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| Persona 3 | |
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 North American cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Atlus |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Director(s) |
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| Producer(s) | Katsura Hashino |
| Designer(s) |
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| Programmer(s) |
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| Artist(s) |
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| Writer(s) |
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| Composer(s) | Shoji Meguro |
| Series | Persona |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | July 13, 2006
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| Genre(s) | Role-playing, social simulation |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Persona 3,[a] released outside Japan as Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, is a 2006 role-playing video game developed by Atlus that is the fourth main installment in the Persona series, which is part of the larger Megami Tensei franchise. It was originally released for the PlayStation 2 in Japan in 2006 and in North America in 2007. It has received several enhanced re-releases and ports: Persona 3 FES, an extended version featuring a new playable epilogue and other changes, was released for the PlayStation 2 in Japan in 2007 and worldwide in 2008. An abridged PlayStation Portable version, Persona 3 Portable, was released in Japan in 2009, North America in 2010, and Europe in 2011, and ported to the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in 2023. Persona 3 Reload, a remake of the core game for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, was released on February 2, 2024.
In Persona 3, the player assumes the role of a high school student who joins the "Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad" (SEES), a group of students investigating a temporal anomaly known as the "Dark Hour", during which its members can enter Tartarus, a tower containing monsters called Shadows. They battle the Shadows using a physical manifestation of their psyche called a Persona, which they summon by firing a gun-like object called an "Evoker" at their head. Persona 3 incorporates elements of role-playing and simulation games, as the game's protagonist progresses day by day through a school year and forms relationships that improve their Personas' strength in battle.
Reception towards Persona 3 was mainly positive; critics enjoyed its social elements, while some found its combat and environments repetitive. Persona 3 FES's epilogue was said to give narrative closure to the original game, although it was criticized for not featuring its simulation aspects. Persona 3 has also seen other related media, including the fighting games Persona 4 Arena and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, the rhythm game Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight, soundtrack albums, musical concerts, radio dramas, a manga, a loosely connected anime series, and an episodic animated film series.
Gameplay[edit]
Persona 3 combines elements of traditional role-playing games and simulation games. The game follows the protagonist, who balances their daily life of going to school and building relationships with others with fighting the monstrous Shadows during the Dark Hour. Each day is divided into daytime and evening segments. Except for scripted events, such as plot progression or special events, the player is free to choose how each day is spent, with most activities causing time to pass. The types of activities and characters that can be interacted with vary depending on the day of the week and time of day. Additionally, some activities are limited by the protagonist's three attributes; Academics, Charm, and Courage, which can be built by performing various activities or making certain correct choices.[1][2] During the evening, players can choose to visit Tartarus, the game's main dungeon, where they can build their party's experience and gain new items. On the day of the full moon, players will participate in a boss battle to progress the story.[3]
Personas and social links[edit]
The main element of the game is the Personas, creatures and figures associated with the Major Arcana of the Tarot.[4] Each Persona has its own strengths and weaknesses and possesses various abilities, ranging from offensive and supportive abilities to passive abilities that support the character. While each of the game's main characters has their own Persona, some of which evolve during key moments in the story, the protagonist is capable of wielding multiple Personas, which can be switched between battles.[5] New Personas can be created by visiting the Velvet Room and fusing together multiple Personas, with the resulting Persona inheriting certain moves from the Personas used. The current level of the protagonist limits the Personas that a player can create.[5][6] Personas can also be obtained from Shuffle Time following battles, and previously obtained Personas can be summoned from the Persona Compendium for a fee.[6] The Velvet Room also allows players to complete quests, such as retrieving certain items, for rewards.
Persona 3 introduces social links,[b] bonds formed with several of the game's characters which each represent a specific Major Arcana. They are ranked up by spending time with characters. When creating a Persona of a particular Arcana, an experience bonus is granted if that Arcana possesses a social link, with greater bonuses awarded depending on the rank. Carrying a Persona of a respective Arcana can help bring a social link closer to increasing in Rank. Maxing out a social link gives players the ability to create specific Personas of each Arcana. Conversely, negative actions, such as choosing incorrect dialogue choices or dating multiple characters at the same time, can result in a reversed or broken social link, with broken links preventing the player character from using Personas of that Arcana in battle until the link is repaired by reconciling with the character.[7]
Tartarus and combat[edit]
Tartarus is the game's main dungeon, which can be visited during the evening if the conditions allow it; for example, the absence of some characters can prevent the player from visiting Tartarus that night.[8] The player may order the other party members to split up to explore the area or automatically attack Shadows on sight. Players will eventually encounter boss floors, in which they must defeat powerful Shadows to continue progressing. Additionally, certain floors halt further progress through the tower until the story progresses.[9] Occasionally, civilians will wander into Tartarus and wind up on certain floors; rescuing them safely before a full moon appears grants bonus rewards. Spending too much time in Tartarus can cause characters to become "Tired" or "Sick," which can affect their performance in combat; certain activities, such as studying at night, may be hindered if the protagonist is afflicted with this status. Players can recover by taking certain items, visiting the infirmary, or going to bed early.[9]
Battle occurs when the player comes into contact with a Shadow, with the battle party consisting of whoever is nearby. Attacking the Shadow without being noticed will give the player an advantage, whilst the enemy gains an advantage if the player is attacked first.[10] Battles use the "Press Turn" system, in which allies and enemies take turns to attack using weapons, items, or Persona abilities.[4] Using the Tactics option, the player can assign specific battle AI to each party member; in Persona 3 Portable, they may also choose to issue direct commands.[11] Offensive attacks are divided into three physical types and six elements, attributes of which both Personas and Shadows may possess strengths and weaknesses against. Physical abilities cost HP and elemental and support magic cost SP. By exploiting an enemy's weakness or performing a critical attack, a character can knock them down to gain an extra turn, which enemies can also do against party members.[8] If the player manages to knock all opponents down, they may be granted the opportunity to perform an All-Out Attack, in which all able party members attack the enemies for massive damage.[4] When a battle is won, players gain experience points that are divided amongst the party members. Earning enough experience allows Personas to increase in level, granting improved stats and new abilities.[5]
Story[edit]
Setting[edit]
The story of Persona 3 takes place in 2009 and is set in the Japanese city of Tatsumi Port Island,[c] which the Kirijo Corporation built and funded. Experiments conducted ten years prior to the game's events created the Dark Hour,[d] a period of time that exists between days.[12] During the Dark Hour, most people are turned into coffins and are unaware of it; however, there is a select group of people who aren't.[12] As well, reality is warped; Gekkoukan High School, where most characters attend school during the day, becomes a labyrinthine tower called Tartarus, where monsters called Shadows roam the area and prey on the minds of those still conscious,[8] leaving them in near-catatonic states outside of the Dark Hour.[13] The "Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad," or SEES, was formed by a group of high schoolers to investigate and learn about the Dark Hour, Shadows, and Tartarus. They are capable of summoning beings called Personas to combat Shadows,[8] which the instruction manual describes as being "a second soul that dwells deep within a person's heart. It is an entirely different personality that emerges when a person is confronted with something from outside this world."[12] Persona users usually summon their Persona by firing a gun-like object called an Evoker at their head.[3]
Characters[edit]
The main character of Persona 3 is a silent protagonist the player names at the start of the game.[14] He is a teenager who, ten years before the game's events, was orphaned as a child following his parents' death, and is now returning to the city he grew up in to transfer to Gekkoukan High School.[12] After learning of his ability to summon a Persona, he joins SEES, whose members include students of the school: Yukari Takeba, a popular and cheerful girl; Junpei Iori, a class clown and his best friend;[15] Akihiko Sanada, a calm and collected senior and the leader of the school's boxing team; and Mitsuru Kirijo, the president of its student council and daughter of the Kirijo Group's leader, who provides support during battle.[15] Over the course of the game, SEES gains several new members: Fuuka Yamagishi, a shy girl who replaces Mitsuru as support; Aigis, a female android the Kirijo Group designed to fight Shadows;[16] Ken Amada, an elementary school student whose mother was accidentally killed by a Persona user;[17] Shinjiro Aragaki, a former member of SEES who quit due to past events;[18] and Koromaru, a dog capable of summoning a Persona.[19]
Plot[edit]
The Journey[edit]
The protagonist transfers to Gekkoukan High School and moves into a dorm in the city.[12] On his third day in the city, during a mysterious 25th hour called the Dark Hour, he is attacked by monstrous beings called Shadows and awakens to his Persona. After defeating them, he is recruited by the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (SEES), a group of Gekkoukan students dedicated to battling the Shadows and exploring Tartarus, a giant tower transformed from Gekkoukan during the Dark Hour. On nights of the full moon, the city is attacked by a Shadow more powerful than those in Tartarus. After several of these incidents, senior SEES member Mitsuru Kirijo is forced to reveal to the team the origin of Tartarus and the Dark Hour. Ten years earlier, the Kirijo Group, a research company Mitsuru's grandfather founded, began amassing and containing Shadows in an attempt to harness their power. However, the experiments went awry, allowing the Shadows to escape and assemble into twelve larger creatures.[20] SEES' leader, Shuji Ikutsuki, informs them that if they defeat the twelve greater Shadows, Tartarus and the Dark Hour will disappear forever.[21]
While vacationing in Yakushima, the protagonist meets and recruits Aigis, a Persona-wielding war machine who has an inexplicable need to be near him.[22] After defeating the twelfth and final Shadow, SEES learns that Ikutsuki deceived them. By destroying the greater Shadows, they have freed parts of the being Nyx, also known as the "maternal being", who will bring about the end of the world if fully restored.[23] She is the creator of Shadows, and is drawn to Earth by the Appriser, or "Death". Ikutsuki is subsequently killed in a gunfight with Mitsuru's father Takeharu Kirijo.
SEES encounters the Appriser in the form of Ryoji Mochizuki, a recent transfer student to Gekkoukan High School.[24] In December, Aigis and Ryoji reveal that the Shadow experiments performed ten years earlier created the Death Shadow, albeit in an incomplete state.[25] Unable to defeat the Shadow, Aigis sealed it within the protagonist, who was a child at the time.[26] Its purpose is to usher Nyx into the world and bring about the extinction of Earth's life. Ryoji insists that Nyx cannot be defeated, but offers SEES an alternative. If they kill him, their memories of the Dark Hour and Tartarus will be erased, allowing them to continue life unaware of their impending death.[27]
On New Year's Eve, the player must decide whether to kill or spare Ryoji. If the protagonist kills him, the game cuts to Graduation Day as the members of SEES, except for Aigis, lose their memories of the Dark Hour and the Shadows and live in blissful ignorance until Nyx brings about The Fall and humanity dies. If he is spared, on January 31, SEES ascends to the roof of Tartarus to face him, who has transformed into the Nyx Avatar.[28] While they defeat Nyx Avatar, Nyx continues to descend to Earth. The protagonist awakens the power of the "Universe", allowing him to seal away Nyx and return the world to normal.[29] On Graduation Day, the protagonist and Aigis go to the school's roof, where Aigis thanks the protagonist for giving her a purpose in life: protecting him.[30] The protagonist, who has been feeling tired and unwell, then closes his eyes.
The Answer[edit]
The events of "The Answer" begin on March 31, shortly after the end of the original game. The opening sequence reveals that the protagonist died at the end of "The Journey",[31] which the other characters speculate is related to him defeating Nyx.[32] The school year has ended, the dormitory is about to be closed, and SEES is drifting apart. During their last dinner party, the SEES members discover they are trapped in their dorm and the day March 31 is repeating.[33] A large door-like hole opens in the dorm floor and SEES is attacked by Metis, an anti-shadow weapon similar to Aigis. While fighting Metis to protect her friends, Aigis awakens to the Wild Card ability, which the protagonist previously had.[34] Aigis subdues Metis, whose actions were an attempt to end the time skip and save Aigis, whom she calls her "sister."[35][36]
Beneath the dormitory is the Abyss of Time, a multi-layered dungeon responsible for the time skips. At the bottom of each dungeon, the characters witness memories of themselves awakening to their Personas.[37] At the bottom of the seventh and final door, SEES fights a Shadow-like version of the protagonist, after which each of them receives a key. By combining the keys, they would be able to end the time skip and leave the dorm.[38] However, Metis offers SEES an alternative: they can also use the keys to travel back in time to before the fight against Nyx and the protagonist's death.[39] Now unable to agree on how to use the keys, SEES descends into infighting.[40] Aigis and Metis claim all eight keys, which fuse into the Final Key. After debating what to do, they discover a third, new door in the Abyss of Time, which the group uses to travel to when the protagonist sealed away Nyx.[41]
Metis explains that the purpose of the seal was not to seal away Nyx herself, but to prevent humanity's despair from calling out to her and bringing about the Fall once more. Their unconscious will to despair and wish for death constantly rebirths the monster Erebus, which summons Nyx to destroy the world; Metis implies that its contact with Nyx caused the Fall.[42] SEES realizes that the wishes that created Erebus also came from them, and so they fight and defeat it.[43] Mitsuru realizes that Erebus will return, as humans will never stop wishing for death.[44] After breaking the time skip and exiting through the dormitory using the Final Key, Metis, Aigis, and the rest of SEES learn that Metis is a manifestation of Aigis' rejected human emotions.[45] Aigis merges with Metis and embraces her humanity, while the members of SEES decide to make the best out of their lives to honor and respect the protagonist's burden.[46]
Development[edit]
Persona 3 began development in 2003, after the completion of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga.[48] In March 2006, the first details on Persona 3 were unveiled in the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsū.[49] In addition to announcing the game's Japanese release date of July 13, the three-page article detailed the game's premise, combat systems, and the social link system (known as "community" in the Japanese version). It also profiled three characters—the protagonist, Junpei, and Yukari—as well as their respective Personas: Orpheus, Hermes and Io.[50]
The main character artist and art director for Persona 3 was Shigenori Soejima.[51] The previous Persona titles' character artist, Kazuma Kaneko, gave the job to Soejima so he could gain more experience.[52] Soejima felt a degree of pressure when designing the characters as he did not want to disappoint the series' fanbase. The goal was to make players of the Megami Tensei series feel gratified that they had supported the Persona series. In an interview, Soejima compared the game's aesthetic and style to a fantastical manga, citing its use of mecha-like Persona and Mitsuru's flamboyant styling. Soejima returned to design the character Metis for FES.[51] The user interface was designed to stand out during the game's marketing, with its blue-colored design intended to evoke a cool and stylish atmosphere.[53] The anime cutscenes for Persona 3 and FES were animated by animation production company Point Pictures.[54]
In an interview with the magazine Play, lead director for Persona 3 Katsura Hashino discussed why the decision was made to have party members be directed by an artificial intelligence: "I think it's more fun to have the party members controlled by their AI, so each member's characteristics and personality are on vivid display. There were no objections raised among the Persona 3 development team, either." He also notes that the system "wasn't well received" by players of the game.[55] Later, the use of AI for the secondary party members was described as a stylistic choice representing the game's theme of conquering the fear of death through "bonds": each character was their own person, and the player could only influence things by interacting with them.[56] Persona 3 does not include the negotiation elements of previous Persona or Megami Tensei games, which allowed players to talk to enemies during a battle to recruit them, earn money, or obtain items. However, the social elements of Persona 3 (and its successor, Persona 4) are considered the equivalent of the negotiation system by the development team. Maragos said in a 1UP.com interview that "negotiation isn't gone...And [it] still factors into Persona Fusion; it's still a big part of the game. I feel like it's disguised, but it's there."[57]
Localization[edit]
The localization of Persona 3 was handled by Yu Namba and Nich Maragos. During this process, the team worked to leave as much of the original Japanese content intact, continuing a trend started with Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. One of the ideas had by the team for Persona 3 was to use it as a medium for introducing Japanese culture to a Western audience.[58][59] While localizing Persona 3 for English-speaking countries, the honorifics used by the characters in the original Japanese script were retained. According to Maragos, their use "[added] so much more meaning to the text".[57] In an interview with RPGamer, project editor Yu Namba explained that during the process of translation, some of the Japanese humor, "things that made absolutely no sense in western culture…were replaced with jokes that at least somewhat parallel the originals."[60] One of the changes that needed to be made was to the school tests, which were based around questions on the English language. A similar change was Mitsuru's second language: in the original version it was English, but for the localized version her second language was changed to French. This choice was influenced by her cultured appearance. In addition, in-game references to the original Shin Megami Tensei were altered to references to Persona 2.[58][59]
Music[edit]
The original soundtrack for Persona 3 was composed by Shoji Meguro.[61] It was released as a two disc soundtrack in Japan by Aniplex on July 19, 2006. A selection of tracks from the full soundtrack was bundled with the North American release of the game.[62] An arranged album, titled Burn My Dread -Reincarnation: Persona 3-, was also released in Japan by Aniplex on April 18, 2007. It contains eleven arrangements of tracks from Persona 3, as well as an extended version of the song "Burn My Dread."[63] Meguro stated that the development of Persona 3 was one of his first opportunities to fully realize his music in video games. The soundtrack features a high use of vocals. A tune from previous Persona games he brought back was "Aria of the Soul", the theme of the Velvet Room. The game's battle theme, "Mass Destruction", was originally just a prototype, but the reception to it was so positive that it went into the final game.[64] In the past, the hardware limitations of the original PlayStation required him to compose music in 100-200 kilobyte samples, which he felt made the music sound "pretty cheap". The move to the PlayStation 2 allowed for real-time streaming of music. Meguro considers this "the point at which [he] was finally able to express [his] music without making any compromises". He was also worried about the pronunciation of the English lyrics.[65]
Meguro returned to compose new music for Persona 3 FES. Released in Japan by Aniplex on May 3, 2007, the soundtrack contained the original score for FES, as well as arrangements of music from earlier games in the Persona series.[66] "The Snow Queen", composed by Kenichi Tsuchiya, is a remix of the theme in Revelations: Persona. "Maya's Theme", composed by Kenichi Tsuchiya, and "Time Castle", composed by Toshiko Tasaki, are remixes of tracks from Persona 2: Innocent Sin.[67] Persona 3 Portable contains new background music, which can be heard if the player chooses to control the game's new female protagonist.[68] The game's official soundtrack was released in Japan by Aniplex on November 25, 2009.[69]
Promotion and release[edit]
The North American release of Persona 3 shipped as a collector's edition box containing the game, a soundtrack disc, and a 52-page art book. The game was originally scheduled to release on July 24, 2007. However, Atlus encountered a problem with manufacturing the artbook several days before the intended ship date. Instead of shipping the game without the book, the company decided to push its release back three weeks, to August 14. Atlus issued a press release explaining that they were delaying the game to maintain the quality of the package, which would have been "irreparably compromised" if they had "revise[d] or abandon[ed] the deluxe package."[70]
Persona 3 FES[edit]
Persona 3 FES[e] is an add-on disc for Persona 3 containing updates to the original game, a new Hard difficulty option, as well as a new epilogue in which the player controls Aigis. FES was released in Japan on April 19, 2007, as both a stand-alone game and a cheaper "Append" disc that requires having the original game to be played. Overseas, the combined edition was published in North America by Atlus USA on April 22, 2008, and in Europe by Koei on October 17, 2008.[citation needed] According to the game's director, Katsura Hashino, the subtitle "Fes" is derived from the word "festival".[71] This version of the game was re-released as a PS2 Classic on PSN for the PlayStation 3 in 2012. Players of the original Persona 3 are given the option of transferring certain data from the original version's save file, such as the player's compendium, social-related stats, and maxed social link items.
Persona 3 FES was first released alongside the original game in two forms: the "Regular Edition" — containing both the "director's cut" version of Persona 3, and the new epilogue on a standalone disc, and the "Append Edition", which has the same content but requires the original Persona 3 disc to be inserted before playing initially, and after creating save data it can be played alone.[72] Persona 3 and its expansion were released simultaneously in Japan on April 19, 2007. At the time, Atlus had no apparent plans to release FES outside Japan.[60] Confirmation did not come until February 2008, when the game's North American release date was revealed to be April 22, 2008.[73] An exclusive Amazon.com limited edition bundle was released on November 28, 2008, containing the FES edition of the game along with the same Art of Persona 3 artbook and Persona 3 soundtrack disc that were packaged with the North American release of the original game.[74] The FES edition of the game was also released on PSN on April 10, 2012.[75]
The expansion to Persona 3, in addition to adding new content to the main game (now referred to as The Journey,