Persona 3! Buy it or I'll send Ninja-Pirates after you

Although there was a myriad of unforgettable games in 2007 one of my favorites became a casualty of the next-generation transition, you would think that with the outlandish install base the Playstation 2 has (and continues to expand on) that console owners would seize the opportunity to play a good RPG but alas Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 has enjoyed limited success courtesy of devoted fans of the series and a select few that have heeded the favorable words of their enthusiast information outlet of choice.

I guess it would be unrealistic to expect new casual gamers who are being drawn in by the affordable price of the console to pick up such an intimidating title and I mean title in every sense of the word, let’s face it ‘Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3’ isn’t exactly appealing to a new gamer.

Then again there’s still a sizeable amount of gamers who are still on the fence on what ‘next-gen’ console to buy, I really should stop using the phrase ‘next-gen’ to refer to the current generation of consoles, the word is a bit redundant, we all know they are the next generation but I guess it won’t die out until the previous generation of consoles are no longer viable, lucky for the phrase the PS2 is clinging on for dear life, you would expect that the majority of these fence dwellers would buy the game, after all, there isn’t much else coming out on the PS2, but it looks like that hasn’t been the case.

Over a year after the Japanese release and around five months after the U.S release European gamers are finally being given the chance to experience one of the best role-playing games of 2007, or 2006 depending on where you live, until now we’ve had to sit in the corner and sulk about the need for simultaneous worldwide release dates and why European gamers get treated so bad, in the paraphrased words of one John Dorian, “Why do they hate us when we show them nothing but love?”, finally we can show our support for the game, but how well will the game do?

A lot of the devoted fans are probably internet savvy enough to have already got their hands on the game, even if some of them utilised less than legal means, tut tut. All that remains are the devotees who have been patiently waiting in foetal position since 2006, the true to their word pirates who “only downloaded it because they couldn’t wait and will buy the game when it comes out to support it”, and maybe some new PS2 adopters looking to broaden their horizons.

The Playstation 3 hasn’t got a lot of games; while the library is expanding with excellent games like Uncharted and Ratchet and Clank leading the charge this 'growing phase' leaves the perfect opportunity to check out any PS2 games that have been foolishly missed, so there’s a lot of potential gamers who could end up picking up a somewhat niche title, then again if you’ve got a 40GB model you’re in trouble.

I’m looking forward to seeing how Europe receives Persona 3, needless to say that I wholeheartedly recommend this game, if you consider yourself a fan of the RPG genre and you don’t pick up this game you are doing yourself an injustice, Persona 3 will be in stores on February 29^th, come on…give it a chance, otherwise I'll start rambling about 'Yakuza' and 'God Hand'...don't make me do that...