With the release of Persona 3 Portable on modern systems, you might be asking yourself what all the talk about P3 FES is. P3P was announced for modern systems, like PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC last fall.
Today, we’ll discuss the differences between the two versions, including what content is exclusive to each version and more.
What Is Persona 3 Portable?
Persona 3 Portable was originally released exclusively on the PSP in 2010 for North America. Portable served as an enhanced version of the original title, with improvements and changes to better fit the PSP. It has remained there alone since launch, until now. This is the version of Persona 3 that will be hitting storefronts in the coming weeks.
What Is Persona 3 FES?
Persona 3 FES is an extended version that was released after the original Persona 3 release. It included an epilogue that took place after the main game. This version will not be coming to consoles or PC, as P3 Portable is the only one coming over.
What Is the Difference between Persona 3 Portable and Persona 3 FES?
To start, we’ll go over what is exclusive to Persona 3 Portable, as this is the game that is coming to consoles. The biggest addition to this enhanced version of Persona 3 was the addition of a female protagonist, which gave players the choice of what gendered protagonist they’d like to play as. Depending on what protagonist you choose, certain story events and social links are changed. Additionally, two new difficulty modes were added for those looking to challenge themselves.
Persona 3 FES is an extended version of Persona 3, as aforementioned. The extra content was essentially improvements and an epilogue, which can somewhat be compared to the third semester included in Persona 5 Royal. Additionally, one new difficulty mode was added.
Although the omission of epilogue content found in FES is disappointing, Portable will offer a great time if you have never gotten the chance to experience the world of P3 in any capacity. The retouched graphics will be a treat for returning players as well. One of the neat things that you can only do in Portable is control your party members, which is not available in FES. There are pros and cons to each release. Until we see a definitive combined release or a remake, Portable will have to do.
P3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden will release on January 19 across Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
