Its hard to believe that Persona 3 is almost fifteen years old especially considering the fact that Persona 5 from ‘16 is the most recent installment within the series. Persona 3 was released for the PS2 back in ‘06 and even though its was not as popular as P4 or P5its still considered legendary in the eyes of many gamers. In fact, Persona 3 was arguably one of the best high profile JRPG’s of ‘06 along with Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XII game. As far as gameplay & graphics are concerned Persona 3 looked dramatically different than its ‘99 predecessor Persona 2: Innocent Sin for the PS1. While turn-based RPG formula remained in P3 the combat system looked far better than P2 since it somewhat resembled that of Final Fantasy X game from ‘01. The were countless things about Persona 3 that people loved including the dark atmosphere and the suspenseful storyline; involving the main protagonist of the game Makoto Yuki. The story centered around a transfer student named Makoto who enrolls into Gekkoukam High School in in Iwatodai City; but has to battle monsters that attack at night also known as the “Dark Hour. While both the PS2 and PSP versions of Persona 3 are great there is mostly greater preference for the portable version of the game. Not only does the PSP version omit the epilogue included in the PS2 port of Persona 3 but it also gives players the chance to play as Kotone Shiomi; who is considered the main protagonist of that particular version of the game.
Both the PS2 and PSP versions of Persona 3 will give players anywhere between 80-90 hours of gameplay. However, despite how long the story mode in Persona 3 is the campaign is still arguably shorter than its ‘08 successor Persona 4. Despite, not selling nearly as much P4 & P5 it should be noted that Persona 3 received multiple awards for being the best RPG title of the 2006. Persona 3 also received numerous positive reviews from various gaming publications including Gamespot, Famitsu and IGN. Persona 3 had become so popular that years following its release it received a series of animated movies from ‘13-‘16. As it currently stands the Persona series is arguably Atlus’s greatest creation as it relates to video games. The popularity of Persona 3 far exceeded that of P1 & P2 from the 90’s and ended becoming one of the best 3D RPG’s of the 2000’s decade.
Gaming Hearts Collection 