Is there a good video about Persona lore somewhere?

[Space Cowboy]

So, I actually searched for something that explains the metaverse of the persona series in general and gives a bit of backgrund info about characters like Igor or places like the velvet room and overarching lore in general like what personas actually are and where they come from. I'd presume that you need to play the Shin Megami Tensei series to get an idea on how it all comes together. I only played Persona 3-5 and a bit of Digital Devil Saga up till now and I'd like to learn how it's all connected. I only found a very unsatisfying 1 minute video, so maybe I've been searching for the wrong thing.

[MizarAce]

Unless they are specific sequels they aren't all connected, they are part of a franchise.

If you want the begginings you can check Marsh, he covers a lot of ealy Shin Megami Tensei games, even the original Megami Tensei novels. He has reviews for older games lile SMT If or Devil Summoner, even weird spin offs like Last Bible.

https://www.youtube.com/@MarshSMT/videos



For more persona focused conten you can take your pick:

Nams Compendium reviews and analyzes the games

https://www.youtube.com/@NamsCompendium/videos



SnicketySlice has the Ultimate Persona Compendium which expands a lot but he just reached the second game.

https://www.youtube.com/c/SnicketySlice/videos


Hiding in Private does a lot of Persona 4 content, The Ultimate Persona 4 Analysis even analyses the ethimology of the characters and personas.

https://www.youtube.com/c/HidinginPrivate/videos


Niarly has some podcasts and videos expanding the lore of some of the demons across the franchise but his best content I would say are the challenge runs.

https://www.youtube.com/c/Nyarly/videos


Macca has a lot of reviews even for older games on the franchise like SMT2, Strange Journey or Soul Hackers.

https://www.youtube.com/@Macca/videos


Larrue besides Megaten content has some behind the scenes Atlus content.

https://www.youtube.com/@Larrue/videos


Those come up from the top of my head. Hope one of those is what you are looking for.

[Space Cowboy]

Originally posted by MizarAce:

Unless they are specific sequels they aren't all connected, they are part of a franchise.

If you want the begginings you can check Marsh, he covers a lot of ealy Shin Megami Tensei games, even the original Megami Tensei novels. He has reviews for older games lile SMT If or Devil Summoner, even weird spin offs like Last Bible.

https://www.youtube.com/@MarshSMT/videos



For more persona focused conten you can take your pick:

Nams Compendium reviews and analyzes the games

https://www.youtube.com/@NamsCompendium/videos



SnicketySlice has the Ultimate Persona Compendium which expands a lot but he just reached the second game.

https://www.youtube.com/c/SnicketySlice/videos


Hiding in Private does a lot of Persona 4 content, The Ultimate Persona 4 Analysis even analyses the ethimology of the characters and personas.

https://www.youtube.com/c/HidinginPrivate/videos


Niarly has some podcasts and videos expanding the lore of some of the demons across the franchise but his best content I would say are the challenge runs.

https://www.youtube.com/c/Nyarly/videos


Macca has a lot of reviews even for older games on the franchise like SMT2, Strange Journey or Soul Hackers.

https://www.youtube.com/@Macca/videos


Larrue besides Megaten content has some behind the scenes Atlus content.

https://www.youtube.com/@Larrue/videos


Those come up from the top of my head. Hope one of those is what you are looking for.

Thanks! These look quite promising. After finishing Persona 5 I'm still quite immersed in the setting and it left me with a lot of open questions.

[Terra]

The Persona series is incredibly standalone in the SMT multiverse. It's like two steps removed from an alternate universe created from a timeline that was spawned when a spin-off game stepped on a butterfly and changed a what-if of a mainline game.

[Ambrosius Costeau]

Trust me you dont want to get deep in the megaten fandom its probably the biggest cesspool of a fandom i have ever seen.

[Space Cowboy]

Originally posted by Ambrosius Costeau:

Trust me you dont want to get deep in the megaten fandom its probably the biggest cesspool of a fandom i have ever seen.

Don't care. I find unsubstantiated comments like this just as toxic.

[Ambrosius Costeau]

Originally posted by Space Cowboy:

Originally posted by Ambrosius Costeau:

Trust me you dont want to get deep in the megaten fandom its probably the biggest cesspool of a fandom i have ever seen.

Don't care. I find unsubstantiated comments like this just as toxic.

Nvm you seem to belong there just fine :)

[Peelsepuuppi]

Originally posted by Ambrosius Costeau:

Trust me you dont want to get deep in the megaten fandom its probably the biggest cesspool of a fandom i have ever seen.

Is it though? Outside of some attitudes that are more of a meme than actual state of the fan base and certain occasional showcase of bad behavior it feels like a pretty chill fandom to me and no better or worse than most other fandoms.

I can think of number of playerbases that are actually super toxic to eachother on a constant basis and Megaten fans are really not that bad.

Originally posted by Ambrosius Costeau:

Originally posted by Space Cowboy:

Don't care. I find unsubstantiated comments like this just as toxic.

Nvm you seem to belong there just fine :)

If anything this attitude kind speaks against you rather than the people you are criticizing.

[Space Cowboy]

Originally posted by MizarAce:

Unless they are specific sequels they aren't all connected, they are part of a franchise.

If you want the begginings you can check Marsh, he covers a lot of ealy Shin Megami Tensei games, even the original Megami Tensei novels. He has reviews for older games lile SMT If or Devil Summoner, even weird spin offs like Last Bible.

https://www.youtube.com/@MarshSMT/videos



For more persona focused conten you can take your pick:

Nams Compendium reviews and analyzes the games

https://www.youtube.com/@NamsCompendium/videos



SnicketySlice has the Ultimate Persona Compendium which expands a lot but he just reached the second game.

https://www.youtube.com/c/SnicketySlice/videos


Hiding in Private does a lot of Persona 4 content, The Ultimate Persona 4 Analysis even analyses the ethimology of the characters and personas.

https://www.youtube.com/c/HidinginPrivate/videos


Niarly has some podcasts and videos expanding the lore of some of the demons across the franchise but his best content I would say are the challenge runs.

https://www.youtube.com/c/Nyarly/videos


Macca has a lot of reviews even for older games on the franchise like SMT2, Strange Journey or Soul Hackers.

https://www.youtube.com/@Macca/videos


Larrue besides Megaten content has some behind the scenes Atlus content.

https://www.youtube.com/@Larrue/videos


Those come up from the top of my head. Hope one of those is what you are looking for.

This Hiding in Private video is pretty much exactly what I was looking for, although it's about P4 rather than P5! Thanks again for the recommendations! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrXzkzY961w

[Shae]

Originally posted by Space Cowboy:

So, I actually searched for something that explains the metaverse of the persona series in general and gives a bit of backgrund info about characters like Igor or places like the velvet room and overarching lore in general like what personas actually are and where they come from. I'd presume that you need to play the Shin Megami Tensei series to get an idea on how it all comes together. I only played Persona 3-5 and a bit of Digital Devil Saga up till now and I'd like to learn how it's all connected. I only found a very unsatisfying 1 minute video, so maybe I've been searching for the wrong thing.

Persona is a game that was created by RnD1 way way back. You do not need the backstory and actually they divorced the series from the original games back with FES. Persona, SMT, Digital Devil Saga if you are looking for a playfully dark game like persona you are not going to find anything like that before 3. RnD1 is -dark- World ending in the first five minutes of the game everyone dies and the whole purpose of the universe discarded to unmake all of creation because you are grumbly dark. Eat your opponents and assimilate their soul dark. I adore all of them, but if you are looking for something light and playful this is not it.

Persona 2 is actually 2 different games, one of which was so severe at the time that it was not localized. I highly highly recommend you make this deep dive, but before you do you need to realize that this is a very dark, very dank and depressing rabbit hole and not anything like what you are used to from persona. Bad stuff happens, and it wins just as frequently or more often than good. Heck, back in the golden Era of Nintendo the main series game had tokyo being destroyed in a nuclear blast you cannot stop, and the option to literally kill the Abrahamic God and Lucifer to set mankind free of their influence and make their own path. Just the fate of the Manikins from Nocturne is heart breaking on its own. Id DDS Main characters and allies get ripped apart and eaten alive. A villian even taunts you at one point on how delicious your friend was as they devoured her screaming because you left them unguarded. Be careful of how much you dig cause this is a deep dark rabbit hole.

This is not the series you think it is from Persona.

[Izlude]

Originally posted by Ambrosius Costeau:

Trust me you dont want to get deep in the megaten fandom its probably the biggest cesspool of a fandom i have ever seen.

In what way is it the biggest cesspool of a fandom?

[Space Cowboy]

Originally posted by Fluffanutter:

Originally posted by Space Cowboy:

So, I actually searched for something that explains the metaverse of the persona series in general and gives a bit of backgrund info about characters like Igor or places like the velvet room and overarching lore in general like what personas actually are and where they come from. I'd presume that you need to play the Shin Megami Tensei series to get an idea on how it all comes together. I only played Persona 3-5 and a bit of Digital Devil Saga up till now and I'd like to learn how it's all connected. I only found a very unsatisfying 1 minute video, so maybe I've been searching for the wrong thing.

Persona is a game that was created by RnD1 way way back. You do not need the backstory and actually they divorced the series from the original games back with FES. Persona, SMT, Digital Devil Saga if you are looking for a playfully dark game like persona you are not going to find anything like that before 3. RnD1 is -dark- World ending in the first five minutes of the game everyone dies and the whole purpose of the universe discarded to unmake all of creation because you are grumbly dark. Eat your opponents and assimilate their soul dark. I adore all of them, but if you are looking for something light and playful this is not it.

Persona 2 is actually 2 different games, one of which was so severe at the time that it was not localized. I highly highly recommend you make this deep dive, but before you do you need to realize that this is a very dark, very dank and depressing rabbit hole and not anything like what you are used to from persona. Bad stuff happens, and it wins just as frequently or more often than good. Heck, back in the golden Era of Nintendo the main series game had tokyo being destroyed in a nuclear blast you cannot stop, and the option to literally kill the Abrahamic God and Lucifer to set mankind free of their influence and make their own path. Just the fate of the Manikins from Nocturne is heart breaking on its own. Id DDS Main characters and allies get ripped apart and eaten alive. A villian even taunts you at one point on how delicious your friend was as they devoured her screaming because you left them unguarded. Be careful of how much you dig cause this is a deep dark rabbit hole.

This is not the series you think it is from Persona.

Well, you can actually see some of that in Persona games rumbling beneath the surface. But as I mentioned, I did play the Digital Devil Saga games, although I haven't finished them. I might give them another bash. I just always found the gameplay a little bit too samy but I found the story to be deeply intriguing so I should definitely give them another chance. I'm still kinda hoping for a P1 & 2 remaster and wonder if I should dive into them as they are. I presume that I'd miss a lot of the modern creature comforts. But yeah, I definitely wanna dive deeper beyond the Persona games. I think I still wanna finish Persona 4 Golden first - I got really far back then but never finished it. Not sure which I gonna tackle next after that - maybe Nocturn - I heard good things about it.

[MizarAce]

Originally posted by Space Cowboy:

Originally posted by Fluffanutter:

Persona is a game that was created by RnD1 way way back. You do not need the backstory and actually they divorced the series from the original games back with FES. Persona, SMT, Digital Devil Saga if you are looking for a playfully dark game like persona you are not going to find anything like that before 3. RnD1 is -dark- World ending in the first five minutes of the game everyone dies and the whole purpose of the universe discarded to unmake all of creation because you are grumbly dark. Eat your opponents and assimilate their soul dark. I adore all of them, but if you are looking for something light and playful this is not it.

Persona 2 is actually 2 different games, one of which was so severe at the time that it was not localized. I highly highly recommend you make this deep dive, but before you do you need to realize that this is a very dark, very dank and depressing rabbit hole and not anything like what you are used to from persona. Bad stuff happens, and it wins just as frequently or more often than good. Heck, back in the golden Era of Nintendo the main series game had tokyo being destroyed in a nuclear blast you cannot stop, and the option to literally kill the Abrahamic God and Lucifer to set mankind free of their influence and make their own path. Just the fate of the Manikins from Nocturne is heart breaking on its own. Id DDS Main characters and allies get ripped apart and eaten alive. A villian even taunts you at one point on how delicious your friend was as they devoured her screaming because you left them unguarded. Be careful of how much you dig cause this is a deep dark rabbit hole.

This is not the series you think it is from Persona.

Well, you can actually see some of that in Persona games rumbling beneath the surface. But as I mentioned, I did play the Digital Devil Saga games, although I haven't finished them. I might give them another bash. I just always found the gameplay a little bit too samy but I found the story to be deeply intriguing so I should definitely give them another chance. I'm still kinda hoping for a P1 & 2 remaster and wonder if I should dive into them as they are. I presume that I'd miss a lot of the modern creature comforts. But yeah, I definitely wanna dive deeper beyond the Persona games. I think I still wanna finish Persona 4 Golden first - I got really far back then but never finished it. Not sure which I gonna tackle next after that - maybe Nocturn - I heard good things about it.

I wouldn't recommend going back further than Nocturne, the games were great for their time but they have aged considerably.

P1 still holds up if you grew with old first person dungeon crawlers but even if you played something modern like Strange Journey or Q1/Q2 those have way more qol improvements that you wouldnt find in older games.

P2 has its charm if you played old games like the PSX era Breath of Fire, its a coin flip if you would enjoy them now as much as I did back in the day.

[Space Cowboy]

Originally posted by MizarAce:

Originally posted by Space Cowboy:

Well, you can actually see some of that in Persona games rumbling beneath the surface. But as I mentioned, I did play the Digital Devil Saga games, although I haven't finished them. I might give them another bash. I just always found the gameplay a little bit too samy but I found the story to be deeply intriguing so I should definitely give them another chance. I'm still kinda hoping for a P1 & 2 remaster and wonder if I should dive into them as they are. I presume that I'd miss a lot of the modern creature comforts. But yeah, I definitely wanna dive deeper beyond the Persona games. I think I still wanna finish Persona 4 Golden first - I got really far back then but never finished it. Not sure which I gonna tackle next after that - maybe Nocturn - I heard good things about it.

I wouldn't recommend going back further than Nocturne, the games were great for their time but they have aged considerably.

P1 still holds up if you grew with old first person dungeon crawlers but even if you played something modern like Strange Journey or Q1/Q2 those have way more qol improvements that you wouldnt find in older games.

P2 has its charm if you played old games like the PSX era Breath of Fire, its a coin flip if you would enjoy them now as much as I did back in the day.

I actually grew up on PC games almost exclusively (well, I did play Links awakening on my gameboy but that's basically it). Lots of oldschool CRPGs but not much in terms of JRPGs. I got into that much later when a friend introduced me to Persona 3 which actually made me buy a PS2 pretty late in its life when the PS3 was already out. I can deal with the oldschool graphics for sure but I wonder if the interface or the gameplay mechanics still hold up for me when I go back to the really oldschool Megami Tensei games.

[Shae]

Originally posted by Space Cowboy:

Originally posted by Fluffanutter:

Persona is a game that was created by RnD1 way way back. You do not need the backstory and actually they divorced the series from the original games back with FES. Persona, SMT, Digital Devil Saga if you are looking for a playfully dark game like persona you are not going to find anything like that before 3. RnD1 is -dark- World ending in the first five minutes of the game everyone dies and the whole purpose of the universe discarded to unmake all of creation because you are grumbly dark. Eat your opponents and assimilate their soul dark. I adore all of them, but if you are looking for something light and playful this is not it.

Persona 2 is actually 2 different games, one of which was so severe at the time that it was not localized. I highly highly recommend you make this deep dive, but before you do you need to realize that this is a very dark, very dank and depressing rabbit hole and not anything like what you are used to from persona. Bad stuff happens, and it wins just as frequently or more often than good. Heck, back in the golden Era of Nintendo the main series game had tokyo being destroyed in a nuclear blast you cannot stop, and the option to literally kill the Abrahamic God and Lucifer to set mankind free of their influence and make their own path. Just the fate of the Manikins from Nocturne is heart breaking on its own. Id DDS Main characters and allies get ripped apart and eaten alive. A villian even taunts you at one point on how delicious your friend was as they devoured her screaming because you left them unguarded. Be careful of how much you dig cause this is a deep dark rabbit hole.

This is not the series you think it is from Persona.

Well, you can actually see some of that in Persona games rumbling beneath the surface. But as I mentioned, I did play the Digital Devil Saga games, although I haven't finished them. I might give them another bash. I just always found the gameplay a little bit too samy but I found the story to be deeply intriguing so I should definitely give them another chance. I'm still kinda hoping for a P1 & 2 remaster and wonder if I should dive into them as they are. I presume that I'd miss a lot of the modern creature comforts. But yeah, I definitely wanna dive deeper beyond the Persona games. I think I still wanna finish Persona 4 Golden first - I got really far back then but never finished it. Not sure which I gonna tackle next after that - maybe Nocturn - I heard good things about it.

Nocturne was one of if not the best game to come out that year. It is -still- one of the absolutely best made RPG's I have ever played. However Nocturne is main-series storyline and is divorced from the Persona verse. The Personaverse used to be connected between games but is not any more. The main series games have had a continuous storyline going back to Famicom days. I highly prefer main series because the source material is incredibly fascinating. If you like a good grim dark story go read the novels that started the series. They are still spectacular. The problem you are going to run into is that SMT 1 and 2 were never translated officially so you are looking for a fan translation. You need the history though to be caught up on what is happening since it is one continuous narrative.

It is hilarious to me that you find the combat samey in DDS, since DDS and Nocturne introduced the press turn system which is basically what you are using now only you get an extra group attack on top after the one more. I prefer press turn though, it is far more flexible in how you use it.

When you are looking at the main series game the story and message is far less about the facets of the self, and instead focuses on the fact that all choices have consequences, and just because you call them a reward does not make them less of a consequence.

[Space Cowboy]

Originally posted by Fluffanutter:

Originally posted by Space Cowboy:

Well, you can actually see some of that in Persona games rumbling beneath the surface. But as I mentioned, I did play the Digital Devil Saga games, although I haven't finished them. I might give them another bash. I just always found the gameplay a little bit too samy but I found the story to be deeply intriguing so I should definitely give them another chance. I'm still kinda hoping for a P1 & 2 remaster and wonder if I should dive into them as they are. I presume that I'd miss a lot of the modern creature comforts. But yeah, I definitely wanna dive deeper beyond the Persona games. I think I still wanna finish Persona 4 Golden first - I got really far back then but never finished it. Not sure which I gonna tackle next after that - maybe Nocturn - I heard good things about it.

It is hilarious to me that you find the combat samey in DDS, since DDS and Nocturne introduced the press turn system which is basically what you are using now only you get an extra group attack on top after the one more. I prefer press turn though, it is far more flexible in how you use it.

Well, the combat isn't my main drive in the Persona games either. I find it fun enough for about 15-30 minutes but after that I need something else to shake it up which is usually where Personas social sim kicks in for me and prevents me from getting bored or frustrated. I'm usually more into character action games anyway but I take Persona's combat for the story.