Persona 3 Portable revolutionizes the RPG genre and the Persona series! You will dedicate several hours into this game!
Genre: RPG
Developer: Atlus
System: Playstation Portable (PSP)
Total Score: 95/100
Value Score: 9.5/10
• Story: 10/10
o Persona 3's storyline is based on a story about a group of individuals named SEES who are trying to destroy these evil beings called Shadows from a tower called Tartarus. You play as a unnamed main character, depending on the gender, you can choose to play as a male or female, depending on who you choose, it can change minor parts of the storyline or how you are called upon in the game. However the main point of the storyline is you join this group slaying shadows, rescuing people, discovering your inner power known as Persona and ultimately go around your everyday life at school and developing relationships with several characters via Social links which in return power up your personas and shape the minor side of the storyline. What ends up beginning as slaying a few shadows ends up becoming more, as the storyline will dwell on between life and death and the ultimate end of life. You will also as a cameo meet a character from the Catherine game also made by Atlus.
• Characters: 10/10
o There are a variety of characters within Persona 3 Portable, for one, you can play as a male or female character and affect the storyline to a certain point. You will also come along with a few characters who end up joining your party which include a Robot, a high school girl who has family problems, a high school boy who is obsessed with females with no other interest, a loyal dog, a little boy who has a past that is linked with two other characters, a thug, a famous boxer, a popular student, and a intelligent shy student. Along with that you can develop character relationships with a whole sort of characters, about 10 or more or so depending on which gender you choose to play as. You along with that a whole army of different enemies both storyline and generic. Alot of the characters who may seem like side characters actually play a major role and will affect your character and your allies throughout the storyline.
• GamePlay: 9/10
o Persona 3 Portable's gameplay is very similar to Persona 3's, as the battle system is still intact similar to the original, however the interface is similar to Persona 4's interface within the battle system. Along with that no longer can you travel by foot instead the game takes the form of a visual novel which is famous in Japan, in the end leading you to a point and click adventure outside of Tartarus. Along with that some of the social links are altered in the female's playthrough while for the male character a new one is added. Creation of personas, doing quests and retrieving items/weapons remains the same as the original game's, the main thing that is retained in the game is the Tartarus dungeon, you still have a dungeon with about over 250 floors still intact, you however can travel along the same way as the original game, however in the 1st floor you have the option to talk to the characters, heal at the clock via Visual novel style.
• Graphics: 9/10
o The graphics in Persona 3 Portable, about 65% of the game's visual is changed to alter the playthrough for the PSP version, about 65% of the game is animated via anime like design rather than in game graphics of the original, the only portion of the game you will see in game graphics is in Tartarus or within the ending scene. This isnt a bad thing as the artwork is simply breathtaking as there are multiple portraits for the characters when they converse with you, however as a fan of the Persona series or a returning fan of Part 3, you will be kind of disappointed to know you are left with a point and click visual novel.
• Sound: 10/10
o There are more voice overs added to this game than in the original which is overall a plus. The game includes an amazing dub voice over, something that is rarely heard of in the West when it comes to anime.
• Music: 10/10
o The music in Persona 3 Portable is simply amazing, you have a wide variety of types of songs such as Orchestra, hip-hop, pop and Jazz. All of the songs from the original game return with an addition of a few new tracks for the female playthrough and a new main theme song which is played in the intro.
• Length: 10/10
o Persona 3 is one of the longest persona games in the series. The game by itself will hook you in for several hours whether it is you are conversing with characters to develop relationships, answering school questions, climbing the Tartarus tower and braving against the shadows or simply creating personas from the Velvet room. It will take you about 50-60 hours to finish the game if you know what you are doing otherwise if this is your first playthrough, more than likely you will be playing for about 60-70 hours especially when you consider grinding and finding items.
• Replay Value: 7/10
o Persona 3 portable offers the ability to save over the data of your game once you are complete, this is for transferring over save files for a new game which you can change to another gender, money and a few other things will be transferred over however dont expect anything drastic like in Chrono Trigger. However the ability to play as a female character or a male character (if you didnt play the game before does add some value to the game's replay) will surely hook you up for another couple of hours.
• Player Value: 10/10
o Overall one of the best RPGs and one of the best games made by Atlus, they've outdone themselves with this game as it has one of the best original storylines, deep character storylines, unique battle system, amazing music and beautiful art visuals. You will surely enjoy this game and spend many hours on it!