as Tartarus that solely seems throughout the Darkish Hour, and through full moons there are massive boss shadows to defeat in that tower, lest the entire world succumbs to this brainless zombie curse. Additionally, there’s a robotic woman who joins the get together and no one actually thinks a lot of it.
If it sounds a bit bizarre, that’s as a result of it’s! Persona 3 might be probably the most out-there of the sequence, however what it lacks in normality it makes up for in its wonderful theming and storytelling prowess.
See, whereas different Persona video games have targeted on themes of standing as much as corruption or dealing with your interior self, Persona 3 grapples closely with the themes of life and loss of life. It’s not afraid to get heavy, asking deep, existential questions that may in all probability hold you up at night time a little bit bit, however are additionally deeply satisfying to work by.
I can’t spoil all the pieces about what makes Persona 3 Transportable nice, as doing so would take away from the influence of some very late-game story moments, however relaxation assured that each second, from begin to end, builds to one thing completely unimaginable and nearly extraordinary in gaming.
Very similar to Persona 4 and 5, your time in Persona 3 can also be break up between social elements and dungeon-crawling. The social elements are a few of the most complicated and opaque within the sequence, making them fairly irritating to get by at instances. It’s far too straightforward to mess up and don’t have any choice to course appropriate till it’s far too late. That’s high-quality although, the story nonetheless performs out, it simply won’t play out in the way in which you need it to if you miss out on some issues.
So far as the fight and dungeon crawling goes, it’s… high-quality? I suppose? Of the three 3D video games (3, 4, and 5) it’s in all probability the weakest, however the problem choices obtainable on this model of the sport make it rather more tolerable, and it’s not dangerous by any means. The dungeons are a little bit bit boring, however the boss fights are wonderful, so it’s a little bit of give and tackle that entrance.
Now, as I discussed, Persona 3 exists in a little bit of a bizarre area. There are basically three variations of the sport: the unique, P3:FES, and P3P, which is what the Change model of the sport relies on. None of those variations are excellent, and every of them has fairly critical compromises.
The unique Persona 3 is so unbalanced and annoying to play that it could as nicely be unplayable, so fortunately that one’s straightforward to depend out. Persona 3: FES is much more fully-featured and loads of enjoyable to play, and even comes with an additional post-game story that’s frankly wonderful. However it’s lacking the choice of the feminine protagonist, and some different high quality of life additions that Transportable delivered to the desk.
Transportable made some comprehensible however fairly irritating design selections. As a result of restricted space for storing on the PSP’s UMD format, Atlus needed to lower some fairly core options. As a substitute of exploring the college on foot, gamers as a substitute are offered with what is basically a menu, utilizing a cursor to work together with rooms reasonably than strolling over to characters and chatting or testing gadgets.
It’s high-quality, actually, however it’ll really feel a little bit bit misplaced when in comparison with Persona 4 and 5, each of that are additionally obtainable on Change. It does make the sport a little bit bit snappier and faster to play, in order that’s a pleasant, if largely unintended aspect profit when the sport is so long as it’s. Nonetheless, it could’ve been good to have all of it — all the additional content material in FES with all the standard of life enhancements in P3P. Possibly sometime.
Persona 3 Transportable might be the most effective sport within the Persona sequence, even when it feels a little bit dated at instances. A unbelievable story instructed with restraint and nice care, tackling some heavy themes and doing an unimaginable job. It’s compromised, certain, however it’s great nonetheless.
Score: 4.5/5
