i think femc makes up for everything, honestly. i understand if it's not for you because of it, but i don't really spend much time in the overworld anyway.

tartarus is boring, but it made me appreciate mementos in persona 5 a lot. it also got me to experiment more with status effects and support skills other than debilitate. finally grew up and broke from my immature pokemon damage dealing mindset. like, i played persona 5 and then persona 4 before this. 5 was fun combat but i couldn't appreciate it because i was not sold on the story until the very end of the game, and i didn't know what was being improved. 4 was tedious both gameplay and story wise, and i wanted to end it as soon as possible. p3p was where i could take the time (there was so much of it...) to really try out things and see what worked and what didn't with modern persona combat. and being able to have a girl-only party is awesome, i won't lie...

story wise, i think femc's route is one of the strongest in the series. (note: i watched a fes playthrough before playing femc, but i didn't play it myself. i think femc improved the story in most ways, but i could be biased due to not playing fes myself, etc. i think it really stands on its own, though. i do wish we had the answer if only so that i could play the answer on my switch because grinding is not as bad on switch to me!) the vast majority of social links hit for me, and making aigis a romantic interest no matter what was such a good move, and making her insecurities specific to femc being a girl was awesome. it really worked for me. every added male social link also felt good, especially shinji and ryoji, who became much more emotionally impactful in ways that drove home the purpose of the game. while i think it was a dumb decision not to have male team members as social links originally, i wonder if the quality of their writing in femc's route can be a partial result of having the team able to sit with them more and really know their characters better. the non-romantic female social links are a little more mixed; i really liked mitsuru's and it honestly felt like a better version of naoto's link from persona 4, but i think yukari's character does actually lose something when she's not dating the protagonist, although cutting the answer also cuts a lot of the reason why i love her so much, so it's not entirely this game's fault. sorry if i lose my feminist card for that one, yukari is one of my favorite characters in the entire series and i think her journey of being so desperately connected to the protagonist only for him to die in the arms of another woman, to be filled with grief to the point where she would turn against her team, and then to be saved by the love of her friends, specifically mitsuru who she brought back from the brink of despair earlier, and then to form a deeper connection with aigis as well.... sorry, what was i saying? i love yukari so much. and her character is done a disservice by cutting off a lot of this.

anyways, persona evolution being dictated by the story and not the social links is a much better decision than what the other games did, because every character can grow and their growth can be reflected in the story. and the relationships between characters, specifically yukari & mitsuru and fuuka & natsuki really added a lot. it really feels like the characters are real and exist outside of the player, and the characters are what brings this game to another level despite its severe limitations in format.

This is the way I originally played Persona 3. This was my first Persona game. I've been told many times that this version is inferior, inadequate, and unworth anyone's time. I've played p3p at least 4 times and I truly believe it's an experience about as good as FES, not better or worse but suitable for experiencing the masterpiece that is Persona 3, specifically the route with the male protagonist, the FemC has quite a few notable differences that are worth addressing separately. Persona 3 portable does not make alterations to the plot of Persona 3 FES. The themes of death and bonds still make themselves prominent throughout the game as well. No significant narrative value is lost or sacrificed in this port, and with P3 the story and how the game presents it to you is much more its defining quality than the gameplay to me. By narrative I refer to the main story, as well as the social links that contribute to many of the overarching themes seen across all versions of Persona 3 (at the time of writing this). Thus I believe P3P is near 1:1 with FES when it comes to presenting the story to it's players in a way that provokes thought and emotion. I say nearly because I believe there are parts where the portable version falls a bit short in storytelling, such as the absence of many of the overworld animations, cutscenes, and overall flair present in FES. Things such as Elizabeth’s antics in her hangouts are now only described with not even a CG to accompany them, which is basically the standard as far as visual novels go. If you don’t enjoy vn style descriptors like “the boy danced around flailing his arms wildly like a madman with no sense of self” this is a fair detractor from the game, I for one believe there’s charm in such an approach but I also enjoy vn’s in general giving me a decent bias. You cannot directly walk around and control your protagonist in the world outside of Tartarus rather replaced by a cursor and still images. The same places and NPCs are interactable; there is just a loss of some of what grips the player into the world. That's it presentation wise really, but in terms of gameplay as well p3p is very different. Party members are manually controlled, a design choice favored by many but disliked by some others. There is something endearing about the AI control of FES I will admit, some argue it gives more personality to the characters themselves, and contributes to the narrative being told of how such different individuals could learn to work as a team. While I don’t disagree with this exactly I’d say this contribution is minor, and to most players lack of control over party members for the purpose of storytelling, in a game already so excellent at telling its story in many other ways feels like an unnecessary sacrifice at the cost of less fun especially for those who find that gameplay style and the hindrances that come with it tedious. FES is balanced and built around the tactics system but no system is exactly full proof, you don't always get what you're hoping for but you can play around that. However when this happens outside of a player's control it feels discouraging for many who'd rather fail on their own terms rather than doing all they can to skew things the way they want and only get within the ballpark rather than the goal. With that said it's not as if p3p’s gameplay ends up being some major improvement as it still resembles FES quite closely outside of direct commands. Manual control makes the game considerably easier alongside some balance changes, but it still provides a decently challenging experience, not the kind of change that trivializes the game at all. Ultimately gameplay alterations amount to direct control and an easier game, neither of which take away from the experience in my eyes. Now to address the FemC and what she brings to the table. The story is fundamentally the same but most notably there is one stand out alteration that players have to go out of their way to achieve. You are able to prevent Shinjiro's death. In the end this does not affect the story as the characters and events play out much the same but it lessens one of the most significant moments of the game that really serve to drive the theme of "Memento Mori" home. It being optional and not significantly impacting the story is the best you could ask for with this kind of change but it's better off not being implemented at all, as it feels strange to let a character die for the sake of a better story as a player. This leads to this very fanservice-esque kind of storytelling which detracts a lot from many of the significant story beats and character development that hinge on this moment playing out unchanged, most notably Akihiko and Ken's. The FemC also has new social links with all the male party members, including Koromaru, Ryoji, and two new characters Saori Hasegawa and Rio Iwasaki. While this initially sounds great as none of these are links in FES, it's not an addition but a swap with 8 other social links present in the male protagonist route. In my own opinion so long as the new one is of equivalent quality I have no qualms with different social links, however with some of these that is not the case. I believe Rio and Saori are fine on their own with Saori being especially standout and worth being in every version of p3 in my opinion. As far as comparisons go, Rio is a just about equivalent replacement for Kazushi, the original Chariot social link, but Saori and Ms.Toriumi are very different representations of the Hermit that I think each tell extremely compelling stories. I couldn't say one over the other is better or worse which I think is a point towards portable, for having new content of at least the same quality as FES which is what should be expected. Now for the others, the same praises cannot be sung. While you are able to romance every female social link in the male protagonist route, their stories are not written entirely around the idea of romance which is mostly an afterthought near the end of them. Almost all of the Femc's new social links with the men are written entirely around them being attracted to her, Junpei being the exception as he chooses to be just friends, very true to his character and respectful of his relationship with Chidori, a major aspect of his character. Koromaru has a very nice and simple SL which is probably the best you could ask for with the nonverbal dog character. However Ken, Akihiko, and Shinji feel awkward and out of character upon reading their interactions with the female protagonist, especially Akihiko as his character is very romance averse by nature, being one about feeling inadequate and the drive for self improvement, it is discomforting to see Akihiko be fluster awkwardly and become fixated on romance. Ryoji has this problem the least as he's always been written as flirtatious and it weaves into the symbolism of his character in an alright way being the unknowing embodiment of death just trying to make a life for yourself, only to suddenly have what you've tried to create taken away because of what you were born as. It's a tragic romance which helps it a lot. These social links for the most part feel like another instance where Atlus was just trying to write fanservicey options for players opting for the female route instead of focusing on telling an actually good narrative with the new territory they had the opportunity to explore. The boys had never gotten the chance at side stories to be explored in social links so it's a shame to see them be reduced to love interests. As far as swaps go Shinji's social link even with its flaws is pretty much the best improvement across the board contending with the notorious Nozomi, Junpei is a naturally more interesting character than Kenji, Ryoji as well is much more significant to the plot than Keisuke but his character is already very well realized without a social link and cuts away from what (albeit little) Keisuke can offer in my opinion. Ken and Akihiko feel like parodies of themselves that could easily be done without and even though it's somewhat excusable for Ken as he's a child he's still much more than what he gets made out to be in his social link, and both are better off replaced by their originals. Gripes with the FemC route end there, I believe it's fine but with some glaring character flaws that luckily don't end up altering the main story. She brings a couple new songs with her which are all very good, uses a Naginata instead of the typical sword wielded by persona mc's, and even has a different design for Orpheus the main persona of the protagonist. Overall her route feels like a fine idea with some cool stuff but too many unnecessary changes and missed opportunities thrown in. With that, these are my feelings on Persona 3 Portable. Persona 3 itself is a phenomenal game that I didn't really dissect too much as I wanted to more so evaluate how the portable version stands up to the much more revered FES version. I believe Persona 3 Portable is a very loyal port even with its gripes and changes, and I think it does a fine job giving P3 the justice it deserves.

(Major spoilers in the middle of the review both for the original game and FEMC content, if you clicked this you prob know already but just in case)

Initially posted this over halfway through my play-through of the FEMC route and I wanted to write my thoughts down on it, excluding base PS2 P3 this was the only version of P3 The Journey I hadn't beaten before in some capacity but I honestly had a lot of fun playing it.

The FEMC stuff brings a really unique twist and charm to the game, both in simple things like presentation and the few new tracks but also interactions with the cast in general are kind of shifted as a result too. The FEMC-new social links are really cool and the two new characters have really solid links, Saori (FEMC Hermit link) sweeps the originals easily and Rio (FEMC Chariot link) also has a pretty good one, most of these honestly way better than most of the PS2 ones, fleshing out the other party members with full social links is really cool too. There's also some differences in the other links like the female party members when you pick FEMC and some of the dialogue that's presented is more interesting than their initial versions. I honestly really liked the Shinjiro stuff, although I know people are fairly iffy on how completing his S-link affects one of the most major scenes in the game, I think Akihiko still has a really strong development from it although it's presented in a different manner and Shinjiro doesn't really get a happy ending either (he doesn't come up onscreen again except for NG+ after being put into a coma instead of dying, and it's implied even if he does wake up he'll die soon due to the suppressant use anyway), I don't think it is as impactful as the pure shock in the original and the scene with Akihiko after but it's a nice twist on it for people who have already played the original. That being said I think it mostly ends up as nice extra content for people who have already played the game, I don't think the major Shinjiro thing really spits on the game too much or something even if the original is more impactful but after beating it I definitely would only tell someone to go through with FEMC if it wasn't their first time ever playing P3.

From what I've seen too, I'm not sure why you would pick Male MC over FEMC unless this was the only version of the game you're able to play for some reason, most of what keeps this version afloat from being something that would just be a novelty port at this point lies in picking her IMO.


Alot of people have criticized Portable's VN style in cutscenes and such and while I do think it makes a few important scenes delivered a little awkwardly the VN scene/map style really fits a game like this and makes for an interesting experience playing it, the city map is much simpler and faster to navigate than other versions as a result too.


(Long ramble about gameplay stuff)
IMO I prefer the gameplay systems in FES and I don't really like some changes like fusion spells working as cards you get from the antique shop instead of special skills (also making them limited use even if they're easier to acquire in a sense). The battle mechanics are updated to P4's also and I don't really like things like the dizzy system or Ma- skills giving you a one more on a weak hit even if you didn't hit every enemy. I know most people probably prefer things like that not being in the game and the dizzy system is there to prevent cheese strats but I feel like changing them got rid of some of the unique identity in P3's gameplay compared to it's future games, and how being downed worked in P3 was also a double edged sword because both enemies and the party wasted a turn getting back up where as in P3P, if you get knocked down dizzy is usually not much of an actual worry for the party ironically, and you just get back up instantly on the next turn making getting a weakness hit a lot less punishing. Skills like Re Patra are also rendered bordering useless/way more niche as a result of that. Some party members are buffed or have differences in what they learn too, the most notable one is Aigis where Orgia mode is really REALLY good in Portable and although she is computer controlled only during it still both physical and support skills have no cost making her pretty much extremely broken in normal encounters (and bosses if you strategize) and legit almost never running out of SP during long scale grinding, not using HP with phys during it too means she is usually an absolute monster. Stuff like this overall makes the game easier than FES but the earlier chunks can still get challenging at least especially compared to newer Persona games, I just prefer how the PS2 versions work even without direct control (although that's also a nice option to have in this game). For what it's worth I still had a blast playing it but I don't know if I would replay this for gameplay reasons, it depends on if Merciless ends up harder than PS2. (And I know there is also extra postgame content)
To add onto this section after beating the game it definitely gets very possible to get nutty broken after a point (I was also playing on Hardmode for reference). I was pretty much obliterating almost everything by the time I was at Tartarus block 4 and able to beat The Reaper and get to Lvl99 in Monad before even beating the game (although you do have to go more out of your way for those last two things though anyway.) Skill cards I feel like kind of trivialize getting good builds but there is still some effort you have to put into acquiring the really good ones anyway so IDK. Something I wasn't aware of until later in the game also is that even early on you can pick up items from the school (limited sale but 3 are stocked each Saturday in-game) that set you back to Good status from Tired which kind of trivializes that system entirely, I'm pretty sure it's completely impossible to actually get Tired while exploring Tartarus anymore unless a party member is KO'd and you return to the entrance without getting revived. It just seems weird to me they would even keep the system at that rate when it's pretty much next to pointless. Once you hit January you also get an extra dungeon (seperate from Monad) that lets you replay against stronger versions of old bosses and eventually Margaret as a super superboss which sounds like some pretty cool post-game content, I didn't give it too much of a look but that's a really cool addition.

I think pure content wise this is probably what I would consider the definitive version of P3 The Journey ESPECIALLY if you're looking to replay 3, however I think as an initial experience and for the main story (and gameplay-wise as a personal preference) FES clears this out of all the originals. If Atlus waited a few years and this game was on the Vita instead it'd probably be really godly but we're in the PSP timeline so I'd just say it's pretty good, a worthwhile check for more hardcore fans of P3 or just Persona/RPGs in general.

Sidenote: Something about the Memories of You credits roll with crunchy PSP audio hits different, that ending will get me everytime even without a full cutscene behind it