Skill Change
Skill Change is a recurring mechanic in the Megami Tensei franchise.
Overview
In multiple games, there is a chance that one or more of a Demon or Persona's skills will change into other skills when being fused or leveling up. Depending on the game, the player will either be told which skill will change and what the new skill will be, or they will not be told, leaving them to decide whether they want to risk any current skills as they are presented with the choice of allowing or denying the skill change.
Mechanics by Game
Shin Megami Tensei series
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne
In Nocturne, with certain skills, demons have a 25% chance of attempting to change or "power-up" one of them when they level up.[1] The player will not be told exactly which skill will be changed or what the skill will change into. If the demon is permitted to change their skill, they will try to change it into a powered-up version of the skill, an example being Dia turning into Media. This has a 50% chance of failing, however, and the skill instead will change into a random skill of the higher rank. An example of this occurring is Dia, a rank 1 skill, turning into Mudo, a rank 2 skill. Failed power-ups can only ever change into skills one rank higher than the original skill, meaning a rank 2 skill will only change into a rank 3 skill unless it is a skill power-up. If a demon successfully power-ups one of their skills, they will not be able to power-up a skill ever again, even if they evolve, though they can still change them into random higher-ranked skills. Demons can repeatedly keep changing skills at level up so long as the skill is able to change, as not all skills can power-up or change. Additionally, demons cannot change a skill if their inheritance type does not allow it.[2][3] An example of this is the skill Brainwash; As Brainwash is a talk skill, demons who cannot use talk skills such as Black Frost cannot inherit Brainwash in fusion, nor will they be able to change a skill into it, but a demon such as High Pixie, who can use talk skills, will be able to both inherit it and change a skill into it.
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux
Shin Megami Tensei IV
Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse
Persona series
Persona 3
Persona 4
Skill change in Persona 4 can occur in two different ways: When fusing a Persona or when selecting the Magician Arcana in Shuffle Time.
When fusing, each skill has an internal numerical group, 1 through 8, that it is assigned to. When a skill change occurs, the skill can transform to another skill in the same group even if the Persona cannot normally learn the skill due to their Inheritance. For example, Tetraja is in group 5, and if the player fuses a Persona with Tetraja, there is a small chance it will change into another skill in group 5. The Fusion Forecast guarantees skill changes will occur on scheduled days.
When selecting the Magician card, one of the protagonist's currently equipped Persona's skills will upgrade or downgrade. What skills can change through this method and what they change into is all predetermined. For example, Agi will always turn into Maragi. If the equipped Persona has no applicable skills, then nothing will happen. For the list, see the #Magician Arcana.
In Persona 4 Golden, skill change mostly works the same. Some of the dates have been rearranged in Fusion Forecast due to new story events and the two new arcana being added and the Magician can no longer downgrade skills.
Groups
Magician Arcana
|
This section is in need of research. |
| Reason: The PS2 P4 guide does not give a list of skills that can be changed via the Magician Arcana. Digging through old threads on GameFAQs suggests the list was the same as Golden, but I'm not 100% sure. |
In Persona 4, the upright Magician will upgrade a skill on the left column to the skill on the right below, while the reversed Magician will downgrade a skill in the right column to the skill on the left.
In Golden, there are 107 skills that can be changed this way, and they can no longer downgrade.
Nomenclature
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
 Japanese
|
スキルの変化 Sukiru no henka | Change of skill |
References
- General
- "Chapter 1: Systems: Shuffle Time: Skill Change", Persona 4 The Golden: The Complete Guide, Dengeki Playstation Editorial Staff. Published by Kadokawa (2012). Japanese. p. 67. ISBN-13: 978-4048866637.
- "Chapter 1: Systems: Shuffle Time: Velvet Room: Skill Change", Persona 4 The Golden: The Complete Guide, Dengeki Playstation Editorial Staff. Published by Kadokawa (2012). Japanese. p. 80. ISBN-13: 978-4048866637.
- Specific
- ↑ "At the time of leveling up a message will appear saying (Name of demon) is attempting to change a skill. The message occurs right before the power-up event. If the ally carries an original skill from the table below there is a 25% chance that this event will occur. When the player answers Yes to the question, Let it continue? the skill will change into a powered-up skill. However, that is only when the event is successful. There is a 50% chance that the power-up will fail,and the skill will change into something randomly chosen from the list of skills that are one point higher on the difficulty scale (see p308). If an ally succeeds at powering up a skill, or another demon in the party has already powered up, the second power-up event will probably provide a change. Furthermore, if a skill has already been powered-up, it will change instead." Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Official Guidebook (2004). Published by DoubleJump. English. page 51. ISBN-13: 0-9741700-4-6.
- ↑ "The skills that can change, cannot change, their ranks, and their successful power-ups are listed below. Skills that go against the restriction of the apparent inheritance type (p74) will not change." Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Official Guidebook (2004). Published by DoubleJump. English. page 51. ISBN-13: 0-9741700-4-6.
- ↑ "There is another factor that affects the transferring of skills during demon fusion, and that is the appearance type restrictions of the demon inheriting the skills. Every demons basic appearance affects what skills it can and cannot inherit. Unlike Transfer Affinity, which merely affects the chances of any given skill being inherited in a fusion, if a skills appearance type does not match with the way a demon looks, it cannot be transferred at all. For example, the appearance affinity of the conversation skill Maiden Plea is Maiden. In order to transfer this skill in a fusion, the target demon must have Maiden as part of its appearance. So,any demon that can inherit this skill has to look like a young woman. A demon cannot inherit Weapon type skills unless it is holding a weapon, demons without wings cannot inherit Wing type skills,and so forth." Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Official Guidebook (2004). Published by DoubleJump. English. page 74. ISBN-13: 0-9741700-4-6.