Hey everybody... I just finished playing P4G on my Vita and I poured about 85 hours into it already. I am really interested in this series, and was curious if Persona 3 Portable would be the next best for me to start... Thanks for for advice.

On the one hand, it gimps a lot of features found in the other versions of Persona 3. On the other hand, no Keisuke. Tough call.

Yes. That or FES if you want to play on PS3.

I played P3P and then watched the animated cutscenes from FES on YouTube. They're gorgeous, but didn't fit in the PSP game.

yup

I haven't played any version other than P3P, but that game is fantastic.

If you can FES, other than that if you want that Portability get it on PSP. Then buy FES or watch it on Youtube.

Yup. I'd probably go for FES, though.

P3P doesn't have "The Answer" which is the expansion added in P3FES on PS2, but on the other hand it adds a female playable character and makes some small gameplay tweaks to make the game play a bit more like P4. Also P3P doesn't allow you to run around and explore in 3D like the PS2 version, insetad it lets you move a cursor around a 2D image. But the combat and dungeon exploring is still 3D, it's just the city and school and such that is not.

The female main character option and direct command over party members outweigh the stuff you'd get with FES in my opinion, go for it.

Also you have a VITA so yeah put that shit to use.

You can probably download it there. You will miss out on sickass cutscenes. but whatever

Also you get to play as a chick

Yes, in my opinion it's the true version of Persona 3. The female protagonist run is excellent.

From a narrative standpoint, you'll be missing out on The Answer from FES. From a gameplay quality standpoint, it will feel more in line with P4G.

I've argued to death that FES is the superior version of the game. I stand by that.

Thank you all :). I really freaking enjoy this series. I think that before I make my decision on either FES or P3P, I'm going to do a 100% playthrough of golden.

I thought it was a great companion to it's non-portable brethren, and the female route added a lot of stuff that you'd appreciate after playing through the original game, but I guess a lot of people enjoyed it by itself? So yeah, get it.

Actually, wait. I don't know how much it is right now, but Atlus has had all their PSN stuff on sale in the past, and maybe they'll do it again. I think I got it when it was 9.99.

I think it's the best version. The content and social links they added more than make up for the few things it loses. The only piece of actual content you lose is access to "The Answer" which is a side story that takes place after the main game, it's also pretty terrible, and I'd say skip it even if you did have access to it.

Do not listen to this man. He knows not what he says.

Persona 3 is definitely worth your time if you liked Persona 4.

@video_game_king: What do you like about The Answer? I feel that elaborating on that ending only weakens it.

Yea if u liked p4g then u will like p3p so go for it

@hunter5024:

The general concept of a group of people dealing with the loss of a dear friend? The added backstory and characterization of the cast? The fact that it's pretty much just an abridged version of Persona 3 (albeit with an ending that's probably too neat)?

@video_game_king: You should spoiler tag that first sentence. And I guess I can see why you might enjoy it for those reasons, it's really just a matter of preference. I'm one of those people who prefers to have an ending left somewhat ambiguous so I can puzzle things out for myself, but for some people that leaves them a little unsatisfied, which is totally reasonable.

The female protagonist alone is worth the purchase if you ask me. Her playthrough is arguably better than the Male protagonists. You can control party members which is always nice, and it's portable. If you ask me it's the best version of the game.

I decided to start out with FES. After I beat that, I plan on doing a run through with the female protagonist on P3P. Back to P4G for now though :)

He's still there, and still a social link if you're playing a dude (but why would you?)

Also, yes, P3P is better than P3:FES mechanically, but worse than P3:FES in many regards from anything outside of a dungeon (quicker, but lacking in personality and actually breaks some of the better moments of the game). Worth a buy if you don't intend to get FES instead.

Because you can't resist Brooklyn Rage?

I ended up buying FES on PSN as well as portable.

Portable offers a lot of nice improvements. Being able to control all of your party members is huge. Not being able to walk around kinda sucks though. But I find it's easier to play looooong rpgs like p3 and 4 on a handheld. Also, I think the friend characters are better written and realized in the female version that portable offers.

skill cards! nobody is mentioning the skill cards of P3P! you can have your favorite persona and then customize it with all the moves you want for it instead of hoping and praying for a good fusion. I know for people who go back to P3P from P4 or P4G that doesn't sound like much anymore because of how fusion is improved but it is probably the biggest bestest part of P3P's gameplay.

but yes the biggest drawbacks of P3P is that FES is the complete package for understanding the story and getting the real deal but P3P is much more fun to play imo. if they could remake it on the Vita maybe they could put the cutscenes back in and even come up with a "the Answer" for the FeMC but I'm already plenty happy with the P3P we already have.

Plus Theo

If you still own/play your PSP you may as well buy a game for it

i hope nobody like hates me for this but i gotta say running around the world map was really boring for me in p3 and FES. I actually liked getting a quick menu to teleport me places and a map that I could just scroll to things I wanted. it wasn't like i was really exploring new places. but the cutscenes are a big step up from the visual novel style of P3P.

After having played PS3 FES on PS2 I like many others found the PSP version lacking to the point where I stopped playing.

played both original and P3P and they pretty competent with each other... there's more 2D navigating in P3P than the playstation 2 version but the game is pretty similar.

It's worth not running around the map to play as the female protagonist. The character development for the members of your party was infinitely better when you're playing as the FeMC, since you can finally form S. Links with them. It was kind of weird making my character a total whore, but I feel like that's part of a much larger and more annoying conversation about the sexual double standard than I care to have. Buy the game.

lol i have to admit i went down the whore road too. its great to see all the intimate relationships you can have as the FeMC but to make it believable I just always kinda make believe i'm doing each in separate "lives" so even with the other bfs I stayed true to my one and only Akihiko-senpai!

but tbh i think the game leads you to picking Shinji because she literally throws herself at him.