First off I know this game has been out for a while, heck I beat it already..but with it's re-release on the PSN, also liek the only good PS2 classic re-release in my opinion. I decided to pick it back up and do a clean run of it.
Persona 3 FES, is an expanded directors cut version of Persona 3.later the series would be remade on the PSP as P3P, right now it is on the PSN for $9.99. If you try to be slick and cool and use a memory card connection thing and tyr to import your data from any Previous PE3 saves, the game won't find them, unless you know of some way that I don't. This version of the game has re-worked social links, and a process of weapon fusion and most importantly it comes with 25-30 extra gaming called "The Answer", whic is a play on words considering the main part is called, "The Journey". I am currently about half way through my replay of the game.
You are introduced to Igor and Elizabeth, who occupy a place called the Velvet Room which only you can access. Igor informs you that you are special and can hold many different Personas, here you can fuse Personas that you capture from defeats shadows, accept requests from Elizabeth and even update a compendium of your Personas their levels and abilities at any time.
You main questing will take place is a huge tower called Tartarus where you need to climb, defeat little shadows and then bigger shadows, you are rewarded for reaching certain points quickly enough. Now the tower is about 250+ floors, on every floor is an one way teleporter that takes you back to the bottom of Tartarus, but very 13 or so is a teleporter that connects you to the main floor and certain other levels allowing you to quickly get back to where you were, kinda... If you need to quickly refill your Hp/Sp or just to save, teleport to the 1st floor and heal without using any items. Also on the first floor is where you can change and equip your part members.
You will gain many different team memebers, most of them fellow student at your high school. Personally the two coolest ones are the dog Koromaru
and the Autonomous Shadow Combat Vehicle aka Aigis
Each team members persona is unique, learns specific skills, has different strengths/weakness..and even will evolve as the main story progresses. So picking a party is very crucial, the other main crucial point is there is a stamina limit while in Tartarus, after so long you will become tired and your abailty to fight will plummet, you will then be unable to go to Tartarus for several days wile you and your team rest up.
Now to the other half of the game, High School. Here you attend class meet people who will later be your Social Links, which are based of 13 main Tarot Arcana. As you foster friendship with these Link, you will gain experience bonuses whenever you fuse Persona, this is the best and easiest way to level them even more so than combat, this was confirmed by Elizabeth in the Velvet room. Now you can only spend time with One link during your one free part of the day which is 'After School" and during the whole day on Sundays, your only day off. In all seriousness, you will need a guide to full maximize your links, Persona 3 FES: Max Social Link FAQ by penguin_knight , this is basically the Social Link Bible that all Persona 3 FES players wear by, it will help you never miss a day. But you have to follow it very strictly, I printed it out and put it in a binder for easier looking at when I am playing. Some of these links can only be started by having high enough Courage, Academitics, and Charm whihc can be raised various ways, seriously the Max Link guide tells you all the easiest ways and in which order to level them up. It is also good to look ahead a few days to make sure you have the right Arcana matching Personas to help you get along better with your links.
Finally with all it greatness this game has 3 major flaws that just drive me insane, that sadly were fixe din later game sin the series and P3P:
1. Your team mates are AI run, and they choose their own skills when their skill tray is full on what to keep and what to not. You can choose "tactical behavior" for eahc character but you can't manully control them. So you learn to quickly not fully rely on them and to level and equip your self accordingly
2. When your buying new weapons and armor, you can't see what your teammates have equipped so need to just remember, so you might want to jot down note son anyone you think i lagging behind, and you can only equip them while in Tartarus.
3. As mentioned before the portals only take you to certain areas, so if you go down to refill or save you need to start your trek between portals all over again..or even worse if you die you lost your progress between the two. This was later fixed in persona 4, where if you left on floor5 of adunegon, you can go right back to floor 5.
If you can work through some medium level headaches and adapt, you will find this games, or at least "The Journey" very enjoyable, you will get you 10$ bucks worth your 50+ hours of gameplay. Next time I will visit "The Answer" which is not as interesting, well I might visit it, it is very spoiler filled. We will see.
