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Megami Tensei
From The Codex
Background
The Megami Tensei franchise refers to the entire franchise of Megami Tensei games and spin-offs, primarily developed by Atlus and currently owned by Sega. The series began with a series of novels written by Aya Nishitani, the first of which is Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei. The franchise has crossed many consoles genres, and forms of media, and is the one of the most popular Japanese RPG franchises. Although less popular, Megami Tensei or simply called "Megaten" by fans, contains more games and spin-offs than almost any other franchise.
Ever since Shin Megami Tensei was released as a spinoff of the original Megami Tensei series of video games, the Megami Tensei franchise has made multiple spinoff series. Although they might deviate game-play wise, various recurring elements will show up, such as names of Elemental Spells, the various Demons that appear, the Moon Cycle system, and so on.
Currently, the two active series are the Shin Megami Tensei Series, considered to be the "main" series, and the Persona series, which has outsold the Shin Megami Tensei series. Recently however the the Soul Hackers series has been revived with a second game, implying more franchises from Megami Tensei could come back.
The following plots for the Megami Tensei games are as follows:
The story begins with a dream sequence as the nameless Protagonist is led through a formless hallway to meet a crucified man, a man tortured by demons, and a beautiful woman bathing who pledges to be with him eternally.
Upon waking, the story begins in Tokyo as the Protagonist checks his email to learn that a mysterious man calling himself Stephen has sent out a suspicious 'Demon Summoning Program' to all those willing to use it. Intrigued, the Protagonist downloads it onto his laptop before going out on an errand for his mother. Outside, it becomes apparent that all is not right with Tokyo - police have barricaded many streets and people have started to go missing, along with a recent murder in the park. It's soon realized that recent experiments with Terminal-based teleportation have accidentally opened up a portal to The Abyss, and demons have begun roaming the streets.
The Protagonist has another dream in which he meets the same dream-companions again, only this time they interrupt a ritual sacrifice in the dream. The woman who was to be sacrificed expresses her gratitude before the dream ends. Guided by the mysterious Stephen, the Protagonist uses the Demon-summoning program to convince some of the demons to join him and fight back against the more hostile demons. He soon meets up with the real-world versions of the men he met in his dream as they begin a search for some of the missing persons in the demon-infested Tokyo. Along the way, he meets a woman named Yuriko, who claims to be the woman he met in his dream and that she intends to fulfill her promise to always be with him as soon as she can sever his connection to 'the other one'.
Warring Factions
The news of demonic invasion soon gets out, however, and the American military, led by Ambassador Thorman, declares martial law in Tokyo as they try to get rid of the demons. A reactionary Japanese militia force, led by Gotou, rallies against the cordoning imposed by the Americans and they begin working with the demons, whom they see as the ancient spirits of the land sent to create a utopia, to prevent the Americans from destroying Tokyo. A third resistance faction, led by the Heroine, seeks to keep the Americans and the reactionary Japanese forces from clashing and getting Tokyo caught in the middle. The party meets the Heroine, whom turns out to be the sacrificial woman from their collective dream. Despite their efforts, she is captured by Gotou's forces and Yuriko appears to personally oversee her public execution, claiming that once she is gone, Yuriko can be with the Protagonist eternally.
The Protagonist can choose to align himself with any of the three factions, but no matter what, the Heroine will be rescued and join his side, the two forces will clash, and Ambassador Thorman - the deity/demon Thor in disguise - will launch nuclear missiles on Tokyo, destroying nearly everything. The Protagonist, the Law Hero, and the Chaos Hero only survive thanks to the sacrifice of the Heroine, who sends them to the Diamond Realm, another plane of reality, with her magic.
After the Great Cataclysm
Upon their return from the Diamond Realm, they discover that 30 years have passed and that worldwide nuclear holocaust has occurred. Humans have survived, but the world has drastically changed, and demons roam freely. In Tokyo, particularly, two groups have risen from the remnants of the Martial Law forces and the Japanese Rebellion forces - the Messian Order and the Ring of Gaea.
The two factions are at odds with opposing ideologies. The Messians have aligned themselves with Law, choosing to devoutly follow the plans of their leaders to find salvation in 'God's Thousand-Year Kingdom'; finding the Gaeans as anarchists. The Gaeans aligned themselves with Chaos, shunning the Messian view as dictatorial, and choosing a path of anarchy where the strong make their own futures. The Messians have begun construction of a great Cathedral to be the throne of God from which he will purge the world of sinners, and the Gaeans seek to summon Lucifer from The Abyss to release strong demons across the world. Both sides have their followers and detractors, including the Law Hero and Chaos Hero, respectively.
In the future Tokyo, the Protagonist begins to feel the pains and hear the screams of a woman who apparently isn't there. After freeing a man known as the Psychodiver from a Gaean tyrant's prisons, the Protagonist is informed that his soul is inexorably intertwined with another's and it is her pain he feels. The Psychodiver tells him that the woman's mind has been infected by a demon, and if her condition worsens further, his own life will be in danger. The Protagonist finds the woman locked in a Messian stronghold. She bears an exact resemblance to the Heroine and she has been made to be the so-called Messiah of the Messian Church. With the Psychodiver's help, the Protagonist enters her mind and defeats the demon possessing her.
As the girl wakes up, she tells the Protagonist about vague memories of her former life. She was the Heroine who died saving him, but her soul was so strongly connected to him that she was reborn into the world without her memories of anything but the Protagonist. She leaves her life as the Messiah to travel with him and they are separated from the Chaos Hero and Law Hero. The Chaos Hero fuses himself with a demon out of his frustration to become stronger and leaves the Protagonist, deeming him 'weak'. The Law Hero sacrifices himself while protecting the Protagonist from a powerful demon who steals his soul.
Saving the World
The Chaos Hero finds his way into the Ring of Gaea while the Law Hero's soul is appropriated by the Messians and he is reborn as their Messiah. Both sides race towards the completion of their plans to summon Lucifer or God to bring salvation to humanity. Both sides try to convince the Protagonist to join their cause, and he can choose to join Echidna and serve Chaos, join Aniel and serve Law, or slay both to assert his allegiance to neither, depending on the player's choice.
Regardless of the player's choice, the Messian Cathedral is completed which summons a flood upon Tokyo, washing away everyone who wasn't in the Cathedral at the time. Only a few Messians and Gaeans remain alive in the Cathedral and they continue to try to eradicate the other. Again, the player has the choice of joining with the Law-aligned Messians, fighting against the demonic leaders of the Ring of Gaea; or to join the Chaos-aligned Gaeans and fight the tyrannical angelic Messian leaders.
After their initial clash, the Messians and the Gaeans find themselves locked in a stalemate, each side controlling half the Cathedral. The Asura Lord, leader of the Gaeans, has entrenched his forces in the basement of the Cathedral with his henchmen Arioch, Astaroth, Surtr, and finally the Chaos Hero. The upper floors are guarded by the angels Uriel, Gabriel, and Raphael, as well as the Law Hero standing before the angel Michael, the leader of the Messians. No matter his path, the Protagonist must fight his way across both lines to confront both Michael and Asura Lord.
While descending the lower floors to find the Chaos Hero, the Protagonist meets Yuriko again, who reveals herself to be Lilith in disguise. She was the first wife of the biblical Adam and she longs to be the Protagonist's partner. It is implied that the Protagonist and the Heroine are the reincarnations of Adam and Eve, explaining Lilith's motivations in attempting to kill the Heroine and live eternally with the Protagonist. Near the bottom of the Cathedral, the Protagonist meets an enigmatic man, Louis Cyphre, who warns the Protagonist that the 'true enemy' still waits.
After defeating Asura Lord at the behest of Law, Michael at the request of Chaos, or both to restore the balance, the Protagonist is teleported to the roof of the Cathedral above the clouds. A Chaos-aligned Protagonist is congratulated by Louis Cyphre, who reveals his true form as Lucifer and vows to lead the world into a golden age of freedom. On the Law path a messenger of God welcomes the Protagonist, and tasks him with preaching God's word so that all mankind may be welcomed into the Thousand-Year Kingdom. A Neutral Protagonist is greeted by the figure of Taishang Laojun, a being of balance, who thanks him for his efforts on behalf of the universe, and urges that the hero build a new future for mankind, "built by neither reliance on God nor demons, but by the hands of people themselves."
The Neutral path is what's used in it's direct seuquel. With the defeat of both Asura Lord and Michael, balance has been restored to the world and the Protagonist can work to create a world where the survivors can worship freely, which leads into the prologue of Shin Megami Tensei II. Thought as Megami Tensei is a Multiverse, every ending is canon.The following is an introductory timeline to the game, as found in the original manual for the Super Famicom version of Shin Megami Tensei II (credits go to Kage no Tenshi Re-Miel for great part of the translation):
---
199X:
'The Great Cataclysm of Tokyo' - Thorman presses the button, launching nuclear warhead-tipped ICBMs at Tokyo. Global nuclear holocaust ensues.
---
203X:
'The Great Tokyo Flood' - After the rebuilding of Tokyo, a tectonic plate movement of massive proportions causes the ocean to rush into Tokyo and decimate the area around it. Even after the waters receded, the suburbs of Tokyo remained submerged.
'Establishment of a Communal Cooperative Society' - After the destruction of the Basilica, a free society and government is established which warmly welcomes anyone, be they Messian or Gaean alike.
---
204X:
'Rise of the Messian Church' - Through political maneuvers, the Messian Church takes over the government and converts it to a theocracy.
'Gaean Revolt' - Angry and opposed to the Messian rise to power, several groups of Gaeans start numerous riots, but they are all quickly quelled by the Temple Knights.
---
205X:
'Completion of the Center' - Using a huge amount of funding, a massive structure named "Center" is built on the former site of the Basilica. The plan to create a municipal government called "Millennium" is also announced.
'Demonoids developed' - In order to ensure a source of labor, artificial life forms called "Demonoids" are developed.
---
206X:
'Millenium nearly completed' - Facilities designed to accommodate the people like Valhalla and the Factory (a production/industrial area) are designed and nearly complete. Entertainment facilities like Casinos are also built.
'Environmental Contamination' - Through global warming, radioactive contamination, and the deterioration of the ozone layer, most of the world outside of Tokyo Millennium is rendered uninhabitable. Large numbers of people from around the world flock to Millennium, as its environment is entirely self-contained.
'Temple Knights become Special Police Forces' - After putting an end to several Gaean demonstrations and revolts, the Temple Knights are evaluated by the Center and are promoted to Elite status. They are declared the official police force of the city. Their increase in power tightens the control the Center has on the rest of the city even more.
---
20XX:
'Present day, present time' - The megalopolis that was once called Tokyo...many are the names and the shapes that it took throughout its long history...but it survived. And even in this day, it lives on...as "Tokyo Millennium"; the city of the messiah faith. The faith which gathered under its wings the hearts and minds of millions who cry out for the advent of the Messiah.
Back in the beginning, it was being built to turn the dream of the Thousand Year Kingdom into a reality, but neither God nor the Messiah appeared within its walls.
And then, time went. And very soon, some of its citizens became much more equal than others...
---
- At the helm of Millennium, is the governing body know as Center.
- Under direct authority of the Center are the Temple Knights, an elite military group which serves the function of a police force.
- The elite of Millennium are the First Rank Citizens, who are given the right to live in the Center freely.
- There are those who are permitted the ownership of an Arm Terminal. Those are considered the Second Rank Citizens.
- And last come those who are merely recognized as residents of Tokyo Millenium. Those are considered the Common Rank Citizens.
Ideo Hazama, a student of Karukozaka High School who is bullied by his peers, performs an occult ceremony in the school's gym in order to obtain power and get his revenge. As a result, Hazama managed to become the Expanse's ruler under the alias of Deity Emperor and transport the whole school there. The protagonist is one of the school's students who decides to explore the Expanse in hopes of going back home.
However, the Expanse is crawling with dangerous and powerful demons. Shortly before the school was sent to the Expanse, a copy of the Demon Summoning Program was uploaded into the school's computer network. With the help of the president of the school's computer club, the protagonist installs the program into a COMP custom-made by one of the teachers. With this, the protagonist can summon and negotiate with the demons that inhabit the Expanse.
At the beginning of the game, the protagonist must choose a partner to accompany them in their journey from a group of four students: Yumi Shirakawa, Shinji "Charlie" Kuroi, Reiko Akanezawa, or Akira Miyamoto. Each partner has a defined route and once one has been chosen, the protagonist is locked on that path. The first three options visit multiple worlds based on most of the Seven Deadly Sins while Akira's route explores a massive tower known as Tower of Confinement.
Charlie's Route
In this route, Charlie and the protagonist are only preoccupied with going back home and honestly don't care about the fate of the other students. As they are not a threat to Hazama's plan, he sends the two of them back to the human world after the final battle, but the school and all other students remain trapped there forever. The school's disappearance is blamed on an explosion caused by a gas leak. Charlie and the protagonist try to go back to their normal lives, but spend the rest of their days in fear that Hazama will one day come to the human world and try to conquer it.
Yumi's Route
Yumi and the protagonist want to stop Hazama and save the school. After much hardship, they defeat Hazama and the school building, as well as all living students, is safely returned to the human world. Life goes back to normal as all students try to forget what happened.
Reiko's Route
Mostly identical to Yumi's Route, Reiko's continues for one extra dungeon after Hazama's defeat, exploring his past and why he decided to get revenge. At the end, Reiko decides to stay behind with Hazama's spirit while the protagonist and the school are sent back to the human world safely.
Akira's Route
In the Super Famicom version, this route is only available if the game's cartridge has a save file in which final dungeon is unlocked (or, in Charlie's case, right before the fight with Hazama). In the PlayStation port, it is instead available in a New Game Plus.
Taking place during the brief period that the Protagonist of Shin Megami Tensei is in another world, but the plot later goes on a very different direction that game's, Shin Megami Tensei NINE focuses on the survivors of the apocalyptic war of 199X as they attempt to rebuild society. The first project is a digital world meant to recreate Tokyo before it was destroyed by ICBMs: Idea Space.
However, Idea Space experiences glitches known as "Noise" that manifest as demonic entities. Because of the way the Idea Space works, damage inflicted inside will also afflict the user in the real world, so the Noise must be eliminated as a matter of public safety. The Central Administration Bureau has assembled a team of warriors, known as "Debuggers" to fight the Noise.
One day, the protagonist is visiting Idea Space's recreation of Shibuya when a Legion attacks. A mysterious woman appears and saves Kei Azuma from the Legion, and introduces herself as a Debugger... Kei then becomes a glitch hunter, tracking down and destroying Noise.In Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, the player takes on the role of a young boy who is caught up in the apocalypse while visiting his sick teacher, Yuko Takao, with his two classmates Chiaki Hayasaka and Isamu Nitta. The player must survive in the Vortex World with the new powers and capabilities given to him through Magatama obtained from Lucifer. With these powers, the player is given the opportunity to align themselves with a Reason that decides what the world will become.
A mysterious black hole has appeared on the region of the South Pole and is expanding day by day. Concerned about this event, the United Nations sent a collection of elites from around the world to investigate the area called Schwarzwelt (シュバルツバース, Shubarutsubāsu, Schwarz-verse). Inside, the U.N. Schwarzwelt Investigational Team finds that the area has been infested with supernatural beings known as demons that threaten to cross into the human world. As the team delves further into the Schwarzwelt, they find strange and repulsive callbacks to human society. The player assumes control of an unnamed soldier from America (or Japan in the Japanese version), who will be working with three other crew members assigned by the Joint Project. The crew dons Demonica suits, which enables access to special abilities as well as regulating the player to the conditions within the Schwarzwelt.
Shin Megami Tensei IV takes place in a world separate from the rest of the Shin Megami Tensei games, even though recurring demons and abilities are present.[10] The two main locations are the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado, a feudal society inspired by Medieval Europe which is secretly controlled by angels; and Tokyo, a modern-era city enclosed in a rock dome and overrun by demons.[11] Prior to the game's events, when Tokyo became a demon stronghold and was threatened with destruction by angels, a member of Tokyo's Counter-Demon Force tamed the God Masakado, fusing with him to create the protective dome over Tokyo. Mikado is built on the dome's surface. After the dome is created, only twenty years pass in Tokyo while over a thousand years pass in the Kingdom of Mikado. Remnants of Tokyo's technology, studied by the Mikado church as "mystic relics", remain scattered throughout the land.
Players control a Samurai who is the reincarnation of Tokyo's savior. His default name is Flynn: as with previous Megami Tensei player characters, he is a silent protagonist, with his actions and attitudes determined by the player. Three other characters accompany Flynn on his journey, representing the game's three main moral alignments. They are Jonathan, representing Law; Walter, representing Chaos; and Isabeau, representing Neutrality. Other important characters include Burroughs, Flynn's AI assistant; Lilith, a powerful demon from Tokyo; and Issachar, a former childhood friend of Flynn's.
Story
Shin Megami Tensei IV begins with Flynn and his friend Issachar traveling to Mikado Castle to undergo a test as to whether they are worthy of becoming Samurai, the guardians of Mikado who both confront and control demons. Issachar fails, yet Flynn succeeds and is promptly initiated along with other candidates, including Walter, Jonathan and Isabeau. The new Samurai prentices receive electronic gauntlets containing A.I.s: Flynn's A.I., Burroughs, supports him throughout the game with advice. Shortly after their initiation, unrest rises in the countryside as a figure calling herself the "Black Samurai" distributes cursed books written to spread "knowledge and wisdom"; some residents of Mikado, including Issachar, are turned into demons after reading the books at gatherings called "Sabbaths". The Samurai are sent to confront the resulting demons and the Black Samurai. After restoring order to Mikado and killing Issachar, the Samurai are told to pursue her to the legendary land that lies beneath Mikado, Tokyo. The Samurai climb down a tunnel which leads to the top of a skyscraper; they discover Tokyo is a city covered by a rock dome which has enclosed it in eternal night, while Mikado lays upon the surface of the dome.
The party explores Tokyo searching for the Black Samurai, confronting a variety of foes: the demons which infest Tokyo; the Ashura-kai, a yakuza organization who rule the city and provide a semblance of order; and the Ring of Gaea, a cult dedicated to its leader Yuriko. The party discovers that the Black Samurai was Yuriko, a demon whose true name is Lilith, and that she sought to bring chaos to the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado and undermine its ordered, stagnant structure. The party also rescues three mysterious masked men from Tokyo on the orders of Sister Gabby, a member of Mikado's church. Walter is convinced by Yuriko that the Ashura-kai should be defeated and more demons unleashed on Tokyo, while Jonathan is convinced by Gabby that Lilith must be slain. Flynn can support either Walter or Jonathan, but regardless of his choice, both are successful: both Lilith's Ring of Gaea and the Ashura-kai are defeated, and demons are released into Tokyo via the Yamato reactor, an energy source connecting parallel dimensions. Flynn, Jonathan, and Walter explore two different timelines of Tokyo: one where law dominates, and another where chaos reigns supreme. In both of them, Flynn's previous incarnation was slain.
After viewing the alternate worlds, a score based on Flynn's moral choices throughout the game decides whether the player is on the Law path, Chaos path, or Neutral path. Additionally, the player always has the option to destroy the world at the behest of The White, personifications of human despair who desire complete oblivion. Jonathan allies with the "new leaders" of Mikado, the four archangels Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael and Michael - Sister Gabby and the three imprisoned figures the Samurai rescued. They merge into Merkabah, God's chariot. Walter allies and merges with Lucifer, the most powerful demon; they seek to destroy Mikado. Should Flynn side with Law, he and Merkabah defeat Lucifer. In order to prevent further corruption of the people of Mikado, they destroy Tokyo, killing themselves in the process. If Flynn sides with Chaos, he and Lucifer defeat Merkabah. After destroying Mikado, the two begin a new war against God. In both Law and Chaos routes, Isabeau returns to stop Flynn on behalf of humanity, but after he defeats her, she commits suicide. In the Neutral route, Flynn and Isabeau join forces against Merkabah and Lucifer, enlisting Masakado's help against them. After Merkabah's defeat, Isabeau evacuates Mikado's population to Tokyo. After Flynn defeats Lucifer, Masakado uses his fully awakened power to remove and assimilate the enclosing dome, which erases Mikado and restores daylight to Tokyo; bringing the people of both sides together as one in a united Tokyo.In post-apocalyptic Tokyo, Nanashi is killed by demons. In the afterlife, a demon named Dagda offers to resurrect him in exchange for his service as a Godslayer. Shortly afterward, Nanashi and his friend Asahi are manipulated into unsealing Krishna, a malevolent deity who intends to destroy the universe and recreate it in his own image. Krishna takes Asahi hostage in order to force Flynn to surrender to him, intending to force Flynn to become his own Godslayer. He also unleashes the monstrous serpent Shesha to begin harvesting human souls for his plans. Nanashi and Asahi set out to defeat Krishna and Shesha. Nanashi and his companions defeat Shesha, defeat Krishna at his base in Tsukiji Konganji, and rescue Flynn. The party then sets out to defeat Merkabah and his angels, as well as Lucifer and his demons. Nanashi has the option of siding with Merkabah, Lucifer, or humanity. Supporting Merkabah will destroy Tokyo and transform Mikodo into the new Kingdom of God, while supporting Lucifer will destroy Mikodo and plunge the world into anarchy. Nanashi can lead humanity to victory if they kill both Lucifer and Merkabah in a massive three-way battle.
During the celebration afterwards, Flynn murders the surviving Demon Hunters. He reveals himself to be Shesha, reincarnated in Flynn's form, and explains that Krishna faked his own defeat to manipulate the Hunters into eliminating the angels and demons; the real Flynn remains in Krishna's clutches. Shesha murders Asahi and transforms into the Cosmic Egg, a giant object that will hatch into Krishna's new universe when the full moon rises. The party storms the Cosmic Egg to defeat Krishna and his Divine Powers once and for all. Inside the Egg, Dagda reveals his plan to hijack it and create his own universe where all humans are completely independent from one another, and demands Nanashi's aid in his plan. Dagda's mother Danu opposes him, and wants Nanashi to destroy the Egg. If Nanashi rebels against Dagda, Danu revives Dagda in line with their ideals, and Nanashi kills Dagda's dark side. The true Dagda then resurrects all of Shesha's victims, including Asahi. If Nanashi sides with Dagda, his friends turn against him, and he is forced to kill them all. In either case, Nanashi then makes his way to the heart of the egg, where Krishna and Flynn are. Krishna forcibly fuses with Flynn to become Vishnu-Flynn and battles Nanashi, who defeats Vishnu-Flynn and separates the two.
If Nanashi sided with his friends, Flynn finishes Krishna off. Nanashi then destroys the heart of the egg, ending Krishna's plans for good. As the group begins to celebrate, Stephen appears and reveals that there is one more enemy standing between humanity and true freedom: YHVH, the creator god. Stephen opens a portal to YHVH's universe, and Nanashi and Flynn invade his realm. They undergo a trial from YHVH's second-in-command Satan, and are deemed worthy to confront YHVH. Satan temporarily resurrects Flynn's old friends Walter and Jonathan to aid them, and the group battles and destroys YHVH once and for all. Afterwards, humanity is finally freed from the gods and a new peace is forged by Tokyo, Mikado, and the demons.
If Nanashi sided with Dagda, Flynn is killed in the battle and Nanashi executes Krishna. The Cosmic Egg hatches into Dagda's new universe, and he appoints Nanashi as its new Creator. Afterwards, Stephen appears and explains that the new universe cannot fully come to fruition until YHVH is killed and the old universe destroyed. Dagda resurrects Flynn and a companion of Nanashi's choice to be brainwashed into serving as his Godslayer and Goddess, respectively. After defeating the remaining Hunters, Nanashi invades YHVH's universe and kills Him. The old universe dies and is reborn as a new universe where humans are free from all outside influence. Dagda fades away, leaving Nanashi to rule his new creation.The Throne of Creation grants vast power to reshape the world to their liking to the one who assumes it. In a world of myriad gods, known as Nahobino, many have fallen in pursuit of the throne, but it would eventually belong to the God of Law, who robbed the Knowledge of his underlings to prevent anyone from being able to take it for themselves, reducing the "Nahobino" to demons. Their Fruit of Knowledge was secreted away by the Creator.
Eventually, a serpent, or rather the God of Chaos Lucifer, would tempt the mortals to eat their Fruit of Knowledge, with the promise they'll become more like God, but his true intentions were to revive the war of the myriad gods, infusing humans with Knowledge closer to gods. In a fit of rage, the Creator would banish humans from his paradise. This would make the humans target for demons, as their key to becoming Nahobino again is through the fusion of their other half that wields their stolen Knowledge. On the other hand, angels, another breed of demons, would be loyal to the God's creations and laws, obeying him without question. That would also mean becoming a Nahobino would be smearing their loyalty and honor for them, and as such are opposed to it.
After a war between angels and demons, titled Armageddon, spanning 18 years before the events of the game, humanity would be wiped out from the face of the earth in the matter of moments. Additionally, Lucifer would declare that he has slain their God, leaving the victory to the side of chaos, with Lucifer using the God's Knowledge to transcend to a higher plane of existence. However, the God's Shekinah Glory has reshaped the world back into its original form as if nothing happened, but that reality is only an illusion, and the desolated Tokyo is still active behind the scenes.
In the regular world, where the public is oblivious to the truth, various murder incidents caused by mysterious figures would begin to bloom within Tokyo, leaving the city in a state of alert and unease. A global force by the name of Bethel, aware of the truth, who has also participated in the war, worked in secrecy to protect their world against these demons, taking the side of the angels. The Japan branch in particular has lost most of its fighting force in Armageddon.
The protagonist, a high school student living an ordinary life within that reality, has also had his school, as an oblivious authority, attempt to take countermeasures against these incidents, having students follow a buddy system on their way back to the dorms. After having to look for other students who wandered off, with one looking for the other, they wander into another world called the "Netherworld," or "Da'at." After being confronted by demons, a mysterious man Aogami locates him and, under the pretense that the protagonist's life is endangered, he follows his order, fusing with him and becoming a Nahobino.
While exploring Da'at, the protagonist encounters the other students who've made their way into Da'at as well: Yuzuru Atsuta, an honor student at the protagonist's school, Jouin High School, who has also worked with Bethel, as well as Ichiro Dazai, an ordinary student, but one that doesn't have confidence in himself and doesn't know what is right or wrong.
After returning back to their world, Prime Minister of Japan and chief of Bethel Hayao Koshimizu offers the protagonist to work for them, and Ichiro joins in as well as he wants to help protect Tokyo.
Meanwhile, as the students return back to their normal lives, a victim of bullying, Sahori Itsukishima, draws in demon Lahmu looking for his human's Knowledge to become a Nahobino, eventually entering their world and raiding Jouin High School with other demons, who kidnap various students from the academy, taking them with them in Da'at. Lahmu's tempts his own target, Sahori, with her Knowledge, using her vulnerabilities and fears to prey on her, getting her to join him, tempting her to get him to kill her bullies in vengeance, robbing her of any choice in their bargain, kidnapping her back in Da'at. Her friend Tao Isonokami, and the Saint of Bethel, deeply worried about her, joins the protagonist in their mission to help the kidnapped students, as well as defeat Lahmu and rescue Sahori.
Bethel and staff locate the kidnapped humans, the help of a fairy village in Da'at, its demon villagers aid its injured students, giving them a place to rest until they're ready to go back home. Meanwhile, with Lahmu found, even though the protagonist defeats him, Lahmu has successfully fused with Sahori, becoming a Nahobino of their own. The protagonist and Aogami step in his attempt to kill Tao, getting themselves killed instead. Tao would then hear the voice of a higher being, finding her role and becoming a goddess, sacrificing her life to revive the rest. Back on their feet, the protagonist approaches Lahmu, slaying him and Sahori in the process.
The protagonist would eventually step in the turf where the angels and demons would hold their war, and the region of the root cause of humanity's extinction. He would helping the angels in getting past the other side's obstacles, eventually infiltrating the Demon King's Castle and slaying their leader Arioch, defeating the forces of chaos.
But once Bethel has won, the branches almost instantly disperse, with most now interested in taking the Creator's throne for themselves, as he's now conclusively dead, with the Nahobino's very existence proving that fact. Bethel Japan also concludes that's their best course of action, as the fake Tokyo is starting to fade away, with the Creator's Shekinah Glory wearing off, and the existence of the Nahobino being irrefutable evidence of the death of the Creator. The protagonist, already a Nahobino, still needs three keys to access the Empyrean, each representing traits necessary for a God in their leadership: Austerity, Benevolence and Harmony, having to take the keys from other regional representatives of Bethel: Vasuki, Zeus and Odin respectively.
Upon reaching the Empyrean, the protagonist and Aogami will be confronted by 3 other pairs that share the same Knowledge and are befitting to become Nahobino:
- Yuzuru Atsuta & Hayao Koshimizu: The pair will take the throne with the intentions of recreating the world, where everyone is a god, instead of letting it to a single god. Their goals are based on their desire to protect Tokyo, especially after its ruin they have witnessed under the hands of the Creator, and are entrusting their myriad of gods to wield the power and to protect the world.
- Ichiro Dazai & Abdiel: Ichiro believes that a world of multiple gods will only cause them to tear each other apart in a fight of power, and it is all better to entrust their faith to one God. As they're all-seeing and all-knowing, they couldn't possibly lead humanity astray. The two go as far as to defy the Creator's will to enforce his order, even with Abdiel being willing to become a fallen angel for his order.
- Shohei Yakumo & Nuwa: The pair rejects godhood and creation entirely, and is planning to destroy the throne altogether, letting humanity build their own fate. Shohei has shown strong contempt against demons for twisting humans, and his loyalty to humanity comes from his belief in their potential, which also leads to his scorn for humans who have given up.
Depending on what side the protagonist chooses to support, the ending of the story will be greatly influenced. But if the protagonist claims the throne while on the side of creation, he will be forewarned by Lucifer of the endless cycle that will continue, with Da'at recreated, and the Nahobino of that world will inevitably slay him together with the world he would shape. Lucifer, referring to this as the "Mandala System," proposes to the protagonist he slays him if he wants to destroy this cycle and earn the freedom Lucifer searched for and found. Doing so will grant the protagonist permanent freedom to carry on without forthcoming resistance. Observing the state of the world he has shaped, he holds firm to his beliefs in the face of conflict.
But depending on whether uncertain criteria is fulfilled, if he chooses to destroy the throne, Nuwa will propose another possibility to the protagonist that he may uptake. The protagonist will then be able to instead choose to create a world for humans only, instead of destroying the throne altogether. In this path, the protagonist will still be confronted by Lucifer.The player character is an unnamed college student who is attacked by demons and saved by the timely appearance of a mysterious demon-hunter named Kyouji. Shortly thereafter, Kyouji is found dead under suspicious circumstances. The protagonist is then trapped inside of a warehouse and murdered by Sid Davis, a deranged serial killer and self-made priest. Rather than crossing the river of Styx, the hero finds himself in the reanimated body of the slain Kyouji, and escapes from the hospital. With the help of Rei Reiho, Kyouji's assistant detective, the protagonist seeks to save the life of his girlfriend and to stop demons from wreaking havoc.
Soul Hackers takes place in Amami City, a city fully connected through a colossal electronic network. The protagonist is a young man that belongs to a group of amateur hackers called the Spookies. While using his skills to hack his way into getting a beta invite for the new virtual world Paradigm X, he makes contact with a mysterious being named Kinap. Through a series of vision quests, the protagonist learns the secrets behind Paradigm X and the actions of a group called the Phantom Society that are working to steal souls through it. He and his friend Hitomi Tono, who has been possessed by the demonic entity known as Nemissa, work together with the Spookies to put a stop to the Phantom Society's plans.
In a war between Devil Summoners, artificial intelligence Aion predicts the end of the world creates and sends out agents Ringo and Figue to avert the world's fate. Aion has picked up on several targets, particularly Devil Summoners, whose deaths would take part in causing the end of the world, and Ringo is assigned to revive them using her "Soul Hack" ability.
The game begins by introducing the player character, Raidou Kuzunoha XIV, a high school aged detective who is also a Devil Summoner. He wears a black school uniform and hat, as well as a black purple-lined cap and a sword. He also has a pet cat named Gouto-Douji, who can talk, but only other Devil Summoners can hear him. Raidou is working at the Narumi Detective Agency headed by lead detective Shohei Narumi. Raidou is there under the orders of the Yatagarsu, a mysterious organisation dedicated to protecting the future of Japan from otherworldly threats. As the assigned protector of the Capital, Tokyo, it is Raidou's job to dispel any demonic or otherworldly threats to the city.
During a routine investigation for the Agency, Raidou and Narumi meet with their client, a young high school girl named Kaya Daidōji. She mysteriously requests for the pair to kill her, but before Raidou and Narumi can enquire further, soldiers in red armour and capes appear, kidnap Kaya, and fight off Raidou. Just as quickly as they appeared, the soldiers vanish, along with Kaya, leaving Raidou and Narumi stunned. Narumi believes it is their responsibility to track down Kaya's whereabouts and solve the mystery of her request, as the Agency technically accepted the case and it is obvious to the pair that something strange is afoot.
This course of action leads Raidou searching across Tokyo for clues, all while demonic appearances across the city increase in frequency. He investigates a number of notable locations, including Kaya's family mansion, a strange 'Dark World' version of Tokyo, where no humans reside and demons roam freely, as well as multiple military bases where it is clear the army is planning something big. The case also leads him to meeting a variety of people in Tokyo, including Tae Asakura, a local journalist and friend of Narumi. He helps her get a breakthrough in a case of a demonic murder spree, and frequently helps Raidou by providing him with information. He also meets the historical figure Grigori Rasputin, despite the fact that he should be dead by this point in time. The two form somewhat of a rivalry throughout the game, as they're both powerful Devil Summoners. He is a recurring character in the story, and also makes appearances in the sequel, Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon.
Overall, the story follows Raidou through his investigation as he scours all of Tokyo for clues, while meeting various important people in the city and uncovering something greater than either Raidou or Narumi could ever have suspected.The player controls Raidou Kuzunoha XIV, a young devil summoner charged with protecting the Capital. He is aided by Gôto-Douji, who is Raidou Kuzunoha the first who has been punished for a crime in the past. Raidou works under Detective Narumi from the Narumi Detective Agency. Kichou "Tae" Asakura, a young news reporter provides him leads to solving the detective's cases.
In the story, Akane Narita, daughter of the finance minister, asks Raidou to search for a man named Dahn. Along the way, Raidou meets with Geirin Kuzunoha XVII, a member of a separate branch of the Kuzunoha clan, and his apprentice, Nagi.
Story
The game takes place in modern Tokyo after it is put in quarantine Devil Survivor is set in modern-day Tokyo which is put in quarantine after a demon outbreak, resulting in the area not having electricity and several people not having access to their homes. The game's protagonist is a 17-year-old student whose name and actions are decided by the player. He is joined by computer hacker Atsuro Kihara and everygirl Yuzu Tanikawa as the group become able to summon demons using electronic devices known as COMPs created by the protagonist's cousin, Naoya. The group later joins forces with Keisuke Takagi, Atsuro's school friend who has a strong sense of justice; Midori Komaki, a cosplay idol, personifying her role in protecting the innocent from demons; Eiji "Gin" Kamiya, the manager of a local live music bar; Tadashi "Kaido" Nikaido, the charismatic leader of the street gang, the "Shibuya Daemons"; Mari Mochizuki, an elementary school tutor seeking the demon that killed her lover; Misaki Izuna, a military officer overseeing the quarantine; Amane Kuzuryu, the daughter of the leader of the Shomonkai, a religious cult that seems to be behind the demon outbreak; and Black Frost, a demon that helps other weaker demons from ruthless human attacks after being saved by Midori. Other allies include: Yoshino "Haru" Harusawa, a singer who believes her song was responsible for the demon outbreak; Yasuyuki Honda, a company man trapped in the quarantine while his son, outside it, is undergoing a serious operation; and Shoji, a female journalist that had been investigating the events leading to the quarantine before it started.
Story
One day, the Protagonist, finds that he and his two friends, Atsuro Kihara and Yuzu Tanikawa, have been given modified electronic device called COMPs by his older cousin, Naoya.[18] As they are exploring their purpose, an outbreak of demons occurs within Tokyo, and a large area of the city is quarantined by the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces, denying power, communications, and food to those trapped within. The chaotic situation gives rise to vigilantes who take it upon themselves to fight the demons or even prey on weaker humans. The Protagonist and his friends discover their COMPs allow them to summon helpful demons to fight the aggressive ones, allowing them to survive the attacks.[19] The Protagonist also finds he has the ability to see a person's "death clock", representing how many days a person will have left to live. While he uses it to help himself and his friends to change their own fate, the protagonist learns from Atsuro's old friend, Keisuke Takagi, that everyone within the quarantine will die within seven days due to unknown circumstances.
As they try to learn the mystery of the lockdown, they encounter several playable character allies. With their help they defeat the threatening demon Beldr. This causes the protagonist to become a part of the War of Bel in order to free the world from the demons making him thus a target for all other Demons that are in competition with him with the seventh day being day in which he will face the next Bel. Through their investigation, the Protagonist and his allies find that the demon outbreak is a result of a planned battle between angels and demons, as a measure to judge the worthiness of mankind. If, after seven days, the demons are not stopped, the angels will destroy mankind. The Japanese government had been aware of this event for years, and had enacted the PSE Law as a safeguard, which embedded remote-controlled electromagnetic devices in every consumer electronics; if the demons outbreak cannot be stopped, the government can use these devices at the last moment to destroy all living things within the quarantine, human and demon alike.
In the fifth day, the gang meets Naoya who reveals his intentions for his cousin to win the Throne of Bel. It is also revealed he worked with the Shomonkai to create the programs to summon demons as to bring about this event, initially through the keyboard used by Aya, one of Haru's band members. The Shomonkai sought to bring the king of demons Belberith to the world in order for the demons to win the battle, and Naoya required the Protagonist and his friends to survive long enough for this event to happen. Depending on the path players take, the Protagonist comes to learn that Naoya and himself are the reincarnations of the biblical Cain and Abel, respectively which is why the Protagonist can become the new Messiah.
Numerous choices made by the player will affect his friends and allies, and there are several endings to the game. Preventing the demon uprising can be accomplished in several ways; if the player follows Amane, he defeats the remaining Bels and takes control of demons in the name of God; if the player follows Naoya, he takes control of demons as the Lord of Bel and declares war on God; if the player follows Atsuro, the party convinces Naoya to reprogram the demon summoning server to allow all of humanity to access demon-based technology, creating a third technological revolution; if the player follows Gin, with the aid of Haru, the party permanently banishes demons from the human realm. The player can also follow Yuzu and break out of the lockdown to save themselves, allowing demons to escape Tokyo and wreak havoc upon the world.After signing up to a mysterious website called Nicaea mysterious beings called the Septentriones start attacking Japan, they appear once a day and so it is the player's duty to defeat them as they appear and uncover the mysteries as to why they're attacking humanity.
1st Day - Sunday's Melancholy
The game starts with the Protagonist and his friend Daichi Shijima finishing a mock exam. Daichi introduces the Protagonist to Nicaea β ver. that allows them to see images of their friends' death, where the player can decide the Protagonist's name and Tico's gender. Daichi remarks that the usual low quality of Nicaea's pictures and videos get it often dismissed as a hoax.
As the two leave the school they come across another schoolmate, Io Nitta, at the subway. Then the three of them get e-mails containing a video that shows one of the trains crashing into the subway station, crushing the three. Almost immediately afterwards, the scene from the video is reenacted before their eyes. However, before the train can crush them, a demon appears and pushes the train out of their way. The group then fights the demons, forming contracts with them. After leaving the destroyed subway station, the trio discover a new application, the Demon Summoning Program, has been installed on their phones with no way to remove it. Makoto Sako appears to interrogate them and asks for their phones, prompting the three to leave quickly. Shortly after, they discover a strange creature which the program identifies as Dubhe. Dubhe swells and causes an explosion, killing the curious civilians investigating it. After seeing its power first-hand, all three scatter from the area when it proceeds to attempt to attack them.
Soon after, the Protagonist and Io receive a death clip from Nicaea showing Daichi's demise at the hands of a powerful demon. They rush to find him still unharmed, but soon after a demon is released from the nearby temple. Makoto then arrives on scene and helps the trio defeat the demons and save Daichi's life. Makoto takes the trio to JP's to treat Io's hurt ankle, where they also meet Yamato Hotsuin, the bureau chief of JP's. They soon overhear that Yamato is going to confine them out of suspicion of abuse of the summoning app and promptly leave.
The group soon meets with Yuzuru Akie (Joe) fleeing from the demons that appeared on his phone. After helping Joe defeat the demons and seal his contract, Joe mentions an escape route that they can use and joins the group. Near the escape route, Daichi takes a nearby truck in an attempt to aid the group, but becomes ambushed by Dubhe and drives away. The rest of the group attempts to escape to the exit, only for falling debris to obstruct their only means of escape. Just as Dubhe begins to prepare another explosion, Daichi returns on a freeway and sends the truck careening at Dubhe, destroying its explosive mass and weakening it enough for the party to finish it off.
Just as the party is about to mourn for Daichi, they find that he's managed to bail out of the truck at the last moment, and is hanging on the edge of the road. Yamato appears with a few JP's members, stating that all suspicions have been cleared and that they are happy to provide food and shelter. They later learn that Dubhe is one of the Septentriones, a group of alien invaders which JP's is fighting against.
Prior to bed, Tico will appear, stating that he/she has compiled a brief summary of the day's events, and ask if the protagonist wishes to listen to these events as a recap. This will become a recurring event at the end of each day.
2nd Day - Monday's Turmoil
The next day, the Protagonist is awakened by Makoto and informed that Io and Daichi have already left with guards to observe the remains of their home. Yamato asks whether they are finally convinced of the disaster's extent, and offers them the chance to see more by traveling with him to Osaka. The group agrees, and meet up later around a large train. Makoto reveals that beneath this train station is a powered subway that the main party uses to get to Osaka.
After reaching their destination, the group meets with several other JP's members, as well as Keita Wakui, who was assigned to be their guide. However, Keita ignores his orders and leaves the group shortly after introducing himself. Just then, Nicaea activates, revealing Keita's death at a place with a large flight of stairs.
They soon discover a dazed-looking woman who responds to their attempts to approach her by summoning demons. After knocking her out, another demon appears and takes her away, leaving the group to deal with the JP's members that appear shortly after. JP's personnel explain that the dazed person they just fought was hacking into the mainframe, and separate to chase her down.
Shortly after, the group discovers demons chasing after humans, and attempt to stop them. Hinako Kujou appears on the scene and aids them in defeating the demons. She agrees to help the group out in exchange for introducing them to JP's, and reveals the location of the Nicaea clip. If the player reaches the site of his death clip on time, the group aids him in fighting off attacking demons in order to avert the events of his death clip.
After introducing Hinako to Yamato, Yamato shows them that the damage from the disaster has affected the whole country, and even possibly the entire world. The group separates for a bit to reflect on how the destruction has changed their lives, then gathers once again to learn about a new Septentrione that appeared, Merak. They encounter the Septentrione attacking the Tsuutenkaku, and defeat it before it does any further damage. Before leaving Osaka, Daichi volunteers to aid in the retrieval of supplies, and gets off at Nagoya.
3rd Day - Tuesday's Disquiet
After getting out of bed, the Protagonist receives word that communications with the Nagoya branch has been cut off. Fearing for Daichi's safety, he sets off to Nagoya with Io and Joe. There, they meet with Airi Ban and Jungo Torii and discover that riots have broken out over Nagoya, with desperate civilians attacking JP's members and looting supplies.
Not long after discovering the situation, the party receives another death clip from Nicaea. The clip shows Jungo's death at the hands of rioters while Daichi has been taken hostage. Airi suggests that the JP's scientist, Fumi Kanno can help search for the location of the death clip.
They soon find Fumi at the base of the radio tower, and the Protagonist's party recognizes Fumi from the previous time they saw her hacking the JP's database at the Valgate. This time, Botis, the demon controlling her, appears to defend her. The party knocks Fumi out, breaking Botis' mind control over her. They request that Fumi determine the location of the death clip, but her computer is wearing out and requires a new RAM in order for her to search quickly. If the player successfully finds the RAM and delivers it to Fumi, they can arrive in time to avert Jungo's death.
With Daichi rescued, the party turns to the next pressing matter: taking back the Nagoya JP's branch. They arrive at the headquarters, where they find Ronaldo Kuriki leading the riot and looting supplies. Ronaldo is quickly subdued, but shortly after, Phecda attacks, intending to go after the power transformer. Ronaldo grudgingly chooses to cooperate with JP's in defeating Phecda.
After Phecda's defeat, Makoto arrives, and agrees to let Ronaldo go free as thanks for his cooperation in defeating the Septentrione. Before leaving, Ronaldo warns the Protagonist that there is more to JP's than meets the eye, and that the organization is not to be trusted.
4th Day - Wednesday's Changes
Health screenings are ordered for each JP's members to ensure they are in shape to fight. However, before they can go underway, another Septentrione attacks, causing an earthquake in the process. Multiple bodies are reported, and the party is sent to take care of one of them. The Septentrione, while looking similar to a weakened Dubhe, is named Megrez, and the party exterminates it with relative ease.
Following the health screening, another attack from Megrez is detected, but as the party goes to defeat it, a mysterious man appears and destroys the Megrez body while barely lifting a finger. Calling himself the Anguished One, he explains that the presumed bodies of Megrez are merely its buds, and will not cease until the main Megrez body is destroyed. After he leaves, the party deduces that based on his knowledge of demons and the Septentriones, he is the administrator of Nicaea.
Later, the Protagonist receives a request to head to a meeting with Yamato in Osaka. Makoto and the doctor, Otome Yanagiya, meet up with him and prepare to set off using the JP's trains. However, an earthquake from Megrez strikes, trapping the three of them on the platform and preventing the trains from being used. Fumi quickly contacts Makoto and directs them to an emergency exit. As a second earthquake also renders that exit inaccessible, Otome requests for Fumi to prepare the Terminal, a mass teleportation device stationed at each JP's branch.
As the Terminals lacked maintenance since Fumi got possessed by Botis, Fumi slightly botches the transportation coordinates, but the three make it safely. After the meeting with Yamato, Fumi successfully repairs the Terminals, allowing the Protagonist to travel freely between Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya and making the entire playable cast so far accessible in Free Battles.
In the middle of the afternoon, the Protagonist receives another death clip, this time indicating Joe's death at the hands of a Pyro Jack while escorting citizens out of Centerling Park. Ronaldo is there, but he is unable to help Joe in time. If the player makes the right choices, Joe's death is averted, and the party discovers that Joe forgot to charge his phone, preventing him from using the summoning app.
Later, Yamato calls the party to headquarters to discuss a means to defeat Megrez. He notes that three Megrez bodies have surfaced and are heading for the towers at Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya. The entire party is split into three groups - Tokyo's group comprising of Makoto, Daichi, Io, and Joe, Nagoya's comprising of Fumi, Airi, and Jungo, and Osaka's comprising of Hinako, Keita, and Otome. Each group is set to attack one Megrez body, and all three have to be defeated at the same time, otherwise they will regenerate. The Protagonist gets to pick which group he can join up with.
After Megrez's defeat, Ronaldo calls the Protagonist, indicating that he has some information regarding what Yamato might be hiding. He reveals a photo of a ruined Fukuoka being consumed by some black scar-like void, and asks the Protagonist to get more information regarding the scar.
5th Day - Thursday's Shock
With news of the photos showing the black scar circulating around the party, the Protagonist asks Fumi to reactivate the Terminal in order to get to Fukuoka. Fumi refuses to do so unless a certain photo of hers is found. After the Protagonist finds her lost photo and ID, they discover that Fumi is under orders not to let anyone go to Fukuoka despite having the Terminal code, and suggests that someone higher in the chain of command be sought out.
Meanwhile, Yamato notes a large number of deaths by neurotoxin across Japan, and suspects another Septentrione to be responsible. He notices that the Septentriones have been attacking the towers across Japan, and reveals to the protagonist that the radio towers are being used as a means to channel the Dragon Stream to project a barrier that protects the cities.
While investigating a park, a large mysterious droplet lands in the park. It explodes after a while, killing the JP's members investigating it. Yamato comes up with a plan to investigate the trajectory of the toxic droplets to determine the location of the Septentrione. After the party escorts him across the map, he locates the next Septentrione - Alioth - which is high up in the sky. He orders for the Tokyo tower to be shut down in order to divert Alioth's attention to another active tower, buying enough time to formulate a plan to attack the Septentrione.
The Protagonist meets the Anguished One again, and he notes that while the demons are unable to hit Alioth at its current altitude, JP's already has a solution at hand. While the Anguished One cannot reveal any more, he hints the Protagonist to "follow the path to Pasupata". The Protagonist asks Makoto about Pasupata, who reveals that it is the burning gaze of Shiva. Kama once shot an arrow at Shiva in an attempt to get him interested in Parvati, but as it interrupted Shiva's meditation, he incinerated Kama in a fit of rage. However, as Kama and Shiva are demons, additional measures are needed to resurrect them - Shiva, being a Lord of Dance, would be interested by an expert dancer, while Kama would require sex appeal to be coaxed out. Hinako willingly volunteers to dance for Shiva, while Airi agrees to act sexy out of her rivalry with Hinako.
The plan would be as follows: After summoning each demon, the myth between Shiva and Kama would be re-enacted. Using Kama as bait, Shiva's Pasupata will hit Alioth and send it crashing down into Sapporo, where its core is vulnerable to attack. While some members object to letting Alioth crash on the city, Yamato soon reveals that the citizens are all dead by then.
After successfully summoning Kama and Shiva, the party pesters Makoto to go to Fukuoka. After revealing that they know of the black scar, Makoto reluctantly accompanies them there. Upon arriving at Fukuoka, Makoto explains that the scar is the Void, which slowly advances upon and consumes any city that is not protected by a barrier. Nothing exists beyond it. Since Makoto cannot elaborate further, the party plans to ask Yamato for more information on the Void.
After leaving Fukuoka, the party receives another death clip - this time of Otome. If the player gets to her in time, they can save Otome by defeating the demons threatening her and the Tsuutenkaku.
With the preparations in place, the myth is re-enacted, with Kama shooting Shiva with his arrow. Yamato then raises Kama high up into the sky where Alioth is, allowing the Pasupata to penetrate both Kama and Alioth. Alioth crashes into Sapporo as planned. Before engaging Alioth's core, Makoto hands the party a neutralizer for them to use on Alioth, as it is speculated that Alioth will utilize some of its own neurotoxin to defend itself. With the neutralizer in tow, the party attacks and defeats Alioth.
Yamato calls the party to a dinner party, where he reveals that the culprit behind the Void and the destruction of the world is Polaris, and the Septentriones are its minions. Yamato also reveals that he intends to create a world where people are rewarded according to their worth - a merit system. Shocked by the revelation, the party is divided over whether to side with Yamato or not.
Later at night, the Protagonist meets with the Anguished One, who elaborates on Polaris' identity: Polaris rules from the Heavenly Throne, and has the ability to intervene with the fates of many universes. The Anguished One states that Yamato can use Polaris' ability to erase the world, modify it, and rebuild it as he wishes. When asked on whether the world can be changed to something different, the Anguished One tells the Protagonist that the path to Polaris will open once all the Septentriones are defeated. However, Polaris will only respond to the will of mankind, rather than just a single person. Daichi leaves to tell the rest of the party of this news.
6th Day - Friday's Partings
As the day begins, the party receives word that Ronaldo has declared war on JP's, presumably because he heard of Yamato's declaration to build a merit system. Various individuals now begin showing their opinions between Ronaldo and Yamato.
The Protagonist meets with the Anguished One again, and he explains that Polaris has seen mankind as corrupted and unredeemable, and wishes to destroy the world. The Anguished One wanted to grant mankind their freedom, and so told Yamato of the invasion, giving him time to establish a barrier that halts the advance of the Void. Naturally, Polaris is not pleased with this and has thus sent her swords - the Septentriones - to destroy the towers that project the barrier, so the Anguished One set up Nicaea and the Demon Summoning App to give humanity the opportunity to fight back.
Later in the morning, Ronaldo leads the Protagonist to a location that he has discovered underneath the Diet Building. Within that area, they find a large magic circle, used by the Hotsuin family. They guess that this magic circle could be used for a large summoning ritual of sorts, but are unsure of what it is used for.
In the middle of the day, the party encounters Keita struggling against the 6th Septentrione: Mizar. As he attacks its tentacles, it splits apart and forms smaller clones of Mizar. While dealing with the Mizar clones, it escapes, leaving the party to finish off what it left behind.
The party discusses what to do in order to defeat Mizar, as unlike Alioth, demons alone are unable to defeat it. After a little brainstorming, they think of using the Dragon Stream to destroy Mizar, but Yamato informs the party that the Dragon Stream has been in use throughout Japan to establish a barrier that halts the spread of the Void. This puts the party at a dilemma - using the Dragon Stream to defeat Mizar will lose the barrier and allow the Void to consume the rest of Japan in 1 to 3 days, but letting Mizar continue to run amok will level Japan in less than one.
The party eventually decides to use the Dragon Stream to vanquish Mizar, but converting the Dragon Stream from its current form is not that simple. The party has to first split into 3 groups and remove the Stakes that seal the Dragon Stream. Following that, a key is needed to channel the Dragon Stream - the demon Lugh. However, due to the Void's advance, Lugh's body is damaged and thus a medium is required. Based on Otome's physical examinations, Io is best suited for channeling Lugh.
Lugh is unsealed at Miyashita Park, but its incomplete form splits its energy into several bits. The strong surge of energy ends up attracting demons to them, and the party needs to regather the pieces of Lugh before the demons take them away. After piecing Lugh together, the party then proceeds to initiate the Dragon Stream's summoning ritual, but not before the Protagonist receives a death clip where Io dies after the Dragon Stream's summoning.
During the ritual, the surge in power not only attracts a number of demons, but the strain from the ritual proves to be taxing on Io's health. With the ritual completed, Io transforms the Dragon Stream into a long dragon composed of multiple heads. The Dragon Stream then catches Mizar in its mouth and slams it against a building, attempting to eat it whole. Io floats back down to the ground, and depending on the player's actions prior to the ritual, she may survive, or the strain from channeling Lugh may take her life.
The party ascends to the roof of the building where Mizar is struggling with the Dragon Stream. They notice that Mizar is desperately hanging on to the environment to prevent itself from being eaten, and that there is a limited period of time where the Dragon Stream can remain materialized. The party slowly severs Mizar's tentacles (and the clones it spawns in the process) until it can no longer hold onto the buildings, allowing the Dragon Stream to completely devour the Septentrione. With its purpose served, the last of the Dragon Stream falls to the ground below and turns to stone.
At 21:00, the Protagonist receives another death clip, showing Makoto being killed by Ronaldo as she fends off another group of rioters. Should the Protagonist side with Ronaldo in the fight or take too long to intervene, she will be killed as depicted.
Back at JP's headquarters, Yamato begins to act on his idea of creating a merit system, declaring that he will crush all those who decide to oppose him. Ronaldo, however, appears at the gathering, and declares his intention to create a world of equality - one opposite to Yamato's. Between both of them, Daichi opts for a third choice - a world created without the need to fight his friends. Fumi, Makoto, and Keita side with Yamato. Airi, Otome, and Joe choose to support Ronaldo, while Io, Hinako, and Jungo side with Daichi. The three teams then agree to battle it out the next day, with losing teams being forced to disband.
If the player has reached Fate Rank 4 with the Anguished One, Tico contacts him, reminding that Polaris is the source of the entire plot's conflict, and suggest that they would be a lot better off if someone more benevolent - like their creator - took the Heavenly Throne. This indicates that the player can open up a fourth choice for the future of the world.
At the end of the day, the Protagonist is given the option to side with Yamato, Ronaldo, Daichi, or talk with the Anguished One if that option is available, which will affect the companions available to him from this point onward. Tico also contacts the Protagonist, declaring that Nicaea will shut down from this day onward.
7th Day - A Saturday Towards...
The full title of this day changes depending on who the protagonist has sided with. Daichi's is "Coexistence". Yamato's is "Hierarchy". Ronaldo's is "Equality". The Anguished One's is "Reformation".
As arranged, the Protagonist's party does combat with members of factions which they did not side with. After each battle, the Protagonist can try to convince surviving characters to join his cause. Party members with Fate Rank 4 or higher will join the Protagonist's cause. Yamato and Ronaldo will refuse to join with him if he's sided with the other, or has chosen to work with the Anguished One. Daichi's route is the only route where the player can get both Yamato and Ronaldo on the roster.
At around 12:00, the Protagonist's party spots the 7th Septentrione: Benetnasch. After trying (and failing) to attack it, Benetnasch demonstrates its Revoke Demons ability, which unsummons all demons, including those held by the party. Realizing that Benetnasch also has the ability "Pacify Humans" to become immune to all attacks by humans (Or those with human form, in The Anguished One's case), the party retreats to discuss a plan to defeat Benetnasch. Fumi notes that Benetnasch negates the summoning program by emitting a signal that interrupts its function.
While rummaging through JP's archives, an entry on Trumpeter is discovered, where its melody has unusual properties. The party then devises a plan to unseal Trumpeter and use its melody to block out Benetnasch's Revoke Demons ability. However, since Trumpeter's waves have a particularly long range, the summoning ability is affected. The party then has to summon their demons before the summoning app is affected by Trumpeter's melody. This way, Benetnasch cannot unsummon their demons, but they cannot summon any additional demons until Benetnasch is defeated.
After Benetnasch's defeat, the party decides to find the path to Polaris, which is said to open once all the Septentriones are defeated. At bedtime, Tico reappears in the Protagonist's phone, explaining that only Nicaea's death clip service has terminated, but the navigators are here to stay. Tico questions the player's plans on using Polaris, before wishing the party the best of luck.
Last Day - Sunday's Fruition
With all seven Septentriones defeated, the party seeks a way to Polaris to change the world. They meet with the Anguished One who, after testing their strength, tells them that Polaris' dimension can be accessed via a Terminal. On the Anguished One's route, the party instead faces Ronaldo and Joe in an attempt to convince them to join their cause. While Joe escapes unharmed, Ronaldo refuses to give up his ideals and is killed by the Anguished One in retaliation.
Despite having defeated the Septentriones, human technology is unable to transport the party to Polaris, let alone modify the Terminal to do that. The Protagonist recalls that the Dragon Stream can potentially accomplish that, and the remnants of it can be found where it was last seen after eating Mizar. They find the remnants of the Dragon Stream still intact, but it awakens from its petrification and is determined to eat anything and everything in its path. The party fights the Dragon, calming it down enough to shrink to a form that is easily carried around.
The Dragon Stream is brought to the Terminal, and enhances it such that it is capable of transporting humans to Polaris. However, it cannot be activated yet - the Anguished One reveals himself as Alcor, the final Septentrione that drifted apart from Polaris and his kin. In all routes except for the Anguished One's route, the party defeats and kills him, opening the path to Polaris. On the Anguished One's route, Yamato ambushes them at the enhanced Terminal, where he reveals Alcor's true identity and attacks the party. Refusing to join hands with Alcor, Yamato attempts a last stand but fails, leading him to kill himself by jumping from the terminal.
The enhanced Terminal lets the party journey into the Akasha Stratum for a final confrontation with Polaris. After Polaris' defeat, whatever happens to the world depends on who the Protagonist has sided with, and what dialogue options the player picked.
In a land known as "The Junkyard" several tribes are locked in constant war with each other. As Serph, the leader of the Embryon, the player and the tribe are engaged in battle with the rival Vanguards, when the player comes across a mysterious egg-like artifact. During the conflict the artifact begins to undulate and glow as both sides try to convince the other to remove it. After a sudden explosion of light, the tribes begin horrific transformations into that of demons. Soon after, Serph awakens to find many of his enemies eviscerated and an enigmatic girl sleeping in the crater left by the blast. Upon her discovery the ruling body of Junkyard, the Karma Temple, institutes a new law: whichever tribe brings the girl to them shall be allowed into Nirvana. Only by devouring the other tribes can the player learn of the mystery surrounding the demonic transformations, the girl, and of the land known as Nirvana that will lead everyone to paradise.
Directly following the events of the first game, Digital Devil Saga 2 focuses on the cast as they emerge from the Junkyard into the strange world promised as Nirvana. They find that the land has become uninhabitable due to the sun and the streets are lined with what appear to be human statues. Together, Serph, Argilla, Cielo, and Gale, as well as the newly introduced Roland seek to find answers for the existence of the Junkyard as well as the truth behind Nirvana.
Set in 1996, Megami Ibunroku Persona centers around the protagonist and his classmates at St. Hermelin High School in Mikage-cho (Lunarvale in Revelations: Persona). Hidehiko Uesugi talks all of his friends into playing a game called "Persona", which is played much like the ritual game "Bloody Mary". While playing, the students lose consciousness and meet Philemon, who gives them the ability to summon reflections of their personalities, which are known as Personas.
A short time later, the protagonist and several of his friends go to visit Maki Sonomura, who is ill and bed-ridden. During their visit, they discover that the town is changing and demons are roaming the streets. The party is told by Maki's mother, an engineer working for SEBEC, that the culprit behind the incident is Takahisa Kandori, president of the company.
After taking Maki's mother to the school (the only place in town safe from demons), the protagonist's actions decide the course of the story. If the protagonist opts for going after Kandori, it'll start the SEBEC Chapter which is the main storyline of the game. Alternatively, the protagonist may opt for investigating a series of incidents that occurred in the school eight years ago and start the Snow Queen Quest, an alternate storyline unrelated to the SEBEC incident.
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.
Persona 2: Innocent Sin begins three years after the events of the first Persona, in 1999. The location is Sumaru City, a large fictional metropolitan area set in modern day Japan. Sumaru City becomes cursed after events during the beginning of the game that cause any rumor that spreads enough to become true.
The silent protagonist of the game is Tatsuya Suou. Tatsuya is dragged into the plot by Lisa Silverman, a fellow student who idolizes Tatsuya, when conflict between Seven Sisters High School (Sevens) and Kasugayama High School (Cuss High) begins. The two come across Eikichi Mishina, the self-proclaimed boss of Cuss High. After getting into a fight, the three play a game summoning the Joker, a mysterious antagonist rumored to appear before anyone that calls him. Anyone who fails to tell Joker their wishes, either because they lack one or refuse to tell him, has their "ideal energy" stolen, reducing them to ambition-less shells called Shadow Selves. Once summoned, Joker claims that the three students had done something terrible to him in the past, and is angered when they do not recognize him. Swearing revenge and wielding an odd Crystal Skull, he departs, leaving the trio confused and eager to learn more about him. Later on they make a point of saying that Tatsuya and the Joker look alike.
Eventually, the three students are joined by Maya Amano and her friend, Yukino Mayuzumi, who returns from the first game and is already familiar with demons and capable of using her Persona. The five then search for Joker, the source of all rumors that spread becoming reality. Their search leads the group to clash with a cult-like following known as the Masked Circle. It is later revealed that the original Masked Circle was the group of friends including Tatsuya, Maya, Lisa, Eikichi, and Jun when they were all kids. After debunking numerous rumors and defeating several members of the Masked Circle, the group meets with Joker, who then reveals himself to be Jun Kurosu, the fifth childhood friend and member of the original Masked Circle. Eventually, the widely spread rumor that the Fuhrer had survived World War II with his secret forces, the Last Battalion, surfaces and his forces invade Sumaru City. Tatsuya and the others fight off both remaining Masked Circle members and the Last Battalion soldiers to obtain the crystal skulls, defeating their own Shadows in the process.
Towards the end of Innocent Sin, Tatsuya and the others board an alien spaceship known as the Xibalba, another rumor that had spawned into reality. In the deepest parts of Xibalba, the group finds the Fuhrer, wielding the Spear of Destiny (the spear that pierced Jesus Christ that is said to leave a mortal wound the second it strikes flesh) and defeats him.
At the conclusion of the game, it is revealed that all of the events had been orchestrated by Nyarlathotep in an attempt to show that the negatives of humanity would outshine the positives, contrary to Philemon's beliefs. Nyarlathotep then takes his true form and fights Tatsuya and the others. After the fight, Nyarlathotep manipulates Maya Okamura into striking Maya Amano with the Spear of Destiny, killing her quickly. With the prophecy fulfilled, the Earth's rotation suddenly stops, destroying everything on the surface of the planet, save for Sumaru City. Philemon tells Tatsuya that there is a way to prevent Maya's death and stop Nyarlathotep from destroying the world. Tatsuya agrees to create a new timeline in which Nyarlathotep is not successful, in exchange for everyone's memories.Eternal Punishment begins when Maya is sent to write a story about the Joker phenomenon: according to rumor, if someone phones their own number, the Joker will kill on request. Going to Seven Sisters High School, she, Ulala, and Katsuya find the school principal murdered by the Joker. The Joker then attacks them, forcing each of them to summon their Personas. After the Joker knocks them out, Philemon contacts them and warns of a growing danger to the city. After waking, the three pursue the Joker into the school clock tower, where he attempts for force a student to remember the events of Innocent Sin. They are saved by Tatsuya, who tells Maya to forget about him. After Katsuya is removed from the case by his superior Captain Shimazu, he teams up with Maya and Ulala to find the Joker. They eventually ally with Baofu, who believes that Tatsuya Sudou and his father Tatsuzou Sudou are involved with the Joker. Going to the mental institution where Sudou is held, they discover that Tatsuzou sent Taiwanese Mafia hitmen to kill Sudou. Once confronted, Sudou admits that he is the Joker, and reveals that he is attempting to trigger the reappearance of the Other Side. Pursuing him to the Sky Museum, the party runs into Tatsuya and saves Jun from Sudou after Sudou sets the building on fire. After escaping with the museum's visitors on a blimp, an injured Sudou makes a final attack that damages the blimp before Tatsuya kills him. When the party regroup, Tatsuya has vanished.
Upon their return, the party continue to investigate Tatsuzou's activities, and find that negative feelings are turning other people into new "Jokers", who are in turn being kidnapped by Tatsuzou's agents. The party eventually learn that Tatsuzou and a secret organization he leads, the New World Order, are manipulating Sumaru's government, corporations, and media for his own ends. After this, they hear of two others, Kei and Eriko, investigating the New World Order and their links with the Joker curse and an increasingly prevalent fortune telling craze used to manipulate the spread of rumors: they are involved due to the possible involvement of Kandori, a former enemy of theirs, who is posing as Tatsuzou's secretary. Depending on the party's actions at this point, either Kei or Eriko will join their party as they go to investigate the holding area for the new Jokers. Upon arriving, they find Eikichi captured by Kandori while looking for a friend. While Kandori attempts to awaken Eikichi's memories of the Other Side, Tatsuya intervenes and enables the party and Eikichi to escape. The group then save Lisa and her girl group from their promoter, another Order member, with help from Tatsuya, who again vanishes afterwards. Through a friendly informant in the Police, they learn the New World Order's ultimate goal: to raise Sumaru City in the rumor-generated spaceship "Torifune", and trigger the destruction of the Earth's surface by sacred dragons by creating a concentration of Kegare to create a new world free of sin. The only way to stop the plan's fulfillment is defeating the Order.
After failing to corner Tatsuzou and puzzled by Tatsuya's motives, the party finally persuaded Tatsuya to reveal the truth. During the original confrontation with Nyarlathotep, Maya was killed, prompting the rest of the group (Tatsuya, Lisa, Jun and Eikichi) to reset events. Tatsuya refused to forget the events of the Other Side, creating a dangerous loophole: if all the other members of the original group could be forced to remember, the Other Side would be brought back into existence, destroying the present reality. After revealing this, Tatsuya is allowed to join the party in place of either Kei or Eriko. After returning to Sumaru proper, the city is raised by Tatsuzou as part of Torifune. Successfully infiltrating Torifune and defeating Tatsuzou and his "god" Gozen, the city returns to the surface, but the party are drawn into the Collective Unconscious by Nyarlathotep. Making their way into his domain, they discover Nyarlathotep has kidnapped Eikichi, Lisa and Jun in an effort to force their memories of the Other Side into reality. Defeating the Shadow Selves guarding them, the party saves each of them, then confronts Nyarlathotep, who mocks Tatsuya for refusing to fulfill his part of Philemon's agreement.
After Nyarlathotep is defeated, Tatsuya fulfills his side of the promise for Jun, and after saying his final goodbyes, separates himself from his This Side self to return to the Other Side. Soon after the city returns to normal and though many people will never know the truth about what happened, the party returns to their normal lives. The final scene shows Maya about to walk across the street, until she spots This Side's Tatsuya on a motorcycle. Instead of talking to or befriending This Side's Tatsuya, she decides to move on as she walks across the street before Tatsuya drives off. The game ends with Maya smiling as the credits begin to roll.Set in 2009, Persona 3 begins with the protagonist returning to the city of Tatsumi Port Island ten years after his parents died from an accident. He is introduced as a transfer student that has just moved into the Iwatodai Dormitory, but arrives late. A mysterious boy, calling himself Pharos, introduces himself to the protagonist and asks him to sign a contract that states he will accept full responsibility for his own actions.
He is quickly brought into SEES (Special Extracurricular Execution Squad), a club at Gekkoukan High School which disguises itself as a completely normal after school club, when his awareness of the Shadows and the Dark Hour is revealed. The Dark Hour is a secret hour which only a select few with the "potential" are aware of; the rest "transmogrify" into coffins. Shadows are also causing many people to become victims of Apathy Syndrome, a mysterious condition that puts them into a vegetative trance-like state in which they lose the will to live; victims are referred to as "the Lost."
The protagonist discovers that he can summon multiple Personas into battle. After awakening to his Persona ability, the protagonist is transported to the Velvet Room, which its proprietor, Igor, says is a realm between "dream and reality." Igor explains to him that his Persona ability is special: he is the only member of SEES capable of wielding multiple Personas in battle due to possessing the Wild Card. In-game, the Velvet Room is where the protagonist may fuse two or more Personas to create a new one. Igor also encourages the protagonist to meet people and form bonds with them, which are known as Social Links. According to Igor, the power of his Social Links will determine his potential in combat.
With the help of their Personas, SEES is able to explore a mysterious tower called Tartarus, which mysteriously manifests during the Dark Hour at Gekkoukan High School. They must also defeat Greater Shadows that appear every full moon and attack the city, believing that by killing all twelve of them, they will be able to end the appearance of the Dark Hour. SEES summons Personas using gun-shaped items called Evokers by shooting themselves in the head, an action reminiscent of suicide.
Members of SEES are all attending Gekkoukan High School:
- Shuji Ikutsuki, chairman and adviser of SEES, chief director of Gekkoukan High School,
- Mitsuru Kirijo, leader of SEES and heir to the Kirijo Group,
- Akihiko Sanada, an orphaned friend of Mitsuru. His sister Miki burned to death in a fire as a child,
- Yukari Takeba, a girl who forms a strong bond with the protagonist. Her father Eiichiro worked for the Kirijo Group until he died in an accident a decade ago,
- Junpei Iori, a classmate of the protagonist and Yukari, who resents his alcoholic father,
- Fuuka Yamagishi, a girl being bullied by Natsuki Moriyama who takes over as the team's support member and Navigator.
During the Dark Hour, SEES begins to encounter a mysterious and somewhat hostile group called Strega, consisting of Takaya Sakaki, Jin Shirato and Chidori Yoshino. Strega also has Persona summoning abilities and are Artificial Persona Users, meaning they can summon Personas without Evokers, although they have to take Persona Suppressors, drugs that keep their Personas from killing them.
After several Full Moon Operations, Mitsuru is forced to reveal to the team the origin of Tartarus and the Dark Hour which she has been hiding from SEES. Ten years ago, the Kirijo Group, a research company founded by Mitsuru's grandfather, Kouetsu Kirijo, began amassing and containing Shadows. They studied and performed experiments on them, in order to harness their power. However, the experiments went awry, allowing the Shadows to escape and assemble into twelve larger creatures. Each is affiliated with one of the twelve Major Arcana. SEES' leader, Shuji Ikutsuki, informs them that if they defeat all twelve of the greater Shadows, then Tartarus and the Dark Hour would disappear forever.
As the year continues, the group adds a few more Persona-users to their team who have the "potential":
- Ken Amada, an orphaned boy whose mother died two years ago,
- Koromaru, a dog whose previous carer died,
- Shinjiro Aragaki, Akihiko's foster brother who was also orphaned. He initially worked with SEES, but quit, before recently being convinced to return,
- Aigis, a female android SEES encountered while vacationing in Yakushima. She is a robot who had recently escaped the laboratory where she was kept, despite having been deactivated for years. For reasons she cannot explain, she has a need to be near the protagonist, even breaking into his dorm room at night to monitor him.
- On October 4th, Shinjiro meets Ken at the site where Ken's mother was killed, during their full moon mission. Two years earlier, Shinjiro had accidentally caused the death of Ken's mother when his Persona went berserk while on a SEES mission. For this reason, *Shinjiro distanced himself from SEES and began taking Persona Suppressors, consumed by guilt. Ken only saw him as a murderer, though, and had only ever joined SEES for the sole reason of getting revenge and killing him in return. Shinjiro had no intention of resisting Ken's attempt to enact vengeance, but he warns Ken that if he continues, he could end up the same way as him.
However, while Ken struggles to go through with his plan, the two are interrupted by Takaya. He reveals that the suppressors that Shinjiro was taking would inevitably kill him anyways, rendering Ken's plan for revenge moot. He draws his revolver and shoots Shinjiro to incapacitate him, questioning the two as to the whereabouts of their Navigator. Ken falsely tells him that it is himself. Takaya then prepares to shoot Ken as well, citing the boy's intentions to take his own life when his revenge was done as excuse enough.
However, as Takaya attempts to shoot Ken, Shinjiro jumps in front of him, taking a second, fatal bullet and sacrificing his own life. Just before he dies, he tells Ken to make his own life matter and asks Akihiko to take care of Ken. With his last strength, Shinjiro stands up and takes a few steps away from SEES, telling them "this is how it should be," and collapses on the floor. This final sacrifice later wins Ken's respect and inspires Akihiko's resolve. SEES falls into a period of depression; Mitsuru and Akihiko take the loss of Shinjiro hard, and Ken as well. Mitsuru and Yukari also begin to bond closer together.
On November 3rd, SEES fight Takaya and Jin, and they supposedly kill themselves by falling off the Moonlight Bridge. They also defeat the final Greater Shadow. However, while celebrating their victory on November 4th, SEES realizes that the Dark Hour still remains. They learn they have been misled by Shuji Ikutsuki; by destroying the Greater Shadows, they have freed parts of a being called Nyx who will bring about the end of the world if it is fully restored. It is revealed that the Kirijo Group was attempting to do this ten years ago, but Nyx was released prematurely in a laboratory accident that also created the Dark Hour and Tartarus. Aigis, a robot designed to fight Nyx, battled the being but was unable to fully defeat it, instead dispersing parts of it into the Greater Shadows, and installing the last part into that of a young boy nearby, revealed to be the protagonist.
Ikutsuki programs Aigis to capture the party and he takes them to the top of a tower where he hangs them on crosses, and attempts to sacrifice them using Aigis. Ikutsuki shoots and kills Mitsuru's father, Takeharu Kirijo, and orders Aigis to kill SEES, however, Aigis' will proves too strong and she frees them instead. Ikutsuki falls to his death (it is ambiguous if it was an intentional suicide or him being unwary that there's no footing behind him).
On November 9th, SEES learns about Ryoji Mochizuki, a mysterious teenage boy who has enrolled at Gekkoukan High a few days after the defeat of the final Great Shadow. Aigis seems to be wary of Ryoji, claiming he is dangerous.
On November 22nd, Fuuka senses a Strega member outside Tartarus: Chidori. Throughout the year, Junpei and Chidori have entered a sort of romantic relationship. Junpei runs to Chidori, and the rest of SEES follows. Chidori turns hostile and attacks the party. Takaya and Jin arrive and reveal themselves to be alive, and Takaya claims Chidori has been "poisoned" by them. Takaya shoots Junpei and Chidori saves Junpei's life using her Persona's healing powers, but she had to sacrifice herself in the process.
On December 2nd, Ryoji and Aigis face off at the Moonlight Bridge. Aigis is heavily damaged by Ryoji and is no longer a playable character for this month. SEES meets Ryoji, who tells them he is the "Appriser" who has been born from the union of the twelve Shadows. Ryoji tells SEES that he is Death incarnate, the Harbinger, and that if they do not kill him by December 31st, he will unwillingly usher in Nyx and the end of the world, known as the Fall. Ryoji also reveals that a decade ago, he was defeated by Aigis on the Moonlight Bridge and he has been dormant in a child (the protagonist) - this was also how the protagonist's parents died.
On December 30th, after recovering from her injuries after fighting Ryoji, Aigis returns to SEES.
On December 31st, the protagonist is given the option to kill Ryoji at this point.
If the protagonist kills Ryoji, the members of SEES lose memories of the last year, such as the Dark Hour and their relationships with each other. They lead normal lives, living in blissful ignorance, until the inevitable end of the world occurs and all of humanity dies. The protagonist, Yukari and Junpei see Aigis watching them, but have forgotten who she is and believe she is just some girl who lives in the same dorm. The same goes for Akihiko, who they simply know as the captain of the boxing team, and Mitsuru, as student council president. Mitsuru was led to believe her father died from sudden illness, as that's how the Kirijo Group covered up his death, and since those in the Dark Hour forgot their memories, it seems no one knows the truth of how he died. The protagonist, Yukari and Junpei also enjoy their times singing karaoke, albeit not realizing it might be their final.
True ending
If Ryoji is spared, then the game continues into the month of January.
Takaya Sakaki creates a religious cult centered around the coming of Nyx and the Fall as a salvation, with himself as the high priest and Jin spreading rumors around the network. Takaya begins using his preaching and his religion to manipulate and control those who are emotionally vulnerable, full of fear and scared of their impending death. In a newspaper interview, Takaya claims that the world is in a state of turmoil, and that there is little chance for hope. He then claims that a magnificent being is the only salvation for humanity, which is identified as Nyx. Takaya then states that he has received a blessing from Nyx, and has learned of her divine power. He further manipulates the public by stating that there are also 'those who have been blessed by Nyx' that use this 'blessing' for their own selfish goals. SEES deduces that Takaya is attempting to make the public hate SEES by stating that they are, in fact, the ones responsible for everything.
Throughout January, the mental condition of Tatsumi Port Island residents goes hectic. The amount of Lost drastically increases and Apathy Syndrome is everywhere. Graffiti, litter and trash fill the streets, with no one bothered to clean it. Takaya's followers begin distributing brochures and pamphlets about the impending apocalypse and Nyx's salvation.
On January 31, 2010, SEES climbs to the top of Tartarus to face Nyx. They are faced by Jin and Takaya along the way; both are defeated in order for SEES to reach the top. On the top of the tower, SEES encounters Ryoji, now in his true form of the avatar of Nyx. Though they defeat it, the avatar is able to still call forth Nyx; the moon splits open, revealing a strange device that begins to kill people across the Earth. The protagonist uses all of his Social Links gained from SEES and other friends to create a seal to lock Nyx away forever, though sacrificing himself to do so.
The world returns to normal, though the memories of the past year are lost to the members of SEES. As they finish school, they come to realize that they each promised to gather on the school's roof should they make it to graduation day. There, they find the protagonist lying in Aigis' lap, smiling at the brief reunion with the other SEES members. Aigis tells the protagonist that she will always be by his side, protecting him. The protagonist peacefully drifts into sleep.The events of The Answer begin on March 31, 2010, a few weeks after the end of The Journey. During the opening sequence, it is revealed that the protagonist peacefully died in his sleep while he was resting with Aigis at the rooftop of Gekkoukan High. A confused SEES can only speculate that his death is related to him using his life force to defeat Nyx. The school year has ended, and the dormitory they stayed at is to be closed down soon. Aigis reveals to the group that she will not be attending school next year.
During their last dinner party, the SEES members discover that they are trapped in their dorm, and that the day March 31st is repeating itself. Later, a large door-like hole opens in the floor of the dorm, and SEES is attacked by Metis, an anti-shadow weapon similar to Aigis. In the midst of fighting Metis to protect her friends, Aigis' Persona, Athena, transforms into Orpheus, the original Persona of the protagonist. She also gains the protagonist's Wild Card ability. Aigis is able to subdue Metis, whose actions were an attempt to end the time skip and save Aigis, who she calls her "sister."
Underneath the dorm is the Abyss of Time, the cause of the time skip. The Abyss contains seven doors, the insides of which contain multi-floor dungeons, similar in design to Tartarus; it is in these areas that the game's combat takes place. At the top of each dungeon, SEES witness an event from the past of each member. After seeing several of these flashbacks, SEES discern that the events shown in each door relates to how that member had awakened to their Persona.
At the top of the seventh and final door, SEES fights a Shadow-like version of the protagonist. After defeating it, each of them obtain a key. By combining the keys, they would be able to end the time skip and leave the dorm. However, Metis presents SEES with an alternative: instead of unlocking the front door of the dorm, they may also use the keys to travel back in time, to before the fight against Nyx and the death of the protagonist. Yukari wants this alternative because she wants another chance to save the protagonist, which Mitsuru supports her on. However, the rest of the team feels this is too dangerous, which spurs tension between the group.
Now unable to agree on how to use the keys, SEES determine that they must fight each other to decide. Aigis, Metis and Fuuka claim all eight keys, which fuse into the Final Key. Yukari attempts to steal the key from Aigis, but Metis reveals that it's impossible. Yukari finally admits her grief over the protagonist. She made a promise as well, but unlike Aigis, it was to herself. She promised to try to change the world into a peaceful one to make people stop wishing for the Fall, but admits she can't be that person and doesn't care about anything but seeing the protagonist again. The party, feeling her sorrow, comforts her. With her resolution strengthened, she decides to respect Aigis' decision of leaving the past the way it was.
After debating on what to do now, they discover a third, new door in the Abyss of Time, which the group uses (without the Final Key) to travel to the moment the protagonist sealed Nyx from the world. Metis explains that the purpose of the seal created by the protagonist was not to seal away Nyx herself (who is not inherently evil), but to prevent humanity's despair from calling out to Nyx and bringing about the Fall once more. The subconscious will of mankind to despair and wish for death constantly rebirths a monster called Erebus that summons Nyx to destroy the world; Metis implies that Erebus's contact with Nyx is what caused the Fall (that was prevented by SEES.) SEES realizes that the wishes that created Erebus also came from them, and so they fight it, and are able to defeat it. Mitsuru points out that Erebus will return regardless, as humans will never stop wishing for death.
After breaking the time loop and exiting through the front door of the dorm with the Final Key, Metis, Aigis, and the rest of SEES are summoned to the Velvet Room, much to Igor's (pleasant) surprise. It is here they learn of Metis' true origins: that she is a manifestation of a part of Aigis's personality. Distraught over the death of the protagonist, she no longer wanted to live like a human, and wished to return to being a machine. However, after being set free from the Abyss of Time, Aigis changes her mind, deciding to continue to attend school like before.Set in 2011, the game starts with the protagonist (who is named by the player) being sent to the rural town of Inaba from the big city, since his parents are working abroad. He is living with his uncle Ryotaro Dojima and his younger cousin Nanako Dojima, and attends Yasogami High School, where he becomes friends with Chie Satonaka, Yukiko Amagi and Yosuke Hanamura. His uncle Dojima is a police detective, whose primary assistant is a man named Tohru Adachi.
On his first day arriving in town, the protagonist has a strange dream that teaches him to use a Persona, specifically his first one Izanagi, in battle. Through Chie, the protagonist and Yosuke come to realize that an urban legend called the Midnight Channel is true; if you stare into a turned off TV at midnight on a rainy day, you will see a strange figure in there. Shocking the once sleepy town, a TV announcer, Mayumi Yamano, is found dead, hanging upside-down from a telephone pole. When the protagonist first watches the Midnight Channel after hearing the rumor from Chie, he finds that he has the power to physically go into the TV, but his TV is too small to support him.
When the protagonist reports this to his friends the next day, all three of them decide to then go through one of the large TVs at Junes; all of them make it through, and subsequently find a strange bear named Teddie; the group is let out by this same bear after wandering the strange world in fear, as well as finding out there are no exits except for the bear's TVs that he can create. The next day, the body of Saki Konishi, the girl who discovered the body of Mayumi, is found dead on an antenna as well. This greatly upsets Yosuke, Saki's co-worker at Junes. Yosuke and the protagonist plan on returning to the television the next day, with Chie acting as a rope lifeline.
Inside the TV, the protagonist and Yosuke find that there is a pathway to an area resembling Inaba. There, in this realm created by the true feelings of Saki called the Twisted Shopping District, Yosuke's repressed feelings of how he was not really liked by Saki, whom he harbored an unrequited deep crush on, manifest into a clone-like figure of himself. Yosuke's inability to accept the clone's claim that he did not enter the realm for Saki's death (and how it was all about adventure for him) allows it to become Shadow Yosuke. When the protagonist defeats it with Izanagi, Yosuke accepts his true feelings, allowing the Shadow to manifest into Yosuke's Persona, Jiraiya. The protagonist learns that he has a special power named the Wild Card which allows him to wield multiple Personas (unlike all the other party members who only have one).
Eventually, a shadowy figure begins to appear on the Midnight Channel, which is feared by the group to be Chie's best friend Yukiko who just made a recent appearance on the news, though she is still present in the real world. Unfortunately, Yukiko is kidnapped eventually, and afterwards clear and vivid images of her appear on the Midnight Channel.
With Teddie giving analytical support, the protagonist and Yosuke decide to venture into the TV World (specifically Yukiko's dungeon Yukiko's Castle) and use their Personas to fight. They both warn Chie that she shouldn't enter since she lacks a Persona, though she ignores the warning. On the 2nd floor of the castle, Chie is caught up with and her emotions manifest and battle the pair as Shadow Chie who revels in Chie's jealousy of Yukiko; though after its defeat, Shadow Chie turns into Chie's own Persona, and Chie joins the trio as the third combatant.
The trio eventually finds Yukiko, along with another 'Yukiko': Shadow Yukiko. Shadow Yukiko expresses her disgust with inheriting the inn, and playfully confesses to the protagonist, Yosuke, and Chie. Calling Chie her Prince Charming, Shadow Yukiko asks her Prince Charming to take her somewhere far, far away to escape her fate of inheriting the Amagi Inn. Confused and shocked, Yukiko begs Shadow Yukiko to stop. Ignoring Yukiko's pleas, Shadow Yukiko taunts Yukiko, asking why she would want her to stop confessing her true feelings. Shadow Yukiko exclaims that she is Yukiko, and is merely expressing her thoughts. Yukiko denies Shadow Yukiko's claims, and tells her that she is not her. Fueled by Yukiko's denial, Shadow Yukiko transforms into a caged bird and attacks the party. The trio eventually manages to fend off the shadow, and with Yukiko eventually willing to face herself, the shadow transforms into Yukiko's Persona.
The protagonist and the group see another strange figure appear on the TV, and suspect it to be a biker who recently appeared on the real-world news; Kanji Tatsumi. While looking for the boy, the group spots a strange, blue-dressed slender young man who seems to be following him. They are unable to keep close enough an eye on Kanji to prevent him from being kidnapped, and once he is, he begins to appear clearly on the channel. The team ventures into the Steamy Bathhouse, where they find Kanji facing his Shadow, manifested from him questioning his sexual orientation, possible homosexuality, and being ridiculed by girls for possessing stereotypical "feminine" interests such as sewing. Kanji reluctantly accepts his Shadow and receives his Persona.
When Kanji is rescued, the group comes to realize that all 4 of the kidnap victims — Yamano, Saki, Yukiko and Kanji — appeared on real-life TV before appearing on the Midnight Channel. Additionally, Yukiko and Kanji's first appearances on the channel were blurry and out of focus, though those appearances happened before they disappeared. After they disappeared, their appearances on the Midnight Channel became clear and in-focus and representative of their inner emotions. Therefore the group concludes that the victims will first appear on the real-world TV, then appear in a blurry form on the Midnight Channel, then they will be kidnapped, then have vivid appearances on the channel until they die on the next foggy day. Also, the Shadow forms of the victims are their true emotions, which gain their power from their host's inability to accept them (since each victim denied their Shadow form).
It comes to the attention of the town that a local celebrity model, Rise Kujikawa, is coming to Inaba. However, the group becomes worried when they see an indistinct silhouette on the Midnight Channel that seems to resemble Rise. The group is unable to prevent her from being abducted, after which she begins to clearly appear on the Midnight Channel. When she is confronted in her dungeon, the Marukyu Striptease, she refuses to accept her shadow form; it engages the group in a battle, but eventually, it uses the move Supreme Insight to become invincible.
The group is unable to do a thing about it, but Teddie steps in and uses his inner power to destroy the monster. This results in his body being completely and utterly flattened, almost killing him. Eventually, Teddie's inner emotions about himself manifest and create Shadow Teddie, which battles and loses to the group. Teddie gains his own Persona after its defeat, and so does Rise. Rise takes over Teddie's role as the analytical support, while Teddie joins the group as a playable character. Teddie also gains a human body in the real world. The group, for the second time now, encounters the slender teen from before, who has now taken an interest in Kanji, the next victim.
After Rise's rescue and recovery (and Teddie doing "training" in the TV World to repair his exhausted body and prepare him to be a playable combatant), the foul-mouthed and largely unpopular schoolteacher Kinshiro Morooka — despite never appearing on either the news or the Midnight Channel beforehand — was found dead in a manner similar to the first two victims. The group is shocked at how the killer's pattern has completely been abandoned. The strange slender teenager the group encountered before reveals himself to be Naoto Shirogane, a young, aspiring detective whom is assisting the P.D. in the case. He comments that the police have found a suspect who has confessed his guilt, though they have not yet revealed his identity — Naoto does say that he is a student from another high school.
As summer break starts, a clear and vivid image appears on the Midnight Channel (not preceded by a blurry image) showing a strange boy taunting the protagonist to "come and get me." An investigation around town by the party to find the boy's identity reveals him to be Mitsuo Kubo, the very suspect the police are searching for. The group defeats his shadow form inside his Midnight Channel dungeon, Void Quest, and pulls him out of the TV and hands him to the police as the true killer. During the group's summer break and the beginning of the second semester, they begin to befriend Naoto who has enrolled as a student, and are relieved that the case is closed. However, Naoto points out the incongruities in the case - namely how Morooka was simply beaten to death with a blunt object.
Naoto's suspicions that Kubo is a copycat killer are proven correct when he, after appearing on the real world TV to bait the killer (having arrived at the same conclusion regarding the killer's pattern), is kidnapped and thrown into the Midnight Channel. When the group goes out to his dungeon, the Secret Laboratory, to save him, they find that in reality, Naoto was born female and took on a male identity to avoid the sexism of the police department. After Naoto's shadow self is defeated, she embraces her female identity, and joins the group with her own Persona, her excellent detective skills proving a valuable asset for the rest of the investigation team's journey.
On October 20th, the protagonist receives a mysterious letter addressed to him — the sender's name and address are nowhere to be found on the letter which only reads: "dont rescue anymore" with no capitalization or punctuation. The group notices that this letter being delivered to the protagonist means that the culprit is aware of their activities.
November 5th marks the start of the climax of the game, when another letter is addressed to the protagonist; it reads "if you dont stop this time someone close will be put in and killed" again lacking any capitalization, punctuation or grammar. Unfortunately, Dojima sees the letter and sends the protagonist to the police station, his suspicions about him being involved in the case (what with him and his friends being found at crime scenes) now affirmed true. Nanako is then reported kidnapped and is indeed seen on the Midnight Channel that night; the group, using Naoto's deductive reasoning, find that the culprit should be a small-time suspect in the first murder, Taro Namatame, since he uses a delivery truck, something that can both hold a TV with access to the TV World and is not suspicious to ordinary people. No signs of force entry were found at the Dojima house as well, a clear indicator that this was someone who knew Nanako (like Namatame).
When Dojima gives chase to Namatame, the cars collide seriously injuring Dojima while Namatame and Nanako disappear into the Midnight Channel through the large TV in Namatame's truck. As Dojima rests in the hospital, the group comes to the conclusion that Namatame must be the real killer. He and Nanako are tracked down in the next Midnight Channel dungeon, Heaven. When confronted, Namatame claims that he is actually "saving people," leaving the group confused, but no less enraged at him. A shadow (Kunino-sagiri) stems from Namatame and attempts to attack the group, but after it is defeated, the team escorts both Nanako and Namatame out of the dungeon. Both are sent to the hospital injured, with Namatame being in too unstable a state of mind to make any statements to police or the group.
Unfortunately, at this time, the same type of fog that courses through the Midnight Channel that reduces visibility without special glasses is found running through the real world. The team goes through a stressful period as they wait for Nanako to recover. Dojima and Nanako are periodically visited in the hospital by the group. More and more people begin falling ill over the fog, and the doctors comment that there is actually no visible evidence on Nanako to indicate what is causing her sickness (though this is almost certainly because of how the fog's supernatural powers and the technology of the hospital don't go hand-in-hand).
December 3rd is the final turning point in the game. On this day, after the group rushes to the hospital when Adachi calls them to tell them that Nanako's condition has worsened, Nanako appears to succumb to her wounds and die. Furious, an emotional Dojima attempts to walk into Namatame's ward and kill him, but is stopped and dragged away by guards. The group enters Namatame's room, observing that he is mentally unstable and incoherent. As Adachi told them earlier, there is almost no evidence that the police can use to convict, or even further detain Namatame, and the story about people entering the TVs would never hold up in court. The group sees a Shadow manifestation of Namatame on the Midnight Channel gloating about his actions and daring the group to do something about it. Yosuke proposes that they murder Namatame now by throwing him into the TV while they have the chance, in order to bring justice for his victims and ensure he can't claim more. The player's decision decides what happens next.
- If the protagonist approves Yosuke's wishes, Namatame is thrown into the television and presumably killed by the Shadows. Nanako is confirmed dead. A saddened Teddie returns to the TV World, and the mystery goes unsolved with the party never realizing that the man they killed was not the true culprit, while both investigators and the public are left in the dark about the truth of the case. The fog still covers the town 3 months later in March as the protagonist leaves Inaba. The rather downbeat credits with "Corridor" playing in the background, as well as the very existence of alternate pathways in the dialogue tree, are likely to be interpreted by the player as clear indicators that this was not the true ending.
If Namatame is spared, but the protagonist cannot convince the group that they need to dig deeper into the case, or if the protagonist is able to do so but can't correctly guess the killer's identity 2 days later, then Nanako comes back to life but remains hospitalized. The game ends, with Teddie again returning to the TV World (as well as never finding out that Nanako is alive), and the mystery goes unsolved. Namatame pleads guilty to the kidnapping charges, but not guilty to the murder charges, as reported on the news. The same downbeat credit sequence plays again, another indication to the player that this is not the true ending.
- To get to the Normal or True ending, the protagonist must convince the group to calm their emotions and dig deeper into the case to assess if Namatame is truly guilty. The next day, they hear his story in the hospital. One night, he observed Yamano on the Midnight Channel, and unthinkingly reached out to touch the TV, causing him to discover his power to enter it. The next day, he discovered the news of Yamano's death, and wondered if the image he saw the previous night was a distress signal from her. Later, he observed Saki on the Midnight Channel, and feared a similar fate awaited her; he attempted to warn her of the danger she was in, but this failed to keep her from dying. When he next saw Yukiko on the channel, he interpreted her appearance as trying to say that the TV World was a safe place; so, he decided that he would have to force people who appeared on the Midnight Channel into the TVs to save them, in order to prevent the killer from killing them. This is why he kidnapped Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, Naoto and Nanako, unaware all this time that he had been placing them in mortal danger, and it wasn't until he entered the TV World himself upon being cornered by the police that he understood how dangerous it truly was. Naoto comes to the conclusion that the true culprit of the case is the one who threw Yamano and Saki into the TV. From Namatame's point of view, everyone he threw into the TV reappeared safe and sound later on (thanks to the group's efforts), proving to him that his actions were working, thus encouraging him to continue. All of this makes it clear that the Shadow manifestation the group saw on December 3rd was not speaking Namatame's thoughts; but rather, it was a reflection of what the Investigation Team believed they were.
Now, the protagonist must guess the identity of the real killer from a list of 26 suspects in the game's narration. If they fail three times, they will get a bad ending as listed above. The correct suspect is Tohru Adachi, Dojima's assistant.
Once confronted, Adachi escapes into the TV World. When the group finds him in there, he explains his actions. It was during an argument he had with Yamano that he discovered his power to push people into the TV, so he accidentally pushed Yamano in, causing her death, and was excited by the thrill. He later deliberately pushed Saki into the TV after she slapped him and rejected him. He then manipulated Namatame into kidnapping the rest by encouraging them to put them in a "safe place," correctly predicting this would put the idea of using the TVs as a safe haven in Namatame's head. However, he himself threw Kubo into the TV World since his false confession would stop Namatame's actions, and for the thrill of having some direct involvement. He claims that he did this all so that he could sit back and enjoy the juxtaposition of Namatame and the group's efforts; after the group goes through his dungeon, he states that it's humanity's desire to allow the fog to settle in to settle their emotional distress. He then fights the group using his own Persona, Magatsu-Izanagi, and loses. Afterwards, the group then fights the spirit that used Adachi as a puppet; Ameno-sagiri. 3 months after its defeat in March, Nanako is released from the hospital. Now, the protagonist can either go home without causing the trigger events; if he does, the "Normal Ending" that shows the true credits plays.
However, if the protagonist (after first seeing all his maxed S. Links) insists that he meet the group at Junes, then the group begins to acknowledge the incongruities in the theory of Adachi being a lone wolf; how did he and Namatame get the power to enter TVs in the first place? How did the protagonist himself? How did the Midnight Channel and its rumors get started? By retracing his steps from the first day in the game, the protagonist comes to realize that the real antagonist and conductor of the game is the Moel Gas Station Attendant, or really, the god Izanami. When the attendant shook hands with the protagonist back on the very first day of the game, this gave him the power to fight with Personas, and it reveals having done the same with both Adachi and Namatame.
The group confronts Izanami in the final dungeon, Yomotsu Hirasaka. After exposing the goddess form of Izanami using Orb of Sight and revealing its rotting Izanami-no-Okami form, the party puts up a hard fight, but Izanami attempts to send the protagonist to Yomi using her "Thousand Curses," but all of his teammates, one by one fall protecting him, causing him to be inevitably dragged down as well. Forging the power of his Social Links, the protagonist returns to the battleground awakening his ultimate Persona, and Izanami casts Oho-Ikazuchi to kill him, but fails, causing it to be killed in one Myriad Truths attack. Killing Izanami prompts her to remove the fog and states that she will no longer interfere with humanity and allow them to make the decisions that bring them happiness, then fades away. After defeating the true culprit of the murder case, the Midnight Channel turns to what it was a long time ago according to Teddie; a beautiful world of joy, that Teddie can now return to in happiness. Teddie returns, and the protagonist leaves by train, with his friends saying joyful goodbyes.The story of Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth revolves around a rumor that involves the so-called "Seven Wonders of Yasogami High," a mysterious clock tower, and a labyrinth that appears out of nowhere on the school grounds, during the Yasogami Culture Festival. According to said rumors, whoever hears the sound of the tower's bell will die. The bell's chime is also heard in Tartarus by the members of SEES, who find themselves transported to Yasogami High. The only way to return the world to its original state seems to be hidden within Zen and Rei. However, both of them have lost their memories.
Persona 3 Route
The story is set during the typhoon which had the Cultural Festival of Gekkoukan High cancelled.
After two days of being bedridden due to a cold, the P3 Hero decides to head out to Tartarus with his team. Everyone is gathered in front of its entrance while they wait for him finish his visit at the Velvet room. At that time, Fuuka notices a spider, but quickly brushes it off as her imagination.
Back in the Velvet Room, the P3 Hero is speaking with Elizabeth who notes that her Master is not present. She says that the only Persona she can fuse at the moment is Legion. Theodore appears to bring assistance, also refuting that Elizabeth's statement is not true, and that she can in fact fuse other Personas. Suddenly, the Velvet Room blacks out, and when the light returns, everyone in SEES is already inside causing confusion amongst them. The Velvet Room (which is an elevator) then falls. Upon stopping, the group steps out only to be greeted by what appears to be a Cultural Festival. They immediately split up to investigate the area, learning that there seems to be no exit, and that the school is called Yasogami High. There is one area they haven't explored, however, as it contains Shadows within -- an attraction called You in Wonderland.
As they were about to enter, two students -- Rei and Zen appear, and tell them not to go in as it is dangerous. They reassure the two that they are capable to protecting themselves and invites them to tag along and escape the area...
Persona 4 Route
Set during the Yasogami High School culture festival shortly following the cross-dressing pageant, the P4 Hero meets Margaret at school. She invites him and his friends into the long-nosed fortune teller's booth only for them to find it opens into a platform connected by three broken stairs. When they attempt to leave the booth, Naoto Shirogane notices the school now has a large clock tower outside -- something Yukiko Amagi claims has not existed at Yasogami High since when she was an elementary student. While looking for a booth, they come across one that was not on the program -- a door marked You in Wonderland -- where they discover they can summon their Personas outside of the television and find Shadows inhabiting the area.
Both Routes
The story begins after the P5 hero wakes up from a dream where a blue butterfly shows him a quote projected on a theater screen during a nap in class at Shujin Academy. Alongside Morgana, he gathers the other Phantom Thieves in Café Leblanc to explore Mementos. These members include Morgana, Ryuji Sakamoto, Ann Takamaki, Yusuke Kitagawa, Makoto Niijima, Futaba Sakura, Haru Okumura and Goro Akechi.
While exploring Mementos, the Mona-bus suddenly veers out of control, and sends the Thieves into a movie screen initiating a countdown.
The Thieves quickly find themselves in a city where they're still wearing their thief outfits, and the Metaverse Navigator has stopped working. They try and ask the city's police for directions, only to be attacked by strange Shadows. It's soon revealed that their guns do not work in this reality. To make matters worse, a large Shadow resembling an obese man in a superhero chicken costume appears and pursues them, forcing them to escape via a movie screen into a Cinema. Unfortunately, they soon find that Haru and Makoto were left behind. They also find locks on the front doors, barring their escape.
Though the Cinema seems deserted, the party quickly notices that a strange, black creature is in the projection room. It does not talk and does not interact with them, standing completely still. When its body is touched, it bounces. Morgana then notices figures standing up from the theater's seats, and tells the party to investigate. They find a woman in white, who introduces herself as Nagi, and a shy schoolgirl named Hikari. Nagi is the curator of the Cinema, and claims all of her customers aside from Hikari suddenly vanished. They are locked in the theater just like the Thieves and cannot leave.
With no other way forward, the team investigates each labyrinth after rescuing Haru and Makoto. Each movie revolves around a moral centered on discarding individuality and becoming one with others. Throughout the game, the Phantom Thieves are joined by Persona users from different timelines: the P3P heroine in Kamoshidaman; the Investigation Team in Junessic Land; SEES in A.I.G.I.S. All of them land in the movie world after routine trips to the collective unconsciousness, namely the Velvet Room, Midnight Channel, and Tartarus. Velvet Room attendants from other timelines—Elizabeth, Margaret, and Theodore—join Caroline and Justine in assisting the party.
The party's goal is to derail each movie's distorted moral codes by giving them happy endings while Hikari and Nagi watch. Upon returning, Doe grants them a key to unlock one of the four locks on the theater's front gate.
After completing A.I.G.I.S, Doe supposedly kidnaps Hikari, causing panic in the Cinema, and both are confirmed to be inside the fourth movie. Its trailer displays a suspiciously cheery and whimsical fairy tale landscape, with a forlorn Hikari being surrounded by three copies of her past selves. They repeat the messages of individuality being useless, everyone doing the same thing means it cannot be wrong, and authority is justice. A message at the end states that Hikari has decided to discard her self to become "normal," and the movie's name is obscured by black scribbles. The party enters the movie reality to save Hikari from Doe.
As the party explores the labyrinth, which appears as a cheerful, yet highly unsettling fairytale landscape, they encounter musical-like stages; each of them representing a personal trauma that Hikari experienced in the past, starting from primary school to her eventual breakdown. As soon as they reach the first of them, they encounter a younger version of Hikari being tormented by a copy of her teacher, followed by the real Hikari appearing. The copy transforms into a Shadow and attacks the party. After defeating the Shadow, Hikari reveals that she was not kidnapped by Doe, but had instead voluntarily entered with him so she could face herself and remember the events that ruined her life.
The party now accompanies her to travel the Labyrinth, as the truth of this reality unravels; the movies are actually cognitive worlds created from Hikari's heart. Kamoshidaman was created from her resentment of being falsely accused of poisoning and killing the class rabbit by her primary school teacher and class, Junessic Land was created from her alienation by her secondary school friends because of their own selfish reasons, and A.I.G.I.S was created by the rejection of her desire to become a film director by her relatives.
Her father, however, supported Hikari's endeavors throughout her life. He was the only one who provided unconditional support and inspired her dream of becoming a movie director, so she decided to create a movie and send an invitation letter for her father to watch her creation.
All of this comes to a standstill after an incident related to her relatives. The combined traumas in the form of repeated emotional abuse has consumed Hikari with extreme depression, self-loathing and grief. Giving up the meaning of her existence, she locked herself in her room and never came out. Her father tried to give her a notebook he bought as a gift, but she remained unresponsive due to her depression. He then asked her "Why do you have to be like that?" As all of her tormentors asked her such a question when they emotionally abused her, she began to believe that her father was the same. Presumably due to the belief that her father was talked in by her relatives, the perceived denial from her father caused her to be overwhelmed by a series of traumatic flashbacks that completely broke her down.
The party enters the depths of the labyrinth, which in sharp contrast from the cheerful-looking upper levels, appears as a monochrome and sinister flowerbed with the flowers having hollow eyes and tearing blood, symbolizing its owner's desire for self-destruction as an end to her pain, and the viewing of her life as torture. Doe appears in the center clearing. Hikari claims that he is not an enemy and confesses all of her self-destructive behavior, also stating that she will never forget him. He expresses a desire to keep her forever in the Cinema to end all of her pain, which she denies. He becomes berserk, transforming into a morbid abomination. When the party destroys his head, his remains spill ichor that triple binds the party. Hikari steps in with a new skill to aid them, using her support to remove binds from party members and they defeat the rampaging Doe.
Doe calms down after he's defeated, and the reality of Hikari's breakdown is made clear; when her father asked "why do you have to be like that", he was only asking after her wellbeing, and her breakdown was nothing more than her misinterpreting his words. Hikari steps in to hug Doe and he transforms into her father, revealing that Doe is nothing more than a cognitive copy made by her, twisted by her distorted perception that her father is a terrifying figure, but also from her admiration for him and her suppressed desire to break free from her shell. She tearfully repents for her erroneous perception towards her father and Doe transforms into the key required to remove the last lock along with her invitation letter. Hikari then confesses to the party about the reality of her distorted self-destructive desires and thanks them for changing her heart and giving it back, completing her rehabilitation and allowing her to escape from her living death. The credits roll with Nagi watching alone, with the movie's true name revealed as "Hikari" and "To Be Continued" shown afterwards.
The party completes all of the movies and removes the last lock with Nagi's full approval and permission. Hikari expresses a will to escape the Cinema and Nagi, despite being upset, approves. However, as they open its gates, they find that they are inside a twisted landscape, with Nagi dropping her guise, transforming into a malicious-looking version of herself with red hair. What seems to be Nagi reveals herself to be Enlil, a god created from humanity's desire to end all of their pain. She reveals that the Cinema is in fact a part of her domain in the collective unconsciousness, and she advises the party to leave and stop bothering. She also claims that weak humans should accept her salvation plan, which comes in the form of drawing in depressed people into the Cinemas within her domain.
Enlil reveals that Hikari was only one of the souls trapped, and those of many others suffer the same fate. The Cinema acting as the hub of the game is merely Hikari's Theater, and each of the other theaters contain a person who suffers from the pain of living just like Hikari did. She also reveals that she did not prevent them from escaping, but they simply expressed a lack of desire to be free from their self-imposed imprisonment and also a lack of enthusiasm to live, effectively playing themselves into her plan. Despite showing extreme arrogance, Enlil still lets them leave anyway, but Hikari convinces the party to stay in order to confront Enlil, so others can be freed from her domain.
The party ventures through Enlil's domain, known as the Theater District, finally reaching its depths. While they're more than ready to fight her, she displays a lack of desire to directly confront them, instead sending out a duo of Shadows to deter the party. Once they are slain, she applauds them for their courage to stand against her but displays that others do not and teleports them back to Hikari's Theater.
It is revealed that the movies in the Cinema are an Akashic Record of negative thoughts flowing from the projectors at the depths to the Cinemas, in which Enlil believes that having them watch such movies can relieve the pain of living. However, this only feeds into their negative impulses and makes their collapsing mental health worse. In the projection room, they find the edited versions of Hikari's films and devise a plan to replace the negative film projections in Enlil's domain with them so they can reverse the negative movie's effects on the theatergoers. Every Persona user and Hikari now automatically recognize themselves as the Phantom Thieves and executes the plan to replace the four projectors, defeating the projections of Kamoshidaman, Yosukesaurus, Mother Computer and Doe in the process.
After the negative films are replaced, the party and Hikari confront Enlil and send a calling card to her. She reads the calling card and is severely angered as the Theater District begins to be purified by the edited versions of Hikari's movies. The purified movies display Kamoshidaman expressing a desire to protect the weak, the Herbivore Dinosaurs and Yosukesaurus begin respecting each other's opinions, Ribbon teaches a group of robots with personality to love flowers, and the high school copy of Hikari makes Doe vanish by expressing the will to escape the Cinema and for her father to watch her movie.
Enlil is enraged as her "salvation plan" crumbles and combats the party in human form. She exerts a terrifying power that wounds the entire party, but Hikari begins to rally those trapped into escaping the Cinema, and the edited movies start to take effect. Enlil views Hikari's actions as a betrayal and is further enraged, causing her to reveal her true form, an angelic, eagle-like god. She proclaims that the party's hope is completely pointless and states that they are foolish for opposing her. Despite the party's greatest efforts, Enlil removes all combat members on the field, leaving Hikari and the navigators helpless. The navigators tell Hikari to leave, but she ignores the warnings and steps in to confront Enlil alone. Because of her belief and trust in the people who helped her regain her memories and saved her life, Hikari is able to bring the party back. In complete bewilderment, Enlil is left defenseless as all four protagonists unleash a unison attack.
Despite her defeat, Enlil is still determined to go on, but the party and all of the trapped people persuade her into surrendering and giving up her "salvation plan." She returns back to the form of the black-haired Nagi and vanishes into light, finally acknowledging the possibilities and strengths of humanity, but not before leaving a warning that she will return as long as people wish for her to. The Theater District is destroyed and all the trapped souls return to their realities. However, the memories of the Persona users' adventure will be wiped, and nobody will remember anything that happened. Hearing this, Hikari breaks into tears as her first friends will no longer be able to recognize her anymore. She wants to give P5 hero her notebook as a memento, but he returns it to her as it was her most precious memory, and without it, her movie will never be complete. Accepting the truth and moving on, she exits the Cinema back to her reality.
In order, SEES and the Investigation Team leave and return to their realities as well, with the P3P heroine and the P3 hero expressing sadness as they part, still holding a feeling of recognition towards each other. The P5 cast returns to reality last, with Goro Akechi reluctant to leave, indicating that he is still the traitor and did not want to return to his old self.
As Hikari's soul returns to her reality, she wakes up in bed, puzzled by tears she has no recollection of, yet her Change of Heart is still intact. She meets her father in the living room. He wonders why Hikari is so worked up all of a sudden since she used to be extremely withdrawn. She expresses the desire to continue production of the movie she created before she fell into depression with full approval by her father. The two then have a chat with each other.
In Iwatodai Dorm, P3 hero decides to rent a DVD after a sudden urge to watch a movie. He invites the group to watch it with him, as everyone is home. With Mitsuru's approval, everyone brings snacks and drinks to the lobby, and settles in to watch.
P4 hero and Nanako Dojima cook food for the Investigation Team, who soon arrive at the Dojima Residence. The group sees that a dinosaur movie will air soon, and, encouraged by Nanako's enthusiasm, decide to watch it together.
The P3P heroine wakes up in her room after falling asleep while studying. She wonders at a dream she possibly had, but is interrupted by Yukari and the rest of SEES, who invite her to watch a movie with the rest of them downstairs. Wondering at her sudden silence, she explains that she feels like she's finally home, and that she's been waiting to see them for a long time. But she soon brushes this off, and eagerly agrees to watch the movie with them.
In the attic of Leblanc, the Phantom Thieves (sans Akechi) decide on what they wish to do, as there's still plenty of time before their deadline. Ann shows the group a flier for a high-school student film festival someone on set gave her. Ryuji inexplicably feels as if they must go, much to his confusion. The rest express the same desire, and they all agree to attend together. After watching the movie "New Cinema Labyrinth," Hikari is introduced as its director. The P5 hero shows surprise at seeing her, then smiles. Whether or not he remembers anything is left ambiguous.At the start of the game, the protagonist is seen infiltrating a casino, with his teammates guiding him via voice. The police spot the protagonist, and they begin to close in and nearly capture him. Eventually, he reaches the other side of the casino and one of the guards reveals themselves to be a Shadow, which bursts into a Moloch to attack him. He defeats it and proceeds to nearly escape the casino. However, once outside, he is outnumbered, cornered and arrested by the police.
Detained, the protagonist is brought to the interrogation room in the police station where the officers drug him, beat him and manipulate him to signing his name on a falsified confession of the alleged crimes he's committed thus far. Afterward, Prosecutor Sae Niijima asks him about the events of the year. For most of the game, he is testifying the events for her in the interrogation room, and his testimony might overturn the seemingly hopeless situation, or cause his demise.
The story focuses on the 16-year-old protagonist after he is transferred to Shujin Academy in Tokyo, Japan, after he is put on probation after confronting a man harassing a woman, and subsequently being detained by the police because of the alleged injuries he's inflicted on that man. During his probation, he stays with his parents' friend Sojiro Sakura who owns a coffee shop called Café Leblanc, where he lets the protagonist live in an upstairs storage room. He heads to bed, and in his dreams he is summoned to the Velvet Room, where he is also on probation, set by Igor, the master of the Velvet Room. The two wardens that guard the place, Caroline and Justine, are also introduced. He proceeds to wake up to the next morning in reality shortly thereafter.
On his first day headed to Shujin, the protagonist meets his classmate Ann Takamaki, who gets a ride to the school, and problem student Ryuji Sakamoto, who helps him find his way to the school. However, after Ryuji complains about the physical education teacher Suguru Kamoshida, who was the man who gave Ann a ride, he and the protagonist accidentally activate a mysterious app on the protagonist's phone, sending them to a castle full of hideous monsters. Just as they are about to be executed by a Mr. Kamoshida lookalike, the protagonist awakens to his Persona Arsène. Arsene and the protagonist save himself and Ryuji from death at the hands of the Shadow minions. While trying to escape, they also encounter a talking, cat-like creature who calls himself Morgana, who they make a deal with, helping one another in the process. He teaches them about the nature of the Metaverse, ranging from Palaces, Personas (his own being Zorro) and Shadows; Soon thereafter, he joins the protagonist in the real world disguised as an ordinary housecat.
Over the next few days, while trying to adjust to life as a student, he and Ryuji revisit the Palace for clues to unveil Kamoshida for who he is. There, due to Ryuji's will to rebel against unjustness, since his name is already tainted because of his past within the school, he awakens to Captain Kidd. The two are later taught by Morgana that the Palaces are the representation of the distorted desires of the people around them, and discover the only way to get rid of a Palace is to steal its owner's hidden Treasure, changing their heart in the process. In addition, it's revealed that the Kamoshida found in the Castle is his Shadow self; the manifestation of his true personality if allowed to do whatever he pleases. Although the risk of causing a mental shutdown within the user and erasing their desire to live causes them to hesitate at first, this reaches a level of urgency when their attempts to reveal that Kamoshida has been physically and sexually abusing students in his role as volleyball coach backfire, as they and Yuuki Mishima (a member of the volleyball team who is being abused) end up confronting Kamoshida in his office, with him announcing they will all be expelled at the next board meeting for attempting to defy him.
They are soon joined by Ann, who is accidentally drawn into the Metaverse with them, and discovers the truth about Kamoshida's true personality after witnessing her friend Shiho Suzui attempt suicide due to Kamoshida's advances, gaining the Persona Carmen as well. She awakens to her Persona to enact revenge on Kamoshida, to ensure her friend Shiho isn't taken advantage of ever again. The group soon names themselves the "Phantom Thieves of Hearts" during their quest to steal the treasure from Kamoshida's Palace, leaving a calling card to prove their existence to the ruler, a necessity to causing his treasure to manifest a physical form, and ultimately preventing the protagonist, Ryuji and Mishima's expulsion from school when Kamoshida admits guilt in his abuse of the students.
The protagonist, Ryuji, and Ann also promise to help Morgana with his own quest: to investigate the depths of Mementos, the collective unconscious of society, in order to recover his lost memories and discover his origins. Meanwhile, Mishima promises the protagonist that he will make up for his mistakes in helping Kamoshida by opening a Phantom Thieves fansite, as he has surmised that the protagonist is responsible for the change of heart, allowing the public to air possible grievances linked to people's Shadow selves becoming distorted.
While investigating Mementos, the team discovers a Shadow self, who when defeated reveals his distortions were born from mistreatment by his former art mentor, Ichiryusai Madarame. They are soon entangled in this situation when Ann is approached by Madarame's current pupil, Yusuke Kitagawa, who wishes Ann to model for him. They discover that Madarame has been plagiarizing his students' work for his own personal gain, and try to get this information out of Yusuke to no avail, but they do discover Madarame's Palace, a massive art museum displaying all of his students as his previous "works of art." In their ploy to reach the treasure, Ann agrees to model for Yusuke while Morgana attempts to pick a lock on a door in the real world, ultimately revealing the truth about Madarame to Yusuke. Ann and Morgana panic when Madarame threatens to call the cops, and in desperation, traveling to the Palace and taking Yusuke along with them, where he confronts Shadow Madarame, revealing his own part in the death of Yusuke's mother, thus allowing Yusuke to no longer make excuses for the truth. He awakens to his own Persona Goemon, to ensure that no one else mistakes "beauty" and "vice." After stealing the treasure and defeating Madarame's Shadow, the real Madarame publicly apologizes for his plagiarism, and Yusuke joins the Phantom Thieves, seeking to develop his own art style in the wake of being abused for so many years. A few days later, teen celebrity Goro Akechi appears on TV, denouncing the Phantom Thieves as criminals who tamper with people's hearts.
During that time, the Shujin Academy student council president, Makoto Niijima, has been pressured by Principal Kobayakawa to seek out the identities of the Phantom Thieves to assist the police, unaware that the principal has ulterior motives. She successfully deduces that the protagonist, Ryuji, Ann and Yusuke are the Phantom Thieves in question, and blackmails them into uncovering a criminal ring that is shaking down students. The protagonist talks to various people, eventually meeting with journalist Ichiko Ohya, discovering the crime ring is lead by Junya Kaneshiro, but their inability to meet with Kaneshiro in person leads to Makoto confronting Kaneshiro herself, putting all of them in trouble when he blackmails them for millions of yen, proclaiming he will release pictures framing them of doing illegal acts. However, this brash action on Makoto's part allows them to discover the nature of Kaneshiro's Palace being a bank covering Shibuya. Shortly thereafter, Makoto's disgust at the nature of Kaneshiro's actions, and her own perceived ineptitude at solving the problem awakens her Persona Johanna, vowing to be the subservient honor student no longer. With Makoto's help as a strategist for the Phantom Thieves, they successfully steal Kaneshiro's treasure, freeing them from his blackmail and leading to his arrest.
Over summer vacation, the Phantom Thieves are taunted by the hacker collective Medjed when they are suddenly approached by another mysterious hacker named "Alibaba" who wants them to steal a heart: their own. Alibaba's actions lead them to discover that Alibaba is none other than Futaba Sakura, Sojiro's adoptive daughter who has become a shut-in after the trauma of witnessing her own mother's death and being blamed for it by men in black suits who read her a fake suicide note, it exclaiming it was her daughter's fault she killed herself. In her Palace, which represents a "tomb" she feels trapped in, they discover that Futaba wants her treasure stolen in order to free herself of her suicidal thoughts and her guilt towards her mother's death. When Futaba discovers she too can enter her own Palace, she is confronted by her own Shadow while the Phantom Thieves face off against her cognitive view of her mother Wakaba Isshiki, who has become a monstrous beast in her mind. When Futaba finally accepts that she is not at fault for her mother's death and that she was murdered, and did not commit suicide, her Shadow transforms into the Persona Necronomicon, allowing her to help the Phantom Thieves turn the tide in battle against the monster, and successfully changing her heart and freeing her of her guilt. The Phantom Thieves also discover that Wakaba was researching cognitive psience, which has some connection to the world of the Metaverse, which includes Mementos, Palaces, and Personas.
As summer vacation winds down and Futaba spends her first day outside, the Phantom Thieves bask in the glory of their newfound fame, spanning from going to the beach and going on a school trip abroad to Hawaii. They make additional use of their status by implementing a poll on the PhanSite, asking users to vote on the group's next target. However, due to the influence of their fame, they started to simply enjoy the attention, thinking about the next biggest target instead of saving people in need. This includes a depressed Morgana, who, after being unable to find any viable information about who he is for months, began to worry about his identity, role and worth in the group to a harming degree.
However, upon their return from their trip from Hawaii, the group is brought back to their senses when they discover Principal Kobayakawa mysteriously died en route to the police, which forced several third-year students to act as chaperones so other teachers can stay behind and respond to police inquiries. During their meeting on the winner of the new poll, Kunikazu Okumura, they suddenly begin to question if they should target him solely based on the general public's say. However, their aforementioned thirst for popularity sparked a misunderstanding and an argument between Morgana and the rest of the group, with Morgana's identity crisis ultimately leading to him leaving the group in order to prove himself, asserting he'll catch the supposed culprit behind the mental shutdowns all by himself.
Worried about him, the Phantom Thieves investigate Okumura's Palace, which resembles a space station. On they way, they discover that Okumura views his employees as replaceable robots. Although this spurs them to infiltrate his palace, they discover Morgana has taken a new Phantom Thief under his wing, who is able to get through the Palace's biometric scanners, and the next day they discover she is none other than Okumura's own daughter, Haru Okumura, who claims to also want to change her father's heart to end his mistreatment of his employees. However, upon trying to get them to join their side and work together, Haru refuses as they don't know what they want, and will instead tackle the issue on her own with Morgana.
However, Haru's claims on why she wants to steal her father's heart are only a superficial reason, as she's only spurred by his selfish attempts to use her for his own means by arranging a marriage with Sugimura, the son of an influential politician. Because she didn't admit these motives to herself, her Persona is very weak and unstable, thus meaning she isn't a optimal fighter against Shadows. Eventually, Morgana's ill-feelings towards the others are mended through their shared desire to help Haru after her confrontation from her abusive fiancé. Additionally, Haru encourages Morgana to overcome his fears of who he is, allowing himself to rejoin the Phantom Thieves. Haru joins the team as well, later awakening her Persona Milady's full power when confronting the cognitive version of Sugimura in her father's palace.
Together, the Phantom Thieves manage to steal Okumura's treasure and give him a change of heart, but after they leave, a mysterious figure kills Okumura's Shadow. While the Phantom Thieves celebrate Haru's success at Tokyo Destinyland, they watch in horror as Mr. Okumura suddenly collapses on live television after suffering a mental shutdown, since the Shadow self in the Palace was killed. The general public gradually believes the Phantom Thieves to be responsible for his murder, rendering them infamous and detested. During the ensuing investigation, Haru overhears that Principal Kobayakawa also received a calling card, leading her to question if the Phantom Thieves were behind his death as well, which they all know is not the truth, as he was never targeted, nor sent a calling card by the Phantom Thieves. The turn of events has also boosted Akechi's popularity, leading Makoto to request he visit them for the cultural festival. He hesitates, but eventually accepts her offer.
During a speech on stage at the festival, Akechi reveals he has surmised the identities of the Phantom Thieves, but before he announces this he receives a call, and asks the gang to speak to him in private. He reveals to them all that he has identified them as the Phantom Thieves, and even has evidence of them entering the Metaverse. He says he has also deduced that they cannot be responsible for the murders and mental shutdowns, because he too has entered the Metaverse and encountered the true culprit, only surviving because he obtained his Persona Robin Hood to defend himself. He convinces them to infiltrate the palace of public prosecutor Sae Niijima, Makoto's sister, because he has discovered that she has had her sense of justice twisted to the point that she needs a change of heart, and will falsely convict someone of being the Phantom Thieves without their intervention.
Inside Niijima's Palace, which has turned the district courthouse into a rigged casino, they discover the source of her twisted desire to obtain a guilty verdict no matter the cost, and successfully defeat her Shadow self. They convince her to change her ways, when suddenly the Palace is infiltrated by dozens of police officers from the real world. The protagonist agrees to go off on his own to distract the cops, allowing his friends to go free, when he is captured and told one of his teammates has sold him out.
In police custody, the protagonist is drugged, beaten and forced to sign a false confession. Shortly afterward, Sae comes into the room to interrogate him, which has been seen in a series of flash-forwards since the protagonist began his probation in Tokyo. This brings the game back to where it started and concludes it. Depending on how the protagonist responds to Sae's questioning, he either reveals the names of his friends and accomplices, leading to a "bad ending" where he is assassinated by the traitor, or the drugs begin to wear off and he remembers the truth, convincing Sae to take his cellphone and show it to Akechi on the way out of the interrogation cell. She questions the move heavily, but ultimately agrees to aid the protagonist since her time is up to interrogate him any further.
After Sae leaves, and passes Akechi in the hallway, Akechi speaks to the protagonist himself, taking the guard's gun and murdering the guard and the protagonist. The next day, the news announces that the leader of the Phantom Thieves has apparently committed suicide in custody; however, on the Phantom Thieves' side, everything has actually gone according to plan.
They all meet at Leblanc days later, where it is revealed that the protagonist is alive and well. The Phantom Thieves never stole Sae's treasure, allowing them to use her Palace to deceive Akechi. As everything outside of a Palace looks as it does in reality, the Phantom Thieves intentionally allowed the protagonist to be captured; as Sae interrogated him in the police station, a cognitive duplicate was created within the Metaverse. When Sae showed Akechi the protagonist's phone, Futaba remotely activated the MetaNav and transported them into her Palace; Akechi then proceeded to kill the cognitive duplicate of the protagonist, assuming that he had killed the real one, while Sae rescued the protagonist and brought him to Leblanc.
The Phantom Thieves explain that they knew Akechi was conspiring against them from the start, after Morgana recalled Akechi had heard him speak months earlier at the TV station, when people who haven't entered the Metaverse can only hear him meow in the real world. With Sojiro and Sae's help, the Phantom Thieves realize that they have been manipulated by Masayoshi Shido from the start, as he has been conspiring to use the Phantom Thieves to bolster his popularity among people to become prime minister, and he has been using Wakaba Isshiki's research on cognitive psience to manipulate the Metaverse to his own ends as well.
All of the other Palaces they had infiltrated had some sort of direct connection to Shido's plans: Principal Kobayakawa knowingly let Kamoshida abuse students and tried to use Makoto to silence the controversy surrounding the school, Madarame's plagiarized art helped fund Shido as did Kaneshiro's blackmail schemes, the Medjed impersonator was one of Shido's cronies who intended to admit defeat on the day of the cleanse in order to bolster the Phantom Thieves' popularity (Futaba's hacking into them was an unexpected event, but was ignored as it worked in their favor,) and Okumura was a party to the conspiracy, using it to further himself until he became a liability, leading to the hacking of the Phantom Aficionado Website to push Okumura to the top of their rankings so that the Conspiracy could frame them for his murder.
A confrontation with Shido later leads the protagonist to remember that Shido was the one who led to his false arrest earlier in the year, all as part of his attempts to keep his record spotless and win the election to Prime Minister of Japan with no opposition. After figuring out his cognition of the National Diet, the Phantom Thieves infiltrate his Palace to find a cruise ship sailing through a sinking Japan, where they confront Cognitive beings who Shido has managed to turn into powerful Shadows to protect him.
Once they defeat all five men, they are confronted by Akechi who has realized that the protagonist never died. He fights the Phantom Thieves, revealing his innate power to drive people's hearts mad, and admitting that he is the one behind all of the mental shutdown incidents before. This is all part of his plan to get Shido into power and then hold power over him when he reveals to the new Prime Minister that he is his bastard son, all in revenge for driving his mother to suicide. When he is finally defeated by the Phantom Thieves, he drives his own heart mad and summons his true Persona, Loki, to battle them once more.
After they successfully defeat him again, Shido's cognitive version of Akechi appears to kill the real Akechi for failing him, as Shido has already surmised that he is his son, and hence cannot have any loose ends that might threaten his power. Akechi, however, has realized the error in his ways and makes amends with the Phantom Thieves, locking him up in a room with the cognitive version of himself while saving the others. The Phantom Thieves then make it to the site of the treasure, and return to the real world to film a video broadcast to all of Japan that their leader is still alive and they will make Shido pay for his misdeeds.
They successfully defeat Shadow Shido, but this makes the real Shido realize that something is amiss, so he attempts to kill the Phantom Thieves by taking a poison that will temporarily kill him upon ingestion, destroying his Palace and everyone inside. The Phantom Thieves barely make it out alive, and Shido's aides discover that they successfully changed his heart, and later he admits all his wrongdoings live on television after his party's victory in the Diet, making his aides panic. However, the public seems to think that Shido was simply ill, and believe the Phantom Thieves neither had anything to do with it, nor existed in the first place.
This leads the Phantom Thieves to investigate Mementos on Christmas Eve in order to enact a change of heart on everyone by stealing the public unconscious's treasure. Delving into the depths of Mementos, they discover that the people of Tokyo have suddenly decided to allow themselves to be imprisoned by the impositions of society at large, that it is easier to allow themselves to give into a greater force controlling them, than make their own decisions on their lives. They soon encounter the public's treasure, a giant Holy Grail. However, they soon find out it is the true ruler of the prison, which speaks to them and demands that they submit to its power. They are unsuccessful in defeating the Holy Grail, as it is protected by the masses' support. They are ejected from Mementos, only to find that the real world and the Metaverse are beginning to fuse together, with the masses being ultimately ignorant to the state of affairs. As the Thieves have left the public's cognition, they become erased, as they do not have any place in the fused world now.
The protagonist awakens in the Velvet Room once more, where Igor berates him for failing, and orders Caroline and Justine to execute him. With the inmate left nearly dead, the two girls realize that something is amiss. They understand once more their duty is not to kill, but to rehabilitate, commanding the protagonist to fuse them together just as they had fused Personas for him over the past year. This transforms the two of them into their original form: Lavenza. She then reveals that "Igor" is an impostor who has rigged all of the past year's events against the protagonist, in a game to decide the fate of humanity with both the protagonist and Goro Akechi as the "players." The terms of the game were supposed to be that if Akechi won, the world would be destroyed and rebuilt, and if the protagonist won, the world would stay as is. However, the false "Igor" rigged the game, now refusing to allow the protagonist to win. The false "Igor" then presents the protagonist with a choice: either allow him to control humanity and become his assistant, restoring the world to normal but not allowing the people to think for themselves, or refuse to assist him altogether. The false "Igor" says the Phantom Thieves will gain fame and praise in exchange as well, should he accept this deal.
Should he accept, the bad ending will start playing, but not before Lavenza express her shock and disappointment to him for accepting the false god's deal. Should he refuse, "Igor" leaves to become one with the Holy Grail once more, and Lavenza reveals the true Igor has been trapped here all this time and that the protagonist's friends are alive elsewhere in the "jail" of the Velvet Room. After freeing his imprisoned friends via convincing them to not give up, they regain their rebellious spirit and all convene in the Velvet Room. Lavenza and the real Igor explain the situation to the Phantom Thieves, urging the protagonist to not let the world end in ruin. Morgana has finally remembered that the real Igor created him using the hopes of humanity's freedom, to find the true Trickster and aid him on his journey to stop the evil entity behind the Holy Grail. They all agree to help, and they are led out of the Velvet Room by Morgana. When they exit the Velvet Room and end up back in Shibuya, Morgana glows a bright light, bringing the Phantom Thieves back to people's minds, albeit vaguely.
The Phantom Thieves go on their true final mission to fight the mastermind, the Holy Grail and the false Igor. Doing so, they travel to the depths of Mementos, defeating the Shadows of the 4 archangels; Uriel, Raphael, Gabriel and Michael on the way, and make it to the Holy Grail once more and battle it. However, it soon transforms into its true form, the God of Control, Yaldabaoth, who punishes the Phantom Thieves with the various Seven Deadly Sins. After a valiant effort, they nearly defeat him, but are then knocked down by his Rays of Control. However, Morgana helps the general public remember the Phantom Thieves, and subsequently, the protagonist's allies and Confidants rally them into rebelling with them. Hearing the cheers of the entirety of Tokyo on their side and freed from Yaldabaoth's control, the Phantom Thieves stand their ground once again and the protagonist awakens his ultimate Persona Satanael. Satanael conjures a bullet made from the Seven Deadly Sins and shoots it towards the now powerless God of Control to deal the final blow. Reverted to its former state as a lifeless grail, Morgana takes it back home. This causes the collapse of the Metaverse entirely, and Morgana, subsequently tied to the other world, bids his friends a fond farewell, with the rest of the Phantom Thieves saddened by this fate.
With everyone saved, and the real world back to normal, the gang decides to hold a party to celebrate their success on Christmas Day. However, the protagonist is approached by Sae, who tells him that in order to prosecute Shido, he must turn himself in to the police to provide testimony so that none of his friends face arrest, due to the fact that Akechi, the perpetrator behind the mental shutdowns, has been reported missing. The other Phantom Thieves learn about this terrible news the next day, and, although unable to use the Metaverse anymore, under Ann's suggestion, they spend the next month trying to free him via ordinary means, as do all of his other Confidants. By spring, Shido has successfully been tried and the actions of the protagonist's friends led to the woman he saved the previous year recanting her testimony against him, overturning his original conviction and clearing his record.
Now a free man, the protagonist returns back to Café Leblanc reunited with everyone. Morgana returns as well, now simply a talking housecat, having survived the collapse of the Metaverse as the rest of the Phantom Thieves kept him in their cognition. He decides to spend the rest of his life with the protagonist to "keep him in line" and to see if there is truly a way for him to become a human. After saying his goodbyes during his last day in Tokyo, the protagonist heads back to his hometown with his friends at his side.
Bad Endings
Persona 5 has a number of bad endings which may occur. The main bad endings are based on incorrect decisions made by the player. In both of these endings, the music for the Mementos Depths, "Freedom and Security" plays in the credits, which is concluded with a red "END." Triggering these bad endings will unlock New Game Plus since the game is considered cleared, but the protagonist will not get any bonuses past the in-game date of the bad ending.
Sell out your friends: During the interrogation with Sae, the protagonist makes the deal with her to reveal his accomplices. Akechi arrives and convinces Sae to leave. Akechi kills a police guard, shoots the protagonist in the head, and makes the scene resemble a suicide. The protagonist finds himself in the Velvet Room, where the residents berate him for his failure to complete his rehabilitation. Igor tells him that ruin will come momentarily and confines the protagonist to his cell for the rest of his life. Should the player choose the incorrect decisions that would lead to the protagonist selling out his accomplices, a prompt will appear asking if they are sure that they are making the right choices in order to prevent them from triggering this ending by mistake, since the player might otherwise trust Sae with the information. Make a deal with the False God: The protagonist strikes a deal with Yaldabaoth, and the world is changed back into its normal, non-hellish form, although the people in it are "distorted masses." The Phantom Thieves are praised and gain fame. However, the people are trapped by their lack of free will, abandoning their ability to think for themselves. The protagonist smiles maliciously at the end, indicating he too has became a puppet of the false god. Just like the bad ending trigger above, if the protagonist agrees to strike a deal with Yaldabaoth, the protagonist will have to confirm this option once choosing it.
Game Over
The player can also get unique scenes, followed by a Game Over, if Palaces are not completed in time. If the player misses a deadline, they are given the option to go back a week before or return to the main menu to load a save file.
In the special game over scenes, the police come to the café and arrest the protagonist. The reason for the protagonist's arrest and Sojiro's reaction depends on the Palace. The scene then fast-forwards to Sae's interrogation, revealing that the previous scene was a misremembered memory from the protagonist. Sae determines the protagonist is too drugged to remember the events properly and leaves to give him time to remember what really happened. Akechi, as a mysterious figure, enters the interrogation room after she leaves and assassinates the protagonist.
- Fail to complete Kamoshida's Palace by May 2: Kamoshida files charges against the protagonist and manipulates the school board into having him, Ryuji and Mishima expelled. Sojiro is disappointed in the protagonist, scolding him for not heeding his warnings and behaving.
- Fail to complete Madarame's Palace by June 5: Madarame files charges against the protagonist, after reporting the Phantom Thieves for trespassing into his house. Sojiro's reaction is the same here as with Kamoshida.
- Fail to complete Kaneshiro's Palace by July 9: Makoto is found heavily drugged and brutalized in an illegal services shop, deliriously muttering the protagonist's name and making the police think that the protagonist is connected to her situation. Sojiro is very shocked at this news, incredulously asking the protagonist what he did.
- Fail to complete Futaba's Palace by August 21: The protagonist is charged of coercion and blackmail and is also suspected of being a Phantom Thief due to Futaba leaking his information. Sojiro attempts to defend the protagonist, thinking they have the wrong person, but is arrested himself for harboring and assisting a criminal.
- Fail to complete Okumura's Palace by October 11 and Niijima's Palace by November 20: The police receive an anonymous tip that claims the protagonist is the leader of the Phantom Thieves. Sojiro expresses disappointment regarding this turn of events, scolding the protagonist for his recklessness
- Fail to reach Okumura within 10 minutes or defeat him within 30 minutes: If the party takes over 10 minutes to reach Okumura during the final infiltration of his Palace or over 30 minutes to defeat him, he will escape it via spaceship and the Phantom Thieves are killed in an explosion.
- Fail to complete Shido's Palace by December 18: Akechi leads the police to Café Leblanc's attic, with Sojiro in custody, to have the protagonist arrested for faking his death and shooting an officer. This scene takes place regardless of whether Akechi has been fought in Shido's Palace and it has a fuzzy white border around the outside, despite taking place outside the protagonist's memories.
Multiverse
The Megami Tensei Multiverse collectively refers to the multiple worlds and universes included in the Megami Tensei series. Nearly all Megami Tensei games heavily feature connections to other worlds and universes which suggests that the games may not occur in the same "universe" but that they still take place in the same over-arching multiverse. However such games as Persona 3, Persona 4, & Persona 5 are in a separate multiverse, along with Last Bible being in it's own separate multiverse, apart of the overall collective Megami Tensei franchise but not in Shin Megami Tensei's multiverse.
A basic rundown of the multiverses' size at the moment shows us there are infinite universes, then the Expanse, a place that transcends the past, present, and future of the multiverse, then we have Akarana Corridor a void that transcends time and space, with it requiring a special ritual to enter, where even the Herald of Yatagarasu cannot put Radiou into this place[1], putting it beyond even The Expanse. Then there is YHVH's Universe, a place that is more vague and more infinite then anything prior. Finally, there is The Axiom's realm, so far beyond everything that it even transcends the infinite Cycle of Transmigration[2], where one can catch a mere glimpse of The Axiom[3].
Terms
- Observation: Observation is a concept in the main Megami Tensei multiverse, it was a power given to humans by The Axiom. Characters from the Persona 3-5 multiverse, have a similar ability known as Cognition. As described by Stephen, "observation" (sometimes described as "understanding") is the ability humans possess to give structure to the formless. In this instance, "observation" has nothing to do with sight, but rather human perception. It is an extension of the philosophical concept of "qualia," or individual, subjective experiences. For example, the sensation of seeing color is not easily communicated, yet something humanity possess a shared understanding of. Likewise, YHVH only exists because of this shared observation.
- Cognition: Cognition refers to the concept of humans perceiving the world and viewing what they see as reality. When enough humans collectively perceive something that concept becomes "real," influencing both the world and themselves. This concept is strongly hinted to be related to previous situations seen in Persona games. It also refers to when a person is interpreted by other people or society, given form based on those perceptions. The apparent appearance may be identical, but the personality or the physical capabilities can be vastly different than the original. A cognition is not to be confused with a Shadow Self, though one's Shadow Self can also take on properties based on other people's interpretation of the person, and some cognitions such as Sphinx Wakaba and Doe take traits similar to their host's Shadow Selves. Furthermore, some cognitions can also be fused with Shadow Selves or are sometimes even Shadows themselves, such as the nobles in Shido's Palace or the carnivorous dinosaurs in Junessic Land.
- Gods: Gods, also known as Deity, is a classification of races in the Megami Tensei series. It encompasses all races that are associated with other gods and deities, exclusively the most important. Megami Tensei is a composite pantheon due to all Gods being created from the observation of humanity thus every religion exists inShin Megami Tensei.
- Demons: In the Megami Tensei franchise, "demon" refers to any supernatural entity that can bring harm to human beings or interfere with their lives in one way or another. This includes more conventional malevolent demons, folktale creatures, deities, urban legends, and Judeo-Christian angels. Although classified as demons, angels tend to differentiate themselves from demons, and likewise the demons view them as separate. Angels also includes demons that have submitted to God and have become His servants.
- Shadows: Shadows are the monsters in the Persona series and share most of the enemy demons common in the Megami Tensei franchise. They are born from humans, and carry with them human emotions, which are mostly negative. Strong-willed Shadows attract lesser Shadows, which later create stronger Shadows.
- Humans: Humans is a species in the Megami Tensei series. Out of all species they are the weakest, but the ones with the greatest potential to grow, and have the most powerful ability of observation in the Shin Megami Tensei franchise. In the Persona franchise they have the power of Cognition.
Power of the Verse
Megami Tensei as a series, including its own spin-offs, is widely regarded by their potency and versatility of their abilities with it having plethora of thanks to the power of Observation and the existences of mythological, demonic entities. To start off, fodder demons such as Jack Frost are 8-C via having access to Bufu skills, which can completely freeze people, and other demons having access to Agi skills, which can vaporize people. Jack Frost specifically having the power to generate snow storms, making it 6-C via Environmental Destruction. In his stronger form, King Frost, he has the ability to freeze the entire earth, which is High 6-A. Lastly, Black Frost is considered to be a much bigger threat than Loki, who is 2-C via being able to sustain his own universe[4]. There does exist a Jack Frost who is Low 1-C+ via contending with the end game cast of DDS, who defeated Demi-fiend, along with defeating Beelzebub at the end of Jack Bros. Most protagonists (minus Persona) in their end game state are Low 1-C+ via either wielding Masakados equipment or defeating YHVH or entities affiliated with him. YHVH is a being who created infinite universes that are infinitesimal in size compared to him, and exists as an incomprehensible transcendent being overseeing everything in his creation. a few characters reach 1-C to 1-C+ level via fighting Stephen, who possessed The Axiom's powers, and Matter Lucifer who transcended into a higher plane of existence beyond even YHVH. They are no slouch in speed either, with essentially every enemy being Extra-Temporal through being a natural resident of the Expanse, a place that transcends the past, present, and future of the multiverse, with protagonists usually scaling or using their important hax to keep up with them. Specifically this hax is Observation and it is the core catalyst to humans abilities in Shin Megami Tensei, it is what grants humans the ability to fight demons and even gods, allowing them to negate their physiologies, regeneration, immortalities, and even kill them, which even demons such as Lucifer notes only humans can truly kill a demon. It also allows humans normally of a far lower tier to be capable of fighting 2-C to Low 1-C+ threats such as the protagonists of Shin Megami Tensei and Shin Megami Tensei: IF.
Persona (minus 1 and 2), despite not fully scaling to the stats and abilities from SMT, are still considerably powerful in their own right as they are able to weaponize their own psyche; already granting abilities such as Mind Manipulation and Abstract Existence. Like SMT, they also wield Agi and Bufu skills, which would make their early-mid game selves 8-C. By end game, almost every Persona character reaches 2-C via scaling to Takuto Maruki, who was using Yaldaboath's powers to to rewrite all of reality.
Knowledgeable Members
- GiverOfThePeace (Mainly the Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha series)
- Geo GeoZ (Working on SMT II)
- TheQuirkyBoy (Mainly Persona series, Shin Megami Tensei I & III: Nocturne)
- VileShadows (Mainly Shin Megami Tensei I & II)
- DatOneWeeb (Mainly Persona 5)
Characters
Supreme Being
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The Axiom
Recurring Demons
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Jack Frost
Concepts/Physiologies
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Demons
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Observation
Devil Summoner Series
Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha
Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army
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Raidou Kuzunoha
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Goutou-Douji
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Herald of Yatagarasu
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Grigori Rasputin
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Raidou Kuzunoha XL
Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon
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Raidou Kuzunoha
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Goutou-Douji
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Dahn
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Akane Narita
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Geirin Kuzunoha the XVII
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Nagi
Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Lone Marebito
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Raidou Kuzunoha
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Herald of Yatagarasu
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Abe Seimei
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Ayame
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Kushinada
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Ouhan Kurabashi
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Clarion
Soul Hackers
Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers
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Keiji Minegishi
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Hitomi Tono
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Nemissa
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Zeed
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Carol J
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Mayōne
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Finnegan
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Nishi
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Kadokura
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Raidou Kuzunoha
Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers 2
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Ringo
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Figue
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Arrow
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Milady
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Saizo
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Zenon
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Iron Mask
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner
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Kyouji Kuzunoha
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Rei Reiho
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Sid Davis
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Takashi
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Tenzan Tendou
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Seichii Yamashiro
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Atsushi Nakagome
Shin Megami Tensei
Shin Megami Tensei I
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The Hero
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Heroine
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Chaos Hero
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Law Hero
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Pascal
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Stephen
Shin Megami Tensei II
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Aleph
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Hiroko
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Beth
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Zayin
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Daleth
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Gimmel
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Stephen
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne
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Demi-Fiend
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Chiaki Tachibana
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Isamu Nitta
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Hikawa
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Yuko Takao
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Jyoji Hijiri
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Futomimi
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Sakahagi
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Raidou Kuzunoha
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Dante
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Kagutsuchi
Shin Megami Tensei IV
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Flynn
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Isabeau
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Jonathan
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Walter
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Navarre
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Hope
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Issachar
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Stephen
Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse
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Nanashi
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Dagda
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Asahi
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Navarre
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Isabeau
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Nozomi
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Gaston
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Hallelujah
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Toki
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Stephen
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Shin Megami Tensei V
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Nahobino
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Aogami
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Tao Isonokami
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Yuzuru Atsuta
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Ichiro Dazai
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Miyazu Atsuta
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Hayao Koshimizu
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Sahori Itsukishima
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Amanozako
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Sophia
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Shohei Yakumo
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Nuwa
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Abdiel
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Lahmu
Shin Megami Tensei IF
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Nobu Akiyama
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Reiko Akanezawa
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Yumi Shirakawa
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Shinji "Charlie" Kuroi
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Ideo Hazama
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Akira Miyamoto
Shin Megami Tensei NINE
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Kei Azuma
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Stephen
Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey
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Tadano Hitonari
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Commander Gore
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Jimenez
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Zelenin
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Arthur
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Alex
Persona
Persona
Persona 2
Persona 2: Innocent Sin
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
Persona 3
Persona 4
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Tohru Adachi
Persona 5
Gallery
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Devil Summoner Series
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Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army
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Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon
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Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Lone Marebito
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Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers
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Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers 2
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Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner Digital Collection
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Shin Megami Tensei I
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Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoners
References
- ↑ The Herald of Yatagarsu is capable of teleporting Raidou into The Expanse, a place that transcends the past, present, and future of the multiverse but cannot even reach this realm, along with this she exists a plane not apart of the human world, further showing how out of reach this plane is, it requires one normally to discard their human form and transcribe themself otherwise they are threatened with being unstuck from time
- ↑ Yamai: When you reach the battle with VISHNUFLYNN, there is a reference point of the soul, where it either enters or departs from the circle of transmigration. Nanashi is in the middle of that circle, he is a human just like us. That is the reference. Beings like Stephen, Mido, or the Count of Saint Germain left the circle of transmigration, and I think that is why they could get in contact with the Great Reason.
Shioda: In Buddhism, leaving the circle of transmigration equals reaching Nirvana and becoming a buddha.
Yamai: That’s right. This time, in order for the Divine Powers to succeed, various currents of thought from all kinds of countries and religions come into play. The Buddhist view on reincarnation is one of them and our setting is not biased towards it, but the soul itself is something important for the gods. Shin Megami Tensei IV adopts a quantum theory approach according to which gods exist thanks to human perception, and religious beliefs are one part of that. - ↑ Shioda: Professor Matsuda didn’t even have a character design in the preliminary stages.
Miyata: It’s shocking that so few people realised professor Matsuda was actually Stephen.
Shioda: That was shocking indeed, and they even had the same voice actor (laughs). What kind of device is the Shesha radar in Hibiya?
Miyata: I saw news the other day about the success of the detection of gravitational waves and this radar works on the same principle. There is a huge empty lot underneath Hibiya named ‘multi-purpose underground utility conduit’ and it is presumed that that is where Stephen built his detector.
Yamai: Because the device related to the elementary particles is extremely big.
Miyata: He also needed a secure place, and the underground was much safer than the streets dominated by demons. It is explained in the beginning of SMT4A that the multi-purpose underground utility conduit has been abandoned because of the battle of gods and the underground empty space remained as it is. I figured it was just right, since the new headquarters of the Hunter Association in Kasumigaseki is close enough, but I didn’t think gravitational waves would be discovered so fast when I was writing the setting.
Yamai: Stephen travels through various parallel worlds, so I believe it is possible for him to discover gravitational waves, since he makes contact with all kinds of technological developments.
Miyata: Gravitational waves appear anywhere in the universe when stars reach the end of their lives and explode, but every time Shesha warped to a different universe and a different dimension, there were weak gravitational waves released possible to detect.
Shioda: Since Stephen is also the creator of the terminals and the Demon Summoning Program, related to the Yamato Perpetual Reactor, it’s easy to say he is the biggest mystery of the Megaten series.
Yamai: What is clear is that Stephen is the same person across the series. Shin Megami Tensei and Shin Megami Tensei II are related, while Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne and Shin Megami Tensei IV are each in their own universes, but we can argue that he is the only one to cross space and time and visit each universe. I think the beginning was the universe created in Shin Megami Tensei, but we have no intention to give a clear answer on such a personal matter. As for the details of his arrival in the Shin Megami Tensei IV world, when he was researching the Demon Summoning Program and the Matter Transfer System he got connected by coincidence to the Expanse, demons showed up and hurt him badly, which led to him being now dependent on a wheelchair.
Shioda: This time he talks about the aim of the Great Reason in the end. Do you think he has met the Great Reason?
*From Dijeh (Basically just a translators note): The term used here is NOT the Great Will. The Japanese for Great Will [of the Universe] is either “宇宙の大いなる意志” or just “大いなる意志” in previous games in the series, while in SMT4F and this interview, the term is 大いなる理; the kanji used are easily distinguishable: 意志 vs. 理. For more about the distinction, see Will and Li.
Yamai: From the perspective of Shin Megami Tensei, the Stephen of Shin Megami Tensei IV is one of the possibilities, but we can say it was possible for him to have met the Great Reason. Of course, from the perspective of Shin Megami Tensei IV’s Stephen, I think we can say Shin Megami Tensei is also a possibility.
Miyata: Stephen’s position allows him to catch a glimpse of a small part of the Great Reason’s movement. When he passed through time and space and made contact with the Great Reason, he interpreted things in his own way. - ↑ Digital Devil Story 2: Warrior of the Demon City Part 2, Chapter 4 "The last demon to appear called himself Set, correct?" "Yes, that's right." "While it's too dangerous to try and conjecture the state of affairs in the demon world based on our own knowledge of this one, my theory is that the demon world is like a colloidal conglomeration of countless mini-universes, each centered around a powerful demon. Most likely, with Loki's death, the mini-universe in contact with Japan or Tokyo vanished, and Set's mini-universe entered to take its place. Demon summoning is just opening a contact point between the two worlds at the same time."
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