The General Persona Thread

Classic Fighting Games Persona 4 Arena
1

The General Persona Thread.

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc475/Kuroisky/Persona401.jpg

While everyone may be hyped about Persona 4 Arena, this thread is here just to provide some basic background knowledge on the series for those who are interested. Also feel free to discuss anything Persona related here.

Question 1: What the heck are the main Persona games (Persona 3 and 4) about?

Spoiler

In a nutshell, the recent Persona games focus around a group of teenagers who have the ability to summon “representations” of their psyche into reality. Respectively these representations are called “Personas” . If you have trouble grasping this concept it’s very similar to monster summoning in Yu-gi-oh (at least by Persona 4 standards in which the characters use cards to summon their personas). Personas are usually unlocked by defeating a shadow, a creature made of negative emotions. Typically a shadow is defeated in battle by a person accepting their negative traits instead of trying to deny them. The shadow then converts into a persona.

Question 2: Can you briefly describe the personality traits of the main characters in Persona 4?
Spoiler Warning

Spoiler

Yu Narukami - Protagonist of Persona 4 -

http://www.postavy.cz/foto/yuu-narukami-foto.jpg

Spoiler

In general, Yu is the player controlled character in Persona 4. Personality wise Yu is calm, cool, and collected in contrast to his other friends. He is also affectionately called “Senpai” (Japanese for Senior) in the anime, emphasizing his position as leader among his group of pals in the Investigation Team. He’s also a ladies man, and has shown to be quite skilled in using his charm to capture the hearts of women. Strangely, Yu doesn’t seem to suffer from personality problems like the other characters. Yu’s Persona is Izanagi, a hakumen-like character who wields spear-blade and primarily attacks using electricity.

Yosuke Hanamura - Friend of Yu -

http://www.postavy.cz/foto/yosuke-hanamura-foto.jpg

Spoiler

Yosuke is a clumsy, paranoid, wannabe ladies man, but a good-hearted fellow nonetheless. He’s known to be lacking in physical strength and he tends to fight with small blades such as knives and kunai. Although he’s a pessimist, Yosuke is deeply loyal to those he cares about. He even ventured into the dangerous “TV World” (described later) in order to potentially save a co-worker. But due to his insecurities he has trouble establishing true friendships and is hesitant at entering new relationships. Yosuke’s persona is Jiraiya, a masked ninja who attacks using magic.

Chie Satonaka - Friend of Yu, Best Friend of Yukiko -

http://www.postavy.cz/foto/chie-satonaka-foto.jpg

Spoiler

Chie is a lively, upbeat tomboy who is obsessed with Kung Fu, Martial Arts and Steak. She’s tsundere and domineering at times but she treasures her friends and will go to great lengths in order to protect them and the weak from harm. She also values justice and righteousness as well. But Chie is prone to be very envious of friend Yukiko who seems to have everything she wants. In contrast to her outward appearance, Chie has low self-esteem and is quite dependent on the praise and approval of others. Her Persona is Tomoe Gozen, a female samurai with a double-bladed staff who is a brawler character.

Yukiko Amagi - Friend of Yu, Best Friend of Chie -

http://www.postavy.cz/foto/yukiko-amagi-foto.jpg

Spoiler

Yukiko can best be described as “the princess” of the group. She’s very wealthy, elegant, beautiful, and delicate. Yukiko is also very intelligent but introverted and shy. She depends on Chie to make decisions for her due to her indecisive, weak-willed personality. Yukiko is also the next heir to inherit the Amagi Luxury Inn, but she doesn’t want to do so since she fears it will trap her in the rural town of Inaba forever. Her persona is Konohana Sakuya, a pink angelic-like woman who specializes in Fire and Light Magic.

Kanji Tatsumi - Friend of Yu -

http://www.postavy.cz/foto/kanji-tatsumi-foto.jpg

Spoiler

Kanji is a nice-guy delinquent, he often does uncouth things with good intentions. For example, when his mother couldn’t sleep due to the loud noise of a biker gang; he beat up the bikers. Kanji doesn’t have many friends at all and he feels as if he is a social outcast due to his tough guy demeanor. He also questions his sexuality due to the Naoto incident. But nonetheless Kanji is extremely strong willed and believes in “vigilante justice”. Kanji’s persona is Take-Mikazuchi, which (in a nutshell) is a black Sentinel with godlike electric powers and massive physical strength.

Teddie -Friend of Yu -

http://www.unikgamer.com/characters/face/teddie-1105.jpg

Spoiler

Teddie is a bear that Yu and Yosuke first met in the “TV World”, he’s mainly a comic relief character and he’s the most light-hearted and funny member of the group by far. Despite his appearance, Teddie is actually a shadow, a being made by negative emotions. But Teddy wanted to be friendly and liked by humans so he created a form of himself that people wouldn’t be afraid of. It would be complicated to explain how Teddy received a persona so I’m going to skip all of that and just say his is Kintoki-Douji, a spherical iron bear wearing a cape, that carries around a tomahawk missile.

Naoto Shirogane - Friend of Yu -

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz4xbihwlS1qlmer5o8_250.png

[details=Spoiler]Naoto is a child detective working on the Inaba Murder Case. She is refined, reclusive, and very mature for her age. Shockingly, Naoto is actually female despite her masculine appearance. She dresses in this way because she believes that people would take her more seriously if she was a boy. Naoto is a very determined individual who has passion for getting a job done no matter how insurmountable the task appears. But she is also very insecure and self conscious about being a young female in the detective force. Her persona is Sakuna Hikona, an aristocratic looking humanoid who specializes in light/dark magic.

Rise Kujikawa - Friend of Yu -

Spoiler

Rise used to be a famous pop idol before settling down in the rural town of inaba. She’s flirty, outgoing, and the most sociable member of the group. Rise had to quit show business for some reason and she truly misses the fame. Although Rise appears confident on the outside she has a fear of being “forgotten” by others and has constant need for attention. Her Persona is Himiko which is basically a woman wearing a white gown. Himiko is a completely supportive persona and doesn’t fight.

[/details]

Question 3: Where does Persona 4 take place?

Spoiler

Half the game takes place in the rural town of Inaba, the other half of the game takes place in a dimension called the TV World.

2

Well summarized :slight_smile:

3

New Persona Character/Navigator

http://img4host.net/upload/301503105016860e84f0c.jpg

4

Seriously one of the best series out there.
Doing a play through of Persona 3 FES from PSN while counting down.
Also Persona, Persona 2, and Persona 3 Portable are all still on sale for PSP and of course Vita on the Atlus PSN sale that ends today if you want to try them.

5

I would really like to do a character write up on Persona 3 but I never really understood the plot XD. Aegis and the Protagonist were awesome though.

6

Great photoshop.

7

You didn’t? I understood it by the time I finished the game. It’s not really something that requires past games or multiple playthroughs to understand either.

And for the record, yes they were awesome. So was the dog. A surprisingly useful party member.

8

Plot of Persona 3:
A group of high school students were gathered to destroy shadows (monsters that appear) at midnight. They needed to kill several powerful monsters to prevent destruction of the world. Of course, there is a twist.

9

I think this aptly describes Yu Narukami as well
[media=youtube]mKPKl4hpwv8[/media]

10

Persona 4 Animation true ending (ep. 25.5, ep. 26) is out.

11

If anyone has not played the RPG’s I suggest you do so. Such a fun experience. You really get a sense of how much of P4U is a love letter to the series. It really helps put things like One More, All Out Attack, and Status Ailments in full perspective. You really start to experience and appreciate P4U more and more. A lot of love went into this game.

12

I honestly haven’t had a playthrough of 4 yet and it’s still sealed to this day. However, due to playing through Arena, I realized something.

Spoiler

Characters of Persona 4 cannot summon their persona outside of the TV world?

At first, I was kind of confused by this and if it’d give the characters of 3 some pointless need for the methods they use.

Spoiler

Evokers.

Now, I see why they’d be needed and also leads me on to if the characters of 4 are as advanced as the characters of 3? Especially outside the TV world.

Is this common knowledge? Or has anyone else noticed this?

13

in 3 you “force” the persona out by some sort of shock or trauma (evoker). however there are cases who are able to summon them without evoker (kuro, aigis etc). in 4 they overcome their inner shadow and thus be able to call out your persona, something the characters of 3 never underwent.

however, don’t read too much into it as they are simply two different concepts and it wouldn’t do justice to compare the mechanism between the two in terms of actual advantage. in terms of style, 3’s evoker system is by far more cool tho.

14

Been playing P3 off PSN over the summer, up to the monorail full moon stage. Characters, enemy designs, plot and the MUSIC!!! make this a great game…
…
of course everyone else is playing P4. I’ll get around to it some year.

One thing to mention about P2 I discovered. The game is actually split up into two halves. The U.S. version of the PSP game is the first half (Innocent Sin) and the only version we have of the 2nd (Eternal Punishment) is on the PS1. You can thank Hitler for that.

This was my (and most people’s) introduction to P4, just the first part of a very funny parody:
[media=youtube]7mUTQKMRLYQ[/media]

15

That’s another thing actually.

Spoiler

In akihiko’s route, he openly says himself that he does not even need his evoker anymore to call forth his persona. Not only that, but it’s openly stated that the P4 characters can summon their persona, but only within the TV world. I haven’t played P4 yet, myself, but this is what is openly stated in P4 Arena, so I’d like some confirmation on this on if they’ve ever been summoned outside the TV world.

And I honestly do think it’d be something to compare. After all, they’re all in the same world and obviously, if the p4 characters had what the p3 characters had, they could do the same as well in the normal world.

Not to mention that P1 and P2 are also in the same world as well and there hasn’t been any direct links of ties between them and 3 and 4 yet.

16

as far as I remember I haven’t seen a persona outside the tv world in the main game. I’d say they can do it tho, as the TV world has not really some special rules other then facing your own shadow and the fog (which appears in the real world as well).
the connection between the two is also rather weak as TV World and Tartarus is vastly different even tho they share the same universe (and there is also a brief cross over where [details=Spoiler] p4 casts visits p3 school or the town or something [/details]; that and a handful (literally) of hints).

17

Yeah I totally think that if the P4 cast had access to evokers then they could summon personas in real life. However, no one *really *knows what evokers do exactly other than: “That gun thingy that you use to make a persona do agi.”

18

That’s kind of what I’m confused on, though.

Either the characters in p4 simply aren’t advanced as much as p3 characters yet, since they can’t do it yet or the evokers will be needed for anyone to summon in the real world.

Spoiler

Which kind of contradicts itself, since Akihiko himself said he can summon his persona regardless without the evoker now.

So now I’m wondering maybe the fog and such hasn’t presented itself in the real world in a setting for the p4 characters? Because it certainly isn’t like the midnight hour, that’s for sure.

And basically from what it said in the plot of P4Arena

Spoiler

The P 4 characters themselves said that they can’t summon persona outside of the TV world and that it only happens within the TV. So if they can, they’ve got a ways to go.

19

well p4 characters didn’t really had an reason to use them in the real world. there was never a situation really where it was needed as everything fighting-wise happend in the tv world exclusively. The fog is ALWAYS in the TV world with the exception when it appears in the real world (which is a time where it lifts in the TV world, so basically it shifts over). didn’t played p4a-story mode yet as I can only play at a friends house =/ (europe :X) so 'I can’t say for sure. I’d say they could, but it hasn’t been mentioned one way or the other in p4 afair.
if you say it has been pointed out in p4a it’s entirely possible.
I’m sure you can train yourself to put your own mind into a state of shock or reproduce that feeling to summon a persona without evoker. as stated, koro and aigis can use personas without evokers. form the megami wiki: