Persona 4 & 5 are bonafied hits - that much is obvious. They are largely responsible for bringing not only the Shin Megami Tensei franchise over into the mainstream, but for popularizing n🧜iche JRPGs in the West.
A large part of that has been attributed to director Katsura Hashino, a prolific MegaTen presence responsible for some of the franchise's best games. From his early planning work on the fantastic If... and Soul Hackers, to his directorial debut in the beloved Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, Hashino's been at it for a long time.
But he's perhaps best known for reinventing the Persona franchise. While the first three titles were very much in line with the rest of the MegaTen series, Persona 3 was a radical departure from expectations. Everything you know and probably love about Persona was birthed in that game, from social links to the calendar to the dating si𝕴m-ish 🌞mechanics.
And while the two follow-ups refined and polished those mechanics, they didn't come without criticism. The most visible one is Hashino's seeming hatred for gay people, as he tends to depict homosexuality as a perverse fetish for sexual predators. He's also not immune to thoroughly dropping the ball with trans representation💧, from Naoto's "you made out with me good enough for me to be a girl" character arc to Lala Escargo's whole outdated and gross depiction.
But my main criticism doesn't actually lie there - although it definitely plays a part. I actually think Hashino can do some good, as seen in Catherine, which to date is one of my absolut🔯e favorite depictions o🌠f trans women in gaming. No, my main issue is that I'm bored of Persona, and I really want somebody else to take over.
I've been a MegaTen fan since Raidou Kuzunoha vs The Soulless Army, which was my earliest exposure to the whole franchise. I fell in love with the game's unique aesthetic, real-time combat, and addictive demon collection system. Naturally, I went hard on the franchise, digging into every single entry I could get my hands on. To my surprise, almost none of them played the same - outside of the early first-person dungeon𒐪 crawlers.
See, what made this my favorite gaming franchise is its diverse, eclectic nature. Very few MegaTen games are alike, and that's great - it always feels nice to not really know what I'm getting into. Even the initial main trio of Persona games are a bit different from each other, despite having similar tones and aesthetics. Yes, even Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment, games that are very much companion 💖pieces, feel distinct from each other.
But that doesn't apply to the last three Persona games - not one bit. They're all just iterations on the same social themes, mechanical concepts, and audio-visual aesthetics. The franchise has failed to evolve in meaningful ways, and when it does, it's almost always a bummer to me. Persona 5 decided it was a great idea to throw in Western-influenced, ✨cinematic story dungeons, which made it feel ಌless like a JRPG and more like a desperate bid for mainstream accolades. I mean, I guess it worked, but it feels a bit soulless.
With Hashino officially out of Atlus, then, now could be the perfect time to shake up the series. There are some great minds hard at work o⛎n the MegaTen series, and it would be amazing to see one of them turn the franchise on its head. Do away with what people expect, come up with a new aesthetic, settle on a new look and sound for the series... this is how you keep a series from stagnating.
Of course, capitalism's choking grasp on creativity means we'll probably get a game very much in line with expectations. Hashino will probably take up the reigns with his new studio, like he did with Catherine: Full Body. Atlus will continue to take the route of least resistance and most money. It's a sad but necessary reality of this industry: if something 🎃works, just do it over and over again until it breaks. That's reflected in how we talk about games - we call them "new IPs," not "new games," after all.
Imagine, though, a world where Atlus takes a risk. Imagine a Persona that looks nothing like the last three. Imagine a different look and sound, accompanied by new mechanics and overhauled progression, that ruffles the feathers of the entire Persona fanbase. That's my dream🎶, but until proven otherwꦿise, it'll likely remain just that.
Anyway, I'll stop complaining and go back to bugging Atlus to tell us literally anything about Shin Megami Tensei V.