****SPOILERS AHOY****




While, this series of posts is by no means original, thanks to the immense popularity of Giant Bomb’s Persona 4 Endurance Run, it definitely caused me to pay more attention to the Persona series, which has slipped past my radar for the past few years. The combination of the Endurance Run and hype from NeoGAF has caused me to pick up Persona 4’s predecessor, Persona 3: FES. I managed to pick up this gem at Gamestop’s Game Days Sale a couple months back for $20, and surprisingly, I still see copies of it in their bins for $10 now.

This summer, my buddy and I decided to play through this game. We’re taking turns playing it between sessions, and we’ll also be posting our progress for what little audience there is for this niche. These play sessions will by no means be consistent. Essentially, we work around our work schedules to get some playtime in. You may or may not know of my comrade, Tyler (a.k.a. SneakerElph), who will be my counterpart for the run. Without further adieu, here’s what I’ve gathered from Day 1.

After viewing several anime cutscenes with liberal amounts of J-Rap/Hip-Hop playing in the background, we came across the main character of Persona 3. Being an unnamed protagonist like most RPG’s, we named him Steve Tomson for reasons unknown. Trying not to meta-play that much, I knew how the Persona games worked, so I informed Tyler that the game rewards you for being nice to NPC’s, so being a dick wouldn’t be the best idea.

Among the first characters we met was Yukari, and after numerous conversations, we were convinced that Steve was totally gonna get in her pants by the end of the game. The first day of school involved the introduction of Junpei, who is a “totally cool dude.” During class, Steve saved Junpei’s ass by giving him the answer to a question the teacher asked him. Other students were aware that Steve gave Junpei the answer and muttered, “That kid pays attention in class, he must be popular!” If only real life was like that.

As the days passed in the game, we learned about the mysterious Dark Hour that occurs every night at midnight, and hell breaks loose during the period of time. One night, some creatures attacked the dorm, and the characters were forced to battle them. Steve and Yukari escaped to the fourth floor roof, when monsters attacked them. Yukari took a gun and shot herself in the head, but nothing happened. Steve took the gun and awakened a powerful entity within him called a Persona. Personas allow Steve to fight these monsters that are called Shadows.

After the battle scene, and several other cutscenes, the group prepared to investigate the Shadow Nesting Grounds of Tartarus, which appeared in the same location as the school, but in the shadow realm during the Dark Hour. Real life interrupted our session, and we luckily found a nearby save point to suspend our game.