As far as Persona 3 Portable is concerned, the word of the day is definitely streamlined, and legitimately so because the game moves from screen to screen swiftly, even without the optional install.

I got the chance to view a demo of the title today when Atlus harnessed the power of the Internet to give an overview of the game’s most notable new feature, the ability to play as either gender.

The trade off is that “anime” cut-scenes have been replaced with more character portrait interactions, and that players now navigate the world with an icon rather than running around loose in it – well except for the dungeons of course.

Pressing square brings up a quick menu that allows players to jump to different locations now, admittedly making P3P a more ideal game on the go. Whether or not that’s a huge loss is debatable. One could lament that loss of immersion, but at the same time locations are freshened with a new 2D art perspective, keeping the game focused on character interchanges and battling with Persona.

At the end of the day, Persona 3 was a huge success for Atlus, so the logic behind this version is pretty easy to follow. The female narrative potential is a bit of a predictable addition, but at the same time not. Plenty of games come back without an option like that.

In demonstrating this new narrative path, Atlus couldn’t find a guy to hit on at the mall and we had to go clothes shopping instead – maybe I’ll have to watch how much interest I express over this angle.

I very much remember when I picked up Persona 3, and was taken in by everything from the bonus stuffed box it came in to the anime introduction that helped me sink into the couch and begin losing the first of many hours to it. It’s difficult to detach myself from that when talking about this PSP version. There’s a point where you can streamline a game too much, not that I’m saying that’s on display here, just something that’s on my mind.

I do think the intro to this version says something to that thought, that there is such a thing as too slick, but beyond that I’ll just have to wait until I get my hands on a copy of the game.