Persona 3 Portable remains the definitive version of Persona 3, albeit a relic of Persona's past. Compared to the star quality of the entire Persona 5 series, I can see a world where a newer Persona player may be confused about the lack of animated cutscenes, a battle system that is focused around solely controlling the main character by default, a point-and-click-esque navigation system outside of dungeon-crawling, and a forgiving-but-still-simple Social Link system. I can also see a world where veterans may be expecting a remaster that incorporates the media from Persona 3 into the skeleton of Persona 3 Portable, breathing new life and character into a classic RPG. Looking past these quibbles, Persona 3 Portable remains a stellar JRPG, and it looks, sounds, and plays better than I remembered.
The PSP-era of gaming was a weird one, chock full of ports, remasters, and PSP-specific editions that lacked some of the unique content from titles that originally came from the PS2. As a PSP owner, I spent a good chunk of time playing JRPGs and TRPGs, spanning Generation of Chaos (one of my most cherished games to this day), Legend of Heroes, and titles released out of Final Fantasy’s 20th Anniversary. Admittedly, I missed out on diving deeper into the Persona series at the time, but I do have fond memories of the series and what Persona 3 Portable brought to the table in terms of improving on the already stellar JRPG that was Persona 3. I’m happy to say that if you’re in a similar position as me, there’s little reason for you to pass up on trying Persona 3 Portable on the PS5. It’s a remaster, but not a remake, that brings one of the best JRPGs from 2009 to next-generation consoles.
Nearly two decades later, Persona 3 Portable (P3P) succeeded in hooking me into its story, gameplay, and outstanding soundtrack, all the while refusing to let go. During my review period, I found myself grinding away through Tartarus, making friends and forging meaningful relationships with those around me, all while jamming away to smooth jazz and lounge music (with an occasional rock riff). Of course, many will read this and assume, “Well duh, that’s the Persona formula!” However, for those looking to try an older Persona title, rest assured that some of the better and more notable features of Persona 5 (for instance) emerge in this PSP-remaster.
P3P lets the player choose between a male and female protagonist, each giving the player a unique story and set of perspectives that encourage the player to consider a second (or third, or fourth!) playthrough to get all of what P3P has to offer. As the protagonist, you’re thrown into a world where a “hidden hour” brings forth Shadows that prey on the unsuspecting population and an ever-shifting tower called Tartarus emerges from your high school. As a persona wielder, it’s up to you to utilize your personas and work with your friends to dispel them as you climb the tower and figure out its origins.
Time management is key in the Persona series, and P3P is no different. Once you get past the pretty lengthy introduction, you’re given the choice to complete a single activity after school, be it hanging out with friends, trying new foods, or studying. While you can choose only one activity to complete per day/morning, you can choose to go dungeon crawling at night so long as you have the health to do so.
Unlike newer Persona titles’ bustling semi-open worlds set in Tokyo, P3P‘s navigation is confined to pointing and clicking on a static 2D plane. The backdrops and screens are stylish, but flat. Some folks may wanting a deeper way of exploring the world of P3P, but the static 2D navigation lends players the ability to fast travel at will with an intuitive submenu (press square!) that can skip the 2D plane altogether and take you where you need to go. It’s fast, to the point, and saves so much time I would have spent on fluff activities or mindlessly wandering through the city.
The social link system is similar to that of newer Persona titles, in which you’re rewarded for spending time with others (so long as you say the right things). As your bond increases with your friends, your ability to improve your personas increases, too, letting you create stronger personas than before. Thankfully, there are very few opportunities that cause your social links to degrade, so if you choose to spend more time with some folks over others, the ones left waiting for you may say something snarky but won’t punish you. Of course, there are story-based exceptions to the rule, but you’ll figure it out once you get there.
Exploring and crawling through Tartarus is where most of the game takes place, and it’s also the only space that lets the player explore a 3D plane full of enemies and rewards. Each “floor” of Tartarus is randomly generated, featuring visible enemies that approach you if you’re weak/at their level and flee if you’re overleveled. At any time, you can send your party to explore and/or battle enemies without you, increasing their XP gains and potentially finding the staircase in a quicker fashion. You can set your team to seek out enemies or simply explore without battling anyone, giving you the choice of letting AI battle away or get you through Tartarus as quick as possible.
Let’s cut to the chase: New players will be shocked to experience the default battle experience of P3P in which the main character is the only character in control of the player. One of the benefits that the original P3P brought to the series was letting players opt into controlling the entire party while in battle, but it still is locked away within a submenu. I knew about this before I reviewed P3P, yet I was still stunned to begin the game with the ability to only control my protagonist. You would think that this remaster would have better flagged that default setting for players, as I know several will be surprised by the AI of your party doing what it wants in-battle. In my experience, my party seemed to make the right decisions for me, even healing each other when they were low health, but I did disable the AI so I could conserve their SP and prevent them from casting abilities at will.
Battles are fluid, quick, and typical of a turn-based RPG where the player can physically attack or cast spells. The protagonist can switch personas once per turn, giving you the ability to swap your skills in case you need to go on the defensive. If you land a critical hit and/or exploit an enemy’s elemental weakness, you can “down” them and attack again. Downing all enemies on the screen lets your team enact an all out attack, which can often finish a battle if you’re fighting a non-boss Shadow.
Typical of a JRPG is a question of its grind. In P3P, the grind is manageable and saved by two gameplay levers. First, sending out your party to fight without you can increase their XP gains and find weapons without you, but those battles take longer than they would if you were simply controlling them. There were several times where my already over-leveled party would take upwards of 30seconds to defeat a weak enemy, when it should have taken them around ten seconds (equivalent to a single turn). A beneficial quality of life update would have been to reduce the time the AI fought without you, and it’s a shame that wasn’t included. The other gameplay lever that mediates the time investment needed for the grind it that of the RUSH mode, where pressing the triangle button in-battle has your character (and any other character you’re controlling) use physical attacks rather than any abilities. It’s like autobattle, but for only physical attacks. In some ways, RUSH mode whittles battles down to a matter of seconds, but if you’re fighting alone against a stronger enemy, sometimes physical attacks aren’t enough for you to succeed.
If you’re unaware of Persona‘s soundtrack, be warned that you’re probably going to love it. The ambient music that is present in most areas is jazzy, gloomy, and appropriate with the overall “dark world” theme of the series. P3P‘s soundtrack is stellar, and immerses players in an underworldly lounge that occasionally leans into alternative J-rock riffs. If you’re familiar with the The World Ends with You series’ music, you’ll find some of the harder rock tracks to sound and feel familiar as you’re fighting bosses.
Persona 3 Portable progresses its story through the use of a visual novel format for the most part, with fully voiced characters and the option of English or Japanese voiceover. Regardless of language, I’m pleased that the game retained its already stellar quality of VO. There are some animated cutscenes speckled throughout, but let me be the first to say that the visual novel format is an appropriate medium for storytelling in this case. Characters’ portraits contain multiple sets of emotions and successfully connect with what is being spoken in a consistent fashion. Sure, the PS5 and other next-gen consoles could have supported a fully realized remake or fully-animated 2D shorts like you may have expected from other titles, but the sheer amount of exposition and worldbuilding left me wanting to play more rather than watching/listening. There’s already so much to do that I really didn’t want to be pulled away from advancing the story.
This now begs the question, what is the value of remastering a remaster of a title that came out almost 17 years ago? Well, for starters, this title is a nearly direct port of the PSP-iteration of the title, which is but 14 years old. Age aside, I do see P3P as being graphically improved in almost every way. While the non-dungeon portions are presented in a visual-novel format, characters look smooth, easily recognizable, with nary a pixel or blur in sight. Also new to this iteration of Persona 3 Portable is its quicksave feature. In 2023, next-gen consoles by default are fit to save and load into games quite quickly, most of which feature auto-saves. Yet, P3P‘s quicksave feature is beneficial in case you don’t want to lose your place in a dungeon, but you want to fully turn off your console. I guess that’s a plus, but I really would have wanted more. On my PS5, P3P just flies, with second-long loading screens, fluid animations, and sharp images. Of course, P3P‘s PlayStation release was made for the PS4, so I would expect a very similar experience. I would have loved some PS5 love, but again, I’ll take what I can get.
You’ve probably noticed the number of times I’ve mentioned “I would have liked just a bit more” thus far, and I’ll probably say it once or twice more by the end of this review. Seeing as this is a remaster of a remaster, some of us (myself included) may want additional content, new features, or contemporary game mechanisms included in this game. Other remasters of decades-old content, like Final Fantasy Dawn of Souls (remastered FF1 and II for the GBA and PSP), released with just a little bit more additional content every time. Fans of these titles have begun to expect little content-driven additions to reward nostalgic fans for sticking with the franchise while also bringing new players more familiar with newer titles into the fold. P3P avoids adding that new content, erring more on polishing what already is fantastic and ensuring it looks fit for the current decade. If you’ve invested hundreds of hours in the original PSP version, then you’ll be disappointed to learn that not much else has been added for you to explore.
At its current price point, you can’t go wrong with experiencing Persona 3 Portable on a next-gen console. I can tell you now that, should it hook you into playing, you’ll spend well over 60 hours combining personas, exploring Tartarus, and establishing social connections. Heck, it wouldn’t surprise me if you spent 100 hours playing P3P. If you want to experience another perspective, then starting a new file as the female protagonist will whet your appetite for a different set of narrative experiences. Time literally flew past me as I played, and I am sure that the same will happen to you, too.
Persona 3 Portable remains the definitive version of Persona 3, albeit a relic of Persona‘s past. Compared to the star quality of the entire Persona 5 series, I can see a world where a newer Persona player may be confused about the lack of animated cutscenes, a battle system that is focused around solely controlling the main character by default, a point-and-click-esque navigation system outside of dungeon-crawling, and a forgiving-but-still-simple Social Link system. I can also see a world where veterans may be expecting a remaster that incorporates the media from Persona 3 into the skeleton of Persona 3 Portable, breathing new life and character into a classic RPG. Looking past these quibbles, Persona 3 Portable remains a stellar JRPG, and it looks, sounds, and plays better than I remembered.
A review copy of Persona 3 Portable was provided by the publisher for the express purpose of this review.
