RPG(ology) - ★ What Do Shin Megami Tensei Persona Spell Names Mean? ★

[Ry3353]

Thanks for the posting for the video. It explained a lot I couldn't find. I was looking online for explanations a while, and I found that a snow storm or blizzard translates to "Bufera di Neve" or "Bufera". Bufera usually means a storm or a tempest. Maybe the spell name has a Latin origin? 

[themanwiththepan]

Shin Megami Tensei?

TOO.

MUCH.

GRINDING.

I also loved how I was extremlly underleved for the lightning boss, and the only one up to par was the child. I went and fought it, but he kept casting lightning bolt. When I told him not to use magic, he did nothing when his auto attack > Our special ones.

[TrolledOnDoorStep]

Doesen't Smosh used that background. From Harypotter behind the scenes or what ever it's cold?

[TheRedLightning]

Thanks for that! Really appreciate the effort you did!

[Jxpfrog]

It would be great if you do a series of videos on the Megami Ten Series !

[lufiende]

The "-rama" bit is only for "Dia" though, not for any other elemental spell, which makes it a unique sufix for only "Dia". "-Lao" is for "Agi" and "-La" is for "Bufu", but honestly, I think those two are self-explanatory enough. :)

Good job on putting this together, dood! I'm very glad to know someone bothers doing this (and see how awesome the SMT series are. XD)

[lufiende]

@lufiende And "-La" for "Garu". As for "Zan", your explanation on "Maha/Ma" covers it. And as for "Zio", its suffix is "-Nga". :)

[TheRpgFanatic]

@lufiende I believe the original games for the NES used -rama for medium strength spells, with -lao for "heavy" spells.

[Haroids]

Epic information is epic.

[Wyrdwad]

Also: "I'm unsure what Zan is supposed to reference, but the Kanji used in the original game is ザン, which translates as "than" into English. I'm unsure what the significance of this is." That's not kanji, it's katakana -- a phonetic Japanese alphabet used mostly to spell out borrow-words from other languages. It's literally just the letters za (ザ) and n (ン). They do not inherently mean "than" or "then." They just sound that way.

Not trying to nitpick, BTW -- I just figured you'd want to know!

[TheRpgFanatic]

@Wyrdwad Thanks for pointing that out. I did edit out that paragraph from the video as I was too uncertain about the info, but left it in my script in case anyone with more information might be able to figure out what "Zan" is supposed to be. On Giant Bomb someone mentioned it may have to do with the sound a sword swing makes.

[Wyrdwad]

FYI, it's pronounced "ten-SAY," not "ten-SAI."

[A5GRedwing666]

How about Cocytus, some SMT Games has it, IIRC It's some sort of freezing river in hell.

[TheRpgFanatic]

@A5GRedwing666 It comes from Greek mythology as a river in Hades. It entered Christian beliefs through Dante's Divine Comedy, where it was a layer of Hell. For some peculiar reason many of the elements in Dante's fictional story were adapted by certain sects of Christianity, likely because preachers adopted the imagery in their sermons.

[A5GRedwing666]

@TheRpgFanatic Oh I see, thanks. You sure know a lot lol. Also, you should make a video explaining the mythology creatures in SMT, preferably the main character's Persona / Demon. Sure It's explained in the game (at least Persona 3 & 4). But maybe a more detailed explanation, that would be great :D

[TheRpgFanatic]

@A5GRedwing666 I'll consider it for a future episode. There are a couple other episodes I am prioritizing more, like re-writing the D&D class origins episodes. But doing more about Persona would be nice, as I do enjoy talking about mythology.

[lufiende]

@A5GRedwing666 Holy hell, there's going to be a LOT of mythological creatures to explain for that (some don't even have entries in Wikipedia). XD

[A5GRedwing666]

@lufiende Not all of them of course, explaining all of them will take so much time, by the time the video is done Persona 6 is already announced for PS4, probably the important ones (protagonists main Persona / Demon)

[lufiende]

@A5GRedwing666 Explaining the significance of the persona given to the characters would be quite interesting. I already have some theories on them. Though I think this would probably work only for the Persona series.

[A5GRedwing666]

@lufiende Yes, but there are lots of character to choose from. Persona 3 & 4 (the only ones I play) already have 19 characters.

[bleachedmud]

You should make page with all the stuff you've found on this subject.

[TheRpgFanatic]

@bleachedmud When my new site launches, I may do that. 

[DazzRazz47]

I enjoyed this one and I'm going to link it on the SA forums!

[jeanfmur]

Nice! Do more of those.

[deidarajunior1508]

Although it fascinating to hear about the origins of these spell names, but it is saddening to me when game developers needs to prioritize the occult for their own self interest.

[TheRpgFanatic]

@deidarajunior1508 They are just superstitions dude.

[Rafaelanimes1983]

This video was awesome informative, you really should do more videos like these!

[Supersayan21]

Im a big fan of this series, and had always wondered what the spell names meant. Thanks RPG Fanatic ^.^

[Aaox00]

This was enlightening.

[stfuenviousnoob]

very informetive video.

[brainjuice654]

valhalla is odins castle just so people know

[TheRpgFanatic]

@brainjuice654 Yep! I thought that one would be obvious to many people, since it gets used in a lot of media nowadays.

[LIONREV7]

This video is great!!!, I love the SMT series

[zikzell]

i always wondered what they meant

[ShadowNinjaX3]

I never knew this, and I have played most SMT games, haha. Question though, the buff and debuff spells like Rakukaja and Dekaja. Do you know where they come from?

[TheRpgFanatic]

@ShadowNinjaX3 I'm unsure. I think those might be more examples of Engrishified words that make it difficult to track down the original source of inspiration.

[Argonisgema]

what abiut Agilao or Bufula or Zionga you never said anything about those being the moderate spells Bufurama simply does not exist.

[TheRpgFanatic]

@Argonisgema -rama affixed spells don't appear in every game, but they do appear in the original ones if I remember correctly. As for -lao, I'm unsure what the significance is at the moment. The only thing I can think of is Lao Tse, but that would be reaching.

[Shintai123]

Being a huge SMT fan myself, I thought this video was incredibly informative and entertaining to watch.

[hooray83]

thats an awsome vid, thx for the explanations

[UtushoReiuji]

Mesian Terminators don't use any of those spells because they're for sissies.

[MadDragon249]

Really interesting stuff man, always enjoy these RPGology vids :)

[imthebadguys]

Oh I have been wondering about their names since I fist touch persona years ago. Thank you very much for finally unravel this mystery.

[wolffster25]

I am a big fan of the series and this was really good thank you very much.

[hcubeentertainment]

This has to be the best episode of RPG(ology) yet. You really should make a follow up on this, either continuing with the origin of the spell names or the various monster designs.

[MarcusFerrarez]

Finally someone explained all that strange spells names from SMT series

Tahnks RPG Franatic, and i love yours video Reviews XD

[TheRpgFanatic]

@MarcusFerrarez Thanks for being a fan for so long!

[hostelowner]

@MarcusFerrarez yea man bufu and agi always used to drive me nuts.

[TMTLive]

I've always wondered about all this, thanks! Very nice to know.

[TheRpgFanatic]

@TMTLive You're welcome! Glad you enjoyed the video!

[ManjixIchigo]

@TheRpgFanatic I think you made a mistake on Dia. I think it is just "Aid" spelled backwards. ie, the closest you can get to healing somebody in real life is first aid.

[TheRpgFanatic]

@ManjixIchigo That might simply be a coincidence. Remember, the games are originally Japanese. ディア is what the original text for Dia was. All of the iconic Megaten spells are named after something from a myth or legend, and Dia named after at least one of these deities would fit the pattern.

[ManjixIchigo]

@TheRpgFanatic I still noticed that you did not seem to be looking for anagrams, even though anagrams are one of the oldest nomenclature tricks in the book. ie Alucard and Dracula

[TheRpgFanatic]

@ManjixIchigo Because English anagrams aren't identical in Japanese. For example, Alucard is called Arukādo in Japan. Dracula is called Dorakyura.

[ManjixIchigo]

@TheRpgFanatic Yeah. You are right there and about the spell name. The character "ru" in katakana is present in Alucard's Jap name, but that same character is not in Dracula's Jap name. I was not really that serious about the anagram I noticed with Dia being "aid" spelled backwards. I just thought it was interesting and wondered how you would respond to a suggestion that not all of the spells are based on mythology and they might have thrown a few loops/exceptions.

[TheRpgFanatic]

@ManjixIchigo There are some spells which reference literature rather than mythology. Most of these are associated with specific demons though. For example, Alice has references to Alice Through The Looking Glass (Alice in Wonderland) and Slime is definitely from D&D; having itself been inspired from a certain sword & sorcery pulp fiction novel, whose name escapes me at the moment.