So this just recently came out on PSN. I've never played a Persona game before (blasphemy I know, but have played the Devil Summoner games and just enjoy RPG's in general. I just finished watching the Persona 4 endurance run for the first time, and then stumbled upon this while browsing the PS store. So my question is: how does it hold up? Is it as entertaining as 4 seemed to be? Any tips for a Persona virgin?

Holds up well. Not as funny as P4 but similar in most senses. Not having direct control of the characters puts a lot of people off though.

@alternate said:

Holds up well. Not as funny as P4 but similar in most senses. Not having direct control of the characters puts a lot of people off though.

Yeah, it's the one reason why the PSP port is still superior (even though they butchered nearly everything else).

It holds up pretty well. Not as "light" a story as persona 4 though.

It's good. Just know going in that it has several issues including freezing, glitching, visual issues, and technical ones too. It isn't game breaking or anything, but this isn't a great port. Also be prepared for a lot of grinding and a terrible save system. Other than that it's great.

It's good. Just know going in that it has several issues including freezing, glitching, visual issues, and technical ones too. It isn't game breaking or anything, but this isn't a great port. Also be prepared for a lot of grinding and a terrible save system. Other than that it's great.

I just got this game a few days ago. It is also my first Persona game and I have watched the endurance run of P4. If you like P4 then you will pile P3. Its the same game(story beats AND character archetypes). The only big difference is that your party members are AI but this is only ever an issue when you loose control of your character(you wont be able to change the AI pasterns if you dont have a turn).

Its 10 bucks. Well worth it.

@Hailinel said:

@Phatmac

It's good. Just know going in that it has several issues including freezing, glitching, visual issues, and technical ones too. It isn't game breaking or anything, but this isn't a great port. Also be prepared for a lot of grinding and a terrible save system. Other than that it's great.

Terrible save system? Man, what?

The port erases saves randomly? Also, the regular save system is alright, but still outdated. Dying several times and losing time by grinding is pretty annoying. What I mean by the terrible save system is that this port erases saves randomly. Like I said the game is great, but it does show it's age in certain spots.

I played through Persona 3 Portable a few months ago as my first Persona experience outside of watching the ER.

It was fantastic.

I only wish I'd set the difficulty to hard rather than normal.

It is better than Persona 4.

No idea how the port holds up though.

For me it was harder then Persona 4 (...I think, it was a while ago).

I think it is still a fantastic game, but I would play Persona 4 first as that game is easier and will help you deal with the tougher parts of 3

It's good. I don't know anything about the port, but aside from some personal annoyances "completely subjective, I won't even bring them up", the game itself is pretty damn solid. The only bad thing off of the top of my head are some Ai problems with your party, and taht you have no way to control them properly.

MARIN KARIN!

The AI is pretty fucking awful, the story and characters are nowhere near as charming as Persona 4 and it has a lot of pacing problems. Still, I don't mean to scare you away; it's a great game, just not best of all time material like P4.

@Chop said:

The AI is pretty fucking awful, the story and characters are nowhere near as charming as Persona 4 and it has a lot of pacing problems. Still, I don't mean to scare you away; it's a great game, just not best of all time material like P4.

Pretty much this. Persona 4 is easily superior.

So I'm about 20 something hours deep into this now...and I love it. Granted I haven't played Persona 4 yet (just watched the ER), I much prefer the darker tone and story in this over 4, but I like the characters in 4 a lot better. But yeah, great fucking music (especially that pop song in the opening menu) and the menu aesthetics are just as great in this. Whoever the guy is who does those needs a raise haha

It's amazing to say the least. By far my favorite game of all time. Defiantly worth picking up for the $10 PSN is charging for it since used copy's usually run in the 20's.

As far as does it hold up, I'd like to think so. It defiantly looks like a last gen game. But if you can get over the fact that it's not a graphic powerhouse then your in for one beautiful game.

My only tip for a Persona newbie is to know what your getting into. It's a very slow game that takes a very long time to complete. Also don't stress out too much about how often you should go to Tartarus to level grind like I did on my first play through. Most importantly, have fun! Persona 3 is a game every gamer should experience at least once.

@Phatmac said:

@Hailinel said:

@Phatmac

It's good. Just know going in that it has several issues including freezing, glitching, visual issues, and technical ones too. It isn't game breaking or anything, but this isn't a great port. Also be prepared for a lot of grinding and a terrible save system. Other than that it's great.

Terrible save system? Man, what?

The port erases saves randomly? Also, the regular save system is alright, but still outdated. Dying several times and losing time by grinding is pretty annoying. What I mean by the terrible save system is that this port erases saves randomly. Like I said the game is great, but it does show it's age in certain spots.

Does it really erase it or is it just having trouble reading it? Did you try backing out of the load screen and going back in? I've gotten a few "Save failed" messages, so I wonder if it's just an issue with emulating the PS2 memory card.

@wmaustin55 said:

So I'm about 20 something hours deep into this now...and I love it. Granted I haven't played Persona 4 yet (just watched the ER), I much prefer the darker tone and story in this over 4, but I like the characters in 4 a lot better. But yeah, great fucking music (especially that pop song in the opening menu) and the menu aesthetics are just as great in this. Whoever the guy is who does those needs a raise haha

Just to make sure, save in multiple slots. It's possible this port could eat your save.

I haven't had any issues so far with Persona 3 Fes on the PSN.... I guess I'm lucky. On note with this topic, however, hell yes get it. It's $10 man. That's a good ass way to spend $10.

Best game ever