While P3 has an immersive storyline, its gameplay can verge on tedium.
User Rating: 7.5 | Persona 3: Fes PS2
Okay, before I get slashed by fanboys let me elucidate on my position. You really do get to love ALL of the characters on your team (S.E.E.S.) and the friends you make at school (Kenji!), but for me the biggest problem was that the gameplay and leveling up in Tartarus got pretty boring. The game took me 130 hours to beat because you have to be really strong to overcome each boss at every 8-10 levels in Tartarus. This is a real grinder here, and don't get me wrong, the gameplay is fun, but after doing the same thing over and over it just feels like routine. The battles only got exciting when you fought a boss and got a real challenge. Also, you have to wait a month before you get to fight the major Shadows that are trying to bring about the end of the world. What I did love about the game was how you got to do whatever you wanted to do in your free time. You can go to the arcade, grind in Tartarus, study, go shopping, hang out with your friends...etc. Basically it's a simulation/RPG hybrid which is a pretty bad-ass combination. Every day is a fresh, new day with many options depending on whether you want to boost up your social link (which really helps when fusing personas of that class), level up because you know you're going to need it for most of the bosses, or go to a cafe/restaurant/arcade to increase your personal stats (charm, Intelligence, etc). A warning to anyone who plans on beating this difficult RPG: Visit Tartarus often because its role is pivotal in beating the game! And level up REALLY HIGH because you will need it for the final boss. The game is extremely long, but by the end of it you will have grown so attached to the characters that it is all worth it. For newcomers to the the Shin Megami universe, play P2 or Nocturne first (the best in the series IMO). SMT forever~!
