ThePersonafranchiseis currently celebrating its 25th anniversary, leading many to speculate about upcoming projects for the series. While some hope for additional spin-offs such as a hypotheticalPersona 5 Arena, an eventual announcement of aPersona 6isn’t a question of “if,” it’s a question of “when.”
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As thePersonaseries has gone through significant changes since its beginnings, with each entry developing the franchise more and more, one can only imagine what new featuresPersona 6will bring to the table. So today we’re going to examine the ten things that we hope to eventually see fromPersona 6.
10More Shin Megami Tensei Influence
Persona 5featured the ability to negotiate with shadows in the middle of combat, a mechanic associated with the coreShin Megami Tenseiseries. AsNocturnwas recently re-released, perhaps the waters are being tested to potentially implement more features or tone within thePersonafranchise that are reminiscent of the seriesShin Megami Tenseiorigins.
9Dynamic Dungeons
While Tartarus withinPersona 3and the dungeons withinPersona 4were stale procedurally generated affairs that could be a slog to get through,Persona 5 Royal’s recent approach to dungeons in the series made them a much more enjoyable experience as a whole. With numerous means of mobility such as with the grappling hook and with puzzles to solve, these dynamic and thought-out dungeons are definitely the right direction to move in for the series.
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PerhapsPersona 6can implement yet even more ways to keep each dungeon fresh and distinct, perhaps even including dungeon-specific mechanics.
8Female Protagonist Option
Throughout thePersonaseries, only two games in the core series have allowed the player to play as a female character:Persona 2: Eternal PunishmentandPersona 3 Portable.Of these two games, onlyPersona 3 Portableallowed players the option to choose their character’s gender. By providing this option, many players will be able to gain a better connection to the character and therefore better immerse themselves in the game, all while providing a conduit for additional content to be added to the game.
7Character Creation
Surprisingly, while nearly every game in thePersonaseries features a silent protagonist, no entries in the series have featured character creation. While not completely necessary, as mentioned earlier, these types of choices allow players to more easily put themselves within a character’s shoes, allowing them to invest themselves in a game and their protagonist.
6More Personality From The Protagonist
Save for inPersona 2,the playable protagonists within persona fall into the trope of the silent protagonist. While this allows players to fill in the blanks fo the character’s personality for themselves, it leaves the character lacking, well, character.
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While providing the player character with a more defined personality would definitely make them less open-ended, it would also allow the character to take a more unique and entertaining perspective and one that can actually contribute dialogue.
5Direct Connection With A Previous Entry
Similar toFinal Fantasy, the majority of entries in thePersonaseries are largely disconnected from one and other. However, unlike inFinal Fantasyin which each entry takes place in differing worlds, eachPersonagame takes place within the same world, being loosely connected. However, whilePersona 4allows students to visit the school campus ofPersona 3,Persona 3featured TV cameos ofPersona 2characters, andPersona 2had a playable party member fromPersona 1, the connections to previous entries have become more and more trivial. Perhaps including more direct connections to previous entries in the series could provide a rewarding payoff to long-term fans of the series.
4Older Party Members
While high school has become the default setting within thePersonaseries, it wasn’t always the case.Persona 2: Eternal Punishmentnotably featured playable characters in their twenties and thirties, having the player live in their own apartment while dealing with more mature matters. Despite this, the past three entries in the series have relegated players into the roles of high school students, pigeon-holing the series into the types of characters that can be included and the types of stories that can be told.
3Meaningful Choices
Though thePersonaseries allows players to make choices from which party members to use to which social links and confidants to pursue, the choices that players make tend to have little overall bearing on the course of the game. Perhaps the next installment could provide more weight to a player’s decision-making, having to choose between two possible social links of the same arcana as was the case with Yumi and Ayane inPersona 4, or even having party members that are only accessible when certain choices are made. This could provide the game with an added level or replay value, urging players to see what is possible in consecutive playthroughs.
2Multiple Endings
Furthermore, one of the most notable payoffs that putting an emphasis on choice could have is the inclusion of multiple endings. While games likePersona 4 GoldenandPersona 5do technically havemultiple endings, rather than being based on a player’s choices, they are little more than good, bad, and incomplete alternate endings for the story, often prematurely ending the game.
1Experimentation
One of the best things about thePersonaseries is how distinct each entry is, having its own unique identity from the other entries in the series, from its art direction, to tone, to its musical style. This has stopped the series from ever feeling stale, as evenPersona 3andPersona 4, games on the same console that shared some assets, were able to maintain their own identities through experimentation with what was possible in the series. So if there is one thing that we hope to see fromPersona 6, it’s that the game isn’t played safe, reusing past ideas, rather that risks are taken and the team isn’t afraid to experiment.
