Persona 3: Portable

I've yet to play a single game in the Shin Megami Tensei series. Persona 3 is lauded as one of the great PS2 rpgs. Although the overworld graphic style has been switched from 3D polys to 2D sprites, many reviewers have said that the game is no less brilliant. That the redone style and ease of overworld travel has made Persona 3 more fitting for portable play.

And so today I take my first plunge into this sim-life/rpg.

Will I regret it?

Probably not, as P3P has received an average of 96 at metacritic as of this post.

Do you already have a PSP? If so, I think it'd definitely be worth it. I found the free roaming aspect was a bit superfluous anyway, as it would take me ages to get where I wanted to go, on the flip side, it was a bit immersive with the chance of bumping into someone I wanted to improve my social link with.

Great game 2 years ago, and the additions of controlling all teammates and ease of travel will make it much more fun. Sounds like they added stuff from FES and a new female character. I pre-ordered it for the Junpei cap. Should have it this week.

It's still too new in my mind to re-play though, so I probably won't play it for awhile.

Taking the Persona plunge with this game, should get it from amazon by thursday.

The fact that you can actually control the party members finally makes it worth it, god knows the AI is dumb as rocks. I however don't like the removal of the walking

Yeah, I found I could beat a lot of the bosses better by going solo.

Just a few initial impressions...

I like the soundtrack; the j-pop, hip-hop and smooth melodies wasn't what I was expecting. I like the art style; the dungeon design might be straight forward, but after playing mostly high-fantasy rpgs the past few years playing an rpg with a manga art style is nice. I like these characters; having a bulk of the voicework from the console make it into the portable version has helped me connect with characters more easily, and even the 2D portraits shown during text-dialogue shifts with each paragraph rather than being just one static image. And who, during the creative process, thought it'd be cool to have their characters put a gun to their head to summon their inner-spirit?

Most manga/anime characters clasp their palms together (or clench their fists/teeth) and grunt in order to summon inner-strength. But Persona's "evoker" is certainly a different alternative.

It's all very refreshing so far.

If you talk to Junpei early on he explains that it's not actually a gun, but just a device shaped like one. I'm not sure I like that though, I thought it was cooler when it seemed like they were going to commit suicide.

That explanation didn't do his game any favors in regard with the ESRB.

Shit, I need to buy this.

Made it to the second block last night. I can see the grind looming over me as the monsters on this block kick my ass. I'm having so much fun building my social links, but I'm worried about the next full moon. Will the next full moon mega-boss fight pidgeonhole me if don't level enough?

Shit. Now that I've bought this, I need to make time to play it.