Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES

Game Info

Publisher: Atlus USA

Developer: Atlus USA

Genre(s): Role-Playing Game

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Release Date: April 22, 2008

Summary

Lead a group of high school students with a dangerous extracurricular activity: exploring the mysterious tower Tartarus and fighting the sinister Shadows during the Dark Hour, a frozen span of time imperceptible to all but a select few. However, the end of their quest is no longer the end of the story--witness for the first time the aftermath of the final battle and the students' struggle to find meaning in their new lives. Persona 3 FES contains an enhanced version of the original game, loaded with new Personas and cutscenes, a weapon synthesis system, additional quests and events, a hard difficulty mode, and the ability to change your characters' clothes. 30 additional hours of gameplay - Take the role of Aigis in a brand new Persona 3 episode that plays as a full game with an original story, extra cutscenes and objectives, and seventeen new music tracks. [Atlus USA]

Also On Metacritic

GAMES: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3

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Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

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What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this game is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 21 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

[anonymous] gave it an8:
The game overall is very good. It is a mix between fighting and a life simulation. I've heard that in Japan life simulation games are frequent enough to have their own genre, but this is a rarity here, so it's unique just for that, but I've barely scratched the surface. The enemy designs are the best I've seen in an RPG, especially the bosses, and the dark hour looks pretty beast where water turns to blood and people sleep in coffins. The story is extremely interesting, and beating the final boss (I wont spoil anything) is the greatest moment in gaming. The story is also the only one I've ever heard in gaming that made me tear up with the exception of Modern Warfare 2. The combat is good, but lacking team control is an issue sometimes. The AI is not dumb, but it can make screwups, and it is impossible to build a strategy if you only have a vague idea of what your allies would do next. It's not bad in "the Journey" because battles are pretty straight foward, but in "the Answer" enemies are kind of all over the place, which makes battleing pretty hard. A frequently reoccuring situation in the Answer is when you are up against three minibosses at once, with weakness to one element and immunity to most others. Lets say I wanted Akihiko, a thunder user, to attack the one that is weak to thunder. I can select "assign target" from the tactics menu and assign him that target, but he uses "mazio" which thunder attacks his target as well as all other enemies, causing them to reflect the attack back at him or absorb it or something while he gets no second turn. To top that off, there is no compendium in the Answer, so you can't store more than twelve or something personas. That would be like if in Pokemon you were only allowed to carry the six in your party. It is also silly that if you attack a downed enemy they stand back up, and it takes up a turn slot to get back up, too. Also, the minibosses are incredibly hard. The story and life sims are extremely immersive. What makes the story so great, besides the story itself are the little distractions that are thrown in every once in a while ("operation: babe hunt" for example) which just brings a smile on everyone. Except for battling shadows in the dark hour, the game is in a contemporary setting, which just sucks the audience in even further. What fractures the immersion is how in during the cutscens your party seem to undermind the protagonist, which is odd because you're the leader. An other thing is that social link options feel very one sided. For example, I was asked if I have any friends, and the two options were "I can't say that I don't" and "I don't have any friends." Where's the "I'm the most popular dood at school" option? Your friends also get mad at you a lot. An other thing about social links is the dating sim, which is completely broken. If you are higher than rank four in a social link with any girl, you are dating them. There is no "just friends" option, so often times you would find yourself cheating with five girls at once! This is Persona, not Tiger Woods!! The music is pretty good, by the way, and the animated cutscens have a cool artsy effect. The second video that plays before you see the title screen is the best in start up movie in gaming. Overall, Persona 3 FES, though flawed, is an extremely good game. One more thing is that if you get the choice, get Persona 4 because, other than being the best game of all time, it is also one of the best sequels because it fixes everything wrong wiht this game and enhances all the good stuff that is all ready here.

Jon T gave it a10:
Epic Adventure! For those who have not played persona 3 this is a must get! For those of you who have, FES has a bunch of new features and a Loonnggg epiloge! Its a must play!

Angelica R gave it a10:
This is probably one of the best RPGs I have played in a long time and a definite must-play for anyone who owns a PS2: Compared to your standard group of RPG heroes, this involves a group of high school students that fight during the Dark Hour: a hidden hour between midnight and the following day. When you are not grinding, you attend Gekkoukan High School and make friends that help strengthen your Personas.

Basil G gave it a5:
I love Persona 3, but that will not change my decisive opinion of one thing: it is not a good game. The story, music, characters and its distinctive style made Persona 3 what it is. The actual GAME is borderline bad. The Social Link aspect is enjoyable because the characters are attractive and develop the more time you spend with them, however its actual effect on gameplay is not significant enough. The same applies to character stats (charm, courage etc). You spend most of the first half playing this game developing these stats to unlock and level up Social Links that do not help as much as they are promised to. There are a fair amount of locations in this game but barely any reason for you to visit them. Throughout the full course of the game, Port Island Station is a perfect example. The battle system, at its core, is below average because it is plague with a number of massive flaws. The first being: you cannot fully control your party members. The extent you can being only with a number of vague AI command presets that don't always work as they are supposed to. Why Atlus implemented this feature is a mystery as it is nothing more than wasted effort. Even RPGs 10 years ago allowed you to control your party. When using the Health/Support tactic, the AI prioritizes the lowest health first not matter what. Why is this bad? I cannot count the number of times I had to re-load because a party member healed someone else instead of me. Here is an example of a typical scenario: an enemy uses a skill that leaves your parties' HP close to nothing. If you have ten hit points but everyone else has less, the healer will tend to everyone else before you. This also leads us to our next flaw: if the main character dies, it's game over. This is incredibly frustratingly especially in the case where all enemies decide to attack you, uses an instant kill spell or if you're currently weak against an element. If you get knocked down from a weakness or a critical hit, you lose the only chance to change the AI of a party member to heal you until the next turn when you get back up - BUT you're most likely already dead at this point. Almost every death I have had in this game was unfair. That aside, fusing new Personas is easy and can be surprisingly a lot of fun, especially when preparing for boss fights of which you already know what to expect. If you are playing Persona 3, you will be surprised by how much better Persona 4 is. Nearly every negative mentioned above is fixed. If you are considering to play this game, pick up Persona 4 instead as you will most likely enjoy it over this frustrating gaming experience.

Chris T gave it a10:
Persona 3 FES takes the groundbreaking Persona 3 to the next level by making multiple improvements/adjustments and adding an entire new 40+ hour chapter to the already nearly 100 hour game. The perfect mix of traditional J-RPG and dating sim, Persona 3 delivers quite possibly one of the greatest RPG experiences of all time. Certainly the best on the PS2.

Laurier gave it a10:
Persona 3 was an incredible RPG, with a unique vibe, great blending of two apparently different gameplay styles, and FES only adds to this greatness. No need to list all the additions here (especially since some would be rather spoiler-ish), but for 30$, you get more content than in the original game, more things to do, and even a separate new game to go with it, for a fraction of the price. Definitely worth buying, whether you have the original or not.

Marvin R. gave it a10:
Persona 3 Fes is a blast...To those who haven't played a shin megami tensei game before..this is now the time to start experiencing one. The story and gameplay is very profound and addicting that you will find yourself playing this one through days without sleep. To those fans who played the original you will surely be overwhelmed with joy from all the new material...from new equipments made by fusion, enhanced social links with great never before seen cutscenes, a more enjoyable character status buildup system, to new kickass personas and a faster loading screen. Even the costumes of the characters in battle changes now according to what is equipped on them. Of course lets not forget "the answer" which is a brand new action packed game all in all and is a must play to those who want to know what happen after the ending of the journey. Overall Persona 3 Fes is the best RPG I have enjoyed in the ps2 console because of its original gameplay and well developed characters that you will surely love. If the original persona 3 has flaws this version is pure perfection.

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