I dreamt I was a butterfly.
I couldn't tell if I was dreaming.
But when I woke,
I was I and not a butterfly.
Was I dreaming that I was the butterfly,
Or was the butterfly dreaming that it was me?
Even if there's a difference between the butterfly and I,
The distinction isn't absolute.
And there is no relationship of cause and effect.
--Soshi
Frank here. Besides the Breath of Fire series, one of my favorite games of all times is Shin Megami Tensei: Persona. Here in the states, it's commonly called Revelation: Persona, or just simply, Persona. By the way, the above poem is taken from the intro of the game.
The story goes something like this. You, (the main character who you get to name. Mine is always Alex.) and your friends attend St. Hermelin High School in the city of Lunarvale. Strange things are going on in town, concerning the company called SEBEC. Rumors have been going around concerning hauntings, especially where SEBEC placed it's building.
None of this matters, though. The story begins with Alex (I'll refer to the main character as him from now on) and his friends, Yuki, Mark, Nate, Ellen, Brad, and Alana, all together in an empty classroom on the second floor of their school. They play a game, which is oddly enough called Persona. This time, however, they see a little girl in white, who knocks Alex, Yuki, Nate, and Mark with lightning.
Their teacher, Ms. Smith, sends them to the hospital for a check up and to visit Mary, who's been there for a year due to minor mental delusions. However, when they are talking to Mary, she double over in pain, and everything gets... well... weird.
An earthquake rocks the hospital, and demons invade the place. Four zombies attack a group of nurses downstairs, and upon further inspection, Alfred, Nate's butler, was killed trying to protect them. When the students are attacked, their Persona emerge, and kill the zombies.
And so begins Persona, the quest to save their city, the real form of their classmate, Mary, and to unravel this mystery.
Persona are a part of a person's soul. The powers in the game are granted by a god named Philemon. What's different about this RPG than say, Breath of Fire, is that it's all modern. Guns and swords are used, and the world map is a normal city. And you can contact the demons to gain items, spell cards for Persona, etc.
If you can, find a copy of this game and give it a try, It's worth it.
