Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES, the enhanced edition of Persona 3, will appear on Sony’s PSN as a PS2 classic tomorrow, April 10. Our own Chessa DiMola gave the PSP version of the game very high praise in her review, so those who have been curious about Atlus’ Shin Megami Tensei universe may want to check it out.
The PSP version is a slightly different experience, allowing you to take control of your whole party, but lacks the additional post-game content, The Answer, included here. Also, while we have no final word on pricing, PS2 classics are typically sold for $10, which is not a very high price for what's widely considered quality RPG content.
This is an amazingly good game. If you don't already have it, I suggesting buying - it's easily one of my favorite games of all time.
I have dipped my toe in the SMT universe with Devil Survivor and Strange Journey. I like what I've seen so far. I'll probably pick up the PSP version though. I like being able to control my entire party, and I don't have a PS2 or PS3.
The party controls is a mixed bag for me. Part of what I liked about this version of P3 was overcoming the occasional challenge posed by teammates behaving unexpectedly. You were able to give them general direction, which was typically good enough. I can't remember many instances where it got in the way and it did help progress battles a bit quicker as a result, which was appreciated.
P3P does offer something similar to the P3FES system, but it's optional and when you have full party control, you just don't ever wind up using it. There were some other subtle differences that made me appreciate FES more, like the ability to recharge all of your stats by hitting the ground floor during the nightmare hour.
They're both great games, and truthfully, The Answer is mostly a grindfest.
Still need to try a game in this series. Some day, some day...
I'd reccomend trying out the Devil Survivor games first. It's a good way to get introduced to the series. The Devil Survivor games give you a lot of information that's head knowledge for long time fans. Take notes too! Things like demon combinations and elemental weaknesses are not handed to you in regular Shin Megami Tense games like they are in Devil Survivor.
It'll probably be a game on a console I already have, like on the PS2.