Persona Fusions
I've been playing the re-release of Persona quite feverishly since I got it. I'm enjoying it more than I expected as the interface cleanup and new translation have made it almost a whole new game. The new soundtrack is good, though I do miss the more ominous original soundtrack.
Because more people are playing this game, and more time has passed, some of the secrets of the game have finally been cracked. One of the things that always vexed me sorely in the original US release was that the notes about the results of fusion were very unclear in the manual. It looked like they had a copypasta or alignment error of some kind. Thanks to all the info available, including from the new translation in the game and manual and especially at this wiki: http://persona1.wikidot.com/ I have learned the following things:
Fusion Results
Color Code
Blue: bonus compatibility between spell cards, big stat boost
White: baseline compatibility, no effect
Red: incompatibility between spell cards, increased chance of fusion accident
Result Symbol
Circle: Normal fusion, no chance of a bonus spell unless you add one via an item.
Arrow: indicates chance of inheriting a spell from one of the component spell cards, if the card has any that are viable for a persona to learn and if the persona's not incompatible to it. Spell cards can have 0 to 3 possible spells to learn.
Sideways arrow: will learn a spell from the first card selected in fusion
Up arrow: will learn a spell from the second card selected in fusion and get a small attribute boost
Down arrow: will learn a spell from the second card selected in fusion and get a small attribute penalty
Also, I have found out there's a cheat that will let you get a Fool class persona quite reliably. From a cold start if you take a certain # of steps from a save point in a no-encounter area (like a mall) to the Velvet Room, it will directly change the outcome. If that number is 101, 211, or 230, and you're doing a white fusion with no spell-adding items involved, it'll come out as a fool. You get a random spell if you take 31/59/62/75 steps. Other numbers of steps yield other results though some are probably pointless (1194 steps for the Moon... not useful.) 49 steps results in Temperance, even if it's a red or blue fusion. There are also a handful of #s for blue fusions that work for fool (275, 537, 546) or random spell (21, 31, and others, but apparently no even numbers so this won't work at the Black Market/Joy Street). Again, this is from the Wikidot. I got it to make me a level 30 fool when I was about level 25, but I wasn't able to make a level 47 fool when I was level 35. I think it'll work in 2 more levels though.
I am really glad I bought that extended life battery now. I forgot that fully charged that thing promises nine and a half hours of PSP play.
Because more people are playing this game, and more time has passed, some of the secrets of the game have finally been cracked. One of the things that always vexed me sorely in the original US release was that the notes about the results of fusion were very unclear in the manual. It looked like they had a copypasta or alignment error of some kind. Thanks to all the info available, including from the new translation in the game and manual and especially at this wiki: http://persona1.wikidot.com/ I have learned the following things:
Fusion Results
Color Code
Blue: bonus compatibility between spell cards, big stat boost
White: baseline compatibility, no effect
Red: incompatibility between spell cards, increased chance of fusion accident
Result Symbol
Circle: Normal fusion, no chance of a bonus spell unless you add one via an item.
Arrow: indicates chance of inheriting a spell from one of the component spell cards, if the card has any that are viable for a persona to learn and if the persona's not incompatible to it. Spell cards can have 0 to 3 possible spells to learn.
Sideways arrow: will learn a spell from the first card selected in fusion
Up arrow: will learn a spell from the second card selected in fusion and get a small attribute boost
Down arrow: will learn a spell from the second card selected in fusion and get a small attribute penalty
Also, I have found out there's a cheat that will let you get a Fool class persona quite reliably. From a cold start if you take a certain # of steps from a save point in a no-encounter area (like a mall) to the Velvet Room, it will directly change the outcome. If that number is 101, 211, or 230, and you're doing a white fusion with no spell-adding items involved, it'll come out as a fool. You get a random spell if you take 31/59/62/75 steps. Other numbers of steps yield other results though some are probably pointless (1194 steps for the Moon... not useful.) 49 steps results in Temperance, even if it's a red or blue fusion. There are also a handful of #s for blue fusions that work for fool (275, 537, 546) or random spell (21, 31, and others, but apparently no even numbers so this won't work at the Black Market/Joy Street). Again, this is from the Wikidot. I got it to make me a level 30 fool when I was about level 25, but I wasn't able to make a level 47 fool when I was level 35. I think it'll work in 2 more levels though.
I am really glad I bought that extended life battery now. I forgot that fully charged that thing promises nine and a half hours of PSP play.