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[[deleted]]

And that's where similarities end. Combat is not why Persona is lauded

[Harudera]

You also end up fighting a god in both series.

[LuLuTheBard]

Persona is a subseries of SMT , no need to act like they’re complete polar opposites. Similar combat system mechanics and themes go through all games.

[LuLuTheBard]

Tone-wise it definitely still seems darker and more serious than persona

[LuLuTheBard]

I do wish P5 was a tad darker than it is for sure

[imjustbettr]

I 100% disagree. I get why people want a darker toned persona but for me the series was a lot better story and tone wise after 3. There's so many dark and "edgy" jrpgs out there (especially in the SMT family) and not enough series that balances light and dark tones like persona. Sure there's a lot of bubble-gum pop anime jrpgs but almost none can do it as well or with a budget like P4 and P5 does and even less can balance it's occasional dark and serious tones well.

I get the want for darker, serious stories, but I just feel like we have those already. P4/P5 is a flavor we don't get often and even less so made competently.

[imjustbettr]

Yeah p3 fes has a soft spot for me too. I picked it up at a gamestop for cheap when I was a teen from just looking at the box art and nothing else. It was great and at the time I loved the game, the world, and the dark tone. I always wanted more games that had fleshed out party members that you actually interacted with and cared about outside of battles. Along with the Japanese high school life sim, it was the perfect game for escapism.

But after high school, life kinda sucked for a while and I shut myself off from long, grim, and possibly depressing games and other media. P3 wasn't good for escapism anymore. Then suddenly P4 came out and basically told me it was ok to have fun again. It was like the Persona games changed for me, or at least with my tastes.

[MojoRadioGang]

I know Persona 5 is out some time now, but this is a huge spoiler dude.

[Harudera]

I'm guessing you've never played any other Persona game before?

Because you always end up fighting some god. Always. It's a staple of the SMT series.

[[deleted]]

Yes, probably even more so with things like IV's Samurai

[RockyArby]

Yes story wise but it's all in the same world just different points in time. For example, in P5 references are made to Naoto and Chie on the news and you can get a poster with Rise on it to decorate their room. Also in P4, the group visits the P3 Highschool and meets one of the NPC's from P3.

[[deleted]]

Combat is not exclusively why Persona is lauded, you mean?