Xander's Extremely Legit and Well Researched Battle Blog

Since I have found UT I have always thought of the certain similarities of one certain aspect of the two.  Namingly one of the things that bring you closest to being part of the game itself.  That being The Protagonist... the one who you guide through the game.  In no two games have I ever seen such a comprehensive comparison to what you do in the game effecting the over-all outcome than in Undertale and in Persona 3. In each game you are tasked to take a hero from basic levels to the end in a final battle to determine the futures of everyone in each respective world.  For anyone who has never heard of this series, here's a basic run down of who the P3 protagonist is.

Persona 3 Protagonist, later called Minato Arisato (though you are given the choice to input any name in the beginning), is a high school kid who his whole life has been bonded with destiny.  He exists in a world where there exists creatures called "Shadows" which come out and cause mischief during a time between days called "The Dark Hour".  Minato joins a group called S.E.E.S., which is also a group of high school kids who are tasked with the same over all goal of destroying the source of the dark hour, named Tartarus, and thus returning the world to normal.  Through out the game you are encouraged to form bonds with other students, some adults in town, and your S.E.E.S. teammates to power up your main gimmick for the game, your Persona.  A persona is a projection of your soul used to defend yourself from attacks of shadows.  It takes a physical form outside of your battle during battle and can deal physical or magical damage to your opponents.  As your social links strengthen, which in this game are your bonds with specific characters, as do your ability to create and power up certain personas of that arcana (based on tarot cards) that the character your are building a relationship with represents.

Minato is a jack of all trades fighter.  Where each of your teammates can only weild one type of weapon, Minato could be equipped with any weapon in the game and use them pretty effectively.  Though he is most likely to prefer using a one handed sword, where his meat and potatoes of his fighting style lays is with his ability to summon multiple personas because of his ability, "The Wild Card".  Again, unlike his teammates who are designated to using one persona throughout the game, Minato could switch them around at will to accustom himself with any situation that may arise. For simplicity only the base weapons will be used without any special attributes.

Minato could use magic in the game through his personas, powered up by a value called "Skill points" or SP. These personas use abilities that have a variety of different elements. Agi, which are fire spells, deal a lot of damage, but usually at a cost of more SP. Bufu, or Ice spells deal moderate damage and have a chance to freeze opponents, but are easier on the SP. Garu, or wind spells, which deal minimal damage, but very cheap to cost, and finally Zio, or electric spells, which deal moderate damage, have a chance to paralyze, and cost about as much as Agi spells to cast.  Only spells that target a single opponent will be used on Frisk.

Another magic Minato could use are status effects.  With certain abilities Minato's personas could cause the following effects. Charm, which causes an opponent to act favorably to Minato.  Panic, which causes an opponent to act irrationally and attack either their teammates or to just throw away resources like money and items. Spooked, which lower defenses and cause slow movement.  Paralyzed which slow movement and cause them to be unable to attack reliably. Then lastly Infuriate, which boosts an opponent's damage, but puts them in a mindless attacking spree so that for a certain amount of time they will do nothing, but attack.


The last spells to talk about are The most costly to cast for Minato, but also the most deadly.  Mudo and Hama spells are the Persona series' kill spells.  They will one shot kill an opponent, but have a very low chance of connecting.  Some people have a resistence to said spells, but if you don't, like Minato does and in fact have a weakness to them, then you will succumb to them and lose all of your HP.  Almighty spells are spells that deal a large portion of non-elemental damage, but cover a large space and are tough to dodge.

Once out of SP Minato could still use any persona's physical attacks, but it comes at a cost.  Every use of a physical attack from a persona actually takes HP away from Minato.


Though part of the game I do not plan on using Minato's persona's ability to heal himself or to debuff Frisk.  That'd just be unfair to Frisk.


Minato will not have access to any of his games items as once again it'd just be unfair to Frisk.





Now onto Frisk.

Frisk is going to be Lv 1, pacifist.  They will have access to an inventory with healing items.  They can carry any weapon they could in the Magic Box. Frisk will not be allowed to restart the battle.  If the soul shatters the battle is over. 

Chara is there to give Frisk advice on how to deal with things and options of attack or action.  She'll keep Frisk informed of Minato's HP and SP situation as well as an idea of what his Persona forms do once they both have a chance to take a look at them.

Frisk is first equipped with The Stick, The Bandage, The Temmie Armor, The Heart Locket, and The Cowboy Hat. 

Frisk has An Instant Noodles, A Slice of Pie, A Snowman Piece, A Cinnamon Bunny, A Spider Donut, Spider Cider, a Glam Burger, and a Starfait in their inventory.

Any damage done to Frisk will have the defense of these wearable items in consideration. 

The only part of Frisk vulnerable to Minato's Attack is their soul.

Frisk could dodge Minato's attacks in most circumstances as they could in the game, by simply moving around like the little spazz they are.

Frisk will have access to three soul forms in their battle with Minato.  The Green (Shield) Form. the Yellow (Gun) form, and the Blue (Jump) form.  Blue soul will allow Frisk to jump Very impressively and increase their dodging capability. Green will allow Frisk to defend themselves from magic attacks.  Lastly, Yellow will allow them to weaponize their soul and attack Minato with Laser blasts.

Frisk does have some resistance to death due to their determination to "Refuse" it. 



Now with that have been said Let's go over some of the pros and cons of each character.

First some similarities must be addressed.


These two... I don't know why these similarities don't come up much often with in the fandoms. 

Both Minato and Frisk could use multiple weapons and pick them up very well.
Both Minato and Frisk have unusually powerful souls compared to the other characters of the game they are in that allows them additional powers and abilities.
Both Minato and Frisk have a ghost who are very similar to themselves following them around during the journey and giving them sage advice. 
Both Minato and Frisk are god damned flirt champions. 
Both are for the most part Silent protagonists unless absolutely forced to talk via player option.
Both are obsessionally determined to complete the quest they are set to complete.
Both depend on the player for every action which in turn determines everything about the game. As easy as it is for Frisk to go around and kill everything and be a dick to everyone, Minato could do the same, and focus just as much on grinding and completing his game with complete disregard of social links or personality upgrades.  Or they could just be the most perfect of perfect friends ever...
Asriel and Ryoji...  they are the same damn character xD.
Both games have a manipulative antagonist feeding the player with lies about how the world works.
The ending for both Persona 3 and the genocide run are interestingly similar. Nyx and Chara both represent nearly the same thing. "Humanity's desire for destruction"  They come about at the end of the game to fulfill the purpose that they think that humanity has created them to do.
Who is said to be Chara is there to tell Frisk enemy information and tactics to battle monsters with... as does Fuuka in persona 3 using her persona to give Minato and company information and tips to battle every shadow.

I just needed to lay that down to people.  Toby Fox said Persona was an inspiration for Undertale. Looking at the comparison of Frisk and Minato I couldn't agree more.


Now where they differ is also important.  

Frisk is, at least in their pacifist form, much more defensive and always willing to act before they strike, where Minato is a loose cannon and throws himself into danger with almost reckless abandon.

Where Frisk is almost determined and kind to a fault it takes Minato a much longer time to give long lasting trust and care to anyone or anything. 

Where Minato has Personas to cycle through, Frisk also has an interesting ally on their side as well.  Chara is willing to give Frisk help by telling Frisk exactly what they are about to deal with.

Minato is stronger than Frisk, sure, but not as strong as Undyne or Asgore who Frisk managed to survive battle with.  Also Frisk is no slouch dealing with magic attacks either dealing with a very interesting array of magics from all over the underground.

Frisk does not have the physical prowess of Minato as he is much older and fit.  Frisk has to deal with the fact that they are a child with human endurance in the end. There is also that 20HP thing for Frisk to worry about so they will have to take time to manage that often or risk death. 

Frisk can filter through Colored Souls without a need to worry about SP unlike Minato, who once their SP is used up, no more Magic.

Minato does pause to change personas, but with 16 to choose from it will always be new tactic that Frisk and Chara have to analyze and face appropriately. 


So that's the basic Idea of this first battle.  So after looking at the two combatants who do you think would win?  Minato or Frisk?