So reading comments on a recent thread relating to Persona 5 and seeing a couple of comments on Andriasang about Shoji Meguro's thoughts his work for a Persona 5, I've been wondering what people would want most from Persona 5's tone compared to Persona 4's.

Generally, from the look of the game (bright yellows everywhere), the music and the events, Persona 4 was a pretty happy game. This also had the effect of making some of the more emotional scenes much more affecting than they probably would have been otherwise. In Persona 3, things were a bit darker from the impending doom theme to the colors used and a whole bunch of other stuff (Evokers, death, suicide...). I enjoyed both Persona 3 and Persona 4, so it's somewhat hard for me to decide which of these I would like to see more in a Persona 5.

I liked the more darker stuff from Persona 3 so a liitle more in the direction would be nice. Persona 4 was a complete 180 from the past megaten games which was a nice change of pace

After playing both P3 and P4, I prefer P4's vibrant colors over P3's darker ones.

That depends, by darker do you mean Persona 3? I much preferred the tone of 4 to 3 in that case.

@ImmortalSaiyan said:

That depends, by darker do you mean Persona 3?

Pretty much, yeah. Darker/more serious tone was one of the major things that differentiated Persona 3 from Persona 4.

I could go either way, but if I were to choose I would probably say that I prefer the darker tone of Persona 3.

I think P4 was plenty dark/moody when necessary, but also showed wider range by often presenting us with a lighter, carefree atmosphere.

Much rather P4 than P3.

No, I enjoyed Persona 4's positive outlook more. Persona 3 is a pretty depressing game.

I don't think so, but the main thing I want out of P5 is another cast of extremely like-able characters. I think I prefer the P4 tone over what I have seen of the P3 tone.

@FluxWaveZ said:

@ImmortalSaiyan said:

That depends, by darker do you mean Persona 3?

Pretty much, yeah. Darker/more serious tone was one of the major things that differentiated Persona 3 from Persona 4.

I think in general Persona 4 is better written with more likable and complex characters. It's funny but serious when necessary, and strikes a excellent balance. Persona 3 tried to go dark but never resonated with me the way 4 did. I'm unsure weather that is because the Persona team is worse are writing dark stories or it was a case of less experience.

I have nothing against a more overall serious tone but feel Persona 3 never quite nailed it.

The tone of the game should be what's required to serve the characters and story. It shouldn't be dark for the sake of being dark. If Persona 5 could match the tone of Persona 2, that would be fantastic, as well; I'd enjoy that more than what Persona 3 gave us. But at this point, I'll take whatever tone that Atlus is willing to give us.

Hmm it shouldn't try to mimic the tone of Persona 4 but rather find it's own voice.

@FluxWaveZ said:

... comments on Andriasang about Shoji Meguro's thoughts his work for a Persona 5 ...

That link mentions that there may be an update that, I'm guessing, translates more of what he said. Is that anywhere?

How does it actually get darker than Persona 4? That game is brutal. Just because it has a light side to it doesn't take away from how psychologically bent that game can get. (no Kanji puns intended). That's one of the things I loved about Persona 4 is it covered all different facets of human emotion and personality; the best and the worst. If what you're actually looking for is a more -serious- Persona, then I definitely say no. If you want that, go play Strange Journey and Devil Survivor, both of which were amazing titles.

The thing is, I don't feel like the doom and gloom of most of Persona 3's main story quite meshed with the whole High School Social Link Dating Sim type thing. Persona 4 isn't all sunshine and J-Pop, there is some pretty messed up stuff at the end of that game, but I think that its lighter tone is more cohesive to what the gameplay actually entails.

http://www.giantbomb.com/shin-megami-tensei-persona-4/61-21373/what-type-of-tone-do-you-want-i-persona-5/35-260862/

Your very own thoughts on the subject:

@FluxWaveZ said:

@Fallen189 said: "Make this in the persona franchise. And this questions been asked a thousand times already. "

@ArbitraryWater said:

The thing is, I don't feel like the doom and gloom of most of Persona 3's main story quite meshed with the whole High School Social Link Dating Sim type thing. Persona 4 isn't all sunshine and J-Pop, there is some pretty messed up stuff at the end of that game, but I think that its lighter tone is more cohesive to what the gameplay actually entails.

Persona 3's story was always kind of odd. High school students by day and secret shadow hunting organization comprised of orphans and students with mommy and daddy issues. Also, one is a vengeance-minded elementary school student, another is a dog, and yet another is filthy rich and commands Bruce Wayne levels of power. (Though to be fair, Mitsuru is basically the Kei Nanjou of P3.)

I can't think of any game that wouldn't be better with a darker tone to it. I admit that this is just my opinion, and that I know a lot of people that are so sensitive that dark / Gothic media actually affects their mood, so changing the tone might not be better for the series.

If they tried to capture the feel of one of the other games I don't think it work. They have to try for something different. I loved Persona 4 (it's probably my favorite game I've played), and I tried to play P3 but have had a hard time getting into it. I still like the battles but the characters just haven't clicked and neither has the story. I don't mind dark/serious games and i think at times Persona 4 really got dark and had it's serious moments, it just also had lighthearted moments that kept everything refreshing and didn't drag your mood down with it. So if they hit the middle ground again I'll be happy, but whatever way they take it as long as they pull of the characters and story i'm sure i'll enjoy it.

@H2Oyea said:

http://www.giantbomb.com/shin-megami-tensei-persona-4/61-21373/what-type-of-tone-do-you-want-i-persona-5/35-260862/

Your very own thoughts on the subject:

@FluxWaveZ said:

@Fallen189 said: "Make this in the persona franchise. And this questions been asked a thousand times already. "

That was before we even had a Persona 5 page. Plus, I wanted to see the clear results of a poll.

I think I enjoyed the tone of Persona 3 more than I did 4, but there's something to say for both. I hope it's something different from both though.

I really enjoyed the upbeat vibrant feeling of P4, It really was one of the main draws. In addition to that, pretty much every other SMT game is fairly dark, so having persona become the happier franchise would be pretty cool. That said, I would still buy it if they went darker, I liked P3 a lot as well.

4 did a good job with this. Things were fucked up and emotional when needed but the characters were able to remain likable. The sunny pop menus contrasted the moments of darkness.

3 was a little TOO angsty at times.

The art from that fan made P5 soundtrack is kind of what i want for the game, I think the normal Kazuma Kaneko art is too dark for Persona, but I don't want the same art they've had for 3 and 4, a little too typical anime, its fine, just something different character design wise would be interesting. Just as long as Persona stays away from the endless amount of accessorizing that so many JRPGs have. Part why the art is appealing now is that the kids kind of dress like teenagers.

@Hailinel said:

@ArbitraryWater said:

The thing is, I don't feel like the doom and gloom of most of Persona 3's main story quite meshed with the whole High School Social Link Dating Sim type thing. Persona 4 isn't all sunshine and J-Pop, there is some pretty messed up stuff at the end of that game, but I think that its lighter tone is more cohesive to what the gameplay actually entails.

Persona 3's story was always kind of odd. High school students by day and secret shadow hunting organization comprised of orphans and students with mommy and daddy issues. Also, one is a vengeance-minded elementary school student, another is a dog, and yet another is filthy rich and commands Bruce Wayne levels of power. (Though to be fair, Mitsuru is basically the Kei Nanjou of P3.)

Yeah, in general the cast of Persona 3 is a bit more willing to go for crazy and fit a bit more snugly into anime archetypes than their Persona 4 counterparts. That's also another aspect of why there is some serious tonal dissonance going on. I never thought Mitsuru and Akihiko were really ever super credible as high school students. Regardless, the plot doesn't suffer much for it. I just prefer the more lighthearted tone of P4.

I don't know, I mean Persona 4 did get pretty dark anyway.

@FluxWaveZ said:

@H2Oyea said:

http://www.giantbomb.com/shin-megami-tensei-persona-4/61-21373/what-type-of-tone-do-you-want-i-persona-5/35-260862/

Your very own thoughts on the subject:

@FluxWaveZ said:

@Fallen189 said: "Make this in the persona franchise. And this questions been asked a thousand times already. "

That was before we even had a Persona 5 page. Plus, I wanted to see the clear results of a poll.

"The question's been asked a thousand times already". That doesn't sound like someone who wants to know anymore about the proposed question.

@Hailinel said:

The tone of the game should be what's required to serve the characters and story. It shouldn't be dark for the sake of being dark. If Persona 5 could match the tone of Persona 2, that would be fantastic, as well; I'd enjoy that more than what Persona 3 gave us. But at this point, I'll take whatever tone that Atlus is willing to give us.

if persona 5 could do what persona 2 did... man! a persona 2 esque game that I actually enjoy playing would make it the best SMT game ever.

@H2Oyea said:

"The question's been asked a thousand times already". That doesn't sound like someone who wants to know anymore about the proposed question.

With the knowledge of more Persona 4 products, of some news concerning Persona 5 and with time passed, I wanted to see the clear, numbered results of a poll on this issue.

I don't like Persona 3 as much as I love Persona 4 so I'd like for it to be more like that. Persona 3 was way too emo for me. The whole evoker/suicide thing is still pretty creepy to me. Not to mention the protagonists emo look. I'd rather have a more complex tone instead of it being either darker or lighter. I'm hoping Persona 5 is an evolution of the franchise and is more than just deciding on a mood for a game. At least these are my expectations.

I don't think it needs to be darker or lighter, unless they have a specific reason for taking it down that path. I also think it'd be cool to see a protagonist group in college or something of that nature.

"Darker" means nothing on it's own. I want the story of any subsequent work to always be more, mean more, and be communicated better than it's predecessor. Being "darker" or "lighter" has nothing to do with that.

@Brendan: Yeah, this seems to be a common response among people in this thread. Mostly what compelled me to make this poll is, in fact, the association with a "dark" or "happy" mood that people had formed when referring to the recent Persona games and Persona 5.

I want them to do whatever they want, I can't really decide. The only reason I love Persona 4 more than Persona 3 is due to full control of party members and tartarus-like dungeons being gone (because seriously, fuck tartarus). If Persona 3 would have had dungeons more akin to P4 and full party control I could not pick which one is my favorite of the two.

I really enjoyed Persona 4's tone more than Persona 3's. P3 seemed like it was trying too hard to be dark, with death this, coffins that, shoot yourself in the head to cast magic, blah blah blah. Persona 4 was silly, with a few dark moments thrown in there, making those moments more effective. It'd be fine if P5 were a balance between the two.

Atlus can do whatever the fuck they want.

I'll still be down.

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

And an older Nanako as a player character, please and thank you.

Games that have a "dark" theme are overrated imo. I come into a game to have fun, so I don't mind games that have "lighter" themes as long as they are fun to play. As for Persona 5, I wouldn't mind if it had a similar tone to Persona 4. I care more about the characters anyway then how the tone of the story is.

I liked P4's tone... like when shit went south, it just hit HARD, the stuff with Nanako, going through her dungeon, the soundtrack, everything int hat game was just a sharp turn from everything else. P3, is just kinda downy, and yeah, shit went crazy, but it didnt have the punch to the chest like P4 did.

I just want great memorable characters.

I liked the tone a little bit better in Persona 3 when it came to the supernatural stuff, but Persona 4 pretty much got everything else. Also how about another rival persona team?

I want the tone to work with the story, that's about it.

At this point, it doesn't really matter. We got good examples for darker and lighter Persona games. Besides, the Persona team is pretty good at what they do. Whatever comes out, there is a good chance that it's gonna be great.

Well, Catherine had the feel of 3, so maybe they should go back the the happy tone again.

All I know is I think it might be impossible for them to have a lighter tone than 4. As for darker? I'm not sure.

I'd prefer a darker tone, Persona 4 was good but I much prefer the earlier entries in the series. Any time it seemed like things were going to get real bad in P4 it ended up working out happily without any real consequences.

I'd like for it to be more like Persona 3. 
 
P3 had a nice combination of funny/emotional character moments. That made the ending all the more depressing. 

I think persona 4 is a pretty good indicator that you can have a fairly edgy story with teenage characters that doesn't feel like a disney outing or a horror movie. Wouldn't mind it keeping the same tone for a little while longer.

I'd much rather have a darker tone again.

That's not to say I'd hate if it had a light tone.

I dunno. Persona 4 got pretty raw in spots. Also I'm reluctant to ask for a darker game when the industry's idea of "dark" differs wildly from mine.