Why Does Persona Overshadow SMT?

Shin Megami Tensei V was my most anticipated release of 2021. Unfortunately, however, that sentiment wasn't as strong with many Atlus fans, considering Persona 5 Strikers, a spinoff of a spinoff series, has been selling at a comparable pace since its worldwide release earlier in the same year.

While SMT 5 didn’t bomb by any means and Vengeance is on the way, it's led me to wonder how things turned out this way. In this video, I go on a deep dive of the series' history in an effort to piece together a comprehensive list of reason why Persona overshadows SMT.

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:56 Series Origins
1:38 Series Title
2:24 Sales
2:59 Persona 3
3:52 Post-Persona 3 And Relatability
5:46 Essence of Persona
7:45 Persona 5
8:50 What's next for SMT?

Music:
Jouin High School — SMT V OST
Micorn & Departure — Megami Tensei 1 OST
Talk - Edifice — SMT V OST
Burn My Dread — Persona 3 OST
Pursuing My True Self — Persona 4 OST
Phantom — Persona 5 OST
Tokyo - Dawn — Shin Megami Tensei V OST

Playlists:

#persona #smt #sega #atlus #smtv

[Choicental]

Timestamps and music are in the description! This is my first video, so any feedback, advice, ideas, etc. would be appreciated. Thanks for reading

[jessielsanchez]

We gotta give Persona props though, because now mainline SMT is growing much larger. I mean, look at how excited the people were for Nocturne HD and look how SMT V Vengeance is doing at the moment. This is also backed up by the fact that it’s multi platform this time around (fucking finally).

Regardless, Persona will always sell more due to its aesthetics, its characters, its stories, their messages… and overall it’s more relatable and approachable for casual audiences. Which is a huge reason as to why Persona is also so loved by western fans, as opposed to SMT, that is still pretty niche over here (though it’s now growing).

[KamenKami]

Because Persona fans can't live in a world and STRENGTH, and feel bad when a demon eats their mom. Jokes aside. Persona by design, was made to be easier to digest.

[Felix-icfc]

Persona: power of friendship

Shin megami tensei: just you and your army of angels, demons and deities

[ZSleepingDragonZ]

I'll give you an example of another game franchise that perfectly illustrated why Persona is more popular than SMT...Fire Emblem. Fire Emblem was a niche franchise that fans loved for its strategy and difficulty...like SMT. But it was selling really poorly until Intelligent Systems changed its formula: adding a casual mode that disables permanent death and a relationship system like social links that promotes character interaction. You can say Fire Emblem "Persona-fied" itself to be way more appealing to the general public.

[sals]

I'll stop you right there and say from the onset Persona was always designed to be more popular than SMT. They outright state that when developing Persona 3 and 4 that they made it to bring mainstream audiences into their rpg series.

[exmerion]

I like that SMT games are Post- apocalypse and Persona games are Pre-apocalypse. I enjoy the mind-fuck SMT plots and also the cozy Persona plots.

[cavewulf]

Personally I think it's because SMT is more philosophical about the concept of chaos and order while persona is more about human struggles and friendship.

[Angry_Jetpack]

Ultimately, I think Persona and mainline SMT are two separate fanbases. People like Persona for the characters, stories that hold life lessons, and calendar system. People like SMT for the expendability of demons, freedom of choice, and really dark stories with multiple endings that aren’t ever really confirmed to be canon, making it all a self-determined story. They both have their own appeals and, despite holding the same roots, have managed to turn into different game series’ entirely.

I think Persona is meant to be more approachable for a lot of reasons, while SMT is meant to be the devs not holding back on their initial vision of what they wanted the series to be. I think it’s really cool how incredibly bold SMT as a series is. There’s never really a good ending where everything is resolved and nothing bad will happen ever again. Typically, people die and bad things happen regardless of what you do. Meanwhile, Persona DOES have bad endings, but there’s ALWAYS a good ending. One where the main storyline is resolved and everyone can go back to their normal lives. I personally prefer that, but I’m not opposed to SMT’s approach at all.

Like I said, I think the SMT and Persona fanbases are separate and different because their respective game series’ are separate and different. I just think that’s cool. There’s not really a point to this comment other than sharing my thoughts on this.

[shinobuu__]

Personally, I like Persona more because of

1. Setting: not just the highschool, but it takes place in a setting that allows for some relax time whereas in SMT it always seems like stakes are 100% all the time with no rest in the story
2. Its more character driven since you are building a bond with the characters which I feel is more fun than it being a solo journey
3. The music is banger
4. The artstyle is just more appealing to me

[jesusceren]

Seeing how well SMTVV is doing (1.6 million on first week), I think more people will jump on mainline SMT as time goes on.

[Rman]

Even though SMT may not be as popular as Persona (for now, I think a lot of people really seem to like SMTVV) the best thing Persona did was take the burden of being the sales and mainstream leader off of SMT. So now SMT can focus on what it does best without having to worry as much about selling well. It's really starting to pay off and I'm glad to see it

[pyxelpub]

It seems the common section in this video has completely overlooked. One of the most significant reasons why persona will always outsell shin Megami.

I agree with many of the points you mentioned, but without equal the most important point is marketability .
Yes, persona has social links and a chill vibe going on, but it’s more than that. SMT is without equal one of the most blasphemous franchises out there. For example, in Saudi Arabia, Pokémon is not allowed because some Pokémon look “Satanic”. Now imagine a game about religion and Satan himself.

SMT five is one of the best games I have ever played period, but I cannot recommend this game to half the people I know. A 15-year-old can play persona and enjoy it despite the fact that it says rated M for mature, but the very nature of SMT means it will forever be accessible to the majority of gamers out there. A game that is about making friends and social links is by nature More accessible as a result.

I mean, one game is about joining your friends to kill Demons, and the other is about joining demons to kill your friends. Which one sounds like it’s gonna have a larger audience.

[Charle_Z]

I’m just glad that both mainline SMT and Persona are multi platform now. Makes for better sales and accessibility.

[bubbletea_]

it goes over a lot of people's heads that soul hackers 2 did experiment with a good amount of the ideas that the persona fan base wanted. talking protagonist, female protagonist, all adult cast, essentially social links with a more adult aesthetic, story choices that affect points with your friends. it came out to lower than expected sales and pretty mediocre reception though. i think a lot of people have a tendency to say they really want something, but it becomes a very fleeting enjoyment once they do get it. like how people really wanted a new pokemon snap game but the hype for it only lasted a short time.

[koutakossuth]

I like both persona and mainline, but the combat of 3 and VV is why i keep coming back.

[im_justin_u]

I got an idea to make SMT mainstream all they need to do is to bring back the buddy system from SMT 4 but only taken up by waifus who represent law, chaos, and neutral. Whatever route you pick is the goddess who will create a new world with you.

[happygofishing]

Persona overshadowed SMT because SMT was stuck on shitty handhelds since the PS2, this may change now that they are both multiplatform.

[urdatninja]

Honestly great first video, I like how you mentioned relatability and I think that:
1. that's precisely what gets most people into the persona series.
2. persona fans simply don't bother to give smt a chance, and if they do it's not what they expect because they want more of persona, I feel like not many people can appreciate smt's themes.
In spite of how great the smt games may be they simply do not appeal like the persona games do.
(ashamed to say that I've only played smt3 and only recently that I've heard of smtv getting a new dlc that I want to try it out, I probably can't be considered a smt fan but my renewed interest in the series makes me want to see more of it and I can only hope more people give it a shot)

[LucaFrancesca]

Tbf I much prefer the SMT gameplay and flow than the Persona one. But I see your point. Good video :)