UPDATE: Famitsu Teases Persona 5?

[John Funk]

UPDATE: Famitsu Teases Persona 5?

An image in the latest edition of Japanese gaming mag Famitsu seems to be teasing the next game in Atlus' Persona series.

As far as teasers go, it's remarkably light (though a welcome change from, say, Hideo Kojima's endless countdown clocks). The image shows three characters on a featureless white background - one being the protagonist of Persona 3, one being the protagonist of Persona 4, and one being the main character of the Persona: Trinity Soul anime spinoff.

That's... pretty much it. The only other information is a cryptic line of text on the left that (apparently) reads: Subete no hito no tamashii ni sasagu... or "Dedicated to the spirits of all people." What that means, uh, I have no idea. Though it's not like Japan hasn't ever used random pseudo-intellectual text to tease its RPGs before.

Poking at JRPGs aside, I really liked Persona 4. It was a game that actually restored my faith in Japan to tell an intriguing story with compelling characters that kept me interested and invested in what happened to them. The writing and localization were great, and even the dubbing was above average. So, color me psyched.

Now, to hazard some totally wild guesses about this potential title: The game will feature an unnamed, silent protagonist who happens to be a student at a Japanese high school. His actions and social networking are totally under the control of the player, and he (and his friends) will have the ability to summon monsters from mythology that represent their inner psyches to fight for them, and whose strength in battle will be based as much on how much time they spend hanging out with each other after school as on their RPG stats.

Totally out of left field, I know.

Given that Persona 4 was one of the PS2's last great hurrahs, it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect Persona 5 to be for a next-generation system. But we'll have to wait and see.

Update: Looks like this was just wishful thinking. Whoever posted the scan apparently didn't include the part where it explicitly said that this was an advertisement for ... a soundtrack. Oh well. Guess a Persona 5 announcement so soon isn't in the cards ... this time.

(VG247 [http://www.gamekyo.com/images0_4_31289.html])

Permalink

 

[Caimekaze]

Persona 5!? Waaaannntttt. Want.

I don't think your guess is very likely though. JRPGs aren't prone to breaking the formula, so something as original as that is highly unlikely.

 

[Nazrel]

Persona 5!? Waaaannntttt. Want.

I don't think your guess is very likely though. JRPGs aren't prone to breaking the formula, so something as original as that is highly unlikely.

I can't tell if you're joking or not.

 

[Tony Grande]

The Megami Tensei franchise is still one of the most underrated ones out there. For it is always good at story telling and evoking emotions from me. Let Persona 5 be awesome!

 

[Eric the Orange]

As much as I LOVE the SMT games, I think they need a new charicter artist. All there charicters look the same. WAY to androgyness. Not that they have to look like Marcus Fenix or any of the DOA girls or anything, but most of there charicters look like manniquins (see what I did there) that you just slap on diffrent hair and cloths on to.

 

[midpipps]

Love the persona series although I think I liked 3 a little more then 4 but that is a preference thing and they were both great games. I would definitely buy another first day.

 

[John Funk]

As much as I LOVE the SMT games, I think they need a new charicter artist. All there charicters look the same. WAY to androgyness. Not that they have to look like Marcus Fenix or any of the DOA girls or anything, but most of there charicters look like manniquins (see what I did there) that you just slap on diffrent hair and cloths on to.

To be fair, I think that's kind of intentional when it comes to the protagonists. Isn't the whole point that they're effectively blank slates; they're the ones who have multiple Personas, you make their choices for them? It would make sense for them to be as "neutral" as possible.

 

[Caimekaze]

As much as I LOVE the SMT games, I think they need a new charicter artist. All there charicters look the same. WAY to androgyness. Not that they have to look like Marcus Fenix or any of the DOA girls or anything, but most of there charicters look like manniquins (see what I did there) that you just slap on diffrent hair and cloths on to.

To be fair, I think that's kind of intentional when it comes to the protagonists. Isn't the whole point that they're effectively blank slates; they're the ones who have multiple Personas, you make their choices for them? It would make sense for them to be as "neutral" as possible.

That's what I thought, when my friend brought up the look of the protagonist from four.
The same artist also does the other characters, who are all rather different. I really love that guy's work...

 

[RollForInitiative]

The earlier Persona titles had a very unique look when they were under the pen of Kaneko Kazuma, who has since continue with other titles under the MegaTen umbrella (Digital Devil Saga, Devil Summoner, etc.). I quite like Shigenori Soejima's art direction for Persona 3 and 4, however, and hope he continues on with 5 since I can get my Kaneko art fix in other titles.

 

[Darkwolf9]

Love the persona series although I think I liked 3 a little more then 4 but that is a preference thing and they were both great games. I would definitely buy another first day.

I can agree with you on this. 3 had a lot more comedy sections to help break of the monotony. I'll say that I like the dungeon crawling better in 4. It didn't feel like you were going back to the same thing and I was interested in what each setting was going to look like. All in all it's a great series and I look forward to the next.

 

[Kinzaro]

I'm kinda thrilled about this... Only a teaser, but if it's in Famitsu, probably they are going to announce the next Persona soon.. maybe next month, I guess...

I have only two questions... Will it have the same structure the previous two had? I loved it (especially in P4, it suited the game better), but I wouldn't mind a change (though I wouldn't mind the same structure a little more complex).

Second, PS3 or Wii? (I think it's kinda obvious that Xbox360 is out of the question...)

 

[Hazy]

Ahh Weekly Famitsu.. How you taunt us so..
If it is true, I would fly to the store.

 

[pigeon_of_doom]

I suppose it's too much to hope that it'll be released on the PS2 again to indulge the portion of their fan-base still stuck in the past. Although it appears to have been a profitable model for them. Maybe it's just heralding a FES-like re-release of the P4.

 

[Kinzaro]

I suppose it's too much to hope that it'll be released on the PS2 again to indulge the portion of their fan-base still stuck in the past. Although it appears to have been a profitable model for them. Maybe it's just heralding a FES-like re-release of the P4.

ATLUS said some time ago that P4 won't be "FESed"... But, maybe P5 will be released on the PS2... They already have the graphic engine, so they'll only need the story and maybe a new gameplay mechanic...

 

[RollForInitiative]

I suppose it's too much to hope that it'll be released on the PS2 again to indulge the portion of their fan-base still stuck in the past.

I wouldn't put it past them to continue with another PS2 release in light of a number of factors. The PS2 install base is still significantly larger than the PS3's and the cost of development on the former is fractional when compared to the latter. Besides, the Persona titles don't actually move that many units - Persona 3 / 3 FES / 4 have moved less than a million units combined - so I don't imagine they view any of the next generation systems as a particularly profitable option when you consider the increased development costs.

 

[Kinzaro]

I suppose it's too much to hope that it'll be released on the PS2 again to indulge the portion of their fan-base still stuck in the past.

I wouldn't put it past them to continue with another PS2 release in light of a number of factors. The PS2 install base is still significantly larger than the PS3's and the cost of development on the former is fractional when compared to the latter. Besides, the Persona titles don't actually move that many units - Persona 3 / 3 FES / 4 have moved less than a million units combined - so I don't imagine they view any of the next generation systems as a particularly profitable option when you consider the increased development costs.

Yeah, I totally agree with that... That's the reason I wouldn't discard P5 on the Wii, if it were to be released in one of the current generation consoles... Maybe most of the install base aren't interested in RPGs, but at the same time is the current generation console with more units shipped, specially in Japan... The development costs wouldn't be that different compared with the cost on the PS2 and the game could afford not selling too much units and still being profitable (and probably the sales won't depend too much on the platform they choose)...

Of course all of this is just a thought...

 

[Chaossebba]

I've just finished P4, DO WANT P5!

 

[Milkman Dan]

I'm really slow at these. I hadn't even finished Persona 3 when FES was released. In fact, I still haven't finished Persona 3.

 

[RollForInitiative]

The development costs wouldn't be that different compared with the cost on the PS2 and the game could afford not selling too much units and still being profitable (and probably the sales won't depend too much on the platform they choose)...

I'm inclined to disagree with the cost assessment primarily on the grounds that moving to the Wii will also likely require heavy rework of the architecture they've been using for the past few titles. The ability to approach their titles as "finished engine projects" has a significant reductive impact on the cost and time of the development process. Architecture aside, however, it would probably require the least rework of the art assets they're so fond of reusing.

I'm not convinced they'd find as much of an audience on the Wii though. The PS2 still reigned supreme as far as dedicated shelf space was concerned in every store I visited in Akihabara.

 

[Kinzaro]

I'm inclined to disagree with the cost assessment primarily on the grounds that moving to the Wii will also likely require heavy rework of the architecture they've been using for the past few titles. The ability to approach their titles as "finished engine projects" has a significant reductive impact on the cost and time of the development process. Architecture aside, however, it would probably require the least rework of the art assets they're so fond of reusing.

I'm not convinced they'd find as much of an audience on the Wii though. The PS2 still reigned supreme as far as dedicated shelf space was concerned in every store I visited in Akihabara.

Yeah, I know that. The PS2 isn't still officially dead (and probably won't be in the next couple of years). And I'm not so convinced they find too much audience on the Wii. I'm kinda base my point in the fact that the next "numbered" Dragon Quest (DQX) will be released on the Wii... And that the Wii is the less expensive current generation console in terms of development. For that I don't quite discard it.

That being said, I must admit I would be quite surprised if they finally announce P5 for the Wii. PS2 and PS3 (though the later being maybe too expensive to make profit) are more likely choices. But I think it's safe to safe that 360 is out of the question, unless ATLUS decides to make P5 multiplatform (and still...).