You wanna be my friend?
Sometimes I use these blogs to just write random things that I don't think anyone will care about, but I want to say anyway. This is one of those times.
In the Persona series (particularly 3 and 4, I'm not sure if it shows up in the other games), a recurring phrase said by the Personas (I'll talk about that plural later...) is "I am thou, thou art I." This is actually grammatically incorrect; it should be "I am thee, thou art me." The original Japanese is "Ware wa nanji, nanji wa ware", which basically translates as "I am you, you are me" using incredibly old-fashioned pronouns.
About "Personas" - The correct plural of "persona" (which means "person" in Latin) is "personae", properly pronounced "PAIR-sohn-eye" but most often pronounced "purr-SOH-nay". However, the translators explained that their decision to pluralise it as "personas" was a deliberate stylistic choice, rather than a mistake.
The initial Personas of the protagonists of Persona 3 and Persona 4, Orpheus and Izanagi, share similarities in backstory. Both travelled to the underworld in order to rescue their lover (Eurydice for Orpheus and Izanami for Izanagi), but ultimately failed in their quest (Orpheus because he looked back at Eurydice before leaving the underworld despite promising not to, and Izanagi because Izanami had turned rotten and ugly from being in the underworld so long).
The jingle for the Junes store in Persona 4 was actually in English even in the Japanese version, but the wording was changed. In Japanese, the jingle went "Every day, young life, Junes!". This was changed in the English version to "Every day's great at your Junes!" in order to fix the rather Engrishy feel of the original line.
Similarly, "Mayonaka TV" (literally "Midnight TV") was changed to "The Midnight Channel", again because it sounds more natural to English speakers.
When playing the Japanese version of Persona 4, English (albeit broken English) descriptions of the options on the title screen are given. The descriptions read as follows:
LOAD GAME: Former game data is read.
NEW GAME: Game is begun newly.
OPTIONS: Various setup is performed.
In another example of broken English being changed to more natural-sounding English, the two gameplay modes in Persona 3: FES, "The Journey" and "The Answer", were titled "Episode Yourself" and "Episode Aigis" in the Japanese version of the game.
In the Japanese version of Persona 3, Kirijo Mitsuru would often insert random English phrases into her speech. When the game was localised and translated into English, this was changed to her spouting random phrases in French instead. The character Andre Laurent Jean Geraux (also translated as Andre Roland Jean Gérard in some versions, usually known as Bebe in the game) was a French exchange student in both versions of the game, but in an effort to keep it foreign, instead of translating his gratuitous English in the original into gratuitous French in the localisation, they instead inverted it, having him speak Japanese where he would have spoken English in the Japanese version and vice versa.
There are several hidden party member conversations that can be seen in Persona 3 by forming a party of specific people. These only work after every recruitable member has been obtained and do not serve any purpose other than humour. Try making a party composed of:
- All male characters (Junpei, Akihiko and Ken or Akihiko, Shinjiro and Ken are the only combinations that work for this)
- All female characters (aside from the MC, of course - this isn't the PSP version we're talking about here)
- All second-year students (Junpei, Yukari and Aigis)
- The original SEES members (Mitsuru, Akihiko and Shinjiro)
After doing this, talk to one of the party members in Tartarus to have them comment on the current party composition. Another hidden comment can be accessed if you set Mara as your active Persona and visit the Velvet Room - Elizabeth (or Theodore if you're playing the PSP version and using the female protagonist) will comment on your choice of Persona.
In the PSP remake, putting Akihiko and Ken in a party when the female protagonist has become lovers with both of them will cause them to comment on the party setup. Adding Junpei as a fourth member will enhance the experience.
If you have the right Persona and you know how to manipulate Fortune's "Wheel of Fortune" move, the battle with the Fortune and Strength Shadows in Persona 3 can be won almost instantly. "Wheel of Fortune" can inflict any kind of status effect on either your party or the enemy, including Fortune and Strength themselves. The Persona skill "Ghastly Wail" will instantly kill any enemy afflicted with Fear status. I'm sure you can figure the rest out.
For those who want a powerful Persona but don't want to totally break the game in Persona 3, look no further than the Persona Nebiros. A level 50 Persona of the Hermit Arcana, Nebiros naturally learns three skills that when combined make him a force to be reckoned with - Evil Smile, Stagnant Air and Ghastly Wail, and also learns the passive skill Fear Boost. Cast them in the following order:
Stagnant Air (doubles the chance of a status ailment affecting everyone, allies and enemies. Lasts 3 turns.)
Evil Smile (inflicts Fear status on all enemies with 25% chance, boosted to 50% chance thanks to Stagnant Air)
Ghastly Wail (instantly kills all enemies with Fear status, unblockable and unavoidable)
and watch your enemies tremble before you. Plus, Fear Boost increases Evil Smile's effect by 1.5, meaning it now has a 75% chance of succeeding if Nebiros has learned that skill.
But if you want to start your trail of destruction early, there is a way to obtain a quad-elemental Lilim very early in the game. Lilim is a level 8 Persona of the Devil Arcana who naturally learns Agi (fire damage) and Zio (lightning damage). By combining a Pixie and Nekomata to create a Forneus with Bufu (or simply levelling up a Forneus until it learns Bufu) and then fusing that Forneus with an Angel that knows Garu, one can create a Lilim that has both Bufu (ice damage) and Garu (wind damage), in addition to the Agi and Zio it will learn naturally. This will result in a Persona that can exploit the weakness of virtually any enemy, allowing for very easy All-Out Attacks. (However, due to the rarity of MP-restoring items in Persona 3, it is still recommended to let your allies exploit the enemy weakness too if they can. Just set your allies to "Knock Down" in the Tactics menu, and they will exploit the enemies' weaknesses whenever they can, as long as they know it (meaning you have to have Mitsuru scan the enemy first)).
In the Persona series (particularly 3 and 4, I'm not sure if it shows up in the other games), a recurring phrase said by the Personas (I'll talk about that plural later...) is "I am thou, thou art I." This is actually grammatically incorrect; it should be "I am thee, thou art me." The original Japanese is "Ware wa nanji, nanji wa ware", which basically translates as "I am you, you are me" using incredibly old-fashioned pronouns.
About "Personas" - The correct plural of "persona" (which means "person" in Latin) is "personae", properly pronounced "PAIR-sohn-eye" but most often pronounced "purr-SOH-nay". However, the translators explained that their decision to pluralise it as "personas" was a deliberate stylistic choice, rather than a mistake.
The initial Personas of the protagonists of Persona 3 and Persona 4, Orpheus and Izanagi, share similarities in backstory. Both travelled to the underworld in order to rescue their lover (Eurydice for Orpheus and Izanami for Izanagi), but ultimately failed in their quest (Orpheus because he looked back at Eurydice before leaving the underworld despite promising not to, and Izanagi because Izanami had turned rotten and ugly from being in the underworld so long).
The jingle for the Junes store in Persona 4 was actually in English even in the Japanese version, but the wording was changed. In Japanese, the jingle went "Every day, young life, Junes!". This was changed in the English version to "Every day's great at your Junes!" in order to fix the rather Engrishy feel of the original line.
Similarly, "Mayonaka TV" (literally "Midnight TV") was changed to "The Midnight Channel", again because it sounds more natural to English speakers.
When playing the Japanese version of Persona 4, English (albeit broken English) descriptions of the options on the title screen are given. The descriptions read as follows:
LOAD GAME: Former game data is read.
NEW GAME: Game is begun newly.
OPTIONS: Various setup is performed.
In another example of broken English being changed to more natural-sounding English, the two gameplay modes in Persona 3: FES, "The Journey" and "The Answer", were titled "Episode Yourself" and "Episode Aigis" in the Japanese version of the game.
In the Japanese version of Persona 3, Kirijo Mitsuru would often insert random English phrases into her speech. When the game was localised and translated into English, this was changed to her spouting random phrases in French instead. The character Andre Laurent Jean Geraux (also translated as Andre Roland Jean Gérard in some versions, usually known as Bebe in the game) was a French exchange student in both versions of the game, but in an effort to keep it foreign, instead of translating his gratuitous English in the original into gratuitous French in the localisation, they instead inverted it, having him speak Japanese where he would have spoken English in the Japanese version and vice versa.
There are several hidden party member conversations that can be seen in Persona 3 by forming a party of specific people. These only work after every recruitable member has been obtained and do not serve any purpose other than humour. Try making a party composed of:
- All male characters (Junpei, Akihiko and Ken or Akihiko, Shinjiro and Ken are the only combinations that work for this)
- All female characters (aside from the MC, of course - this isn't the PSP version we're talking about here)
- All second-year students (Junpei, Yukari and Aigis)
- The original SEES members (Mitsuru, Akihiko and Shinjiro)
After doing this, talk to one of the party members in Tartarus to have them comment on the current party composition. Another hidden comment can be accessed if you set Mara as your active Persona and visit the Velvet Room - Elizabeth (or Theodore if you're playing the PSP version and using the female protagonist) will comment on your choice of Persona.
In the PSP remake, putting Akihiko and Ken in a party when the female protagonist has become lovers with both of them will cause them to comment on the party setup. Adding Junpei as a fourth member will enhance the experience.
If you have the right Persona and you know how to manipulate Fortune's "Wheel of Fortune" move, the battle with the Fortune and Strength Shadows in Persona 3 can be won almost instantly. "Wheel of Fortune" can inflict any kind of status effect on either your party or the enemy, including Fortune and Strength themselves. The Persona skill "Ghastly Wail" will instantly kill any enemy afflicted with Fear status. I'm sure you can figure the rest out.
For those who want a powerful Persona but don't want to totally break the game in Persona 3, look no further than the Persona Nebiros. A level 50 Persona of the Hermit Arcana, Nebiros naturally learns three skills that when combined make him a force to be reckoned with - Evil Smile, Stagnant Air and Ghastly Wail, and also learns the passive skill Fear Boost. Cast them in the following order:
Stagnant Air (doubles the chance of a status ailment affecting everyone, allies and enemies. Lasts 3 turns.)
Evil Smile (inflicts Fear status on all enemies with 25% chance, boosted to 50% chance thanks to Stagnant Air)
Ghastly Wail (instantly kills all enemies with Fear status, unblockable and unavoidable)
and watch your enemies tremble before you. Plus, Fear Boost increases Evil Smile's effect by 1.5, meaning it now has a 75% chance of succeeding if Nebiros has learned that skill.
But if you want to start your trail of destruction early, there is a way to obtain a quad-elemental Lilim very early in the game. Lilim is a level 8 Persona of the Devil Arcana who naturally learns Agi (fire damage) and Zio (lightning damage). By combining a Pixie and Nekomata to create a Forneus with Bufu (or simply levelling up a Forneus until it learns Bufu) and then fusing that Forneus with an Angel that knows Garu, one can create a Lilim that has both Bufu (ice damage) and Garu (wind damage), in addition to the Agi and Zio it will learn naturally. This will result in a Persona that can exploit the weakness of virtually any enemy, allowing for very easy All-Out Attacks. (However, due to the rarity of MP-restoring items in Persona 3, it is still recommended to let your allies exploit the enemy weakness too if they can. Just set your allies to "Knock Down" in the Tactics menu, and they will exploit the enemies' weaknesses whenever they can, as long as they know it (meaning you have to have Mitsuru scan the enemy first)).
Comments
Post a Comment