Its hard to believe that its been two decades since Persona 3 was released for PlayStation 2. Persona 3 was considered to be the third main installment within its series. Persona 3 was almost as dark as its ’99 prequel Persona 2 in terms of tone. However, Persona 3 was Atlus attempt to move far away from the controversial undertones surrounding the less popular Persona 2 game which would not get localized in America until 2011. Persona 3 had featured an entirely new cast of characters in a fictional Japanese setting located in Minato Ward, Toyko in the year 2009. The official location of Persona 3 was the Tatsumi Port Island and revolves around a group of high school students who are apart of the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad who are investigating a disruption in the space time continuum. The phenomenon is known as the Dark Hour in Persona 3 and involves members of the SEES entering and confronting Shadows through the Tartarus tower. Persona 3 featured up to nine playable characters and was a turn-based RPG that had some variety in terms of gameplay.

Not only was Persona 3 and RPG but if featured life simulation where players were able to keep track of their school days and social links. The gameplay features and combat system for the original version of Persona 3 were all impressive by mid-2000’s standards. However, the character models for the original Persona 3 have aged poorly. The most recent re-release of Persona 3 back in 2024 utilized cel-shaded graphics which made P3: Reload look twice as better than the original release from 2006. The original Persona 3 came out the same year Final Fantasy XII with games like Kingdom Hearts II being released a year before in 2005. While Kingdom Hearts II and Final Fantasy XII were massive commercial success Persona 3 was considered to be a commercial failure. However, Persona 3 managed to gain a cult following over the past two years and eventually got its own movie back in 2016. Also, Persona 3 FES which came out in 2007 was a game that players and critics praised more over the original version of the game because it was basically the director’s cut with better quality.

Despite, not being nearly as popular as Persona 4 or Persona 5 there is no question that P3 was the beginning of the series rise to mainstream popularity. Persona 3 is a game that is far more interesting than most standard RPG’s that have been released during the 20’s decade with the 2024 remake reaching at least two million copies in sales. Persona 3 is considered to be one of the most memorable RPG’s of the 2000’s outside of the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series. In fact, some could argue that Persona 3 could give Disgaea: Hour of Darkness from 2003 a run for its money in relation to classic RPG’s from the 2000’s. Persona 3 is game that not only shined during the mid 00’s it help set the stage for the massive success Persona 4 achieved during the late 00’s.