Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable

by Atlus

Product Features

• Improved playability: one button menu shortcuts, streamlined team equipment changes, incredibly short load times, and other tweaks and enhancements create an ideal pace for portable gaming
• Classic, Persona RPG gameplay in which players construct wieldable physical manifestations of their thoughts through their social interactions, later taking these into team-based battles against Shadow enemies in Tartarus
• Contains almost all the content from the original PS2 Persona 3 game, and elements from Persona 3: FES
• Significant improvements over earlier games including Skill Cards, part-time jobs, and ability to directly control your teammates in battle
• The important new ability to play as a female character, giving the player a whole new perspective on the events of the game and providing a dramatic impact on the game's intricate social dynamics

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00356GVRW
• Product Dimensions: 0.6 x 4.1 x 6.9 inches ; 4 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: July 6, 2010
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,239 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #5 in Video Games > Sony PSP > Role-Playing
  • #14 in Video Games > Sony PSP > All Games

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable is a single player, AI team-based RPG that brings the thought-provokingly addictive fun that made Persona 3 a runaway hit on PlayStation 2 to PlayStation Portable (PSP). The game contains most of the content from the original Persona 3 as well as some elements of Persona 3: FES, and features the new and crucial abilities to play as a female character and to directly control your teammates in combat. Additional functionality includes Skill Cards, part-time jobs, one-button menu shortcuts, streamlined team equipment changes and shortened load screens optimized for PSP. Story A teenager who was orphaned as a young child returns to the city of his/her childhood. Shortly after transferring to Gekkoukan High School, he/she is attacked is attacked by Shadows/creatures that feed on the minds of their victims. The assault awakens his/her Persona, Orpheus, his/her only chance at defeating these creatures of the night. He/she soon discovers that he/she shares this special ability with other students at his new school. From them he/she learns of the Dark Hour, a hidden time that exists between one day and the next, swarming with Shadows. He/she joins the Special Extracurricular Squad (SEES), and with his/her new friends, confronts this evil threat. Classic Persona 3 RPG gameplay comes to PSP. View larger. Gameplay Hailed by critics and fans for breathing new life into the RPG genre, Persona 3 Portable takes everything that made Persona 3 on PlayStation 2 such a tremendous, award-winning hit and translates it into the perfect handheld RPG experience. Built upon an enhanced version of the game, players will find significant improvements, including direct control of teammates in battle, five difficulty settings, incredibly short load times, and most importantly, the option of playing through the story from a new female perspective, gaining new social links, special events, and unique romantic opportunities. Key Game Features Classic, thought-provoking Persona RPG gameplay in which players construct wieldable physical manifestations of their thoughts through their social interactions with characters in-game, later taking these into team-based battles against Shadow enemies in Tartarus. Contains almost all the content from the original PS2 Persona 3 game, and elements from Persona 3: FES. Significant improvements over earlier games including Skill Cards, part-time jobs, and ability to directly control your teammates in battle. The important new ability to play as a female character, giving the player a whole new perspective on the events of the game and providing a dramatic impact on the game's intricate social dynamics. Improved playability permeates every aspect of the gameplay experience. One button menu shortcuts, streamlined team equipment changes, incredibly short load times, and other tweaks and enhancements create an ideal pace for portable gaming. Additional Screenshots: Social Link in-game dialog. View larger. Strengthen Persona power. View larger. Classic turn-based combat. View larger. Improved AI party controls. View larger.

Product Description

One of the greatest RPGs of all time in the palm of your hands! Featuring the unprecedented addition of a new female player-controlled protagonist who offers players a fresh new perspective for one of gaming’s most inventive narratives, in addition to numerous additional improvements and enhancements, SMT: Persona 3 Portable promises to bring one of the highest‐rated RPGs of all time to PSP(PlayStation Portable) system in its grandest iteration yet!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Persona 3 Portable (P3P), July 9, 2010

By 

The False King "Mooey" (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable (Video Game)

Something about myself:
I wouldn't claim myself a long time Persona fan, but ever since I played Persona 4 I fall in love with this series and ATLUS. They made some nice quality games, especially the SMT series.
It is not exaggerating to say that P4 is probably one of the best RPG games made for PS2. Throughout the 25 some years gaming experiences, I could hardly remember any game can easily sink me 100+ hours, and P4 and P3 FES are some of them.

Enough of the history, let's get to the point:
Most people looking at this item would probably heard or have played Persona 3/P3 FES/P4 before, so they have a general understanding of the game already, I think ATLUS made a wise decision to port the P3 onto the PSP.
When I was playing P4 I had the thought, "what if I could play this game on my PSP, that would be awesome!", now it is like my dream come true :)

After playing through P4 three times, I bought P3 FES, and man you gotta say that P4 is much more polished compare to P3/P3FES. It took me a while to get used to the combat system, and if you already get used to P4, you wouldn't really like some of the ways they made P3. Granted, the story of P3 is great.

Let's look at some of the major improvements they made for P3P:

1. Ability to select a Female MC. After playing another two times through P3FES, one would love to be able to experience some alternative plots.
2. There are four Persona from P4.
3. Battle system from P4. Easy to do "1 more" but no more turn loss if not in "Dizzy" status.
4. Party members will not get tired in Tartaros (but you will get tired in next day), fortunately we can buy some item to cure tired.
5. When you go to the mall at night, once you return to your dorm you will no longer have the time slot to study, instead you go directly to the next day.
6. There are part time jobs which will increase multiple MC stats just like P4.
7. Shrine function changed, Inari will copy skill card only.
8. One thing I like a lot is the Skill cards added to P3P, with these cards you can easily transfer the skills onto other personas, also easy to make all-around personas for MC. (Four-hit all Tam Lin anyone? :)
9. Yes, New costumes! Just like the first reviewer said, new constumes seems rather easier to get. I love the MShe's sweater.
10.New S-links for female MC.
11.New difficulties - Beginner and Maniac (+ usual Easy, Normal and Hard)
12.Theo, the New male Velvet room guide for female MC
13.Fixed melee weapon. 1 hand sword for male MC and naginata for female MC (both are slash type attack).
14.Another important change is that Fusion spells are now items - no need to have Persona. But you have to get them via request, event or exchange gems. This has its pros and cons.
15.Police station will handle accessory as well (Be Blue V is now healing shop to cure tired status), I actually like this change, since we have the streamline equipment screem just like P4, it is much much easier to buy and sell equipments for our party.
16.New "rescue missing person" quest.
17.S-links will be no longer become Reverse by leave it for long time - but you can via choose wrong answers.
18.New "Paradigm Door" a.k.a Vision Quest. Fight all the full moon bosses + extra special battle to get prize. Some people dislike P3P, because they say P3P didn't port everything from P3FES. well, the Paradigm door surves the "The Answer", and playing as Aigis or playing as female MC doesn't make too much difference to me.

Well, that's about it. If you are like me that loves Persona series, you will definitely want to pick this up. My PSP has sit there for two years without anything worth to play, but this will definitely make full use of it again!

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Persona 3 for PSP, July 8, 2010

By 

Linda Ratliff - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable (Video Game)

As a die hard Persona fan, I probably would have wound up getting this even if they hadn't made any changes. That said, they took an already awesome game and made it even better. The best known new feature is, of course, the gender selection option at the beginning of the game. I'm currently partway through my first run as the female protagonist and really enjoying the new social link options--a couple are still the same, but many of them so far are with characters that either didn't exist, or you didn't have any links with. Also, and this might just be because I'm a girl and projecting onto our heroine, the female protagonist is easier to relate to and seems to have a bit more personality. Along with selecting your character's gender, you can also select the gender of Igor's assistant in the Velvet Room--I must say, Theodore is much less creepy than Elizabeth.
The combat system has also been tweaked. If you've played Persona 4, you'll find that the system is almost identical--you have more tactical options (including direct commands) and you can recover and attack in the same round. Unfortunately, it also means that you can no longer get freebie healing by going back to the base of Tartarus. This is more than made up for the fact that you can now return directly to whatever floor you left, instead of being limited the the teleporter levels. You no longer have to grind through 12 or 13 floors before you can save all your hard work.
Daytime activities have are more dating sim-like and a few new things have been added. You can now instantly move to another place on the map (like in Persona 4) with the press of a button, and instead of running around everywhere, you have a cursor. I'm assuming the latter is because it's a handheld and doesn't have as much processing power. The graphics are clearer in cut scenes and stills and combat graphics are comparable to the original PS2 (a teensy bit pixelly, but again, I'm assuming that's a limitation of the PSP).
There's also cute little things, like the fact that that the interface is pink for the female protagonist. Also, I'm not sure if it's just where I've gotten the hang of things, but some of the specialty costumes appear to be a bit easier to get. By the second full moon, you can acquire both the protagonist's winter outfit (as armor) and the "battle panties." The Akihiko Tuxedo (butler costume) also becomes available.
All in all, worth it both for the veteran Persona player, and the noob.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Persona 3: still a game that will keep you up till the dark hour and beyond, July 26, 2010

By 

R. Thompson - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable (Video Game)

Persona 3 Portable is third version and second update of Persona 3 to hit the stores. If you've bought either one or both of the previous versions and want to know if it's worth buying again, I'd say sure. Make no mistakes; the addition of a female protagonist doesn't drastically change the main storyline (any changes to it are akin to the ones made to the Journey of P3: FES), but that- along with the changes to the core game play- does make it a blast to play or replay. The downgrades made to the game to fit it on the PSP are balanced out by some nice improvements to make P3P more streamlined and polished than ever.

If you haven't played any of the previous versions of P3, you might wonder if it's really worth re-releasing it twice in less than three years. From the description, it sounds like pretty much any other RPG you might find out there. You play as a teenage orphan who moves back to the place where he or she was born only to find it in danger from a group of mysterious enemies called Shadows. Only you, along with a group of dormmates, can save the city with your special power, the power of Persona. Even with its modern setting, the plot sounds a bit cliché, and it is to a certain extent, but its overall charm and presentation make it shine.

Before you get into P3, you should know that it's definitely not a game for everyone. The evokers and personas based on all world religions make the game controversial enough to deserve its M rating even if it is on the lighter side as far as SMT games go (P3 is part of an SMT spin-off series).

It's also a dungeon crawler. The game does a nice job of breaking the game's main dungeon, Tartarus, down into several manageable parts, but it can still be a bit of a slog, even if it is much better than it was before. You still have to climb over 250 floors of this Tower of Demise throughout the course of the year and fight shadows along the way (you can see, attack, and avoid them; there are no random battles in this game). It's still a tad on the bland side design-wise, but the battle system was upgraded a la Persona 4, letting you take direct control of your teammates rather than just the MC. For those who actually appreciated the AI, it's still pretty decent in this version, but there are fewer tactics options to choose from, and at some point, you will have to take control of your party to make up for those losses.

Every ten or fifteen floors, you will have to fight a boss or group of mini-bosses. While you had to marathon through each little group of floors in the original P3 before you could reach a point to record your progress and teleport back to the entrance, in P3P, you can warp out of the labyrinth at any floor and resume from where you left off by checking the main gate. Your party doesn't get tired (a state where they weren't as effective in battle and would return to the dorms when you got back to the entrance in P3 and P3: FES) until you leave Tartarus either, so you can stay as long as you want now and even climb as far as you can in a given month in one go.

In addition, P3 is a Japanese RPG in every sense of the word, complete with anime-style graphics, a setting in modern-day Japan, and Japanese honorifics to hammer in the point that yes, this game takes place outside of the US. While you climb the Tartarus by night, you spend your days as a normal Japanese high school student. You have to study, make friends, and work to become braver and more charming by playing through the social sim portion of the game.

This is where P3's main draw comes into play: while the main story and goal are as linear as they are in most JRPGs, you get total freedom over what you want to do with your character for a year of their life. You can go to Tartarus whenever you want to and hang out with any of the 19 different people you can forge social links with at your leisure. While some of the characters involved in each link stay the same for both the male and female protagonist, many of them are unique to one gender, and several change in tone depending on which protagonist you choose. Just a note: the female's route has social links for all of the main characters, which develop them a bit better, and they are spread out a bit more evenly than the one's in the male's route, making them easier to max. While the female route is touted as being for "advanced players only", it seems geared for beginning players who might be a bit overwhelmed with the game system as well as P3 vets.

These social links also factor into the RPG elements of the game. Your character is unique in that he or she can switch between multiple personas, which you get by either exploring Tartarus or fusing the ones you have together to make stronger ones. Your social links give extra experience to fused personas of the same arcana, letting them level up and learn new skills without going into battle. These new personas can also inherit skills from their "parents", and yes, it's still a bit of a pain to get the exact skills you want to carry over during fusion. Fortunately, if you get these personas to a high enough level, they drop Skill Cards that let you teach a specific skill of theirs to any persona you want. This is new to this version of P3, and believe me: it makes fusion less of a hassle than it was before.

The other changes made to the game are meant to make it fit on the PSP. Unfortunately, this means that all of the original's anime cut-scenes are now gone, and you don't get to see full sized character models outside of Tartarus. You use a cursor to move around Iwatodai, which makes getting from place to place shorter and less tedious, so it's a decent trade-off there. Event scenes are now told visual novel-style with just character portraits, 2D backgrounds, and sound effects to convey the plot. It works for the most part once you get used to it, but some scenes aren't quite as effective as they were in the earlier versions. All of the original voice acting is still there, though, which is great for the most part (many of the main characters have excellent voice actors) but can be a bit... less so in others. It's still the same Persona 3 experience as before, just made to have more reasonable loading times.

Speaking of things taking less time, P3P gives you the option of installing some of the game's data onto your memory stick to reduce load times. Take my advice and make the space for it, especially if you have firmware above version 6.20 installed.

Overall, Persona 3 Portable is a great game and addition the PSP's library. The updates and new female protagonist make it a worthwhile purchase for any Persona 3 veteran, as long as they don't expect a major plot overhaul, and those same changes make it more accessible to newcomers to the series than ever. If you're an RPG-lover with a PSP who doesn't mind some of the game's quirks, then you shouldn't miss this version of Persona 3.