Persona 3 exists in a little bit of a bizarre area the place there’s no single “finest” model of the sport. I’ll clarify why afterward, 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 one of the best story within the sequence, and price taking part in for that alone.
Persona 3 has the player-named protagonist, both a boy or a lady in Moveable (the one Persona sport thus far to supply this alternative), transferring to a flowery faculty after ten years away from the town they grew up in. On this metropolis, for some purpose, there’s a secret bonus hour at midnight, the place nearly everyone turns right into a coffin besides a choose few.
Our protagonist joins a bunch of non-coffin folks known as SEES and vows to find the key behind the Darkish Hour, which can also be turning folks into primarily 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 in the course of 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 lady who joins the celebration 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 internal self, Persona 3 grapples closely with the themes of life and demise. It’s not afraid to get heavy, asking deep, existential questions that may in all probability maintain you up at evening somewhat bit, however are additionally deeply satisfying to work by.
I can’t spoil every part about what makes Persona 3 Moveable 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 unprecedented in gaming.
Very like 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 simple to mess up and don’t have any choice to course appropriate till it’s far too late. That’s positive although, the story nonetheless performs out, it simply won’t play out in the best way you need it to if you miss out on some issues.
So far as the fight and dungeon crawling goes, it’s… positive? I assume? Of the three 3D video games (3, 4, and 5) it’s in all probability the weakest, however the issue choices out there on this model of the sport make it way more tolerable, and it’s not dangerous by any means. The dungeons are somewhat 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 primarily three variations of the sport: the unique, P3:FES, and P3P, which is what the Swap model of the sport is predicated 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 might as nicely be unplayable, so fortunately that one’s simple to depend out. Persona 3: FES is much more fully-featured and lots of enjoyable to play, and even comes with an additional post-game story that’s frankly wonderful. Nevertheless it’s lacking the choice of the feminine protagonist, and some different high quality of life additions that Moveable dropped at the desk.
Moveable made some comprehensible however fairly irritating design selections. Because of the restricted space for storing on the PSP’s UMD format, Atlus needed to minimize some fairly core options. As a substitute of exploring the college on foot, gamers as a substitute are introduced with what is actually a menu, utilizing a cursor to work together with rooms fairly than strolling over to characters and chatting or trying out objects.
It’s positive, actually, however it’ll really feel somewhat bit misplaced when in comparison with Persona 4 and 5, each of that are additionally out there on Swap. It does make the sport somewhat bit snappier and faster to play, in order that’s a pleasant, if largely unintended facet 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. Perhaps sometime.
Persona 3 Moveable might be one of the best sport within the Persona sequence, even when it feels somewhat dated at instances. A unbelievable story informed with restraint and nice care, tackling some heavy themes and doing an unimaginable job. It’s compromised, certain, nevertheless it’s fantastic nonetheless.
Score: 4.5/5