Megami Tensei Persona

MEGAMI TENSEI PERSONA — BE YOUR TRUE MIND
(U.S. Version: REVELATIONS SERIES — PERSONA)
Sony PlayStation
Role Playing

(Japanese Version)
Atlus Japan
SLPS-00500
¥5800
Available Now

(N.A. Version)
Atlus
SLUS-00339
Available Now
$59.95

Copyright © 1996 Atlus

— by Dave Van Cleef

Altus is no stranger to the RPG field in Japan, with many titles under their belt. However, PERSONA (MEGAMI TENSEI PERSONA - BE YOUR TRUE MIND in Japanese, REVELATIONS SERIES - PERSONA in English) is the first of their famous Magami Tensei series to be published in the US, and is their first RPG of any kind to appear on the Playstation. Unlike most other RPGs, PERSONA is set in contemporary Japan, and the characters are Japanese high-school students caught up in the situation when mystical forces alter their town.

The core of the game is the subject of personas, facets of your personality that the playable characters (and others) can manifest to cast magical spells. It is said that everyone has an unlimited quantity of personas locked within themselves, but the game limits you to a selection of approximately 75-80 available ones.

There are several possible views during the game: a first-person view for dungeons, a top-down view for external movement, and a 3/4 isometric view for rooms/combat. The first two suffer somewhat due to comparatively primative graphics, and a common complaint of the top-down view is that the marker for the player is not readily visible. The 3/4 view is where the game's graphics really shine. In PERSONA magics alone there are over 400 magic animations, plus the normal animations for attacks and the like.

Did you forget to bring your sword to class today? PERSONA pits once normal High School students against demons.

Confrontations in PERSONA may be unlike any other RPG you are familiar with. Fighting may not be the optimal solution to every situation. Indeed, negotiating with the monsters will often yield up spell cards necessary for the creation of more powerful personas, and other items without the need for combat. Each character has four means of negotiation, and it is an exercise in anticipating what the monster is interested in to achieve the optimum results. Guess wrong and the monsters can attack you first, or worse...

The storyline in PERSONAis interesting, but unfortunately extremely linear. Aside from random encounters in the streets to attempt to gain items and level-ups, there are almost no options on where to proceed next. This is endemic to Japanese RPGs but is particularly blatant here, down to the placement of buildings such that you are forced to enter them (and trigger that stage of the game) to proceed any further.

Each character has their own Persona which they can call upon to assist them in combat.

The BGM is somewhat eclectic, but consistently above average throughout. There is one track, however, that is played quite a bit and is grating to the ears of this reviewer -- its first eight bars are identical to the piano intro to "Forever Love," the main theme to the X movie, moving on into a vaguely displeasing melody. All the music (including the vocals) is carried over intact into the English version.

The differences in the Japanese and English versions are where I really find fault with the English release. The first and foremost is the length of the game. In the original release one could expect to get at least 40 hours of play from the full game with the best possible ending. Atlus's US translation team, who claim that this was due to the deadline required to get the game out in time for Christmas, have removed about 10 hours worth of the game. Even though the remaining game is still longer than the average RPG, knowing this the US player should justifiably feel cheated. The other bone of contention is the matter of a character design change. In the conversion to the English version, one of the characters was changed to be of African-American descent. This would not be that bad except that the character's speech and mannerisms evoke the worst stereotypes possible.

While an admirable effort and still a decent game, I cannot recommend the English version of PERSONA. Those with sufficient Japanese knowledge would be advised to check out the original version, available as an import, or wait for the next round of Playstation RPG offerings such as the widely anticipated FINAL FANTASY VII.