In any case, here we are: Persona 3 Portable <\/i>on console and PC.<\/p>\n
The worst part about the whole experience is that I\u2019m constantly wondering what I\u2019m doing on this version and whether or not I should just pop Persona 3 FES<\/i> into my PS2. However, once you get into it, things aren\u2019t so bad. It\u2019s definitely not an entirely lazy port. Care has been placed into moving it to the console. So like the developers, I guess we can just make the best of things.<\/p>\n As the name implies, Persona 3 Portable <\/i>was the attempt to cram the console title onto the PSP. Due to space limitations, things had to be trimmed down, audio had to be compressed, and we weren\u2019t allowed to run around the grounds of Gekkoukan High School. Instead, in the more social scenes between dungeon crawling, you\u2019re left pushing around a dot.<\/p>\n The story follows this dot as it joins an extracurricular group of do-gooders who battle shadows during a secret hour that occurs after midnight. If you\u2019re unfamiliar with the Persona <\/i>series, the games are a mix of dungeon crawler, visual novel, and dating sim with a sprinkling of monster collecting for good measure. That description still goes for Persona 3 Portable<\/i>, it\u2019s just that dating scenes are more between a dot and their school chums rather than a papercraft protagonist.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not picking up what I\u2019m putting down, what I\u2019m saying is that the game is practically the same, but you don\u2019t get to play in your meat-flesh as much. Is this a problem? Yes. Let\u2019s not pretend like there isn\u2019t something lost when a 3D environment is removed. The evolution of video games has largely been a process of getting us closer and closer to a fictional world, and replacing that with a dot over a still picture is a step backward.<\/p>\n This bothered me to no end, but I eventually came to find peace with this dot. The reason is simply that I\u2019ve played Persona 3 FES<\/i> before. I\u2019ve put my (considerable) time into exploring Tartarus, I\u2019ve already done my full-3D flirting. Not only does Persona 3 Portable<\/i> abbreviate parts of the game, but it also makes additions that weren\u2019t in FES.<\/i><\/p>\n The most prominent change is the ability to choose the gender of your protagonist. While this doesn\u2019t really have much bearing on the plot, it does change who you can have social links with. Especially in a romantic sense. If you wanted a chance to peek under Akihiko\u2019s band-aid, here\u2019s your chance. In a way, it\u2019s preferable to the male protagonist\u2019s social links, as now they\u2019re more local to your party members, rather than just generic classmates. Personally, I can\u2019t get attached to anyone until I see them shoot magic out of their heads. You can also choose the gender of the Velvet Room assistant because\u2026 I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not a massively significant change, but it is a nice treat for players who have already been through the game wearing their genitals on the outside.<\/p>\n Otherwise the game is largely unchanged from its PSP release. It\u2019s been gussied up nicely, so the most noticeable evidence that it was ever on a portable is its sometimes distorted backgrounds and low-poly character models. I also noticed moments where the audio still seems poorly compressed. The textures, UI, and images, however, are nicely upscaled for larger screens. The animated cutscenes, on the other hand, look rather grainy when they\u2019re actually there. Some are missing, some are cut back, and others are replaced with in-engine equivalents.<\/p>\n The performance is also a lot smoother. The actual dungeons and combat don\u2019t feel remarkably different from the console versions, even when playing as the opposite gender. One thing that Persona 3 Portable<\/i> does differently than the console versions is the added ability to control your party members directly. I never had a huge issue with the computer-controlled friends, but I know some are deeply annoyed by them, so it\u2019s definitely going to be a plus for some.<\/p>\n Overall, Persona 3 Portable<\/i> feels like a companion to the full console experience. A standalone new game plus. That\u2019s groovy, except the console version is still absent on modern platforms. In a perfect world, we would have received a new version that combines the features of FES<\/i> and Portable<\/i>, but we exist in the darkest timeline where good things don\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n So, instead, we have a compromise. That will be fine for some, and insufficient for others, but it\u2019s here. We have a port of Persona 3<\/i>. Now we have all three<\/a> Persona <\/i>games available on current platforms. Because, as we all know, there were<\/em> no Persona <\/i>games previous to Persona 3<\/i>.<\/p>\n![\"Persona](\"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Screen_Persona304.jpg?resize=640%2C360\")
A dot’s tale<\/h2>\n
![\"Persona](\"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Screen_Persona302.jpg?resize=640%2C360\")
Dangling threads<\/h2>\n
![\"Persona](\"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Screen_Persona306.jpg?resize=640%2C360\")
Bit of a misnomer to some<\/h2>\n
![\"Persona](\"https:\/\/www.destructoid.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Screen_Persona305.jpg?resize=640%2C360\")
The first in the series, we swear<\/h2>\n