Do you think we will ever get a Persona game with adults?

[bulldog0890]

high school high school high school man. Do people in Japan feel like life ends after high school or something? damn near ever show and game in japan outside of yakuza involves high school kids. this pretty heavily limits what they can do with relationships and makes certain things incredibly stupid, like teenagers who look like 30 year olds

Can we at least get one of these games set in college at the bare minimum? with adult characters who aren't wildly awkward about sex and have far more freedom to do anything they want?

[Baby Shark]

we did it was persona 2 Eternal punishment. Alot of people look fondly on highschool years but japan does seem extra obsessed. Highschool is pretty carefree and funtime for many. Lots of fond memories. Many Persona fans have had the same sentiment though. why no games featuring adults? I think the formula they got going on could work just as well in a college setting. Even if its not college. you work. so you just go to work during the daytime instead of school and the formula still dosent need to change that much. Just the writing would need to.

[Yürei]

Originally posted by Baby Shark:

we did it was persona 2 Eternal punishment. Alot of people look fondly on highschool years but japan does seem extra obsessed. Highschool is pretty carefree and funtime for many. Lots of fond memories. Many Persona fans have had the same sentiment though. why no games featuring adults? I think the formula they got going on could work just as well in a college setting. Even if its not college. you work. so you just go to work during the daytime instead of school and the formula still dosent need to change that much. Just the writing would need to.

I think the problem is the amount of free time you would have as a worker. You just don't have as much free time compared to a highschool student. College could work tho.

[Queen Nothing]

I think I get where you're coming from. Since Persona is relatively grounded, it makes sense to want the characters to be adults. It gives them — and thus the player — more agency. It is very, very old having characters tell the protagonist to go to bed xD

However ... there's a few reasons I doubt we'll see an adult-cast Persona game anytime soon. For a start, Persona's an anime game, and high-school-age casts just plain make a boatload of cash. These kinds of casts have become a sort of median for the majority of anime fans, and that 17 mark matters in terms of content restrictions in video games and shows. Basically, keeping Persona's cast and restrictions is the most lucrative way to go.

There's also the advantage that teenage cast gives to the developers. Because high school characters in a relatively grounded setting are subject to rules, authorities, routines, that allows gives the developers more options for dictating the cast's behavior and creating the year-ish length of the story. Additionally, this structure has been a refined way for the game to communicate important information with the player.

There's also Lore™ or Tradition™ perspectives of an adult cast too. Normally, teens have been Persona users because the developers see the young mind as more open to change and leaps in understanding (reflected by ascending Personas). Adult Persona Users happen, of course, but they're meant to be the exception, not the norm. This is also a traditional theme of Persona (and Jungian psychology), that adults lose their true selves and spend their lives seeking it again.

But what if all that was moot? There is something to be said for an adult cast. And adult cast would have more liberty, and more liberty opens up new narrative opportunities. Perhaps having adult characters, that can do more things in a day than a teen, will allow for a story that takes place during a shorter period of time, but is more dense because the cast can just show up in their cars to places at any time they have to. There would undoubtedly be a lot more types of places adults could go at a lot more times to go there. Who knows, maybe it becomes a step towards an Open-World Persona?

Despite all that, I would be hesitant on having an adult cast.

Because of the teenage cast, as well the concerns that come with Persona being a global-market title, Atlus has to exercise some kind of restraint. Of course, I don't think Atlus exercises enough restraint, but from their point of view, P5 is what it looks like. I'm concerned that an adult cast would give Atlus the motivation to make Persona as gratuitous as possible, maybe give Kentaro Miura a run for his money. Since an adult cast would enable that possibility, I would be uneasy about Persona going to one.

[bulldog0890]

or even more radical, not set in japan at all

[Aka must die]

You're not the target demographic.

[黒猫]

I hope not.

[WhiteChoc]

Persona fans yearn for like a dragon

[Viper]

What would be the point that would take out 3/4 of the game. The entire high school simulation....Sayonara.

[King Kilo]

try catherine, awesome game.

[Dank Sidious]

Originally posted by bulldog0890:

or even more radical, not set in japan at all

Play a western RPG?

[King Kilo]

Originally posted by Dank Sidious:

Originally posted by bulldog0890:

or even more radical, not set in japan at all

Play a western RPG?

mass effect, dragon age, fallout, baldurs gate, cyberpunk, the elder scrolls. so many amazing western games with dating elements.

[Queen Nothing]

Originally posted by bulldog0890:

or even more radical, not set in japan at all

P5/R opened a can of worms, really. If Tokyo's collective unconscious can create Mementos and Yaldabaoth, other cities' masses across the world that are comparable should be causing their own versions of Mementos and the "Holy Grail." So it would seem that thanks to P5, there are probably false gods under Shanghai, Mexico City, and New York City that need to be dealt with. Who knows, maybe that's where the Shadow Operatives were while a bald fascist with a goatee was able to manipulate the Metaverse in the Operatives' backyard without a response from them.

So a Persona that's set outside of Japan would seem to make plenty of sense from a lore perspective, but realistically, I strongly doubt Atlus would make it. I also think that part of Persona's global appeal is that it's set in Japan and Japan's culture, and setting it somewhere else wouldn't appeal to as many people or their wallets.

[mutantbeth]

i think it would be nice especially towards the people that grew up with persona during the ps2 era but personas pretty much solidified its identity as a school sim dungeon crawler. A lot of fans would be upset to no longer be in a school setting but Id love to see them switch it up for once outside the obvious spin offs. You sort of get a peek on how the calender system for adults could work with Catherine

[Lemiru]

Originally posted by mutantbeth:

i think it would be nice especially towards the people that grew up with persona during the ps2 era but personas pretty much solidified its identity as a school sim dungeon crawler. A lot of fans would be upset to no longer be in a school setting but Id love to see them switch it up for once outside the obvious spin offs. You sort of get a peek on how the calender system for adults could work with Catherine

I'd personally say that they should go with in between and go for a university/college setting, especially if someones worry about too much of a change in setting

[archonsod]

Originally posted by bulldog0890:

high school high school high school man. Do people in Japan feel like life ends after high school or something?

Pretty much. Blame Japan's work/life balance.

Originally posted by Queen Nothing:

However ... there's a few reasons I doubt we'll see an adult-cast Persona game anytime soon.

It'd be the shortest Persona game in history. "Look dude, Sunday is the only day I actually get off work per week. There's no way I'm spending it trawling through some dark, dank dungeon fighting these shadow things."