Persona 3 is a very good game that I'll never be able to forget for years. I'm a huge fan of Shoji Meguro and Soejima Shigenori myself, and to know that those two great people were involved in this game is enough for me to try it out. Then what? I'll never regret it. Even though the graphic's not as good as FF series or those RPGs by Square Enix, the character art makes the player able to know their emotion and feelings. The music is good, too, so funky as well as sad at the same time. Especially "Kimi no Kioku", which has bittersweet lyrics but cheerful tune, makes me cry at the end. This game is love, it deserves two thumbs up for everything. However, the ending is somehow... disappointing. The bittersweet ending is nice, and to tell you the truth, is one of the best endings that ever touched my heart. However, it needs more touch. I mean, more choices for multiple endings... Or at leastone lovey dovery happy ending.… Expand

After finally finishing Persona 3 (including all the side quests, 100 hours later), this simply put is the best RPG of the year. Characters I truly cared about, a plot that has good resonance in today's society, and a game system that's been refined and polished over the years, all came together in a perfect package. It's a rare game that can keep me entertained for so long.

The mix of dungeon battles and dating sim like gameplay makes it a very strategic and great game to play.

Below are my thoughts on Persona 3 after completing about 45 hours of the game. While not a review per se, most of what I would cover within one is handled here. I'm not going to bother getting into things such as how the battles work or that the game uses randomized dungeon layouts. What I do want to get into is what makes Persona 3 a good game and trying to give some concept of what makes it fun and what about it seems to work so well. You play as a student in a Japanese high school with the ability to summon Personae. Becoming a member of an elite group of Persona users known as SEES, you fight against the … Expand

Few times in my gaming career have I been so drawn into the world of a game. Persona 3 engaged me on so many levels: challenge, story, depth of character, consequence of choice. All those things merge into an experience that surpasses its individual parts. Looking at each piece individually, everything seems fairly tame. A random, turn based dungeon crawl? A text-choice slice of life game? Anime cut scenes? Nothing by itself would amount to anything special, but together its really something every RPG fan should experience (moreso if you are an anime & RPG fan...this IS an interactive anime movie). The dialogue is clever, the voice acting is brilliant, easily on par with the current, excellent dubbings going on in the world of anime, and the characters are very intriguing. The pace is brilliant as well. Just when you start to wonder if there is anything more than random dungeons in the game, you are rewarded with extremely clever missions outside Tartarus (which hold up or surpass many of the setpiece dungeons in non-random dungeon crawlers). Not to say that the random dungeons themselves aren't fun. If you have a hankering for old school, seat of your pants, 'I wonder if I have enough heal potions to reach the next save point' gaming, this is it! But when you realize that you get that, and all these other things going on at the same time that you realize this game is special. On top of the great mechanics (which will be instantly familiar to Shin Megami Tensei veterans), you have this synergy of story, character, and atmosphere. They manage to spin even the ludicrous into the story in a way that doesn't make you cringe (like why does a 255 story tower appear in place of your school every night?) The protaganists approach it in the same manner you probably would, a definite WTF? approach. Even design choices such as having all AI party members works so well that I'd be hard pressed to play the game without it. It may be annoying at times when Junpei buffs you instead of smacking the bad guys, but those times when you are desperate, and one of your teammates saves you (I live to hear Yukari shout 'hang in there!' when she heals me :) ), it just adds to the bond you feel with your virtual buddies. At its core this game is a finely balanced game of resource management and dungeon crawling. But the atmosphere and story do such a good job of covering that up that you never notice. You reap the excitement from the challenging dungeons, and you are emotionally invested in the story and characters all at the same time. I'm sure I'm already approaching (or over...) the limit of how long these reviews can be, and I haven't even touched on how clever the scheme of working in schoolwork and dating into this game is. I will just say that those things too add to the sense of emotional investment in the game as a whole. After a single play through, this game has become arguably my favorite RPG of all time (a lofty post previously held by Suikoden 2). And the best thing is, the game feels infinitely re-playable! There are so many paths you can't follow due to limited time (its a long game, over 50 hours, but it goes very fast) that you could play it a second time and see tons of new content. And I must admit that I want to see what happens when I give into tempation in that one mission where .... oops ....sorry can't go on, that would be a spoiler :)… Expand

This game is a refreshing breath of air to the series as it incorporates a rather fun aspect called social links that both power up your personas as well as help to create an interesting storyline. This game is a pleasure to play, the characters are endearing and rather different from your norm. All in all this Persona is a great game that many people should give a chance.

One of the most unique games on the market, Persona 3 puts the player in the driver's seat of living a dual-life so popular in today's anime. Where balancing one's social life, studies, and nightlife with grinding and monster-mashing become the true challenge, and one can feel the difficulty of maintaining it all. All in all, a tried and true gem, and definately a game for the record books.… Expand

I'm a huge fan of the Shin Megami Tensei series, so this game appeals to me as it is. But out of all the RPG's I have played this has got to be one of my all time favorites.

I've ALWAYS hated japanime games but this one did something different. It had a great story, excellent characters and the balance act between school and Tartarus was fun. Downsides are that it's repeptitive and has bad music. So what? This game is the first JRPG to ever interest me and I like it. You will too.

anime in general needs to pick up this game as well as Persona 4. The Social Link system is an amazing way to mix up the action, and the end result is a perfect blend of dungeon crawling, monster collecting, and visual novel. The grind might be repetitive, but the boss battles are great and the story/characters are amazing. Definitely not an RPG to be missed!

A downright fantastic game! I loved every minute...even when it was somewhat repetitive. The story, the characters, there is nothing that I didnt love about this game. Even when other characters would be mad at me I was entertained...albeit a little hurt. This game really shows you how important it is to form bonds, even though we are not all out to save the world. The story kept me going and I was sad to see it end. The persona system itself is genius and the social links just add to the fun. I HIGHLY recommend this game.… Expand

I played Persona 3 FES, so I will submit this review for both the original and FES. Persona 3 is right up there on my list of "greatest games of all-time" alongside Shenmue. The story in this game is simply the best ever, it's emotionally engaging, great voice actors and really puts you in some tough positions when you have choices to make. This is RPG at it's finest. I fell inlove with all the characters here and I never stopped. The gameplay is top-notch, dungeon crawling has never been more fun, the combat is the best I've seen for a JRPG, the use of Personas gives it a nice, unique twist to it. When you're not in combat, you're either in the dorm, at the mall, in school or exploring the other areas of the city. There is so much to do, and the game is extremely long, took me ~80 hours to complete this. Oh and lets not forget the soundtrack, simply one of the best, if not the best, of all time. If you love JRPGS, great stories, and great combat, make sure you purchase this game, you WILL NOT regret it.… Expand