Persona 3 Portable Review: Memento Mori, Memento Vivere

Oh boy, another Persona review coming at you. After my introduction to the Persona series through Persona 5 Royal, it was only a matter of time before I tried some of the other mainline games once they’ve been brought to modern consoles. I first started my Persona 3 journey through Persona 3 Reload, but after finding out that my laptop couldn’t handle the game, I bought the bundle of Persona 3 Portable (P3P) and Persona 4 Golden (P4G) for my Switch instead.

And man, that was a great decision. Since I’ve finished both P3P and P4G, you can now find those reviews on the site as well. If you came here for the Persona 3 Reload review, don’t worry. That will come once I have a stronger computer, and finish the game.

Now, getting back on topic, Persona 3 Portable is actually an enhanced remake of the original Persona 3 for the Playstation 2. Persona 3 Portable was originally remade for the Playstation Portable, and as such, a few changes were made between the original and the enhanced remake.

I never played the original Persona 3, but from reading and research, there are a few differences that I noticed. For those familiar with Persona, you will know that the protagonist is a self insert, meaning you could name them whatever you want. For the purposes of this review, the male protagonist will be referred to as Makoto Yuki, as that’s his canonical name.

A final note before I go into things, this review will contain spoilers for the game. I’ll try and structure the review to have most of the non spoilery stuff at the beginning, but when I get into the plot, I’ll be covering things until the end. This has been your warning. Now, let’s get started.

Persona 3 Portable Review

First, let’s start with gameplay and user interface. This is where I’m going to mention one of the key differences between the original Persona 3 compared to Persona 3 Portable, and that’s the overworld. For those familiar with the Persona franchise, the game is essentially split into two sections. You have your day to day life, where you can work on Social Links to improve persona fusions and raising social stats, and you have the dungeons, in Persona 3’s case, Tartarus, which is your typical dungeon crawler for RPGs.

Since I started my Persona 3 journey in Persona 3 Reload, I noticed that in the overworld, or day to day life, you would physically control the protagonist to move to certain locations. In Persona 3 Portable, this was instead replaced with a picture with icons of locations the protagonist could visit. On the screen, a cursor would appear, and like a computer mouse, the player can select the location for the player character to visit.

Personally, I didn’t find this change all that intrusive to the game. It does make half of the game feel like a visual novel, but I would argue that most of the Persona games have that feeling anyways. I think what I appreciated the most about this new style was that I was able to see what I was able to interact with.

I know when I compare my short time with Reload to Portable, there were definitely things I missed in Reload since I didn’t know you could interact with them. Now, does this point and click feature take away from the immersion of the game? A little bit. But I don’t find it as distracting as other players seem to find.

I think the biggest thing that bothered me was the lack of animated cutscenes. Those familiar with Persona know that the three modern games have animated cutscenes sprinkled throughout the game. And those are beautiful cutscenes that add so much more to the game. Since Persona 3 Portable was designed with the PSP limitations, the cutscenes were cut.

Along with the animated cutscenes, the cutscenes where the in-game models move were also cut. I think these two changes are what make P3P more of a visual novel compared to the other entries in the series. Now, don’t get me wrong, the cutscenes are still great, and I grew up with games that played this way, but I know this could be a breaking point for some people.

If it is, then I would suggest playing Persona 3 Reload anyways, since it’s the most up to date version of this game anyways. With the lack of cutscenes, animated and in-game, there were some moments that didn’t hit as hard as the animated ones. But in this case, there are plenty of videos out there with these cutscenes, so you aren’t missing much after a quick Google search.

Anyways, side tangent aside, let’s discuss the gameplay. Since I played this game after playing Persona 5 Royal, I can tell the age of this game for sure. Compared to P5R, P3P has a much simpler gameplay loop. Now, you still have your basic attacks, your skills, and items, but some of the more advanced things found in the later titles are obviously not present. Personally, I enjoyed this style of RPG, and having some features not present didn’t bother me too much. The core of Persona was still there, and it was enjoyable to the end.

Now, this is the part that a lot of people didn’t like about Persona 3, and that was Tartarus, the main, and arguably the only dungeon of this game. For those familiar with Persona 5, Tartarus is just a very big Mementos, but instead of descending into a subway station, you’re climbing a tower instead. For most people, Tartarus felt a bit of a chore. And, to some degree, I do agree.

I think the biggest turn off for this style of dungeon was the number of floors you climb. Now, this game breaks up the tower into sections based on plot progress. And as such, the number of floors you can climb per plot point is limited. Now this aspect, I didn’t mind. But what I did mind was how inconsistent each section would be. Without getting too deep into spoilers, there are over 200 floors in this tower, so it does feel like a slog from time to time. If there was a weakest aspect of this game, I think this would be it.

Now, I’m going to go over more about the plot and characters, and this section here will probably have the most spoilers in it, so be mindful. With that in mind, let’s start with the characters.

The main cast in Persona 3 Portable was solid. I did like some characters more than others, and I think some characters got more time in the spotlight than others. I think what’s hard about describing all the character developments for this cast of characters is that some of their development is shown better in other mediums, like for example, the movies for Persona 3.

When it comes to the cast a whole, as the Special Extracurricular Execution Squad, or S.E.E.S., I feel like their relationship is more of a team than really close friends. And if you don’t believe me, then I would invite you to play Persona 4, which I believe has the best friend group in the franchise so far. Now, besides their dynamic as a group, I do think the characters are all solid. They all have great moments, especially Junpei. I think besides the protagonist, my favourite character is Junpei.

Now, I’m not going to go in depth for all the characters. There are already great videos for in depth analysis, but I will highlight my favourite Junpei moments, since he had one of the better character arcs. Now, Junpei is your best friend archetype. The one you meet at the beginning of the game. Think Yosuke from Persona 4 or Ryuji from Persona 5.

At the beginning of the game, he was quite the basic character. Confident to the point of arrogance, loud, but with a heart of gold. Someone you know who would back you up. But at the start of the game, it’s very clear that Junpei is jealous of Makoto, and is mainly working with S.E.E.S. for selfish reasons. It’s only after Chidori that everything changes. After that event, it’s clear that Junpei grows up. He puts his ego aside, and he finds himself a reason to fight.

Besides Junpei, another great example of character development comes from Aigis. Being a robot, most of her earlier interactions with the group are quite robotic, as you would expect. But slowly, through the game, you see her develop human emotions through her reactions and speech patterns. It’s also a slow change, which I appreciate. I especially liked the last scene she shares with Makoto, as it solidifies her development into a more human character.

Now, I don’t want to get into too many details of the other members, but Yukari, Mitsuru, Akihiko, Ken, Fuuka, and Koromaru all have their moments too. It’s too much to write for this review right now, but I enjoyed learning about their backstories, and they all fit together in their little group.

Before I get into the plot, I think I want to discuss the music first. If you know the Persona franchise, then having a great OST is something that all the Persona games share. Persona 3 Portable is no different. This game has a very memorable battle theme, and probably my favourite final boss music I’ve ever heard. Battle Hymn of the Soul is a wonderful song to hear when you fight the final boss.

Not only is it an epic track, but its main melody is pulled from Aria of the Soul, which is the song used in the Velvet Room, and if you’re like me, you’ve spent countless hours in this room making the perfect persona. If you haven’t listened to it, I highly recommend it.

Along with the final boss theme, the closing theme, Memories of You is also great, especially after seeing the English translations and after experiencing the end of the game. There are plenty of other tracks, but there’s too many to list.

Maybe I’ll write another article on my favourite Persona songs in the future. Either way, give the OST a listen. It is on par with both Persona 4 and Persona 5. Arguably, I think it’s my favrouite one. Especially after the additions from Reload. But this is all for another time.

The final thing I want to cover about this game is the story. Where Persona 4 has the best characters, Persona 5 has the best gameplay, I think Persona 3 has the best story. The whole story revolves around the saying memento mori, memento vivere. Translated to English, that reads remember to die, remember to live. I think what’s great about the plot of Persona 3 Portable is that everything that happens comes back to this quote.

The feeling of death is quite present in the game. From characters losing their parents, to other characters dying, it reminds the player that life is short, but to also live life to the fullest. Without getting into too many spoilers, I think the ending of this game is one of the most touching ones.

A core staple in the Persona games are social links and building bonds between the player and other characters in the world. By the end of the game, you can really see how you, as the player, impacted the lives of the characters around, which I find absolutely beautiful.

There is plenty more I want to say about this game, but this review is getting quite long. I think I’ll write some more articles on this topic just like the ones I did for Persona 5. So, if you’re interested, be sure to check those out.

For those who want a tl;dr: Persona 3 Portable is a masterpiece. It has a beautiful OST, a strong cast of characters, and a touching plot. Now, it does feature some long dungeon crawling, and moves like a visual novel, but if you don’t mind reading, then this game will be worth a play, 100%.