Persona 6 Could Consider Returning to a Combat Design…

Now that Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden have hit modern platforms, more players than ever have gotten to experience these beloved entries in the Persona franchise. Although these games are still fresh in the minds of many players, talk about the next mainline Persona game has been ramping up. While it seems natural that Persona 6 would evolve many of the aspects introduced in Persona 5, the game could look towards an element found in both Persona 3 and Persona 4 when designing its take on the series' Persona-collecting gameplay.

Although it's been six years since Persona 5's release, many of the game's elements still hold up a paragon of JRPG gameplay and the genre's potential. Despite the critical acclaim, many fans still prefer older titles like Persona 3 and Persona 4 to this latest entry. If Atlus wanted to include a nod to these fans by incorporating an element from past games into Persona 6, a great way to do so would be to draw inspiration from their style of unique enemy designs and separate them from the game's collectible Personas.

The Benefits of Returning to a P3 and P4-Style For Enemies in Persona 6

One major change Persona 5 made to its combat system from previous entries was the types of enemies players would face off against. In Persona 5, players battle shadows based on classic Personas from the series and use Joker's Wild Card ability to recruit them to his team of useable Personas with the negotiation mechanic while in combat. This method of coercing enemies to join the player's squad as Personas is much more inline with the game's sister series Shin Megami Tensei, wherein players can negotiate with demons using a similar method.

In contrast, both Persona 3 and Persona 4 pit players against wholly unique enemies that could not be recruited through negotiations. These enemy designs were much different than the Personas players could collect and usually fit more thematically within the games' dungeons. To collect new Personas, Persona 3 and Persona 4 players would instead take part in Shuffle Time after battles where they are given a chance to acquire a new Persona by drawing cards. They can then fuse these Personas into new ones within the Velvet Room, as is standard throughout the rest of the franchise.

Persona 6 could consider returning to this more unique style of enemy design and randomized opportunity for collecting new Personas if it were to factor into the game's theme in some way. If Persona 6 features premade, unique dungeons like Persona 5, the game could design new enemies that fit each specific dungeon's design and theme without having to rely on established Personas to fill up the roster of foes. Making this change would also help the game stand on its own within the series and help maintain the barrier between Persona and Shin Megami Tensei.

The method of obtaining new Personas wouldn't necessarily have to revert back to the Shuffle Time of Persona 3 and Persona 4, but including the randomized element would add to player engagement and keep the dungeon crawling gameplay exciting. Another possible method of obtaining Personas could be to allow players to rescue them from locations hidden within dungeons, giving Atlus a reason to design larger, more open-ended levels. While separating the combat system from the Persona-collecting mechanic may seem like a step backwards for the series, it could be a good nod to Soul Hackers 2's demon recruitment. What's more, going this route could potentially enhance the game's underlying themes depending on how it's implemented.