Persona 3 for PlayStation 2 Reviews by Gamers

A game that deserves much praise for just being what it is, Persona 3 is a game that despite some small shortfalls is so long and well balanced that it really makes you wonder what you're spending your money on with a lot of other games. I won't bore the reader with the high points of the game, I'm just going to go over reasons it didn't get a 10 score.

The tower exploration system which is similar to survival-style games like Gauntlet or Azure Dreams that relies on randomly generated rooms and hallways is a bit more simple than I'm used to seeing from a modern dungeon generator. You'll never notice this or even really care, because you spend almost all of your time in the dungeon either just leveling or finding the stairwell, and less than half the game will end up being played in the dungeon anyway. Fighting can be a bit tedious, especially when the enemy can be defeated at a particular level without taking damage by just autoattacking. Allowing your party to spread out, instead of causing your party to gain experience faster just turns you into a baby sitter. However, watching characters use the evokers is always entertaining on some morbid level.

The graphics outside of combat are pretty good, the tower graphics can be pretty plain after a while, but have their own high points, the music is pretty great, the only thing I can complain about really is the terrible voice acting. I'm getting really tired of playing games with cheesy, uninspired voice acting, it completely destroys the experience.

Other than that, this is an SMT game. Many people won't know what that means, many people will think this is the best game ever. I however think that I've somehow played this game before, only slightly differently, about 5 or 6 times now. I wish there was no tedious battle mechanic to get in the way of the character development. That's seriously how I feel.

Persona 3 is not a game for people who found Final Fantasy X too complicated. Persona 3 is not a game for people who loathe Japanese culture. Persona 3 is not a game for people with short attention spans who mash buttons just to speed through dialogue.

Persona 3 is a game targeted toward RPG gamers who like a nice challenge and a well-written story. If you are not one of those people, don't bother with Persona 3, because you will probably hate it. If you are one of those people, though, you are in luck.

From the very beginning scene to the ending credits, Persona 3 screams "MADE IN JAPAN" The game's character models all have an anime-ish look to them, but don't across as overly childish. My one gripe with the game is that despite a great English translation, characters still use "-san" and a few other Japanese terms. Keep in mind, though, that I hate 99% of anime and know almost nothing about Japanese culture, but I still loved this game.

The real stars of the game are the various persona at your disposal. The main character can create tons of them, all with their own look, stats, and selection of spells. Players can tweak stats and spells to maximize efficiency.

One of the most controversial elements of Persona 3 is the school system. The main character has to go to class and interact with friends when he is not killing demons. This may sound dull and boring, but the amount of backstory provided during school hours really helps to bring the game-world to life while breaking up the monotony of endless dungeon crawling. Furthermore, by interacting with different people you can give yourself the ability to fuse more powerful personae.

Finally, Persona 3 takes a huge risk by allowing you direct control over your main character during battles. This worried me at first, but your main character is so tough and the AI is so smart this isn't an issue.

So again, if you like RPGs enough to read past the first two paragraphs, you will love this game. So get it.