Shooting yourself in the head has never been so satisfying.
Since its initial release over a decade ago, Persona 3 Portable has long been confined to Sony’s PSP and Vita. Debuting after the original Persona 3 and Persona 3 FES, the portable famously allowed players to choose a female protagonist from the very beginning of the game, leaving Persona 4 and 5 at a distance. P3P is also condensed in terms of movement and exploration, at least outside of the series’ traditional dungeon he crawl, as opposed to having characters physically move from area to area, using cursor and menu-based gameplay. approach is adopted. Arguably, it skews on the long side of his JRPGs, with my recent playthrough clocking in at just over 40 hours of his. This is someone who previously cleared it once on the Vita and played it right away for review purposes. But the upgrades brought to this remaster of P3P help maintain its position as a solid and compelling entry in a series that continues to gain a fanbase.
P3P starts with choosing between a male or female protagonist, and I chose the latter. As a new transfer student, you move into a dormitory with fellow students and they become your friends and party members. Aigis, etc., but overall I found it a bit less engaging than it was in Persona 4 and 5. P3P’s story is a compelling one, and it’s set in the dark hours when the school is a hidden time in the middle of the night. A huge multi-story tower called Tartarus. Tartarus is the game’s main dungeon, and you can return to it periodically to power up your character, acquire new demons (personas), and complete side his quests. Outside the dungeons, you’ll need to defeat one or two of her bosses who roam the city during full moons every few weeks, but you’ll be given plenty of warning about when such events occur. .
Leading your chosen protagonist through the school year by day and navigating Tartarus and the Dark Hour by night is highly addictive. No matter what activity you do, you are always making some progress. Especially when it comes to recent personas, it’s irresistibly happy to see social stats such as academic achievement, character level, S-Link (social link) rank, etc. go up, and there are many options every day in the game, so it’s good to put A very difficult game. I spent much of the early part of the game working in his two shops at the mall building social stats while earning some money to buy better weapons. Higher levels of Bravery and Charm will give you access to a variety of his S-Links, allowing you to unlock more Sides of his story and his beats, making your fusion persona more effective. I made it.
Tartarus itself has over 250 floors, and the floors themselves are randomly generated. The floor is divided into his six blocks, each offering its own color palette, but for the most part the dungeon visuals are rather boring and repetitive. Persona 4, and especially Persona 5, greatly improves this problem. Still, the “Press Turn” combat system, where scoring a critical hit or hitting an enemy’s weak point gives you an extra turn, is still fun, and he’s my favorite combat type in turn-based RPGs. is one. Having a balanced team that can attack various enemy weak points, but not allowing your party to be too affected by one element or two is a great combination of climbing the higher floors of the dungeon and allowing your party to wipe out. It can be the difference between watching endlessly being done.
There are definitely some particularly challenging boss fights throughout P3P. Grinding at various points is practically required, but it’s made a little easier with a few customization options added to this remaster. In addition to multiple difficulty levels that can be switched at any time, there are also increased or decreased experience points that can be activated. Frankly, trying to get past the final boss’s gauntlets is quite a daunting task, and you shouldn’t feel guilty about taking full advantage of these features.
Again early on, the lack of mobility and 3D exploration in P3P puts a bit of a damper on the experience. That said, there are some genuinely engaging, heartwarming, and compelling moments over the dozens of hours of the game, and the way you can barely see it all in one playthrough makes a new game. making it even more attractive. From buying items on the home shopping channel on Sundays, to meeting old monks at the club on weekends, to even dating Elizabeth, the character who helps perform demonic fusions and provides most of the game’s side quests. To do, P3P is full of daily tasks that manage to captivate in its repetitive RPG fashion. It doesn’t hurt that the hip-hop and jazz-infused soundtrack is full of certified bangers.
That sequel would improve the formula considerably, but Persona 3 Portable remains a fun but formidable challenge. It packs a good amount of content into its long runtime, and if the mix of school-life simulation and dungeon crawler hits you, there’s little reason not to dive right in. P3P feels pretty dark in tone and theme Worth considering, complete with characters that need to be shot in the head to summon their Persona. For those who first played the game on a PSP or Vita, the visuals and performance are vastly improved over the original version, and you can quickly save your progress at any time. This update doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but with the added quality of life features, there’s no doubt that this is the ideal way to play Persona 3 Portable.
