Sit down and let me tell you about this rare jewel of a game.
Despite my score, I believe no game is perfect. I gave this game a 10/10, not because I see it as a flawless, perfect game, but because its one of the best of the best in terms of JRPGs. Its a tear jerking, laugh inducing, eye rolling, eye twitching, mind boggling, DAHOMGWTF screaming game from beginning to end. To me, the best kind of games are games like this: the type that stir up strong emotion in the player, and no I don't just mean anger and frustration just because you are losing the game.
Like I said, this game isn't perfect. Its got flaws. In this port, all of the graphics and anime cutscenes were removed and replaced with a visual novel type interface. Everything is represented by flat graphics on screen. Tartarus still retains its 3D appearance of course, but everything else looks like something straight out of a visual novel. You'll still laugh and cry over the games emotional and hilarious scenes, but somehow it just doesn't hold a candle to seeing a particularly important scene as an anime cutscene or in 3D. Though this makes sense from Atlus standpoint, seeing as they would have had to redo A LOT to accommodate the female protagonist. Things are much easier for them this way.
Some things in the story are also mentioned but then never touched on again. I can't say what exactly, to avoid spoilers, but some parts of the story are baffling and might make you go....what happened to...?
I also think that, at times, the battle AI is a complete idiot. Unlike the original game, you have the option to control all your party members directly, I highly suggest you do that. The AI isn't so stupid and broken that it would mess you up in battle multiple times, but it still chooses to do some truly baffling moves (Marin Karin anyone?)
Now we got that out of the way, lets move on to the good. In other words: Everything else.
The story and characters has to be Persona 3's strongest point. Both are incredibly well written and enjoyable. This is one of the VERY few games where I found myself loving each and every one of the main characters (yes, even Yukari and Fuuka). They are each so well written that you can't help but care about them and love them. Through social links you will get to know these interesting characters even more, and this port gives you the option of more social links in the female protagonist route, expanding on characters like Ken, Akihiko, Shinjiro, and Junpei. Gotta love the badass with a heart of gold's (Shinjiro's) social link, you get to know a character that you probably felt you hardly got to know in the original.
The story is executed nicely and is easy to follow. Right in the beginning, you are quickly thrown into the action. Its mysterious and intriguing, making you wonder and guess until the very end. But the story doesn't trip and fall on its face, or try to hard to seem mysterious to the point where its confusing or frustrating. It gets better and better as you go on. On the surface, the story is amazing, but its got a number of underlying themes and messages you probably wont catch the first time around. The ending to the game is one of the best and saddest endings I've seen. I may be a crybaby, but that ending will make just about anyone shed a few tears. The final boss battle itself is also a fight that would induce a great deal of emotion, and no I don't just mean frustration and anger. The story is one that is emotional and even thought provoking at times.
The gameplay is pretty fun. You have up to 4 people duking it out against shadows, which includes your leader and 3 others of your choice. Battles are turn based, and all enemies are displayed on the map, so no random encounters (THANK GOD!!). You can either ambush the enemy or be ambushed if you aren't careful. You can also fuse and obtain personas to use in battle. There are a wide variety of personas, and you'll have so much fun trying to customize your personas to make that flawless and unbeatable combination of personas. GOTTA FUSE 'EM ALL!! This game also has a ton of sidequests and you'll want to replay it a few times to experience both the male and female POV, max out all social links, beat all the secret bosses, and do all the quests.
Persona 3 is a rare game that you only play once in a while. Someone once said to me "The saddest part of this game is that you can only play it for the first time once." It's true, there is nothing quite like playing this game for the first time, wondering whats going to happen next. Its clear that Atlus didn't just "make a video game." They put heart and soul into this game, everything from the characters, to the gameplay, to the story, to the music are top notch, and handled with such care.
I'm not going to tell you that Persona 3 craps on all your favorite games, and I'm not going to claim its the best RPG in existence. I don't want to make it bigger than it actually is. And this game isn't for everyone. But I consider it a game I'll still be loving in twenty years, one that made me cry, one that me think, and one that I enjoyed every second of. Video games don't normally touch me this much, I mean they ARE just games after all. But Persona 3 is special. I'll remember it forever and I highly recommend it to anyone who's in for a wild, interesting and emotional ride.