This type of story is simply not told in western video games, and it sure as hell beats the effeminate-boy-child-on-never-ending-quest-to-save-his-girlfriend rubbish that adorns a massive segment of other JRPGs.ĭialogue is intelligently written, naturalistic, and evocative, with great insight into the day-to-day dramas of teen life - namely gossip, girlfriends, gaming, and graduating. Studying hard, joining clubs, making friends, and just hanging out is every bit as important as battling evil within the Tartarus tower, a randomly generated labyrinth of evil, with its centre at the very education establishment you attend. Our hero is recruited by SEES, a unit of similarly aged warriors with the power to resist The Dark Hour's grasp and defeat its inhabitants - the warped and twisted Shadows.īringing forth the eponymous Personas (a physical manifestation of the soul) by firing a pistol shaped Evoker at their heads, these students' powers are only as strong as their spirit, feeding off the relationships they make within the 24 hours of everyday high school life. Your character is a student attending the local high school and staying in one of its dorms.įrom here the story evolves into one revolving around The Dark Hour, a 25th hour in the day, unobservable by regular human beings since they find themselves encased within time-stopping coffins for this period. The locale is Iwatodai, a seemingly ordinary Japanese town. To understand why Persona 3 Portable is a very different proposition from the average role-playing efforts of the east, you need only look to its setting and story. Persona 3 Portable is an utterly refreshing title that everyone should investigate, especially those who are instantly turned off by the letters J, R, P, and G. Persona 3 Portable is off-putting to all but a very select audience of Japanophiles.

Persona 3 Portable is a game for young sociopaths in training.

Persona 3 psp