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Amazon Maximum Age: 20 years Amazon Minimum Age: 204 months Binding: Video Game Brand: Atlus EAN: 0730865530267 ESRB Age Rating: Mature Label: Atlus Video Games Manufacturer: Atlus Video Games Model: 730865530267 Platform: PlayStation2 Publisher: Atlus Video Games Release Date: April 22, 2008 Sales Rank: 57 Studio: Atlus Video Games
Features:
Includes an enhanced version of the original game plus the new FES
30 additional hours of gameplay with 17 new music tracks
120 hours of gameplay
Includes a weapon synthesis system and hard play mode
Includes the ability to change your characters clothes
Product Description: Lead a group of high school students with a dangerous extracurricular activity: exploring the mysterious tower Tartarus and fighting the sinister Shadows during the Dark Hour, a frozen span of time imperceptible to all but a select few. However, the end of their quest is no longer the end of the story--witness for the first time the aftermath of the final battle and the students' struggle to find meaning in their new lives.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - I would have rated it much lower but...
I want to start by saying that I'm a huge fan of the Persona series. I logged over a hundred hours of playtime on the original Persona 3 and loved every minute of it, so when I heard this "expansion" was coming out I was, to coin the term, geeked. I picked it up at launch and have been playing The Answer for about a week now, but if I had to sum it up in one word I would say that there isn't a word for how gut-wrenchingly tedious it is.
I'm not even going to bother reviewing The Journey since it's just the previous game with bonus content and minor switch ups in dialog. There is a new social link and you can upload a previous save from the old game to carry over your academics, charm, courage, and compendium, but I really didn't want to sit through 90+ hours of what I had already seen just to catch the 25% of that which was now changed from way f***ing different to just ever so slightly. If you want to know what the new content will be like read an old review for P3, forget a quarter of it and then act surprised when you play this. Now, back to The Answer.
I've come to the conclusion that Atlus really doesn't want you to know how this game "actually" ends. If they did that would have kept enough story around to bait me through this nightmare like they did previously. Yet instead of adding to the good points of the original they did away with them all together in order to make more room for what everyone b***ed about before; hours and hours of grinding in a bad level design.
Although you are indeed rewarded for your efforts with a brief sixty second cut scene each time you finish a particular dungeon, I found it rather insulting since I had just waded through hordes of enemies across the exact same dungeon layout and past at least three bosses all the while carrying my team of allies who act as though they had all been tied down and beaten with a baseball bat of frozen stupid for a good hour or so, only to receive little more than a cryptic message none of my team understood and I didn't give a flying s*** about.
When your intelligence isn't being pissed on by the cut scenes you spend your time wandering around, or preparing to wander around, the exact same dungeon literally hundreds of times. The fact that they are all randomly generated makes up for this a bit but since they all look like the same anyway you're guaranteed to have seen everything by the end of the second level. It makes me wonder why I couldn't simply remain stationary while beating off wave after wave of enemies, at least then combat might have proved challenging.
The combat itself is the absolute worst of this train wreck, which is a bit sad seeing as how that's essentially all it is. It revolves solely around finding an enemies weakness and exploiting it, but that doesn't mean it isn't "challenging". What makes it "challenging" is the fact that the game hates you. It's programed to mercilessly kill you at all costs and is not above using your own team to accomplish this task. While you may be level 65 and can go toe-to-toe with any monster up to the boss fight, simply laughing off their attacks the whole time, my advice is to just run straight to the damn thing at the beginning of each stage as you will never be more prepared for it than you are at that moment. It already knows and is poised to exploit your teams specific weaknesses so it makes choosing your party rather un-strategic as all you're really doing is varing the degrees of frustration slightly since as soon as you reach said boss anyone you do choose is just as useless as anyone else, and will spend the entire battle inadvertently healing the boss, healing each other, wasting their turns in various ways, or accidentally helping you.
Since you on the other hand have the option of switching your skills via the unique ability to cycle through over a hundred useless personas, it's up to you to support, lead, and essentially BE the team, with the rest of your mates acting as nothing more than a distraction at best to momentarily redirect the seething hate the game feels toward you to them. In the last game this ability was actually useful but now it's rather unnecessary. I found myself able to progress to the last part of the game using only TWO personas before finally having to switch to something without weaknesses.
Now I could go on about all the glaring flaws here; so I will. The story and any semblance of it was one of the first things Atlus destroyed in order to make room for all the monsters that are really just different color variations of each other. The plot that survived the remodel is rather simple, being that march 31st continues to repeat itself and it's up to you to figure out why. I've heard people liken it to the movie Groundhog Day with all I can say being that yes, it's exactly like watching f***ing Groundhog Day. If you can't see anything wrong with that statement I want you to push a pencil slowly through your hand. Even the ending and all the simple minded melodramatic chatter up to it are predictable as hell. Leaving me wondering just why I sat through it all in the first place, without an aforementioned reward of cake of something other than pure curiosity driving me. Again, while the previous title suffered some of these flaws it still made up for it by-well now I can't even remember what drove me to complete that either. Perhaps it was because at the time it was a fresh and pleasant deviation from the corporate formula which has so obviously infested and corrupted what otherwise had all the potential to be a wonderful game.
The only reason I'm giving it such a high grade is because it still contains an only mildly tainted form of the original at a bare bones price. Other than that it's pure fan service and deserves to be treated as such.
Rating: - Persona 3 Fes is a great tribute to a good game
I was impatient with Persona 3. I got it even before Fes came out when all us fans still thought there was no way in hell Atlus was going to ship it over to the states. However we signed a petition,rallied a bunch of team spirit, and miraculously Atlus took our whining as a valid point. Sure they likely did it because they knew they could make more money but at $29.99 this game is very much a steal! All I have to say is thank you Atlus.
Honestly I'll start by saying this rpg is not for everyone. If for example you hate dating sims, destest Japanese culture, or prefer more traditional RPGS that include knights,barbarains,dragons, fair damsels, and scantily clad spell casting elf babes Persona 3 is not for you. I do not say this to sound snutty or elite I'm just warning you so you know what you are getting into.
However if you are open minded to heavy social interactions in rpgs, a great modern day story in which our world is threatened by demonic shadows of ill intent that come out during a hidden 13th hour, and a group of teenagers that use their inner psyches to battle for the fate of mankind while trying to keep up with their responsibilities tied to high school life you will love this improved Persona 3 dearly.
As much as I want to describe evokers, Apathy syndrome, fusing cards to create new personas, strengthening social links to make your Arcana types more powerful, and running around in the labyrinth of Tartarus which oddly enough is your High School during the day time I think it is more important to discuss what is new in Fes. I assume most of you have at least researched the original title so I will not waste your time going over what has already been covered.
If you think "The Answer" segment with Aegis is the only thing new about FES you are mistaken. "The journey" has an added hard mode, more ways to increase your social links, a weapon/persona forging system,more interactivity amongst your SEES comrades,additional quests, and though it may seem like a trivial detail everyone will change their clothes throughout the year. Getting the sexy costumes for the female heroines is a guilty pleasure if you are into that sort of thing. (Maid wear and swim suits anyone?) and if you are a girl playing you'll get a giggle out of dressing down the guys too. If anything at least P3 fes does not descriminate against either gender. No feminists will have the excuse to wail about burning bras here. The female characters have alot of depth,personality, and lovable quirks and there's so much more to them than looks alone. The same thing can be said for the guys. You'll take to Junpei's class clown antics and Akihiko's fighting spirit in no time flat. I must say this is one of the only RPGS I played in which I liked every character and none of the cast felt like over blown comic relief or tacky add-ons. The endearing heroes/heroines in P3 Fes will make you wish Final Fantasy as a series still cared about giving their characters heart and soul instead of just marketing them to be "cool" as shallow gimmicks.
While the Jorney is easier due to all the additional ways you have of balancing normal adolescent life with fighting shadows "The Answer" is automatically on hard mode. For those of you that do not mind a challenge you'll still enjoy the same old level grinding but if you are a casual gamer it can get tedious. That said getting more revelations about the first game will be worth the drudgery to most of us. Because "The Answer" ditches social links and focuses more on combating your way through the new dungeon called the abyss of time the only conversations you'll see are between the SEES members themselves as they discuss how they feel about where their lives are heading after the events in the journey. Aegis takes the role as the lead so at the very least she has acess to more then one Persona and can enter the velvet room.
By now if what I said has intrigued you Fes is likely worth your dollar. There are alot of less fun RPGS out there going for higher prices so right now Fes is a win/win situation.
Pros
1. Taking Elisabeth for dates outside the velvet room.
2. Walking the dog to up your social links
3. More social links to estabalish.
4. P3 fans get more answers and more closure
5. Getting revealing or outlandish costumes for each character
6. Hard mode for those that thought the original was too easy.
7. Metis is a good new character both as an antagonist and an ally.
8. Fuuka gets more love
9. More quests (One which deals with Chidori)
10. Great translation and voice overs
11. Addition of classic Persona battle songs in "The Answer"
12. Good music that fits the game. (By this I mean the music would be weird or abyssmally bad if not in P3 but it compliments this type of adventure perfectly.)
13. Very affordable
Cons
1. Gameplay is mostly unchanged
2. The Answer is nothing more then a difficult story driven dungeon hack.
3. Tartarus and the abyss of time get very repetitive. It would have been nicer if more missions took place outside the main dungeons or there were more enviorment types.
4. Those not open minded to modern Japanese culture may feel alienated.
5. Atlus could have waited so we only had to buy this version instead of belting out money for two versions of essentially the same game. Hopefully Persona 4 will come to us finished the first time. If they later release P4 fes I'll be irrate.
6. The game is very linear (especially if you've romped around in the wide open spaces of Dragon Warrior 8 or Final Fantasy 12)
7. Likely the copies are limited so snatch it soon or forever be in gamer purgatory. (Atlus always has limited copies. What gives?)
8. To clarify evokers are not real guns but the imagery of putting a gun like object to ones head and pulling the trigger to summon a persona is still risque. No problem for gamers with a good grip on reality but if you are a parent considering this a purchase be sure your teenager or child is firmly rooted in common sense before you get them P3 fes. Overall it is not nearly as violent or vulgar as God of War or GTA San Andreas however.
Rating: - Two Words...Fan Service
If you've played the original Persona 3, FES edition expands some of the character interactions and adds a lot more personas and even a few new skill sets. Divided into The Journey(your character) and The Answer(Aegis) both solid parts and I'm loving the game. I hope that Japanese developers like Square Enix take note that people want these kinds of games outside of Japan. Also if you've played the first Persona 3 you're personas carry over but reset to basic stats, no weapons or items other than from maxing social links carry over. You have to start at level 1 all over again, but not that bad considering all the new personas, items, skill sets, and even a new social link. A must buy for anyone who likes RPGs. My only complaint is that modified personas don't carry over, I spent a lot of time leveling up and adjusting skills through fusion, but really that's minor.
Rating: - Persona 3 FES Vs SE
while I loved Persona 3 and the past titles in the series I am really happy to see Atlus bringing out remakes of great titles with extra content.
persona 3 SE had an art book, and a music soundtrack from the game.
while none of those things are here, we have a plethera of new additions such as New Personas, The Epilogue Chapter (which plays like a game in itself where you are the the protagonist, (Aigis), leave behind most of the really cool school elements for this and get more dungeon exploration aspect. it works well for this game with hours of added gameplay and content. 70+ hours in Persona 3 (yes comes with it unaltered, other then new personas, Events and Hard Mode) Plus the Extra NEW Chapter "The Answer" with 30+ extra hours of gameplay for a total of 100 Hours of gameplay!!!
this a must have for persona 3 fans that may or may not have persona 3 SE or are thinking about FES well, think no more! FES at a mere release price of 29.99 makes this package a true deal for newcomers to the persona games and to veterans alike. Veterans I recommend a rental if you have SE unless a HUGE fan and have to have it but for fans Grab this title NOW! before it is out of print!
I must also point out that while this game does a great job with the school aspects of the gameplay and while not as interesting (or annoying depending on your point of view) as they are in bully where each class is a mini game, here we see only a single question needing an answer and a correct one givin raises a stat such as charm or academics. I liked the way they didn't bog down the game with the school aspect and slowly lure you into battle. the old school turn based battles feel a little fresher here with the strength/weakness system of combat. I really am impressed with this title and would recommend it to every RPG fan out there.
Graphics: anime style flair and Excellent artwork 5 Stars.
Overall: a blast from the first time you see the persona gun go off and your persona comes forth, you will be hooked into this game like me and I Strongly recommend looking into the rest of the series. with all the bonus content I can not help but Give this title 5 Stars! (sad No soundtrack this time)
Links Below
Buy Persona 3 SE here
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3
Or Persona 3 FES here
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES
NOCTURNE DDS 3
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne
or Digital Devil Saga 1 here
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga
DDS 2 here
Shin Megami Tensei Digital Devil Saga 2
Devil Summoner here
Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner
****Review and above titles are PS2 ONLY****
Rating: - Time to FES Up!
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES
I conFESs that I am not familiar with the earlier game, however, I bought this game today and I love it. My summer fun has begun early. Most Atlus games are great and this one does not disappoint. Every aspect of a video game that you can analyze and comment on, is great. Please excuse me for being abrupt, but I have to get back to my game... :D
- I would have rated it much lower but...
