Memorable Melodies: Burn My Dread from Persona 3

Song: Burn My Dread

Game: Persona 3

Composer: Shoji Meguro

Singer: Yumi Kawamura

I got my copy of Persona 4 Dancing All Night yesterday and have been playing it quite a bit. I'm a huge fan of rhythm games and any music Shoji Meguro makes. In my opinion his music is one of the main factors that Persona gives off as much personality as it does. Obviously art direction and character design play large roles as well, but Meguro's jams are just top notch!

Don't get me wrong here, I love all of the music from Persona 4. However, in my heart I love all the music from 3 a lot more. In fact, I just like Persona 3 more in  general. I liked the characters quite a bit more in 3, but I realize that 4 made a lot of improvements to the franchise. How many times can I say Persona 3 in a single paragraph? Regardless, this got me thinking about the music from P3 and how it would be cool if it made its way into Dancing All Night. I know it didn't, because it's not even DLC in Japan and I think they said they're done making content. I'll just have to settle for how it appears in its original game.

I bought Persona 3 on a whim after watching a video review. My parents went to the mall for some reason, and I called and asked them to pick it up for me. It was the last copy the store had in stock, because I believe I was getting it on its original release day. The concept was cool, but I wasn't really expecting a whole lot. I booted up the game and swiftly got my mind blown. I don't know if a game has ever hooked me as quickly as Persona 3 did. 

The intro to the game is insanely stylized, and meshes perfectly with the song. My teen mind couldn't handle the amazing nature of everything being thrown at me. This is the part where I get sad because I never actually beat Persona 3. I got right near the end, but am literally not strong enough to advance. I didn't so much like to battle, so I used a very lame tactic that I won't get into here to cheese a lot of the bosses in the game. Near the end that stops working, and since the game is time based I don't have enough time to go back and grind. I've been thinking about starting over recently on the PS3, since I used my original disc so much it's cracking!

Shoji Meguro's funky style is something that I'm glad Persona games are continuing to use. His styling can also be seen in all of the Persona 5 trailers, which I highly recommend you check out.