Persona 3 Portable

The Short

Pros
- Evolution of Persona 3 on a handheld device
- Being able to take Persona on the go highlights the game's strengths
- Inclusion of a new female protagonist completely changes the game
- Female MC also comes with her own new soundtrack, which is much more appealing
- Can finally issue orders directly to your teammates, making the game considerably funner
- Many little added tweaks (like using the P4 battle system) further refine the game
- Personas giving skill cards also helps relieve some of the tension of fusing
- Load times are lightning quick
- Quite possibly the definitive version of Persona 3

Cons
- All animated cutscenes are gone, save a new intro
- You no longer have polygonal sprites representing you at school, etc. All interactions are replaced with visual-novel style text
- The thirty hour epilogue, The Answer, from Persona 3: FES is also omitted
- Game is still very long and time consuming, as well as text heavy. This is very much a JRPG

Welcome back to Tartrus

The Long

It already goes without saying I'm a huge fan of the Persona series, especially it's most two recent iterations. Persona 3: FES and Persona 4 are two of the best JRPGs in recent memory, and certainly brought me kicking and screaming back into enjoying the genre. The excellent fusion of turn-based RPG battles with a heavy emphasis on elemental weaknesses, along with the pseudo dating-sim and time managing elements made both these games very addicting, fun, and memorable. 

But the question remains: how do you get fans to replay a 100+ hour game? Easy: add a new main character, and make it so you can pick up and grind out a day at any time.

BOOM. Consider your drink MIXED. 

I don't think I need to say much about the previous two games in terms of design. As a super quick recap, this is how Persona 3 works:

The game is split between a social/dating simulator (slash visual novel) and turn-based RPG battles. The two systems interlink as you use Personas (essentially Pokemon) to battle for you. Unlocking better Personas is done by raising Social Links, which you do by engaging in the social simulator. The battles are fun (if they do get a bit repetitive), the writing for the Social Links is outstanding, and the game takes care to be certain you make connections with the characters you interact with. It's a strong fusion of two genres that somehow blends into a perfect, addictive whole.

Now that that's out of the way, here's why you should preference P3P over the previous releases.

First off, the game has been streamlined in ways that are mostly for the better (we'll talk about the negatives in a minute). Whereas before you had to walk everywhere in the city, now the quick-warp button from Persona 4 has returned to save the day. In addition, other minor bits of polish have been added. You don't have to watch the whole "I am thou, thou art I" every time a social link ranks up, it again being replaced by the quick, satisfying "swish" from Persona 4. Equipping your party is also much faster, as they all fit under the same menu now (vs having to talk to them individually to change gear). The game also loads insanely faster, making the game considerably snappier when going place to place (the loads are even better if you do the optional install). As a whole, this package is tight. 

You'll still see a lot of this, though. 

However, there are some absolutely major changes that should draw previous players back in. The biggest being the ability to manually control every character in your party. While this wasn't an option in P3 FES, it was in P4, and adding it to the old system completely changes the game (for the better). Now you don't have to rely completely on yourself to knock enemies over or have every element in the book because you don't know if your teammate will suddenly lose his mind and cast "heal" on himself instead of hitting the last enemy. Manual control makes the game considerably more enjoyable, and also makes picking your party more strategic. Simply put: it makes the 100+ floor grind through the main dungeon Tartrus considerably more tolerable.

The second is a massive berth of new Personas, items, weapons, side-quests, and abilities. There's more events to be had than before (though all those from FES carry over), more dialogue options, and tons of new stuff to do. Now you can rescue people who get trapped in Tartrus for a bonus, urging you to go back on different days. They've changed when/how you can study to better balance the game, but made social links a bit more lenient. The "girl jealousy" thing that really made juggling Social Links hard in FES has been removed, meaning you can be a total player without consequence. 

Perhaps the next biggest change worth noting is the addition of new Skill Cards. Before, you'd spend hours in the fusion room, trying to mix your Personas in a way that they inherited necessary moves to create the Ultimate Persona Dude (or Lady). That process has been made a bit easier, now, as every Persona comes equipped with a skill card. Upon reaching a certain level you get a one-use card that will teach the move in question. If you are skilled enough to Max out Social Links early, the XP bonus from that can guarantee a card each fusion, making creating the biggest, baddest Persona much easier (As well as use the cards to override crappy moves). IT's a good system that keeps the strategic gambling element of the game (something later removed in Persona 4 Golden) while allowing for more leniency.

Lastly, the way your characters get "tired" has been changed, probably to accommodate for the game's new emphasis on portability. It's not a huge switch but it makes grinding more enjoyable, and while charging to heal vs the regular free one is nice, they made the price so cheap it almost seems pointless. Still, worth noting. 

But now let's talk about the elephant in the room in terms of new content: a completely new protagonist.

This lady. 

Obviously the biggest hang-up for Atlas when re-releasing this game was that 1. These are kind of niche games and 2. People had already replayed it once for FES, and they take like 100+ hours to beat. Adding this female character, however, was genius, because it completely changes the game. 

Now let me get one thing straight: the core story involving SEES, the Dark Hour, Shadows, and all that jazz remains the same. There's some very minor plot hiccups, but overall the story remains the same. The gameplay, as well, at least in battles and Fusions is still exactly the same (minus what I said above). The significant changes, however, happen in the little things, especially the Social Links.

Social Links have been completely rearranged. Several characters have been axed completely (Maya from the MMO you could play on Sundays is gone, as is the shy bookish girl with the man phobia who looks weirdly like my wife) and replaced with new ones. A big boost here is that you can finally social link with everybody on your team, not just the ones from the opposite gender. As a girl the other ladies in SEES change how they react to you and become good friends instead (Fuuka's arch is still about her wanting to cook, but now you cook with her, which is a nice touch), and the boys (who had little depth in P3 and FES) are considerably more fleshed out as you can meet with and date them. You can also social link with Koromaru. Yeah. The dog. It's pretty great. 

Theo can also replace Elizabeth, and he's just as funny to take out. 

But what really sold me was how much better the writing is for the female character, in both choices and links. The new Hermit link (an older student who serves as librarian and is a doormat for abuse) is downright heartbreaking, and the new Chariot (sports team) link has a fun cross over with a male link from P3 that has been removed. When playing as a guy most of your responses were pretty bland, but the female protag is actually pretty sharp-tongued (which is how I tend to play all my games when given a choice) and it makes her seem both more playful and considerably easier to relate to. Nothing like mouthing right back to stupid Junpei when he gives you lip. Though "Operation Babe Hunt" from the male protag's POV will be sorely missed (easily one of the funniest parts of the game), female protag gets to visit the school from P4 and see a cameo of one of the characters from that game several years before the events of P4, which is a great shoutout.

Overall, Atlas could have easily just phoned this one in. Changed a few genders of characters, kept all the same dialogue, etc. But instead they went all out. Existing social links have new schedules, repeats (like the old man and dying boy) are similar but still change a fair amount, and overall everything feels better written and refined.

Plus, you can give a dog a tux. SOLD. 

So...where are those negatives I was going to bring up? Well, it's really just one, but it might be a big one for some people. Ok, two, but the second isn't that great of a loss. Let's address the big one first: the lack of polygonal characters.

Now, you keep the same sprites, etc. when grinding in Tartrus. Don't worry, that hasn't been changed. However, where previously you would run around the world an interact with people (giving you a sense of "being" in this school, etc.), now it's been replaced by a static image of the various school hallways and other areas, and you move a curser over the screen to pick who to talk to, etc. 

From an immersion standpoint, I can see why this is a bad idea. But from a gameplay standpoint (especially having played the game before and running around the school already) it's much appreciated. Days go a lot faster, it's easier to see who is available to social link with, and since I don't have to run for fifteen seconds to talk to somebody, I actually talk to NPCs now. So that's both a minus and a plus.

The biggest downer, however, is in removing these they also removed all sprite cutscene emotions, etc. that would go on in the background as they interacted. They now have been replaced by visual-novel style text and character portraits, with text and sound effects explaining what is going on during the more actiony scenes. This is probably the game's biggest loss, as those small emotions from the characters really portrayed a lot about their characters. They can convey some of it through narrative text, sure, but it is a much weaker way of conveying it. It also makes the game more text heavy, so if you hate reading...this really isn't the game for you.

Winning some, losing some. 

The other notable thing missing is the 30 hour epilogue The Journey from Persona 3: FES. And by that I mean "I didn't miss it at all." I understand why it's gone, because it links directly into the male protag's story and (while the female protag isn't canon at all) it would be weird to try and rewrite it for a girl. Also, it was awful. That's the point I'm trying to make. It was battles with no social links (the best part of the game) and it was super-hard. I don't miss it. Some people might, which is why I brought it up. I don't. 

Chillin' with Yukari. 

Graphically, I think this game looks much better than the previous iterations. While I did notice a bit of detail (artifacts, effects) had been toned down for some battles, the rest of the game looks loads better at the PSP's high resolution. The menus all change colors to a pink-red theme when you are a girl (vs the sky blue vs dark blue theme for the dude) which was a neat touch, and the battle sprites look better than ever. Widescreen is also appreciated, and overall I'd say it's the best looking of the bunch in every regard.

Music is also much better. While untouched from the male protag's side, it's all been remixed for the female. Everything from school to shops to battles has new, softer themes, all of which I actually liked a lot better. Don't get me wrong, some people like that battle song Mass Destruction, but there's only so may "BABYBABYBABYBABYBABY"s I can take before wanting to plug my ears. Point being: new songs are better, end of story. 

I honestly might even like the female battle song better than P4's "Reach out to the Truth." Ok, maybe not, but it's still good.

This is the definitive version of Persona 3, hands down. From the redesigned battles (which also take nods from P4 in how the "knocked down" system, which I neglected to mention before) to the new characters, music, and writing, this is the whole package. But the absolute best draw is the portability. Grinding through a 100 hour game I've technically beaten before is much easier when I can take it with me, or pick it up and play for a few in-game days and then go back to what I was doing. That, ultimately, might be the game's best new feature.

...nah, I'm lying, it's the female main character. But it's still great. If they'd just kept the sprite animations for cutscenes, this would absolutely be 100% the best Persona 3 experience you can get. Without them, it's still probably the best in this day and age, but that one omission is pretty glaring.

Regardless, I loved playing through it more than I did the first time, even when I knew the whole story. And that's saying something. For me, this is the PSP's killer app, and if you have a PSP you owe it to yourself to pick it up.

Five out of five stars. 

And it still has the Persona that looks like a dick. M rating: Justified.