Its hard to believe that it has been roughly over 25 years since the very first Persona game was released for the original PlayStation console. The Persona series has been considered to be one of the most legendary video game franchises of all-time as it relates to the JRPG genre of gaming and the first entry is one that is often overlooked by the general public. The original Persona game was released back in September 1996 and is to be an overlooked JRPG masterpiece that many people in western countries never got a chance to play. Despite, being re-released for the PSP back in ’09 Revelations: Persona is a game that did not achieve the type of commercial success as later entries within its series such as Persona’s 3, 4 and recently 5. The look and design of the original Persona game was very unique especially considering the fact the game utilized 3D environments along with realistic character sprites with battles and cutscenes being presented from a 2D isometric perspective. It should also be noted that Revelations: Persona was one of the first 3D JRPG titles that allowed players to roam freely to different locations and venues from a first person perspective while providing players with a travel map. The features included in the original Persona game felt like it was ahead of its time and could rival the likes of Final Fantasy 7 in terms of quality during the mid to late 90’s.
The story for Revelations Persona revolved around a group of high school students who attend St. Hermelin High located in the fictional town of Mikage-cho. Players controlled an unnamed protagonist along and is faced with unwanted supernatural events after playing fortune telling game with his high school friends Nate, Yuki and Mark. Revelations: Persona was a turn based RPG game where players would have enemy encounters similar to that of the older Final Fantasy games or Pokemon. Despite, its lack of innovative in relation to battle system the BGM’s were captivating and makes people realize how underrated the soundtrack for Revelations: Persona really was. Revelations: Persona has four different endings which added to the overall replay value of the game. Despite, how much of a gem the Japanese version of Revelations: Persona was back in the mid 90’s the localized western version of Revelation: Persona was considered to be controversial to say the least. The American version of Revelations: Persona had issues regarding racial undertones, name changes and questionable dialogue which is something that Atlus has been distancing themselves from for many years now. While the graphics for Revelations: Persona looks inferior compared to what we have today the game looked like great by mid 90’s standards despite being one of the least popular entries within its series. Despite, being an RPG masterpiece in terms of gameplay Revelations: Persona did not have massive commercial success and was overshadowed by countless video gamer that appeared on the PS1 including Final Fantasy VII, Gran Tursimo, Tomb Raider, Tekken 2, Resident Evil and others. Even though, Revelations: Persona was re-released for the PSP in the late 00’s it seems unlikely that Atlus will ever remake the game for a current generation game system like the PlayStation 5 in the future.
Gaming Hearts Collection 