Persona 3 portable was my very first persona/megaten game. I remember playing it around the same time I had a relative die from cancer. So the themes of mortality really resonated with me. This game holds a very special place in my heart and influenced me a lot artistically. Thank you for your review on this, I agree with a lot of what you talked about.
ditto, I started playing P3 FES on an emulator the year my father passed away, the death themes really resonate to me as well and that’s why I have a soft spot for the game, I just love it
Wow Daniel! This video is top notch, this is my favorite video that you have done on the channel yet. Love that more of the GVG cast is making more scripted, essay videos like Jon!
Looking forward to playing P3P mainly to have Kotone as the protag. Never got to finish it when I played Portable on the Vita since I was playing as Makoto to get used to how that version worked, and I love how much more attention Kotone has gotten in recent years.
What I really appreciate about P3P are not only Social Links with Junpei, Akihiko and Shinjiro but Ryoji as well. I've noticed that people often forget to point out that he is an available SL in the female route (maybe it's because his entire existance is kind of a spoiler) and it's a shame, because, in the original P3 and FES Ryoji was basically just a plot device, but thanks to the new Social Link with him it really fleshes out his character and, in my opinion, creates the best and most tragic romance in the entire Persona series. Oh and also I really like the fact that you are not forced into a romance in Kotone's route.
The thing that I felt that was really lacking in Vanilla P5 (Haven't played Royal) was that the Phantom Thieves didn't feel like friends. I'd replayed P3P a dozen times, it was one of my most favourite games and you FEEL like the SEES are friends. You catch Yukari and Junpei hanging out at the shrine together. Mitsuru and Akihiko talk and sit together. The group feels like even if the protag wasn't there these people would still be friends. (More so in P3P than FES I feel bc Female MC actually cares to talk with her Male AND Female friends as oppased to the Male MC who doesn;t really care lol) P4 felt similar, the group were FRIENDS solving a mystery. They hang out at your house and take your surrogate little sister to the mall. In P5 they felt like co-workers at best. They get together for Phantom meetings but that's about it. They're friends with the Protag but don't feel like they're friends with each other.
Another point worth mentioning on P3P vs FES is that FES and vanilla P3 have the characters get exhausted in Tartarus, meaning you have to stop exploring after a certain point. P3P has that aspect removed.
@@aspookyspookynight It has been a while since I played, but I feel like the tired status was practically non-existent in P3P, at least compared with FES. I could be wrong on that front.
My first Persona game was 3 Portable, so, I may have heavy bias for it out of nostalgia, but I wish the female protag would get a happy end and more attention by ATLUS. I find it interesting though that Aigis acts like she has love attachment to your character (as much as a robot with a human appearance can at least) even if you play as a girl. Considering Aigis is a robot, her being the replacement for the protag for "The Answer" makes sense considering what happens at the end of the game to the rest of your party. I won't spoil the ending of Persona 3, but let's just say due to the ending, S.E.E.S. wouldn't go on the adventure in "The Answer" after the end of the game, if it was only them without Aigis.
P3P is my favorite version of the game by quite a bit. The visual novel style expedites things and doesn’t diminish the story enough to be any sort of problem in my opinion, and I enjoy Kotone’s route as an addition quite a bit more than The Answer (although that’s pretty fun, too). By the way, if you’ve never played the game before, I think that picking the male route is quite important to getting the intended vibe from the story, and the game itself warns as much when it prompts you with the choice.
@@BrainWasherAttendent And that’s a valid opinion, obviously. I totally get not enjoying the visual novel style or the lack of regularly-occurring normal cutscenes. I personally don’t mind either of those things and enjoy both the female route and direct control, so I generally prefer the Portable version.
@@BrainWasherAttendent but you can only control main character on PS2, which for me makes portable the definitive version, I don't think I would have played p4g or p5r without full control
@@mathewhosier9739hopefully reload gets it right. I can honestly live with just the original version of the game being remade. I can play p3p and fes later
I hope too much everyday that they’ll make a remake of the first persona and second one… I still need to finish persona 3 portable. Persona 4 and 5 but… still, I’m a new fan of this series of games and I like it a lot!
Yeah, it’s honestly a travesty, especially since it’s widely considered to be one of the best titles in the entire series. I know that most people nowadays play the fan translation of the PSP remake, but that shouldn’t have to be people’s only option.
We never got any of the PS1 releases back in the day. One exception being the original americanized localisation of Persona 1, which came to us. Thanks to, of all things, the PlayStation classic!
This was an awesome video! I'm so excited to play this game. I just finished P5R last week just in time to start P3P. P4G was my first so this is the last of the modern Personas for me. Here's hoping 1+2 come sometime down the line.
i’m trying to get into RPG’s more so i decided to pick up Persona 3,4,5 and FE Engage. I was debating on starting with P5, but idk, im really digging the darker tone of P3 more. Also, 21:34 love this😂
P3 has the best story in comparison to other 3d persona games, P4 is more lighthearted but still really good and has better mechanics and P5 while the story is a little bit weaker than previous persona games it has the best gameplay and alot of new mechanics.
@@TimurSokol I just got past the first part of FF7 and boy, im really hooked on story. so tbh, thats what im looking for. I just might go in release order then. Thanks 🙏🏼
First off I want to echo a sentiment I have seen in the comments this is a quality video. Second it would be interesting to see the crew's opinions on the persona anime released so far (trinity soul, The persona 3 films, 4 the series, 4 golden and 5) and see if they are good starting points for newcomers who don't have the time to invest in jrpgs. But above all do they tell the story in a serviceable way and do the characters justice.
I think a definitive version with the QoL improvements from portable like full control of party, being able to go to highest floor available in Tartarus, amoung others, but with the audio quality, cutscenses and avatars in FES,
I don't think I would have even played any persona game if I didn't have full control of entire party, just learning you can only control main character in FES makes portable the better game, 90% of these games are combat and progression, give me full control of entire party
Not really. While the story was good at that time, time has changed, so the game. It is better now than ever was before. Not just graphically, but also the dungeon crawling, music, voice acting, settings, etc. No doubt persona 3 is good but is not as good as it was back then and definitely not better than 5.
This is me a new persona fan trying to indulge into these games and this video made me understand what I'm doing a lot better. I wish I had known about this series a little sooner.
Awesome vid! Persona 3 is still my favourite in the series and the first MegaTen game that I followed the hype cycle for back in 2006/7 after discovering SMTIII and DDS the year before. It still bugs me a bit that they didn't do the work to bridge FES and Portable with this rerelease. If they did I would've bought this for Switch in a heartbeat and that's despite having replayed both FES and P3P in the past couple of years. I do hope fans who came into the series with Golden and 5/Royal give this a shot though since I do think it holds up no matter the version you play.
The new version actually uses something similar to P4G's version of difficulty settings and you can do so as soon as you unlock the full menu, under "system" and then "difficulty." You can changes battle difficulty, EXP gained, retries per floor and continue after game over. I started on hard but then added the "continue after game over" option. I'm not sure if it's _only_ for bosses since "retries per floor" is also a thing but either way I'm down for less reloading. EDIT: Okay, so "continue after game over" makes so you retry the battle if you die... but by "retry" they mean "instantly fully revive the party and heal a bit of SP." So, uh, not really a fan of that but if you were _really_ struggling on a boss it might be helpful.
I was pretty upset when I saw it was portable and not the Fes version because the anime cutscenes gave more life to the games not so great graphics for the time but that doesn't mean I won't give the pc port of portable a shot.
Hopefully the PC port will have a ton of mods, there's a lot of mods for the PSP version already with the intention of being used on an emulator, so I don't see why not. P5 Royal has a lot of cool stuff already, so hopefully the community comes through.
I played FES on PS2 and was kinda mixed on it, but I do plan to replay as FeMC eventually, I was annoyed you didn't have the male party members as social links in the last one.
An excellent presentation! I can't wait to play P3P when I'm able to get it, especially since I wanted to get the Kotone T-shirt I saw at Anime Expo/ AX 2022 it was pretty cool, but I just bought the SMT V shirt. But hopefully I can run into it on ebay for somewhat cheap.
Honestly, given how Persona 3 Portable cuts down on the traversing thanks to its menu and visual novel aesthetic, it's probably the first Persona game I will play even if I already own P5 Royal on Switch. XD
I think it'd be great to get a "first priority" female lead in a Persona game, but I have a creeping suspicion that it isn't going to happen just because, whatever they do, they're probably going to keep the social sim elements, and they're probably going to want to make sure their audience can play as a boy. Granted, I don't personally think it should be *that* big of a deal to anyone, but there's nothing wrong with people having their priorities with playing the games, and there's probably a big segment of people who wouldn't like having to play as a girl and only having the option of romancing (presumably, but maybe not) primarily or strictly men. Now, what they *might* do is have both on release, but make it clear that the female route is the cannon one, which I think would be pretty interesting.
P3P music got me hooked. While I have played the OG P3 and the FES versions, P3P is still something that I would play for what it is. Theodore is lovely. I wish we could select Theo as the male P3P protagonist's Velvet Room assistant. While it has innovations and QoL features, it kinda hurt when the Fusion Spell mechanics was changed to consumable cards (reminds me of how in P3/ P3FES, spamming Cadenza was kinda broken, or how Armageddon trivializes parts of the game, assuming you have Victory Cry fused). Stocking up gems to exchange for Cadenza in P3P is doable, but Armageddon's items are a bit rough to find (though I think it's good balance I guess).
p3p is the definitive version of p3, imo. FeMC is the best route because all the social links are waaaay better written. every arcana either dips into the best written links of MC or includes brand new characters or YOUR PARTY MEMBERS
Great review, Daniel! P3P is my favourite game of all time and I'm glad more people can finally experience it. And this is a minor nitpick, but Jung is pronounced more like "yoong".
I first heard about it in 2008ish when gamespot had posted a review for P4. Never once seen it for sale in a store before as around this time stores were phasing out PS2 game entirely. I did buy P3 FES right away when it came to PS3 PSN store and I been a fan since and bought all the game multiple times.
I personally don’t mind that fes got the shaft in favor of portable, I can at least take solace in the fact that at least it is on modern platforms in some way or form
I don't know about PSP, but in the 2023 ports, you can go back to the floor you found the hostages on provided it's the highest you've ever climbed. I always reached the barrier after Elizabeth told me there were hostages, so I'd run into them as I climbed. I'd save them, get warped back into the entrance, and then I could resume from the floor I just left.
24:48 I had this issue with Persona 5, especially if you play the optimal way by finishing dungeons asap. It's already such a long game, and there's like hours of free time gameplay until the story picks up again. The confidants are great, but it's too much. Really made me appreciate the streamlining of P5 Strikers, which is my fave Persona especially with the real-time combat, though I would have preferred a little more social sim stuff in Strikers
I played Persona 5R only very recently as my first Persona experience, and I enjoyed it pretty well. Not absolutely sure if I'll get Persona 3 (and 4), definitely not before I'm done or at least slowing after Fire Emblem releases, but it's on my radar.
p4 Golden is recommended but P3P may not be for everyone. There are features lacking in the portable version. If Atlus remade 3 and combine the good parts for P3P and FES then maybe it would be recommended. The people recommending it now are usually clouded with nostalgia. It's usually hard to go back to older generation games. P4 Golden can still get away with it, but P3P does feel outdated. Not the story as it's still good, but as a game it's outdated.
Persona 3 FES is my favorite game of all time. I've been wary of jumping back in because I want the experience to be the exact same, but something about the earnestness of this video has made me decide to move forward and play the other route.
Great video! Even though 3 is my favorite among the 3-5 series, not being able to control the other characters in battle was quite stressful especially with the AI being rather stupid. So the "you can control the characters" was big in P3P.
I had both FES/portable available to me for the version I'd play for myself for the first time (seen the movie and a FES playthrough way back) but I'm sticking purely to the Portable version for feMC!! I'm playing through both protagonists tho cuz I want to experience everything for myself ☺☺ might play FES answer tho (with a party mod)
Mhmmm~ With regards to Persona 3 Portable on Switch: I would gladly pay for a phyiscal Switch copy of the game (heck, expand it with content from FES and some remastered/new anime cut scenes, thereby making it the defentive version of the game so fans would apprecitate it.) Though, if remastered FES was offered as DLC or as a pass to PS3P, I know several people would buy it!
Appreciate this vid. I went from playing the P2 Duology to playing vanilla P3 and after reaching Tartarus well , let’s just say ar that point I it and went to P4. I’ll go back and play FES on Steam Deck if only to watch the anime scene lol. Then looks like Portable might be the way I play.
I knew it, Igor sounds different in Persona 3 than in Persona 5. Persona 5 his voice sounded much deeper than what I heard in 3 Portable, even if you discard the "compression distortions" in Igor's voice in 3 Portable.
Different Voice Actors for both games The OG Igor Japanese VA died before P5 was finished. So they switched VAs in both languages to keep it consistent
Funny how you mention Visual Novel and Free Time and Daily Life in this review since I’m getting into the Danganronpa series which is a point and click visual novel like game with free time in the games.
Replaying this game again with Kotone, its been a while since i last played with the FemMC. Definitely agree on the pacing though, the story overall is great, but it takes a bit to get going
Probably the biggest problem with the battle system in the first two versions is, well, apart from the lack of party control, is how knock-downs work. In the original, you can either lock enemies into a stun loop, which makes the fight a cakewalk, or you yourself get locked into a loop. Portable fixed this.
Persona 3 isn't the better game when compared to 4 and 5 but it is CERTAINLY the more resonant game with its story. The amount of "right game at right time" Ive seen with P3 is exemplary of that and why I definitely hold it in personal regard even though 4 and 5 are better. I always love Minato (Makoto) and Minako's (Kotone) musical differences and personality differences. She really did shine in PQ2 and that cop scene is the TIPPY TOP of the iceberg. I always love the idea of the game's vocal tracks reflecting the MC's taste in music but Minako's hits such a super good spot its crazy depsite how much I love all the other protag's day to day songs. Just play P3 man whether its with that fiery girl or with the somber doof.
Not only did we get a Daniel vid, but it's also 31 minutes long?! Heck yes! Oh, and I would love to see a video on those controversially problematic aspects of the romance in P3P that you said was due to poor writing and translation. Its own topic, its own video.
I feel that persona 3 portable was brought instead of FES cause they are going to finally release the proper golden version of the game that also includes femc; also it might also add theodore as a possible velvet room assistant since from what I remember theodore is only availble for femc
“The original gameplay is right there by default” This is misinformation. P3P is missing the full turn order check, and several important tactics commands required to properly control your party. In the original game you learned new commands after each full moon, and end the game with several more than what you get in P3P. What’s left in P3P is NOT meant to be used full-time. It’s the repurposed version from P4 that’s only there as an auto battle system for weaker encounters. The strategies you can implement in combat are significantly reduced by this, and the lack of a full turn check leaves you practically blind, and unable to make decisions based on who goes when like in the original. Before, you could check the turn order and change everyone’s tactics based on the sequence of turns. This is impossible to do in P3P, and even if you could, without crucially important commands like “Knock-Down” and “Assign Target” you can’t really do anything anyways.
considering how limited the city sections are between persona 3, 4 and 5, the ability to walk around outside of dungeons is super overrated imo. it might as well be a menu, because all you do is just walk from NPC to NPC.
The thing about not being able to control your teammates is all about You being a mortal being not having unlimited time and having control and responsability only of your actions. In my opinion, "Direct Commands" ruins the core experience.
8:05 hot take but I think the Portable version is better. The cinematic is to c9ntrolled, it's weird but the thing that comes out of Orpheus is so controlled, almost elegant, and it's panting like a dog that's played to much. In Portable it INSTANTLY attacks and is just slamming and ripping. It feels actually threatening, barely controlled and powerful.
I'll definitely be playing this, likely on Switch. I loved P5R, and it easily became my favorite JRPG, and I'm currently enjoying P4G on Steam Deck. I can only hope that a company like Limited Run Games puts out physical editions for P4G and P3P. It feels so wrong to me not being able to have these games on Switch cartridges.
Anybody, but Limited Run Games! They have a funny way of "preserving" (so-called) games with $60 cartridges for $10 games (Shantae GBC and Risky's Revenge) and not doing a good job.
@Mega Heroes key word: "like" Limited Run. Could be a different limited production company, I don't really care who, as long as it's not 1st Press Games. I ordered their second triple pack of games for Switch in May 2020, and somehow, one of the games is supposedly not ready to print. Got the first triple pack just fine, and they're decent quality packages, but I will not buy from them again, potentially even if they did P3 and P4.
@@bloodless653 What's wrong with full retail games? $60 cartridges for cheaper games like Shantae or this? That's highway robbery. I'd rather have a $40 double pack rather than a $60 limited release with stuff that I don't need. Persona 3 and 4 physical releases shouldn't need to be online-exclusive and under limited printing. Limited Run Games are not your friends! They only want your wallet! They are led by thieves and scam artists!
@Mega Heroes I'd obviously prefer a standard full retail release. But I'm pretty sure Atlus said they don't have intentions to do a physical release. So until they say otherwise, I will hope for a different company to get the rights to put out a physical release.
"Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment [take] place in the same universe" is a statement that requires a lot more qualification than you'd first think because it's, at the same time, correct and incorrect.
Persona 3 portable was my very first persona/megaten game. I remember playing it around the same time I had a relative die from cancer. So the themes of mortality really resonated with me. This game holds a very special place in my heart and influenced me a lot artistically. Thank you for your review on this, I agree with a lot of what you talked about.
ditto, I started playing P3 FES on an emulator the year my father passed away, the death themes really resonate to me as well and that’s why I have a soft spot for the game, I just love it
Wow Daniel! This video is top notch, this is my favorite video that you have done on the channel yet. Love that more of the GVG cast is making more scripted, essay videos like Jon!
I played p3 in highschool years ago so this video felt so nostalgic to me. The games themes and character drama really hits hard. Great video!
Looking forward to playing P3P mainly to have Kotone as the protag. Never got to finish it when I played Portable on the Vita since I was playing as Makoto to get used to how that version worked, and I love how much more attention Kotone has gotten in recent years.
Great to see you guys giving 3 some love, it's by far the most special of the modern Persona style games.
What I really appreciate about P3P are not only Social Links with Junpei, Akihiko and Shinjiro but Ryoji as well. I've noticed that people often forget to point out that he is an available SL in the female route (maybe it's because his entire existance is kind of a spoiler) and it's a shame, because, in the original P3 and FES Ryoji was basically just a plot device, but thanks to the new Social Link with him it really fleshes out his character and, in my opinion, creates the best and most tragic romance in the entire Persona series.
Oh and also I really like the fact that you are not forced into a romance in Kotone's route.
Love the Persona 3 UI in the regular cam segments Daniel!
The thing that I felt that was really lacking in Vanilla P5 (Haven't played Royal) was that the Phantom Thieves didn't feel like friends. I'd replayed P3P a dozen times, it was one of my most favourite games and you FEEL like the SEES are friends. You catch Yukari and Junpei hanging out at the shrine together. Mitsuru and Akihiko talk and sit together. The group feels like even if the protag wasn't there these people would still be friends. (More so in P3P than FES I feel bc Female MC actually cares to talk with her Male AND Female friends as oppased to the Male MC who doesn;t really care lol) P4 felt similar, the group were FRIENDS solving a mystery. They hang out at your house and take your surrogate little sister to the mall.
In P5 they felt like co-workers at best. They get together for Phantom meetings but that's about it. They're friends with the Protag but don't feel like they're friends with each other.
Daniel is truly an invaluable member to GVG. Great video!
Fr
That color change, I love it. Great work on this! 😄
Another point worth mentioning on P3P vs FES is that FES and vanilla P3 have the characters get exhausted in Tartarus, meaning you have to stop exploring after a certain point. P3P has that aspect removed.
You still have to stop exploring when characters get exhausted in p3p. It affects the ability of those characters to function and can't be used.
@@aspookyspookynight It has been a while since I played, but I feel like the tired status was practically non-existent in P3P, at least compared with FES. I could be wrong on that front.
@@nddugasEarly game it's annoying they get tired after dying and especially early game you die alot.
13:52. If you click on the Tartarus door, it will give you the option to go to the highest floor you've been; you don't need to use the teleporter.
My first Persona game was 3 Portable, so, I may have heavy bias for it out of nostalgia, but I wish the female protag would get a happy end and more attention by ATLUS. I find it interesting though that Aigis acts like she has love attachment to your character (as much as a robot with a human appearance can at least) even if you play as a girl. Considering Aigis is a robot, her being the replacement for the protag for "The Answer" makes sense considering what happens at the end of the game to the rest of your party. I won't spoil the ending of Persona 3, but let's just say due to the ending, S.E.E.S. wouldn't go on the adventure in "The Answer" after the end of the game, if it was only them without Aigis.
P3P is my favorite version of the game by quite a bit. The visual novel style expedites things and doesn’t diminish the story enough to be any sort of problem in my opinion, and I enjoy Kotone’s route as an addition quite a bit more than The Answer (although that’s pretty fun, too).
By the way, if you’ve never played the game before, I think that picking the male route is quite important to getting the intended vibe from the story, and the game itself warns as much when it prompts you with the choice.
I played the original and can’t stand the portable version.
@@BrainWasherAttendent And that’s a valid opinion, obviously. I totally get not enjoying the visual novel style or the lack of regularly-occurring normal cutscenes. I personally don’t mind either of those things and enjoy both the female route and direct control, so I generally prefer the Portable version.
@@dachking6657 I’m sure it’s a fine version I just was obsessed with P3 and completed 100% so I’m attached to that original release.
@@BrainWasherAttendent but you can only control main character on PS2, which for me makes portable the definitive version, I don't think I would have played p4g or p5r without full control
@@mathewhosier9739hopefully reload gets it right. I can honestly live with just the original version of the game being remade. I can play p3p and fes later
I hope too much everyday that they’ll make a remake of the first persona and second one… I still need to finish persona 3 portable. Persona 4 and 5 but… still, I’m a new fan of this series of games and I like it a lot!
Never got Eternal Punishment in any form in Europe. :(
That's quite sad :(
Yeah, it’s honestly a travesty, especially since it’s widely considered to be one of the best titles in the entire series. I know that most people nowadays play the fan translation of the PSP remake, but that shouldn’t have to be people’s only option.
I think the english fan patch was finished and distributed, I think, though for PSP, if you wanna load it up modded.
We never got any of the PS1 releases back in the day. One exception being the original americanized localisation of Persona 1, which came to us. Thanks to, of all things, the PlayStation classic!
Daniel did a stupendous job on this video. Keep it up!
This was an awesome video! I'm so excited to play this game. I just finished P5R last week just in time to start P3P. P4G was my first so this is the last of the modern Personas for me. Here's hoping 1+2 come sometime down the line.
Liked the replicated actual date here and the waning crescent that you have on your video. Great video btw
i’m trying to get into RPG’s more
so i decided to pick up Persona 3,4,5 and FE Engage. I was debating on starting with P5, but idk, im really digging the darker tone of P3 more.
Also, 21:34 love this😂
P3 has the best story in comparison to other 3d persona games, P4 is more lighthearted but still really good and has better mechanics and P5 while the story is a little bit weaker than previous persona games it has the best gameplay and alot of new mechanics.
@@TimurSokol I just got past the first part of FF7 and boy, im really hooked on story. so tbh, thats what im looking for.
I just might go in release order then.
Thanks 🙏🏼
I nominate Daniel to be the Persona 6 velvet room attendant.
First off I want to echo a sentiment I have seen in the comments this is a quality video. Second it would be interesting to see the crew's opinions on the persona anime released so far (trinity soul, The persona 3 films, 4 the series, 4 golden and 5) and see if they are good starting points for newcomers who don't have the time to invest in jrpgs. But above all do they tell the story in a serviceable way and do the characters justice.
This was a great video. I've played P5R, and wasn't planning on getting P3, but this video is making me question that decision
I think a definitive version with the QoL improvements from portable like full control of party, being able to go to highest floor available in Tartarus, amoung others, but with the audio quality, cutscenses and avatars in FES,
A 38 minute long video on persona? count me in
I don't think I would have even played any persona game if I didn't have full control of entire party, just learning you can only control main character in FES makes portable the better game, 90% of these games are combat and progression, give me full control of entire party
Persona 3 just has a bigger sense of depth to it than the other titles. Absolutely my favorite game in the series.
Like you literally sacrifice your life to save humanity.
Not really. While the story was good at that time, time has changed, so the game. It is better now than ever was before.
Not just graphically, but also the dungeon crawling, music, voice acting, settings, etc.
No doubt persona 3 is good but is not as good as it was back then and definitely not better than 5.
@@kencho02 that's your opinion 🤭 not fact. And I think some of the characters in persona 5 were super cringe.
@@damien9553 cool, spoilres
@@Cute___E this game came out 17 years ago. If you haven't played it yet that's on you.
This is me a new persona fan trying to indulge into these games and this video made me understand what I'm doing a lot better. I wish I had known about this series a little sooner.
Awesome vid!
Persona 3 is still my favourite in the series and the first MegaTen game that I followed the hype cycle for back in 2006/7 after discovering SMTIII and DDS the year before.
It still bugs me a bit that they didn't do the work to bridge FES and Portable with this rerelease. If they did I would've bought this for Switch in a heartbeat and that's despite having replayed both FES and P3P in the past couple of years. I do hope fans who came into the series with Golden and 5/Royal give this a shot though since I do think it holds up no matter the version you play.
The new version actually uses something similar to P4G's version of difficulty settings and you can do so as soon as you unlock the full menu, under "system" and then "difficulty." You can changes battle difficulty, EXP gained, retries per floor and continue after game over.
I started on hard but then added the "continue after game over" option. I'm not sure if it's _only_ for bosses since "retries per floor" is also a thing but either way I'm down for less reloading.
EDIT: Okay, so "continue after game over" makes so you retry the battle if you die... but by "retry" they mean "instantly fully revive the party and heal a bit of SP." So, uh, not really a fan of that but if you were _really_ struggling on a boss it might be helpful.
I was pretty upset when I saw it was portable and not the Fes version because the anime cutscenes gave more life to the games not so great graphics for the time but that doesn't mean I won't give the pc port of portable a shot.
Hopefully the PC port will have a ton of mods, there's a lot of mods for the PSP version already with the intention of being used on an emulator, so I don't see why not. P5 Royal has a lot of cool stuff already, so hopefully the community comes through.
@@batmabel yeah modders typically can do some crazy stuff with the pc ports If the developer allows it that is.
Awesome intro to give a quick history on the franchise!
I wont lie I still prefer FES esp if I emulate it and mod it to were I can control all the party members in battle.
I played FES on PS2 and was kinda mixed on it, but I do plan to replay as FeMC eventually, I was annoyed you didn't have the male party members as social links in the last one.
An excellent presentation! I can't wait to play P3P when I'm able to get it, especially since I wanted to get the Kotone T-shirt I saw at Anime Expo/ AX 2022 it was pretty cool, but I just bought the SMT V shirt. But hopefully I can run into it on ebay for somewhat cheap.
Man, I was wondering if I wanted to play this or not, because of the reviews and the VN thing. Now I'm ready to try it! Thanks for the video
This was a great video! P3 might be outdated today but you can really appreciate the ambition this game has, especially the awesome music!
Honestly, given how Persona 3 Portable cuts down on the traversing thanks to its menu and visual novel aesthetic, it's probably the first Persona game I will play even if I already own P5 Royal on Switch. XD
I think it'd be great to get a "first priority" female lead in a Persona game, but I have a creeping suspicion that it isn't going to happen just because, whatever they do, they're probably going to keep the social sim elements, and they're probably going to want to make sure their audience can play as a boy.
Granted, I don't personally think it should be *that* big of a deal to anyone, but there's nothing wrong with people having their priorities with playing the games, and there's probably a big segment of people who wouldn't like having to play as a girl and only having the option of romancing (presumably, but maybe not) primarily or strictly men.
Now, what they *might* do is have both on release, but make it clear that the female route is the cannon one, which I think would be pretty interesting.
Direct full control alone makes portable playable for me, couldn't imagine playing any turn based jrpg without full control of party
P3P music got me hooked. While I have played the OG P3 and the FES versions, P3P is still something that I would play for what it is. Theodore is lovely. I wish we could select Theo as the male P3P protagonist's Velvet Room assistant.
While it has innovations and QoL features, it kinda hurt when the Fusion Spell mechanics was changed to consumable cards (reminds me of how in P3/ P3FES, spamming Cadenza was kinda broken, or how Armageddon trivializes parts of the game, assuming you have Victory Cry fused).
Stocking up gems to exchange for Cadenza in P3P is doable, but Armageddon's items are a bit rough to find (though I think it's good balance I guess).
Lovely upload. The ending was touching on a personal note
Best way to play is just male mc on fes and female on portable so you don’t miss anything while having least overlap
Don't forget Controllable Party hack for FES thats the best way to play FES
played persona 3 portable back in middle school 6 years ago... my first and favorite megaten game. i cant wait to revisit it
p3p is the definitive version of p3, imo. FeMC is the best route because all the social links are waaaay better written. every arcana either dips into the best written links of MC or includes brand new characters or YOUR PARTY MEMBERS
Great review, Daniel! P3P is my favourite game of all time and I'm glad more people can finally experience it.
And this is a minor nitpick, but Jung is pronounced more like "yoong".
The J in Jung is pronounced like a y like the word "Young" or if you're going very hardcore Yoong
I first heard about it in 2008ish when gamespot had posted a review for P4. Never once seen it for sale in a store before as around this time stores were phasing out PS2 game entirely. I did buy P3 FES right away when it came to PS3 PSN store and I been a fan since and bought all the game multiple times.
This video is a love letter to one my personal favorite PS2 games. Bravo!
Its fxxking Persona 3, that's more than enough reason to play it
I personally don’t mind that fes got the shaft in favor of portable, I can at least take solace in the fact that at least it is on modern platforms in some way or form
I don't know about PSP, but in the 2023 ports, you can go back to the floor you found the hostages on provided it's the highest you've ever climbed. I always reached the barrier after Elizabeth told me there were hostages, so I'd run into them as I climbed. I'd save them, get warped back into the entrance, and then I could resume from the floor I just left.
24:48 I had this issue with Persona 5, especially if you play the optimal way by finishing dungeons asap. It's already such a long game, and there's like hours of free time gameplay until the story picks up again. The confidants are great, but it's too much. Really made me appreciate the streamlining of P5 Strikers, which is my fave Persona especially with the real-time combat, though I would have preferred a little more social sim stuff in Strikers
I played Persona 5R only very recently as my first Persona experience, and I enjoyed it pretty well. Not absolutely sure if I'll get Persona 3 (and 4), definitely not before I'm done or at least slowing after Fire Emblem releases, but it's on my radar.
p4 Golden is recommended but P3P may not be for everyone. There are features lacking in the portable version. If Atlus remade 3 and combine the good parts for P3P and FES then maybe it would be recommended. The people recommending it now are usually clouded with nostalgia. It's usually hard to go back to older generation games. P4 Golden can still get away with it, but P3P does feel outdated. Not the story as it's still good, but as a game it's outdated.
You're so likable. Kinda sad I ground you so "late." Definitely, I will keep watching your videos. That one bit, "I'm not a princes," was hilarious! 🤣
Persona 3 FES is my favorite game of all time. I've been wary of jumping back in because I want the experience to be the exact same, but something about the earnestness of this video has made me decide to move forward and play the other route.
Portable gives you full direct control of entire party, which alone makes it the better version
@@mathewhosier9739 I prefer the party AI-controlled and I will be keeping it on.
Okay, this is it. You did it. You convinced me to pick up Persona 3 on the Switch for the first time!
Daniel's content is 👌
You are doing God's work! Amazing video!
Great video! Even though 3 is my favorite among the 3-5 series, not being able to control the other characters in battle was quite stressful especially with the AI being rather stupid. So the "you can control the characters" was big in P3P.
The AI isn’t stupid if you give them the right commands.
@@ChurroDoughnut even when you did make the right commands it was still trash
@@mikeikee You and I obviously used commands in very diferent ways then.
Phenomenal video!
I had both FES/portable available to me for the version I'd play for myself for the first time (seen the movie and a FES playthrough way back) but I'm sticking purely to the Portable version for feMC!! I'm playing through both protagonists tho cuz I want to experience everything for myself ☺☺ might play FES answer tho (with a party mod)
Having played through the original and FES cant wait to try the FeMC route
Thanks for the video! Hopefully I can find time soon to play P3P and P4G now that it's out.
Thanks, this video makes me want to give Persona a try - have never played any of the games before.
Mhmmm~
With regards to Persona 3 Portable on Switch:
I would gladly pay for a phyiscal Switch copy of the game (heck, expand it with content from FES and some remastered/new anime cut scenes, thereby making it the defentive version of the game so fans would apprecitate it.)
Though, if remastered FES was offered as DLC or as a pass to PS3P, I know several people would buy it!
Appreciate this vid. I went from playing the P2 Duology to playing vanilla P3 and after reaching Tartarus well , let’s just say ar that point I it and went to P4. I’ll go back and play FES on Steam Deck if only to watch the anime scene lol. Then looks like Portable might be the way I play.
I knew it, Igor sounds different in Persona 3 than in Persona 5. Persona 5 his voice sounded much deeper than what I heard in 3 Portable, even if you discard the "compression distortions" in Igor's voice in 3 Portable.
Question, Have you finished P5?
Different Voice Actors for both games
The OG Igor Japanese VA died before P5 was finished. So they switched VAs in both languages to keep it consistent
I'm here for the release day hype and the good vibes.
your style “fashion” is cool :)
Funny how you mention Visual Novel and Free Time and Daily Life in this review since I’m getting into the Danganronpa series which is a point and click visual novel like game with free time in the games.
11 days till nyx everybody
Replaying this game again with Kotone, its been a while since i last played with the FemMC. Definitely agree on the pacing though, the story overall is great, but it takes a bit to get going
Probably the biggest problem with the battle system in the first two versions is, well, apart from the lack of party control, is how knock-downs work. In the original, you can either lock enemies into a stun loop, which makes the fight a cakewalk, or you yourself get locked into a loop. Portable fixed this.
Man finish the portable one on psp first persona i played and finished also devil survivor 2.😮
Was thinking of just playing 4 straight away on game pass but after watching this I think I'll give 3 a chance
You should just buy them so you actually own them, instead of renting them from Microsoft
Persona 3 isn't the better game when compared to 4 and 5 but it is CERTAINLY the more resonant game with its story. The amount of "right game at right time" Ive seen with P3 is exemplary of that and why I definitely hold it in personal regard even though 4 and 5 are better. I always love Minato (Makoto) and Minako's (Kotone) musical differences and personality differences. She really did shine in PQ2 and that cop scene is the TIPPY TOP of the iceberg. I always love the idea of the game's vocal tracks reflecting the MC's taste in music but Minako's hits such a super good spot its crazy depsite how much I love all the other protag's day to day songs. Just play P3 man whether its with that fiery girl or with the somber doof.
Not only did we get a Daniel vid, but it's also 31 minutes long?! Heck yes! Oh, and I would love to see a video on those controversially problematic aspects of the romance in P3P that you said was due to poor writing and translation. Its own topic, its own video.
Persona 3 was my first Megaten/persona game and it is shame that I never gotten to beat it. This video is very good. I did beat P4G and Persona 5.
Damn i enjoyed so much this video, im now more inclined to replay this game and buy it for the switch 🔥 🙏 thanks
I feel that persona 3 portable was brought instead of FES cause they are going to finally release the proper golden version of the game that also includes femc; also it might also add theodore as a possible velvet room assistant since from what I remember theodore is only availble for femc
I doubt it, p3p is the definitive version, gives you full control of party, which alone makes it the better game
Is there a playlist of this guy’s gvg vids
I just bought it and I'm going for the male protag first then the female after
“The original gameplay is right there by default”
This is misinformation. P3P is missing the full turn order check, and several important tactics commands required to properly control your party. In the original game you learned new commands after each full moon, and end the game with several more than what you get in P3P. What’s left in P3P is NOT meant to be used full-time. It’s the repurposed version from P4 that’s only there as an auto battle system for weaker encounters. The strategies you can implement in combat are significantly reduced by this, and the lack of a full turn check leaves you practically blind, and unable to make decisions based on who goes when like in the original. Before, you could check the turn order and change everyone’s tactics based on the sequence of turns. This is impossible to do in P3P, and even if you could, without crucially important commands like “Knock-Down” and “Assign Target” you can’t really do anything anyways.
She's a Queen!! Great vid dude 👌
Need more videos like this, but next time pls slow down a littebit. Awesome video
He needs the power of pauses not monsters.
Daniel vid lets goooo
Jung...... 😛 Sena con-science moment. Jokes aside, great video Daniel. You’re always knocking them out of the park!
considering how limited the city sections are between persona 3, 4 and 5, the ability to walk around outside of dungeons is super overrated imo. it might as well be a menu, because all you do is just walk from NPC to NPC.
Well, remake is out under 3 months! :D ;)
The thing about not being able to control your teammates is all about You being a mortal being not having unlimited time and having control and responsability only of your actions. In my opinion, "Direct Commands" ruins the core experience.
Wow, that's some mental gymnastics if I've ever heard, having full control actual makes the game playable, portable is the definitive version period
8:05 hot take but I think the Portable version is better. The cinematic is to c9ntrolled, it's weird but the thing that comes out of Orpheus is so controlled, almost elegant, and it's panting like a dog that's played to much. In Portable it INSTANTLY attacks and is just slamming and ripping. It feels actually threatening, barely controlled and powerful.
Thanks
I love this version I’ll just emulate FES nbd
C’mon, everyone knows the name of every male Persona protagonist is canonically Charlie Tunoku.
I'll definitely be playing this, likely on Switch. I loved P5R, and it easily became my favorite JRPG, and I'm currently enjoying P4G on Steam Deck. I can only hope that a company like Limited Run Games puts out physical editions for P4G and P3P. It feels so wrong to me not being able to have these games on Switch cartridges.
Anybody, but Limited Run Games! They have a funny way of "preserving" (so-called) games with $60 cartridges for $10 games (Shantae GBC and Risky's Revenge) and not doing a good job.
@Mega Heroes key word: "like" Limited Run. Could be a different limited production company, I don't really care who, as long as it's not 1st Press Games. I ordered their second triple pack of games for Switch in May 2020, and somehow, one of the games is supposedly not ready to print. Got the first triple pack just fine, and they're decent quality packages, but I will not buy from them again, potentially even if they did P3 and P4.
@@bloodless653 What's wrong with full retail games? $60 cartridges for cheaper games like Shantae or this? That's highway robbery. I'd rather have a $40 double pack rather than a $60 limited release with stuff that I don't need. Persona 3 and 4 physical releases shouldn't need to be online-exclusive and under limited printing. Limited Run Games are not your friends! They only want your wallet! They are led by thieves and scam artists!
@Mega Heroes I'd obviously prefer a standard full retail release. But I'm pretty sure Atlus said they don't have intentions to do a physical release. So until they say otherwise, I will hope for a different company to get the rights to put out a physical release.
@@bloodless653 Please no limited time or limited print company. Why can't Sega do it? What about having somebody like Deep Silver or THQ Nordic do it?
"Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment [take] place in the same universe" is a statement that requires a lot more qualification than you'd first think because it's, at the same time, correct and incorrect.
I mean I am playing it now so that I can compare it with Reloaded coming out next year
Daniel I believe you will enjoy the Legends of heroes trails series for its human characters and worldbuilding. Similar to persona and xenoblade
What happens if you don’t rescue a Social Link?