Well, I'm back to playing "Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3" and since a) I'm glad that they're finally starting to bring "Megaten" games to the US in full form, and b) there's not much new this week, I thought I'd give you my thoughts.

First, what is "Persona 3"? The latest entry in a controversial (link possibly down) game series from Japan. The plot for this game is markedly less controversial than the Hitler-featuring predecessor "Persona 2: Innocent Sin," but still includes high school students putting guns to their heads to summon demons! Relax, it's all in good fun though, you and your high school teammates control "Persona," alternate sides to the consciousness that allow you to use magic. During the day you attend high school like a normal student: answering questions in class, going to clubs after school, studying, hanging out with your friends, and going on dates, and at a hidden time of night known as "shadow time" you travel to a mysterious tower called Tartros to battle demons. Cool, no?

The Good

Music: As usual for a Megaten game, "Persona 3" has a super produced modern sound to it. Gone are the 303's of "Persona 2," in place are hip hop and pop themed songs with full vocals. I personally liked the dancier "Persona 2" OST better, but it's hard not to notice the production on the new soundtrack.

Gameplay: The day/night split in the gameplay is a first for the series and truly refreshing; like you're playing a dating sim mixed with a dungeon crawler. The battles are fun and there's a new press-turn system that keeps things interesting. Also a first for the series, random battles have been replaced with completely visible enemies. The best part is that the enemies will attack you when the hero is at lower levels, but will run in fear once the hero starts getting stronger. Less grinding = good.
On the other hand, attending school during the day can be quite fun and the choices you make in conversation will often affect your affinity for certain people. Since your schedule changes with the time of year to reflect summer vacation and festivals, there's always something new going on. The game also makes fantastic use of romantic tension to keep you playing.

The Bad

Music: Since many of the activities you perform will be performed many times over the one-year course of the game, some of the tracks get a little repetitive. Particularly, the Tartros theme changes very little over the +200 floors of the level. Luckily, music in the city portions of the game changes depending on the season, and you can select to play alternate BGM in Tartros (including a reworking of the "Persona 2" theme!)

Gameplay: Since the floors of Tartros are generated at random, the game can get repetitive. Gameplay provides ample rewards through leveling up, but you'll never see anything surprising inside Tartros. Similarly, the plot of the game lulls during summer vacation, leaving fairly repetitive days until school and the plot pick up again. While the game seems easier than earlier games in the series, the occasional boss will still be that uniquely Atlus brand of controller-throwingly frustrating.