Gameplay Today - Because You're Always Gaming

Persona 3 Portable is Atlus latest port of an older Persona game to the PSP system. In truth with as much of a complete redesign and the staggering amount of added content this game is really a remake. P3P manages to keep everything that made the original such a classic and then adds all the fixes from Persona 4 then adds onto that even more improvements. If everyone made ports or remakes like Atlus gamers would be so much happier.

The story is virtually the same except instead of just playing as the main character from the PS2 version you have the choice between him and a brand new female protagonist with glowing red eyes. The differences here seem only like menu changes at first but the two heroes have very different experiences to share with you. The female main gets some story decisions late game that take the story on a slightly different path, while what you got from the male in the PS2 version is the same.

The basic premise of both gendered tales is that your a new transfer student who has the potential to summon demons because you can be awake during the Dark Hour. Instead of simply being midnight, the dark hour is a 25th hour that takes place at midnight. Here demons roam called Shadows, your school turns into a giant fortress of demon kind, and regular people turn into giant coffins. The story has your character join a team called SEES to find out the mysteries of the dark hour.

Back from the PS2 release is the awkward way of summoning your personas, which usually is through cards but in this game characters shoot themselves in the head with a device called an Envoker. The Envoker is shaped like a gun and it never becomes normal to see your characters blast themselves in the head, though amusing to see some characters not even question this including your main character.

The audio is one of the easiest to notice changes to the game. The male main character retains the majority of his soundtrack from the PS2 game but the female lead gets a ton of exclusive to her story tracks including a kicking new battle theme. I was more welcoming of the female lead soundtrack than the old PS2 soundtrack which danced between rock and metal. The female soundtrack is very much like Persona 4 keeping the J-Pop and Rock themes balanced very well. Voice acting is still superb like the PS2 version and even has more of it. Interestingly the female lead seems to have more voice clips than the male lead and has the same amount as Persona 4's main.

The main gameplay mode has changed to a visual novel style because of space issues, and considering how beefy the content is I'm not surprised at this. The school, city and the dorm are now explored with a zoomed out slightly overhead camera view and NPCs stand in their spots. The way to explore is now through a cursor selecting who to talk to, what background item you want to examine or door to exit from. It takes a lot of time off the game from 3D exploring and yet I still piled on a high play time.

To make up for this some more voice acting was added to NPCs and more NPCs got character portraits but unfortunately some character expression seems lost for main characters. It still doesn't hurt the game when the character can clearly voice out the desired tone and feeling, without the voice acting characterization would have been murdered.

What hasn't changed from the original version is the dungeon crawling of the demonic school Tartarus. You still move around the dungeon on a 3D plane and battles are also still in glorious three dimensions. Considering that most of your time is spent in the dungeon regardless the transition to visual novel elsewhere doesn't hurt the experience.

The battle system is the same and yet different as all the cracks of it have been repaired. You can now control directly all party members preventing the AI from committing suicide constantly later. As well party members can now take mortal blow for you and guarding is possible a great takeover from Persona 4. The new co-op attack is a follow up smasher similar to the everybody rush in attack when all enemies are down.

A huge addition is the ability to cure tired status which is when party members get exhausted from exploring Tartarus and become unable to explore the next day. Changed from the PS2 release is that tired status only takes effect the day after exploring and no longer cripples you mid dungeon.

There is also a new spell card system that works by having Persona's hit certain levels, completing quests, trading with NPCs or buying them. These cards can then be used in fusion to add that specific skill to the new monster. Fusion works the same way, taking Personas you have to Igor in the Velvet room and combining them as long as the resulting monster is at your level or lower.

The social link system remains but improved with the dissolving friendship syndrome found in the original release gone. Social links only will freeze and end if you choose too many of the wrong options, you can now take your time and not worry about taking too many links on at once. To couple with the social links are part time jobs from Persona 4. In this game they amount to just stat boosts and money instead of social links as well so choose wisely on how to spend your time.

Romance also returns in P3P with the male character allowed to be a player like the Persona 4 hero at no penalty. The female lead gets her own love interests but unlike the male lead can choose whether to stay friends or be lovers. The velvet room assistant is still available as a lover if you choose the opposite gendered assistant of your main character. A new velvet assistant was created for the female lead to romance hence the choice.

Those seeking a new challenge will enjoy the Hard and Maniac difficulties which are great for those wanting to get the classic Shin Megami Tensei iron wall of difficulty. Gone from the game though is the expansion The Answer, those wanting that will still have to play the PS2 version Persona 3: FES. Also gone with the visual novel change are anime cutscenes these scenes now occur using battle graphics and really don't lose much feeling as those 3D models are well animated.

Here is your conclusion of Persona 3 Portable, it rocks. This will be mentioned with Metal Gear Solid and Kingdom Hearts at the end of the year as a front runner for PSP Game of the Year. It is one of the most solid and balanced RPGs to ever hit store shelves while still offering about 100 hours of content per main character. Hands down this game is worth it to even Persona 3 die hards that are upset of the game play changes, do not miss out on this one.