Persona 3: FES Review (PS2)

Though some two decades into its evolutionary cycle, the traditional role-playing genre has arguably experienced no cataclysmic shifts of redefinition: no meteors of change have made fully extinct the dinosaurs of random encounters, no modifying ice ages have eternally encased the Paleolithic trope of hit points within their glaciers. Fundamentally, what was created in Japan as Dragon Quest in 1986 remains the foundation of most subsequent RPG experiences, Eastern or Western. While Persona 3: FES (an awkward abbreviation of “festival,” not “festoon,” as popularly misconceived) represents by no means a global upheaval in what is elementally understood as the role-playing game, it does herald, in crude cave-painting hieroglyphs, the dawn of style in this often-utilitarian genre, especially for the PS2.

For a lack of a more evident thematic touchstone in spite of my 40-plus hours with FES, the game’s aggregate message seems to be one of evolution. Just as Persona 3’s presentational finesse – conveyed by way of cel-shaded, anime-esque visuals, polychromatic menus which highlight artwork as much as numerical data, and a soundtrack which melds rap, hip-hop, techno, and ambient foundations to deliver a foreward-thinking yet gameworld-appropriate score the closest kin of which is, bizarrely, Street Fighter 3: Third Strike – evokes progression, so, too, does its plot. The player controls a nameless, silent, history-devoid, high-school attending hero in possession of exceptional spiritual talents (in the game’s most egregious adherence to convention) who, over the course of a year, must, along with his similarly-gifted dorm-mates, wage war with a demonic legion. At the stroke of midnight, each night, the demons (or “shadows,” as they’re known as in-game) transubstantiate all denizens of modern Tokyo, save a few, into coffins(!?) and conduct their diabolic business during the green-hued clutch of non-time known as the “Dark Hour.” Naturally, the game’s heroes are unaffected by this shadowy magic, utilizing instead gun-shaped instruments known as “evokers” to draw out, by shooting themselves in the head, their inherent mystical beings, the eponymous “persona,” and combat the creeping wickedness, all the while venturing to excel in their studies and maintain the social lives of an adolescents not versed in mass-exorcism. And as the main character forms status-affecting bonds with his dorm-mates as well as other students he befriends during this year, so, too, will he level up, create unique persona by way of fusion (as chaperoned by the phallus-nosed occultist named Igor) in the subspace Velvet Room, complete various quests for the succubus demon Elizabeth whose ignorance of modern culture grants her a relatable innocence, and traverse the labyrinth-tower of Tartarus in an effort to locate and obliterate the nexus of the shadows’ devilry. More mundane tasks, such as purchasing items and equipment from a home-shopping channel, playing arcade games, and partaking in a variety of extracurricular activities, like art club and swimming, also contribute to the nameless hero’s development during this alternatingly odd-yet-routine year in the Tokyo of today.

In returning to the aforementioned theme of evolution, this dichotomy of ancient vs. contemporary, as evinced in both Persona 3: FES’s story and gameplay, converges to form an experience familiar yet ultimately progressive. Such contrasts of the old and new clash continuously: the plot is rote while its modern setting is novel (for an RPG, which ritualistically occur in either the fabled past or the hyper-future); the game’s reliance upon dungeon-crawling and level-grinding is customary while its equally-weighted prevalence of social interactions and even dating scenarios lend originality; and even this FES edition of Persona 3 is fixed to dichotomy, as the original game is presented here as “The Journey,” while an entirely new episode, “The Answer,” which is a continuation of the standard game and unique to this disc, is selectable from the title screen. (And perhaps the greatest yet most negligible example of this principle is the fact that the innovative Persona 3: FES is available only on the PS2, an indolent – some would argue dying, or dead – system.) Curiously, given the freedom of choice promoted by Persona 3 and the rampancy of digital Darwinism to be found within, the near-fascist restrictions it imposes are intensified. Gameplay unfolds on a day-to-day basis, and these days are segmented into periods, such as early morning, lunchtime, and late night. During each period only, typically, one set action may take place – the answering of a question in a class, or a social date to the ramen stand with a friend. Consequently, it is often impossible to indulge in social time and purchase items necessary for upcoming combat in the same day, and soon the unending responsibility of pleasing all social contacts yields stress rather than pleasure (also see Grand Theft Auto IV). Combat is possible only at night, and only if all party members, none of which the player controls except the nameless hero, are well-rested. Scripted events based on the time of the year may make combat at certain times unselectable, and in combat party members whose actions may only be programmed generally will sometimes cast spells which have been proven to be ineffective against a particular monster. Indeed, an illogical and oft-infuriating amount of rigidity somewhat hampers the otherwise avant-gardeness of Persona 3, and, in a way, its once-exciting amalgamated gameplay diminishes somewhat into an RPG regimen of a distinct sort.

Exonerations must be allowed, however, considering the game’s ambitions, its visual and aural fluidity, its microcosmic encapsulation of life today, its bravery in forcing the player to consider what relevancy old gods (as represented by the personae, here) assume in present day existence. What must be remembered, amidst all of this, is that even evolution is beholden to cyclicality.

- Persona 3: FES (PS2)

- ESRB: M

- Publiser: Atlus

- Official Website: http://www.atlus.com/persona3/

- Rating: 92/Buy It!