I adore the Persona games. There's something about that balance of dungeon crawling and battles with social sim elements that make them so moreish – they're huge JRPGs, but their massive runtime never feels like a slog. One thing I've never really cared a great deal about, however, is the series' namesake, the Personas themselves, and I never expected to gain any newfound appreciation for them by playing Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance.
While mostly its own thing, Persona is, at its core, a Shin Megami Tensei spin-off series, with the main connection between the two being their Shadows and demons. These are the beings that you encounter as foes, but can be recruited as teammates. In SMT, they're called demons and fight by your side, while in Persona, they're fought as Shadows but used as Personas – manifestations of the psyche that can be summoned into battle. It's a tad confusing, but all you really need to know is that many of their designs are shared. Funny little guys like Jack Frost and his big buddy King Frost, as well as the likes of Leanan Sidhe and Narcissus, appear in both series, so if you've played an installment of one, you're definitely going to encounter some familiar faces when starting the other.
Now, don't get me wrong, recruiting new Personas has always been cool. I adore collecting 'creatures' and the like in RPGs, and the same has applied to my playthroughs of Persona 5 Royal and Persona 3 Reload, but in those games, I never felt attached to any of them. Instead, my lineup of Personas solely consisted of whatever the strongest ones were – a far cry from the way I play through Pokemon games with a ragtag team of my favorites. I didn't bat an eyelid at executing Personas to form stronger ones, because I didn't mind who was on my team so long as they packed a punch. With that in mind, I was thoroughly surprised to find that Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance transformed the way I thought about them, and it's all thanks to a number of small features that I hope can be implemented into the next Persona game, too.
Big personality
Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance is the first SMT game I've played, but it was obvious from the start that its demons have character. You can speak to non-aggressive NPC demons as you explore the world, all of which provide interesting and funny insight into the apocalyptic situation you're in, and some have side quests for you to complete, too. Whether you're completing an elaborate series of riddles from the spiritual Nozuchi, or choosing between helping a group of Lilim trying to get to the human world or the one trying to stop them, these interactions solidify a personality for each of the demons, making them feel like fully fledged characters rather than sentient collectibles.
This is furthered once you've actually added them to your roster, too, thanks to my favorite feature in Vengeance – the Demon Haunts. Demon Haunts are basically little hangout spots for you, your human companions, and demon friends to talk in between the action of the JRPG's main activities. If a demon has been traveling with you for a while, they might offer you a gift, which is a neat bonus, but the dialogue you get from simply chatting to them is reward enough as the conversations range from pleasant to downright hilarious. With unique conversations available for the various different demons, some of the greatest writing in the game can be found right here, and there's an abundance of it.
The Slimes are always gruff and blunt, even when they're in the middle of telling you something interesting. "You know about Slimes at all? We're what happens when demons fail to form properly," they may begin to explain. However, they clearly don't want to elaborate any further than that: "Huh? What demon was I supposed to be originally? How the fuck should I know?" Fantastic.
Similarly, there's Mothman, who's just a bit of a weird little dude who likes to announce "I'm motherfuckin' Mothmaaaaaaaan!" and refer to the protagonist as a "pretentious little dipshit" with "too many friends." How could you not want him on your team?
Keep talking
This increased level of interaction, which goes beyond the brief conversations you might have when trying to recruit new demon teammates, has made an enormous difference when it comes to shaping my perceptions of these companions. Now, it's not all about their strength, but also their individuality. Are they fun to be around? Are they enthusiastic to go on an adventure? Will they insult me in the funniest ways possible? It's something that, frankly, I never knew was missing when I played through Persona 5 Royal and 3's recent remake, and now I need to see something similar integrated into the series' next main game.
To be fair, the idea has already been somewhat dabbled with. In Persona 5 Royal, for example, you encounter Timid, Upbeat, Gloomy and Irritable Shadows – their personality impacts how they speak to you during negotiations to recruit them or steal their items, and how you should respond for the best results. However, that brief conversation is where things end – you don't get to talk to them again, which makes their personalities totally forgettable. Similarly, if you obtain a new Persona through fusion, they'll introduce themselves to you and give a hint of their personality then, but past that point, it means nothing.
We need a more direct way to get to know the Shadows and Personas, especially when such a large part of the series is its social sim aspects.
Honestly, what I think Persona 6 needs is its own equivalent of a Demon Haunt. We need a more direct way to get to know the Shadows and Personas, especially when such a large part of the series is its social sim aspects. Sure, up until now, that's been focused on fellow human characters, and that's not something I want to disappear, but why can't we have a chat with Arsène and Orpheus, too? And hey, why not throw in a few side-quests given to you by the Personas themselves?
I may be a relatively new Persona fan – I still need to dive into P4 Golden at some point, and would love to give the series' first installments a go, too – but now that I've noticed that something is missing, it's going to be a little hard to ignore. While I still love what I've played so far, I just hope that Atlus can make the two JRPG series even more closely linked by letting Persona 6 borrow and adapt this gem from Vengeance, to let those titular Personas have a little more of the spotlight. Please, just keep letting Mothman run his bizarre little mouth.
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