I know this may seem like a random thread but I have noticed that I've talked about this game a lot here on Gaf XD. I figure I explain in detail why I love this game so much 
, as due to you guys doing that for Persona 4 Golden so many times, I would have never played that and this (thanks again for hyping P4G up so much; favorite Vita game I own ).
With Persona 3 though, I remember hearing about this a long time ago. I used to watch that G4 review show X-Play and saw the review of the PS2 version of the game. It looked really interesting to me; "Wow the game looks amazing!", "Wait....why are they shooting themselves for?", "Man, those cool beings they summon are interesting!".
But...I never bothered picking that up for some reason. Now, fast forward to this year and coming right off from loving P4G, they have a sale on the Persona games on PSP, and they have this for only five bucks. Figuring how this was the closest to Persona 4 compared to the other games in the series I picked it up.....man was it a great move !
I started the FM Main Character playthough and all the things I really enjoyed from Persona 4 Golden are here; the interesting social links, the ease of transport from place to place, the characters all being so interesting, the music....man is it amazing, the combat being lifted from Persona 4 making it feel second nature and the bosses being quite challenging.... The game filled my desire to play something like Persona 4 again .
The thing that surprised me the most was how I ended up like a good deal of it MORE then Persona 4. The characters here I really felt bad for. Throughout the game, the consistent tone of 'Death' and 'Loss' really drives home through EVERY member of SEES (the team you are fighting with), as they all lose things important to them. I'm not going to spoil things, but you really feel bad for Aigis at the end X(.
The story itself though felt much larger then Persona 4 to me as well. Unlike in Persona 4 where you are just solving a mystery that is taking peoples lives leading to saving your town, here....you are preventing the END ITSELF! Not to mention the Shadow designs are much more menacing here then in Persona 4 and the twists you encounter are very surprising.
I have to get back to the characters though, as they are just really great characters. While you really don't get 'that' close with them as you did with your friends in Persona 4 (considering how it had an impact on the story itself), the portable version address that with the Female Main Character, due to being able to have S. Links (the mechanic that allows you to gain level-bonus during Persona fusions) with all the members of SEES. The new S. Links were all really enjoyable to see and the old ones get some new twists with the FM Main Character.
The only issues this game had was how Tartarus was handled. Rather then the many different dungeons from Persona 4, you just go through one big one. That isn't that bad, but it feels....just kinda there? Sure it has some significance in the story (though largely toward the end), but for much of the game it is just the 'training ground' for you and your party members.
I have issue with this I suppose due to coming from Persona 4 Golden when I played this. The dungeons there had there own theme, story significance and clear link to the party member you had to save....but the core of the dungeons in P4G are the same as P3P (randomly generated floors, very similar set of shadows to fight, the floors not having the much interesting stuff to interact with, ect). Granted, those issues are in P4G as well, but you can mask them due to the story still taking center stage. With P3P....that isn't the case, so the samey-ness of the different floors are very easy to see.
But outside of that issue, I love this game. But I have to post some music from the game here....because it is just simply amazing XD! I don't know how they did it, but the Persona team just nailed the soundtrack in this game mixing so many different styles but them melding together so perfectly. Mass Destruction, Battle for Everyone's Souls, Burn My Dread, Wiping All Out....just amazing.
Lastly, there are other versions of this game too; the original PS2 version and its 'remaster' FES. They are great versions of this amazing game and while both suffer from issues that were ironed out here (via using P4 mechanics) like the 'Tire' system and AI control party members (though you can influence some control over them via Tactics menu), they aren't enough to ruin the fun. I say give those a shot first if you can deal with those problems; the Portable version of Persona 3 was a bit cut down so some of the presentation was lessened, so the PS2 version will have better visuals, 3D world to explore and animated cut-scenes.
The FES version also comes with brand new content (some new S. Links, Persona's from past Persona games, new items/armor, and the 'Answer' content that explains the ending to the game).
, as due to you guys doing that for Persona 4 Golden so many times, I would have never played that and this (thanks again for hyping P4G up so much; favorite Vita game I own ). With Persona 3 though, I remember hearing about this a long time ago. I used to watch that G4 review show X-Play and saw the review of the PS2 version of the game. It looked really interesting to me; "Wow the game looks amazing!", "Wait....why are they shooting themselves for?", "Man, those cool beings they summon are interesting
!". But...I never bothered picking that up for some reason
. Now, fast forward to this year and coming right off from loving P4G, they have a sale on the Persona games on PSP, and they have this for only five bucks. Figuring how this was the closest to Persona 4 compared to the other games in the series I picked it up.....man was it a great move !I started the FM Main Character playthough and all the things I really enjoyed from Persona 4 Golden are here; the interesting social links, the ease of transport from place to place, the characters all being so interesting, the music....man is it amazing
, the combat being lifted from Persona 4 making it feel second nature and the bosses being quite challenging.... The game filled my desire to play something like Persona 4 again . The thing that surprised me the most was how I ended up like a good deal of it MORE then Persona 4. The characters here I really felt bad for
. Throughout the game, the consistent tone of 'Death' and 'Loss' really drives home through EVERY member of SEES (the team you are fighting with), as they all lose things important to them. I'm not going to spoil things, but you really feel bad for Aigis at the end X(. The story itself though felt much larger then Persona 4 to me as well. Unlike in Persona 4 where you are just solving a mystery that is taking peoples lives leading to saving your town, here....you are preventing the END ITSELF! Not to mention the Shadow designs are much more menacing here then in Persona 4 and the twists you encounter are very surprising.
I have to get back to the characters though, as they are just really great characters
. While you really don't get 'that' close with them as you did with your friends in Persona 4 (considering how it had an impact on the story itself), the portable version address that with the Female Main Character, due to being able to have S. Links (the mechanic that allows you to gain level-bonus during Persona fusions) with all the members of SEES. The new S. Links were all really enjoyable to see and the old ones get some new twists with the FM Main Character. The only issues this game had was how Tartarus was handled
. Rather then the many different dungeons from Persona 4, you just go through one big one. That isn't that bad, but it feels....just kinda there? Sure it has some significance in the story (though largely toward the end), but for much of the game it is just the 'training ground' for you and your party members. I have issue with this I suppose due to coming from Persona 4 Golden when I played this. The dungeons there had there own theme, story significance and clear link to the party member you had to save....but the core of the dungeons in P4G are the same as P3P (randomly generated floors, very similar set of shadows to fight, the floors not having the much interesting stuff to interact with, ect). Granted, those issues are in P4G as well, but you can mask them due to the story still taking center stage. With P3P....that isn't the case, so the samey-ness of the different floors are very easy to see.
But outside of that issue, I love this game
. But I have to post some music from the game here....because it is just simply amazing XD! I don't know how they did it, but the Persona team just nailed the soundtrack in this game mixing so many different styles but them melding together so perfectly. Mass Destruction, Battle for Everyone's Souls, Burn My Dread, Wiping All Out....just amazing. Lastly, there are other versions of this game too; the original PS2 version and its 'remaster' FES. They are great versions of this amazing game and while both suffer from issues that were ironed out here (via using P4 mechanics) like the 'Tire' system and AI control party members (though you can influence some control over them via Tactics menu), they aren't enough to ruin the fun
. I say give those a shot first if you can deal with those problems; the Portable version of Persona 3 was a bit cut down so some of the presentation was lessened, so the PS2 version will have better visuals, 3D world to explore and animated cut-scenes. The FES version also comes with brand new content (some new S. Links, Persona's from past Persona games, new items/armor, and the 'Answer' content that explains the ending to the game).
