BUUUURN MY DREAD!: Persona 3 Review

Hello kawaii followers! I want you to do me a favor. Watch this video, then watch it again. You may think, hey this sounds weird, but I want you to listen to it again. By the third or forth time, you'll be humming the beat and playing it over and over again. This is none other than the opening to Persona 3, one of the best video games of all time. If you've heard of Persona, you may realize its another game in the Shin Megami Tensei series, a wonderful collection of games that deal with fusing demons, RPG tactics, and dungeon crawling. You may think EWWWW, that sounds like only a neck beard NEET will play it, or that it sounds too hard and obnoxious. Fear not, because the Persona franchise is much, much, more than that. Plus, its as hard as you want it to be, you'll see why in a minute.

I will be reviewing Persona 3 FES: The Journey today. Persona 3 was initially a PS2 game released in late 2006ish. However, a port is available for PS3. I originally downloaded it March of 2013 off of PSN (Playstation Network). I recall getting through the introduction and going into the dungeon once, then I kind of left it alone for months. There really isn't a good reason why. I think I was distracted by Attack on Titan... lol. Anyhoo, my boyfriend wanted Persona 3, so I got him it for Christmas. After we played it together, I was like DAMN this looks fun! So of course I run home, and it only takes me a few days before I become hopelessly addicted to Persona 3.

Before you even start the game, you are given the choice of Easy, Normal, and Hard modes. If you want to experience the story without dealing too much with the battles, I recommend Easy, because if you are killed in battle you will get 10 retries that fully restore you and your party's HP/SP. Normal is basically Easy without the retries. Hard requires more grinding. So if you have a lot of time on your hands, choose that. lol.

Background:

The game begins with some impressive anime cutscenes for the PS2 era. You are this blue haired hottie emo guy who moves to a large city, and you walk around the downtown area. The cutscenes shift between him walking and a girl with a gun. The first thing I thought was why the hell is the girl going to kill herself? I was so confused at first. You then make it to the dorm, and this blue haired kid in striped pajamas tells you to sign your name. Sounds legit right? haha You may be thinking this sounds pretty freaken weird right now, but stay with me, it gets better.

You get to type in your name, so choose wisely. I did not choose wisely. For some reason, I thought it would be hilarious to name myself, Kawaii Prince-kun. Something went wrong with the name, so the characters called me ince-kun. It still was entertaining. If you are going for hilarity, I suggest something like Hottie McHandsome or Sexy Man, something along those lines.

SO moving on. The game goes through your first few days at school and although it's not bad, it kind of sucks because you can't really do anything yet. You just have to go along with the flow for a few days. There are some options you can do, like study and answer a test question in class. During these few days you are suspicious of the people living in the dorm, because they are obviously hiding something, especially the girl in the pink sweater, Yukari. After these few days, you are awoken in your dorm room by her as she tells you its an emergency. What could it be? The beginning of a beautiful journey.

This weird thing in a mask chases Yukari and she starts fighting it after shooting herself with a gun...whaaaa...? What the literal f---is going on here?! Well basically she summoned her Persona with a gun called an Evoker. 

I'll try to explain this the best I can.

A persona is a representation of someone's unconscious. It is considered another part of the self. In the Persona franchise, Personas are a part of you that is used to fight in battle. Personas represent mythological creatures throughout history and folklore, like Thor. Some will be familiar faces from other Shin Megami Tensei games, while others are unique to the Persona franchise.

Evokers are essentially guns without bullets. They are devices used to summon Personas, which is totally badass. You basically shoot yourself in the head to attack Shadows, the enemies in the game. 

Shadows are little blobs that roam around the floors of Tartarus, the giant dungeon with many floors. Taturus is actually your high school. But every night, at midnight, an extra hour occurs called the Dark Hour. The Dark Hour is when your school transforms into Tartarus. This is the time Persona users can use their personas. All of this seems confusing at first, but it strings together. 

Here's a short summary:

• You are a Persona user, who discovers their power after moving to Iwatodai Dorm.
• In this dorm lives Persona users, who secretly investigate the dungeon, Tartarus, at the Dark Hour, which occurs after midnight.
• Each floor of Tartarus has a block. A block is composed of a certain amount of floors. 
• The goal of the game is to reach as far in Tartarus as you can. You must keep going up. At a certain point, you cannot go any further until you defeat the full moon boss of that month.
• Shadows are the enemies on each floor. You can choose to run past them, or attack them. However, if they discover you, they will chase after you. If they catch you, you will be attacked and enter into a battle.
• You must defeat shadow bosses every ten-ish floors or so. These battles are inescapable and are tougher than normal battles.
• Every full moon (each day will have a countdown to the full moon) you will have to defeat a boss that represents an arcana.

Wait hold up....? Did I just say Arcana? The tarot card stuff right? Yep! The best part of the game, which I will try to explain as clearly as possible.

Social links.

Yeah, you heard me.

It's a dating sim too. And a friendship sim.

Basically, Persona allows you to live the high school life you never had. lol. 

After school, there's so much you can do and 20+ social links to complete. And the best part? You get to choose whatever you want to do.

You wanna join the swim team?

Go for it.

Wanna date the swim team manager? 

                           

Ooh, she must of liked what I said. OOoooh lala.

The best part? You get to choose what you say.

                       

Mitsuru-senpai is so hot :)

Social links have 10 levels. The more time you spend with a person, the more it increases. Say the wrong thing, or ditch someone for another, and it may revert. Date two or more girls at once, you will pay for it. Be careful in your choices ;) 

Social link rankings have influence in how many points you will get for a persona during fusion. This is also important in obtaining certain personas. Since you can use multiple demons in battle, its good to have a variety of different arcanas/skills. There is no set way to beat a boss or win a battle, which makes Persona stand out from a lot of video game titles. You can choose how much you level up, what you use, and how to use it.

This brings us to combat. Combat is practically optional. Nearly every night, you have the option to go to Tatarus. If you don't feel like going, you can go to the mall and increase skills such as Courage at the Karaoke Bar, or charm at the Cafe. Or you can choose to go to your room and study, or sleep.

If you choose to go to Tatarus, you can choose your party, fuse Personas in the Velvet Room, and go up the floors. Each floor is filled with shadows, varying in types. It's kind of like Pokemon in many ways, because enemies have weaknesses. Once you exploit their weakness, you can commence in an all out attack, a group attack that cuts down the enemy hit points. Some enemies can absorb your attacks or reflect it back to you, so you have to be careful what you use and when you use it. You can avoid them too, but if they see you, they will chase you. Keep that in mind. It's all strategy based and there are infinite options, so if you are having trouble getting past certain bosses, try switching up your Personas. Seriously, one persona can make a difference lol.

Example of a battle:

The members of the SEES (your homies) are amazing characters with a lot of depth to them. Well, most of them. Mitsuru and Akihiko are my personal favorites, and show a lot of character development towards the end.  You gain several members, including a dog (Yes, A DOG), a kid who's voice sounds like Jimmy Neutron's, and a sexy bad boy by the name of Shinji. Not to mention the most kawaii/badass robot ever, Aigis. The major plot and development really doesn't kick off until the end of September, but the time before that is an excellent set up and good in itself. 

Finally, I have to mention something very important. The soundtrack. Shoji Meguro, a brilliant composer for ATLUS and various Shin Megami Tensei games, wrote and produced the beautiful Persona 3 soundtrack along with artists Lotus Juice and Yumi Kawamura.

It's so unique and cool. It combines several genres of music. Here's some of my favs:

Afternoon Break

Mass Destruction

Unavoidable Battle

P3 FES

Rating

Overall, Persona 3 is the best game I've ever played. It's a unique experience that combines a dating sim with a RPG, something that you will not find anywhere else. I'll break down the score.

Graphics: 3.5/5

Not bad for its time, however the characters can look blocky at some points. It's still pretty awesome though.

Combat: 4/5

Team members can be controlled through AIs and can be annoying in their choice of attacks. Fighting is fun and you can escape battles you don't want to mess with.

Soundtrack 5/5

Best and most original video game soundtrack I've ever heard. 

Story: 5/5

Persona 3 has an excellent story filled with both great moments and sad ones. Prepare your feels. The ending is so moving and amazing, I sobbed for a good fifteen minutes.

Overall gameplay: 5/5

Wanna fight? Cool then do it. Don't wanna fight? Put it off until you absolutely have to. The flexibility of the RPG element of the game makes Persona 3 all the more enjoyable for both hardcore and casual gamers.

Difficulty: 3/5

Persona can be as easy or hard as you want it to be. However, bosses aren't a cakewalk. There's some effort that has to be put in, especially with randomly annoying bosses.

Replay factor: 5/5

So many personas and social links give you so many options and a desire to go through the story again.

You should play Persona 3 if: You are breathing. Haha Just kidding. Honestly, if you don't mind anime, love anime, or never heard of anime but are interested,  this game will appeal to you. If you enjoy having a choice in gameplay elements, definitely pick this up. RPG fans will love this. If you are new to the RPG genre, Persona is a very good first game, especially because it isn't ridiculously hard like many titles out there. Persona is a 60+ hour game. Even if that seems like a lot at first, you won't notice how long it takes because it's so damn fun.

You shouldn't play Persona 3 if: You absolutely despise anime/Japanese culture, have a deep hatred for dating sims, and hate having choices in gameplay. Also, if you are only into multiplayer games, you won't find that here.

You can relatively cheap copies of Persona 3 for PS2 on Ebay and Amazon ranging from $15-25

It is also available as a download on the Playstation 3 Store (PSN) for only $10!

Stay cute!

-Em-chan