Persona 3 FES

Written by Tom Clare in PS2 Game Reviews, Wednesday 16 September, 2009

Released: 2008
Developer: Atlus
Publisher: KOEI
Genre: RPG
Platform: PS2

As far back as 1996, it was clear that Persona was a franchise harbouring a significant amount of potential. The PSOne original faired best in its native Japan, though its seemingly endless stream of random battles and a slow, complex battle system meant it was strictly for the hardcore RPG contingent. And yet, a number of elements made it stand out; the ability to combine and create a large number of ‘Personas’ (demons used in battle) was appealing, whilst its contemporary urban setting based around high-school students made for a refreshing change from the pointy-hats and wizards of more regular role-playing fare. If only the game had focused more on plot development and the strengthened its character interaction, it could have been something special…

…and though it took them eleven years, Atlus unlocked the formula for greatness in their series reboot Persona 3. It has chasms of depth, a markedly more complete storyline and a decent though significantly less-daunting combat system. For the record, Persona 3 FES, released in 2008, is essentially the ultimate console version of the aforementioned game. It contains the already-colossal Persona 3 adventure labelled as ‘The Journey’, which has been bolstered by the odd new feature and a gaggle of side-quests, whilst of greater interest to prior fans is the all-new quest ‘The Answer’; a less-extensive though still hefty follow-on that takes place after the main game.

It’s not a game for everyone, but it’s certainly a game everyone should try. You assume the role of a student who has just moved high-schools, and through this figures relative anonymity you are able to build and shape your own projection in the game world, developing differently depending on who you choose to hang around with, how much you study, how you treat others and so on over the course a school year. Living in a dorm with a handful of other Persona-users, the plot is structured so that every full moon (28 days, give or take) leads to an encounter with a major ‘shadow’ monster, as bit by bit you try to uncover the mystery of why an increasing number of townsfolk are falling ill with the zombifying Apathy Syndrome. In the meantime, you must balance school time, activities and socialising with training your characters in Tartarus, a giant dungeon-generating tower that inevitably challenges you to kill the various shadow monsters that populate it in order to strengthen your party.

How frequently you train is your decision, but the mixture of combat and the simple but thoroughly absorbing social side makes Persona 3 FES among the most addictive games of its era. Planning your days in advance is something of a novelty in RPG’s, yet there’s such a breadth of ways to whittle away your time in P3FES that it becomes a necessity. Each day is different from the last; the gossip in school may change; a different festival, holiday or event may occur, whilst after school you can meet with friends; go to clubs; stock up on items and weaponry; or study to improve your exam prospects. No matter how long you play for, it always feels like there’s a ton of choices at your disposal – you’ll literally never reach the stage where you feel there’s nothing you need to be doing.

The combat itself is a simple, effective turn-based setup, where you control the actions of your character with up to three teammates supporting you and making their own decisions, though there are a range of tactical choices available that can alter how they battle. Everything centres around the knock-down feature – exploiting a weakness (such as using ice magic on a fire-user, to give a very basic example) grants the player another turn, meaning you can string combos together to remain on top in a fight. Knocking down all enemies paves the way for a big attack that causes mega-damage, usually putting an end to the fight. The battles are very pleasing, which is just as well as there are a lot of them to play through. Luckily (and somewhat surprisingly) your A.I. comrades are pretty intelligent, seemingly aware of specific situations and not just repeating the same moves endlessly. They heal when health is low, exploit weaknesses where they can and remember not to use moves found to be ineffective on particular shadows – like the player, they learn as you progress, even if a certain character (who will remain nameless) insists on using status-changing magic repeatedly on bosses that never, ever works.

Admittedly, the grind mentality of the earlier Persona games hasn’t exactly been cast aside, and putting in the hours at Tartarus to ensure you are competitive enough for the full moon showdowns may prove a little off-putting for some.  But the rewards are ultimately worthwhile. Among the games biggest successes is the depth and quality of the supporting cast. You have Junpei, the class clown who longs to be a hero so as to win the attentions of the girls; Mitsuru, a high-flying student whose presence in school masks a difficult past with responsibility weighing heavily on her shoulders and perhaps most notably, Aigis, an android whose awkward grasp of human sociology develops during ‘The Journey’, before she becomes an unlikely but excellent lead in ‘The Answer’. Though it’s true that some of the characters do adhere to something of a stereotype initially, the relationships between them aren’t so hackneyed. There is a genuine attempt to tackle issues of growing up, the pressures of expectation and the loss of loved ones, as each figure matures in their own time. Cleverly, the player is encouraged to become actively involved in this development process as in your dealings with the many characters, you gain a glimpse into their uncertainties and troubles, with your links to them intensifying only if you say the right things and help them deal with their problems. P3FES carries off this process with a meticulous detail missing in most other role-players.

There is the odd bit here and there that will frustrate, as the few faults it does have seem at odds with how tight the gameplay design generally is. The worst offenders are the ‘kill-switch’ moves – Hama and Mudo – which have a chance of killing characters in one turn, regardless of health statistics. This would be just a minor irritation, except the game immediately ends if the lead character is knocked unconscious, regardless of his teammates ability to use revival magics/items. It dumps you straight back to the title screen. On many occasions, most frequently in ‘The Answer’, I had been dungeon crawling for up to an hour, before being killed completely out of the blue and thus losing all the experience points I’d been fighting for.

A smaller gripe concerns the clumsy equipment setting. Whilst buying weapons is easy enough, for some reason the shops only compare statistical changes to the main characters current equipment, and not the characters you may be buying stuff for. Strangely, the inventory menu only allows you to assign equipment to yourself, which means all other characters must instead be approached individually, which is a bit fiddly.

Graphically it’s good enough, though it would be a stretch to say it looked pretty. The school, mall and holiday locations are bright and the battles reveal quite a decent range of Personas, even if the actual spells and animation aren’t anything to write home about. Little things like the changing of the seasons and the characters clothing to match are pleasing, with the odd anime cut-scene proving the icing on the cake. Just don’t expect Final Fantasy production values, is all.

With J-Pop, rap, rock and piano-lead tunes, the soundtrack makes for eclectic listening, and though there’s a few ditties that will have you reaching for the mute button after awhile, it’s a pretty solid track listing. The story is aided by some very good English-dubbing, with just a few pantomime efforts from a small minority of lesser characters letting it down a little.

There’s no doubt that it represents incredible value for money, with the two adventures taking me a whopping 110 hours to complete in total. But the question is, does ‘The Answer’ justify a purchase for those who’ve already completed Persona 3? Perhaps, but it’s marginal. You’ll get around 30 hours gameplay and a significantly sterner challenge than the main game, with super-tough enemies and no automatic healing prior to boss fights. The downside of ‘The Answer’ is the conspicuous absence of any interactive/social elements that helped balance ‘The Journey’ so well, as thought the story remains of great interest, you’ll find yourself spending 90% of the time struggling through fights and it can become quite jading. Purely from a narrative perspective, fans will find the slog a necessary evil as it brings closure to the Persona 3 narrative, with the end phases proving as surprising as they are gripping.

When all’s said and done, Persona 3 FES is a brilliant game. Not since the likes of Grandia and Final Fantasy VII has an RPG so gleefully eaten away the hours and days, with a set of locations and a cast of characters that you can’t help but become involved with, in part thanks to the freedom you are given to get to know the gaming world in which you reside. The depth is incredible, and with the new features tagged-on, P3FES is a game no role-playing fan should be without.

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