Persona 3 FES is a game I’m truly fond of even if it’s a bit dated next to its successors. The mechanics of course aren’t as refined, there’s too much time spent with nothing to do in the last few months, and most of it is focused on grinding through a tower with the same looking floors for dozens of hours… but despite that it still manages to be a beautiful JRPG with its highly memorable story, music, and atmosphere even if P4 and P5 have improved on the gameplay since. FES was also the first Atlus title I’ve played and what really drew me into these kind of games, so I have much nostalgia for it too
Now its Portable version is quite different, and I guess what Atlus decided was best to give a modern release. I’ve played a fair bit of it in the past but not really enough to have much opinion, so figured I’d go through it now that it’s widely available and see how it fares. Unfortunately though, the big compromises it has as a PSP game were left untouched here. And since this is also a pretty lazy port on their part, I finished with mixed feelings and am admittedly disappointed that this was what was pushed to consoles instead of FES (edit: P3 Reload’s a thing now so not really relevant)
First I’m gonna get my issues out of the way. It’s quickly clear that Portable cuts out the overworld exploration and anime cutscenes from FES, which is honestly a big blow especially if playing as male MC since there’s no changes there outside of battles. It doesn’t make a good first impression with the intro hours being a notable downgrade in presentation, and unfortunately this is the case for most of the game’s major story moments all the way up to the end, either using jarring stills of the cutscenes to show what’s going on or just having underwhelming execution compared to how it was done with full 3D models. For this alone I wouldn’t really say this is an optimal way to experience P3’s story, especially if it’s your first time playing. Also worth noting this doesn’t include The Answer (FES’s extended epilogue) for anyone interested in that too
Instead what Portable attempts is basically a visual novel with a cursor to move around between areas, using the sprites with more descriptive text in scenes to make up for its limitations. I didn’t dislike this in itself, to its credit the cursor with the addition of fast travel did make the game feel snappier to the point of cutting down playtime quite a bit more than I remember from FES, even if it’s essentially the same volume of content. And it still has the addictive loop these games always have so I didn’t mind it after a while, but the general sense of place just wasn’t the same this way
The console port itself isn’t good either, where notably compressed audio and blowing up these badly upscaled backgrounds for TV really doesn’t do it any favors. On Series X the higher resolution cleans it up a bit I guess, and you can switch to JP voices now which is nice, but Atlus clearly didn’t give this much attention beyond the bare minimum which is a shame, especially since this is the first time P3’s on all platforms
So I wasn’t a fan of those aspects much, but Portable does still have its own advantages. By far the best thing about it is being able to play as FeMC, with her route and significant changes to the game really making for a great addition. In comparison to FES, I’d actually say her new social links with the side characters felt more fulfilling while also doing a better job directly fleshing out the main cast (whereas half of them are ignored as male MC for some reason outside of story events). I also was into the contrasting vibe with the pink UI, the changes in dialogue options, and the different music (though I prefer Mass Destruction to Wiping All Out myself)
And as mentioned Tartarus is still the worst thing about P3 and that’s not much different with Portable, but the gameplay additions compared to FES are welcome. Such as full party control, guarding, skill cards (but no manual inheritance which really could’ve been added to this), quick saving, floor retries, adjusting the fatigue system so you can actually stay in Tartarus without getting tired, etc, which does help in making it feel less tedious. Along with custom difficulty options to further limit grinding if you choose, in this regard it’s an improvement
Ultimately though, why P3 grabs me as much as it does takes too big a hit with Portable to say I prefer it. It’s still worth checking out given it’s what’s widely available now (especially for the FeMC route), but if you do have the option to play FES I’d personally go for that instead or just wait for the remake next year
Now its Portable version is quite different, and I guess what Atlus decided was best to give a modern release. I’ve played a fair bit of it in the past but not really enough to have much opinion, so figured I’d go through it now that it’s widely available and see how it fares. Unfortunately though, the big compromises it has as a PSP game were left untouched here. And since this is also a pretty lazy port on their part, I finished with mixed feelings and am admittedly disappointed that this was what was pushed to consoles instead of FES (edit: P3 Reload’s a thing now so not really relevant)
First I’m gonna get my issues out of the way. It’s quickly clear that Portable cuts out the overworld exploration and anime cutscenes from FES, which is honestly a big blow especially if playing as male MC since there’s no changes there outside of battles. It doesn’t make a good first impression with the intro hours being a notable downgrade in presentation, and unfortunately this is the case for most of the game’s major story moments all the way up to the end, either using jarring stills of the cutscenes to show what’s going on or just having underwhelming execution compared to how it was done with full 3D models. For this alone I wouldn’t really say this is an optimal way to experience P3’s story, especially if it’s your first time playing. Also worth noting this doesn’t include The Answer (FES’s extended epilogue) for anyone interested in that too
Instead what Portable attempts is basically a visual novel with a cursor to move around between areas, using the sprites with more descriptive text in scenes to make up for its limitations. I didn’t dislike this in itself, to its credit the cursor with the addition of fast travel did make the game feel snappier to the point of cutting down playtime quite a bit more than I remember from FES, even if it’s essentially the same volume of content. And it still has the addictive loop these games always have so I didn’t mind it after a while, but the general sense of place just wasn’t the same this way
The console port itself isn’t good either, where notably compressed audio and blowing up these badly upscaled backgrounds for TV really doesn’t do it any favors. On Series X the higher resolution cleans it up a bit I guess, and you can switch to JP voices now which is nice, but Atlus clearly didn’t give this much attention beyond the bare minimum which is a shame, especially since this is the first time P3’s on all platforms
So I wasn’t a fan of those aspects much, but Portable does still have its own advantages. By far the best thing about it is being able to play as FeMC, with her route and significant changes to the game really making for a great addition. In comparison to FES, I’d actually say her new social links with the side characters felt more fulfilling while also doing a better job directly fleshing out the main cast (whereas half of them are ignored as male MC for some reason outside of story events). I also was into the contrasting vibe with the pink UI, the changes in dialogue options, and the different music (though I prefer Mass Destruction to Wiping All Out myself)
And as mentioned Tartarus is still the worst thing about P3 and that’s not much different with Portable, but the gameplay additions compared to FES are welcome. Such as full party control, guarding, skill cards (but no manual inheritance which really could’ve been added to this), quick saving, floor retries, adjusting the fatigue system so you can actually stay in Tartarus without getting tired, etc, which does help in making it feel less tedious. Along with custom difficulty options to further limit grinding if you choose, in this regard it’s an improvement
Ultimately though, why P3 grabs me as much as it does takes too big a hit with Portable to say I prefer it. It’s still worth checking out given it’s what’s widely available now (especially for the FeMC route), but if you do have the option to play FES I’d personally go for that instead or just wait for the remake next year