There will never be another game like it.
This game has an awful description on the back; had we not been interested in the graphics just from the display cover, we might have passed it up. It's a good thing we didn't. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable is one of the best RPGs available for the PSP.
In the game, you play two different modes / characters. One is a boy and the other is a girl. The character you choose will affect the characters you meet throughout the game. You will not meet the same exact characters as you would in the other mode so keep this in mind.
In every day life, you take control of the character day in and day out, going to school, making friends, building relationships (social links) and trying to get a girlfriend or boyfriend. Along with this, you must build personal attributes like intelligence, courage and charm. These affect the gameplay accordingly. To build these, you can go to karaoke, work at various stores, go to movie marathons with friends, study, use items and more. There are several activities you can engage in to accomplish this.
Outside of your every day life, you are a persona user that battles Shadows at Dark Hour (Midnight) to keep the Shadows from preying on the minds of humans. Very few people can enter "dark hour" and so, as a result, you are somewhat of a super hero without the fame. The overall objective of the game is to defeat 12 Boss Shadows in order to destroy the Shadows all together so that you can eventually return to a normal life.
When you battle, each of your companions will have one Persona which is essentially an overglorified version of a Pokemon that fights for you when summoned. You, however, will have multiple personas and you will be the only one to do so. Because you have the opportunity to build your persona collection to as much as 12, you can not only collect these monsters or beings but you can also "fuse" them to create more powerful personas or personas of a different class. There are many classes of personas and each class is affected by a relationship you have in your normal life. The better your relationship with a person, the better off your personas. Each person has a special ability and its best to keep an arsenal at your disposal.
For most of the game, you spend your time training in a dungeon called Tartarus which has more floors than you really want to know (we're currently at 101 and we've still got quite a ways to go) but the floors change constantly so the layout and rewards of each floor are never the same. This means you can go to floor 25, leave it, then come back and it'll will be laid out differently and items and rare items can be found on it once again. The levels are never the same. There are bosses every 20 levels or so but these mini-bosses are in addition to the story bosses that you have to fight.
There are many side quests available in the game and they are dependent on time and completion of other quests.
Outside of the story and side quests, hanging out with friends, attending clubs, participating in sports and running around town (different locations to visit) will be part of the weekly agenda. Special events happen throughout the year and you will be required to take exams regularly.
You can change the music through accessing a character, you can pick up new weapons constantly... there are lots of things that you can do but the review is limited to so many characters so stop reading the review and buy it already. You know you want to play it. :)Read full review
