So, I was able to sit in on a demo for the PSP version of Persona 3 coming out at retailers and on PSN July 6th this year. There’s several changes from the PS3 version, that we learned about that I wanted to share with fans of the game. There is a bit of a space issue when you’re taking a console game and trying to change it to be played on the PSP, so one of the first noticeable changes is going to be the lack of cut scenes. Mostly though, there’s quite a bit that they’ve changed to make the game a bit more accessible for players to really streamline the play experience. With traditional RPGs on a console, you have a bit more time, but when you talk about moving it to a portable device – they’ve worked on streamlining the experience so you can spend more time actually playing than waiting on transportation, cut scenes or dialogue skipping options. The demo I watched was playing off UMD, and though there’s still some loading time, it’s faster than you’d expect.

Another one of the biggest changes that P3P fans will notice is the addition of a brand new playable female protagonist. Also, much of the combat has been updated from the system used in Persona 4, so there’s quite a bit of improvement there including the ability to directly control your teammates in battle. There’s a total of 5 difficulty settings in P3P on the PSP – the two new settings being “Beginner” and “Maniac”. They’ve also added new skill cards and part-time jobs to the game. There’s over 250 levels to the game, so despite the transition to a portable device it hasn’t been shortened at all.  There’s no quick-save option in the portable version, but they have added more save options so you don’t have to go too long between saves.

If you’ve never played a Persona game, P3 on the PSP would be a great place to start. There’s a lot of lead-up to help you get into the game and the story in P3.

And for fans, if you pre-order the game from a retailer (GameStop and Amazon – US & CAN), you’ll be able to receive a pretty neat Junpei ballcap! For more information, check out http://www.atlus.com/p3p