I Climb The Stairway To Maturity

It has been a long time coming, but Persona 3 and 4 are finally arriving on modern consoles. Both games have been limited in release for years with Sony’s portable machines housing them forever before finally making their way onto PC. What is even more surprising is that they are also both coming to Microsoft’s Xbox consoles which hasn’t happened in well, forever. Last year we got Persona 5 finally on Xbox and now Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden are joining the party and all of them are available via Game Pass. This finally gives Xbox players a chance to experience this amazing series.

We kick off with Persona 3 Portable which has a little controversy behind it. There are multiple versions of this game and depending on who you ask, each one is the definitive one. Portable brings with it the ability to play as a female protagonist, which is a fantastic inclusion. It does however omit the anime cutscenes found in FES. The movement in Portable is also limited with FES working more like recent entries where players can explore the world more freely. As I said there are definitely differences between the two and it is odd that Atlus didn’t include both versions and let players decide which to enjoy.

MSRP: $39.99 (bundle) $19.99 (individually)
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $39.99

Persona 3 comes in many iterations but it is the game that started the now familiar game style of the series. The mix of dungeon crawling and relationship manager kicked off with this entry and has become the staple ever since. If you are coming in after playing the later games though it is immediately apparent this was the first outing. Without animated character actions and such it feels less impactful story wise. This is a given considering when the game was released and when it was, it was truly unique. It is cool to be able to revisit the game that sort of kicked off the Persona we know today, even if it is a little rough around the edges.

The story of Persona 3 is an interesting one. Players take on the role of an exchange student who also happens to be a member of S.E.E.S. tasked with investigating the Dark Hour. This of course in addition to dealing with everyday social issues and school. The Dark Hour is a hidden period of time that most people cannot see, but you and your team can. When it happens a tower known as Tartarus replaces your school and becomes the area you and your Persona explore to uncover the mysteries behind it. It sounds wild, and it truly is, but the game does a commendable job of explaining things and keeping it interesting.

The game play of Persona 3 is a lot of grinding of randomized dungeons in turn-based combat. This is the foundation of the series and it shows. While the combat is fun it can become a little monotonous after a handful of hours. The combat shows early signs of puzzle solving where learning weak points of enemies is paramount, but it never evolves much past that. The day to day stuff becomes the true test though. The game works on the calendar system where every day allows players to do various things and the challenge arises from picking which ones to accomplish. While it sounds overbearing there is plenty of time to achieve it all so I was never worried about not having enough time to do what I wanted.

Persona 3 Portable still holds up even if it is a bit rough when compared to later entries and is a great addition to this package.

Moving on to Persona 4 and what hasn’t been said about this game? This was the game that got me into the series and remains my favorite of all the Persona games. It perfected the dungeon crawling/social simulation formula and introduced the absolute best characters in the game. This version included is Golden, which tweaked so much about the original PS2 version of the game while updating the visuals and creating what I consider the definitive Persona game to date.

Persona 4 has players taking on the role of a student currently living with his uncle and cousin while his parents are working abroad. There is tension around his new school as a serial killer is on the loose. This game unlocks the hidden world by crawling through a TV screen, in traditional Persona fashion there is always a hook. What sets this game apart from others though are its cast of characters. The lighthearted tone and day-to-day life makes the dark parts that much more impactful.

The game play retains the same idea of social management by day and dungeon crawling at night. The combat is much more involved than Persona 3 and this just feels like that moment when the series formula clicked. I loved everything about the balance of interacting with my friends and running dungeons at night. Persona 4 Golden is to this day the best in the series and a perfect addition to this collection.

One of the biggest differences for the Xbox versions of both of these games is that Atlus created a native Series X/S version of both games. This means for some reason if you want your Persona running at 120fps, it can be done on these consoles. It is a minor thing and very niche, but cool nonetheless. As far as visuals go both games are sharp and run beautifully while still retaining a lot of the UI elements of the portable iterations. Seeing a PSP save menu on an Xbox will never not be weird to me.

There is so much more I could say about both of these games. I got into the series with Golden and have been wanting it to expand to more consoles ever since. It is great to finally see it everywhere and I hope the series continues that trend going forward. It is by far one of the best RPGs available and should be played by anyone who has ever had a passing interest in the genre. Do not skip this collection, while Persona 3 is a little rough in this day and age it is still an amazing game and Persona 4 Golden is well, the gold standard. I cannot recommend this package enough.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.

Good
  • Two classics in one package
  • Tons to play here
  • Stories are still fantastic
  • Finally on more consoles
Bad
  • Persona 3 Portable hasn't aged as gracefully
9
Excellent
Written by
Ken is the Editor-in-Chief of this hole in the wall and he loves to troll for the fun of it. He also enjoys long walks through Arkham Asylum and the cool air of Shadow Moses Island. His turn-ons include Mortal Kombat, Metal Gear Solid and StarCraft.