Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3 FES

SMT: Persona 3: FES is an ‘expansion’ of Persona 3, but there's no need to buy Persona 3 because it's included with FES. So you're basically getting 2 games for the price of 1.

The Personas are an off-shoot from the Shin Megami Tensei ‘group’ in that they're always set in a school, with all that entails: classes, tests, homework, social contacts, dorm life, school trips as well as fighting demons. The combat is real-time.

Each character has his/her own persona, or demon, that appears in combat, but your character is able to capture demons and fuse them together to make another, more powerful, demon.

The story is set in Toyko and is about a company that tried to make a new kind of power. But it backfired and now, at midnight, there is another hour when demons run rampart in the city killing people. It's up to your character and his friends to put a stop to it.

Personally, I loved the game and when I'd finished – both Persona 3 & FES – I clocked up almost 350 hours – and loved every minute of it.

Seriously, I bought this game after double checking if it was any good on wikipedia and thought… what the heck.

Now I'm one of those tedious gamers who starts up a new game and then prioritizes when in the near to distant future I will play it. Now I had carried on playing Ephemeral Fantasia from where I left it back in 2003 (… I know). And could not finish it fast enough.

Now EphFan is good, but this game is modern rpg heaven. Personally I am still only about half way through it (I've restarted twice… I'm one of those completion-ists). Following a year in high school, a deep mystery, an addictive battle system, great characters, quirky relationships…

This is easily one of my favorite games (not just ps2) of all time. Just buy it already…

this is one amazing game “THAT YOU MUST PURCHASE” it is of the most highest quality from the suspensefull storyline to the draw dropping graphics the detailed cut scenes and the addictive game play this game is worth every cent

What else is there to say about this game? Great story, intriguing characters (including the NPCs), this game has it all. The number of Personas (kinda like the summons from the FF series) you can have is huge, and the combinations to make a new one are pretty much endless. The battle system is easy to pick up, but can also be challenging as you have to pay attention, especially against the more difficult enemies in the game.

I found the way to increase your stats via building relationships, as well as trying to balance your high school life as well as fighting the shadows the best thing about this game. You have to put in a lot of effort into it (not to mention trying to get it right), but it's all worth it as you're well rewarded in the end.

Only gripe about this game was that I waited a good few months after I got it to actually get off my lazy butt to play it.

Definitely one of the better RPGs out there at the moment, and one that everyone should take for a spin.

Allow me to give you some brief history with me and Persona.

My friend told me about Persona, and I was intrigued as to what it was like, so I borrowed the PSP version. Finished that and I absolutely loved it! The story was enthralling! The gameplay was amazing (similar to the virtual Simulation games on PC) and the characters were all unique and memorable.

When I discovered there were changed in P3P (PSP version) and FES, I decided I would go out of my way to buy another Playstation 2 and this game from MightyApe. The gods must be on my side, for when I decided to buy FES, the price was reduced by 60%! If that wasn't encouragement enough, I don't know what is!

Bought FES and I absolutely do not regret it. At. All.
Forget Xbox 360, Forget PS3, this is all I need.