Current Events > How is Persona 3 FES compared to Persona 3 Portable?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Ive read that the differences are quite substantial in that you cant control the main character, outside of dungeons, in the Portable version. They always seem to have gotten rid of the animations as well. However, it seems that you are able to control ALL characters in your party in the Portable version during battle akin to Persona 4/5 instead of leaving it up to the AI in the FES version which is huge imo.

My question is this: for the ones who have played both, which do you prefer? Are the omitting of animations even that big of a deal? Are there even that many animations to begin with? Is the Portable version loading times any different?

Im leaning towards the Portable version because being able to control all party members in battle instead of leaving it up to the AI is a huge plus for me. I would just like to know what you guys think. Thanks.
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I liked being and orb vs a character more tbh

But the AI is a big deal
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I like Portable more. You can actually control the party members, and that is too good man. Everything outside of dungeons is more VN like, but I liked it. I'd go with Portable.

regular P3 for the win
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Unsugarized_Foo posted...

I liked being and orb vs a character more tbh

But the AI is a big deal

Being an orb, as in the Portable version?

What about the animations. Am I missing out on anything there?

And what about the epilogue thats in FES? Is that a big deal as well?
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FES is the best version. the definitive experience of persona 3

Tappor posted...

regular P3 for the win

thinking this should be classified as a warcrime
oarphishmoe posted...

What about the animations. Am I missing out on anything there?

IIRC only running around the city stuff was removed, which didn't really add much to the game (i thought it streamlined it and was straight up better)

p3p is the best version of that game and femc is best girl

The only thing FES has over Portable is The Answer. The PSP port is systemically superior and most of the dismissals, like VN scenes, are nitpicking. It's the same exact script and the player's experience is not compromised. I bought this dumb game (it's a joke, literalists) three times and completed each of them too much. You'll want the P3P every time.
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Kaiganeer posted...

thinking this should be classified as a warcrime

wrong, i needed something to post without taking either side that also painted me in a negative light
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They really need to put out a Persona 3 ultimate edition that has The Answer, the female protag option, AND player controlled party members all in one.

It's like no matter what you play this game on, you'll never fully get the perfect experience.
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Okay thank you guys. Portable version it is.

For my first play through should I go Female or Male? And how much difference does it actually make?
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Portable is the ultimate experience. They capped it off with the extras they had no time to place in original P3. Literally the only argument anyone has is The Answer. It's a nice challenge and all, don't get me wrong but it isn't even integrated into the main game.
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oarphishmoe posted...

Okay thank you guys. Portable version it is.

For my first play through should I go Female or Male? And how much difference does it actually make?

You're a newbie. It doesn't matter. The differences are certain events and social links. Significantly so. The main story remains the same though.
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portable is better

when you get over the fact that youre moving the cursor instead of a character to navigate, you'll realize it's much faster to get to where you wanna go

having control of your characters is amazing

and of course you have the female MC story as well, which I enjoyed more

Im assuming there isnt a canonical name for the female MC?
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that p3 ending
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Neither have a canon game name. That the male MC has a name for the manga, movie, and some other thing I forgot doesn't apply to the game continuity. Just make your own name. It's okaaaay.
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oarphishmoe posted...

Im assuming there isnt a canonical name for the female MC?

Minako Arisato is the commonly accepted one. The make MC is Minato in Persona Q but he's Makoto in the movies, which is dumb because there already is a Makoto in Persona 5.

Also, FES should always be played for the first time, and Portable as the FeMC for a second playthrough.

I say this because when I first tried Persona 3 I played the Portable version and gave up because I had no idea what was really going on. After playing FES however I had a blast.The entire story is there but without cutscenes some important things will be lost in the format.

I really want a P3 remake already
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Also, she is canon in the upcoming Persona Q2.
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Portable adapted the animated scenes. I've compared them, they don't leave out a detail. Could have been you had a better grasp on account of playing it again. Hell, I recall topics on the board misremembering the animated scenes before Portable existed (and it always turned out they didn't pay attention), so that's more likely.
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Kelystic posted...

Also, she is canon in the upcoming Persona Q2.

They haven't confirmed in PQ2 is canon like PQ1 yet

With her being in I doubt they'd do it
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true
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Also even though PQ is canon it might as well not be since there's no real references to it in either game anyway
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Alright. Thanks guys.

Think Im going with a female first play through on P3P. Ive played and beaten both P4 and P5 so Im not new to the series or anything. I just think playing as the female is a cool changeup from the other games.
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I stopped playing portable after a few hours cause it just didnt hold my interest. People told me to play FES because it's far more guaranteed to hold my interest. When I give the series a second chance I'll try FES.
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I'll be straight with you: If you didn't enjoy Portable then FES isn't going to do much different to change that initial feeling. Might as well save the cash.
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Trigger_Volnutt posted...

I'll be straight with you: If you didn't enjoy Portable then FES isn't going to do much different to change that initial feeling. Might as well save the cash.

Depends on if they played 4/5 already.

Like I said Portable did nothing for me until I played FES
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Portable is trash
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Irony posted...

Portable is trash

ur Trish
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lol TC you got played. P3P is literally inferior to FES as a first-time experience. the VN style is a straight downgrade as it forces you to use your imagination instead of being able to see all the scenes and people massively over-praise being able to control your team members.

you are gonna miss out on the superior narrative experience and miss out on the actual conclusion of the story (The Answer).
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Yeah, there it is again. Acting as if the player experience is compromised when it is literally and figuratively the same shit. They went out of their way to adapt 99% of the PS2 content while adding more stuff to fit their original vision of the game. The Answer isn't even tied to the main game. It was comparatively extra disc DLC when it dropped. It's good DLC but overstating it as some a huge miss has been a constant disingenuous statement when it takes one sentence to parse what lore was added. Lore that hasn't progressed and has been only vaguely referenced since its creation.
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the story events are the same, the story experience is not. FES has a vastly better experience.
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There is no way to argue it isn't. Proving the point over the nitpicks which don't impact how P3 is represented in either version. Like, for goodness sake, the dialogue from talking to random NPCs for their ongoing stories and the examined background descriptions are still there. The only, actual difference is that you aren't walking.
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you miss out on animated cutscenes if you dont play FES

male protag is the intended first playthrough even if you do get portable

while you can control party members in portable and not in FES, the game is balanced around that fact.

In FES you also get to walk around the game world and experience it, unlike in portable where you fast travel everywhere VN style and don't get to control your character outside of tartarus.

FES is best for the first playthrough and portable is better for replays.
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Spidey5 posted...

I stopped playing portable after a few hours cause it just didnt hold my interest. People told me to play FES because it's far more guaranteed to hold my interest. When I give the series a second chance I'll try FES.

Try starting with Persona 4 Golden or Persona 5. Those two games really are excellent. Persona 3 is great as well but is dated. All of the suffer from super long intros however, which is probably where you quit. Once the games kick into gear its hard to put them down, and theres not really any other games on the market like them.
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The animated cutscenes are accurately adapted. The game was "intended" to have both genders and they achieved that dream with Portable. The game may run faster with AI party control but the balance was never harmed from the player making the party rush and status ailment versus tuning a setting for it. It's the same gameplay but more direct.

Seriously, the justifications for FES overall are flimsy.
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The animated scenes might be "accurately adapted" in protable but the animated scenes in FES are still far superior to what was presented in portable. For a first playthrough anyway.
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Trigger_Volnutt posted...

Seriously, the justifications for FES overall are flimsy.

except they arent. the story is the strongest aspect of P3 and FES has the stronger first-time story experience.

like rika said, FES is the best for a first playthrough and Portable is the best for replays.
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And experiencing the Portable adaption doesn't compromise the first time experience like you seem to suggest. Like, it's especially silly that that's a position worthy of playing the lesser version just so you can watch a different version of the same thing. A feature so minor and infrequent in the entire game, falling under the nitpick clause again.
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again, the story is the greatest strength of P3. its stupid to suggest a version with the inferior story experience because you can control your party. the QoL improvements in P3P are not enough imo to suggest it over FES for a first-time player.
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Persona 3 was built around the idea that you only control the MC and the other party members act as support, because your MC can effectively fill any battle role necessary.

Players who have a problem with not controlling the other party members are probably just bad at the game LOL

Anyway FES is the best version by far. The transition to Portable loses a lot of the game's nuance and the difficulty was shot to hell.
Plus you miss out on 20+ hours of endgame content so I guess if you like getting shafted, P3P is the game for you.
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The only time I mentioned party control was when Rika erroneously claimed the game balance was changed when the extra features more than accommodated for it anyway. So don't act like that was a constant talking point I made (and it's set to AI to default anyway). The story experience isn't any lesser just because you can't walk in the towns, which is the only significant difference made and the developers went above and beyond to retain what a player would find from those encounters. The story occurs outside of those cases anyway and that part is exactly the same in the game plus more. There isn't a good case for it being "inferior" when it's so closely tied to what the original did.
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I didn't erroneously claim anything... everything in my post was a fact. what opinion your form based on those facts is your choice, but you can't honestly say anything I said was incorrect.
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So how many animation scenes does the Portable version miss out on? And what does it do in-place of those animations?
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They don't miss out on any. They use stills from the animations and replay the dialogue that was spoken in the original. And there's like... 5some scenes like that stretched within an 100 hour game.
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Here is a comparison of the first battle scene between the two versions:
(very minor spoilers obviously)

FES:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PyxwlWwgwA" data-time="

Portable:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa5clIdC8HY" data-time="
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Oh okay. Well thats honestly not that big of a deal to me then.

Whats with the whole Awake DLC that is FES only though? Is it really 20+ hours? How important is that?
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Also, Ill probably end up watching the anime after I beat the game like I did after beating P4 so Ill probably enjoy the animations more playing Portable then watching the anime.
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The Answer? It's a dungeon crawler where characters deal with the ending event. The only significant takeaway from it is something that hasn't been and probably never will be resolved. People tend to dislike it but I enjoy how unforgiving it is compared to the main game. But the story bits are minor resolutions. And it's super short. 20 hours for people who suck, maybe.
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i havent seen the anime myself but ive heard they all suck
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