Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable | 
| From: Atlus Video Games
List Price: $39.99
Buy New: $37.99
as of 9/5/2010 16:01 EDT details
You Save: $2.00 (5%)
New (21) Used (2) from $33.76
Seller: H2O_Mpire
Rating:  15 reviews
Platform: Sony PSP
Genre: role_playing_games
ESRB: Mature
Media: Video Game
Edition: Standard
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Number Of Items: 1
Batteries Included: No
Age: 17 - 20 years
Operating System: Sony PSP
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 7.8 x 6.1
MPN: 60014-4
Model: PS600144
UPC: 730865600144
EAN: 0730865600144
Publication Date: June 30, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| Currently For Sale On eBay | |
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| Features:
 | Improved playability: one button menu shortcuts, streamlined team equipment changes, incredibly short load times, and other tweaks and enhancements create an ideal pace for portable gaming | | | Classic, Persona RPG gameplay in which players construct wieldable physical manifestations of their thoughts through their social interactions, later taking these into team-based battles against Shadow enemies in Tartarus | | | Contains almost all the content from the original PS2 Persona 3 game, and elements from Persona 3: FES | | | Significant improvements over earlier games including Skill Cards, part-time jobs, and ability to directly control your teammates in battle | | | The important new ability to play as a female character, giving the player a whole new perspective on the events of the game and providing a dramatic impact on the game's intricate social dynamics |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Hailed by critics and players alike for breathing new life into the RPG genre, Persona 3 now finds a new home on your PSP (PlayStation Portable) system. All of the compelling and seamless mixture of social simulation and dungeon crawling is faithfully recreated in portable form, and that's not all, for the first time ever, you can experience the story from a new female protagonist's point of view to make new friends and see events from a different perspective.
New game play additions and slick system enhancements make this version worth playing it's your first time experiencing the Dark Hour, a period of consciousness between days known only to a select few, or whether you've already been to the top of the Tartarus and back.
Amazon.com Product Description
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable is a single player, AI team-based RPG that brings the thought-provokingly addictive fun that made Persona 3 a runaway hit on PlayStation 2 to PlayStation Portable (PSP). The game contains most of the content from the original Persona 3 as well as some elements of Persona 3: FES, and features the new and crucial abilities to play as a female character and to directly control your teammates in combat. Additional functionality includes Skill Cards, part-time jobs, one-button menu shortcuts, streamlined team equipment changes and shortened load screens optimized for PSP. Story
A teenager who was orphaned as a young child returns to the city of his/her childhood. Shortly after transferring to Gekkoukan High School, he/she is attacked is attacked by Shadows/creatures that feed on the minds of their victims. The assault awakens his/her Persona, Orpheus, his/her only chance at defeating these creatures of the night. He/she soon discovers that he/she shares this special ability with other students at his new school. From them he/she learns of the Dark Hour, a hidden time that exists between one day and the next, swarming with Shadows. He/she joins the Special Extracurricular Squad (SEES), and with his/her new friends, confronts this evil threat. Classic Persona 3 RPG gameplay comes to PSP.
View larger. | Gameplay
Hailed by critics and fans for breathing new life into the RPG genre, Persona 3 Portable takes everything that made Persona 3 on PlayStation 2 such a tremendous, award-winning hit and translates it into the perfect handheld RPG experience. Built upon an enhanced version of the game, players will find significant improvements, including direct control of teammates in battle, five difficulty settings, incredibly short load times, and most importantly, the option of playing through the story from a new female perspective, gaining new social links, special events, and unique romantic opportunities. Key Game Features - Classic, thought-provoking Persona RPG gameplay in which players construct wieldable physical manifestations of their thoughts through their social interactions with characters in-game, later taking these into team-based battles against Shadow enemies in Tartarus.
- Contains almost all the content from the original PS2 Persona 3 game, and elements from Persona 3: FES.
- Significant improvements over earlier games including Skill Cards, part-time jobs, and ability to directly control your teammates in battle.
- The important new ability to play as a female character, giving the player a whole new perspective on the events of the game and providing a dramatic impact on the game's intricate social dynamics.
- Improved playability permeates every aspect of the gameplay experience. One button menu shortcuts, streamlined team equipment changes, incredibly short load times, and other tweaks and enhancements create an ideal pace for portable gaming.
| Additional Screenshots:
Social Link in-game dialog.
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Strengthen Persona power.
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Classic turn-based combat.
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Improved AI party controls.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 15
 Persona 3 Portable (P3P) July 9, 2010
The False King (Houston, Texas)
23 out of 24 found this review helpful
Something about myself:
I wouldn't claim myself a long time Persona fan, but ever since I played Persona 4 I fall in love with this series and ATLUS. They made some nice quality games, especially the SMT series.
It is not exaggerating to say that P4 is probably one of the best RPG games made for PS2. Throughout the 25 some years gaming experiences, I could hardly remember any game can easily sink me 100+ hours, and P4 and P3 FES are some of them.
Enough of the history, let's get to the point:
Most people looking at this item would probably heard or have played Persona 3/P3 FES/P4 before, so they have a general understanding of the game already, I think ATLUS made a wise decision to port the P3 onto the PSP.
When I was playing P4 I had the thought, "what if I could play this game on my PSP, that would be awesome!", now it is like my dream come true :)
After playing through P4 three times, I bought P3 FES, and man you gotta say that P4 is much more polished compare to P3/P3FES. It took me a while to get used to the combat system, and if you already get used to P4, you wouldn't really like some of the ways they made P3. Granted, the story of P3 is great.
Let's look at some of the major improvements they made for P3P:
1. Ability to select a Female MC. After playing another two times through P3FES, one would love to be able to experience some alternative plots.
2. There are four Persona from P4.
3. Battle system from P4. Easy to do "1 more" but no more turn loss if not in "Dizzy" status.
4. Party members will not get tired in Tartaros (but you will get tired in next day), fortunately we can buy some item to cure tired.
5. When you go to the mall at night, once you return to your dorm you will no longer have the time slot to study, instead you go directly to the next day.
6. There are part time jobs which will increase multiple MC stats just like P4.
7. Shrine function changed, Inari will copy skill card only.
8. One thing I like a lot is the Skill cards added to P3P, with these cards you can easily transfer the skills onto other personas, also easy to make all-around personas for MC. (Four-hit all Tam Lin anyone? :)
9. Yes, New costumes! Just like the first reviewer said, new constumes seems rather easier to get. I love the MShe's sweater.
10.New S-links for female MC.
11.New difficulties - Beginner and Maniac (+ usual Easy, Normal and Hard)
12.Theo, the New male Velvet room guide for female MC
13.Fixed melee weapon. 1 hand sword for male MC and naginata for female MC (both are slash type attack).
14.Another important change is that Fusion spells are now items - no need to have Persona. But you have to get them via request, event or exchange gems. This has its pros and cons.
15.Police station will handle accessory as well (Be Blue V is now healing shop to cure tired status), I actually like this change, since we have the streamline equipment screem just like P4, it is much much easier to buy and sell equipments for our party.
16.New "rescue missing person" quest.
17.S-links will be no longer become Reverse by leave it for long time - but you can via choose wrong answers.
18.New "Paradigm Door" a.k.a Vision Quest. Fight all the full moon bosses + extra special battle to get prize. Some people dislike P3P, because they say P3P didn't port everything from P3FES. well, the Paradigm door surves the "The Answer", and playing as Aigis or playing as female MC doesn't make too much difference to me.
Well, that's about it. If you are like me that loves Persona series, you will definitely want to pick this up. My PSP has sit there for two years without anything worth to play, but this will definitely make full use of it again!
Persona 3 for PSP July 8, 2010
Linda Ratliff
17 out of 18 found this review helpful
As a die hard Persona fan, I probably would have wound up getting this even if they hadn't made any changes. That said, they took an already awesome game and made it even better. The best known new feature is, of course, the gender selection option at the beginning of the game. I'm currently partway through my first run as the female protagonist and really enjoying the new social link options--a couple are still the same, but many of them so far are with characters that either didn't exist, or you didn't have any links with. Also, and this might just be because I'm a girl and projecting onto our heroine, the female protagonist is easier to relate to and seems to have a bit more personality. Along with selecting your character's gender, you can also select the gender of Igor's assistant in the Velvet Room--I must say, Theodore is much less creepy than Elizabeth.
The combat system has also been tweaked. If you've played Persona 4, you'll find that the system is almost identical--you have more tactical options (including direct commands) and you can recover and attack in the same round. Unfortunately, it also means that you can no longer get freebie healing by going back to the base of Tartarus. This is more than made up for the fact that you can now return directly to whatever floor you left, instead of being limited the the teleporter levels. You no longer have to grind through 12 or 13 floors before you can save all your hard work.
Daytime activities have are more dating sim-like and a few new things have been added. You can now instantly move to another place on the map (like in Persona 4) with the press of a button, and instead of running around everywhere, you have a cursor. I'm assuming the latter is because it's a handheld and doesn't have as much processing power. The graphics are clearer in cut scenes and stills and combat graphics are comparable to the original PS2 (a teensy bit pixelly, but again, I'm assuming that's a limitation of the PSP).
There's also cute little things, like the fact that that the interface is pink for the female protagonist. Also, I'm not sure if it's just where I've gotten the hang of things, but some of the specialty costumes appear to be a bit easier to get. By the second full moon, you can acquire both the protagonist's winter outfit (as armor) and the "battle panties." The Akihiko Tuxedo (butler costume) also becomes available.
All in all, worth it both for the veteran Persona player, and the noob.
A new spin on a favorite. Worth the time. August 4, 2010
EnCroix
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I was so excited when I heard that Persona 3 would be available on the PSP. I don't have very much time off to play consoles at home, but I have a lot of down time while I'm away. And so, I use my PSP quite a bit.
Let's start with the major pros and cons of the updates:
Pros:
* It's very easy to get from area to area. The square button now transports you to different areas inside a building. No more running down the stairs and out the door just to get to the town map from the school. This feature was brought over from Persona 4.
*Female MC gets stylish new music tracks.
*They fixed the battle system. You can now give direct commands to your teammates instead of hoping that they do something useful. Again, brought over from Persona 4.
*You can now start from the floor you left off from in Tarturus. Yes, you no longer have to use the transporter to get back to the floor you were at.
*New social links for the Female MC.
*SPOILER WARNING: Do not read this part if you don't want to know a plot point!
If you max out the social link with Shinji before he's shot, he won't die. He'll simply go into a coma until the end of the game.
*Instead of "The Answer" there's now a Vision Quest. You fight all the full moon shadows at a harder mode.
*New outfits for the characters. Butler suits for the guys, Santa outfits for the girls.
*You can copy skill cards by giving them to the spirit in the shrine. This is very convenient - however, it takes 5 in-game days to copy a card.
*Optional velvet room assistant has been added - Theodore. That said, you can still choose Elizabeth if you want to, even if you're playing the girl's path. I love them both, but I'm not a fan of Theo's voice actor.
*All major characters have voice actors - and you'll hear it during plot points. It's really quite nice.
My favorite voice actor is Junpei, because he adds such humor and personality into his acting. I personally dislike some of the voice actors, but that's because of a personal preference - they all do a great job.
*Manic and beginner modes have been added. Manic is seriously manic, and you will not want to use this mode unless you're a veteran.
Cons:
*This is the PSP, not the PS2. It doesn't have the exact same capabilities. Thus, you no longer use the 3D MC to run around. You use a glowing curser to move around and interact.
Because of this, the game looses the "body language" that P3 and P3 FES had. Now this isn't terrible, and isn't a reason to skip it. If you've played through P3, you know what would've happened, and you can basically imagine what would've happened. I don't find it horrible, but I do think they might've been able to shove it into some of the "lesser" cutscenes. All plot events and social links are now in "visual novel" format, which I was rather disappointed by.
*Similarly, all the anime cutscenes are now gone. They're either replaced by pictures that only have the camera move, or the graphics of the characters in Tarturus acting out the scene.
The impact and darkness of the scene is lost because of this. If you're curious and haven't played Persona 3, I suggest you look up the videos on youtube, but only if you've already reached that point in the game.
*"The Answer" isn't in the game. You should buy Persona 3 FES if you want to know what happens.
Wrap up:
If you're new to the game, I have to say, you should probably play Persona 3 FES first. (FES contains "The Journey" and "The Answer") It's not hard to play through if you're on easy mode. The first game captures the mood and the real feel of Persona 3 most effectively.
That said, this is a great game, and a nice addition to the Persona 3 compilation. However, it can lack substance in major plot areas, that you just can't get without playing the original.
However, if you've already played P3, then by all means, buy this game. The alternate plot points and updated battle system promise a wonderful game that will steal hours away from your life.
Possilbly Best Game On the PSP July 28, 2010
Tommy Tran
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I've never written a review for a game before but this game was so good I just had to write one.
I really suggest this game for any RPG fan. You will fall in love with this. The Japanese role play of a school teenager and the amazing storyline will have you hooked.
I got hooked on this game fast, the lines are funny, the dungeons are addicting and I love the fashion that all of the characters have. *santa suit for yukari* ~_^! ahah.
Either way I give this game a 100/10 and if you buy this game you will most likely get hooked on the rest of the persona series. *persona 4, Persona 3 FES,*. Plus! Persona 5 is coming out in a bit too.
It is the best game I've ever played on the PSP and makes me glad I actually bought one.
Persona 3 Again? Well worth another purchase! July 20, 2010
Judge Tarkmian
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is the third rendention of the third persona game, and this time it is for the psp. What makes version this worth buying over the vanilla Persona 3 and Persona 3 FES for the PS2. A storyline in which you can choose either to be a male or female protaganist, improved battle mechanics from Persona 4 have been thrown so now the player can can control everyone in battle, instead of relying on the stupidity of the A.I., new Persona cards enable the player to customizze his or her favorite persona with the prefered skills which elimnates the amount of time spent in fusing. New Social links and a slighty different story for the Female protaggnists, new customes, and a new side area called Vision Quest enables the player to refight prievous bosses to earn greater rewards and unlock a new secret boss. The graphics have been toned down greatly from the PS2 counterparts, but all the new features and improved mechanics makes this the definitive version of Persona 3.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 15
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