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Reviews Inner power or schizophrenia? Shoot yourself and find out. Go ahead, I dare you., August 14, 2008 Rating: 8.6/10 By thor.angelus Persona 3 FES is part of the Shin Megami Tensei series, revolves around a teen in high school, a new student that has just transferred to Gekkoukan High School, an area affected by the ‘Dark Hour’. The Dark Hour is a time in between one day and the next, which turns people into coffins and stains the streets with blood. This only lasts for the night, and only those with a special power are aware of these events. This power is called Persona, your inner strength, another soul inside your body, which you can call upon to aid you in battle against the Shadows, monsters who appear during the Dark Hour. These Shadows eat away at a person's mind and leaves them in a listless state known as Apathy Syndrome, giving those with Personas a duty to protect the innocent.
You are the only person who can have multiple Personas and the mystery plays a pivotal role within the game’s story. Personas can be created by fusing the enemies you have defeated and collected in battles. You are told the new Persona's ‘Arcana’, a class system based on Tarot cards that defines the properties of each Persona, its advantages and disadvantages.
To summon your Persona, you must kill yourself. Well, the Evoker, a mystical handgun, is needed to emulate the emotional stress of suicide, which in turn brings out your Persona. If you don't like the idea, you'd better just take the game back because you will see it happen a good few, say, million times in every battle you ever fight, against anyone, ever. Each character differs in the way they 'kill' themselves, from wrapping their lips around the barrel, to the temple, to under the chin, to just right in the face. It is easily the first and arguably foremost defining moment of the game, and something that’ll stick with you long after seeing it.
The game plays like a dating sim during the day divided into time segments 'morning', 'afternoon', 'after school', and so on. During these times, if you not in school or some sort of event is going on, you are free to wander the city and talk to random and stylized anime character, with funky music accompanying you in the background. Some of the people you talk to will start a conversation dialog with you, and you must choose your responses wisely. If you manage to impress the person, they will become your friend, which will generate a Social Link, an essential factor which helps establish new Personas and strengthen your attacks.
The voice acting is good for the most part with the occasional forced delivery, typical in most anime and video games. The character development, however, is top-notch and despite meeting a few people you’ll be bound to hate, a lot of personal stories are told with great results. Don’t be surprised if you get attached to one of them later in the game.
You can raise your ‘Academics’ score by choosing to pay attention in class or raise your ‘Charm’ by giving your friends the right answers when called upon by the teacher. These stats are two of many that can boost your performance at school and earn you rewards in the form of items and stat increases. Hanging out with friends and socializing with people, on the other hand, enhances your Social Links and strengthens the efficiency of your Personas. During the Dark Hour, you can choose to go to Tartarus, a huge tower that replaces your school every night. Tartarus serves as a battle ground, giving you a chance to fight against Shadows, earn new Personas and progress through the story. If you choose to spend too much time in Tartarus killing Shadows and collecting Personas, your school stats will be affected in the form of poor grades. However, too much time spent in school equates to weaker Personas, and Tartarus will prove to be much more difficult than necessary. Maintaining a balance between school, socializing and fighting is essential to success, and essential to defeating the bosses that appear on every full moon of the month. If your stats aren’t up to par with these inevitable encounters, you just might grow to love the ‘Game Over’ speech until you wise up.
While the presentation is solid and engrossing enough to hold your attention, the battle system is pretty standard for a JRPG. You only control the main character as opposed to your entire team, consisting of classmates with their own Personas. You can issue pre-programmed AI commands to your party, such as 'Full Assault' to make them constantly attack, or get them to provide backup and only heal other members. It sounds good in theory, but it’s a shame the AI isn’t exactly on the same page. Get used to watching your fellow classmates attack what can’t be damaged, revive the living, and use elements against those that benefit off the attacks. Oh, and if the main character dies, game over. No one in your party cares enough to revive you, and they'd rather leave you to be molested by Shadows and run away. While it isn’t enough to hurt the experience and the combat is exceedingly fun for the most part, with your ever-changing repertoire of Personas at your disposal, prepare for frustration because these circumstances will happen time and time again.
Keep in mind, also, that this game is long. Very long. Persona 3 is divided into two segments: “The Journey”, the main story which can last up to 70+ hours, and “The Answer”, the brand new 30+ epilogue not included in the original game. FES also tossed in over 100 Personas to create, three new difficulties for anyone looking for an extra challenge. There are tons of things to unlock and explore, so any hardcore gamer with a habit of experiencing all the game has to offer ought to be kept busy for a good long while.
All in all, it's not a game for everyone. This is a Japanese RPG. This is also a game where you flirt with girls to increase your already outstanding powers of destruction, drink coffee and sing karaoke to increase your stats, and shoot yourself in the head to summon demons. If that doesn’t grab your attention, Persona 3’s lengthy playing time, solid combat and engaging story that rivals even the best JRPGs ought to be enough to make it worth your time.
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