Persona 3

September 10,2007 - The Megami Tensei series, unbeknownst to most western gamers, is virtually as long-running and prolific as its more famous RPG genre brethren, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Kicking off in 1987 on the Famicom with Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei, MegaTen went on to produce a host of sequels and spinoffs. The Digital Devil Saga, poorly-received Pokémon clone DemiKids, and of course, the Persona franchise, among others, all fall under the Megami Tensei brand. As MegaTen quietly celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, in fitting fashion, the crew over at Atlus USA have brought one of the greatest RPGs ever produced to the North American market just as quietly.

In Persona 3, you play as main character Minato Arisato – as his name is revealed in the Japanese manga series – though you are free to name him as you wish. Minato is starting at the upscale Gekkoukan High School, and things immediately take a strange turn. Upon arriving at the school, he experiences a wide range of bizarre experiences – signing a contract presented to him by a child (believing it to have something to do with his registration), arriving in the Velvet Room where he meets the enigmatic Igor and Elizabeth, and crossing paths in the dorm itself with an extremely nervous girl armed with a pistol.

Once the latter misunderstanding is resolved, he meets two of his dormmates: the high-strung Yukari Takeba, and her polar opposite, the well-collected student body president Mitsuru Kirijo. From that point, the main cast is rounded out with the introduction of class clown Junpei Iori and upperclassman Akihiko Sanada, and things get going in earnest. The dorm is attacked by monsters simply referred to as “shadows,” Akihiko is seriously injured in the conflict, and Minato ends the battle by picking up Yukari's pistol, or “Evoker”, and shooting himself in the head, thus calling forth his main Persona, Orpheus. With Akihiko out of action, Minato is named interim leader of the group, known as S.E.E.S. (Specialized Extracurricular Extermination Squad), and the war against the shadows gets underway.

The main point of interest to Persona 3 is how well it seamlessly blends a variety of elements that some may think would lead to an aimless mishmash rather than a masterpiece. It utilizes both fantasy and reality at the same time. Unlike many games, Persona 3 acknowledges the fact that you are playing as a group of average teenagers who just happen to have heightened abilities. As a result, they will get highly fatigued if forced to battle for extended periods of time, and will be unable to go on for a few days thereafter. Furthermore, as you can only fight the shadows at midnight during the “Dark Hour”, it's up to you to decide how Minato will allocate the rest of his time. You will attend high school, hang out with friends in the afternoons, and even go out on dates with some of the girls in Persona 3's cast – yes, that's right, dating sim elements. As you do this, you will level up your charm, academics, courage, and Social Links. As your Social Links strengthen, you will be able to create more powerful personae with the help of Igor and Elizabeth and discover even more Social Links to cultivate, on top of other possible benefits (think Tifa). Despite all the different things there are to do, Persona 3 still always feels completely cohesive and focused.

By night, you also have a few choices, except in instances where certain story elements take place. On a normal night, you have the option of studying, going to bed early (which will do wonders for your condition if you're sick or tired), or venturing into the game's massive set of randomly-generated dungeons known as Tartarus. Although the level designs in Tartarus are nothing to write home about, the battle system is brilliant, rewards strategy, punishes you for taking the easy way out if you do so habitually, and really makes it an absolute joy to play through the game's numerous battles. One strange twist is that unlike the rest of the genre, you do not control your party members through anything more than basic sets of instructions. Generally speaking, you only truly play as Minato, while the rest of the S.E.E.S. Members are AI-controlled. This is fine, however, since there's so much to Minato and his laundry list of Personae, he's like a walking party unto himself, and the quality of the AI serves as less of a handicap and more of a device with which to give the rest of the cast an even greater sense of character.

You can't say enough about the game on an artistic level, either. Although it doesn't crank out every last bit of power from the aging PlayStation 2 hardware, it more than makes up for it in its unique look and sound. Art director Shigenori Soejima did an outstanding job with the character designs and the overall world of Persona 3, while composer Shouji Meguro delivers an incredible soundtrack that is light years away from conventional. Finally, add in a team of accomplished English voice actors from such series as Bleach and Fullmetal Alchemist, and this game has even managed to put a quality English dub together. The word “unique” does not do justice to any part of Persona 3's presentation – the team behind it has truly created an experience that will stay with you for a long time after you're done with it.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 is one of those rare games where every single element comes together to deliver something truly special. One could say that Atlus should have brought over the game's director's cut – Persona 3 Fes – but even this original version of Persona 3 has more than enough meat on its bones to keep even the most obsessive RPG player happy for hours upon hours, and it's impossible to see everything this game has to offer in a single play through. Even better, the game comes in a collector's-style box set, which also includes an art book and soundtrack CD. In short, Shin Megami Tensei has been one of the heaviest hitting franchises in the RPG genre for years now, but only recently started to get exposure in North America. By all rights, Persona 3 should be the breakout monster hit that propels the MegaTen series to true western prominence.

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