Revelations: Persona

"This game is highly original... but it simply isn't fun"

Persona is part of the Megami Tensei series, which, while being extremely successful in Japan, has never received a domestic release- except for this game. The next installment in the series, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, is going to be released in the US shortly, but after having played this game, I really don't know if I'm going to buy the sequel. Persona was just too much of a mixed bag to win me over.

Graphics (4/10)
The visuals look distinctively 16bit and are pretty bland. The backgrounds lack detail and color, the characters are poorly animated. The worst part about the graphics is probably the world map, which is just about the ugliest I've ever seen in a RPG. Sure, graphics don't make a game, but exploring this world map simply wasn't fun due to its horrible look. The same goes for the deliberately confusing first person dungeons. On the plus side, the design is pretty consistent and fits the dark setting.

Music/Sound (3/10)
The word that sums this up best is ''elevator music''. The music has a certain light jazz feel to it that quickly got on my nerves. There certainly are some great original tunes, like the aria played in the ''Velvet Room'', but for the greater part the soundtrack just plain sucks and is poorly instrumentated to boot. There's also highly annoying voice acting during combat that will make you reach for the mute button in no time.

Story (4/10)
This is where things get interesting. Persona's setting and premise is quite unique and a refreshing departure from the stale fantasy tales that dominate the genre. Persona deals with a group of young high school students who, upon playing a role-playing game called ''Persona'' (hear me groan), make contact with a supernatural being living in a different dimension that grants them the ability to use ''persona'', guardian monsters that can be summoned to help your party in combat. Shortly afterwards, their town is overrun by demons, and they have to find out what's going on. Without giving away too much of the plot, let me say that the premise of the story is very ambitious and that Persona's plot is quite interesting and contains a number of nice twists and turns. Sadly, the characters, while being pretty complex(ed) and well developed, have few redeeming qualities, and I never felt any sort of emotional attachment towards them. Due to the bad dialogue, the game's hackneyed philosophy (basically, the poor man's version of C.G. Jung) all too often made me laugh rather than think as the designers seemed to intend. Persona makes a valiant attempt at trying to be deep and meaningful, but comes across as pretentious and heavy-handed and is ultimately ruined by bad pacing, poorly written dialogue and an unlikeable cast of characters. Nice try though.

Gameplay (4/10)
As mentioned above, your characters can use ''personas'' as spells in battle and to boost their stats. Think of it as an improved Esper system (FF6) or a toned-down version of FF8's Junction system. In addition to that, you can create your own personas from items you win through negotiations with monsters. The battle/negotiation system is quite fun and the game never gets too easy (in fact, some of the boss fights are really challenging and force you to carefully plan your actions). Now if it weren't for the HORRID dungeon design, loading times, poor controls, confusing menus and the frustratingly high random encounter rate, this game would have actually been fun. Persona has a lot of potential, but ultimately fails to entertain.

Challenge (8/10)
Tough, challenging boss fights are this game's saving grace.

Replay Value (4/10)
Plenty of secrets, but there's no way I would play through this game once again.

Overall (4/10)
Persona could have been a really good game, but the minuses outweigh the pluses. It's pretty hard to find nowadays, and frankly, it isn't worth the effort.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 09/25/00, Updated 09/25/00