Report on a Game Franchise - Task 2

The Persona series

Persona 3 (FES) (P3P)

In persona 3 you take control of the Protagonist who is a high school student who has just transferred into Gekkoukan High School, after a ‘Mix up’ at the dorm he ends up staying at the females dorm and a few nights after staying, on a full moon, the dorm gets attacked by the monsters called shadows and at the moment when someone is about to get attacked he unleashes his persona ‘Orpheus’ of the fool arcana only to end up going out of control and his power transforms to ‘Thanatos’ of the death arcana. After he defeats the shadow he finds out that there are others with this power that needs his help. He soon learns of the ‘Dark Hour’ an hour between 12am and 1am where all normal humans turn into coffins and shadows roam about. When the dark hour starts the school transforms into Tartarus a battleground of shadows, why? the reason will appear before you while you're on your journey.

While playing persona 3 I noticed plenty of features of the game. Such as the social links feature, the battle style, the new wildcard, the enemies and allied AI, the amazing story and plenty of other things. The theme of the game is Memento Mori which means ‘remember you have to die’ which is reference to the deaths that take place in the game, this is especially effective in the persona series because you create a bond with the characters and over time you learn more about them and it hurts more to see them die e.g. Kamiki Akinari of the sun social link who was a dying young man who wished to write his own book and throughout the social link he stops taking his medication to allow him more time to finish his book before he died. The greatest change in persona 3 (and 4) is the introduction of the social links and the wildcard which said that the bonds in life will give you power, the social links gave you the ability to interact with characters and see other sides to them this was a huge part of what made the game so popular because you had to manage between social, academic, earning money and saving the world. When the wildcard was added it gave the game a whole new way to battle because you could summon, buy and fuse new persona which allowed to give you a huge selection on how you fought in battle, this was also a reference to how the protagonist was a blank slate for the player to become and that he was of the fool arcana ‘’ this was a reference to the fact that protagonist was a clean canvas which could become anything by changing how you play the game and how you interact which in the end will change your battle style to show that all aspects of the game are connected in some way

Persona 3 FES takes place after the protagonist stops the ending of the world after his death the SEES are leaving the dorm when they get trapped there and Aigis takes over the protagonists wildcard abilities and you are able to travel into a new dungeon called the Abyss of time which has trapped SEES in an infinite time loop unable to escape. Although the epilogue doesn’t have any social links you are able to view the main characters in a different light because you are able to see how they really feel about the deaths of their friends

In the P3P (persona 3 portable) by picking the female protagonist there will be many differences in the game, which includes new social links and social interactions also giving yourself the view out of the eyes of a girl e.g. in the male storyline when the MC gets given the role as leader of SEES the other guy ‘Junpei’ feels jealous but in female MC’s story he feels like they emasculate him.

Playable characters (SEES – Specialised Extracurricular Execution Squad)

·         MC (Makoto Yuki) – the MC of this game is an orphan whose parents were killed in a fatal car accident. In the movies he is portrayed as a very emo person who doesn’t care whether he lived or died. His main persona is Orpheus.

·         Yukari Takeba – She is the MC’s classmate and someone who thinks that they are similar because of how her father died when she was younger. Her main persona is Lo.

·         Junpei Iori – She is the MC’s classmate and someone who has an inferiority complex to him because of how you are appointed leader of SEES. His main persona is Hermes.

·         Mitsuru Kirijo – She is the heir to the Kirijo group and the one who scouts he MC into SEES. Her main persona is Penthesilea.

·         Akihiko Sanada – Akihiko after the death of his sister felt powerless and so strives to make himself powerful and becomes known as a protein junkie. His main persona is Polydeuces.

·         Shinjiro Aragaki – He is Akihiko’s childhood friend and someone who takes drugs to keep control of his persona. His persona is Castor.

·         Fuuka Yamagishi – Fuuka is the victim of bullying and is a very shy girl who has a support persona. Her persona is Lucia.

·         Aigis – She is a 7^th Generation Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon developed by the Kirijo Group and has made is her sole purpose to be the MC’s body guard. Her persona is Palladion.

·         Ken Amada – is the youngest member of SEES and when he was younger his mother was killed by a ‘monster’ which was presumed to be a shadow. His persona is Nemesis

·         Koromaru – is an albino Shiba Inu that managed to kill a shadow and became a part of SEES. His main persona is Cerberus.

·         Metis – she appears in FES and tries to kill SEES after a misunderstanding. she is Aigis’ sister. Her main persona is Psyche.

Enemies

·         Shadows – Shadows vary depending on the dungeon and where about you are in the dungeon, things like what they are weak to and strong to change as well as moves, AI and level

·         Golden Gloves – these types of shadows aren’t that strong but they only take 1 damage and have about 10 hp, they have great evasiveness and have a chance at running away. The reward for defeating them is great

·         Full Moon Bosses – There are bosses that appear every month on a full moon, these are shadows that are much more powerful than any others and must be defeated to progress so with the game

·         STREGA – There are 3 persona users who are enemies to SEES because of the fact that SEES wants to end the dark hour whereas STREGA uses the dark hour to commit crimes such as murder without getting caught, they are comprised of  Chidori Yoshino, Jin Shirato and Takaya Sakaki.

Persona 3 has had a few joint persona games with persona 4 and it has 4 anime films that go through the entire game: Persona 3 the Movie: No. 1, Spring of Birth, Persona 3 the Movie: No. 2 Midsummer Knight's Dream, Persona 3 the Movie: No. 3 Falling Down and Persona 3 the Movie: No. 4 Winter of Rebirth. Each film shows the protagonist/Makoto Yuki go through the story arks of the game.

The reception of the persona 3 franchise is very positive. When the original PlayStation 2 version of Persona 3 was first released in Japan, it sold 127,472 copies in its first week and 210,319 copies overall in Japan by 2008 it became a widely known game all around the world and in my opinion became a role model of a game for anyone who wants to make JRPGs the game had pretty much anything you would need and even got amazing reviews getting a 8.3/10 from IGN, a 4.5/5 from Metacritic and 8.5/10 GameSpot

Persona 4 (P4G)

In persona 4 you take control of a new protagonist who has just move to the urban town of inaba to live with his Uncle Ryotaro Dojima and younger cousin Nanako Dojima and starts to attend Yasogami High School where he meets three different people, Chie Satonaka, Yukiko Amagi and Yosuke Hanamura. The four of them hear a rumour about the midnight channel which says that if you stare into a turned off TV at midnight on a rainy day then you would see your soul-mate. A scandalous TV announcer 'Mayumi Yamano is found dead hanging off of telephone pole and later that night they check out the midnight channel and the protagonist finds that he can travel inside the TV but can’t get in because his TV is too small to which the protagonist decides to report this to his friends and they go to the local supermarket 'Junes' to go to the big flat-screen TVs and they find a strange bear named Teddy/Kuma. The next day the body of Saki Konishi appeared who Yosuke had a crush on. Yosuke and the protagonist return the next day and find there is a path to the someplace which resembles the shopping district which has been created from the true inner feelings of Saki, which showed how she resented Yosuke which brought out Yosuke’s true feelings and manifested as a shadow, under pressure the MC summons his persona Izanagi and fights Shadow Yosuke, eventually Yosuke accepts his inner feelings and the shadow turns into his persona Jiraiya. Afterwards Yosuke and the protagonist figure out that someone is throwing people inside the TV so they killed by shadows and decide to fight against the enemy to make sure no one dies. the party is made up of the protagonist, Yosuke Hanamura whose shadow was bored of life, Chie Satonaka a tomboy with an inferiority complex, Yukiko Amagi a beautiful girl who feels like a bird trapped in a cage, Kanji Tatsumi a thug on the outside with a feminine personality, Rise Kujikawa an idol who can’t discover herself, Teddie a unknown creature who wants to know what he is, Naoto Shirogane 'The detective prince' who is actually a girl who can’t accept her gender.

The theme of persona 4 is to 'reach out to the truth' and to not ignore reality, meaning that ignorance is not bliss that when you can help someone you should go out of your way to do it and not avert your eyes. The theme is repeated throughout the series when you have to help people face there hidden selves such as the fact that the muscular biker leader loves to knit and do feminine activities

The designs of the characters and monsters are based off of Japanese mythology such as Izanagi which is the main persona of Yu Narukami (protagonist) is the god who made Japan, Magatsu Izanagi which is the persona of the serial killer is what happened when Izanagi went to Yomotsu Hirasaka (the final dungeon in the game) to save his wife Izanami who is the final boss which you must face in persona 4.

P4G

in persona 4 golden there are a bunch of extra stories such as helping out Yosuke at Junes on Halloween, travelling to town with Yosuke and Kanji to pick up girls, going with your friends to the beach, performing is a band lead by Rise a ten pop idol, going on a ski trip where you can spend time with friends and tell scary stories and even an epilogue which shows the characters half a year later and how they have come to accept themselves without the protagonist. Golden also introduces a new girl called Marie who introduces new features such as skill cards but it mostly it introduces a whole new dungeon which adds more to the story and it also allows you to be friends with serial killer and gives you the choice of covering for him and getting a bad end in which you face away from the truth because you can’t turn your back on your friend.

Playable characters (Investigation Team)

·         MC (Yu Narukami) – the MC is a 16 year old who has moved out from Tokyo to the rural town of Inaba, you can control what he says and his personality as you like. In the anime he is calm, polite and even has a fear of being alone which is shown by the fact that he draws power out of bonds and even develops a shadow on his las day which showed that he did not want to go home. His persona is Izanagi.

·         Yosuke Hanamura – Yosuke is a joker like character who tries to be carefree, The first time you actually talk to him is because he had crashed his bicycle into a bin and was stuck and over time he becomes the MC’s ‘Partner’. His persona is Jiraiya

·         Chie Satonaka – Chie is a tomboyish character who talks to the main character on his first day of school, she is over protective of her best friend ‘Yukiko’ and makes sure to keep her safe. Her persona is Tomoe

·         Yukiko Amagi – is a girl whose family owns a traditional inn in town and she is meant to take it over in the future. Yukiko has a very elegant personality and is very introverted until you rescue her from the midnight channel and then opens up to you a lot more; she even goes on laughing fits. Her persona is Konohana Sakuya.

·         Kanji Tatsumi – Kanji was first introduced as a thug who took down a biker gang of over 100 men and became its leader but later on it is revealed he took it down just because it was keeping his mother up at night, his favourite activities involve knitting. His persona is Take-Mikazuchi

·         Rise Kujikawa – Rise also known as ‘Risette’ is a teen pop idol who went on hiatus, she believed that no one saw her for her true self and only saw her as a product. Her persona is a sensory type and supports the others and is called Himiko

·         Teddie – is a being that lives inside the TV world, he is not human and starts out as just a walking talking huge suit with nothing inside of him but to join in with his friends he ‘grows’ a human body, he has problems because that he does no know what he is and wishes to find out. His persona is Kontoki-Douji

·         Naoto Shirogane – Originally known as the ‘Detective Prince’ Naoto was a young detective who worked on the same case as the investigation team. His persona is Sukuna-Hikona.

·         Marie (G) – Marie is a new character introduced in Golden, she has amnesia and works in the velvet room helping Igor and Margaret guide the MC on his journey.

Enemies

·         Shadows – there are even more variants on shadows

·         Golden Gloves

·         Shadow Yosuke – a persons shadow shows an exaggerated version of what’s in their heart, Yosuke’s shadow showed that he was bored with his life since he moved from the city into a rural area.

·         Shadow Chie - Chie’s shadow felt inferior to her best friend Yukiko and that she could not do anything on her own but because of how Yukiko relied on her she felt happy.

·         Shadow Yukiko – Yukiko’s shadow felt trapped like a bird and wished for someone to take him away, this materialised as a her dressed as a princess saying she was going ‘stud-hunting’ because she wanted a prince to come take her out of her castle.

·         Shadow Kanji – wanted people to accept him for what he was not what they thought he should be, his shadow also felt scared of girls. This materialised as a super flamboyant homosexual who liked guys and hated girls but what kanji was really scared of was being rejected for what he is.

·         Shadow Rise – wanted to find out what the real her was so a bunch of personalities of Risette appeared, this materialised as a stripper because she wanted to strip away what people thought she was and show people who she really was.

·         Shadow Teddie – believed that there was no true him and constantly said that there was no truth no matter how hard he looked and that there was only one truth that ‘you’re all going to die here’

·         Shadow Mitsuo – he is a creepy murderer and one of the enemies of the investigation team; he tried to pretend that he was the actual murderer for attention and treated it as a game so his shadow became a blocky game character.

·         Shadow Naoto – was known as a mature individual known as the detective prince, but the dungeon she was in was like out of a children’s show and so was her shadow because this ‘he’ was actually a girl who couldn’t face her age and gender because no one treated her equally and felt ashamed of herself

·         Kunino-Sagiri – is the result of numerous shadows merging with the initial suspected murderer Taro Namatame, he is able to take over the characters fighting him and use them to attack the MC.

·         Tohru Adachi – is the murderer and partner detective who manipulate the investigation team on multiple occasions he also has a persona which is Magatsu-Izanagi an evil version of the MC’s persona.

·         Ameno-Sagiri – takes over the murderers body and tries to cover the town of Inaba in fog and turn everyone in shadows because it is granter of mankind’s wishes and believed that this is what mankind desired

·         Marie/Kusumi-no-Okami (G) – Marie becomes an enemy closer to the end of golden who goes out of control and starts getting taken over so that she does not hut her friends she ties to erase herself but the investigation team chase hr down and tries to fight her an bring her back with them.

·         Izanami – is the very final boss on the route to the true ending, after weakening her enough she will use a movie that will ty and send the MC to the underworld but the party memebers will sacrifice themselves to protect him but he will finally be captured, afterwards when he is taken out he ca hear the voices of all the social links that he has backing him up wishing for him to stand up once again and then his persona Izanagi evolves by the power of his bonds into Izanagi-No-Okami and uses a move known as Myriad of Truth to erase Izanami, cleanse the TV world and saves his friends.

Recurring Jokes: There are numerous recurring jokes that are in persona 4 since it is filled with humour

·         Stud Hunting – during Yukiko’s shadow appearing it mentions that it wants to go score herself a stud’ and that she wanted to go ‘stud-hunting’ and since then teddie has asked if he could score with Yukiko to the latter’s annoyance

·         Mystery food X – while on a camping trip the girls created curry or what would later be named mystery food X which caused both Yosuke and the MC to pass out and foam from the mouth and since then the girls have not been allowed to cook food for the others

·         Kanjis sexuality – ever since meeting Kanji it has been hinted that he was gay such as getting flustered when Naoto who was pretending she was a guy said she was interested in him and also at the beach he got a nose bleed when seeing Yu and Yosuke in swim trunks which is a sign of arousal

The reception of persona 4 was immense apart from having a remake, it came out as a PS2 classic on the PS network, there have been multiple spin off games including persona 4 Arena and persona 4 Ultimax which are fighting games with characters from persona 3/4, Persona Q shadow of the labyrinth which is a chibi persona 3/4 crossover and Persona 4 Dancing all Night which is a dancing rhythm game. There has also been 2 anime which depict the story of both persona 4 and the extra stories from persona 4 golden

Persona 5

Not too much is known about persona 5 except the theme which was revealed in the first trailer where the words "You are a slave. Want emancipation?" appeared on the screen while chairs with ball and chain attached. The theme of the story of Persona 5 will discuss the hardships of modern-day society and feature characters that are restrained by the rules set by this society. Persona 5 uses the colour red to give it a harsher feel to it.

New mechanics have been added such as the protagonists now use two different weapons one being a short range weapon and the other being a long range weapon such as a gun. Another new feature is something called cooperation and almost nothing is known about this but it was seen on the menu during the trailer, people speculate this to be the social link feature from persona 3/4 making its return. The dungeons are also quite different from its predecessors because new features such as jumping from roof to roof and sneaking around enemies have been added in reference to the fact that you play as a phantom thief

The designs of the personas in persona 5 are based off of outlaws I reference to how the MCs are outlaws themselves. Arsène (Arsène Lupin) "I am thou, thou art I. For the justice you believe in, let the curse befall on those who do not reflect upon themselves. Now, begin!", Captain Kidd (William Kidd was a privateer in the 17th century who was tried and executed, perhaps falsely, for piracy after returning from a voyage to the Indian Ocean.), Zorro (He is a masked outlaw who defends commoners and the indigenous peoples of the land against tyrannical officials and other villains.), Carmen (Carmen is a fictive female gypsy created by Prosper Mérimée.), Goemon (Goemon Ishikawa (石川 五右衛門) was a Japanese outlaw. Who was made out to be like Robin Hood) 

the biggest problem to persona 5 are the delays it started out by coming out in Winter 2014 release for PlayStation 3, it was announced for release on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in 2015 during Sony's SCEJA Press Conference held in September 2014. It is now announced for mid-2016 saying that to bring out a good game they need more time. An anime has been announced for persona 5 but almost nothing has been announced yet except that it’s coming out in 2016

Market Research

Since the 1996 release of the original persona game the series has sold 6.2 million units worldwide by 2015. when Persona 3 was released on the PS2 it sold 127,472 copies in the first week and 210,319 overall in Japan by 2008. During persona 4 début week it sold 137,076 units in Japan by April 2014 and 700,000 copies were shipped worldwide as of December 2013.

Miscellaneous 

The persona series has become so popular that there is even a reference in the popular anime/light novel no game no life (book 3, page 97) where they make reference to persona 4 showing one of the heroine known as Chie as well as showing two other popular Japanese games but they also censored their faces and names of the games.