• As part of the relaunch of Skullheart, ALL previous threads have been archived. You can find them at the bottom of the forum in the Archives (2021) section. The archives are locked, so please use the new forum sections to create new discussion threads.

Shin Megami Tensei and Persona

North888 said:
It's all so...random...doesn't seem to have much rhyme or reason for the placement, nor does the design feel very applicable. It's not even a disgusting angel, it's just a robot tat's apparently an angel.
this kinda design is a regular thing of Amemiya. And that's just one of the two examples I could find for Amemiya's designs in SMT4. I personally love it. Its so disjointed and uneven and that works for me.
 
A few other notes about the P5 crew (spoilering in case anyone wants to go in P5 blind or whatever):
- Soejima says that while the protagonist of Persona 5 may appear to be the quiet type from what we’ve seen of him so far, this is a ruse of some sort. Meanwhile, his Persona, Arsene, is meant to give off a more oldschool vibe, visually speaking. Arsene’s cape is designed to convey the image of a thief that can go to places out of others’ reach.

- Hashino reveals that the main character meets Anne and Ryuji, the other two characters in the trailer, at the start of the game. All three characters have problems of their own, although just what their problems are is not specified. It is hinted at in the Famitsu feature that both the protagonist and his friends have lost their homes.

- Persona 5’s protagonist also runs into the cat character, Morgana, at the start of the game, and Morgana is said to play an important role in the story.

- As far as the battle system goes, Hashino confirms that Persona 5 will once again have turn-based battles, but that the team has incorporated several changes to make it more enjoyable. Hashino also mentions that each character carries a distinct “gun” that serves as their ranged weapon. These aren’t actual guns, though, even though they can be used in battle.

- As Persona 5 will still feature randomly-generated areas, but that certain areas in the game are specifically designed with the thief motif in mind. A Social Link-like feature will be present as well, although details on this front have not yet been announced.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Clawsome Bombs
will the strongest version of each character's gun just be an actual version of that gun
 
No, it's obviously going to have magic.
 
Anne's final weapon is a whip with a rocket launcher at the end of it so she's just spinning in circles and shooting rockets everywhere with magic
 
  • Like
Reactions: Clawsome Bombs
With the gun and melee weapon I feel like it's going to be a blend of SMT 4 and Persona 4, gameplay wise.
 
Matty said:
Anne's final weapon is a whip with a rocket launcher at the end of it so she's just spinning in circles and shooting rockets everywhere with magic

Someone hire this man for Bayonetta 3

Morgana ultimate weapon confirmed slingshot that shoots cutlasses
 
  • Like
Reactions: Era
ryuji gets a shotgun that shoots chainsaws that shoot shotguns that shoot pornography magazines that shoot Big Boss who shoots The Boss at the end of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
 
  • Like
Reactions: Era
Clawsome Bombs said:
Someone hire this man for Bayonetta 3

Morgana ultimate weapon confirmed slingshot that shoots cutlasses
I love bayonetta.. no wonder Anne clicked with me instantly... confirmed Jeanne's decedent lol
 
  • Like
Reactions: Clawsome Bombs
What if everyone just eventually gets Squall's gunblade.
 
Shoji Meguro (the composer) had an interview with Famitsu about P5's music:

"The background music in the latest trailer is actually an instrumental version of the main theme,” Meguro said. “In working on Persona 5’s soundtrack, I’ve incorporated some acid jazz-like elements to bring out the game’s mood, including in the main theme"

Also the Famitsu cover is pretty styling
persona-5-famitsu-cover.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: EA575, PaperBag_Sniper, BeatNinja and 1 other person
Acid jazz
It's so smooth it burns
 
YES. I WANTED THIS GAME'S GENRE TO BE JAZZ. PRAISE MEGURO.

I hope Lotus Juice comes back to record some cheesy rap though.
 
As I'm reading some translations for the weekly Famitsu, I realize that I don't think anyone has mentioned this part of the trailer yet:

So uh, we fighting Personas now? (Edit for better screen grab)
Unc3oWD.png

From Gematsu "Katsura Hashino is choosing to remain quiet about why Personas are appearing as actual enemies and where the protagonist has his fights. There are reasons behind those details, though."
 
Last edited:
.....GUYS
What if "Take Your Heart" means MC Thief is going around taking Personas away from people
But to suppress them he has to fight them
And these are how he gets HIS extra Personas
 
theonlypie314 said:
As I'm reading some translations for the weekly Famitsu, I realize that I don't think anyone has mentioned this part of the trailer yet:

So uh, we fighting Personas now? (Edit for better screen grab)
Unc3oWD.png

From Gematsu "Katsura Hashino is choosing to remain quiet about why Personas are appearing as actual enemies and where the protagonist has his fights. There are reasons behind those details, though."
It's most likely demons, which has been mentioned already. These are probably demons again, like from 1 and 2
 
  • Like
Reactions: PaperBag_Sniper
North888 said:
It's most likely demons, which has been mentioned already. These are probably demons again, like from 1 and 2
Yeah, past Persona games used the (then) designs for demons found in the SMT mainline series (pre-nocturne) for their enemies.

This game is using the designs found in the post-nocturne SMT games. We can see Sandman and Pyro-Jack in the trailer

Edit: ignore that first part about Kaneko's art. I was writing a different post.
 
SanoBaron said:
B26V_7IIQAMqFUx.jpg

why no one tell me this?!

I can explain that: Some of the "plot" demons in SMT 4 were designed by guest artists. Still, many of them still have the "kaneko" version for comparison.


Two examples in spoilers.
Omoikane is more or less a "wisdom spirit".

Original design:
Omoikane.png

Guest art
Smtiv_omoikane.jpg



Michael, the archangel (he's special again)

Original design:
Michael.png


Guest art:
Michael_SMTIV.jpg


My take is that kaneko's art has 2 "phases": before and after people starting digitally refining his pieces. here's an example:
Old Pixie art:

PixieSMT.jpg


New pixie art (as in Persona 2/Nocturne onwards)

PixieSMT3.jpg


After the pc magic enhanced his art, his style got way more defined: humans have delicate proportions and frames, all similar, all pretty grayish (porcelain skin as it was said some time ago), kinda bland to be honest. I think that's on purpose and creates a bigger contrast with demons, that normally uses more extreme proportions and colors. Many humanoid demons have unique skin tones or clothing colors to create that difference.

Soejima's human character design feels way more "anime-ish" and have less... charm. Try to compare Yoshitaka amano character design and artworks to Tetsuya Nomura and you'll understand what i mean

Until persona 2, the art may have been handled by different persons, but felt more... coherent. Watching a 3d model of Cu Chulainn or Laksmi side by side with p3 mc feels kinda wrong. They're all humanoid figures, but the proportions and tone don't match.


Now just not to say i love everything kaneko does, P3 nyx design is horrible! Feels like a kingdom hearts villain lost in the wrong series

On a side note, Doi (SMT 4 the characters) and Yasuda's (Devil survivor characters) also feel kinda generic anime-ish
 
Last edited:
the only persona game that kaneko worked on after P2 was the PSP remake of P1
and he was only the art director there
 
As far as Kaneko's designs I think the "sweet spot" for me was SMT II and Persona's 1/2.
Looking at the designs Kaneko created for the MC of SMT II it tells a lot about how he envisioned the setting alongside the character's design.
427 Aleph.jpg
Aleph is initially living in the slums of a post apocolyptic world where people like him fight for the right to move into the higher class city called Center. His equipment looks appropriate for this type of background, it looks worn but functional and he's got a very serious look on his face.

Contrast this with his later reinterpretation of Aleph.
05.jpg
This new aleph doesn't really look like a warrior from a post apocolyptic work what with how form fitting and stylized his clothing are. The redesign suffers from a lot of minor gripes I have with Kaneko's later designs for humans. Like DukeMagus pointed out his later designs have this porcelain skin to them and in addition to that the eyes are vacant and overall the face looks pretty lifeless. This worked well in Digital Devil Saga and for the Mannequins in Nocturne but not so much for other games.
 
aleph also doesn't have a pair of caterpillers living on his face in the redesign
A tragic loss
 
Ruin said:
the only persona game that kaneko worked on after P2 was the PSP remake of P1
and he was only the art director there
demon/persona designer on p3, 4 and 5.
 
PaperBag_Sniper said:
As far as Kaneko's designs I think the "sweet spot" for me was SMT II and Persona's 1/2.
Looking at the designs Kaneko created for the MC of SMT II it tells a lot about how he envisioned the setting alongside the character's design.
View attachment 8124
Aleph is initially living in the slums of a post apocolyptic world where people like him fight for the right to move into the higher class city called Center. His equipment looks appropriate for this type of background, it looks worn but functional and he's got a very serious look on his face.

Contrast this with his later reinterpretation of Aleph.
View attachment 8125
This new aleph doesn't really look like a warrior from a post apocolyptic work what with how form fitting and stylized his clothing are. The redesign suffers from a lot of minor gripes I have with Kaneko's later designs for humans. Like DukeMagus pointed out his later designs have this porcelain skin to them and in addition to that the eyes are vacant and overall the face looks pretty lifeless. This worked well in Digital Devil Saga and for the Mannequins in Nocturne but not so much for other games.


why would you ever take away hongo level eyebrows?

DukeMagus said:
demon/persona designer on p3, 4 and 5.
those games aren't on his list of involvements on both his wikipedia and his SMT wikia page.
 
i think that's referring to the demon designs that are reused from older game
like 90% of them
 
Ruin said:
i think that's referring to the demon designs that are reused from older game
like 90% of them
well, some of them are iconic.
can you tell me what's more of an SMT mascot than JackFrost?
I mean, BESIDES Mara, of course.
 
Last edited:
pixie

I actually like the porcelain look tbh. I enjoy it when you can look for certain qualities in a piece of art and immediately go "yep, it was by this person". Same reason I enjoy art by Gigi Digi/Hiimdaisy/whatever you call her.
 
Last edited:
Jutsei said:
Oh whoops, forgot that was a separate thread.

well, so far we're still on topic. The designs and core idea from Persona DID started from a megami tensei spinoff (before it became megami ibunroku subseries).

I'm still waiting for Aeon Genesis to finish the shin megami tensei IF translation. The "plasma solves everything joke" was used even in the p2 remake
 
Kaneko's designs are iconic, I agree. They could show a little more differences. I feel his work on the Persona character designs are some of his best, since they still all contrast while keeping his style, unlike the works on the darker SMT games, where they all have that porcelain skin with the same face looks.

That being said, I find the Devil Survivo character designs distasteful, due to not only how anime-ish they are, but also with just the design on the chaactes. A lot, most, of the femals have gravity-defying melons, some larger than they should be for high schoolers, and some of the personalities ae annoying when tied with their appearances. It's more of a preference, but I prefer those down-to earth appearances for the humans that you get in other series in th SMT series.
 
suzuhito yasuda can go fuck themselves for devil survivor
 
North888 said:
Kaneko's designs are iconic, I agree. They could show a little more differences. I feel his work on the Persona character designs are some of his best, since they still all contrast while keeping his style, unlike the works on the darker SMT games, where they all have that porcelain skin with the same face looks.

That being said, I find the Devil Survivo character designs distasteful, due to not only how anime-ish they are, but also with just the design on the chaactes. A lot, most, of the femals have gravity-defying melons, some larger than they should be for high schoolers, and some of the personalities ae annoying when tied with their appearances. It's more of a preference, but I prefer those down-to earth appearances for the humans that you get in other series in th SMT series.
Kaneko only designed the demons in Devil Survivor, not the characters. I'll admit I'm not that bothered by the boobs in DS, though, from what I've seen it's only the two females that are in the beginning of each game.

I'm pretty much like @Nap1400 with why I like the artstyle, but I'm more for Soejima than I am for Kaneko. I like how he prefers to draw on paper so I feel his characters get a more naturally drawn look IMO.
 
I guess, some of the designs in general of DS are otherwise bland for me.

Soejima's artwork is great, I'm not saying anything against that. I know Kaneko didn't do DS, but I don't like the art style of DS. I like Kaneko's works on the P3 and P4 cast in the artwork for those games, some of his more vaied work yet it still fits to his style, and it's some impessive stuff. Soejima also does it great. The worst art style, honestly, for the SMT series, has been Q's style. It's simple but almost too much so. It might be because Zen and Rey contrast design-wise from everyone else so heavily it's ridiculous. The two don't fit in character-wise, too one-note, and art styl wise either too overdesigned in an anime-ish way that contrasts with th more anime style using fairly realistic appeareances.
 
North888 said:
I guess, some of the designs in general of DS are otherwise bland for me.

Soejima's artwork is great, I'm not saying anything against that. I know Kaneko didn't do DS, but I don't like the art style of DS. I like Kaneko's works on the P3 and P4 cast in the artwork for those games, some of his more vaied work yet it still fits to his style, and it's some impessive stuff. Soejima also does it great. The worst art style, honestly, for the SMT series, has been Q's style. It's simple but almost too much so. It might be because Zen and Rey contrast design-wise from everyone else so heavily it's ridiculous. The two don't fit in character-wise, too one-note, and art styl wise either too overdesigned in an anime-ish way that contrasts with th more anime style using fairly realistic appeareances.
I heard they had the Etrian guys do some of the art for Q, or at least the bosses. was Saejima behind Zen and Rei? also, I like Zen's spiked collar and try hard cape. it's so edge that it becomes funny to me. Rei I felt fit in perfectly.
 
I dunno, mixed with their boring pesonalities and everything, I just feel they didn't fit in design-wise. The collar is kinda cool, though. It bugs me that they just use the 3D models instead of pictures, it was so off-putting.
 
i mostly dislike how the super deformation wound up making a lot of characters look
stupid as fuck, to put it simply
kanji looks like a gremlin and Junpei looks like something that lives under a bridge (which he later would in Ultimax heyo)
most of the other characters just looked fuckin' weird
 
Why they do this to Junpei and Kanji?! Those two are easily, at least from ym point of view, the best characters in terms of developement in the series! Well, them and nate....
 
I liked the more chibi artstyle.

and I like how Junpei looked as garbage as he is.
 
North888 said:
That being said, I find the Devil Survivo character designs distasteful, due to not only how anime-ish they are, but also with just the design on the chaactes. A lot, most, of the femals have gravity-defying melons, some larger than they should be for high schoolers, and some of the personalities ae annoying when tied with their appearances. It's more of a preference, but I prefer those down-to earth appearances for the humans that you get in other series in th SMT series.
But think about the math involved in supporting them in the first place
1336629928272.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back