Welp I'm gonna get flamed to hell and back but I really don't like the modern Persona games. Guess I'll prepare for my funeral.
I actually consider Persona 4 to be one of the worst games I've ever played which sounds harsh because there's a lot of games out there that deserve that more than an actual finished and functional game like Big Riggs, Ride to Hell, and Sonic 06 but I think because its a finished game makes it worse for me. I really find the characters a combination of bland or annoying; Teddie is extremely annoying than endearing and him being really close to being a sex offender is something I find creepy and disgusting at the same time and Yosuke is just as annoying, being the complainer and all, with his homophobia turning me off from the game. The game itself does very little to innovate from its predecessor, only giving you the option to control your party members and a friend zone option... Huh? I know these things should had been in 3 since the start but its just more of the same. The gameplay isn't different either; Press the thing enemy is weak to, get extra turn to do that and beat them up. That's it. There isn't much depth to the combat or anything. The story is probably thing going for it due to murder mystery but since I don't really care for the characters I'm not too invested in it that I'd rather play something else.
When I was playing through Persona 5R I wasn't having any fun with the game other than putting the game in Japanese as I found out that Pikachu yells at Ryuji in that version which I find hilarious for some reason. The characters here are better than 4's but I feel like I've seen these characters before so they didn't really excite me. I just bored playing through it again, even with the new stuff added in like Kasumi. When I was playing early on during Kameshiro's palace it had me thinking about this game more, namely the fact this game is basically about a bunch of teenagers angsting about how unfair society is...when they wouldn't really know what the world is really like. Yes I understand the younger generation is often obstructed from the older generation but it just comes off as whining to me due to how its written at times and becoming the Phantom Thieves is just feels like a power fantasy which I would had loved when I was 15. I just feel like this game lack depth in its story, characters, and gameplay make it seem all flash no substance. I can't explain it too well to be honest, it might just be me not being in that demograph anymore.
I do have nostalgia for Persona 3 but I'm not looking back at that game too fondly either so what caused this change? Well I ended up playing the original games, particularly 2 and it just blew my mind. The games are rather standard as JRPGs go but the characters and story just really sold me. I absolutely love the characters from both Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment. Like Tatsuya, the protagonist of Innocent Sin, is supposed to represent the player but even he's a character in of himself as he feels like he's struggling to come up for a future for himself, he has a character tick where he plays with his lighter, and he even has an actual backstory with one of the other characters so its no wonder why he ended up being a fully fledged character in the next game. I also really like Eikichi that he's my favorite character in the series because he's over the top in everything he does and I love him for what he does. I also really love how Eternal Punishment does have adult characters for its main cast which is rare for JRPGs in general which helps ground the game in reality. The story is pretty great too where a bunch of people are chosen by God for a bet against a literal eldritch abomination but everyone is a bit uncomfortable about that. Innocent Sin is a rather dark game, the darkest the series ever will be, but I love it for actually being thought provoking to say the least. I think it does help that there's a gay option in Innocent Sin that's often considered canon without any jokes attached to it which is saying a lot if a game from 1999 is more progressive than one from 2008 but I digress.
Maybe I am a hypocrite at the end of the day because I really love Tokyo Mirage Sessions, Fire Emblem, and the Atelier series which all have similar elements to Persona series. I don't think I can't explain why I don't like Persona too well despite going on a tangent, maybe I just don't like it anymore? Maybe I've outgrown it? I honestly don't know but I feel really drained from this series and I want to stay away from it. I can't help but wonder if these games are popular just because of dating sim elements which worked for Fire Emblem Awakening success cause waifu wars and what not. I don't know though so yeah. I did what to get that off my chest though. Now I'll go back to digging my grave.