So I bought FES a few months ago on PSN with every intention to play. But I bought a Vita last week and I really want to play this game, before P4G is released if possible. But you can't play PS2 games on Vita (hope they make it work at some point). I mainly play games at work since I work nights and I'm never busy. I potentially could bring my PS3 and play it but I would have to bring a TV also which doing that every day would suck ass but I'm open too it (probably will end up doing this regardless at some points for other games but want to limit it as much as possible).

What would I be losing by play the "lesser" original version of the game? Rumor is P4G editions are ok but nothing special. Is FES the same way or are the edition worth the hassle instead of buying the Portable version and playing it on my Vita?

Thanks for the info fellow Persona Duders

You don't get any of the walking around. All of that is handled with a cursor and text boxes. The cutscenes are also missing. And the extra post-game content 'The Answer' is not included (which isn't that great anyways). Aside, from that, it is essentially the same game (even a bit better in spots).

You should play it, whatever version.

Persona 3 Portable is a really weird game; it's superior to Persona 3/Persona 3 FES in some ways, but inferior in others. Ultimately, which version is superior will depend on which features you're able to live without.

Persona 3 Portable lacks:

• Animated cutscenes. Throughout P3, like with Persona 4, there are a handful of fully animated cutscenes. These are not in Persona 3 Portable. Instead, some are done in-engine and some just don't really exist at all except in the form of dialogue.
• In-engine cutscenes. This is the biggest problem with that version for me. Basically, whenever you're interacting with other characters in the game, a cutscene is playing in the background in the game engine. In Persona 3 Portable, there is no cutscene, just the character's heads talking to each other.

But, Persona 3 Portable has:

• Direct control of party members in combat. Unlike Persona 4, P3 does not allow you to control your teammates directly. Instead, you have to set AI rules for how you want them to behave in battle. P3P adds in full party controls, just like with P4.
• Quicker navigation in town/school. Since you don't control a model of your character, running from area to area, it's much easier to navigate around. You basically just control a cursor on a screen and move it around to all of the interactable places in town/school. It's just a lot quicker and more enjoyable to move from location to location.

I would just go ahead and play FES since you already own it. It's still an exceptional version of the game, and since P3P is missing basically all of its in-engine cutscenes, at least in how it presents them to you, I would go with that version. The lack of those cutscenes is a huge loss.

The Answer isn't great, and is largely a grind fest, but if you like Persona 3 I still think it's worth playing. Especially if you're not clear on the end of the main game. So I suggest you play FES.

Also, P3P made some changes I don't like, but I won't get into that.

@wemibelec90: No walking around like P4? Is that stripped from the portable version or it isn't even in the original game? And hell yeah I'm going to play it, just deciding which way will be the most convenient and enjoyable

@Captain_Felafel: Thanks for the breakdown, but do you lose the direct control of the Party in the FES version also?

@Nightriff: In FES the AI does the battling for you. You just make suggestions about what you want the team to do. That option is available in the portable version but I prefer direct contol.

@tylerjacob said:

@Nightriff: In FES the AI does the battling for you. You just make suggestions about what you want the team to do. That option is available in the portable version but I prefer direct contol.

Exactly. You basically have to choose from a list of behavioral options for how you want your party members to behave, and then they just kind of do their own thing. It's annoying, especially if you've played Persona 4 before, but you get used to it pretty quickly.

P3P > P3 FES > P3.

The Answer is a worthless 'expansion' to the game that only exists to make people hate certain characters even more and to waste their time. If you really need to know about The Answer then just Youtube the story scenes, as they're spread out a lot and don't even last that long for the 20 is hours you'll be doing that dirty addon.

The improvements over P3 FES, aka making it more like P4 in the combat way of things, is just too much of an improvement to really care about the cutscenes or even losing the ability to run around. Once again Youtube can help sate your desire to see these cut cutscenes and not being able to run around really isn't that big of a thing seeing as how a ton of your time is spent wasting time running between screens. But if you REALLY REALLY need to run around or see the like 3 cutscenes that got cut then play the PS2. Just have don't use Mitsuru. And have fun dealing with dumb healers.

Also, I don't see who would start such a silly 'rumor' saying the P4G versions are nothign special. They've got even more content, new persona, new content, new characters, and new Social Links. It's more Persona 4.

The only problem I had with P3P was that I think without the cutscenes and a lot of the animations it lost a lot of its charm. Its still an excellent game and I definitely prefer being able to control everyone in combat.

I played through P3P and really wish I had played FES instead. In too many places the lack of character models interacting with eachother was depressing. Still, it was a great game, but because of that it ended up lacking some charm that P4 or 3/FES might have.

P3P also has the female MC, which is kind of cool. I ended up playing like 3 months into NG+ as her.

FES is the way to go in my opinion. The lost animation and removal of all the running around town in the portable version just detracts too much from the character of the game in my opinion. Also, not having direct control over your party members is really not that bad in most situations, and only in the case of a few specific boss battles did it ever feel like a major handicap.

You still walk around in the dungeon in P3P, so all that really changes in that department is instead of walking to the shop, you click on the shop on a screen. It's not that big a change. You can watch the cutscenes on youtube if you want to (I don't believe there were that many in the first place).

Also, to me the main character will always be a female (I tried to watch a walkthrough of The Answer, and couldn't because they kept referring to the main character as a guy).

Personally I think P3P is the better version. All you're missing is the (already rare) anime scenes, the expansion that nobody likes, and character models animating during discussion.

Are you a security guard by the way?

The real answer is you should play FES and then you should play P3P as the Female ( you can play a Female in the P3P version ). But if you only want to play it once.

P3P is easier, and also has a very easy mode.

FES is harder with not being able to directly control your team, And the lowest difficulty being Easy. FES is also the most true to the Persona experience.

There really is no definitive "better" game because both have their downsides and upsides. P3P adds full party control, some minor stuff like costumes/etc, and some drastically different S-Link options for the female main character (also, lots of pink!). The downside is that the day-to-day stuff is "visual novel"-ized and removes a lot of the character that comes from the game's goofy animations. It's just portraits on static backgrounds. If that doesn't sound too bad... well, I feel like it is, because it ruins some of that game's best moments.

Given the choice, I'd play FES and skip The Answer portion of it. Maybe wait until P3P goes on sale again on PSN and pick it up then if you really want to see the female MC portions. There are exactly 2 story changes that make playing as a female interesting for someone like me who's already played through as the male lead. If you're really into the story to the point where you want to play Persona 4 Arena, I'd say you're the type of person that should definitely buy FES and slog through The Answer just for the story bits, but I'd honestly suggest Youtubing it like I did after about an hour.

I closed the book Persona 3 yesterday, here's my two cents. After playing FES, and watching some P3P footage on YouTube, I'm extremely glad I played FES. The majority of time you spend outside of battle (and trust me, it's a lot of time), you're running around town talking to people, building social links, doing quests for Elizabeth etc, and I feel like without the polygonal models on screen, a lot of the magic falls flat. Actually, I think that great Elizabeth stuff may be exclusive to the FES version, anyway. No, you don't have full control over your characters, but I played on the normal difficulty and didn't really have much trouble with it. If they're capable of knocking an enemy down, they'll knock them down. Especially in the ending, I find P3P just doesn't hit you the same because it's missing all of those cut-scenes and just describing the character movements with robotic text. Like others have said, "The Answer" is mostly grinding with a little bit of story sprinkled on top- I'm glad I played it, but wouldn't necessarily recommend it.

Not really. At least not in my opinion. If you've played Persona 4 then a lot of P3P will be very familiar to you since they added the improvements made in P4. For example, menus are way slicker and you have better (i.e. you actually have) control over your party. The only thing that might put you off is the lack of models in cutscenes. You just get portraits. Personally, this is not a huge deal for me considering the other improvements (and the female protagonist). That is all you are really missing though. Oh, and The Answer but that is too much tedium to justify the story you get for it. Just watch it on Youtube. However, if the PSN version has dealt with the sluggish menus and load times (cos it's installed and everything) then I might lean in favour of FES. I kinda doubt that though.

Well, I think it is kinda simple: just like the iPhone, if you don't have an old generation iPhone then just go for the latest. If you already had one then exhaust the old one and consider then whether you need an upgrade.

Being able to control your party directly is a very big deal, which only P3P has. It also streamlines a bunch of other combat related things, such as your party no longer becoming tired part way through, you can always return to the highest floor you've reached in Tartarus instead of just the boss floors, and others.

There are also some combat challenges that are accessible during the normal game time that I believe could only be played during The Answer in FES. There's now a save point during day time, not just evening and Tartarus. And yes, it does have the Elizabeth segments introduced in FES.

Regarding the presentation differences, the loss of cut scenes is unfortunate, but the characters aren't just static portrait-they emote perfectly fine. Not bing able to move around actually makes the navigation faster, as it was always just about getting to the person you wanted to talk to. There are still OK 2d representations of all the areas. And lastly, the game looks phenomenal on the Vita screen.

I highly recommend playing P3P.

Can't speak for the original version , but P3P was a great way to play what is now one of my all time favorite games. And after watching the ER, I was very happy that I had direct control over team mates.

Also going to recommend P3P here. All FES really adds is The Answer which is super painful to play through and not at all worth it for the meager story bits. You lose the animated cutscenes with P3P and the walking around, but you still get to walk around dungeons and you can take direct control of your party members like in P4. Also, I've now reached the point where I can't play the original P3 anymore because I like the female MC too much.

If you've played P4 then FES is going to feel like a huge step back in a lot of areas while P3P incorporates a lot of the advances it made.

@MasterVerhoffin said:

Also, I've now reached the point where I can't play the original P3 anymore because I like the female MC too much.

I know, right. I'm actually a little disappointed we're not getting a female character in P4G. Also, you get to see a younger Yukiko (which I'm fairly sure isn't in the original or FES) so that's kind of cool (and just to piss a lot of people off, I actually prefer Yukiko to Chie)

I can't believe I signed up just to respond to this question. Hello everyone!

So Persona 3 Portable is really damn good. The female main character has very well-written social links and her soundtrack is pretty bangin' too. However, I do want to say that for your first playthrough of Persona 3 I heavily recommend playing either the base game or Persona 3 FES. I say this because P3P removed a lot of design decisions for the sake of smoother gameplay (and to emulate Persona 4) that actually kind of weakens the game, in my opinion.

So in Persona 3, and a little bit in Persona 4 as well, they try really hard to make you feel like you are playing as your character. You walk around and talk to everyone by yourself, there is no magic pocket your party members are put into, and they all have their own schedules throughout the week. That is pretty well displayed in Persona 3, where different characters will greet you when you come back to the dorm, but Persona 3 tries to hit that sense that you are playing as your character in other ways that Persona 4 does not, but also makes the gameplay side of things less smooth.

So in Persona 3 there are a lot of annoying gameplay nuances that have no reason to exist purely from a gameplay point-of-view. Ever since RPGs were invented you could configure your party's inventory through a menu. In Persona 3 you have to talk to the character and then you can access their equipment from there. This is also true if you need them to heal for you, and you can't try and optimize their healing usage. Similarly, characters will look at your inventory and equip items that they think are better (even if an item that gives Yukari resistance to electricity is more powerful than any other item she can wear) and will not tell you until you talk to them. You also cannot directly control your allies, instead you can give them roles and suggestions on what they should be doing. Again, while this is frustrating for gameplay and probably why it was removed in Persona 4 and in Persona 3 Portable, it drove home the theme that you are only playing as your character. Again, RPGs have done all of the things that were changed in Persona 4 before, so it was a design decision by the developers, not an engine or technical limitation.

So in short, I believe you should play Persona 3 or Persona 3 FES first, because it was the way the designers originally intended to convey the story and world to you. There is also the animated cutscenes and walking around which is not present in Persona 3 Portable, which I really missed when I played as the lady protagonist.

PS: I also forgot to mention that the menu screen in Persona 3 takes a second or two to pop up, but is lightning fast in Persona 3 Portable, that can be frustrating but I believe it is worth that little hassle.

@MasterVerhoffin said:

Also, I've now reached the point where I can't play the original P3 anymore because I like the female MC too much.

This. I've tried several times. Male MC is boring. Also, all party members having a S. Link is kind of important to me.Not to mention, the PS2 version(s) feels clunky as hell now.

@FlarePhoenix said:

(and just to piss a lot of people off, I actually prefer Yukiko to Chie)

Also this. It was a fairly recent development for me though. Solidarity, fellow minority-dweller.

@Hungry said:

I can't believe I signed up just to respond to this question. Hello everyone!

So Persona 3 Portable is really damn good. The female main character has very well-written social links and her soundtrack is pretty bangin' too. However, I do want to say that for your first playthrough of Persona 3 I heavily recommend playing either the base game or Persona 3 FES. I say this because P3P removed a lot of design decisions for the sake of smoother gameplay (and to emulate Persona 4) that actually kind of weakens the game, in my opinion.

So in Persona 3, and a little bit in Persona 4 as well, they try really hard to make you feel like you are playing as your character. You walk around and talk to everyone by yourself, there is no magic pocket your party members are put into, and they all have their own schedules throughout the week. That is pretty well displayed in Persona 3, where different characters will greet you when you come back to the dorm, but Persona 3 tries to hit that sense that you are playing as your character in other ways that Persona 4 does not, but also makes the gameplay side of things less smooth.

So in Persona 3 there are a lot of annoying gameplay nuances that have no reason to exist purely from a gameplay point-of-view. Ever since RPGs were invented you could configure your party's inventory through a menu. In Persona 3 you have to talk to the character and then you can access their equipment from there. This is also true if you need them to heal for you, and you can't try and optimize their healing usage. Similarly, characters will look at your inventory and equip items that they think are better (even if an item that gives Yukari resistance to electricity is more powerful than any other item she can wear) and will not tell you until you talk to them. You also cannot directly control your allies, instead you can give them roles and suggestions on what they should be doing. Again, while this is frustrating for gameplay and probably why it was removed in Persona 4 and in Persona 3 Portable, it drove home the theme that you are only playing as your character. Again, RPGs have done all of the things that were changed in Persona 4 before, so it was a design decision by the developers, not an engine or technical limitation.

So in short, I believe you should play Persona 3 or Persona 3 FES first, because it was the way the designers originally intended to convey the story and world to you. There is also the animated cutscenes and walking around which is not present in Persona 3 Portable, which I really missed when I played as the lady protagonist.

PS: I also forgot to mention that the menu screen in Persona 3 takes a second or two to pop up, but is lightning fast in Persona 3 Portable, that can be frustrating but I believe it is worth that little hassle.

See, I have to disagree with this: I've played Persona 3 Portable, and I never felt like I wasn't playing as my character. I mean, you are the leader of the group so it makes sense you would be equipping the others with what you think is best, and telling them what to do in combat. Honestly, if someone just did what they wanted while I'm in charge I would probably just kick them until they fell back in line.

@Nightriff: At the end of the day, I really don't think the changes are that substantial to really say one is definitely better over the other. I prefer P3P because of the female character and direct control over the characters. The story is great either way, and I really didn't miss the animated cutscenes once. I started playing P3P just to take a look at it (I was going to play like an hour, put it down, and go back to whatever else I was playing at the time), and I ended up playing it straight through for 80 hours (with sleep and what not, but it became the main game I played at the time).

But now for the most important question: what exactly are you doing that you can bring a PS3 and a T.V. into your job and use it? I know people who work with a computer often have facebook running in the background, but that's taking it to another level. Finally, if you already own FES why not give it a try? Play it for an hour or two and see what you think. If you start thinking "this is cool, but I wish I could control the characters directly" you'll have a better answer. It's kind of hard for us to say which is better, because it really does come down to personal preference.

@FlarePhoenix said:

See, I have to disagree with this: I've played Persona 3 Portable, and I never felt like I wasn't playing as my character. I mean, you are the leader of the group so it makes sense you would be equipping the others with what you think is best, and telling them what to do in combat. Honestly, if someone just did what they wanted while I'm in charge I would probably just kick them until they fell back in line.

Oh do not get me wrong, it doesn't completely lose that theme by not having those gameplay elements, it just doesn't hit as hard that you are playing as your character and your character only. Even what you are saying about equipping people with gear, the fact that you can do it all in a menu in your bedroom or in front of the movie theater instead of having to talk to them directly diminishes the theme a little. If it makes you feel any better, I think if you talked to a party member and they said "Hey I'd rather wear this thing with 2 more evasion but doesn't give me Evade Wind (High)", and you immediately re-equipped them with the old item, I think it somehow diminishes their AI's desire to equip a new item. Also, if we were to try and assume that combat is only represented to the players as turn-based and not in real-time, it is pretty unrealistic to assume that, while MC is doing all the crazy persona-swapping antics he can do, would be telling everyone exactly what to do down to the letter. Again, it doesn't ruin the theme of the game entirely, but it does weaken it.

I also want to note that most of the time I would recommend P3P as the best version of the game, but not on someones' first playthrough is all.

@Hungry said:

@FlarePhoenix said:

See, I have to disagree with this: I've played Persona 3 Portable, and I never felt like I wasn't playing as my character. I mean, you are the leader of the group so it makes sense you would be equipping the others with what you think is best, and telling them what to do in combat. Honestly, if someone just did what they wanted while I'm in charge I would probably just kick them until they fell back in line.

Oh do not get me wrong, it doesn't completely lose that theme by not having those gameplay elements, it just doesn't hit as hard that you are playing as your character and your character only. Even what you are saying about equipping people with gear, the fact that you can do it all in a menu in your bedroom or in front of the movie theater instead of having to talk to them directly diminishes the theme a little. If it makes you feel any better, I think if you talked to a party member and they said "Hey I'd rather wear this thing with 2 more evasion but doesn't give me Evade Wind (High)", and you immediately re-equipped them with the old item, I think it somehow diminishes their AI's desire to equip a new item. Also, if we were to try and assume that combat is only represented to the players as turn-based and not in real-time, it is pretty unrealistic to assume that, while MC is doing all the crazy persona-swapping antics he can do, would be telling everyone exactly what to do down to the letter. Again, it doesn't ruin the theme of the game entirely, but it does weaken it.

I also want to note that most of the time I would recommend P3P as the best version of the game, but not on someones' first playthrough is all.

I still disagree. I don't see been able to control only your character and how you change equipment as themes of the game; they are mechanics (yes, I know mechanics can be used to portray a game's theme, but I don't think that's the case here).

If we start going into the realism of turn based combat the entire system breaks down (you know, the whole "I'm just going to stand perfectly still while four people wail on me"). Also, I'm sorry, but if you're concerned about the AI's feelings because you didn't agree with their suggestion, I think you're taking the game a little too seriously.

@FlarePhoenix said:

I still disagree. I don't see been able to control only your character and how you change equipment as themes of the game; they are mechanics (yes, I know mechanics can be used to portray a game's theme, but I don't think that's the case here).

If we start going into the realism of turn based combat the entire system breaks down (you know, the whole "I'm just going to stand perfectly still while four people wail on me"). Also, I'm sorry, but if you're concerned about the AI's feelings because you didn't agree with their suggestion, I think you're taking the game a little too seriously.

Wait what? How would that not be a way to represent the theme of the game? Why would they have put all of those limitations into the game then? Obviously equipping your party anywhere from a menu is something RPGs have always done, so it isn't a technical limitation. So why would they make you go out of your way to do something so simple? I am genuinely baffled and would like to hear why you think the developers decided to implement it that way instead of how they did in P3P. I hope I am not coming off as offensive or anything, I am just curious as to how you see it.

As for the realism of turn-based combat, the standing around and getting wailed on is just how the battle is being represented to the player, just the same way that taking turns is just a way to give information and time to the player. I am also not really concerned with the AI's feelings, because I always equipped them with what I wanted. What I meant by telling you they would keep the item you gave them again is that it is kind of like saying "No Junpei you are retarded. You are going to keep this shirt on and you will like it." Which is kind of like the kicking them back into line like you suggested, just that it actually happens instead of them doing only what they are told and never anything else.

I think P3P is more playble now than the older Persona 3. I really like the addition of choosing between male and female character and it is something I wish they would do going forward especially if they are going to favor systems with "personal links". If there is a problem with P3P it is the platform itself not being able to readily support all of the FMV and other data.

In general terms, I like "remakes" of this class. P3P and the Disgaea portable versions are the way to go. You lose something but gain a lot more in playability.

I bought the PSP version of P3, then turned right around and played through P3FES instead.

I felt I would enjoy the 3D environments better.

The portable version is better in basically every way, so just get that one.

@Hungry said:

Wait what? How would that not be a way to represent the theme of the game? Why would they have put all of those limitations into the game then? Obviously equipping your party anywhere from a menu is something RPGs have always done, so it isn't a technical limitation. So why would they make you go out of your way to do something so simple? I am genuinely baffled and would like to hear why you think the developers decided to implement it that way instead of how they did in P3P. I hope I am not coming off as offensive or anything, I am just curious as to how you see it.

As for the realism of turn-based combat, the standing around and getting wailed on is just how the battle is being represented to the player, just the same way that taking turns is just a way to give information and time to the player. I am also not really concerned with the AI's feelings, because I always equipped them with what I wanted. What I meant by telling you they would keep the item you gave them again is that it is kind of like saying "No Junpei you are retarded. You are going to keep this shirt on and you will like it." Which is kind of like the kicking them back into line like you suggested, just that it actually happens instead of them doing only what they are told and never anything else.

Because only being able to control one character is not a theme of Persona 3, and neither is how you select a character's equipment. It's simply how they chose to portray the gameplay mechanics. Yes, I understand how only been able to control your character makes it appear as if you're actually the character and not some overhead God figure, but I still maintain being able to control the other character doesn't diminish that, and only been able to control your own character conflicts with the leader role you've been assigned. Again, that's not a theme of the game; it is, at best, a stylised choice. The game isn't about you been able to control only one character.

Say you were going into battle with three of your friends, and you were designated the leader. Would you just throw out generic terms like "well attack that thing, I guess" or "heal the party when you think it is necessary". No, you would be saying things like "This enemy is weak to this kind of attack so use that, so we get an advantage" or "Oh crap, if I die we're all screwed so even though the other guy is more injured than me, you need to heal me first" or "Mitsuru, glad you're trying to help, but maybe stop trying to cast Marin Karin on the boss. It's probably not going to work". If you're willing to accept the turn based combat is just how the battle is represented to the player, you can't turn around and say it would be unrealistic for you to be able to change Personas and tell the others what they need to do.

Maybe they decided to make it that way to try and hide the fact outside the dungeon you've really got nothing to do. It's basically just making the player run around in an attempt to make the outside stuff interesting (which is what the social links are for) by giving the player something to do. Besides, having it so the AI can just change their equipment without you even knowing is just going to lead to a lot of frustration, and it's not even that realistic so it doesn't even have that going for it.

As I've said, either version is fine and it all comes down to your personal preferences. I just don't think the two versions are substantially different enough to warrant playing each one all the way through. You're probably going to get the full effect of the story regardless of which version you choose to play.

But remember, you get to see Yukiko in P3P :P

@FlarePhoenix:

I think we'll just have to agree to disagree because I don't think either of us are going to concede any points. Not to mention that I have steered the conversation way off topic when we're supposed to be talking about which version OP should play first.

EDIT: Not that I mean to completely sever the conversation. If you want to take it to PMs or another thread I am down with that, I just don't want to bloat this thread with something irrelevant to the OP.

@Hungry said:

@FlarePhoenix:

I think we'll just have to agree to disagree because I don't think either of us are going to concede any points. Not to mention that I have steered the conversation way off topic when we're supposed to be talking about which version OP should play first.

Well actually the original question was "is FES worth lugging a television and PS3 to and from work worth it compared to just playing the portable version?". It just sort of turned into a "which version do you think is better" discussion. Also, I kind of got the impression from his post that the OP only intends to play through the game once regardless of how he ultimately chooses to play it.

But yeah, as I've said it all comes down to personal preference. I see the game as one way and you see it as another; either is more or less correct than the other, it's just how we personally view it.

Having played both, my vote goes for P3P too, it plays a lot better than it's PS2 counterpart thanks to menu tweaks and direct party control. The missing animations and cut scenes are a massive bummer, but if you play it along side this post, you can make up for the lack of cut scenes at least. You could play through "The Answer" on your PS3 afterwards too, if you're that way inclined.

Plus you have a Vita, always nice to take it with you.

As much as I love all of the walking around, because it puts you in a place that you can see/'feel', having direct control of your party members makes the game so much less frustrating. I absolutely hated not having direct control of my party. P3P gets my vote.

I wanna weigh in on the not having control of combat thing. It seems annoying, but it's actually still super easy. Granted, I found myself relying largely on me for knockdowns(though I did that in P4 too), if you just put your damage dealers on knock down and your healer on heal/support you should have no poblems.

Also, I didn't play P3P, but I never liked the idea of the female MC. While I like that you get to S.link with other party members..and I hate myself for saying this...her story isn't canon. Aside from the fact that any reference back to P3 in "canon" acknowledges that the character is male, if there is ever a direct continuation the character will certainly be male. Also, there's one story beat that I found to be pretty huge which can be entirely avoided if you S.Link properly, and that's stupid.

I suppose it comes down to what is important to you personally. For me, I'm willing to deal with a slightly older combat system in exchange for a far superior method of story telling. Maybe I've just got a pretty high tolerance for older forms of gameplay or keeping context in mind while playing a game, but I just don't think FES' combat system is bad. In fact, I thought it was kinda fun. For example, let's say I know half of the enemies are weak against fire, and half are weak against ice. I'll hit R1 and see the turn order, if I'm first, Akihiko is second, and Mitsuru is third, I'll tell Akihiko to wait, and tell Mitsuru to focus on knocking down enemies. I'll knock down everyone I can with fire, Akihiko will wait a turn, and Mitsuru will cast Bufu on her own. Sure, sometimes she'll cast Mind Charge instead, but rarely will that turn the tide of battle in any major way. It's not a terrible system- and definitely not worth sacrificing the polygonal models and cutscenes, to me. Have you watched the P3P footage on youtube? You're just staring at portratis the whole time. I'm not saying P3P is bad, in fact, I'll probably buy it when I get my Vita and play through as the female character, but if you're playing it for the first time- just choose what's important to you.

@YI_Orange said:

I wanna weigh in on the not having control of combat thing. It seems annoying, but it's actually still super easy. Granted, I found myself relying largely on me for knockdowns(though I did that in P4 too), if you just put your damage dealers on knock down and your healer on heal/support you should have no poblems.

Also, I didn't play P3P, but I never liked the idea of the female MC. While I like that you get to S.link with other party members..and I hate myself for saying this...her story isn't canon. Aside from the fact that any reference back to P3 in "canon" acknowledges that the character is male, if there is ever a direct continuation the character will certainly be male. Also, there's one story beat that I found to be pretty huge which can be entirely avoided if you S.Link properly, and that's stupid.

Hehe, the MC being female is canon to me to the point I refuse to acknowledge anything that refers to the MC as a male. You can pick either one as canon, in my opinion.

The female main character for P3P is a great idea as well as completely and entirely compatible with Persona and specifically with S.Links. If all of the major events and characters are the same but the gender is different the dramatic changes would be in systems like S.Links would shift around where some links are easier or harder to foster depending on gender. Going forward I would love to see this incorporated and designed into all future games.

If nothing else, a system like that works like other games (Mass Effect) where offering the player a choice of gender offers replay of the familiar system without the exact same scenario.

@YI_Orange said:

Aside from the fact that any reference back to P3 in "canon" acknowledges that the character is male, if there is ever a direct continuation the character will certainly be male.

I dunno, the canon seems pretty clear to me:

Next you'll be telling me you're one of those weirdos who claim the P4 MC is named "Yu" or something---

I played P3P for about 30 hours and then put it down because I thought I wanted the "full" P3 experience (cutscenes etc). That was a mistake. I tried playing FES and I just can't go back to that awful combat. At this point, I don't think I'll ever finish the game unless i pick up the PSP-version again.

@FlarePhoenix:

I heard originally in Persona 3 you were supposed to be able to choose gender anyway, but it got cut due to budget restrictions or something. So I would say that really they are both canonical. I prefer my Persona games one-off with cameos as opposed to being direct sequels anyway, so something silly like both being canon is cool with me.

The majority prefer FES to P3P.

I also much prefer FES to what I've seen of P3P.

Also, I remember an interview that stated that the developers were disappointed with the limitations they were forced to impose with P3P compared to P4G, which could be a direct translation from the PS2 version in terms of presentation.

@Hungry said:

@FlarePhoenix:

I heard originally in Persona 3 you were supposed to be able to choose gender anyway, but it got cut due to budget restrictions or something. So I would say that really they are both canonical. I prefer my Persona games one-off with cameos as opposed to being direct sequels anyway, so something silly like both being canon is cool with me.

How are they both canonical if the male protagonist is the only one who appears and is mentioned in Persona 4 Arena? Only reference to P3P in Persona 4's sequel is Theodore.

My two cents which I'm sure many have informed you on is the portable version of persona 3 will be a give take, depending on what is important to you will be a big factor. The set back to the portable version is that most cut scenes are cut from the portable version as well as in game character scenes which will be replace with portrait art.

The advantages is that some of the improvements to combat in p4 is used for p3p which is you get to control your party members manually vs them acting on their own while you just give them tactics commands. The main Dungeon in p3p will save your progress in the dungeon on each floor vs having to find checkpoints in the dungeon every 10-20 floors which if you died you start all over or if you left the dungeon you must re track your steps until you reach a checkpoint. P3P added a new main female character to play as and added extra dialog all around i believe.

So in the end it will depend on what you care about as to which version will be best for you. If you want the full story experience i would say tough it out and play persona 3 Fes. But if you just want to run through persona 3 and don't mind cut scenes and in game scenes being missing (all dialog is intact) then just play P3P.

@FluxWaveZ:

Oh really? I haven't had any hands on P4A or really seen anything about P4G so I didn't know how deep they go into Persona 3 stuff, especially the stuff concerning MC.

FES is better than P3P I think, but of course not in every way. The AI controlling your party members is NOT a problem at all if you play on normal, and it is more in line with the earlier SMT games. (Not that that matters of course, but I think I see why they did it.) The interface is a tad more clunky, but the loss of both the cutscenes and more importantly the in-engine stuff is devastating. Reading something is not the same as watching it, no matter what you might think.

Some of the combat mechanics work differently in FES than in P3P, namely that getting up takes a character's entire turn in battle in FES. I found that that was more fun to exploit enemies with, but it also can bite you in the ass. Another thing is the combo skills. In FES, you simply have to have both Personas with you to perform the combo. In P3P it requires buying an item. But that item does NOT tell you which Personas use the skill. So how the heck are you supposed to figure it out without a FAQ? Of course, in FES combo skills CAN break the game if abused, so once again, pros and cons. Finally, removing the "tired" mechanic doesn't quite work with the structure of the game. In FES, you go into the dungeon and fight as much as you can before you get tired pretty much every night. But with the P4 method of relying on SP, you can pretty much explore as long as you like if you are careful and willing to spend some cash. So you can get as far as you need to do in Tartarus on a single night, maybe a few to do the "rescue people" subquests. But then what are you going to do with the rest of your nights? There are only a few S. Links that take place at night, as in the original game you are supposed to spend most of your nights fighting. I find it especially irritating when you get to January, but I won't go into why due to spoilers.

That said, P3P has the girl. So that's awesome. The BEST way to to it of course is to play FES and then play P3P later.

@LOTR_Dan said:

Reading something is not the same as watching it, no matter what you might think.

Well then you're just getting into a debate over whether films or books are better.

Besides, I think some people are overhyping the non-cutscene animations. It's really just two people standing around, making basic gestures (sometimes a little more animated, but not a lot) while text appears on the screen anyway. It's not really that different; you're pretty much staring at a portrait and reading/listening to some text regardless of which version you choose to play.

P3P is better with how it lets you control your party members and you have better options about climbing the Tower, but it doesn't have 3d cut scenes and running around the environments.

That's the gist of it.