It looks like Persona 3 Portable is getting the full Limited Run treatment. Limited Run Games revealed today a handful of special physical editions for Persona 3 Portable. This includes the Persona 3 Portable S.E.E.S. Collector's Edition. In between the standard and S.E.E.S. Editions is a Grimoire Edition as well. All three editions are available on all three platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Pre-orders for all versions will begin on September 29 at 10 a.m. ET via the Limited Run Games store.

Three Editions with different contents

The Standard Edition is priced at $34.99 and includes a region-free version of Persona 3 Portable.

The Grimoire Edition will set you back $69.99 but includes some cool physical goodies. Alongside the physical editions of the game for your chosen platform, you'll also receive a Persona 3 Portable Slip??cover that goes with a special edition Grimoire Book Box and a SteelBook case that has ??some very beautiful artwork on it.

Finally, there is the Collector's S.E.E.S. Edition with a price point of $199.99. This edition, clearly intended for collectors and diehard Persona 3 fans includes everything from the Grimoire Edition as well as a red and black S.E.E.S. Armband, a cool school patch for Gekkoukan Private High School, 11 Character Trading Cards, the Persona 3 Portable official soundtrack, an All Out Attack 3D Shadow Box, and an individually numbered Certificate of Authenticity. But, that's not everything. The big item in this col??lector's edition is a 1:1 Evoker Replica Shadowbox that even lights up.

We do need to talk about the elephant in the room. With pre-orders going through November 12, these Editions certainly won't ship out before the new Persona 3 Reload releases. While not quite as cool, it even has its own collector's Aigis Edition. Even though we know Persona 3 Reload won't feature content from FES or Portable, it d?oes still seem a bit odd?? for this to be releasing when it is.

Bu??t, I have to admit, this is definitely one of the cooler collector's editions I've seen in a while, and it's nice to see the big item be based around such a staple item from the game. I can't deny I'm tempted to spring for the Grimoire Edition at least.

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Burn my Hype

Without a shadow of a doubt, one of the biggest and most exciting announcements of Summer Game Fest has been Atlus' reveal of Persona 3 Reload, a ful??l re??make of the classic 2006 PS2 RPG and a title for which fans have been pleading for the longest time �Unfortunately, however, the reveal came with some caveats that have left some in the community a tad disappointed.

First and foremost, Persona 3 Reload is a remake of the vanilla Persona 3 release. As such, it will not contain any of the updated edition content �such as story expansion The Answer, or the additional difficulty options. Reload will also not feature the content of Persona 3 Portable, which means no playable female protagonist, lovingly referred to by the community as "FemC". In addition, Persona 3 Reload will also have a re-recorded English voice track, featuring some very notable and talented ?VAs such as Allegra Clark, Aleks Le, Heather Gonzalez, and Zeno Robinson.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIIPXA2A6cM

Producer Ryota Niitsuma and Director Kazuhisa Wada confirmed the above in comments to IGN.

"First I'd like to mention that since the basic concept of the Persona 3 remake was to remake the Persona 3, we don't have the FES and Portable contents included," said Niitsuma. "We wanted to really genuinely work on recreating the Persona 3 experience [...] So we have newly recorded voices, we have new scenes and events. We also have both new and arranged music. We'll b?e kind of releasing that information, following everything. So pl??ease look forward to that."

The news has put a damper on the project for some fans in the community, who took to social media to express their displeasure. The general consensus for aggrieved pa?rties runs along the lines of "If it's not The Definitive Edition, then what's the point eve??n remaking it?" �A stance that is, quite honestly, difficult to oppose. The loss of the epilogue, a much-loved player protagonist, and the voices that the player has become accustomed to somewhat undercut the initial excitement that greeted the original reveal.

Added to this is the fact that people are assuming Atlus is preparing to simply release a Persona 3 re-remake somewhere down the line, with the original content added. A Re-Reload, so to speak. It should be noted that this is pure guesswork on the players' part, but Atlus has never been shy about courting the big bucks of expanded editions, DLC content, and other post-release add-ons. Ultimately, Persona 3 Reload does look like a great remake, and remains an exciti?ng release, but these revelations have, undeniably, cast a bit of a shadow over one of the summer's biggest announcements.

Persona 3 Reload launches early 2024 on Xbox and PC. More platform announc?ements are expected.

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There definitely are no other Persona games

Atlus has announced that they’re offering a discount on every one of the mainline Persona games on every new platform th??ey’re availa?ble on. Except for Switch.

In a celebration of the entire series�success, Atlus has released an accolades trailer to highlight the newest ports of Persona 3: Portable, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 5 Royal. Hm. They seem to have overlooked including a quote from our esteemed publication. Hold on; I’ll find one. Here we go:

“We exist in the darkest timel??ine where ??good things don’t happen.�- Destructoid

//youtu.be/ZNTl9FhykBw

As for the sale, here are the details provided:

• PlayStation Essential Picks Sale - March 15 to March 29
  • Persona 3 Portable - 20% off
  • Persona 4 Golden - 20% off
  • Persona 5 Royal - 30% off
• Xbox Publisher Spotlight Series - March 14 to March 27
  • Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden bundle - 25% off
  • Persona 5 Royal - 30% off
• Steam Spring Sale - March 16 to March 23
  • Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden bundle - 5% off
  • Persona 3 Portable - 20% off
  • Persona 4 Golden - 20% off
  • Persona 5 Royal - 35% off

Heaping heaps of sarcasm aside, the Persona series is terrific. If you haven’t tried one yet, now’s a decent time to give them a try. If you’re wondering where to start, Persona 4 Golden is my top pick. Should you decide you want all three, just a word of warning: they are massive time commitments. 80+ hours for each game at the minimum. They??’re worth it, though, especially if you like your dating sims mashed together w??ith RPG dungeon crawling.

Persona 3: Portable, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 5 Royal are available on PC, Switch, PS4, and Xbox One.

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Thanks..?

If you’re like me, the question on your mind is, “What are we doing here?�Not in an existentialist sense, but rather, why is this not Persona 3 FES? Why the PSP version? Unlike the philosophical question of our purpose, there probably is a good answer for why we’re getting Persona 3 Portable instead of one of its console kin, but we don’t really know it. There have been theories about the Persona 3 FES code being a mess or having been lost, but that’s exactly what I hear every time there’s a poor or missing port. Then there’s the rumor that Persona 3 is being remade, which I also doubt, but maybe.

In any case, here we are: Persona 3 Portable on console and PC.

The worst part about the whole experience is that I’m constantly wondering what I’m doing on this version and whether or not I should just pop Persona 3 FES into my PS2. However, once you get into it, things aren’t so bad. It’s definitely not an entirely lazy port. Care has been placed into moving it to the console. So like the developer??s, I guess we can just make the best of things.

[caption id="attachment_358433" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

A dot's tale

As the name implies, Persona 3 Portable was the attempt to cram the console title onto the PSP. Due to space limitations, things had to be trimmed down, audio had to be compressed, and we weren’t allowed to ??run around the grounds of Gekkoukan High School. Instead, in the more social scenes between dungeon crawling, you’re left pushing around a dot.

The story follows this dot as it joins an extracurricular group of do-gooders who battle shadows during a secret hour that occurs after midnight. If you’re unfamiliar with the Persona series, the games are a mix of dungeon crawler, visual novel, and dating sim with a sprinkling of monster collecting for good measure. That description still goes for Persona 3 Portable, it’s just that dating scenes are more between a dot and their school ch??ums ra??ther than a papercraft protagonist.

If you’re not picking up what I’m putting down, what I’m saying is that the game is practically the same, but you don’t get to play in your meat-flesh as much. Is this a problem? Yes. Let’s not pretend like there isn’t something lost when a 3D environment is removed. The evolution of video games has largely been a process of getting us closer and closer to a fictional world, and replacing that with a dot over?? a still picture is a step backward.

[caption id="attachment_358434" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Dangling threads

This bothered me to no end, but I eventually came to find peace with this dot. The reason is simply that I’ve played Persona 3 FES before. I’ve put my (considerable) time into exploring Tartarus, I’ve already done my full-3D flirting. Not only does Persona 3 Portable abbreviate parts of the game, but it also makes additions that weren’t in FES.

The most prominent change is the ability to choose the gender of your protagonist. While this doesn’t really have much bearing on the plot, it does change who you can have social links with. Especially in a romantic sense. If you wanted a chance to peek under Akihiko’s band-aid, here’s your chance. In a way, it’s preferable to the male protagonist’s social links, as now they’re more local to your party members, rather than just generic classmates. Personally, I can’t get attached to anyone until I see them shoot magic out of their heads. You can also choose the gender of the Velvet Room assistant because�I don’t kn??ow.

It’s not a massive?ly significant change, but it is a nice treat for players who have already been through the game wearing their genitals on the outside?.

[caption id="attachment_358435" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

Bit of a misnomer to some

Otherwise the game is largely unchanged from its PSP release. It’s been gussied up nicely, so the most noticeable evidence that it was ever on a portable is its sometimes distorted backgrounds and low-poly character models. I also noticed moments where the audio still seems poor?ly compressed. The textures, UI, and images, however, are nicely upscaled for larger screens. The animated cutscenes, on the other hand, look rather grainy when they’re actually there. Some are missing, some are cut back, and others are replaced with in-engine equivalents.

The performance is also a lot smoother. The actual dungeons and combat don’t feel remarkably different from the console versions, even when playing as the opposite gender. One thing that Persona 3 Portable does differently than the console versions is the added ability to control your p?arty members directly. I never had a huge issue with the computer-controlled friends, but I know some are deeply an??noyed by them, so it’s definitely going to be a plus for some.

[caption id="attachment_358436" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

The first in the series, we swear

Overall, Persona 3 Portable feels like a companion to the full console experience. A standalone new game plus. That’s groovy, except the console version is still absent on modern platforms. In a perfect world, we would have received a new version that combines the features of FES and Portable, but we exist i??n the darkest ti??meline where good things don’t happen.

So, instead, we have a compromise. That will be fine for some, and insufficient for others, but it’s here. We have a port of Persona 3. Now we have all three Persona games available on current platforms. Because, as we all know, there were no Persona games previous to Persona 3.

Persona 3 Portable launches today on PlayStation, PC (Steam), Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.

_{[This impressions piece is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Impressions: Persona 3 Portable is better than no ??Persona 3 at all??, I guess appeared first on Destructoid.

The Road Less Traveled...

In a little over a month from now, Persona fans will be afforded the opportunity to revisit two classic titles in the stylish JRPG franchise, as Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden make their long-awaited debut on PC and console platforms. Ahead of their respective releases, publisher Atlus has detailed a handful of new features coming to these epic tales of demons and dating.

//twitt??er.com/p_kouhou/status/1602830739246137346?s=20&t=s39?AvXd7ai_x3zneH0RZ8A

High-Resolution Graphics

As explained by Morgana, (who... erm... doesn't actually appear in either game), both Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden will receive a fresh coat of paint in the form of newly remastered high-resolution v??isuals, optimized for larger displays and presenting each title's strange worlds sharper than ever before. In addition, the control system has rec??eived several tweaks, to allow exploration and action to flow in a little more contemporary fashion.

Initial Difficulty Setting Option

Players can now select from one of five difficulty options from the start of the game. Originally, players could only select the difficulty when entering New Game +, but now you'll be able to set the challenge right from the off �So those who just want to experience the story will be able to rock m??odes such as "Easy" or the practically death-free "Safety". Don't fear the reaper.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7tVV??9zRFMM&ab_channel=OfficialATLUSWest

Album

Persona 4 Golden has a new "Album" feature, selectable from your save room. This allows the player to revisit cutscenes and conversations from earlier in the game. Additionally, for the sake of interest, players will be able to select different conversation options and decisions from the ones they initially took, offering a sneak peek at how the chatter might have played out should they have chosen a different path of dialogue. This feature will not, unfortunately, be included in Persona 3 Portable.

Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden will la?unch on January 19 on PS4, Xbox, PC, and N??intendo Switch platforms. A price has not been officially confirmed, but the two titles are expected to retail for around $20 each.

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It's a Persona-palooza

January 2023 just got slightly busier. This morning, Atlus dropped word that its ports of Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden will land on Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PlayStation, and PC on January 19. That's just a little over three months away, fitting in nicely between the release of One Piece Odyssey on January 13 and Fire Emblem Engage on January 20. I know a few of my friends who've been waiting for a Persona 4 Switch release date will be very excited by this. Unfortunately, lest there be a surpr??ise Limited Run Games or Strictly Limited announcement on the horizon, both titles will be digital only.

//twitter.com/Atlus??_West/status/15786960??35932815360

Persona 3 Portable was originally released for the PSP back in 2009 as the third version of the game, following Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 and Persona 3 FES, both for the PlayStation 2. Persona 4 Golden is the best-selling PlayStation Vita title that also became a pretty big hit when it was released on Steam in 2020.

As a reminder, Persona 5 Royal releases on October 21 for Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. If you own the game on PS4 as I do, there will be no free update to the PS5 version.

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