Persona 3 FES: an EscapeGoat Retrospective

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

Persona 3 FES (2008)
Platform: PS2
Genre: Role-Playing (JRPG), Sim
Single-player
Developer: Atlus​

For me, Japanese RPGs are a genre that I've always felt comfortable with. I like anime-styled graphics, turn-based combat and don't mind the occasional spiky-haired angst-ridden hero. On the other hand, I've never been seduced by simulation games of any kind. I've never really felt the need to live another life within a game, guiding a virtual avatar of me to work at a dream job and making mad, passionate, pixelated love to everyone and anyone. That said, Persona 3 is one of two games (the other being its sequel) that manage to combine both genres to create an engaging world in which I actively try to get on with everyone as well as slogging through dungeons, murdering everything between me and the plot.

Persona 3 FES comes courtesy of Atlus and is part of the Persona sub-series in the Shin Megami Tensei conglomerate. The game follows the efforts of a team of (mostly) teenagers who have the ability to summon a Persona - a physical manifestation of their personality that takes the form of a monster, often from mythology or religion. This team has to use this ability in order to combat Shadows - evil creatures that emerge during the Dark Hour, a hidden hour beginning at midnight.

Believe it or not, this guy's on your side​

In the middle of all this our Player Character arrives. He takes after the usual JRPG archetype of being mute, as well as being nameable; he also looks quite the miserable, anti-social fellow, with his hair hanging over his eyes and is constantly plugged in to his headphones. The game gets off to a eerie start as the Protagonist arrives in the middle of the Dark Hour - a green filter covers the screen, coffins line the streets and he's greeted in his dormitory by a boy who disappears once the Dark Hour ends. Suddenly, he comes under attack from the Shadows, prompting him to awaken to his ability and summon his Persona. After this display, he is invited by his dorm-mates to join S.E.E.S. ? the Specialised Extracurricular Extermination Squad, a group of high-schoolers dedicated to defeating the Shadows by climbing Tartarus, a mysterious tower which appears every night during the Dark Hour. He is guided in all of this by a strange man called Igor and his assistant Elizabeth, who inhabit an extra-dimensional elevator called the Velvet Room. He is also given his Evoker, which allows him to summon his Persona whenever he needs. This leads to one of the coolest aspects of the game, as the Evoker is shaped like a gun and in order to summon a Persona, each character must put the gun to their head and pull the trigger.

Yeah, you shoot yourself to summon monsters. As far as I know, that generated a fair amount of controversy, but it looks damn cool, and that?s what matters.

The gameplay then splits into two distinct halves: during the day, you guide the Protagonist through his days at high school, answering questions from teachers, listening to lectures and snoozing in class. At night, you have the option of visiting Tartarus, making your way up its many levels and defeating Shadows to become stronger.

Also featuring an effeminate French kid and a transvestite​

The Life Sim aspect of the game incorporates events called Social Links where you meet up with various NPCs and can spend time with them, during which they will often tell you of their problems in life. These meetings serve to raise your rank in levels based on the Major Arcana of Tarot cards, which in turn raise the power of Personas affiliated with each Arcanum. These Social Links are usually extremely well-written and often have a poignant aspect to them, making them worth the time to seek out. For example, the Sun Social Link concerns a young man living out his last days as a deadly disease takes him. When the ending comes, you might be expecting it, but it still hits hard because of the impression the character makes thanks to the superb writing.

Having said that, some characters can come across as a tad flat. For example, in your team Junpei comes with "I wish I was the Hero" angst which can make him completely insufferable. Thankfully, Atlus seems to know this, because they?ve made him all but useless in combat as well, so you?ll only have to listen to him whine whenever the plot comes back around. Most of the characters do have some faults but for the most part they are endearing despite this. Some Social Links suffer from a similar problem, whether it's having to endure the incredibly creepy kid talk to you about his fetish for his teacher or having to sit through painfully embarrassing dates with Elizabeth, Igor's assistant from the Velvet Room who knows nothing of human culture.

During the Dark Hour is where the game's RPG elements come to the fore. Each night you can elect to explore Tartarus, which consists of several blocks, all of which must be beaten before the game's ending. Each block has its own distinct style, from the blood-stained school hallways of the first layer, Thebel, to the trippy, psychedelic appearance of Harabah. These changing designs help give Tartarus a creepy atmosphere, and contrast spectacularly with the colourful world outside. Similarly, the music outside is often styled on bouncy J-Pop, whereas in Tartarus you find yourself listening to deep and sombre music that sometimes features broken or discordant sounds in order to further reinforce the alien nature of the tower.

However, the exploration of Tartarus is where a few of the game's biggest faults lies. As you climb the levels of the tower, you must confront the Shadows inhabiting it. Encounters in Tartarus are not random, thankfully, and are instead initiated in the overworld by attacking the Shadows. During combat, which is turn-based, you take control of the Protagonist and issue commands to him. Then, you must rely on the AI to make effective choices regarding the moves of your allies in battle.

Hah. No such luck. In a game series which prides itself on difficult encounters (and this one is no different), taking away the player's biggest advantage over the computer is a poor decision which only leads to exacerbation. You can give your allies suggestions but such choices are ineffective at best and a total waste of time at worst, particularly when it leads to your allies wasting their MP on useless Buffs or Debuffs, or Attacks to which to the enemy is immune.

Great atmosphere and sound, but there's about 20 floors of this​

Exploring Tartarus can be quite dull at times as well. It can fall into a trap of climbing an endless set of stairs and grinding, which isn't all that exciting if you ask me. The game does try and break it up every in-game month when a plot-relevant Boss Shadow appears, requiring you to visit a brand new dungeon. Some of these can be quite interesting, or even funny, such as an early boss which takes place in a, ahem, "Love Hotel". However, some bosses have a cheap tactic that makes the fight ten times longer than it needs to be. The worst offenders are those that consist of two bosses at the same time, and require them to be defeated within a turn of each other. If you fail, they get resurrected with full health, causing the entire fight to start from scratch.

Despite that, the bosses tend to be quite inventive in their design, as do the Shadows, and the lead up to the final fights is as intense as you could hope for, and culminates in the sort of fight that the word "epic" can correctly be used to describe. The ending is also heartbreaking, as well as full of hope, and feels like the end of a truly incredible and cathartic quest.

However, this is about Persona 3 FES, which means there's more. FES was a re-release of the main game, and, as such, features extra content. Some of it is simply Persona changes and means little to me as I didn?t play the original. However, the main draw is the extra quest, The Answer, which takes place after the ending of Persona 3. Unfortunately, while The Answer does offer around an extra 30-odd hours of gameplay, said gameplay is the dungeon-crawling and grind half, and not the Social Link Life Sim stuff that makes Persona 3 unique. Ultimately, while it offers a continuation of the story of Persona 3, it feels slightly unnecessary at times, and a little poorly-written in comparison to the main story. It's a fine addition, but not necessarily a "must-buy" feature of FES.

PROs
- Fantastic story
- Well-written and engaging characters
- Brilliant atmosphere
- Corking soundtrack
- Crisp, anime-styled graphics
- Coolest way of summoning ever​

CONs
- Grindfest
- AI controlled allies
- A few irritating facets to some characters
- Repetitive exploration of Tartarus​

Recommendation: Despite its faults, Persona 3 FES is a fantastic game. It is still, in my mind, one of the best RPGs for the PS2, and I'd wholeheartedly recommend it to any RPG fan. If you see it, pick it up. Prepare for a challenge, and be ready for some grinding, but don't let that be the reason you miss out on a brilliant experience.

Constructive criticism is welcome, and sorry about the length! Thanks for reading!

 

[Maet]

I played P3P last year (the PSP iteration, which is the full game sans most cutscenes and "The Answer," but with the option to play through as a female character which I'm quite eager to try out), and my impression is largely the same as yours. Loved the story/plot/writing/feel, hated the squandered gameplay/grinding/stilted pace. Still, I adored pretty much the whole thing. I took surprisingly well to a vicarious mindset which made me think I was reliving and excelling in my high school years, getting straight A's and nailing the sexy renaissance daughter of a business tycoon. I'm still not sure whether or not most players had the same approach (I doubt it). But hey, memento mori...

Weirdest of all is that I bought P3P solely as a novelty, not really expecting all that much from it. I don't care for RPGs in general (JRPG or otherwise) and Japanese media is mostly unappealing to me. As far as I was concerned, it was a, "Let's buy an 80 hour/$35 JRPG about trendy teenagers saving the world since I have nothing else to do at the moment" (it was the period in my summer between the full completion of Red Dead Redemption and my going back to class). Perhaps the game was profoundly affecting because of its uncanny and unanticipated appearance during an interesting transitional phase in my life, and now I'm realizing this comment is far more about me than it is about your review (sorry).

Yes, the review... I quite liked it. Not only does it align with my overall thoughts on the subject (always a plus), but it's largely well written and tastefully assembled. Clearly more thought was given on the matter than just bashing out a few hundred words and praying that no one calls it out as cloning certain high profile web video critics out there, as so often tends to be the case these days.

Having said that, the writing itself (stylistically and not a criticism of your evidently competent way with words) tends to prefer literal mindedness and functionality, and therefore strikes me as quite bland. There's nothing wrong with describing the game, but you seem to have the ability to do far more than that. Talk about your experiences with and feelings about the game. Take stabs at trying to figure out the meanings and reasons behind mechanical and aesthetic choices. As it stands, you stop after mentioning fascinating topics like the real-world mythical groundings of personas, the intriguing use and manifestation of evokers, and the omnipresent themes of memento mori and carpe diem. Why do you think it matters that the protagonists ascend Tartarus, synonymous with the underworld, Hades/Pluto, and the shades below? Akhiko, a fisticuffs fighter, has the persona Polydeuces, a mythical Greek brawler himself, and Yukari, designated healer, enjoys Juno, a divine Roman matron. There are interesting things to talk about here beyond the standard "fight monsters and save the world" motif. I guess what I'm saying is that if you're going to scratch the surface, you might as well start a dig.

Again, it's a good review, but I see potential for something much more than that. The next time you review something, especially if it's something as intriguing as Persona, I'd really like to see you be a bit more ambitious.

Cheers,

- Maet