Summary
- The starting Personas in the Persona series quickly become outclassed by other options, leading players to fuse them into stronger Personas.
- The limited skill set of the starting Personas is likely intended to introduce players to the game's mechanics, but they become less useful as players progress.
- Persona 6 should improve the utility of the protagonist's starting Persona, allowing players to keep it on their team for longer and giving it access to more skills.
The Persona series has its own set of traditions that players have come to expect in each entry such as the ability to recruit and fuse Personas to create new ones. While a game like Persona 3 Reload looks to modernize the classic title with elements from the more recent Persona 5 Royal, it's unclear how Persona 6 will improve upon the series' staple mechanics. However, one aspect of the series Persona 6 can improve upon is the utility of the protagonist's starting Persona, making it more useful beyond its first few levels.
An iconic part of each mainline Persona game is the scene where the protagonist first awakens to their power as a Persona user and summons their starting Persona. For how memorable these Personas are among series fans, they don't see much usage outside the early hours of the game as they quickly become outclassed by other Personas players will encounter. This design is likely to encourage players to fuse their starting Persona and introduce them to one of the series' core mechanics, but Persona 6 should at least make this starting Persona more viable so that players can choose to keep it on their team if they want.
Persona 6 Should Make its Protagonist's Starting Persona Viable in the Long Term
For how much the Personas of the most recent games are associated with their respective protagonists, they will likely spend very little time in the player's roster before being fused into something better. Most of these Personas start with specific elemental skills, but stop learning new skills around level 6 or 7, meaning players will likely ditch them after the game's first dungeon.
Persona 3 – Orpheus
|
Skill |
Cost |
Effect |
Level |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Bash |
7% HP |
Light Strike Damage to one foe |
Innate |
|
Agi |
3 SP |
Light Fire Damage to one foe |
2 |
|
Tarunda |
6 SP |
Decreases one foe's Attack |
6 |
Orpheus is the starting Persona for Persona 3's protagonist, but it ends up being one of the weakest options in the game with very little to offer players once it hits level 6. The skills learned by Orpheus are incredibly limited, likely intended to give players a taste of the three main move types in the game: Physical, Elemental, and Support, and will quickly become outclassed once players can fuse a Persona like Pyro Jack at level 14.
Persona 4 – Izanagi
|
Skill |
Cost |
Effect |
Level |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Zio |
4 SP |
Light Elec Damage to one foe |
Innate |
|
Cleave |
5% HP |
Light Phys Damage to one foe |
Innate |
|
Rakukaja |
12 SP |
Increase one ally's Defense for 3 turns |
Innate |
|
Rakunda |
12 SP |
Decrease one foe's Defense for 3 turns |
3 |
|
Tarukaja |
12 SP |
Increase one ally's Attack for 3 turns |
5 |
While Izanagi, the starting Persona for Persona 4's protagonist, has access to more skills than Orpheus in Persona 3, it drops off in utility much earlier at level 5. Izanagi starts with Physical, Support, and Elemental skill right off the bat, but only learns two other support skills through level up. Players will likely want to fuse Oberon as a replacement once they hit level 12.
Persona 5 – Arsene
|
Skill |
Cost |
Effect |
Level |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Eiha |
4 SP |
Light Curse Damage to one foe |
Innate |
|
Cleave |
6% HP |
Light Phys Damage to one foe |
2 |
|
Sukunda |
8 SP |
Decrease one foe's Agility for 3 turns |
4 |
|
Dream Needle |
8% HP |
Light Phys Damage to one foe. Medium chance of Sleep |
5 |
|
Adverse Resolve |
Auto |
Increase critical rate when being ambushed |
7 |
Arsene, the starting Persona for Persona 5's Joker has the most useful skill set of the group with a diverse pool of Elemental, Physical, Support, and Passive skills available to it. However, it still becomes outclassed after level 7 when it stops learning new skills, meaning players are better off fusing it into Agathion during Persona 5's fusion tutorial. Persona 6 can remedy this trend by giving its protagonist's starting Persona access to more skills, even if they come less frequently after a certain level.
- Genre(s)
- JRPG
