Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES

Get FES no matter how familiar you are with "Persona 3". [June 2008, p.86]

FES' other addition -- a remarkably expansive epilogue called "The Answer" that's instantly accessible from the title screen -- simply cannot be missed.

Unquestionably if you did not get around to buying Persona 3 earlier this year then this is another opportunity and one not to be wasted.

If you're after a challenging and engaging game that'll reward you with a huge well of gameplay with polished style, and - we'll just say it - you're not afraid to nerd out, Persona 3 FES is an all around quality title that it'd be a shame to miss.

Persona 3 FES lacks the memorabilia, but packs more in-game content at a cheaper price. The newer version offers a chance for Atlus to recruit new MegaTen fans and should be enticing enough even for those that picked up Persona 3 last year.

The bottom line is simple: if you love true RPGs, then you need to pick up this game.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3: FES is a hardcore title with hardcore appeal, and it's not intended to a blockbuster.

persona 3 FES migliora il precedente capitolo di una serie che avrebbe "ridefinito" un genere e una saga destinata all'oblio facendola rinascere dalle sue ceneri re inventandosi e creando uno scheletro di personalità tutto suo uno sforzo da premiare, persona 3 FES è una Deluxe che aggiunge ore e ore di gioco in più ed un epilogo che conclude una storia curata come poche. 10/10

The improved version of the original Persona 3 released for PS2 (as with many other Atlus titles, you got to wait for a year or a few before buying any game, because they'll publish the "definitive version", sometimes for the same console as in this case and you'll regret having jumped into the hype train and bought the first version on launch), a somewhat radical departure from the earlier 3 Persona titles (Persona 1 released for PS1 in 1996 localized outside Japan as "Revelations: Persona" - a re-release with several differences was launched in 2009 for the PSP - Persona 2 Innocent Sin was never released outside Japan except in a PSP remaster in 2011, and the 3rd title, Persona 2 Eternal Punishment was released for PS1 in 2000. The PSP remaster was only released in Japan in 2012) noticeable when you face unimpressive shadows rather than the iconic Kazuma Kaneko designed demons from previous entries, and also by the fact that your protagonist is limited by time constraints, a calendar system, to operate, and you have to spend all your daytime at banal activities like reading, eating or hanging out with colleagues trying to improve your social ranks, and fight "shadows" at night only. The story isn't very interesting, definitely less so than the Persona 2 duology and still draws too much inspiration from then already worn out anime tropes, despite the characters and their Persona have some cool designs which would crown Shigenori Soejima as a major artist for upcoming Atlus titles. The calendar system can prove to be a nuisance as you spend more time in a half baked "social life" simulator than in the turn based combat the series (and its predecessor, Shin Megami Tensei - which 1994 spin-off "If" was the main inspiration for the development of Persona) became known for. There are no demon negotiations either and the only dungeon in the game, Tartarus, gets boring fast. Still, since it was the first title to follow this formula it still has its merits. When 4 and 5 came out it was already repetitive and unimpressive, if anything, 4 and 5 only increased the value of 3 since the later titles feel even more childish.

Just want to say this first but I find it so stupid that metacritic considers a 7 mixed or average, it should be part of green aka good as well cause a 7 is not mixed or average it's good! Anyways I just wanted to say that first, Persona 3 Fes has a fantastic story a many fantastic, charming and interesting characters and the gameplay while fun is not nearly as refined as polished as it sequals which definitely hurts the experience a little, the combat is clunky and not as well refined as its sequals, the fusion of personas has some issues that were fixed in the sequels and the social links having a reversing mechanic is dumb But overall I still really love this game! And I'm excited for Persona 3 Reload!

great music and a revolution in combat and combining simlife with jrpgs. but is literally unplayable. the only persona game that does not lets u control your party. u can use a tactics system that barely works. no character development. horrible pacing

I expected something better for all of the hype this really average franchise gets. All characters were boring anime archetypes with no flavor of their own. The story was an extremely generic premise that flows in the typical Japanese way of story telling like Light Novels. Tartarus, the main gameplay feature was fun at first but as you progress in the tower, it becomes more and more tedious by the second. In the end, I forced myself to complete the game. Bosses have a terrible gameplay design, for example the ones under the Millitary base, you have to kill the 2 bosses in the exact same turn or the one that wasn't killed will revive the other one ON FULL HP. No, they don't warn you about that, they never tell you about it until the first revive happens. One of the bosses even relies COMPLETELY ON LUCK. That's bad game design. He uses a move that spawns a roulette in front of you and you spin it and stop it. Whether you damage him for some small amount or he 2-3 shots you, that's up to luck. Whether you get debuffed or he gets debuffed, that's up to you.. Oh, did I say that there' s another boss fighting besides that guy? Yeah, 2 enemies at the same time. Not only you have to rely on luck but you also must simultaniously fend off that other guy who has an attack that can one shot you if you have an Ice based Persona. or leave you barely alive on about 30 hp if you don't. The whole game is riddled with badly designed bosses and the pacing of the story is bad. A story sequence happens and you're left with a whole month of free time before the next one. Either you grind which is boring, or do Social Links, which are just unfleshed dialogues that get the other characters attached to you. The characters seem to start loving you way too quickly. You go and say hi and you already got a girlfriend... (It's an over exaggerated example, chill.) This version has the least content and is the most bare-bones one but at least it doesn't contain The Answer so I give it a better score than I did to FES.