All things must end. This is the nature of the world. This also applies to the media we consume; every beginning has its end. Video games often provide players with a way around this, offering a chance to explore the world even after the main plot has taken place to avoid this sense of loss.
Persona 3 leans against the fear of an ending, the inevitable loss that comes with the end of the story. Fifteen years later, Persona 3Its willingness to create an ending that is in its awkwardness makes it one of gaming’s most emotional goodbyes and a highlight for the series.
start and end
The celebration of a new year is not what you expect when you think of the end of the world. But with the threat of one last month to live, the protagonist and their friends, members of SEES, cling to a sense of normalcy through ritual.
The true end of Persona 3 occurs when the player saves Ryoji in their final showdown on December 31. Without his death, the creature Nyx will come down and destroy the entire world. But the main character still chooses mercy, knowing that Ryoji is an unwilling participant in this disaster. With this choice, the game unlocks the month of January.
January is a depressing month. You feel the cold creep into your bones and make it a home, unshakable. January is the last month on Earth for the protagonist and their companions. On the 31st, Nyx will descend and bring the end of the world, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. All this is inevitable. But the slow march of time makes you live with this truth with every unbearable tick of the clock.
Persona 3 forces you to continue with the game’s calendar system. Each day should pass slowly, if you decide to bond with friends or explore the city. But even if you try to pretend the end isn’t coming, the city will remind you. Once filled with excitement and color, the streets slowly fill with litter as January approaches. Nobody cleans it up, why should they?
So long
The people living on Tatsumi Port Island are trapped in a massive depression. More citizens are being affected by the game’s “Apathy Syndrome” and creatures known as the Lost are appearing in greater numbers. It is all a reflection of an increasing fear that the world is coming to an end. Persona 3 explains that apathy syndrome is caused by people who give up on life.
In addition to the city’s miasma, a cult of Nyx has sprung up that claims that the end of the world will be salvation. It is becoming common to encounter the cult’s followers on the street handing out brochures and pamphlets describing the coming apocalypse.
After the days have passed, the 31st is coming. On the way to the top of Tartarus (the game’s massive dungeon), SEES is confronted by Ryoji, who has now completely transformed into Nyx’s avatar. Despite the team’s best efforts, Nyx is summoned and descends to Earth. The moon bursts open and people all over the planet die.
With no other option, the main character pulls a page directly from Tellah’s playbook from Final Fantasy 4. They use the entirety of every persona they’ve collected, every social link, and every bond they’ve forged with their friends along the way to seal Nyx forever. But this comes at the cost of the protagonist’s own life.
Memories of the past year are erased from the minds of every SEES member. They return to their lives and finish the school year. Suddenly, they remember a promise they made to meet on the roof of the school at graduation if they survived. They make their way upstairs to reunite with the main character for a brief moment. The main character lies on Aigis’ lap and floats away peacefully. A silent death.
Push the boulder
Trigger warning: report of suicide.
“The absurd man will not commit suicide”, says philosopher Albert Camus, “he wants to live, without giving up any of his certainty, without a future, without hope, without illusions … and also without resignation. He gazes at death with passionate attention and this fascination sets him free.”
Persona 3 is a game obsessed with death. The intro even telegraphs the entire story by flashing the Latin phrase “Memento mori” on the screen. Often translated as “Remember, you will die,” the phrase more accurately means “Remember, you MUST die.”
The method by which you summon personas is through a tool called an evoker, something that is simply a gun. The main character holds it to the head and pulls the trigger with every call in a simulated suicide. In his essay The myth of Sisyphus, Camus argued that the reality of life is enough to prompt a person to end their existence. Only by looking Death in the face and understanding the absurdity of hope and joy does one survive.
For the members of SEES there is only loss. Throughout the game people die and SEES has been helpless to save them. The inhabitants of the city suffer from a condition, the cause of which is the understanding of the inevitability of life, and the deep fear that fills one at this revelation.
Instead of facing God, Persona 3 is a JRPG that will make you face death.
And yet there is always hope, there is meaning. “You have to imagine Sisyphus happy,” Camus says of the human condition. Like the Greek myth, we are stuck in an inescapable cycle of suffering, but we keep pushing the boulder. We stay alive.
January is a month of contrasts. A month in which you cannot escape the days that are coming to the end. The end of the world, the end of the main character, the end of the game. But SEES celebrates the potential of a new year. When asked what she wished for Fuuka, she says she wished a good year, “it’s generic, but it’s what I really want”. Even in the face of death, she dreams of things that may not happen. How absurd.
Persona 3 Portable launches in 2023 for Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC via Steam and Microsoft Store. It is already available for PSP.
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