Post by P-chan on Apr 4, 2009 14:13:49 GMT -8
(This is a review of The Journey. I haven't played The Answer yet.)
Release date: 4/22/2008
Genre: Role Playing Game
Platform: Playstation 2
Persona 3: FES (FES standing for "festival") is basically the "director's cut" version of Persona 3. After a long break since the Persona 2 games Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment on the Playstation, about 8 years later, Persona 3 was released. Though it seems like a role-playing game on the outside, it's actually a dungeon-crawler mixed with something similar to a dating sim, a interesting premise. This game is not for those unfamiliar with RPGs, and it caters to a specific audience - a JRPG is much different than an RPG could be. The game is actually unlike any that I've played before, and it has become one ot my favorites.
Story: 8/10
Persona 3 isn't set in a lush fantasy world like so many other recent RPGs. It is set in the real world, which adds more to its eerie atmosphere.
You play as the main character (Since you can choose his name, he will be referred to as MC from here on) who has recently moved to Gekkoukan, a large city in Japan. His parents are both deceased, and he has come to begin a new life as a transfer student at Gekkougan High School. On the first day he arrives he settles into his dorm room and become acquainted with a few of his classmates. However, at night he discovers something - at exactly 12:00 AM normal time stops. The world goes into a period called the Dark Hour, and people who can't see this time are transmogrified - put into coffins until the Dark Hour passes - and the MC finds himself stuck awake during this time. For some reason he has the power to see and move during the Dark Hour, and it is no surprise that everyone in his specific dorm can. (Though at the moment his dorm only has 4 people living in it...) The dorm is attacked by a Shadow - monsters that for some reason can only appear in the real world during the Dark Hour - and the MC is attacked by the Shadow. Inevitably, the MC awakens to a special power that only a select group of people have: a Persona.
As the story goes on, you learn that everyone in the dorm also has a Persona. Personae are the only weapons that can battle shadows, and they are summoned with an Evoker - a gun that you shoot yourself in the head with. (They then fly out of your head and whoop some butt by casting spells before flying back in. Also, I've seen people compare them to the Aeons in FFX, if that clears any more up...) The Shadows come out of a place called Tartarus, a giant tower with about 260 floors. During the Dark Hour, Gekkoukan High School turns into Tartarus for some reason, and Shadows appear inside. The group in the dorm - they call themselves SEES - are on a mission to find out the secret of why the Shadows have appeared, and they are determined to get rid of them. MC is invited into the group since he has a Persona, and is appointed the leader of SEES.
The Story gave me mixed feelings. The beginning "tutorial" of the game is one of the longest I've played. (It was a few hours long, and the only longer one I've played was in... Persona 4. >.>;
The story seems to plod along at parts. Between full moons (Boss battles occur on full moons) the story was pretty nonexistant, since most of what went on was just going to school and grinding at night. However, on full moon days the story unfolds, but usually more questions are left than answers. The months in the beginning of the game seem extremely slow, but the last two months are some of the best hours that I've had in gaming. December and January were simply amazing, and I never saw the ending coming.
Overall, I enjoyed the story. It was something different, and the last months made up for the extremely long beginning. I had also been looking for a darker RPG for a while. Persona 3 is VERY dark, especially the last months.
Characters: 8/10
I found that I either loved or hated the characters in Persona 3. A few of my favorites were the MC, Akihiko Sanada, and Mitsuru Kirijo. The MC I was quickly attached to, because you play the whole game through his eyes. As the silent protagonist, you got to make all the dialogue choices for him, and he could be exactly the kind of guy you wanted him to be. He is also the best character in battle; no one even comes close. Akihiko is a veteran member of SEES. He's a senior and champion boxer. (And looks just like Ryohei, but that's not the point.) He's one of the levelheaded ones in the group, and a well-rounded member in combat, having strong physical attacks, limited healing, all the debuffs, and electric spells. Mitsuru, a senior, is the president of the student council. She's regarded as one of the smartest students in school, and everyone looks up to her. Her father also owns a huge company, and their family is extremely wealthy. She has some of the best magic in SEES, specializing in ice magic and having some healing.
Other members in the group are Junpei Iori, Yukari Takeba, Fuuka Yamagishi, Shinjiro Aragaki, Aigis, Ken Amada, and Koromaru. Junpei is the comedic relief and the "sidekick" to the MC. He uses fire magic but is more of a physical attacker than anything, similar to Shinjiro Aragaki. Shinjiro is a friend of Akihiko's, a senior, and the "badass" one of the group. His vocabulary seems to be made up of nothing but cussing. He uses pretty much mothing but physical attacks in battle. Yukari Takeba is the first girl the MC meets at Gekkoukan, and she gives off a snooty, popular girl vibe. Whenever I talked to her, she never seemed to have anything nice to say. However, she is the best magic user in the game. She is the main healer and uses wind spells. Aigis is a Shadow killing robot who primarily uses physical attacks and buffing. Ken Amada is a young elementary schooler who, seriously, seemed like an unneeded character. He acts grown up even though he's just a kid. He uses light magic and is a seconday healer. Another character I felt was unnecessary was Koromaru, a dog who uses fire and dark magic. Fuuka Yamagishi is the member of the group on the sidelines who gives support in battle.
There are many other characters, including all the teachers and classmates at school. Some classmates get more dialogue than others, though, since you are able to create Social Links with them (more on that later.)
I loved the MC, Akihiko, and Mitsuru. For non playable characters, Maya, a player you meet in a MMORPG, and a sickly teen who is going to die from a disease, Akinari, were particularily memorable. The first characters that come to mind when I think of the word dislike are Junpei, Fuuka, Ken, and Yukari. There are lots of characters in the game, though, and anyone who plays it is definitely going to find at least a few that they like, no matter who they are.
Gameplay: 9/10
The gameplay is easily the best part of the game. The day is split up into two major parts: the daytime where you attend school and improve social links, and nighttime, where you visit Tartarus and fight Shadows.
First of all, you play the game from April until January of the next year. There are only that amount of days to play, and everything needs to get done during that time.
During school you can listen to students telling rumors, sleep in class, answer questions asked by the teachers, listen to lectures, and so much more. (You can go to the bathroom to increase your condition, even, but more on condition later.) Deciding on what you want to do could depend on what stats you want to increase. There are three stats: academics, charm, and courage. For example, sleeping in class wouldn't raise your academics, but listening to the lectures instead will. Sleeping would instead increase your condition. Once you regain control after the learning part of school is done, there are still even more things to do during the day. There is a cafe downtown that can raise your charm. There is an arcade that can raise every stat. There is a kareoke bar that can raise your courage. There are definitely way too many things to list. The most important thing to do after school, though, is to improve Social Links.
Social Links are established when you create a bond with someone in real life. They are used to strengthen you in battle, because the Links you make and how well you nurture them determine the strength of your Persona. (More on that later, too.) Social Links are first made at a level of 1, and the maximum level is 10. Each time you spend with the Social Link person will increase its level. Every Social Link has a little story that goes along with it. For example, one of the first links you get is with a classmate, Kenji. He has a crush on a teacher and wants your advice on what to do. Everytime you spend time with him and help him, his link levels up, and once it maxes he gives you a special item and the respective link (his is the Magician Arcana) will gain bonus Exp.
At night, there are less things you can do. The arcade is still open and you can study in your room, but the most important thing to do is to go train in Tartarus. Once the Dark Hour comes, SEES goes to Tartarus to take care of Shadows. There are six blocks in Tartarus and somewhere around 266 floors. Starting on level 1, through the game you progess up to the very top floor. It is a dungeon crawler to the core. Once you decide on a party of four, you start going up the tower. When you see an enemy, you swing your weapon at it and go into battle. There is a boss at approximately every 10 floors and also a point to return to the bottom floor and save.
The battles are turn based, and the only character you can directly control is the MC. The person with the highest speed goes first and so on. There are 10 types of attacks. The three physical ones are slash (swords, rapiers), pierce (arrows, guns, spears), and strike (axes, gloves). The elements are agi (fire), bufu (ice), zio (electric), and garu (wind). The dark spells (mudo) and light spells (hama) are OHKO moves, but they have a low hit percentage. Lastly, there are almighty spells, that deal nonelemental damage. Spells cost SP to use while physical ones cost HP. One of the most notable points of battles is the "one more!" system, which can determine the tide of a battle regardless of level. If you hit an enemy's weakness, then you get one more turn. If you hit another enemy with its weakness, you get another turn. If they enemies are all knocked down by hitting their weaknesses, then you get an "All Out Attack!" in which all your party members charge at the enemy and are almost guaranteed to kill them all. (Except during boss battles.) However, the same is true for the enemy. If they hit your weaknesses, then they get one more turn, and can easily take out your whole party.
Oh, and if the MC dies, you get a game over. Even if your other characters have full HP and MP, if the MC is dead, game over. The game over screen is one you'll become very familiar with.
After battles there is a chance to win during a Shuffle. Cards are randomly shown on the screen and shuffled around, and the one you pick gives you a bonus. There are various things like extra EXP, extra yen, healing, and also more Personae that you can take and summon.
One of the keys to winning is to have the right Persona. The members of SEES all have one Persona, but as the MC, you can summon as many as you want. You fuse together Personae in a place called the Velvet Room, or you can obtain them from shuffles after battles. Your stats and skills all are derived from the Persona you have equipped. For example, the first Persona the MC gets is Orpheus. If Orpheus has 2 strength, magic, agility, luck, and defense, then the MC has 2 in strength, magic, agility, luck, and defense. Orpheus comes with the skills Agi and Bash, so the MC can only use Agi and Bash for skills. You can only have 6 Persona in your roster at a time, but this number grows with your levels and maxes out at 12.
When fusing Personae to use in the Velvet Room, Social Links come into play. Using the same example as before, Kenji is the link representing the Magician Persona. If his link is maxed, then when a Magician Persona is fused, it will gain 5 more levels. Those 5 levels could be the difference between having onle 4 skills and having 8. Also, when a link is maxed, you gain the item to form the ultimate Persona for its link. For the Magician's case, it's Surt, who has the ultimate fire spell, Ragnarok. It definitly is a great asset in battle to have the max link Persona, as they are typically the strongest of their links.
The last thing to explain as an add on would be the conditions. There are four conditions that you and your party members can be in: Great, Good, Tired, and Sick. Being in Great condition increases your critical hit rate and overall makes you do better in battle. Good is a normal condition, and after fighting too long in Tartarus your condition drops to Tired. If you continue to fight after being Tired, you'll turn Sick. If you're Tired or Sick you can't go to Tartarus, so it's a good idea to never continue to fight after being Tired. Sleeping early, sleeping in class, or going to the bathroom can increase your condition back to Good, or even Great in the MC's situation.
There were only a few flaws in Persona 3. I would have liked to be able to control my party members directly instead of letting them make their own (sometimes stupid) decisions. (Yukari made those A LOT.) Luckily, there are at least tactics you can set them to, like "Heal/Support," "Knockdown," "Attack Knocked Down," and so on. Another gripe I had was with the condition system. I would be in the middle of some great grinding with Yukari would become tired. (It was always Yukari, too...) I wouldn't be able to go any higher in the tower or make more progress because she would just leave the tower.
Still, Persona 3 has some of the funnest battles and gameplay that I've ever played. This is, without a doubt, the strongest point of the game.
Sound: 9/10
The music of the game is awesome. The instrumental tracks are usually stunning. There are some vocal tracks, too, such as some of the songs that play during school and the battle theme (Mass Destruction, and I GUARANTEE, even if you don't like it, it will be stuck in your head for life.) There are a few tracks that I loved way more than the others, like Kimi no Kioku (the song during the credits), Battle for Everyone's Souls (the final boss battle music), and every song that played during the last two months. The music was part of what made the last two months of the game so simply amazing.
The music pretty much always fits the scene going on. During school there's peppy music, during dramatic scenes the music keeps you into it, during the scene "Operation Babe Hunt" there's a song that plays that's so perfect it's unable to describe it... The music is just so awesome.
On the topic of voice acting, the game is either hit or miss. Junpei's was admittedly quite awesome, as well as Akihiko's and Mitsuru's. On the bad side were Fuuka and Ken. I actually thought that Yuri Lowenthal did a nice job with the little voice acting he got to do with the MC. He did nice as Ryoji, too.
Graphics: 10/10
I don't care about graphics in a game. Still, Persona shows that it doesn't take fancy CG cutscenes to make a game beautiful. The anime scenes are a treat in themself and nicely animated. The first FMV shown comes to mind and was the perfect way to begin an awesome game. The character designs are simple and get the job done. The backgrounds are so realistic and reflect exactly how normal people live. My mother even commented on how detailed they were.
In battle, the animations are very well done. My favorite part of battling is when performing an All Out Attack! and watching the characters charge the enemy while little bubbles with "POW" or "BAM" appear on the screen. It's like a comic book with the word bubbles. The fusion spells also come to mind with little cut-ins appearing and colorful, fluid animating.
The color scheme of the game goes well with the dark mood. It's mainly a blue color palette.
My only complaint is... nothing, really.
Replay Value: 7/10
There are a few main things that I guess someone would want to play the game again for.
If you max all the Social Links in one playthrough, you get the item to create Orpheus Telos, the ultimate Persona. Also, there are two endings to see, but you could just save during the pivotal point that determines the ending you get and see both in the same playthrough. (I did that.) If a few Social Links were missed in the first playthrough, it would be reasonable to want to play again to see them. Misturu and Aigis' come to mind since you gain access to them very late in the game.
I suppose that the game is so good that you could just want to play it again because it is. During a new game+, your MC's level gets carried over along with many other things, which just makes the game too easy.
Regardless, I think that the game has some replay value but not so much that you'll be jumping to play it again right after finishing it. It is about 70-90 hours long, after all.
Overall: 8.5/10
Pros:
- Amazing gameplay
- Memorable soundtrack
- Ending was fantastic and executed well
- Social Links add both replay value and extra enjoyment to the story
Cons:
- No direct control of party members
- Characters are hit or miss
- Story can be slow and drag out
Persona 3 FES is an amazing game, and one that no JRPG fan should miss out on. It is not something you'd want to start the RPG genre out with, though. If what you're looking for is a game with great gameplay and a pretty high difficulty, then Persona is the next game that you should buy. It's becoming a rarer game lately (Atlus is its publisher after all, and you know how niche they are...) and the price is rising, so if you want to play it get it now.
If nothing of this interests you at all, at least go listen to Battle for Everyone's Souls on YouTube. It's the best final boss theme I've ever heard, and you won't regret it.
---
That was probably the longest post I've ever made. >.> I wonder how long a post has to be to go over the character limit...
I rambled a lot. For some reason I doubt anyone will read this. BUT I TRIED, PERSONA. I TRIED TO GET MORE PEOPLE TO PLAY YOU.
Release date: 4/22/2008
Genre: Role Playing Game
Platform: Playstation 2
Persona 3: FES (FES standing for "festival") is basically the "director's cut" version of Persona 3. After a long break since the Persona 2 games Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment on the Playstation, about 8 years later, Persona 3 was released. Though it seems like a role-playing game on the outside, it's actually a dungeon-crawler mixed with something similar to a dating sim, a interesting premise. This game is not for those unfamiliar with RPGs, and it caters to a specific audience - a JRPG is much different than an RPG could be. The game is actually unlike any that I've played before, and it has become one ot my favorites.
Story: 8/10
Persona 3 isn't set in a lush fantasy world like so many other recent RPGs. It is set in the real world, which adds more to its eerie atmosphere.
You play as the main character (Since you can choose his name, he will be referred to as MC from here on) who has recently moved to Gekkoukan, a large city in Japan. His parents are both deceased, and he has come to begin a new life as a transfer student at Gekkougan High School. On the first day he arrives he settles into his dorm room and become acquainted with a few of his classmates. However, at night he discovers something - at exactly 12:00 AM normal time stops. The world goes into a period called the Dark Hour, and people who can't see this time are transmogrified - put into coffins until the Dark Hour passes - and the MC finds himself stuck awake during this time. For some reason he has the power to see and move during the Dark Hour, and it is no surprise that everyone in his specific dorm can. (Though at the moment his dorm only has 4 people living in it...) The dorm is attacked by a Shadow - monsters that for some reason can only appear in the real world during the Dark Hour - and the MC is attacked by the Shadow. Inevitably, the MC awakens to a special power that only a select group of people have: a Persona.
As the story goes on, you learn that everyone in the dorm also has a Persona. Personae are the only weapons that can battle shadows, and they are summoned with an Evoker - a gun that you shoot yourself in the head with. (They then fly out of your head and whoop some butt by casting spells before flying back in. Also, I've seen people compare them to the Aeons in FFX, if that clears any more up...) The Shadows come out of a place called Tartarus, a giant tower with about 260 floors. During the Dark Hour, Gekkoukan High School turns into Tartarus for some reason, and Shadows appear inside. The group in the dorm - they call themselves SEES - are on a mission to find out the secret of why the Shadows have appeared, and they are determined to get rid of them. MC is invited into the group since he has a Persona, and is appointed the leader of SEES.
The Story gave me mixed feelings. The beginning "tutorial" of the game is one of the longest I've played. (It was a few hours long, and the only longer one I've played was in... Persona 4. >.>;
The story seems to plod along at parts. Between full moons (Boss battles occur on full moons) the story was pretty nonexistant, since most of what went on was just going to school and grinding at night. However, on full moon days the story unfolds, but usually more questions are left than answers. The months in the beginning of the game seem extremely slow, but the last two months are some of the best hours that I've had in gaming. December and January were simply amazing, and I never saw the ending coming.Overall, I enjoyed the story. It was something different, and the last months made up for the extremely long beginning. I had also been looking for a darker RPG for a while. Persona 3 is VERY dark, especially the last months.
Characters: 8/10
I found that I either loved or hated the characters in Persona 3. A few of my favorites were the MC, Akihiko Sanada, and Mitsuru Kirijo. The MC I was quickly attached to, because you play the whole game through his eyes. As the silent protagonist, you got to make all the dialogue choices for him, and he could be exactly the kind of guy you wanted him to be. He is also the best character in battle; no one even comes close. Akihiko is a veteran member of SEES. He's a senior and champion boxer. (And looks just like Ryohei, but that's not the point.) He's one of the levelheaded ones in the group, and a well-rounded member in combat, having strong physical attacks, limited healing, all the debuffs, and electric spells. Mitsuru, a senior, is the president of the student council. She's regarded as one of the smartest students in school, and everyone looks up to her. Her father also owns a huge company, and their family is extremely wealthy. She has some of the best magic in SEES, specializing in ice magic and having some healing.
Other members in the group are Junpei Iori, Yukari Takeba, Fuuka Yamagishi, Shinjiro Aragaki, Aigis, Ken Amada, and Koromaru. Junpei is the comedic relief and the "sidekick" to the MC. He uses fire magic but is more of a physical attacker than anything, similar to Shinjiro Aragaki. Shinjiro is a friend of Akihiko's, a senior, and the "badass" one of the group. His vocabulary seems to be made up of nothing but cussing. He uses pretty much mothing but physical attacks in battle. Yukari Takeba is the first girl the MC meets at Gekkoukan, and she gives off a snooty, popular girl vibe. Whenever I talked to her, she never seemed to have anything nice to say. However, she is the best magic user in the game. She is the main healer and uses wind spells. Aigis is a Shadow killing robot who primarily uses physical attacks and buffing. Ken Amada is a young elementary schooler who, seriously, seemed like an unneeded character. He acts grown up even though he's just a kid. He uses light magic and is a seconday healer. Another character I felt was unnecessary was Koromaru, a dog who uses fire and dark magic. Fuuka Yamagishi is the member of the group on the sidelines who gives support in battle.
There are many other characters, including all the teachers and classmates at school. Some classmates get more dialogue than others, though, since you are able to create Social Links with them (more on that later.)
I loved the MC, Akihiko, and Mitsuru. For non playable characters, Maya, a player you meet in a MMORPG, and a sickly teen who is going to die from a disease, Akinari, were particularily memorable. The first characters that come to mind when I think of the word dislike are Junpei, Fuuka, Ken, and Yukari. There are lots of characters in the game, though, and anyone who plays it is definitely going to find at least a few that they like, no matter who they are.
Gameplay: 9/10
The gameplay is easily the best part of the game. The day is split up into two major parts: the daytime where you attend school and improve social links, and nighttime, where you visit Tartarus and fight Shadows.
First of all, you play the game from April until January of the next year. There are only that amount of days to play, and everything needs to get done during that time.
During school you can listen to students telling rumors, sleep in class, answer questions asked by the teachers, listen to lectures, and so much more. (You can go to the bathroom to increase your condition, even, but more on condition later.) Deciding on what you want to do could depend on what stats you want to increase. There are three stats: academics, charm, and courage. For example, sleeping in class wouldn't raise your academics, but listening to the lectures instead will. Sleeping would instead increase your condition. Once you regain control after the learning part of school is done, there are still even more things to do during the day. There is a cafe downtown that can raise your charm. There is an arcade that can raise every stat. There is a kareoke bar that can raise your courage. There are definitely way too many things to list. The most important thing to do after school, though, is to improve Social Links.
Social Links are established when you create a bond with someone in real life. They are used to strengthen you in battle, because the Links you make and how well you nurture them determine the strength of your Persona. (More on that later, too.) Social Links are first made at a level of 1, and the maximum level is 10. Each time you spend with the Social Link person will increase its level. Every Social Link has a little story that goes along with it. For example, one of the first links you get is with a classmate, Kenji. He has a crush on a teacher and wants your advice on what to do. Everytime you spend time with him and help him, his link levels up, and once it maxes he gives you a special item and the respective link (his is the Magician Arcana) will gain bonus Exp.
At night, there are less things you can do. The arcade is still open and you can study in your room, but the most important thing to do is to go train in Tartarus. Once the Dark Hour comes, SEES goes to Tartarus to take care of Shadows. There are six blocks in Tartarus and somewhere around 266 floors. Starting on level 1, through the game you progess up to the very top floor. It is a dungeon crawler to the core. Once you decide on a party of four, you start going up the tower. When you see an enemy, you swing your weapon at it and go into battle. There is a boss at approximately every 10 floors and also a point to return to the bottom floor and save.
The battles are turn based, and the only character you can directly control is the MC. The person with the highest speed goes first and so on. There are 10 types of attacks. The three physical ones are slash (swords, rapiers), pierce (arrows, guns, spears), and strike (axes, gloves). The elements are agi (fire), bufu (ice), zio (electric), and garu (wind). The dark spells (mudo) and light spells (hama) are OHKO moves, but they have a low hit percentage. Lastly, there are almighty spells, that deal nonelemental damage. Spells cost SP to use while physical ones cost HP. One of the most notable points of battles is the "one more!" system, which can determine the tide of a battle regardless of level. If you hit an enemy's weakness, then you get one more turn. If you hit another enemy with its weakness, you get another turn. If they enemies are all knocked down by hitting their weaknesses, then you get an "All Out Attack!" in which all your party members charge at the enemy and are almost guaranteed to kill them all. (Except during boss battles.) However, the same is true for the enemy. If they hit your weaknesses, then they get one more turn, and can easily take out your whole party.
Oh, and if the MC dies, you get a game over. Even if your other characters have full HP and MP, if the MC is dead, game over. The game over screen is one you'll become very familiar with.
After battles there is a chance to win during a Shuffle. Cards are randomly shown on the screen and shuffled around, and the one you pick gives you a bonus. There are various things like extra EXP, extra yen, healing, and also more Personae that you can take and summon.
One of the keys to winning is to have the right Persona. The members of SEES all have one Persona, but as the MC, you can summon as many as you want. You fuse together Personae in a place called the Velvet Room, or you can obtain them from shuffles after battles. Your stats and skills all are derived from the Persona you have equipped. For example, the first Persona the MC gets is Orpheus. If Orpheus has 2 strength, magic, agility, luck, and defense, then the MC has 2 in strength, magic, agility, luck, and defense. Orpheus comes with the skills Agi and Bash, so the MC can only use Agi and Bash for skills. You can only have 6 Persona in your roster at a time, but this number grows with your levels and maxes out at 12.
When fusing Personae to use in the Velvet Room, Social Links come into play. Using the same example as before, Kenji is the link representing the Magician Persona. If his link is maxed, then when a Magician Persona is fused, it will gain 5 more levels. Those 5 levels could be the difference between having onle 4 skills and having 8. Also, when a link is maxed, you gain the item to form the ultimate Persona for its link. For the Magician's case, it's Surt, who has the ultimate fire spell, Ragnarok. It definitly is a great asset in battle to have the max link Persona, as they are typically the strongest of their links.
The last thing to explain as an add on would be the conditions. There are four conditions that you and your party members can be in: Great, Good, Tired, and Sick. Being in Great condition increases your critical hit rate and overall makes you do better in battle. Good is a normal condition, and after fighting too long in Tartarus your condition drops to Tired. If you continue to fight after being Tired, you'll turn Sick. If you're Tired or Sick you can't go to Tartarus, so it's a good idea to never continue to fight after being Tired. Sleeping early, sleeping in class, or going to the bathroom can increase your condition back to Good, or even Great in the MC's situation.
There were only a few flaws in Persona 3. I would have liked to be able to control my party members directly instead of letting them make their own (sometimes stupid) decisions. (Yukari made those A LOT.) Luckily, there are at least tactics you can set them to, like "Heal/Support," "Knockdown," "Attack Knocked Down," and so on. Another gripe I had was with the condition system. I would be in the middle of some great grinding with Yukari would become tired. (It was always Yukari, too...) I wouldn't be able to go any higher in the tower or make more progress because she would just leave the tower.
Still, Persona 3 has some of the funnest battles and gameplay that I've ever played. This is, without a doubt, the strongest point of the game.
Sound: 9/10
The music of the game is awesome. The instrumental tracks are usually stunning. There are some vocal tracks, too, such as some of the songs that play during school and the battle theme (Mass Destruction, and I GUARANTEE, even if you don't like it, it will be stuck in your head for life.) There are a few tracks that I loved way more than the others, like Kimi no Kioku (the song during the credits), Battle for Everyone's Souls (the final boss battle music), and every song that played during the last two months. The music was part of what made the last two months of the game so simply amazing.
The music pretty much always fits the scene going on. During school there's peppy music, during dramatic scenes the music keeps you into it, during the scene "Operation Babe Hunt" there's a song that plays that's so perfect it's unable to describe it... The music is just so awesome.
On the topic of voice acting, the game is either hit or miss. Junpei's was admittedly quite awesome, as well as Akihiko's and Mitsuru's. On the bad side were Fuuka and Ken. I actually thought that Yuri Lowenthal did a nice job with the little voice acting he got to do with the MC. He did nice as Ryoji, too.
Graphics: 10/10
I don't care about graphics in a game. Still, Persona shows that it doesn't take fancy CG cutscenes to make a game beautiful. The anime scenes are a treat in themself and nicely animated. The first FMV shown comes to mind and was the perfect way to begin an awesome game. The character designs are simple and get the job done. The backgrounds are so realistic and reflect exactly how normal people live. My mother even commented on how detailed they were.
In battle, the animations are very well done. My favorite part of battling is when performing an All Out Attack! and watching the characters charge the enemy while little bubbles with "POW" or "BAM" appear on the screen. It's like a comic book with the word bubbles. The fusion spells also come to mind with little cut-ins appearing and colorful, fluid animating.
The color scheme of the game goes well with the dark mood. It's mainly a blue color palette.
My only complaint is... nothing, really.
Replay Value: 7/10
There are a few main things that I guess someone would want to play the game again for.
If you max all the Social Links in one playthrough, you get the item to create Orpheus Telos, the ultimate Persona. Also, there are two endings to see, but you could just save during the pivotal point that determines the ending you get and see both in the same playthrough. (I did that.) If a few Social Links were missed in the first playthrough, it would be reasonable to want to play again to see them. Misturu and Aigis' come to mind since you gain access to them very late in the game.
I suppose that the game is so good that you could just want to play it again because it is. During a new game+, your MC's level gets carried over along with many other things, which just makes the game too easy.
Regardless, I think that the game has some replay value but not so much that you'll be jumping to play it again right after finishing it. It is about 70-90 hours long, after all.
Overall: 8.5/10
Pros:
- Amazing gameplay
- Memorable soundtrack
- Ending was fantastic and executed well
- Social Links add both replay value and extra enjoyment to the story
Cons:
- No direct control of party members
- Characters are hit or miss
- Story can be slow and drag out
Persona 3 FES is an amazing game, and one that no JRPG fan should miss out on. It is not something you'd want to start the RPG genre out with, though. If what you're looking for is a game with great gameplay and a pretty high difficulty, then Persona is the next game that you should buy. It's becoming a rarer game lately (Atlus is its publisher after all, and you know how niche they are...) and the price is rising, so if you want to play it get it now.
If nothing of this interests you at all, at least go listen to Battle for Everyone's Souls on YouTube. It's the best final boss theme I've ever heard, and you won't regret it.
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That was probably the longest post I've ever made. >.> I wonder how long a post has to be to go over the character limit...
I rambled a lot. For some reason I doubt anyone will read this. BUT I TRIED, PERSONA. I TRIED TO GET MORE PEOPLE TO PLAY YOU.
