I don't generally like being vulnerable, publicly. Even my most personal write-ups tend to be at least a little bit structured to guide around pain points that I'd rather not disclose, boiling down thoughts to more readable ideas that I don't need to haunt me. I don't really have that luxury today.

My uncle died yesterday, and we were close enough to where today I woke up staring up at the ceiling regretful, toiling around in my own head with a fog of thoughts that even now still permeates. I went through the rest of the day so far trying desperately to act as if nothing happened, driving with FFXIV music blaring out the car speakers, taking care of responsibilities with the best smile I could feign. Then I got home, and loaded up this game again, drawn to it searching for comfort. After an hour I started rewatching cutscenes, reading things about the game again trying to reexperience the same feelings that brought me solace. The game's chock full of them after all, with a dying man sitting at the bench with you giving last thoughts on a world and life he knows has dealt him the worst hand, to a scummy kid who is envious of his brother and still is even after his death not realizing how much he's trying to fill that hole in his heart that's been left. An old couple welcomes me in with smiles on their faces as they continue to grieve, just my presence being enough to remind them of what once was, but still they look forward hopeful.

I'm crying again as I attach myself to these stand-ins for loss, those depressing but not lonesome stories that help me grieve on my own time. This aura permeates through the entire narrative, as characters not so much different from my feelings of today pull off the same images of trying to act like everything's ok, and even the most naive cocky individual of the party has to come to terms with a hospitalized lover who he now wishes more than ever that he could've spent just one more minute with. I wish I had more time too, the last memory of my uncle is going to be me moving around stuff in his house while he can barely move about his home, and then after helping when he offers me and another sibling to stay and watch a movie with him, I say that I have to go home as it's getting too dark to drive. I still don't know whether my leaving was out of apathy, or cowardice, and I don't know which is worse.

And this game rejects apathy, it pushes to understand these feelings I struggle with today, an ENTIRE cult founded to bring the fall of all is juxtaposed with a desire from those who have suffered the most to keep living. A disgusting choice is thrusted towards the player and what's best isn't to remain ignorant but it is to defy this fucking downfall. It's hopeful, in the end, not wallowing in sorrow, even when the ending is still painful.

Not to say that this is a perfect simulacrum of these discordant thoughts, the combat ensues listlessness even in this version that tries to right wrongs of the flawed original. You walk multiple floors fighting enemies on passable at best strategies thinking about how it'd be nice if we were back several minutes ago to feel feelings at a scene again. There's even what would become late Atlus's problematic bullshit with hots-for-teachers and terrible handlings of lgbt, and that only spreads more poison over time for me. It just makes me angry, bile held and punches I wish I could throw at something other than air.

But the game still very much speaks to me, just putting out these thoughts after every couple minutes of tears and thinking of what this MEANS to me, what it represents, what it is, is helpful. I don't know if I can entirely recommend, or hope that the same will stand true for most individuals, not that it matters I guess. Please spend time with your loved ones if you can, I'm surely about to drive once more to be with family and mourn together while I still struggle not to fall myself.

I actually despise this game so fucking much holy shit what a slog, its crazy how these TROGLODYTES will tell you this shitstain is somehow an improvement on the original and FES because they took inspiration from Persona 4's garbage ass mechanics because they can't deal with the ai you can remove with a pnach file, literally all of the atmosphere and cinematic flare is drained from a game in which those aspects are some of its greatest strengths because all of the ways in which P3 achieved those highs such as its wonderfully moody cutscenes are reduced to blurry images and descriptions; all that's being done is the story being communicated, and that's where it ends. The emotional moments don't hit at all because they're replaced with these ugly fucking sprites and the gravitas is erased, the gameplay is actively less fun than FES, the point and click overworld fucking sucks and drastically worsens the experience, don't get me fucking started on the female protagonist who gets a "SHE'S BETTER THAN THE MALE ROUTE!" because again they tried to steamroll the game with persona fucking 4's ideas, her party links don't add shit and the fact that you can revive a dead character, removing the impact of their death and ruining multiple others arcs is a disgrace, actively ruins any reference to the event after the fact and any impact it could have - this is what i consider one of the biggest issues with Portable, it has no respect for the identity or themes of Persona 3. All of the ""improvements"" to make it more like P4 just make the game worse, it just blindly adds things like social links for the party because ooo P4 did it without considering it properly, they don't even work with the fucking story - Junpei feels far more emotionally mature far earlier than he should for example. Akihiko's adds nothing, Ken's is centred around pedophilia for some reason, why does Koromaru have a social link. Also the remaster is bad, the backgrounds look smeared in Vaseline and the fact that some of the basic UI is very clearly AI upscaled to smudge detail is funny as fuck. This game being the most accessible way to play Persona 3 pisses me off to no end and i hope we get a remake to make it truly irrelevant. Any points I will give it are because it has some of P3's good elements like the characters and the music, but make no mistake FES is the only way you should be playing Persona 3

For almost three years I've been a bystander to the Persona series, wanting to invest in the franchise, but I for personal reasons I never got the opportunity to. Skip to 2022 and I have a neat little system I'm totally not addicted to called the PSP. I then realize this was my opportunity to finally play a game in the series, and so I picked Persona 3 Portable. After a MONTH of play time, literally making sure I played at least one hour per day, I had finished the game. And Persona 3 was.... an experience, to say the least.
One thing I can definitely say I like is P3's story and themes. P3 is a game about depression, and dealing with loss. The way we should live our lives is to cherish the bonds we make and accept the reality of life to the very end. It's a touching subject matter, one that I think is overall handed well. I think introducing the social link system helps with this, it makes the relationships we create feel more important.
Plot wise the game takes quite a while to get going after the protagonist's awakening. However, once the story picks up after a few months I'd say it's overall consistently paced at keeping the plot moving. Especially the latter half of the game is filled with so much dread that is being combated by your determination and resolve. It is hard to elaborate on this stuff without spoiling, so perhaps play the game yourself.
The original Persona 3 is a 2006 ass 2006 video game in many ways, and I mean that in a good way. This is somewhat still in portable but definitely not as much. Whether it be from the emo aesthetics, the very simple but striking HUD and UI, or even just the dialogue in some cases, it is indeed a game from it's time. P3 being dated in this aspect doesn't necessarily bother me too much, I feel the game being an earnest representation of its era has a certain charm to it. Once again I'd like to bring up the UI, it's very simple and clean, and for me personally it just screams 2006... but I might be crazy.
My problem with P3 was the gameplay loop, good lord. Tartarus is EXTREMELY REPETITIVE and I started feeling this by the second block. It got to a point where I just turned on video essays during my sessions so I didn't go insane from the music (which is a good ost btw, but hearing it that much can drive me mad). The floors are completely RNG, which can lead to samey or archaic floor layouts, and with 265 of them it is enough to feel exhausted when doing a session. I don't CARE if that's the developer's intention, if it's not enjoyable to the point of making me want to quit playing, you're doing something wrong.
The other part of the gameplay loop is okay, it's essentially just the social links. I'm not gonna elaborate on these much for the sake of spoiler free, but I do recommend Akanari's s link! The Innocent Sin online one is also great >_>
The presentation is kinda blegh, on PSP specifically. While FES is a fantastic looking game, portable... looks kinda ass I gotta say. The backgrounds for the 2D segments look sort of poor quality imo, and the map screens with the small character sprites look worse. Tartarus is still in 3D, but damn the UI for battles looks so less cooler in Portable, and generally FES bodies this game visually sadly. Portable isn't necessarily ugly, but it could've looked better even for the system.
So did I like Persona 3? Kinda. It's one of those cases where I liked everything except the gameplay part. Persona 3 is a wonderful and striking piece of art, but as a game it falters in many aspects, tie that with the bloated length and you have a very hit or miss game for many. I don't regret playing this game, in fact I'm very glad I finally got to experience the series after all these years. But aside from doing an FES party members mod playthrough in maybe 5 years, there is no way in hell I'm gonna replay this game, period.

I don't have really anything to say about the story and ending of this game because I'm still trying to sort out what it all implies in my head. Needless to say, though, that it was a fantastic journey.

This game marks a sort of milestone for me, as other than like Pokemon or Mother, I've never actually beaten a JRPG, let alone one that was this long. I think this was a good first option, especially Portable, because it's much more fast paced and visual novel like which made it less daunting for me.

Persona 3 is an absolutely fantastic story with fantastic characters, fantastic music, and many fantastic arcs. Sure, Tartarus is a bit tedious, but the dungeon crawling is overall really fun with a number of excellent boss fights thrown into the mix. I don't think this game is perfect, but damn I think it lived up to the hype. I'm so excited to play the other Personas.

the best of the three persona games i've played which is obviously damning it with faint praise but whatever it's kinda cute! suffers from the issues all of them have where the social link mechanics undercut the bullshit chuuni anime melodrama plot by turning the peripheral characters into utility dispensers for your/the MC's libertarian grindset and there's the classic trans/homophobic beach scene that makes an obligatory appearance in all of them and sucks more because it's fucking boring and stupid than because it's bigoted in the most limpdick unfunny way imaginable. has a great main cast though - koromaru and aigis the MVPs here. i sunk 80 hours of my fucking life into this game i am so massively depressed

If it wasn't for this game, I wouldn't be the niche internet microcelebrity that I supposedly am on Twitter.

If it weren't for this game, I practically never would've been the person I am today.

I owe my life to Persona 3 Portable, and I am thankful that I played it.

Persona 3 Portable is likely my favourite JRPG of all time, second to the Utawarerumono Mask duology and maybe NieR Automata. Why is that?

Well, to start things off, I didn't take issue with things that a lot of people did. I read a shit ton of visual novels so the lack of a 3D open world (which didn't even look that great to me in FES) is fine, I am okay with the lack of the Answer, the loss of animated cutscenes is fine, and the FeMC story changes aren't great enough to bring down my opinion of the game. The Ken SLink is disgusting, yes, but thankfully it is optional, and there has never been a Persona game that wasn't bigoted or disgusting in some way. The game didn't look blurry to me due to playing an upscaled, modded version, which work better for P3P than for FES, in the latter of which the UI is difficult to upscale.

The game has a lot of fun content. You get to play as FeMC (who is a fun protagonist in a different way than the usual MC), you get new awesome OSTs, the game is much more fun to play due to using the Persona 4 combat system (the main thing Persona 4 has over FES, imo). I've even played it to the end twice, which doesn't happen often with JRPGs for me. Tartarus is a far lesser grind, too.

I just like it, I have not much else to say.

My first time playing was magical. This game made me fell in love with this franchise, i spent hours and hours in this shit, i remember til this day every reaction i had to the story. I played everywhere, anytime, until i beated it and did everything the game had to offer... with both MCs.

Now, almost five years after the day i beated P3P, i came back to the game of my life after playing Persona 5 and it hurts... the magic is gone. The port is alright, the original P3 already had along with it's inovations, some questionable design decisions, so it's a faithful port, but the thing is a 3D enviroment makes a LOT of difference in immersion, even more after playing P5, it just feels like something is missing.

So after playing a bit of Portable again, i went to the FES version. It is cool and all but is not only outdated aswell but stuck to the amazing decision of not having control of your party... c'mon, i can forgive other stuff because this is the Persona game that started a generation, but not even SMT does this type of bullshit because is not a good ideia to give half of the battle control to a group of shitty 2006 AIs. Okay, some people say they wanted the characters to feel alive, like you don't control other people... sorry, but when a character that was supposed to be smart does the dumbest fucking move of all time in the battles, i don't feel like they're alive, i feel like the devs don't know what the fuck they're doing.

I didn't think remaking P3 was a good idea but FES and even the "updated" Portable port, the one i played and loved so much, is absurdly outdated. This game needs a remake now! I would love to see it in the P5 Engine. Now with a re-release of this version in the way, a remake is just a distant dream and we're now stuck with two half-assed versions of this game that had everything to be a masterpiece except a company that cares.

Edit: We did it :)

Persona 3 FES is one of my favorite games of all time. When I finished it midway through last year, I fell in love with a story that touched my heart and left me completely fulfilled in a way that few pieces of art have in a long time. More interesting to point out than my love for the plot and characters, though, would be my entire lack of desire to replay the game anytime soon or AT ALL, even. Despite how much I had grown to respect, admire, and even adore this game, that love came with its own set of caveats and conditions. The most notable of those being the sheer length of the game in conjunction with my indifference towards the gameplay. Y’see, my first playthrough took me around 80 hours to finish which, on its own, is already a massive time sink, but then you also take into consideration that the gameplay, while honestly not terrible, did not leave me particularly thrilled to give it another go in second playthrough.

To put it simply, when those credits rolled for the first time at the end of my journey, I was ready to move on from Persona 3 entirely. That’s not to say that I was burnt out by any means, I just saw it as a one and done thing, and there’s no problem with that.

ENTER PERSONA 3 PORTABLE

Even long before I actually started Persona 3 FES, I knew about Portable. I’ve seen plenty of discourse regarding people debating which version of the game is the superior experience, but to me, FES always seemed like the no-brainer. Sure, having a controllable party, the most notable combat feature absent from FES, did give it one solid point of appeal on a surface level. However, from what I could gather, there was just so much that seemed lacking when compared to FES at a glance that I felt (and still do feel) that Portable would be an inferior game to experience first, at the very least.

Looking past just an initial playthrough, though, I generally had no interest in Persona 3 Portable in its own right for some time. The cutscenes being restricted to just the character sprites and background graphics seemed to me as though it would severely undercut many of the more hard-hitting scenes in the game, and that did not do it any favors as far as appeal is concerned. So you take that in conjunction with my overall indifference towards the game’s addition of a female protagonist, and it’s not a stretch to say that I had a rather notably negative view on this version of the game. Surprisingly though, after much convincing from my good pal HiTheHello, I decided on a whim, half a year after completing FES in fact, that I’d look past these preconceived grievances I had with the game, and just see firsthand if it was worth it or not.

And you know what? It fucking blew me away.

I now realize that Persona 3 Portable should NOT be seen as an attempt at a replacement or upgrade from base P3 or FES, but instead as a sort of lighter, more easily digestible way for fans of those first two games to experience them again but with a fresh, new lens. Looking at Portable in this new way made so much of what seemed to be baffling in design on paper make SO much more sense. Because that’s all it was, baffling on paper. In execution, Portable works beautifully as a companion piece to the original games. This is for a myriad of reasons of course, but the two most important of these are, funnily enough, the exact issues that I ignorantly looked down on the game for: the changes to the presentation and the inclusion of the FEMC route.

Now, there’s an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed here. If you compare scenes from P3P to FES on a one-to-one basis, then yes, FES wins that comparison in every example. But looking at it now, Portable’s commitment to sacrificing a bit of that impact in its story presentation for shorter, more concise cutscenes has an unexpected, but surprisingly strong benefit. That benefit being a more streamlined and fast-paced experience that lent itself magnificently to a more casual, relaxed playthrough of the game. The exact kind of playthrough that I, with my good friends in voice chat, could enjoy to the fullest. It’s by trimming the fat that Portable is able to keep me going for six hour sittings at a time, when, prior to starting, the mere thought of replaying tired me out.

This is why this game works so well as a better way to re-experience P3, and, after having played through the original already, I can more easily immerse myself into this world again BECAUSE of how fast things are coming at me. To a new player, this might come off as a story failed by its cutscenes and presentation, but I’m able to simply sit back and have a laugh with my friends while essentially lite versions of my favorite cutscenes in gaming are playing. And it can’t be overstated just how much snappier this game is in its pacing. When all was said and done and I finally finished this version of the game, I ended up with around 60 hours of total playtime. Still definitely a meaty game, but that’s a whole TWENTY hours less than my initial playthrough, and I can guarantee it wasn’t at all because I got better at the game since my initialy playthrough and was just faster at doing the same shit because I essentially FORGOT a good chunk of the game in the past 6 months from FES to Portable that wasn’t story or character-related. The game was, by nature, much more digestible than if I had opted to merely replay FES, and that’s something I don’t see Portable getting enough praise for. That it was able to successfully (albeit a bit clumsily at times) reintroduce me in a way that felt inviting and fresh, not draining and cumbersome.

There’s just this noticeable effort to make the game in general feel less tiresome with Portable’s many mechanical changes, too. Of course you’ve got the aforementioned addition of controllable party, which is obviously a very welcome change and goes a long way in making fights more manageable. But there are also a lot of smaller, quality of life changes that do loads to make this game generally more approachable for a replay than FES which, again, I believe is the intent and how Portable should be viewed as a whole. A lot of smart things are brought in from Persona 4 as well. You can now guard in battle, which is a lot nicer than simply waiting and wasting a character’s turn in battle, allowing you to remain engaged with a fight even while taking more defensive maneuvers. Multi-target spells are also now capable of triggering One Mores, which honestly feels like fixing an oversight from the original game, and also feels really great. And speaking of which, downing enemies or allies in Portable no longer requires a full turn to recover from, which comes with its own set of benefits and drawbacks. On one hand, it’s more in line with the rest of the series and keeps fights as a back and forth where neither side can COMPLETELY stop the other from doing anything to fight back, just because a weakness was hit. But on the other hand, I LOVE STUN LOCKING ENEMIES INTO OBLIVION. This is overall a good change for sure though, and the stun lock capabilities have been relegated to the dizzy status effect, albeit in a less absurdly broken state than in FES. There were also plenty of other changes made outside of combat, such as the introduction of fast travel from anywhere, certain items removing fatigue, and even part-time jobs you can easily take on in order to kill time, make a quick buck, and get some social stat increases, adding some welcome variation to the more monotonous parts of the game where you’re waiting for the Full Moon to arrive.

So yeah, Portable is a cleaner and less tedious in its gameplay, and it has a plethora of things it does well or even better than FES, which add to its status in my eyes as the perfect casual Persona game. And it’s something that honestly works better if you’re already familiar with the story because, as I said before, that makes the downgrade in presentation actually work to its benefit. However, these changes, while solid improvements on their own, needed one more HUGE addition to justify Portable’s existence. And they got that justification with the existence of the female protagonist.

FEMC adds SO much to this game, I can’t give her enough praise for just how fresh her existence made Persona 3 feel again. You get new tracks that shift the entire mood and fit her character like a glass slipper. Songs that replace the softer, melancholic, atmospheric tracks from the male MC’s route with more exciting, upbeat bangers that brilliantly reflect the new perspective of this entirely different protagonist. A Way of Life and Time are fantastic overworld themes that I’m rarely able not to bop my head to, with the former song especially filling me with a dense feeling of nostalgia and wonder even after just a couple of listens, it’s seriously magic. After School is a great addition to the already existing social link themes that does wonders in maintaining that high energy vibe unique to FEMC, while Tender Feeling accentuates emotional beats with a wholesome, warm sincerity seldom found in other social link themes of this type. And if I’m keeping it real, Wiping All Out and Danger Zone are, without a doubt in my mind, THE BEST normal and sub-boss battle themes in the series that translate the high energy, upbeat vibe of the overworld and SL songs into hard-hitting, bombastic fight themes.

So yeah, with the additions to FEMC brings to the table in Portable’s soundtrack, it’s no stretch to say that P3P’s soundtrack is a straight up upgrade from FES. And you wanna know something else that FEMC excels in where even the normal route kinda flops? Social Link CONSISTENCY.

Y’see, Persona 3 FES has one some of the absolutely highest highs and lowest lows as far as Social Links are concerned. With it containing absolute favorites of mine like Akinari, Aigis, and Mutatsu, as well as horrific mediocrity/atrocity like Kenji and Nozomi, this selection of social links was handily the most hit or miss in the series. But with the FEMC, there’s a MASSIVE overhaul in that selection, replacing many of the aforementioned stinkers with new, BETTER SLs to choose from.

First of all, unlike in the male route, every male party member INCLUDING KOROMARU now has a Social Link, and they are all a delight to behold. I can’t speak for Ken’s (since I refused to interact with the little shit), but every other member was given a storyline that complimented their preexisting arcs in the main story in a way that felt natural and organic, enhancing what was already there, when they could so easily have been forced retreadings of superior stories. My favorite of these was Shinjiro’s who, while avoiding spoilers, managed to elevate him from an already strong character who the story used extremely well to knock down the first domino that led to the game’s immaculate final act, to one of my absolute favorites in the series, that I resonated with on a personal, fundamental level. It’s all because of how absolutely sky high the quality of writing for these SLs now is. They keep all the ones that made the game great, and replace the bad ones (Kenji, Nozomi, etc.) with ones that make it EVEN BETTER. And this led to an experience where maxing out every arcana felt meaningful and fulfilling, because no matter who I talked to, I wasn’t just getting an exp bonus for fusions, but I was also inviting myself to experience some of the best side stories this series had to offer.

So yeah, FEMC route is kind of a slam dunk already. Music? Banging. Social Links? Cracked. And to end off this overly long thesis about why this route is totally worthwhile, let’s dive into the star of the show herself: FEMC/Kotone Shiomi/Minako Arisato.

To me, FEMC is where the character of Persona 3’s protagonists finally really clicked for me (yes, BOTH of them). Initially, I just kinda thought that Makoto, the original protagonist, was a cool embodiment of the game’s themes without really thinking much of him as an individual character. In contrast, and despite being a “silent protag”, FEMC’s personality felt incredibly well-articulated to me with every new addition or change in dialogue and music doing so much in conveying her as this bubbly, energetic, positive force in the lives of her peers. She is so fundamentally opposed to the original protagonist in characterization, bringing so much new life to what was originally such a grimy, dreary, and unwelcoming world. This was exactly what I needed to keep the slow burn nature of Persona 3’s story from ever feeling monotonous this second time around: something new. And funnily enough, FEMC doesn’t fit the themes of this story quite as perfectly as Makoto did and, in fact, she feels rather static in terms of progression compared to her predecessor, but this is something that wraps around to working in Portable’s favor. Because we already experienced the story of someone at their lowest point trying to find meaning and purpose through the bonds they forged with those around them. FEMC couldn’t just retread that, because it’d be fucking boring. Instead, she largely seems to have retained her understanding of the value of life early on despite finding herself in the same tragic circumstances that Makoto did. And it’s in keeping her positive mental state that she’s able to be the rock that she is in so many of her relationships. It’s through her determination and vigor that she can face all the tragedy and loss that the story throws her way and still remain the chipper ray of light that her friends need her to be.

Retroactively, she was able to make me appreciate Makoto’s more dynamic character progression in a way I hadn’t really considered before, as well. And this is the power of a game like Persona 3 Portable. Sure it’s not always perfect in how it presents itself and, yes, despite all of this crazy praise I’m giving it, you should still absolutely play through FES first. But god dammit, I appreciate it so much when I’m given the opportunity to look at something I love in a new way, from a new angle, with a new perspective, and come out adoring the new and old experiences I had more than I ever would’ve if I had only picked one.

So, from the bottom of my heart,
Thank you, Persona 3 Portable.

There is no wrong way to experience Persona 3 - my beloved, my dearest, my all-time favorite work of fiction, favorite piece of media, and most relevant to this conversation my favorite video game. However, I think you could also do a lot better than Portable.

Persona 3 Portable is, in many ways, a superior game to Persona 3 FES. The combat mechanics have been refined and modeled off the success of Persona 4's battle system. The GUI and spritework has been touched up to be more appealing to the eye and (once again) appear more consistent with Persona 4's. The introduction of the female protagonist and her route's more chipper, upbeat tone when compared to the male protagonist's is much more palatable to the average viewer – for a third time, much in line with that of Persona 4. The female protagonist even has a new soundtrack heavily influenced by J-Pop, to contrast against the male protagonist's trip-hop and electronic backdrop.

And frankly, I think all of it works against the unique cohesion and artistic perfection that Persona 3 FES manages to achieve. On individual merits alone Persona 3 is not a terribly remarkable game; there are games that came before and after it that soar far above it in sheer fun factor, quality of narrative, depth of writing, graphical achievements and style – but Persona 3 stands out from any other video game I've ever played by merit of how all of these pieces interplay to form a uniquely coherent and interlocked game experience.

The protagonist of Persona 3 is characterized as near-silent, emotionless, withdrawn and disinterested. This ties into the game's cold and oppressive atmosphere (which ties into the grungy and low-fidelity production values most evident in the GUI and graphics), but also reflects his character trait of being fascinated with music ( that the original soundtrack is designed around, with certain leitmotifs being used at specific points to establish themes and perpetuate the game's recurring imagery of cycles). This characteristic disinterest is also the basis of the game's controversial "tactics" system, which in itself ties into the social link mechanic as an extension of how the members of SEES are individuals before they're pawns in a battle field, and rounds right back around to the theme of understanding and opening up to others.

Most of these things are absent outright in Persona 3 Portable by merit of either the protagonist being changed or the mechanics and graphics being shuffled around into an end product that only vaguely resembles the original release and lacks the unique cohesion that I find to be synonymous with the experience of Persona 3. There's really too many details for me to list off individually about what's changed and why I think it lessens the experience, considering I'm rambling from memory more than anything, but you get the idea.

Additionally, while I think the female protagonist is a fine character in her own right and there's valuable insight into an alternate perspective of the game's themes in her route and character development, I don't think that it was a good idea to put her into a story so purpose-built around the male protagonist and make so little changes to accommodate her. She gets new social links, sure, and a few cutscenes change, but there are aspects of the story (symbolism, writing, character dynamics and relationships, and even the entire design and concept behind a late-game character that I won't spoil here) that Atlus simply did not pay enough attention to during development to change in a way that would be as impactful or tightly-wound as it would with the male protagonist.

Again: it's my genuine perspective that Persona 3 Portable exists first and foremost as a means to market Persona 3 in a format more easily digested by those who are used to Persona 4, which I personally believe to be a far inferior work of art and a far inferior game.

And that's fine. Persona 3 Portable is still an excellent game, and if you go into it as your first experience with Persona 3 and need to hear its message, then it's very likely that it'll touch you very deeply and profoundly just as much as if you were playing the original release. Some people prefer the stark shifts in tone of the female protagonist or find her more bubbly and extroverted personality more relatable, which is wholly understandable considering that the male protagonist has a very unusual and understated personality defined by a rough, eerie exterior. Some people might emphasize raw fun over ludonarrative or not find the grimy aesthetic of the original release as charming as so many do.

Again, all of that's fine. No matter its form, Persona 3 is my favorite-ever game and favorite-ever piece of media, and likely always will be. But in my heart, Persona 3 FES will always be the definitive experience and the most unusually remarkable piece of media that you can get your hands on in the medium of JRPGs.

kimi wa ne tashika ni ano toki watashi no soba ni ita 🫂
itsudatte itsudatte itsudatte 🤪
sugu yoko de waratteita 🤗
nakushitemo torimodosu kimi wo 😭
I will never leave you 🥹

"You can close your eyes. I'll always remain here by your side."

i think anyone who knows me also knows that i am very decidedly not a fan of persona 4 and i used to not like 5 much either. i feel like they lost a lot of what made the classic era of persona games special and meaningful, and due to the games sharing the same director in katsura "i’ve never successfully forged a true friendship with a girl in real life" hasino, i assumed persona 3 would be no different.

while the game definitely takes a lot of steps away from what persona used to be in a lot of aspects, it's still a surprisingly well made experience, and rather than a harbinger of what the series would inevitably become, it feels more like a last goodbye to what the series used to be. i undoubtedly still enjoy the persona 2 duology (at least eternal punishment) more than persona 3, but i can appreciate and come to love persona 3 for what it is; a beautiful game that shows that you don't need to be perfect to tell a beautiful, heart-wrenching story that means a lot to a lot of people.
i played with the undub patch and i think it might have one of my favorite set of vocal performances in any video game. the main party's japanese voice actors are really good at conveying emotions, especially pain, and it pushed me into tears in parts where i otherwise could've reasonably held them back, and persona 3 portable is probably the most i've cried at a video game for a while outside of the 2 duology. portable also has the benefit having a good set of self insert protagonists, especially when one of my major hang ups was struggling to insert myself as a girl into the shoes of the milquetoast pretty boy persona protagonists the modern series has otherwise.

i highly recommend this game to anyone who either loves one and hates/doesn't care for the other era of persona, i'm certain that no matter what you prefer you'll find something to love here.

the ken shit was kinda weird though. obviously didnt pursue it but it's fucking strange and uncomfortable that it was an option.

"No two viewings are alike. No two days are alike.
It is natural for everything to disappear, return, and remain in a constant state of change…
Life is finite and ephemeral.
That is precisely what makes it precious to us, showing us that we shouldn’t waste it…
It is a miracle for any two like-minded people to meet within the chaotic flux…
That’s why forging bonds and relationships is a source of happiness.
That is the root cause of… the joys of being alive…"

É meus amigos, essa bateu e bateu forte.

Esse game é masterpiece demais, porém datado...

Gameplay repetitiva o que com o tempo acaba se tornando cansativa. Subir e farmar no Tartarus é deveras maçante. Inicialmente é divertido, porém lá pro mid game se eu fui 3 vezes no mês, foi mto.

A história é ok, tem um desenvolvimento lento mas compensa com um final é sensacional!
Os personagens são legais mas acabam sendo ofuscados pela grandiosidade que é a Aigis.
Tem uma trilha sonora viciante. Me pergunto se existe algum game de persona que tenha uma ost ruim. Literalmente todas as músicas, principalmente a OP e a END são excelentes, o ponto negativo é que são poucas variações.

Sendo esse meu segundo game da franquia, com o primeiro sendo o P5R, achei que iria me incomodar com o downgrade que é nitidamente visível, acabou que a gameplay segue tendo a mesma linha mas senti falta de algumas mecânicas. Além disso, acabei por descobrir que a versão FES de P3 contem mto mais conteúdo que esse versão o que me deixou bem chateada, principalmente pela versão port ser toda capada, sem cuscenes, com cenas estáticas e sem acesso ao The Answer. Esse provavelmente seja o principal motivo para não ter dado uma nota mais alta.

Dessa forma, aguardo ansiosamente pelo remake desse game que sim, é incrível, porém não entrega uma experiência completa se comparado a outras versões.

Cara, eu não sei nem por onde começar, sério

Não sei se começo falando de como Persona tirou minha birra por RPGs de turno, abrindo portas pra um dos meus jogos favorítos, DQXI e Yakuza 7. Me fez não só aturar, como adorar e me viciar no genero. Ou se começo falando de como enrolei pra jogar esse jogo desde 2020 quando iniciei o P3FES depois de ter zerado o P5, naquela época o P4G não tinha sido anunciado pra Steam, e então quando o mesmo aconteceu... gaveta... mas cá estamos nós, zerei, e agora? Tive a sorte de jogar num vita (vlw fªrias, abração!), o port recente que saiu é um dumpster fire do krl, então poder jogar a experiência "original" num portátil, na telinha pequena pra apreciar o jogo de forma mais confortável é um puta de um privilégio.

Estéticamente é um jogo bem controverso, e eu não quero abordar essa controvérsia do FES vs Portable nessa review, mas não vou deixar de fazer certos comentários sobre coisas que de fato quebram a imersão do jogo (pra mim), que podem (ou não) ser relevantes. Eu não tenho o menor problema com o aspecto de VN da história, mas não consigo deixar de pensar que serve como detrimento para a imersão da história. Sem cutscenes, ação totalmente verbalizada, chega a ser estático, não ter mapa 3D fere muito a ambientação. O que mais me incomoda é que o jogo tem um tartarus explorável 3D, tem o persona awakening 3D, tem a cena final lá 3D, praticamente não existe problema de performance nas batalhas (3D), AS INTROS E ENDINGS SÃO FMVs ENTÃO PQ TIRAR AS CUTSCENES ANIMADAS POHA??

Apesar disso, o jogo ainda tem bastante alma (Soul Phrase kkkkkkkkk), esse é o primeiro jogo da trilogia do Hashino, e a carater foi o primeiro que começou com essa temática de cor primária, Azul (tem a FeMC que é rosa, mas eu só joguei a rota do Makoto msm). Dos três do Hashino, diria que esse é o mais "visualmente confortável". O Persona 4 é divertidamente criativo com sua temática de TVs e a cor amarela que chega a machucar os olhos, o Persona 5 é agressivamente estiloso e dinâmico com seu tom forte de vermelho. Agora o P3... é melancólico, confortável, não é nem um pouco escandaloso e mesmo assim consegue ter seu charme e estilo com animações rápidas e dinâmicas, não há um tema ou uma alegoria genial na GUI, é simplesmente bom uso de cores e Design Thinking na UI. Não é o melhor design de UI da série, mas é extremamente enxuto e competente dentro do contexto do tom do jogo. É o que disse na review do P4: "pra um jogo que 90% do tempo você vai estar mexendo no menu, diria que isso é o mínimo", faz o mínimo e tenho o orgulho de dizer que até excede. No departamento de 3D, tirando o que já falei, os modelos dos personagens são bem bonitinhos, tem um charme bem low poly de PSP que me prende bem mais do que o que quer caralhos que tentaram chegar com o Persona 4, que tem texturas e modelos bem feinhos. Nada a comentar sobre as animações, fazem o seu trabalho, algumas são bem duras e inexpressivas, outras exalam um certo charme no pouco que faz, mas é, não tem muito o que falar desse departamento no Portable, já que a Atlus deu uma de açougueiro nessa versão.

A ambientação e tom são bastante prejudicadas por esses cortes, mas devo reiterar, não foram cortes, foram trocas. A ambientação foi trocada pela praticidade. Point-click muito mais rápido e eficiente, fast-travel no quadrado, menu FUNCIONAL NO TARTARUS. Fusão é bem mais prática, só elogios pros 50 tipos de fusão, poder ajeitar tudo no seu PRÓPRIO MENU ao invés de ir falar diretamente com os membros é o MÍNIMO, se mover é bem mais rápido, fale o que quiser da falta de imersão, esse jogo é BEM MAIS >>RÁPIDO<<.

A OST dispensa comentários, uma das coisas que o Hashino acertou foi distinguir o tom da subsérie Persona, e essa pegada HipHop+Pop+Jazz+Rap+Rock+Urbano capta muito bem o tom do jogo, Yumi Kawamura é uma Deusa e o Lotus Juice é simplesmente o GOAT! 🎼🔥🔥🔥🔥. Num geral acho que prefiro a OST do P4, mas o P3 tem uns bangers que ficam com FOLGA na minha playlist de musicas favorítas. Obviamente há musicas bem goofy no meio, umas BEM GOOFY MSM, mas caem no viés artístico então eu passso paninho... é tipo o tartarus: MEMENTOS SONHA, SONHA EM SER O TARTARUS, tanto em OST quanto em gameplay, mas isso vou deixar pra mais tarde. A OST vai progredindo cada andar de acordo com o tom do jogo no momento, mais instrumentos vão sendo adicionados para criar uma trilha única e linda.

Agora vamos à gameplay. É ótima, bem desafiadora. Francamente só isso, é um megaten da época do PS2 (deja-vu da review do P4 kk). Ainda prefiro press-turn acima do 1-more, mas esse jogo tem algo que os dois outros Personas do hashino não tem... desafio. Acho que eu nunca vi a tela de game-over do P4 nem do P5, agora aqui? KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK, não consigo nem contar nos dedos a quantidade de vezes que fui ganancioso e fui subindo andares sem salvar o jogo e fui combado por um inimigo até a morte por uma shadowzinha bosta, só pra ver que perdi 2 horas de jogo de puro grind na merda do Tartarus. Não tem nenhuma gimmick forte nesse jogo, é puro persona press-turn, te vira ae negão. E ISSO É ÓTIMO, P4 chegava a ser IRRITANTE DE TÃO FÁCIL, você não sabe a ALEGRIA que foi quando eu tomei uma SURRA dos primeiros bosses do Tartarus. Eu nunca sofri muito pros bosses de lua cheia, mas os bosses do tartarus sempre me forçavam a repensar a minha abordagem de time antes mesmo de chegar no andar, era muito divertido. O early game desse jogo é insano, as vezes é lento pra krl, mas depois que as skils "ma-" começam a aparecer, o jogo começa a dar uma andada. Adoro o sistema de request da Elizabeth, craftar arma a partir de persona é algo que me pergunto pq tiraram no P4G. Cara, acho que nas primeiras horas de jogo, tiveram mais follow-up attacks que em TODO TEMPO QUE EU JOGUEI PERSONA 4. É um RPG de turno bem volátil, com uma variedade razoável de builds, mas no geral o jogo é bem engessado. O único personagem versátil de verdade do jogo é o MC, e isso só por que ele o ÚNICO que possui a wild card. De resto, os membros da party são bem direto ao ponto, oferecendo o mínimo do mínimo pra customização de build, pra mim o ponto auge é realmente a dificuldade desafiadora do jogo. O design do Tartarus é bom. Infelizmente dungeon design só foi ficar bom mesmo no P5, mas posso dizer que o tartarus é bem melhor que os corredores vazios do P4, e a mecânica de andar/cansaço/moon-phase torna o Tartarus bem dinâmico, recebe um joinha 👍.

E agora de resto, é o Life simulator. Social stat, SLinks, saber racionar o tempo dos dias e os outras firulas características de um Persona. E é ótimo, é Adolescente Simulator at it's finest 👌. Só é meio limitado no que você pode fazer a parte dos SLinks. Quando você terminar de grindar social point, você fica a mercê do calendário dos seus SLinks, e acaba se tornando meio repetitivo.

Agora... é hora de abordar o aspecto mais rico desse jogo. Se esse jogo hipoteticamente fosse uma merda colossal em quesitos de mecânicas, ainda daria pra passar um pano justamente por conta do próximo quesito... a história. Principalmente o seu tom e temas. Uma vez escrevi uma review de Catherine, jogo esse que zerei logo depois de ter terminado P5, escrevi: "Maturidade é a palavra-chave. Por mais explorados que os personagens do P5 sejam, com centenas e centenas de diálogos, não chega aos pés da complexidade do cast de Catherine, por que? Pois eles são humanos. Eles parecem pessoas reais, com problemas reais, não arquétipos ambulantes”… ironicamente o Vincent está no P3 kkkkk, mas o ponto é, em contrapartida da mediocridade intelectual que é a ScoobyGang do P4 e a falta de camadas de maturidade do cast de P5, eu enxerguei maturidade no P3, e pra um jogo com protagonistas majoritariamente na adolescência, isso é uma conquista razoável. Um ótimo exemplo disso é o SLink Maiko, uma criança de 9 anos consegue ter mais discernimento e maturidade que a maioria do cast do P4&P5 JUNTOS, óbvio que né, É UMA CRIANÇA, com trejeitos de criança, pensamentos de criança, mas no geral ela parece humana, sua personalidade não é resumida a ”Criança”, ela tem traços reais, que passam uma faceta não lúdica, mas madura, o mesmo se aplica pros adolescentes do main cast. A EPIFANIA que foi FINALMENTE poder falar cara a cara com o Tanaka, ouvir conselhos de vida com o Monge cachaceiro, tentar achar seu lugar no mundo e lidar com a pressão social com o A BEST GIRL YUKO, que na minha opinião é se pah um dos meus SLinks de romance favorito de todo o Persona, simpatizo muito com as preocupações que passam na cabeça dela e me vi com problemas parecidos na época da escola. Nem tudo são flores, há exemplos HORROROSOS como o Gourmet King que simplesmente não fazia sentido algum e tinha uma das plot lines mais RIDICULAMENTE FUTEIS e mal abordadas que já li em qualquer tipo de ficção… mas isso é apenas um. Persona 3 tem O MELHOR SOCIAL LINK DA SÉRIE INTEIRA, com uma das narrativas mais emocionantes e tristes que já li, o Sun Arcana tá em outro nível, o jeito que o toda Plot Line do SLink e até o conto do Akinari faz uma alegoria IMENSA com o final do jogo e toda temática de Persona 3 é simplesmente lindo.

Eu falo falo dos SLink mas os personagens principais e o plot inteiro são o auge desse jogo. Até a mais bosta do SEES, a Piranhakari é uma personagem relativamente bem escrita e gostável (caso você tenha caca na cabeça pra dizer que "gosta" da Piranhakari). A narrativa do jogo não é nem um pouco dispersa, todos os eventos esporádicos tem um peso na história, ao contrário de certos jogos aí com suas viagens a praia que não andam nem um centímetro no andamento NEM DO PLOT, nem do vinculo entre os membros da party. Toda sementinha que esse jogo planta é colhida mais pra frente na história, nada é em vão. Sem contar no tom, que é praticamente perfeito, não é nem muito alegre, nem muito forçado muito menos MUITO TRISTE, ele é confortável, assim como a UI do jogo, é simplesmente um jogo bem gostoso de jogar e aproveitar a narrativa, os personagens tem carisma, o plot é lindo e progressivo que parece que melhora a cada hora de jogo, sério. Eu elogiei muito o tom do end-game do Persona 4, mas esse aqui vai pra outro nível.

Não quero entrar em detalhes em SPOILERS mas tá aqui pra quem quer ver... São spoilers FODIDOS, mas se você jogou, sinta-se livre pra abrir e dar uma olhada nos meus pareceres dos temas sobre tempo, vida e morte em Persona 3:

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É Majora’s Mask. A cada lua cheia você vai aprendendo mais e mais sobre a triste verdade sobre a dark hour, o jogo deixa de ser um “Yeah! Vamos derrotar essas Shadows e proteger a humanidade˜ para a conformidade que vocês tem que limpar a sujeira que seus antepassados fizeram. E BEM LÁ PRO ENDGAME dá toda aquela merda, Shinjiro vai de Drake & Josh, pai da Mitsuro vai de arrasta pra cima, o arrombado do Ikutsuki vai pra casa do Chapéu, Chidori vai de pretérito imperfeito e tem uma das melhores cenas em todo Persona junto com o Junpei.

E POR FIM, UM DOS MELHORES END-GAMES DE QUALQUER JOGO QUE JÁ JOGUEI: Persona Majora’s Mask, virou Majora, depois de todas as revelações, toda aquela merda do Ryoji e a Nyx, todo o time quase que desmantela, todo mundo tá vivendo os últimos meses como se fossem os últimos, pois eles sabem, eles sabem que a Nyx é imbativel, e mesmo depois de fazer a decisão, todos ainda estão com medo, falam que tem esperança, que vamos vencer, mas a poha do medo ainda está lá, é a morte porra, o que você vai fazer? Pra mim uma das melhores cenas do jogo é uma das noites bem perto do dia prometido onde todos se reunem no parquinho perto da shrine, pra se divertir, brincar no escorregador, conversar como se nada estivesse acontecendo, isso tudo ao som de uma das trilhas sonoras mais tristes que já ouvi, sério o shift de OST nesse endgame é um dos socos no estômago mais fortes que já levei jogando videogame. É um tom nível Majora’s Mask? Não, mas é bem perto, e isso já é impressionante.

Palmas para momentos extremamente marcantes como o ultimate-awakening do Akihiko Sarrada e do Ken Mamada. E obviamente pra uma das cenas mais emocionantes do jogo, que foi o sacrifício da Chidori e a fusão de Persona com o Junpei. Sério, acho que se pah esse é um dos únicos romances canônicos que eu realmente gostei na trilogia do Hashino, amadurece o personagem do Junpei num nível absurdo e é sem dúvidas tematicamente lindo.

E é óbvio, não dá pra não falar do final. Conceitualmente Nyx é um boss bem basico, é a morte porra, mas o jeito que o jogo bota isso na prática somando com todo o tom do end-game e a LUTA FINAL QUE PUTA MERDA É A MELHOR DA SÉRIE INTEIRA, A POHA DO ARIA OF THE SOUL MANOOOOO PEGANDO TOTALMENTE A TEMÁTICA DA VELVET ROOM E AS ARCANAS, O FATO QUE NYX USA UMA MASCARA E TODA A SUA SILHUETA SE ASSEMELHA A TESE JUNGIANA DE SHADOW E SELF AHHHHHH… isso tudo forma uma experiência digna de lagrimas. VSF o “The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed” é uma frase que tá alocada na minha cabeça pra sempre.

Morte é inevitavel, não tem como derrota-la, apenas nega-la. Mas o nosso messiaszinho MC da Silva 3 fez o impossível, ele morreu por todos nós. Selou ele, no caso, boa door-kun. E isso é extremamente simbólico e poderoso tematicamente, o próprio personagem do jogador é impermanente, assim como eu, assim como todos nós, humanos mortais. Persona 3 termina com o protagonista aceitando o fim apenas depois de saber que o impacto difuso e generalizado de sua amizade continuará afetando seus companheiros de equipe muito depois da chegada da sua morte, por que afinal, morte residia dentro dele há muito tempo atrás. Persona 3 não é sobre o conceito de morte, é sobre o conceito de tempo. O tempo é finito, assim como a sua vida, faça esse tempo valer.
{ { { FIM DOS SPOILERS } } }

Dando gancho, esse é o final de Persona que mais teve impacto, não só em mim, mas um IMPACTO MESMO, tipo, COISAS ACONTECEM E TEM CONSEQUÊNCIAS. Não querendo cagar encima do P4 e P5 mas PRATICAMENTE NADA ACONTECE NO FINAL, TUDO SE RESOLVE E PONTO FINAL???? Odeio ficar comparando P4/5... mas algo que me surpreendeu nesse jogo é a atitude para com o protagonista por parte do cast. NINGUÉM MAMA SUAS BOLAS 24/7, eles questionam suas decisões, não dependem de você pra qualquer merda, sentem inveja, te repreendem, E EU ADORO ISSO, poha, eu odeio como no P4 a única vez que questionam suas decisões é na POHA >>>DAQUELA<<< parte da TV do hospital, e no P5 eu NEM LEMBRO DIREITO, você só é um underdog no INÍCIO do jogo, mais pra frente parece que sua palavra é dogmática.

Mas enfim, de uma forma abrupta estamos chegando ao fim dessa review. P3P é um jogo que faz trocas estéticas por mecânicas, mas não consigo enxergar isso como um erro visto que toda minha atenção foi pro espetáculo literário que é a história e seus temas. Consigo sem dificuldade nenhuma me ver rejogando essa peça de novo seja no P3P de novo com a rota da FeMC, seja revisitando P3FES pra poder jogar o The Answer, QUE SEJA. Persona 3 entrou com facilidade no meu Top 10, superando Catherine.

Peak Persona.

Não é exatamente o jogo da minha vida, mas eu não tenho nenhum problema com todo amor que esse jogo recebe. Ele não é perfeito, a música não é lá das melhores, os social links são paias (queria ter feito todos pra ter uma conclusão sobre cada um, mas infelizmente não aconteceu, eu deixei vários de fora, mas sinceramente eu sinto que não perdi muita coisa), a gameplay fica chatita, o tartarus não é muito bom (apesar de estar longe de ser uma das piores dungeons que eu já vi) e algumas idéias simplesmente não fazem sentido. Mas eu diria que no final do dia ainda é um ótimo jogo, não é excelente, mas tem os seus momentos, principalmente lá pro final, que tá, não é o pico da ficção, mas que ainda consegue emocionar e trazer ótimos personagens, pelo menos a maioria dos principais. Fora que Persona atualmente só é Persona porque esse jogo arriscou, então algumas coisas são realmente perdoaveis.

3,5 estrelas

Só um adendo: Portable não é tão ruim assim, acredito que a qualidade não mude muito dessa versão pra FES. E vai pra casa do caralho Nyx Avatar.