Persona 3 Em

Persona 3 Em, stylized Persona 3 éM, is an RPG published by Atlus and BBMF and developed by Interactive Brains for mobile phones.

Persona 3 Em is designed as a side-story taking place during the Yakushima trip of Persona 3. It is designed to emulate the original game in having a social-interaction driven daytime period and a dungeon-crawling night period.

Plot
During the nighttime when the members of S.E.E.S. go to sleep they awaken in the "Nightmare Hour" which is similar to the Dark Hour from the main games. During this time, they must explore a Tartarus-like dungeon called Oneiros, the entrance of which is a hollow opening inside a large tree.

During their exploration of Oneiros, the group periodically encounters Arche-Persona bosses at 20 floor intervals. The first 2 bosses depend on who is in the protagonist's party upon reaching that floor. These first 2 bosses' stats are fixed and do not scale. Regardless, Fuuka and the protagonist's Arche-Personas are always encountered on the 60th and 80th floors respectively.

In the game, it would be structured like this:
 * Party member 1 on the 20th floor.
 * Party member 2 on the 40th floor.
 * Arche-Lucia on the 60th floor.
 * Arche-Orpheus, the final boss on the 80th floor.

The Arche-Personas include:
 * Arche-Io: If Yukari is in the party.
 * Arche-Penthesilea: If Mitsuru is in the party.
 * Arche-Palladion: If Aigis is in the party.
 * Arche-Hermes: If Junpei is in the party.
 * Arche-Polydeuces: If Akihiko is in the party.
 * Arche-Lucia: Always on 60th Floor
 * Arche-Orpheus: Always on 80th Floor

In order to battle all of the Arche-Personas, one would either have to load a save prior to the battle and swap out party members, or complete the game and encounter them in New Game Plus. Note that the determining of Arche-Personas is based upon encountering them on the floor, instead of during the start of the game. Hence, even after the first Arche-Persona has been defeated, party members can still be swapped to change which Arche-Persona will be encountered on the 40th floor.

The Arche-Personas symbolize a different side to the users they belong to, and are often difficult for them to accept. In that aspect, they are similar to the Shadows of characters in Persona 4. They represent a fragment of oneself that is not understood, and with that it is impossible to truly know oneself. To reflect this, they have swapped color-palettes (For example, Arche-Orpheus is red), and their strengths/weaknesses are often complete opposites.

One's Arche-Persona occupies the user's dreams, and eventually allows the Nightmare Hour to persist as a form of semi-reality. As one ventures further into the dream, they are confronted with this part of themselves, and they must fight it. While memories are lost after the Nightmare Hour, this understanding is retained, even if it is not known to the person it affects.

After defeating these bosses, the story progresses to the following day. Once exploration of Oneiros is completed at the 80th floor, the game ends. As the characters awaken once again, the Nightmare Hour disappears and everything returns to normal, with everyone forgetting the events that happened.

Characters

 * Protagonist: Protagonist
 * Yukari Takeba: Party member, Social Link.
 * Mitsuru Kirijo: Party member, Social Link.
 * Aigis: Party member, Social Link.
 * Fuuka Yamagishi: Party member, Social Link.
 * Akihiko Sanada: Party member, Social Link.
 * Junpei Iori: Party member, Social Link.
 * Shuji Ikutsuki: Minor character.
 * Elizabeth: Velvet Room attendant, Item vendor, Social Link
 * Pharos: Minor character

Daytime
The game tries to emulate the features of the source material, including daytime events with the cast, 3D dungeon exploration and a 2D battle system. Notably, the game features music taken from the original game.

The game attempts to have several events such as quizzes and cooking, however most of these boil down to selecting dialogue choices.

In addition, the game has 'Social Links' that are similar to those in the original game (However, as Personas do not level up, maxing them will grant the player unique items). However, instead of having designated times where social links must be ranked up, this can be done during dialogue and free-time events. In some cases, selecting certain choices during the quiz and cooking minigames, various Social Links can be ranked up.

During each free time event, 4 people can be talked to before the story progresses. There are 4 main areas where characters will be at any given time:
 * The parlor of the Kirijo vacation home
 * The kitchen of the Kirijo vacation home
 * The beach
 * The forest

Social links are available with the following characters
 * Yukari Takeba
 * Mitsuru Kirijo
 * Aigis
 * Fuuka Yamagishi
 * Akihiko Sanada
 * Junpei Iori
 * Elizabeth

During the daytime, other characters, such as Shuji Ikutsuki, can be talked to in passing.

Pharos makes several appearances, as a strange figure that only the protagonist can see, that also disappears when others draw near, and is seen replacing the protagonist's reflection when looking in a mirror. He also talks to the team just before the final boss in the Nightmare Hour.

Oneiros and the Nightmare Hour
Oneiros is composed of 80 Floors, however unlike Tartarus, the path descends downwards instead. The entrance is given as a hollow tree-trunk in a forest. Outside this entrance is a terminal allowing the user to save, and a teleporter that allows them to fast-travel to areas in the dungeon. However, it is also possible to save in the parlor of the Kirijo vacation home later on in the game.

Persona fusion in the Velvet Room is also possible. However, due to the limitations of the cellphone platform, Persona do not level up and must be fused to acquire new skills. Items can also be purchased from Elizabeth inside. Igor appears to be absent for the majority of the game.

During exploration, the group encounters teleporters which allow safe return to the entrance, stairs that allow further descent into Oneiros, and both regular and golden chests. Golden chests, like other installments, have high-level items that cannot be obtained any other way.

When the group awakens from the Nightmare hour, they are often unable to remember what happened the prior night or rationalize it as just a dream. After returning for a second time there, they realize that they have all had the same exact dream, which signals that something is amiss.

Combat
The game uses a simplified combat system that mirrors that of the original game, with All-Out Attacks being identical. The protagonist can be grouped with 2 party members to make a party of 3, and in-battle options are near identical. The game retains the tactics system of the original Persona 3.

Party members can be equipped with different weapons, armor and accessories, and can be swapped at the entrance to Oneiros. Their stats, skills and AI are remarkably similar to the original game. Though Shinjiro Aragaki and Ken Amada do not appear in the game, Axe and Spear weapons that they typically wield can be purchased and equipped by the protagonist. Like the original game, the protagonist is able to equip every type of weapon except firearms. Some armor in the game can only be equipped by either male or female characters.

New Game Plus
After completing the game, a New Game Plus save file can be made, which functions almost identically to New Game Plus in the original Persona 3. Without reloading save files, 3 runs of the game in New Game Plus would be required to battle all of the Arche-Personas.

Trivia

 * Despite being released well before Persona 3 Portable, Persona 3 Em has Social Links with both Junpei and Akihiko.
 * During the daytime, Aigis appears wearing a school swimsuit which apparently prompts Ikutsuki to perv out over her. In later dialogue, Fuuka's Social Link will be increased if the protagonist calls Ikutsuki a pervert.
 * Persona 3 Em incidentally reveals the preferred breakfast of the members of S.E.E.S. during optional dialogue.
 * Oddly, a quiz in the game makes rather lucid references to a number of real-life figures such as and.
 * Several pieces of trivia in the same quiz also concern facts about Greek mythology, such as Orpheus's descent into the underworld and the Goddess of the moon, Selene.
 * Pharos appears both in the daytime and in the Nightmare Hour, in spite that in Persona 3, it is established that he appears only in the Dark Hour. This may have simply been a continuity error on BBMF's part.