Contact Guide (How It Works) - Persona 1

One of the main gameplay features in Persona 1 is the Demon Contact system - this system appears in various forms throughout the entire Shin Megami Tensei franchise. This guide is going to explain the most important things that you need to understand about the Contact System in this game.

During battles you will be able to choose Contact from your list of commands which is an alternative to fighting. Each character in your party will be given four different methods to make contact with a demon, depending on the demon's personality traits different contact methods will raise different emotions.

Each time you use a contact method during battle it will raise one of four emotions on the demon, Happy, Eager, Angry or Scared. All of these emotions are associated with different colors during combat, they are shown in the screenshot above. There is a lot of RNG involved in the Contact System for this game, sometimes you can use one contact method on the same demon multiple times and end up with different results.

Generally your goal when talking with a demon is going to be to raise their Eager emotion. Raising their Happy emotion can provide rewards too but honestly you'll want to focus on raising Eager the overwhelming majority of the time. As you can probably imagine, raising Scared or Angry isn't going to do much of anything for you.

Below is a bit of information about each of the emotions you can raise and what the outcome will be for raising it.

Emotions and Outcomes

Eager: Obtain Spell Card

Eager and Happy: Obtain Spell Card and Item

Eager and Scared: Obtain Spell Card

Eager and Angry: Obtain Spell Card (Possibly get HP damage too)

Happy: Demon gets Happy status ailment or gives you a gift

Happy and Scared: Demon gets Charm status ailment or gives a gift or escapes battle

Happy and Angry: Demon gives you a gift or escapes from battle

Scared: Demon gets Bind status ailment or gives gift or escapes battle

Scared and Angry: Demon gets Panic status ailment or gives gift or escapes battle or increases attack power

Angry: Demon increases attack power or Contact person gets Bind status ailment

When it comes to making contact with demons in this game the #1 thing that we're after is Spell Cards. The most reliable way to get a demon's Spell Card is by raising their Eager emotion and then asking them for their Spell Card - this is why Eager is the most important emotion.

For more information about how to raise a demon's Eager and Happy emotions I recommend you check out my Demon Dialogue Choices Guide. That page has a list of every single demon in this game and what dialogue options you need to choose for them to raise their Eager/Happy emotions.

In my opinion the items that demons give you aren't worth going out of your way for so I say ignore the Happy emotion altogether and focus entirely on Eager. There are some unique items you can get from demons but they aren't best in slot - so unless you're trying to be a completionist who gets one of every item it's really not worth your time.

Aside from raising a demon's emotions you can also get a Spell Card from them if you have a Persona equipped that is friends with the demon you are talking to. This is pretty rare though, if you'd like to see a complete list of which Personas are friendly with each other check the Persona 1 wiki page.

During battle you can check whether or not you have the demon's Spell Card by selecting Contact then highlighting the demon. If you have their Spell Card then the little box next to their name with a star inside of it will be lit up like it is in my screenshot below.

Spell Cards are very important for two reasons - the first is because they're required to create new Personas inside of the Velvet Room. The second reason they're important is because when you have one it gives you a guaranteed 'out' with that demon. If you have a demon's Spell Card and you use Contact on them during battle they'll immediately leave battle with no negotiation required. Sometimes they'll also give you an item or EXP before they leave too!

Obviously using Spell Cards to create new Personas is the most important use for them - however don't underestimate how important the second use is too. There are some dungeons in Persona which are very difficult (like Alaya Cavern in the SEBEC Route or the Thanatos Tower in the Snow Queen Route) because the enemies you encounter can one shot your entire team or are much higher level.

Collecting an enemy's Spell Card then using Contact on them every battle to make them leave without a fight is arguably the only reliable way to survive in dungeons like this. The last thing I will talk a little about is Gems and how to obtain them. If you raise both Eager and Happy emotions you'll occasionally be given an item by the monster you're talking to which will often be a Gem of some kind.

You can trade Gems for various items at a shop in this game - some of those items include Incense which will give you a permanent stat increase. I know this sounds good and all but the downside of this is collecting Gems is not easy and it's entirely up to RNG and the Moon Cycle. Depending on the Moon Cycle you'll recieve a different type of Gem and in order to even receive a Gem in the first place you'll need to max out two emotions on monsters that are extremely temperamental.

Basically what I am trying to say is that collecting Gems is a total waste of your time. This Persona 1 Guide will tell you the required Moon Phase and your chances of getting a Gem during that phase if you talk to the right type of demon. Usually in games like this when things are so RNG I avoid them entirely and recommend others do the same.

That's really all I have to say about the Contact System and how it works in Persona 1. Hopefully you found the information in this guide helpful and it taught you something about how this system works!

 

Continue to Demon Dialogue Choices for Happy/Eager Emotions

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