Revelations: Persona FAQ by l / ______ __ l l/ l / \ l l ___ l _______ /____\ _____ l l\ l l l l l l /______\ l l l \ l__l__ l l l l / \ l l . (cgalliher@cablespeed.com) Your Table of Contents, Milord: 1. Introduction 2. Review 3. Walkthrough 4. Persona List/My Opinions 5. Hints/Tips 6. Dungeon Tips 7. Credits/People I Don't Like 8. More About the Katman This FAQ is dedicated to my girlfriend Marie. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- 1. Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- Persona, one of the rarest titles known for the PSX (I was forced to buy a used copy, myself, and that was only after seaching the whole frickin' state of Virginia!) (Oh, and THE rarest is Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, which is out of print), is also one of the best. As a matter of fact, it was one of the reasons I GOT a Playstation (The other was Final Fantasy VII, and I've not regretted my deciscion)... Due to it's moody dialogue and upscale, "pop" setting, Persona comes along as an RPG similar to, er..., well, it's in a league of it's own, really. I suppose the closest thing would be if you crossed together Resident Evil 3, Earthbound, and Final Fantasy VIII. Persona is part of the "Revelations" series of games here, and part of the "Megami Tensei" series of games in Japan. There's 4 Revelations series games: Revelations: Persona, Revelations: The Demon Slayer (Confirmation, here?), Persona 2 Innocent Sin, and Persona 2 Eternal Punishment. All but The Demon Slayer were released for the Playstation (the other is for Game Boy Color). This particular game centers around a group of high school juniors' quest to defeat the hordes of demons attacking their town, Lunarvale (a crappily translated name :-) and stop the influx of the foul creatures. To do this, they are given the power to summon Persona demons, a type of demon that coexists with humans, to cast magic spells, along with using modern weapons like AK-47 rifles (though that's one of the weaker guns :-). It works great with the graphic style used here. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- 2. Review ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- Here's my Review of Revelations: Persona. Graphics: 5/10 You shouldn't buy games for graphics, but if you do, don't bother with Persona. You'll be disappointed. The best graphics featured are of the actual Personae (a type of demon-human symbiote) being summoned, since each is different-looking, and has about 5 different animations. Sound: 8/10 All the characters have digitized voices, and this, if I'm not mistaken, was the first use of digitized voice in an RPG (confirmation?). Well, it's not that detailed, really. Mostly, the only lines are "PERSONA!!!" during summoning, "DIE!" during a gun or sword attack, and variations on that theme :-) The music is OK, but you'll probably prefer to listen to a CD. Gameplay: 9/10 The main part of the game is battling, that being the nature of an RPG and all. You need to be patient when fighting in this game, since the animations are very slow (though it's worth watching when you start flinging Persona magic around, as like I said the Personae have unique animations), and sometimes it's difficult to understand why some attacks do the damage they do (Kudos to Atlus for allowing you to check the demon's elemental immunities!). To create new Personae for magic, you actually talk to the demons you fight, with the goal being to obtain a "spell card", which is a bit like a tarot card. You can mix two cards to make a new Persona, which varies depending on the cards used. Also, you can add in items to the card fusion, which could result in an entirely new Persona. There's about 99 Persona in all, which means you'll be playing for a while. There's a catch, though - each character (of which you can have 5) has two different types of level - the normal experience Level, and the P- Level used in summoning. If the level of a created Persona exceeds a character's P-Level, that character can't equip that Persona. Replay: 10/10 As I said, you can obtain 5 different characters during any one play through the game. 4 of these characters stick with you through the whole quest (The hero, Mark, Nate, and Ellen), and you can choose one of 4 others for your fifth party member. Since each of the four optional characters can use different Personae, you'll need to play the game through 4 times to see all of the spells and such. Also, certain demons only respond well to a certain character, and to obtain the ultra- powerful Ashura Persona, you need to get a Spell Card from every single one of them. Removed from the American version of the game, due to time constraints, was a "second quest" sort of feature (essentialy a second "second half" of the game) in which a fifth optional character could be obtained (you only see a glimpse of this character in the American version before she leaves the party permanently). You'll be playing for awhile, trust me... Overall: 8/10 It's worth whatever you're forced to pay to get your hands on this game, and it'll be HARD to get it, trust me. Took me my entire winter vacation to get a USED copy :-) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- 3. Walkthrough ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- After you set up your Playstation, lie, cheat, and steal to obtain a copy of this game, and get some yummy sunflower seeds for a snack and a bowl to spit the shells into, you're ready to begin! Watch the CG intro (If I'm not mistaken, this is the first use of CG in an RPG, other than Wild ARMs which doesn't count since that's anime. Confirmation?), depicting a strange butterfly flying across pictures of a town and the quote 'I dreamt I was a butterfly. I couldn't tell if I was dreaming, but when I woke I was I and not a butterfly. Was I dreaming that I was a butterfly? Or was the butterfly dreaming that it was me? Even if there's a difference between the butterfly and I the distinction isn't absolute. And there is no relationship of cause and effect. -Soshi (Soshi was a Japanese poet, BTW)' In the opening scene, we see our 7 heroes, whose names are Ellen (The girl with the long, blonde ponytail), Mark (the black guy with the cool hat :-), Nate (The pale guy with the blue handkerchief), Alana (the ditzy-looking blonde ponytailed chick), Yuki (The girl with the long coat and blue hair), Brad (The red-headed guy with goggles), and...er...the guy you play as, who hasn't been named yet, getting ready to play a game which is supposed to summon the demon Personae onto them. Yep, just another teenage pastime, summoning demons. Mark argues with Brad that the summoning spell won't work, is flat, totally busted, etcetera, to which Brad essentially replies that Mark is a shmuck, what does he know? They bet on a lunch over at the local Peace Diner (you know, the teen hangout place!), and ask you who you agree with. Pick whoever, doesn't matter really, I picked Mark because of his cool hat. The game commences, and I doubt it's much fun, since it consists of walking circles around the room while chanting "Persona, Persona, please come to us...". It doesn't work. Everyone complains, whines, and essentially is fully disappointed that it didn't work. Then a wierd girl in black appears, and proceeds to frying you and your friends with lightning bolts. You all fall unconcious... This leads to a CG scene in which you meet the myterious Philemon, a man in a suit wearing a strange mask. He explains that you, too, are constantly wearing a mask - in the way you behave differently around different people and in different situations. He shows you a strange dark demon figurine - this is Starion, your own personal Persona. Finally, he bids you awaken. You wake up in the hospital of your school, St. Hermelin High School. Your friends Yuki, Nate, and Mark are there, as is your teacher Ms. Smith and the nurse, Mrs. Beverly. After a quick chat, Ms. Smith reccomends that you head over to the hospital for a checkup; getting hit by lightning certainly can't be good for you, right? :-) Take a look around school and get used to the wierd first-person way you explore dungeons. Make sure to head to all the classrooms on the second floor, as you'll meet TJ. TJ is a friend of Mary, who is a friend of yours, thus TJ is a friend of yours, right? :-) She wants you to go and ask Mary if she can borrow one of Mary's books. Take a look around the rest of school if you wish - the main places of interest are the Library (you meet a guy named Kain there), the Fencing Club room (You meet Tammy, a member of the club, there), one of the classrooms on the third floor (There's a guy named Chunky there, who is really important in the deleted second quest :-), and I guess the rest of the club rooms too. When you're done, leave St. Hermelin through the huge double doors. After a short scene where you meet Nate's butler, Alfred (he's just a generic butler stereotype), you get to the main map screen. If you press L2, you'll see that the Hospital is ALLLLLLLLLL the way across town from St. Hermelin. This sucks. On the way to the Hospital, make sure to check out the two malls - Sun Mall and Joy Street. The Rosa Candida shops here are useless except for a couple of short chats, the Yin-Yan convenience stores sell Herbs, Ribopitans, Lifeorbs, and other items of the like (likewise with the Pharmacy and Japanese stores). Make sure to check out the Pharmacy at least once - the song in there is actually sung in Japanese, though it is a bit strange. The massive purple trees you find in the unlabeled rooms in the malls are Augustus Trees - they save your game. The Velvet Rooms can't be entered for a bit, so hold out on them (they're great later). Judgment 1999 Casinos sell cool items in exchange for coins - though, since the exchange rate is 1 Coin to $1, you can just save to buy anything you want. The games are tough, except for Poker, where you can hussle the game out of all it's money by playing High and Low. When you get to General Hospital (no kidding :-), you are told that Mary is in room 3-2. Thus, you need to get your rear up there. Mary chats with you for awhile, you tell Mary about how TJ wants to borrow a book, then Mary goes into a seizure or such. Mary is sent to the ICU. There's a big earthquake, and when Mark opens the ICU door to check on her, he discovers that it's just a door to a blank wall. You leave, only to discover Alfred laying dying on the floor. There's some icky zombies there too, and you go into a battle. BOSS: 4 ZE Zombie This isn't really a boss, since your personae automatically activate. The Hero's persona is the EMPEROR-class Starion - it looks like a dark blue superhero, and uses the Wind spell. Yuki's is EMPRESS-class Vesta - a red beast (It's actually a bit similar to Starion) that casts the Blast spell. Mark's is CHARIOT-class Shaman, a green-haired humanoid that is arguably the crappiest of the starters, which uses the Tackle spell to kill a zombie. Nate's is HIEROPHANT-class Voodoo, a blue girl that fries a zombie with Holy. (NOTE: If you have played Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, you'll note that Voodoo's actual name is Aizen- Myouou...Guess they ran out of space...) You get a "free level" after this fight, and 3 points to distribute among the Hero's stats. All 3 will work well put into Agility. You are then placed into the game's first dungeon. Make your way through (if you use your automap, it's simple), and keep using your Personae to win fights, as they learn more spells with time - Starion gets BlindLight, Vesta gets Cure, Shaman gets Rapidfall (though it takes more time to grow than the others, once again showing it's crappiness), and Voodoo gets TecUP. Vesta's Cure will come in handy if you get wounded, and don't be shy about using copious amounts of magic, since your Spell Points regenerate very quickly as you walk around. Check all the rooms on the way - in boxes inside one of them, you get 2 Scalpels and a Mop. Go ahead and equip them on the Hero and Nate (Yuki throws Razors, a rather interesting weapon, so she doesn't need one, and Mark is carrying around a DualAxe for some reason) The ZE-class demons here are easily Contacted for Spell Cards - Yuki using her Ignore technique works well ("Did I leave the microwave on?" etc. :-) to provoke Interest in the demons. You'll note that while Voodoo's Holy skill doesn't do much initial damage, it will do that same amount of damage over and over again at the end of each round for the rest of the fight. All Holylight and Evildark skills work like this - it's called Curse damage, BTW... At the bottom, you find a nurse trapped under a vending machine. Yuki tells you to help her lift it, but Nate notices more zombies running down the hall to attack you. Choose to lift the machine - you'll thank me later. The zombies attack, just as Ellen enters the hospital. BOSS 1 ZE Zombie Oh, come ON! ANY Persona could kill this guy in one hit, but Ellen decides to show off and use her Persona, the JUDGEMENT-class Nike (a huge armless angel) to cast the cool-looking Light spell, killing the critter. You get another "free level" after this fight. After a chat with Ellen, you are told to head back to the local Shrine. Feel free to do so at your leisure, though there ARE demons on the streets, ready for random battles. FY Pixie appears often - Yuki's Ignore works here. On the off chance you meet WD Fruman or GT Goblin, Mark should Dance ("Mark danced crazy" :-) The Shrine is pretty much in the middle of Lunarvale - you won't have a problem getting there. On your arrival, you see Mary's mother, who has been shot! GASP! The butler did it! No, wait, the butler's dead, so it had to have been people from Sebec that did it, because that's what she tells you. You are told to take her back to school, but a strange yellow butterfly appears before you leave. You are shown another CG cinema, in which Philemon chats with you about what exactly is going on in town (He gets old fast, doesn't he? :-). Afterwards, he heals you (you can come back anytime you want for free healing now, if you wish, BTW) and you get to head back to school, which is still in the southwest corner of town. It's quite a walk so expect to encounter more enemies. Nate and Mark decide to leave to go the Police Station for help. MA Muskat reacts well to Mark's Stare ("Mark glared!"), and OL Slime will be intrested in the Hero's Provoke (Er..., actually the Hero's contact commands are a bit boring :-). OL Thug likes Nate's Bribe ("Here's a special quarter. Heads and tails are reversed!" Man, those things must be stupid.) ZE ZombieBoy and ZE ZombieGirl both react with Interest to Yuki's Ignore, as did ZE Zombie. Moving right along, make sure to unequip Yuki's stuff, including her Razor (though no one else can use it, we can sell it later), since she leaves your party for the rest of the game, taking her Vesta persona with her. Don't worry, she'll be back in Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (and she'll still have Vesta! :-), or the second ending, which you can't get unless you happen to be playing the game's Japanese version. Unfortunately, without her you cannot get the EMPRESS-class Dorga Persona, which is really cool. Head to the hole in the wall in school after the scene at the hospital with Mary's mother, since Ms. Smith tells you to tell the people there not to plug the hole in the wall, since Mark and Nate might be coming back that way. (It divides the first floor in half.). There, you meet Alana, who talks about the demons for a bit. Suddenly, Mary rushes in, and then after a quick chat about how suprised you are to see her, Nate rushes in. Everyone is in such a hurry these days! Apparently, Mark was attacked by demons at the Police Station, so that's your next destination. This, unfortunately, is where you say bye-bye to Yuki and her cool Persona. Everyone wave :-) Nate brought guns, too! Equip the guns - the Hero uses an Uzi (9mm Gun), as does Brad. Nate uses an assault rifle (AK47), as does Ellen, but she's not around right now. When you find Mark, he uses a single-barreled shotgun (M17), and so does Yuki (though hers is double-barreled, and again, she's gone forever). Mary, who'll join you momentarily, uses a pistol, as does Alana if I'm not mistaken. Since I've never actually gotten Chris, I don't know what gun he uses. Check the club rooms. In the Fencing Club room, Tammy will give you a Rapier, which the Hero can use if he didn't already steal Ellen's or you killed a demon for one. There's Gloves in the Boxing Club room, which is a weapon for the secret character, Chris. In the Archery Club room, there's a Bow, a weapon for Mary. In the Ballet Club room, there's some shoes, which should be appreciated if you're short on equipment. As you leave via the hole in the wall, a replacement for Yuki's Vesta Persona appears when a demon attacks you. BOSS 1 DD Goul Before you can even move, Mary uses her Persona, PRIESTESS-class Maria (a woman in a blue robe and hat) to cast the Chill spell on the Goul, instantly killing it. This is another "Free Level" fight. I reccommend that you put 2 points in LUC and the third in AGI, since those are really the most important parameters. Head to the Police Station, which is quite a looooonnng walk to the North. The enemies are a big mix of what you've already seen, so I can't really help you with Contacting. Remember, if you get Joy with a certain person, keep trying that and you might get Interest. Try to keep using Mary's Persona, and make sure to put Mary in the very back of the party, as she is a lot more effective there. In the Police Station, your first task is to find the key that lets you actually get in the station - the Cell Key. Its where you'd expect it to be, in a box on the northeastern wall. After getting it, go on in the dungeon. Head through it (it's really easy if you use your automap), and concentrate on getting Mary's Maria Persona to learn the awesome MultiBow spell, which pretty much shreds anything at this point. Also try to get Starion's butt-kicking (well, at thi stage in the game) WindAll spell, and Voodoo's Holywhite (well, this one's a bit unlikely, as it requires Voodoo to be stage 8). At the end of the dungeon, you find Brad and Mark, who are locked in jail. After you release them, the head of the Police station appears, along with some cops... BOSS 1 EM Gremlin 4 ZE ZombieCops Everyone but Brad uses their Persona to kill the ZombieCops. The Gremlin attacks Brad, which 'awakens' his Persona, JUSTICE-class Talon (a brown creature with the head of a bird and the body of a person) to fry the Gremlin with the Ray spell. After the fight and a chat, Brad offers to join your party. This is the first time in the game you are asked who you want for your fifth character. This choice is PERMANENT, so think before you decide! Brad uses a spear and machine gun. He is REALLY crappy at contacting demons, however EM Durahan and EM Maui seem to react with Interest easily to his Gossip. His starter, like I said, is JUSTICE Talon, and his exlusive Persona is JUSTICE Darkside. JUSTICE Darkside looks cool enough as to merit getting Brad just to see it, as you won't otherwise :-) His highest stat usually ends up being TEC, meaning his machine gun attacks are super-powerful, and he hardly ever misses. Brad gives you a Security Card, which you need to take to the Factory. Take him or leave him, you need to head over to the Factory now. Before doing so, though, head to the Subway in the middle of town. Ellen is there, and she also offers to join your party. She's the second choice for your fifth character, and again, this is not a deciscion to be taken lightly :-) Ellen uses a sword (like Main), and an assault rifle (like Nate). Despite her uninspiring equipment, her exclusive Persona, JUDGEMENT St. Michael, is awesomely strong, though her starter, JUDGEMENT Nike, is also rather crappy, though it will speak to AL Angel demons for you. Her HP rivals Mark's, for some reason, and she gets immense amounts of SP. In my first playthrough, she was my choice for fifth character. Take her or leave her, head to the Sun Mall next. You might want to visit Judgment 1999 and buy a HellBook with whatever money you have - it'll be useful here in a minute. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- Persona Update 1 The Velvet Room store has finally opened! This is where you fuse the spell cards you get from demons to make new Personae. You're likely unable to handle many of the Personae you can create, due to your low P- Level, but if you can make PRIESTESS Virgo (a girl in a green kimono, she has excellent healing spells and takes half damage from magic attacks), SUN Ven (an long Egyptian bird, and a user of powerful all- affecting fire magic), LOVERS Jack Frost (a cute little blue demon in a santa outfit, he uses ice magic), or LOVERS Pixie (a critter similar to the Pixie demon, it is the only known Persona with the crappy StarPunch spell, and can also heal), do so, as they're the most powerful Personae you're probably able to handle. If you can make a HEIROPHANT-class Persona, select to add your HellBook into the mix to make the game's lowest-level Persona, HEIROPHANT Trickster. It has the powerful DualSword and Holyer spells, and there's no doubt you can use it - it's only level 4, and every single character in the game starts at level 5 or above! It also takes half damage from magic attacks, like Virgo, maing it even etter. You can probably also make STAR Sumi (a very strange Persona that is actually two in one - a boy in a blue outfit, and a green-haired demon in that same outfit - it's a master of Holy and Evil magic) but by now, most likely, but you probably can't use it - likewise with WORLD Hive (a strange armored worm with wings that casts the powerful WaveAll spell) and HERMIT Hellcat (a red tiger in brown pants that reflects status- change magic and tears up enemies with Petrinail and Icy). Make them anyway and save them for later. If you have a ____Rock or ____Stone (where the underscore is a word like Disch, Gishin, etc.) use it to make that Persona learn the spell the item casts at second level. Note this doesn't work with MagicRocks, HinaStones, and MagmaStones, since those are just normal items. Finally, I'll update you with more info later, when you can get more cards. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- When you're done, head over to the Factory, which is in the other corner of the map (Southeast, as I recall). Inside, you'll meet Alana, who talks with you and offers, like Ellen and Brad, to become your fifth character. If you didn't take Ellen or Brad, you should take her, unless you happen to be trying to obtain Chris for your fifth character. Alana uses a whip and a pistol for weapons (Humorously, her beginning weapon is the JumpRope :-) Her beginning persona is MAGICIAN Fury, a really strange-looking girl in a red jester outfit, which uses Fire spells. Her exclusive Persona is MAGICIAN Flare, which uses Earth magic and looks really cool. Take her or leave her, you now need to find a place to insert the Security Card that Brad gave you. It's up the stairs on the east wall, and there's a slot at the end of the path they lead to. Mark nearly kills Nate when an elevator appears in the middle of the room :-) Ride the elevator downstairs. If you took Alana in your party, there's a battle... BOSS 1 SM Blackman Blackman is a guy in a trench coat - any humans you fight will be in the SS class. Alana uses her newly awakened Fury Persona to kill this guy in one hit with Fire. You get a free level after this "fight", assuming it even occurs. Head through either door here - they both lead into the same dungeon. Head all the way to the end of the hall here, then head west. Follow the path again, taking the next west path you see. Check the west wall at the end of this path - there's a switch you need to press on it (This dungeon is the only time something like this will happen, BTW). Head north along the first path, and go through the gate that the switch opened up. There's another switch on the east wall here - look and you'll see it. Afterwards, keep heading north and you'll eventually reach the main Sebec building. The enemies here include ND Nightmare (Mary's WasteTime gets Intrest here), SD MagicUrn (use WasteTime again here, but DON'T use Fire magic!), BD FireBird (Nate's Sarcasm gets Intrest), and DD Goul (Mark's Dance gets Intrest). In the main building, follow the simple path. If you have any CoreShield items, use one, as they protect you from the annoying traps on the floor here - likewise with Mary's Maria Persona's TrapCure spell. If you encounter AL Angel, and Ellen is in your party, have her talk to it with her Nike Persona equipped - it'll cause the Angel to talk to Nike, and will end with you getting the Angel's Spell Card if your level is high enough. If you meet OL Yakuza, try to kill it instead of talking to it - it carries Nate's first weapon, the ShockSword (though it's a bit rare to see it drop one, I got it the first time I killed one!). If you can't get a ShockSword here, we'll get a (less effective) sword here in a minute, called the BackSword. Check all the doors here as there's usually some goodies in the rooms inside. Notably, however, all the GOOD items are protected with minor traps (Damage and Poison traps are the only ones seen here), which CoreShield and TrapCure don't affect (don't worry about it, really). There's a Velvet Room on the same floor you start on, if you'd care to use it. The AL Angel Spell Card, when mixed with most anything, yields the JUSTICE Halo Persona, which is so cursedly strong it's not even funny - it's immune to magic, and has the butt-kicking HealAll spell, as well as the pretty good TwinStab spell. There's also a Fountain of Youth here, where you can pay a miniscule amount of money to get healed - this incudes both HP and SP, as well as status ailments. It's not really nescesscary, however, as you heal extremely fast automatically by just walking around (1 HP per 1 step, 1 SP per 5, as far as I can tell). Lastly, you'll find an Augustus Tree near the Fountain, for all your game-saving needs. Head to the elevator when you're done, and check all the floors out. The floor you NEED to go to is the 3rd floor, but you're missing out on some good items if you don't look in every single room. On the third floor, you'll see a long path that curves once. Follow it, and from there it's a pretty basic (if long) trek to the top floor of the building, where Guido (the guy who started this whole mess) resides. (BTW, if you talk to your party members, you'll note they're a bit bloodthirsty :-). Inside the last room on the top floor, you meet Guido and his lackey Tiny, both of which have Persona powers like you do. After a short chat, you start the game's first REAL Boss fight. BOSS: 1 SM Tiny 2 SM Blackman 2 SM Agent Before the fight even starts, Guido summons his Persona, Massacre (It looks like a Ghoul from Valkyrie Profile, or a Zora from Zelda: Ocarina of Time), to fry you with FireAll (It's not that strong, but it's cheating one way or another!). He then leaves after some coaxing from Tiny, who then attacks you. He and his minions use the DriveShot and PowderShot skills, which hit a bunch of party members at once for about 40 damage each time. Tiny also uses his Persona, a guy in a karate outfit, to cast assorted Fire spells on you (This is actually weaker than his gun attacks :-). Use all-affecting spells like WindAll, FireAll, and ChillAll to inflict plenty of pain on all the foes at once. If you, by some stroke of massive luck, were given the Nuke spell, use that - it'll kill all of them in 3 turns. Similarly, Gishin is great is you have it, which you probably don't (you need to erase the WORLD Hive Persona to get the GishinRock needed for it) Use STRUp if you're going to use any physical attacks (I didn't), and MAGUp and DEFUp no matter what you do. TECUp and ACUUp are sorta redundant, and are pretty much a waste of a turn. If you lack any good magical healing (and you SHOULDN'T!), use Ribopitan to heal, as well as BloodOrbs if anyone dies (LifeOrbs work well too, but they're very expensive. Have your slowest member use any revive items, as then the enemy won't kill the just-raised character. Mark is usually slowest.). If you get low on SP (and once again, you SHOULDN'T!), use HinaStones or SpellRocks. Have Nate do the healing, due to his low attack power. Mark's physical attacks work well here, as do Mary's (especially if you managed to find the DeltaStorm bow for her in this dungeon). The Hero's gun works well too, as it hits a bunch of enemies, and we're trying to get rid of as many as possible at once. When you kill Tiny, your next task is to chase Guido. He's in the back room, but make sure to grab the BackSword in here first. Follow him, through the corridor that's flashing red, until you get to the room at the end. Noteworthy is an area that is covered in darkness, so you can't see. It has walls in it, just keep pressing against them, and use your automap to help find your way through. Inside is the huge Deva System - the macine that's caused all this nonsense. Also there is a scientist and Guido. Guido drags the poor scientist inside the System, in an attempt to escape your WRATH! MWAHAHA! Er...ANYWAY... The scientist tricks Guido, turning the machine up too fast, which would work like a particle accelerator and disintegrate both of them. You are given a choice - push the RED button, turning the machine off, or push the BLUE button, turning the machine on full blast. Trust me - push the RED button (It'll help later, just like saving the nurse in the hospital and giving Mary TJ's message.) to turn the machine off. The evil Girl In Black that you saw from the very beginning of the game appears. She would've turned the machine off for you had you pressed the blue button, and does now what she would've done then - zap you and teleport you back to school. Who does she think she is, a truant officer? After a trippy FMV of a dimensional tunnel, you find yourself and your party members sprawled out and unconscious in the school's gym. You all wake up. Doesn't the gym look slightly...different? Head out of the gym. Go ahead and look around the school again - most everyone acts a bit strange... In one room, you'll meet Bruce. If you were paying attention the first time you were in school, you'll hear that he disappeared a month ago! (SHOCK!) Bruce explains that this is some sort of "parallel dimension" to yours. WTH? Are we playing Chrono Cross or something? Anyway, this dimension is 3 months before the time in the actual dimension (It has to do with time zones. Ya know, if you go past the prime meridian you lose a day? :-). Now, apparently, we've combined Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, and went flipping past space and time. After a liesurely chat with Bruce (who's been beat up by that little girl in black that zapped you), you are suprised to hear the little girl speaking. She takes over the school and turns it into a maze. Proceed through the simple maze. It's not hard, if you see the EG Dribbler demon, try Ellen's commands to get Interest (It's very difficult, however, Dribbler seems to get Angry at everything!) if you have her. Otherwise, try Mark's commands, though those are even less likely to work. In one of the rooms (the Art Room) in this dungeon, you meet Chris, who is the final option for your fifth party member. Unfortunately, he's a secret character, so it's likely you haven't fulfilled the requirements to obtain him yet. BOSS 1 Ogre Chris saves a girl from an Ogre demon using his already-awakened Persona, DEVIL Guni. That's the best starter Persona, BTW. You get a free level after this fight, and note that it's the only fight you'll see where you have 6 party members. If you've done the right stuff to obtain Chris, you're in for a treat. Chris is the ONLY character to use the game's omipotent Persona, DEVIL Lucifer. At Stage 8, Lucifer makes Chris invincible to everything (1 damage!), and makes anything Chris does do 999 damage, something that's unmatched by any other Persona, or for that matter, Demon. The closest you'll get is if you have Brad and use his Darkside persona's BiStrike. Ah, but the rub to Lucifer is that he is the only P-level 99 Persona, meaning you'll have to level up for days on end. I was level 47 when I beat the game :-) Also, to make Lucifer you need the David Star item, which you get by raising Ishtal to Rank 8 and deleting her. Chris's special starting Persona, like I said, is DEVIL Guni, and his ultimate Personae are twofold: DEVIL Mondo and DEVIL Lucifer. DEVIL Personae are Strong Against Everything (excepting Holylight magic, like Holyword or Holy), making them butt-kickingly strong. Chris has no weapon - he equips Gloves, and uses 1 basic punch animation. Also, he uses an assault rifle, like Nate and Ellen. Afterwards, continue along the dungon, until you reach the big open plaza in the middle of the school. There, the Girl In Black (whose name is Mae) summons a nasty RoboRat for you to fight, sparking the game's second Boss fight. BOSS 1 RoboRat (UNKNOWN CLASS! SEND IT IN!) The RoboRat is a pretty easy boss. Just use basic attack methods, but don't try any of the Blast-line or Nuke-line spells on it. Well, it's easy UNTIL it uses the Nuke spell on you. This is the first of the most powerful non-secret line of spells in the game, and will likely kill at least two party members. If you have a Persona with a Revive-line spell, have it at the ready, you'll need it. Later rather than sooner, RoboRat will fall, and the spoils of victory will be yours - the school transforms back to normal, and you're allowed to leave after a short chat and a look around if you'd like. Outside has all kinds of mist floating around (First Chrono Cross, now Legend of Legaia?). The enemies here can be tough - AL ArchAngel, like all AL-class demons, is immune to magic. It likes Ellen's Story skill, so use that for Intrest, or, at worst, Joy, which isn't bad in itself. The stores are different too (the Yin/Yan convinience store actually sells GUNS and AMMO now! Cooool!!! Notice the bars on the cashier's counter and the glass display cases, and that the clerk is the same one from the real world :-). In the mall, the Rosa-Candida stores now sell armor, which you should make sure to buy (it really helps, and since you're getting a LOT of money now from demons, it's not hard to buy.) The Velvet Rooms still work the same way, as do the Pharmacies. The Candy Shops (the ones with the Yamato-style doors) now trade you Gems for Essence items (STREssence, TECEssence, VITEssence, AGIEssence, LUCEssence, HPEssence, and SPEssence). It's easy to find Gems since usally you win them from fights now. You can also trade in Gems for assorted -Rocks and -Stones, which when used have the spell effect they're named after. Try to buy a NukeRock, which, when used as an item in demon fusion, results in a Persona with Nuke at level 2, making crappy personae awesome. You can also buy -Rocks and -Stones for money here too, however these are Group-effect spells instead of the All-effect spells you get from the Gem Store. There's an Augustus tree in the mall too, and you probably need to use it. Feel free. I'll wait. Done? Ok, let's go over to the Peace Diner and get a snack. WHAT? THEY DON'T SELL FOOD ANYMORE? NOOOOOOO! The Peace Diner no longer sells food, like I said, but then again it wouldn't sell you any food in the real world either. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- Leave the mall after any fusion you might've wanted to do at the Velvet Room, or other shopping. If you have the Cards and P-level to use it, CHARIOT Vortek (For the rear-punting Nuke, and, later, NukeMore spells) is super-mega-awesome at this stage in the game, as is SUN Gasious (for the butt-kicking Holyword spell, the strongest Group-attack Holylight spell) and MOON Remy (She absorbs magic, excepting Holylight magic, and will get Cards from the Remy demons you'll meet every once and awhile for you). STAR Sumi is OK, but not great, due to it's lack of powerful attack spells. JUDGEMENT Halo is great, still, even though it's outdated for this stage, and so is PRIESTESS Virgo, both due to the fact that they have awesome healing magic. Don't worry too much about status boosts yet (anything that grants high AGI, like JUSTICE Mach, is worth hanging onto though). If your Persona barn is getting full, it might be worthwile to erase your starter Personae, as they've been outdated since Sebec, especially Mark's CHARIOT Shaman (It's Weak Against Magic, and Mark's not exactly naturally strong against it himself) and Nate's HEIROPHANT Voodoo (Holy and Holyer just don't work anymore) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- When you're done, head outside like I said. Notice the huge black barrier dividing Lunarvale in half. Our job is to get through there. And how to get through you ask? We need the Holy Mirror, as Philemon told you if you decided to go over to the Shrine in this world. Bravely quest over to the Museum, and you'll automatically take the Mirror after a scene when you enter the display room. Now, go to the Subway, which you can enter now. It's a difficult dungeon in this world, and due to the strange 1st person view I can't really explain it. WD Siren shows Interest to Nate's Bribe as I recall, and WD Babe likes Brad's Pickup, if you have him. Hang onto Babe's card if you get it (we need it for a secret fusion later). Don't use Nuke or Nukemore on DW Mermaid if you see her (she absorbs it), instead try gun attacks, the Hero's machine gun is great. She's hard to talk to, I haven't gotten Interest from her yet. If you're using CHARIOT Vortek's NukeMore, you're probably raking in the EXP and PEXP. I reccomend giving Vortek to Mark, who's gotten stiffed on Personae from the beginning and is probably a bit low-level. Halfway through this dungeon, you meet a demon in a "story" scene. It's a boss. BOSS: 1 Yoga Jr. (CLASS?) NukeMore, NukeMore, NukeMore. Need I say more? If you don't have NukeMore, any strong Rank 8 Persona spell should work well, as would Nate's ShockSword. When killed, Mae appears again, and Mary says the game's funniest line ("I don't like Mae! She's too evil! When we see her again, I'm gonna give her a spanking!). Mae says that the next big fight is going to be against a beautiful girl. Ignore her and move on. After another quick subway section, you find yourself on the other side of the Plasma Wall (the black barrier you went through the Subway to get past). There's a mall here, which was the Sun Mall in your normal world. Go ahead on in, but make sure you've not got anything important to do out here (you probably don't!), as you won't be leaving for a lonnng time. When you enter this mall, called the Black Market due to its black color on the map, go ahead and try to leave. YOU CAN'T! (SHOCK!) There's a Velvet Room here, as well as all the other nescesscities (Rosa-Candida, Yin/Yan, Essence shop, Judgment 1999, Pharmacy, Clinic, Augustus Tree), most of which have new items to look at/buy. I don't blame you if you still break into tears from laughter when you see the convinience store selling firearms or when you hear the Pharmacy song about frogs :-) The people here are all fearing for their lives, due to the dictatorly rule of the Harem Queen. She has moles all over her face, aparrently, and everyone thinks she's beautiful. Apparently, she hides in the Karma Palace, and you need to go to the Karma Palace and get rid of her or you can't leave. Conviniently, the Karma Palace's entrance is right next to the Judgment 1999 Casino. Go and make sure you have the best possible armor and guns, and PLEASE have CHARIOT Vortek ready before coming in! The enemies here are easily beaten, except possibly for the Mermaids, which absorb NukeMore, and the Chomps, which reflect it (NOT FUN! You take about 800 damage from a reflected NukeMore! Even more if there's multiple Chomps!). Have Main use his gun, hopefully with SilverTip or other good ammo, and everyone else use swords on these, or get their Cards and make them leave the fight whenever you see them (by trying to contact them again). All the other enemies (Karen, ETC.) will fall to one shot of NukeMore, making it the most overpowered spell in any game, except for NukeMost which you don't even get to see for awhile. And you'll be using it A LOT, as the Karma Palace is ridiculously complicated. There's trapdoors in certain passages that you need to fall into to get to other places, and there's 9 floors in it! Try to get through it yourself for now, since that's the end of this version :-) If you have trouble, feel free to write me at cgalliher@cablespeed.com. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- 4. Persona List/My Opinions ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- COMING SOON! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- 5. Hints/Tips ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- *After you get Virgo, you've pretty much exhausted any use that Herbs and Ribopitans might have - instead, spend the money on SpellRocks and other SP-healing items. *SP is a valuable commodity, but not exactly a rare one. Walking around restores it at quite a high rate, so don't worry TOO much about using magic. *On the other hand, don't squander your SP on useless magic like CeaseHeal. *Weapons are generally crap in Persona, however try to stay updated with the times, as without a doubt you'll find some magic-immune foes anywhere you go. MORE TO COME! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- 6. Dungeon Tips ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- COMING SOON! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- 7. Credits/People I Don't Like ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- This FAQ, as well as quite a few others, was written by Katman. Katman can be reached at cgalliher@cablespeed.com. Plagarism is not acceptable, though if you ask any of my information may be used in your guide or website. PIDL: *I don't like...er...um...heck, I dunno. I'm in a pretty good mood recently. Someone needs to do something to make me not like them. *Oh, wait. I don't like Osama Bin Laden. *Yeah, me and the rest of the country. He'll be dead before the end of the year, I'll wager. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- 8. About the Katman ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- Everyone favorite ball of typing fluff, Katman resides in Maryland, where he hides in a cave known as the 'computer room' and types ridiculous video game guides, preferably to win FAQ bounties from www.gamefaqs.com. *FAQs written by Katman (in chronological order): Xenogears FAQ; Fallout 2 FAQ/Walkthrough; Azure Dreams GBC FAQ/Walkthrough; Sanity - Aiken's Artifact FAQ/Walkthrough (FAQ bounty); Sacrifice FAQ/Walkthrough; Robopon: Sun Version FAQ/Walkthrough (FAQ bounty) *FAQs in progress: Revelations: Persona (PSX, this document); Metal Walker (GBC); Project Justice (Dreamcast); Assorted character guides for Project Justice *Real Name: Cory Galliher *Age: 15 (You got a problem, punk? :-)