Should I bother playing this?

yes, best Persona game of the Two. (P1&P2IS/P2EP dont count)

Possibly my favorite game EVER.

Playing the best game ever made is always worth it cuz

There are some mechanical things that you'll have to adjust to (like AI party members), but they're still very very similar games. It's only a couple years older than P4.

the game hasn't even been out for very long (6 years ago I think.) there's no way you can say it has "aged to much"

Also yes play it now. If you had the option I would say play P3P from a purely mechanics standpoint but otherwise yes you should play it.

Definitely.

I played it after playing P4 and loved it. I almost skipped it as some of the things I'd read about, like not controlling the party members, really turned me off but once I got into it I realized none of it is really that bad.

I will say that if you have a PC capable of running the PS2 emulator, that's the way to go. Game looks really nice at 1080.

Controls pretty much like Persona 4 Golden.

Art is not high res like Golden but still awesome, wish FES would get the golden treatment.

Get a Extra Chapter, I think the main game took me 80hrs, the extra chapter took me like 60hrs. (Varies from persona to person)

Cannot Control your Party, But they are smart enough.

SHOOT YOUR SELF IN THE HEAD TO SUMMON PERSONA, DONE.

You should play the psp/vita version you can play as a girl, oh and control your party in combat like in 4.

You should.

Yes. Yes, you should. It is just as good if not better than 4. Mechanically it may be a bit more annoying to play because of automated party members and the lack of Goldens changes to the fusion stuff, but the story more than makes up for it imo.

Absolutely worth playing. I've just gone back to it recently.

I finished it in the last couple of months, it's a very good game, but you'll have to keep in mind that it's not as streamlined as it's sequel, and you may have some if not a lot of adjustment to do.

For example you'll be spending more time in dungeons and after every battle you have to choose between a new persona, money, health, weapons or exp. You can't get all of them like in Persona 4.

But by far the 'worst part' is that, in my opinion, the story doesn't really get started until about 30 hours in. It moves at a snail's pace.

FES is THE best version of Persona 3, but The Answer kinda sucks (read as: it sucks hard).

Happy Trails!

I think the first 20 so hours are terrible, but it gets good eventually. One of the best final boss fights in any JRPG.

Also Babybabybabybaby.

It's pretty good and definitely worth playing. As someone who came to it from Persona 4 and Persona 3 Portable (though I didn't finish P3P), I thought the uncontrollable AI party members would be a deal breaker, but in the end it wasn't as big a deal as I thought it may have been.

It has a good cast and a very strong and memorable story, but for me personally I enjoyed P4 a lot more.

It's the number one game in my book. I'm on my third play through and still enjoying the crap out of it.

If you want play it. It's an awesome game, and has a beautiful story (The Journey + The Answer).

Yes. Persona 3 is a great game and it is worth playing despite the flaws in gameplay. It is (as you can tell from my name), my favorite game EVER!!!!!!

If you don't mind playing 1/3 of the game with no story then sure, it's a great game if you liked Persona 4.

Yeah. It's amazing.

@bigjeffrey: indeed

It is good, I personally didn't have the desire to get through The Answer. But the main game is really awesome

Yes, it's a fantastic game. You can only give your AI party members general AI routines, so there's no direct commands like in P4 but they're generally pretty good at making decent decisions. Not so much that it isn't occasionally a complaint, but hardly so bad that it ruins the game.

Otherwise you should absolutely play Persona 3 FES. It's better written and has a better story than 4. If the AI party members bugs you too much and you don't mind a visual novel-esque presentation, then play Persona 3 Portable where you can control your party members. Honestly, though, I stuck with FES and I'm glad I did. The big screen, the cutscenes, and the overworld add a little something to the game that P3P doesn't quite have.

You should only bother playing it if you like RPG's that are good. I prefer shitty RPG's (or shitty games in general) I suggest you stay away.

Yes! Yes! And YES!

I think the game just oozes style in the sense of art direction, music, and atmosphere, but everything else is pretty mediocre. The writing is riddled with plot holes and abandoned arcs and in general waxes and wanes between mediocre and poor - if you've played Persona 4, the social links especially are going to come off as really disappointing. People complain about the party-controlled AI, but I really didn't have too much of an issue with it.

I think it's a pretty decent game on its own merit, but having played Persona 4, I felt really, really underwhelmed by it. I'd imagine that will be your experience, as well, but if you really enjoy it, hey, cool. But "age" definitely doesn't factor into its quality. If you want to play it and you can, go for it, duder.

The only disadvantages are that the party is AI controlled and the dungeons are more repetitive. But the story is better (in my opinion) than Persona 4, which more than makes up for it. I mean, I love Ps4, but 3 is still my favorite.

Absolutely! I like it even more than P4. The story's a bit more interesting than P4's (IMO), and the style for the game is killer. It has this oppressive vibe that permeates every inch of it; it's not always in your face, but it's always lingering in the back of your mind and it lends the game a very distinct mood from beginning to end. Even the pristine stark-white walls of the cavernous school start to feel oppressive after a while.

Yes! I just beat this game two days and I absolutely loved it. I came from Persona 4 as well and although there are lots of gameplay improvements in P4, everything else is just as good (if not better in some cases). Stick through the minor gameplay annoyances and slow-starting story, and I'm sure you'll enjoy the hell out of it.

@stefanten: A JRPG with a slow start?

@bigjeffrey: Heh yeah that might just be a genre thing, I don't usually play JRPGs.

Do you like fighting monsters in a team with a knife-wielding dog and a robot? The answer should directly correlate with your question.

Is P3P a good version to play it? I need a new game for my Vita (just finished tactics ogre for the 50987987th time) and they dont have FES on the vita store

There's a Quick Look of it on the site. Mechanically, it's very similar to P4. All of the gameplay issues are pretty much gone. But you'll have to deal with an overworld navigated by a cursor and static character portraits instead of models that move and animate - if that's OK with you, then stick with P3P.

I had a dilemma choosing between the two and I stuck with FES, and I'm glad I did. The presentation and animations add a lot to the game. But there were times where I wish I could control my whole party.

@iodine: So i finished Golden and was like "YEAH P3P", i bought it during the sale last week. I started it, Nah FES is the way to go. The presentation is a big part of the game, no cut scenes, no roaming around for some social link action really takes away from the experience. I don't think i'm going to go back to it anytime soon.

The best parts of Portable is female character, and party control.

I thought 3 took itself a little too seriously, and I wasn't a huge fan of either endings (the original or FES). I would have recommend you play 4 instead, but since you already have, then by all means play 3. It's still a really good game with some great characters.

@believer258:

Thanks guys, I will just play FES on my PS3 then, and pop into this Jak and Daxter HD thingy for vita

@iodine said:

You got it during the Sale right? It's still going on, $5 for FES

(LINK)

Yup, snagged it when I posted that, thank you though

@iodine: Go Forth then