Persona 3

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Persona 3

Developer(s)	Atlus Co.
Publisher(s)	Atlus Co.
Release date(s)	^JPN July 13, 2006 ^NA June, 2007^[1]
Genre(s)	Role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single player
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2

Persona 3 (ペルソナ３, Persona 3^?) is the fourth game in the Persona series. (Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment being separate games) The game was developed and published by Atlus Co. for the PlayStation 2 console system. Persona 3 is currently in release in Japan, and will be released in North America in June, 2007. ^[1]

1 Gameplay
2 Main Characters
3 Persona 3: Fes
4 Media Releases
5 Audio CD

[edit] Gameplay

Persona 3 is a departure from its predecessors in that the story moves in a slow, day-to-day pace over the span of a year rather than jumping from event to event in typical console RPG fashion. Like in previous installments, the main character attends high school, but now school activities (studying, building a social life, etc.) are important to building up statistics, and half of the game is dedicated to participating in school activities; the other half involves fighting demons in Tartarus at night. This "day in the life" style of gameplay is similar to The Sims and especially Bully, or Japanese RPGs with dating sim elements, like Harvest Moon or Azure Dreams.

The battle system is a turn based-style interface called Once More, similar to the Press Turn battle system used in other recent Shin Megami Tensei games such as Digital Devil Saga. However, instead of rewarding the entire party for exploiting weaknesses, extra turns are given on an individual basis. There also appear to be special attacks that can be used when all enemies are knocked out from their weaknesses, such as where all characters rush at the enemies in a cartoon-style dust cloud. However, only the protagonist is controllable in battle, while the numerous allies that join your party are governed by AI, which the player can influence somewhat with preset "Tactics." At the beginning of the game, the player has a few basic Tactics to choose from, but more can be learned as one gets further into the game.

[edit] Main Characters

Main Character: The player controls this character. He is a transfer student and is able to switch his persona. Like the protagonist in the first Persona game of the series, he is a silent protagonist, in that his voice is dictated by the various decisions the player makes in response to other characters. This device theoretically "puts the player in the character's shoes" in order to feel a more intimate connection with the game. He is known in Japanese fandom as Shuujinkou (主人公). In manga version authored by Soukabe Shuuji, he is named Arisato Minato.
Yukari Takeba: Lives in Main Character's dorm.
Junpei Iori: Most notable features are his cheerful nature and his baseball cap.
Mitsuru Kirijou: Student Council President.
Akihiko Sanada: Member of the Boxing Club. He is somewhat uptight and does not get along with Junpei.
Fuka Yamagishi: A support character who does not participate in actual combat. She frequently assists the active party by radio while they explore Tartarus.
Aegis: Humanoid (android) anti-shadow weapon
Ken Amada: A child persona user.
Koromaru: A dog who can use a persona.

[edit] Persona 3: Fes

Atlus announced that on April 19th a add-on disk for Persona 3 will be released called Persona 3: Fes (ペルソナ3フェス, Persona 3: Fes^?). There will also be a "Directors Cut" version, which includes both Persona 3 and Persona 3: Fes. "Fes" is said to come from the word "festival." Fes claims to add another 30 hours of gameplay to the Persona 3 game. It includes a chapter after you defeat the main boss, called the Aegis chapter.

[edit] Media Releases

There has been several media releases for Persona 3. A soundtrack for the japanese version has been released, while there the Persona 3 Fes Original Soundtrack is scheduled to be released on May 2007. An arranged album also scheduled to be released in 2007. All music are composed by Shoji Meguro.