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 The battle system, too, has been rethought from the ground up to be faster paced, while still forcing players to make smart decisions. While everything is still turn based, you only have complete control over the main characters actions. Other party members are controlled only by AI behaviors which can be set to various modes. Learning to use the right moves to exploit the unique weaknesses of each enemy will reward you with extra turns, allowing you to chain attacks and keep your opponents on the ropes.
Of course, you're susceptible to certain weaknesses too, and if you allow your foe to get the upper hand, you may not have a chance to recover. This can be a bit frustrating, and will result in times when you're forced to sit and watch for several turns without a chance to fight back, but it sure beats the gruelingly slow-paced random encounters of the previous games. The brisk battle pace, simple floor layouts, and collision-based encounters lend a bit of a Grandia II feel to the dungeon crawling, which is certainly the best a MegaTen game has done in that department.
Day and night are brought together by the Social Link system. Bonds formed between characters during the day will allow you to create stronger personas at night. Each relationship represents a different tarot "arcana." As in the first Persona game, you will create new personas – the avatars used to cast spells in battle – by fusing them together in different combinations. The resulting persona will then be infused with the Social Link power for that arcana.
This also gives you a chance to get to know the cast, and it really is uncharacteristically character-driven for the series. You really get to know the people around you and, by the end of the game, grow attached. The cast is quite large, but the lengthy quest has plenty of time to devote to each and every one of them. While the story might not deliver the best twists the series has seen, it's certainly the most emotionally resonant, thanks in no small part to the time spent developing the characters.
After last year's barebones Devil Summoner, it's quite a relief to find Persona 3 positively dripping with production value. Some absolutely stunning character art and plenty of anime scenes show that Atlus was willing to spend the money to make this a top-tier title. Where Devil Summoner had no voices at all, this one treats us to hours of really top-notch acting. The localization is painstakingly faithful to the source material, almost to a fault. Some cultural references will fly over the heads of all but the most ardent Japanophiles. Still, it shows just how far we've come since the first Persona hit shelves, back in the bad old days of censorship and over-Americanization.
If anything is wrong with this title, it may simply be too much of a good thing. I'm considered a speed demon when it comes to RPGs, rarely wasting unneeded time leveling or doing side-quests, and I can say without hesitation that this is the longest RPG I have ever played, clocking in at over 80 hours. Asking any game to last that long without succumbing to repetition or just player fatigue may be an impossible task. The fact that it has held my attention to the very end should speak volumes to just how exceptional it is.
Persona 3 is an affirmation that creativity is alive and well in Japanese RPGs. It takes a lot of risks, never falling back on convention as an excuse for weak design. For that reason, it may upset some traditionalists, and hardcore fans, but make no mistake; this game is immanently playable. Check your expectations at the door and you might just find one of the best RPGs of the last few years.
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