Recently, publisher Atlus announced that three titles from its popular Persona series will be making the journey to modern consoles. Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Golden, and Persona 5 Royal will be making their way to Xbox -- including Xbox Game Pass -- PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam. In addition, the two earlier titles, Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden will also be made available for PlayStation 4. However, some fans are disappointed that Persona 3 Portable was the version chosen for re-release, rather than the earlier Persona 3 FES. Both are updated re-releases of the original Persona 3, but they differ significantly in both content and gameplay.
The announcement of these ports for Persona 3, 4, and 5 is a major reveal in a franchise anniversary celebration that has otherwise been considered fairly lackluster. Announcements have covered minor topics ranging from new merchandise to a concert featuring music from the series. Fans have been disappointed, especially as it seems that no news of the long-awaited Persona 6 is on the horizon. While some are happy to hear about the ports, especially given that the Persona series has long remained PlayStation exclusive, others are wondering whether this means that Persona 3 FES will remain stuck on older consoles forever.
What is the Difference Between Persona 3 FES and Persona 3 Portable?
The original Persona 3 was released for the PlayStation 2 in Japan in 2006 and worldwide in 2007. It quickly gained popularity and outsold all previous entries in the Persona franchise, leading to the release of Persona 3 FES less than a year later. FES was advertised as a "director's cut" of the original game, and added content such as a new Social Link for party member Aigis and the ability to walk canine companion Koromaru. The biggest addition, however, was a lengthy playable epilogue called The Answer, in which players took control of Aigis and investigated the possibility of reversing the original game's famously bittersweet ending.
Persona 3 Portable, released in 2009 for the PlayStation Portable, did not include The Answer but instead featured a number of quality-of-life changes. Party members other than the protagonist were made controllable during battles, difficulty selection was added, and Persona 4- inspired changes were made, including the addition of the "One More" system and the Defend action. Most notably, a female protagonist was added; her story features new Social Links and romance options. However, because of the hardware limitations of the PlayStation Portable, the original game's animated cutscenes were removed and overworld navigation was significantly simplified. While both versions of the game were popular, fans expressed frustration that no "complete" version of Persona 3 exists to this day.
Persona 3 FES' Code is a Mess
On Twitter, several Persona fans put forward the theory that Portable was chosen over FES due to shortcuts taken with the code of Persona 3 FES that made Atlus reluctant to work with it. In particular, the code of the game is extremely bulky because every animated cutscene contains multiple duplicated models of each character rather than reusing models from earlier scenes.
This is particularly notable in the case of Nyx Avatar, the game's final boss, who has fourteen distinct models for each phase of its boss fight. Fans theorize that the code of Persona 3 Portable is much simpler and easier to work with compared to FES.
Persona 3 Portable Features Quality of Life Improvements
While FES added a significant amount of well-liked content, particularly The Answer, Portable focused on making the game easier and more fun to play. Most notably, the player was given the ability to directly control party members other than the protagonist in battle. This feature, which was officially introduced in the following game Persona 4, was seen as a major improvement by fans. Previously, AI-controlled characters had made battles much more difficult, as they would default to using weak or ineffective attacks such as Charm or other status effect-causing spells with a low chance of success.
Today, with Persona 4 and especially Persona 5 having improved the battle system so dramatically, it is unlikely that fans would be satisfied playing a version of Persona 3 that did not allow full control of party members. In addition, Persona 3 FES featured a mechanic in which characters would become tired after a certain amount of time spent exploring the dungeon Tartarus. This made climbing Tartarus' 200+ floors extremely difficult, as players would find themselves forced to stop much earlier than planned. The gameplay experience of the original Persona 3 as well as Persona 3 FES was often described as frustrating compared to later entries in the series.
Is a Persona 3 Remake Coming?
Rather than simply a port of Portable, some fans are hoping to see a full remake of Persona 3 for current-generation consoles. Ideally, this remake would include both the male and female protagonist paths, the quality of life upgrades added in Portable, and The Answer as a playable epilogue, thus combining the best elements of both FES and Portable. This hypothetical remake could also incorporate elements from later in the series, such as the Baton Pass system added in Persona 5.
However, with the current lackluster Persona anniversary celebration approaching its end and seeming lack of interest from Atlus in releasing major new Persona- related content, such a remake does not seem particularly likely, especially not one that will be announced any time soon. Presumably, Atlus is currently working on Persona 6, and, while it may have other side projects in development, such as a rumored Arena sequel with a focus on the cast of Persona 5, a Persona 3 remake does not seem to be among the company's current priorities. Fan interest in a remake could possibly make its development more likely in the future, but for now, it seems fans will have to be satisfied with the ports of Persona 3 Portable instead.
Persona 3 is currently available for PS2 and PlayStation Portable, and will release for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.