(Image source: Atlus.)

In Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES , the player’s avatar is an orphaned teenager who’s just been transferred to Gekkoukan High School. Capable of unleashing a Persona with extraordinary abilities, the player character is invited to join the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (SEES), a secret organisation dedicated to vanquishing the Shadows and solving the mystery of Tartarus, a tower that appears during the equally mysterious Dark Hour.

As the game is from a developer from Japan, a rapidly aging, youth-fixated country, the members of SEES are naturally high school students. The sole exception is the SEES advisor, whose role is to crack awful jokes and provide exposition. As a general rule of thumb, adults in P3F are hopeless, helpless, ineffective or unreliable.

There are two types of character advancement in P3F. The player character gains HP and SP as he gains levels by battling Shadows but abilities are gained by improving the Tarot-inspired Personae.

Personae may be improved in two ways. The conventional method involves simply levelling up the Persona by gaining experience in battles. This is slow and the player is explicitly told this is not the best way to go.
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(Image source: Atlus.)

Persona 3 FES‘s combat is a curious blend of real-time and turn-based systems.

You explore Tartarus, the ominous tower you ascend level-by-level, in real-time. Shadows, the foes of the game, slither around the levels and combat begins when you hit them or they hit you. Getting the first hit in (ideally a sneak attack) is important and avoiding being hit first is often essential. Reflexes, timing and positioning are thus vital.

On the other hand, reflexes, timing and positioning are of absolutely no importance when the game shifts to the turn-based battle system which actually resolves the combat encounters.
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