I promised you a review of Persona 3 Portable earlier this year and I am going to fulfill that promise. Unfortunately, I am somewhat short on time so I will only highlight some aspects of this brilliant game and will provide you with links to more in-depth analysis and better reviews.
What Is It?
Persona 3 Portable is a port of a title from Shin Megami Tensei series, originally published on Playstation 2 in 2006 under the name Persona 3. The game is a clever mix of visual novel, dating sim and 3D dungeon crawling. The original free roaming world was substituted by 2D backgrounds in the PSP version (dungeons remain 3D), but other than that the transition from PS2 was a rather faithful one.
Story
The story in Persona 3 Portable revolves around Dark Hour, the additional hour in the night that starts at midnight. During that time, which most people are not aware of, a mysterious tower of Tartarus appears over the city and evil creatures called Shadows come out of it to prey upon humans. A group of high-school students is leading fight against the monsters...
I know this sounds a bit like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and honestly, there's a lot of anime cliches in the story, but to my surprise, it actually turned out to be good, like something written by Joss Wheddon himself (that's a huge compliment in my book). Characters are likable, there's enough of twists and surprises to keep the player interested throughout the story and the overall tone is surprisingly dark (suffice to say more than one protagonist will be dead by the end of the game).
Mechanics
While on the surface it looks like a blend of dating sim (during the day) and typical jRPG dungeon crawler (during the night), there is so much more to it. Game developers from Atlus studio have intertwined these aspects in a way that can only be described as brilliantly innovative.
The source of powers for protagonists are Personas, strange deities that are manifestations of one's true character. Maintaining and developing relationships (called Social Links) with various people during the day directly influences the power of Personas. This ties two facets of Persona 3 Portable together in a very interesting manner - in order to stand a chance against the creatures of the night, player needs to connect with other people during the day.
This only scratches the surface of what P3P has to offer: there is traditional RPG character development, items gathering, mission taking, but there is also the whole aspect of breeding and crossing Personas in order to obtain stronger ones, spell fusion, Social Links management, job system and so on. There is significant depth in this game for the ones who are not scared to invest their time in it.
Audio And Visuals
As mentioned before, some things were lost in translation from Playstation 2, most notably 3D world exploration during the day, but overall this port is very well done. The graphics look pretty on PSP screen in 32 bit color, from 2D portraits to 3D fight sequences. Persona 3 Portable does not reach the technical excellence of God of War series, but it does the job well enough to not detract from the experience.
As for the audio, players will be treated to a beautiful soundtrack, enhanced by a few additional tracks for female character. As for dubbing, it is excellent and some voices are just spot on: I liked listening to Yukari's voice perhaps a little too much (seriously, I would take this voice for a date). Fuuka's lines were somewhat annoying, but other than that P3P's sound is perfect.
What Makes It Brilliant
There are so many great things about Persona 3 Portable that I will only briefly list them, in order not to make this part too long.
The most powerful thing about Persona 3, both Portable and the original one for PS2, is the story. While I expected it to be cookie-cutter jRPG standard, I was proven wrong. The theme of this game is accepting one's passing, dealing with death and the question of how we use the time of our life - quite serious issues to deal with in a video game. The ending is very touching: it left me a little shaken and when one day later I was still pondering upon it, I realized that it was not only one of the best PSP titles I have played, but also one of the best games I have ever completed. The story and message of P3P are very strong and make it a unique experience.
Other highlights of Persona 3 Portable include its lovable character cast, some cool story arcs told via Social Links sub-plots and the fact the scenario becomes slightly different for every player, due to some specific events and choices. The execution is also excellent, from great audiovisuals to extremely complex, yet approachable, Persona fusion system. For those who have already played the original there is an alternative scenario in which the main protagonist is a girl.
And then there are the little things. One time when I played as a boy and took only girls into my monsters fighting team. When I stopped in the dungeon to chat with one of them, a whole discussion broke about me making a harem and this being a typical male fantasy. I have to say that at that moment I smiled, my girlfriend giggled and we were both sold on Persona 3 Portable.
Assorted Links
As I said, I wanted to elaborate more on some of Persona 3 Portable numerous interesting aspects, but since this post has already grown beyond what I planned, I will just point you out to some great articles on the subject:
- P3P review on Eurogamer is much more in-depth than mine, read it if you are curious about the game and would like to find out more;
- incidentally, this review of the original Persona 3 is also worth having a look;
- this post on real life lessons from Persona 3 mentions many of rather serious issue that the game revolves around;
- this post on tyranny of pink from a feminist perspective is a smart observation on how gender stereotypes are manifested through the use of colour;
- this interesting comparison between Persona 3 Portable and Mass Effect shows that under the hood these games are essentially very similar;
- and speaking of pink and female perspective, here are some impressions from a fan - love the drawings!
- one more review, in case mine wasn't enough;
Final Verdict
Persona 3 Portable fully deserves its Metacritic rating of 91, because it truly is one of the best games in the PSP library. For me, it is also one of the best games I have ever played, thanks to its lengthy story, touching ending and memorable cast of characters.
Speaking of length - Persona 3 Portable took me about 60 hours on the first playthrough with male character, plus another ten so far with female protagonist. Few single player games managed to do that in the last two years - and I have played on easy difficulty setting.
But the most important thing about Persona 3 Portable is that it managed to stir my emotions. I was a little shaken by the ending, which did provide catharsis of sort, even though what happens in it was not unpredictable. The game made me think about what I am doing with my life and what I want to have accomplished when it's over. I laughed at some dialogues and I will keep some others in my mind next to excerpts from great books I have read and great movies I have watched.
During most of the time, Persona 3 Portable is just a very good game, but at some points it reaches absolute brilliance and its complete story is something memorable. If you have a PSP, then you should have it in your collection.
