Revelation: Persona

Revelations: Persona, released in Japan as Megami Ibunroku Persona (女神異聞録ペルソナ^?, lit. "Goddess' Odyssey: Persona"), is a role-playing video game developed and published by Atlus. It is the first entry in the Persona series, itself a subseries of the Megami Tensei franchise, and the first role-playing entry in the series to be released in the west. Originally released for the PlayStation in 1996 in Japan and North America, the title was ported to Microsoft Windows in 1999. A port to the PlayStation Portable retitled Shin Megami Tensei: Persona (Persona (ペルソナ Perusona^?) in Japan) was released in 2009 in North America and Japan, and 2010 in Europe. This port featured new cutscenes and a redone localization.

The story focuses on a group of high school students as they are confronted by a series of supernatural incidents. After playing a fortune-telling game, the group each gain the ability to summon Personas, the multiple selves within them. Using this power under the guidance of Philemon, a benevolent being representing humanity's subconscious, the group face off against multiple forces that threaten the world. Gameplay revolves around the characters navigating environments around their town and fighting enemies using their Personas. During the course of the game, the player can create new Personae for battle using spell cards gained in battle or by talking with enemies.

Persona began development after the release of Shin Megami Tensei if..., with the idea of creating a subseries around the positively received high school setting of if.... Multiple staff members from previous Megami Tensei titles were involved in development, including character designer Kazuma Kaneko, and director Kouji Okada. Multiple aspects of the story, including the Persona and the character Philemon, were taken from Jungian psychology, while Kaneko's character designs were based on both staff members, and celebrities and fictional characters of the time. Reception to the game has generally been positive, with most praising its approach to the genre, while its navigation and localization were criticized. Its PSP port shared most points of praise with the original, along with the improved localization, but also drew negative comments for its by-then dated mechanics and graphics.

 

Contents

• 1 Gameplay
• 2 Synopsis
  • 2.1 Setting and characters
  • 2.2 Plot
   

 1 . Gameplay 

Revelations: Persona is a role-playing video game in which the player takes control of a group of high school students. A mixture of navigation styles are used: navigation round the students' hometown is done using an overhead view, navigation of standard environments such as outside areas and story locations use an angled third-person view, and dungeons and most buildings are navigating in first-person. An icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen displays a lunar phase: this display shows the passage of in-game time, and its status determines the activity patterns and moods of enemy demons. Battles are both triggered by story events and through random encounters around the world map and dungeon environments. If the player attacks an enemy from behind, the party is given a set of attacks costing no magic points or health points

Battles take place on a grid-based battle arena, with characters and enemies moving according to their position on the grid. Four commands are available to the party: Attack (fight enemies), Contact (talk with an enemy), Analyze (check an enemy for its strength and weaknesses), and Form (rearrange the party on the grid). The character's main means of attack is their Persona, beings summoned into battle to cast a spell that can heal the party, and inflict physical or elemental damage on an enemy. Each Persona has access to up to eight skills, and each character can change their Persona during their turn. Personas earn experience points independent of the characters they are assigned to, and gain new abilities through extended use. Experience is awarded based on how often the player uses certain characters or Personas. Alongside their Personas, each character is able to attack with an equipped melee weapon or firearm, use an item, or attempt to talk with the demons that act as the game's standard enemies.

Talking to a demon has different effects based on its personality, responding in a specific way to certain actions. There are four emotional responses that the player can elicit from a demon: anger, fear, joy, and interest. Triggering one of these emotions three times will cause the demon to perform an action: an angry demon will attack the party, a frightened demon will flee the battle, a joyful demon will give the player an item, and an interested demon will either leave the battle, give the player an item, or give the player a special spell card (tarot cards aligned with a particular Persona family or Arcanum)Functions related to the customization of Personas are performed in a special place called the Velvet Room: there, the character Igor can summon new Personas from among the various enemies defeated for a fee. He can also use two spell cards along with a special item to create a new Persona, which can inherit skills from the Personas used in the fusion. A Persona can only be fused using cards from certain Persona families. Personas can also be deleted if the player so chooses.

2 .  Synopsis

  

    2.1  Setting and characters

           

The game takes place in Japan in 1996, in the town of Mikage-cho. All the main characters attend St. Hermelin High, the town's high school, being in Class 4 taught by Saeko Takami.The other main feature of the town is the local branch of SEBEC (Saeki Electronics & Biological & Energy Corporation). All the main characters have the power to summon Personas, described in the manual as "the power of their hidden selves". The power to call Personas is granted by Philemon, a being born from the Collective Unconscious who acts as the party's spiritual guide and helper. He appears both in a human form and as a butterfly.

The player controls a silent protagonist, a second-year student who acts as their in-game representation. The rest of the cast are Maki Sonomura, whose near-constant ill health has made her inwardly bitter; Kei Nanjō, a self-confident heir to an important family business; Yukino Mayuzumi, a former gang member reformed through the efforts of Saeko; Hidehiko Uesugi, a man who puts on a facade of strength to cover his weaknesses; Yuka Ayase, a girl who consciously acts like a stereotypical "high school girl"; Masao Inaba, a spoiled and rebellious youth; and Eriko Kirishima, a woman with half-American parentage with an interest in the occult. The main antagonist is Takahisa Kandori, who runs the local SEBEC facility. During the SEBEC route, the player has the option of recruiting Reiji Kido, a student with a vendetta against Kandori.

  2.2 Plot

          

The game starts with the protagonist, along with schoolmates Hidehiko, Yuka and Masao, playing a fortune-telling parlor game called "Persona" while Kei and Yukino watch. After playing the game, the group see a ghostly figure, and the protagonist, Masao, Kei and Yukino are rendered unconscious. The protagonist is then drawn into the realm of Philemon, who grants him the power of Persona and warns him that his new power will soon be needed. After the four recover and at the suggestion of their teacher Saeko, they go to have a check-up and visit classmate Maki at the hospital. While visiting, Maki is taken ill, and while they are waiting for news, the ICU where Maki is being treated vanishes and the town is attacked by demons, the summoned manifestations of people's inner darkness. Using their Personae, the four defend themselves, and after meeting up with Eriko, they head to the town's Ayama Shrine to find Maki's mother Setsuko. Upon arrival, they find Setsuko wounded after an attack by Kandori. Setsuko reveals him to be the culprit behind the changes to the town, caused by a reality-altering machine called the Deva System. Nanjo and Masao head out to confront SEBEC, while the protagonist, Eriko and Yukino bring Setsuko back to the school. After this point, the game splits into two story routes: the main SEBEC route, and the alternate Snow Queen route.

In the SEBEC route, should the protagonist decide to confront SEBEC, he is first joined by an apparently-recovered Maki, then asked by Nanjo to help save Masao, who is captured by demons. The protagonist, Maki and Nanjo rescue Masao, but on the way Maki displays an odd lack of certain memories including being hospitalized. After rescuing Masao and infiltrating SEBEC, the group confront Kandori. After cornering him inside the Deva System, a girl in black called Aki appears and knocks the party unconscious. When they awake, they find themselves in a duplicate, idealized version of their world.The group eventually find and corner Kandori, whose ultimate goal was to become a deity and find meaning in life. After an initial fight, Kandori is possessed by his Persona Nyarlathotep, then finally defeated. Before dying, Kandori reveals that the Maki who has been traveling with the party is the "Ideal Maki", a version of herself from the true Maki's heart. Aki and a girl in white called Mai are also pieces of Maki, and the idealized Mikage-cho was created by Maki, and brought into reality when she unexpectedly linked with the Deva System. The group must help Maki avoid Kandori's path towards isolation and his current actions. The group manage to convince Ideal Maki to overlook her original self's unconscious actions and join them in fixing the problem. After rescuing the true Maki's self from the Sea of Souls, where all human life begins, the group must then confront Pandora, an aspect of Maki that wants to use the Deva System to destroy everything. When Pandora is defeated, all the pieces of Maki merge back into one, reversing the effects on the town and restoring her to full health. Philemon meets with the group and congratulates them on their success.

The Snow Queen route, which takes place in the real town of Mikage-cho, is unlocked by investigating an urban legend within the school surrounding a theatrical mask used in performances of "The Snow Queen": nearly everyone who wears the mask to play the title role has died. After finding the mask, the protagonist encounters Saeko, who puts on the mask and is possessed by a spirit within it. Freezing the entire town, the possessed Saeko generates three towers, with the spirits of those previously killed by the mask as their guardians, whilst setting up her Ice Castle within the high school. Along with Yukino, Ayase, Eriko, and Hidehiko, the protagonist heads out to save Saeko. Philemon contacts them and tells them that the only way to save Saeko is the Demon Mirror, which can remove the source of the mask's curse. The spirit possessing Saeko turns out to be former classmate Tomomi Fujimori, who was horribly disfigured by the mask when she wore it in place of Saeko. Using the mirror, the group are able to free Saeko and bring Tomomi peace. It is then revealed that Tomomi herself was controlled by the Night Queen Asura, a powerful entity who wants to cloak the world in darkness. Upon defeating the Night Queen, the town is freed from her power.