I've always had a strong affinity towards JRPGs, so it should come as no surprise that I loved Persona 3. I rememeber seeing it plastered all over the internet, and the game described as playing an anime. That sums this game up perfectly! Plus screenshots like this grabbed me and took hold like a fearsome demon.
 |
| Reaction faces across the board! |
Persona is a spin off of the Shin Megami Taisen series, but much more accessible. I've personally only ever played the PS2 games in the series, but Digital Devil Saga was dull, and Nocturne was about wandering demon hallways and occasionally fighting something. Hell, even the first three Personas weren't that good, they were difficult grindy, and you fought monsters constantly. That makes Persona 3 all the more special.
 |
| From right to left: Shinji, Akihiko,Misuru,Yuki, Koromaru, Yukari,Aegis,Fuuka, Junpei and Ken. |
The game begins with you, the protagonist, hero, whatever moving into a new building for school. On the first night, you are faced with a demon attack, but somehow you know what to do! You grab the evoker from the useless female, shoot yourself in the head, and summon your persona (a personal demon) to save the day! Afterwards you learn of the situation. That everyone in your building can summon a persona to fight shadows, and save the world. The Shadows appear every full moon, but can be find during the dark hour at your school which transforms into Tartarus, the tower of grinding. Yes, you will spend hours upon hours traversing the 263 floors fighting shadows. You join SEES, or Special Extracurricular Execution Squad, which is formed as a real school club! With hidden motives of course. During the Dark Hour, regular people become black coffins, and remember nothing.
What sets Persona apart from other JRPGs, aside from the grimdark edginess, is that you still ive the life of a Japanese student, going to school and making friends. There are things called social links, which is hanging out with people, and bonding. This bonding makes your Personas stronger, with each link corresponding to a Tarot card. It's pretty fun, as each social link is different, from girls in your class, to drunken monks.
 |
| Some social links are more interesting than others. |
 |
| This can only end erotically. |
The social links only add to the story, if you didn't want to, you could do none of them other than than ones associated with your group, SEES. You spend most of your days in school, and you have time after school to dick around with friends, or improve your special stats. To befriend people and do well in school, you have to improve your courage, intelligence, and charisma statuses. This can be done through events at the mall, staying awake in class, and even seeing movies. Then every night you can either work on the only two night social links, or head to Tartarus to grind. You will spend so much time there it isn't even funny.
 |
| The battle system is pretty normal. |
Now it's time to introduce our cast!
Yuki Makoto- the protagonist, who was unamed til the movie. He's usually slouching around with his hands in his pockets, listening to his MP3 player. Everyone loves him.
Yukari- Kind of a bitch, she lost her father to the Shadows. I always felt she was the main heroine.
Junpei- Kind of an idiot, he's the foil to Yukari.
Akihiko- a boxer upperclassman who was a member of the original SEES. He carries great guilt over something they did.
Mitsuru- Her grand father is responsible for the Shadows being unleashed, and was a memeber of the original SEES.
Shinji- an old friend of Akihiko who killed Ken's mother on accident, and took to living on the streets.
Ken- The youngest Persona user.
Aigis- an anti Shadow robot who put the soul of Evil in Yuki 10 years prior to the events of this game.
Koromaru- A dog who can summon a Persona. fucking awesome!
Fuuka- The backup and intelligence.
Chairman Ikutusuki- The founder of SEES, and an evil mastermind.
As the story continues, you defeat all the shadows, each with their own Arcana association (Chariot, Magician, etc.) Then when they are all defeated, the Dark Hour does not end! Ikutsuki reveals that his goal was to end the world, and that the protagonist was uniting each of the shadows inside him unknowingly, since he had the spirit of Nyx inside him. Around this time a new transfer student appears, who is essentially the messenger of Nyx. He offers you a choice, to kill him, or die fighting Nyx. If you kill him, the game ends, and everyone forgets what has happened, and goes on living til the fall of the world. If you chose to fight Nyx, you get a few tips on how to fight him, and that he will appear at the top of Tartarus.
To complicate matters, there is a group known as Strega, who were street children experimented on to use personas, who want the world to end. As you climb to the top of the tower, you must face them and finally Nyx. Then you seal him away, and everyone aside from Aigis forget what has happened. Then during a speech they all remember, and race to meet you and Aigis on the roof.
Fes is essentially a dungeon crawler. Until I played it, I did not know the protagonist died. That was quite a shock. Fes is about the gang reuniting, along with a second robot known as Metis trying to save the hero. At the end of the game, its revealed the protagonist became a seal to stop people from calling for Nyx, and there was no way to save him without destroying that Seal. In Persona 4, it's revealed Elizabeth from the velvet Room is working to free him.
Persona 3 portable adds the option of a female lead, who unfortunately befalls the same fate as the original hero. I played it through hoping that something would save him, but that did not happen. This version removes most of the cutscenes, and adds a few minor things, such as the ability to work as the cafe as a female, and the social links changing a bit. It's not as good as the original, but not bad either.
Persona 3 the Movie 1: Spring of Birth- the first part of a Trilogy that adapts the game! It came out in Japanese theaters in December, so I haven't seen it yet.There's also the Persona trinity Soul anime, which has a sweet theme song. It's crap other than that, it's a bunch of exposition about psychology and not enough persona summoning.
So what scores do I give what is most likely my favorite game ? Why a solid 9/10! Fes gets a 7/10 because I'm not a big fan of dungeon crawlers. I'll probably write a blog about Persona 4 once I play through it again.It crashed when I played it this morning, boohoo sadface.
On a related note, this game is what solidified my beliefs in social interaction. To the point where I almost see exclamation points above certain peoples heads.I've always had a few option pop into my head when people talked to me, and I usually just say what I think is the funniest. I've always believed that most people cannot be your friends, and no bond will ever form between you and them. Though you can totally date multiple women, so long as they never find out.
No comments:
Post a Comment