It has received several enhanced re-releases and ports: Persona 3 FES, an extended version featuring a new playable epilogue and other changes, was released for the PlayStation 2 in Japan in 2007 and worldwide in 2008.

[9] Occasionally, civilians will wander into Tartarus and wind up on certain floors; rescuing them safely before a full moon appears grants bonus rewards.

Spending too much time in Tartarus can cause characters to become "Tired" or "Sick," which can affect their performance in combat; certain activities, such as studying at night, may be hindered if the protagonist is afflicted with this status.

[4] Using the Tactics option, the player can assign specific battle AI to each party member; in Persona 3 Portable, they may also choose to issue direct commands.

[5] The story of Persona 3 takes place in 2009 and is set in the Japanese city of Tatsumi Port Island,[c] which the Kirijo Corporation built and funded.

Experiments conducted ten years prior to the game's events created the Dark Hour,[d] a period of time that exists between days.

[13] The "Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad," or SEES, was formed by a group of high schoolers to investigate and learn about the Dark Hour, Shadows, and Tartarus.

[14] He is a teenager who, ten years before the game's events, was orphaned as a child following his parents' death, and is now returning to the city he grew up in to transfer to Gekkoukan High School.

[12] After learning of his ability to summon a Persona, he joins SEES, whose members include students of the school: Yukari Takeba, a popular and cheerful girl; Junpei Iori, a class clown and his best friend;[15] Akihiko Sanada, a calm and collected senior and the leader of the school's boxing team; and Mitsuru Kirijo, the president of its student council and daughter of the Kirijo Group's leader, who provides support during battle.

[15] Over the course of the game, SEES gains several new members: Fuuka Yamagishi, a shy girl who replaces Mitsuru as support; Aigis, a female android the Kirijo Group designed to fight Shadows;[16] Ken Amada, an elementary school student whose mother was accidentally killed by a Persona user;[17] Shinjiro Aragaki, a former member of SEES who quit due to past events;[18] and Koromaru, a dog capable of summoning a Persona.

Ten years earlier, the Kirijo Group, a research company Mitsuru's grandfather founded, began amassing and containing Shadows in an attempt to harness their power.

[20] SEES' leader, Shuji Ikutsuki, informs them that if they defeat the twelve greater Shadows, Tartarus and the Dark Hour will disappear forever.

If Makoto kills him, the game cuts to Graduation Day as the members of SEES, except for Aigis, lose their memories of the Dark Hour and the Shadows and live in blissful ignorance until Nyx brings about The Fall and humanity dies.

[55] Later, the use of AI for the secondary party members was described as a stylistic choice representing the game's theme of conquering the fear of death through "bonds": each character was their own person, and the player could only influence things by interacting with them.

During this process, the team worked to leave as much of the original Japanese content intact, continuing a trend started with Persona 2: Eternal Punishment.

[57] In an interview with RPGamer, project editor Yu Namba explained that during the process of translation, some of the Japanese humor, "things that made absolutely no sense in western culture…were replaced with jokes that at least somewhat parallel the originals.

Released in Japan by Aniplex on May 3, 2007, the soundtrack contained the original score for FES, as well as arrangements of music from earlier games in the Persona series.

This selection alters some aspects of the story: the first Persona gained by the protagonist, Orpheus, has a different appearance and Igor's assistant in the Velvet Room, Elizabeth, can be replaced with a male equivalent named Theodore.

[82] Outside of Tartarus, instead of navigating the game world by directly controlling the protagonist, the player guides an on-screen cursor around an area, allowing interaction with characters and objects.

Edition" that additionally comes with a replica of the Evoker used by the main party to summon Personas, as well as a 3D shadow box that depicts the cut-in graphic for the All-Out Attack sequence.

While he suspected the simulation elements would "probably be the biggest hurdle" for fans of role-playing or Megami Tensei games, in his review, he wrote that he "can't stress enough how well-done it is.

Jeff Haynes commented that the change "harkens back to a classic, more hardcore RPG experience of fighting and grinding", while done at the expense of what "made Persona 3 so intriguing in the first place.

"[100] The reviews of GameSpy and IGN reiterated issues found with the original game, such as the inability to directly control party members in battle.

[122] Three websites specific to coverage of RPGs honored it in annual award postings, namely RPGamer (Best Re-release),[123] RPGFan (Best Traditional RPG on Handheld),[124] and RPGLand (Best Port).

[8] While previewing Persona 3 for GameSpot, Kevin VanOrd said that the continued use of Evokers "never gets old and it never gets any less awesome to watch, and considering that you could play this for fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty hours or more, that's saying something.

[146] Producer Ryouta Niizuma stated the team prioritized remaking the original Persona 3 and excluded the epilogue from FES and the female protagonist from Portable.

[158] NIS America licensed the show and released it in two half-season deluxe edition box sets with the original Japanese audio track in 2010.

The volumes respectively focus on the protagonist and Ryoji;[164] Junpei and Chidori;[165] Fuuka, Ken, and Aigis;[166] Yukari and Mitsuru;[167] and Akihiko, Shinjiro, and Koromaru.

[172] The plays starred Shouta Aoi as Sakuya, Kana Asumi as Kotone, Maho Tomita as Yukari, Genki Okawa as Junpei, Yuki Fujiwara as Akihiko, Asami Tano as Mitsuru, Marina Tanoue as Fuuka, ZAQ as Aigis, and Waku Sakaguchi and Tomonori Suzuki as Ken.

Richard Eisenbeis from Kotaku reviewed the play favorably, approving of its casting and special effects, but felt that the musical numbers were "out of place" and the protagonists had "zero personality.