The Shin Megami Tensei: Persona series is a spin-off from the Shin Megami Tensei franchise and was first released in 1996. While the series gained some popularity, mostly in Japan, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 was the first game of the series to garner praise from around the globe. It was first released on PS2 in 2006 in Japan (2007 in North America and 2008 in EU) and was received with high praise as one of the best RPG for the PS2. The game was so popular that it spans a manga series, four movies, another version with more story content (Persona 3 FES) and a rhythm game. Additionally, some characters are also in other spin-offs such as both Persona Q games and both Persona 4 Arena games.

Fast forward to a few years later, Persona 3 Portable was released in Japan and North America in 2009 and 2010 respectively for Sony’s PSP. The portable version of the game added a new female protagonist, additional story elements, new music, and a new interface. Fast forward to 2023 when SEGA and Atlus finally decided to bring Persona 3 Portable to modern platforms. Does it still hold up today? Let’s find out shall we?

Persona 3 Portable tells the story of protagonist Makoto Yuki who, shortly after his arrival at Gekkoukan High School, experiences the Dark Hour. The Dark Hour is the 13th hour of a day experience only by a handful of people with special auras; other residents are turned into eerie coffins while Shadows invade the city. It’s up to Yuki and his classmate from the S.E.E.S., Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, to investigate and solve the mystery of the Dark Hour.

Persona 3 is at its core a JRPG or Japanese Role-Playing Game. Players take control of Makoto Yuki (or his female equivalent) and you experience the story through his eyes. As you progress through the story, you meet classmates that will help you and join you in your cause of investigating the Dark Hour. They will join you in battle with a party of up to four. You cannot swap party members while exploring; you can only do so at Tartarus’ entrance.

While you’re not fighting Shadows and trying to save the world, you’ll need to live the life of a student: go to class, hang out with friends, answer questions when the teacher quizzes you and are expected to pass your exams. Exams will contain questions asked by your teachers throughout the semester, so you do need a bit of memory for that (or Google).

Hanging out with your classmates and fellow S.E.E.S. buddies also yield interesting benefit experienced through Social Links. On specific days, when you roam the halls of your school, you’ll see fellow S.E.E.S. pals with a ! about their heads, meaning interacting with them will improve your relationship. But what does it also give you bonuses when fusing demons (more on that later) allowing you to get demons higher than your current player level. You can also find Social Links with classmates through extracurricular activities after school or while roaming the city.

As with any traditional RPG, you can equip your party members with weapons and gear in order to survive battles. But also each character has a Persona; a demon that characters can summon for skill and elemental attacks. It also serves as the characters’ strengths and weaknesses. But the protagonist can hold multiple demons at once and can switch between them in battle. And yes, battles take place using a turn-based mechanic; allowing players time to plan out their moves.

And the battle is where the game shines. Victory or defeat is highly dependent on your attributes. While you have your strengths and weaknesses, the same goes for the enemies. If you use a skill (let’s say Bufu; the game’s ice skill) on an Ice resistant enemy, they will suffer less damage. But that same enemy can be weak to fire and will temporarily down the enemy. Once the Shadow(s) are downed, you’ll be able to pull off an All-Out Attack where every party member still standing will jump into a scuffle with the enemy and cause a use amount of damage. But use a character that is weak to Fire, or any other elemental attribute, and the damage will be high.

And yes. Now onto demons! Demons can be recruited via Cards post-battle shuffle, fused or summoned (if you’ve already unlocked the demons) in the Blue Velvet room. While obtaining demons post-battles will get you the demon at this lower level and basic skill set, fusing them allows you to create stronger ones and also combines some skills from both. So where does your Social link come into play? Well, let’s say you spend time with Junpei Iori, who has the Magician Arcana. As your bond with him increases, the amount of bonus XP awarded to demons of the Magician lineage will be higher, meaning chances to get stronger demons and the only way to handle demons higher than your current level. And once you reach level 10 for each Arcana, it unlock the ability to unlock a new and unique demon not obtainable otherwise.

And yes there are side-quests! While navigating Tartarus, the “dungeon” you get to roam around during the Dark Hour, you can save civilians that accidentally found their way there, and the host of the Velvet Room, Elizabeth will have special requests for you to fulfill; whether it’s to collect specific items dropped by enemies or fuse a demon with a specific skill.

As much as this is a near-perfect game, there are a few minor annoyances. The first being is if you spend too much time grinding in Tartarus, your characters can become tired and this will increase the damage taken. The same goes if your character or teammates wake up sick. And there’s nothing to do besides sleeping it off. If you’re a perfectionist attempting to get everything done in a first playthrough, you have to literally plan everything and carefully decide what to do each day after school. Some quests have deadlines so if you miss it, it’s game over.

The game looks great and holds up perfectly visually for something that was first released way back in 2006; although character models in battle look a bit blocky given the game’s first platform. Atlus and SEGA also put on a little HD paint to spruce it up for current-gen consoles. They did a great job upgrading the visuals; it looks bright and shiny; aside from the aforementioned blocky situation. The soundtrack is a timeless classic that still sounds amazing today. Shoji Meguro crafted a masterpiece that will pull your heartstrings or pump you up during combat. The voiceover is also pretty solid; everyone actually sounds invested and gives a believable performance.

Persona 3 Portable was and still is a near-perfect JRPG to experience. While it does lack the freedom to take your time and do quests as you please, it’s part of its charm: you’re a high school student trying to pass classes, hang out with friends and save the world. The combat is fun and requires a bit of strategy, and the story is intriguing, but the demon-collecting aspect of it is addictive as you’re always trying to find a better demon, and the dungeons are randomly generated so the layout will change every time you re-visit. If you’re an RPG fan or someone looking to jump into the Persona bandwagon, then Persona 3 Portable is for you.

Overall
  • 95%
    CX Score - 95%
95%

Summary

Pros

  • Demon collecting/fusion is addictive
  • New difficulty settings to ease newcomers
  • Great storytelling
  • Newly added Quick Save feature

Cons

  • Need to follow a guide to get everything done and not miss anything
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