Atlus Officially Announces English Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES

Well it finally happened, although the information out there is pretty scarce. The game is being released April 22, 2008 in the states, and will be in the form of a 2-disc set. One disc containing the current version of the game, and another containing the new bonus data.

NOTE: I recently received a newsletter from Atlus explaining:

Not only does the new FES content enhance the original game, but the new FES component is actually a game in and of itself, accessible right from the get-go. We think of it as two games on one disc. It is the definitive Persona 3 experience.

We will be releasing the stand-alone version of FES. There was of course the option of just releasing the “Append” disc (which would have required ownership of the original game), but in the end, we didn’t want you to have to own anything else to enjoy the experience

This means that owners of the original Persona 3 have no reason to hold onto their copy. If you still have your copy of Persona 3, now is the time to sell! It will only depreciate in value. If you don’t have a copy, don’t feel too anxious, after Persona 3’s popularity there should be enough copies to go around once it is released. Do make sure to keep your save data, as it will still be loadable. FES will sell for $29.99, a bargain if there ever was one, since Atlus estimates the total playtime to be about 120 hours. It is difficult to find exactly what additions are being made to the game, aside from what I have already mentioned. Here are my findings so far:

• New Difficulty Level: Hard
• New Personas (23 in total)
• New Extra Curricular Activities and Events (Walking Konomaru!)
• New Ending–taking place after original games ending
• New Outfit Selection Option for Protagonist
• New Weapons
• Weapons Synthesizing Option (fuse a material and a Persona together to make a new, more powerful weapon)
• More Elizabeth’s Quests
• New Persona User
  • Metis– “Just as the former S.E.E.S. members are caught up in another mystery, the mysterious Metis appears. Just who is she…?”

It appears that Metis is a large part of the new storyline. For that reason I have been researching her as best I can.??In the video above, Metis appears and attacks the characters from Persona 3 during a training session. In videos on the official Persona 3 FES site, Metis claims that her and Aigis are “sisters”, probably meaning they were constructed for the same purpose:

Shuji Ikutsuki: Anti-Shadow weapons were created ten years ago to combat uncontrollable Shadows. Aigis was the last to be made… and she’s the only one that still remains today.

Looks like Ikutsuki may have been lying. I guess well just have to wait and see.