Topic: Persona Vs Shin Megami Tensei

Hey guys, which series do you prefer? Me, I like them both. Also, what are your general thoughts of them?

@Slasher Ive only played p4g and p5, both this year. Great series, but similar to disgaea I need a big 3 or 4 year gap to the next one else I cant face playing them due to the time commitment. I played a digital devil saga game but only played a couple of hours on ps1 or ps2 but it was pretty boring, especially compared to some of the pc rpgs I was playing at the time. I would happily try another one in the series if it was critically acclaimed.

I prefer the Persona games (3:FES, 4 and 5) better but I do like both SMT: Devil Summoner 1 and 2 as well. Haven't played any other SMT games apart from those two mentioned.

Love Persona. It's a series that's continued to get better with each installment. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona aka Persona 1 was an okay game, but the standout feature, the demon negotiations were done really well.
Persona 2 has possibly the best story, but is imo the worst game. I really wish that a collection would see it remade into a visual novel,as it would work infinitely better as one.
Persona 3 is my personal favorite. It has the best cast, an incredibly dark story, full of twists & turns and one of the most beautiful endings. It also did the most for the series, as a lot of the gameplay mechanics (social links, time factor, all out attack,..) have become franchise stables since.
Persona 4 is a good game, but Persona 5 (the best actual game) does everything 4 does just better and on a big screen.

I've not played the SMT games yet, but now that I own a Switch I'm really looking forward to finally playing those games.

SMT. I enjoy Persona games, but they lack the depth, challenge, and atmosphere of a proper SMT game.

Hopefully SMT V gains the same sort of mainstream attention and great sales that Persona 5 enjoyed.

@Fight_Teza_Fight Glad I'm not the only one who hated Persona 2's gameplay. I especially detested the way you had to collect tarot cards to summon new personae. Honestly, the best change in P5 was bringing back the demon negotiation.

I'm about halfway through Persona 5 right now, and am absolutely adoring it - if it keeps up like this it will be one of the best games I've ever played. Obviously it's also piqued my interest in the SMT series, but can someone please explain the main differences between them? If I like the sound of it, then I'll certainly be there day one for SMT V!

@BranJ0

Persona games typically focus on social and psychological themes, versus the philosophical and mythological themes that dominate in SMT.

Persona games focus primarily on a cast of pre-made characters and developing a single, pre-established narrative arc, whereas SMT games are more isolating and focus on players actually role-playing by making choices that affect the direction of the plot.

Persona games are part dungeon-crawler and part life sim, with very regimented game design that only allows you to explore at all in dungeons. SMT games are pure RPGs that usually allow you to freely roam around an expansive game world.

Persona games are set in modern urban settings, whereas SMT games are typically post-apocalyptic and see you exploring a ruined, demon-filled version of Tokyo.

Although this point is kind of moot to Persona 5, most Persona games have de-emphasized the idea of communing with Personae, whereas SMT games always place a really central emphasis on demon negotiations.

SMT games are usually brutally challenging throughout, whereas the challenge in Persona games is mostly found in post-game bosses and higher difficulty settings.

@Ralizah Ooh okay, it does sound rather different, but I love a big RPG, and this sounds brilliant! Would you say the story is very good, or does it tend to be quite basic and predictable?

@BranJ0 SMT games are typically somewhat light on plot and character development, instead leaning heavily on complex combat mechanics, intricate dungeon crawling, atmosphere, symbolism, and choices that help to determine the player character's spiritual/moral alignment. This is somewhat reversed in SMT IV: Apocalypse, which placed a much heavier emphasis on character development and plot, but otherwise these games aren't focused on providing compelling narratives or characters. They're very gameplay-centric.

@Ralizah I’m just part way through Persona 5 (finished the second palace) but the demon negotiation seems very finicky. I’m not sure I really like it. I realize the concept of using the persona’s personality to choose the responses they would like best in order to impress them to submit to you, but the choices of response often seem so arbitrary that the whole negotiation is pretty random. Usually I can knock out one of the response an know it is not the right one, but I’m typically left with just trying my luck with the remaining choices. (The “funny” and “kind” options are usually clear, but differentiating the “serious” and “vague” ones is not clear at all, most of the time). I’m not sure if this is an intentional thing or just a problem with translation from Japanese language and culture. What is read as serious in Japan may be more vague or even kind to a Westerner. And sometimes the way the Personas talk is just downright odd or out of place.
I have only played SMT Nocturne and a little bit of Devil Summoner R v Souless Army, and I don’t remember the negotiations being such a pain, but it’s been several years so I don’t know.

@KratosMD I’m playing on normal I think; I haven’t had it happen where they submit without a negotiation. After all enemies are knocked down, only then is the option there to do either an all-out attack or speak to them. Then the negotiation begins. If you fail the negotiation it can be frustrating, especially if it is a rarer persona, and you also don’t get any exp points, if I recall correctly.
Actually, I have been tempted to change to the easiest difficulty just to help power through this quicker since the game is so long. I enjoy the battles and strategy involved but on my current difficulty it does get tight, mainly because of lack of SP after roaming a dungeon for a while. Sometimes I just wish I could have more SP so I could get through the dungeon quicker. If negotiations are less important on the easier difficulty, that may be reason enough for me to change also.

@KratosMD Thanks, that’s useful feedback. I was worried about getting into the harder palaces later in the game and them getting more ‘grindy’ so I think I may just do that. My main enjoyment is from the story and the life sim parts of the game. The battles are good but the palaces are a bit long at times.