Board 8 > Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore Beated.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I really enjoyed this game! I went in with no expectations and really loved the system. I've been told it's a spinoff of SMT games, and Persona games are a spinoff of SMT. I've never played any SMT or Persona games.

Which game should I go to next if I want to keep exploring this series?

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Persona Series:
Persona 4 Golden --> Persona 5 Royal ---> Persona 3 Portable (or FES, if you can't stand the Visual Novel esque changes to the interface)

SMT:
SMT IV ---> SMT III: Nocturne (featuring Dante)

Someone else is probably more qualified to speak about SMT, since those are the only two I've played. I'm pretty confident about that pathway for Persona though. This gives you a good place to start, so you can see the QoL improvements that Persona 5 made. Then if you become a superfan after P4 and P5, you can go back and play P3.

IMO the first two Persona games aren't worth playing anymore. That's harsh, but they've just aged terribly. It's a shame because I quite like the plot/aesthetic of the P2 games. The battle systems are just ROUGH though.

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There's a lot about this game that's really competent. The battle system's fun, the skill system's cool (though there are too many skills, IMO). Lots of refined systems that feel good. The dungeons are solid, though some of them get a little long. The most impressive thing about it are the crazy production values. There's SO much unique content. Sidequests will have fully animated cutscenes. Moves in battle will have crazy long animations (that are skippable). It feels like the biggest budget game Atlus has made... which is sad, since the core of the game isn't that great. I don't like most of the characters much (though I don't dislike them). Kiria and Yashiro are solid, but Kiria's sidequests suck. The focus on the idol industry isn't super my thing either, though it's executed competently enough. It's a shame all the good things in here weren't applied to a game with better writing.

Which the Persona games are. Persona 3 to 5 are all awesome, have a very similar feel, and are highly recommended IMO. Persona 3 or 4 would be great next steps, especially P3P and P4G.
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I haven't gotten to Mirage Sessions yet, but I assume that the newer persona games are probably closer to it in terms of gameplay/story/characters/general aesthetic than other SMT games, which tend to lean in more into the occult elements and atmosphere over story/characters/etc..

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Loved TMS. I used to say it was better than Persona 5, but Royal has changed that for me


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TMS's story is pretty bad; I don't think it has much in common with Persona other than aesthetic. The story is more similar to the barebones aspects of SMT, except hidden behind a bright and colorful idol veneer. In other words, the Persona games are much better in terms of story.

It's not even the idol aspects that are the most at fault (though it is definitely cringey); it's just bad pacing/plotting/dialogue the entire way through. It is a shame, because the battle system is great and the dungeons are actually kind of creative.

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RikkuAlmighty posted...

Loved TMS. I used to say it was better than Persona 5, but Royal has changed that for me

Damn that's a hot take

I enjoyed tms but it definitely felt like it got half as much effort put into it as Persona

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Pick up either Persona 5 Royal or Persona 4 Golden and then the Nocturne HD port. SMT4 is acceptable if you're ok with dusting off a 3DS. SMT5 also comes out in November and that should serve as a good entry point.

There are tons and tons of SMT spinoffs but the good news is you don't really have to worry about play order outside of a few exceptions within series (Persona 2 duology and SMT4/P5 both have direct sequels). If you dive into the back catalog you will have to deal with clunky mechanics anyways so I don't blame anyone for just jumping into the most recent entries and would in fact encourage it.

Also I would hold off on playing any version of Persona 2 or 3 as it is somewhat likely they'll be getting an updated rerelease soon

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_stingers_ posted...

Damn that's a hot take

I enjoyed tms but it definitely felt like it got half as much effort put into it as Persona

Really? Felt like it got a lot more effort than Persona than me, but had much worse writing.
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