Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES

 PlayStation 2
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 862 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 649 out of 862
  2. Mixed: 54 out of 862
  3. Negative: 159 out of 862
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  1. GentlemanHunter
    Jul 16, 2023
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Things I like:
    - The Music is Top Tier (as expected from a Megami Tensei game)
    - The Story is the best in the series (at least as far as modern persona games go)
    - The ending is one of the best in all of gaming IMO
    - The Characters are very memorable
    - The game introduced the gameplay loop between life sim and dungeon-crawling JRPG that has made the Persona series into what it is today. And for their first attempt, they nailed it very well

    Things I dislike:
    - No social links with the male party members
    - Romance is forced onto you if you reach a certain point in a girl's social link
    - This wouldn't be a problem if romanced girls didn't get jealous when you hang around other girls, causing the social link to break and you to waste precious time repairing those social links
    - The game doesn't do a good job of getting you invested in Shinjiro before he gets killed
    - The moment when Junpei settles the differences between you and him doesn't feel earned because of the aforementioned lack of social link
    - The story kind of loses
    - Tartarus can be annoying and tiring at times
    - You can't control your party members (although you can install a mod that allows you to control them if you have the know-how)
    - The party member's AI is meh and often doesn't do what you expect it to do

    Verdict: Although some of the game's aspects haven't aged well (if they were even considered good to begin with), that doesn't change the fact that this game is a masterpiece to me and has one of my favorite stories of all time.    … Expand
  2. Poccigoni
    May 25, 2023
    9
    Take a good story and ambience, mix it with some natural and well-written characters, top it off with an amazing art style and music and you've got Persona 3 FES. A game about what happens when you are aware of your end. Can't give it a 10 because the main dungeon can get repetitive after the first 20 hours, and the epilogue "The Answer", while being good story-wise and working as a goodTake a good story and ambience, mix it with some natural and well-written characters, top it off with an amazing art style and music and you've got Persona 3 FES. A game about what happens when you are aware of your end. Can't give it a 10 because the main dungeon can get repetitive after the first 20 hours, and the epilogue "The Answer", while being good story-wise and working as a good end to the main plotline, is incredibly linear gameplay wise. The battle can also be a bit clunky for someone coming from P4/P5, due to the lack of controllable party members and how unbalanced some Personas and moves are (I'm looking at you, Thunder Reign).… Expand
  3. VioIrdsGX
    Apr 18, 2023
    9
    (This game was played from PlayStation 3). Great Persona 3 game, I started playing this in 2021 and it's good, this was the first game in the Persona series to have the first soundtracks composed and sung by Yumi Kawamura and Lotus Juice, this game is different than the first original and the portable version because it has a secondary story called "The Answer" starring Aegis in the game,(This game was played from PlayStation 3). Great Persona 3 game, I started playing this in 2021 and it's good, this was the first game in the Persona series to have the first soundtracks composed and sung by Yumi Kawamura and Lotus Juice, this game is different than the first original and the portable version because it has a secondary story called "The Answer" starring Aegis in the game, but still this game has a problem and it's one that I hate or I don't know if people hate it too, and it's that they still the companions are controlled automatically, seriously this had never happened with Revelations Persona and the sequel to Persona 2 that they do have manual control, so if you want to defeat the bosses then survive because your companions seem to want self-suicide.… Expand
  4. Naked_Snakee
    Apr 7, 2023
    9
    Just text (crutch) to save the game to the list. Such things. Maybe I'll do a review later.
  5. TheQweast
    Mar 3, 2023
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is the best out of the main persona trilogy (3,4,5) in terms of story you will find yourself being very immersed in the world and worried about the stakes. The world does feel more real as well because this game has people that just don't care about you. Love the true ending with Makoto dying, it's so emotionally gripping and persona 4 and 5 can never reach that level of story telling. Tartarus is inherently annoying however with the constant grind needed to progress.… Expand
  6. jelikey
    Feb 17, 2023
    9
    One of the lengthiest and most enjoyable games I've ever played. With well over 100 hours of content (great content), it shines as what may be the true swan song of the PS2.
  7. WindlessNight
    Jan 31, 2023
    9
    A beautiful game for its time. The main story is great with fantastic animated cutscenes and one of the few things to ever have hit me emotionally. Combat is fun but sometimes can feel like you’re not only fighting the enemies, but your teammates too as you’re not able to control outside of a list of strategies. Gameplay is frustrating but so rewarding to win. The Answer tells anA beautiful game for its time. The main story is great with fantastic animated cutscenes and one of the few things to ever have hit me emotionally. Combat is fun but sometimes can feel like you’re not only fighting the enemies, but your teammates too as you’re not able to control outside of a list of strategies. Gameplay is frustrating but so rewarding to win. The Answer tells an absolutely beautiful story that I can still remember scenes from. The work done with the 3D models and cinematography was lovely. I’d absolutely recommend the Answer if you have played the regular or Portable.… Expand
  8. ayoobro
    Jan 8, 2023
    10
    literally perfect. Easily the best persona game out of all of them. better than p5
  9. epicgamereal
    Dec 16, 2022
    9
    My favorite game of all time. This game does not feature control of party members, unlike the other persona games, and I found this to be a fun challenge. The story is the best of any persona game. The soundtrack does not disappoint. The only thing I do not like about this game is that it is missing some QOL fixes that can be found in Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 Royal. Besides the gamesMy favorite game of all time. This game does not feature control of party members, unlike the other persona games, and I found this to be a fun challenge. The story is the best of any persona game. The soundtrack does not disappoint. The only thing I do not like about this game is that it is missing some QOL fixes that can be found in Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 Royal. Besides the games age, I believe this is as good as the persona franchise gets. Unfortunately, this version didn't come to to steam, and instead, ATLUS chose the inferior PSP port instead. Oh well.… Expand
  10. avis_davus
    Sep 20, 2022
    10
    Easily the greatest jrpg of all time, blows any other persona game out the water by a long shot.
  11. MunhozMCM
    Sep 16, 2022
    9
    My Score:

    (9) - Great!

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  12. Pokenight
    Sep 3, 2022
    9
    Bro, this game sucks ass. The ai sucks. The dungeon sucks. Then I saw the story...
    This is one of my favourite games of all time.
  13. nyxo100
    Jul 21, 2022
    8
    this game is amazing the soundtrack slaps the character development is on point and the final boss battle is leggit a one of the best fights in RPG
  14. WellEvil
    Jan 6, 2022
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Great game with a huge focus on story, characters, and world-building. I don't remember the last time when the story absorbed me so much. Yes, there are a few bugs here are there, but nothing game-breaking. Usually minor visual glitches.… Expand
  15. Allyptic
    Oct 23, 2021
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Great game with a huge focus on story, characters, and world-building. I don't remember the last time when the story absorbed me so much. Yes, there are few bugs here are there, but nothing game-breaking. Usually minor visual glitches.… Expand
  16. AndresXgame
    Sep 16, 2021
    10
    Obra maestra que mezcla el combate de SMT con opciones sociales que enriquecen la historia. Un imprescindible para todo amante de los JRPG y es atemporal.
  17. JimPickens
    May 31, 2021
    8
    Almost Perfect

    Being the Persona game that first introduced many of the standout features we all know and love in the modern games, Persona 3 will obviously suffer from a big of "first game syndrome" and feel pretty clunky. For example; there are no S. Links with any male party member, Akihiko, Junpei, Ken for the 3 people who like Ken, none of them have links. Your female party members    Almost Perfect

    Being the Persona game that first introduced many of the standout features we all know and love in the modern games, Persona 3 will obviously suffer from a big of "first game syndrome" and feel pretty clunky. For example; there are no S. Links with any male party member, Akihiko, Junpei, Ken for the 3 people who like Ken, none of them have links. Your female party members however, all DO have Links, only... it's treated like a romance option, the only way to max out any female social link (with a few exceptions) is to romance them, which makes things a little awkward. Party members aside S. Links are pretty hit or miss, some like Akinari are great, others, like Kenji, are downright unbearable, it seems like an even split between great S. Links and Kenji.

    Social aspects aside, the story and characters are superb, some of the best in the series, and certainly the best of 'Neo-Persona'. Each party member has their own arc where they all overcome some kind of personal struggle, so far so run of the mill, but it's how these characters in particular act, their individual writing is captivating, especially when arcs intertwine, like Ken, Akihiko and Shinji, or Mitsuru and Yukari, even your gormless protagonist has a pretty interesting story, that I won't spoil here, even though we are talking about a ps2 game here.

    The villains are where this story falls apart, 'Strega' may be the most forgettable group of "literally who's?" I've ever seen, Revolver Jesus, who's name I'm too lazy to google, is a jarring character, or lack thereof, he doesn't really DO anything, he shows up, says some fancy nonsense, and leaves, save for one very specific scene around midway through the game, his side kick is even worse, Jin REALLY doesn't do anything, he shows up with R. Jesus, condescends to you, and sometimes serves as the easiest Boss fight in the game, rinse and repeat a couple times, the final member Chidori, would be the worst offender, if not for her connection to Junpei, otherwise, she's a bland goth girl for people who like bland goth girls I guess. I don't know how we get some of the best main characters in S.E.E.S and some of the worst villains in Strega in the same game, the big bad, Nyx is at least kind of interesting, so there's that.

    Combat ranges from "this is fine" to "AKI YOU HAVE ZIO! USE ZIO WHY DID YOU USE SONIC PUNCH?!" this is because your party is entirely AI controlled, you can influence their AI with a Tactics option but this functions as more of a "suggestion" and can occasionally break the game, I once had Aigis set to "Conserve SP" and no matter what I did she refused to fight AT ALL, even if I changed her to "Act Freely" she stood there like she was short circuiting or something, I had to leave Tartarus and come back the next night. Your lack of control isn't always detrimental to your success, typically the AI will do the smart thing but every now and then it'll do something incredibly dumb and there's nothing you could have done to stop it.

    Overall, the game is good, but not without its flaws, the AI works in mysterious ways, but will almost always work well enough, the characters are great, save for the villains, and the social aspects are very hit or miss, but when they hit, they hit HARD, sometimes emotionally, and you will cry... a lot. Persona 3 is a game I can easily recommend to any Persona fan, just be aware how far the series has come since and that you're playing a Playstation 2 game and you should be just fine.    … Expand
  18. EarlLp
    Mar 20, 2021
    10
    Best game i ever played and a great story great characters and fantastic OST
  19. JeremiahGoated
    Feb 4, 2021
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It's an amazing journey through "The Journey", and I would love to point out that the whole point of this game was death. And all I can say is that it's simply an amazing game for what it was back in its day. There was nothing like it and touched my heart, and gave me the idea of how I should live. Spending time with my friends, family, and try to work towards something that betters myself and the people around me. And that if I'm gone Ill leave an effect on people, and give them the chance to look back on the memories we made, and have a sense of joy.… Expand
  20. CorixAsk
    Jan 31, 2021
    10
    To the person that was hurt so badly by the Shin megami tensei so much that review bomb all the games in the franchise
    Wtf is wrong with you?
  21. guiletheguiles
    Jan 29, 2021
    8
    The feeling of finishing Persona 3 was almost the complete opposite of finishing Persona 4. When I finished my trip in Inaba, I felt nothing but joy, but when I finally destroyed Tartarus, I felt nothing but... sadness!
    And that felt surprisingly good!
    Persona 3 felt like a game on the verge of something incredible. It has all the right ingredients that would make the franchise    The feeling of finishing Persona 3 was almost the complete opposite of finishing Persona 4. When I finished my trip in Inaba, I felt nothing but joy, but when I finally destroyed Tartarus, I felt nothing but... sadness!
    And that felt surprisingly good!

    Persona 3 felt like a game on the verge of something incredible. It has all the right ingredients that would make the franchise stunning, but its formula was still being worked upon, at the time.
    But that's not to say that the game is bad! Because it's definitely not!
    While P3's gameplay may feel arcaic, the story and characters shines on the entire experience. The story does take A LONG time to actually develop and the pacing of progressing/leveling up does feel a little dull, but whenever something big happens, it floored me. Every character motivation is well written, dialogues are melancholic, making you care about each person's tale, the protagonist has an actual interesting past in comparition to P4 and P5 and the ending... MY GOD, THAT ENDING IS PERFECT! Sad, sure... But superb.
    I also noticed that leveling up your social links in this game was simpler than the others. Side characters weren't as great as seen in future games, but they were nicely developed, nonetheless. The soundtrack has few tracks, but they're VERY memorable and good to listen to. I am a sucker for every soundtrack that Shoji Meguro touches and this is no different. It perfectly captures the sorrow and urban distress of the game, making its atmosphere balanced and unique.

    As for the dungeon crawling aspect of P3, well... I don't like it too much.
    Fusing personas, managing the different and creative characters, exploiting weaknesses and making your party as tactical as possible is still fun and, honestly, the saving grace of P3's dated battle nuances - but DAMN, is it bland! -
    I didn't think this game was harder than P4, but leveling up here is A CHORE. The dungeons' design sucks, enemy variety is a joke, traversing through Tartarus breaks the story's pacing and everything feels VERY slow. And the worst of all: Grinding might be boring, but it's a necessity. If your level is low, than get your ass down to killing some shadows IMMEDIATELY!
    ALSO, I WANT TO PERSONALLY PUNCH THE DUDE THAT DECIDED TO TAKE AWAY THE POSSIBILITY OF CONTROLLING YOUR PARTY MEMBERS! **** THAT AND **** THAT AI!
    It's sad that Tartarus sucks so bad, because that's the only negative thing I can think of. If it wasn't by Tartarus, even story and character development would feel more natural and just faster. I'm glad Atlus improved on their dungeons.
    Oh, one other thing, DO NOT play The Answer! It's unbalanced, ruins a perfect story and requires EVEN MORE GRIND!

    While I wouldn't recommend P3 as your first Persona or JRPG, I'd definitely recommend to any fan of the franchise and genre. Especially if you crave a good, thoughtful, bleak story and atmosphere. It filled me with joy, than broke me and I loved it ( despite gameplay hindrances)!
    Memento Mori, everyone.    … Expand
  22. Aidilmuhaimin
    Dec 7, 2020
    10
    Masterpiece
    Good game my childhood game
    Must play this game was masterpiece
  23. ArturReview
    Nov 9, 2020
    10
    Persona 3 FES has a masterful blend of gameplay and character development. By introducing the Social Link system to the series, all of the characters you interact with feel more conected to the action aspect of the game. Dungeon crawling has been expanded to great heights and both main and secondary characters are masterfully written, with beautiful development to their stories. Even if itPersona 3 FES has a masterful blend of gameplay and character development. By introducing the Social Link system to the series, all of the characters you interact with feel more conected to the action aspect of the game. Dungeon crawling has been expanded to great heights and both main and secondary characters are masterfully written, with beautiful development to their stories. Even if it hasn't aged well in many elements, Persona 3 FES is still a must play game because it starts what makes the Persona series great.… Expand
  24. Benonline27
    Sep 27, 2020
    10
    Masterpiece doesn't even begin to describe this game, from the story to the sound, it was absolutely amazing and isn't just one of the best jrpgs but one of the best games of all time, a tragic story full of twist and turn (there are quite a few inconsistencies though), the unique thing about this game is that all the characters are very significant in some way, game play is a bit meh butMasterpiece doesn't even begin to describe this game, from the story to the sound, it was absolutely amazing and isn't just one of the best jrpgs but one of the best games of all time, a tragic story full of twist and turn (there are quite a few inconsistencies though), the unique thing about this game is that all the characters are very significant in some way, game play is a bit meh but that is with most jrpgs, sound is the best out of any game i have ever seen, please play this, there are tons upon tons of hours of awesomeness, you won't regret it one bit… Expand
  25. Jekile
    Jul 20, 2020
    8
    Persona 3 ambitiously creates a new formula for JRPGs by splitting the game into two distinct halves: the standard dungeon crawly turn-based RPG, and a Visual Novel. Despite this being the first attempt of this melding of modes, Persona 3 pulls it off suprisingly well. First, let's look at look the writing side of the coin.

    This game is decisively character-focused; the game's value lives    Persona 3 ambitiously creates a new formula for JRPGs by splitting the game into two distinct halves: the standard dungeon crawly turn-based RPG, and a Visual Novel. Despite this being the first attempt of this melding of modes, Persona 3 pulls it off suprisingly well. First, let's look at look the writing side of the coin.

    This game is decisively character-focused; the game's value lives or dies based on the quality of the character writing. And for the most part Persona 3 the cast of characters are very memorable. Unlike Persona 4, I don't get this warm feeling where everyone in the main cast are all the great friends. In this game the relationships are a bit more messy. But by the end it's easy to get attached to them. With all that being said, many of the Social Links with side characters in this game are rather forgettable, and would mostly improve in the later games.

    While their character work is solid, the narrative is even more impressive. In the first half of the game the narrative is somewhat formulaic and unsurprising. But, eventually the stakes increase and culminate into a fantastic ending. And unlike later games in the series, the stakes feel much more real and actually dangerous. Leading to a more dark game relative to others in the series.

    When you aren't talking to friends or studying in your room, you will be exploring the dungeon of Tartarus. This dungeon is randomly generated and relatively, well boring. The lack of interesting dungeon mechanics or artistic differences between floors really can make this at times an exhausting task. However, what does help keep things interesting is the combat system. The combat is the first in the series to employ the One More system, meaning to effectively combat enemies you must exploit enemy weaknesses to knock down enemies and pull off an all-out attack. This system is very satisfying, making each battle almost like a puzzle. What holds it back is the lack of controllable party members. While the game is balanced around this, it can be frustrating to see your teammates playing unoptimally.

    There are many rough edges to the game that were not mentioned, but despite all these minor issues, the game overall is very good. If you love the other Persona games definitely check this game out. Or if you are just interested the series this is a great starting point.    … Expand
  26. Nekrom221
    Jul 20, 2020
    9
    Persona 3 FES is definitely a great game for me, it does have some flaws, but the pros of this game overpower the cons.

    PROS: - It has a banger soundtrack - Story is arguably the best in the Persona series - Characters are great - Symbolism / Foreshadowing - Hard, if you're into that CONS: - Has the weakest gameplay when you compare it to persona 4 and 5 - The story feels dull    Persona 3 FES is definitely a great game for me, it does have some flaws, but the pros of this game overpower the cons.

    PROS:
    - It has a banger soundtrack
    - Story is arguably the best in the Persona series
    - Characters are great
    - Symbolism / Foreshadowing
    - Hard, if you're into that

    CONS:
    - Has the weakest gameplay when you compare it to persona 4 and 5
    - The story feels dull in the beginning (It's worth getting through it once you get around the mid point in the game)

    Story/Characters - 9/10
    Gameplay - 7/10
    Sound/Music - 9/10
    Graphics - 8/10

    Overall - 9/10

    seems like this game got review bombed from what i can see and hear :(    … Expand
  27. obamagaming22
    Jul 12, 2020
    10
    This game is by far the best in the series when it comes to the writing of the story, and the main characters. Some social links are disappointing when compared to the other games, however keep in mind this was the first atlus game that integrated a "highschool life" system. Overall, a masterpiece :)
  28. Zokti
    Jul 11, 2020
    10
    My favourite game ever. Good story, soundtrack and characters. I’m only writing this review to try and get the user review score higher than Persona 5’s because that game sucks
  29. Gamer1465
    Jul 3, 2020
    9
    My Favorite Persona story with only a few problems makes this the best Persona game to date.

    Persona 3 FES is a re-release of Persona 3 with added features and social links, even a whole new conclusion to Persona 3 named the answer. The characters are still fantastic, easily the best in the persona series and now with Aigis having a social link it adds even more depth to an already    My Favorite Persona story with only a few problems makes this the best Persona game to date.

    Persona 3 FES is a re-release of Persona 3 with added features and social links, even a whole new conclusion to Persona 3 named the answer.

    The characters are still fantastic, easily the best in the persona series and now with Aigis having a social link it adds even more depth to an already amazing cast. Voice acting is amazing apart from a few like Fuuka but for when the game came out it really was some of the best in video games. This also has the best social links in the Persona series although some aren't at the standard that was expected from this game.

    The Story hasn't changed and is still this dark story about death and grief. This is a much more mature tone than what 4 and 5 take on (nothing wrong with those games) and this tone is when Persona is at it's best.

    Tartarus to me personally still feels like a chore grinding to be the recommended level at the start of the game and could of been easily fixed with this re-release and sadly even with P3 Portable this issue was never fixed. I love Tartarus and it's lore but goddamn this is the reason the game goes for much longer. Not being able to control your party was never an issue for me but it is annoying at pivotal moments in a boss fight when someone does something stupid and costs you the fight.

    The Answer was okay, nothing spectacular just more Tartarus grinding with some story added. The flashbacks for the characters in my opinion was the highlight of the Answer. Metis as well is a good character which adds depth to our new protagonist Aigis which is always great. But a problem with the answer as well is some characters acting unlike themself which was annoying and eye rolling. The Answer overall is a 7/10. If you enjoyed The Journey definitely check out The Answer whether watching it or playing it yourself.

    Overall Persona 3 FES is still the fantastic game which was released 2 years before with improvements to the game, added events, social links and a 30 hour conclusion to the story although it is mostly just grinding. Although at first grinding Tartarus takes a long time eventually grinding is made more fun and easier. This is a must play for any fans of JRPGs, the Persona series or Shin Megami Tensei series.    … Expand
  30. Soutelo
    Jun 28, 2020
    10
    Best game ever made. The story, the characters, the symbolism, the message, the OST... It's all perfect (well except for being forced to date all girls in order to complete her SL but it's a really minor flaw)
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Awards & Rankings

2
#2 Best PS2 Game of 2008
2
#2 Most Discussed PS2 Game of 2008
5
#5 Most Shared PS2 Game of 2008

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
89

Generally favorable reviews - based on 25 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 25
  3. Negative: 0 out of 25
  1. GameZone
    80
    Persona 3: FES will increase your appreciation of its storyline. The characters are great, the dialogue is believable (how’s THAT for an RPG!?), and if you enjoyed the gameplay last year, there are several new reasons to play through the original quest all over again.
    Read full review
  2. G4 TV
    80
    The three interwoven role-play threads in Persona 3 FES are so deftly sewn that it's easy to tune out the rest of the noise.
    Read full review
  3. Game Informer
    83
    With a mere $30 price tag, it's the perfect way for fans and newcomers to experience this exceptional RPG. [May 2008, p.94]
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »