"A different approach to the JRPG genre that is executed extremely well"

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 was released on the PS2 on April 22, 2008 in North America. The Shin Megami Tensei series has not really had much success in North America as most people buy the games through word of mouth. However, with Persona 3, things were different. The game was considered to be excellent and won several awards with many critics saying positive things about the game. The game enjoyed some success and the once small fanbase of the Persona spin-off series had grown much larger. I myself had unfortunately not gotten a copy of the game before it became rare and the prices shot up. Thus, it was a great relief to me that a “director's cut” version of the game known as Persona 3: FES (which stands for festival, probably to celebrate Persona 3's success) included the original Persona 3 (with several added features) and an expansion that continued the story of the original. I bought Persona 3 FES and even after getting hyped up for the game, it still met my expectations and did not disappoint me.

In Persona 3 FES, you play as the main character, a male high school student who is moving into the city. Along the way to your new dorm, a strange occurrence happens right when the clock strikes 12 midnight but nonetheless, you make it to the dorm safely. After a few days of a normal high school life, you quickly get drawn into a situation where you are recruited into a secret organization known as SEES which exterminates strange and dangerous beings known as Shadows using a special power known as “Persona” which allows them to summon strange beings to help them out. The story itself is quite unique and interesting as it takes place in modern Japan instead of the overused “swords and magic” fantasy world. It's also separated into two sections, “The Journey” which is the main story and “The Answer” which is some sort of epilogue, both of which are very satisfying to play thanks to the gripping emotional moments in the later parts of each mode and the great character development of the main protagonists and the minor support characters.

The gameplay of Persona 3 FES is pretty much split into two sections, the normal RPG parts in which you fight normal enemies and bosses and the “dating sim” parts (The Answer is pretty much a pure RPG though). Much like any other JRPG, this game has some sort of big imposing threat that your characters must fight for various reasons. This threat is known as the Shadows which are strange beings who lurk around a tower known as Tartarus. In the Dark Hour (a hidden hour which is only experienced by a few at midnight), a huge tower known as Tartarus appears and it is in Tartarus that your characters must go to in order to fight Shadows using the basic weapons and items but can also use their powerful Personae. A mysterious man (and his assistant) can also fuse various personae that you receive to make more powerful and useful ones and the amount of combinations that can be done reach a grand total of around 170. The battle system is also somewhat different from your usual JRPG because the game really emphasizes on exploiting your enemy's weaknesses. Every time you exploit an enemy's weakness and knock them down, you gain an extra turn and your ultimate goal in battle is accumulate as many turns as possible (you can only knock down an enemy once a turn though). You also cannot control your allies (only set up tactics for them) so it's very important to take advantage of this.

Now, you might be wondering why I mentioned that there would be dating sim parts earlier. That's because while you fight enemies at Tartarus during the Dark Hour, you're still a normal high school student which means you have to attend classes at Gekkoukan High School. While in the school, you can try making as many friends as possible and deepening your relationships with them. You might be wondering why you would want to be friends with everyone in the school but there's a very good reason. It's because by building up your “Social Links”, you can create more powerful Personae which level up faster. If you find a person in the school who you can really relate to and you want to build a relationship with, then the Personae which correspond with that person will end up being very powerful so it's definitely worth it.

While the battle system and the emphasis on the community are both very well done, that doesn't mean that the gameplay is perfect. Some people will find it quite repetitive going through Tartarus. It has many floors and while the environments change and the enemies get harder, the basic concept of the battles remain the same (exploit weakness, kill enemy, explore, find another enemy, rinse and repeat) which can lead to some repetitiveness. Some people might not like having to build up the Social Links, but personally, I thought that some of the character developments in them were really great and by the end of the game, I felt really touched by what many of the characters came to realize about themselves and their changes. Other than those few factors, the gameplay is executed very well.

The graphics of Persona 3 FES are a pretty good as it embraces the technical limitations of the PS2 and puts an emphasis on art over graphical quality. It's a PS2 game so obviously it won't have the most mind blowing graphics but the varied city environments, creepy level designs for Tartarus (complete with faces coming out of the wall and bloodstained floors), and colorful character portraits which are pleasant to look at make a wonderful combination. One of the strange blemishes in the graphics of this game is the anime cutscenes. For some reason, the animations of these cutscenes are really low quality with poor lip-syncing, lack of detail, and for some reason the voices almost become harder to hear. Luckily, in The Answer, the anime is done much better and a good amount of detail is put into the animation but sadly, the same doesn't hold true for The Journey. Regardless, aside from The Journey's anime, the game is very nice to look at.

The sound is where many people have different opinions. The game is full of J-pop, techno and guitar riffs. If you're one of those people who got too used to Final Fantasy's music and can't seem to like anything else in their RPGs, then you'll absolutely hate this game's music. However, I personally liked it as it fit very well with the setting (as this game takes place in modern Japan and the style of the music that is in this game is somewhat popular in Japan today). There are some terrible tracks like the second school theme which features a woman who's screaming “eeeee!” like some sort of banshee but the rest of the tracks are pretty good, especially the battle music.

The voice acting is a mixed bag. On one hand, we have certain characters like Mitsuru and Junpei who do a pretty good job at voice acting. On the other hand, we have voice actors and voice actresses who sound absolutely terrible like Ken Amada and Fuuka. A result like this is expected as all the voice actors also work on anime (most anime also have varied results of voice acting) but it would've been nice if all the voices were good and some of them didn't sound very forced.

The replay value of this game is astounding. The game has three difficulty levels to choose from (Normal being the recommended for first-time players), a New Game + mode, and over a hundred Personae to fuse. People who want to complete every single thing in this game will be spending over a hundred hours on this game as The Journey can already last a good 70+ hours while The Answer can stretch up to 30+ hours. I myself already spent 130 hours on the game and I have yet to unlock every Persona, finish The Answer, and complete the game on Hard Mode. Basically, if you want a really fun game to play over a long vacation, this is it. However, the game does require quite a bit of devotion and time so do not go buying this game unless you have a lot of spare time on your hands.

Simply speaking, Persona 3 FES is a definite success. It offers you over a hundred hours of play time, over a hundred Personae to experiment with, a few unique touches to the usual JRPG gameplay by combining dating sim elements, two lengthy game modes, and some pretty nice music. I'd definitely recommend this game to all JRPG fans looking for something a bit different as this game is definitely a great experience that they can happily devote a lot of their time to.

A WONDERFUL DAY

it all started when my class planned to go to pizza hut,

there was so many plan,but pizza was chosen.

our class teacher started to plan the preparations,so i and my friends like normal followed,

we plan it to be on saturday.

This Is The Day

now lets see,saturday morning wat happen,hmm

yeah,i,kiren went to vimals house ,we waited for him,

our first plan was using the bus to goto vista,

(that is where our teacher ask us to wait)

but the bad luck was that bus have not arived so we plan to walk

our shoe was burning and the worst part is kiren wore a black jacket

(what was he thinking in the heat like that wearing a jacket,huuh mad guy)

so if i wasnt wrong we came there sharp 1.20 

but the teacher was late,

we got realy mad exspecially me,

so we waited under a tree 

then suddenly out of nowhere nazeeha and the geng came,

so we took a bus,we all thought our teacher would come,

but she was a pain in the ass,she was late

so then when we arived there

we were at pizza hut,

so we ate,but it wasnt enough,well i usually eat 5 slices,

but i ate three,(wat bad luck,muahh)

so the after we ate i started to simply disturb.haizz

after that kiren started to show hes dumb magic,it was boringggggg,

and his dreams was becoming a magician,(haha)lol

so we went to jusco and u know,lepak there

our plan was to go for a movie,

but it was all 18 and above,hmm(the way i think of it it was all fuads fault)

GOODTIMES,

then vimal and kiren plan to go to sentul just to see a movie,                                                             haizz how dumb can they go but the it didnt workout,hehe

so vimal plan to go back and kiren like a idiot followed him

so then suddenly somebody call to eric phone,

we didnt know who was it,

but vimal the busybody guy,thought it was huining(huining is known as eric wife)

its just a joke,but i know there is something going between them 

but then low got missing ,and we didnt know it at all

after we found him,we plan to join the arcade and we didnt know it was so nice

so we played and played

after that,everybody sudenly disapeared ,

so i called and asked,they all gone back 

so then i and haris was talking ,just a little chat

i sms to eric to ask how he got back,and it looks like he went back with the chinese girls,

again hes a mad guy,(i still dont get him is he wat the girls husband or their bodyguard,haizz)

i think he likes to follow girl ass

so about 7 pm haris and i went home,

the best part was thanks to haris i could a follow his fathers car

so there i was in haris house ,at night about 9pm

hehe,how hapy i was

so then after a chat 

i went home,

haha

but i made a record though i was the last one who came back home

hehe,lol

but i was tired after that

so it was my best day in this year with my friends,

and i wish thanks to haris for supplying the pictures,check his website at

http://hariskun.blogspot.com/

"Killing civilians can only be so fun."

Ah, Grand Theft Auto.

The king of all video games. At the time I'm writing this, this game has supposedly grossed 500 million in sales, a very impressive feat, to be sure. This was the title that pushed me over the top and convinced me to buy a next generation console. I've been a fan of the GTA series since GTA II on the Playstation. Up until this point, they've never failed to disappoint, but I can't help but feel that GTA IV is nothing special. It was a let down.

I think I know why, too. Because of the repetitiveness. When GTA II first came out on the original Playstation, it was an extremely fun game even though the graphics were horrible and there was no storyline. You basically went around killing people and stealing cars. That was it. I loved it. (Hey, I was probably like 11 at the time, I was easily entertained). Then GTA III came out for the PS2. That was truly an amazing experience. Being able to interact with a good storyline and have 3D graphics made for a very enjoyable experience.

The last game released (GTA V) featured several new features and improvements, which I'm sure just about all readers of this review would be familiar with.That brings us to GTA IV. The most dramatic failure to be noted (which isn't necessarily the fault of Rockstar) is that unlike the massive and pronounced improvement that took place when the GTA series jumped from the PS to the PS2, the jump from the PS2 to the PS3 has, unfortunately, little new content of interest.

The main improvement was the graphics, which in my opinion, wasn't that much of a leap either. (Game-FAQs features screen-shots of both games, so you can check for yourself). But the new and improved Liberty City has little to offer that the GTA fan hasn't already seen. I will elaborate below.

Graphics (8/10):The graphics are much crisper, and there is much more detail.
There is nothing to be upset with per se, but the improvement over the previous title, which was on the PS2, is mediocre at best. The PS3 handles this game well, and there are virtually no lag moments or graphic "pop ins" that I've experienced. Additionally, you no longer have a load time when walking into buildings, which is nice. The cinematic scenes are also well done, graphics wise.

Gameplay (5/10):Beating up random civilians, chasing drug dealers, and getting into shootouts with police - those all sound really fun, right? Indeed they should be fun. And yet I've found myself being bored by the typical GTA themes. If you've never played a GTA game before, my guess is you'll find these things really exciting (it also helps if you're still in high school). But having played almost all GTA titles, the same old stuff just doesn't do it for me. I find myself avoiding these activities rather than looking for them. Aside from violent acts (stealing cars, slaughtering civilians, etc.) you can do things like go to so-called strip clubs (the women don't show nudity) or play side games (which are far more annoying than fun), and that's about it.

You can also browse the internet, which has very little content.There are positive, new features to gameplay though. For one, Nico (the main character) carries with him a cellular phone which he uses to communicate to his friends and cohorts. By gaining friendship with people, you earn their "special abilities" which you can access through your cell phone. These include things like getting free cabs, planting cars with explosives, and losing wanted stars. However, this goes both ways. To get these features you have to take these people out and waste your life by going to a fast food restaurant or playing those mind-blowingly dull mini-games. Another interesting feature is the police computers, which can be accessed from inside a police car. They allow you to search a database of suspects and perform hits on said suspects. The random civilians are also improved, they now have several different voices/character models and behave more normally.In my opinion, these few interesting features do little to save the gameplay from repetition.

Storyline / Main Missions (4/10):The storyline is poor. Without spoiling too much: Nico wants revenge. Along the way you meet all sorts of "interesting" characters; blah, blah, blah, you know the drill. Same old, same old. I found myself skipping the cinematic scenes early on in the game out of sheer boredom. I simply couldn't bring myself to sit through them (they seem unusually long).The main missions help this score.

There are definitely some cool missions in here. Several missions are the redundant, errand-boy style, unfortunately. (Where you shuffle people around town, and maybe kill some guys here or there). By the way, Nico is the whipping boy of Liberty City. You do the dirty work for everyone.

Controls (4/10):The controls have changed from the last GTA. Hand-to-hand combat now offers several features (block, kick, punch, alternate punch) which makes it a little more interesting. As far as shooting goes, you hold down R2 to lock-on, and half hold down L2 to free aim (if you hold it down all the way, you start shooting sporadically, which is annoying). This score really suffers from the driving though. You'll notice this immediately. The driving controls have changed, but that's not really the big deal. The problem is the physics of the driving. You have three options 1) Drive slowly, 2) Go careening/spinning out of control at every turn by using the handbrakes, or 3) Go crashing into random objects/people at every turn. It's extremely annoying, and there's no way around it.

You will suffer every time you have to make a turn. I've heard that Rockstar did this for the sake of realism. If true, I find that to be a very ridiculous idea. Firstly, the driving is not realistic. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, very little in the world of GTA is realistic. Think about it. Why should have to suffer through "realistic" driving?Sound effects (9/10):As long as you're not offending by the F-word (you'll be hearing it quite a lot), the sound effects are good. I typically elect to turn the radio off, but the commercials and songs are decent enough.

I felt the talk radio stations didn't have the same effort put into them as in previous games, unfortunately.Other things to note:I'm not sure if its just because I've matured or what, but the Rockstar humor in this game just doesn't do it for me. I haven't found myself even smiling. As far as humor goes, its the same old, same old. The radio stations try their luck (and aren't as funny as the previous ones), and you'll see remarks here and there as you progress through the game. There are no planes in GTA IV, although there are helicopters.

It should also be noted that Liberty City is a significant shrink in size from the previous GTA. Another issue I had was Rockstar's clear and unbridled mockery of those in the political spectrum who don't hold their own views

I guess Rockstar wanted to make a point to their admittedly 17 year old fan base?Anyways, in summary, I'd recommend this game if you're relatively new to the GTA series, or if you have psychopathic tendencies. Otherwise, I'd recommend that you rent first, and see whether or not you agree with my review. I know I wish I would've rented this one first.

Overall: 5/10

'Excellent,but not perfect

Persona 3 is easily one of my favorite games.

First - the thing everyone wants to know - there is NO need for knowledge of previous games in the series (although there are cameos here and there).

Second, gameplay. It's nothing special. Turn-based battle system. Blah blah blah.

You have one dungeon in the whole game. It only appears between one day and the next – in an hour called the “Dark Hour”. During this hour, shadows (the things you have to beat up) come out, normal people turn to coffins (I'll get to that later), and Tartarus (home of the shadows) appears in the place of your school. When you're in this dungeon, there is no time limit to get out, so don't worry about that. While in Tartarus, your allies can explore the map (which is different each time). They can even get into battles without you.

Bad thing is, you don't control your allies during battles when you're with them. You can tell them to “heal/support” or something, and they'll do so, but they aren't always the smartest about how they do their given task. For example, my Yukari had some rather nice healing techs – one that healed the whole group for a decent amount of HP, and one that completely healed ONE ally. When I needed the whole team to be healed, it was always best to do it myself due to the fact she never would.

The only thing that “spices” things up a little (or makes the game easier, if you have the right ones) is your ability to change your “Persona” (and ONLY you – allies cannot change their Personas), the being which comes out of you. Each one has its own move set (they learn new skills by leveling up, actually, but they can't learn new things forever. You'll be able to tell when they can't learn anything else, as there won't be a skill and level to the right of the actual move set on the Persona's status screen), and Personas also determine your weaknesses/resistances when you have them on, so pay attention to what the enemies do. Speaking of enemies, Mitsuru (or later, Fuuka) will analyze them for you, usually telling you their weaknesses. Once you use an attack that the enemy is weak against, it'll fall over and you can attack again. It's recommended that you knock over as many as possible in order to execute an All Out Attack (basically, a more powerful attack that often kills many enemies when they're all down).

Sounds easy, right? Yes, very. If you thought I was going to say “wrong” in caps right next to that, then you were WRONG.

After a battle, enemies occasionally drop cards. They mix them up after letting you see them, and you have to pick the correct one. Sometimes you get yen, sometimes you get a chance to meet death (I never did, luckily), and sometimes you get new personas (among other things).

To go on about Personas, you can make new ones from very early in the game. Just fuse two (or three…and later, four, five, and six), and BAM, a new one. You shouldn't just randomly fuse everything though, because you may end up with something weaker than you had. If you want an old Persona for fusion purposes, you can buy it back from the compendium (which you get a bit later in the game). You can't just fuse them whenever you want though – you have to get to the proper level first. Once you get to the higher levels, you can have even Satan and Lucifer (not a joke) as a part of your collection.

Each Persona (and enemy, actually) is part of one of the 21 Arcana. In Persona 3, you have the ability to socialize with many types of people – each person representing different Arcana. If you get their Social Links up to level 10 (talk to them and make them happy until you can't make them any happier…), then you can create a new Persona in that Arcana. In addition to that, whenever you create a Persona of that person's Arcana, it'll gain experience and level up (the higher level the Social Link is, the more the experience you receive).

Social Links are actually rather interesting. They provide a bit of character development for some of the main characters (the females, actually), and gives a point to minor characters. The side stories told while you're increasing your Social Link levels range from somewhat interesting to downright creepy/wrong (just play the MMORPG as often as you're able and you'll see what I mean). It must also be noted that you may need a high amount of a stat (academics, charm, or courage) to meet/start talking with some people. For instance, you can't date Mitsuru (yes, you can date ladies in this game, but having more than one at once after you get “serious” will make one jealous) until you've maxed your academics (by eating the “Prodigy Platter”, studying at night, etc.), and gotten the top score on an exam (oh, and you have to wait until November – somewhat near the end of the game).

A necessity? No, but they're certainly very helpful to do.

Graphics are…well, not the best. If that's your thing, then you'll probably notice the jagged lines here and there… They're nice enough to get the “feel” of the game down though. You're in a school environment, and you have a few places you can visit (but you really can't explore the world, like most RPGs do. Your world is quite limited, actually).

Moving on, the voice acting is, for the most part, quite excellent. Many voices fit the characters very well, although I personally hated Fuuka's voice with a passion (and you have to deal with her during every battle after a certain point). Ken was also a bit irritating, but luckily, he was mostly quiet.

It took me a while to get used to the music, but I eventually loved it. I believe it does enhance the environment sometimes. I still believe the music could've been a bit better sometimes.

Plot time. You're an orphan. Your parents died ten years ago. Why? Who cares?

You play as…whatever you name your character. You don't (and won't, except at the very end) have a back-story to speak of (you actually rarely speak at all outside of battle). It can be up to your imagination if you MUST have one. Anyways, you're transferred to a new school, and you begin the game heading to the dorm you're going to stay in. Everything in the game is confusing at first. It even looks like people are committing suicide.

They're not.

When people point the gun-like things at their heads, they're only summoning their Persona. It doesn't hurt them at all. If the image of someone looking like they want to kill him/herself bugs you, then I suggest staying away from the game.

The game begins by you finding out that (after many other events) you have a Persona, and you end up summoning it to save some chick's life (someone who lives in the same dorm as you). She's a member of a group called SEES – a bunch of teenagers (who have Personas) who desire to get rid of the shadows. The members of SEES are the only ones who know what happens during the Dark Hour due to their Personas – everyone else is, as I stated much earlier, a coffin during that time. You end up joining them, and your mission to destroy the shadows begins.

It really isnt all so simple, however, and you'll have to see what I mean for yourself, There were a few predictable things, and some things that were not, as with all good RPGs. By the end, I was quite excited to see how it ended.

So,if i think its a good game afterall.its so much better than any game i played,and i also cant wait for persona 4 ,who knows it may be interesting afterall,nobody knows