So I went to a Gamestop and bought a new copy of Persona 3: FES. This is my first Persona game. Let's see how it plays.
First of all, don't play P3 for the graphics. Yes, the anime cutscenes are lovely, but the in-game graphics are about N64 quality. Yeah, I've seen Dreamcast games that look better than this. Also, the soundtrack is unique, and has a lot of Japanese vocals in it, but can be annoying at times.
With that out of the way, let's look at the good stuff.
The story is very promising. The premise is like that of a long-running Shonen manga, a good long-running shonen manga. You the player (you name the main protagonist.) discover a hidden power within yourself known as a Persona. With a Persona, you can fight monsters known as Shadows. Shadows only come out during a time of the day known only as The Dark Hour. The Dark Hour occurs between 12:00 AM and 12:01 AM. Those without Personas do not perceive The Dark Hour. People without Personas transform into coffins during the Dark Hour, and are unaffected by Shadows and people with Personas. Muggles, if you will. However, for those who can perceive The Dark Hour, it makes days 25 hours long, and offers a good excuse to crawl through a massive dungeon Diablo style.
And as per anime cliches, every playable character (so far) is a teenage high school student. Some of the students you meet also have a Persona. You join a club known as SEES, which is short for Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad. SEES is a sort of Scooby Gang that investigates The Dark Hour. By day, you are a student in a high school. By night, you and your friends are RPG heroes.
During the day time, the game plays like the Shenmue games. You go to class, study Japanese literature, listen to boys ogle over girls and their miniskirts, and when school is out, you can go to other parts of the city. There's a mall that has a weapons shop, an accessory shop, and an arcade, among other things. When you return to your dorm, you can then initiate The Dark Hour.
During The Dark Hour, you are in a place called Tartarus. Tartarus is where the Shadows originate. You and your party have to go through Tartarus, fight monsters, look for treasure, et cetera. The battle system is pretty standard fare, except you only have direct control over your character. You can only investigate Tartarus for so long, for you and your party begins to tire out after a while. When you return to your dorm, (assuming you survive) you rest, regain health, magic, and stamina, and start another day, probably at school.
There's much more to it than this, of course, but I'm liking it. The game also has strong voice-acting, and thanks to my keen ear, as well as some fact-checking from various websites, I now indulge in more:
VOICEOVER TRIVIA!!!!!
The main character is played by Yuri Lowenthal, who is also the voice of Sasuke Uchiha from Naruto, Yukari, one of your party members, is played by Michelle Ruff, who is also the voice of Rukia from Bleach, and Junpei, another one of your party members, is played by Vic Mignogna, who is also the voice of Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist. All talented actors, I must say.
So, if you want a game with an interesting storyline and voices that are way better than Tales of Eternia's *shudder*, then give P3 a try. It's only thirty bucks if you get the FES edition.
