Right finally got round to doing this, took me a long time to pen it first, never written a review before so here goes.
Format PS2 - Out now in the UK (if you can find it)
Story
On each night there is a hidden hour called The Dark Hour at this time, many people without special abilities turn into coffins, and the world mutates and changes into a very dark and sinister place. Those who do not become coffins usually have the ability to summon a spirit know as a Persona, which can be used in combat to use magic and amplify other such skills. The game revolves around a group of high school students and their Persona as they try to find out the mystery of The Dark Hour and Tartarus, a 263 floor tower which serves as the main dungeon of the game.
Gameplay
Persona 3 is split into 2 main gameplay segments.its half random battle rpg half dating-sim. During the day, you build relationships with other students by going to the mall with them, going to the movies, playing MMORPGs with them, and so on. By building these relationships you unlock Social Links which improve the stats of your fused Persona later in the game. Also during the day, you can raise some of your characters stats such as Courage, Academics, and Charisma, which have minor effects on your overall game such as which Social Links you have access to.
The other half of this game occurs on either the days there are a full moon or the days you decide to go to Tartarus. The game randomly generates a floor with monsters and items and all of your other RPG goodies and basically sends you on your way. There is only one dungeon in the game, but it is so huge and to go through you really don't even notice. the game doesn't let you go through the whole dungeon right from the start of the game, it breaks it up into segments and eventually by the end you are expected to be able to clear all 263 floors. you have about 8 in-game months to do so. The battle system is good as well, and very easy to get the hang of. You can either use a normal attack,or you can summon your persona to make an attack by (wait for it) shooting yourself in the head with a gun!! Experimenting with different Persona fusions is also quite deep and should keep you entertained for the entire game.
Graphics
Average by PS2 standards This game doesn't really try to be beautiful, but it isn't ugly either The environments are varied enough to not be bland and the spell effects are pretty cool looking. Not the games strongest point, but it makes up for it in just about every other department.
Sound
A special mention should go to the music in this game, despite this being an RPG belive it or not the soundtrack uses rock, pop, and hip-hop, I am not a paticuler fan of rock and hip-hop music but for some reason it goes very well with the battle music and other areas of the game.
So there u have a it an RPG with a dating sim element to the game,there are very few cons i can think of for this game. The only thing i can think of is that it could have done with a lot more areas to visit (as per every other RPG)and the fact that this game may turn you into an insomniac (i couldnt put it down anyway.) Oh and on another note this game uses anime style cutscenes.This game is also currently at the top of the gamefaqs message boards which is quite something considering this is a last gen game.
Overall score 9/10
EDIT - will find a few pictures to put to this review when i get time to find some decent ones.
Heres some game play videos (and yes that is the ingame music)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Drs140-CIf8&feature=related (Battle)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=mJWo7mowqUE&feature=related (Things you can do while not dungeon crawling)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0pO1nG1JtIM (Trailer to persona 3 directors cut out now in japan and usa...well worth a look)
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