persona 3 is incredibly thematically dense. it goes all out guns blazing, investing nearly every fibre of its being into expressing its overarching theme of death, and how our short time on planet earth means we need to cherish our time with the people we love for as long as we have them. from a storytelling perspective, persona 3 is one of the best videogames i have ever played. those characters and their struggles will stick with me for a long, long time.
but its gameplay really really irks me. its combat systems works wonders for bosses, but it really falls apart during regular enemy encounters, which often come down to fufilling the terms needed for an all out attack and then the enemy dies, rinse and repeat. ad nauseam. this makes tartarus a total slog to get through unfortunately, and it makes up the majority of the game's rpg side
the social links are hit and miss. the sun and hanged man were my favourite non party member links, the sun especially because it might as well be the game's whole message distilled into one side story, and its wonderful.
however, a lot of the other ones are more frustrating, either due to the characters themselves being terrible (nozomi, kenji) or the game forcing you to encourage their bad habits in order to progress the links (kazushi, hidetoshi). also, male party members not having links is a fucking crime against humanity and i still think its the most baffling thing about this game today. i did love aigis's sl the most though. it was wonderful and super sweet
the finale is kickass in every sense of the word. i dont care that its cliche, the power of friendship is wonderful nearly everytime i see it used, in any piece of media. if i had any final complaints though, its that i wish i could have spent more time with sees as a whole. the whole sushi disscussion at the moonlight bridge is one of my fave scenes in the game and i wish there was more moments like it
but to tie this mess of a review together, persona 3 is a game i like a lot. its incredibly special, but also supremely flawed at the same time. as a result, i dont think i will ever revisit persona 3 (or at least, not this version) but, for all its issues, it was still an unforgettable experience
but its gameplay really really irks me. its combat systems works wonders for bosses, but it really falls apart during regular enemy encounters, which often come down to fufilling the terms needed for an all out attack and then the enemy dies, rinse and repeat. ad nauseam. this makes tartarus a total slog to get through unfortunately, and it makes up the majority of the game's rpg side
the social links are hit and miss. the sun and hanged man were my favourite non party member links, the sun especially because it might as well be the game's whole message distilled into one side story, and its wonderful.
however, a lot of the other ones are more frustrating, either due to the characters themselves being terrible (nozomi, kenji) or the game forcing you to encourage their bad habits in order to progress the links (kazushi, hidetoshi). also, male party members not having links is a fucking crime against humanity and i still think its the most baffling thing about this game today. i did love aigis's sl the most though. it was wonderful and super sweet
the finale is kickass in every sense of the word. i dont care that its cliche, the power of friendship is wonderful nearly everytime i see it used, in any piece of media. if i had any final complaints though, its that i wish i could have spent more time with sees as a whole. the whole sushi disscussion at the moonlight bridge is one of my fave scenes in the game and i wish there was more moments like it
but to tie this mess of a review together, persona 3 is a game i like a lot. its incredibly special, but also supremely flawed at the same time. as a result, i dont think i will ever revisit persona 3 (or at least, not this version) but, for all its issues, it was still an unforgettable experience
fes moment
by far the best persona cast, theme and game overall, the love i have for this game knows no limits it moved me like few other games have
Fuuka Yamagayshi
Nem de longe é o jogo perfeito como é dito por aqui, muito pelo contrário, forçando a barra tu consegue ver que é um jogo ok e nada mais. Apesar do textão, não haverá spoilers aqui, então se pretende jogar, pode prosseguir lendo tranquilamente.
É recheado de ideias boas com péssimas execuções, o jogo é desnecessariamente longo para caramba (demorei 162 horas para zerar), o sistema de combate notório nas abas de review é terrível por você não poder controlar os membros da party (você pode dar certos comandos para fazerem determinadas ações, mas a AI deles é burra, uma de suas maiores dificuldades nas boss fights vai ser não poder usar a skill que quiser deles. Algumas vezes eles simplesmente passam o turno independente do comando! E é pior ainda no The Answer), a estória é arrastada demais, os personagens são bem fracos em sua maioria, a mensagem que o jogo passa e enredo são nada mais que aquelas porcarias de desenhos japoneses do tipo "os amigos que fazemos pelo caminho".
O sistema de Social link é uma ideia legal e interessante, mas não interfere em nada na estória e se torna mais uma barreira para ter alguns monstros fortes como Helel, do que algo para desenvolver mais os personagens (o fato de não ter social links para nenhum membro do main cast de personagens homens, mostra que o desenvolvimento de personagens é totalmente alheio a isso). Inclusive, diferente do P4G, os social links do P3/P3FES não têm dublagem, o que desanima bastante.
Ao mesmo tempo que o jogo quer fazer o tipo de estória onde amizade é uma das melhores coisas da vida, e parte da mensagem do jogo é relacionada a isso, os personagens não são convincentes nenhum pouco, já que tem uns fdp como o Junpei, que fica com invejinha de você o jogo todo por ser o protagonista do anime, mas quando está de frente contigo te chama de "irmão" (e fica agindo igual um crianção narcisista o jogo todo. Ele por exemplo se recusa a te ajudar por estar com medo do boss que você enfrentou para salvar a pele dele, tu se lascar é de boa, importante são as emoções do bonito. Pra quê inimigos com um "irmão" desses?*). O Akihiko não é muito diferente por conta do the answer (epílogo adicionado nessa versão), mas sem spoilers aqui.
A parada da "mensagem" do jogo (de que vale a pena viver, amizade, blablabla), é na verdade bem simples e junto da estória faz parecer que saiu da cabeça de um adolescente (apesar de ser o público alvo, eu imagino, isso nem de longe faz ser algo bom ou bem feito...).
É como se tudo fosse mal pensado e subdesenvolvido, em dois meses [tempo do jogo] você já maximizou os stats sociais do personagem e fica sem nada para fazer durante a noite porquê só tem dois social links nesse período do dia. Há meses do jogo que além de derrotar uma das 12 shadows tranquilamente, não acontece mais nada, nenhum avanço na estória e o tartarus é repetitivo demais para você notar diferença, e isso é algo frequente. Facilmente poderia ter menos da metade do tempo, eu sei que RPGs são grandes, mas isso aqui só é enrolado pra caramba (e em um relançamento! Podiam ter corrigido isso como todos os outros pontos citados, mas há coisas que nem no remake se deram o trabalho pelo visto).
Sobre o The Answer/Episode Aigis: é ridículo, é definitivamente um grande motivo para não gostar do jogo (ou o contribuinte disso junto com tudo já dito). The Answer é um epilogo do jogo, já que o jogo original termina do nada num cliffhanger sem explicar o que ocorreu nos momentos finais, fazendo com que a priori fique meio sem sentido (tu joga um jogo de 120 horas para os caras não trabalharem bem o final? Paia). Então ao terminar o The Journey, tu fica com sensação de que necessitava de algo do tipo (daí lançaram essa DLC a full price kkkk).
The Answer piora muito a gameplay, retirando mecânicas como o próprio compendium, fusão de armas, usar armas diferentes, não há social link nenhum (como se trata de um epílogo, isso até faz sentido, mas poderiam ter posto um social link que upa automático na Metis, como é o do Pharos no The Journey), e poderia ter só duas horas de duração, mas o jogo põe um monte de encheção nas dungeons, e um grinding obrigatório que faz com que o the answer seja em torno de 30 horas para zerar (28 de grinding, as outras duas é o tempo útil da campanha mesmo). E por ter uma dificuldade acima do normal que do The Journey, a AI burra dos personagens vai te atrapalhar mais nos bosses (exemplo: eu não consegui fazer com que a Metis usasse dekaja em NENHUMA LUTA, e houveram algumas que eu realmente precisei. Tem um problema da AI que funciona assim pelo que percebi: se o Akihiko tem ataques do tipo strike e zio, e o inimigo tem resistência a ambos, veja bem, RESISTÊNCIA não nulidade ou algo além, ele vai ficar passando o turno sem fazer nada independente do comando que tu der. Há outro bug que caso venham muitas shadows com a mesma fraqueza, ao invés da Mitsuru por exemplo usar Mabufudyne para acertar a weakness de bufu delas, ela vai usar Bufudyne em cada uma, gastando todo o SP dela inteiro).
E como eu já havia grindado muito no The Journey para chegar no level 99 e ter o Helel com Armagedon (melhor skill do jogo), ficou mais irritante ainda. O Persona 3 FES consegue puxar seu save do Persona 3 para usar no The Journey, mas o The Answer não consegue puxar o save do The Journey estando ambos no P3FES! E claramente fizeram isso só para aumentar a duração do jogo em mais dezenas de horas, sendo que a única função que o The Answer tem é desenvolver direito e explicar o final da estória.
Ou seja, em gameplay, o The Answer já consegue ser decepcionante o bastante, mas pelo menos ele vinga trazendo o final do jogo né? Kkkk não, não vinga. The Answer trás uns furos que tornam o final do The Journey (que já era subdesenvolvido e "subescrito") sem sentido nenhum, falhar no único motivo dele sequer existir, faz dele bem bosta na real. A Yukari sempre esteve certa, e o The Answer só mostra que o Akihiko e o Junpei não contribuem para a tal da mensagem do jogo nenhum um pouco (os caras tão agindo contra seu progresso kkk, o "Stupei" não é surpresa, ele faz isso o jogo inteiro), portanto até a porcaria da mensagem simplória edgy de otaco fica meio sem sentido com a adição do The Answer.
Dito tudo isso sobre o jogo, a Atlus é igual uma EA, Ubisoft ou Konami na comercialização de seus jogos. Ela literalmente lança jogos incompletos, e ao invés de lançar uma atualização de quality of life para corrigir problemas óbvios que com certeza pensaram no desenvolvimento do jogo, ela relança os jogos a preço cheio, e mesmo assim, ainda capados em gameplay/QOL e estória para lançarem outras versões futuramente (na tentativa de justificar a nova compra, para quem obteve o produto anterior). Persona 3 FES trás sim uns quality of life, mas mesmo assim ele é uma aberração nesse quesito. Você paga pelos lançamentos atuais da Atlus e ela literalmente te cobra full price por QOL e DLC! E eles sempre se dão o trabalho de adicionar algumas coisas inúteis nesses relançamentos como algum personagem que apesar de não ser ruim, não acrescenta nada ao enredo (não fazendo diferença nenhuma), enquanto alguma mudança que seria essencial é deixada de lado PROPOSITALMENTE.
Falando sobre coisas que gostei no jogo:
Comparando brevemente com o Persona 4 Golden, o P4G tem as mesmas otaquices e é mais forçado nesse quesito de "amigos feitos pelo caminho" que aqui, mas ele tem todos os quality of life que P3FES não teve. O combate do P3FES é bem mais complexo por ter três tipos de dano físico, fusão de armas, fusion spells, os itens tem real importância, e isso tudo é bem legal mesmo, minhas partes favoritas do jogo. Mas ao mesmo tempo que o P4G é extremamente casual e fácil por não ter nada disso, ele é bem mais divertido por não ter um milhão de coisas agindo contra o combate dele.
No P4G os social links melhoraram os personagens da party com novas skills fortes (incentivando a parte visual novel e a parte RPG de turno do jogo simultaneamente), eles são controláveis no combate, você tem muitos social links no período da noite e nunca fica sem o que fazer na primeira zerada, o clima do P4G interfere em muitas coisas no jogo diferente das fases da lua do P3FES; apesar de tratar de uns temas diferentes, ele é manjado igual, mas ele não se contradiz com furos de roteiro. Só por motivos como esses, ele é bem mais divertido que o P3FES por exemplo, e não é um dos melhores jogos já feitos ou coisa do tipo, é um jogo comum feito para ser divertido como qualquer outro.
A trilha sonora tem músicas excelentes, mas não no Tartarus (fica aquela mesma música com remixes diferentes, mas nas batalhas é legal. Você pode mudar a música do Tartarus, tem umas outras quatro, a track 3 é a melhor dentre elas). Porém no geral é bem repetitiva, se prepara para passar mais de 150 horas ouvindo as mesmas 4 músicas.
A arte do jogo é excelente também, as cenas em anime não são lá essas coisas, mas são ok. Eu dei uma olhada na arte dos personagens no remake (P3R), e prefiro mil vezes a desse aqui.
CONCLUSÃO:
Persona 3 FES é um dos jogos mais superestimados que conheço, nesse quesito deve perder para poucos como Hollow Knight e The Last of Us. É um jogo ok e nada além disso, a única coisa que me prende mesmo nele é o combate de Megami Tensei que eu gosto demais, mas se for por isso, o Digital Devil Saga que é bem fraco, é melhor que o Persona 3 FES em quase tudo (DDS1 é outro jogo bem superestimado inclusive).
Gostei da Mitsuru, foi o melhor personagem (ela e a Yukari foram alguns dos personagens que prestaram). Notinha? 5,5/10.
É recheado de ideias boas com péssimas execuções, o jogo é desnecessariamente longo para caramba (demorei 162 horas para zerar), o sistema de combate notório nas abas de review é terrível por você não poder controlar os membros da party (você pode dar certos comandos para fazerem determinadas ações, mas a AI deles é burra, uma de suas maiores dificuldades nas boss fights vai ser não poder usar a skill que quiser deles. Algumas vezes eles simplesmente passam o turno independente do comando! E é pior ainda no The Answer), a estória é arrastada demais, os personagens são bem fracos em sua maioria, a mensagem que o jogo passa e enredo são nada mais que aquelas porcarias de desenhos japoneses do tipo "os amigos que fazemos pelo caminho".
O sistema de Social link é uma ideia legal e interessante, mas não interfere em nada na estória e se torna mais uma barreira para ter alguns monstros fortes como Helel, do que algo para desenvolver mais os personagens (o fato de não ter social links para nenhum membro do main cast de personagens homens, mostra que o desenvolvimento de personagens é totalmente alheio a isso). Inclusive, diferente do P4G, os social links do P3/P3FES não têm dublagem, o que desanima bastante.
Ao mesmo tempo que o jogo quer fazer o tipo de estória onde amizade é uma das melhores coisas da vida, e parte da mensagem do jogo é relacionada a isso, os personagens não são convincentes nenhum pouco, já que tem uns fdp como o Junpei, que fica com invejinha de você o jogo todo por ser o protagonista do anime, mas quando está de frente contigo te chama de "irmão" (e fica agindo igual um crianção narcisista o jogo todo. Ele por exemplo se recusa a te ajudar por estar com medo do boss que você enfrentou para salvar a pele dele, tu se lascar é de boa, importante são as emoções do bonito. Pra quê inimigos com um "irmão" desses?*). O Akihiko não é muito diferente por conta do the answer (epílogo adicionado nessa versão), mas sem spoilers aqui.
A parada da "mensagem" do jogo (
É como se tudo fosse mal pensado e subdesenvolvido, em dois meses [tempo do jogo] você já maximizou os stats sociais do personagem e fica sem nada para fazer durante a noite porquê só tem dois social links nesse período do dia. Há meses do jogo que além de derrotar uma das 12 shadows tranquilamente, não acontece mais nada, nenhum avanço na estória e o tartarus é repetitivo demais para você notar diferença, e isso é algo frequente. Facilmente poderia ter menos da metade do tempo, eu sei que RPGs são grandes, mas isso aqui só é enrolado pra caramba (e em um relançamento! Podiam ter corrigido isso como todos os outros pontos citados, mas há coisas que nem no remake se deram o trabalho pelo visto).
Sobre o The Answer/Episode Aigis: é ridículo, é definitivamente um grande motivo para não gostar do jogo (ou o contribuinte disso junto com tudo já dito). The Answer é um epilogo do jogo, já que o jogo original termina do nada num cliffhanger sem explicar o que ocorreu nos momentos finais, fazendo com que a priori fique meio sem sentido (tu joga um jogo de 120 horas para os caras não trabalharem bem o final? Paia). Então ao terminar o The Journey, tu fica com sensação de que necessitava de algo do tipo (
The Answer piora muito a gameplay, retirando mecânicas como o próprio compendium, fusão de armas, usar armas diferentes, não há social link nenhum (como se trata de um epílogo, isso até faz sentido, mas poderiam ter posto um social link que upa automático na Metis, como é o do Pharos no The Journey), e poderia ter só duas horas de duração, mas o jogo põe um monte de encheção nas dungeons, e um grinding obrigatório que faz com que o the answer seja em torno de 30 horas para zerar (
E como eu já havia grindado muito no The Journey para chegar no level 99 e ter o Helel com Armagedon (melhor skill do jogo), ficou mais irritante ainda. O Persona 3 FES consegue puxar seu save do Persona 3 para usar no The Journey, mas o The Answer não consegue puxar o save do The Journey estando ambos no P3FES! E claramente fizeram isso só para aumentar a duração do jogo em mais dezenas de horas, sendo que a única função que o The Answer tem é desenvolver direito e explicar o final da estória.
Ou seja, em gameplay, o The Answer já consegue ser decepcionante o bastante, mas pelo menos ele vinga trazendo o final do jogo né? Kkkk não, não vinga. The Answer trás uns furos que tornam o final do The Journey (que já era subdesenvolvido e "subescrito") sem sentido nenhum, falhar no único motivo dele sequer existir, faz dele bem bosta na real. A Yukari sempre esteve certa, e o The Answer só mostra que o Akihiko e o Junpei não contribuem para a tal da mensagem do jogo nenhum um pouco (
Dito tudo isso sobre o jogo, a Atlus é igual uma EA, Ubisoft ou Konami na comercialização de seus jogos. Ela literalmente lança jogos incompletos, e ao invés de lançar uma atualização de quality of life para corrigir problemas óbvios que com certeza pensaram no desenvolvimento do jogo, ela relança os jogos a preço cheio, e mesmo assim, ainda capados em gameplay/QOL e estória para lançarem outras versões futuramente (na tentativa de justificar a nova compra, para quem obteve o produto anterior). Persona 3 FES trás sim uns quality of life, mas mesmo assim ele é uma aberração nesse quesito. Você paga pelos lançamentos atuais da Atlus e ela literalmente te cobra full price por QOL e DLC! E eles sempre se dão o trabalho de adicionar algumas coisas inúteis nesses relançamentos como algum personagem que apesar de não ser ruim, não acrescenta nada ao enredo (não fazendo diferença nenhuma), enquanto alguma mudança que seria essencial é deixada de lado PROPOSITALMENTE.
Falando sobre coisas que gostei no jogo:
Comparando brevemente com o Persona 4 Golden, o P4G tem as mesmas otaquices e é mais forçado nesse quesito de "amigos feitos pelo caminho" que aqui, mas ele tem todos os quality of life que P3FES não teve. O combate do P3FES é bem mais complexo por ter três tipos de dano físico, fusão de armas, fusion spells, os itens tem real importância, e isso tudo é bem legal mesmo, minhas partes favoritas do jogo. Mas ao mesmo tempo que o P4G é extremamente casual e fácil por não ter nada disso, ele é bem mais divertido por não ter um milhão de coisas agindo contra o combate dele.
No P4G os social links melhoraram os personagens da party com novas skills fortes (incentivando a parte visual novel e a parte RPG de turno do jogo simultaneamente), eles são controláveis no combate, você tem muitos social links no período da noite e nunca fica sem o que fazer na primeira zerada, o clima do P4G interfere em muitas coisas no jogo diferente das fases da lua do P3FES; apesar de tratar de uns temas diferentes, ele é manjado igual, mas ele não se contradiz com furos de roteiro. Só por motivos como esses, ele é bem mais divertido que o P3FES por exemplo, e não é um dos melhores jogos já feitos ou coisa do tipo, é um jogo comum feito para ser divertido como qualquer outro.
A trilha sonora tem músicas excelentes, mas não no Tartarus (
A arte do jogo é excelente também, as cenas em anime não são lá essas coisas, mas são ok. Eu dei uma olhada na arte dos personagens no remake (P3R), e prefiro mil vezes a desse aqui.
CONCLUSÃO:
Persona 3 FES é um dos jogos mais superestimados que conheço, nesse quesito deve perder para poucos como Hollow Knight e The Last of Us. É um jogo ok e nada além disso, a única coisa que me prende mesmo nele é o combate de Megami Tensei que eu gosto demais, mas se for por isso, o Digital Devil Saga que é bem fraco, é melhor que o Persona 3 FES em quase tudo (
Gostei da Mitsuru, foi o melhor personagem (ela e a Yukari foram alguns dos personagens que prestaram). Notinha? 5,5/10.
This was a major upgrade from the original Persona 3, I loved the answer and made me love Aigis even more
Overall a good game but could be a LOT better
These are some of the reasons why i have a very slight dislike for this game
-Tartarus is a pain in the ass and a very lazy dungeon design in my opinion not to mention horribly tedious
-Main cast feels flat at times mostly due to how the story is directed, not bad but could be better
-The lack of party control sucks (this is already known by everyone)
-The fatigue system feels unnecessary
-Annoying save system
Even though of these flaws i still believe it was a game worth playing with a great story and a beautiful message which i enjoyed for the most of it.
Overrated but not a bad game
These are some of the reasons why i have a very slight dislike for this game
-Tartarus is a pain in the ass and a very lazy dungeon design in my opinion not to mention horribly tedious
-Main cast feels flat at times mostly due to how the story is directed, not bad but could be better
-The lack of party control sucks (this is already known by everyone)
-The fatigue system feels unnecessary
-Annoying save system
Even though of these flaws i still believe it was a game worth playing with a great story and a beautiful message which i enjoyed for the most of it.
Overrated but not a bad game
It's just the original but better in LITERALLY every way
My biggest mistake was probably playing this game last. Just about everything felt underdeveloped and underwritten. The positives I read about this game feel like a product of Stockholm Syndrome. The appriser exposition dump towards the last quarter of the game is some of the worst writing I've seen in a jrpg. I felt like I was reading a CliffNotes synopsis of a different game the entire time I was playing. Turns out that game came out 17 years later.
This one is a masterpiece in atmosphere, characters and themes, all of it combines so perfectly for a unique life changing experience and really its only problem its that the only dungeon where you will be hours grinding its mind numbing boring
This review contains spoilers
Didn't know depression was this good!
But seriously, this is the most gut wrenching game I've played. Shinji's, Chidori's and Makoto's deaths are just horrible...
The way Aigis deals with Makoto dying is... oof...
Also this game has the best soundtrack in my opinion, even more if we count P3P and P3R (Memories of You always gets me in the feels)
But seriously, this is the most gut wrenching game I've played. Shinji's, Chidori's and Makoto's deaths are just horrible...
The way Aigis deals with Makoto dying is... oof...
Also this game has the best soundtrack in my opinion, even more if we count P3P and P3R (Memories of You always gets me in the feels)
This Game Helped Me Out During A Rough Time In My Life, Tysm
La mejor historia y personajes que ha tenido la saga persona hasta ahora.Los personajes se sienten reales, y no como esterotipos como se llegan a sentir a veces en los juegos mas nuevos de la saga. No existe un personaje olvidable del grupo principal,todos son importantes. Incluso algunos de los Social Links secundarios son de los mas recordables de toda la saga. El jefe final es uno de mis jefes favoritos en un RPG,y el final de este juego es de los pocos que me han hecho llorar. Pero es que no solo la historia es buena.La banda sonora es increíble, una de mis favoritas de todos los tiempos. A veces me da por escucharme alguna cancion y me acabo escuchando la banda sonora entera,no me canso. Para un juego de PS2, el diseño de interfaces y los sprites de los personajes son muy bonitos, y tienen mucha personalidad. El loop del gameplay en tartarus tambien es super entretenido, y el numero de personas que se pueden obtener y fusionar es enorme.
Obviamente tiene problemas,es un juego de play 2. El no poder controlar a los personajes directamente no es un problema enorme porque con el sistema de tacticas se pueden controlar mas o menos,y hasta un punto es divertido,pero no es para todo el mundo. Y es un juego largo de cojones con secciones que acaban siendo muy lentas sin nada que hacer. Y hay alguna spike de dificultad que manda cojones(La puta mesa!!!).
Pero con todo y con eso,es de mis juegos favoritos de todos los tiempos,y tengo muchas ganas de jugar a su remake (cuando baje un poco de precio tho). Si te gustan los JRPG ,hazte un favor y juega Persona 3.
Obviamente tiene problemas,es un juego de play 2. El no poder controlar a los personajes directamente no es un problema enorme porque con el sistema de tacticas se pueden controlar mas o menos,y hasta un punto es divertido,pero no es para todo el mundo. Y es un juego largo de cojones con secciones que acaban siendo muy lentas sin nada que hacer. Y hay alguna spike de dificultad que manda cojones(La puta mesa!!!).
Pero con todo y con eso,es de mis juegos favoritos de todos los tiempos,y tengo muchas ganas de jugar a su remake (cuando baje un poco de precio tho). Si te gustan los JRPG ,hazte un favor y juega Persona 3.
Tactics were a great idea honestly, I know that's controversial but yeah. Second half is one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had, first half is still amazing but a few eh moments. I recommend this to any teen.
This review contains spoilers
(Major spoilers for both The Journey and The Answer, and minor spoilers about changes in Portable and Reload)
After going through reload and femc in portable earlier this year I replayed just finished replaying the journey (the main story) in FES and the answer, this is still the best version hands down lol. With the anime cutscenes and the original in-game experience for cutscenes I think this game still has the best presentation for it's story, portables vn take is interesting but inferior and reload I just feel falls flat capturing the energy and tone of the original in it's cutscenes. Something I didn't realize until replaying the journey is that portable and reload share an altered script that's mostly minor dialogue changes, but they all end up adding up and feeling weirder in a lot of segments with some characters feeling like they act a little off in segments of the game or some parts just being flat out omitted. Some big examples, like Junpei opening up about his dad in the 12/10 scene where he lashes out is completely omitted from those scripts for some reason. After playing through all of them I think the original script is superior and it's kind of weird to me the portable one ended up becoming the "standard" one. There's bits and pieces of extra content in both of those versions I appreciate that add a little to the game but I think as a whole experience FES really trumps both of them, and I feel like those pieces only really work as a replayer. Also the soundtrack is still super goated, there's a few songs that get spammed to the point it's a little grating though, like the suspense theme that plays in any serious scene and cutscenes probably could have benefit from using those songs less. Also, a problem I think is present in every version in terms of the story is the game has odd pacing, and although you do get story stuff from the start it's very spread out and doesn't really pick up super crazy until you're pretty far in the game, I've always found it pretty hard to recommend playing in general as a result due to the start being kind of slow, but I still really like this game alot because the payoff in it's final arcs is honestly really still amazing, the game really picks up around October and alot of the main characters get super interesting arcs, Aigis is probably one of my favorite characters in the entire series and the stuff with Shinjiro/Ken is amazing still.
Most of the things about this game (primarily the AI party members) are not as annoying or hard to utilize as people often present them, and I honestly don't think the game is that hard (I've seen it called hard in a way that is often a complaint) having replayed it on hard mode although there is a decent challenge early on, I don't think it's anything super crazy to get through and the game is cheese-able in a solid amount of fights with the knockdown system. It's definitely more flawed than some of the games that come after it in a lot of it's systems with things like how social link reverses work and getting the skills you want on a Persona during fusion being rng but I think it's still a lot of fun in a way that feels really unique from other persona games, a lot of what gets perceived as flawed I feel like is just because it's different having played it.
And this is the part where I talk about The Answer. It's the first time I've ever completed it and it took me about 15 hours, I genuinely think it's a really underrated segment of the game after playing it. I don't think it's perfect and the start is pretty rocky with the setup for the situation feeling a bit janky at times, but I really like how it expands on the themes of the basegame and how it ends up exploring the characters reactions and feelings on the protagonists death, it ends up adding a lot of extra layer to them and although Ik the fact some of them (mainly Yukari) end up acting in a way that could be seen as irrational has been really hated or seen as out of character by people I think it builds into a really interesting conflict near the end with all of it feeling like a super real response of grief, it didn't feel like the cast moving backward to me but learning how to move forward, I feel like if it was written in a way where they were just completely OK after that ending it would make less sense. The resolution is super nice too and I'm glad I finally played it, I think it's a really overlooked segment of the game and I hope more people experience it with the upcoming reload version even if it's not like perfect. Metis ends up being a really cool character too IMO, basically being Shadow Aigis with a really cool design. I can see why people don't like it or overlook it, I think the basegame works on it's own but it was a super nice addition to the story for me and I think more people should give it a fair shake.
Gameplay wise it poses more of a challenge than the basegame and some fights require some good strategy, but I think the shorter length of the game and being handed special fusions pretty easily actually makes alot of it pretty simple to get through, IDK if it was just me but level-ups felt crazy fast too and I ended up just fusing Odin again into super cheese, only a few bosses really gave me trouble by the end and even then I didn't have to go back and grind to beat them, it just took a couple of tries. The final boss was also a pretty disappointing health sponge so IDK, I don't think it's quite as hard as people say but there are some good challenges in it.
Not sure what else to put here for now, I might revise this later since this is kind of just a lot of collected thoughts but I still think this is easily the definitive version of the game.
After going through reload and femc in portable earlier this year I replayed just finished replaying the journey (the main story) in FES and the answer, this is still the best version hands down lol. With the anime cutscenes and the original in-game experience for cutscenes I think this game still has the best presentation for it's story, portables vn take is interesting but inferior and reload I just feel falls flat capturing the energy and tone of the original in it's cutscenes. Something I didn't realize until replaying the journey is that portable and reload share an altered script that's mostly minor dialogue changes, but they all end up adding up and feeling weirder in a lot of segments with some characters feeling like they act a little off in segments of the game or some parts just being flat out omitted. Some big examples, like Junpei opening up about his dad in the 12/10 scene where he lashes out is completely omitted from those scripts for some reason. After playing through all of them I think the original script is superior and it's kind of weird to me the portable one ended up becoming the "standard" one. There's bits and pieces of extra content in both of those versions I appreciate that add a little to the game but I think as a whole experience FES really trumps both of them, and I feel like those pieces only really work as a replayer. Also the soundtrack is still super goated, there's a few songs that get spammed to the point it's a little grating though, like the suspense theme that plays in any serious scene and cutscenes probably could have benefit from using those songs less. Also, a problem I think is present in every version in terms of the story is the game has odd pacing, and although you do get story stuff from the start it's very spread out and doesn't really pick up super crazy until you're pretty far in the game, I've always found it pretty hard to recommend playing in general as a result due to the start being kind of slow, but I still really like this game alot because the payoff in it's final arcs is honestly really still amazing, the game really picks up around October and alot of the main characters get super interesting arcs, Aigis is probably one of my favorite characters in the entire series and the stuff with Shinjiro/Ken is amazing still.
Most of the things about this game (primarily the AI party members) are not as annoying or hard to utilize as people often present them, and I honestly don't think the game is that hard (I've seen it called hard in a way that is often a complaint) having replayed it on hard mode although there is a decent challenge early on, I don't think it's anything super crazy to get through and the game is cheese-able in a solid amount of fights with the knockdown system. It's definitely more flawed than some of the games that come after it in a lot of it's systems with things like how social link reverses work and getting the skills you want on a Persona during fusion being rng but I think it's still a lot of fun in a way that feels really unique from other persona games, a lot of what gets perceived as flawed I feel like is just because it's different having played it.
And this is the part where I talk about The Answer. It's the first time I've ever completed it and it took me about 15 hours, I genuinely think it's a really underrated segment of the game after playing it. I don't think it's perfect and the start is pretty rocky with the setup for the situation feeling a bit janky at times, but I really like how it expands on the themes of the basegame and how it ends up exploring the characters reactions and feelings on the protagonists death, it ends up adding a lot of extra layer to them and although Ik the fact some of them (mainly Yukari) end up acting in a way that could be seen as irrational has been really hated or seen as out of character by people I think it builds into a really interesting conflict near the end with all of it feeling like a super real response of grief, it didn't feel like the cast moving backward to me but learning how to move forward, I feel like if it was written in a way where they were just completely OK after that ending it would make less sense. The resolution is super nice too and I'm glad I finally played it, I think it's a really overlooked segment of the game and I hope more people experience it with the upcoming reload version even if it's not like perfect. Metis ends up being a really cool character too IMO, basically being Shadow Aigis with a really cool design. I can see why people don't like it or overlook it, I think the basegame works on it's own but it was a super nice addition to the story for me and I think more people should give it a fair shake.
Gameplay wise it poses more of a challenge than the basegame and some fights require some good strategy, but I think the shorter length of the game and being handed special fusions pretty easily actually makes alot of it pretty simple to get through, IDK if it was just me but level-ups felt crazy fast too and I ended up just fusing Odin again into super cheese, only a few bosses really gave me trouble by the end and even then I didn't have to go back and grind to beat them, it just took a couple of tries. The final boss was also a pretty disappointing health sponge so IDK, I don't think it's quite as hard as people say but there are some good challenges in it.
Not sure what else to put here for now, I might revise this later since this is kind of just a lot of collected thoughts but I still think this is easily the definitive version of the game.
played this on aether sx2 on my old phone and damn i swear the combat being so ass is so real, the fact that u cant control your teammates is a big downside of the battle and the game in general, the battle ai sucks so much, aside from the battle i really have no complaints.
This game has been such a roller coaster of emotions, i love the cast so much, the confidants tho being a bit bland and the dialogues being less despite that they are so good especially the sun confidant and aegis. hours of grinding and spending time in the velvet room fusing persona, i had like 86% fo the compendium completed.
makoto is my favorite persona protagonist now which ain't that surprising, The ending hits so hard even though i was spoiled and knew what was coming i bawled my eyes out, the moment memories of you played it was evident my tears shall not stop. 3/5 i m gonna remember this date forever and the moment
i just feel so empty inside, 105 hours of grinding, i didn't expect it to take me this long to beat the game but i couldn't stop and be engrossed by it, spending time in the velvet room to just vibing to the music and after January its just sadness.
nonetheless i m gonna play portable soon with the femc and hopefully reload until then 10/10 this is gaming
This game has been such a roller coaster of emotions, i love the cast so much, the confidants tho being a bit bland and the dialogues being less despite that they are so good especially the sun confidant and aegis. hours of grinding and spending time in the velvet room fusing persona, i had like 86% fo the compendium completed.
makoto is my favorite persona protagonist now which ain't that surprising, The ending hits so hard even though i was spoiled and knew what was coming i bawled my eyes out, the moment memories of you played it was evident my tears shall not stop. 3/5 i m gonna remember this date forever and the moment
i just feel so empty inside, 105 hours of grinding, i didn't expect it to take me this long to beat the game but i couldn't stop and be engrossed by it, spending time in the velvet room to just vibing to the music and after January its just sadness.
nonetheless i m gonna play portable soon with the femc and hopefully reload until then 10/10 this is gaming
Wish I experienced this game earlier. Beautiful.
my favourite game of all time, it's a janky ass game but i still love and appreciate it.
got to september and i am not strong enough for this unfortunately..
Burn Madrid
This game isn't that great but I appreciate it immensly, big reason I got into JRPGs
They actually added too much toaster with The Answer
This review contains spoilers
um, nurse? we have a category 6 meltdown over here. 😭
i have had a quite the history with Persona 3 and its scattered forms (multiple starts and stops for FES, a short lived attempt at Portable before wanting to avoid the VN presentation for my first go, and more) so it feels quite strange to have actually seen it through. i'm sure some of my distaste for the other Persona games i've played (much moreso for 4 than 5) wasn't helping anything with me getting around to this but i'm glad it finally happened. this exceeded my (admittedly low) expectations and then some.
this is a massive beast of a game size wise so i'm going to be a bit scattershot in talking about a few things that stuck out to me in a significant way and leave it be.
probably the strongest element of the whole thing was the presentation as a full package. visuals across the board are an absolute feast whether it's in the mundane of day to day life, the persona and shadow designs, or the FMVs themselves (have i already mentioned that i'm glad i played this for my first P3 experience? it can be said again.) beyond this, the music is an absolute stunner. the game snatching my ass with multiple daily life song swaps makes the prevalence of Your Affection and Beneath the Mask (i like the latter but P5 is a long ass game for just the one track) a massive drag in hindsight. the sound and vibe tackled across the soundtrack aligns the most with my general taste so it's probably my favorite of the modern Persona trilogy in that regard.
elsewhere i found myself particularly impressed with the cast (both SEES and elsewhere) and social links almost universally. i cannot stress enough how much of a difference it makes that your dormmates feel like actual people with their own lives/things going on without centering themselves on you/the mc. scenes developing the characters by themselves or with each other away from the mc were among the best moments in the game. things like that either would've been shifted to include the mc or have not happened at all as most party member development is stuffed into the s links in 4/5.
the social links had a surprisingly solid batting average as well. kenji is a dumbass so his social link was a slog and the Hermit was a Mess (a bit of a gag but still) yet everything else ranged from passable to great. the Sun and Hierophant in particular were wonderful and my favorites across the series, i think?
before wrapping this up i'll mention the sense of intent behind most of game's design. things like the fatigue system, SEES members having their own availability, uncontrollable party members (the tactics system is fine, please spend 5 seconds playing around with it 💀), and even Tartarus itself might seem irritating in a vacuum or other experience but as it is here it gives the game such a sense of cohesion and personality. i 100% believe that all of these elements worked in the service of the story that the game told and made it hit all that much harder in the end.
not sure what else to really say, i could ramble on more but this is already disorganized and i think i've communicated how special this was to me in a sufficient fashion. never in a million years would i have expected to like a modern Persona game this much but i'm glad that i did. Portable and Reload are potential someday things but not for a very long time, The Answer is probably a full on pass because the dungeon crawling seems to be extremely difficult and i don't think this needs following up on in that way. or at least not how The Answer seems to go about it.
i have had a quite the history with Persona 3 and its scattered forms (multiple starts and stops for FES, a short lived attempt at Portable before wanting to avoid the VN presentation for my first go, and more) so it feels quite strange to have actually seen it through. i'm sure some of my distaste for the other Persona games i've played (much moreso for 4 than 5) wasn't helping anything with me getting around to this but i'm glad it finally happened. this exceeded my (admittedly low) expectations and then some.
this is a massive beast of a game size wise so i'm going to be a bit scattershot in talking about a few things that stuck out to me in a significant way and leave it be.
probably the strongest element of the whole thing was the presentation as a full package. visuals across the board are an absolute feast whether it's in the mundane of day to day life, the persona and shadow designs, or the FMVs themselves (have i already mentioned that i'm glad i played this for my first P3 experience? it can be said again.) beyond this, the music is an absolute stunner. the game snatching my ass with multiple daily life song swaps makes the prevalence of Your Affection and Beneath the Mask (i like the latter but P5 is a long ass game for just the one track) a massive drag in hindsight. the sound and vibe tackled across the soundtrack aligns the most with my general taste so it's probably my favorite of the modern Persona trilogy in that regard.
elsewhere i found myself particularly impressed with the cast (both SEES and elsewhere) and social links almost universally. i cannot stress enough how much of a difference it makes that your dormmates feel like actual people with their own lives/things going on without centering themselves on you/the mc. scenes developing the characters by themselves or with each other away from the mc were among the best moments in the game. things like that either would've been shifted to include the mc or have not happened at all as most party member development is stuffed into the s links in 4/5.
the social links had a surprisingly solid batting average as well. kenji is a dumbass so his social link was a slog and the Hermit was a Mess (a bit of a gag but still) yet everything else ranged from passable to great. the Sun and Hierophant in particular were wonderful and my favorites across the series, i think?
before wrapping this up i'll mention the sense of intent behind most of game's design. things like the fatigue system, SEES members having their own availability, uncontrollable party members (the tactics system is fine, please spend 5 seconds playing around with it 💀), and even Tartarus itself might seem irritating in a vacuum or other experience but as it is here it gives the game such a sense of cohesion and personality. i 100% believe that all of these elements worked in the service of the story that the game told and made it hit all that much harder in the end.
not sure what else to really say, i could ramble on more but this is already disorganized and i think i've communicated how special this was to me in a sufficient fashion. never in a million years would i have expected to like a modern Persona game this much but i'm glad that i did. Portable and Reload are potential someday things but not for a very long time, The Answer is probably a full on pass because the dungeon crawling seems to be extremely difficult and i don't think this needs following up on in that way. or at least not how The Answer seems to go about it.
THIS IS ONLY ABOUT THE ANSWER
I haven't finished it but this is difficult, like i don't know if it's because it's optional content or whatever, but Atlus didn't need to make it this hard. There are enemies absolutely crawling everywhere and if they spot you they come rushing at you with mach 3 speed, and the bosses are difficult, like really fucking difficult. They usually have no weaknesses, have allies that they spawn in all the time, and are just strong as fuck in general. Balancing team took a goddamn vacation with this one.
As for the story, i didn't get very far before i quit but it looks interesting with the time loop and Metis and whatnot. But The Answer (Or maybe even FES as a whole) is just too difficult and punishing for me to be bothered to finish it.
I haven't finished it but this is difficult, like i don't know if it's because it's optional content or whatever, but Atlus didn't need to make it this hard. There are enemies absolutely crawling everywhere and if they spot you they come rushing at you with mach 3 speed, and the bosses are difficult, like really fucking difficult. They usually have no weaknesses, have allies that they spawn in all the time, and are just strong as fuck in general. Balancing team took a goddamn vacation with this one.
As for the story, i didn't get very far before i quit but it looks interesting with the time loop and Metis and whatnot. But The Answer (Or maybe even FES as a whole) is just too difficult and punishing for me to be bothered to finish it.
Your eyes feel heavy…
Nossa, que bagulho edgy, que enredo estranho, que game design defasado até pro gênero... Mas porque eu joguei isso 10 horas direto mesmo???
Meu amigo, descobriram a fórmula da dopamina, e implementaram no jogo. É isso. A ATLUS descobriu como fabricar dopamina, é impossível jogar menos que 5 horas por dia depois que te fisga. (Essa fórmula se repete no 4 e 5 a posteriori).
Meu amigo, descobriram a fórmula da dopamina, e implementaram no jogo. É isso. A ATLUS descobriu como fabricar dopamina, é impossível jogar menos que 5 horas por dia depois que te fisga. (Essa fórmula se repete no 4 e 5 a posteriori).
A game that hits perfectly if you're a high schooler in 2007. Great thematic vision. It may be half a Tokimeki Memorial-style life/dating sim and half a half-baked dungeon crawler RPG, but you know what? It's more than the sum of its parts. It rocks. I love you Persona 3, memento mori
Holy shit why can I not control my allies. Who plays a video game so that you can literally let the game play itself???
Opus décisif de la franchise puisque c'est celui qui a modernisé la formule devenant un licence de plus en plus à part plutôt qu'un simple spin-off de SMT modernisant au passage son système de combat en apportant un système de fusion plus complet que ces grand frère P1&2 et en donnant plus de pertinence à des mécanique de gameplay déjà présent dans les deux premiers persona tel que le système de faiblesse. Étant le premier à proposé cette formule il peut faire un peu vieillot comparé à ses petits frères mais en terme d'écriture, du soins apportés aux traitements des thématiques et les symbolismes il reste à mon humble avis devant.
Story carries the shitty combat system. Also the answer isn't all that, it's just...meh. They could've done better.