Video Game Review: Persona Retrospective: Persona (PSP) Part 10: The End.....

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Yep it's high time we finished this look at Persona 1. Where we last left off the group had figured out how to stop Pandora and save Maki. To do this they need the three compacts carried by the three different aspects of Maki's personality, they already have the ones from the Ideal Maki and Mai, now they need to get the compact from the real Maki who has hidden herself away in the Alaya cavern. The team arrives when they get another vision from Zordon.

"Pardon?"

Sorry wrong exposition buddy. He explains that the Alaya cavern leads to the sea of souls from which the souls of all of mankind is born from and eventually return. He also says that Maki is planning on returning to that sea and only Naoya and her ideal self can follow. So they do and to everyone reading so far welcome to hell! Personal story time here when I first played this game back around 2012 this was the part where I gave up, in this dungeon there are only two party members, demons that can't be negotiated with, who are also around level 50 and unless you've prepared yourself with the right Personas and have memorized their weakness' will slaughter you like sheep. Oh and need I remind you of the incredibly low chances to run away, and that if you fail to run away when you try the enemies get themselves a free shot? If no then I just did; you're gonna die, a lot.

So the two make their way through this hell and when they reach level B8 (and remember this dungeon closes once you find Maki and leave so this is your only chance to do this) they find someone who looks exactly like Naoya that's playing a video game who says that he knows exactly what kind of person you are. He shows you points in your journey where a choice needed to be made. If you made the right choice you get a Fusion Totem that's used to create a character's Ultimate Persona, and luckily for you all I wrote down all of those choices as they appeared in my previous reviews; aren't I just such a nice guy?

Anyway there are Ultimate Personas for each Party member, however certain party members are only available during certain story lines, Mark, Maki and Reiji are exclusive to the SEBEC quest and Yukino is only available during the second story which I'll cover next time. So for now here are the Ultimate Personas for the current party. First is Naoya who's Ultimate Persona is Amon-Ra of the Emperor Arcana.

Self Created King of the Gods of the Egyptian Pantheon, Amon-Ra is the champion of the poor and central to personal piety.

 Maki gains the Powers of Verdandi of the Priestess Arcana.

One of the three Norns of Norse Mythology who determines the fate of all men, her name translates to "to be".

 Nanjo's Ultimate is Yamaoka of the Judgement Arcana.

The rebirth of Nanjo's faithful butler as an aspect of his master's soul.

 Mark's Ultimate Persona is Susano-o of the Chariot Arcana.

Born from the filth washed off of Izanagi after he failed to save Izanami from the Underworld, Susano-o is the storm of Summer and is the brother of Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi the gods of the Sun and Moon respectively.

 And last but not least Reiji, Mot of the Death Arcana.

The Semitic god of Death who is constantly trying to consume Baal. And was only stopped by his father threatening to overturn his throne.

However don't think you can just fuse them right away. They can only be fused once Naoya is at the level of the Persona, so if you're at that level already then fuse away, equip Naoya and Maki with their Ultimate Personas if you can fuse them and trudge onward. While the five are awesome in their own way the best is in my opinion Amon-Ra; since once it's at full power it unlocks the Hieroglyphein attack. A spell that deals incredible damage against demons of the fiend and tyrant order, which includes the final bosses. But that's a whole way away for now.

The two finally corner the real Maki; who after the ideal Maki reads her the riot act about how she just kept whining about how much her life sucked instead of actually trying to change herself gives up the compact and tells the two to stop Pandora in the Avidya world. The two make it back to the three and with all three compacts they open the door to the Avidya world which is behind the door in the school. Now be careful people the Avidya world is the largest dungeon in this story line and not only does it have super strong demons but it also has pit traps that could send you back to near the beginning. Which means that you'll have to go all the way back to where you were before fighting all the way through. But this also makes for a great place to train your party members' Ultimate Personas and there are stores, gun-shops a save room and a Velvet Room so yeah could be worse.

So after all of this you finally encounter Pandora.

Oops sorry wrong monster.

But you can tell how I'd get mixed up so easily.

Not only does Pandora look like something that crawled out of a nightmare it has an equally nightmarish goal. She's managed to steal the core of the Deva System somehow and is planning on using it like how Hellmaster Fibrizo wanted to use the Giga Slave spell and destroy all of reality. But just like with the demon brat the five aren't going to let that happen, though our group actually has a chance against this incarnation of evil. Pandora can still be quite a problem for an under leveled party, especially once she starts using her Paralyze Puncture attack, which not only hits everyone with non elemental damage but it also has a chance to paralyze your team members as well. This isn't helped by the fact that she constantly uses buffing spells to raise her attack and defense so have a Persona that can use Dekaja with one of your party members and be sure to bring a lot of Dis-Stone and Dis-Paralyze with you or be ready to become the end piece.

After she goes down she sheds the monster cocoon and comes at the group again as a giant humanoid with Butterfly wings. This form allows Pandora to switch between a Red haired version of herself and a blue haired version. The Red haired one is the offensive one and has the attack Butterfly Storm which hits all enemies with non elemental damage and can cause random status effects. The Blue haired version is the defensive form, not only can she recover some HP but she also has the skill All Guard which protects her from all damage and the Symphony of Lament skill which can hit all of your characters with Guilt and remember folks if their Guilt counters are high enough they can't attack.

So once you've taken care of Pandora Naoya, Reiji, Nanjo and Mark return back to their world where the crisis has passed and the group goes on with their life's which I won't spoil here. Mostly because we'll catch up with some of the group in Persona 2. Though we do know from this epilogue that Reiji will have a son, but take my advice Mr Kido; do not name him Shinji because trust me dude

having Shinji Kido wandering around the world of Persona would be nothing but trouble.

But we're not done yet because as alluded to earlier there is a second story in this game and I'll begin coverage of that next time.

Shin Megami Tensai Persona is owned by Atlus and Sega.
Silent Hill Homecoming is owned by Konami, and Double Helix Games.  
Kamen Rider is owned by Ishinomori Productions, Toei Productions, and Bandai.