The latest MegaTen masterpiece is Persona 3, an innovative, interactive look at day-to-day dating and doom in contemporary Japan.
Momento Mori. Remember you are mortal. Remember you will die. Remember your death.
Those words echo in your head as you run through dark, blood-soaked corridors. Shadowy creatures leap out and pursue you into a dead end. Cornered, you pull out your Evoker, a gun-like apparatus, and aim it...into the side of your head. BAM! The sound of cracked glass resonates through the hallway. But you don't die. Instead, the Greek personification of death and mortality, Thanatos, emerges before you. It proceeds to decimate the shadowy creatures with its massive blade. Your relief is temporary, though, as you are reminded that Death resides within you. Is this all a dream? No, it's just a typical night in the world of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3.
Developed by Japanese game developer Atlus Ltd, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 is the latest video game in the Shin Megami Tensei (roughly translated as "reincarnation of the new goddess") series. In Japan, Shin Megami Tensei, abbreviated "MegaTen" by fans, is often grouped with Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, the two most venerable and popular Role Playing Game (RPG) series in the country. In the US, the Final Fantasy franchise has always appealed to a broad audience, with its impressive graphics, stylized characters, and dramatic storytelling. In contrast, the MegaTen series has primarily been a cult favorite amongst hardcore gamers, with its challenging gameplay, post-apocalyptic settings, horror ambiance, and subdued approach to story telling. Persona 3 was released in the US on the Playstation 2 this past August as the fourth entry in the Persona series, a spin-off from MegaTen. Persona 3 is the most accessible game in the series, with an adjustable difficulty level and greater emphasis on story. It also eschews the foreboding wastelands in favor of a more familiar, urban backdrop.
At the start of the game, you assume the role of a mysterious transfer student on his way to his new dormitory. When midnight strikes, everything begins to go amiss; time seems to stand still as all the other humans around you are transmogrified into coffins. A mysterious tower eerily beckons from the background. When you arrive at the dorm, you assign the transfer student a name, as he is your in-game persona, an extension of your will. You learn from your dorm mates that there is a hidden hour, the "Dark Hour," between midnight and 1am, in which mysterious creatures known as shadows wreak havoc upon the world. The mysterious tower, Tartarus, you saw on your way to the dorm is apparently the source of all shadows. Eventually you join SEES, an organization moonlighting as a school club that is devoted to defeating the shadows and uncovering the mysteries behind the Dark Hour.
The game is broken up into three parts: one part dungeon-exploring RPG, one part high school simulation, and one part monster collection excursion. Western gaming media have often described the MegaTen games as "Pokemon from Hell." In Persona 3, acquiring mythological monsters called personas to fight alongside you is crucial. Most personas can be found in Tartarus while others can only be unlocked in the simulation. The game expertly fuses all three of these disparate gaming elements into one of the most refreshing RPG experiences of the generation.
What separates Persona from your typical RPG is how it incorporates the high school simulation side into the gameplay. Rather than serving as background, your day-to-day activities greatly influence how you advance in the game. It is a digital immersion of modern Japanese lifestyle. You ride the train to class, buy equipment at the mall, socialize with classmates, eat at ramen restaurants, buy takoyaki at outdoor stalls, give offerings at local shrines, receive phone calls and text messages from your friends, and even cram for your exams. The game even has dating sim elements, another popular subgenre in Japan, complete with personality stats that factor into your character's growth. Certain personas can only be unlocked by establishing links with classmates and other city denizens.
None of these interactions are forced upon you; you have the freedom to choose what you want to do within your daily schedule. You can devote afternoons to watching movies or participating in sports clubs. Or you can spend your nights advancing through Tartarus or you can spend the evenings improving your charisma at a karaoke bar. The beauty of the game is that it revolves around the choices you make. Stayed up all night studying? You might get fatigue or come down with a cold, which affects your effectiveness in battle. Time management is crucial, as each activity you partake in consumes valuable time. With the game taking place over the course of a year, it is essential to strike a healthy balance to accomplish your goals.
Visually, the game is serviceable: the character models and backdrops aren't particularly impressive, but succeeds in selling the idea that you are a high school student living in a modern Japan. Unlike the previous entries in the series, Shigenori Soejima (Stella Deus) took over character design duties over veteran Shin Megami Tensei artist Kazumi Kaneko. Soejima infuses the series with a trendy new style that arguably suits the game's aesthetic more so than Kaneko's dark, iconic designs. Fans of Kaneko will be pleased to know that a majority of the personas are recycled from the previous Shin Megami titles. Soejima's character designs are filled with expression and edge while maintaining an air or realism. No garish, outlandish costumes or overwrought character designs here. The eclectic soundtrack, composed by series composer Shoji Meguro, delivers a bouncy J-pop vibe. Instead of your typical, orchestral fantasy overtures, the game bombards you with Engrish techno and rap battle hymns.
Perhaps the most striking aspect of the game is that it's undeniably Japanese. To see how far video game localization efforts have reached up to this point, one needs to look back a decade, when the first the game in the series, Persona: Revelations, was released stateside. Concerned that the game's modern day, Japanese setting would alienate Western gamers, the localization at Atlus changed the game's location to America. Character appearances and names were changed to reflect this. Every reference to Japan was omitted from the text. They even went as far as to change the ethnicity of one character into a grotesque African American caricature, all for the illusion of diversity. Changing the country of origin resulted in some glaring discrepancies, such as the appearance of Shinto shrines, which are distinctly Japanese.
The rising popularity and acceptance of Japanese media, anime, and gaming over the past decade has undoubtedly been reflected in video game locations. Persona 3 embraces its Japanese roots, integrating it into the core of the story and gameplay. Japanese holidays are celebrated and even Japanese honorifics are used. Nothing distinctly Japanese has been forced out of the game, nor has anything been shoe-horned in to cater to Western tastes. Although certain cultural aspects (i.e. jokes and puns) have unavoidably been diluted or lost in translation, the game is a remarkable example of how video games should be localized. Diversity should be embraced, not censored or forced. While the MegaTen series, including the Persona games, have been known for catering to hardcore, non-mainstream gamers, this entry has been very well received by the American gaming community.
Persona 3 has been a resounding success in Japan, spawning a revised director's cut, a semi-sequel, two cell phone-based spin-offs, and an anime series, Persona: Trinity Soul, that's airing in Japan now. It proves that a game doesn't need to have a blockbuster budget to create an immersive world, an excellent plot, and believable characters.
Here's the game's very stylish introduction animation.
Other links:
Social Link
Information