Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 breaks new grounds in terms of taking chances

by Jix

In Group: Boring

Worth to: Buy

Tensei Persona 3 is one of the most important games some of us will ever play – a special game recommended to just about any RPG fan and all the loners out there

I know that’s saying a lot about a game, but Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 could be one of the most important games some of us will ever play. The game breaks away from the norm and gives us something that can actually teach some of us about what it’s like to make friends and be happy.

Persona 3 came out a year ago. This re-release gives players extra content. After the game is over we can play a continuation of the story. We are able to do so from the beginning but it is advised for those who haven’t played the original Persona 3 to start from the beginning (duh).

From the start we can tell we are in for something special. Right from the main menu, the “nouveau art” style and classic operatic tune shows us the game’s producers took chances. They took chances with the story, they took chances with the theme and they took chances with the gameplay.

STORY

The story is a bit weird. You are a student who transferred to a new school. The world you live in turns everybody into coffins at mid-night. This time is called “Dark Hour”. You and a group of other students from your dorm are the only ones who are unaffected by this. At that time monsters called “Shadows” come out and attack anybody who isn’t a coffin (basically you and your group). While all this takes place, your high-school turns into a giant tower from where the Shadows come from. Your team decides to investigate this tower in the hopes of unraveling the mystery of Dark Hour.

The game is divided into two phases: Dark Hour and Non-Dark Hour. Dark Hour is basically the fighting phase. Though there is some story while fighting, it is limited to your characters talking from time to time. The bulk of the story takes place during the day when you go to school or go out into town. The daytime part resembles nothing like the fighting part, in that it is all about developing the story and your relationship with other characters. That’s not to say this part isn’t important, because it is. While you interact with characters at school or in town, you gain “Social Links”. You can only interact with one character each day. Once you accept to go out and do stuff with a character (like a classmate or a people you have met in town) time moves forward. You can only do a set amount of things during the day before Dark Hour comes. This ads an element of strategy to what parts of the story you want to progress, and can affect your gameplay

The game in general is about developing relationships with characters. The story focuses on the different types of people in the world. Some are athletic, some are shy, some are aggressive, some are nerdy, some love to eat, some love to design clothes, some are loners, some even want to commit suicide because they can’t handle the interacting with people. The game shows us that we are all different, but we all have stories to tell, and that we are all special. It makes a contrast between people who are active in developing relationships and those who are not. Those who are active reap the rewards of life, but in the end, it is our decision whether we want to be active or apathetic.

GAMEPLAY

To fight in Dark Hour you must go to the giant tower at your school. Here is where your character gains experience and money. Fighting is turn-based, like Final Fantasy, but you at least get to see the monsters before the fight begins. You can even avoid them, which is a very nice feature. You party can have up to 4 members. Before you engage into battle you can flank a shadow and attack them from behind. This will give you an advantage when the battle begins.

One of the weaknesses of the battle system is that you can only control your main character, and you can only give general orders to the rest of the 3 supporting characters. It’s not really that bad considering the support characters are usually smart. They won’t make too many stupid decisions. During battles you can attack with your weapon or you can unleash a “Persona”, which is basically a Summon. You find Personas after battle in the form of cards. Here is where things get interesting. Each persona is associated with a particular character Social Link. The part during the day where you meet people and develop relationships has a direct effect on your summons during battle. This is only true when you create a Person in the Velvet Room.

What is the Velvet Room? To further complicate things (trust me, it’s all pretty smart and simple once you play the game) players can take Personas and merge them to make new Personas in a Velvet Room. Once you create a persona, it can level up and become even stronger if you have a Social Link with someone in town that’s associated with that Persona. This “link” is random but consistent. For instance, a track teammate you befriend can have a Social Link of the “Chariot” type Persona. Later in the velvet room you create a “Samurai” Persona which is of the “Chariot” type. As soon as you create this Persona it will level up depending on what level your relationship is with your track teammate. Why does the Samurai belong to the Chariot type of persona is not explained but all Samurais, for instance, will be of the Chariot type.

To make things more interesting, the game follows a real calendar. Monday to Saturday you go to school (kids actually go do to school on Saturdays in JAPAN!! SUCKS!!!!). Sundays are free for you to do as you please. Every full moon you encounter a really strong boss that usually takes the fighting out of the tower and into town. The battles can be tough if you don’t train in the tower. Having said that, whether you go fight in the tower is up to you. Fighting too much can make your characters tired, which can affect their performance during battle and at school. At school you can gain Academic, Charm and Courage points. You decisions in some situations will affect if you gain any of those points. It’s also good to listen to what teachers say in class because you sometime have exams! If you do good on an exam you can get extra stuff.

Levels in the tower are a bit boring. Each section of the tower is divided into a few levels and the settings are always bland and featureless. Music can get on your nerves after a while because of the same tunes always playing over and over. Graphic are rather nice during the day and each main character has a nice art while in dialog.

CONCLUSION

In all, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 is a great game. I advise anybody who loves RPGs and games with depth to try it out. It might be a little weird at first but it will grow on you. It’s a niche game, but I advise everybody to try it out. Be careful though, it starts REAL slow. It took me about 30 minutes before I encountered a fight, even then it was a scripted “tutorial” type battle. Took me over an hour to really get into the battles. But that good because the game can be tough at first. Also, it unlocks new elements very slowly, so you will find new features late into the game. Anybody who’s ever had trouble making friends and being social should play this game. It will give you a zest for life!