History Awesome / Persona3

'''As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff as per policy.]] Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''

** In Reload, this is taken up a notch. Spring of Life has been reworked into Blaze of Life, Junpei's second Theurgy- a fire attack that, you guessed it, [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration pierces resistances and immunites]], and heals Junpei completely.

** Last Judgment summons [[DropTheHammer a giant gavel from the sky]] that deals a massive amount of almighty damage.

* In the penultimate rank of the Hermit Social Link in the female protagonist's route, the PC gets fed up with the way everyone is treating Saori and encourages her to clear things up - by hijacking the school's PA to share her thoughts with the whole school. While Saori is making her announcement, the PC guards the door and refuses to let Mr. Ekoda to get in to stop the broadcast. Then Ms. Toriumi and Ms. Ounishi show up and proceed to completely stonewall Ekoda, clearly enjoying every minute of it. After sending him on his way, they cheerfully admit that they see nothing wrong with the stunt and have no intentions of punishing the girls for it. It's a small thing compared to facing down an EldritchAbomination, but damn if it's not incredibly satisfying all the way around.

[[caption-width-right:350:''Dum Spiro Spero.'' [[labelnote:Translation]]''While I breathe, I hope.''[[/labelnote]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:''Dum Spiro Spero.'']]

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[TheHiddenHour Hora Tenebrosa.]]\\
Dum Spiro Spero.\\
Renascere.'']]

[[caption-width-right:350:''Hora Tenebrosa.\\

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[ArcWords Memento Mori.]]'']]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[ArcWords ''Memento Mori.'']]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[ArcWords Memento Mori.]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:I am thou, and thou art badass.]]

* Considering she's most likely the only party member that has [[BlowYouAway Garu]] at the time, and her bow attacks knock them down, the entire first boss fight is one for Yukari from a gameplay perspective.
* Mitsuru Kirijo, the [[LadyOfWar merciless]] and [[FateWorseThanDeath downright terrifying]] BadassBookworm of the game, defiantly [[RousingSpeech tries to shout down]] an EldritchAbomination in the final battle. ''While said Eldritch Abomination is on the verge of bringing about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt and everybody else including the Main Character has been stomped flat by its power.'' That sort of thing takes ''guts''.
--> '''Mitsuru''': We have come this far...! ''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis I WILL NOT SUBMIT!]]''
* Likewise, in the true last battle of the game, the Main Character having completed the tarot journey, stands up against the AnthropomorphicPersonification of '''[[DavidVersusGoliath death itself]]''', alone -- as everyone else is being crushed by the raw power emanating from the boss. The attack is coming from the moon, so s/he calmly levitates into outer space with the ''sheer power of his/her psyche''. Facing the thing behind the end of the world, s/he gets blasted with an attack designed to wipe out life on Earth itself -- it does 9999 HP damage in a game with a 3 digit HP cap -- repeatedly. [[{{Determinator}} Each time s/he stands back up]]. [[TrueCompanions His/her friends]], [[NotTooDeadToSaveTheDay including one who died during the game (or is barely clinging to life whilst in a coma if you maxed his social link as FeMC)]], [[ThePowerOfFriendship cheer him/her on]], their cheers [[CombinedEnergyAttack healing his/her wounds]] as s/he goes from [[NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow barely surviving the attacks]], to dodging the attacks, to outright [[ShootingSuperman ignoring the attacks]]. In the end, fully healed, s/he reaches out and [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu wipes the entire thing and him/herself out of the sky]] (by pointing at it with one finger no less). Cue the panic as they think s/he's dead, only for him/her to come back a few minutes later. Of course, this being a game by the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' team, [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu this is mercilessly subverted]], as Persona 3 FES explains. The [[TheHeroDies death of the MC]] is still awesome in its own way:they gave up their life (casting the Great Seal uses up all your HP) to seal away Death itself and save the entire world. And they managed to hang on for ''over a month'' before the 'dying' part of their sacrifice actually kicked in.
* And prior to this, if you've leveled up the Main Character enough, you can get his/her ultimate persona, the Messiah. Yes, ''the'' Messiah. He can be created to use instant-kill light ''and'' dark magic, comes with one of the most powerful physical attacks (Hand of God, no less), plenty of resistances, and can learn the full-party perfect healing spell and - in tasty irony - become [[ImmuneToBullets immune to piercing attacks]]. Holy shit.
* Shinjiro Aragaki is nothing but CMOA. Sacrificing yourself to save the kid ''who has been planning to kill you for two years''. Gameplay evidence of how awesome Shinjiro is: his critical hit animation involves a [[UseYourHead headbutt]]. This is true regardless of the opponent, meaning that it's possible to see Shinji fearlessly headbutt a Shadow ''tank''. Not to mention that he could still walk after he was shot twice by ''the most powerful production handgun in the world''.
* The moment Aigis shouts "Palladion!" and ''Unavoidable Battle'' starts playing as her showdown with Ryoji truly begins. Everything about that cut scene is just brilliant, crowning perfection. The way his voice changes from a frightened, confused kid into grim understanding and confidence, the way the animation flashes back and forth between the past and present battle to show how history's repeating itself, and Aigis's tone of voice, both emotionless and pure 200-proof {{determinator}} at the same time, for the following line...
-->"A machine is created for a purpose. Mine is to defeat ''you''."
* Akihiko gets one after Shinji's death. Realizing his mistakes and his reckless obsession with becoming stronger after losing his sister, he finally decides to let go of his guilt. This resolve awakens his Persona's true power.

* During the later ranks of Mitsuru's social link she tells him/her how important the main character is to her, only to be confronted by her jerkass fiance. He proceeds to berate the main character with insults and telling Mitsuru that she's only to be his obedient wife. Mitsuru decides she's had enough of that crap and delivers a delightfully awesome [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech speech]] to her fiance and causes him to ''run away in terror''. (In Portable, this happens whether you play as the male character or the female character.)
* The male protagonist singlehandedly beating up a gang of thugs during rank 5 of Yukari's social link.
* In the penultimate rank of the Hermit Social Link in the female protagonist's route, the PC gets fed up with the way everyone is treating Saori and encourages her to clear things up - by hijacking the school's PA to share her thoughts with the whole school. While Saori is making her announcement, the PC guards the door and refuses to let Mr. Ekoda to get in to stop the broadcast. Then Ms. Toriumi and Ms. Ounishi show up and proceed to completely stonewall Ekoda, clearly enjoying every minute of it. After sending him on his way, they cheerfully admit that they see nothing wrong with the stunt and have no intentions of punishing the girls for it. It's a small thing compared to facing down an EldritchAbomination, but damn if it's not incredibly satisfying all the way around.
* This isn't quite on the same scale as the others, but when Fuuka disappears, Mitsuru discovers that Mr. Ekoda knew something had happened to her and covered it up. Mitsuru gives him holy hell about this:
-->'''Mitsuru:''' For the sake of your job, you ignored your responsibility as a teacher!

** Junpei gets one as part of his Social Link in ''Portable'' by tracking down the female hero's stalker.
* Bring Akihiko to either of Takaya's boss fights and watch him critical the crap out of his best friend's killer. Double points if he says "Damn you!" and triple if he prompts an All-Out Attack where he says "I've been waiting for this!" because he probably has. Of course, he says that no matter who you're fighting, so YMMV. To a slightly lesser extent, bringing Junpei or Ken to Takaya and/or Jin's fights counts, too. As UnintentionallyUnsympathetic as Ken may seem he does show plenty of remorse over Shinjiro's death, so pitting him against Takaya might [[TheAtoner bring a whole new meaning for him.]] For bonus points, bring a Persona that can nullify/absorb/reflect piercing damage and wait until he decides to fire his gun at you. Watch as it does absolutely nothing to you, which is oh so sweet after watching that same gun kill Shinjiro and nearly Junpei.
* Some of the Fusion Spells you can perform are pretty amazing:
** Scarlet Havoc fills the entire battlefield with [[ChainsawGood gigantic circular saws]].
** Ardhanari creates a giant [[PlayingWithFire flamethrower.]]
** Best Friends instantly boosts a single party member's attack, defense, and hit/evasion rate. Use it on someone who can exploit the enemy's weakness for a series of {{One Hit KO}}'s.
** Last Judgment summons [[DropTheHammer a giant gavel from the sky]] that deals a massive amount of almighty damage.
** Infinity makes the entire party completely invincible for one turn.
** Armageddon calls down a flurry of lightning bolts, dealing ''9999 damage.''
* the protagonist canonically beating Elizabeth/Theodore [[labelnote:explanation]] Arena has lines that state that they actually canonically fought.[[/labelnote]] by themselves with out their party members. [[labelnote:note]] unlike the next two games that allows you to bring your party to the fight you fight them one on one in this game.[[/labelnote]]

* Koromaru's introduction. He kills a Shadow on his own without an Evoker in the name of protecting his late master's shrine. While he is seriously wounded, [[TheCavalryArrivesLate SEES]] is able to save him and he joins the group.
-->'''Aigis:''' [translating for Koromaru] This is a place of peace, so I protected it.

** Taken UpToEleven in the manga; not only does Junpei attack Takaya first and pulls a [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Roy Mustang]] on the SOB, when Jin tries to intervene with Moros and attack Junpei's newly evolved persona, not only does it no-sell Moros' fire attacks, it then turns the tables and ''rips Moros apart'', leaving Junpei free to keep roasting Takaya relentlessly! Although like with Mustang, the moment soon delves into NightmareFuel territory.

''[turns the Evoker on herself[''

* the protagonist canonically beating Elizabeth/Theodore [[labelnote:note]] Portable also adds the option to fight Margaret however being made after P4 it is non-canon[[/labelnote]] by themselves with out their party members. [[labelnote:note]] unlike the next two games that allows you to bring your party to the fight you fight them one on one in this game.[[/labelnote]]

* the protagonist canonically beating Elizabeth/Theodore by themselves with out their party members. [[labelnote:note]] unlike the next two games that allows you to bring your party to the fight you fight them one on one in this game.[[/labelnote]]

* the protagonist canonically beating Elizabeth/Theodore who are considered the hardest persona boss by themselves with out their party members.

* The male protagonist singlehandedly beating up a gang of thugs rank 5 of Yukari's social link.

%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1614517319047880800
%% Please see thread to discuss a new image.

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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sealing_nyx.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Alright. Let's do this."]]

-->''(Aims the Evoker at the Empress Arcana)''
-->Akihiko: "Wait! That's not a weapon!"
-->Fuuka: ''"I know."'' Cue EyedScreen
-->''(Turns the Evoker on herself)''

-->'''Junpei''': '''''BURN IN HELL!''''' ''(he hurls a fireball at them hard enough to nearly kill them, even with Jin's resistance to fire)''

-->'''Aigis:''' [translating for Koromaru] This is a place of peace, so I protected it.

* The final boss of ''The Answer''. As it turns out, the Protagonist didn't sacrifice himself to seal Nyx, but to prevent humanity's desire for death from calling Nyx. This essentially references the Protagonist's role as a Messianic Archetype as he practically gives humanity hope and to make sure that they live their lives the fullest.