Ah! Just look at it. I SAID LOOK AT IT!
I'm mainly doing this to catch anyone up on the series if you happened to skip by this awesome title!
Revelations: Persona (女神異聞録ペルソナ, Megami Ibunroku Perusona, literally "Record of Another Goddess Story Persona") is the first in a series of role-playing games for PlayStation consoles – one of several spin-off series within developer Atlus' Megami Tensei franchise. In Japan, it has the Roman-character tagline "Be Your True Mind".
The story is set in contemporary times, with high school teenagers serving as the heroes of the game. Armed with weapons and imbued with magical beings known as Personae, they band together to repel demons that are invading their city.
Game mechanics
Like the games in the Megami Tensei series, battles in Persona need not always be about fighting. Instead, the player has the option to "Contact" the demons they encounter in an attempt to communicate with them. However, certain enemies (usually bosses and human-type enemies) cannot be contacted no matter how much the player might try. Each playable character has a set of different Contact commands, which will affect the selected demon in one of four ways: Joy, Anger, Fear or Interest. There are occasional questions posed by the demon, and the chosen answer will also have an effect on its mood. By making a demon interested three or four times in a row, they will offer the player their "Spell Card". These Cards can be used in the mystical Velvet Room to summon new Personae.
While not engaged in battle, the party wanders the city streets via an aerial view map. Unlike future entries in Persona series, dungeons and outdoor areas are navigated using a scrolling first-person perspective. However, whenever the party enters a room, the camera shifts to an angled third-person perspective, where party members and non-playable characters can be seen and interacted with.
Battles are also from a third-person view. Each party member is confined to a space on a grid, which dictates the range of their attacks and where they can move during their turn. Ranged weapons can travel over many 'squares' to hit an enemy, while melee attacks are confined to one square. Enemy demons are positioned in front and rear lines on the grid; When the front line is defeated, the rear line advances to take their place.
The player is allocated various Personae, one per character, which grants the party magic-casting capability. Each Persona also comes with a stat boost that improves the character's attributes when they gain a new level. In order to access a more powerful Persona, the player must create one by fusing two demons together using their Spell Cards. The keeper of the Velvet Room, Igor, oversees the Fusion process and gauges its probable success. In the Fusion menu, a color icon determines how compatible each pair of demons are: A red icon warns that the pair of demons are incompatible, and are in danger of resulting in a failed Fusion. A white icon indicates that the demons are of average compatibility, and no complications will arise. Finally, a blue icon indicates that the demons are very compatible, and may produce an enhanced Persona with favourable spells and/or attributes.
Occasionally, a failed Fusion will result in a "Fool" Persona or a misshapen ("Jellyman") Persona. Fool Personae are extremely rare, but possess enhanced abilities. Conversely, a Jellyman Persona will actually lose attributes after a Fusion rather than gain them. There will be no change to its appearance, but Igor will alert the party that a Jellyman has been created by mentioning that it "seems irregular".
An on-screen meter that shows the phase of the moon is always present. Besides showing the passage of in-game time, the current status of the moon affects the mood of most demons, meaning that certain Tarot cards can only obtained from them at certain times. A full moon also makes them more dangerous.
Characters
There are a total of nine playable characters in Persona. It is not possible to recruit all of them in one play-through; meeting the requirements necessary to acquire one party member might make others inaccessible. Yuki joins the party only briefly in the North American release of the game, but plays a larger role in the "Snow Queen Quest" (available only in the Japanese version).
Each of the main characters are students at fictional St. Hermelin high school, located in the city of Lunarvale (in the Japanese release, the city is named Mikage-cho). After playing a ritual-like children's game called "Persona", all of them gain the ability to summon Personae, spirits which manifest as various monsters, heroes and gods of mythology. The main character is a nameless boy, and the silent protagonist of the game. Other party members include Mary, a sick girl who mysteriously regains her health around the same time that demons invade the town; Mark, class clown and aspiring artist; Nate, pompous rich boy who is heir to the Trinity Group; Brad, a narcissist who convinces the others characters to play "Persona" in the first place; Ellen, daring adventurer and expert fencer; Alana, popular girl and a heart breaker with many admirers; Chris, enigmatic fighter with a prominent scar on his forehead; and Yuki, a reformed gang member who mentors her fellow students.
That said, we get to choose will be the fifth character in our band of mighty high-school hero! We can only choose one so I'll put it to a vote!
