What’s Your Persona?

“Persona 5,” dubbed one of the best Persona games to date, has a lot of story, characters, and music. The music portrays the emotions or upcoming events in the game. It has many songs all ranging from slow, calm music to fast-paced and upbeat battle songs. A favorite among many is “Rivers in the Desert.” It’s very upbeat and get the player pumped for whatever is coming up. The music just feels great and can really portray the event happening in game or cutscene. The composer did an amazing job.

Shoji Meguro, “Persona 5”’s composer, showed how much he cared about this game and it’s music. There are many genres he made for the music, but its main genre is all grown-up. There are experimental synths and influences of J-pop and EDM. The music is more outgoing than older games. One that shows this is “Keeper of Lust.” Though the name sounds bad, it’s fitting considering the area the player is in, fighting a boss that many players probably didn’t expect. The guitar in this piece has the best parts. Many riffs carry on the music, and the drums chime in multiple times and it creates this amazing sense of a first boss fight.

Usually after a certain event in-game, a new in-game cutscene plays. The main character is in an interrogation room and, well, being interrogated. The music played is “Interrogation Room.” The atmosphere this music makes is anxious and scared. Most players wouldn’t expect to be thrown into this, and Atlus, the creators of the “Persona” games, does a great job for this section of the game.  The instruments used make the player feel like something is wrong. The instruments portray the scared and unknown atmosphere very well and the subtle parts of the song may make players feel uneasy.

A song that’s played all around towns is “Beneath the Mask.” It’s very calm and smooth, unlike the last two songs. There are multiple variants of this song ranging from just instrumental to a rainy mood. All variants are still just as amazing as the original. The rainy feeling is one of the best. The instruments have this longer feeling, and it’s hard to describe but it just makes it sound like rain.

The music of “Persona 5” can easily convey the tone or mood for players. It contains multiple genres that can all serve to help any given situation. The intense moments or the calm and smooth moments. The music can also help to give a player a certain feeling depending on the music itself.