I Finally Finished Persona 3

Did someone say remake?

Persona 3 (but it’s really Persona 4, cause there were two Persona 2 games, but no one talks about those because Atlus refuses to acknowledge them) is the game that made this series what it is today. The calendar, social mechanics, it all started here.

Which means that none of them are perfect yet. Functional? Yes. But you can definitely tell the formula hasn’t been refined yet.

*Note: there are currently several different versions of Persona 3 available, each providing a vastly different experience. For this review, I played the Steam port of Persona 3 Portable. Though I did play some of P3:FES and the original PS2 version, so I’ll touch on those briefly in due time.

During an hour hidden within the night, shadows run rampant and the dark tower Tartarus reaches towards the heavens. Your character is transferred to a new school dorm, where they’re enlisted in SEES, a group of students armed with the power of Persona with one aim: to defeat the Shadows and end the Dark Hour. But there is more to the Dark Hour than meets the eye.

This is a dark story that tackles some heavy topics. Death, depression, suicide, self-harm, regret, and most importantly: how to live with them. This is a story about healing. It resonated with me much more than I expected it to.

Even if it took its time in doing so.

The first half of this game is kind of a slog. Lot’s of setups and exposition and mysteries, all with the same repetitive objective of ‘kill the twelve bosses’ to drive you along. It’s a slow burn.

But when it finally starts to burn? Hoo boy, does it burn hot! We get some shocking revelations, dramatic twists, and some great character drama! It’s been a hot minute since a game gave me such a satisfying “Aha!” moment at the end of its mysteries.

I appreciate how the characters and their stories aren’t tied solely to their social link quests. Every member of SEES has their own story arc going on completely independent of the protagonist. Even their Personas evolve on their own! This is one of the strongest casts of characters in the series!

Also, the female MC’s route is much more fun than the male’s, fight me.

Visually speaking, you can tell this is a port of a PSP game. The character models are rough, the environments are all PNGs (and not particularly pretty ones at that), and all the animations are simple and kinda stiff. Thank God the remake is happening, because time has not been kind to this one.

The PS2 original and FES versions look a bit better. If nothing else, the anime cutscenes are fully animated. But unless you got your PS2 laying around somewhere, you’ll probably have a hard time getting a hold of them. You could emulate, but at that point, it would be much easier just to play the Steam version.

Although there is one major glaring issue with the PC version: the audio. For some reason, the sound files are busted. It sounds like the characters are talking through a sheet of static. Sometimes it gets so bad that it actually hurts your ears! How am I supposed to jam to the awesome music while my ears are bleeding?!

Watch Atlus finally patch it right before this review goes up…

Finally, we have the game itself. By day, you’re a high school student out to improve themselves and make friends. By night, you’re a monster slayer climbing the many floors of Tartarus. Everything you do takes time, and you only have so much of that until the next major story beat or boss fight.

The social part is pretty simple. Talk to key NPCs around the map, be they your party members or people around the school or town. Not only are you rewarded with that character’s specific side story, you also get an experience bonus when creating Personas aligned with that character’s specific Arcana. But you may need to raise one of your three social stats – knowledge, charisma, and courage – in order to complete, or even begin, these quests.

Combat is simple as well. On your turn, you’ll attack the enemy Shadow. If you hit them with a damage type their vulnerable to (or land a critical hit), they’ll be knocked down. Knock them all down and do big damage. Rinse, repeat, victory. It’s simple and kind of mindless, but fun enough.

Unfortunately, now we have to talk about Tartarus.

You’ll be climbing up Tartarus throughout the game, ascending one floor at a time as the year goes by. Each room is nothing more than a winding corridor filled with Shadows and loot. Which means you’ll be going through the same empty, repetitive levels over two hundred times before the end.

But at least they swap out the pallet every now and again. That’s a good substitute for actual level design, right?

Grinding through Tartarus is the primary reason it took me so long to finish this game. It’s boring, it’s tedious, and it’s extremely repetitive. I’m no stranger to mindless grinding in an RPG, but this was just too much.

Now, you can help expedite the process with your team. Outside of battle, you can order them to split up and search the floor. However, anyone who runs into a Shadow will have to fight it on their own. So proceed carefully.

Especially because the party AI isn’t very good at pathfinding.

As for the actual bosses, they’re pretty lackluster. The main story bosses are all a cakewalk. The Floor Guardians are much harder, but they basically amount to frustrating tests of patience more than game knowledge or skill. Most of the time, it’s just a matter of occasionally using buffs and spamming your strongest attack.

And… that’s pretty much the game. A pretty good visual novel and a so-so RPG. It’s plenty enjoyable, despite its shortcomings, and the story does a ton of heavy lifting.

Here’s hoping the remake succeeds. With a few touches, it could let this classic gem really meet its potential. Even if it doesn’t, this version is still worth playing through at least once just to experience it.

Now, Atlus just needs to release Persona 1 and 2s again so I can say the same about those.