Binary Messiah - Reviews for Games, Books, Gadgets and more!

Books, Games, Hardware

  • About
    • BinaryMessiah
    • Rating and Award System
    • Game Collection -BinaryMessiah-
  • Blogs
    • Ranked Worst to Best
    • FAQs/Walkthroughs
      • Mortal Kombat (Vita)
      • Mortal Kombat: Deception/Unchained
      • Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror
      • Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow
    • History of History: World War II
    • Newbie Guides
  • Editor’s Choice
  • Games
    • PC Reviews
      • Mac
      • Mods
    • Microsoft Consoles
      • Xbox Series X/S
      • Xbox One
      • Xbox 360
    • Nintendo Consoles
      • Wii U
      • Wii
      • 3DS
      • DS
      • Switch
    • Sony Consoles
      • PlayStation 5
      • PlayStation 4
      • PlayStation 3
      • PlayStation Vita
      • PlayStation Portable
        • PSP Minis
    • Mobile Reviews
      • Android
      • iOS
    • Retro Consoles
      • PlayStation (PS1)
      • PlayStation 2
      • Xbox
      • Gamecube
      • GameBoy Advance
      • Sega CD
      • Sega Genesis
  • Game of the Year Awards
    • 2020
    • 2019
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2015
    • 2014
    • 2013
    • 2012
    • 2011
    • 2010
  • Gadgets
    • Reviews
  • Comics
  • Book Reviews

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/05/2009
Posted in: PlayStation 2, Sony Consoles. Tagged: anime, atlus, fes, japan, japanese, jrpg, persona 3, playstation, PlayStation 2, ps2, rpg, shin megami tensei, sony.

PS2CoverSheet10_06

Publisher: Atlus

Developer: Atlus

Release Date: 4/22/2008

Rating: Mature

MSRP: $49.99

Also Available On

psp

I heard all the hoopla about Persona 3, but the next-gen craze sidetracked me from it. I finally rented the game and I have to say I am very impressed. I’m tired of the same old random battle JRPG with cliché stories, characters, and battle systems. P3 tries to do something different with practically every element. When you start the game out you’ll notice the game has beautifully drawn anime cutscenes. The story doesn’t become very clear until after you start playing, but this is OK.

The first thing I have to say is that the game takes FOREVER to get going. Maybe 5-6 hours into the game you’ll really start getting interesting and most of the play mechanics and taught. When you’re not fighting you’ll be living your regular school life by studying hard and preparing for exams. The game has a calendar event setup and you go to school, talk to some people, you can choose to stay awake in class and listen to the lecture to increase your academic skills. Sometimes you’ll have to answer questions (it’s mostly guessing) and maybe your charm will increase. After school, you can meet up with your friends to strengthen your Social Link (more on that later). Depending on the responses you choose will affect your relationships. You can also go around shopping at the mall for items, weapons, armor etc. Another thing I have to mention is there isn’t enough to buy before the next moon phase (more on that later). So you there is one new thing for each member and that’s it. This can make traveling the upper levels of Tarturus even harder (more on that later).

The game’s story is about Shadows that try to wreak havoc during the Dark Hour which is midnight. During this hour the Dorm you stay at turns into a mysterious tower known as Tartarus and you must climb the tower fighting stronger and stronger enemies. Every 30 days you fight a boss and some event happens that evolves the story. During those 30 days, you have to increase your Social Links, level up, and acquire all that you can before the big boss. When you fight in battle you use your Personas which are like Aeons (think Final Fantasy) and they are your strongest attacks. You’ll rarely attack yourself so you always concentrate on your Personas. Some Personas have different magic abilities etc. The battles are won by determining the enemy’s weakness and exploiting this. When you hit their weakness you get one more turn and that enemies fall down. If you get all the enemies to fall down you can do an all-out attack where all the players will maul the enemies for extra damage. This is key to mastering because you can die very easy early in the game because leveling up takes longer than it should. Luckily you can switch Personas in mid-battle so you can exploit accordingly.

One irritating thing about this game has they changed the elements’ names. Instead of Fire, Ice, Wind, Fire it’s Zio, Bufu, Garu (light) and it’s really stupid. Why did they do this? Probably just to be cute, but it confuses you and you have to know idea what these names mean. Once you win a battle you may get a Shuffle Time which lets you see faces of a card and it shuffles them around. Some may give you bonus experience, some may be new Persona, some may be weapons. While you run around through Tarturus you can see the Shadows so this game isn’t random. If you hit them first you get an advantage, but let them hit you and it’s not so good.

The game mainly revolves around Persona so, of course, you can make your own. Take your cards to the Velvet Room and you can combine them to make better Personas. Now there are attributes and rules, but these are confusing and pointless so you just add a few up and see what it makes. It’s really simple and easy to use, but you can’t do this for a while because you can only create Persona that is at your level. Also in the VR, you can take requests from Elizabeth by bringing her certain items at certain dates for rewards. I found this very hard because you never really know what she’s talking about half the time. I think it’s mainly there for completionists.

Social Links affect your Persona because if you have a friend that is a Magician SL all your Magician Persona will level up faster. Of course, there are events every day that always changes. Sometimes you can’t go to Tartarus at night because your members are too tired, some may get sick, some may be busy studying for exams etc. This changes things up all the time so not one day is the same. When it all boils down is that the game is generally always the same. Go to school, go to Tarturus over and over. There are no worlds or levels to actually explore so this may disappoint some people. When in doubt pick up Persona 3 because you are going to have a blast and there are dozens of hours of RPG goodness here. With decent voice acting, memorable characters, the great battle system you will truly love this game.

Share this:

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posts navigation

← Psychonauts
Jet Set Radio Future →
  • Binary Messiah

    RSS Feed RSS - Posts

  • Follow Binary Messiah – Reviews for Games, Books, Gadgets and more! on WordPress.com
  • Search

  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 356 other followers

  • Social

    • View BinaryMessiah’s profile on Facebook
    • View Ivory_Soul’s profile on Twitter
  • Official Twitter

    • Just posted a photo @ Kent, Washington instagram.com/p/CLwn_-hg3w0/… 12 hours ago
    • Handmade Game Gear cases from Etsy! These are beautiful. They look just like the real thing. Handy for loose cartri… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 1 week ago
    • Imported Tang from Argentina! The only good Tang that exists. Doesn't taste super artificial like the crappy US Tan… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 1 week ago
    • The Habbit going hard on the sauces. Thanks. Got enough for the next 10 visits 🙄🙄🙄🙄 #thehabbit instagram.com/p/CLBLvJKAYbq/… 2 weeks ago
    • Most of my Mortal Kombat collection. @mkkollectors instagram.com/p/CK9uwWOAKyZ/… 2 weeks ago
    Follow @BinaryMessiah
  • Official Binary Messiah Facebook

    Official Binary Messiah Facebook
  • Currently Playing

    PC
    —-
    Ghostrunner
    Watch Dogs: Legion
    Ace Combat 7: Unknown Skies
    Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry
    Pumpkin Jack

  • Skyrim Screenshots

  • My Figure Collection

  • ivory_soul

  • IvorySoul696

  • Ivory Soul 696

  • IvorySoul696

  • Top Posts

    • Newbie Guides: PCSX2 1.5.0 (PS2 Emulator) {Updated 03/11/2018}
      Newbie Guides: PCSX2 1.5.0 (PS2 Emulator) {Updated 03/11/2018}
    • Arcade 1UP: Mortal Kombat - Costco Edition
      Arcade 1UP: Mortal Kombat - Costco Edition
    • Medal of Honor Games Ranked Worst to Best
      Medal of Honor Games Ranked Worst to Best
    • AtGames Sega Genesis Ultimate Portable Game Player
      AtGames Sega Genesis Ultimate Portable Game Player
    • Mortal Kombat Retrospective -- Part 3 of 4 -- 128-bit Era
      Mortal Kombat Retrospective -- Part 3 of 4 -- 128-bit Era
    • Arcade 1UP: Mortal Kombat Cabinet Mods
      Arcade 1UP: Mortal Kombat Cabinet Mods
    • The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
      The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
    • Logitech Cordless Precision Controller for PlayStation 2 (Older Model)
      Logitech Cordless Precision Controller for PlayStation 2 (Older Model)
    • Alienware M11x-R3
      Alienware M11x-R3
    • Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
      Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
  • Recent Comments

    • BinaryMessiah on AtGames Sega Genesis Ultimate Portable Game Player
    • Andrew Warner on AtGames Sega Genesis Ultimate Portable Game Player
    • DeiSophia on 2020 Game of the Year Awards Round-Up
    • Tracy Shaffer on Alienware Area-51m R2
    • Dan Holt on My Top Games of the 10’s
    • Ivan Turkalj on Newbie Guides: PCSX2 1.5.0 (PS2 Emulator) {Updated 03/11/2018}
    • binarymessiah on Newbie Guides: PCSX2 1.5.0 (PS2 Emulator) {Updated 03/11/2018}
    • MarshMeloz on Newbie Guides: PCSX2 1.5.0 (PS2 Emulator) {Updated 03/11/2018}
    • binarymessiah on Newbie Guides: PCSX2 1.5.0 (PS2 Emulator) {Updated 03/11/2018}
    • binarymessiah on Newbie Guides: PCSX2 1.5.0 (PS2 Emulator) {Updated 03/11/2018}
Blog at WordPress.com.
Cancel

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    loading Cancel
    Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
    Email check failed, please try again
    Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
    %d bloggers like this: