My Thoughts on Persona 1 (PSP)
Hello again! Sorry it's been a while... got busy with University stuff, so lets continue where I left off, in the last few posts I talked about I was introduced into Persona through the Persona 2 Duology, and how I think they are some of my favorite JRPG's of all time now. So after I completed it I really wanted to check out Persona 1, because why not right? So let's just get right into it!
(I Used my real name, just blocked out my last name lol)
So I really loved this game, I had a really great time with it, which I sort of expected, I liked the P2 Duology a lot and I can stomach old JRPG's. A few things I would like to mention before I talk about what I thought is that I played through both routes, AND that I used a patch to restore the PSX soundtrack. Now it's not that I don't like the new soundtrack by Shoji Meguro, I think it's really good, I just wanted to play the game with the old one because I heard it was really good (and it IS REALLY GOOD but we will get into that later).
So what did I think?
So like always I'm gonna start with what I disliked first and then talk about all that I loved about it.
Exp Distribution
I Thought it was a little annoying that exp was distributed more to the characters that did the most damage, On paper it's an interesting concept, but I think all it did was raise the levels of one party member while leaving all the others were left in the dust. I found myself purposely sandbagging some characters so that there would be an even distribution. (But honestly the game is easy enough where you don't have to worry about it much).
SEBEC True Ending Requirements
I'm not going to say what the requirements are but it felt like something you just flat out need a walkthrough for, you know what I mean if you went for the route.
Difficulty Spikes near the end
I'm not sure if this is me just being trash but I found both the final bosses of the routes to be pretty difficult, if not long. My strategy basically boiled down to "have Boy with Earring and another character gun them down until they die in 30 minutes".
The Recruitable Party Members
This is moreso a problem in SEBEC but I don't think that the game makes it very clear that you can pick your extra party members. Like in SEBEC, most people are going to end up with Brown because, why would you say no to him joining unless you had knowlege that you could get other party members? In SQQ its not that bad because it literally tells you to form a party I believe.
In case you are curious:
This is the team I took for SEBEC, I actually knew you could get different party members so I chose Elly because I wanted to see how she was like before Eternal Punishment.
This is the team I took for SQQ. Basically the characters I didn't use in SEBEC + Elly (I like Elly she is cool).
Demon Negotiation (Again, Again)
Yeah, i'm talking about it for a third time. But I won't dwell on it for too long, because it's basically the same issues I had with Innocent Sin's negotiation, too many options and it sorta just feels like guesswork.
Alright, time for the things I liked:
Things I Liked!
The Soundtrack
Like I said earlier, I used a patch to put the PSX soundtrack back in and HOLY SHIT some of it is really good. Deadline is one of the best boss themes I can think of, every single dungeon has a good song. If it's not catchy, it fits the mood or vibe of the dungeons perfectly. I love the character themes a lot, I love when JRPG's give characters themes because I feel like the themes reflect the characters really well. It's such a shame Hidehito Aoki passed, this is one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard and he should have been proud.
(Correction: The soundtrack was made by multiple people and not just Aoki, but still his work on the soundtrack in amazing!!)
Here are some of the best tracks in my opinion, because I feel like it would be a disservice to not mention some of them:
-Maki's Theme -Mark's Theme -Reiji's Theme -SEBEC Above Ground -SEBEC Underground Research Lab -City 2 Accident -Bar Attacked by Harem Queen -Kama Palace -Deva-Yuga -Pandora's Battle -Dungeon Ice Castle -Normal Battle -Saeko's Theme -Queen of the Night -Mid-Boss (a.k.a Deadline, the best boss theme in the series) (Thanks PSC for the names for the songs)
The Gameplay
I actually really like the gameplay, I know its a big joke to say "Persona 1 is the walk into walls simulator but i felt like people were making it out to be much worse than it actually was. Going through dungeons felt smooth once you got used to it (this was also my first dungeon crawler where it is in a first person perspective).
There is also the actual in game combat where I think its pretty alright as well! I actually like the grid system, I know some people say that "oh it's just the Final Fantasy row system" and I think it has a lot more depth to that. There were a lot of times when I had to consider characters placements for things like their guns, melee, or magic usage because different placements are better for different things.
And similar to the P2 Duology, I loved the customization of the character due to the fact they can all change their personas! I love customization in RPGs in general and I had a really fun time customizing and building each character. But I think this is further enhanced in P1 due to the fact that you can actually choose what party members you want in your party as well. Its a pretty cool way to increase replayability, and I had a fun time planning out my party to try out most of the characters in the two playthroughs that I did. (The only character I never ended up using was Reiji because I was already locked out of his unlock method when I realized, but its okay cuz I like Elly more probably).
The Story
I think the story is really good, especially SEBEC. Maki is certainly the star here, I sort of considered her the real main character for most of it. I Think the dream world and her progression as a character was really human, especially Pandora, which I don't want to spoil. Aki is also a cool recurring villain and so is Kandori. Kandori especially is badass, this is probably me being affected by his appearance in Eternal Punishment.
And not even mentioning the Snow Queen Quest. I was completely blown away by the fact how the game just has another entirely different story to it that is almost as good as SEBEC, it really makes you wonder why it was cut from the original. It has this "Cave Story has a 4th ending" vibe to it (If you know, you know) that I really vibed with. I think the concept is so cool as well, uncovering this secret that you were never even supposed to know and trying to save Ms. Saeko, and then learning her relation with the Snow Queen, I was really invested. I already really liked Yukino and this cemented her as one of my favorite characters in Persona. And I loved at the end it explained how it connects itself to SEBEC so they are both canon. The towers and what they represent are really neat as well.
Overall, I think its a solid time no matter what route you pick. Again my only gripe is getting the true ending in SEBEC is a little strange, but trust me its worth it, just put up a guide once in a while.
Guns (and how broken they are)
Okay yeah this is a strange one but hear me out, Guns are really broken, but also really fun. I liked how every character had a solid method of doing multi-hit damage, and I was a but sad how the Persona games that followed this never had this again. It was funny having a little powertrip when equipping charm bullets. But eh, it sorta balanced out by having some of the characters have pistols, or shotguns, which generally weren't great. I usually took those characters and focused them to be more magic oriented, i liked the uniqueness of each character. Not to mention how having a few great gun characters for the final bosses are basically necessary.
The Vibe
Finally, There is something about this games atmosphere that I feel like is unmatched. I talked about the atmosphere in Eternal Punishment but this is a different feeling. Thanks to the PSX music it really felt dreamlike, which is fitting due to a majority of SEBEC's setting being mostly in Maki's mind. Experiencing and exploring Maki's ideal world gave me a feeling I can't really describe, it felt "off" but also at the same time, comforting, you really have to play it to understand it (Which you should!). And then SQQ's Ice Castle has this almost oppressive vibe, seeing the school almost barely recognizable under the snow. Seeing how all the kids are living and surviving this situation, it was cool.
I Love this world map, its so awesome (And the music is so dreamy).
Conclusions
I really enjoyed my time with this game, I didn't enjoy it as much as the P2 Duology or even P4 (which I played after). But I do have a lot of respect for this game, it has a lot of good ideas and I think it executes it pretty well. Persona is such a strong series of games where even if I think this is the weakest Persona game, this is still one of the best RPGs ive played in recent memory. It was such a joy to not only see where this series started, but also just to see these characters that I fell in love with when I saw them in Eternal Punishment. And then just experiencing the story and the atmosphere is worth the playthrough alone. This is going to be a game that will stick with me for a long time, and I really do recommend it. Don't be intimidated by people saying it's "outdated" or a "walking into walls simulator" because I think it aged well. And with that I have talked about the entire original Persona Trilogy, personally I couldn't ask for a better introduction to the series, albeit a bit unorthodox. I eventually did get around to trying the newer games as well with Persona 4, which I also fell in love with.
I do plan on writing about Persona 4 and the rest of the modern games (when I finish Reload and 5), but for now I think my next post will most likely be about Shin Megami Tensei IV as I am playing that right now and spoilers, it might be one of my new favourite RPGs (coming up on my first ending I think, definitely on law, things are a little 'blasted' right now). But with that, please give Persona 1 a try, it definitely deserves to be recognized and praised. I believe it's an underrated classic.
