If you are an RPG fan and own a PS2, then Persona 3 is a must play game.
The story of Persona 3 is without a doubt, one of the best stories you'll always remember. The game is divided into two halves, the first is the normal school life, you meet friends, raise your status (charm, academics and courage). And you need to keep them leveled in order to establish more Social Links (relations). Moreover, you can go out with women which I'm sure most guys would like that part. The other half is called the Dark Hour, it occurs at midnight where everything turns dark and scary, and that's when the shadows appear (your enemies), and your job is to defeat them. Only a few people can kill them, they're called "Persona – Users" (Persona will be explained in the gameplay section). At this time of hour your school turns into a huge and terrifying tower called the Tartarus, it's where you level your party members until the end of the game.
Gameplay: 8/10
I find the gameplay very interesting, regardless of the fact that you don't have full control over your party which I don't think many people would like that. You only have control over the main character. And about your other party members, you can only choose their tactics, like full assault, heal/support, knock down… and more you can learn throughout the game. This could make the game harder though, trying to knock down your enemies while your party members are only focusing on one enemy, so you might want to do as much as you can in your turn. If you discover your enemies' weaknesses they will fall and if all of them are knocked down you can perform an All – Out – Attack which is quite useful. However, when your main character is knocked down, even if the enemies are also knocked down you cannot perform an All – Out – Attack. There is also one point I didn't mention, when your character is dead that's a game over, you'll find that really frustrating sometimes.
The weird thing about the gameplay is how you call your Persona; a Persona is something that you call from within you and fights by your side. You have a gun – shaped instrument; you shoot yourself and call your Persona. You can fuse Personas in the Velvet Room; if you have played the previous Personas I'm sure you're familiar with the Velvet Room. Also you can get Personas at the end of battles, but not every battle. Most of the battles you get a set of cards at the end and they shuffle them, then you choose one card; it could be a Persona, heal HP, bonus EXP and more things you can get.
Graphics: 9/10
The graphics is very nice and well drawn; I personally love the movies, even though there aren't many movies in the game. Sometimes you'll have some frame rate issues, but the graphics is still great for a PS2 game. The animation is good too, the late battles are great to watch.
Sound: 10/10
First I'll talk about the music, the soundtrack is outstanding; the great mix of Japanese pop tunes and the weird ghostly chords feels just right in the places they've used, but you might find it repetitive later on.
The voice acting is top notch; in fact it's one of the best voices over dialogue I've heard in a video game. Each character has a personality of his/her own that you will enjoy watching the cut-scenes as you see them speak, it feels more like a movie. I was really amazed at how the characters acted like that, but one thing I didn't like is that the main character doesn't speak through the whole game, but maybe some people like a silent a Person. For me I would really like it if he speaks, and what makes it more frustrating is that he speaks in the battle when calling a Persona. Despite all that, the voice acting is outstanding.
Value: 9/10
Well, there's lots of replayability, including the huge number of Persona you can get, and the Social Links you can establish since it's pretty hard to max all of your Social Links from the first time you play the game, so you'll want to play it again if you want to max them all.
Persona 3 is a game that will take you into a dark world and an excellent, sinister story that draws you in from the very beginning and you are not likely to forget it.
Overall score according to the old review system: 9.2