Exploring the Persona Effect and Persona 5
- Tristan Biggs
- Apr 10, 2017
- 3 min read
You may have noticed that posts have been a little sporadic at best on my site. Not only am I just one person, but the JRPG to end all JRPGs, Persona 5, has just released. The release of a game of this caliber obviously brings with it a massive amount of playtime devoted to the game. In my case, and I am positive it is the same with many others, there comes a near fanatical devotion to the game if it has the word Persona in the title. I was looking forward to being able to stream my experience with the game, or at least share some choice parts as I work my way through, but love it or hate it Atlus has barred streaming of the game natively on the PS4. This effectively shuts me off, as I am a noobish streamer that relies on the native share button capabilities, and I do not have any capture tech at my disposal. Also, I don’t want to face the wrath of Atlus/Sega, who have recently announced they will take swift action against people spoiling the game for others by sharing. *Frown face* I’m actually ok with this, but have discovered that there will be a lack of footage, let alone other games played, whilst I work my way through this 100 hr plus game. I have tried to schedule myself, and switch between games, sharing new experiences in Skyrim with mods, for example, or fleshing out my Overwatch hero showcase, but then I hear “per-so-na!” and have to head the call. I go in intending to complete Horizon. I log on and stand up to grab my copy of Overwatch to switch it out. I play a little bit of Persona, get to a good spot to save and end my time, and then play more instead. I can’t stop. I am addicted. This, to me, is the Persona Effect. You may have experienced it yourself in an earlier iteration (or 5, if you have had more time to pump into it than me) by trying to “collect em all” ala Pokemon. In this case, a lot of that is “gotta fuse them all!” but that sounds like making every eatery a fusion joint, and sounds very lame in comparison. You may have experienced it by trying to max out all social links, stats and personae in order to run through a new game plus and snag that elusive primary romantic interest (you know the one) early on. Try to get the elusive end game Personae that can only be obtained through certain methods, not limited to a new game plus file. You may just want to face off against hidden bosses, also only available under the strictest conditions, possibly through new game plus (those in the know, ….know). Or, you could be one of the wonderful cosplayers that bring Chie, Izinagi, or Teddy to life. You could be like me, and snag all the digital editions of all the Persona games without completing half of them. There is just “something” that grabs people about this series. Over the next week, I will be trying to put more of this into words, and share some of my experiences with the game as well. I will be looking into the psychology used in the games, a bit of the mythology used, the music and its sources, and maybe even draw some of my own conclusions! (how ’bout that?) All of this will be a work in progress, so bear with me (oh Teddy)! I hope something good comes out of my exploration, and I hope I can put something up that is worthwhile. Failing that, I will draw a pic in crayon of Teddy making out with Morgana that will look like two blobs of black and red. I’m going to try for the former.
Comments