Persona RA

Persona RA is a game in the Persona series of games, specifically, the eighth game in the series, preceded by Persona 6, this game is developed by Atlus and AlpacaSoft and is to come out on the Playstation 4 Pro in March 2023.
This title in the series follows a shut-in high school student in Osaka, named Yoshimatsu Keishi (He may also be named by the player), who discovers an odd online game known as Duat Online, and, along with some friends, he must uncover the mysteries of this game and whatever is behind it.
== Plot ==
Main Article: Persona RA/Story
The story begins with the protagonist, Yoshimatsu Keishi, studying at his computer, his mother walks in and tells him that she has good news, his brother is switching to another school, Tetsuzan Academy, so she signed up Yoshimatsu as well, to get him out of his small, stuffy room he keeps himself trapped in.
Yoshimatsu and his Brother, Hirai, go to school normally for a while, until Yoshimatsu starts recieving ads on his phone and computer for a "Fun Free Game!" called Duat Online, so he gives in and checks it out, only to discover that this is more than a game. After a girl from Tetsuzan goes missing from classes for a while and kills herself, supposedly due to the game, Yoshimatsu tries to find out more about this bizarre game, and after he manages to save an old friend of his, Kaori Nakauchi from her "evil self" in Duat Online, they begin saving more and more people from this disturbing online game.
== Gameplay ==
Persona RA is similar to its predecessors, it continues the tradition in Persona games to be partially a normal JRPG, where the player crawls through dungeons and kills enemies, and partially a social simulation game, where the player interacts with other characters and grows their relations with them.
=== Overworld ===
The overworld is where the social interactions between the protagonist, Yoshimatsu Keishi, and his friends occur, the player may also do several other things, such as go on different trips and work, different events are triggered by different choices, in a sort of Butterfly Effect mechanic that makes each playthrough slightly different.
In Persona RA, the Confidant system returns from Persona 5, and works in just about the same way, throught the game, the player can interact with the other characters in the game and get better acquainted with them. Different Confidant ranks have different bonuses for the characters or for the player to make use of, be it the ability for party members to use new abilities in battle or the ability to get better items.
Below is a quick list of each Confidant character and their Arcana, bold are party members and italics are automatic confidants, that level up with the story:
* The Fool: Igor
* The Magician: Hirai Keishi
* More TBA
* The Empress: Kaori Nakauchi
* More TBA
* Strength: Taguchi Masaki
* The Hermit: Suda Yukiji
* Fortune: Sawada Morimasa
* More TBA
* The Hanged Man: Tetsuo Yazawa
* More TBA
* The Sun: Bennu
* More TBA
* Judgment: Victoria
==== Computers ====
Certain places the player can enter in the overworld, such as libraries, will have computers that Yoshimatsu can use to do certain things, such as contact Confidant characters to hang out, access the Velvet Room or buy items for Duat Online, explained further below.
=== Duat Online ===
Duat Online is an alternate dimension within the homonymous website/game, it first appears to anyone as annoying ads and pop-ups telling the targets to play the game, if it works, the targeted person gets drawn into the game, gets drawn to their Shadow self, which, in this case, is a distorted and exaggerated version of that person's ideal self, and their Shadow kills them, feeding their soul to Am-Heh, a powerful Shadow residing at the top of the game's titular tower, Duat. When a person is captured and their desires for their ideal self are strong enough, parts of Duat transform to fit the person trapped in there.
Duat has many different blocks to it, much like Tartarus and Mementos in Persona 3 and Persona 5, and the proper character dungeons will usually appear at the top of a block. There are 8 different blocks in Duat, each with an increasing number of floors, giving the player tons of space to grind for experience points and making it tricky to find and complete side missions. Most of Duat is randomly generated, but when a story mission pops up, set dungeons known as Sites appear within it, that house the Shadows of the characters that must be rescued.
As previously mentioned, side missions return from Persona 5, but they are somewhat more difficult, as Duat Online can appear to any person and have them play the game, there are going to be more players to save throught the story, what makes these missions more difficult than in Persona 5 is that they have deadlines, what saves this is that the deadlines are usually rather generous, giving the player up to 20 days to save the captured person in Duat, and rarely, if ever, are there overlapping missions, they tend to come one at a time. Side missions are rarely able to be completed along with story missions, as the Sites prevent access to certain parts of Duat
This is the proper RPG part of the game, where the player gets to use the characters' Personas and elements to fight enemies through the tower of Duat, the player can use items to restore HP and SP, change equipment to have an easier time and progress through the story by beating bosses. If all enemies are knocked down by hitting their weaknesses, the player goes into a Hold Up, where they can either perform an All-Out Attack, a powerful move that has a high chance of ending a fight on the spot, or they can try to negotiate with the enemy, explained below.
==== Demon Negotiation ====
Another feature returning from Persona 5 is that, rather than the enemies being masked Shadows, they are demons that can be talked to during a Hold Up, where the player also has the option to perform an All-Out Attack, if they'd prefer a chance at getting a new Persona, the player can simply chat with the desired enemy, saying the right things to an enemy will make them remember that they aren't a mindless Shadow and they will join the player's arsenal.
=== The Velvet Room ===
The Velvet Room is a staple of the Persona series, a mostly blue room where Igor and his assistant live to help their guests, in this case, Yoshimatsu Keishi. The Velvet Room in this game has many different options for strengthening one's Personas. In each game, the Velvet Room has a different form, here it is no different, in Persona RA, the Velvet Room appears as a hotel lobby, with windows leading to a checkered blue and black pattern.
The player can perform a fusion, in which they select two Personas they already have and combine them into a new one, they can "Update" their existing Personas, which is basically leaving them there to train and become better, and the player may also "Back Up" their Personas, I.E.: Save them in Victoria's compendium to either know how far they got with them or recover them without the use of fusion.
Access into the Velvet Room can be made from any computer in the overworld that Yoshimatsu uses, through one of the programs on it, or through Duat Online, with a door at the base floor.
=== Purchasing ===
Item and equipment purchases are done through a program separate to Duat Online known as "Duat Bazaar", there, the player can buy restoring items, armor and items to use in Duat Online, to make their life easier while they go dungeon crawling.
Any purchased item is instantly given to the player the next time they enter Duat Online.
== Characters ==
=== Protagonists ===
Name 	Arcana 	Details
Yoshimatsu Keishi (Protagonist)	0 -The Fool 	A scrawny, ginger boy who usually has bags under his eyes and wears his school uniform shirt under the open uniform jacket. He is rather lazy and self-conscious and prefers to live in isolation
Yoshimatsu Keishi (Protagonist)	0 -The Fool 	Keishi's initial Persona is Horus and his ultimate is Atem, but he can have just about any Persona in the game.
Hirai Keishi 	I - The Magician 	Hirai is Yoshimatsu's slightly older brother, he's taller, has better-kept black hair and wears his uniform jacket closed. He always tries to help and be there for his little brother and, when he's captured by Duat Online, Yoshimatsu gets to repay him for all that.
Hirai Keishi 	I - The Magician 	Hirai's initial Persona is Aker and his ultimate is Osiris.
Kaori Nakauchi 	III - The Empress 	A girl with long black hair who wears her uniform shirt with a plaid skirt and plaid stockings, along with black sneakers. She has some anger issues and loses herself quite easily, but she's is a very nice girl and Yoshimatsu's childhood friend.
Kaori Nakauchi 	III - The Empress 	Kaori's initial Persona is Bastet and her ultimate is Neith.
Tetsuo Yazawa 	XII - The Hanged Man	Tetsuo is a weak and socially awkward boy with messy, blue-tinted hair, he wears his uniform properly out of fear that people will pick on him otherwise. He is very fearful up until he confronts his Shadow, then he is more corageous and outgoing.
Tetsuo Yazawa 	XII - The Hanged Man	Tetsuo's initial Persona is Anuket and his ultimate is Amenhotep.
Taguchi Masaki 	XI - Strength 	Tetsuzan's resident bully, he wears a leather jacket over his uniform. Taguchi plays tough and gets into trouble to impress anyone who is better than him, but he's really just insecure and wants to live his life normally.
Taguchi Masaki 	XI - Strength 	Masaki's initial Persona is Montu and his ultimate is Nefertum.
Suda Yukiji 	IX - The Hermit 	A girl who is a lot like Yoshimatsu, a big fan of online games, but not as much of a shut-in, Yukiji wears glasses and many different, and rather odd, outfits, she is very kind and cheerful, but easily gets sad or angry. She is the navigator of the group.
Suda Yukiji 	IX - The Hermit 	Yukiji's initial Persona is Seshat and her ultimate is Sekhmet.
Sawada Morimasa 	X - Fortune 	Sawada is a nerdy and tomboy-ish girl who often wishes she was actually a boy, she opts to wear the male uniform when going to school because of that. She is always trying to think critically and objectively instead of going with her own thoughts and opinions.
Sawada Morimasa 	X - Fortune 	Morimasa's initial Persona is Anubis and her ultimate is Aten.
Bennu 	XIX - The Sun 	A mysterious scarab beetle creature that helps Yoshimatsu and his friends in their travels in Duat
Bennu 	XIX - The Sun 	Bennu's Persona is Khepri
=== Neutral ===
Name 	Arcana 	Details
Igor 	0 -The Fool 	An odd man with pointed ears, large eyes and an even larger nose, he wears a suit and is always accompanied by his assitant in the Velvet Room.
Igor 	0 -The Fool 	Igor runs the Velvet Room and allows the player to fuse and train different Personas to make them stronger or turn them into better Personas, his Confidant also gives Yoshimatsu different abilities to use throughout the game.
Victoria	XX - Judgment	A beautiful woman dressed in all blue clothing with some golden details, she's always holding a book with a sapphire on the cover, which is the Persona Compendium.
Victoria	XX - Judgment	She helps Yoshimatsu when he wants to do something in the Velvet Room and certain requests can be met for her in exchange for strengthening the Judgment Confidant.
More TBA	More TBA 	More TBA
=== Antagonists ===
Name 	Details
Shadow Selves	Shadows that take humanoid forms as their victims' ideal selves, but distorted or exaggerated, such as Kaori wanting to be beautiful and accepted translating to her being a perfect princess in looks and behavior.
Am-Heh 	The game's main antagonist, a powerful Shadow that lives trapped in Duat, so it created a portal into its world via what the people of the world use most, electronic devices, to destroy humanity. Am-Heh is eventually freed from Duat and it proceeds to wreak havoc in the real world.
== Personas ==
Main Article: Persona RA/Personas
There is a very large number of Personas to obtain in the game, all of which are based on mythological creatures, deities and demons, above is a list of all of them, sorted by their Arcana. The list of Personas also doubles as the enemy list for the game, including the Shadow names for all of the demons/Personas in the game.
== Bosses ==
Almost all of Persona RA's bosses are the Shadow Selves of the party members, the list below does not include side mission bosses. Optional bosses are listed as well.
Name 	Details
Shadow Kaori 	Shadow Kaori first takes the form of Kaori dressed as a stereotypical princess, with a tiara, pink gown, etc. Upon being angered, she becomes a large black lion with a spiked collar and shoulders, plaid legs, high-heels on its hind paws and electrical pylons on its back, along with the same eyes and lack of a mouth as Kaori's Persona, Bastet.
Shadow Tetsuo 	Tetsuo's Shadow first takes the form of him in the clothes of a business man, showing he wants to be big and respected, but it later transforms into his normal self shrouded in darkness with a towering shadow coming from his feet, in the shape of his Persona, Anuket.
Shadow Hirai 	Hirai Keishi's Shadow self is near identical to his real self, except for the dark aura and yellow eyes, his true form is a large black serpent with three heads on each of its ends but only one on each set, with features resembling both Hirai himself and a lion
Shadow Masaki 	Taguchi Masaki's Shadow resides in a type of church and wears all white clothing, but when angered, he becomes a large statue of a horned knight with two swords being held backwards, almost identical to Montu, Masaki's Persona. Shadow Masaki's normal form is inside of this statue, chained to the walls.
Shadow Yukiji 	Yukiji's Shadow wears ragged clothes and her Site is a desolate city, representing that her ideal state is being left alone at any cost, her true form is a tank-like monster with Yukiji's face painted on it except without eyes and with pale skin.
Shadow Morimasa 	Shadow Morimasa appears as a male version of Sawada and is always surrounded by girls, when angered by the real Sawada's denial, he becomes a dog-like creature with large ears and golden armor, guided with chains held by four masked women.
Shadow Keishi 	
Demonic Mural (First Battle) 	Am-Heh is first fought at the top floor of Duat, when he's still trapped in his mural and all that's visible is his disturbing, masked face and glowing, multi-colored eyes. Upon being defeated, the wall cracks and dark energy seeps out, the characters have beaten Duat Online.
Ba-Pef 	The first boss fought in the final dungeon, True Duat, Ba-Pef appears as a bulky, demonic figure cloaked in darkness and shadows, all that is visible on Ba-Pef are his large bat wings and red facial features.
Setesh 	Am-Heh's reaper, who uses his powers to kill the people that are panicking outside of Duat, Setesh is a being with an anteater-like head and robes covered in different hieroglyphs for his name, Setesh also carries a scythe that both takes and carries the souls of his victims.
Demonic Mural (Second Battle)	Am-Heh, in his mural form, is fought once more atop True Duat, with more attacks and more powerful versions of past attacks. Upon defeat, the mural completely breaks and unleashes Am-Heh into the world.
Am-Heh 	Am-Heh's true form is a towering demon holding two massive swords, he has a crown, horns and six black wings, along with an uncanny mask showing only his multi-colored eyes. Am-Heh has some of the most powerful attacks in the game and the most HP of any enemy or boss.
The Reaper 	A Shadow that only appears if the player spends too much time on a floor of Duat Online, the specific time depends on the size of the floor. The Reaper is a powerful enemy with two very long revolvers, a torn cloak and chains around its body, but while facing him has many risks, it also has many rewards, such as special items and lots of EXP and money.
Victoria 	Igor's assitant in the game, she is an extremely powerful post-game boss, much like Yoshimatsu, she has the power of the Wild Card, in other words, she can use any Persona in the game to try and defeat Keishi in one final challenge. The only way to face her is to max out the Judgment confidant of the game.
== Dungeons ==
There are a few different dungeons in Persona RA, or, as they are called, "Sites", but the main dungeon is the game is Duat Online, a mysterious website created by Am-Heh to kill people.
* Duat: Duat is a massive tower in the online game Duat Online, it consists of 8 different blocks filled with various demons and treasures awaiting anyone who is able to proceed through it and beat the game by making it to the top. All blocks are represented by their respective color and black.
** Wi'yaw: The first block of Duat, it has the second smallest amount of floors, consisting of only 7, it is represented by a deep violet color and has many weak Shadows dwelling in it.
** Sinway: The second block of Duat, it has 8 floors, it has more enemies than the first one and is represented by a dark blue/indigo color.
** Hamtaw: The third block of Duat, this one contains 9 floors and is represented by a light blue color, it has stronger enemies than the past blocks.
** Yafdaw: Duat's fourth block is represented by a cyan-like color, almost a green, and it houses some rather strong enemies in its 10 floors.
** Diyaw: The fifth block in Duat has many powerful foes to face, it has 12 floors and is represented by a dark yellow color.
** Yassaw: The sixth block of the tower contains 13 floors and lots of powerful Shadows to fight off, this block is represented by the color orange.
** Safhaw: The seventh and penultimate block of Duat is represented by the color red, it has some of the strongest enemies in the game and it has 16 floors
** Hamanaw: The final block of Duat consists of 2 floors, the first floor is a massive Site filled with dangerous puzzles and traps, and the second floor with the battle against the Demonic Mural, AKA Am-Heh. This block's color is gray.
* Kaori's Site: When Kaori Nakauchi is captured by Duat Online, the top floors of Wi'yaw become a beautiful medieval castle filled with puzzles, traps and secret passages leading to the throne room where Yoshimatsu battles Kaori's Shadow and she gains Bastet.
* Tetsuo's Site: Upon Tetsuo being drawn into the game, the second block, Sinway, becomes a massive bank, housing his Shadow self. At the top of the Site, Yoshimatsu and Kaori face off against Tetsuo's Shadow and he is able to use Anuket.
* Hirai's Site: Hirai Keishi's respective Site is a dark manor with golden chandeliers and curtains, Yoshimatsu, Kaori and Tetsuo work together to beat Shadow Hirai and save him.
* Masaki's Site: As mentioned previously, Masaki's Site is a large cathedral, but rather than being fought at the top of the Site, the characters simply go to the top to save the real Masaki, which is being kept tied to a large cross, his Shadow is fought at the large entrance room.
* Yukiji's Site: Suda Yukiji's Site is a city under a night sky, which is clearly projected onto glass panes, her Shadow is chased all the way into a scrapyard, where she threatens to just kill her real self, but she decides she can't do it, until Suda denies wanting to be her Shadow and she tranforms.
* Morimasa's Site: Sawada Morimasa's Site is a luxurious cruise ship in an infinite ocean, the master of this Site is Morimasa's Shadow, who is a male version of her, showing that she thinks she needs to be a boy to be big and rich in the world. The characters start this Site on one end of the ship and Shadow Morimasa is fought at the other end.
* Keishi's Site: Yoshimatsu's own Site resembles an apartment building on the outside, but it's actually a huge, Escher-esque prison on the inside, representing how little he truly knows about the place he lives in and how he sees it, his Shadow self is not seen until the group finds Yoshimatsu's apartment, or rather, cell, where he is fought off.
* Peak of Duat: The Site located at the first floor of Hamanaw, the final block in Duat, this Site is covered in bones and pulsating vein-like tubes going to the top of the tower. The upper levels of this Site have windows seemingly looking out to a destroyed city, almost resembling Osaka.
* True Duat: When Am-Heh and Duat are brought into the real world, red tubes and bones rise from the ground and a massive, dark tower emerges with them. This dungeon is a much bigger and more treacherous version of the last Site, also containing other rooms and different floors, the final battle with Am-Heh is held at the top of this place.
== Gallery ==
PRA Bastet.png
PRA Horus.png
== Soundtrack ==
=== Themes ===
* Sukima Switch - Golden Time Lover (Main Theme + Credits)
* Phantom (Title Screen)
* More TBA
* Border of Insanity (Pre-Boss Theme)
* Regret (Post-Boss Theme + Shadow Keishi's Theme)
=== Locations ===
* Tokyo Daylight (Daytime Overworld)
* Beneath The Mask (Nighttime Overworld)
* Beneath The Mask -Rain- (Rainy Overworld)
* Duat Online
* King, Queen, Slave (Kaori's Site)
* Price (Tetsuo's Site)
* Kama Palace (Hirai's Site)
* Heaven (Masaki's Site)
* I'm Here... (Yukiji's Site)
* Ark (Moramasa's Site)
* Long Way (Keishi's Site)
* Let Butterflies Spread Until the Dawn (Peak of Duat)
* Freedom and Security (True Duat)
=== Battle ===
* A Lone Prayer (Normal Battle)
* Bloody Destiny (Duat/Site Guardian Battle)
* Blooming Villain (Boss Battle 1)
* A New World Fool (Boss Battle 2)
* The Infinite (Am-Heh Final Battle)
== Trivia ==
* Yoshimatsu is the only character in the game to not get his Persona from facing his Shadow self, instead, his Shadow gives him the ability to create Atem, his ultimate Persona.
** He is also the only main protagonist in the series to directly face his Shadow and actively speak throughout the game, without player input, although, he doesn't do it too often.
* The Sites were originally called "Blocks" but the name was changed to avoid confusion with the sections of Duat, also called "blocks".
* Persona RA is the first in the series in a long time to not have a number in its title, instead having the name "RA", which is a reference to the egyptian sun god, hinting at the symbology seen throughout the game.
** The all-caps "RA" could also be a reference to "RAM", or "Random Access Memory", the system in a computer that keep track of how much information and data is in it and how much it can keep.
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