Megami Ibunroku Persona

Megami Ibunroku Persona is the first game in the Persona series, which is a spin-off of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise developed by Atlus. In North America it was localized as Revelations: Persona.

Atlus has released an enhanced remake for the PlayStation Portable, entitled Shin Megami Tensei: Persona (solely Persona in Japan) with the words Megami Ibunroku omitted from the title. Shoji Meguro returns as the composer.

Plot
The protagonist is a boy in his second year of high school who attends St. Hermelin High School in a town called Mikage-cho (Lunarvale in Revelations: Persona). Recently, a company with a suspicious atmosphere called SEBEC commonly known as SEBEC has opened in this town, and residents were suspicious of its existence.

While preparing for the school festival, the protagonist, who lost consciousness due to a ritual called "Persona", go to Mikage General Hospital for a detailed examination to visit their classmate Maki Sonomura. However, during the visit, a major change occurs in the hospital. A huge tremor swept through the hospital, the passage became like a maze, and the corpse in the mortuary was revived. However, when they were attacked by the resurrected corpses, there was a mysterious power that welled up from the boys' bodies. It is an awakening as a "Persona" user.

The boys finally escaped the hospital using their Personas, but the hospital wasn't the only anomaly. The entire city was covered by a mysterious force field, making it impossible to leave or enter the city, and demons were appearing everywhere. The boys will use their Personas to confront this anomaly.

SEBEC route
In the SEBEC route, should the protagonist decide to confront SEBEC, he is first joined by an apparently-recovered Maki, then asked by Nanjo to help save Masao, who is captured by demons. The protagonist, Maki and Nanjo rescue Masao, but on the way Maki displays an odd lack of certain memories including being hospitalized.

After rescuing Masao and infiltrating SEBEC, the group confront Kandori. After cornering him inside the DEVA System, a girl in black called Aki appears and knocks the party unconscious. When they awake, they find themselves in a duplicate, idealized version of their world.

The group eventually find and corner Kandori, whose ultimate goal was to become a deity and find meaning in life. After an initial fight, Kandori is possessed by his Persona Nyarlathotep, then finally defeated. Before dying, Kandori reveals that the Maki who has been traveling with the party is the "Ideal Maki", a version of herself from the true Maki's heart. Aki and a girl in white called Mai are also pieces of Maki, and the idealized Mikage-cho was created by Maki, and brought into reality when she unexpectedly linked with the DEVA System.

The group must help Maki avoid Kandori's path towards isolation and his current actions. The group manage to convince Ideal Maki to overlook her original self's unconscious actions and join them in fixing the problem. After rescuing the true Maki's self from the Sea of Souls, where all human life begins, the group must then confront Pandora, an aspect of Maki that wants to use the DEVA System to destroy everything. When Pandora is defeated, all the pieces of Maki merge back into one, reversing the effects on the town and restoring her to full health. Philemon meets with the group and congratulates them on their success.

Snow Queen Quest
The Snow Queen Quest, which takes place in the real town of Mikage-cho, is unlocked by investigating an urban legend within the school surrounding a theatrical mask used in performances of "The Snow Queen": nearly everyone who wears the mask to play the title role has died. After finding the mask, the protagonist encounters Saeko Takami, who puts on the mask and is possessed by a spirit within it. Freezing the entire town, the possessed Saeko generates three towers, with the spirits of those previously killed by the mask as their guardians, while setting up her Ice Castle within the high school.

Along with Yukino, Ayase, Eriko, and Hidehiko, the protagonist heads out to save Saeko. Philemon contacts them and tells them that the only way to save Saeko is the Demon Mirror, which can remove the source of the mask's curse. The spirit possessing Saeko turns out to be former classmate Tomomi Fujimori, who was horribly disfigured by the mask when she wore it in place of Saeko. Using the mirror, the group are able to free Saeko and bring Tomomi peace. It is then revealed that Tomomi herself was controlled by the Night Queen Asura, a powerful entity who wants to cloak the world in darkness. Upon defeating the Night Queen, the town is freed from her power.

Main Characters


Below is a list of player characters, with their English names included. A boy in his second year of high school who attends St. Hermelin High School. He has a cool atmosphere that is silent and does everything without hesitation. He was living a normal life, but he was caught up in a sudden change in Mikage-cho. Perhaps because it is a character that is the player's alter ego, He has almost no dialogue in the game. In the United States version, both his hairstyle and appearance have been replaced with different designs to make him more "American". His initial persona is "EMPEROR Seimen Kongo". The weapons he uses are a one-handed sword and a machine gun.
 * Megami Ibunroku Persona
 * Protagonist: Voice - Ken Ishizuka (JPN)

A student at St. Hermelin High. He seems to be easy to get along with, as a great many of the student know and like him. however, he seems to have a somewhat bleak and depressive nature.
 * Revelations: Persona
 * USA Protagonist: Voice - Milton Lawrence (USA)

The main character's classmates. She is commonly known as "Maki". She is weak and has been admitted to Mikage General Hospital for the past year. She is a member of the Art Club. She has a friendly and kind personality, but she has a great darkness in her heart due to anxiety about the future and the loneliness of being left alone in the hospital. In a single-mother households, she rebel against her mother who is too busy with work to come to visit her, because of her loneliness. After the change in the city, she appears in front of the protagonists in a cheerful and energetic appearance like a different person, but she is an existence embodied by a part of Maki's conscious body (mind) (her ideal form), and the main body continues to sleep in a shell without a conscious body. Only SEBEC can she fight together as a party member. In the manga version, she is the main character's childhood friend. She secretly has feelings for Yosuke Naito, her best friend's boyfriend, but later becomes attracted to the main character. Her initial persona was "PRIESTESS Maso". The weapons she uses are bows and arrows and handguns. She is a character with high speed and luck, suitable for recovery and support.
 * Megami Ibunroku Persona
 * Maki Sonomura: Voice - Jun Mizusawa (JPN)

While very few people really know what it is that is wrong with Mary, it's quite well know that she certainly is not in perfect health. Ever since she was a child, she has been very weak, and has become so bad at times that she had to be taken out of school and hospitalized (which has happened quite often). Because of her constant sickness, and having to spend so much of her life in hospitals, she has grown into a rather gloomy, depressive girl. Even worse, in the recent past, she has begun to have many mental delusions. She is rather well liked by most of the students at St. Hermelin, but she often has trouble getting along with people, as she spends so much of her time alone and is not use to dealing with people. She is best friends with T.J., and in the past, there was someone of an interest between her and Bruce.
 * Revelations: Persona
 * Mary: Voice - Michelle Raymond (USA)

The main character's classmates. Commonly known as "Mark". While he has a strong sense of justice and a reliable personality, his emotions often come to the surface. Due to his rather impatient and intuitive nature, he is often at odds with Nanjo, who is the first in theory. He is favorable to Reiji in terms of whether he feels something similar to him. He has a faint crush on Maki and seems to visit her frequently. He specializes in graffiti and hip-hop dancing and leads a team called "Taylors". His parents house is a dry cleaner. While he is annoyed by his overprotective mother, He also shows a pretense that he cares about his mother after the change in the city. Only SEBEC can he fight together as a party member. In the United States version, although the other members have changed hair colors and light skin colors, their appearance has not changed much, but only mark is changed to African American, and the knitted hat has changed to a cap. His initial persona is "CHARIOT Ogun". The weapons he uses are axes and shotguns.
 * Megami Ibunroku Persona
 * Masao Inaba: Voice - Ken Ishizuka (JPN)

Mark's parents are a hard working couple who own a dry cleaning shop. His mother used to spoil him, and possible because of this, he has a rather carefree attitude, and now she sees him as a brat. While he may seem lazy and without ambition, he has a great, serious love for art, and has amazing concentration. His somewhat rough nature and rebellious attitude is disliked by most students, especially Nate. Mary, however, sees through his outward appearance, and knows deep inside that Mark is really a kind and gentle person like herself. Because of this, Mark and Mary have become good friends, and he cares for her deeply.
 * Revelations: Persona
 * Mark: Voice - Milton Lawrence (USA)

The main character's classmates. He is commonly known as "Nanjo". He is a master of the Nanjo Zaibatsu and a thorough rationalist. He had only received his parents affection in money and only opened his heart to his butler, Yamaoka. He speaks and thinks in a coherent manner, and are constantly at odds with emotional marks. He is quite confident and proud of his origins, and at first he had a strong condescending side to others, but after finding legitimacy in Mark's opinion that "after all, humans are creatures of the mind," his personality softened somewhat and he grew a lot as a person. He said he had already known Kandori at a political and business party and had not had a good impression of him from the first time they met. He loses Yamaoka, who was his emotional support, due to an anomaly, but learns that it was Kandori who caused the anomaly, and begins to pursue him with clear hostility. In SEBEC, He can join the party as a fixed member, and in the Snow Queen, he can join by choice. As an aside, the Kirijo group that appears in Persona 3 is a branch from Nanjo. It seems that he was originally scheduled to die after the ending (Kaneko and Satomi answered in the developer interview of the official guidebook). His initial persona was "HIEROPHANT Eisen-myooh". The weapons he uses are two-handed swords and rifles. He is a character with a good number of negotiation commands and is very useful for avoiding combat and collecting spell cards.
 * Megami Ibunroku Persona
 * Kei Nanjo: Voice - Hitoshi Yamanoi (JPN)

Nate is the son of a rich and secure family. Yet while he had everything he could want in the physical sense, he was denied the love and care most parents give their children. Alfred, the family's butler, watched over him and showed him love, so Nate was still given the chance to grow up stable and happy. Unfortunately, due to his lush lifestyle and strong confidence, he has trouble with school. Others find it difficult to associate with him, and he tends to feel superior to others around him.
 * Revelations: Persona
 * Nate Trinity: Voice - Milton Lawrence (USA)

The main character's classmates. He is commonly known as "Brown". with Dyed hair and goggles as trademarks. He is in an extremely cheerful tone and is popular in the class with his cheerful words and actions. The first person is "I-sama", and the laughter of "Dehyahyahya" is characteristic. He is a mood maker who utters a series of upbeat lines that make you forget to fight demons even in the party, but in essence he has a delicate and vulnerable heart. There is also a side that is afraid of showing weakness to others due to past trauma, and feels stifled by his current situation. He left his hometown due to bullying in junior high school and went to St. Hermelin High School in Mikage-cho, He was never close to his parents. home. "Brown" was a nickname given to him from the disgrace of the time, and he continues to use it for some reason. He is a select member of both SEBEC and the Snow Queen. His initial persona was "JUSTICE Nevan". The weapons he uses are spears and machine guns.
 * Megami Ibunroku Persona
 * Hidehiko Uesugi: Voice - Toranori Yoshikawa (JPN)

Brad is a natural show-off. He's always busy trying to look good and follow the latest fashion trend, and he has a very smooth attitude and always knows what to say. He's envied and chased after by many, and the teachers all like him, but if anyone takes the time to look closely at Brad, they'll see right through him with ease. He likes being the center of attention in a group, and will usually lie to make himself more interesting should he need to.
 * Revelations: Persona
 * Brad: Voice - Milton Lawrence (USA)

The main character's classmates. Commonly known as "Elly". She is a beautiful-looking returnee and is popular both inside and outside the school. Excellent grades. She is characterized by dialogue in which English words pop out at every end and a demeanor that makes you feel the goodness of upbringing, such as "dewa". At first glance, she is elegant and smiling, and has a gentle personality that smiles at everyone, but it is a mask that she created herself by worrying about the eyes of others. By nature, she was interpersonal sensitive and wanted to be surrounded by many people, so she played a good girl who was liked by everyone and avoided showing her true feelings to others. As the story progresses, she develops a fondness for the protagonist, but due to Maki Sonomura, she is unable to convey her feelings in the end. Regret will cast a shadow over her in "Persona 2" as well. She has an unexpected hobby of occult research and is familiar with mythology. Even when she saw a real demon that was supposed to be an enemy and a persona who was an obvious paranormal phenomenon, she was excited and happy, and she was optimistic and kept her own pace even in times of change. She is a select member of both SEBEC and the Snow Queen. The initial persona is "JUDGEMENT Nike". The weapons she uses are one-handed swords and rifles.
 * Megami Ibunroku Persona
 * Eriko Kirishima: Voice - Tomoe Hanba (JPN)

Until her graduation from Junior High, Ellen was raised and lived in the United States. Because of this, she is fluent in both English and Japanese, and has a love for studying foreign cultures and lifestyles. When she returned to Lunervale to enter High School, she was the envy of many and was very popular because of her knowledge of foreign countries and her 'exotic' look. And while Ellen may look fragile and timid, she is a very strong girl both physically and mentally, and finds it very easy to adjust to new and different circumstances and surroundings.
 * Revelations: Persona
 * Ellen: Voice - Michelle Raymond (USA)

The main character's classmates. She is commonly known as "Ayase". Her appearance and behavior are reminiscent of kogals that were popular in 1996. For better or worse, she has a personality that is too straightforward to her emotions and often becomes a troublemaker at the same time as soothing Her friends. Basically, the stance is that she is fun and that she is okay to enjoy the present and not care about the future. However, she is not that she is not worried about the future at all, she is just pretending not to think about it. Selected member in SEBEC and fixed member in Snow Queen (note that in SEBEC route, if you do not have a party member and didn't meet the following conditions for Reiji at the time you join her in abandoned factory and there are 4 party members, you will be forced to have her as the 5 party member). Her initial persona is "MAGICIAN Hooley". The weapons she uses are whips and handguns.
 * Megami Ibunroku Persona
 * Yuka Ayase: Voice - Masayo Kurata (JPN)

Alana is definitely the wild child of the group. Light-hearted, playful, Alana is a girl who believes that life should be lived for the here and now, and that people shouldn't worry as much as they do. She has a habit of being quite a flirt, getting into trouble, and daydreaming about romantic encounters or what kind of extravagant life she'll lead in the future. Alana would rather be with her friends having fun than taking life seriously and examining the world around her.
 * Revelations: Persona
 * Alana: Voice - Michelle Raymond (USA)

The main character's classmates. He is commonly known as "Reiji". A silent transfer student who moved in six months ago. His hobby is magic tricks. Although strong and surly, he is actually a boy who cares about his mother. He held a personal grudge against Takahisa Kandori and was only intended to fulfill his wishes. The reason why he accompanied the protagonist was initially based on the idea that it would be easier to unify interests and achieve goals than a relationship of trust, but as they acted together, their consciousness gradually changed. Only SEBEC can he fight together as a party member. He is a hidden character that is difficult to make friends with. Instead of having so many. incompatible personas, you can handle special personas such as DEVIL TOWER. His initial persona is "DEVIL Breath". The weapons he uses are knuckles and rifles.
 * Megami Ibunroku Persona
 * Reiji Kido: Voice - Hitoshi Yamanoi (JPN)

Chris is the new kid at school. He's rather quiet, and very much a loner, so no one really knows too much about who he is or where he comes from. He's quite handsome, and his arrival has caused quite a stir among the girls at St. Hermelin.
 * Revelations: Persona
 * Chris: Voice - Milton Lawrence (USA)

The main character's classmates. She is commonly known as "Yukino". A girl who is characterized by her sloppy words and deeds, and who is caring for her older sister. Originally, she was quite bad, but she respects her homeroom teacher, Saeko Takami, who cared about her and worked hard to rehabilitate her. Currently, she hopes to study abroad to study photography, and spends her days balancing school life with a part-time job at a convenience store near her school. Only the Snow Queen can she fight together as a party member until the end. In SEBEC, she joins the party only in the early events. In the United States version, she has the same appearance and color scheme as the Japans version. The initial persona was "EMPRESS Vesta". The weapons she uses are flying gear and shotguns.
 * Megami Ibunroku Persona
 * Yukino Mayuzumi: Voice - Tomoe Hanba (JPN)

At first, Yuki may seem like a cool, uncaring girl, but that is just her mature and reserved attitude. Yuki doesn't bother with what's trendy or popular, and prefers to keep to herself others would know a lot about her. She is seen as a very trustworthy person, and many of the females students at St. Hermelin look up to her. Recently, she started working at the Yin and Yang shop near school, which has helped open her eyes to the world.
 * Revelations: Persona
 * Yuki: Voice - Michelle Raymond (USA)
 * See Also: List of Megami Ibunroku Persona Characters

Localization
Revelations: Persona was heavily changed when it was localized for a North American release. All characters were renamed and several of them had their appearance altered as well. Nearly all references to Japan or Japanese culture were cut, with the unusual exception being the shoe lockers and Shinto Shrines in the game. Many of the Personas were renamed rather than translated, and the town's name was changed to "Lunarvale". Yen was changed to dollars, and the overall difficulty of the game was reduced by lowering the enemy encounter rates and increasing the experience gained. However, while experience gain was increased to an amount proportional to the decreased random battle rate, money drops were left the same, resulting in a potential shortage of cash.

In addition to these changes, the Snow Queen Quest was removed by only allowing the player to commit to the SEBEC chapter. The data is still present in the game disk and it's possible to forcibly activate the quest by making use of cheating codes, but the Quest is untranslated and the game's engine cannot render Japanese characters which show as strange symbols.

It was to become the first title of the flagship "Revelations" series.

On December 3, 2018, Revelations: Persona was released on the PlayStation Classic Mini Console bundled with 20 other PlayStation games and has a save state feature included.

Etymology
The English title, Revelations, is taken from the Christian Bible's Book of Revelation of the New Testament. It is the final book and its authority and relevancy to Christianity are in common dispute. However, many modern fundamentalist Christian sects place great importance upon its portrayal of "the end of days."

While the front of the game's case claimed it to be the first in a series, only one more Atlus USA production would bear this title: Revelations: The Demon Slayer.

Trivia

 * The Persona featured on the jewel case and in the Revelations: Persona-exclusive loading screen is Vishnu, renamed "Ashura" in the English version.
 * The hero's alternate self is seen playing "Groove On Fight" in the Well of Mind and Souls, also known as the Alaya Cavern. This reference was carried down to the PSP remake as well.
 * Revelations: Persona was released on the PlayStation Classic Mini Console on December 3, 2018 which is bundled with 20 other PlayStation One games and it now has the save state feature ability.
 * In the PlayStation Classic version of Revelations: Persona, it is now possible to cheat at the video poker game by using the save state feature and get up to 1,000,000 coins at the casino, which is helpful if the player wants to buy expensive weapons and sell them at the store for more money.
 * Revelations: Persona was one of the rarest PlayStation games due to the limited copy run and became available again on the PlayStation Classic in 2018.
 * A debug build for the game was dumped by Reddit user PriceyT-Shirt on January 2nd, 2021.  The build date is August 2nd, 1996, which is one day before the final Japanese build. The EXE is dated a day before the final NTSC-J retail release.