Title: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES
Genre: JRPG
Format: Playstation 2
Release: April 2007 (Japan) April 2008 (North America) October 2008 (Europe)
First of all, this review isn’t going to be in the usual format. It’ll still be a review, but I want to try a different style. The older one felt a bit rigid and I felt rather restricted in what I could say since I had to talk about a particular aspect. This is hard if I don’t have much to say, and it’s the reason I don’t do reviews as often as I thought I would. For an idea of what to expect, read my Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann review.
Starting Out
One day on MSN Messenger, hybridial and I were talking about Shin Megami Tensei, or rather, he was explaining why it’s such a great series. It just so happened that a Shin Megami Tensei (which I will call Megaten from now on) spinoff was going to be released soon. After reading up about it, it seemed rather cool and the first JRPG that made me interested in it. So I picked it up from Play.com.
I got playing as soon as it arrived, feeling oddly giddy. Perhaps it was because it was my first time being so interested in a JRPG, which as a genre has been something I stayed away from due to preferences and Square-Enix whoring themselves out to whatever is popular nowadays. Starting up the disc is awesome on its own. The pop-rap infusions of Persona 3 FES and Burn My Dread greeted me in the opening videos. The music that plays during the “Press Start” screen, Brand New Days ~The Beginning~ is the most beautiful piece of melancholic peaceful happiness (oxymoron, I know) I’ve had the pleasure of listening to. After all that great stuff, I finally got to start the game. I was able to choose between The Journey and The Answer, which is the extra game added onto the original; hence the name FES. Seeing as it was my first time playing this game, I chose The Journey.
Welcome to Gekkoukan High
From the game’s rather lengthy introduction, I instantly gathered that Persona 3 FES is aimed at the anime audience. The cut-scenes are done in an anime style, but not in the typical bug-eyed moe way. Also, the dub still used the Japanese honourifics, which is fine for me. As always I was a silent and very nearly mute main character. I still don’t understand why creators don’t give the VA for a main character in games more lines. You’re not alone, Link. After the usualy character and environment introductions, I was able to get on with some good ol’ battles.
The interesting thing about battles in P3 FES is the way the player can choose to attack or not and the way to attack. To attack an enemy, you just push X. However, attacking from behind gives the player an advantage over the enemy, so the entire team gets an extra turn, which is very handy later on in the game when some battles can get brutal. However, enemies can do this too. If an enemy catches you off guard, you’ll be in for a world of pain. I found it very frustrating to be on the receiving end of suck attacks, especially when the enemies would spam attacks that would Charm my team.
Let’s Climb Tartarus
“Tartarus? What’s that? Sounds like toothpaste!” - Junpei Iori
The main objective of the game is to climb a tower called Tartarus, which is a insanely high tower that appears during the Dark Hour (an hour that exists between two separate days that can only be experienced by a few people), and to defeat the enemies that dwell within the tower and threaten to take over the world, Shadows.
In order to fight them, the team uses their Persona (kind of a physical representation of their soul or inner self). These are called upon by the use of their Evokers. These are instruments that look like handguns, which are used by the user pointing the gun at their own head and pulling the trigger. Quite effective imagery to show the confronting of fears. Also, each person only has one person. Each, except for the main character that is. He has the ability to use multiple Personas. What that means is he can change Persona during the middle of battle, and he can fuse Personas together to create new ones. Be warned, there’s loads. After 70 hours of playing it, I only got about 47% of all the possible Personas to create.
Let’s Be Friends!
A new feature added to the game from the original Persona 3 is the ability to form Social Links. I found this to be quite a fun aspect to the game, and it was refreshing to take a break from battle and just chill. However the main point of Social Links is to increase the power (i.e. give more EXP) of a Persona that has the same Arcana type as the Social Link when it is created by fusion of other Persona. For example, the Emperor Arcana Social Link gives power to any Persona of the Emperor Arcana. A Social Link’s strength (the other person’s feelings towards you) is increased by spending time with them, and this determines how much power is given to a newly fused Persona. Each Social Link has 10 levels. Reaching level 10 allows creation of the most powerful Persona in each Arcana. Essentially, you’re recreating gods from various religions; mostly the Norse religion.
However, not seeing a person will make them start to dislike you, and this will cause the Social Link to go into reverse, which means you can’t level up that Social Link until you make amends. Remember, guys; you can’t cheat on your video game girlfriend anymore! If only making amends in real life was so simple.
At The End
So, after about 70 hours gameplay I finally finished it. Persona 3 is very close to being my most played game, and I’ve only played it once. The only games that can top it are Smash Bros Melee, Mario Kart 64, Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time and Perfect Dark. I’m planning to play it again with some added bonuses, like keeping the level I had at the end of the previous playthrough and some of the weapons.
Anyway, Persona 3 FES is one of my favourite games. Even though I have played JRPGs before, this game is my first introduction into real JRPGs. Regardless, Persona 3 FES is a fine game. Anyone with a PS2 should play it.
I’ll review The Answer, which is another game that’s on the disc, at a later date.
