Persona 3 Portable REVIEW

This game is a pure gem. I know, what a corny way to start a review.  Thing is, this game is great; I would have to say one of the best games I have ever had the privilege of playing. The game forms a emotional bond with the player that it sunders once you have spent 100+ hours of your life playing it (I spent 101 hours, 53 minutes on my first play-through). Fret not, though. Once you have beaten the game once, you have New Game Plus to twiddle around with. And that isn't even the cool part; you can swap in your male uniform for a  skirt and play as a female in what is said to be an alternate universe from the original P3 story (only difference being that the MC is a female). Woah, there. I haven't even gotten to the amazing story, have I?

 Hah, I have no idea what makes this story so great. Perhaps it is a plethora of things, all executing into one great game for the “M crowd”. Side note, I have no idea really why the ESRB just decided to be weird and rate this game 'M' when CERO rated it 'B', which is for younger teens. But I can sympathize with the ESRB; the game has a dark story that some children and younger teens cannot fully understand.

The game takes place on the man-made island of Iwatodai. You play a Male (or female) transfer student, an orphan, moving to Iwatodai for unknown reasons. The night of your arrival,you notice some creepy things, as  your train arrived late. There are coffins littering the street and a eerily large moon hovering above you. You seem to be the only one out at this hour, a strange thought that you soon dismiss as nothing. Upon your arrival at the Iwatodai dorm room,a strange little boy meets you and asks you to sign a contract (this is where you get to choose your name as well). Then, suddenly, a girl (Yukari Takeba) readily aims a gun at you. A few seconds later, you identify yourself and the lights come back on,the coffins disappear and the moon returns to normal. Your character wants to know what happened, but he is tired from his big move. He soon retires to his room and sleeps. Fast forward a couple of weeks. The Dark Hour is reviled as you have discovered your ultimate potential, Persona. The persona is a reflection of your inner psyche, a Mask, as it is called in the other games of the series. Your team mates only have one, but you can change your Persona all the time, making you special.

The true colors of this JRPG soon shows, as you enter the labyrinth, Tartarus every night. Battles are done beautifully. They are turn-based. You choose your move by selecting an option on the “Battle Wheel”. You can choose to attack, use a skill, change Persona, organize team members, guard or escape. You also have the option to select an enemy and have your support team-mate (Mitsuru or Fuuka) scan them so you can exploit their weakness. Once you have done so, the enemy is knocked down, allowing you to attack again or making it possible for an “All out attack”. Once the battles are over, a little mini-game of sorts ensues where you can choose a minor arcana card (HP restore, exp multiply, a new Persona, or a new weapon. Conversations between people are done in a “Visual Manga” type style, but most are fully voiced by good voice actors. The game is insanely customizable, too, with plenty of costumes! For example, the girls on your team can all be wearing maid outfits or summer bathing suits. The team is vast as well, with team mates like a Dog and a Robot (names withheld; you'll have to play to find out!).

Dungeon Crawling

While there really are no bad things to the game, there were small quirks I noticed. For example, a minor glitch in the game, once Theodore, the male velvet room assistant, said something completely in Japanese to me. I have no idea why this occurred, but I know it doesn't happen anywhere else in the game. The things I wish this game had was the features that Persona 3: FES brought to the table (The Answer) and the fusion spells that Persona 3 on PS2 had (Ex: if you have Alp and Narcissus, together they can preform a Healing spell).

In a brief, one sentence summary of this review, all I have to say is this: If you have the time, money and PSP (or PS Vita) buy this game today! You will not regret it if you love JRPGs and Atlus' SMT series.

NOTE: I have the same review published with GameStop under the name jamon. Yes, we are the same people.