Playing the original Persona 3 back on the PS2 was a joy, but one I was never able to finish. My inability to finish RPGs quickly coupled with the release of Persona 3 FES trapped me in a sort of Persona Purgatory. In short, it was a fantastic game that I never got the chance to complete. However, Atlus is looking to give me (and others like me) another chance with the upcoming release of Persona 3 Portable, a PSP port of the original game that spearheaded the Persona series’ path towards dungeon crawling, date simulating greatness.

So the question that I’m sure is at the forefront of everyone’s thoughts is this: “Is it worth buying a third time?”

After spending a decent chunk of time watching a live demo, I can confidently tell you that it is. In fact, I’d go as far as to say Persona 3 Portable is the version to own. Not only does it include everything that made the original a pleasure to experience, it also has almost all of the content from FES included (everything except Aigis’ extra story chapter “The Answer”) and has had many refinements carried over from Persona 4 and even Strange Journey. I suppose it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say Persona 3 Portable is the definitive MegaTen game. At least until they make a Persona 4 Portable. Hint, hint Atlus.

So on to the specifics. What exactly can we expect from Persona 3 Portable? Well the first and most notable addition would have to be the ability to choose to play as a female protagonist. This results in a slew of slight (and is some cases major) changes to your game, including different characters for social links, different romance options and so on. The next most profound addition is the streamlining of the game’s UI. Virtually every nagging issue the original Persona 3 had has been removed: World navigation now takes place in 2D, using isometric views of a given area. Characters and objects can be selected by moving a cursor around, and a press of the “R” button will reveal the different hot spots you can interact with. While this may seem like a step down, it actually allows for much faster traversal across the city and its various locations. It even includes a Fast Travel option, so you can press a button and go straight to your destination rather than jogging halfway across the city in pseudo-realtime.

Even with all of these improvements, I’m not even close to finished. Dialogue can now be skipped with a simple button press, meaning reloading your game or continuing from a checkpoint won’t force you to wade through five minutes worth of story you’ve already experienced. You can also save your game from just about anywhere during the day, so no more being forced through an hour of play just so you can get to the sign-in sheet back at the dorms. Many more NPCs have their own dialogue portraits this time around, so you’ll actually get to see what more characters that aren’t integral to the plot actually look like. Of course, as with all anime-inspired characters, they’re all “hotties.” While we’re on the topic of dialogue I think I should also mention that the voice acting and voice overs from the original game remain intact, and playing as the female protagonist will even net you some new ones. I know this is a lot of information to absorb, but stay with me. There’s still more to cover and assuming you’re a Persona fan you owe it to yourself to learn it all.

The game’s soundtrack has also been faithfully carried over, and even includes some new remixes. Tartarus is every bit as huge (250+ floors) as it was in the original game. On top of that, there’s also a new bonus dungeon (on top of the already existent bonus dungeon) that allows you to fight powered-up versions of bosses, as well as face many other challenges. Combat has more-or-less been lifted straight out of Persona 4 (however it still retains the Bash/Pierce/etc. damage types), and allows you to take direct control over your teammates. Atlus has also been kind enough to remove the whole “Talk to your teammates in Tartarus in order to swap equipment” thing, allowing you to switch out gear and use their specific skills directly through the menu. The Skill Card system has been copied over from Strange Journey which will give you the option to assign specific abilities (i.e. Agi, Bufu, etc…) to the Persona of your choice, and there are now a total of five different difficulty settings (ranging from “Beginner” to “Maniac”) for players to choose from.

Last but not least? The loading times are actually faster than those in the original game. There’s even an option to install the game to the PSP so it’ll load faster than that. The only downside to all of this? The one thing that hasn’t been improved or added upon? There are no more anime-style cutscenes due to storage space. Which is a shame to be sure, but considering everything that’s included in this package it seems like an awfully small price to pay.

I think you all know what to do from here. Mark your calendars for July 6th, make sure there’s room on your memory stick and go toss five bucks (or even the full $39.99) down on a pre-order which could get you Junpei’s hat. Seriously. Trust me, you’ll be happy you did.