A game I've been playing.

Persona 3 Portable on The Nintendo Switch.

Promotional artwork for the video game “Persona 3 Portable” featuring stylized illustrations of the main characters against a blue and white background with the game’s logo prominently displayed.

Shortly after transferring to Gekkoukan High School, the protagonist encounters the “Dark Hour.” Unfamiliar stillness swallows the city, people turn into eerie coffins, and otherworldly monsters called Shadows swarm. When they are attacked by one of these Shadows and all hope seems lost, the power of the heart, their Persona is awakened.

Back in the day, around ‘07-‘08 I remember playing, well, more like trying to play, this game on the PlayStation 2. At the time it was just Persona 3, and part of the _Megami Tensei franchise. I remember I found it boring and blah! I did try, though. I really wanted to get into the Shin Megami Tensei games but they never clicked with me at the time.

Fast forward to 2023, I am revisiting the same-ish game. This is Persona 3 Portable, however, that was released for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) back in 2009. And this one is the Nintendo Switch port of the PSP version. One notable feature of “Persona 3 Portable” is the option to choose the gender of the protagonist, providing a different perspective on the story.

The game has a very engaging narrative, character development, and some social simulation elements (yes, Marley made fun of me for playing a game about “school”) along with dungeon-crawling gameplay. Like many of the games in this franchise, you’ll be navigating daily life in a calendar-based system, managing relationships, while also venturing into Tartarus, a mysterious tower.

What makes this game so addictive to me is, imagine Pokémon but with demons. As you make your way through the tower, you collect these cards with Personas (the Pokémons). Though they do learn moves as they level up they don’t necessarily evolve but you can fuse personas to create other more powerful ones.

I am currently about 20 hours into the game, and I haven’t gotten bored or sick of it. I am playing on the casual difficulty setting so I’m not about the challenge, as these games tend to be a little challenging.

I’m having a blast!

3D rendered image of an anime-style character with blue hair, wearing a school uniform, holding a gun to their own head in an indoor environment.

A character in a school uniform balancing another character on their head, with both characters from a video game, set against a nighttime background with a greenish sky.

A screenshot from a video game showing a menu interface with options such as SKILL, ITEM, PERSONA, EQUIP, STATUS, S.LINK, and SYSTEM. On the right, there’s an illustrated character in a school uniform with a sword

Three animated characters from Persona 3, showing intense expressions with exclamation marks in the background, symbolizing surprise or shock.

The funny thing is, Persona 3 Reload is coming out on February 2024 which is a modern remake. So, I can either stop now or replay it again in a few months.

Gabz @Gabz