Current Date - 3/5
Kimi wo...

Current Date - 1/31
-STORY-
December one of the best months in the game and if you disagree, I'm breaking into your home and will make you experience true discomfort. It's one of the most powerful months for how the major revelations shakes up the entire cast. We see them all at their lowest points once again, showing how not even their newfound resolutions could prepare them for everything. Even though they hit the abyss once again, their resolutions are exactly what helps them find the determination to keep on fighting. The end of the month acts as the culmination of everything SEES has learned thus far. Each one of them uses the lessons they learned throughout their individual journeys to motivate and push Aigis forward, who attains her own resolution in the process. It's a moment that beautifully showcases the sense of unity that SEES has attained. They're now genuine friends who help each other in their time of need.

Nyx is still my favorite antagonist in the series. Most major overarching antagonist in the series act as broad representations of a concept to symbolize the cast's ability to overcome the idea they embody, but Nyx is the only one where this idea is absolutely fully realized. EVERY single aspect of her writing ties back to the inevitable nature of death itself. The mystery surrounding her very being, the fact that she is truly indestructible, the fact that she isn't even inherently malicious, the fear she instills in the cast, and the change she forces them to go through as a result. She maintains such an overwhelming presence throughout the rest of the game and all of this is done without seeing her for 99% of the narrative.

AND THEN JANUARY!!! OMG!!! The change in OST is still something that hits me every single time. And I be grinning hard seeing each member in SEES holding the determination to face Nyx while being aware of their own mortality and making the most of the month they have left. The month just does an amazing job at building up for the game's finale.

On the social link side of things, I did basically every SL I normally do. Only new one I was able to finish was Chihiro and I did Nozomi's for the first time since my first playthrough. Both mid ass SLs lolz. I made Akinari the final SL I finished and man. Still like top 3 SLs in the series for me.

-GAMEPLAY-
Pretty much the same as last entry. I just went crazy lmfao. I fused pretty much every Ultimate Persona I could. Also went to Monads to grind to level 90 for the sake of fusing Minato's Ultimate Persona, Messiah. It may make the final boss a joke, but Messiah's too cool.

Current Date - 12/13
-STORY-
Holy shit, I love Persona 3. November is easily the most dense month in the game, with its major plot twists and multiple resolutions. Starting with Yukari and Mitsuru's, I adore how they work in tandem with one another. This subplot highlights why I absolutely adore resolutions as a narrative concept, which solidifies Yukari's own as one of my favorites. Despite the resolution scenes being key moments, they don't signify the end of a character's arc, merely showcasing a change in their mentality. Yukari's resolution is her not only staying true to her convictions, but learning to take control and see them through. She turns her half hearted goal of avenging her father into one of genuineness after seeing his raw love for her and his devotion to correcting his own mistakes for the sake of preserving life. This motivation allows her to connect with Mitsuru, helping her cope with her grief in a respectful manner, while maintaining brutal honesty. Like I said in an earlier entry, the flow of P3's narrative is so smooth and genuine and its moments like these in the second half of the game, that builds off every single moment from the first, that helps to achieve that human feeling.

ALSO JUNPEIIII, holy shit. Such raw emotional story telling.
Not going to go into the specifics Junpei's arc, but I adore how this one showcases the fact that resolutions aren't even a character reaching their peak. Junpei may have his resolution and the realization that he's now living to preserve someone's efforts, but he's emotionally devastated to the degree where he can barely talk to anyone. It's only through the motivation of SEES and Chidori's belongings that he's able to find the strength to start bettering himself. To me, it's the most grounded resolution in the game for that reason and the sentiment is still something that deeply resonates with me to this day, maintaining Junpei in the top 3 of my favorite Persona characters.

I'm going to comment on the December event next entry, as I'm only in the middle of the month.

-GAMEPLAY-
Yeah, this point in the game marks like.. peak Persona gameplay. P3's balance is crazy broken and as the player, you've been dealing with it for the entirety of the game. But at this point, you now have access to the tools the bosses have been using to shit on you. I typically just fuse Surt and boost his stats to 99 to one shot every boss, but since Game Panic isn't a thing in base 3, I had to start thinking outside the box. And I'm soooooo glad I did. I fused an Arahabiki with Tetrakarn and all auto buffs, Melchizedek with apt pupil, Thor with elec boost, amp, and break, and just a large variety of powerful Personas to compensate for a multitude of situations. I spend a large majority of this session simply fusing and I had the time of my life. The tools P3 gives you are unbalanced, but with how the bosses are designed, it still feels right. Thus achieving a sense of reward that I don't think any other Persona game can replicate.

Current Date - 10/31
-STORY-
OCTOBER FOURTH........... god. What an event. It marks the point where everything Persona 3 has masterfully built up is fully utilized. The cast must face the internal struggles they've bottled up in the first act of the game through the non stop tragedies that occur, starting with Fuuka, Ken, and Akihiko. I fucking adore Akihiko's resolution and how his role within SEES' dynamic subtly shifts. He goes from being the group's hype man, getting them excited for every next mission, to a genuinely supportive figure that plays a huge part in helping the group look to the future after the event. But he also learns how to exercise the right amount of control, never deliberately forcing anyone into a path he believes is correct, merely encourages. And much like his own arc, he hones in on the team's internal conflicts rather than their more physical actions. It showcases why I think P3 has the best usage of arcanas within the context of narrative tropes. Akihiko's role has always reflected that of the Emperor arcana, but now it's in a different light (from reversed to upright) and helps to push the cast dynamic further.

In general, I think this month does an amazing job at setting the scene for each member's arcs. Even though only a handful of characters are the main focus, it alludes to how each of them will deal with grief, which is such a huge part of each of their arcs. Aigis is one of my favorite examples of this, as her overworld dialogue shows her contemplating society's view of death. The apathy shown by the residents of Tatsumi Port Island shakes her up and feeds into her understanding of grief and loss.

-GAMEPLAY-
Not really much to say. October's Full Moon boss is a nice concept, but P3's slow gameplay pacing makes drag. Oh, and I cheesed a trio of Tartarus bosses with charm. That was really funny.

Current Date - 10/3
-STORY-
It's almost time... I basically did two months in one session.

I do think August is my least favorite month in P3. It doesn't really try to juggle much like the other months, which can leave it feeling pretty uninteresting at times. Also the fact that you have no school social links doesn't help. I think the point of the month is just to soften you up for the bullshit that's about to go down and I find it serves its purpose pretty effectively in that regard. It's the point where SEES starts to feel like a genuine group of friends, with how the drama quells and more and more members join, which greatly livens up the dorm.

Also, I really do adore the dorm from a gameplay/story perspective. It's one of the most underappreciated aspects about this game. Both the fact that you can have casual banter with any character and the conversations they have amongst themselves helps in humanizing an already grounded cast.

August's Full Moon mission injects a fuck ton of intrigue into the story again, with how it leads to Chidori's capture. September is basically all about Junpei and Shinjiro, both some of my favorite characters in the game. Junpei's dorky sense of charisma mixed with his empathy towards Chidori literally never fails to bring a smile to my face. Shinjiro plays one of the most important roles in the narrative and I have a newfound appreciation for how he feeds into it after this playthrough. This came about through talking with my friend, (backloggd user ThatMagicalMage), who I am playing the game alongside with. But much like Strega, Shinjiro serves as a complete contrast and foil to every single member within SEES. Where they mask their selfish, half hearted convictions behind the pretense of acting for the sake of what's right, Shinjiro is brutally honest with his own image. He holds himself accountable for his past actions and he doesn't care to admit that his goals are close minded. His overbearing flaws embody his strongest traits as a character and vice versa, to where it's easy to see how he fails himself, but succeeds in seeing his intentions through, which is what ultimately betters the cast. I fucking love that flawed homeless drug addict.

-GAMEPLAY-
FUCK Natural Dancer dawg. And FUCK Sleeping Table. They're both some of the worst bosses in the game and it sucks that you have to face them a month apart. They both love using ailments and instakills, with Natural Dancer spamming charm and Sleeping Table being annoying in its own right, with unnecessarily strong skills like Megido. They're both basically RNG based, with how they can fuck you over in a moment's notice if their AI commands it. There's ultra specific ways to mitigate this, like fighting Dancer alone with a Persona that blocks wind. And in Sleeping Table's case, grinding Yukari's SL to rank 6 to fuse a Persona with Mediarama (which obviously requires foresight). But goddamn, I can't see how anyone play tested these two 😭

Good news is that this is the last outright bullshit boss fights. Everything else is pretty decently manageable. Still having a blast outside of those bosses too, btw. The game only gets more fun with the more options that open up.

Current Date - 8/7
-STORY-
Relatively short session. Only did the military base Full Moon mission. It's pretty alright. SEES and Strega confront one another and the convo they have is really good. It's basically Strega taking a gander and calling bullshit on the idea that SEES is fighting to be rid of the Dark Hour for the sake of justice... and they're right. Most of the members, mainly Junpei, Aki, and Fuuka, use the Dark Hour for their own self-satisfying needs. And Yukari and Mitsuru don't have genuine reasons to fight, aside from their almost begrudging commitments to their fathers. It's all good stuff and it shows that despite Strega basically being a group of jobber, they at least serve a very good purpose from a thematic standpoint, as they fully embrace the joy that comes with being a Persona user. I think the rest of the mission could've used a bit more fleshing out though. There's bits and pieces of the base that are interesting to look into, but it comes down to walking through a straight hallway to fight the boss. It's probably(?) my least favorite Full Moon mission in the game, but there's still some stuff to enjoy.

I finished the Old Couples SL and uughghg man. I love them!!! They're so nice. It's lighthearted in presentation, but hits really well with the heavy topics and depressing undertones. A small thing that I like is how Minato's dialogue feels really empathetic and genuine, and he plays a pretty active part in the storyline in comparison to the other SLs. It does a lot to add to the wholesomeness and makes the relationship feel like a true bond.

-GAMEPLAY-
During most of my P3 playthroughs, I always default to using Akihiko, Aigis, and either Mitsuru or Yukari. My team plan for this run was Aki, Junpei, and Yukari. During the boss, Junpei and Yukari died, but I still had to make it to the stairs. So I put Aigis on my team as a temporary member and was instantly reminded of why I always default to the same fucking team. Buffs, tanky as fuck, raw animations, and ORGIA MODE... they made her too damn fun.

Now I think it's gonna to be Aki, Aigis, Junpei. I'm sorry, Yukari. :-(

Current Date - 7/24
-STORY-
Love Hotel Full Moon mission and Yakushima done. I'd say this wraps up P3's first act, as it gives a temporary conclusion to most member of SEES' arcs.

Love Hotel is a fine mission. It doesn't do much aside from be an enjoyable little story, but I like how it further solidifies Minato as SEES' field leader.

I love Yukari Takeba!! I mentioned in the last entry that in the first act of the game, she's always doing something to push the narrative forward, and this is the biggest example. She calls out Mitsuru for her shady actions and Akihiko for his lack of empathy on the matter, which not only creates this domino effect where each member of the cast gets to come forward with their personal struggles, but also leads to more information about the Dark Hour being revealed.

Also Aigis. She'll just kinda vibe until October, where the build up to her arc begins, but she deserves a mention because she is the greatest.

On the social link side, I'm getting towards finishing the early ones; Hidetoshi, Old Couples, and Kazushi. All very strong SLs. This replay hasn't really done much to change my thoughts, because I've read them like 500 times already, but man, I still love them. All very endearing characters. P3 SLs aren't typically as dramatic as the other modern games, but I still love them for the themes they tackle. For a game as thematically broad as P3, SLs are incredibly integral for communicating its messages on a grounded scale that the main narrative just simply can't hit. So I adore how they all cover the general idea of learning to face an inevitable fact of life in some way.

-GAMEPLAY-
I was scared of fighting Intrepid Knight because his loadout is bullshit (heavy wind, mind charge, strong physical attacks, insta-kills, what the fuck p3 devs), but I bodied him on the first try lol. The first Love Hotel boss can go fuck itself. On my first attempt, it charmed Minato and proceeded to wipe out the entire party. I had some hiccups with the AI towards the end of the session, so that was annoying.

Current Date - 6/18
-STORY-

Rescued Fuuka, woohoo. This is a very strong month, all in all. It really reinforces how shitty of a place Tatsumi Port Island is to live in, despite the glamour. Street gangs, rampant bullying at Gekkoukan, and staff willing to cover up the disappearance of a student for the sake of maintaining good looks. It also reinforces just why I love Yukari. I feel she as a character is the heart of P3's first act as she's constantly pushing the story forward in some way. With here, she's encouraging Junpei and Minato to play a more active part in SEES while questioning the cold nature of Mitsuru's actions. I also just love the fact that despite her reservations about Mitsuru, there's moments where she still tries to connect with her on an emotional level. She's just such a compassionate character, while still feeling incredibly human. My beloved.

I also really love the juniors as a trio (Yukari, Junpei, and Minato). They have this really fun younger sibling dynamic in the team and their banter is fun.

Oh and Fuuka is adorable. I love her bad voice acting.

On the social link side, I finished Kenji. His SL is not good, but holy shit, it's kinda funny. Also started Chihiro, which I have never done in any playthrough.

-GAMEPLAY-

Second full moon mission done means you get Knock Down, which is the most useful command in the game. It shows how beautifully broken P3's One More system is with how you can keep enemies in a perpetual loop. It's great, because it actually requires a good bit of foresight and planning to take full advantage of.

Current Date - 5/27

-STORY-

It genuinely impresses me how I've played this game four times in less than a year and I'm still getting shocked at how well it manages to develop its cast. I'd say this is because it's done in such a natural way, to where major plot beats about the cast are subtly foreshadowed and reinforced long before their arcs really kick into gear.

The first full moon mission is a great example. Junpei's inferiority complex and his one sided feud with the Protagonist is the clear focus, but the other cast members get roles that allude to the rest of their arc as well. Akihiko and Mitsuru reveal their insecurities, where they're both ashamed in their lack of control over the situation, which heavily relates back to their individual arcs. And Yukari is given another reason to trust the Protagonist, as he saves her life, which relates to the stuff she gets during Yakushima. Really small details like that just give the narrative this great sense of flow and completely bypasses the issue the other Modern Persona games run into of feeling far too formulaic and telegraphed in this regard.


-GAMEPLAY-

The second month marks the first time you truly get a feel for P3's gameplay loop. I think it's better than a lot of people give it credit for, but it ultimately is still very flawed and I can see why a lot of people take issue with it. Controllable party is good. It's stimulating, which mitigates the repetitive nature of Tartarus. It's fun to constantly try and take advantage of P3's unique turn system through trying to manipulate and predict different variables. And I fr just love how it pushes the themes of the game, representing SEES' growing bond and the Protagonist coming into his role as the leader.

Change Relic is the first of many brutal boss fights. One thing I hate about P3's balance is that Persona's that counter the boss of that block are several levels above the average. And P3's exp distribution is complete ass, so unless you feel like grinding for a Persona that will be outdated in a month, you gotta fight that mf knowing you can get two shotted at any moment.

Obviously buffs and debuffs carry you to victory. But man, it'd be nice if the exp rate was, like, tripled.

Also good lord, this game is just addicting. I really like Persona's gameplay loop in general, with how it emphasizes constant progression thanks to fusion. And Tartarus being completely free of story makes it so I can sit back and vibe, while listening to other stuff in the background. Love it.


i didn't mean to type this much. i just like talking about persona 3.

Starting this playthrough so I can be funny and say I played all versions of P3.

Last year, I did about four full replays of P3 back to back. Started to get burnt out, so I haven't touched the game in nine months. (I sound like a drug addict describing this)

Almost immediately during this replay, I was instantly reminded of why this is my favorite game ever lolz. This game easily has the strongest opening in the series, with its stunning cutscene direction and how quick to the point it is (in comparison to the modern entries). It also does an amazing job at establishing the game's overarching atmosphere. This underlying sense of mystery and dread that only grows stronger with the more questions answered.

It's also just really dope looking back in the early game and noticing all the subtleties in each character that will later define their arcs. Most notably with Akihiko. I love how his voice actor goes for a portrayal of someone trying to sound cooler than they actually are. He comes off as really forced and it fits sooo well, with how a lot of his arc deals with learning to take life seriously.

Also Yukari my beloved. If you think Yukari is a bitch, I'm stealing something from your home.