Product Overview of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3

Product Description of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3

Product Description

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 is a strange and wonderful trip into an anime adventure. You're an orphaned high school student, transferred to Gekkoukan High School on Port Island. After arriving, he's attacked by creatures known as Shadows. The assault awakens his Persona, Orpheus, from the depths of his subconscious, enabling him to defeat the terrifying foes. He soon discovers that he shares this special ability with other students at his new school. From them, he learns of the Dark Hour, a hidden time that exists between one day and the next, swarming with Shadows. Under the supervision of school chairman Shuji Ikutsuki, he joins his new companions in confronting this threat to humanity. With your school as the primary battlefield, you'll be forced to juggle two lives: Student by day, defender by night. And your greatest challenges await you on the eve of each full moon.

Customer Reviews of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3

Rating : Yes! My skill level has increased!, July 31, 2009

By J. Decker "frivilous amazonian" (UT)

I love this game. It's unique. It's funny and endearing. It draws me and I just want to play it all day. Mostly I love the idea, the whole power of Persona thing. Awesome!
As the silent protagonist, you go about your day building social links with specific individuals, which, in turn, powers up your abilities. Then, by night, you fight against the Shadows with your Persona, an internal aspect of yourself. And your sweet power as the main character is the ability to change to one of hundreds of different Personas. I have yet to finish the game, but the story is already engaging.
The voice actors are pretty good, though some of the dialogue can get cheesy. Granted, the battles can become repetitive. So can the music. But you don't necessarily have to take part in the grunt work and you can mute it when the music wears on. But the music is actually pretty awesome too. It just plays a lot. I sound like I'm contradicting myself, but it shows that, although there are some flaws, the game is still great.
Buy it. Love it. Marry it if you can.

Rating : Great Game, February 28, 2009

By Ryan M. Morency

Plenty of reviews out there for this already, great game, fun and good story line. Also has some nice replayability if you are a completionist.

Rating : One of the best CRPGs yet., November 30, 2008

By Ryk E. Spoor "Author, Gamer, Geek God" (Troy, NY USA)

Persona 3 is one of the most well-done, interesting, and involving CRPGs I've ever had the pleasure of playing. Currently it ranks up in my top three of all time -- which, besides Persona 3 include the venerable classic Chrono Trigger (sold as a package deal with Final Fantasy IV) and the much more recent Star Ocean 3: Till the End of Time -- and is rather different from most other RPGs. The Persona series was one of the leaders in the movement to create serious, modern-day setting RPGs. In Persona 3, this reaches its (current) pinnacle -- I haven't yet played Persona 4, of course.
The anime-styled Persona 3 is very well done in all aspects, with one oddly unique aspect: it is the only game I've ever played which I enjoyed, and in which all the background music fit the game, and which at the same time had absolutely NO music I had any desire to listen to OUTSIDE of the game. This is rather ironic, as this is ALSO one of the few games which CAME WITH its soundtrack disc!
SPOILERS FOLLOW, including an IMPORTANT PARENTAL NOTE that's spoilery




Okay. The basic concept in Persona 3 is that there is a "Dark Hour" -- a period of time that occurs at midnight that only a very few people can actually experience. During this time, those who cannot perceive the Dark Hour are in crystal-like caskets, unaffected by the events they cannot perceive; those who CAN perceive the events have the power of Persona, the ability to summon forth avatars of concepts or images with supernatural powers ranging from bolts of fire to healing. You of course have to know such a power exists, AND how to summon it, in order to use it, which is pretty important for your survival... as the monstrous creatures known as Shadows move and feed during the Dark Hour, and they can only prey upon those who can perceive them.
The OTHER major theme -- parallelled with this terrible supernatural threat -- is getting through Japanese High School. In many ways, this is quite educational, since Japanese High School has notable and interesting differences from American high schools. School work includes not just the academics, but also the developing of relationships between people -- ranging from making friends with other schoolmates, to dating, to meeting other people and doing things for them. There's a quite complex system involved for developing these relationships -- and it can, and does, directly influence other aspects of the game, including the Dark Hour adventures, as you increase your social characteristics (academics, courage, and charm).
PARENTAL NOTE: Persona Three has a number of adult themes in it, although relatively little adult imagery. However, because of the philosophical underpinnings of the game, there is one sequence of repeated injury which may be VERY unsuitable for children younger than a certain age, and which should be discussed with anyone playing this game that you are responsible for.
Specifically, as the Dark Hour lies between one moment of real time and another, reaching your Persona lies between the existence of life and death. You can only call forth the Persona by remembering your own mortality -- in fact, by remembering your death's imminence. To do this, all Persona-users use an Evoker -- which appears to be a gun, a pistol -- and appear to shoot themselves in the head. The Evokers are NOT ordinary guns -- they can't actually be used to shoot people, apparently -- but they bring you mentally to the point that lies between accepting life and accepting death, so that you call forth your Persona. Still, it can be quite disturbing imagery and not something to allow young people to see time after time without at least discussing it.
Naturally, the main character is very special, and has another set of capabilities and problems to address that the other characters don't. This makes the character more interesting, which is good because at first he's a very quiet and unassuming character (probably to allow the player to more easily project themselves into the game).
The storyline unfolds slowly and deliberately, with a number of twists and turns and quite touching events. I won't give any more spoilers, because it's really worth it to go through all of it yourself. The newer edition Persona 3 FES includes a second "half" of the game, so to speak, in which you take on the role of another character (the female android Aegis) on a quest to solve one of the key remaining mysteries.
Again, this is one of the best CRPGs I've ever played. I cannot recommend it too highly.

Rating : Now this is how to do a JRPG..., August 31, 2008

By T. Coleman

It's a true dungeon crawl though, so be wary of this fact before you push the buy button. It mixes in highschool antics and teenager romance to boot!

Rating : One of the Best I've played so far, May 31, 2008

By The Mander (Tulsa, OK USA)

Anyone who knows me knows my video game library consists of mostly RPG, strategy, life-simulation and any game that allows you to 'play god'. This game is an excellent blend of role-playing, strategy, puzzels, simulation, and classic turn-base fighting. You get to basically customize your character by who he interacts with and how, what he does in his spare time. How Smooth do you want him? How Smart or Confident? Depending on your level in these areas will depict how much interaction you can have with certain NPCs. Even the in-class lectures and questions are fun (probably because I knew all the answers, they aren't that hard). If you find that the latter sounds boring, don't worry, as they are few and far-between; maybe one or two a game-month, save for Final exams. The after-school clubs you join will determine your strength and skills in using certain personas (monsters you summon for battle). You can also combine your collection of personas to create different ones. Depending on who you choose to be friends with, and what skills you increase with your activities, will unlock different 'species' of persona, ranging from classes of angel (Principalities and Judges to name a few) to nasty-looking monsters, so there are plenty of choices to please anyone and their choice battle strategy.
One thing I really enjoy is that you get to choose when and how ofter you want to venture to Tartarus (enemy's 'castle') to fight and increase your level. Except for the mandatory bosses that show up on the Full Moon of each month. The enemies aren't easy either, providing an increasing challenge throughout gameplay that requires both strength and strategy.
The characters aren't that original in my opinion, but have enough depth to make them interesting and create a desire to form better bonds with them. The voice acting is quite good, and there is a great deal of it which always makes me happy. I don't understand, however, why they chose firing a special gun in the characters' head the summoning ability. It is definately unique and different, rather than a simple conjuring sequence of pretty colors like other games. While not graphic or bloody, it may be a bit disturbing to younger players simply due to the visual act.
One complaint - there isn't enough time given in your day to do several activities. After school lets out you can go one place and do one thing, then you go back to the dorm and have a choice of going to one more location, studying or going to bed early. No biggie though, it only contributes to the difficulty of raising your skills.
Overall, its one of the best RPGs I've played to date and I highly recommend it to any RPG fan and gamer.