Opinions on Persona vs SMT? Curious

[killswitch527]

I have played P3 Reload, P4 Golden, P5 vanilla and Royal, and Vengeance is my first SMT game. Royal is my favorite game of all time, but I am greatly enjoying my time in SMT5 so far.

When it comes to Persona, I have a great appreciation for the stories and the depth of (most) of the characters. Also, the Persona series is the only one that has gotten me to give the slightest sh*t about "slice of life", which is normally an aspect of media I can't stand. That's due to the fact that spending time with characters and performing daily activities actually has a noticeable effect on the core gameplay. However, as much as I enjoy the gameplay loop, I feel that the time limit system is pretty restrictive and the battle mechanics are not quite as deep.

The first 2 hours of actual gameplay of SMT5, I was somewhat disappointed. The fact that the only party members for a while were the silent protagonist, what is essentially his Persona, and some demons you recruit made the story side of the game feel hollow. BUT, it was not long after that the story picked up pace and other human characters get more involved with the plot. At that point I became more interested in the intrigue of what happened to Tokyo and how the survivors of the game's opening were going to proceed. I am very glad I stuck with it. That renewed interest is what allowed me to appreciate the deeper gameplay systems of Vengeance. I enjoy the Fusion and battle mechanics of Vengeance more than Persona. A large part of this is due to not having a time limited in-game schedule. This allows you to freely experiment with Fusion without that aspect of the game cannibalizing the money you would need for other things in Persona (equipment/items/etc), since you can always earn more money as needed without constraint. Also, you are punished more in Vengeance for not taking full advantage of the game's combat mechanics. The change I hated most from P5 vanilla to Royal was your gun ammo refilling after every battle. This made the regular battles in the dungeons feel far too easy.

SMT5 is a great experience so far, with the larger emphasis on gameplay and core mechanics being a welcome change. I do not find myself as invested in the characters and plot as, say, P5 Royal, but the moment-to-moment gameplay loop of SMT5 versus the dungeons of Persona games, especially those of P3 and P4, has been more enjoyable thus far.

[Arifufu]

tbh i like the gun ammo refill after battle, because now gun can be more useful and with Iwai's perk i can freeze the enemy easily with my freeze gun. The main idea of SMT VV and P5R when dealing random mobs are same: kill them on first turn, the difference i try my best to kill every P5R random mob with All-out attack when SMTVV nothing better than Crippling Blow + Yabusame Shot + Taboo, so tbh both games have easy way to deal with random mobs

for boss battle, well you need actually use the game mechanics in both games but Royal is much easier than Vengeance in boss mode, i am enjoying Godborn Hard btw and for Royal i know most people will say Hard is the hardest difficulty but i prefer Merciless than Hard personally. If you truly seek challenge: try virtual battle trainer higher than level 200, this is something that any modern persona games can't give me: min-maxing a persona doesn't give me an actual hard battle, but Vengeance? min-maxing a demon can be paid off absolutely with virtual battle trainer

[King of Games]

inlike both series, well most megaten games tbh.

I can just list off some of my favorite megaten games and why i like them in case youre interested in playing more of the series

SMT 4 - had great characters that stick with you most of the game and have alot of growth as the story progresses. Great combat system and a awesome story that makes you want to figure out whats going to happen next

SMT 1 (VX) - By far has my favorite store in any of the mainline games. Has the best atmosphere on any of the games, you actually get to see and take part in the world as its collapsing and try to survivae as society turns into complete anarchy. The VX remake improves character depth by alot. If you can get over the first person dungeon crawling its a great game. SMT 1 fan remake is free btw and my personal recommended way to play it.
https://x.com/TeatimeSpooks/status/1712518077202518190

SMT Devil Survivor - its a strategy rpg that really doesnt play like any other games in the series, but is very fun and accessible.
Great plot and characters, you badically end up in disaster situation and watch as the government repeatedly fails to help the survivors of the disaster, so you have to take it upon yourself to help or explot other survivors. Alot of peoplea favorite megaten game

[Eut]

After playing smt v combat, I can never go back to the persona combat. It just feels fundamentally worse in every single aspect. A persona like story with smt combat would be my dream game.

[King of Games]

Originally posted by Eut:

After playing smt v combat, I can never go back to the persona combat. It just feels fundamentally worse in every single aspect. A persona like story with smt combat would be my dream game.

i started P3R after finishing SMT V V. it just feels so slow and even a complete slog at times

[Eut]

Originally posted by King of Games:

i started P3R after finishing SMT V V. it just feels so slow and even a complete slog at times

Yeah. The press turn system is unmatched. The persona combat is too simplistic and boring in comparison. Shame though because I prefer the persona stories but now I have to deal with ♥♥♥♥ combat

[haplok]

Originally posted by Eut:

After playing smt v combat, I can never go back to the persona combat. It just feels fundamentally worse in every single aspect. A persona like story with smt combat would be my dream game.

Sounds like Metaphor:ReFantazio?

[Eut]

Originally posted by haplok:

Originally posted by Eut:

After playing smt v combat, I can never go back to the persona combat. It just feels fundamentally worse in every single aspect. A persona like story with smt combat would be my dream game.

Sounds like Metaphor:ReFantazio?

Maybe. Depends on how great the combat is (magatsuhi skills was so good). But at bare minimum you have the press turns i guess. Story doesn't feel like persona though. Its like halfway between smt and persona. Also still needs to be moddable like the other games

[Krude]

Originally posted by King of Games:

Originally posted by Eut:

After playing smt v combat, I can never go back to the persona combat. It just feels fundamentally worse in every single aspect. A persona like story with smt combat would be my dream game.

i started P3R after finishing SMT V V. it just feels so slow and even a complete slog at times

That's like how I felt when going from etrian odyssey to persona Q, I just couldn't play Q it was sooooooooo slow.

[Shiroka]

Originally posted by Eut:

After playing smt v combat, I can never go back to the persona combat. It just feels fundamentally worse in every single aspect. A persona like story with smt combat would be my dream game.

"SMT IV: Apocalypse" is regarded as the only SMT with a more "Persona" Style Story about a growing bunch of friends trying to save the world. It really divided the community either hating or loving it (especially for its QoL Changes to Smirk!)

[FIo]

Hello, personally I prefer SMT5 and SMT5V to P5R. I realized while playing P5R that it wasn't for me, I prefer the gameplay of SMT and I'm not a gamer who likes to spend 50% of his game time reading.

I have spent +150 hours in SMT5, and I am now at 60 hours in SMT5V and I really love this game, it has become one of my favorite games of all time, I like walking around, hunting demons, "capture" them to merge them, discover new places and adding verticality in gameplay is a very good idea compared to "normal" SMT5.

I think that to play P5R you have to know what you're getting into, I stopped after 90 hours (with at least 30 hours of dialogue lol) of playing after defeating Okumura (the best fight of my 90 hours). Then I realized that ultimately, I didn't like how P5R moved its story forward and I was tired of Mona "hey, you should go to sleep!!!"

Persona is good if you value a story that really takes its time, but that's not the case for me and I think I won't play Metaphor:ReFantazio for that reason after trying the demo... I think it's more Persona than Shin Megami, no?

[the live action film]

Both series are great and I enjoy playing both, I just don't really like any of the spin-offs, they don't go as hard

[Doctrine Dark]

As a megaten fan I like all of there games I just like the SMT games more. But Devil summoner, Survivor and Persona are fun as well. I going to start the original 80s games soon

[MMalficia]

i like them all but i love the SMT tactical spin offs the most . i just wish theyed do a more indepth one ..

[nyannyal]

I play SMT mainly because they're combat oriented. I play Persona because it has better story beats. That being said, I like SMT's vibe more - it's more foreboding, the music is up my alley, the entire Gods and demons thing is more at the forefront. Persona is mostly about human characters dealing with human flaws - and that could go to some pretty interesting territory (Persona 3), it can also overstay its welcome (Persona 5).

I think Metaphor:ReFantazio is a good middle ground (Persona story-beats but press-turn combat) whilst introducing a job-system into the mix, but I sort of don't want to play another social-link and calender based atlus game for the time being (burnt out from Persona 3 Reload earlier this year) so I'll be picking it up on sale. Though having played the demo, I did miss the dopamine rush of fusing demons - but oh well.

[Astolfo]

i never liked persona ''shadows'' while p5 have ''demons'' combat is far too easy,
smt better combat and i like law vs chaos thing and world building

while i do like social-link and calendar its get too repetitive because how long persona games are,

i hope smt 4 and 4a + devil survivor and digital devil saga get release to pc and switch