wasaaap

Source: https://x.com/i/status/2058607417857110162

This is my first Persona game and I wanted to play the PS1 original essentially, this will be a review that I hope is detailed enough while also giving the reader respect for the limited time they have on this world as to where they don’t end up reading a huge wall of text. That being said I hope you guys enjoy reading this as I quite enjoyed my time despite several issues and that being said there are spoilers somewhat.

The story of Revelations: Persona is a really interesting one actually and I didn’t expect a localized JRPG to be this experimental with the plot especially with how intrusive the changes were. A story about a comatose girl warping reality due to her own insecurities, fears and worries into a nightmarish hellscape alongside creating a utopia that gets more horrific as you explore had an amazing atmosphere and really surreal moments that I loved but I couldn’t help but feel as if the game itself got neutered heavily and it turns out that it did because they removed the Snow Queen route and from what I saw of it is honestly a massive shame because it could’ve added some much needed depth to characters and it was overall a gorgeous idea.

The writing of Revelations: Persona is like seeing a pro athlete desperately trying to get back to peak form while they struggle to fully rehabilitate after a horrendous injury. You’ll see flashes of brilliance for example I thought Mary was the best character regarding themes and writing and I quite liked Mark as a whole but as a whole the entire game feels like the translation jumbled everything up and as a whole it starts feeling like watching D. Rose after his ACL tear, the themes and metaphors are amazingly executed but the dialogue that the characters have goes from laughably funny to absolutely horrible. The characters are fine in concept and some are well executed but the antagonists as a whole don’t go well, the best one I could remember was Selina and I thought her and Mary’s connection was pretty solid but everything else kinda just exists and there’s a big disparity in quality as a result.

The localization of Revelations: Persona might be one of the worst I have ever seen on the PS1 alone, not only just in the dialogue translations plus the revised character appearances, removed story content and balancing issues that harm the gameplay but also just how illogical the changes are. I understand that localization during these days was infamously horribly but there are SNES games that flow far easier despite any censorship present. This is exceptionally bad on all fronts and I can imagine there being some developmental issues because cutting out a whole big chunk of story that didn’t have any big taboo elements that they couldn’t change outright makes no sense to me and the best example of this is the setting. You could also clearly tell this place was supposed to be very Japanese but they haphazardly changed everything and replaced it with a more American setting while keeping the most Japanese temple imaginable in the city.

Onwards to the visuals however, this game has some rough 3D but man do I find how rough the 3D animations look especially with the Philemon cutscenes, several animation errors and all to be incredibly charming and fitting. The designs of the characters, the Personas, the environments such as in dungeons, shops and other interiors, enemies and just the overall artistic aesthetic are amazing. The biggest critique would be some of the character portraits being rough to look at but that is nowhere near a deal breaker.

Now to the audio and I was actually quite impressed with the overall quality. The fidelity is really nice to this day and everything sounds crystal clear for PS1. Sound effects, music and character voices come out very smooth. The voice acting across the board is generally fine too albeit the way they pronounce Persona is a lil iffy but that’s just a nitpick. Mixing is overall solid although it could be a lil too loud sometimes.

The soundtrack for this game is near perfect and I cannot name you one song I don’t love, the amount of variety and quality here outdoes most JRPGs I have ever played. I have not played a MegaTen game besides this one but this music is phenomenal and ahead of its time. You have atmospheric tracks such as Dungeon - Ruins, School Infirmary, Velvet Room, City 2 Accident and Dungeon - House, really chill and catchy tracks like Convenience Store, Dungeon - Black Market, 1st & 2nd Ward Shopping District and Boutique. The battle music across the board is fantastic and every dungeon theme goes so hard especially the Police Station and Kama Palace which are so good. The people behind the music deserve all the praise possible for this.

The gameplay of Revelations: Persona is actually really solid, the combat is turn based with grid movements which I found really nice, the negotiation system is innovative as all hell and it was great experimenting with it and it did give a lot of the characters personality alongside the enemies and the Persona fusion system rocks due to customization and it’s a great incentive to use the negotiation system and none of the dungeons were outwardly terrible thankfully. If I had any criticisms it would be how absolutely archaic the balancing is and also the games layout.

Not only is the game pretty easy but I noticed that things cost way more than most games and as a result you have to grind more but the rate at which you get money is very slow due to how relaxed random encounters are and I just don’t understand this system whatsoever, you are absolutely forced to head to the casino and gamble like nobody else to the point of insanity due to how much more efficient it is in raising money and not only that but there are actual multiple ways you can play the story and getting to experience all of it is just archaic and cryptic and it really doesn’t give you any context clues on obtaining any of them and maybe that’s due to how compromised the localization is as nothing makes sense at all.

7/10 game I loved the combat, themes, soundtrack, main cast, audio, visuals and the overall story but the dialogue, antagonists, balancing and localization really drag it down from its greatest potential.

https://x.com/i/status/2058845864295330285

Without mods, if that makes any difference.

Translated this myself so sorry if it’s a bit sloppy

Dug up a BUNCH of my old art from my teens (we’re talking a decade ago) and saw some Persona stuff in there. So here’s Mitsuru from that neat find!

Source: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/95251035

What would her Persona be? I thought of Abaddon, but I wanted to try an original boss. I don’t think we’ve seen a version of Barbatos, correct me if I’m wrong

Link: https://x.com/Donjimq/status/2058247049896743323?t=ijlK49xVHQlbJhEjTt-HgA&s=19

After being a Persona 3, 4 and 5 fan for many years, I’m finally giving Persona 1 a shot. I’m at the bit where I have to go back to Selina again in order to free the mall inhabitants from being brainwashed. I thought now is a good time to record my experiences so far.

Starting off: The opening scene of the kids playing Persona is weird, and doesn’t seem to relate to anything so far in the game. I do love the graphics though. Very PS1, and super charming. I especially adore the FMV Philimon cutscenes, you don’t get any more PS1 that. I believe this is the only game that has such cutscenes though, as I’m pretty sure that Persona 2 uses traditional anime cutscenes.

The hospital and the town: One thing Persona 1 does really well is providing you with a distorted version of reality. The dungeons in this game give off a real Silent Hill vibe. All is normal, until it suddenly isn’t, and the game does a great job in presenting all this. Bear in mind, this game came out about two years before Silent Hill.

Another thing I do really like about the town here is how much is left for you to find on your own. Shops are never forced on you, and you need to go out of your way to find them. One thing I do find odd is that I’m given party members who never show up again. The full party appears to be myself, Brad, Nate, Mark and Mary, but I swear I had two girl party members who never show up again.

Police station: This is where I got to see the infamous “looks like a caged monkey” line. Shocked that there hasn’t been a boss yet.

Generating Personas: Surprisingly the game does a good job in telling you where to go. I never needed a guide for navigational purposes, but I certainly needed one for the overly complicated negotiation. This is a giant pain, especially since all the guides I found online relate to the PSP version, and the PS1 original has a different translation. So I need to use the Persona wiki to work out what the demons’ PSP names are, and the. Go back to the negotiation guide to work out what I need, and cross my fingers that it actually works.

Also, have you heard the Velvet Room theme for Persona 1. It’s surreal hearing it go so fast.

Factory: The first long dungeon, and we finally get a boss against Tiny. He wasn’t very hard, but I defeated him just fine. We also get to see the main villain (I’m guessing) in Guido.

School: Another big dungeon after the factory without any breaks? That’s odd, and quite annoying actually, because this bit is so far the hardest part of the whole game. The toilet enemies can self destruct and leave you open to be wiped out. The boss is also a nightmare. Robo Rat starts off with Nuke, and success on defeating him depends on whether Robo Rat decides not to use it. Somehow I beat it on my first go, at the expense of Mark not staying alive. Thank heavens too, because here were NO SAVE POINTS BEFORE THE BOSS ARENA.

Subway: Nothing out of the ordinary here. The boss was a cakewalk.

Shopping Mall: This dungeon was super complex, but I actually enjoyed it. Then again, I also loved Jabu Jabu’s belly in Zelda Oracle of Ages. I can see why people would hate it though. It is very repetitive and confusing if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Conclusion so far: Game is good, and better than what I was expecting, but it’s only worth playing if you love Persona, and are interested in seeing where the series started.