Persona 3: FES Member Review for the PS2

2 years, many deem the PS2 dead.

For those who knows better, some really good game have appeared on the PS2 horizon. One of those titles is Persona 3 FES. This generation of console has been favoring 1 style of game (FPS) to the detriment of another (RPG). Persona 3 is the answer to that.

Here is the overall story. You name is "insert name you want here" and you are a transfer student to your new school. Upon your arrival, you see strange things around midnight as coffins and monsters but you don't seem phased by this. After meeting up with many character, you discover that there are monsters called shadows who exist in some sort or hidden hour in a day (the 25th hour also called the dark hour) and you and your comrades want to stop it.

Although I try to keep the plot as generic as possible, Persona 3 has a rich story with many complex relationship

Persona 3 is an RPG with a few twists. It's a relation simulator hybrid with an RPG background at his core. Your goal is to explore Tartarus, a tower appearing in the dark hours at the same time as going to school and maintaining relationship. Suprisingly, even though many tasks may seem redundant after a while, it never get old as you always want to know what's gonna happen next!

There are more than one ending at this story but I must warn you..this long is freaking huge! I am 90 hours into the game and almost to the end! It has good replay value and for 20$.... it's almost a ripoff for Atlus.

The game can be divided in 4 parts: Battle/relation/requests/leveling stats.

During the day, you will go to school thus leveling your stats. After school, you will be able to level up your social link or leveling up your stats. At night, you will be able to go to Tartarus and kill some monsters!

Also, a certain person will ask you once in a while to ^perform certain tasks for her. DO it and she will reward you handsomely.

The combat system is odd. You only control 1 party member and the others are controlled by the AI. Fortunatly, the AI is smart..... and it shows. Wghile your party member act adequatly, the enemies are really smart. This RPG is TOUGH.... really tough. Try it at easy before trying to HARD. Trust me on this.

The graphics are good for a PS2 game. Nothing mind blowing but it does the job.

One thing that is a huge letdown is the music. There are something like only 5 ou 6 tracks in the game. Worst, 2 or 3 are remixes of older ones! Plus, the music is HORRIBLE during the school. Some mix of rap, hip-hip and pop. It took me awhile to adapt but I know many will want to tear their ears than listen to this.

As you noticed, there is FES in the title. FES is a director's cut of Persona 3. It is a new episode taking place after persona 3. FES is supposed to be 40 hours long.... which mean it could be a game on it's own. Again, a ripoff for Atlus.


Let's review all this in points:

Presentation: 9/10
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Cool presentation with Anime cinematics. The art style is absolutly gorgeus.


Graphics: 8/10
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Good but not mind blowing. Suits the PS2.


Gameplay: 9/10
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Althought the gameplay can be repetitive, it manage to not get too boring. A feat not many games can achieve.


Story: 10/10
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Your playing an RPG.... this game as been dubbed best RPG of 2007..... Play it to discover why.


Music: 5/10
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Downright horrible but manageable.


Replayability: 9/10
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Im 90 hours into the games and there is still a lot of things to unlock. You get more than your money's worth.


Final Notes: Persona 3 is a masterpiece and if you still have some love for your PS2, don't throw in the closet yet!



Pros
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+Awesome story
+Good graphics
+Social links are interesting
+Challenging
+beautiful anime artstyle
+Takes 90 hours to beat on easy.....



Cons
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-Music is horrible
-Battles can be really frustrating
-Can be redundant for some.

Buy this game! If you are hungry for RPG's this generation than trust me and get it! you won,t regret it!