Persona Q Part 1: Fate Leads the Willing, and Stays for the Night

Here we go again to the Shadow World!

Persona Q is a game I already introduced in this post, so I don’t have to do it here! Awesome, right?

So, ready?

Persona Q has two POV: The Persona 3 point of view focusing on Gekkoukan’s SEES, and the Persona 4 point of view focusing on the Investigation Team of Yasogami High. 

I took the Persona 3 route not only because it’s more appropriate as it is in order, but also because I’m more familiar with its story and characters. In the case of Persona 4 which I haven’t and probably never will in the near future play I guess I’ll just watch the anime adaptation to catch up.

The Persona 3 route starts off in September where the protagonist and the other members of SEES are in the middle of investigating Tartarus. They are currently on a break, with the protagonist inside the Velvet Room to fuse Personas. As always Igor is, again, absent but aside from Elizabeth, Theodore is also there.

The three have a comedic/serious conversation before being interrupted by a strange blackout. It was only for a few seconds but within the lights going off and switching back on all the other members of SEES got transported inside the Velvet Room, much to Elizabeth’s surprise. The surprise doesn’t end there, though, as the game finally acknowledges the fact that the Velvet Room is in fact a damn elevator it began to descend as if intending to kill everyone before the actual game starts.

When the group finally came to, the Velvet Room has become distorted (at least it looked more a room now) and the whole P3 cast present at the time has been transported to Yasogami High in the middle of a school festival. The gang divided into groups and investigated meeting two new characters in the process: Zen and Rei.

Zen and Rei popped out after overhearing SEES’s plan to enter an attraction called You in Wonderland. According to Zen the attraction is full your standard issue Shadows and a special type called the Fysis Oikein Eidolon (FOE), it’s best to avoid them for now.

After a brief conversation between the head honchos of SEES, mainly Mitsuru and Minato, they agreed to let Zen and Rei join the party despite not being Persona users.

The first round of exploration in You in Wonderland explains the combat system and how the map works.

Combat is pretty much the same way as the numbered Persona titles but the positioning of characters affects how the battle. Characters are divided based on the range of their normal attacks. Long ranged fighters (like Yukari, Aigis, Zen and Rei) are best positioned at the back row, while short ranged fighters (like Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Junpei) are best in the front row. Five characters can be in the exploration party at a time, and Zen and Rei are considered as a single unit.

While exploring the labyrinth Shadows aren’t presently scattered anymore, instead they just appear after a set amount of time, this can be predicted using the enemy proximity icon at the bottom right corner of the top screen.

Unlike the main Persona titles, PQ doesn’t have a map drawn out as the characters move along an area. Instead it’s up to the player to manually draw a map in full detail. Getting the map of the current floor at 100% unlocks a special treasure chest at the end of the floor. If you’d ask me, though, drawing the map really feels like a chore than, well, fun. It does pay to remember as each floor is littered with well hidden shortcuts.

Before I could go on deeper in the first floor of You in Wonderland, Minato was advised to regroup and heal the party. This introduces the player to the Clinic and the Art Room. The Clinic is managed by Elizabeth and for now its main function is to heal the party. The art room is where the player can buy weapons, armors and accessories for each character, it plays the same way as the police station in Paulownia Mall. Theodore manages the art shop. Bringing him items dropped by enemies allows him to craft new and stronger equipment.

I got to the end of the first floor of You in Wonderland during the second visit to the labyrinth. I also had to retrace back to the middle area of the floor to fill in a missing detail in the map to get 100% (see, it’s really bothersome but you just have to get that damn treasure chest to open at the end of the floor out of curiosity).

After reaching the second floor Minato is again advised to regroup. Back outside Elizabeth invites the group back to the Velvet Room and introduces us to the concept of Main and Sub Personas. Basically it strips the player of the wild card ability, but every character (except for Zen and Rei) now has the ability to equip two personas at a time.

Ok, that’s all for now. I’ll update again after a few eons have passed.

Gotta go!