besides, puting to much importance on a mortal who has message ‘from god’ isn’t that bad? its not as bad as the first SMT where you can fight god (or satan)

but don’t demons take forms of things? don’t people who think they can call an angel get demons?

not all the enemies are ‘bishops’ some are bugs and blobs and spinning sand dials.

and there is Messia, you can fuse it at level 90

1) The most powerful personas are named after let's say Man Worse Enemy.

2) The enemies are Bishops protected by a cube and books with a cross on them.

To me this is as anti Christian as you might get.

It started around Mesopotamia and Sumeria. In Sumeria it meant corner, angle, nook; a small room, cavity, hole; pitfall. The Pythagoreans saw in the pentagram a mathematical perfection.

OCCULT

“Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and others perpetuated the popularity of the pentagram as a magic symbol, keeping the Pythagorean attributions of elements to the five points. By the mid-19th century a further distinction had developed amongst occultists regarding the pentagram’s orientation. With a single point upwards it depicted spirit presiding over the four elements of matter, and was essentially “good”. However, the influential writer Eliphas Levi called it evil whenever the symbol appeared the other way up.

“A reversed pentagram, with two points projecting upwards, is a symbol of evil and attracts sinister forces because it overturns the proper order of things and demonstrates the triumph of matter over spirit. It is the goat of lust attacking the heavens with its horns, a sign execrated by initiates.”[12]
“The flaming star, which, when turned upside down, is the hierolgyphic [sic] sign of the goat of Black Magic, whose head may be drawn in the star, the two horns at the top, the ears to the right and left, the beard at the bottom. It is the sign of antagonism and fatality. It is the goat of lust attacking the heavens with its horns.”[13]
“Let us keep the figure of the Five-pointed Star always upright, with the topmost triangle pointing to heaven, for it is the seat of wisdom, and if the figure is reversed, perversion and evil will be the result.”

CHRISTIAN

“The pentagram is used as a Christian symbol for the five senses,[15] and if the letters S, A, L, V, and S are inscribed in the points, it can be taken as a symbol of health (from Latin salus).[16]

Medieval Christians believed it to symbolise the five wounds of Christ. The pentagram was believed to protect against witches and demons.[17]

The pentagram figured in a heavily symbolic Arthurian romance:[17] it appears on the shield of Sir Gawain in the 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. As the poet explains, the five points of the star each have five meanings: they represent the five senses, the five fingers, the five wounds of Christ,[18] the five joys that Mary had of Jesus (the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Resurrection, the Ascension, and the Assumption), and the five virtues of knighthood which Gawain hopes to embody: noble generosity, fellowship, purity, courtesy, and compassion.

Most Christians, probably due to their misinterpretation of symbols used by ceremonial magicians, came to associate it with Satanism and subsequently rejected the symbol sometime in the twentieth century.”

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has used pentagrams and five-pointed stars in Temple architecture, specifically the Nauvoo Illinois Temple[19] and the Salt Lake Temple. These symbols derived from traditional morning star pentagrams that are no longer commonly used in mainstream Christianity.”

“The pentagram was the official seal of the city of Jerusalem for a time.[17] Due to the similarity of the star shapes, it is occasionally confused with the Star of David by those unfamiliar with the symbols.”

NEOPAGANISM

“Many Neopagans, especially Wiccans, use the pentagram as a symbol of faith similar to the Christian cross or the Jewish Star of David. It is not, however, a universal symbol for Neopaganism, and is rarely used by Reconstructionists. Its religious symbolism is commonly explained by reference to the neo-Pythagorean understanding that the five vertices of the pentagram represent the four elements with the addition of Spirit as the uppermost point. As a representation of the elements, the pentagram is involved in the Wiccan practice of summoning the elemental spirits of the four directions at the beginning of a ritual.

The outer circle of the circumscribed pentagram is sometimes interpreted as binding the elements together or bringing them into harmony with each other. The Neopagan pentagram is generally displayed with one point up, partly because of the “inverted” goat’s head pentagram’s association with Satanism; however, within traditional forms of Wicca a pentagram with two points up is associated with the Second Degree Initiation and in this context has no relation to Satanism. [21]

Because of a perceived association with Satanism and also because of negative societal attitudes towards Neopagan religions and the “occult”, many United States schools have sought to prevent students from displaying the pentagram on clothing or jewelry.[22][23][24] In public schools, such actions by administrators have been determined to be in violation of students’ First Amendment right to free exercise of religion.”

SATANISM

“Satanists use a pentagram with two points up, often inscribed in a double circle, with the head of a goat inside the pentagram. This is referred to as the Sigil of Baphomet. They use it much the same way as the Pythagoreans, as Tartaros literally translates from Greek as a “Pit” or “Void” in Christian terminology (the word is used as such in the Bible, referring to the place where the fallen angels are fettered). The Pythagorean Greek letters are most often replaced by the Hebrew letters ×�×�×�ת×� forming the name Leviathan. Less esoteric LaVeyan Satanists use it as a sign of rebellion or religious identification, the three downward points symbolising rejection of the holy Trinity.

Aleister Crowley also made use of the pentagram and in his Thelemic system of magick: an adverse or inverted pentagram represents the descent of spirit into matter, according to the interpretation of Lon Milo DuQuette.[26] Crowley contradicted his old comrades in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, who following Levi considered this orientation of the symbol evil and associated it with the triumph of matter over spirit.”

“The pentagram is the official symbol of the Bahá’í Faith.[27] In the Bahá’í Faith, the pentagram is known as the Haykal (Arabic: “temple”â��), and it was initiated and established by the Báb. Both Báb and Bahá’u'lláh wrote various works in the form of a pentagram.”

TAOISM

Taoism conceived of a five element system which governed the natural world which they called the Wu Xing. Unlike the Greek system of four elements being Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, the Chinese system involved Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood. This five element system was normally depicted as a pentagram ringed by a circle. The circle was used to describe the generative cycle where wood feeds fire, fire creates earth (ash), earth bears metal, metal carries water, and water nourishes wood. The pentagram describes the destructive or overcoming system where Wood parts Earth, Earth absorbs Water, Water quenches Fire, Fire melts Metal, Metal chops Wood, or the alternative destructive system: Wood absorbs Water, Water rusts Metal, Metal breaks up Earth, Earth smothers Fire, Fire burns Wood. This system informs traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) even today. As the Wu Xing is of great antiquity and the silk road had been open to Europe since before the Roman Empire it is quite likely that this medical system was imported to Europe as a misunderstood and exotic practice involving spirits (Shen).”

PLUS MUCH MORE

Go ahead, take a peak at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagram. That is where my info came from. They also have several pictures as well as a load of other information.

MY OPINIONS

The pentagram may not be accurate compared to the occult’s pentagram, but due to many of the games themes it is used in the same idea.

Tartarus is from greek mythology which also is mentioned in the Bible as where the angels were thrown and where Satan will spend 1000 years before being thrown into Hell.

On one side you have a game with a little of every religion you could think of. Blasphemy is sure to occur.

On the other hand it doesn’t look as extreme as games like Xenosaga or Xenogears. Mixing religions isn’t new to this series. Religions are mixed in just about every Final fantasy game, Castlevania, and Devil May Cry as well as just about any game really. Chances are if u can play other rpg’s, you can play this one. Just pray about it first.

Everything in this game is stylized. All of the lists of negative elements in this game are portrayed correctly in the review. Despite all of that, the core elements of morality are not obfuscated. The characters in Persona 3 dwell deeply on issues of morality and one of the central themes focuses on the inevitability of fate. Rarely are spiritual issues of a specific faith are focused, and never to a point where the game is dictating where your preferences of faith should fall.

Ultimately, the other central theme; the strength of our bonds with our fellow man, provides a very inspirational message. The game actively encourages meeting with a variety of people, and you benefit when you try to understand their situations, their lives.

And these stories alone communicate several very real, touching issues. There’s the little girl at the shrine who’s parents are facing divorce. The athlete with an injured leg who’s trying to put on a brave face for a younger sibling with a terminal illness. The shy, reserved student council treasurer who has to face false accusations of embezzling.

I’m not defending some of the more negative elements of Persona 3. There are some elements that might be distasteful to a Christian. What I’m concerned about is judging the game just based on the cover art. I found the game very impressive and immersive, and it’s rare to find a game that’s willing to tackle some interesting deep issues.

It comes down to you individual viewpoint. If you are not a fan of the stylized violence, the sometimes very questionable art choices in depicting the various Persona, or the presence of more adult subject matter in your gaming experience, I wouldn’t recommend it. If you can look past those elements and look at the redeeming qualities of the overall package, Persona 3 is a WONDERFUL game that destroyed 100 hours of my life.

Ultimately too, it’s just a game. Keep that in mind!