Shin Megami Tensei vs. Persona: Who, What and Why They're Both Great
When one thinks of Japanese Role-Playing Games (JRPG's), the first ones that come to mind are Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Megaten. Under the Megaten umbrella, they primarily have Shin Megami Tensei (SMT) and Persona (P) games developed by Atlus. Persona has gained a huge following, thanks to Persona 3, 4, and especially 5. Ironically, the series that Persona spun off from, Shin Megami Tensei, has struggled a bit to break out of its niche. I love both series dearly, though evoker to my head (that's some Persona 3 humor for you), Persona edges out slightly. For SMT, it deserves more love and credit, and that's part of what I want to discuss today.
“I am thou. Thou art I”
Shin Megami Tensei started off in the late 80's on the Super Famicom and was based off a novel written by Aya Nishitani. SMT and Persona plots tend to be like Final Fantasy where they involve a whole new set of characters each game, with loosely referenced, previous entries. Every story focuses on an apocalypse (or birth of a new world), with demons roaming the earth, with the protagonist making choices that affects the ending. Gameplay is a turn-based dungeon crawler, with monster collecting (similar to Pokemon). Persona isn't the only spin off, it's just the most popular and largest departure. Other genres of the series feature hack n’ slash (Devil Summoner), and RPG's with slight changes to the mainline formula (Digital Devil Saga).
From Xenoflux Raiden - How to get into Shin Megami Tensei
The start of the Persona series came out in 1996 with Persona 1 on the Playstation and blew up with Persona 3 in 2006. Each game has a high school setting, where the protagonist and their comrades gain access to another form of themselves called Personas. The protagonist always has the “Wild Card” where they have access to multiple personas, and forming bonds strengthens them. From Persona 3 onward, most of the other personas that the hero can use are demons pulled from the SMT series. With Persona games, they are turn-based like SMT.
“Law and Chaos”
For simplicity, I'm focusing purely on the main-numbered Persona and SMT games. While they're both turn-based RPG's with monster collecting, there are key differences that set them apart. With the battle system in SMT, the party set up is generally the protagonist with up to 3 demons, and in Persona, the party is the protagonist using the skills of the persona they are equipped with, with up to 3 party members using a set persona of their own. SMT moves more like a Pokemon trainer fighting alongside their Pokemon, but with Persona, more Final Fantasy if the party members used stances from JoJo's Bizarre Adventures.
Persona 1
The enemies in SMT are the collectible demons and recruiting them in battle is one of the main methods of obtaining them. In Persona 3 to 5, the enemies are called shadows (and aren't recruitable). With Persona 5, however, it was adapted from the SMT formula of demons being the enemies and recruitable allies.
Persona 1 and 2 are actually less of a drastic change from the main SMT series, but Persona 3 broke the mold with the introduction of a calendar system, where the player would decide how they would spend the day (outside of forced instances), with the game requiring you to finish a dungeon by a certain date, or else the game ends. This also came with the addition of social links, which are activities and dialogue you can have with other characters, thus strengthening the hero's bond with that character. Not only is it an emotional journey to see these characters grow and find themselves, this also gives the players perks such as bonuses in battle or new powerful personas that can be fused (this is another common of creating demons/personas in both series). SMT on the other hand, tends to follow a more straightforward RPG narrative of going through towns, overworlds, and dungeons.
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In terms of story, SMT tends to deal with the end of times and/or the birth of a new world. Demons run amok, while the human population becomes barren. With Persona, everything abnormal tends to exist in an alternate dimension or universe (with Persona 1 and 2 being exceptions). Though the climaxes of Persona generally lead up to world ending or altering events, SMT seems to have real worlds that immediately get turned inside out. Persona, on the other hand, has its setting becoming endangered over time.
Both series have multiple endings that are handled differently. In the SMT games, you make choices at various points that lean toward either Law, Chaos, or Neutral. Each faction has its own unique ending, though the most popular SMT game, SMT 3: Nocturne (the one with Dante from Devil May Cry) uses “Reasoning” instead. Law is usually associated with heaven and wants peace, but less freedom, whereas Chaos is associated with Hell and wants free will with no rules. Neutral lean towards humans dealing with the world themselves without the conflict of heaven and/or hell. Persona has multiple endings that are also decided by choices and other actions, but there's always a canon ending, and there's less interpretation for alternate takes. There may be one or two endings that aren’t canon but still “complete” the series.
From Playstation
“Another God...Accepted?”
Now if you aren't sold yet on either of these series, here’s my opinion on why I enjoy both. Aesthetically the games are gorgeous, between the character models, animations, UI, etc, I would go as far to say that Persona 5 is one of the prettiest media I've ever seen. The social link and calendar system is unique, and almost lets you pick the pace you want to play the game. The idea of being timed can be stressful but using time management is just a key factor of the game with later games making it easier to correct if you make a mistake. Story wise the games are always enjoyable. They make you care about the characters and keeps you guessing what will happen next. The battle system has the right balance of accessible, but it’s not mindless. Music wise, Persona always has tracks that bring the down the house, with Persona 3's final battle theme being one of my favorite songs.
My love for SMT parallels Persona, but for different reasons. The aesthetics of the games are great, but instead of it being colorful and flashy, the characters and UI can be more edgy and subdued. The battle system feels like a great balance between simple and challenging, with SMT's rock music providing the atmosphere. Story wise, SMT is a trip, though it's a bit less direct. Not everything is handed to you and sometimes the amount of cutscenes can be a bit much.
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Overall, the main complaints I hear about SMT compared to Persona are generally these three statements:
· “It's too bleak/depressing/drab looking”
· “It's too difficult”
· “I've never heard of it”
For the “bleak/depressing” point, I understand how tough life can be, with some people not wanting to escape reality where the world has ended or ending (especially after this past year). It may help to think of SMT as trying to rebuild a broken world, rather than thinking it's ended. Even though I like the aesthetics of SMT, perhaps it needs a bit more of its own flair to compete with Persona.
In terms of challenge, this is hard to argue because some players just want to play games to relax, with a little grinding. What I can say is that SMT III: Nocturne HD, which is a game known for being difficult, adds an “easy” difficulty (Merciful Mode). Personally, I and many others, think this mode is too easy and hurts the experience, but the option is there if you just want to experience the story. There's also a suspend save option for convenience as well. Because of this addition, I think a mode like this will become a staple in the future. Prior to SMT 4, there were no video walkthroughs, but now there is a lot more resources to get through those “Matador” and “Minotaur” boss fight scenes.
Lastly, for actually not knowing what this game is, this is Atlus’ fault for not marketing it as strongly as Persona or let’s say Yakuza. Hopefully this will change with SMT V, especially if Nocturne HD does well in sales internationally.
“This is where your justice ends”: Final Thoughts
Regardless of what you already know about each series, SMT and Persona continues to increase my knowledge and interests. This is due in part to the characters, as well as the symbolism from ancient mythology in their plots. Even if you're not a turn-based RPG fan, there are multiple spin-offs among them that provide a quality experience, like Persona 5: Strikers, which recently arrived in America. For SMT, keep an eye out for Shin Megami Tensei V for the Nintendo Switch which is releasing later this year. Right now, there's Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne HD Remaster to tide us over……for now. Overall, Persona has a nice blend of fighting plus drama, all the while pulling your heart strings, but SMT, is worth playing if you just want to punch God in the face.
