[PSP] Persona 3 Portable

(Since I loathe the US versions, I'll be using the JP terms in my review. If you can't follow, then tough. : P)

Persona 3 Portable is the second remake (and first PSP incarnation) of one of the most celebrated PS2 RPGs of all time. Instead of an epilogue, the plot is revised a little to allow for the choice of playing as a female protagonist. The new girl has experiences unique to her path, and many of the Commu links were changed to match. Some elements from Persona 4 were also incorporated, making the gameplay experience markedly different from the first two P3s.

Meet the Female Protagonist. As she has no manga name yet, she is often referred to as MShe, FeMC, Minako and Hamuko. Let's hope Shuji Sogabe gives her a more flattering one later on.

Regardless of gender choice, the central plot remains the same: A transfer student comes to the town of Iwatodai and is taken into a group called SEES, which was ostensibly a school club in Gekkoukan High, but is actually a team of Persona-users (people with the power to summon a spiritual manifestation of one's own psyche) secretly tasked to fight Shadows that lurk in Tartaros, a tower that emerges and overlaps the school campus during the Shadow Hour(a space-time anomaly occurring every midnight). The aforementioned transfer student becomes the leader of the team after exhibiting the rare ability to summon multiple Personae.

For goodness sakes, Hamuko, Velvet Room much? You still haven't fused away that low-level starter of yours. I know it has sentimental value being your first Persona and all, but...

Due to the PSP's limitations, the open field is now a sprite-based point-and-click interface. Thankfully, the inclusion of Persona 4's one-stop location menu makes the school and town a breeze to navigate compared to the PS2 version. Though the lobby of Tartaros has the same navigation style, the dungeon proper is still explored in 3D. If you're new to using a PSP, you'll be depending on the analog stick a lot for movement, and your hand might hurt a bit since the stick is positioned differently from a typical Sony home console controller. A difficulty level under the name "Maniacs" has been added for veterans, but it's a relative nightmare to completionists since it doesn't allow for prior game carryovers and restricts certain Persona and weapon fusions.

Ugh... we just got here, but everyone looks tired. Should we go back?

During battle, you now have the option to put party members under manual command like in P4. No more of those agonizing moments where AI-controlled party members would opt to cast crap status spells in a life-and-death situation where healing is absolutely needed. In the PS2 versions, the protagonist had the luxury of being the only character able to wield various weapons, but in P3P both the male and female protagonist are stuck to one specialty weapon (Minato uses shortswords while Hamuko carries a naginata) like everybody else. Fans will be glad to know that the funky battle costumes were also retained (along with a few new ones like Santa Costumes for the girls and Butler outfits for the guys as well as the dog) so the cosplay moe appeal is still evident.

If you were wondering what the girl's hotel room during the Kyoto trip looked like, then let Hamuko help. Sadly, there are no boy-crazy giggling schoolgirls inside, thanks to resident SEES biatch Yukari Takeba wanting her "personal space".

Even with the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the members of SEES, they are still high school students when the sun is up, and must submit themselves to the typical day-to-day grind. The main character is told that the only way to grow stronger is to form lasting bonds with people of the community. Such is the foundation of the Commu system.

Each individual the main character befriends is represented by a specific arcanum of the Tarot. The stronger the bond, the better the created Personae of the matching arcanum will become. Since the PS2 Persona games were pretty much built on the foundation of being a mix of RPG and galge, the introduction of the female protagonist adds the otome element. The main character has the option to get into a romantic relationship with one (or more) characters of the opposite gender... regrettably, despite already establishing promotion of demons, mortality, end-of-the-world scenarios, cults, borderline shota (since Ken can become a love interest for Hamuko) and two-timing players, Atlus has yet to tap into the possible marketing edge provided by softcore/implied Yaoi and Yuri. (and no, Tatsuya and Jun from P2:IS/Kanji Tatsumi from P4 don't really count)

If you prefer a Bishounen bellhop to serve Hamuko in the Velvet Room, then Teodor's the man for the job. Minato's stuck with Liz, though.

In the Velvet Room, you can fuse away your old Persona to form a new and stronger one, and if fused correctly, the new one will inherit the more useful skills of it's parents. Back in days of the PS2 games, the only way to get good skills to a fused Persona is to cycle the fusion screen so many darn times until the preferred skill set shows up (and if you're OC like me, I'm sure you have a handful of frustrating moments when you accidentally canceled a good skill mix and had to do an hour's worth of cycling just to get it back).

P3P remedies this problem with Skill Cards, consumable items that teach Personae a specific skill. These cards can be gained from Personae after they grow to a specific level, or can be received as prizes for completing requests. The Skill Cards bypass property/elemental limitations, so the skill combination possibilities are virtually limitless. For some reason though, a handful of nondescript spells didn't make the cut. With all the positive updates, a rather lousy change made in P3P is the execution of Mix Raid Spells. While you don't need to have the required 2-Persona combo available to cast it anymore, the times you can do so is now limited to the consumables for said spell that you have on hand. That's right, they are now consumables... how this will affect the optional boss fight remains to be seen, but this definitely changes everything strategy-wise.

Yay, no more diaper-clad, Magus-esque Loki!!

Shoji Meguro's musical stylings are still hot as usual and a new set of tracks that play for the female protagonist's side are more than fitting for the atmosphere, especially her signature battle theme of "Wiping All Out", which is catchier compared to the male protagonist's own "Mass Destruction". Crossover fanservice being a time-honored tradition among Atlus games, there are also a handful of cameo appearances like a junior-high sized Yukiko Amagi and a younger (but still creepy) Noriko Kashiwagi of P4 fame (or infamy if you prefer, lol). Heck, even the dude from Atlus' upcoming game "Catherine" pops up at Club Escapade. With these little things in place coupled with the gameplay additions, the possibility of a P4P release will surely be dim.

Mitsuru: "I will show you firsthand how I do my "executions". It may prove useful for you someday, Hamuko-kun".

The game has been out since November 2009, but up to now, the US version of this game has yet to see the light of day (July 2010 to be precise). I don't really mind though... Atlus USA mucked up a lot of things in the PS2 games, the voice acting being the biggest case in point: Many of them did an okay job ("okay" still doesn't pass for me), but the US voice actress for Fuuka was especially irritating, and the Captain Obvious moment ("It seems that you have to beat this one to win") was epic fail.

Let's get one thing straight, Atlus USA: Mamiko Noto's Fuuka voice is soothing, like with Junpei's description. The one you picked up on some back alley for the US cast? Not so much. Worse, many of us had to deal with that annoying voice for 95% of the game! If Atlus USA wants to cut corners with the voice casting, then they should drop the budget altogether and give people who can't read Japanese text (but prefer the original JP seiyuus) an official undub version. It's no different than anime being released with subtitles and is even more economical to do if they put said version on the PSN as a download, after all. They're quick to bash pirates who create hacked undubs of their adopted games, but they don't even bother to try making an official one despite knowing that there's an existing demand? This reminds me once again how much US localization companies suck monkey balls, and why I decided not to give them my money anymore by playing purely Japanese games. /ENDRANT

Hamuko: "Time to get serious! AMAH-TARAH-SUE!!!" 

Fuuka: "*gasp* Hamuko-chan is cheating!!"

When all's said and done, Japanese games are still the best despite being mangled and downplayed by the stupid localization outfits, and Persona is one of the many titles that exemplify this. If you're an RPG fan who wants a galge/otome element in the mix, then P3P is the perfect game for you.