2007.11.25 
Persona 3
Playstation 2 - USA
(The following was originally a journal entry)
Quick Thoughts: By far the shittiest of all Persona games story wise. Gameplay wise it'd tie it with the first Persona.
Story
The main story is the most unmoving Persona story ever. Honestly I can't even tell you what the fuck it was about. Apathy Syndrome? Tartarus? Strega? Blah.
But the main thing that shines is the characterization as far as S.links go. Like OMG you get to make and hang out with friends and have potential love interests. For my playthrough my girlfriend was Chihiro. Nearing the end of the game - I don't know what the hell was going on. I guess since the end of the world was coming three girls were opening their legs for me all at once. (Mitsuru, Yukari, & Yuko) But my main character wasn't like that. He's a one woman man.
And you don't only just get to talk to high school kids. There's some other touching S.links you get to do. One of my favorites is a drunk monk you meet at a rave. ...You actually learn about his life and his family. How his family left him because he was at his job 24/7. It wasn't his fault, he thought the job would be easy. ...But then he realized people died everyday and he'd have to do ceremonies everyday. In the end the MC (Main character) gives him the strength and courage to look for his family and start over.
Then there's this 5th grade kid (I think) named Maiko whose parents are going through a divorce. She thinks it's her fault but to make a long story short you, the main character, help her family sort out her problems. Her parents still get divorce at the end, but at least Maiko knows it wasn't because of her.
Lastly there's this dying guy (in his teens I presume) who's writing a story - most likely loosely based on him. And son of a bitch the story is depressing. It's about a pink alligator who doesn't fit in with his fellow alligators because he's pink. And he has trouble finding food because he stands out and can't catch any. He then befriends a bird who can't fly. The two become the best of friends. The bird who can't fly would often get on the alligator's back and pretend that it could fly. But one day while the alligator was asleep and hungry - he accidentally ate the bird. He drank all the water he could so he could vomit his friend out. He did, but realized it was too late. The bird was already dead. He then cried a river of tears that he drowned in. Though his death went unnoticed he created a beautiful lake where all the other animals would go to relax. ;__;
Back to the main story blah blah blah end of world coming at January and the music gets all nice and depressing. ...I just couldn't get into the main story. It didn't make me go like "HOLY SHIT" like P2:EP did when it got depressing near the end.
Characters
Main Character: I liked his original design more...didn't have that fucking emo wannabe Veronica Lake peek-a-boo bang. But I can see why they changed it, his emo look looks more "mysterious." =X Since he's pretty much a silent character (he's supposed to be "YOU") he of course didn't get on my nerves.
Yukari: Typical popular girl. A far better looking Mary. She's actually likable though.
Junpei: YES SHAME ON ME. HE'S MY FAVORITE. HE IS "STUPEI." But that doesn't mean that I picked him, I left him at level 21. Him and Chidori have got to be one of my favorite couples of all time.
Akihiko: While he did have a story and all - he seemed kind of bland compared to everyone else. But it's probably just part of his character. A nice looking clean-cut guy who's otherwise...boring. I did like how he competed in the "Operation Babe Search" not because he was looking for women, but more for his pride.
Mitsuru: The only reason why I decided to give this game a chance. Character wise she's great as an authoritative figure. (The Yuki of this Persona?) ...That is until you date her when you realize how psycho she "actually" is. O_O WTF!
Fuuka: She is fucking boring. Damn, I sure as hell didn't care when my relationship with her went reverse. Typical quiet girl who wants a loud bad boy. Piss off bitch, you're not cute like Chihiro!!11
Ken: Surprisingly I liked him. Looking at his character design I expected to hate this little shit because kids are always annoying. But he ended up being too damn mature for his age which is surprising. He remained in my party simply for his Guan Yu spear.
Koromaru: AWW! CUTE DOGGIE WITH ANGEL WINGS! I liked his story, but it seemed after it was done and over with - he didn't really have much to add to the story anymore.
Shinjiro: He would've been better if he stayed in your party longer. He was only there for a month. Overall he did have a good story. I found his death unmoving though since he wasn't there long.
Aigis: Fucking blonde Rei Ayanami. But she did actually turn out to be likable. She joins the party as a robot and after she malfunctions near the end of the game comes back...somewhat as a human. Much like DDS she gains a personality and mind of her own by the end of the game.
Gameplay
YOU ONLY CONTROL THE MAIN CHARACTER. Everyone else is controlled by the computer or whatever. The more your bonds grow with your party you'll be able to direct what they do. Sounds shitty but it's actually not bad at all.
I'd probably say I like Persona's gameplay better...it's been missing the GUNS forever (God I can't remember who had a machine gun in Persona - was it Nate? Whoever it was it was sexual) and I'm not talking about the guns the kids shoot themselves with to summon their personas. Then again P3's gameplay is much more simplified. I'm glad that it doesn't take up a turn to switch Persona's, I like that Nocturne press/turn battle system (where you get extra turns if you hit the enemy's weakness), you don't have to form your party so you don't have to worry about dreaded back attacks, and so on.
They did take talking to the demons to get the cards to make new Personas. Sucks, but hey I got over it.
Music
Fucking terrible compared to the other Persona games. On it's own it's not THAT bad...but c'mon this was the same guy that composed DDS's and the original Persona's soundtrack. WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?
Compared to other PS2 RPGs it's completely unique. Since Persona games take place in a present day world the music is upbeat and modern. Much of the songs are either dance tracks or rock. ...The battle theme has RAP in it. Not that bad. Much better than hearing that Xenogears/Xenosaga battle theme on repeat. I don't know why it's stuck in my head right now. MAKE IT STOP.
Overall
Would i recommend this? Well if you're tired of all the other generic RPGs out there I would. But it gets quite repetitive at times. Living school life, then going up Tartarus DAY IN AND DAY OUT. By December I was like "fuck this" but I had to finish the game.
If you played the past Persona games you'll be disappointed like shit. There's only one town you get to go to and you don't even get to go into the majority of the stores. Everything is closed off. And the school is fucking small. Not to mention you also don't get to go free roaming in the schools either. The shitty thing is, I didn't know that P3:FES actually included the main game WITH ADDITIONAL CONTENT...I thought it was just in FES. If I would've known that I would've just played fucking FES instead because I sure as hell don't see myself playing through this game again.
Oh I guess another thing I should mention - since this game takes place in Japan they kept all the "kun's san's senpai's" in and whatnot in English. Though the oddest thing is that sometimes they don't even translate the words. Nearing the end one of the teacher's leave and you have the choice to say "Sensei Ikanai" (Don't leave Sensei!) "Mou Aenai no" (We won't see each other again?) or "Arigato Gozaimashita" (Thank you for everything!) and it's like...how the hell is the average player supposed to know what that means? And other times Ms. Torumi's class is completely lost in translation. Like I recall them saying "nice" is the opposite of "hard." But really they mean "easy" since the word for nice and easy is the same.