Starting the Persona Series

[Fynn]

She's a walking tsundere cliché. I really find nothing interesting about her. While the characters in P4 are less realistic than P3's, they were still interesting enough to be great, subverting many Japanese media stereotypes. Besides the joke that her poems get constantly read by others, which is beaten to death, I really found her to be a very weak addition to the plot.

Oh yeah, and that's another reason why I dislike her. (SPOILER)She is introduced into the main plot, not just a social link. She is given incredible importance, even though the story was fine and self-contained without her. And the way her social links were done - how all your friends like her so much, implying that, hey, she's so cool, you should love her too - she's the walking definition of a Mary Sue. Bottom line: she's exactly what you'd find in a P4 self-insert fanfic. And not one of the good ones.

[Wolf Kanno]

At least she was (thankfully) sidelined in Ultimax.

[Fynn]

I forgot the Arena games existed. I'm kinda glad I never got into them, though.

[Formalhaut]

Are the Arena games bad? Because I do intend on playing the side games after I've finished Golden.

I suppose the reason why I like Marie is precisely because I haven't played the original, so for me, 'this' is the plot. And I guess her S.Link paints her in a good light, but it may also be more of a commentary on how nice your friends are as well. I don't know, I just never felt like I disliked Marie.

If anything, of all the major characters in the game, I'd say I've warmed to Rise the least. She's a nice character, but she can be very passive aggressive at times, especially towards Kanji.

[Wolf Kanno]

The Arena games are not bad. I feel the first game has the better plot but Ultimax did a better job telling the story since the first game's stories get a bit redundant as you play through each character's arc. I think my real issue with them is that I was hoping for the big bad to be someone else who could really twist a knife into the franchise and instead it was nothing really special. Labrys was also a better character than Sho with a significantly better backstory.

The other issue with them is that I felt the games Flanderized the characters a bit too much. The P3 cast became incredibly eccentric and the P4 cast sounded like Care Bears. Overall, they are not bad games and I still recommend playing them, but they don't measure up as the "sequel" either game deserved. They're still really fun fighting games though.

[Formalhaut]

The Arena games are not bad. I feel the first game has the better plot but Ultimax did a better job telling the story since the first game's stories get a bit redundant as you play through each character's arc. I think my real issue with them is that I was hoping for the big bad to be someone else who could really twist a knife into the franchise and instead it was nothing really special. Labrys was also a better character than Sho with a significantly better backstory.

The other issue with them is that I felt the games Flanderized the characters a bit too much. The P3 cast became incredibly eccentric and the P4 cast sounded like Care Bears. Overall, they are not bad games and I still recommend playing them, but they don't measure up as the "sequel" either game deserved. They're still really fun fighting games though.

It's probably a case of importing the P3 characters into a P4 series entry. I've yet to play it, so I'll report back on that front. I imagine P4: Dancing All Night may also end up making the P4 cast slightly more diabetic than they were before. Then again, I love diabetes, so I'd probably end up enjoying both games regardless.

So is the Arena duology and Dancing All Night canon? What about Persona Q? That mashed up both casts, is that canon too?

[Wolf Kanno]

Arena series and Dancing all Night are canon, PQ is kind of in limbo as the creators keep changing their mind when asked.

[Fynn]

The story of Q is done in such a way that it's canonicity is completely irrelevant as everyone forgets everything about everything anyway It's also painfully fanficky, but the character interactions and game mechanics make up for it, so really, if you go into this game, just don't worry about the plot too much.

We just can't see eye to eye now, can we, as I happen to ADORE Rise

[Formalhaut]

The story of Q is done in such a way that it's canonicity is completely irrelevant as everyone forgets everything about everything anyway It's also painfully fanficky, but the character interactions and game mechanics make up for it, so really, if you go into this game, just don't worry about the plot too much.

We just can't see eye to eye now, can we, as I happen to ADORE Rise

Oh goodness, a game that ends with all the events being undone? Bold choice. Bold choice.

I like Rise for everything but her passive aggressive streak. She doesn't treat Kanji very well. Her voice was annoying for me as well, at first, but I'm much more used to it.

Of the main playable cast, I'd have to say I like Kanji the most, especially when you do his S.Link and develop his character more. And Chie; she has great interactions with most of the cast.

[Fynn]

Yeh, Kanji is the best. Big guy who's actually adorable is an instant win for me. Rise is a close second, though. In fact, I think her voice is one of the reasons I love her so much.

[Formalhaut]

Why do you think Atlus did a long time doing P4/P3 cast revisits? That's Arena, Arena Ultimax, Persona Q and Dancing All Night. That's quite alot of games!

Not that I'm complaining, I love the cast of the games and I'd never miss the chance to spend time with them, but it is quite alot of side games.

[NeoCracker]

Why do you think Atlus did a long time doing P4/P3 cast revisits? That's Arena, Arena Ultimax, Persona Q and Dancing All Night. That's quite alot of games!

Not that I'm complaining, I love the cast of the games and I'd never miss the chance to spend time with them, but it is quite alot of side games.

Because Atlus are whores. Like dear god, they may be the biggest whores of the gaming industry.

That said they are Classy whores, and I like me a whore with class.

[Fynn]

They're not whores. They're a company that makes money for a living. They know the Persona stuff will sell well, as the games have been huge hits. But despite the P3/4 stuff being a bit too... uh, everywhere, at least they haven't lost track of what makes a good game, and we still get lots of awesome SMT games, not just more Persona.

[Formalhaut]

They're not whores. They're a company that makes money for a living. They know the Persona stuff will sell well, as the games have been huge hits. But despite the P3/4 stuff being a bit too... uh, everywhere, at least they haven't lost track of what makes a good game, and we still get lots of awesome SMT games, not just more Persona.

Although, Persona has become one of my favorite game series, so I'm more than happy to throw money at Persona. Persona 5 looks very interesting, though I saw a screenshot where you... fought demons? The crew were fighting Pyro Jack and Sandman. Aren't they your personas? Your allies?

[Fynn]

See Persona 1 and 2, as well as the rest of the MegaTen series

Coming back to the topic of canonicity - SMT IV pretty much confirmed what SMT III suggested. SMT III introduced the Amala network, which connect different dimensions to each other, which is why despite many of the games taking place in different timelines, they are actually still connected. SMT IV builds on this saying different decisions just create different universes, meaning all endings to all games are actually canon. Yes, that means even the female path of P3 is canon, even if not to the main Persona timeline.

Also, an interesting thing to note is that all the Persona games take place in one timeline together with the Devil summoner games, which all branched off SMT if..., which is an alternate continuity to SMT 1 where the apocalypse never happened. So Persona is a lot closer to demons roaming wild than you'd think