UNIT 12: EXAMPLE AV SCRIPT

Voice-over (VO) Visuals

The JRPG genre is one that is hugely popular in the gaming
industry. From different titles from The Final Fantasy series
which started in the 90s to the changes of direction in
gameplay of the latest Yakuza titles, JRPGS have come across
as masterpieces for certain audiences from the studios of
Square Enix and Ryu Ga Gotuku Studios. But there’s one JRPG
that came into the limelight and hung around for a while. That
series? Persona
The first Persona game was released in 1996 as a spinoff to the
Shin Megami Tensei series by the same studio, Atlus. Whilst it
wasn’t a huge release and only selling 440k copies in Japan, it
still grossed well. During Persona 2’s tenure, it also made good
grossing but the series was hitting a turning point. Good story
and combat, but nothing that really made the players have a
connection between the characters. When Atlus went forward
with Persona 3, that was to change.
Katsura Hashino then took lead of the Persona series and took
a lot of convincing to let Persona 3 go forward as the Atlus
higher ups told him it would be the last before the studios
collapse, but truly changed the vision of Atlus’ studio. How?
In 2006, Persona 3 was released onto the PS2 and was
received well by all players, scoring an 86/100 on Metacritic
and sold over 200k copies in the first week in Japan alone.
The mix of turned based combat in a Greek Mythologic setting
at and the slice of life simulator in the morning, which was the
first of its kind in the series was a huge hit with fans, being able
to go through social links with different characters and
understand the different stories and backgrounds, rewarding
the character with XP boosts when forming larger bonds with a
character of a certain Arcana.

That’s right, tarot is a large piece of the games when fusing

more and more personas, your magical companions for your
character when in battle, whilst other members are only
 UNIT 12: EXAMPLE AV SCRIPT

Voice-over (VO) Visuals

restricted to their fixed persona.

It’s addition of bringing voice acting back into the series after
Persona 2’s Innocent Sin was a strong one. The addition of Yuri
Lowenthal as the protagonist, Tara Platt, Liam O’Brien, Vic
Mignogna, Michelle Ruff, Paula Tiso, Karen Strassman and
Grant George was a strong boost to the story and also to their
respected character’s personality with Platt playing a more
formal and upper classwoman attitude of Mitsuru Kirijo, to the
more funny, comedic and humorous lines of Junpei Iori from
Mignogna.

The Music was a huge success as well, with Yumi Kawamura

returning again after doing vocals for the previous titles with
Shoji Meguro also returning as the composer, teaming up with
lyricist Lotus Juice for a funky, hip hop/pop genre with its
themes like Mass Destruction, Moon’s Reaching Out For The
Stars and Changing Seasons as the real hits.

A riveting storyline mixed in with its dark themes of that

people do die, with the game exploring themes of death and
mortality. It’s huge success kept Atlus afloat, and only took
them 2 years to create their next title in the Persona series,
and impressed once again
Persona 4 was released in 2008, with a new bunch of
characters, new setting, new story and new music, all to fall in
place with the same combat and slice of life mechanisms from
Persona 3.

The theme was also a lot different, this time about the pursuit
of the truth after a serial killing spree occurs in a small
countryside town of Inaba. Your character and its party go
through different dungeons, set in the mind of this person’s
true beliefs. From labs to a bathhouse to a..strip club? Yeah
 UNIT 12: EXAMPLE AV SCRIPT

Voice-over (VO) Visuals

Persona 4 is known for its controversy and their depiction of
sexuality in the game due to the different themes of dungeons
and because of one of the characters bitterness to another in
the party that’s curious of his sexuality.

Yuri Lowenthal and Karen Strassman returned for the 4th title,
but for Lowenthal as a party member of Yosuke Hanamura and
for Strassman to voice the protagonists’ carers little daughter,
Nanako Dojima. Another strong cast with the main name of
Troy Baker playing Kanji Tatsumi, Johnny Yong Bosch as the
protagonist, Laura Bailey as Rise Kujikawa, Anna Graves as
Naoto Shirogane, Sam Riegel as Teddie, Amanda Winn Lee as
Yukiko and Erin Fitzgerald as Chie Satonaka.

Persona 4 also buffed up some of the social link outcomes

after completing a social link. An example is after being at a
level in a certain social link can lead to advantages and buffs in
battle.
Shihiko Hirata provided the vocals for this title, with “Pursuing
my true self”, “Reach out to the truth”, “Heaven” and who
cannot forget the masterpiece that is “Specialist” as some of
her top hits coming from the game.

Persona 4 then went through a few years of spin offs during

the gap of the announcement of Persona 5, with a rhythm
dance game, fighting game and a Spin off collaborating with
the Persona 3 party in Persona Q – Shadow of the Labyrinth,
taking the art direction and character design by Shigenori
Soejima, who also joined the series at Persona 3, with a
different look in a “chibi” art style
After an 8 year gap, the longest in the series, Persona 5 was
released in 2016 and is the crème de la crème of the series. It’s
story of existentialism and freedom, having to fight for that
freedom with the themes of authoritative rule over a large
 UNIT 12: EXAMPLE AV SCRIPT

Voice-over (VO) Visuals

group of people, with the start being an abusive teacher to the
end being of a politician wanting to take power of Japan.

The characters are also some of the best in the series, with its
social links being fresh and every bit of detail of them being
fleshed out during the 10 interactions. Learning about Ryuji’s
backstory of being a top track star to then be the person who
disbanded the team and how he regrets the decision of
backfiring on the same teacher as previously mentioned shows
how each character has been stretched out to their maximum
ability, even for those who aren’t In the party. Hifumi Togo’s
social link, learning about how her mother uses her status as a
top shogi player to gain attraction and fame for her daughter
to take for herself, even if the mother was rigging and fixing
the games she was playing!

Persona 5 also doubled up on their gameplay, especially in

combat. The UI for party members turns look phenomenal,
and even in the bottom right corner with the art of the
character holding the HP/SP card looks amazing! They also
followed up on a mechanical change in combat with the
addition of the Baton Pass. This varied in between the “vanilla”
version of the game and its definitive edition which released 3
years later, with Baton Passing becoming accessible earlier in
the definitive edition where with the base game needed you to
be a certain social link rank with party members to obtain it.
Baton Passing truly revolutionized the consensus of turn based
combat, with hitting a weakness of an enemy can lead you to
pass your “1 more” off to another member, boosting their
attack and restoring a bit of health and SP.

The music as well for this game was-

Lyn Inaizumi was perfect for this role, with its acid jazz of “last
 UNIT 12: EXAMPLE AV SCRIPT

Voice-over (VO) Visuals

surprise” and its face paced “life will change” were huge hits
under the metaverse, and the calm sense of “Beneath the
Mask” and all of its different versions, whether Lyn is singing or
not is a masterpiece of its own. Lyn has remained he vocalist
for Persona 5’s sequel of Persona 5 Strikers and the newly
released Persona 5 Tactica, whilst having her work remixed for
the Persona 5 dancing game which is… not great.

The cast for this game though, is astonishing as well. Xander

Mobus taking lead of the protagonist, Erika Harlacher, Robbie
Daymond, Matthew Mercer as Yusuke, Cassandra Lee Morris,
Cherami Leigh, Max Mittleman, Erica Lindbeck and Xanthe
Huynh all to name just as the party members. But wait, there’s
more! Keith Silverstein, William Salyers, Kirk Thornton and Kaiji
Tang all playing characters with a social link or as villains in the
game.

Returning voice actors included Michelle Ruff, who was Yukari

in Persona 3 and is back as Sadayo Kawakami, your homeroom
teacher and yes.. She’s a social link.. a weird one. As well as
Ruff, Amanda Winn Lee returned to voice Ichiko Ohya, a
journalist who is another social link after the beginning of the
2nd arc and Eden Riegel who voiced Marie in Persona 4 Golden,
the definitive edition of the 2008 release, came back as Hifumi
Togo, the shogi player as mentioned

Both versions of the game are loooong. Almost 100 hours for
the vanilla game, and 120+ hours for the “Royal” edition, due
to the addition of an extra dungeon if a certain social link is
maxed out before their departure, including extra social link
events in the new third semester of the game.
And whilst we’re on the topic of Atlus’ releases, they have a lot .
more on the way. During the Xbox Games Showcase, Atlus
announced 3 whole new games, including a new IP to be the
 UNIT 12: EXAMPLE AV SCRIPT

Voice-over (VO) Visuals

“3rd Pillar” of Atlus after the flop of Soul Hackers 2. Persona 5
Tactica, another spinoff in the P5 series, released on the 17th of
November to reveal their lowest sales for a spinoff in the
whole series with only 42,000 copies in Japan sold in the first
week. On top of this, Atlus revealed a remake of Persona 3,
titled Persona 3 Reload, with changes such as voiced social
links, more changes to battle mechanics such as “Theurgy
attacks”.

Persona 3 Reload will also adhere to a whole new voice cast,

with Aleks Le voicing the protagonist alongside Suzie Yeung,
Allegra Clark, Alejandro Saab, Justice Slocum, Heather
Gonzalez and Zeno Robinson all voicing a member of the party.
Huge graphics boost, the look of Tartarus and Azumi Takahashi
taking vocals of remixed or “reloaded” versions of Yumi’s hits,
with Lotus Juice also making a return for the game

Atlus also announced Metaphor Re Fantazio, the new IP they

announced back in 2014 but finally had a reveal trailer this July
and looks gorgeous!

Metaphor has a release date of 2024, but looking to be in Q1

or Q2 of 2024, and Persona 3 Reload releases February 2nd
2024 and is day one with Game Pass!
As in terms for Persona 6, there has still been no official
announcement or reveal trailer, but with leaks and dataminers
everywhere, Persona 6 is expected to be announced in 2024,
either at Summer Games Fest or one of the two showcases of
PlayStation and Xbox with a late 2025
/early 2026 release.
UNIT 12: EXAMPLE AV SCRIPT