Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable Review

The other day I was chatting with a friend who compulsively pre-orders everything Atlus makes.  I told him I was reviewing Persona 3 Portable and was shocked when he told me he had since canceled his pre-order of the game.  “I have already put too much time into it,” he said.  His 100+ hours spent on both Persona 3 and its enhanced spin-off FES proudly reinforced this.

My site certainly caters to and (hopefully) attracts the Persona fan, so I am in a unique situation reviewing Persona 3 Portable: odds are good you have already played either the original title and/or FES, and maybe like my friend you plan to pass over P3P.  Or maybe (also like my friend) you pre-ordered it the moment you could.  My review is tailored to Persona fans; hopefully providing direction as to whether they should try P3P, or like my friend, let it pass.

Story -– The Gender Bender

The game’s flagship feature is the ability to play the game as a new female protagonist, which I did.  Many things remain the same as with the male’s scenario, but many things change as well.

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I will start by saying that there was a time when I harbored a deep hatred for Junpei.  He was annoyingly upbeat, lazy, dumb, perverted and only occasionally funny.  I liked to think we are opposites in every way.  When I learned he was a social link in P3P, I was not happy to say the least.

Then, out of pity perhaps, I sat down and had tea with him at Chagall Cafe.  Moments before drowning myself in my own teacup, I realized that there is more to this lazy jerk than I thought.  He has real thoughts, emotions, hobbies, and interests.  He started taking me to eat desserts at different cafes (Junpei? A desserts connoisseur? Who knew?) as he felt awkward going on his own; he needed to have a girl there as an excuse.  Damn, not only does that pull the heart-strings, it also gives him something he really lacked in the other versions of the game: depth.  I should mention that this was still at a relatively low S-link level, so it’s just a glimpse – it gets deeper and sadder.

The male’s story brought you close to the female supporting characters, but now the female’s story brings you closer to the male supporting characters.  For the first time the whole picture is visible.  The sense of really knowing the characters around me reminded me of the polished product that was Persona 4 — where all supporting characters were social links.  I think adding the female scenario was a successful and creative way to accomplish this — and thankfully, it was done tastefully (i.e., no how-many-bananas-can-you-eat-at-once-in-this-bathtub fanservice).

The most time I dumped into Persona 3 Portable in a single sitting was on the plane ride to and from LA.  In the dark and white noise of a Boeing’s passenger cabin I became a Japanese girl.  Let me explain: for the first time in my gaming career, I was assuming the role of a character in a story that was not male as my SOLE protagonist.  I made all the decisions as the player, and yet some female persona arose in me that was playing it all out.  “I won’t hang out with him, he’s weird,” I would think. “I would rather take a part time job at the cafe than the spa.”Is this what it’s like when girls play games as a male character?  I am not sure, but it felt strange.  If you are a girl who loves Persona games, maybe this strangeness I felt is something you have simply gotten used to, and maybe P3P can make it go away.

System -– After Class

For the most part the battle system is the same great element driven, weakness exploiting system we remember.  Some updates taken from Persona 4 were incorporated to modernize things.

Hands down, the best update is the ability to control your allies in battle.  No longer do you have to hold your breath and hope that the game’s AI will figure out what to do in a jam, because odds are, it won’t.  I found that on normal difficulty I was flying up Tartarus.  Perhaps this is why there is a new higher difficulty added.  I almost wish I had selected that, and would probably encourage veterans to do the same.

Another P4 carryover is the ability to heal while inside Tartarus.  There is no leaf-wielding, bib-wearing fox – in fact I am not really sure HOW you get healed, but something heals you for money.  And the price is right; in fact, it’s almost unbalanced.  I was able to consistently reach the barrier of Tartarus in one day every time it was raised.  The fact that becoming tired doesn’t take effect until the following day makes things even easier.

While it felt really good to get the dungeon crawling out of the way so I could maximize time for my social links and such, I couldn’t help but feel like some of the reality of having to balance a high schooler’s life was gone.  I missed feeling like I had really worn myself out and instead became more aware that this was a game where reality was on hold.

Outside of Tartarus I was happy to see that there are a variety of new ways to sculpt your high schooler’s stats.  By stats I mean academics, courage, bravery, and charm.  Now you can play arcade games, take purikura, go to a healthy spa, and even get a part-time job.  All of which either increase your stats, wealth, your persona’s stats, or change your status to “great.”  The area surrounding the dorm feels much more real now that there are so many places to go and more decisions to make.

Presentation — Pink Orb

Another big change with this port concerns the game’s basic interface when exploring.  Maps and character sprites are simplified to an almost flat 2D look, and your character moves around as an orb interacting with whatever you select.  At first I wasn’t crazy about this system. To me it screamed “look at what the PSP can’t do.” But the sprites are actually really cute, and the ease of getting around really saves time. I should mention that the press-square-go-where-you-want feature from Persona 4 is in place to accent this.  This is a great example of art direction and functionality bro-fisting.

The game also received an updated score from composer Shoji Meguro.  There are about ten new tracks, all keeping in the Persona 3 style with poppy beats and nonsensical lyrics.  Since the game is for PSP, it was easier to enjoy these tracks with headphones, which I recommend!  Somehow the songs feel different and yet like they were there the whole time.  Ultimately they are a nice way to keep the game feeling fresh.  On a side note, my favorite of the new songs is Way of Life — give it a listen!

Conclusions — Soul Phase

Today’s release of Persona 3 Portable marks the third revisiting of Persona 3 since it was released in 2007.  The original was an incredible, award-winning game.  Sometimes building on incredible things lessens the value of said original thing, muddling up what was good.  I can say without a doubt that Persona 3 Portable was altered just enough to make it feel new and yet familiar.  Its new protagonist, new interface, and new features make the gameplay more fun and deepens the already interesting characters. Bringing the whole experience to the PSP makes for a highly addictive portable title, which will easily drain you of 100+ hours if you give it the chance.

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