Persona 3 FES

I missed Persona 3 when it first came out and I had kept hearing about it but was never willing to dish out the $100+ that it was being sold for. So when FES came out I preordered it and said for $30 what the heck I'll try it out. Well 4.5 months and 150 hours of game play later I can say I got my moneys worth and more. It's not the best game I've ever played but it's in my top 5.

First, the game play is really good in some ways and not so good in others. A huge part of the game is just grinding combat in a tower with a lot of levels. Every levels lay out is randomly generated every time you enter it. Fighting in the tower at first is not too bad even though it's a bit bland, but after 150 hours I hope I never see that tower again. (I will though on my second play through ^_^)

The good part about the tower is this is where you increase your level at and as you go up in level you get to unlock Persona's. Persona's are psychic beings that are created by your personally and help you fight the shadows. (The bad guys) The creators of the game were smart about having your character unlock lots of persona's. This way it keeps the game interesting and focused on discovering new persona's thru combat and thru fusing two or more persona's together at a special location.

The second part of the game play is lots of fun and really makes this game great. When you're not fighting you live a life as a high school student and when you're not in class you get to create social links with lots of different people all over the city. As these links become stronger so does your personality and this also makes your Persona's more powerful. This creates a lot of fun and interesting stories that enhances the over all story.

The graphics are ok but are not stunning, remember this is a PS2 game and not a next gen console. This doesn't take away from the game in any way and there not bad, in fact if your playing the game with component cables on a LCD TV the picture is very good.

The sound and music is pretty good but after a while I muted the sound and just listened to my stereo, the repetition got on my nerves. The voice acting is very good and it brought the characters to life really well.

The value is huge, $30 = 150 hours of game play. And a second play thru is almost a must just to max out all the Persona's and social links unless your following a guide of some kind. So $30 = 150 hours plus.

Game Play = 8
Graphics = 8
Sound = 8
Value = 10

Overall = 8.5

Overall this is a great game with some new style of game play and has really fun and interesting characters. The grinding combat can be too much sometimes but it doesn't wreck the games fun.

Persona 3 is hands-down one of my favorite JRPGs, and for good reason. Great battle system (although it starts to suck when you are overleveled), amazing story, and fleshed-out characters. Truly one the most epics games for the PS2.

10 hours in and it's still getting good, great characters, simple but deep personas fusion system. Combat system is straightforward but enjoyable and fast-paced. I would recommend it for any jrpgs lovers.