Persona 3 Portableis a version of the original game that adds some really cool exclusive stuff, like the option to choose between two protagonists and some new Social Links depending on whom you’ve chosen. Despite this, there’s a constant argument between fans of the game and those who prefer Persona 3 FES, which has some things that Portable doesn’t and vice versa.
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Though Persona 3 Portable is a great experience in its own way, it does lack some things that would make it even better. These things range from quality of life choices to voice acting.
8Spice Up Tartarus' Layout
Tartarus is where you spend most of your time fighting Shadows. It’s astounding how many floors it has, but so little of it changes in every block that it gets old fast. The walls and floor look a bit different for each block, and the music changes a little, but it’s nowhere near enough to break the tedium of looking at the same environment over and over.
It doesn’t have to go as far asPersona 5 Royal’s Palaces (though that would be awesome), but adding some things like more elaborate environmental decor and significantly changing the music for every block would do wonders to keep things exciting.
7Separate Armor And Costumes
Costumes are always a welcome feature in games. They can help break the monotony of repetitive gameplay and keep things fresh.Persona 3 Portable has some cool costume choices, but they also double as the characters' armor. This means that, rather than being a purely aesthetic choice, they have defense and evasion points assigned to them like any other piece of armor.
So if you get a costume early on, it’ll be practically obsolete by the mid to late game. The game is already challenging enough without having to equip early-game armor that’s a quarter of your current armor’s defense just so you can see the party run around in their summer outfits. Having a separate slot for costumes and armor solves this problem easily.
6Put Animated Cutscenes Back
One thing FES has over Portable is that it keeps the animated cutscenes that the original game had. Portable only gets still images of the cutscenes, which don’t do nearly as much as the full thing. After all, the protagonist awakening to their Persona for the first time is always an epic moment. Being able to watch it in all its animated glory would be nice.
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Plus, because of Portable’s limitations, the ending scene is stripped of a lot of its impact. Since the ending of a game is what you usually strive to achieve, experiencing it at its best can make playing the game that much more worth it.
5Change Fuuka’s Voice
Fuuka isn’t just a party member; she’s your navigator for most of the game, so you’ll be hearing her in every single battle you fight. That means you can’t just choose to not use her and forget she exists. Though her personality isn’t anything offensive, her voice acting is lacking. A lot.
Instead of coming off as shy and reserved, she sounds robotic in most of her lines. That goes for her navigator lines too, and it takes away from the experience just a little bit. Wendee Lee voices her in the spinoff games, and she does a great job. If only she could have done so in the original games too, listening to Fuuka’s navigation wouldn’t feel so awkward.
4Give All Party Members A Social Link
Besides powering up your Personas, Social Links are a way to flesh out and develop characters, including your party members. But Persona 3 Portable splits your party members' Social Links in a strange way. Most of the girls' Social Links are only available if you’re the male protagonist, while the guys' are exclusive to the female protagonist.
This doesn’t give every member a chance to show different sides of themselves unless you play through the game twice, which not everyone will do. If the game had Social Links for every party member in both routes, all the characters could feel like more than just acquaintances that you fight alongside.
3Lower Social Stat Requirements For Party Members
The side characters of thePersonagames can be some of the best in the series, but ultimately, you tend to care about the party members' Social Links more. But the social stat requirements just to start most of them are so high that you’ll be way into the game before even seeing the first rank.
Related:Persona 3 Portable: Every Party Member, Ranked
Yukari, Mitsuru, and Fuuka need MAX Charm, Academics, and Charisma respectively. Akihiko needs rank four Charm while Ken needs MAX Courage. Between Tartarus, leveling up your social stats, and raising other Social Links, you’ll barely have time for your teammates with these high requirements. Lowering them to rank three at most would make things much easier.
2Let Us Date The Same Gender
Something that most of the Persona games lack is being able to date people of the same gender, and Persona 3 Portable sadly keeps that aspect. This is especially frustrating when you realize that, if you choose the female protagonist, the game lets you date Ken, who isa young child, of all people.
Yet it won’t let you date Yukari, who’s the same age as you, unless you’re the male protagonist. Romance isn’t really the point in the Persona games, but having the option todate your classmates regardless of genderwould be a welcome addition.
1Bring Back Character Models
Due to the PSP’s limitations, Persona 3 Portable’s overworld was reduced to visual novel-type graphics. Instead of being able to run around as the protagonist, you have a cursor to click on things. There are no more character models in cutscenes, only their portraits. The only time you see the models is in a still image of the current setting where you may click on them to interact.
Watching the protagonist going around the city and interacting with other character models is a fun part of the game, and actually seeing your party members' gestures and movements gives them character. Fully bringing the 3D models back outside of Tartarus would make the environments feel much more alive.
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