Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3

Orpheus!

Background:
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 is a JRPG that was developed and published by Atlus (fun fact: they published Demon's Souls), It was released in 2006 in Japan, and was released in 2007 over in the U.S. due to some issues with the publication of the official "art book". It is the third (duh) in the Persona series, and one of many in the Megami Tensei (or MegaTen if you prefer) series. The game is for Playstation 2, PSP, and is available on the Playstation Network for $10 (which is cheaper than you'll find it just about anywhere else).

The plot:
The plot of Persona 3 is... complicated. You take the role of a male (or female if you're playing P3 Portable) high school student, who has to juggle high school, a social life... oh, and you fight evil in a giant tower named Tartarus. If you wanted to know what my high school life was like, this is a pretty accurate biography of me. Jokes aside, that's really all there is to it, basically. You fight monsters (or "shadows", as P3 calls them) in a tower, and you have to reach the top before the year ends and the world is destroyed. How do you go about fighting these shadows? We'll discuss that a little later.

Time is a huge factor in Persona 3. While not technically on a "time limit" (you can take as long as you want, the game progresses when you're ready), you have to basically simulate the life of a high schooler while trying to prevent the destruction of the world. No pressure. Honestly, it's not as stressful as it sounds, since you can take as long as you want in Tartarus. And you'll need to take a good long while in Tartarus, because there's a lot to explore, and every experience point counts. "Where do you get the time to hang out in this big tower while doing everything else?", you might be asking. Here's why managing time is easy - Tartatus only appears in the "Dark Hour", a hidden hour between 12 AM and 12:01 AM that only certain people can access. So you spend your days doing school and social stuff, and your nights fighting evil. Sounds about right. Of course, there are lots of things to do at night, also; otherwise, it'd be too easy. I'll try not to spoil too much else plot-wise, because this is a game you really have to experience, not just play or read about.

The gameplay:
Persona 3 plays like the sim-cross-JRPG you'd expect it to. There's a lot to do in the world laid out for you. You can join clubs, make friends, fall in love, study, play sports, sing karaoke, play games in an arcade, and much more. And all of that is extremely important. Seriously. Every friend you make, each club you join, each bond you make allows you to become even stronger. "Social Links", as they're called, give you massive boosts when creating Personas. But wait, I haven't even talked about Personas yet, have I?

Personas are basically the Pokemon of this game. You collect them. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses, and each one can be useful in a certain situation. Everyone has their favorites. And you, as the main character, can create new Personas by fusing two or more Personas you have. Combined with the Social Links, you can create some wickedly strong Personas. The way you summon them is pretty cool too - most characters summon their Persona by literally putting a gun to their head and pulling the trigger. Well, in a manner of speaking. The gun is called an "Evoker", and basically allows people to use their Personas. Doesn't make the animation any less badass though.

You can also fight using weapons, and each character uses a certain type of weapon (besides the main character who can use pretty much everything). You've got bows and arrows, rapiers, boxing gloves, longswords, kunai, and much more.

When you're not trying to find the time to balance schoolwork and a social life, you're bound to be fighting Shadows in Tartarus. The game plays like a dungeon crawler with random battles mixed in. You take a small posse of friends in with you (up to 3 other people), and fight all kinds of different enemies - bugs, hanged men, knights, tables, lamps, dice, birds, etc. There's a fairly decent selection of people you can take with you by the end of the game, and each person has their strengths, which can make it hard to choose sometimes.

Tartarus itself can also be a bit of a chore, being 300+ floors and all. You can teleport to various locations in the tower once you've unlocked them; however, these locations start growing farther and farther apart as you climb up, causing the game to become very aggravating later on when you're trying to find the next teleporter after fighting through 40 floors of enemies. The dungeon is randomly generated, and will be different every time you go in, making memorizing the locations of things pointless. Another problem that can arise is that Death himself will come and kill you if you take too long on a floor, or if you spend too much time in the tower, and that's no fun - there are no continues, if you die, you get kicked back to your last save point, so save often.

There's a pretty high difficulty curve at times, and you will have to grind. Even if you fight every Shadow on the way up, you won't be powerful enough to fight bosses you will encounter. This can become a bit of a chore, but is fairly common in JRPGs. The game can be difficult, but it is very rewarding when you beat a tough boss after a few hours of work.

Audio/visual wise, the game looks and sounds pretty good. You'll recognize a few voices, especially if you're into anime such as Fullmetal Alchemist. The music is great, and I find myself listening to it when I'm not playing the game. The graphics have a mix of anime and 3D models that sounds bad in theory, but looks great in practice. The major cutscenes are all done in animation as well, so it's a bit like watching a show or a movie from time to time.

The verdict:
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 is a great JRPG game that JRPG fans should try. That being said, if you didn't like games like Pokemon, stay away. It is a bit grindy at times, and Tartatus can be a chore, but it's rewarding in the end. 4/5 stars from me.