The recent fan-made stuff got me thinking. What setting would you prefer for P5? Would you want it to remain in high school? University? Or maybe you can think of something else that makes sense. Do you want it to remain in Japan? Do you want the mood to be on the darker side like P3 or a bit more light like P4? 

Hmm, I think the workplace would be a good fit, if they wanted to feature adults instead of peppy teenagers. Of course it depends on the mood Atlas goes for, but I can see a lot of humour and variety coming from adults interacting with each other in that special Persona way. Having watched the entirety of the Endurance Run, I would like to see a radical aesthetic change, either in period or locale. A Persona game leveraging the 80's would be rather wonderful, just for example (think hundreds of Funky Students to chat with). Either way, I would think Atlas would stick with the high school age group, as that's kind of their thing, but I would love to see some more adult situations. Persona's penchant for romantic and sexual innuendos could go to interesting places.

It is going to be a school setting - and of course it will be in Japan, that is their primary market. Source for school setting is Atlas localiser Nich Maragos saying that Atlus regards Persona as the "high school" series of the Megaten universe after the success of P3 and P4 and while adults can use persona (the P3 anime is not held as canon) that would be something for another Megaten spinoff series.

Atlus tends to be iterative within a series - so I expect a very similar school setting, tone and battle system. If it wants to innovate it just starts another Megaten branch spinoff.

Actually it was funny around the P3 launch to hear how Atlus doesn't want to kill off any one popular series and likes to leave a gap between any one SMT branch so not to oversaturate the market. Given since then they have had P3 FES, P3P, P4, P4 arcade, P4 Golden and the anime series - I think the success and cash of persona has forced them to take a different business track :D

I still like the high school setting. As far as the tone...hmm. I really like the lighter tone of P4. I would probably like something similar to that.

It should still be high school but the I really hope the whole town area is more fully realised and more open than the hubs in the P3 and 4.

As much as I love P4, P3 is one of my favourite games ever and the story of that game stuck with me for a long time, so something more like that.

The setting shouldn't change drastically. I enjoyed the chemistry between the high-schoolers of P3 and P4 a whole lot. Atlus are particularly gifted when it comes to creating memorable characters and hit a bunch of consecutive home-runs with the kids. But I'm definitely in for a more serious overall tone - not that P4 didn't have some seriously sad events in it, only the overarching mystery seemed rather "spin-off-y" compared to the events of P3. Put some really dark stuff in there to stir it all up every once in a while and change the mood. Yeah, I'm all for that.

Oh crap, you guys I just realized something. With them being able to accomplish more, graphics-wise, do you think they'll still use the images while characters are speaking? Those things seem like a series staple and I'm not sure if the game would suffer from lacking them. 

@H2Oyea said:

Oh crap, you guys I just realized something. With them being able to accomplish more, graphics-wise, do you think they'll still use the images while characters are speaking? Those things seem like a series staple and I'm not sure if the game would suffer from lacking them.

Oh wow you're right. I'm trying to imagine that and I just cant.

Unfortunately if its a PS3 exclusive I won't be able to play it. But being at the end of Persona 3 Portable, I don't care about that whole story at all. The characters are in general pretty annoying with no real redeeming values. Don't get me wrong, the game itself is amazing and a ton of fun, just the setting kind of kills it for me.

They better let you're unused characters gain EXP at the same rate as the members in battle. Because Persona 3 will occasionally take away party members for a day (with the excuse of that character already having plans) and on at least one boss fight where my characters were in the late 50's I had to use Junpei who was, and still is, level 19.

Oh crap, you guys I just realized something. With them being able to accomplish more, graphics-wise, do you think they'll still use the images while characters are speaking? Those things seem like a series staple and I'm not sure if the game would suffer from lacking them. 

Because Persona 3 will occasionally take away party members for a day (with the excuse of that character already having plans) and on at least one boss fight where my characters were in the late 50's I had to use Junpei who was, and still is, level 19.

I would prefer everything not gameplay related to be more like Persona 3.

Call me crazy but I like the whole High School thing. I'd say keep the Persona 4 tone but make the setting like Port Island.

There's really no negotiating the setting in any way. Every game in the series (to my knowledge) has been about Japanese high school students and demon summoning and some third thing.

High school, But i want a game i can relate to. so i want the main protagnast to be the first to raise his hand in class, and have a 50/50 chance at getting the answer wrong, and you will have no romance options. you will s link with your dog, and with the people in the A/V club but they will all hate you. but in the end you learn to love your self, and be happy with out friends.

As much as I'd like to see it set in late-80's Tokyo featuring 22- and 23-year olds trying to make a living, and CHRIST I'd love that, I don't see them making something other than high school. It'll be set a little ways into the future, probably, so that'd be good. P5 could start to get a little weird if it's set in 2015. Maybe not Persona 3 weird, since that had a damn robot in it, but I don't know. They have options.

I liked the mood and setting for the Persona games thus far. I'm okay with it being lighter in tone. I think think the other Shin Megami Tensei games are better served to take things darker. I really enjoyed those Digital Devil Saga games.

I would like the theme of the game to deal with Rage, Hierarchy, and thing like that. Persona is the perfect series to talk about conflicts of life, and i would like to see Atlus to go one step further instead of being all like "Oh, this is so sad!"(P3) or "AWN! I'm so happy!"(P4). I love the games, but seeing as each sequel has their own theme, i would like to see something different than what the previous games already made. 
I would also like the MC to deal with his father/mother, whatever. 
Also, if they focus on the Norse mythology for the main characters, i'll be a happy motherfucker.

I'd like it to continue off as to where P3 ended and maybe merge both P3 and P4. This is mostly to have combinations of each character from both games. That's probably my dream as to what I want from the next Persona game, but that seems very unlikely. It has to be in high school and in Japan. I'd like to see the pace of it be a bit faster as I find the daily grind of Persona games to be nearly extreme at times while only having a few special events( Christmas, New Years, etc.) This means to have more events and group stuff. Take elements from P4 like making your group seem more important than P3. I'd like a darker tone, but not too dark like P3. Also, I'd like for social links to be expanded upon, maybe make it more important? Having both male and female protagonists would also be awesome. Finally, you shouldn't be able to have multiple girlfriends without consequences. Its very unrealistic and makes the bond between your girlfriend seem insane. I'd like for their to be one love interest and then you can only be close friends with other girls in the game. This makes more sense to me. Other than that, I'll get it day one.

Well we had the city and we had the rural town. So clearly it's time for Persona to be in the 'burbs.

College

I want a Persona game in fucking space.

@Rudeboy217: Space Personas? Sold.

I'd have to go with Jeff on this one, I'd be way more interested in a Persona 4-2 than P5 but I'd rather have that then nothing. As long as there are good characters, crazy persona, and ridiculous and hilarious situations, I'm in,

@Jason_Bourne: If you go by the way they handled The Answer in Persona 3: FES, I would rather have a Persona 5. Although that may be an unfair comparison because it's not really its own game.

I would like to see a college/university setting, but I'm okay with high school if they go with that again.

I always felt that university or college would be a much better setting than high school since the themes and story are actually quite dark and mature. Letting the characters be older could also open up more possibilities and activities. Either way I'm glad there's going to be another Persona.

I'd like to see what I pictured when Catherine was first teased and announced. That premise, those characters, that style, in a game that isn't a block puzzle game.

That sort of puppet-show vibe from that fan-made stuff could make for an awesome theme/aesthetic/flair as well.

If the kids were a little older, after high school, it would probably appeal to me more these days, being beyond that point and more into college era myself; but I was also perfectly fine with all of the Persona games I've seen and played.

I'd like to see something that isn't just high school in Japan. I would love to see their take on American high school. Or just America in general.

@MooseyMcMan: So instead of senpai, chan and san we'd have bro, dog, and son? Maybe a little holmes?

Why wouldn't it be set in high school? All of the Persona games have featured high schoolers (well P2 sort of), and I don't think it would be very wise to make radical changes, considering so many people here want it to be similar to 3/4. But this is just my opinion. Atlus are awesome and they can do whatever the hell they want and I'd still be all over it.

I have nothing wrong with another game set in high school, but I can't think of a way where the MC doesn't know anybody other than them being a transfer student. That part's getting a bit old.

High school is a staple of the Persona games, so I think that will continue and I believe it should. There's a lot more angst and relationship ignorance in high school than later years. I think that's a strong part of the social links storylines. For a while I wondered if college would be better since it might allow more physical relationships, but I've seen enough anime to know that isn't going to happen either way. In fact, since Japan is first and foremost the target audience, and since the ratio of anime that takes place in college is miniscule compared to high school, I'm even more convinced that is the direction P5 will take. Additionally, of course it will be in Japan as it should.

As for lightness or darkness of the story tone, it doesn't matter much to me. I preferred P3 over P4, but that had more to do with the characters than the tone. P3 was much more epic in scale, too which isn't an element that's exclusive to dark or light tones.

The only thing that I'd like is a more jazzy soundtrack like in the animes Blue Submarine No. 6, Najica Blitz Tactics, Baccano! and Read or Die/TV. I'm not saying the whole OST has to be jazzy, I'd just like a stronger jazz influence on the compositions. It would make the live concerts even more amazing.

Oh and I'd love it if you could pick the gender of the MC and then have it mean something within the storyline. Perhaps different endings or a whole set of different social links.

@Video_Game_King said:

There's really no negotiating the setting in any way. Every game in the series (to my knowledge) has been about Japanese high school students and demon summoning and some third thing.

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment was all about adults so...

@Animasta:

It was? Wait, which one was Eternal Punishment? Did it come first, or was it the sequel that got released in America?

I would love if they set the next persona in Eastern Europe and you play as an ex-con trying to set his life straight. Also it'll deal with themes like communism, totalitarianism...

Yeah I think I've been playing way too much Half-Life 2 and Metro 2033 but I definitely would like something other than a high school setting.

@Animasta: Pretty sure the innocent Sin half of that was about Tatsuya, a High School student, and he's still heavily involved in Eternal Punishment(I think), I could be wrong though. Though yeah, for as far as I got in Persona 2 all my party members were 20 somethings at least. Bafou seemed like he might be a little older.

As for P5, of course it's gonna be high school and I'm ok with that. There's a charming innocence and sort of ignorance to the characters in Persona 3 and 4 that I don't think would work as well if you chose to make them older. Tone...idk. I guess it all depends on what they're going for in the story. I really liked the heavy, dark, atmosphere in Persona 3, but at the same time I really liked the lighter tone in Persona 4. If I had to pick one I would probably lean more toward the tone of P4. Persona 4 was way more fun in the laughing, smiling sense and those moments are some of my favorites from the entire two games. Also, when things went down in Persona 4 the sudden shift made everything seem a lot more serious. Rather than things going from shitty to slightly more shitty, things went from happy fun times to near tragic.

@Video_Game_King said:

@Animasta:

It was? Wait, which one was Eternal Punishment? Did it come first, or was it the sequel that got released in America?

it was the sequel to innocent sin that we got yes (though Japan still got it too)

@Animasta:

So I'm guessing that Eternal Punishment only uses adults because it takes place after Innocent Sin, where the characters were still high school students, right? (I've only played one Persona game, and it wasn't that good.)

@Video_Game_King said:

@Animasta:

So I'm guessing that Eternal Punishment only uses adults because it takes place after Innocent Sin, where the characters were still high school students, right? (I've only played one Persona game, and it wasn't that good.)

nope! and I'm not saying the first persona is a good game (it is not) but Persona 2 is a lot better than it in every way, and it probably has the best story of the persona games; though I'm playing the fan translation of P2:IS since I don't have a PSP, but man is that game annoying to play :/

the 2nd P2 game has completely different characters besides the one character you play as (not the main character in innocent sin though), but they're all characters you run into in innocent sin

@Animasta:

I just threw in that Persona line to give you an idea of how much I know about Persona in general, and why this argument is just me asking questions about these games :P.

It should be in a school for cripples, and the protagonist should have a heart problem.

I don't mind the setting being high school again I mean wasn't from that game SMT If... that the Persona series was born from? so it makes sense if the next game centers arround that is common ground for the series , if you want a different setting there are the other SMT spin-off about teens or adults summoning demons , personally I just want anything from Persona 5 right now, as far of mood I don't know having a plot not revolving arround the end of the world in Persona 4 was kinda refreshing they tied into the whole end of the world at the end but that's to be expected ,so if anything I will like something completly opposite to both P4 and P3 whatever that is, just give me killer J-rap /J-rock soundtrack from Shoji Meguro and Im in.

Yeeah, I don't think the high-school setting will be going anywhere. A college setting could be interesting though but Japan loves their high-schoolers.

I'm good with whatever they wanna do, not much Atlus has done with this series has disappointed me that much. I would be slightly worried though, if they start running with the potential continuity set up by The Answer and that bit of dialogue with Margaret after you beat her.

I don't care if it's just Catherine with tarot cards, I'm still buying it.

@ThatFrood: Katawa Persona? That doesn't really sound appealing even though I like both...

@MasturbatingestBear said:

But being at the end of Persona 3 Portable, I don't care about that whole story at all. The characters are in general pretty annoying with no real redeeming values. Don't get me wrong, the game itself is amazing and a ton of fun, just the setting kind of kills it for me.

Thank crap someone else thinks this, whenever I say that I don't like the characters or story from Persona 3 people think I'm insane. It simply didn't click with me, all the guys were either stupidly pushed to extremes or just douchebag dudebros, then all the girls felt just...ugh...Fuuka was the only one I liked because she wasn't some total 'omagod no wai' bitch.

Since it's going from the PS2 to the PS3, it's time Persona bumps up to a college/university. Makes sense with most of the long term fans who've played the previous Persona titles that they were in High School themselves, that it's time they bump into the next level.

Persona 4 was too campy and continuing that trend would make it a little stale in trend.

P3 was emoish, P4 was happy moody, P5 should just go all out and go totally dark similar to the early 80's SMT games.

The fan-made music stuff from ATLUSxP5 as mentioned earlier is something I'm looking forward too, and the creator seems to want to make the entire game theme set on puppetry, which I could totally see happening for P5

Japan actually has a lot of puppetry going on such as the Bunraku puppet shows for example. P3 was centered around apathy, P4 was self-discovery, so with the whole puppet motif the creator was doing, I'd say P5 with the theme of control or self-control is pretty appropriate

I can already imagine how the whole plot works too, say the mysterious boss like in every single Persona game, this one for P5 controls people against their will to do their bidding and the protagonist and company have to find the source to stop it with help from old friends from the Velvet Room. This creator also suggested cameos for Philemon and even Nyarlathotep from P2 (except this person wants him to come back as a female?) so I do hope Atlus is planning to finally bring back these characters for the new game somehow

@ThatFrood said:

It should be in a school for cripples, and the protagonist should have a heart problem.

Now THAT'S something I can relate to.

Better yet make it a school of emotional cripples and tie that into the S links!

I would like to see something darker than usual in the Persona series... like, taking a similar approach to Nocturne and DDS. I really don't care for the high school setting... even though I like it very much, if they take the series to an entirely different one, and if it's done well, I'm sure I'll be into it.

I still want high school, tone more similar to P3 than P4, and the choice between a male or female protagonist right from the start XD

And, for the love of whatever, I want to keep my character level on New Game +

2 years after P4, Nanako main character with half high school students and half Persona 3 and 4 cast returns.