I have some rather fond memories of Persona 3, having first discovered it just a few years ago. At the time I played it every day and loved it, and it was my favourite video game. And I still appreciate it, while I haven't really played a whole lot of JRP Gs I do like this one a lot.
Instead of most RP Gs which have you explore a large world, this is a day-to-day structure which sees the events of a whole year in-universe unfold, with the story progressing by itself. But it's not at all linear - you have to explore the labyrinth Tartarus, and bond with many different people and create 'Social Links', which is vital to the game. With all the Social Links you can get, there is a lot to do in this game.
But of course, there's also the story. The story is deep and fulfilling, and the characters go through a lot of development throughout the events of the story. You really start to feel for these characters, and rather than just being your allies in battle, they're your friends. Some really good characterisation here.
The gameplay during battle has a few minor flaws, though. For one, you can't really control your team mates, only yourself. The best you can do is assign your team mates to different tatics. Though this is only the PS2 version, from what I hear the PSP port gives you the option to control them. Also, if you are defeated in battle, it's an insant game over, which becomes very infuriating when you are suddenly hit with a fatal attack that kills you, and if only the game just let you heal yourself.
But all in all I would definitely recommend Persona 3 if you're into JRP Gs and haven't played this one yet. It's a very well-made JRPG and is at least worth playing for its good story. I'm glad I picked it up when I did.
A great JRPG
I have some rather fond memories of Persona 3, having first discovered it just a few years ago. At the time I played it every day and loved it, and it was my favourite video game. And I still appreciate it, while I haven't really played a whole lot of JRP Gs I do like this one a lot. Instead of most RP Gs which have you explore a large world, this is a day-to-day structure which sees the events of a whole year in-universe unfold, with the story progressing by itself. But it's not at all linear - you have to explore the labyrinth Tartarus, and bond with many different people and create 'Social Links', which is vital to the game. With all the Social Links you can get, there is a lot to do in this game. But of course, there's also the story. The story is deep and fulfilling, and the characters go through a lot of development throughout the events of the story. You really start to feel for these characters, and rather than just being your allies in battle, they're your friends. Some really good characterisation here. The gameplay during battle has a few minor flaws, though. For one, you can't really control your team mates, only yourself. The best you can do is assign your team mates to different tatics. Though this is only the PS2 version, from what I hear the PSP port gives you the option to control them. Also, if you are defeated in battle, it's an insant game over, which becomes very infuriating when you are suddenly hit with a fatal attack that kills you, and if only the game just let you heal yourself. But all in all I would definitely recommend Persona 3 if you're into JRP Gs and haven't played this one yet. It's a very well-made JRPG and is at least worth playing for its good story. I'm glad I picked it up when I did.