Personais now almost twenty-five years old. The original game,Revelations Persona, released in 1996 for the PS1. For those unaware it is a spinoff of the granderMegami Tenseiseries that began in 1987 in Japan. Another fun fact about that, the game is based on a book.
So in a wayPersonais a spinoff of a spinoff. Anyway the point is there has been a lot of secrets under the hood of every game in this franchise. The juiciest of which is in regard to cut content. To be specific, this article will look at the last three games. With the upcoming release ofPersona 5 Royal, now is as good a time as any to look into this JRPG juggernaut.
10The Reboot
This article is focusing on the last three games because for all intents and purposesPersona 3was kind of like reboot. It was the first time Katsura Hashino took over as the director of the series and has remained in charge since. While the games before it definitely share themes, the idea of gathering social links, combining social sims with RPGs, was new. It is also technically the fourth game what with the previous game being split into two parts. So maybePersona 6will reinvent the wheel once again.
9Male Bondage
So far this series has yet to feature a male-on-male romantic relationship option. That said there seems to have been plans for Yosuke inPersona 4. There are voiced options found in the game once one cracks it open that alludes to this.
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There is also dialogue eluding more to the fact that Kanji was/is gay, which could have also possibly led to another bromance. Somewhat related Junpei fromPersona 3also has cut dialogue for a romantic partner, but for the female version on PSP.
8Persona Of The Wild
Persona 5was almost about backpackers traveling the world. However, due to the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake, the team wanted to rework the idea to again focus on their homeland. This was discovered in aninterview 4Gamer, a Japanese website, had with Hashino. Persona Central helped translate it. Anyway, Hashino had this to say.
“Because the past works in the series were stories revolved around school and its surroundings, I had been thinking of backpacking: a game where you’re flying around to various places, with the theme similar to that of a journey of self-discovery.”
7Persona Trigger
This footage was at one time accessible onAtlus’website, which was later discovered and archived by YouTuber,Yuriofwind. In this footage it shows thatPersona 3was, at one time, very different in terms of the battle mechanics. Players would run around the dungeon and then transition seamlessly into battle similar to howChrono Triggerworks. The art style in this beta also shows the art looking similar toPersona 2. Yuriofwind has a few more factoids about the game’s development so give that a proper watch.
6Character Alterations
A number of characters received changes over the course of development. For example, Fuuka fromPersona 3looked a lot more like Chihiro. Once she was redesigned that older model was then used for the actual Chihiro. Ken didn’t change much in terms of his look, but his weapon went from darts to his now familiar spear. InPersona 4,Kanji was going to be an older man with black hair with a few different designs overall. Also in that game, Naoto was going to be a male that could be confused with a female instead of the other way around.
5Hifumi Gets Axed, Twice
On a more drastic change of scale, Hifumi was planned to be a party member inPersona 5. Due to time constraints, she was cut down to just a confidant. The team had a second chance to do this withPersona 5 Royal, but instead went with a new female party member, Kasumi. Why not rectify the mistake? Presumably this was done to not affect what was already planned with Hifumi’s character.
4Rise & Ann Connection
Another more in-depth change took years in the making. Instead of taking the backseat inPersona 4as an analyst, Rise was actually going to be playable in battle. When that idea was scrapped the leftovers were later used in designing Ann’s character forPersona 5.
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That’s why the two of them have a lot in common from fashion to idol statuses. At the very least Rise wasn’t scrapped altogether. Makes one wonder if Futaba was ever planned to be playable.
3Sae’s Watchful Eye
Here’s something that could have changedPersona 5altogether. Instead of moving in with Sojiro, Joker was going to end up living with Sae. This would have presumably been done to have the law keep a more watchful eye on him given the fact that he was forced to move due to a falsely accused crime.
The dynamic between sneaking off from a house of law could have made for a more exciting cat and mouse game instead of having the constant flash-forwards in time. While it could have been interesting, fans probably wouldn’t trade that for the current setup as Sojiro rocks.
2Version Revisions
Personahas graced many handhelds in some fashion since its 1996 debut.Persona 2andPersona 3both made it to the PSP. Plans forPersona 4were also going to turn up on that handheld, but it was later reworked for the PS Vita instead, thankfully.
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That system is definitely underrated andPersona 4 Goldenis highly regarded as one of its best games.Persona 5was also going to hit the PS Vita, but this idea was canned altogether. That won’t stop fans from crossing their fingers for aSwitchport though.
1Persona 5 Delays
The wait betweenPersona 4and its sequel was longer than most.Persona 5’sdevelopment started as far back as 2011. It was first shown in 2013 for a winter 2014 date, but was then pushed back to an unspecified date in 2015. It was then moved to summer 2016, which led to the September debut in Japan. At that point it was then announced to hit Valentine’s Day for the West in 2017. Yet that too got pushed back to April. This was all due to Atlus’ parent company, Index Holdings, having financial trouble, which eventually led to Sega fully acquiring Atlus in 2016.
