Persona

If you follow this blog for a while, you know that I’m a huge Persona fan. After playing the series’ most known installments, it was time for me to dive into the unknown; more precisely to the games before Persona 3. As I explained in my Persona 3 Reload review, that game (not the version that I played, but the original one) introduced a formula that blends social simulation with the dungeon crawling typical of JRPGs, popularizing this series like never before. It happens that Persona 1 and 2 lack the focus on social elements, leaning more towards dungeon crawling, much like Shin Megami Tensei, the series that Persona is a spin-off of.

I provided myself with all the context necessary to approach the series’ first game. I even opted to play the improved 2009 PSP version over the original PS1 game from 1996, to avoid any potential headache with outdated mechanics. Even then, it was hard for me to have a good time with it.

Setting some foundations

While the first Persona game is a very different game from the most recent ones, I was pleasantly surprised to see here already some elements that defined the series. Starting with the very concept of Personas, spiritual creatures that give exceptional powers to their wielders. The Velvet Room, the place where those Personas are created and managed, also exists since the beginning, with the same host and musical theme. Even the story and theming touches the same points as its successors, focused around a ragtag group of teenagers dwelling between alternate realities. Unfortunately, the delivery of all those elements is very subpar, particularly the main narrative. Don’t get me wrong, there are interesting aspects in it, but all of them were explored in much more interesting ways in the subsequent games.

In my opinion, the biggest flaw of this game is the lack of depth of its characters, which is usually one of the things I seek the most in a Persona game. All of them except one (who is the center of the main narrative) are incredibly unidimensional, with all their interactions being based on their only personality trait. There were a few characters that I didn’t interact with, since there is an alternative story path that I didn’t play, but judging by the sample of my playthrough, I don’t imagine them to be much better.

Too many corridors

The dungeon exploration in Persona is done in a first-person grid-based system, in the same style as some JRPGs before it such as Phantasy Star. While they have some charm, the dungeons’ repetitive environments get old really fast. The case is aggravated with the biggest and more confusing dungeons. While navigating them, my entire focus was on the mini-map, since the endless samey corridors were a nightmare for orientation. The PSP version added the option for running, but even that didn’t solve the problem, only made it last less. For the cherry on top, we have good ol’ random encounters every god-damned five seconds! At least the turn-based combats aren’t that bad.

During combat, we can either attack with weapon or gun (never stops being funny, and disturbing, seeing random teenagers wielding shotguns and snipers), use a Persona ability, or simply talk with the enemies. By choosing the non-violent option, we can convince them to leave, affect their status, or give us some item, if we choose the right dialog options. It’s by this method that we obtain spell cards, probably the most important item of this game. By fusing two spell cards, we can create powerful Personas, with new abilities. Why Atlus opted for such a complex system for one of the core mechanics is beyond me, but it seems they learned the lesson as they streamlined this process in the sequels.

The importance of having the right Persona for the right job cannot be understated and the final boss of the game, in the route I played, is the hardest reminder of that. No, literally. The difficulty spike is so immense that without Personas buffing considerably the characters’ stats and powers, it’s straight up impossible to defeat it. With them, it’s just brutally difficult. It’s a shame, because it left a terrible taste on an otherwise good game.

Pros

• Two completely different story paths
• Quality of life features introduced in the PSP version
• Defined many core concepts of the Persona series
• Soundtrack with a few great songs

Cons

• Persona management is overly complex
• Little character development
• Very repetitive dungeons
• Incredibly difficult final boss
  
  

Okay✦✦✧✧✧

Persona is a game hard to recommend in the current day. It has the right ideas and intentions, but unfortunately, all of them are either underdeveloped or overly complex. On the bright side, it gave origin to one of the best JRPG series of all time.