Don't miss out, buy it today!
I am a proud owner of the original Persona and it certainly is a good game, I have never played the second or even seen a copy of it. One thing I feel sure of is that Persona 3 could come to hold the same distinction as these earlier entries into the series. Therefore I decided that I could hesitate no more and made haste to KMart. There they were five copies of FES just waiting to go home in the hands of eager gamers looking to throw down with the RPG of 2007. Completely ignoring the two Wiis in the case (yes TWO!) I asked the girl at the counter to bring the keys on over and pull me out a Persona 3 FES. Apparently she didn't trust me because when I told her that I had to get some pencils she said that she would bring the game to the service desk where I could pick it up. In the end I corrected my error and walked out of KMart for a second time in the same day this time with some treasure. (Incidentally I believe that a Wii was sold before I even left the store, but that's someone else's problem....)
As for the game, it is nothing short of phenomenal. I have logged 11 hours in the last two days, with a marathon quite likely after I finish this. I was hooked from the opening sequence which tantalizes with the image of a gun to the head of a beautiful teenage girl. The game takes you on rails through the first forty-five minutes to an hour, but it's just setting the table for the RPG goodness that you will soon be consuming with all the gust of a 400 pound man in sweats at a buffet. It's not long before you are set free to do as you please with your time away from the school. This is where the game gets so addictive and unique.
You are able to join social clubs and make new friends or you can be a loner and do nothing but go to the arcade and movies. All of these choices have their pros and cons, right now I am the member of two clubs and have three friends besides and it is never easy to choose how I will spend my free time. I actually feel a little guilty if I continually blow off one friend in favor of the others.
All of these friendships are significant because they give you a social link that will give you varying amounts of experience bonuses depending on the strength of the bond you have with whichever friend corresponds to that social link. It make for a highly customizable gameplay experience and one that is sure to get second and third playthroughs.
The combat system is also a strong point. You only take direct control of the main character's actions but are able to give basic commands to your team mates, (Heal/Support, Target Creature, or Act Freely) with another party member giving support (Scan Enemy) from the outside. This system works really well because your party members will actually do pretty well on their own, exploiting a weakness if they can and healing at appropriate times. The main character may change Personas before every round if you choose to, making him incredibly versatile and effective. The there is the best part of combat and one that I have not personally seen before, if you land a critical hit or exploit an enemy weakness you are given another action, this allows you to take out a whole party without giving them a chance to fight back. Also if every enemy is knocked down (which results from crits and hitting weaknesses) the entire party can make an all out attack doing substantial damage to all enemies.
The game looks and sounds great. The graphics are great, the use of color and lighting is just amazing. The music is awesome, very far from the everyday heroic/dramatic RPG composition.
Any flaws? Just two that I can think of and put together they are very minor. The first is that there doesn't seem to be any condition between good and tired, therefore you have to get a feel for how much you can take when you are exploring, this is no big deal and I am already getting a lot better about leaving the tower at the right time. The second is that the game occasionally will advance you through an entire day with no warning or opportunity to save, very minor stuff.
Overall this is a great game that any RPG fan should own, especially for thirty dollars. I don't know for certain that this game will be really hard to find in a couple of years but given the history of the series your best bet is to act now.